Angels Over Los Angeles
1
Pastor Avon Carlson, the man who was laughed at for preaching the gospel to extraterrestrials, had been further ridiculed when he predicted the miracle. But nobody who saw it happen – which was everybody because the miracle was broadcast live on worldwide television and the internet– was laughing now.
Pastor Carlson had now become an authentic prophet, the miracle he predicted having been so spectacular as to forever set him apart from the lying, pompadoured men and weepy, big-haired women who inhabit the baroque slums of religious television.
Carlson found himself at last seated in high places, bathed in the pure light of Hollywood. His appointment with history was at hand in the studios of the Savage Media Network, where he was one minute away from beginning a live interview with Daniel Mantle, the venerable SMN news anchor. The interview with Carlson was believed to have a global television and internet audience in excess of three billion people, making it a much larger event than even Princess Diana’s funeral.
Many of Carlson’s religious enemies were already on other stations declaring him to be the Antichrist, while FBI sources were calling the "miracle" a crime. Yet no one could dispute the fact that something unparalleled in human history had come to pass at the exact moment when Pastor Carlson said it would. Indeed, it had come to pass so dramatically that some had thought that the often hoped for, yet always postponed, end of the world had at last arrived.
This was the Marianas Trench of news stories about the supernatural. After thirty years in the news business Daniel Mantle knew he could sound its depths, knew that he could get to the bottom of it and find the truth. Feeling himself equal to the fierce perfection demanded by covering such a story live on television and the internet, Mantle vowed that he would control the story rather than having it control him.
"Good morning from Hollywood and welcome to a Savage Media Network News exclusive," Mantle announced, his trademark voice personally welcoming each of the billions watching with the reassurance of a trusted video-age sage. "Exactly one month ago, on November 12, 2016, Pastor Avon Carlson publicly predicted on a prime time SMN News special that five enormous angels would reveal themselves in a spectacular display of God’s glory over the skies of Los Angeles at 1:00 a.m. this morning.
"As all of the world by now knows, this has in fact appears to have happened, for at 1:00 a.m. this morning five angelic visitors materialized in the skies above Los Angeles. SMN News, as well as other radio, television, and internet outlets worldwide immediately went live on this story when the visitors, who looked very much like what one would expect angels to look like, revealed themselves.
"The White House has issued no statement on the matter pending an investigation by the Air Force. President-elect Martin Stansbury, who has been staying at his Malibu home during the past week, was reported to have seen the apparitions this morning and is withholding comment until after President Grimes has spoken on the matter. Military analysts have offered no comment, though there are unconfirmed reports that there has been a high level of Air Force activity in the skies over Southern California during the past week.
And of course there is the FBI. As we have been reporting to you since it began, the FBI arrived in force at Cal Tech at about 5:00 a.m. and began what it is unequivocally calling a criminal investigation. Sources inside the Bureau tell SMN that the investigation is looking into the theft of secret U.S. virtual reality technology which was purportedly used to create last night’s visitation.
It seems we are either covering a great miracle or a great crime. If religious history is any indication, the two possibilities always seem to present themselves simultaneously, so this morning’s interview with Pastor Avon is sure to be especially charged when we ask him to speak to the FBI’s allegations.
The internet is, predictably, rampant with rumor and speculation as it has been for the past several days. SMN is struggling to keep its broadband message boards up despite the fact that we have been getting over two million users per hour since the angels appeared. The most consistent speculation centers around the fact that the angels are a prelude to either an alien attack or a friendly meeting with another civilization. We will certainly want to know Pastor Carlson’s thoughts on angels and aliens when we speak with him shortly.
"As to what happened last night, I was privileged to watch the angels in the company of Pastor Avon Carlson, and a few other guests at the darkened Holmby Hills estate of Richard and Mary Kendrick, SMN’s CEO and his lovely wife," Mantle informed his viewers as the SMN logo in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen bore silent witness to the corporate ownership of this coverage of the miraculous.
