The Adventures of Mephistophiles

What was wrong with good old fashioned magic? Many plagues have been practically eliminated. The human race has more leisure time and amusements through the inventions brought about by the application of scientific discoveries. Many superstitions have been almost eliminated. In the western nations, the difference between rich and poor is becoming minuscule."

"Ah, but master. By eliminating diseases, the population of earth has increased exponentially. As a result, many more souls will do evil and be sent down here at their death. And look how the weapons of war have been improved, bombing from the air, tanks, automatic guns of every sort, grenades, flame throwers, poison gas and the best are yet to come, atomic bombs, biological and chemical weapons, guided missiles, doomsday machines. And think about the pollution of the earth that has been brought about by such things as automobiles, plastic, chemical residue from factories, oil spills. Also, look at the power put into the hands of evildoers, automatic handguns, hand held missile launchers. Why even passenger airplanes can be used by terrorists as weapons to kill thousands. Science has invented devices to corrupt people's morals, the motion picture, comic books, television, video tape, computer games, the Internet. Why the latter alone is swimming in porn, scams and advertising."

"By golly, you're right. Now that I think about it, you're doing a bang-up job. Keep up the evil work."

And he did. But, although cosmologists had theorized the big bang, dark matter, and black holes, and the theory of evolution was generally accepted, many of God's secrets were still hidden. "If I only knew them," Mephistopheles muttered to himself, "why I could spread evil throughout the universe."

The End