The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (78 page)

‘It says here that many of the Jews trying to get out
of the country were shot on the spot.’

‘Serves them right,’ René said emotionlessly. ‘If they want
to nuke the city, it’s better to stop them by any means necessary before they
get a chance.’

‘Yeah,’ Trevor said absentmindedly. Something was amiss
with this picture, and for some reason he wanted to hear Andrew’s opinion on
it.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘Hey, Trev,’ Andrew said. There was
a hint of excitement in his voice. ‘How are you?’

‘I’m fine,’ Trevor said, trying to cut down the
chitchat. ‘Listen bud, the reason I’m calling is to hear your opinion on the
Jews fleeing Israel. It’s quite sudden.’

‘You saw it too, eh?’ Andrew said. ‘I’m busy watching
it on GMN. Exciting stuff.’

‘So what’s up with that? What does your...Bible tell
you about it?’

‘Once again, I cannot tell you over the phone,’ Andrew
said. ‘But it
is
linked to what Victor said in the Temple.’

Trevor sighed. ‘Okay,’ he said finally. ‘We’ll discuss
it on Saturday.’

‘I’ll tell you
everything
on Saturday; I
promise.’

‘You better.’

‘I will. Promise.’

They hung up and Trevor reread the article on the
website. He wondered how this linked to what Victor has said, and even if
Andrew’s answers would be legit. He figured that only time would tell, so he
closed the website and loaded a game.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

South Africa:
Two Days Later

‘And in our studio tonight, we have
two very distinguished guests,’ a well-dressed presenter announced on a GMN
talk show.

‘We’re just in time,’ Trevor yelled to René, who was
still in the kitchen finishing the last touches of her dinner before joining
him in a comfortable position on the sofa.

‘To my left, we have Pope Alexander the Ninth, elected
from Arch Bishop a little over three years ago.’ The crowd clapped and cheered
and the presenter gave them time to finish. ‘And on my right, we have Pastor
Richard Fisher from the Christian Today Evangelical Society.’

‘That’s a mouthful,’ Trevor quipped.

‘Both men are here to debate the...validity...of
President Yoshe’s claim a few days ago in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. But
before we give them a chance to speak their minds, let us view the claim for
ourselves.’

A short video clip of Victor’s speech in the Temple
showed the last few seconds of Victor claiming to be God, and then showed him
leaving the Holy of Holies. Watching it sent a chill through Trevor’s spine,
and he felt uncomfortable. Since the speech, something about Victor bothered
him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it just yet.

‘All right gentlemen,’ the host said, ‘Is President
Yoshe’s claims based on truth, or insanity?’ He pointed toward the pastor
sitting to his right. ‘Pastor Fisher, your thoughts?’

‘When we read the Bible,’ the pastor began his defence,
‘we see that there is only
one
God. We also see that God is divided into
three distinct...persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three
together are God. It is impossible to take even one of them out of the
equation. Thus, you cannot have one man, no matter whom he is, claiming that he
is God; because God is Spirit.’

‘Confusing, but okay,’ the host said, then turned to
Antonio. ‘Your thoughts, Pope Alexander?’

‘Firstly, Pastor Fisher,’ Antonio said and leaned a bit
forward. ‘The book that you are referring to,
the Bible
, cannot be used
as a base for your defence, since it is, in itself, an untrustworthy source.
The alien attacks proved this. Also, it is written with so much double meaning
that
anyone
could interpret it to say whatever they
wanted
it to
say. You only need to look at the various cults and denominations within
Christianity itself, each with their own ‘Bible based’ doctrine to see the
truth behind what I am saying—’

Pastor Fisher cut in without allowing the host to ask
another question. ‘The differences in the various denominations are only to
separate the body parts from one another. The Church is the body of Christ. If
all churches were the eyes, who would speak? If all churches were the nose, who
would hear? They differ in methods of worship and lesser important doctrines
because God knew that each person is unique. But the overall doctrine of God
and salvation stays the same.’

‘Thank you, Pastor Fisher,’ the host said with a
sarcastic bite in his voice. He didn’t like being interrupted, or when people
tried to hijack his show. ‘Let’s stay on topic, shall we?’

Both religious leaders agreed.

‘Pope Alexander, do you believe that President Yoshe is
God?’

‘Absolutely,’

‘In what sense do you mean it when you say that he is
God?’

‘He is the sovereign creator and life force of
everything that exists. He has total control of all events, and this even
includes the weather.’

‘But weren’t
you
the one who made it rain in
Israel?’

‘
Everything
I do,’ Antonio said, ‘I do because
he
enables me to do it.
He
gives me power.’

‘He? As in President Yoshe?’

‘That is correct, yes.’

‘He is a fake,’ Pastor Fisher interrupted, ‘
an
Antichrist!
’

‘My dear friend,’ Antonio said with a sly smile. ‘Did
you not until recently proclaim him to be the Messiah; the Christ?’

Pastor Fisher dropped his head. ‘I...I have,’ he
admitted.

‘And now you oppose him?’

Pastor Fisher didn’t say anything.

‘And if you oppose the Christ...doesn’t that then make
you
the Antichrist?’

‘It’s different,’ Pastor Fisher finally protested. ‘I
was blinded by the lie!’

‘And what makes you think that you’re not blinded now?
That you
were
in the truth, but because of pride and arrogance, you
chose to oppose the one you proclaimed to be the Christ?’

‘That is not so,’ Pastor Fisher defended. ‘The Bible
tells us that there is
one
Christ;
one
mediator between God and
man. There is such a man, but that man is not Yoshe. That man is Jesus. Jesus
alone
is the Christ.’