"Unfortunately, Pastor Carlson’s wife, Adera Huent, the noted counterculture journalist, has been stuck for the past three days in her native Germany during what meteorologists are calling one of the worst blizzards to strike Europe in fifty years and was, sadly, unable to be with her husband last night during his great moment of triumph. She did, however, speak on the phone for twenty minutes early this morning with her husband just before she departed Frankfurt during a clearing in the weather. She is expected to arrive late this afternoon into LAX.
"Dr. Roy Long, the man whom Pastor Carlson considers to be his best friend, was also in attendance last night with his wife. Roy Long is of course the noted inventor and manufacturing consultant whose services are in constant demand by the largest manufacturers in the world.
"All of us went out into the sprawling backyard of the Kendrick estate at 12:30 a.m. to await the angels. In order cover the scene at the Kendrick home, this reporter turned over SMN’s live coverage to my good friend and colleague, Jessica Smart, the veteran newswoman and host of Think Smart in the Morning, SMN’s award winning morning news show.
"The dim lights in the Kendrick backyard went down at 12:40 a.m. and the invited guests reclined on opulent, overstuffed chocolate leather recliners appointed with lambskin covers and fleece blankets; seating even more luxurious than that offered on the Concorde. We gazed skyward in anticipation, and at precisely 1:00. a.m., five enormous angels, looking as pure and powerful as any painted by Botticini, suddenly appeared from out of nowhere.
"Despite the enormous light pollution of the L. A., which nightly drowns out all but a few stars, the astonishing celestial apparitions appeared in brilliant intensity as unmistakable angels. They were magnificent to behold as they arrayed themselves like gems across the night sky in an exquisite, shimmering iridescence unlike any special effect ever seen on the movie screen. And although they were translucent, they nevertheless had a three-dimensional appearance. They seemed to be light which had slowed and solidified into the very embodiment of beauty. Everyone drank deeply of this extraordinary event, especially when we noticed that the faces of the angels appeared to be looking directly at us – an experience apparently shared by all those who witnessed the angels in person.
"As with everyone who considered that the angels would appear, we too had set up cameras to photograph and videotape the event. In addition to having SMN’s best videographers on hand, Richard Kendrick had also invited Wallace Mills, the three-time Oscar winning cinematographer, to capture the event on film, which he did with an assortment of cameras including an ultra-high speed digital one used to capture events in slow motion.
"Several still cameras, both digital and film-loaded, were also used to photograph these exquisite beings of light. Dr. Henry Giller of the Metropolitan Academy of Photography in an interview earlier this morning estimated that over three billion still images of the angels -- both digital and photographic -- were captured by those in Los Angeles who witnessed the event. Dr. Giller’s number was based on retail estimates of photographic film sales during the past week in Southern California. Sales peaked two days ago with the demand finally depleting all of the film inventory in the five counties which make up Southern California..
"After three incredible and absolutely unforgettable minutes the angels began to dim. But rather than fading like fireworks vanishing in cascades of colored sparkles, the brilliance of the angles dimmed as they slowly rolled into a circle like pastel watercolors running together down a drain into space until only a single point of faraway light flowed into invisibility. This reporter was stunned. I knew that ‘The Miracle of the Angels over Los Angeles,’ as it is now being called in some religious quarters, would surpass the legendary filmed images of modern history, including the crash of the Hindenburg, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Challenger exploding into a great fireball, and of course the terrible destruction of Saint Peter’s Basilica by terrorists in 2002.
"After the angels disappeared back into the heavens from whence they had come, those of us gathered at the Kendrick estate, like the millions of others who had watched the miracle, sat transfixed until long after the last drop of light had disappeared. When it became apparent that the angels would not be doing an encore, the guests retreated from the cold night into the warmth and comfort of the Kendrick’s beautiful home.
"To capture the event for broadcast, SMN had positioned cameras high atop Mount Wilson, the 5,710 foot mountain which overlooks the Los Angeles Basin. Mount Wilson is the site of an observatory, and home to the vast array of television and radio transmitters and satellite dishes which serve the Los Angeles area. The angels having departed, SMN switched directly to a live broadcast from the backyard of the Kendrick estate, a broadcast for which Pastor Carlson refused to be interviewed. By a prearranged agreement, Carlson preferred to be left in solitude until this morning’s interview.
