Out_of_the_Devil_39_s_Cauldron

Chapter 11
The Son of the Devil Exposed
Rachael and I continued seeing each other, but the nightclubs and drinking had stopped—at least for
her. I was allowed to visit Rachael, but on her parents’ terms. We had dinners at their home and
watched movies with her younger brother. That’s all we did.
Robert and Anna were, and still are, hardcore, hallelujah Christians. Each time I called on
Rachael, I was subjected to their ranting sermons on the Bible and Jesus. So in order to keep them
happy, I said yes to them, nodding at everything they told me with secret disdain. But this is what
helped cover up who I was. Rachael had not yet told her parents about my devilish ways. They only
knew me, John Ramirez, the young man interested in their daughter. I could see the truth would come
out one day, and when it did, I wondered how they would receive me then.
Plenty of family dinners and home-dates with Rachael eventually did something good—it
brought us all closer. Gone was the unfamiliar face I wore each time I visited and the uneasiness of
waiting for someone to say something first at the dinner table.
Even though we were all more comfortable with each other, every time they talked to me
about this Jesus person, my blood went cold and I cringed. I felt like jumping across the table and
choking them to death. If they only knew that the world I lived in was a lot stronger than theirs.
One night at the dinner table, Anna looked at me and said, “John, do you know how much
Jesus loves you?”
I looked over at her and grinned. “Yeah, yeah, I heard that before.”
“Well, I just want to share with you the love of Jesus.”
“You already told me, so I think I already know.”
She smiled. “You know that Jesus died for you, right John.”
“This Jesus thing you’re talking to me about, He’s nothing but a bully. I don’t know what kind
of God He is, or what kind of love you’re talking about.”
“Why would you say something like that, John?” Anna asked.
“You think you’re the only one that really knows the Bible. What about what He did to that
man called Job? What kind of God is that, giving the devil permission to destroy his family, giving the
devil permission to destroy his home? You call that love? If you call that love, I don’t need that kind
of love, so keep it to yourself. That’s not love at all. That’s just pure evil.”
“But, John, He was just testing Job.”
“That’s not a test,” I said, disgusted. “That’s just being brutal. So keep this Jesus to yourself.”
With the summer and fall months leading to winter, my relationship with Rachael deepened,
and Anna and Robert got to like me even more, despite our differences regarding God. But that was