Chapter 11 in the serialisation of the book 'Insurrection' 4th book in the 'Corpalism' series

11

For what shall it prophet a man
if he gain the whole world
and suffer the loss of his soul
Jesus Christ

This time the tickets had sold without much effort; they were still too cheap for Barry's liking but that would come later, as word got around. There was a buzz around the auditorium, some of the audience had heard him speak before and they were ready for more.

The Preacher walked to the back of the stage, took a sip of water from the bottle on the table and then returned, launching an immediate attack on his transfixed audience, "I bet you all support the Wars on Terror, even though we are witnessing the mass murder of the Arab peoples."

There was the odd shake of the head here and there.
Barry was immediately absorbed, he'd forgotten he was supposed to be critiquing; he was simply listening. His man was beginning to look the part; dishevelled though not dirty, wild-eyed but not mad, he’d lost weight and his clothes hung off him. If you’d been asked to draw an Old Testament prophet you might have drawn him; long hair, the same disregard of person, the same almost manic focus.

"Why is that?" he demanded, "Why do we support the war on terror even though we know it to be a fiction, a total fabrication. Is it because we can't do anything about it? Have you tried to protest against the illegal wars?" He was pointing at various individuals, "Do you realise that it is now treason to criticise Governments in time of war? That means they can do anything as long as we are at war and if anyone criticises them they can be imprisoned indefinitely, even executed if they are in the military."

He waited for this to sink in, "How can it be treason to criticise the Government? The Government is NOT the country...the Government is elected by the people, it's just a political party representing specific interested parties."

There were a few nods and murmurs of assent. Barry was impressed; he knew the topics were unrehearsed and were all the more powerful for that.

"If we're fighting a war that's not in the interests of the people, then in whose interests are we fighting?
For the world's corporations so they can get their hands on key oil reserves? For the share holders, the company directors, the nouveau riche so they can retain their status, their wealth, their positions of power over us? Are we in the Middle East to enable the spread of commercialism? Are we there so the new high priests, the economists can spread their holy sacrament of greed? To allow their clergy, the shoddy salesmen, to spread the belief that everyone is allowed to want whatever it is they want, regardless of how or where it is produced, regardless of how many people have suffered in misery to bring it to them? Is this the extent of our new religion?
The desire to own more, the lust for whatever we can get our hands on? Is this what we have become now that we have lost God and Jesus?"

The diatribe was met by silence. Barry took careful note of the expressions of those around him, they weren't hostile, just confused.

"I want to ask you a question, all those of you who claim to believe in God yet spend your time shopping for goods made cheaply in the third world where children are abused as economic slaves, how do you reconcile your greed with the preaching of Jesus?"

He waited but no-one volunteered an answer, "You reconcile it because you don't believe there is a God or that Jesus ever existed. I know that's what you do because I used to be like you. I no longer believed in Jesus and God, only the words of the advertising men penetrated my debauched state. I worked in the City, I earned lots of money, I used to spend obscene amounts on whatever took my fancy and I never cared about anyone else. But I still went to church and said my amens because that's how I'd been brought up. What I didn't realise was that I had replaced Jesus' doctrine with the creed of avarice, selfishness and indifference."

Barry was riveted, the pain in the Preacher's voice was clear to all; he held nothing back.

"The thing is, even though I laughed at others who still believed in God I didn't find my new found freedom liberating. It led to sullen darkness that overwhelmed me and possessed every corner of my soul until all I could think of was getting the next gadget the minute it hit the shops, to be first in line for the latest iPhone or Playstation."

He tilted his head slightly, adding, "Then of course there were the parties, the women, the drink and drugs, the regular betrayal of my wife, of my family.
You probably don't realise it but the brokers in the City are all doped with drugs and free sex, the perks of the positions held, it is a real Sodom and Gomorrah."

He paused in the centre of the stage, "But then it occurred to me, I didn't believe in Jesus because I don't believe in magic, but, what is magic? It's only magic because the events that occur are inexplicable, but that doesn't make it magic, that just means I don't understand how it was done."

He stretched out his hands, pleading with them, "In earlier times TV, PCs and mobiles would seem like magic. Ergo, any references to magic in the Bible were misunderstandings at best or at worst an insidious attempt by the Roman Catholic church to control and manipulate the masses by fear."

He raised his palms, "Strangely that made sense to me; I didn't have to believe in silly miracles to justify the words of Jesus." He walked to his left, his voice a whisper, "But that still left God. What could I do with that? Well there doesn't have to be a God to justify the words of Jesus."

"But Jesus was the Son of God," called out someone.

"Well timed, thank you. I can see where you're coming from, Jesus said he was the Son of God, it's in the bible. But who wrote the bible?"

He waited, then answered his own question, "The Romans, and they put in what they wanted and left out what they didn't like."

He moved on a bit, "So who was it told the Romans that Jesus claimed to be the son of God? The Pharisees. Excuse my cynicism but how convenient. Jesus was preaching a load of stuff the Pharisees didn't like when suddenly he says something sacrilegious; 'I'm the son of God'."

He paused, raised his palms and shoulders, "But, what if he didn't actually say that, what if all he did was to go around saying that we should live together as one in peace and harmony? That would actually make Jesus the world's first hippy."

Some people laughed in spite of themselves, Barry grinned and started to make notes on how further to promote his boy's message; and of course to report back to Blackmore.

"That's when it dawned on me, I didn't have to believe in God to love my neighbour or help those in need. I didn't have to think that Jesus was the Son of God to take his words to heart. He had laudable ideas and the code he offered was well worth living by. I did not have to follow this or that religion to understand Jesus' teachings and I did not have to force my neighbour to believe in the same fashion as myself because it wasn't about religion or types of faith or dogma," he shouted out the last
word, "because that creates division and that's exactly what every religion has brought to the world, and it's not what Jesus meant and he did not say he was the son of God, just that he was the son of man."

He moved to the centre of the stage, "And that's what saved me, the sudden understanding that Jesus could've been just a man and it didn't devalue any of his teachings, any of his words, they are all of great significance and I didn't have to join any religion in order to believe in him."

His whole demeanour had changed with these last words as if he was feeling again the liberation that had brought him, the audience was excited in its turn, Barry found himself engaged for the first time in many a year of cynicism.

"I was suddenly free of my corruptions, of my despair, of my self-loathing, of my soul destroying addictions; if there is no God and if Jesus could just be a man then I could follow his teachings and not live under the self imposed delusion of heaven and hell but in the open, in the enlightened belief of good and honesty and love and peace simply because it's right, simply because it's the right thing to do, the right way to be, the right way to behave and when I had reached that point I knew that evil was striding across England and I had to make my stand."

He clenched his fists and leant forwards, "We have been seduced by greed, lust and selfishness and we must work to shake off their deadly influence and help others to free themselves of the mind numbing addictions that have rendered them comatose."

With that he left the stage. There was a shocked silence, then a short burst of clapping. It petered out and a few started to talk amongst themselves, others made for the exits but some made their way forwards to see if they could ask questions.

Barry was grinning, really smiling in a way he hadn't for years. 

Cheers

Arun








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