"I then went into the Kendrick house to talk to the guests. All of us sat awestruck for awhile, for what can one say after witnessing what appeared to be God breaking through the starry roof of the universe to interrupt human history with incomparable beauty?
"As the fire crackled and the brandy and hot chocolate were poured, we replayed the videos of the angels over and over on one monitor, while switching between CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and of course SMN to see how the networks were covering the miracle. The Kendrick and Long children, too excited to sleep, and too bored by the news after having seen the real thing, sat and roasted s’mores over the fireplace and talked seriously about their magical Uncle who could put angels in the sky.
"I must tell my viewers that my journalistic detachment all but melted in the presence of the utter beauty and power of the apparitions in last night’s sky. It took all I had to remove my gaze momentarily from the angels to look at Pastor Carlson’s face. I was expecting to see a sense of relief, as if a great burden had been lifted, for since issuing his prophecy he had become the butt of ridicule on the radio and television talk shows of the world. Instead, I saw an inexplicable, faraway look in the face of this man who had made such a remarkable prediction. I couldn’t help but wonder if he weren’t thinking, as do many who achieve greatness in an instant, what he would do next – if indeed he could ever be anything to surpass the angels. But then again, I thought, he is a prophet and perhaps he was thinking thoughts you and I would find ineffable.
"In the past few weeks those in his immediate circle reported that while Pastor Carlson had experienced bouts of depression over what those close to him were being put through, he never worried for himself. In fact, during last night’s dinner at the Kendrick estate, he was ebullient and never wavered in his supreme conviction that the angels would appear. He declared that his faith in God had sustained him throughout the past month even as his dignity and reputation were being torn to shreds by the pundits and skeptics.
"After the angels had vanished, leaving us in a deep chasm of mystery and awe, Pastor Carlson retired to a bedroom for two hours to be alone in prayer. Those of us who were fortunate enough to be in his presence during the grand event sat and talked long into the night about it. None of us have slept since we saw the angels," Mantle said, smiling, as he held up a cup of coffee to illustrate his point, "and I suspect this is true for the many millions of others who saw the angels with their own eyes."
"SMN has stayed live on this story ever since, interviewing various experts from the fields of religion, psychology, science, technology, and the military trying to assess the credibility and significance of this event, an event which was witnessed by millions of people in Los Angeles and by well over three billion people on live television.
"To bring you up to date on the situation here at SMN, let me begin by stating that Pastor Carlson arrived at the SMN Studios a little over three hours ago with Richard and Mary Kendrick, their motorcade escorted by three dozen LAPD motorcycles and cars. Even at that hour there were an estimated ten thousand people lining Sunset Boulevard hoping to get a glance of Carlson as he was being driven to our studios. For security reasons, he was seated in one of the three bulletproof limousines which formed the SMN motorcade. The heavily tinted windows of the cars, however, made it impossible to see the man responsible for the miracle of the angels over Los Angeles.
"While it would certainly would have been faster and more convenient to transport Pastor Carlson here by helicopter, the FAA, in its highly controversial directive of three weeks ago, ordered the airspace over Southern California closed to private and charter aircraft from 9:00 p.m. last night until 9:00 a.m. this morning, and this included SMN’s attempt to transport Carlson here this morning by helicopter.
"The FAA’s action was taken after hundreds of charter flight agencies and over ten thousand private pilots, all wanting front row seats in the sky to see the "angels" up close, inundated airport offices around the country with departure reservation requests and filed flight plans to Los Angeles following Carlson’s prediction. Anticipating a nightmare scenario of midair collisions, the FAA opted to close the skies to all except regularly scheduled commercial flights, military flights, or air ambulances. Of course, the news and traffic helicopters upon which Angelinos depend so heavily were exempted from the ban as they constitute regularly scheduled commercial traffic.
