[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
some kind of disease? There is something far worse going on here and
we'll find out soon enough."
They opened the doors to the church and the odor of stale incense
greeted them. Their footsteps echoed throughout the high ceiling like a
flock of birds taking off. The two doctors walked towards a figure in
black at the altar.
"Greetings, gentlemen," said the figure. "We saw you pull up."
"Hello, Father," Stokes replied.
Another priest walked up to the group.
"Doctor Matthew Stokes, Doctor Carson Hyll, this is Father Keith
McDuffy of St. Mary's," Pastor Millard said.
"Glad to meet you."
"My pleasure," Father McDuffy said holding out a large burly hand
that seemed not to fit that of a priest.
Anthony Samuel Policastro 103
"We apologize for being late. There was a car accident and we had to
assist," Stokes said.
"Were the injuries serious?"
"Unfortunately," Carson said. "I had to do a tracheotomy on a young
boy with a collapsed esophagus."
"Carson saved the boy's life," Stokes added.
"We'll pray for them tonight and for you as well," Father McDuffy
said. "We hadn't started yet. We're waiting for Bishop Phulax from the
archdiocese. Come, gentlemen. We'll join the others in the conference
room."
The men walked across the altar, went through a doorway off to the
left, and entered a room with a long oval conference table. Brown soft
leather chairs with armrests surrounded the table, and the soft off white
light from the overhead lights gave the room a warm, comfortable
ambiance. Three sweating glass pitchers of water each with several
tumblers nearby were evenly spaced on the table.
"May I have your attention, please," Father McDuffy announced to
the small crowd. "This is Doctor Matthew Stokes, chief of staff at Ocean
Village and Doctor Carson Hyll, also of the hospital.
The crowd smiled and nodded through a fog of gloom that seemed to
hang in the room. The fog made Carson's stomach turn slightly, but
Stokes appeared oblivious to it. Carson and Stokes were directed to
seats near the end of the table. Father McDuffy and Pastor Millard took
seats on each side of them. The head seat remained vacant.
"We ll start as soon as the bishop gets here. He should be here any
minute now," Father McDuffy said.
Several minutes later, Bishop Phulax entered the room dressed in
black.
"Gentlemen, may I introduce Bishop Oino Phulax of the Archdiocese
of Trenton," Father McDuffy announced.
The religious leaders stood. Bishop Phulax towered over them all, his
frame measuring over six feet. He looked more like a prizefighter than a
bishop.
"Be seated," the bishop said.
Father McDuffy directed him to the head of the table, but he did not
sit. The bishop placed a hard black briefcase on the table and snapped
the hasps open. The sound and deliberate motions of the bishop
suggested that his black case held something ominous and evil and that
104 Absence of Faith
it would be unleashed when he opened it. The men in the room watched
trance-like as the bishop opened the case and took out a small stack of
papers.
"All my life I have battled evil. I have avoided it at every turn. I have
turned it back whenever I could. I have sacrificed and I have worked
very hard to lead my people on the right road, the good road, the road
towards salvation. And I have been successful. But now for the first
time in my life I don't feel this is something we can ignore or to be taken
lightly. I feel that this evil is very strong and we have to push hard to
help our followers hold on to their faith. I have never said this, but I feel
the evil is winning," the bishop announced in a deep, dark authoritarian
voice.
"I believe we are seeing the beginning of the end - not a disease or a
pestilence, but the rise of Satan, the rise of evil in the world.
Armageddon. This did not just happen yesterday or last week or last
year. I have been watching it for several decades," the bishop said.
He reached into his briefcase and took out a pair of reading glasses.
He positioned them on his large, baldhead, and then reached down and
took hold of a thick rust brown leather-jacketed book. Its edges and
corners were lighter in color than the rest of the jacket. He pushed his
briefcase aside and placed the heavy book on the table in front of him.
His hand disappeared into his pant pocket and then reappeared holding
a small gold key. He placed the tiny key in a gold lock that held the
book shut. The men could hear themselves breathing. He turned the
key and the lock made a sharp click. He moved the belt clasp out of the
tiny hasp and slowly opened the book. Its pages were the color of old
newsprint. He bent down close to the book and turned several pages
and then he stopped. He began to read:
"'And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out
of his prison,' is from Revelations, 20:7 '...as ye have heard that Anti-
Christ shall come, even now there are many Anti-Christs... from 1 John
2:18. This Anti-Christ is expected to spread evil throughout the world,
only to be conquered by the Second Coming of Christ and the end of the
world. The first Anti-Christ was Napoleon, who was responsible for the
deaths of two million people and fourteen years of war. The second
Anti-Christ was Hitler, who was responsible for the deaths of some fifty
million human beings in his pursuit to conquer the world. I believe the
third and last Anti-Christ is here now and living somewhere in this
world in our current century, Bishop Phulax explained without
blinking once.
Anthony Samuel Policastro 105
The small crowd sighed.
"It is also in the prophecies of Nostradamus, who lived in the 16th
century, and predicted many, many things throughout history. Of
course the Church has never condoned his prophecies, but now we are
forced to take another look. In modern times, he predicted that a man
named DeGaule would rule France, that the Russians would invade
Afghanistan and that the United States and Russian would one day
become friends. He even predicted the nuclear accident at Chernobyl.
Let me read to you what he wrote in his eighth century 77th quatrain,
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plalternate.pev.pl
|
