An arrogant smile had worked its way onto Philip’s lips. Gomez interpreted it correctly and said the killer’s next sentence for him.
“But not you.”
Philip shook his head slowly.
“I recognize a test when God gives it to me…every time. I pass them all, and I’m rewarded. I embrace His gifts, and I interpret them correctly. So, when I’m grabbing a smoke under Faith Church of Ellisport, thinking about all this stuff like I usually do when I’m alone, and a gun comes down from the heavens, glances off the near gunnel of a rowboat, and lands at my feet, I know what it means.”
“That gun came from a meth-head, not the heavens.”
Philip laughed.
“I know whose hands were on the weapon before mine. I also know how to interpret a one-in-a-billion shot like that, and I act.”
Gomez was tempted to point out that Philip’s present situation was proof that he, in fact, didn’t ‘pass all of his tests’, but he let it slide. He’d already opened his mouth, and he was kicking himself for it. This was a confession, not a debate.
“Detective, I don’t know what hand Peter had in the birth of Catholicism. A part of me believes that he was turned…turned the moment he denied Christ. That’s admittedly far-fetched. I won’t push it. I’m just saying that…son of a bitch…I lost my train of thought.”
“You were talking about the Apostle Peter.”
“No. Before that.”
“The gun? Passing tests? Satan is the creator of Catholicism?”
“That’s the one! Only don’t use the word ‘create.’ Satan distorts, corrupts, ruins, but he doesn’t create. He lacks the power to do so. It’s one of the things that makes him so jealous of the All Mighty.”
Then Gomez did something. He didn’t know what it was. No one behind the mirror could tell what it was. Whatever it was, it made Philip show his first signs of frustration.
“You think I’m a nut. Don’t you? Okay, let me reel it in a little…try a different angle. Say you want to proliferate a religion, or a political movement, or any kind of an ideology, but you have to do it using a pre-existing system. What do you do first? Think about the Nazi’s, or, better yet, think about Leninist Russia: one of the biggest ream jobs in the history of the world. What did the Reds do? They re-interpreted and eventually gutted Russia’s constitution to suit their own values.
“So, let’s talk about the Ten Commandments here. Let’s talk about God’s constitution. Do you remember number one?”
Gomez gave the answer quickly and academically.
“Thou shalt have no other God before me.”
“And Satan answered with sainthood! Don’t pray to God, pray to these guys. And, guess what. If you’re cool enough, you can become a saint too, and everyone will pray to you. By the way, you have to be Catholic. Fuck you! It ain’t Saint Matthew’s Church; it ain’t Saint Peter’s Church. It’s God’s Church!
“Number two: no graven images? Go into any Catholic Church and try and find an image of Christ. It’ll be in there, hidden among ten-foot statues of Saint Asshole and Saint Pubic Hair…”
Lynch whispered under his breath.
“So much for reeling it in.”
“…and none of the images are of the risen Christ; they’re all of the dying Christ. Are you serious!?” He took a moment to catch his breath.
“Three: taking the Lord’s name in vain? They’ve got everyone thinking that means saying ‘Goddammit’ and ‘Jeezuss Christ.’ It doesn’t. I won’t bore you with the Jewish ins and outs of the matter, but the only way we can take The Lord’s name in vain is by saying it…by saying Jehovah! That’s why we call Him God!
“Four: keep the Sabbath holy? How about we change the day it’s on! That’ll keep things nice and confusing.
“And all the rest: honor thy father and mother, don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t covet. Apparently, ignoring all that stuff is okay as long as it’s in the name of The Lord. Or, better yet, in the name of The Church which is the same thing if you’re Catholic, and that’s a whole topic unto itself.
“You know something detective? The sermon or the homily or whatever the hell it was that Bishop Ryan gave at Ella’s confirmation centered around the topics of wrath and greed. He actually had the nerve to preach against them. How can any bishop, priest, archbishop, cardinal, or whatever preach against wrath and greed with the crusades and the Vatican in their wake!?
“It’s devious hypocrisy, the same hypocrisy that got Jesus pissed at the pharoses! Religious leaders are supposed to be teachers. That’s all! The word ‘rabbi’ means teacher. The second they become more than that, the instant they are perceived by their congregations as wielders of divine ability, or, even worse, conduits to God, Satan gains the power to usurp. I told you a couple minutes ago that Satan is incapable of creation; he’s also incapable of controlling anything divine. Any control he assumes has got to be over things that are of the Earth. Hear me again, detective, when people believe that God and church are one and the same, literally all hell breaks loose.
“But all this is background. What I’ve been talking about is just tilled soil. This is all a way for Satan to access and utterly corrupt the core of God’s message.”
Gomez couldn’t stop himself.
“Which is?”
“Forgiveness and repentance.”
Saying the words let the steam out of Philips internal pressure cooker. The veins in his neck smoothed over. His shoulders went down. His face returned to its normal color. His expression turned almost pleasant, but it didn’t last long.
“That’s the whole thing,
