The Last Day (37 page)

“My authority is of the Father, as is self-evident in His words that I speak. Your conscience confirms my credentials!”

Di Concerci didn't hesitate. “Then I must wonder at both your authority and your credentials,
Prophetess.”
The cardinal affected his pronunciation to establish his skepticism for the benefit of the audience. “Your words raise doubts and my conscience senses little.”

“How can you understand if your heart is hardened?” she asked. “Those with most to lose, give least!”

Unaffected, Jeza's inquisitor pressed his attack. “You would have that the Church no longer celebrate the Mass? You would halt the sacraments? Deny spiritual comfort to the disconsolate, the sick, the dying?”

Jeza looked annoyed. “The Lord commands that you abolish liturgy and ceremony, the trappings that distract people from His true meaning. Abandon rites and rituals and devote this time to the service of man in the Lord's name!”

“But,” one of the Mormons on the panel pleaded, “the sacred practices of our religions hold great meaning and comfort for our congregations. There would be much sorrow and confusion over the loss of our spiritual communality.”

“I say to you,” she responded quickly, “there will be far greater sorrow for those whose souls are unprepared for the judgment of the Lord! Maintain your communality in charitable service to your fellow man, and interfere not with the communality of God.”

This talk of Judgment Day set the agitated assembly on further edge.

Nevertheless, di Concerci was not intimidated. “You claim that it's God's will for the organized religions of the world to disassemble themselves and you cite the Apostle Matthew to support your contention that God wishes man to isolate himself in matters of spirituality. Your interpretation, however, contradicts Matthew eighteen, verse twenty, which says: ‘When two or more are gathered together in My name, I am in their midst.’”

“By your very words do you prove me,” the Messiah responded. “This passage praises
cooperation in the performance of good works in Christ's name
—and
not
communal prayer!”

Between each exchange, the angst flowed in tense conversation through the crowd.

The elderly, bespectacled Rabbi summoned the courage to ask, “My Lady, are you a prophetess? The only begotten Daughter of God? The Sister of Jesus and Muhammad?”

“I am as you say,” she responded.

He followed up, his voice quavering, “Are you the true Messiah of the Jews?”

“I am the Messiah of the Jews and of all people, everywhere.”

Di Concerci thought he saw an opening. “So, you proclaim to be the promised Messiah? How is it then that
nowhere
in the Bible is there ever to be found a prophecy pertaining to a
female
Messiah? You
are
female, I presume?”

There was anger in her voice. “I am as God has made me. And the truth of who I am is indeed in the Bible. If you desire to find the truth, you must look with your heart, not your eyes!”

“Messiah,” the evangelical on the panel cried, “I truly want to assist God in spreading His Holy Word. Is there no way I can continue my work?”

“In this manner shall you spread God's Word,” she replied: “To all you meet, give the writings of the Koran, the Talmud, the Veda, the Avesta, the Old and New Testaments of the Bible—all the great spiritual texts of the world. God's message is in all of them. But do not interpret God's Word for others, for mat is how the corruption begins.”

“Messiah?” It was the representative of the Presbyterian contingent. “If there is to be no more collective study of the scriptures, no more theologians and no more dialogue among religious scholars, do we not limit man's ability to understand the mind of God?”

Jeza softened in her response. “It is still possible for you to commune with your fellow man about the mind of God apart from the scriptures. Let the earth be your catechism. You were given this world, and in it, everything you need. Once you crawled upon its face, ignorant animals. Then God spoke to you and you began to grow. From this earth you fashioned clothes to cover you, fire to warm you, tools to ease your labor and weapons to protect you from the wild beast.

“In this earth is everything you require to complete your journey. All the materials necessary to satisfy your physical needs. To heal every disease. To travel the stars. So, too, in all these wonders is everything you require to understand the mind of God. In your physics and mathematics. In all your sciences. All the secrets of heaven exist everywhere around you. Commune in
this
manner. And discover!”

