Volume 4: White Devil Chapter 247 What does the cult leader look like?
Martin returned to the living room of Zack's house, which was temporarily used as a campaign office and dormitory. He had just taken out two cans of beer from the refrigerator and was about to hand one to Tommy, and then discuss with him in detail how much money he could get as a campaign manager if the profits were split 20:80.
But before he could open his mouth, he saw Paige and crew leader Nick, each holding a thick stack of books, walking in from outside.
This made Martin's brain freeze for a moment. Even if Page, the hideous bald old man, took out a hundred electric shock devices, he would not be surprised. But... helping to move books? How could it be possible?
This made Martin feel that something major must have happened in the world, because in the past, no matter how far he hid, Paige would always come to him and tell him to do this kind of hard work.
"The President of Gambia fulfilled his damn promise! He sent troops to occupy the United States? So..." Martin's face was full of disbelief and excitement. He grabbed the beer and looked at Page:
"So the good times for the American white devils are finally over?"
Tommy swept away the debris on a card table in the living room. Paige and Nick walked over and put the pile of hardcover books on the table. Paige patted the cover of the top book and explained to Martin, "Nick said that the owner of these books specifically emphasized that these books must not be touched by unclean people. In my concept, the word unclean is equivalent to black people, including Gambia."
"Thank you, Nick." Tommy looked at Nick, the crew leader, who had a curious look on his face, and thanked him.
However, unlike his previous expression of despair because Tommy did not cooperate with the filming, Nick's face was full of curiosity at this moment. He put the books on the table and deliberately tilted his head to look at the names on the spines of the books from the side. From the patterns, it can be seen that these are all Christian-related books, but except for the "Old Testament of the Bible", he has never read any of them, and he has never even heard of their names.
"The Seven Letters of Ignatius", "The First Letter of Clement", "The Epistle of Panama", "Against Apion", "The First Letter of Enoch", "The Shepherd of Hermas", "The Didache of the Twelve Apostles"...
Nick believes that he is more like a Protestant than most Americans who only pray to God when they are shocked or in crisis. At least he goes to church at least once every two weeks as long as time permits. He has also joined the well-known Christian youth community organization "Vibrant Youth", where they pray, have dinner together, and do volunteer work. It sounds a bit exaggerated, but the fact is that Christians like Nick are already true believers. After all, most young people are no longer interested in spending time in church to pray together and enrich their inner selves with scriptures. They prefer to use drugs or medication to numb their empty souls.
But as an orthodox Protestant, he had never heard of the names of these books.
"A guy dressed like a KKK member handed these books to me like a thief and told me not to let anyone unclean touch them." Nick resisted the urge to touch the books and asked Tommy.
While Jeff was giving a speech to the veterans at the nursing home, Tommy took time to visit several churches in Miami. Then he asked him to help go to Panama and gave him a phone call, asking him to help get some books back. Then he drove to Panama and saw a white young man in a white robe in a small church. He secretly handed him the pile of books.
"Don't pay attention to what he says. These are not valuable books. They are not worth collecting. It's just that it's hard to buy them all in a short time." Tommy sat at the table and pulled out a chair. "These are the books from the collection of Sean McDaniel, the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Panama in Florida. They were secretly lent to me by his son, who is also an intern pastor of my fraternity."
"First Baptist Church? I've never heard of this sect." Neil showed a suspicious expression.
Then he suddenly realized something and said, "It's the non-mainstream religious organization you wanted to contact? Or, should I say, a cult?"
Then he immediately distanced himself from the pile of books. After all, for an orthodox Christian like him, it was best to keep a distance from such a theory that went against orthodoxy.
"No, of course not." Tommy saw Nick's reaction and immediately explained with a smile, "Of course it's not a cult. It belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention, a small branch of the Southern Baptist Convention. Some of the original Southern Baptists thought that the denomination had deteriorated, so they created an independent branch. It's a little more extreme than the Southern Baptist Convention, and some people call it the White Robe Baptist Church."
The Martins nearby were already dumbfounded. They were stunned for a long time before they spoke: "Even more extreme than the fucking extreme Southern Baptist Convention? White Robe Baptist Church?"
Page walked over and snatched a can of beer from Martin's hand: "You can understand that compared to the ordinary 3KK, when the people of this church organization burned black people, they not only wore white robes, but also held Bibles and wore crosses."
