Jeremiah took a deep breath. The cold air stung. Ahead, the stadium loomed over the lot of late model luxury cars. On game day, the parking lot would be full. Today, only the first few rows were filled by students who had the misfortune of having a Friday afternoon class.
“It’s as good a day as any,” he told himself.
A short wall, waist high, ringed an empty fountain. A place where students would take graduation pictures with the stadium in the background. In the late fall, no more than a few stragglers wandered down the wide sidewalk, hurrying to get out of the chill. A twinge of guilt, or possibly nerves, racked his stomach.
“I’m just dipping my foot into the pool.”
Drums pounded in his chest. Despite the cold, sweat dripped down his sleeves. The student center would have been the place to reach the most people. This would have to suffice.
Get yourself ready! Stand up and say whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them.
“Yes, Lord.” Another deep breath. “Here, I go.”
A foot stepped onto the wall but almost immediately dropped back to the ground. Turning around, he headed down an access road which passed behind the cafeteria. Spoiled food clinging to the sides of the empty dumpsters pumped the air with the odor of a row of outhouses. Jeremiah buried his nose in his shirt and picked up the pace.
On the other side of the cafeteria, past a pair of elm trees, he took a right, joining a steady line of students. He snuck behind a group of rowdy guys – football players and friends of football players – whooping it up over some big play or hot girl. Jeremiah couldn’t tell which, nor did he care to know. His focus remained on the words he had rehearsed.
Another slight right and a row of glass windows welcomed him to the student center. It was full, even more so than normal. Pool tables and video games, computers and vending machines fought for space with a crowd of coeds hungry for a meal and for the evening to begin. Jeremiah found a bench near the empty reception desk and climbed on top.
“Repent from your evil ways. Turn your heart towards God and he will turn his heart towards you.”
A few people walking past acknowledged him with a quizzical look and kept going. Jeremiah cleared his throat and spoke louder.
“Repent from the evil that you do. Quit worshiping your idols of wood and gold and flesh. Destruction is coming for the nation. Destruction is already upon you. From the north comes an insatiable fire, waiting to consume you and your evil works. Repent while there is still time.”
A guy with dirty blond hair and the remains of a fading New York accent called out. “Get down from there, idiot.”
His comments caught the attention of a group of students sitting close by. They elbowed their friends and pointed. Jeremiah gathered his courage and continued.
“You will not be held guiltless. Your sin, like a pile of dung, rises to heaven, stacking on top of the sins of your fathers until it touches the clouds. Its odor fills the land.” Thoughts of the dumpsters he passed entered his mind. “But you, instead of repenting, roll around in the filth. The excrement clings to your naked bodies and adds to your shame. Still, you call out to your lovers and say, ‘Come. Have your way with me. Satisfy your desires. My husband is far away and won’t return until next week.’ Lust fills your eye as you watch him leave his gold on your nightstand, as he counts out the thirty silver coins. The wages of a prostitute. The price of your soul.”
The student center fell silent. Hundreds of people stared, wondering if this was an act. Maybe hazing for a fraternity. They waited for the other fraternity brothers to join in. The guy with dirty blond hair yelled out.
“Nutcase!”
A ripple of laughter spread backwards through the people beginning to surround Jeremiah. Sporadic insults fell on him, angrier, viler each time, as though it was a competition. A tall student with a three-day beard raised his hands to hush the crowd. Jeremiah recognized him from a summer class he took, a teaching assistant in the philosophy department. They had never had more than the most superficial of conversations.
“Hold on, everybody. I’d like to hear what he has to say.” He peered at Jeremiah through round, horn-rimmed glasses and waited for the noise to die down. “The floor is yours.”
“This nation has exchanged the truth of God with the lies of man. We are an ungrateful people, following our own desires, determined to set ourselves up as gods just as Adam and Eve did in the beginning. We did not repent of our evil and began to worship idols of our own creation, idols in the image of gold and man. Our thinking became futile, our foolish hearts darkened. We claimed to be wise yet we were fools. Therefore, God gave us over to our sinful desires and allowed us to degrade our bodies in the most disgusting of ways. But there was no shame, no bound on our depravity. Man lay with man and woman with woman. Our churches became whorehouses. He struck us with plague and drought. He sent the enemy to surround our cities. Instead of turning to him, we wanted more, and we did everything in our power to achieve it. We dishonored our parents. We became gossipers, slanderers, destroying innocent people with our lies. Arrogant and boastful, we invented ways of doing evil, trying to outdo each other on our footrace towards hell. Understanding was not found in us. Nor was love or mercy or anything good. We became envious, stirring up strife, taking from others what they earned but what we desired. We even sacrificed our own children to engage in our passions, something he did not tell us to do nor did the thought cross his mind. Now, he sends judgment. We will try to flee, but each person will meet his fate. Those who escape the famine will find the pestilence. He who escapes the pestilence, the sword will find him. Those who escape the sword will be taken into captivity. No one will be saved, except for a remnant who seek him with their whole heart.”
