The Hand of God (24 page)

“The Light Bearer.”

As he spoke, the lights went down for a moment, and came back on, but it wasn’t the Alamodome lights.  It was blazing hot, as if the sun came down inside the dome.  People were screaming, shielding their eyes. I figured this was my queue.  I decided to do what Lucifer had suggested.  I put my head down, ignored the lights, the people, the screaming, and focused on my strength.  My ability to kill and bring back life, focusing on the seventy thousand people present, reaching in, sensing every one of their inner thoughts, feelings, experiences.  It all hit me like a freight train, knocking me to my knees.  I had to catch my breath as I felt every single one of them. 

I worked at keeping my focus as I felt the pressure in my head. The piercing pain, as if my head were about to explode.  About the time I didn’t think I could hold it anymore, everything went silent.  I opened my eyes and looked straight down to the stage.  The Bishop was looking right at me from this distance.  Lucifer was standing a few feet away from him.  As I stood, everyone in the stadium slumped to the ground, seventy thousand people dead in an instant.  The Bishop looked around confused for a few minutes until he heard the first wail.  Someone down front began screaming and wailing.  Then another followed, then a few more, and then everyone was on their feet screaming.  Every one of them stood. There were women, children, even people in the wheelchairs tried to stand, but some had no legs.  I felt bad about the children, but there was no way for me to be more precise than I had. .

They all began to make their way to the stage.  I could see on the JumboTron the Bishop’s face take on a look of fear.  For the first time, he was not in control, and his plans were not going as he had hoped.  As this realization set in, he began to move backward as the crowd surged toward the stage.  He had not planned for this scenario, and so far Lucifer seemed to be right.  Even Christ himself was powerless against man’s free will.  This wasn’t a shower of fire and brimstone he could just stop.  It was the flesh and blood of his own creation, and it was coming for him.

Chapter 43

The mob of bodies surged toward the stage, some of them climbing, stumbling toward the Bishop.  He looked at Lucifer who stood there, staring at him coldly.  I can down the stairs as fast as I could work my way through the bodies.  I didn’t have to push however; they all seemed to move out of the way for me.  I was their master, or shepherd so to speak, I wasn’t sure how I had done it, but I’d managed to kill every person in the building, and bring them back, and now control them without saying a word.  Christ gave life, but so could I, as perverted as it was.  The abomination begat more abominations. 

The mob had surrounded him, pushing him to the ground. He’d struggled and even tried to strike some of them dead, but they were already dead, so he was powerless against them.  I climbed onto the stage, walked through the mob and pulled him to his feet.  His suit was ripped and hair disheveled.  He looked as though he’d seen pure, raw evil for the first time and didn’t know what to do with it.

“Charlie,” he whispered.  “Please don’t do this.  You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Yes I do,” I said.

“Have you learned nothing?  You’ve been listening to the serpent.  All he knows is lies and destruction.”

“So far, you’re the only one who has been lying about anything, and you seem to have destruction down pretty well.  But I forgot, the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away?  Is that right?”

He looked to the ground, frustrated at his own words being used against him.  Something hit me at that point.  This all seemed too easy.  Was I doing the right thing?  Or was I another Judas? 

“Charlie, I can save you.  You don’t have to be Judas,” he said, reading my thoughts.

“I came to you on bended knee, and you told me I was an abomination.  It was in my DNA.”

“You’re right, I did say that.  But there is light in you.”

“So you were wrong?”

“No!  I needed you to see this for yourself.  To see what Lucifer was, and who I was so you could make your own choice.  So now is the time.  Which side will you choose?  The light and come with me?  Or the darkness?  Once you choose there is no going back.”
             

I looked at Lucifer who glared at me, expressionless.  He didn’t seem to care one way or the other.  I couldn’t tell if the Bishop really cared or was just trying to save himself.  What if he was right?  What if by killing the Bishop I damned myself forever? Then again, I was already damned.  If the Bishop was the Christ, he couldn’t lie to me could he?  No, but he could tell a half-truth as he had already done. 

“Why don’t you call your father to save you,” I asked.

“It doesn’t work like that.  I’m on my own when I’m here, you know that.  Please Charlie.”

“What happens if you go back having failed your mission?”

“It won’t be pretty, but it’s something I’ll have to deal with.  If you come with me, I can save you.  I will save you Charlie.  You can help me finish my work here.  What’s the difference?   You already killed all these people.  Some of them were my sheep.”

“It’s too late for me.” I said.  “I’m an abomination.”

I placed my hand on his forehead and felt my fingers sinking in, touching the edges of his brain.  Millenniums of knowledge and experience exploded into my brain.  His thoughts, feelings, how long he’d been back on earth, the suffering he went through the first time on earth, how he’d gotten here, his plans.   Even visions of the spirit realm came through, my head seared with hot pain as it all soaked in.  It became clear to me, he wasn’t the monster I thought he was, but he wasn’t the godly being I thought he was either.  He truly thought he was helping mankind.  He was an immortal being who had millions of years of understanding beyond any of our own. 

