The Hand of Christ

by Joseph Nagle

  Michael interjected, “But, Dad, how could the Church create a crucifixion that didn’t happen?”

  The elder Sterling through his hands out to the side as if in defeat, and answered, “Michael, as is always the case with time, information becomes distorted, changed, and manipulated. Remember, Judea was a far off state of the Empire. People are malleable Michael; think of what our country has done: weapons of mass destruction, a culture of fear, and the axis of evil. The masses latch on to these messages by their leaders and sit back blindly shaking their heads “yes” while we colonize other countries under the guise of peace keeping missions, or when we invade another nation and call it a coalition or peacekeeping mission. It is absolutely enraging!”

  Michael could sense his dad was about to digress into another topic entirely, “Dad, I see your point, but let’s stay focused on this book. Tell me more about the Crucifixion?”

  “Yes, of course. The Church denied His life and ensured that His crucifixion became fact. Certain problems were easy to fix simply by killing the person that had created the problem. Those that knew the truth were declared heresiarchs and executed, and any documentation that held the truth was destroyed, or replaced with a different version of the truth. Honestly, it wouldn’t have been that difficult. In the first century, Christianity was not what it is today. If the Mormons slowly vanished over a couple hundred years, the people living near Salt Lake City might give it some consideration, but would the rest of the country? How about the world, would future generations?”

  Michael’s thoughts were flowing like a raging river and he said, “They invoked their power just like they did with the Crusades and the Inquisitions. They fabricated reality and forced it down everyone’s throat.”

  “That’s right. The majority of the world was illiterate; don’t forget about the dark ages: that time period saw a large portion of the population killed from the plague and a complete regression of intellect. Honestly, cementing religious lies would have been rather easy. Over time, lies became truths, and were concreted into the stories told from one generation to the next. Eventually they became written into the greatest piece of fiction ever published.”

  He knew just what his Dad was referring to, his whole life his father complained about it, “You mean the Bible don’t you, Dad?”

  “Of course I do. The greatest myths ever told. No body or gravesite for Jesus? That’s okay. Just tell them He rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven; forget that the story was borrowed from an older Pagan religion. It eliminates the need to answer unnecessary questions, placates the populace, and makes Him like God. The divinity of Christ became the core of the Church’s theology but was devious in its true intention: to be used to control the people.”

  “Make them believe that any resistance is a worthless action,” Michael said. It was just like an interrogation technique taught to Michael. Create an atmosphere of futility, make the person just give in because they believe that they have already lost; that there is nothing they can do.

  “Michael, the Church appeased the need for the growing population of Christians to want answers for the “why's” and the “how's” that couldn’t be answered. Do you see that lightning? That’s God! Struck by a great plague or disease? That’s God again, He’s punishing you! In reality, the Church simply needed a way to control the growing flock, to control their expanding territories and sources of wealth. What better way to make sure your only source of income is protected than through divine fear?”

  Michael could see the connection, “Keep them under an umbrella of fear, but, at the same time, tell them everything will be alright and that it will all be worth it. Heaven waits.”

  “That’s right, my boy, tell them what they want to hear: everlasting life, nirvana, or a room full of virgins, it’s all the same. It’s an age old methodology used by every corrupt leader in history and of today.”

  Looking at his watch, Michael was starting to grow impatient. He had to speed things up. Sonia would start to wonder where he is. Michael asked his father, “If Clovis reclaimed the kingdom by presenting the proof of the Apocryphal, what happened? How do we get to today?”

  “A couple of centuries after Clovis ruled the Empire, his heir, Dagobert, was assassinated by the Church to sever the bloodline’s hold on Holy power.”

  Dagobert, Michael remembered that name having seen it earlier, it was in the book. Quickly, he flipped the pages to where he found the name, turning it, he showed his father.

  “My God! Dagobert! It’s right there!” His father fingered the name gingerly. “I cannot believe that it is here in front of me!”

  Interesting, Michael thought, that is right about the same time in history that the Umayyad Caliphate in Syria took control, “Dad, what happened then?” Sonia would have to wait just a bit longer.

  It took a moment for his father to regain his focus; he was mesmerized by the name of Dagobert staring back at him. While still looking at the heavy calligraphy of Dagobert's name, he answered, “That was the end of their rule. Things become a bit unclear after that. Best I can tell what was left of them made their way to Portugal.”

  “Tell me what you think happened, Dad.”

  “Well, my research has led me to believe that the bloodline went back into hiding, they were much weaker than in earlier generations. Times were changing and so was the way people were ruled. Kingdoms were turning into governments and the Church’s hold on its power was thinning with the years. People were simply getting smarter and eventually the Church failed at providing the answers. The question of Jesus’ divinity didn’t vanish completely and was a major fracturing point between the Church in Rome and its eastern counterpart in Constantinople.”

  “The Great Schism,” the permanent separation of the two halves of the Church was well documented, something that Michael had studied extensively.

  “That’s right. As you know the schism still exists and has kept the Church weak. After the ecumenical separation, the Crusades plagued both East and West. Popes became dictators doing whatever they could to keep power and rationalizing whatever evil they did in the name of God, much like what Islam is doing today. Religious leaders fought to hide their desperation.”

