»You’ll find humans, I’ll call them the children of God, the tribe of Israel, and they are full of love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. They are anointed with the oil of joy and are the deputies of Christ on earth; their thoughts are dedicated to the word of God. They love Jesus, thus they keep his commandments. The children of God lead a life without any sorrow, because they live in the consciousness of the secure lead of God.«

  »How do you recognize them?«

  »You shall know them by their fruits. Their faith and works are coherent and all in accordance, that faith without works is dead. Mistakes are unavoidable, and one has to learn from them and never blame others for any guilt. Man has to be honest to himself and has to know what his talents are.«

  Yes, then a cheerleader really is able to become a federal prosecutor and a former criminal like me is able to become a bestselling author! One has to find one’s very own talents, and then soccer player like VFL Osnabrück would never ever kick one ball again.

»I was a really bad man, but thank God; I found out in time, that it was the wrong path.«

  »You told me, very well, know thyself. Jesus is self-knowledge, too. Look, the French JE SUIS (translates into I AM) is nearly an anagram. In the beginning there was the word. And the word was with God, and the word was God. Everything derives from the word of God.«

  »Self-knowledge is the first step towards improvement. I know that proverb. Are there children of the devil as well?«

  The man looks at me.

  »Sure enough. The grapes of wraths are nevertheless creatures of God, but they are standing and living under the powers of a class of other spirits. They are despiteful, proud, greedy, boasters, inventors of evil things.«

  »But all that about the devil is really interesting me now.«

»The devil is the antagonist, but this figure isn’t the opposite of God. But, listen, you could say the opposite of the devil is the archangel Michael.«

  »What else do you know about the devil?«

  »Well, the devil is nothing but an intellectual boaster. He is the father of all lies, he twists any truth, and he wants to separate people from God. He allows short jubilation for someone who made a pact with the devil. But one may join him and accompany him into all eternity until the end of time in hell.«

  The media is already full of chatterboxes. Satan already seems to rule this world.

»Now look, he seems to really be a silver-tongued daredevil, the Mr. Satan«, I note.

  »Words are his weapons and the art of persuasion his strength. The devil wants to deprive humans of any joy in life. In the world, titillation and delusions rule. But therefore one has to know the Bible, not to get entrapped in the lies that Satan spreads. Be aware, as Satan does costume himself to appear as an angel of the light. Satan, also known as Lucifer, was the most beautiful angel in the universe, before rebelling against his creator.«

  My ex-wife was an angel in the first place, but turned into a devil later, too. Also optically, everything changed for the negative. I know, I am being mean here...

»In the second Epistle to the Thessalonians, it is written, that before the day of Christ, first, the son of perdition has to appear, the personified antichrist. This antagonist will rise above all and everything that is God’s or named to be holy, he will even enter a church and will think himself to be God.«

  Would love to know, how that dude looks like. In Hollywood films, the devil is wearing exclusive designer-suits and has his gelled hair combed smack to the back. To contact him by phone, one always has to, funnily enough, dial up the five-five-five.