by T. M. Meek
At the edge of an empty parking lot, Ananias pulled up to park in his shiny black luxury sedan. All of the windows on his sedan were tinted dark black. Once he parked, he quickly dialed a number on his cell phone.
“Yes?” A man’s deep voice answered.
“Did you make the changes I asked you to?”
“Yes. I put some typos in the information Linda Wise handed out to your group. The numbers in the notes about the… hypothetical ‘scroll’… might just be a little tougher to figure out. So unless she made a copy to back up her original information and stored it elsewhere before I got to the one on her computer, she’ll never know the difference.”
“Excellent. I thank you for your services.”
“No problem. Anything else you’d like?”
“I just received an e-mail from Linda. I’m going to forward it to you. Note the list she’s going to get to us next week. Hack her computer and remove from the list the name of the church, the religious organization that I discussed with you earlier.”
“Will do. Anything else?”
Ananias thought deeply for a few moments and then answered bitterly. “Hack everyone’s computer in the group. Make sure they all have the same list. The one we provide without the name of the church I’m referring to.”
“Then what do you want me to do with the vacancy that creates on the list?” the anonymous man asked.
“Move up the other names. Make number twenty-six become number twenty five. Make the churches after the one that’s removed get moved up the list.”
“Gotcha.”
“Funny how those other churches will all have me to thank for their sudden promotion, even though they’ll never know themselves,” he laughed mischievously. The anonymous man simply hung up the phone leaving Ananias to gloat privately over his own strategy to keep the group in the dark. He then dialed another number and another man answered.
“Hello?” The sound of this man’s voice was kind.
“I don’t think they know what they’re looking for.”
“Good to hear from you Ananias,” the man said politely. “So are you going to tell them? Did you want me to snail mail them each their own personal copy of the book?” he laughed.
“Do you actually want to see my church destroyed, Bill?” Ananias asked coldly. He was deadly serious in his question.
“Come on, Ananias. Are you kidding? Look. I know what you’re concerned about and I agree. But just remember there could actually be a scroll out there that they’re onto. It might have nothing at all to do with the book. But if the scroll isn’t a scroll, but it’s really the book, then so what? So even if they did find the book and read it, all you’d have to do is say what a lot of preachers say. Just lie. Say it’s a bunch of crap. Discourage them from ever reading it. You know the drill.” Bill counseled confidently.
“Yes, I do.” He replied coldly. “And it’s that very same drill that’s been discussed today in our little group discussion. They’re figuring it out faster than I expected.”
“Figuring out the drill? Really?”
“Yes, really. They called it a pattern of human history led by the wicked.”
“Holy crap. You aren’t kidding.”
“No…I am not.” He retorted in dark disgust.
“Well, what do you want to do? We can’t burn every copy of that book that exists. The church will just keep printing more copies.
“Linda and her new friends are going to figure out that the book they’re looking for encourages a deeper understanding of the truths of the bible. We’re talking about shedding the kind of light on both the Old and New Testaments that gets rid of any further need for disputations about the teachings of God. Who wants to go to a church that you know is incomplete? Or, in some cases, who would continue attending a church the whole congregation knows is false? No one! We’ve got to stop them.”
“What if we can’t stop them? Look. Just tell them not to read the book if they hear about it. Make up stuff about the book that isn’t true so they won’t want to read it. Lie to them by telling them the book competes with the bible rather than compliments it. Or give them some other B.S. that convinces them the book is meant to replace the bible even though you and I know it isn’t.”
“Have you ever noticed that people continue to disregard the lies and read it anyway?” Ananias was bitter in his sarcasm as he asked how much his phone friend had actually been paying attention to trends over recent years. “It’s one of the fastest growing churches on the planet. There are people willing to learn for themselves rather than just take someone else’s word for it. Then guess what they discover?”
“They discover it compliments the bible.”
“Yes. And what else do they discover?”
“That it destroys our craft.”
“Is that what you want?” Ananias was practically seething with anger as he asked in a very controlled tone.
“Hell no. Why would you even question my loyalty? Look. If you go down, I go down with you. Obviously I don’t want that. We’re talking about a multi-million dollar loss to me. I like my yacht. I like my mansion and my stock portfolio. Just yesterday I bought a collector’s car at an auction for over a hundred grand. I’m not going to let anyone or anything separate me from my prize possessions.”
“Well my loss is greater. It’s more than just the money.”
“I get it. I get it.”
“I’ve got an important meeting later. I can’t be late.”
“Did you want to discuss it before you go? Or is it a need-to-know and invitation only appointment?”
“Yes. It’s closed doors. But I’m not sure if I should tell them what the next group discussion will be about at Linda Wise’s yet.”
“Why not?”
“The next conversation with her group could easily steer them right into the answer they’re all looking for. My work could be destroyed before the time is finished.”
“So steer the conversation in the direction you want. Control the conversation. Place doubt where it benefits us and encourage myths that work to our favor. Easy. By the time they’ve held their last meeting they’ll still be in the dark, typical Christians will still be confused about various things about the bible and we’ll just keep the same old same old confusion stirring in the minds of our congregation and most other congregations. No big deal.”
“That’s why I’m there. But these truths are not easily confounded. Remember, there’s one global congregation that’s not in the dark at all. The truths they know are profound and difficult to dispute.” He then hesitated before adding, “I’m considering simply playing the role of spy for our leader.”
“So just exactly what is it that they are planning to discuss at Linda’s in the next meeting?”
So powerful were the truths Linda’s group were discovering that even Ananias knew that his own evil allies could abandon him upon learning of the truths Linda and her new associates were discovering. So he decided to answer that question with the silence of simply hanging up the phone.
TO BE CONTINUED
Dictionary of Terms : Faith, Financial and Social