‘Are we still on about the Bible?’ Antonio said
mockingly and the crowd chuckled. ‘Didn’t I just refute that book of hatred and
lies? Who can take a book seriously that promotes fairy tales, racism, murder,
adultery, and more? That book is an anarchist’s cookbook, and if it were up to
me, I’d have them
all
burned; also those who read it.’

‘It only promotes those things if you read it out of
context. Like you just now said: one can prove
anything
if he reads it
out of context.’

‘You’re taking my words out of context, Pastor,’
Antonio said. ‘I said that the Bible is written with so much ambiguity that you
could make it prove anything you claim; within—or out of—context. If something
good happens, it’s God’s will. If something bad happens, the Lord works in
mysterious ways. Anything and everything can be justified with that book, and
some of the world’s worst atrocities have been committed by using the Bible as
an excuse for doing so.’

Pastor Fisher balled his fists. ‘No matter what the
context, the Bible still perfectly states that Jesus is the Christ.’

‘Speaking of Jesus,’ Antonio said. ‘Wasn’t
he
supposed to be God?’

‘He still
is
God,’ Pastor Fisher confirmed. ‘And
will
always
be.’

Antonio frowned. ‘And where is he now?’

‘He is sitting at the right-hand side of the Father in
Heaven.’

‘And do you think that he could take a minute off his
busy
schedule of sitting around to join us here today?’

The audience cheered and clapped, igniting more emotion
in Pastor Fisher than he had hoped to display.

‘That’s blasphemous! You cannot even suggest something
like that! God doesn’t react to the snap of a mere mortal’s fingers!’

‘That’s because a
dead
‘God’ cannot react at
all.’

The crowd loved it. They cheered loudly.

‘Let me show you how it’s done,’ Antonio said. He
closed his eyes and interlocked his fingers. With a heavy voice – more to mock
the pastor than anything else – he prayed, ‘Oh God of Heaven and Earth, please
take the time to join your servant here today.’

For a few seconds nothing happened, and then, in the
blink of an eye, Victor was standing next to the host. The audience cheered and
shouted at the top of their voices, and some of the girls started crying as
they reached out to him.

The host wanted to calm the people with a stern
warning, but Victor stopped him. He soaked in the cheers and praises, and the
host used the time to arrange for another chair to be placed on the stage. A
few minutes later, Victor was seated next to Antonio.

‘You called?’

The audience cheered again, but this time the host did
calm them.

‘My Lord,’ Antonio said and kissed Victor’s hand.
‘Thank you for gracing us with your presence today.’

Victor just smiled.

Antonio turned to face the perplexed Pastor. It was
clear from Fisher’s facial expression that he didn’t expect
this
to
happen. ‘All right Pastor,’ Antonio said. ‘I have called on the God of Heaven
and Earth, and Lord Yoshe appeared. Why don’t you call on your Jesus and make
him
appear?’

The crowd cheered again.

‘It doesn’t work that way!’ Pastor Fisher exclaimed,
still flabbergasted by the sheer presence of Victor.

‘Why not?’ Antonio asked. ‘Because he is incapable of
doing so?’

‘No,’ Pastor Fisher said.

‘Or is it perhaps because he really
is
dead, and
that he isn’t any more God than a tree stump could be regarded as God? Could it
be that his disciples turned him into God so that their troubles and
persecutions wouldn’t be in vain?’

‘No!’ Pastor Fisher shouted out. ‘Jesus has risen! He
is alive!’

‘Says who? Your Bible?’

The audience laughed. Even the host chuckled.

‘I have shown you my God in person. Why can’t you do
the same for me?’

‘Blessed is he who has not seen, yet believes...’

‘Blah, blah,
blah!
’ Antonio made sure that the
audience cheered loudly before continuing. ‘Stop quoting that stupid book of
hypocrisy and give me some scientific facts!’

‘The Bible
is
a reliable source of information!’

The host interrupted the two in order to avoid the
argument from turning violent. He directed his next question to Victor.

‘Sir, with all due respect, did you just wake up one
morning and say, ‘I’m bored. Hmmm, hey! I know! I will be God’?’

The audience chuckled. Victor smiled warmly.

‘I have always been God,’ Victor said. ‘But when I
decided to come down to Earth and lead my people into a new era of peace and
safety, I had the divine side of me hide my identity from my human side until
the time was right.’

‘So you are the proverbial “Almighty God” of the
Bible?’

‘I have never claimed to be Almighty. The Christians
have. They take a Satan-inspired book and twist the words to create this
all-powerful, all-present thing that cannot possibly exist. I am the real God;
flesh, blood, and bone. I have modelled you in my image up to the finest
detail; no spooky or magical advantages for myself.’

‘You liar!’ Pastor Fisher cried out. ‘
You
are
Satan!’

‘Calm down, Pastor Fisher,’ the host warned the fuming
Pastor. ‘Or I will have you escorted from the set.’

‘Do you see the rage that these Christians advocate?’
Victor asked calmly.

The audience agreed verbally.

‘Are you disappointed?’ Victor asked Pastor Fisher.
‘That I am not the Almighty, all-powerful, all-present
creature
that you
have proclaimed me to be all these years? Can you not see me as your God,
because of your preconceptions of how I am
supposed
to be according to
your own, personal views?’

‘If you’re God,’ Pastor Fisher sneered, ‘then I’m the
Virgin Mary!’

‘Terrible news, ol’ chap,’ Victor said with a grin that
oozed of mockery. ‘Mary had twelve children. She is no more a ‘virgin’ than
your very own mother.’

This finally pushed Pastor Fisher over the edge and he
jumped up and stormed toward Victor. The host tried to stop him, but couldn’t.
Someone in the audience shrieked, but Victor just sat there, calmly looking at
the man charging toward him. When Pastor Fisher was almost upon him, Victor
merely lifted his hand and an invisible force flung Pastor Fisher back through
the air, sending him crashing back into his seat with a sickening
crunch
.