3012: The Artifact
Page 56
A New Life
As they motored south, Jack noticed for the first time that the group of refugees he was transporting to the future was a rather eclectic group of people. He had met Jesse and Susan, but the rest were more or less a mystery.
He noticed that one man in particular wore a collar as if he were a Catholic priest, but Jesse was clearly in charge and didn’t look like any Catholic Jack had ever seen. He mentioned this to Jesse. “Jesse, I hope it doesn’t seem as if I’m prying, but what denomination is your church? I mean, I see at least one man wearing a collar as if he is a Catholic priest.”
Jesse took a sip of his coffee and said “I find it hard to believe they are actually trying to make coffee illegal, which is very sad. Anyway, I know our strange mix of people seems odd Jack, but there are some good reasons. The man in question is indeed a Catholic, but he isn’t a priest, he’s a deacon. Does it make a difference to you?”
“Not really. I was just wondering why the differences. I have rather limited experience with religion, but always knew that Catholics and other Christians don’t seem to get along very well.”
“In the past few years things have gotten progressively worse for Christians of any denomination. I’m sure there are churches left that are still in hiding, but they are very few and extremely secretive. Our group is the last of the churches that were open and freely worshipping. However, like I said, a few years ago it became illegal to practice religion of any sort. That day, we all became outlaws.
“Once we became outlaws, many of the people of our congregations simply left. Many more were arrested and taken away, never to be seen or heard from again. We’ve been on the run ever since. As we travel and hide and try to keep our church going, we encounter others like ourselves who are on the run as well. Eventually, we dwindled to the thirty people we are now. Twenty-nine actually; one of our people didn’t make it.”
Jack said “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was that bad already. I knew from the way things were in the future that something had happened, but I had no idea what it was or exactly when. And, I am sorry for your lost man.”
“His name was Bob. He was actually a member of my church originally. Now, there is only myself, Susan and Gus, the guard you met. The rest are quite a mix of people. We even have a Rabbi with us. He’s a Christian as well, but still holds to the original Jewish faith. Who's to say he’s wrong? The bottom line is that we all love Jesus and want to serve him. It has become my belief that He wants us to reestablish His church in the future. I had no idea He would use a time machine though.”