  “But what of the Apocryphal, what happened to it and how does it even matter now?”

  “Michael, what happened to you today in Damascus, what happened to the Ayatollah is all related to the Apocryphal, to this book. I am convinced of that. After Dagobert, the protectors of the bloodline were known by a number of names. Some were fictitious, others may have been true, and to this end I cannot be sure. It really doesn’t matter. Today that group is known simply as The Order. Through the centuries they have remained silent and built a network of followers, but they knew that, to rule, they would need a massive amount of wealth.”

  “The 4th Crusade, Dad! It was the sack of Constantinople, right?”

  “Damn good, son! Damn good!” Michael’s father beamed as if he had just watched his son hit the game winning home run.

  “Yes, Michael, you are right. During the sack, The Order was known by another name at the time.”

  “Back then they called themselves the Knights Templar,” Michael interrupted.

  “The Knights knew the sack was coming,” his pride for his son grew, “they had spies on the inside of the Church that warned them of it. The spies told the Knights that the Crusade was supposed to look like an attack on Muslim held Jerusalem, but that was a lie. The eastern half of the Church was well positioned along trade routes of the East. Their wealth had grown as fast as Rome’s wealth was diminishing. The eastern half of the Church was able to pay tribute to the attacking armies of the Huns, Arabs, and Turks to avoid wars. They stockpiled enormous sums and priceless artifacts. Rome wasn’t so lucky, her wealth and land holdings had eroded to almost nothing, and all she could do was resort to robbing countries in the name of God to replenish the treasury. The Roman Church was desperate and losing as much power as they were wealth. The sack of
Constantinople wasn’t a Holy War against the Muslims by the Christians, it was a raid!”

  “If I remember correctly, the Knights attacked Constantinople, too. Didn’t they?”

  “No, it wasn't an attack; they just used the 4th Crusade as cover. The Knights saw this as a way to build their own treasury. They knew it was going to happen; their spies belonged to a part of the Church that today is called Catholic Action. Back then the eastern counterpart of Catholic Action was known as Skrinion Barbaron, and was a foreign intelligence organization of the eastern half of the Church. This group has always had the mission to subvert the Church’s will on governments. Rome had a double agent in that group, and that agent not only belonged to Catholic Action, but was also loyal to the Templars. That’s how they knew of the sack and where to find the treasury.”

  “Dad, Catholic Action was the arm of the Vatican that helped Mussolini come to power in 1922.”

  “That’s right; by helping to get that fascist into power the Church’s reward was the consummation of a deal to secure their wealth around Rome, around Italy. It’s hard to imagine the Pope bending to Mussolini for money, but bend he did. The Church required that their flock vote for Mussolini.”

  It made sense to Michael, “The Lateran Treaty of 1929, it gave the Church more power and wealth. So, what happened after the sack, Dad?”

  “It is believed the Knights stole a great wealth from the East and unknowingly stumbled across an item that had been missing for centuries. It was a great stroke of luck really.”

  His father stopped and just looked at Michael. This look was not new; it was something his father constantly did when he was young. It was his way of making Michael pay attention, to figure out the answer on his own.

  “Dad, they found The Hand of Christ, didn’t they?”

  “Yes, they did. They recovered their proof. Ever since then, they have used the wealth they stole from the sack of Constantinople to build a network of connections, to fund their efforts, all the while searching for the other half of the proof that they would need.”

  “Dad, you said they looted a great treasure,” Michael reached over to the book and turned to the section titled Tresor, “what do you make of this?”

  His father eyed the cryptic phrase carefully reading it out loud, “Two halves of the world, evil leads to good. He is the first, the key to the beginning. To the sea i go. To the Presidents’ Mother. It is the second key to our power. It is Hidden.”

  Sitting back, he scratched his head, “I am not quite sure what to make of it, some sort of riddle it would seem. Perhaps it divulges the location of their wealth.”

  “That’s what I think, too. I believe that it may lead to the location of their wealth.”

  “Son, that is a possibility but my hunch is that this isn’t all of it. The Order is an ancient society, a group of self professed enlightened and learned men; they believe that they can trace their roots to Jesus himself; they are not stupid. Most likely they would not have hidden their greatest secret in one sentence or in one place. No son, this is just part of it, there would have to be another part.”

  “The lost Apocryphal of Paul?” questioned Michael. This didn’t make much sense to him as he continued, “The Apocryphal was written before the sack.”

  “Yes, Michael, it was, but the Apocryphal will also contain clues to the entire key. It would be from where The Order derived it originally. But since the Apocryphal is lost, they would have to be in possession of both books. Half of the key is in one, half in the other, and separated. It’s the way The Order maintains internal control of their wealth, it ensures no one man can take control of it without the consent of the other.”

  Michael was troubled by one thing, “If they already have massive wealth, if they control politicians, why would they care about the Apocryphal?”

