“Tell me. How strongly do you believe in the words of Jesus?”
“With my heart and soul and mind and strength,” Paul said indignantly. “I am a shepherd to His nock.”
Joshua was still looking for the quote he needed. “So you believe that whatever Jesus said takes unqualified precedence over anything else in the Bible?”
“Jesus was the Word made flesh,” Paul stated. “He is to be obeyed without question. Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy.”
“True,” Joshua agreed.
“But what did you mean by what you said a second ago?” Paul inquired, intrigued by Joshua’s audacity in lecturing him on Scripture, and impressed by Joshua’s dignity, his concern, and his evident faith.
“There are no contradictions in the Bible.”
“Oh.” Joshua stopped flipping the pages. “For instance, take Psalm One.”
“Psalm One?”
“Verses Five and Six.” Joshua ran his finger under the lines as he read.
“‘Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish,’” he quoted.
Paul smiled in satisfaction. “See! What did I tell you? That applies to the Porns if anything does!”
“Wait a moment.” Joshua hurriedly turned to the New Testament. “I’m not done yet. I know you are intimately familiar with the Scriptures, so I’ll simply quote several passages and let you tell me if they also apply to the Porns. Fair enough?”
“Go ahead,” Paul grinned. “But you won’t change my mind.”
“I’m not going to,” Joshua replied. “Jesus is.”
“Oh?”
Joshua quickly turned from one reference to another. “Let’s start with Luke, Chapter Four, Verse Eighteen.” He read the excerpt slowly. “‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.’” Joshua glanced at Paul. “Does this apply to you as well?”
“Of course. I am a minister to His fold. I must follow in his footsteps.”
“Good.” Joshua smiled. “Then let’s keep going.” He continued turning pages. “Remember when the scribes and the Pharisees became upset and asked why Jesus ate and drank with the sinners and the publicans?”
“Of course.”
“From Luke, Chapter Five, Verses Thirty-one and Thirty-two,” Joshua said. “‘They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’” He scanned the next page. “And listen to Chapter Six, Verses Thirty-five, Thirty-six, and Thirty-seven.” He shot a look at Paul, pleased at his furrowed brow and thoughtful countenance. “‘But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.’”
Paul reached up and scratched his chin. “I’m aware of these teachings…” he began.
“But you refuse to apply them to the Porns?” Joshua interrupted.
“Our situation is unique,” Paul responded. “We are…” He fell silent, gazing absently at the floor.
Joshua turned to John, Chapter Five, Verse Twenty-four. “‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.’”
“They are our enemies,” Paul said softly. “They are.”
Joshua found Chapter Ten, Verse Nine. “‘I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.’ Note that Jesus stresses ‘any man.’”
“True,” Paul said, struggling with an intense, personal revelation.
Joshua tried another quote, from Chapter Twelve, Verses Forty-six and Forty-seven, in John. “‘I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.’”
Paul stared at Joshua with fresh respect. “You certainly know the Scriptures.”
“I have spent the greater portion of my life studying the Bible and other special writings.”
“I am impressed,” Paul conceded.
Joshua leaned toward Paul. “Are you impressed enough to send an envoy to the Porns and request a meeting to iron out your differences?”
“They would laugh in our faces.”
“You don’t know that.”
“They’ll kill anyone we sent,” Paul objected.
“But if someone did go, and they agreed to meet with you, would you talk to them?” Joshua said, pressing.
Paul nodded, very slowly. “Yes. I would. If there is any chance we can reach a peace, I am bound by my allegiance to our Lord to try it.”
“Good.”
“But you won’t find anyone willing to go,” Paul remonstrated. “No one wants to die uselessly. I’d go, Brother Joshua, but they would kill me on sight. Their current leader. Maggot, has boasted he will crucify me on a flaming cross.”
“It was I who convinced you to attempt a reconciliation with the Porns.” Joshua reached out and placed his right hand on Paul’s left shoulder. “I wouldn’t think of requesting that you impose on one of your brethren, or asking that you jeopardize your own safety.”
“Then who will be the envoy you mentioned?”
“I will.”
“What?” Paul stood, gesticulating with his arms. “You will not! I won’t allow it.”
“You have no other option.”
“Yes I do. I can forbid you to go.”
“I am not a member of the First Church,” Joshua reminded Paul.
“Rightfully, you lack authority over my actions.”
Paul vigorously shook his head. “No. You don’t understand. It is precisely because you are not of the First Church that I can’t allow you to go. Don’t you see?” Paul began nervously pacing the floor.
“All these years of trying to maintain our moral and spiritual integrity in the face of civilization’s decay have exacted a horrid emotional toll on us. In recent years, I have detected a growing restlessness in my congregation. Their collective faith and enthusiasm is faltering, and who can fault them? We struggle for the basic necessities, hunting what little game there is, salvaging what we can from the ruins of the city, growing meager quantities of food where feasible, and resisting the depredations of the Porns and the Wacks and the animals. The one essential element conducive to spiritual growth we lack, and that is peace, the peace necessary to pursue our lives without hindrance and interference.”
“What does all this have to do with your forbidding my going to the Porns with a peace proposal?” Joshua asked.
Paul ceased his pacing, his shoulders sagging. “My flock believes in the reality of our Lord and our eventual reward on high. This cherished hope sustains us in our travail. What we don’t have, however, is a hope for our immediately earthly future. What do we have to look forward to? A lifetime of interminable conflict, periodic bouts with rampant disease, and, more often than not, a slow, painful death. But you change all this!”
“How?”
“You are our hope for our earthly future!” Paul exclaimed. “Just knowing that there is another group somewhere, similar to us in their beliefs, is immensely encouraging. It means we are not alone in this world!
Can’t you see how much that would mean to us?”