The Atua Man: A Novel

“Come with me.” Gary took Thomas into the ISD command center. The shift captain sat on a raised podium in the middle of the room watching the array of monitors for the forty-eight cameras on the property. The day crew filled a half-a-dozen workstations. Gary pulled a man from a workstation and made Thomas sit behind his monitor. “You have a plum job, Parker, an easy one. All you’re required to do is let the watch captain know when Mr. St. John leaves his apartment. So how come Mr. St. John was with his family when they returned last night?”

“I’m not sure what you mean, sir. I had no advance knowledge of their return. They just showed up at the door with their bags.”

“When did Mr. St. John leave the apartment?”

“I don’t think he did.” Thomas realized what had happened and quickly added, “At one point I had to use the loo.”

Gary brought up the footage from the surveillance camera outside the St. John apartment and started narrating the events for Thomas. “After Dolan’s little fuckup in the dining hall, Mr. St. John returned to his apartment and you were outside his door until zero two hundred hours.” Thomas nodded. “Then you were relieved by … Mr. Beaumont.” Gary sped up the video. “Beaumont had four breaks during his shift, which were either covered by Mr. Cook or by a dedicated video surveillance. You came on at sixteen hundred yesterday…” Gary slowed the video down, “…took a ten-minute rest at eighteen hundred, a twenty-minute break in the dining hall at twenty-two hundred, and another scheduled break at midnight, just after the St. John party arrived. You had an unscheduled break at twenty-three-thirty and didn’t notify the video controller.”

“That’s when Mr. St. John must have left. I just had a sudden call. I’m sorry.”

“But Mr. St. John didn’t leave the apartment, Parker.”

“That can’t be.”

“It’s happened before. We’re just waiting for the fallout.”

That afternoon Jason St. John politely listened to Tony Bass as Tony went over the bullet points that needed to be addressed in the symposium. They were in the Ministry’s media center, a state-of-the-art sound stage.

“Be sure to stress that apparitions are common throughout the world and there is nothing supernatural about them. Hell, people see the dearly departed all the time. I had a friend who hated funerals because he always saw the person who’d died there—usually laughing! Tony was giving Jason his best sales pitch. When Jason didn’t react, Tony became serious. “Just stick to the bullet points and you’ll do fine. Don’t go into mysticism. This is not the forum for that.”

“I will put the Marsdan affair in a context that will give the religious people a plausible explanation for what had happened and show the secular world how common such things are,” Jason said as if the statement had been rehearsed many times.

“I’m counting on you, Jason.” Tony left the studio. “I’ll be watching from the control room,” he called back.

Jason looked from the script to the stage. A semicircular UN-style conference table was on a dais, and two of Barbara’s assistants reworked the large floral arrangement on the floor in front of the table making sure that no wayward flower disrupted the cameras angled at the participants. Two cameramen glided their cameras around the floor, hitting marks that the director in the control room noted on his console. A third camera would be dedicated to the moderator, the broadcast reporter Theodore Spencer. The backdrop was a wood-paneled wall, so that the setting would create an academic tone.

Barbara changed the seating arrangement at the conference table once again. “You need to be in the center, Jason,” she said, “This is all about you.”

“Where will Spencer be?”

“He’ll be on the floor. I want him to be free to move around when he asks questions and moderates the conversation.”

“So, this is going to be a conversation.”

“You authorized this, Jason. You’re the one who’s going to put apparitions and the Marsdan incident in proper perspective, so everyone gets it.” Barbara tapped her earphones. “Why don’t you take your seat? I’ve just been told that the panelists have arrived.”

“I’ll wait here. I want to greet them as they come in.” Jason took one last glance at his script, folded it, and stuffed it in his pocket.

Upstairs, in the St. John apartment, Lillian, Melanie, Dorothy settled on the sofa as Alex turned on the TV set and tuned in the channel. “This is cool,” he said as he found a place between his mom and Melanie.

“It’s necessary,” Dorothy said, reaching over to pat Alex on the knee. “People have to hear the truth.”

