The Gate of Artemis

One day, an erudite debate in the form of a trial took place on this good earth, which was turning not being so good any more for reasons we all know.
The purpose of the gathering was to assess the pedigree of the demons in order to establish whether or not we, the humans, were right to follow them. The trial could not be held in the heavens for demons had not quite reached there yet. There were two benches, the judge and the jury.
On one bench sat demons and corrupted humans. Some of these were already mutating into demons because their behavior had allowed them to be possessed: sexual offenders, greedy speculators or paranoid leaders. Facing them on the opposite bench sat regular folks, good citizens, keeping good families, people wanting to love and to express it. They were the representatives of the virtuous people left in the human race. They felt intimidated by the strength the opposite bench was exuding. According to the ruling cultural fashion of the time, being virtuous sounded indeed like being dumb.
As demons are proficient at making money they could afford an excellent lawyer whose plea ended more or less like this:
“As there is nothing but God, members of the jury, how can our detractors pretend my clients are not part of it? They are thus divine like everything else. Their ways are as valid as those of anyone else and we strongly urge the humans to adopt them. Their ways are more interesting and fun than those of the virtuous who are sitting on the opposite bench. Heavens and hell start with the same letter. Do not toil in vain to reach the heavens but join them and they shall create here a hell to your own liking.
As a matter of fact, the project is very advanced indeed. Mankind is running out of raw materials and this will provide the inescapable stage for raw chaos: only the fittest fully equipped with greed, lust and violence shall survive. I rest my case Your Honor.
The judge gave the floor to the lawyer of the virtuous people.
– It is very good of you to recognize the omnipresence of the Lord “ responded softly the angel who pleaded for the bemused party of the virtuous. “Indeed you are part of God, but consider that He is eternal energy and you are nothing but the waste of this energy. You are, excuse me for being precise, the excrements of the cosmos. In His vast house there are many beautiful rooms but also the necessary sewage. I would suggest the humans should enjoy themselves better in the upper floors.
This sounded a bit impolite but the angel was knowledgeable and the lawyer of the demons did not want to look surprised or lose the argument. He replied.
“ My clients are making sure that this difference does not count as they are transforming the world in a sewage anyway. Surely,” he sneered, turning to the angel “with your large wings you travel far and wide and it is your turn to recognize and grant the point: we are proving to God that humans are following us and not Him.

– This trend can easily be stopped” replied the angel;
– O yes? And can you tell us more please? How would that be possible? Asked the lawyer, always keen to extract clues unveiling the strategy of the adversary.
– By making man know himself,” replied the angel, totally unconcerned.
– Oh really? I can assure you my clients make sure that this shall not happen.
– But it is happening” smiled the archangel. “It is happening as we debate. First a few, then the rest will follow.
Members of the jury,” pursued the lawyer of the demons slightly annoyed “ do not be distracted by spurious and utopist arguments. The fact is that human are ours, not His, and at the end, He will be displeased by the show. He, this God with terrible powers, will switch it off as we had planned. Hence very soon we shall achieve our purpose of total destruction. Under such circumstances, good and evil shall vanish alike and thus it does not matter in the meantime whether you sing a psalm or rape someone. Everybody better follow his or her own preference,” he added with a broad grin towards the bench of the virtuous.
The angel turned towards the jury for his last intervention.
“ Members of the jury, it is not quite so. The destruction that is now coming is the breaking of the eggshell to let the chick out. It will hurt the shell of this material world but not the glorious flight of the twice born. And yes, I concede, one day total destruction of this universe may come but on that day, the Spirit shall soar, children of God shall merge into Him and followers of demons shall be swallowed by the nothingness engulfing the world of matter. Hence,” he concluded “ human have two paths: towards divinity or annihilation; it is not the same if you sing a psalm or rape someone.”
Those sitting on the bench of the virtuous felt rather uneasy, as they did not know how the jury would fare. To them, it was not quite clear how many demons were hiding amongst the members of the jury.
But the angel was smiling. This is the difference between angels and us. They are fully confident. Besides, he did not mind in the least the breaking of the eggshell even though it could mean the end of a civilization.
This smile greatly irritated the chief demon sitting on the backbench of the demons. He could not control himself any more and shouted at the angel: “ Gabriel, you are nothing but a monkey!”
– That’s right,” said the angel. And he disappeared in thin air.
But the folks on the bench of the virtuous remembered the good old days and cheered.
Wildly.