The Southern Baptist Convention that Martin mentioned is the largest Christian Baptist denomination in the United States and the second largest Christian denomination in the United States after evangelicals.
"Damn it, a sect exclusive to white racists!" Martin came to his senses and cursed loudly.
Black people in the Southern United States hate the Southern Baptist Convention to their core. Even though slavery has been abolished for more than a hundred years and it is now the civilized year of 1989, the Southern Baptist Convention still stipulates that member churches and families must fly a Confederate flag.
Another of its infamous titles is: the last bastion of racist white Christian America.
Tommy took the remaining can of beer from Martin, opened the pull ring and took a sip. "No, it's another small branch of the Christian sect. It doesn't discriminate against black people. It has many black members. They are all very kind. Although they are all poor, they are all like angels and approachable."
"Then why... do you have to do so much preparation? If you are really approachable, you can just... go and meet directly." Nick didn't believe the words that came out of Tommy's mouth: "I know you often quote the Bible, and you may know how to preach doctrine better than many pastors... But these religious scriptures may not be exposed to ordinary pastors, let alone ordinary believers."
"What do you imagine the leader of a Christian cult to be like?" Tommy put down the beer in his hand, took the first book, and asked Nick with a smile.
Tommy's question made Nick ponder. After more than ten seconds, he hesitated and said, "People's Temple teaches people like Jim Jones?"
"Boss, I have a question. Do I know the person he...he is talking about?" Martin asked Tommy decisively after listening to Nick's description of the cult leader.
This description is not too similar to his damn boss Tommy Hawke, except for the different names and religions. It can only be said to be exactly the same.
Tommy drank beer, leaned back in his chair, and said in a relaxed tone: "Martin mentioned a very important question, which is why he felt that Jim Jones, whom he had never met, was very similar to me. He had never met Jim Jones, but only met me. Why was that? Because he knew me and understood me. I don't give a damn whether God exists or not. Jim Jones is also such a person. He is just a prop used by people like us. In the eyes of people like us, there is no difference between God and Trojan."
"Jim Jones believes in God. He has been going to church regularly since he was thirteen years old. He would not be as disrespectful to God as you are." Nick said with dissatisfaction: "You should be in awe of God."
Tommy shrugged. "He did it for the pastor's wife. He had been with the pastor's wife since he was thirteen. He went to church that day just to make sure the pastor was busy, and he could take the opportunity to go to the pastor's house to comfort the ripe and juicy wife. My mother forced my brother and I to go to church when I was five years old, but when my bird grew feathers at the age of twelve, I changed my nature and started to go to church with two best friends. Guess why? Because the pastor's wife in the church near my home was so beautiful... Two of them went to spy on his wife and the electrician having an affair, and one was keeping watch in the church. Yes, life in the country without money to subscribe to porn channels is so boring."
"And if Jim Jones really feared God, he wouldn't have used the Bible and atheistic communism to create his People's Temple. Didn't I say that? If I hadn't had the opportunity to study at Stanford University, I would have gone to seminary. Thanks to my mother, I have studied a lot in Christian scriptures. You would not be my opponent in religious debates, and you don't know Jim Jones as well as I do. If I hadn't earned the money to study at Stanford, but went to seminary, I might have been serving as a pastor in a church now, preaching while having sex with little girls."
Seeing Nick's grim expression, as if he was ready to punch him at any time, Tommy lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then raised his head and asked, "Only God can make me fear him, but it's a pity that he has not come here, and his believers who remain in this world are not worthy of our worship. I'm afraid that if I kneel down and stick my butt up, they will suddenly appear behind me. Do you admit it? Those people have this kind of teleportation ability. They look holy in front of you one second, and stand behind you the next second, grease that thing."
"It's not God's fault." Nick took a long time to squeeze out these words.
Even as a devout Protestant, he could not find any reason to defend those unscrupulous priests or bishops. Those bastards should go to hell.
"Back to the original question, if the cult leader I'm going to meet is just like me, who makes a living by reading a Bible, has no faith in his heart, is greedy, cruel and lustful, why should I read these profound and obscure books to prepare for class?" Tommy patted the books and said to Nick.
Nick let out a breath. "So, what does a cult leader look like?"