Lillian hoped Jason wouldn’t go too far.

Melanie, ever the atheist, said, “I don’t believe in miracles, but I know what I’ve seen, so this will be interesting to say the least.

Jason remained just inside the door to the media center’s studio as Rabbi Levinson entered, the first to arrive. He shook Jason’s hand and gave him a fatherly pat on the back. Levinson was in his late sixties, a little overweight, and had wiry gray hair. “Don’t know why you’re doing this, but it takes a lot of guts.”

Catholic Cardinal Richards and Anglican Bishop Eastman were right behind the rabbi, talking intently. They had worked together on many ecumenical counsels and liked each other. The cardinal was tall and thin. His scarlet hat and piping seemed to outline his lanky frame, and at age seventy-three he was badgering the younger bishop. The bishop was approaching sixty and had dyed brown hair combed over a receding hairline. They both greeted Jason cordially, but the cardinal was more intent on making his point with the bishop than he was in engaging Jason.

Sheikh Qamarussaman followed the Christian prelates and Jason greeted him with the traditional greeting of peace, “as-salamu alaykum.” The imam, in a simple suit under a white taqiyah, or robe, kissed Jason on both cheeks and thanked him for including him on the panel. He was forty-one, closest to Jason in age, handsome, and had very kind eyes.

Theodore Spencer arrived last, with Reverend Cyrus Germaine, who was all business and ready to begin.

After the guests had taken their seats, Barbara began her countdown. The panelists all put on their “television” look and Jason closed his eyes briefly in meditation. The last five seconds were silent, with Barbara counting of the seconds on her fingers, and then Theodore Spencer was on.

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen around the world, to this very special broadcast from the St. John Ministry’s Media Center on the Nature of Apparitions. What are they? Who sees them? Are they ghosts? Here to answer some of these questions are representatives from the five major religions in Britain, and our host, Mr. Jason St. John. Seated from my left is Reverend Cyrus Germaine from Hope Chapel, representing the Evangelical movement.”

Reverend Germaine nodded and smiled like a politician.

“Sheikh Tariq Qamarussaman, Imam of the London Central Mosque, and our representative from the Muslim faith.”

This elicited a polite nod from the imam.

“Bishop Walter Eastman, our Anglican representative.”

The bishop offered up a smile and wave. “Cardinal Lionel Richards, the Catholic leader here in London.”

The cardinal gave a quick three-finger blessing.

“And Rabbi Aaron Levinson of the West London Synagogue, one of the oldest in the city.”

The rabbi treated the viewers to a casual salute.

“And, in the center of the group, who I’m sure you all recognize, is Mr. Jason St. John.”

Jason smiled at the camera and looked a little like Daniel in the lion’s den.

“After the startling news a few days ago that Jason St. John appeared to a young girl at Royal Marsdan Hospital,” Spencer continued, “and healed her and the other girls in the room of cancer, the world would like to know if Mr. St. John actually transported himself by some transcendent means to the hospital, or if the girl just imagined seeing him—thereby experiencing an apparition. On the one hand consider this statement from Albert Einstein: ‘It is entirely possible that behind the perception of our senses, worlds are hidden of which we are unaware.’”

Ever the showman, Spencer paused, letting the weight of his words sink in.

Tony, in the control room, nodded his approval. This was beginning the way he had hoped.

Spencer continued; “People all over the world claim to have been visited by holy people sacred to many of the world’s religions. The Virgin Mary at Fatima, Our Lady of Guadalupe are two that come to mind. Millions of people a year visit the Grotto of Massabielle in Lourdes in hopes of being healed. Is this just a Catholic phenomenon? Do other religions accept holy visitations from their saints and gurus?”

Spencer took a breath and looked right at Jason. “Are these apparitions, or can people—living or dead—appear out of thin air? And if they can, for what purpose?”

Spencer had been approaching Jason during that speech and stopped at the desk, less than a foot from Jason’s face. “Mr. St. John, did that girl at Royal Marsdan Hospital see an apparition, or were you actually there?”

