The entire midweek meeting followed the theme “Keep the Gathering Clean.” A discussion of the article that so worried Matt and Samuel started the meeting. The first paragraph set the tone, “if you know of sin or wrongdoing in the Gathering and do nothing, you share in the sin yourself. When we become aware of sin, a properly trained Christian conscience moves us to correct the problem. Speak to the person involved, tell them they must approach the Servants with the matter. If they do not do so in a reasonable space of time, you must make a report to your Servants.”
Samuel paid more attention to the audience than the study program. The people around him all nodded, agreeing with the message. Although not new information, he didn’t think he’d ever heard it stated so plainly. He’d known his entire life that Disciples must report problems to the Servants. But some Disciples, who wanted to avoid turning in good friends or family, found room in the rules to avoid doing so.
This article left no more wiggle room. As Caleb read it, The Apostles flatly declared that Disciples who ignored the requirement to report sin, were themselves now subject to review by the Servants. This left no doubt the Servants would Cast-out a person that failed to tell what they knew.
“Matt and I were right,” he thought, “we’re in North Korea.”
The last part of the Gathering contained another surprise.
“Beginning in May, only baptized Disciples and their children who live at home may attend midweek meeting. Bible studies that make enough progress in becoming Disciples may attend when approved by the Senior Servant. The Apostles will announce more details soon.”
That announcement created considerable reaction in the audience. A buzz rippled through the Gathering House. It was hard to gauge just how the Disciples took the news. Samuel found out quickly after the meeting ended. A small mob surrounded Caleb, a few who didn’t want to wait to see him pigeonholed the other Servants. Several asked questions about how their unbaptized Bible Studies could qualify to attend. One woman asked about her adult son, not yet baptized, but he’d been coming to Gatherings with his parents recently.
He told all of them what he knew, which was next to nothing. “We’ll hear explanations in the first part of May. I know that means waiting a couple of weeks, but I’m sure it will make sense.”
The woman asking about her son nodded, “Of course we must wait on The Lord, all things in due time.”
She wandered away, obviously content to wait until The Lord threw stone tablets down from heaven. Were all Disciples this unconcerned with their religion? Had he been this blind to reality? Major changes raised many questions, and she was happy to wait to find out if the religion would accept or reject her child.
**
On Friday night, following that midweek meeting, the Servants met for the usual monthly meeting. Caleb noted Luke’s absence as he had another matter to investigate.
“More trouble at South Hill?” Sergei asked in jest.
“No,” Caleb snapped, “and that’s not funny. We’re still dealing with fallout over there, and now he has to chase down a Servant in Moscow, Idaho who didn’t properly store the Gathering’s records. It might endanger the word if Outsiders get their hands on personal information.”
Again, no one worried about the individuals involved. Protecting The Word and the Apostles assumed supreme importance.
Caleb went on to explain that he had important matters to discuss, he wanted to get the routine affairs of the Gathering handled first. Samuel thought of asking him what he meant by “we’re” still having trouble at South Hill. That sounded like strictly like a problem for the Area Servant. But Caleb and Luke were thick as thieves, no doubt Caleb thought he had nearly as much authority.
The meeting went smoothly, although clearly most of the men had trouble keeping their minds on topics at hand. For once, the Gathering wasn’t conducting any reviews. The Johnson’s, Cast-out two years earlier, had written a letter to New Jerusalem asking to have the decision reversed, based on a change in policy. New Jerusalem turned them down because their sin was failure to obey the understanding at the time.
Samuel only half heard the comments. He believed the matter involved sexual conduct between husband and wife. He wondered, if he’d been on the original committee would he have voted to boot them? He hoped he’d have had the sense to say it wasn’t the Servant’s business, but he honestly didn’t know. At the time, he did not question instructions from New Jerusalem.
Usually, the accounts report went quickly. This time Caleb spent extra time going over every number. He annoyed Allen Jefferies, the supervising Servant, by double-checking his addition and subtraction through the entire report. When Al complained, Caleb told him to be quiet, he’d find out shortly why this was so important.
After a few other typical items, Caleb said he had another important message from New Jerusalem. The Apostles, acting through staff at headquarters, would exercise greater control of the Gatherings. In particular, finances merited extra attention.
“What a minute,” Sergei interrupted, “when they put in that fancy communication equipment they said we’d still run things locally.”
“And we will. As Servants, we’re still responsible for the well-being of the Gathering. We still have control, but we will report our actions in more detail.”
“Information equals control,” Samuel said casually.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Sergei added, “they’re going to give us more paperwork and less authority.”
Caleb insisted that wasn’t the plan. A couple of the others agreed with Sergei, New Jerusalem wanted to hand them the short end of the stick. Caleb said he’d been in extensive talks with Luke on the matter. Benjamin jumped in and asked why Caleb didn’t keep the rest of the Servants informed. His answer seemed lame, he claimed that all the Area Servants and New Jerusalem took time to hammer out the details. When they finished, the Servants would learn the new policies and procedures.
“This is a big change. Our Gathering is hardly alone. Many other Senior Servants took part in working all this out. It wasn’t done without input from the locals. I am convinced that New Jerusalem knows what it’s doing.”
The grumbling continued as Caleb outlined the details New Jerusalem sought. It issued new report forms, with detailed instructions. The groans increased when Caleb told them everyone needed to learn every form. The Apostles didn’t want to hear that information was late because the responsible Servant was ill. Samuel doubted the Apostles were going to read all this paper coming in from thousands of Gatherings all over the world.
But, in his experience, the faceless bureaucrats loved to throw their weight around. It was their chance to be somebody important. Eventually the meeting wound down. The Servants left complaining about the extra work, Samuel left wondering why the sudden changes. He suspected that New Jerusalem used the furor to get the Disciples fired up for whatever they planned for the next year.
But that didn’t explain a sudden load of extra work dumped on the Servants. The average Disciple would never know about tonight’s meeting and the fresh reports. He could see no benefit to loading the Servants with extra work. New Jerusalem needed the Servants, no matter how many reports they wanted, Servants provided the local control.
Once again, he started thinking about resigning from the Servant Committee. It would upset Judith, who saw it as a step down. If they followed the rules, David going to college should disqualify him. He could leave on his own, or get kicked out.
He returned home in funk. He had too much going on. His research now had him convinced he’d allowed his religious leaders to twist his ability to think. What they said and what they did, didn’t line up. He wanted to believe, in fact he did believe most doctrinal teachings. What he didn’t believe was that twelve men in Seattle should rule every part of his life.
He worried about Judith. He feared all the changes going on had trapped into thinking that her problems would disappear in a year. Again, his research caused trouble. He feared the coming year would end in more disappointment, just like 2008. If that year was a guide, New Jerusalem’s slaves would keep marching, chasing an uncatchable carrot. It was no way to live. Why couldn’t it all stop? He would be perfectly content to go to Gathering on Sunday, preach by talking to friends or co-workers when opportunity arose. He would send his son off to college with his blessing. The boy would have a good life, he was sure.
He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life trying to keep up with changing rules and teachings. He most especially didn’t want to spend the rest of his life watching a hundred-fifty people like a hawk, waiting for them to make a mistake so he could punish them. He wanted his life to change.
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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