Di Concerci narrowed his eyes at this surprising creature. She was certainly not what he had expected. While previously recognizing her to be a destabilizing influence on institutional religion, the prefect had considerably underestimated the magnitude. Standing here in her youthful vigor, so composed, so authoritative, she had summarily demanded no less than the immediate dismantling of two thousand years of sacred Christian heritage. This little slip of a girl!

He dared not concede the battle to her. He had to find a way to throw this apostate off-balance. Pull her into controversy. Somehow diminish the divine stature flooding out from her to the world through these damnable TV cameras. He had to search for weaknesses.

“Jeza, you purport to know the will of God?” di Concerci tried again.

“I
am
the will of God!” she declared, the strong tone returning to her voice.

“Then tell us more of the will of God,” the cardinal began his gambit. “You speak to us primarily in abstracts. Give us clearer answers to better help us solve the world's problems. Give us particulars.”

“When God speaks in generalities,” Jeza responded indignantly, “man hears in specifics. When God speaks with specificity, man becomes obsessed with minutiae and ritual. God has already provided you with all you need to find your way. Look not to God to provide you with particulars. Look within yourselves. For each individual, there are individual answers.”

“But many issues are not merely individual, as you attempt to so simply portray,” di Concerci countered. “You say the churches of the world should no longer define and interpret morality? Who then is to lead the charge on such things as human rights, the death penalty, euthanasia? Tell us,
Messiah,”
a contempt creeping into his tone, “tell us God's will on
abortion!”

Jeza cocked her head to one side and searched the cardinal's eyes.

But di Concerci did not waver. As she hesitated, the prefect's heart leaped. To his knowledge, she had never dealt with divisive, controversial, politically unsavory issues such as this. He'd dragged her off her ancient, biblical turf onto more contemporary, treacherous ground. A light smile played on his lips.

She looked down at him with an expression of anguish, and her first response was a mere whisper to herself which Feldman could barely hear:

“With encircling words shall they set their snares,” she breathed.

Then, in a louder voice, she answered his question to the entire assembly with an allegory that would become known as:

THE PARABLE OF THE ILLICIT CHILD

And the leaders of the opposition came unto Jeza thinking to entrap Her and discredit Her and do harm to Her in the eyes of Her followers, saying:

“Tell us, what is the will of God if a woman should take the life of her unborn child?”

And Jeza said to them:

“Behold, a mother of three young children went forth alone from her home and was accosted by an evil man whom she did not know; and he took her by force and lay with her against her will.

“Now this man was caught and punished, but the woman conceived by him. And her husband, in rage and injured pride, admonished her, saying, ‘Woman, you must remove this unborn child from you for it is not of your husband's seed; it is the seed of evil and uncleanness.’

“But the woman would not, and her husband therefore rejected her and his children, and departed from them. And in the fullness of her time, the woman brought forth a female child and raised the daughter up in love and kindness as if she were of rightful issue.

“Now it came to pass that in the woman's later years she fell into ill health. And the three natural children quarreled amongst themselves, saying, ‘Who of us shall watch after our mother? We have families now ourselves, and are burdened by many obligations.’

“But the illicit daughter said unto them, ‘Did not our mother attend us when we were helpless? And did she not sacrifice for us that our lives would be fulfilling? So must we care for her now as she once cared for us.’

“Yet the other children would not, and like the father before them, departed and contributed not to the care of the mother.

“Then the daughter who was the least of them went to the mother and took her in and nurtured her and cherished her and became a source of comfort and great joy in the mother's old age.

“Now, I say unto you, who was the true and blessed daughter?”

But they would not answer her, and instead asked, “Then you agree that it is wrong to take the life of an unborn child?”