Jason took a moment before answering, letting a calm infuse him that he hoped would be perceived through the camera. “What is real seems rather obvious, but is it? We accept what our senses tell us without much question. We expect others to see what we’re seeing, and often what we accept as real is illusory; a mirage being the most common example. My healing courses are based on a reality that does not give power to illusion, no matter how real it appears or how many people see it. My courses are based on the premise that there is a universal unity to all life, in mystical terminology, oneness, and those programs show that the spiritual essence of all life is omnipresent, meaning filling all space.”

“That’s not in the script!” Tony yelled into his headset. “Tell them you were not there!”

Gary, who was standing right behind Tony, watching what the directors and sound engineers were broadcasting to the world, said, “I told you you couldn’t control him.”

“Damn it, Jason! Stick to the script!” Tony was so focused on Jason he barely noticed Gary.

Gary didn’t like any of it.

On the floor of the studio Barbara got the message from Tony and motioned to Jason to “cut it,” but Jason ignored her.

“When I experience spiritual consciousness, I’m not in time and space…” Jason made air-quotes with his fingers when he said time and space. “I’m in the now moment, one with the universal presence that fills all space. We all can experience that. We have that ability within us if we would take the time to develop it. If I’m in the present moment and still enough to be aware of the universal consciousness, and another person, for whatever reason, is receptive to that same consciousness—remember, from the mystical point of view there is only one—either of us could experience the presence of the other and perceive them to be real.”

“So, you’re saying that you were not there? And what that girl saw was an apparition?”

“I have no idea what the girl saw. I’m just giving you a spiritual principle.”

“If the girl saw you as an apparition,” the cardinal asked, “wouldn’t that put you on the level of our Holy Mother?”

“I don’t think we’re talking about the same thing here,” Jason answered.

Spencer turned to the Catholic leader; “Are all apparitions the appearance of saints? Cardinal?”

“God sends the Virgin Mary to help people have faith. She is the most common vehicle He uses because she has the authority, as a mother would, to gently discipline and cajole her children to do the right thing, to bring them into the arms of the church, where they are safe. I don’t think Mr. St. John has that purpose.”

“Let me pose the same question to Rabbi Levinson. Are all apparitions saints?”

“Mr. Spencer, we don’t have the tradition of holy visitations in Judaism. The closest we have to that idea are angels, which function to help man do the will of God.”

“Would you consider Mr. St. John an angel?”

“The healing talent is a gift from God, so in that context you could say he is an angel. I believe his books and courses are based on a spiritual premise…”

“But they have nothing to do with God, Rabbi,” Reverend Germaine interrupted. “He does not mention God, or Jesus at all, and assumes that we all can perform magic like he does.”

“When is healing magic and when is it spiritual?” asked Spencer.

“Only God can create miracles.” Germaine was adamant. “Man, with all of his scientific education, can only treat symptoms.”

“Would you say all healing is spiritual?” Jason asked.

“Nothing happens without God. He knows even when a sparrow falls. He knows the number of hairs on your head. It’s foolish to think that a mere man can change anything. True healing is an act of grace.”

“Would you say, Reverend Germaine,” asked Bishop Eastman, “that the absence of healing is the absence of God? Does God turn his back on the prayers given for children suffering and dying of cancer?”

“God is a righteous judge. Unfortunately, there are sinners who will not experience divine grace until they repent.”

“Sheikh,” Theodore Spencer said, turning to the imam, “do Muslims believe God can heal?”

“Like all the Abrahamic religions, we believe in the oneness of God, Allah, the all-powerful and all-knowing. If it is Allah’s will, it will happen. If it is not Allah’s will, it will not happen. We are taught to do Allah’s will by obeying the Holy Koran. The pain and suffering in this life is rewarded in the afterlife to those who have done the will of Allah.”

“Is there nothing to relieve the evils of the world?” Bishop Eastman asked.

