Fiefdom of Angels

Before the creation of mankind there were angels. You either believe in the realm of spiritual and supernatural beings, or you don't. There is no middle ground, really, is there? Even as a young boy I believed. Before my conversion to Christianity I had a huge imagination for this sort of thing. After becoming a Christian, as a young man, my favorite stories in the Bible involved angels. These incredible beings were filled with mystery and wonder. But where did they come from? The beginning of the human race is well documented, but the subject of angels is sorely overlooked. There is just a glimpse into their existence.

Around the year 1994, I had written down a poem about the fall of Lucifer and the general idea surrounding his demise. I tucked it away into a journal and forgot about it until I found it and reread it somewhere around Fall 2010. I decided to explore the concept further and ended up writing this story. I realize that to a few people it would seem almost blasphemous to recreate ideas and events based on scripture. But I want to assure the reader that I am most respectful and reverent concerning the idea of the spiritual realm. Imagination is something God gave to all of us. It is the genesis of art and fuels our inspiration. As the story of the origin of angels began to take shape, I realized that I was on to something that hadn't been explored before.

Sure, the subject of angels has been the subject of many poems and original thought over the years. Dante's Inferno, Paradise Lost, C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce touched on the subject of angels but never really explained their origin in detail. Of course there were the Book of Enoch and several novels on the apocalyptic angel, as well the "romantic angel." Films like "Michael" with John Travolta and "City of Angels" with Nicholas Cage started appearing in the mid-1990s. My favorite of all angelic films was the black and white masterpiece "Wings of Desire" by the German filmmaker Wim Wenders. The subject of the "guardian angel" was explored to great depths. Then my favorite rock band, U2, obviously inspired by the film, released a video with Wenders chronicling scenes from the film. It was as if popular culture was finally as excited about the subject as I was. But even when another wave of stories about apocalyptic angels released, including films such as the one starring Christopher Walken as Gabriel and Frank Peretti's novels influencing the end times, there was nothing addressing their origin.

It seemed to be a subject no one wanted to touch. I did happen to find a beautiful, glossy, coffee table book about the different orders of angels and their names and powers. Barnes and Noble, of all places, seemed to have a plethora of angelic imagery, from the world of demons to the seraphim. But again I found the backstory lacking any detail or research. So here it is, after many years of contemplation, my fantastical-and obviously full of creative license-version of the origin of angels. I want to stress to the reader that this is a fictional account. I do not purport to have received these observations in any prophetic way, nor are they linked to the reality of what really happened. But I do believe in the world of angels and I do believe that there was a great war in Heaven. That revelation alone has pushed me to write down these thoughts. This is my first foray into this level of writing. I hope you can journey with me with an open mind to the planet of Terra One.

Respectfully and full of curiosity,

Kevin Max