Chapter 77

77
PRESS ROOM, KISSINGER PLAZA, STATE DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Although minor, that being just enough to offset the lights, the make up man has a hard time getting Jesus to calm down and sit still. Watching the process General Tower could see a little of the small boy, nervous and pathetic in Jesus. It turned out that this feeling would last only until He began to answer questions. Beatrice, thankfully, said nothing, remaining on Juan's shoulder. Juan spoke to Jesus twice before He translated to General Tower's benefit. "Juan would like to have make up, too, even though he doesn't plan to speak." Jesus asked while trying not to move His head. The make up man looked at General Tower, who nodded. He had worked too long and hard for this press conference to be lost to painless details.

Once inside the conference room, Tower and Jesus alike could see from the disheveled appearance of the reporters that they had been through the full security treatment. Every purse, brief case, camera and tape recorder had been confiscated. Now each of them sat with only two number 2 pencils and a pad of State Department writing paper. The two young men, the parrot and the General sat while the remainder of the reporters filed in. Every one of them had accomplished the simultaneous conditions of irritation, apprehension and excitement.

Jesus whispered to General Tower, "There are only twelve of them?"

Tower whispered back without turning his head. "Oh no, Sir. There were over fourteen thousands applications to attend -- some submitted the day You were evacuated from Paraneho. People from all over the world applied. These people just won a lottery

"People from other countries wanted to come?" Jesus asked with concern.

"Of course, people from India, Egypt, Iran and Japan to mention a few. Different religions, too, of course." Tower explained.

"I've only met Christians, Jews and Romans. Why would these others want to ask Me questions?" Jesus asked.

"I'm afraid all of them want You to prove them right. It's time to start. You need to stand right up there. Remember, I'll be right here if You need me." the General offered. "At least they've agreed to no questions about the bombing."

"Thanks for the offer, General, but I pretty much have My Own Backup." Jesus said, rising to approach the podium.

The woman reporter in the second row finally caught Jesus' attention. He smiled and nodded to her politely. Barely remaining within the bounds of civility to which she had agreed as a price of admittance to the conference, she began at once. "Sally Kratters, New York Herald Union. Why is it that You are unable or unwilling to answer the long standing Biblical questions put to You by the scholars? We all hoped that some of the mysteries of the Bible could be resolved. How can You continue to assert that You are actually the Son of God and at the same time seem to lack any particular knowledge of the modern religion in Your Namesake?"

"I presume you know My recent history. I have been exposed to what you call the Christian religion for only a few months. Likewise, your Bible. I have not yet even read through all of it. Why would you expect Me to know about these things?"

"What I have learned about it suggests that it has very little to do with Me or My previous ministry . I have no recollection of many of the quotations attributed to Me, and I certainly never traveled to some of the places mentioned. How could I reasonably answer questions about such things? Why would I want to give answers to such questions that I know nothing about and which have nothing to do with me? What kind of answers would you like for Me to give?" Jesus was as steady as a seasoned politician caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

As quickly as He finished His answer, all the reporters once again began to clamor for His attention. Jesus pointed to a balding gentlemen near the door.

Rising, the man spoke in a very loud, clear voice. "I'm Mark Williams from the Salt Lake Empire, and I would like to announce before my question that I carry the Mark of God."

"Thank you for being so forthright. I will be pleased to answer your question as well as I can, Mark." Jesus disarmed the reporter with each word He spoke.

A rasping voice suddenly broke out from the side. "MARK OF GOD! MARK OF GOD! GOOD FOR HIM! GOOD FOR HIM!" Beatrice squawked loudly. As the sudden shock of the interruption gradually passed, everyone in the cramped little room began to chuckle. The laughter broke the tension, tension which had grown as thick as a fog filled night at sea. Even Mark Williams laughed.

"May I still ask my question?" the reporter asked, expecting the worse.

"Absolutely, Mark. Any friend of Beatrice's can certainly be a friend of Mine." Jesus reassured him. "Now what did you want to ask?"

"You know that many Christian people in the U.S. and elsewhere believe You to be the anti-Christ based on scriptural truth. Yet, although I concede that You are a man cloned from the DNA of Jesus Christ the Savior, what is there about You that can make me believe that You, in fact, hold the same relationship to God the Father as He did?" The reporter read his question carefully but hesitantly.

"Mark, first let Me say that in my previous life I once had a good friend named Mark. The two of you have much in common."

"As to your question. The answer is nothing. In your case there is nothing which will make you believe in My divinity. I did not come here with the purpose of trying to convince you of Who I am. My task in life is to be what I am, and to you it falls to believe or not to believe. You know. It's the same deal as last time."

"In terms of His relationship to Our Father Who is God, I may be the only man alive who can know even a little of what that was. Those who pursue their Christian religion and those who work endlessly seeking the interpretation of the Holy Bible lack nothing in effort or zeal, but they are very limited with respect to information. They have very little to go on. Even given this limitation they have gone extremely far -- perhaps too far. I am certain that no one in those ancient days could have made heads or tails of what they have ascribed to them."

