Samuel slept poorly that night, his mind constantly churning over the weekend’s events. The call from Norm and Luke’s letters painted a disturbing picture of the Word of God Foundation. He listened to Judith, breathing quietly in her sleep next to him. She found comfort in her faith, the sure and certain knowledge that the Apostles spoke for God, and that she would soon see her daughter again. What would happen to her when events shattered that faith?
Getting to work, and focusing on the tasks at hand provided the relief he needed. His employer thought a move eastward might provide the best opportunity for expansion. Samuel spent the morning researching routes and possible business sites in Montana, a pleasant task. He planned to drive to Missoula on Wednesday and look over the area. As he ate lunch, he pondered ways to confirm what Norm Halbert told him.
On impulse, he picked up his phone and called the Spokane Police Department. After bouncing around various departments, he found a record’s clerk that could provide some facts.
“I can only tell you what’s in the public record. The case was dismissed for lack of evidence.” The woman said, “but I’ll add a piece of advice.”
“Okay.”
“You should tell your friends to shut up. We wasted time chasing rumors. Reporters kept calling with new ones, the girl was underage, she was naked, we found booze in the car, we found drugs in the car, it just went on and on. I can’t give a name, but it all started with some local bigwig in your church.”
Samuel thanked her and ended the call. The “bigwig” was almost certainly Luke. Well, there was proof that a good portion of Halbert’s story rang true.
Until now, he had arranged his life around The Word of God Foundation. It formed the basis of all his actions, family and friendships. He pulled out a piece of paper and started jotting bullet points about this new discovery.
The Apostles planned some special event for the fall.
Publicly they expected this event to bring about Armageddon.
Privately they assumed it would fail.
They intended to blame the Disciples for that failure.
As part of that plan, they intended to remove and discredit Servants and Disciples that might oppose them.
That purge included one or more Apostles.
Luke’s letters, Norm Halbert’s comments, and information from the police, proved the purge was underway. That provided good reason to believe the rest of the story was true.
What to do now? He had hoped to resign quietly, ending his duties as a Servant. He would continue to attend Gatherings and take part minimally in Disciple-making. But given what he now knew, he did not think he could share knowingly in a lie.
He thought briefly of talking to Judith about it, but quickly dismissed the idea. She leaned too heavily on her hope of seeing Charlene in Paradise. Her emotion overwhelmed facts and reasoning. Perhaps he could talk quietly to Luke, maybe there was some other explanation. He expected that to cause more trouble, but suspected he needed to confront his brother-in-law.
He decided to call Matt, the only person he felt he could talk to. Matt didn’t answer, so he left a message and went back to work. Five hours later as he left for home, he realized Matt never answered the call. He punched in the phone number, and again left a message, suggesting lunch sometime in the coming week. It seemed odd that Matt didn’t return his calls, but he didn’t give it much thought.
On the way home, he wondered how he could go about talking to Judith. He dreaded the thought of it, he expected she would lose control if he expressed his thoughts. He could think of no reasonable way to tell her about Luke’s letters and his conversation with Norm. He had no doubt that she simply would not believe him.
When he arrived at home, he saw instantly that he could not avoid confrontation. He had not noticed cars, but Caleb and Luke sat in his living room, with Judith. All three looked grim and determined. He managed a weak and unfriendly greeting. Luke simply told him to sit, they needed to talk.
“We’ve all been very concerned about you lately,” Luke said, “and we had a disturbing conversation with Matt Edwards yesterday.”
“I see.”
Luke, clearly speaking as Area Servant and not a family member, ticked off a litany of problems with Samuel’s spiritual condition. He missed Gatherings, his hours in Disciple-making didn’t meet the goals, his preaching lacked zeal, he spent too much time on secular work. Caleb noted that he neglected the spiritual needs of his family, and even intended to let David go to college.
Caleb spat out the last word, like something dirty that he had to remove from his mouth. He went on to list the many things that could happen to a young man in college, drugs, drinking, young women with no morals. How could he let his son go into that environment?
Luke took over again, running through a string of talking points about the discussions he’d had with Matt. He insinuated that Matt’s spiritual decline was Samuel’s fault. The man was a weak Disciple, as a Servant he had an obligation to build him up within The Word, not undermine his faith. Samuel realized that Matt, who’d he’d thought a friend and confidant, had turned him in to the Servants. Some friend, but perhaps it wasn’t his fault. New Jerusalem took priority over friendships and marriages.
“They’re making a case that I’m a danger to the Gathering,” he thought. “Are they going to accuse me of Forsaking the Word?”
They answered his question as he thought it.
“Samuel,” Luke intoned heavily, “we think you may yet regain your good standing with The Word. But you need to start turning around now, there isn’t much time. World events are reaching a climax, commanded by The Lord. We Disciples must be prepared to do our part.”
“I’m curious, because we keep talking about this. What is ‘our part?’”
“Well, at the moment,” Luke answered, “we are not sure exactly. I know the Apostles plan a bold new campaign to begin this fall, what form it will take, they haven’t told us. They may not know. The Lord will provide us with the proper knowledge in His time.”
Samuel wanted share his new knowledge, but this was not the time. He needed to talk it over with Judith first. He decided to stick his toe in the water and see what happened.
“I’ve heard it’s going to signal the start of Armageddon.”
“Where did you hear that?” Luke snapped.
Samuel shrugged and said he heard it at the House, but he couldn’t remember who said it, perhaps a visitor.
“Well we don’t know that, you shouldn’t let rumors undermine your faith.”
“Okay. I also heard that whatever this big event is, it requires cleaning up the Gatherings first, starting with the Servants.”
