Demons thrust onto the battleships, groping the angels and splaying them before the beloved disciple.

The beloved disciple spoke. ‘I have tarried long enough upon the earth. How compare three days of suffering to two thousand years? If He will not Come, I will summon Him.’

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego fired their forward guns. Nuclear-tipped torpedos sported in the water, sketched a teasing circle and then ducked beneath their target and detonated.

The Good News bucked. A few Seraphs and Cherubs, propellers in frantic motion, escaped their roost before the aircraft carrier fell into the Abyss.

One angel dared speech.

‘You have betrayed the Lord and turned the sword of Heaven upon its Host. He will shatter you as pottery.’

The beloved disciple stared. ’I am he that liveth, and never died. Your Lord has the keys of hell and death and I will wrest them from Him. I will blow the Pearly Gates to smithereens!

‘Better to rule in Heaven than serve on Earth.’