It was a bright, warm Sunday morning, and the congregation of the Christian Worship Church in Hope Wells was arriving for the weekly services. Farm and ranch families coming in from the countryside parked their bulky farm wagons in the area behind the building. Meanwhile the townspeople in buckboards, left the smaller vehicles along the street. Those who walked from their homes, joined the throng waiting in the yard. Since there was no steeple with a bell, the time to enter the church was announced by Pastor Hezekiah Woodward or Deacon Leo Horton at the front door.
Among those arriving on foot were Sheriff Dan Martin with his wife Agnes and spinster daughter Emily. Emily was a plain young lady in her mid-twenties, but her looks weren’t what kept her from marrying. Because of the shortage of women on the frontier, even the most unattractive females could be picky about the man they chose for husbands. Emily was shy and withdrawn, preferring to live out her life with her parents rather than have a family of her own.
The usual buzz of conversation in the churchyard went on for some ten minutes before Leo Horton appeared on the front steps. “Good morning, folks. Please enter the House of God; if you please.”
As the worshipers filed into the church, they immediately perceived this was going to be a special service. Reverend Hezekiah Woodward stood behind his pulpit on the dais at the end of the building. The lay brothers Farley Dempsey, Ed Turnbull and Zeke Mason were to his left. Leo walked up the aisle to stand on the preacher’s right. The deacon and brothers stood with bibles in their hands, their faces solemn as they gazed down on the congregation.
The women noticed the brothers’ wives were not present. The special pew where they usually sat was empty. It was particularly unsettling when Hezekiah’s wife Mildred was not at the battered old piano on the far side of the dais. A few of the females exchanged glances, silently puzzled.
Hezekiah began the service, announcing, “Please stand and open your hymnals to Number 187; Onward Christian Soldiers.”
Without a piano player, Hezekiah began singing and the congregation joined in. That particular hymn was the favorite of the churchgoers and they sang it lustily with great emotion. However, several of the men, suffering from headaches after a Saturday evening of drinking at the Dessert View Saloon, grimaced and only mouthed the words.
After all five verses of the religious song were sung, Hezekiah uttered, “Let us pray.”
The worshippers remained standing and bowed their heads.
“Dearest Father in Heaven,” the pastor began, “we are gathered here on this Sunday to praise you and thank you for the great task you have set before us. I thank you for your holy guidance when you showed me the final part of your eternal plan for Christian folks. And I thank you for choosing me to be the pastor of this coming miracle that will soon take us all up to the eternal glory of heaven. Amen.”
The people were puzzled by that baffling prayer. Those with hangovers were hoping for a short service so they’d have time for a nap before Sunday dinner. But it didn’t look like that was going to happen.
Hezekiah smiled down on his audience. “I’m sure you’ve notice that my wife and those of the brothers are not with us at this particular service. They are gathered in my home praying. And I am going to tell you why.”
The congregation, genuinely interested, remained silent.
Hezekiah cleared his throat and spoke out boldly. “I bring you the word of the Lord our god who art in heaven. And that word is—” He paused for effect, his hands clasped together “— the hour of grace is here. Within a short time our savior Jesus Christ is gonna be walking on the earth in what will be his second coming. And he’s gonna start this final miracle right here in Hope Wells, Arizona Territory.”
Now gasps and cries came from the congregation. There was as much from fear as surprise in the collective reaction. One oldster by the name of Lester Watkins, exclaimed, “What in the blue-eyed world are you talking about, Hezekiah?”
“I am talking about the final steps in God’s eternal plans, Lester,” the pastor replied. “I am talking about the holy truth.” He turned to Deacon Leo and the three lay brothers. “Ain’t that right!”
“Repent!” they yelled in unison. “Repent and prepare to meet your maker!”
Hezekiah continued. “I’m gonna start from the very beginning of this miracle that has befell upon us.” He cleared his throat again. “All you fine Christian folks know about how me and Deacon Leo went out to the Guerras Apache Reservation to make those poor savage heathens accept our savior Jesus Christ.”
Ben Rawlins, another elderly parishioner, leaned against the pew in front of him and asked, “Hezekiah, can we please sit down now?”
