The Mormon Candidate - a Novel (48 page)

“Just in case they ask you,”
Dreyfuss
said, “
about the other churches,
here is something to remember.” He
showed him a photocopy of
a page
from a
book. “This is the
original language of
t
he
Book of Mormon
, published by Joseph Smith in eighteen-thirty. Look at this, quoting from
One
Nephi
,
fourteen
, three
:
‘
…that great and abominable church, which was founded by the devil and his children that he might lead away the souls of men down to hell…
’ And continuing here,” Dr
eyfuss pointed at the next page,
“Nephi
elaborates
about the two choices—the Mormon Church
, which is
the Lamb of God, and
greater
Christianity, lumped together as one whore
. Here, s
t
ar
t
ing in verse nine.”

Ben held the page and read quietly:

Behold, there is save it be two churches;

the one is the church of the Lamb of
God

and the other is the church of the devil.

Wherefore whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God

Belo
n
geth to that great church which is the mother of abominations,

and she is the whore of the earth.

And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the whore of the earth.

And she sat upon many waters,

and she had dominion over all the earth

among all the nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.

And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of
God
;

and its numbers were few

because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore

which sat upon many waters.

Nevertheless I beheld that the church of the Lamb, which were the saints of God,

were also upon all the face of the earth
…
’

“You see?” Dreyfuss
pointed at
the page. “Th
at’s what Joseph
Smith t
aught
his followers through the
Book of Mormon
. A
ll of Christianity
wa
s
the devil’s whore
, b
ut
his
new church
,
the Lamb of God,
wa
s the only true church
.
Still is.
T
hose w
ho belong to
the
Mormon C
hurch are the ‘
Saints of God
,
’
and one day they will replace the rest of Christianity ‘
upon all the face of the earth
.’ I
n other words, only Mormon
s
are true Christians
. Everyone else
—Catholics, Protestants,
Baptists
—are
not Christians but
Gentiles and
devil
-worshipers
.
”

“Prett
y harsh,” Ben said. “Do
Mormons still believe that?”

“You betcha!” St
r
ee
p
showed him a cross she was wearing on a plain silver chain around her neck. “No crosses on Mormon temples
,
church
es, or necks
, right?”

“Their obsession with secrecy,” Dreyfuss explained, “
is not a coincidence. They know how upset all Christians would be if they knew
that
Mormons
consider themselves the only true Christians while all others are Gentiles whose
churches
are false,
abomina
ble
, whoring, satanic
denominations
. It would interfere with the LDS corporate and business activities and hinder the political aspirations of people like Joe Morgan.”

“That’s right!” St
r
ee
p
tucked her cross back under her shirt. “Would you vote for someone who believes you’re a devil worshiper?”

“Not to mention,” Dreyfuss added, “the interference with the
ir
massive missionary work.
We trained y
oung Mormon missionaries to start contact with Christian prospects with a mild, friendly sale
s
pitch that the
Book of Mormon
is nothing more than another testimony of Christ.”

“
That’s arguably true
,”
Stre
e
p
said. “
But who cares about
theology
? A
ll
the kid
needs to know is what happens in the
t
emple so he can get through
security
.”

“What was that?” Ben looked from one to the other. “Have I agreed to
infiltrate
the temple?”

“It’s the only way,” Powell said. “Don’t you want to find out what really happened to Zachariah, how involved was Morgan
, who sent the Danites to kill you?”

“I
do
,” Ben said. “But I want to confront Morgan myself. That’s my condition, and it’s not negotiable.”

“Why?” Streep looked at him with creased eyes. “It’s going to be risky, even if you manage to get to him.”

“I have my reasons,” Ben said. “Do we have an agreement?”

