12.

Jeremy Jenkins

Friday, March 15 - 1:30p.m.

The next day, after writing in his journal for three hours in the morning, Mike decided to take a walk. He walked down the strip, pondering his situation. The desert was unusually hot for mid-March. He walked the long blocks South of Bally’s until he found himself near the MGM Grand where he spotted a man who, despite the heat, was dressed in a black collared shirt with an awkward green tie. He had jet black hair, greased back so thick he looked like a manakin. In his left hand he held a Bible. Behind him was a poster-board sign sprawled with “Sinners repent! The kingdom of God is upon you.” The man was shouting his cause and Mike slowed down to listen.

The man preached his sermon to anyone who walked by. “Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.’ Only through Christ Jesus will you find salvation. Give up your evil ways and embrace the Lord Jesus Christ as your God and savior . . . ”

People shuffled by, ignoring him, but Mike couldn’t. The more he watched, the angrier he got. Finally, he couldn’t contain himself. He lashed out at the man, “That’s not what I said!” Then he caught himself and rephrased it. “Jesus never said he was God. He didn’t even say he was the only son of God. He called himself the son of man because he came to try to straighten out mankind.”

The sidewalk fanatic paused, pleased that someone had heard him. In his southern drawl, he began his well-rehearsed speech. “Sir, my name is Jeremy Jenkins and I’ve been charged by God Himself to preach the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, our lord. Have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal God and savior?” he asked.

“As a matter of fact, no, I haven’t. I. . . ” He caught himself again. “Jesus never wanted people to think he was God. Pontius Pilot asked him point blank if he was the son of God, and he said, ‘The words are yours.’”

“The only true word of God is the Bible, and the Bible tells us that Jesus was the son of God.”

Mike seriously doubted that the Bible was God’s only chosen method of communication. What about the Tao Te Ching? The Koran? The Buddhist scriptures? The Bhagavad Gita? The Avesta? Not to mention the more personal approach like Joe’s. He decided not to go there. He had entered the fanatical man’s world, so he decided to play by that man’s rules. He countered, “Yes, but that doesn’t mean he was the only son of God. The Bible also says that we are all children of God.”

“Now wait a minute, son,” Jenkins said. “Just who do you think you are coming here and presuming to know the will of God?”

Mike thought for a minute. Then a dirty little smile came across his face. Why not be honest? At last he spoke a matter-of-fact, “Jesus Christ.”

Jenkins thought Mike was swearing. “Thou shalt not take the lord’s name in vain,” he spat back. His eyes became a little wild, as if he might come unglued at any moment.

Mike countered quickly. “No, you misunderstood me. I was answering your question.”

“What question?”

Mike wondered if Jenkins’ tie was a little bit too tight; maybe it had cut off circulation to his brain. The fanatic’s question may have been rhetorical, but it was still a question. “You asked me who I thought I was, and I told you: Jesus Christ. Reincarnated in this body you see right here.”

Jenkins eyed him with suspicion. “Sir, what you’re saying is not only absurd, it’s blasphemy. People burn in hell for much less.”

Mike thought about the ridiculous notion that God would resort to torture and fear to control his people. “Why is that?”

“Well, for one thing, Christians don’t believe in reincarnation.” Jenkins looked smug. He knew too much about the Bible to let some Yankee punk with long hair get the better of him.

“Wrong,” countered Mike. He had the advantage of having just reread the New Testament. “The Bible says that John the Baptist was the reincarnation of the prophet Elijah. Isn’t that true?”

“Well that was different. Sure, God has the power to bring his prophets back into the world through reincarnation, but that doesn’t mean . . . ”

Mike cut him off, “And just like that,” he snapped his fingers, “God reincarnated Jesus Christ as me.”

Jenkins was dumbfounded. He didn’t know what to say. The audacity. The outrage. Finally he spoke in a curt, angry voice. “When Jesus Christ our Lord and savior returns, he’ll return in a blaze of glory, not as some beatnik hippie drug addict.” Obviously, Jenkins thought, anyone with long hair like Mike’s was into sex, drugs and rock and roll.

Again, Mike stopped him short. He raised his voice. “I tell you what. I’ll prove it to you. What can I do to convince you? You want to see me multiply some loaves and fishes? Maybe raise the dead?” These were not just idle threats. Mike had regained his connection to God, and he remembered how to perform miracles.

Jenkins’ voice became louder too, and more shrill. “Jesus said that in the future, people would do greater works than he did. You’ll never convince me. The Bible says there will be False prophets in the end-days. Mark 13:22. ‘Then, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or, ‘Look, there he is,’ do not believe it. Imposters will come claiming to be messiahs or prophets, and they will produce signs and wonders to mislead God’s chosen.’”

Mike shouted. “No, I suppose I can’t prove it to you; you’re too closed-minded.” As he walked away, his mind was swept up in another flashback, a series of images in rapid succession. Matthew 15:16, Are you still as dull as the rest? Matthew 16:8, Where is your faith? Do you not understand even yet? Mark 4:13, You do not understand this parable? How then are you to understand any parable? Mark 8:17, Have you no inkling yet? Do you still not understand? Are your minds closed? You have eyes: can you not see? You have ears: can you not hear? Have you forgotten?

He turned back to Jenkins. “By the way, Matthew 6:1, ‘Be careful not to make a show of your religion before men. If you do, no reward awaits you in your Father’s house in heaven.’”

Jenkins yelled back, “You’re a blasphemer.” as Mike walked away. “God shall strike thee down. On the day of judgement, Jeremy Jenkins will sit at the right hand of God, and you, sir, will be burning in the lake of fire. Give up your evil ways and repent before it’s too late.”

Mike looked into Jenkins’ eyes and, like before, his awareness expanded to see Jenkins’ life. He saw him wetting the bed repeatedly into his teenage years and the beatings that inevitably followed from his ultraconservative father. He also felt Jenkins’ lifelong feelings of shame and self-loathing because he couldn’t understand or come to terms with his sexuality. He saw a teenage Jenkins masturbating until his penis bled; gratification and self-punishment all rolled up in one very messy package. He could see Jenkins’ past and present, but his future was clouded for some reason. Mike felt an overwhelming pity as he walked away.

Such melodrama, Mike thought as he walked away. Won’t he be embarrassed when he dies and finds out he got it all wrong? How did my message get so screwed up, anyway, and how am I going to set the record straight?

Excerpt from The Gospel According to Mike

He said, “Religious fanatics and extremists are blind and deaf judges. They believe what they’ve heard, but do not understand God’s Truth. They see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear. They use words to justify their judgements and to make themselves feel superior. Did I not say, ‘Judge not, lest you be judged yourself?’ For it can only be damaging to judge someone unless you grasp the big picture. And while you are here on this Earth, nurturing your own limitations and using them for spiritual growth, you do not grasp the big picture. Throw away your microscopic view and its judgements and embrace the big picture.”