"Those helicopters, all fifteen of them, are above SMN right now providing coverage of the crowds outside of our studios. Below and above the news helicopters are another twelve helicopters from what various law enforcement agencies. As you can see from this split screen view which we have just put onscreen, the shot from SMN Newschopper 8 shows us that the crowds outside of our studios continue to grow. Many thousands of people are here hoping to catch a glimpse of Pastor Carlson when he leaves later this morning. The LAPD is out in force on the streets to regulate the crowds, who so far have remained orderly. The LAPD has also closed down Sunset Boulevard for a half mile on either side of SMN, while the CHP has closed freeway off ramps in the vicinity of SMN due to gridlock. These agencies are requesting that people avoid the Hollywood area altogether as it cannot accommodate any further volume of people or cars.
"That brings us up to date on the situation here at SMN. During this morning’s interview with Pastor Avon Carlson, which we will be doing momentarily, we will periodically cut away to conduct live satellite interviews with experts, prominent skeptics, and a veritable Oscar-night line up of celebrities. These luminaries will have a chance to ask Pastor Carlson questions about the angels, questions which I’m sure will prove intriguing.
"Many of the millions of people in Los Angeles who saw the angels have no doubts: what they saw high above them were celestial beings sent from God. However, we will be asking the skeptics, who are legion, to speculate on who they think would have the motive, the technology, and especially the money needed to create such a phenomenally convincing illusion, if that is indeed what the angels were. Pastor Carlson will have ample opportunity to respond to his supporters and critics in what will surely be the most fascinating three hours of questions and answers ever on television.
"As to Pastor Avon Carlson the man, people around the globe are asking about this extraordinary person who summoned angels. Personally, I first met Pastor Carlson in April, 2010, at a black tie dinner held at the home of his close friend and benefactor, Dr. Roy Long. Dr. Long had given the dinner to celebrate his latest invention, FiveCrystal Composite, an ultra-durable metal alloy which, when used to make production tooling and dies, will outlast more expensive stainless steel alloys by a factor of three. I am told by Edwin Newhall, SMN’s technology correspondent, that in the four years since it was introduced this breakthrough alloy has already saved global industries hundreds of millions of dollars in replacing worn out tooling.
"I was present at the dinner at Dr. Long’s invitation to represent SMN News. While I was acquainted with Dr. Long, having interviewed him several times over the years as a reporter covering his many and remarkable inventions, until that evening I had not realized that Dr. Long and Pastor Carlson’s relationship went back over twenty years to the time when they were both students at Southern California College, a private religious institution located in Costa Mesa, California, which a few years ago changed its name to Vanguard University.
"Dr. Long had arranged to seat Pastor Carlson next to me. When one first sees Carlson in person they are surprised. He is an intense, engaging, handsome man who would seem better suited to the screen that the pulpit. That evening he was dressed in an elegantly tailored tuxedo which featured a black ruffled shirt and a matching crimson cummerbund and bow tie. Because he is a clergyman, he wore a largish golden cross on a chain which hung just below his bow tie in the fashion of a military medal. His cuff links were Cartier gold inlaid with one carat diamonds. He looked to me to be every bit the rising star he was quickly becoming.
"I am referring of course to his best-selling book, The Gospel Universal. Published in 2009, the then forty year old Carlson declared in the book that Jesus had called him to preach the gospel to extraterrestrials. What made the book especially controversial were Carlson’s sensational claims of having personally converted aliens during his missionary tours into their subterranean bases and secret boron and zinc mines here on earth. Naturally, I was skeptical of these claims when I met Pastor Carlson.
"After dinner, Dr. Long pulled me aside and said, "Daniel, I think Pastor Carlson has something you need to see.’
"We retreated into Dr. Long’s study, where he locked the door behind us. Carlson then took out what appeared to a slate-gray fountain pen from the pocket of his tuxedo. The world knows the rest of the story; Pastor Carlson pointed the device at objects and was able to levitate any object within fifteen feet which weighed less than ten pounds.