“Yes,” Powell said. “It’s a deal.
We’ll train you and get you into the
t
emple
. Y
ou’ll steal the files and
give us the data
. As far as we’re concerned, you can try to confront Morgan face-to-face, though I hope you have
a
good reasons to take such a risk.
”

The road narrowed to two lanes, separated by a solid line.
Traffic was heavy in both directions.
She couldn’t pass
, but there was no doubt in her mind that the
Ducati
was already
catch
ing
up
fast. If she waited any longer, the game would be lost
.

Taking advantage of a lull in oncoming traffic, Ke
era veered into the opposite lan
e and
pushed
the Mustang
to
go as fast as it
c
ould, passing a group of slow-moving cars. A truck appeared around a curve ahead, and Keera
slipped back in
to her lane, winning an angry honk for the car she had cut off.
F
a
rther ahead, the light was green at Pindell School Road, but it turned yellow as she approached. With the pedal pressed to the floor, she flew through the intersection.

A minute or so later,
she
saw the cemetery on the left, which extended all the way to the intersection with
Browns Bridge
Road,
where she
would
turn right and
head north
, disappearing into the countryside beyond the Ducati’s reach
.

But t
he light
at the intersection
ahead
was red, a line of waiting cars block
ed
her way
, and oncoming traffic deprived her of a passing lane
. Without giving in to
hesitation,
Keera
twisted the steering wheel and
dropped to the
dirt
shoulder
,
pass
ing the other cars
on the right
. T
he Mustang ma
de
hellish noise
s
as rocks hit the undercarriage, the tires pounded on the uneven surface, and the steering wheel literally tried to twist out of her grip. Just before reaching the turn, she noticed that part of the shoulder was missing, washed
away into the parallel ditch
by a recent rain.

I
t was too late to stop. The right
front
wheel dropped
into the hole
, the hood tilted
sharply before her eyes, followed by a
huge
bang
as the wheel hit the
other side of the hole and sent t
he
right
side of the car
leap
ing into the air. A
nd
a
s it came down,
the rear wheel dropp
ed
into the
same
hole.
The Mustang was caught in a three-dimensional figure-
eight
, twisting
left and right, up and down, and back and forth like a bucking horse determined to throw her off.

Keera
gripped the steering wheel desperately to keep
the Mustang
on its forward
velocity
on the dirt shoulder
to
ward the stoplights and the perpendicular traffic out of
Browns Bridge Road
. Suddenly,
the latches holding the convertible top broke
off
and the
whole canvas top popped
up,
filled with wind
,
and
flew backward,
tearing
away
with a sickening sound.

“If I’m going to enter the
t
emple,
” Ben said, “
I
’ll
need to know what to expect.”
He
patted
Mormonism for Dummies
. “
There’s very little about
it
here.”

“Because
temple rituals are
secret
,” Dreyfuss explained
.
“
Mormons are sworn
on their lives
never to reveal the rituals to Gentiles.
T
em
ple
participation
itself
is
restricted
to
Mormons
in good standing—men
who have attained priesthoo
d
, married in a temple, obey their bishop, and follow all the rules, such as to
abstain from tobacco, caffeine, and alcohol
. They also must
be tithing in full, which means that one dollar in every ten they earn must go to Salt Lake City.
”

“You should know,” Powell said, “that
s
aints are often
called back to
the
t
emple
to serve as proxy for the dead
.
With hundreds of thousands of
dead
Gentile souls awaiting salvation, t
he
LDS
Church
faces a challenge of
efficiency, because posthumous
conversions have two parts. The
immersion in a
bapti
smal bath
can be done in any
one
of the
h
undreds of wards, but
posthumous endowments
can only be done
at
one of the forty or so
t
emples
.
Before leaving the Church,
I
spent many days serving as a proxy. It’s a wonderful experience.
”

“Same here,” Dreyfuss said. “Mormon
t
emples are heavenly place
s
for the faithful. As a member of the
missionary training
leadership, I was fortunate to
live near a
t
emple and serve
often as proxy
for the dead
. Even now, when I think back o
n
receiving the endowments
and practicing t
he rituals, I wish for one more opportunity to participate.”