The Black Army

Dumitru Duduman

        Oregon, May 7, 1993. It was getting dark. Then suddenly it turned pitch black! It was as if the whole world had gone dark at that moment. All the people were in a frenzy! They became disoriented, and some were even screaming. After some time we heard the sound of an army approaching. Soon we saw them coming out of the black mist. All were dressed in black except one. That one seemed to be their leader. He was dressed in a red robe with a thick black belt over his waist. On his head he had a sign. As I looked, I saw that in his hand he held the same kind of sharp spear as everyone else in his army.

        "I am Lucifer!" he exclaimed. "I am the king of this world! I have come to make war against the Christians!"

        It looked as though all the Christians were huddled together in one big group. Some began to cry when they heard this. Others began to tremble, while some just stood without saying anything. Lucifer continued to speak. "All of those that want to fight against my army and think they can be victorious, go to the right. Those that fear me, go to the left."

        Only about a quarter of the group stepped to the right. All the other went to the left. Then Lucifer ordered his army, "Destroy those on the right!"

        The army began to advance and quickly surrounded the Christians on the right. As they began to close in on us, a powerful light appeared and encircled us. Then an angel of the Lord spoke. "Take out your swords and fight. Defend yourselves and be victorious over the enemy."

        "What swords?" a man in the group asked.

        "The Word of the Lord is your sword," the angel answered. When we understood what the angel meant, we began to quote verses from the Bible. Then suddenly as if we were one voice, we began to sing a song. Our voices thundered so loudly that the dark army began to retreat in fear. They did not have the courage to come against us anymore.

        Lucifer, filled with rage, turned to those on the left. "You who all of your life have been trying to please two masters, because you could not stand against me, I have the power to destroy you."

        He then ordered his army to attack. It was a total massacre. The ones on the left could not defend themselves. One by one they all fell. This killing seemed to go on for a long time. After a while we could actually smell the stench of the dead.

        "Why could they not be protected also?" someone asked.

        The angel answered, "Because all of their lives they have been lukewarm. Because of their hypocrisy the true church has been blasphemed. They have brought disrespect to the Word of God. They were not clean."

        As we continued to look, we saw the sun coming over the horizon. The black clouds began to break up. Then they disappeared. Only one was left, on which Lucifer and his army stood. Lucifer looked at me shaking his fists and said, "I will destroy you even if I have to throw my spear at your from here!" Then that cloud disappeared, too.

        As I looked around, I began to see faces that I recognized among our group. I saw a pastor from Bellflower, another from Indiana, one from Michigan, as well as many of my American friends. The first thought that came to my mind as I awoke was that this had been the last fight of the devil against the church. If we remain faithful, we will be victorious.