A Future History of the United States

Tim reacted as if he had been hit a physical blow. He stepped back two steps and collapsed onto his bed. “You’re lying!” he whispered. “I don’t believe it. They can’t take my property just like that. They can’t take Jane and Billy away!”

“I’m sorry Tim, but it is true,” said Ron. “Explain the process to him, Claude.”

Claude walked over, sat down next to Tim and put his arm around his shoulder. He could feel Tim shaking violently. “As Ron says, it is true. This is just the type of injustice we are fighting. Once someone has been accused of heresy, they are presumed guilty. They are treated as guilty. The Church claims the bulk of his or her property and gives 10 per cent back to the accuser.

“With this kickback going to anyone who accuses another of heresy, and provides even the slightest bit of information to support the accusation, there is an extremely strong incentive to turn on your best friend. Since the Church won’t tell the victim the name of the accuser there is no way to even know exactly what you have been accused of doing wrong.

“This is not the way it has always been, though the Church would like us to think it is. But this has happened before. There is an old saying among true historians. ‘Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it!’ It seems we are now repeating a time of history known as The Inquisition.”

Ron spoke up again, “You said you were a good student in your history classes in school. Did they teach you about The Inquisition?”

Tim’s expression was blank. He slowly shook his head and muttered, “I’ve never heard that expression. Just what does it mean?”

Claude responded, “First you need to know a little more about the early Church. Jesus spent about three years traveling with and teaching the Twelve Apostles. Much of His teaching can be boiled down to two words, ‘Love’ and ‘Forgiveness.’ At one point, when asked how many times we should forgive someone, He said we should forgive ‘seventy times seven.’ The idea here is that there should be no end to our forgiving others, just as there is no end to God forgiving us. We simply need to ask Him for forgiveness.

“In the early Church they tried to have complete unity among the disciples. Of course, people were people then just as they are now. As a result there were occasions when they disagreed, or when someone did something definitely wrong. In these cases they looked for guidance to the teaching of Paul where in Galatians 6:1-2 he said ’Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.’

“They didn’t throw them in prison, torture, or kill them. They did their best to bring them back into the fellowship of the Church. As time went on things changed. The Church gradually accumulated a burden of observances and doctrines which the early Church would have never recognized. It seemed each generation added more and more rules to be observed.”

Claude looked at Tim. “I know you just had a great shock. You just want to know what you can do and how can you help Jane and Billy. It may seem to you that I am just rambling but this information is important. You cannot really understand just what we are up against if you don’t understand how we got here.”

Ron interrupted “Unfortunately, right now there is nothing you can do to help them. If you were to get out of here and try a rescue, you would simply wind up as another burnt offering to the Church’s greed.”

Claude resumed his instruction, “I believe I said before that the early Church, being a distinct minority, suffered under severe persecution. There is an old expression that I really like. It goes like this, ‘How a minority, achieving majority, hates a minority!’ Unfortunately this is what has happened to the Church of today.

“During the first six centuries new questions about the ‘here’ and the ‘hereafter’ were raised. Those who held positions of authority in the Church enforced their opinions as ‘orthodox.’ Opposing opinions were, of course, heresy. Each year this division became more and more pronounced. By the first part of the second millennium the Church had gained a position of control over both the religious and the civil portions of society.

“With this newfound superiority, and with over a thousand years of accumulated traditions, the Church lost sight of its true purpose. Rather than teaching people the ways of Christ with its emphasis on love and forgiveness, it tried to control every aspect of life. Controversies on minor points were magnified to the point where men believed that those who disagreed with them on any point were not Christians.”

Claude went on in what Tim was coming to think of as his “lecturing” voice. “Then, as now, wealth and power were corrupting influences and the Church leaders were not immune to their attraction. Any stubborn individual who questioned the dogmatic accuracy of the priest or bishop was a traitor to the Faith. If they could attract followers then they threatened revolution so it was in the interest of the Church to silence them before the situation could get out of hand.

“Anyone who succeeded in gaining enough of a following in resisting the influence of the Church was a threat to the Church’s total authority. As a result they were treated as worse than the vilest of criminals. It made no difference how minor the issue being debated might be. Anyone who did not follow the ‘official’ doctrine of the Church was labeled a heretic.

“Some of the early Church fathers found this problematic. Tertulian, one of the Church fathers from the late second and early third centuries, was a strong defender of the freedom of conscience. He argued that it was wrong to enforce religion, saying that God desired only worship which comes from the heart, not something forced from without.”

Both lunch and dinner were brought to Tim’s room as Claude continued his exposition on the history of the early Church. Tim noticed that Claude never referred to any notes yet kept everything in logical order with an abundance of detail. Trying to absorb all of this information made Tim feel his head was going to explode. Finally, when Claude paused for a few seconds he said. “This may all be true, but how can it help me and my family? I can’t just sit here and do nothing. I have to try to find them!”

Ron spoke up again, “As hard as it is for you to accept, there is nothing you can do by yourself now that will help them. All you can do right now is to learn as much as you can of what we are trying to teach you. You cannot really understand the situation in the Country today unless you know how we got into this situation.”

He walked over to where Tim had left the paper thin computer on the desk and pointed to one of the symbols near the top center of the sheet. “Just touch this icon and all the information Claude has gone over will come up for you to read. To move it forward a page just touch it near the right hand edge. To back page touch the left hand edge.” Making sure Tim was watching he demonstrated each action.

“When you get tired of reading, you can close it out by touching it at the center of the bottom. Next time you touch this icon it will come right back to where you left off.”

Motioning to Claude he said, “I think we’ve given him quite enough to think about tonight. We should let the poor fellow try to get a good night’s sleep.”

After they left, Tim sat down in front of the computer, intending to just see if he could make it work as Ron had indicated. Once he started reading, he found the information so interesting he lost all track of time. He soon read the portions that Claude had been explaining, and then he came to a section titled “The Inquisition of the Middle Ages.”

As he read this section he felt as if he had been transported back in time. The parallels to the current day were almost unbelievable. The way the Church claimed complete control over the soul and conscience, the fact that no one could hope for salvation unless they were totally obedient to all the teachings of the Church, and the fact that the Church leaders had reached the point of spiritual despotism fit his experience with the present day Church completely.

As he continued to read, he found the same secrecy protecting those who accused others of heresy, the same presumption of guilt, the same isolation to get the accused to confess, the same confiscation of property by the Church, and so many other similarities he felt like he was reading a book on current events rather than on history some one thousand years old.

Tim was beginning to get sleepy and was about ready to quit reading when he ran across something that made his blood run cold!

In a list of things punishable by life in prison in solitary confinement he found listed: “Guilty of being suspected of being a heretic.” He recalled the words of the Archbishop at the conclusion of his first hearing, “Some time in confinement on limited rations with no one to talk to but himself should suffice to bring about his repentance. Meanwhile begin the process to confiscate his property in the name of the Church. Let the records show that on this fourth day of July in the year of our Lord 2121, Timothy Michael Roberts stands guilty of the crime of being suspected of heresy against the Church.”

It was clear. No proof was required. Simply being suspected of being a heretic was sufficient to send him to prison for life. Having experienced a short time in the Rehabilitation Facility he, knew that should he be recaptured and sent back, it would be a short life indeed. With this thought in mind he fell into bed. I don’t really know if Ron, Claude, and their friends here are right or wrong, good guys or bad guys, but whichever they are, I will do all I can to help them. So I guess I am a rebel now, too.