“Bad things happen to good people,” replied the sheikh. “It is not for us understand the ways of the Divine. Look at the Prophet Joseph …” a nod to the rabbi, “a man all our religions honor. He was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery. But the Hand of God was with him and he saved Egypt from starvation. Had he not been a slave, Joseph would not have fulfilled his destiny—or Allah’s will.”

“Well said. But we are drifting off our subject of apparitions. What is your teaching on that subject, Sheikh Qamarussman?” asked Spencer.

“We are closer to our Jewish friends there. We don’t have saints who appear to people. We believe Allah can send prophets to Earth to deliver Divine Messages, but it’s a rare occurrence for our people.”

“Cardinal Richards, why doesn’t the Catholic Church heal?” Spencer asked.

“We’ve had many healing miracles in the church. Even today, with technology and a godless pop culture diverting our young from the church, prayers are answered, and people are saved. You know our Lord performed only thirty-seven miracles. The Church is not about healing mortal bodies, it is about saving souls.”

“Reverend Germaine, what about healing in your faith?”

“Only Jesus heals. We have healing services where we invite Jesus to enter our hearts to bless us with His healing power. When He graces us with His presence, we have witnessed many miracles. But Jesus was very specific about how this happens. He said, ‘I am the way’ and ‘only through Me can you enter the Kingdom of Heaven.’”

“He was speaking as the Christ!” Bishop Eastman reminded Reverend Germaine.

“Absolutely! Jesus is the Christ.”

Bishop Eastman continued; “When Saint Paul said, ‘I can do all things through Christ’ he was speaking about the Divine Spirit within him, not Jesus.”

“If we do not personally accept Jesus as our Savior, that Divine Spirit is not part of us, Bishop!”

“That’s right!” said Cardinal Richards. “Man is born a sinner, and until he’s baptized, and has the stain of original sin removed from his soul, he will not see the face of God.”

Jason slowly shook his head and looked down at the table so the camera couldn’t catch the sadness in his eyes. “Can you describe the Kingdom of Heaven and is it attainable here on Earth?” Jason said without looking up.

“I’ll quote our Master,” said the Bishop: “‘The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.’”

“So, if you can access that inner kingdom, have you entered heaven?” Jason looked up at Bishop Eastman and glanced at the others around the table.

“No. No. No,” said the Cardinal. “Without intersession, without a spiritual guide, the individual would be lost. We can only know God in a state of transubstantiation, when the body and blood of Christ is made flesh in Communion and comes alive in the faithful.”

“The outward act of Communion is a metaphor for our inner commitment to the Christ, to letting the Christ be born in us spiritually so that we may live a Christian life,” stated the Bishop.

“You are leaving out our Jewish and Muslim friends,” Jason replied. “Isn’t there a universal spirituality that can be accepted by all?”

“They have to accepted Jesus, or they will never enter heaven.” Reverend Germaine couldn’t control his zealousness. “But in the last days, in the final battle between good and evil when Lucifer is defeated…” a pointed look at Jason, “the redemption of the world will be achieved by the Second Coming of Christ, through which all people will be saved, including our Jewish and Muslim friends, and Christ will reign forever and ever.”

Spencer stopped a moment before saying anything, looking at the rabbi and the sheikh for signs of anger.

“What if the world doesn’t end?” Jason said. “Shouldn’t we be more concerned with making the world a better place to live for everyone today? Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to obey the Sermon on the Mount and love our enemies, forgive seventy times seven, and turn the other cheek?”

“That’s not possible for human beings. Christ was talking about the Kingdom of God when he said that,” Reverend Germaine informed the others.

Jason looked directly at Germaine. “The instructions from Jesus were to “Resist not evil.” It’s in the Bible. It’s the basis of all healing. You should study how Jesus healed. Nowhere in scripture does Jesus call upon God to heal someone. ‘What did hinder you?’ He knew there was no power in the illusions of this world. ‘Judge not by appearances.’ ‘Greater works than these shall you do.’”

“He was not referring to the average man!” Germaine argued.

