Boyfriend from Hell Read Online Free PDF

it, for people who believe in Satan, that he truly exists as part of our world? I don’t think you can run a cult off a literary concept. Cummings would have to weigh in on Satan as a living presence. Like the churches weigh in on God as a living presence.”
    “And where are you in this?”
    “Intelligent people believe some spirit, some force for good, holds things together in the universe. Call that God, if you will. If you accept innate good, couldn’t you also be able to accept innate evil? And that would be Satan.”
    “Satan as a metaphor or Satan as a living presence?”
    “If pressed, I’d say both.”
    “Cummings claims the murder of his wife was a turning point for him.”
    “That would affect your beliefs. There are very good reasons why people accept Satan.”
    “His followers seemed so vulnerable. Is he exploiting them?”
    “People look for answers. You can ask the same about organized religion.”
    “Well, if Cummings is the new Anton LaVey, LaVey didn’t last.”
    “Eventually, he died. That’ll do it. Clearly, you didn’t think much of this Cummings guy.”
    “He’s about as profound as those children’s drawings in school windows on Halloween.”
    They spoke a while longer and as they left the place she wondered if he looked back at her, since she was tempted to look back at him.
    Over dinner with Nancy she described the interview with Richard Smith.
    “I don’t know how much is useful, but he was amazingly good-looking.”
    “You don’t know how much is useful—is about the article. That he was amazingly good-looking is something else.”
    “I know. I can be into a piece, God, Satan, all that deep stuff, and then what I report back to you—”
    “Is that you met an amazingly good-looking guy.”
    “Interesting how shallow I can be,” and they both burst out laughing.
    She had a couple of questions for Cummings after speaking to Richard Smith. She called and left a message and he returned the call.
    “Ms. Delaney, Randall Cummings.”
    “Mr. Cummings, thanks for calling back. A couple of things I wanted to pin down. To be clear about it, your Satan, is that Satan as a concept or do you believe it’s an in-the-world Satan? A living Satan?”
    “Satan lives, darling. Watch the news any day of the week.”
    “Are you familiar with Anton LaVey?”
    “Of course.”
    “Do you see any similarities—”
    “None,” he said sharply. “LaVey courted celebrities. He was part of the Rock-and-Roll Sixties. I have working people in my congregation and they’re well served by their church in their lives.”
    “Could you tell me again why?”
    “For people who feel they’ve been overlooked in society, who don’t live off the spoils of Wall Street or social class, my church gives them safe haven and a level playing field. Did you get that?”
    “I did.”
    “We are who we are and we’re proud of it.”
    She spent another two weeks writing the piece, trying to balance a straight reportorial position describing Cummings, his ritual and philosophy, with her own feelings, that there was something sad in people feeling so besieged and disenfranchised that they were attracted to his church, which was essentially exploitive.
    She was responsible for handing in about three thousand words and when she had a workable draft she passed it by Nancy, who liked it very much but thought by saying Cummings was as profound as children’s Halloween drawings Ronnie wasn’t going to win the Dark Angel Woman of the Year Award.
    Importantly, her editor liked it with just a few minor word changes. “Satan on 129th Street” ran in the May 2, 2005, issue of New York magazine. Cummings was shown in color on a full page, wearing his black hooded robe, posed at the lectern in the church, his piercing eyes straight ahead in a forceful look that said, I’ve got The Answer.
    Ronnie was careful to get Cummings’s quotes straight, but not to sell memberships for the man. She made her comparisons to Anton