Where is Your God Now?

Sin & Sacrifice

The back of Mr. Margo's head exploded outwards as if someone had just shot him between the eyes with a hunting rifle. The pews behind him were covered in blood, brains, and bits of skull, it took everyone a moment to realize what had happened before the screaming began. I can remember being caught in a sudden maelstrom of panic as the church goers began screaming and scrambling for the door. The stranger let go of Mr. Margo's face and his body crumpled to the ground as people raced passed the scene to get away."Praise the Lord for he is just and fair!" The stranger shouted with a laugh as people piled against the heavy wooden doors of the church."They won't open!" Someone screamed.This sentiment was echoed by others and the panic got worse, you could hear people crying and smashing their fists against the door. I was stuck in the back, near Mr. Margo's body, I saw his wife kneeled next to him crying her eyes out and spattered with his blood. She held him, his neck hanging limply over her arm, his eyes still bugged out of his skull and face still frozen in tension. Suddenly a high pitched whistle filled the church and even in the madness everyone turned to look. The stranger had taken his place on the pulpit, the pastor was standing just below him looking for where his bible had fallen."I would ask that you all take your seats till we finish the debate." He paused and looked down at the pastor who in a feeble confusion was still hunting for his bible. He jumped off the pulpit and snatched the book up off the floor where it landed after he threw it. You're gonna need this I saw him whisper to the pastor as he handed it over with a patronizing pat on the head. He returned to the pulpit to finish his address to the crowd:"Take a breath my lovely little sheep, a new shepherd has arrived." He removed his hat and hung it from the cross that was sat up behind him. His slicked black blonde hair looked as plastic as his smile, everything about him was starting to look off even the sound of his voice was becoming less than human."You may as well take your seats children, it seems like you aren't going anywhere anyway." He straightened his tie and dusted off the sleeves of his jacket. "Now....where was I before I was so rudely interrupted?""Humanity is corrupt, wouldn't you agree? Lying, cheating, stealing, and murdering. I'd call the human race a bunch of apes, but that would be insulting to the apes!" The stranger picked his point back up from the last place he'd left off. He acted as if he were addressing the preacher - who currently looked confused and terrified - but he was really addressing the whole room. "So...I postulate that if man is made in the image of his god, and man is a corrupt entity - wouldn't it stand to reason that god is a corrupt entity?"The pastor - who had suddenly been called to be the defender of both humanity and the god he'd professed to love and understand for so many years of his life - stood dumbfounded. The room was quiet except for the occasional sob from Mrs. Margo, everyone had retaken their seats as if falling directly into their role as the sheep the stranger claimed them to be. I was equally guilty, sitting quietly in the middle of the pack watching the whole thing play out. The stranger was hypnotizing in a way that made you feel uncomfortable, his presence made the whole thing feel like a dream."Pastor Jerry?" The stranger took a few steps across the pulpit and smacked the pastor in the back of the head. The pastor suddenly woke from the shock he was in and looked fearfully into the eyes of the man who had just murdered one of his congregation and was holding the rest of us hostage somehow. "Care to offer a rebuttal?""Your argument..." The pastor voice shook and he looked like he was going to cry."Put some fucking feeling into it man! Bring the old testament down on my head for fucks sake, fire and brimstone and all that jazz." The stranger picked up a candle stick and tossed it between his hands as he paced the front of the room. The pastor pressed his bible to his chest and turned to the stranger with a bit more conviction."Your argument places the sins of man in the hands of god, but I say again we have free will. We choose to love, we choose to hate, and we choose to accept the Lord. Even if you could apply the faults of man to god, I'd argue that more men are just than not!""You would?" The stranger threw his head back and laughed."Yes, I would. Look at my flock, the members of this community! All righteous folks, all good folks, kind folks.""Oh Jerry, you little man. If you only knew the truth." The stranger was smiling and then looked out over the crowd. "Shall we drop some knowledge on the benevolent pastor here?"There was a spell over us all. The only sounds that came from the crowd were some uncomfortable shifts in the seat and the occasional sob from Mrs. Margo. I felt frozen, transfixed on what was happening before my eyes. I - just like everyone else in that room - knew what the stranger was going to do next, we knew he was capable even though we didn't know how."Why we don't even have to go back that far to find a little sin, do we?" The stranger once again hopped down off the stage and walked the rows. His jacket was now flung over his shoulder in a casual manner and he moved with the swagger of confidence. He stopped directly in front of Tim Dandridge, the man who ran the pharmacy. His bald head was sweating as he adjusted his glasses and wrapped his arms around his wife; the stranger leaned in close to look him in the eyes. "In fact, just this morning there was some sin right out in Mr. Dandridge's truck.""I....I have no idea what you're talking about." His voice was shaky."Oh gimme a break Dandridge. Half the town already knows about this one, might as well just come clean." The stranger stood and looked over at Annie, a senior in high school who was working at Mr. Dandridge's pharmacy. The stranger was right, half the town did already know about what was happening, but small towns keep secrets in circles.Mrs. Dandridge started sobbing and pulling away from her husband, she'd already known too but it was easy to ignore when you don't bring it up. You could see the smile spread back across the strangers face; it moved like a spreading sickness over his cheeks - his porcelain white teeth making it even more plastic looking. He reached down and grabbed Mr. Dandridge by the collar, lifting him to his feet and holding an up facing palm towards him as if he were showing him off to the crowd."Exhibit A: Adultery." The stranger let go of his collar and Mr. Dandridge dropped back to his seat next to his still sobbing wife. "And with a girl just barely turned 18. Timmy, you nasty son of a biscuit."