“Then to whom was he referring?”

“He warned us against the Great Liar who would come and do miracles and lead the world to destruction.” Germaine looked pointedly at Jason.

“Actually, Reverend Germaine, that was Paul’s and John’s thinking.”

“What you do is evil. It’s the Devil’s work leading the faithful away from the truth.”

“I simply teach people how to have dominion over their lives. We’ll never have peace when we judge one thing good and the other evil. It’s only when we have an ecumenical view of life and society that we can begin to practice what religion teaches. I believe everyone at this table accepts the oneness of God. So how can one God be so different to so many people?”

“There is no dispute about the oneness of God,” Sheikh Qamarussman stepped in. “There are differences in our approach to Allah, but that is all about man, not Allah. Allah is unchangeable.”

“To quote Rabbi Maimonides from the thirteenth century,” Rabbi Levinson added, “‘the only image of God is man, living and thinking man, and that man acts as the image of God only through worshipping the invisible or hidden God alone.’”

“Well, that’s rather esoteric,” Spencer said. But the Rabbi wasn’t finished.

“If Jesus alone was the messiah,” Rabbi Levinson talked over Spencer, “Christ to use the Greek word, why then hasn’t there been peace on Earth for the last two millennia? That’s the promise of the Messiah. It is more important for us to find our individual connection to God alone, in our hearts, than to bicker amongst ourselves.”

“Again, we’re drifting off point,” Spencer said. “Let’s get back to apparitions, and visitations of holy people. Many people claim to see spirits, dead people, ghosts… Are apparitions a Catholic phenomenon? Can non-Catholics experience them?”

“Or are they relevant to anyone but Catholics?” Reverend Germaine added.

“Every reminder to put God first is relevant to all mankind,” replied the cardinal. “That the Virgin appears mostly to Catholics is because of our special relationship to Her. Her blessings touch not only those who see her but spread beyond those ordained by her presence to the whole world.”

“Using that reasoning,” Spencer said, “perhaps that girl, being so aware of Mr. St. John as a healer, brought about an apparition of him instead of someone else.”

“I don’t think a parallel can be drawn there. With all due respect to Mr. St. John, he doesn’t have the status of the Virgin Mary.”

“For one thing, he hasn’t been dead for two thousand years,” said Rabbi Levinson. The cardinal took that as an insult. The others suppressed a chuckle.

“What do we really want to discover here?” Jason said. “The world has a hard time accepting how natural transcendental healing is. There seems to be only two accepted paths to alleviating pain and suffering: the scientific-medical path, or the path of miracles. I don’t perform miracles, and I have always invited the scientific community to watch my healing practice and put what happens into scientific terms. To even use the word spiritual for what I do is not completely accurate because that has a religious connotation. There are nonmaterial ways to affect our material world, and those ancient practices take on the patina of the supernatural, even though they’re a natural part of life.

“Recent research on the historical Jesus revealed that there were many messiahs during that period of the Roman Empire, and also many healers. To categorize the healings Jesus did as miracles elevates them beyond the normal and gives Jesus special power. Why him and not the other healers throughout the empire? There’re some who stigmatize what they can’t do or don’t understand. To make a judgment about whether or not I appeared to those girls in the flesh is irrelevant. To judge me good or evil according to my work only benefits the judgmental and their supporters; it cannot change the healings people have had, or the principles behind those healings—principles everyone is capable of grasping.”

Reverend Germaine jumped up and turned to his colleagues on the panel. “That is the greatest blasphemy ever broadcast to the world! You should all condemn this man. He insults all people of faith by denigrating our Lord and making himself a god. ‘And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.’ Revelations chapter thirteen, verse one

“Reverend Germain! Please…” Spencer interrupted.

Germaine barreled on; “St. John is a surfer, having risen up out of the sea, and his every healing is blasphemous. Even his name is blasphemous! He is not a saint! It’s an outrage that we’re in the presence of the Antichrist.”