“O’course, Ben,” the preacher replied. “Ever’body take your seats.” He waited until everyone had settled on the pews. “I got to admit that me and Leo wasn’t able to baptize a single, solitary Injun. As the months went by, I began to wonder if we wasn’t just wasting our time. But some mysterious force pushed us on to keep trying to bring them the word of the Lord.” He glanced at his deacon. “Didn’t it, Leo?”
“Hallelujah!” Leo shouted.
Hezekiah turned back to his audience. “But one day while we was preaching our hearts out, a Injun I had never seen before, approached us.” At this point he began twisting the truth a bit, to keep the story conveniently short. “I asked him who he was and this heathen stranger looked me right in the eye and said the messiah was coming. I asked him what messiah. And he told me the one the white folks had kilt at his first visit.”
Most of the congregation now leaned forward, their attention riveted on their religious leader.
Hezekiah went on. “Well! To me that meant the messiah he was talking about was no other than our savior Jesus Christ! I looked at Leo and asked him if he had the same opinion I had. Was that savage actually talking about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the son of God? And Leo said that he agreed with me a hunnerd percent.”
“Hallelujah!” Leo shouted.
Doctor Harold Simpson queried, “Will you please tell us what an unlearned primitive Apache Indian is going to know about Jesus’ second coming?”
“That’s the puzzle all right,” Hezekiah replied. “And there was only one way I could find out the truth about this whole thing. And that was to retire to my home and pray for God to tell me what was going on.”
Hezekiah knew he had the congregation’s complete and undivided attention. His voice rose and he shouted, “And after nights of beseeching God to enlighten me, he told me them Injuns was his instruments in this miracle! Jesus has always cared more about the humble and the poor than anyone else. And he has chose them Apache Injuns because they have been beaten down. It says so in the good book that Jesus offered solace to prisoners, and them Apaches are prisoners out there on that reservation.”
Dr. Simpson spoke up again. “But what’s that go to do with you?”
“God told me that the Injuns was confused about the second coming,” Hezekiah explained. “And they needed guidance. And since I’ve had the Call to be a preacher of the Gospel, God wanted me to help in the second coming by explaining things to the Injuns who are ignorant and poor. He will win them to Christianity by showing them mercy instead of punishment for their heathen, evil ways. So what he’s gonna do is use me to tell ‘em things they need to do in order to throw all the world’s sinners into the depths of Hell. And I was to give ‘em whatever they needed to take part in this miracle of miracles.”
Sheriff Dan Martin now stood up. “Just what are they gonna need for this here miracle of miracles?”
“Religious guidance mostly,” Hezekiah answered. “I’m gonna be teaching ‘em lessons from the Gospel. And, of course, there’ll be non-spiritual items like tools, maybe or weapons that will cast the sinners into hell.”
The sheriff frowned. “What kind of weapons?”
“Weapons that are strength and righteousness. It’s the same thing as the Great Flood and Sodom and Gomorrah. You remember your bible lessons— those of you who came to studies on Wednesday evenings— that Sodom and Gomorrah was wicked cities with sinful people living in ‘em. The onliest righteous man was Lot, and the Lord told Lot to gather his family and leave, but don’t look back while them evil places was eaten up by flames. But Lot’s wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. So beware! You must obey the Lord’s commandments in this second coming or you’ll be throwed to Satan hisself.”
Hezekiah was beginning to ramble, and the rancher Arlo Wheatfall slowly stood up with an expression on his face that was so emotional, that it stopped Hezekiah from speaking. Arlo’s voice was gravely and hoarse as he asked, “Are you saying that God hisself told you all this?”
“That he did!” the pastor replied passionately. “Don’t you folks see what this means? There ain’t gonna be no Battle of Armageddon! There ain’t gonna be no armies of good and evil fighting each other. All us Christians is gonna go straight up to the Kingdom of Heaven! God is done with all the evil in this world and wants us— his children— to join him. And Jesus Christ our Savior is gonna lead the way. He’s gonna lead the way!”
One member of the congregation listened to the rhetoric without elation. Sheriff Dan Martin was thinking about Apache Indians. If anybody ever wanted to see pure hell and damnation, he’d trot out a Guerras warrior for their edification.