"After the demonstration, Carlson made the astonishing claim that an extraterrestrial, grateful to Carlson for having led him to accept Jesus Christ as his personal savior, gave the minister the levitation pen both as a gift and to let the people of earth know that those on other planets, our ‘long lost brothers and sisters’ he called them, needed the gospel.
‘I would like you to take this story public,’ Carlson then asked me point blank.
"Despite my immense respect for Dr. Long’s work, I was immensely skeptical of the levitation pen when I first saw it. Having witnessed several hoaxes firsthand as a reporter, especially hoaxes of a religious nature, Pastor Carlson insisted that I try the pen for myself. I operated the device for fifteen minutes, levitating objects at random from around the room. While I was impressed, I nevertheless told both men that I suspected that the room may have been rigged. I insisted that I could not go public with this story until scientists had a chance to secretly test the device under controlled conditions.
"I promised Pastor Carlson that if he would give SMN News a sixty day exclusive to secretly test the device, and that if it withstood such scrutiny, then we would give him prime time coverage to show the device and present his version of the Christian gospel. Carlson and I shook hands on my proposal and agreed to go forward with the testing. Carlson’s utter integrity impressed me, for here was a man of God who welcomed the serious, scientific investigation of his claims.
"The levitation pen was the genuine article according to all five of the world-renowned scientists SMN secretly invited to test it. In our June, 2000, special on the subject, SMN News showed video of the device being used by Dr. Earl Potter, the acclaimed Harvard physicist and Nobel Laureate, as well as other esteemed researchers who verified the ability of the pen to levitate objects. To a person, these major scientists from leading institutions went on record as saying that no technology on earth existed that could duplicate Carlson’s levitation pen. Sales of Carlson’s book shot to the moon following the interview.
"In the week following the special, the levitation pen disappeared from a locked depository in Dr. Potter’s physics laboratory, where it had been stored for safekeeping. Because Dr. Potters’s office was a federally-funded facility, the FBI was called in to investigate. Following an extensive investigation, however, the FBI failed to find any evidence or identify a suspect or suspects.
"Even more amazing was that despite a staggering five million dollar, no questions asked reward for the return of the pen offered by the reclusive billionaire ufologist Bill Window, no party or parties came forward with the levitation pen or information on its whereabouts
"According to Carlson, agents from the American government seized the device. When the government vehemently denied the charge, conspiracy enthusiasts of every stripe catapulted Carlson and his book to further worldwide acclaim, much to the dismay of Christian churches everywhere. Indeed, the issue of taking the gospel to the beings on other planets has, during the past five years, divided the Christian community as no issue has since the Reformation. At stake, at least for professional Christians, are the hundreds of millions of dollars that flow yearly into church coffers, television ministries, and missionary organizations. To be on the wrong side of the Carlson issue with one’s audience, congregation, or sponsors, can push a minister or a religious organization into bankruptcy. Even the old hot button issues, such as homosexuality, abortion, and liberal politics will no longer guarantee that the pockets of the faithful will open or that they will follow the recommendations of conservative Christian leaders.
"Instead, the litmus test in contemporary Christianity has become where one stands on the matter of Pastor Avon Carlson and his Universal Gospel. Further compounding the Carlson matter, we now have the appearance of the angels over Los Angeles, which many in the church are this morning proclaiming a genuine miracle of God, leaving Carlson’s enemies to insist that the event was, ‘an end times deception of Satan.’
"Of course, in the best tradition of journalistic skepticism, SMN was ready to go either way with this morning’s special broadcast. If the angels had not appeared, Carlson was contractually bound to appear this morning to explain why his prophecy had not come to pass. While stating that such a contract would never need to be enforced, he nevertheless agreed to that condition in writing without hesitation.
"To a waiting world, then, I am pleased to introduce, on behalf of SMN News, Pastor Avon Carlson," Mantle beamed as the camera panned out to include Pastor Avon Carlson, who had been seated off camera during the journalist’s opening remarks. "Welcome, Pastor Carlson. We are so glad to have you with us in studio this morning," Mantle said as he warmly as he extended his hand, knowing he was in the anchor’s chair doing the biggest television interview of all time.