SWNOVELS Chapter A History Lesson
Tim was totally confused. Just what had he gotten into? Was this really a conspiracy to overthrow the government? If so, how could he help? Did he really want to help? He still felt the charges against him were trumped up. He was sure he could explain if only given a chance.
After receiving the paper thin computer from Ron, he returned to his room to try to mentally sort things out. He spread it out on the desk in the corner of his room and was shocked when the sheet seemed to come alive with light and color. Across the top a number of small images were lined up, but they made no sense to him. In his daily life he had never even heard of computers, and was uncertain of what needed to be done to get any information from this strange device.
I’ll just have to tell Ron I don’t know anything about computers. He’ll have to help me. Since he said I was free to explore, I guess that’s what I’ll do.
As he wandered around he was amazed that everything was so open to him. No one challenged him. No one questioned his right to be looking through the complex. He found a kitchen, and even though food was being prepared, no one was overseeing the operation. Well, Ron did say that everything was automatically controlled.
Still weak from his ordeal in the ’Rehabilitation Facility, he soon grew tired and decided to return to his room. As he looked around he realized he had become completely lost and started to panic. Taking a deep breath to control his emotions, he turned completely around and looked in all directions trying to decide which way he should go. Then he remembered the disk Ron had given him.
He pulled it out of his pocket, held it in front of his chest, and looked it over. A green arrow appeared on a white background pointing to a passageway on his left. I hope Ron knew what he was talking about. I hope this thing really works. Tim moved in the direction indicated.
Each time he came to an intersection he consulted the strange disk in his hand and followed the green arrow. At one point, just to see what would happen, he turned left when the arrow pointed right. He had only taken one step when the entire disc turned red. As he turned around, the disk resumed its green arrow on white appearance, pointing in the same direction as before.
After that experiment he followed the arrow faithfully and soon found himself back at his room. Another hot meal was waiting for him as he entered the room. With all the other things he had seen since Ron had escorted him from the Archbishop’s presence, he accepted this as another miracle to be enjoyed now and questioned later.
By the time Tim finished his meal the strain of his circumstances was wearing on him, so he fell into bed. He was asleep almost before his head touched the pillow.
Through the haze of gradually awakening from sleep, Tim became aware of two men in his room. Shocked and afraid, he jerked up from his bed.
“Relax Tim,” said a soft, friendly voice. “No one’s going to hurt you.”
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Tim recognized Ron as the speaker. “You shouldn’t scare people like that!” he blurted out.
“You’ve been asleep for fourteen hours,” Indicating the person with him Ron said “It’s time to get to work. You met Claude at breakfast yesterday. He’s going to be your history teacher.”
Claude stepped forward to shake hands with Tim. “We have a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time to do it. How good of a student are you?”
“Well, back in school I was one of the top students in my history class.”
“It’s too bad everything they taught you there is wrong! The junk they teach is nothing but propaganda. It’s designed to make you accept everything the Church teaches as being, if you’ll pardon the expression, ‘Gospel Truth’. They tell you the Church, as we know it today, is the same as it was in the time of the Apostles. They say that the Church has always been like it is today. They teach that getting heretics out of the Church and community has been one of the main goals of the Church throughout the centuries. This is all nothing but hogwash!”
Tim was stunned by this outpouring from Claude. What he was saying was clearly blasphemy. It couldn’t be true. Even the thought was enough to turn his world upside down. From his earliest childhood he had been taught to accept the teaching of the Church without question. To have Claude now disputing this was the last thing he had expected.
“They also tell you that the Church has always had the primary role in the governing of society; that only a few places have experimented with government separate from the Church; and this has always rapidly resulted in failure. This is also a bunch of B.S.,” Claude paused. “You look shocked. Good! At least that tells me you are paying attention.
“Let’s start at the beginning. That’s always a good place to start. The roots of the Church go back to the Hebrew nation. These people, also called the Jews, were fanatical about their religious Laws. They carried this to the extreme.
“One of the Laws they were expected to follow was to do no work on the Sabbath. One of the examples of this extremism is found in the book of Matthew Chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. ’At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, ‘Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.’
“What was it they were doing that was unlawful? They were harvesting as they picked the grain, thrashing it as they separated the grain from the chaff, and grinding it as they ate! I think we can agree that picking something to eat because you are hungry is not ‘work.’ They also complained when Jesus healed a sick man on the Sabbath.
“There are also many examples throughout history where a society ruled by a religious group has become very intolerant of all who do not follow their specific brand of religion. We’ll talk more about those as we get deeper into your training.”
“But Claude, aren’t the teachings of the Church true? Are we not supposed to follow the Word of God?”
“Some of the teachings are true but others are strictly manmade rules! The problem is that we are to follow the Word, period! We must not take any part away from it, nor are we to add to it. The present Church leaders have done both!
“The early Church members saw it as their responsibility to follow the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles. In doing so they expected to take care of each other, to correct any in their group that strayed from the faith, and to reach out to others to bring them into the fellowship through faith in Jesus Christ.”
“The early Christians were severely persecuted by both the Jews and the pagans of their time. They were executed by crucifixion, by being fed to wild beasts, and even dipped in pitch and burned to provide light for the city of Rome, simply because they were Christians. Officially they were executed because they did not follow the state religion of Rome. They did not believe Caesar was a god, and would not call him Lord.”
Claude was getting animated about his subject as he hurried on. “By about the fourth century after Christ, the Church had gained a substantial level of influence in the Roman Empire. One of the rulers of Rome, Constantine, even became a Christian.
“For the next several hundred years the Church continued to expand and to increase its influence over the secular portion of society. By the Thirteenth century the Church was so dominant it began an effort to wipe out everyone they considered a ‘pagan’ or a heretic.
Here Claude paused for breath. “Anyone could accuse another of being a heretic. The accused was then presumed guilty! It was an extremely rare case where the accused was found innocent. If the accused did not immediately confess, repent, accept penance, and accuse some of his acquaintances of being heretics, they were imprisoned until they would confess.Many of those who did confess were then imprisoned for life. Those who continued to profess their innocence would be found guilty and turned over to the civil authorities to be burned at the stake. In either case their property was confiscated by the Church.”
Tim spoke up, “Why, that sounds almost like what’s happening now. I’ve even heard rumors of people being burned at the stake after being accused as I was accused.”
Ron had been sitting quietly during Claude’s lecture. He now addressed Tim in a very solemn voice. “Those aren’t rumors Tim, it IS actually happening. Also, the Church has already confiscated your property. Your wife and son have also been imprisoned.”