The reverend leaned over, pounded on the table, making sure the camera was on him, and gave the world his famous look of righteous indignation.

Spencer drew the camera to him and addressed Jason. “Mr. St. John, I heard you were shot yesterday. … In Baghdad. Would you please comment on that?”

The panel jumped to their feet, all shouting in disbelief.

Spencer continued while Jason retreated into his long-practiced attitude of divine indifference.

“This will be on the news tonight,” Spencer said directly into the camera. “British soldiers reported seeing Jason St. John in Bagdad, yesterday, in Sadr City, in the house of Iraqi insurgents. He was shot and then disappeared.”

Tony Bass bolted for the phone, never taking his eyes off the television monitors. At the same time, Gary shouted a stream of invectives into his handheld radio and ordered all security personnel to the highest alert.

Barbara signaled her director to cut the video feed. A moment later she heard Tony shouting in her earphones, “Keep it rolling. Mr. St. John needs to respond. It can’t be left like this!”

The rest of the panel were standing around Jason, waiting. Jason, still seated, closed his eyes to the chaos to gain some peace.

“This is not about apparitions, or angels, or people hallucinating,” Theodore Spencer shouted. “It’s about you, Jason St. John! Who are you? What are you doing?”

Every eye was on Jason as he sat very still. The people staffing the media center begin to feel the serene atmosphere Jason created in meditation and quieted down.

“Keep the cameras rolling,” demanded Reverend Germaine. “The world needs to see this blasphemy revealed.” He hovered over the group like a prosecutor demanding justice.

The cameramen maneuvered to get closeups on Reverend Germaine, Theodore Spence, and Jason. Not one camera caught Bishop Eastman sitting down next to Jason and putting his hand on top of Jason’s. The Bishop pulled away in shock when he felt the hardness of the table and realized that his hand had fallen right through Jason’s. Jason was in a deep silence, and the Bishop quietly said, “Jason! Jason!”

Jason opened his eyes and raised his arms for attention.

“Even now this deceiver demands recognition,” Germaine shouted. “Don’t give him a platform to spread his lies. Turn from evil and let Christ enter your lives.”

Bishop Eastman composed himself, not even hearing Germaine, and realized that his life had just changed.

Barbara, talking into her headset, took over the direction. “Keep camera one on Spencer and camera two on Mr. St. John. I’ll queue you when to cut.”

She blasted the reporter: “Mr. Spencer, are you going to moderate or let this conversation devolve into a shouting match?”

“I’m waiting for a response from Mr. St. John.”

“After sandbagging him like that you expect a legitimate response?” Rabbi Levinson said. “My response to you could not be broadcast.”

“Rabbi. Reverend.” Jason stood, motioning for his guests to be seated. All but Reverend Germain did so. Germain had his hands on his hips and watched Jason like a schoolyard bully. Jason ignored him. “Cardinal, Sheikh, Bishop, as you all well know, there are elements in our society that have no other purpose than to accuse, denigrate, and try to invalidate anything that doesn’t conform to their own beliefs and personal agenda. I fully understand Reverend Germaine’s passionate faith and would never insult his views. I would not insult the tenets of any of your religions. But the religious establishment has seldom accepted what hasn’t conformed to its dogma.”

Jason walked around behind his guests. One camera stayed on him, and the other followed Germain, who was like a dark shadow attached to Jason. “I rarely address the public’s reaction to what I do,” Jason continued. “The people who come to my rallies and study my healing principles do so of their own volition. I might have a large media presence, but I’ve never solicited money nor advertised my material. People who have been helped by my programs keep their experiences private. Yes, I have done public healing, but they have been demonstrations for the scientific world to show that nothing supernatural or beyond the laws of nature takes place. That being said, if the religious world is offended by this kind of healing, spiritual healing if you will, then they must deal with it.”

“That’s it!” Germain shouted. “I will not be insulted by this charlatan.”

“Sit down, Reverend!” Barbara used her best Oakland street voice. “You are not in charge here.”

