A Future History of the United States

Dinner over, Tim accompanied Thomas to the church office. Once there Tim asked, “Are the doors locked? Is there any possibility of being interrupted?”

“My turn to say ‘relax,’ Tim. When I am in my office, no one dares to disturb me. Everyone believes that’s a sure ticket to an appearance before the Archbishop. The doors and walls of this office have been reinforced to the point it would take a ton of high explosive to break through them.”

“What about the bishop assigned to this area?”

“Even he wouldn’t enter my office without requesting my approval first. Besides, he was just here a month ago. It’s always at least six months between his visits. If I were not fully certain of our privacy, I would have never opened up to you as I did the other day.”

“I’m glad you did. Knowing more about you and how you feel makes my job much easier.” Seeing Thomas tense up, Tim hurried on, “Don’t be concerned. I’m not going to be using that information against you. I will not, repeat will not, be turning you in to the Archbishop. I will be requesting your assistance in some very important jobs I have lined up. This will require your absence from this church for an uncertain length of time.”

“That sounds good to me. I told you I am about ready to either resign or head to a monastery! I think getting away from here for a while will be good for me. As I am sure you know, resigning as pastor of a church is a sure way for a priest to be accused of heresy, or end up in a monastery!”

“Don’t be worrying about those things. If our mission is successful it’s quite likely you will be asked to take on a position with much greater responsibility than you have here, and it will be one where you can keep your conscience clear. That’s all I can say now.

“I have a lot to do to prepare for the Sunday morning service. For now, say nothing to any of your servants. While I am conducting the service Sunday, I want you to stay here in this office. Just before the service we will tell them you will be going with me for a few days.”

Changing topics Tim said, “I noticed all your books look like they just came from the printer. How do you keep them like that?”

“Do you want all the details, or just the highlights?” Thomas replied. Without waiting for a response he continued, “I think the highlights will serve for now.”

“Back in my younger days, before the Church outlawed the study of science, I was a pretty good chemist. My chemistry professor gave me free run of the chemistry lab. One day I accidentally dropped my notebook into a vat of synthetic polymer I was working with. I almost panicked. I was afraid I had lost my notes from a full semester’s work.

“I pulled it out of the vat, shook off as much of the liquid as I could, and then laid it on the back of the bench. The next day I thought I would see if I could recover any of my notes from that book. I picked it up, expecting all the pages to be stuck together. I could not believe it when I started to look through that book. Not a single page was stuck. Not only that, the paper all looked just like new. Somehow the polymer had penetrated the paper and renewed it without affecting any of the printing on the paper.

“Luckily, the last entry in that notebook was the formula of the polymer I was working with.” Pressing the button to open his bookcase Thomas walked over and pulled an item from the top shelf. “Here is that book. Fortunately, everything needed to make that polymer can be bought easily even today. Each time I have acquired another book, I have treated it before placing it in my library.”

The rest of the evening was spent discussing the problems of members of the local church. The problems were those common to all people of all time. Some worried about having enough food. Some were concerned about problems with their marriage. Others had been complaining about long hours of work with no time for their family. Tim noticed that concern about being accused of heresy was conspicuous for its absence from Thomas’ discussion, but said nothing to him about it.

Saturday was spent in preparation for the Sunday service. Tim had several items he needed to prepare in advance and place them where they would be ready when the time came for their use. Before leaving Son City, Claude and Dennis had assured him the items needed would be placed in the church office for him. He had wondered how they could be so sure, but after discovering the secret portal he now understood.

That night Tim could not sleep. He kept mentally going over his preparations. Had he forgotten anything? Would someone in the congregation recognize him? Would there be another bishop or priest as an unexpected visitor in the church? He kept recalling an expression he had heard called Murphy’s Law that says, “If anything can go wrong, it will!”

Sunday morning finally arrived. Tim met Thomas for breakfast, but later could not recall what had been served. Right after the meal he said to Thomas, “Let’s go to the office and spend the time before the service in prayer.”

Tim had brought his traveling bag with him to breakfast. When Thomas asked about it, Tim said they would be leaving immediately after the Church service and he did not want to take the time to return to his room for it. Looking directly at Thomas he said, “You will be coming with me. Get what you need to last you for a few days and bring it to the office with you.”

Once in the office, Tim pulled a well worn Bible out of his bag. Falling to his knees and opening it to Chapter 22 of the Gospel of Luke he read aloud.

“Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them. ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation.’ He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed. ’Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

He laid the Bible aside, “Lord, you have placed this burden on my heart. You know the position I am in is not one that I have striven to achieve. You have put me here. I can do nothing without your strength to aid me. I am fully dependent on your grace and power. Provide me with the wisdom to fulfill this task you have given me”

He then began softly singing. Thomas could not place the melody but the words were:

Take my hand and fill me with your gladness,

Take my hand, Thou Man of Galilee.

Take my hand and lead me through the darkness,

To that Land that I’m longing to see.

Only you can take my soul to Heaven.

Only you can set my spirit free.

Only you can say “You are forgiven”.

Take my hand, Thou Man of Galilee.

I am lost without your heavenly power.

Lost upon life’s lonely, storm tossed, sea.

But with you I’m safe in Heaven’s tower.

Take my hand, Thou Man of Galilee.

Take my mind and fill it with your story.

Take my voice to tell your majesty.

Take my life and use it for your glory.

Take my all, Thou Man of Galilee.

Finishing his song he looked up toward heaven and cried, “Jesus, Man of Galilee, Take My All!”

