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In the 90s I read a collection of short sci-fi stories. One that made an impression on me had the premise of angels fighting humanity to destruction. God had gotten sick of human kind, and like a story out of the Bible or ancient myth, he was killing all humans (again). I believe it was first published in the 70s, but I could be wrong. Certainly before the 90s.

The story was told from the point of view of a priest or pastor (I believe he was a Lutheran pastor, but I could be mis-remembering) who didn't buy the theory that it was angels who were fighting humanity; they were just aliens, and God still loved humanity. He hadn't abandoned his faith.

As I said, it was a short story, and as I recall, the pastor hooked up with a group of people who were on the run to escape the destruction. Over the course of the story, he changed from his religious faith motivating him, to fighting and dying alongside his fellow humans as the basis of his beliefs. A change from believing in an impersonal (and possibly hostile) God to a belief in his fellow human beings.

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This could be Lester del Rey's "For I Am a Jealous People!" (1954). It appeared in several collections, but the most likely place you might have seen it would have been in the anthology The Best of Lester del Rey (1978).

The protagonist, Reverend Amos Strong, is a pastor though I don't believe his denomination is ever specified.

There is an invasion by aliens; at the beginning of the story Strong receives word that his son was killed in fighting on the Moon, and shortly after aliens begin landing a beachhead in a nearby town.

The story begins with Strong preaching a sermon to have faith and trust in the Lord, but over the course of the story it becomes clear that the aliens have replaced humans in the eyes of God, and they have been given a mission to wipe out humanity. At the end of the story, the bookend sermon has Strong preaching the strength and resilience of Man, and that humanity will stand as a worthy opponent to God himself.

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  • Thank you so much! I thought I would never read this again : )
    – user151841
    Nov 19, 2019 at 17:32

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