I kept my hand on as long as I could. I felt blood running down my nose as the thoughts poured in.  I wasn’t going to be able to hold it. I finally let go as we both collapsed to the ground.  I lie on my back, trying to catch my breath.  The Bishop lay next to me motionless.  With all my strength on the Bishop, I had released everyone else in the stadium.  Every single one of them collapsed, this time, dead for good.  He wasn’t dead yet though, I hadn’t felt the life go out of him.  Slowly, I pushed myself to my feet.  Lucifer was standing over me, his eyes wide.  I put my hand out for him to help me up.  He backed away.

“Stay away from me,” he said.

“What?  Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“I had no idea it would be like that.  Just stay away.”

I heard movement next to me as the Bishop shifted.  He was looking up at me.

“Charlie, please,” he said.  I punched him square in the nose, knocking him out cold.

“You going to kill him?” Lucifer asked.

“Yes, but I have something special in mind.  I’m going to do it my way.”

Chapter 44

The drive in my Explorer was just over four hours.  I had the Bishop in the back, duct taped and covered with a tarp.  I was headed to a special place I’d found.  Before leaving the city, I’d stopped and rented a cargo trailer and made a few other stops as well.  This would be one of my best kills yet.  I had to make it epic after all, this was no regular sinner I had with me, and he deserved to go out in a special way.

I was on IH-10 headed through southwest Texas.  There was nothing out there except for rocks, hills and road.  When I found the dirt road, I turned onto the road and followed it as it curved between several large hills and rocks as the sun was beginning to rise above the hills.  The road wound up along one of the hills until I reached the spot.  It was a nice ridge, overlooking the canyon, but far enough away not to be seen from the road.  I put the Explorer in park and hopped out.

In the cargo trailer, I had some large wooden posts, and tools to work with.  I pulled out the first post and post hole digger.  I began digging, and was only able to get the hole about three feet deep before I hit solid rock.  I figured that would be good enough as I dropped the post in.  I filled in the dirt around it as well as rocks to keep it firm.  This post was about twenty four inches round, so it would hold just fine.  I set up a hoist I’d purchased as well as a step ladder and rigged it to the large post.

             
Once I had that done, I brought the other post out, which was only about twelve inches round, I placed it on the ground in front of the main post.  I got the tools out, and then dragged the Bishop out of the Explorer.  I cut the duct tape off of him, and then cut his clothes off him until he was in his underwear.  Apparently Christ wore boxers, white ones.  He could barely stand as I slapped him until he began to awaken.

“What?   Where am I?”

“You’re at the end, Yeshua.”

He looked around, swaying on his feet as if he could barely stand. 
             

“So it’s going to end like this again?”

“I thought it would be fitting.”  I said as I pushed him to the ground along the post.  Grabbing his right hand, I held it along the wooden bar while I drove a metal spike into his wrist with the hammer I’d brought.  Blood sprayed everywhere as he screamed.  He flailed at the nailed hand with his left hand but the nailed hand wasn’t going anywhere.

I then grabbed the left one and nailed it to the bar as well.  More blood and screaming followed.  The rocky ground was soaked with fresh blood.  Once I had him nailed to the cross bar, I hooked the hoist to the cross bar and then climbed the step ladder behind the large post.  I began pulling on the hoist, raising him up off the ground.  He continued to scream and moan as I raised him up.  It took a lot of effort as the whole rig was quite heavy.  Once the cross bar was high enough, I brought it up over the post and lowered it onto the post.  There was a notch cut into the top of the base post, so the crossbar dropped right in perfectly. 

             
He let out a scream as I dropped the post down and disconnected the hoist.  As I climbed down, I couldn’t help notice how pathetic he looked hanging there.  Nowhere near the larger than life, powerful figure I’d seen the night before in the Alamodome.  He didn’t even resemble the confident figure in his mansion who'd killed Stanton with the wave of his hand.  I grabbed the hammer and spikes and nailed each of his feet to the side of the post.  I didn’t cross them over in front like is often seen in pictures and movies with the crucifixion.  According to things I’d read about Roman history, they actually drove the nails through the sides of the feet through the bones.  He screamed louder as I drove the spikes through each foot.  Once done, I stepped back to see him hanging there.  This cross was shaped more like a “T” than the crosses you usually see in churches.  It’s most likely what the Romans used as it was much more practical. 

“Charlie, why have you done this?”

“I thought that was obvious.  This seemed a fitting death for you.  I begged you for forgiveness and you turned me away.  So this is what you get.”

“I underestimated you Charlie.”

“Yes you did.”

“It’s still not too late for you,” he gasped.  He had to shift his whole body just to breathe, and I could tell it hurt each time.  After a while, his muscles would give out and he’d asphyxiate.

“I’m afraid it is, Yeshua.  I never had a chance did I?”

“No.  This cannot go unanswered for, you know.”

“I know.  But you are not the holy being I learned about are you.”

“No.  No I’m not.” He grunted.

“How many of you are there?”

“We are the three.  There are others, but not in our realm.” His voice was barely above a whisper.

“What does that mean?”

“It means, it is finished.” He gasped as the life left his body.  As he hung limp from the cross, a dark cloud came over covering the sky.  Thunder cracked as the earth began to shake beneath me.  The shaking earth knocked me off my feet as a swirling cloud began to form around the Bishop.  The cloud enveloped him, spinning faster and faster.  It grew so thick; I couldn’t see him through it.  There was another clap of thunder as a lightning bolt came from the whirlwind lighting up the sky.