Honey barbeque, lemon pepper, and hot wings sit in front of us. The wings just look like they are popping with flavor. I pick up a hot lemon pepper wing and sink my teeth into the crispy skin.

  "So where should we start with the lamps?" B-man sits across from me and James. He leans forward and snatches up a wing glistening with barbecue.

  I decide to give him a starting point. "So back at the church I saw this woman who had a red light around her. It sort of reminded me of blood. You took her back to her seat when she tried to join the prayer circle. She was fine."

  "R.E.D." Both James' and B-man's expressions grow serious.

  "She legit had a demon. That's why she was trying to interrupt the process of that man getting saved. R.E.D stands for Really Evil Demon aka poltergeist. I was only able to guide the woman back to her seat without much struggle because that church is always full of God's presence. The demon inside her was weakened because of that." B-man says all this as he chews his chicken. "I don't know if she came to the church to try to get rid of it or the demon wanted to cause problems. Whatever reason she came, her problem has been taken care of."

  "It wasn't easy to do was it?" James asks.

  "I mean these R.E.Ds are people who accept Satan and worship him."

  "Hold on." I interrupt, "These people are Satanists?"

  "Yeah. Kind of. Some R.E.Ds are those who choose to reject God completely and believe their good works should get them into heaven... if they even believe in one." B-man rolls his eyes in exasperation. All this time he is talking, I pick up wing after wing.

  "Man I thought demons can't enter a church or something like that," I muse as I pick up my last wing.

  "Oh no, they come. Mostly because the host is looking to remove the demon. This happens primarily when it is at its weakest state because it ran into a J. Warrior." James grins, "Also known as us."

  "Strong R.E.Ds stay clear of churches most of the time. Sometimes the weakened ones can come in and corrupt the church. It doesn't happen often, but when it does it is because the church was already weak or lukewarm,"

  B-man jumps in. "They will attack the pastors, deacons, choir members anyone in a high position. It's strategic. Attack those who are put on a pedal stool and everything else will fall apart."

  "They're no joke. If you're not doing Pray, Worship, and Reading (P.W.R) aka The Big 3, you can fall hard and backslide." James looks me square in the eyes when he says this.

  "That brings me to the next Lamp. Azure Mist Lamp (AML). Wisdom weakens with every day we don't P.W.R." B-man chews thoughtfully on his wing. "All..."

  "Hold on." I stop him, "Let me go order some more wings and a drink before you continue."

  I notice the bible verses on the wall as I walk up to the counter. Interesting. I didn't see them before.

  The lady behind the counter smiles at me. I notice right away that she has a blue light around her, not an SBL though.

  "Hi! How may I help you?"

  "Yeah. Uh... Is this a Christian restaurant?" I ask pointing to the bible verses.

  "Yes, it is," she confirms with an even wider smile.

  "That's pretty sweet," I nod in appreciation. A sense of tranquility comes over me at the realization. "Okay, I would like your 10 piece lemon pepper wing special."

  She quickly rings up my order and hands me a number and a cup. "We'll bring the order to your table as soon as it's ready."

  When I get back to the table, James and B-man are deep in discussion about R.E.D.

  "Ok guys. What's up with the ABLs?" I ask as I slide back into the booth.

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  "All Christian's lamps change this color at times. In this state, you don't want to face a R.E.D by yourself. There is a high chance that you will back slide."

  "And this slide can take you down a long dark hole. A hole that a lot of people have a hard time climbing out of." James adds.

  "Alright, before you two continue, can you tell me exactly how many lights or lamps there are? I mean, I am seeing all kinds of shades of blue in this room alone."

  My wings come out before could James start listing the different lamps.

  “So basically Christians can only be one of six lamps: Steel Blue Lamps (SBL) aka J. Warriors, Azure Mist Lamps (AML), Carolina Blue Lamps (CBL), Baby Blue Lamps (BBL), Picton Blue Lamps (PBL) aka J. Eyes

  True Blue Lamps (TBL) aka J. Queens

  and J. Kings”

  "There are eleven altogether. You know about the SBLs, AMLs, and R.E.D.s already." Bradley nods as James speaks and then motions around him. "There is one more thing I want to tell you about the AMLs, but first I'm guessing you already noticed this is a Christian restaurant."