Germain would have left, but he didn’t want to be the only one. When he saw his colleagues waiting to hear what Jason had to say, he sat down.

“The religions of the world cannot be the sole interpreters of an invisible reality…” Jason could put people at ease when he explained esoteric ideas. “… especially when the scientific world is exploring what used to be the sole domain of religion—the relationship between matter and mind and consciousness. Mysticism can no longer be defined in terms of religious belief. Now, as they did with Copernicus, the religious leaders need to adjust their dogma; just as the Church eventually adjusted to the fact that the Earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around. Was religion destroyed by that fact? I ask you, would the religious world be destroyed by the revelation of an inner Spirit, an inner Presence and Grace within each of us? Think how life would change if people knew about the spiritual dimension of reality in which all humanity truly exists as spiritual beings? What Mr. Spencer is asking me—who am I?—is what we all should be asking ourselves. What others say about me, or claim I have done, affects only their personal experience. Did those children who saw the Virgin at Fatima have any effect on the Virgin? No. She endures as an ideal in faith, untouched by those who have had their lives altered by seeing her. So, to all of you out there, be skeptical. Your beliefs and your judgments form what you experience. Don’t let what you believe hide the truth. Jesus said it two thousand years ago, ‘Know the truth and the truth will set you free.’ You have to experience the truth for yourself. Nobody else can tell you what it is. Don’t accept at face value what anybody says. What does it have to do with you?”

Barbara signaled for the director to cut the broadcast and walked over to the panel.

“That’s it?” Theodore Spencer said. “No time for rebuttal?”

“I don’t think you’d have a rebuttal to that.” Barbara took off her headset and stood by the door to wish the panelists goodbye.

Reverend Germaine stormed out of the studio, followed by Cardinal Richards and Sheikh Qamarussman. Bishop Eastman and Rabbi Levinson remained behind, lending their support to Jason.

“Prepare for the lions, Mr. St. John,” the rabbi said. “If they still crucified people today you’d be first in line.” Jason shook the rabbi’s hand and gave him a pat on the back.

Bishop Eastman took Jason’s hand and squeezed it. “I’d like to learn more about what you’re doing.”

The audience in the St. John apartment were on their feet as soon as Theodore Spencer reported that Jason had been shot, in Baghdad. Melanie gave Lillian an accusing look. “You know about this?”

Dorothy shut her up. “Not now, Melanie. Let’s hear what J.J. has to say.”

Lillian and Alex put their arms around each other in a protective embrace while they listened to the final moments of the broadcast.

When the screen went to the St. John Ministry’s logo, the ladies and Alex let out a pent-up sigh. Melanie and Dorothy started talking at the same time, but Lillian stopped them with a gesture. “I think we all need to let what was said be weighed by our understanding of spiritual reality. What is rumor and what is true? Who’s behind that ambush? Tony? Spencer? Please think about what we can do to keep J.J. safe.”

“I need to know if what Spencer said is true?” Melanie wasn’t leaving until Lillian leveled with her.

Dorothy took hold of Melanie’s arm and said, “I think we need to let Lillian and Alex be alone.” She gently tried to get Melanie to leave with her.

Melanie pulled away. “I know what J.J. can do, Lillian. Please. How can we help if we don’t know the truth?”

Lillian sat back down on the sofa with Alex next to her. “J.J. showed up in Chester yesterday morning. He was dirty, disoriented, and his shirt was bloody. Yet he was fine. When I asked where he’d been, he said he was told Baghdad. We all drove back last night.”

Dorothy and Melanie said nothing. They were in deep thought as they left.

Jason entered a few moments later and joined his family on the couch. Alex thought his father had nailed it; told it like it was. If people were too stupid to get it that was their problem. He was proud of his dad.

Jason was depressed. His true intent had been to make his appearance at the hospital so boring that people would forget about it. Now he was a “super hero,” the incarnation of Thor, or Zeus, or a half-human-half-god like Prometheus, appearing to his followers to change the nature of mortal life. To the people who hated him he was more of a flashpoint than ever. The last thing he wanted to do was retreat into a cocoon from which he and his family would never break free. Was this the death of his message to the world? Even the tenderness and affection of Lillian and Alex loving him, holding on to him, and hugging him, did nothing to lift the black cloud that engulfed him.

