THE SEX REBEL OF JESUSLAND, mini-chapter 71

71. THE TV SHOW

The four guests for Adam’s first TV show were: Adam’s challenging student, Thomas; a female colleague who taught Creationism at the University of Colorado, Ruth Cologne; an actress, Naomi Nostra, whose Mary Magdalene was much admired for its spirituality, a rival in Biblical cinema to the great Maia Morgenstern’s role as the mother of Jesus in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ;” and Jeremiah Luther. It was interesting how the studio audience went dead quiet whenever Jeremiah opened his mouth to speak.

They were shooting in Ezra’s studios, part of an extensive compound he had on Staten Island, complete with an office building, three studios (their sets large enough to shoot chase scenes), editing and sound rooms, a screening room and theater; and, in the residential area, twelve guest houses in a large garden surrounding the main Victorian house, which looked like a charming and spooky residence out of Rebecca or Psycho or The Innocents, where the main reception room was large enough to contain a dance orchestra and 500 guests for a proper old-fashioned ball. There were three pools, six tennis courts, a sports field with stadium seating, a golf course, a forest, and a private beachfront. Ezra had his own regular ferry to New York and the mainland. There was a continual, catered house party going on, large enough that one would not meet everybody unless you made it your business to drop in at every guest house and attend every barbecue and dinner. Beautiful young people cooked and delivered food, collected laundry, made beds, polished shoes, mowed lawns and trimmed hedges. Adam suspected that a few guests had moved in as permanent residents without Ezra even being aware of their presence. It was like living in a wealthy retirement community.

The program was shot as a live feed. “If I wanted to,” said Ezra proudly, “I could, right from my studio here, break into any broadcast station on the American continent with my own programming at any time. Not that I would, but if something like another Great Attack happened, I could feed the news from here to the world in real time. Yet another triumph of Christian technology.”

After Adam had introduced his guests to the studio audience, Thomas put up a spirited defense for Young Age Creationism.

“It says days in the Bible,” he said. “Why would it be symbolic if it says days? The Bible speaks plainly. We shouldn’t play with the Lord’s words, or not take them at face value. We should not think to read different meanings in words that say plainly what they are.”

“I don’t know why God would have been in such a rush,” said Naomi, her eyes soulful and, Adam thought, her décolletage skirting the edge of Approved Fashion, even for an actress. Mind you, it was the effect of her bare shoulders that gave the impression of Non-Sanctioned Nudity. Lately bare shoulders had been migrating from the Oscars to other TV programs, very discreetly, and nobody had yet complained.

“When it says days in the Bible, we have no reason to believe that it means an actual day. The Bible was written a long time ago. It is written in a poetic style. The whole story of creation is very poetic. It does not call for a literal reading.”

“It does. I take the Bible literally. If you don’t, you might as well call yourself a Muslim.”

The audience gasped. Thomas was on a roll. The urgency of youth. I wonder if I could trap him into saying something Non-Sanctioned, thought Adam.

“What do you think, Jeremiah?” asked Adam.

“When I want to know what God means, I pray to Him for guidance,” said Jeremiah.

“Do you think God meant for us to have developed from monkeys?” asked Thomas.

“God can guide any process He wants to,” said Ruth Cologne. “If He wanted to draw us humans out of the clay of animals, that was His design. The intelligence is in the design, not in the time it was created.”

“Do you think your forebear was a monkey, Jeremiah?” asked Thomas, looking to Jeremiah for support.

“I don’t know who my father was,” replied Jeremiah.

“But you know your father was human, at least.”

“How do I know? My father might be from heaven.”

“What do you mean?”

“I hear a voice. It does not come from a human person. It comes from the spirit, who might reside in heaven.”

“The only birth we know that came from God was our Lord Jesus.”

“If God did it once before, He could do it again. Everything is in His power.”

“Are you saying your father might be God?”

“No. I don’t know. I might have an earthly or a heavenly father. If my father is heavenly, it doesn’t necessarily mean that my father is God. He could be one of the angels.”

“Do you think your father is an angel?”

“My father speaks to me in a heavenly voice. That’s all I know. I never met my father. I never met my mother either. I’m an orphan. But I know I was selected for a special mission, and that the seed for this mission might come from above.”

Jeremiah had a soft tone but immense confidence. An almost divine authority. He spoke as if he were discussing something as plain and deep as the law of gravity.

His words met with huge applause. The studio audience, bussed and ferried in from Manhattan, was transfixed by him. He was believable because he was so straightforward. Adam marveled at the steadiness of his eyes. Joshua Grant had that same immense confidence.

Adam heard Ezra’s voice in his little earphone.

“Holy shit of Islam. This is great stuff, Adam. We have a minute more to go. Ask Jeremiah if he thinks there is the possibility of Jesus returning to earth in our lifetime.”

“Jeremiah, do you think it’s possible that Jesus will return in our lifetime?”

“We don’t know when Jesus will return. But those who believe are waiting. I think there are signs that He might be coming.”

“Would you consider that you could be His messenger?”

“I know I am His messenger.”

“But could you be the messenger that announces His imminent second coming, the way that John the Baptist was the messenger for the First Coming of Jesus?”

“I might be that. Anyone might be that. Anyone might be Jesus Himself.”

“Could you be Jesus?”

“If it were possible, I don’t know it yet. My father has not revealed that to me.”

The audience applauded again, in a high fever, and they went to a break.

Adam heard Ezra in his earphones. “Great stuff! Great stuff!”

They had started with the subject of Creationism, and suddenly the discussion had opened up into something bigger.

Adam whispered into the microphone to Ezra. “Ezra, I think we should rename the program. Something prophetic.”

“Like what?”

“Something like the last days. Something apocalyptic. Perhaps we could invite God Himself to show His face if we all believe He will. If we can get the country to believe the Last Days are here, we can invite God Himself to our program.”

The enthusiasm of the audience for Jeremiah was having its effect on Adam, too. He felt his body lifted up, and his sense of self expanded.

“Great stuff!”

“Maybe Jeremiah Luther is more than a man, as he seems to intimate.”

“Great stuff! Great stuff! Let me tell you a great truth, Adam. The highest good is the highest TV ratings. We can make the entire country ask God for His intervention. We must push Jeremiah. He’s a natural for ratings. Great stuff! Let me give you a tip, Adam. Get close to Jeremiah. If you can get there and stay there, you’re made.”