Chapter 101

0945 hours, local time,
Friday, 18 July, 2014
Harris-Daud Residence
Hinton, West Virginia

After the breakfast and the foursome with God and the Felton sisters, it was time to check up on the little ones, which my whole tribe did, finding them quite safe and well-rested in the company of the Reiners, Reverend Lennox, and others. It was just as well, because we had business to conclude with the minister, particularly in terms of transforming his Missionary Baptist Church, and the now pastorless Free Will Baptist Church into churches of the new faith, new religion, whatever. I figured that having two congregations would be an excellent start for a larger community than Peterstown, after all.

“I like the way that you think,” God told me, “but then I helped encourage that idea, anyway. See? Your little ones are perfectly fine,” he also pointed to several babies now nursing at their mothers’ breasts.

“That is certainly a relief, Lord,” I agreed, “so, Reverend Lennox, are you ready to be baptized into the new way? What shall we call this congregation? And the other one, for that matter, when it forms?”

“Don’t be so formal now. Call me ‘God.’ You’re right, though. We need to form these two first assemblies or congregations, if you will. Well, Reverend, are you prepared for this? That is indeed the most germane question here. We will begin at your place, so prepare the baptistry, my friend. I look forward to consecrating the buildings and the congregations, etc. as soon as possible. Are we ready?” God persisted, leading us to the building in question.

The fact that we were mostly nude didn’t seem to faze most folks, though some of the elderly were still a bit ... shaken and stirred, of course. Most of them still kept on their clothes, mind you, even as the little ones were pulled aside under the supervision of the angels for the baptism of the new converts. The gathering of the first such assembly didn’t take much time at all, as people dropped what they were doing and headed to the church as if lured by some kind of homing beacon.

When enough people were present to overfill the pews and the building, God Himself took the lectern, cleared his throat (why did he need to do that, perhaps because it was a familiar gesture or just caught people’s ears), and shouted, “Let this first church of the new and sacred covenant between me, that is God, and Man, that is you, commence its first official business.”

“Amen,” I shouted, getting religion in this case, at least.

“Behold, I call upon the Reverend Aiden Lennox, until presently a pastor of the Missionary Baptist Church in this community, to formally renounce his previous faith in Christianity and its Christ, and then to swear his allegiance to me. Then I call upon him to be baptized into the new faith, so that he may serve me properly. Are you ready to do this, Reverend?” God asked Lennox directly.

“Yes ... Lord,” Lennox answered, bowing low before the true God, the real King of Heaven, “I swear that I am no longer a Christian, let alone Protestant or a Baptist. I am ... whatever faith or sect you wish me to be. I swear my allegiance to you, my Lord God! I am prepared to be baptized in your name.”

“Is the baptistry prepared?” God asked me.

“It is,” I observed, leading Lennox toward it.

“Proceed with the rite of naked baptism,” God instructed us.

“Do you, Aiden Lennox, profess faith in the true God, the King of Heaven, and wish to be baptized in his name and in the true religion of his worship and service?” I asked Lennox now.

“I do so,” he answered quickly.