The Final Testament of the Holy Bible

dead of night. In the sound of the ocean, or the sound of a car. It can be found in anything, anywhere. It is the fabric of our lives, our feelings, the people we live with, things we know to be real.

I have faith the books are true, and I believe I will be rewarded for that faith.

That is your choice.

I have faith that the stories in the books are true.

And that is also your choice, but it is the choice of fools.

Faith is something for fools?

Faith is the fool’s excuse.

Faith is a gift from God.

Faith is what you use to oppress, to deny, to justify, to judge in the name of God. Faith is what has been used as a means to rationalize more evil in this world than anything in history. If there were a Devil, faith would be his greatest invention. Get people to believe in that which does not exist, and have them use that belief to destroy everything of value in the world. Get them to buy into an idea of something false, and use that idea to create conflict, violence, and death. If you opened your eyes, you would see that the end is coming, that our world is going to end. And it is coming, and it is going to end, because of faith.

It is coming because God has forewritten it.

Because man will cause it.

Because you have been sent to hasten it.

I will announce it, but not as the consequence of a false prophecy, or the wild imagination of a man, or many men, writing a book in a stone age society. I will announce it because I see it before me. Because all of the conditions for it exist. There is hate, aggression, pride, a lack of love and patience, a lack of understanding, and there are weapons, weapons that can end it all, weapons that can kill millions of people in a second, and there are men, leaders of nations, who are willing to use them. Apocalypse will happen because of man, not because of a nonexistent God.

So you are not the Messiah of the Bible? You are not Christ returned?

Do you believe I am?

I do not want to believe you are, but you have been given gifts. You claim to speak to God. You are Davidic. Born under circumstances which indicate divinity. Born circumcised. You survived the unsurvivable. You are able to speak the ancient languages. You know all of the words of the holy books without having read them. And I have heard that you perform miracles. Ben looked at him, same as he always was, simple and direct, calm. Jacob waited for a response and got none. He spoke.

Is it true?

Yes.

Then show me.

I don’t think you’d like the miracle I would perform here.

Let me tell you one I’d like to see.

If that makes you happy.

He held up his glass.

Turn this water into wine.

And after, I’ll walk on water, or make my face glow, or turn the food and drink on this table into my flesh and blood.

If you can.

Those are parlor tricks, not miracles.

Christ did them.

He did, or so your holy book says. And every casino magician in Las Vegas can also do them. A miracle is changing someone’s life. Freeing them from whatever bonds tie them. Giving them the gift of being able to live the way they dream of living.

So show me.

Ben smiled. He looked around the table. He stayed on each of us, like he was trying to decide what he was going to do, and who he was going to do it to. We were all nervous. One of us was going to be changed forever. I believed one of us would be blessed by the Lord with a miracle from Heaven. Graced by the power of God Almighty, through his one and only Son. I wanted it to be me. I wanted to feel the beauty of the Heavenly Father inside of me. I wanted to be changed in whatever way God, and Ben, wanted to change me. I silently prayed for deliverance into God’s hands. I had never wanted anything more in life.

He stood and pushed his chair out and walked around the table. We were all watching. We were all waiting. And we were, brothers and sisters, all hoping. He stopped in front of young brother Jeremiah, who was the last person I would have thought he would choose. Jeremiah was looking up at him. I could see his lips quivering and his hands shaking. He looked terrified. He was about to be given the greatest gift a man could ask for in this life. He was about to be given a miracle. Ben reached out and put his hands on Jeremiah’s cheeks. Jeremiah smiled. Ben stood with his hands on his cheeks and stared into his eyes. He didn’t move. He just stared at him. Stared right into his eyes. Did it for what must have been ten minutes. Not moving at all. Just staring. And we waited. And it should have been boring, but it was beautiful, and fascinating, and I swear on my life, brothers and sisters, as Ben stared at him, Jeremiah changed. His skin became flush. His posture improved. It was like he changed from a kid to an adult, from a boy to a man. We all knew something more was going to happen, though. We just didn’t know what. Frankly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Ben and Jeremiah had risen from the floor and started flying. That’s not what happened, brothers and sisters. Not even close. Ben stood there staring, and then he started leaning down. He leaned very slowly, staring into Jeremiah’s eyes the entire time. There was no hesitation and no uncertainty. He went right in there and kissed Jeremiah. Kissed him right on the lips. And it wasn’t the kind of kiss you give your grandmother. It was a real kiss. It started slow but got real heated, real fast. Within a couple of seconds, they were making out like drunk teenagers. Ben put his hands on Jeremiah’s shoulders and pushed his chair back and sat down on his lap. And they were just going at it. We were all too shocked to do anything. At the time, I didn’t understand what was happening or why. To me it was just a shocking and disgusting display of homosexual perversity and deviancy. One man in another man’s lap, kissing like they were in love. Like the Holy Bible, the word of God, the truest of the true, the most divine of the divine, said was wrong.

I heard a fist slam down on the table. It was loud, brothers and sisters, sounded like a gun. Everybody turned except Ben and Jeremiah, who didn’t seem to notice and didn’t stop what they were doing. Jacob was standing up. He yelled stop at the top of his lungs, but they didn’t stop. In fact Ben’s hands were now running over Jeremiah’s chest, and moving down to parts inappropriate for a dining room.

Jacob yelled stop again, and Ben pulled away.

He turned towards Jacob and spoke.

Your miracle, brother.

You’re a pervert.

If you say so.