And Jeza responded to them saying, “It is for woman to decide, and it is not for man to judge her. Only woman, and she alone, in her deepest heart, can know the right way. For I say unto you, good can come from evil and evil from good. Therefore choose your way as if you would know the will of God, for indeed, the will of God is within you.” (Apotheosis 24:41–58)

Di Concerci was stymied. By borrowing on proverbs and archaic terminology, Jeza was able to project a convincing messianic image. It was this carefully cultivated demeanor that defied him, not her logic. His Eminence was not accustomed to conceding theological arguments to any man. Much less to a female, one third his age. He refused to yield.

“Perhaps we would be less inclined to misunderstand you,
Prophetess,
if you were to speak in modern English rather than dated biblical constructs.” There was an edge to the frustrated cardinal's voice that even the disciplined di Concerci could no longer hide. “Would you be so kind as to enlighten us about yet another perplexing issue?” His brows arched slightly with his next maneuver. “The Bible tells us that homosexuality is abhorrent in the eyes of the Lord. Do you also condemn homosexuality?”

Jeza again regarded this austere Jesuit from her elevated perch. Again she paused, and again the cardinal's spirits rose.

“It matters not in what custom I speak,” she said, “Truth is truth in any form. If your heart is to misunderstand, you will find a means.” Then, to the general assembly, she continued. “I condemn nothing which God has created in nature.”

With surging confidence, di Concerci rejoined, “But homosexuality is
un
-natural. It is counter to nature. It mocks the natural, sacred act of procreation and the continuance of the species, and is condemned clearly and often in the Bible!”

Jeza shook her head at him like a frustrated parent with a recalcitrant child. “Does your celibacy not mock the natural, sacred act of procreation and the continuation of the species?” Then turning to the general audience, she proclaimed in plain English, “The homosexual is no more responsible for his or her condition than is the person born deaf, or blind, or lame. Homosexuality is as impassive to moral proscription as the dominance of one's hand.

“Homosexuals must find the Lord in their own way, mindful of the Word of God, holding true to heart, injurious to no other, protective of the innocent. Rather than being reviled, homosexuals must be left to pursue their path to God without the interference of the self-righteous.”

Di Concerci was appalled, as were a growing number of other listeners in the audience. For the first time, there were isolated catcalls and jeers.

“What about Armageddon?” the imam on the panel blurted out. “Does your coming truly portend the fulfillment of the Apocalypse, as many say?”

Jeza's face darkened and she closed her eyes. The great hall grew deathly solemn and anxious as it awaited her response.

In a slow, somber voice, the Messiah declared:

“Israel, O Israel, hear my words! Rising up among you now are the false leaders; the betrayers of the prophets. I say unto you, those who would deceive you are in your midst, and the time of despair is at hand. On the battlefield of the shamed shall hypocrisy meet itself. The two-edge sword, Ignorance and Arrogance, shall you wield; sibling shall set against sibling, spouse against spouse, child against parent. War shall you wage on every continent and in every city and in every house, and no family shall be left unscathed. Blood shall you shed in the streets and unto the very temples of the Lord. Death and sorrow shall turn light into darkness, and for three days shall perdition and confusion reign over the land. Even now, the armies assemble and the sides are drawn; the dark hour of dissolution is upon you!” (Apotheosis 24:59–67)

A fearful consternation was developing in the hall, and indeed, throughout the world, where billions bore live witness to the dreadful prophecy. The imam who had broached this terrible prospect was horror-struck and trembling.

“Great Lady,” he sobbed despondently, “is there to be no hope for us, then? Have we all failed Allah so”—he gasped—”so completely? Are we then all to be
destroyed!
”

Jeza opened her eyes and examined the despairing man below her. “Only those who embrace violence shall perish by it,” she said. “Not by weapons but only through your faith shall you persevere. What is to be will be; and the word of the prophecy shall be fulfilled. Amen, amen I say to you, as man has broken his sacred covenant with the Lord, so shall the rock be cleaved; yet from the crevice, the seed of the New Way shall sprout and flourish anew.”

Di Concerci had risen from his seat, his face flushed with indignation. “This is simply too outrageous to accept,” he shouted. “If you wish us to believe you, you must give us a sign. Prove to us that you are who you say you are!”