"So, if I were to tell you what I know of His relationship with the Father, you would not believe Me. Further, if I were to compare it to My own relationship with My Father, how could you ever prove the truth of what I claimed? As I said before, it is the same deal as last time. I'll just be Me, and everyone else will either believe or not."

"One last note, Mark. I greatly appreciate your civility in asking your question, but I must remind you that I have had some unpleasant experiences with such questions on the steps of the temple in ancient Jerusalem. Who is next?" 

A very dignified older woman rose clear the left side of the room. The kindness of her smile caught Jesus' eye. He pointed at her.

"Martha Jacob, Memphis Times Daily. Thank you very much for taking my question. Do you think that references to Yourself in the Old Testament foretold the unusual circumstances of Your second coming into the world? And, if so, do You think Senor Robeles was inspired by those parts of scripture to carry out his part in all this?"

"Martha, The Books of Moses which you now call Genesis and Exodus were commonly taught in Temple schools. The sections of those Books, especially Genesis, which refer to My birth and appearance in the world in the modern interpretation were not seen that way then. When the Book of Moses refers to the seed of Abraham, we were taught that it meant the seed of Abraham, not Me. Everyone then had pretty much agreed on that idea. Next question?" Jesus was clearly on a roll.

The questions being asked had been penned by some of the leading Biblical scholars of the modern times. The reporters, out of their discipline, could sense that their inquiries were eliciting essentially no response from their prey. Even the most complex and tricky of their leading questions seemed to plow into the quagmire of Jesus' common sense and simply stop there.

"Janet Rollers, Philadelphia Gazette. Are You angry that the laws of the Old and New Testaments have been abandoned in this wicked modern society?"

Jesus could smell the Mark of God on this portly woman. "Why would I have any right at all, much less any more than anyone else here to be angry with the world? Let Me remind you again that I have only very recently had an opportunity to read some of the New Testament of this 'Bible.'"

"I am familiar with parts of the Hebrew section of the Bible, called the Old Testament, from my previous lifetime. In those days, all respectable young Jewish men, and I was just such a man, were expected to read and understand the books of Hebrew Laws. I did that in deference to the wishes of My Mother. Although it is not particularly relevant here, I obeyed those laws in every respect through my lifetime. Through My trial for sedition certain of those Hebrew Laws were cited, inappropriately I might add, to justify My execution."

"Other parts of the Old Testament were in existence then, but no one I knew had ever seen them. The collection of things in the modern Old Testament includes some very obscure items.

"I can tell you that scrolls of prophecies were everywhere, each attributed to someone or other that no one had ever heard of. They were sold as relics with secret messages available only to the owner. I have seen hundreds of them sold in a single afternoon by unscrupulous merchants in the marketplace, each time promising that something miraculous would happen to the new owner of such ancient wisdom, all the while the man's partner, out of sight, was scratching out more scrolls with different prophecies. Some of these are in your Old Testament, masquerading as something important, something legitimate."

"I may remind you, however, that we are speaking of a time twenty centuries ago in a nation ruled by religious law. Further, the religious law which governed Palestine in My time there was Hebrew law and was held over Hebrew people. This nation is not only not under Hebrew law, but it seems to have a great many laws of its own. Be they as they may, the laws of the United States are sufficient for the United States. The laws of My Father are sufficient unto Him. His are generally quite non-sectarian and quite esoteric. They don't deal with insuring a car or being kind to your family, but, even so, why would someone assume that He would think that laws such as these weren't good ideas?"

Jesus pointed to a well dressed man in the first row. "Do you have a question for me, Sir?"

"Martin Peabody, Los Angeles Post Sentinel. Do You desire to meet with the Holy Father? It would seem that such a meeting might address common issues and concerns."

Jesus laughed warmly. "Now that I know who that is I can answer. The last mention of the Holy Father was a source of some confusion for Me personally. My lack of understanding about that name caused me some embarrassment. It is difficult being in quite a new culture, encountering new ideas such as that one and not offending anyone. I should, in fact, apologize to him again right now."

"I know now that I am here to help every person, including the Holy Father, when they seek My help. I have come for every person in every country who will choose to listen to Me."

"I will be Who I am. Those who believe I am Who I am will be blessed with a new understanding for their lives. Those who do not believe will receive nothing from Me because they will accept nothing from Me. It would not be fair to force them to accept something when they didn't want it. I don't hesitate to keep saying it. It's the same deal as last time."

General Towers strode up quickly from behind the podium. Jesus glanced at him for a moment, then turned to address the reporters again.

"Thank you all for coming. That will be all the questions for today." He stepped back, then turned again and disappeared into the prep room behind the curtains. The reporters, at least many of the reporters, were applauding.