Barbara and Gary met in Tony’s office later that night. They sat across Tony’s conference madly making notes on how to deal with the crisis. The crowds outside carried on their verbal war; some chanting Jason’s name while the detractors tried to drown them out with chants of Lucifer and Antichrist.

“I never knew that apparitions were just a Catholic thing,” Barbara said, just to say something.

“Fuck apparitions! Where did that bastard Spencer get his information and is it reliable?” Tony gave Gary a disappointed look. Gary had failed to keep ahead of this news.

“This story can’t be substantiated,” Gary argued. “I don’t know how he can run it on television without verification. Remember, Spencer latched on to this story from the get-go. Why would you give him any credibility?”

“Because he has the highest ratings on television,” Tony said, trying to figure out Spencer’s motive. “He lies. He’ll lie to keep his ratings up, but what does it do for him to make Jason into something supernatural? The sad thing is that people believe him. The real question is what is this going to do to the Ministry?”

“No, the question now is how do we protect Jason.” Gary said.

“You think Jason is really in danger? Really in need of protection?”

“Spencer’s given us the scenario we’ve been trying to avoid.”

“We deny it and turn the tables on Spencer; prove him to be no better than the National Inquirer,” Barbara offered.

“That’ll just feed his need for publicity.”

“Why did we invite him in the first place.” Gary faced Tony. He wasn’t going to be the fall guy.

“You gave him the script. You assured me he’d go along with this if he had an exclusive.” Tony reminded him.

“Is Spencer that well connected?” Barbara mused.

“We need to meet tomorrow, with everybody—Jason, Lillian, everybody,” Tony said standing up. “We need to put our heads together. Jason must realize the predicament he’s put us in.”

The others took the clue and headed for the door.

“One second, Gary,” Tony said.

Gary waited while Barbara left.

Barbara felt a prejudice she had rarely felt at the St. John Ministry. Tony and Gary were circling the chauvinistic wagons. She realized that even with all the teaching of oneness, fear brought out a tribal, exclusive attitude in people, and she marveled at how easy it was for men to revert to their base conditioning, even men who were supposedly following the spiritual path.

Tony walked over to his desk and sat on the edge of it. He didn’t invite Gary to sit. “Jason is a tumor eating away at this ministry. Now, more than ever, we need to control the public perception of what we are about, and to do that we need to control Jason. And Jason should now understand that more than ever.

“I think I’ve got a good start on mitigating the situation, if that’s what you want.” Gary stayed in the middle of the room, watching Tony process his next move.

“I want what’s best for the Ministry.” Tony sauntered over to the windows and looked out onto Collingham Gardens. “What we discussed down there is more important than ever. You said that your military friends would be all over Jason if they thought he could disappear and reappear somewhere else. Is there any doubt now?”

“Is that best for the Ministry? If it could be proven that Jason was in Iraq, and that he was shot and that he lived, we’d have our religion,” Gary said.

Tony turned, and walked back toward Gary. He saw a zealot standing in front of him. He wondered who was manipulating whom? He had believed that Gary would be the faithful lieutenant but not take over.

“Thank you, Gary,” Tony said.

Gary paused a moment, projecting an attitude of power, and then walked out. That moment troubled Tony. Gary’s vision would destroy the Ministry, and it would destroy it in a way that left Tony with nothing.

After Gary shut the door, Tony picked up his phone and dialed the Home Secretary, David Plunkett, someone he’d done battle with over the years. The man, however, always took his calls. Tony told him that St. John Ministries would cooperate in every way in an investigation into Mr. St. John’s supposed appearances, if the government thought there might be national security issues involved with his behavior. He made a second call to Child Protective Services and said that he believed that Alex St. John was in danger because of his father’s paranormal incidents.