Rising to his feet he turned to Thomas. “It’s time for the Service. Continue to pray for me. I will come back in here as soon as I finish my final prayer.”

He turned and opened the door leading into the church.

Seeing the crowd assembled in the church he almost lost his nerve. He felt like turning and running away as fast as he could. He looked about him and realized he had only two options; he could go back through the door into the office and admit defeat before he even tried, or he could go on with the program he had so carefully prepared.

After pausing for a moment to regain his courage, he adjusted his bishop’s robe and pulled its hood forward virtually concealing his face. Slowly, and he hoped majestically, he stepped forward into sight of the crowd.

Stopping at the bottom of the stairs leading to the altar, he picked up a small pot suspended from a sling. It had been prepared so the first motion ignited some incense, sending out a sweet smelling aroma. Swinging it slowly, be began to walk down one of the side aisles of the church.

He knew every eye was on him, though the people tried to avoid being caught looking directly at him. Pausing every few steps, he would gently touch someone on the arm or shoulder and recite, “May the Grace of God be with you.” In this manner he slowly circled the congregation. The only sound was the swishing of his robe.

Upon reaching the back of the church, he turned walked slowly down the center aisle, and ascended the steps to the altar. Turning, he looked directly at the congregation. Carefully placing the still smoking pot on the left side of the altar, he reached behind it and lifted a candelabrum holding twelve candles.

Holding this out toward the worshipers, he turned on a microphone hidden in the folds of his hood he started speaking. “This serves a dual purpose.”

The speakers he had carefully placed during his preparation on Saturday did their job. His voice seemed to come from everywhere at the same time. The people, startled, looked around fearfully. Something like this had never happened in this church. Most of them had never actually heard anything the priest said, as his voice would be swallowed up by the immensity of the church.

“It represents the twelve tribes of Israel in the Old Testament.” As he spoke, flames suddenly appeared on all the candles. “It also represents the twelve Apostles in the New Testament.” The flames flared brighter for a few seconds. He sat the candelabrum on the right side of the altar.

Reaching down again, he brought forth a single large candle. This one was split down the center for about half its length. Each portion at the top had its own wick. As he held it aloft flames appeared on both parts. “This represents Jesus Christ.” Setting it in the center of the altar he pointed first to one side, then the other as he said, “Fully God and Fully Man united in one being.”

Tim was being very careful of his timing. Slowly, he stepped behind the pulpit and opened the Bible to the Book of Acts and started reading from the second chapter. “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of the wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” Unnoticed Tim touched a button on the pulpit and the loudspeakers responded with the sound of a strong wind.

Those in the congregation reacted with shock and fear. Seemingly unconcerned, Tim continued reading; “They saw tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each one of them.” He touched a spot on his arm and his hood seemed to erupt in flame. Still unperturbed he went on; “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak as the Spirit enabled them.” The flames on all the candles flared first red, then green, then orange, before settling back to their usual yellow.

By this time it seemed the people were frozen in their places. Tim could tell that most of them wanted to flee, but no one wanted to make the first move.

Tim opened the Bible again and read from the forty-fifth Psalm, “Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear, He burns the shields with fire. BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

“These are the words of God Almighty! He has commanded us to listen to Him. I am merely his instrument. He is using my voice to present his commands to you.”

“In Old Testament times, God’s people had been held as slaves in the land of Egypt for hundreds of years. After God freed them from that slavery, He gave them certain commandments to follow. It is important for us to remember that God still orders us to keep His commandments today.

“We don’t have time this morning to cover all of them, but certain ones must be brought to your attention. In the book of Exodus chapter twenty there is a list referred to as the Ten Commandments. Some of these are violated in this community every day!

“In the Bible the last Commandment includes a long list of people and things but I will shorten it for brevity’s sake. ‘Thou shall not covet anything that belongs to someone else.’ Coveting others property or money has led to many false accusations of heresy, so that the accuser can claim part of his victim’s goods.

“That leads us directly to the next important commandment. ‘You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.’ I will remind you that Jesus said, in effect, anyone living in this same world with you is your neighbor. To accuse anyone of heresy without proof is a direct violation of this commandment.

“And finally, this covetousness and false testimony leads to the violation of the commandment ‘Thou shall not kill.’ Those thus falsely accused will surely die, either from torture, imprisonment under inhumane conditions, or by fire when burned at the stake. When someone dies due to your false testimony, GOD WILL HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE FO THAT DEATH!”

His sermon lasted for another fifteen minutes expounding on the evils of false accusations and covetousness. During this entire time the flame from his hood continued to burn.

Finally he concluded by saying, “I leave you with this thought. The Apostle John said, ’If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’ May the peace of God be with you.” The flame from his hood went out as he bowed his head, said a short prayer, picked up his Bible, and rapidly walked through the door to the church office.

Thomas was standing by his desk with his mouth wide open. He tried to speak but no words would come. Tim looked at him “Well, I lit the fuse. Now we will see how long it takes for everything to explode!”

Grabbing his and Thomas’ travel bags Tim said, “Let’s get out of here.”

Thomas finally was able to get out one word, “How?”

“Just come with me,” Tim said, holding the portal disk out toward the wall. “Someone will be back to get your books. They are more valuable than gold.”

Thomas had thought nothing else could surprise him after what had already happened that day, but when the wall in front of him simply melted away he almost collapsed from the shock. Tim almost had to pull him through the portal. Then it was Tim’s turn to be shocked. Standing there waiting were Ron, Dennis, and Claude.