Jesus II Comes from Among You

Chapter Five

As Joe and the messengers left, they asked him to close his eyes and relax.  "The only sensations you'll have is of floating and the feeling of a soft wind in your face.  There's no danger, and even though the journey is of some distance, it will be of short duration in time."

"It seems I have no choice, I'm in your hands, now," said Joe.

After a matter of ten or fifteen minutes they said, "You may open your eyes, we have arrived."  Although it was dark he could make out the outline of a tall spired building and could see flickering lights coming through the colored glass windows. One of the messengers entered the building, and in a little while he opened the door and told them to come in.  They entered a spacious room.  Joe saw the two chairs facing a table with men sitting at it.  It seemed like a board meeting in session.  He tried to fathom why he had been brought here. Somewhere in his mind stirred the thought that the accident was worse than he had thought and that he finally met his maker.  He felt bad because he hadn't come to after the accident to speak to Sara and the kids, who were out of state. Well, he thought, "I guess this comes to all of us sooner or later." As the messengers and Joe neared the long table, they directed him to the left.

One of the messengers departed and came back with a chair.  He sat and the messengers departed quietly. As he sat he kept looking gat the men at the long table and the two in the chairs opposite them. He wasn't sure, but it seemed to him that he had seen them before. He didn't know where or when.

Finally God spoke.  "Mr. Wesson, I have brought you here so that we might question you as to the conditions on earth from the standpoint of one who has to live wit those conditions.  You are free to say anything you want or ask any questions of us. I want our talk to be a free exchange of ideas."

Joe looked at the speaker and said, "First, it seems that I'm at a disadvantage.  You know who I am, but I don't know who you are. I must admit, most of you look familiar but I don't know why."

"This is heaven.  I am God.  This is Jesus. The men at the table are the Apostles."

"Am I dead? Because if I am, I never thought I'd be a candidate to come up her," Joe said.

"No, you will be returned as soon as this session is over."

Joe shook his head.  "I don't know what I can tell you about conditions on earth.  I have my pet gripes and often sound off about them."

"We would like to know about how greed, killing and crime are affecting the life-style of ordinary people," said Peter.

Joe thought for a moment. "I guess if you want an ordinary being's opinion I can give it, for I feel I'm ordinary. Although I have lived my life to satisfy my needs financially, physically and spiritually, I have never overcome the status of ordinary middle class as far as I can determine. Let's take up the topics individually, like greed."

"Greed has infiltrated every aspect of life. It's in every level of government, it's in our churches, it's in every class of society."

"Greed causes killings in families, in governments, in churches, among the criminal element themselves. When I speak of churches, I speak of the various religions, because as far as I'm concerned, they are synonymous."

Jesus raised his arm to interrupt.  "Are you saying that there should be no religion on earth?"

"No, I didn't mean to infer that.  Let me ask a question. When you were on earth preaching, did you mean that religion was to be a business enterprise?  That preachers, ministers, priests and other religious leaders were to become rich, even millionaires?  You preached religion to make the little man have faith – to depend on you and your Father.  When people are desperate, they'll pay anything to be assured of a place in heaven.  So, many preachers and ministers have become millionaires trading on the faith of poor people. These preachers are the worst of the robber barons. I firmly believe that religion should not be a money-making gimmick.  If it is a money-making scheme, then it should be taxed like all the rest of us.  Instead, churches have buildings and property that are worth millions and they contribute very little of these millions to the poor.  In fact, they prey on the poor for so-called "donations". Many people see this and lose faith.

"Greed deprives the everyday man from enjoying his life on earth.  It's in government; each congressman wants to get more than his fellow legislator only so he could go back to his constituents and say, "See what I was able to do."  So some go without while others have more and them that gets more don't give a damn about the others.  Then you have the shady legislators who only took the post to serve themselves, They spend the people's money with abandonment on stupid grants and studies or appropriate money to nations who torture and maim their own citizens."

"The industrial and business world is no better. Industry and business blame labor unions and workers for wanting more money. Labor claims the worker needs more money to purchase items and goods that keep getting more expensive.  This has been a steady battle throughout the years and there is no end