THE CURE CRISIS
CHAPTER
ELEVEN:
THE CHURCH
.....................................
The booming voice of the priest bellowed out, "Since the days of the Last Administration, and the revelation that the Iran-Israeli Crisis of 2014 declared the official end of the Church Age; have we all struggled for meaning in our lives!”
Matthew Daniels had grown up listening to such religious propaganda his entire life. It seemed that every eight to twelve months, with the revelation of the latest “New Light” a new pet word or catch phrase was being ushered into everyone‘s vocabulary. The old, out-of-dated phrases became a warning sign to the Faithful that a believer had gone astray. Therefore, non-believers were easy to spot. The rhetoric of terminology had changed over the years, but the theme remained the same: The Church was always on some razor’s edge of being snuffed out. For persecution was a constant threat to stand up against.
The High Bishop continued his call to the faithful with, “It was then that The Great Tribulation of the Saints began, and the flood gates of hell themselves were thrown open wide!" The speaker's voice rose as Amen resounded throughout the sanctuary's audience. Accentuating a gesturing hand in the air, the ornately robed figure behind the lectern added, "Yet - yet, with the advent of the Emulator in our midst came the manifestation of the long prophesied Day of Resurrection of the true believers. The spiritually destitute have been revitalized into the Global Order of this gathered Brotherhood today. For only with the acceptance of this Divine light is there any hope beyond the sin of natural death. Salvation is found only in the surrendering-release of the broken spirit, and only in His True Church!"
The Lee-Roberts device had become a fixture in every Church, and almost as ubiquitous as the Crucifixion itself. Its use was as common as the collection plate. Everyone knew that, more than 12 units, (which equated to 12 years of an extended lifespan), caused a permanent side effect on the human body with its discoloration of the eyes. It became the sign that a true Christian had indeed been “born again”. For the physical mark of jaundiced eyes was an undeniable evidence of an inward spiritual change. Sure, you could deny you ‘belonged’ to the Church, but the assumption was always there. Yes, Satan had his counterfeit organization in the guise of the Underground’s misguiding’s, but it was The Church alone that could save one’s immortal soul; via the Emulator.
Mathew had believed so much of the official, ever-changing doctrine for so long without question as a child; but, over the last few months he had begun reading the Scriptures himself. Strange the difference he began noticing in his own head space of thinking. It was beginning to dawn on him that the context of reading really seemed to vary drastically from what he had heard in Sanctuary all of his life. For the more he read the more the message of the Church seemed to be beyond disturbing to him. At times it was just downright dishonest.
One day, while passing along an alley way, one he had been down a hundred times before something caught his eye as if for the first time. A worn and tattered poster of Smokey the Bear had been plastered on the vandalized brick wall squeezing the two buildings close together. Its fading, bold print caption still read: ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT remained; the phrase “Forest fires” had been ripped off. The badly stained poster underneath it was in even worse condition pasted over yet another copy of the same. But it got Matthew to thinking, and the first thing that came to him was, ‘If not me then who’ is going to bring any change to the Church?
From that moment onward Matthew Daniels had begun finding himself in troublesome conversation in his Church circles. After the Sermon-talks on Sunday morning he would ask his own myriad of growing questions during the Study period instead of answering the stated ones. The frustration of his peers mounted as they tried to fill in all the holes with “proof-text” doctrines that only lead to even more questions in Matthew’s aching head.
Then one
day the stomach churning realization struck Matthew undeniably when an Elder,
Jonus Neardan said, “Need to be careful with all the questions Matt, some folks
may think you’re becoming an Apostate.” Truth of the matter hit him square in
the face. He was an Apostate. Death was
now on his heels.THE CHURCH
.....................................
The booming voice of the priest bellowed out, "Since the days of the Last Administration, and the revelation that the Iran-Israeli Crisis of 2014 declared the official end of the Church Age; have we all struggled for meaning in our lives!”
Matthew Daniels had grown up listening to such religious propaganda his entire life. It seemed that every eight to twelve months, with the revelation of the latest “New Light” a new pet word or catch phrase was being ushered into everyone‘s vocabulary. The old, out-of-dated phrases became a warning sign to the Faithful that a believer had gone astray. Therefore, non-believers were easy to spot. The rhetoric of terminology had changed over the years, but the theme remained the same: The Church was always on some razor’s edge of being snuffed out. For persecution was a constant threat to stand up against.
The High Bishop continued his call to the faithful with, “It was then that The Great Tribulation of the Saints began, and the flood gates of hell themselves were thrown open wide!" The speaker's voice rose as Amen resounded throughout the sanctuary's audience. Accentuating a gesturing hand in the air, the ornately robed figure behind the lectern added, "Yet - yet, with the advent of the Emulator in our midst came the manifestation of the long prophesied Day of Resurrection of the true believers. The spiritually destitute have been revitalized into the Global Order of this gathered Brotherhood today. For only with the acceptance of this Divine light is there any hope beyond the sin of natural death. Salvation is found only in the surrendering-release of the broken spirit, and only in His True Church!"
The Lee-Roberts device had become a fixture in every Church, and almost as ubiquitous as the Crucifixion itself. Its use was as common as the collection plate. Everyone knew that, more than 12 units, (which equated to 12 years of an extended lifespan), caused a permanent side effect on the human body with its discoloration of the eyes. It became the sign that a true Christian had indeed been “born again”. For the physical mark of jaundiced eyes was an undeniable evidence of an inward spiritual change. Sure, you could deny you ‘belonged’ to the Church, but the assumption was always there. Yes, Satan had his counterfeit organization in the guise of the Underground’s misguiding’s, but it was The Church alone that could save one’s immortal soul; via the Emulator.
Mathew had believed so much of the official, ever-changing doctrine for so long without question as a child; but, over the last few months he had begun reading the Scriptures himself. Strange the difference he began noticing in his own head space of thinking. It was beginning to dawn on him that the context of reading really seemed to vary drastically from what he had heard in Sanctuary all of his life. For the more he read the more the message of the Church seemed to be beyond disturbing to him. At times it was just downright dishonest.
One day, while passing along an alley way, one he had been down a hundred times before something caught his eye as if for the first time. A worn and tattered poster of Smokey the Bear had been plastered on the vandalized brick wall squeezing the two buildings close together. Its fading, bold print caption still read: ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT remained; the phrase “Forest fires” had been ripped off. The badly stained poster underneath it was in even worse condition pasted over yet another copy of the same. But it got Matthew to thinking, and the first thing that came to him was, ‘If not me then who’ is going to bring any change to the Church?
From that moment onward Matthew Daniels had begun finding himself in troublesome conversation in his Church circles. After the Sermon-talks on Sunday morning he would ask his own myriad of growing questions during the Study period instead of answering the stated ones. The frustration of his peers mounted as they tried to fill in all the holes with “proof-text” doctrines that only lead to even more questions in Matthew’s aching head.
No comments:
Post a Comment