"Gary Dunney graduated from Central Christian School of the Mennonite Church in Ohio. He studied at the fundamentalist Moody Bible Institute in college, majoring in biblical theology. He studied Greek at the evangelical Wheaton Theological Seminary for graduate school. Later, he studied ancient Hebrew interpretation at Princeton Theological Seminary, which is controlled by the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and received a doctorate. He is a former professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, former chief editor of the United Bible Societies, and former chief editor of the American Bible Society. A large part of the scriptures that are now held in the hands of believers in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, Abrahamic religions, and even Islam were compiled by him." Tommy put his fingers on the center of his eyebrows and kneaded them hard for a few times:
"Now, he is the founder of the 'Advent Way' church in Florida, a fringe Christian group rejected by almost every mainstream denomination."
Nick was stunned for several seconds before he came back to his senses from the long introduction. Then he asked in disbelief, "What did it...or that Gary Duni, do to be rejected by all mainstream sects?"
"Nothing, just a simple thing. He said..." Tommy paused for a few seconds, shook his head slightly, and said with some emotion:
"Listen to God's words and do what you should do."
Nick looked at Tommy in confusion: "This sentence sounds fine. As a believer, you should listen to God's words and do what you should do."
"In the opinion of Dr. Gary Dunney, if believers really want to listen to the words of God, all the patriarchs, popes, bishops, and priests of Christianity, Catholicism, and other shitty religions around the world should admit that the New Testament is a fake book and is just a tool they use to walk in the world in the name of God. Gary Dunney said the same thing you just said about me, that we should be reverent to God, but those church bigwigs think what I said makes sense, that God is just a tool like Trojan, and how to use it is not up to God to decide, they have the final say."
Nick gasped, and almost instantly, cold sweat broke out on his back. He didn't even dare to question what Tommy said, because Gary Dooney had systematically studied Christian theology since high school, and even served as the chief editor of the American Bible Society, which showed that his understanding of all Christian scriptures and history surpassed all Christians in the world. He was the recognized interpreter of the Bible, a classic book handed down from generation to generation.
In other words, the three major Christian denominations, whether the Orthodox patriarch, the Catholic pope, or the archbishops and elders of various Protestant denominations, all used versions of the Bible when spreading their doctrines that were most likely compiled by this man. If he said that the New Testament was an apocryphal book, it must have been the answer he got after countless textual research, and that answer was very likely to be true.
But the more frightening question is, why can't those high-ranking members of the Christian Church accept this reality, and choose to persist in lies?
Just like Tommy said, if they accept it, the loss will be too great, and even the entire Christian system will be in turmoil and split. But if they don’t accept it, it means that those high-level officials are indeed using God as a tool to gain benefits...
"I...stay away from me, Tommy. You frighten me more than the cult leader now. I've just talked to you for a few more sentences, and you're about to question your beliefs...Oh my God~" Nick took a few steps back, exhaled heavily, and said a little irritably.
"I see your eyes flickering. You are wavering, Nick." Tommy looked at Nick with a half-smile: "You are a Protestant, right? If you were the chief elder of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, what would be your first reaction after hearing the news?"
"Kill him, or else..." Nick put himself in his shoes and thought about it. If he were a big shot in the church, if he gave up hypocrisy, the answer he would give would be so direct and cruel.
If such a senior Christian scholar were allowed to live, it would be a huge hidden danger to all the top leaders of the Christian system.
"You have no chance to become the great elder, Nick." Tommy laughed. "Unless you want to see Gary Dune become the second Jesus, otherwise, considering his influence in the world's religious community, don't kill him."
Nick hesitated and said, "So..."
"They suspended his work of interpreting the Bible, gave him the qualification to preach, and asked him to prove everything. Then they defined him and the true doctrine he insisted on as a cult, and slowly destroyed him with the hands of those ignorant believers." Tommy shrugged.
"Very interesting, isn't it? People in the world have no idea which of those devout believers wearing crowns and those cultists who are slandered as heretics are true believers who fear God and which are terrible heretics who should be exiled to hell. It's like many people who have recited the Bible for decades but can't even tell the truth from the false."
Martin listened to the argument between Tommy and Nick, then went to get a can of beer, opened it and took a big sip, and then summarized the conversation:
"I lack the fear of God." Tommy opened the first book:
"But I sincerely respect this cult leader. When I found out about the existence of this organization, I wanted to understand him as much as possible and be honest with him instead of using glibness and sophistry to perfunctorily deal with him. This is the greatest respect I can give him."
