Chapter 88

88
PRESS ROOM, KISSINGER PLAZA, STATE DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Jesus was surprised to find Himself a little nervous for the next news conference. The first one hadn't been that bad once He got started. Even General Tower, now always at His side, was a little anxious. The rioting had become worse after the first appearance. He anticipated that the pressure to attempt to influence Jesus would grow in proportion to what was happening in the streets. As far as the news conference itself was concerned, he had only the greatest confidence in Jesus after seeing His performance in the first one.

"Leon Serretta, Tulsa Plains Journal. Can You us tell a little about heaven?"

Jesus looked kindly toward the little man clutching his pad and pencils almost in a panic. "If I answered that question no one would be able to believe Me, not even those who are determined to believe everything I say. Just let Me tell you all to live your lives well. Always remember that someday, in your own time, you will die. Live well while you are in the world. The rewards of a good life come in life. Don't waste one precious moment fearing death or preparing for it. How can you prepare for something you cannot possibly understand? You, Sir. Do you have a question?"

"Yes. Barry Horner, Sacramento Enquirer. Following Leon's question a little further, what was it like while You were dead all those years? Did You face a Day of Judgment?" The man spoke very quickly.

"The experience for Me was just like it will be for you. Nothing you think important now will be important then. All fear stops. Everyone will become what he really is. As for Judgment," Jesus paused to laugh a little, "there are no surprises in store for anyone with respect to judgment. A human being is designed to judge himself every moment of his life, so how could he be surprised? Who can he trick? Who can he fool? How can he lie? He knows the truth no matter how much he may try to deny it to himself. Yes, Sir. Do you have a question?" Jesus pointed to a black man by the door.

"Yes, thank you. Jason Washington, Newark Daily News. Established Christian religion concentrates very much on the idea of worshiping Jesus Christ as the Savior, and through Him, God the Father. Is the renewal of this worship part of Your purpose in returning to the world?"

"Not really. I see Myself very much more as a partner in the transformation of life on earth. The worship thing kind of got off the track last time. It grew out of control and became quite dangerous actually. It was certainly not My idea to be worshipped. That really got started after my death. It all started when everyone forgot everything I said and started to turn it into something else. Looking back at what has happened, I really think it was My mistake."

"As to the basic idea in your question, about worship in general, I have said before that the idea of the Creator, Who is God, is in every person. I need to be cautious about how I say this."

"The Heavenly Creator is not a man. You should all be terribly thankful that this is the case. The Creator does not have the appetites of a man, does not seek vengeance, does not torment people and does not enjoy vast worship."

"To make this more clear, consider it in this way. As a man you might desire to be worshipped by thousands of other people if you had an appetite for that sort of thing. But then consider bacteria. Could any of you enjoy being worshipped by thousands or millions of bacteria? If your primary concern was that the world should run according to its design, wouldn't you prefer that the bacteria pursue their normal lives and live according to their nature? The same idea holds with human people worshiping the Creator through all kinds of fantastic rituals they have devised. It might be better if those people spent that time striving to lead the very best lives possible according to their nature." Jesus was crossing His t's when it came to examples. The "parables" attributed to Him during His first life had gone very wrong, and He was trying very hard not to start any new ones.

"Who has the next question?" He glanced over the collection of reporters clamoring for His attention, pointing to a man He hadn't noticed before.

"Martin Kolt, Olathe Free Herald. In the New Testament it says that the Church is the bride of Christ, and even You must concede that You are the central figure and the central authority in our Christian churches. In fact, we as Christians refer to ourselves collectively as the Body of Christ. Will You move to exert Your rightful authority over the Church, to direct it with Divine Guidance?"

Jesus could see the Mark of God all over this tricky question. "From what I have seen, no one presently has any authority like that such as to be able to give it to Me. Even if that were the case, I don't think it would be very likely given what is happening in the streets right now."

He had an irresistible urge to give another example. "The things that the Church is doing and has done in terms of peoples' thoughts makes it not particularly useful for My goals. I have no intention of attempting to influence what it is doing. It is not My affair, and it simply has no role in My plans. I wouldn't want to be given authority over the Church any more than I would want a gift of a thousand monkeys. I have nothing against monkeys, and I have nothing against monkeys doing what monkeys do, but what would I do with them? The Church has its own obvious goals and it has every right to continue to pursue them, regardless of the consequences. That is the way this world is designed. Next Question. You by the door, do you have a question, ma'am?"

"Helen McGurdy, Detroit Daily Reporter. People are being confused about believing in the Bible. It seems that some things are accurate and others don't match Your recollection from Your life before. Can You tell us which parts of the Bible are accurate?"

"Helen, the material in the books of the Hebrew section of the Bible were old when I was here before. I am sorry to say that I have no more direct knowledge of them now than I did when I studied them as a young boy in the temple twenty centuries ago. In a country under religious law there was little to be gained by questioning anything like that."

"As for the new section of the Bible, some of it seems accurate and some of it is clearly not. For example, the account of widow who gave only a farthing into the collection we were making. That story is true. I remember it as if it were yesterday."

"On the other hand, the account of My disciple Judas does him a terrible injustice. Judas did not betray Me at Gethsemane. We all knew my arrest was imminent. The idea that Judas had to tell them which one I was is crazy. They knew what I looked like. They had been spying on Me during every public appearance for days before. Just try to imagine that you had a corrupt king, serving at the pleasure of the Romans instead of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Herod's secret police were a very ruthless and efficient version of your FBI who could act quite effectively with no more than a verbal order from the temple. Such an ancient FBI would hardly need a traitor to find you when you had been in plain sight in pretty much the same place for several days."

"They took poor Judas out and hanged him. They were ordered to leave the bag of silver by his body, but these same agents stole the money. Some others had to go out there and replace it so all their false evidence could be found at the scene of the murder. They were determined to start the story about the thirty pieces of silver. They were hoping to generate a lot of what you, in this modern day, would call negative press by breaking the image of solidarity among My disciples with this so-called betrayal."

"Peter and John heard them arrest him although they were not close enough to see it. Herod's goons just wanted to be able to say I had been betrayed by My own man. I remember Judas with great affection. He paid everything for his loyalty to Me."

"Many parts of the so-called New Testament are accounts of something quite different from what was actually happening. The letters of Paul to various churches in that region are a good example of what is called the Christian religion being based largely on material other than My teaching. I have to tell you that most of it refers not at all to actual events in My previous life.and is certainly not accurate with respect to the aim of My ministry to My countrymen. From what I have read of it, I would be inclined to call it the religion of Paul. He seems to have more or less taken over, probably because he could write. It didn't work out that badly if one wishes to follow the teachings of Paul since he contributed a great deal more to your New Testament than I did."

"I never knew Paul, and I have no enmity toward him whatever, nor have I any such feelings toward those people calling themselves Christians who worship the religion of Paul. I don't even really mind that they use the word Christ in the title of their religion. I can only suggest that, perhaps, Paul would make a more reasonable Christ for them than I have."

"In terms of explaining specific quotations attributed to Me in the second section of the Bible, I can only say that thus far I have found only a couple of phrases which resemble anything I can recall saying. This, too, apparently reflects Paul's ideas about Me and My aim which greatly vary from what actually happened in My time."

This time Jesus didn't wait for the White House press manager to close the news conference.

"That will be all the questions for today, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for coming." Jesus turned abruptly and stepped behind the curtains.