This made Luke jump, “The Lord always requires clean worshippers. As Servants, it is our duty to present a clean Gathering to The Lord. Do you think we shouldn’t?”
“I think maybe we need to find a better way to do it.”
All three men turned to Judith as she suppressed a sob. “You can’t talk against The Lord’s Word like that. Are you becoming a Forsaker?”
“No, of course not,” Samuel responded automatically.
“Well then, you need to be a good Disciple,” Luke said forcefully, his face turning red, “The Lord doesn’t want or need wishy-washy believers. You’re in or out. That’s it.”
“I need some time to think about it. Can I have a day or two?” Samuel asked sadly, “Maybe if I think about it we can talk about it calmly.”
The other two men looked at each other, Luke nodded. “We’ll get together later in the week.”
Good, he could use the time driving to Montana to think up a plan. He still hoped to hang on long enough to preserve his marriage, if possible. To emphasize the point Judith added a final comment to the conversation.
“I’m not going to live with a Forsaker. If you give up The Lord, you give up me, too.”
“Judith, let’s be rational…”
“I am being rational,” she screamed. With that she stomped upstairs to the bedroom and slammed the door.
Trying to set up a meeting time for later in the week started another argument. Luke and Caleb wanted to talk after midweek Gathering on Wednesday. Samuel said that he would be traveling on business and would attend Gathering in Missoula.
“You need to be here with your home Gathering.”
“Why? I’m not on the program, I can get everything I need attending in Missoula.”
“Because your position is serious, and you need people who know you to get you back on track. I’ll expect to see you there.”
That night, Samuel slept in the guestroom, Judith refused to leave the bedroom, even to eat. He intended to ignore Caleb’s perfunctory order to appear at midweek Gathering. He had a room reserved and appointments set up with real estate brokers to look at possible business sites. He had, in fact, planned on attending Gathering in Missoula. Now he didn’t feel like going.
**
Late Tuesday afternoon, Irene stuck her head in his office, “Can I ask a favor?” Before he could answer, she said she thought her house was on the way to his. If so, could he give her a ride home? She’d had to take her car to the shop and they weren’t done with it. He said he was happy to help. They had a pleasant conversation on the ride home. It turned out her daughter was about to start her second year at Bellevue College, perhaps David could call if he wanted advice about anything. Samuel said he’d pass a message to David, and drove home, without giving it another thought.
**
Wednesday morning he stopped by the office for a final chat with Ski and Mr. Rommer before he left. As he was leaving, he saw Caleb parked across the street. The Senior Servant had his head down, as if studying something or looking at his cell phone.
The area was all business, there were no houses to sell here. Samuel got in his car and fiddled with some papers for a minute, pretending he didn’t see Caleb. He could see him in the review mirror, watching the car.
“He’s spying on me?” He shook his head and looked at the mirror again. “Really Caleb?”
He drove off, watching to see if Caleb followed him. When he got on Interstate 90 eastbound, he started wondering how far he intended to follow. In fact, Caleb stayed with him for an hour and a half, all the way to Wallace, Idaho.
“Must not have much to do today.” Obviously Caleb intended to make sure he did go to Missoula, why? Did they distrust him so much they couldn’t just ask? Did they want him gone so badly they would go to these lengths to get rid of him? Did Caleb want to destroy his sister-in-law's marriage? Mulling over the problems occupied his mind for most of the drive.
He spent a pleasant afternoon looking at several commercial properties with the broker. One building in particular looked like a good prospect. But he’d look at two more in the morning before going home.
When he returned to his hotel room took a hot shower and changed into casual clothing. He walked a few blocks and found a steakhouse. He checked his watch as he ordered, If he hurried he could get back to his room, change and attend Gathering. As he enjoyed his dinner and forget about his problems, he made an unconscious decision to just enjoy a free evening. The restaurant was only half full, after dinner, he ordered a glass of wine and watched a baseball game on the large TV. Later he walked back to his hotel slowly, finding pleasure in the evening quiet. For the first time in weeks, he slept soundly.
The next morning he toured two more properties with the broker. Around noon, he gassed up the car and started for home. Half an hour out of Missoula, he passed a sign announcing a used bookstore offering “100,000 used books.” With his newfound interest in research, he decided to stop and shop. The store occupied a small house packed with from basement to attic with books. He wandered through the narrow aisles, examining titles. He picked out a Bible that had four translations side by side. The only Bible he’d ever read was “The Word of God Translation” produced by the Foundation. His researched revealed many critics said it contained many flaws. He decided to look at another translation to compare.
Nearby, he found a slim paperback called “When Prophecy Fails”* The back cover described it as an academic analysis of responses to failed religious prophecy. Written by three social scientists, it explored the reactions of a religious group to false prophecy. Interestingly, it looked like they found that such an event did not discourage the followers. It sounded a lot like Disciples.
After he made his purchase, he resumed the drive home, using the time to organize his thoughts. He had a bad feeling about whatever the Chief Apostle planned for the fall. He expected the fallout from another failed prophecy to crush his wife. He wanted no part of a society that required its members to spy on each other. Having Caleb following him was just plain wrong.
That was it then, he no longer wanted to be a Disciple, he wasn’t sure if he wanted any religion. David would go to college, that was good. Judith would leave, his marriage was over. He had to accept that, or live as a hypocrite. Perhaps when the Apostle’s scheme failed, he could support her somehwow. At least that gave him a goal.
Armageddon’s Slaves © Jeffrey Thomas All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. All events and characters are
products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living
or dead is purely coincidental
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