  I nod.

  "Good, you are paying attention. I want you to look at the woman behind the counter and the man and the woman in the booth behind me. They are CBLs. They are Christians, but they do enough to get by. They don't really answer the call of the great commission, but they believe in the gospel. They tend to just stay in their lane."

  "Bro, if you wanted a wing you could just ask," I tug my wings away from James as he tries to snatch one. Then I slide it back and let him take one.

  "Thanks, bro." He takes one, paying no attention to what I just said. He pointed the wing to a couple with a baby. "Check out the faint light blue around that kid. He is a BBL or a Baby Blue Lamp. It signifies innocents. You'll see this type of lamp mostly around kids from birth to maybe around twelve." The light in James' eyes dim a little, "The early teens can be BBL, too. It's rare, though. To be honest, kids are losing their innocents earlier and earlier nowadays."

  "How do they even lose their BBL?"

  B-man shrugs and snatches one of my wings.

  I start to protest, but he talks before I can get a word out.

  "Sex. Drugs. Violence. Even pride. I mean I've seen kids as young as four lose their BBL. It all comes down to what they are exposed to."

  For a moment we're all silent. I'm trying to wrap my head around babies losing their innocence when James' head tilts towards the waiter who dropped off my wings. A cool blue surrounds him. It reminds me of the clear blue sky.

  "That light around him is what a PBL looks like. I'm talking about the J. Eyes. They are prophetic and can tell when a battle is taking place. They can't see the different color lamps like us, but they can tell when someone wicked is close in their vicinity. They look almost like the AMLs, but when you get used to seeing the lamps, it will be easy to tell the difference."

  "Do you see the heavyset lady heading to the restrooms?"

  B-man jumps in and repeats James' slight nod to the left.

  I quickly look in that direction and then nod. Her lamp is bright and blue and the most solid form of light I have ever seen. Just that one glance has me feeling like I should sit up straighter or something.

  "She is a J. Queen. She has Job-like faith. Her faith doesn't waver no matter what you throw at her. God is truly her rock. She and the other J. Queens and J. Kings may have questions but they won't ever turn their backs on God."

  "The lamps that you won't see on Christians are-"

  "Wait, I just remembered what I wanted to tell you about AML," B-man interrupts James.

  James stops and turns his attention to B-man. So do I, but not before I pop his hand trying to reach for my last wing.

  B-man focuses on me with intense eyes that got me feeling all kinds of uncomfortable.

  "It's easy to slip into AML. All you got to do is fall into one of the seven deadly sins.

  We call them the Big Seven. Lust. Greed. Pride. Sloth. Anger. Envy. Or Gluttony. In my opinion, gluttony and sloth are easy to shake off, but the others can knock you out of the game before you even realize what is happening.

  I nod, "Aight, I got you, I got you. Now tell me about the rest of these lights."

  "Okay, so we got Silver Lamps, they are people who worship another god, have a different religion or don't believe in God at all. Gray Lamps are agnostic, they believe in something, but they really don't believe in nothing substantial. Black Lamps are wolves in sheep's clothing. They call themselves Christian but they're just simply religious or pretenders. Their lack of relationship is dangerous. There's a White Lamp, too, but it will only last briefly. The bright light you saw at the church is it. That happens when an Angel joined the battle for a soul," James says all this as he pulls his phone out of his back pocket and looks at it.

  I'm guessing he's thinking the same thing I'm thinking: we've been sitting here forever.

  I think B-man reads our minds because he suddenly slides out of the booth and stands up. "Alright," he stretches and grabs his car keys from the table. "It's been real, but I got to get to this shelter and start preparations for dinner. Oh yeah, Jamal, If you are tired of seeing all these lamps around you, just say, 'the truth has been revealed'"

  "The truth has been revealed." Immediately the glowing people around me are no longer assaulting my eyes with their lights.

  "And you couldn't tell me this before?" I ask incredulously and then turn to James. "You either?"

  James just shrugs. "When you want to see them again, just say, 'Let the truth be re-vealed'.

  After B-man leaves, we head out, too.

  "JAMAL!" The shout in my head practically drowns out all sound as I reach the restaurant door.

  I can feel the power of wisdom swell in my heart. "Prepare yourself. She's coming!"