  “Michael, The Hand of Christ had changed hands a number of times. Pope Clement V knew of the Apocryphal and that the Knights had The Hand of Christ. He grew fearful of what they could do with it. The Knights had grown too powerful; they were the unofficial bank of Europe lending and controlling the flow of money to powerful men. King Philip IV of France was greatly in debt to the Knights. Both the king and the Pope conspired to have the Knights arrested, killing most of them. While Philip absolved his debt to the Knights through their murders, the Pope looted their vast treasury looking for The Hand of Christ.”

  Michael’s history lessons were coming back to him and he said, “Friday the 13th, it was in October, 1307. Did the Church recover The Hand of Christ?”

  “No, I don’t believe that they did. I speculate that the Knights had already lost possession of it well before the Pope ordered them killed. Over time, The Hand of Christ eventually ended up being controlled by the Umayyad Caliphate, most likely through the conquering of Jerusalem by Saladin in 1244.”

  “Shit! Dad, that’s the name of the Mosque that was attacked!” And the name of the dead leader in whose Mausoleum I was nearly killed, thought Michael. He would keep that bit of information from his Dad.

  “Son, that’s how I knew you were there. Umayyad’s soldiers were somehow able to get their hands on The Hand of Christ. They had it in their possession for more than six-centuries before an American backed mission was able to recover it. Are you familiar with Captain William Bainbridge, Michael?”

  “Of course, you burned American history into my head since the moment I could talk. Bainbridge was a naval captain during the 18th and early 19th century. He commanded the George Washington and the Philadelphia.”

  “He did command those ships, but he did much more than that. It has been rumored that on a voyage in 1803, when the Philadelphia ran aground off the coast of Tunis and Bainbridge’s sailors were captured, he had been in the Middle East on a privately financed mission.”

  “Who financed the mission, what was their objective?”

  “Rumor has it that it was the first American parish of the Church of England: Christ Church. I haven’t yet found definitive proof, though.”

  “The one that’s in Philadelphia; the namesake of his berth?” Michael asked.

  “Yes, that’s the one. The mission they backed was to lead a small group of men to find The Hand of Christ. It may be conjecture, but I believe that Bainbridge found it and brought it back to the US, to the men of the church that financed the voyage.”

  “Dad, wasn’t Bainbridge imprisoned for over a year after running aground, how could the Islamic pirates not have found the book?”

  “They tried son. The Barbary pirates imprisoned the men and tortured them, killing at least two of them I think. But for Bainbridge’s lack of naval talent he made up with a bit of intelligence. Remember, at that point it wasn’t a book, it was a single page of vellum, The Hand of Christ, that Bainbridge was sent to find. According to legend, after finding the vellum, Bainbridge sewed that one page into the lining of his shirt. He had a few other men aboard his ship, a small number that were most loyal to him, do the same thing, but every page other than the one that he had was a fake. He put a poison on the pages that he had given to his men. Bainbridge told no one of this only giving his men careful instructions to never put their bare fingers on the pages. Touching it would lead to a fast death.”

  “So, you are saying that Bainbridge’s mission was successful, who did he give the vellum to?”

  “I wish I knew, Michael. But this I can tell you, once The Hand of Christ left the hands of the Islamic Pasha of Tunisia, his rule and the Barbary hold on North Africa ended quickly, and America’s seemingly weak military and economic power quickly rose. It can be no coincidence.”

  “But Bainbridge never held any real importance or power in American history. You never told me what happened to him?”

  “Michael, Bainbridge was just a soldier for them; a Novice is what The Order calls them, nothing more. After nineteen-months of imprisonment in North Africa, the US paid the ransom to free Bainbridge and his men, and then the Captain just disappeared. The US furloughed Ba
inbridge after his release from the Barbary pirates, and then, poof, nothing, no verifiable record of his whereabouts for at least two years. Bainbridge was a member of Christ Church in Philadelphia; he’s buried there to this day. Fifteen of the founding fathers also belonged to that Church; some of those same fifteen were the ones that agreed to pay the ransom that freed him, it could have been any one of them that backed the mission.”

  “How can there be nothing? I don’t understand. Where did he go, what did he do?”

  “The only thing that I have been able to find is that he disappeared on a merchant ship and there was sporadic and cryptic correspondence from Russia, India, and Britain over that two-year time period. Other than that, the man was a ghost, never in one place for any period of time. I speculate that he was looking for the other vellum.”

  “I still don’t understand why The Order cares so much about the Roman Church. If Bainbridge found The Hand of Christ and returned it to The Order, what could they possibly do with it? What could they possibly expect from the Vatican?”

  “Son, the Vatican, after the Lateran Treaty, now has a wealth greater than any can imagine. With it, just think of what they can do, money controls the order of everything in our world.”

  “But, Dad, this is no longer a time where knights gallop around on horses swinging their swords and terrorizing the countryside. The Church isn’t going to just hand over their wealth simply because a group of men has an ancient piece of paper with a hand print on it unless…,”

  Michael stopped. He was feeling foolish that he didn’t make the connection sooner. The shame on his face was apparent.

  His father already knew what his son was thinking, “They are going to kill the Pope aren’t they Michael?”