Jeremiah breathed out a heavy sigh.
“Are you done?” the tall student asked.
Jeremiah nodded.
“Interesting take on things. What’s your name, by the way?”
“Jeremiah.”
He turned to the crowd. “This is Jeremiah, everybody.” He extended his hand to Jeremiah. “I’m Ishmael. Like in Moby Dick. Strange, I know. I’ve seen you around before.”
“I took one of your classes. History of Philosophy.”
Ishmael nodded as if he remembered then shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t recall. Although, it’s hard keeping track of everyone. I appreciate you taking the time to express your opinion. Do you mind if I ask a few questions?”
“Go ahead.”
He looked around. “I think I speak for many of the people here. I apologize if I don’t. But what the hell are you talking about?”
A large portion of the crowd laughed, most nodding their agreement.
“Nobody here has abandoned God. We’re a Bible college for goodness’ sake. I don’t mean to be rude, but it sounds like you took your Bible book courses a bit too literally. All that gloom and doom, sword and pestilence. Look around you. We live in a godly nation, ruled by a godly president. Now, if you were talking about the northern states, you might have a case. But us? No. We quit being that ‘sinful nation’ when we broke away fifty years ago.”
“We are a sinful people,” Jeremiah insisted.
“All of us have sinned, I agree, but not in the way you say. What is this ‘man lying with man’, ‘our churches are whorehouses’ nonsense? Sacrificing our children? None of that is legal here. None of that happens.”
“It happens,” Jeremiah said.
“Maybe in the back alleys but certainly not out in the light.”
“It’s what our hearts want. Our hearts are sick, desperately so.”
“That’s an interesting take on it. Can’t say that I’m with you, though.”
“Do you claim that’s not what the people want?”
Ishmael shrugged. “Probably. Some. It’s not important. If I’m being honest, my issue is not with what we do or do not do but with your outdated notion of Biblical truth. The vindictive God of the Bible is a thing of the past, a relic of ancient thought. God is a God of love, of mercy. Jesus tells us this himself. Who would know better than God’s own prophet?”
“He is also a God of righteousness and judgment.”
“But love conquers all. He’s not an angry father looking to discipline us when we fall out of line. He’s a loving God who wants us to be happy, to provide us with a good life.” He paused for a moment. “You might want to re-read your Bible, maybe take another one of my courses. I’ll show you what I mean.”
The guy with the dirty blond hair yelled out. “Stop humoring this idiot. Just tell him to get his skinny ass off the chair and get on his way.”
Jeremiah turned to him. “You are a wild donkey, sniffing the wind for the scent of anyone who would make love to you. When you catch the odor, you run blindly towards it and beg whoever you find to plunder your filthy treasure. Your thoughts are continually evil, ungrateful. Your perverted mind no longer seeks the things of God but only its own pleasure.”
The guy clenched his jaws. Streaks of red spilled down his face and onto his chest. Ishmael pulled on Jeremiah’s arm, forcing him down from the bench.
“I think it’s time for you to go,” he said.
Jeremiah glanced over his shoulder and started through the crowd. Most parted for him. A few laughed as he made his way past. Calls of ‘lunatic’ and ‘queer’ and ‘self-righteous idiot’ followed him out the door, sporadic but loud enough to make him think the opposition was greater than it really was. He pulled his jacket tighter and hurried down the sidewalk towards the stadium. The clock tower chimed quarter of six. The dining hall would be open, so he took a detour for a quick dinner.
No one noticed him as he came in, unaware of his recent public humiliation. He inhaled then exhaled slowly, grabbed a tray and a stale hamburger, and found a seat by the large window in back. The hamburger disappeared one small bite at a time. When he finished, he leaned back and watched the activity below.
“Is this seat open?”
Jeremiah jerked upwards.
“Hey, Victoria. Of course. Have a seat.”
“You were lost in your thoughts for a while,” she said. “Thinking about what happened?”
“A little. Not really. You were there, huh?”
“Yeah. What came over you? I’ve never seen you like that before. It was pretty cool.”
“No one else seemed to think so.”
“A lot of people did actually. Not the usual loud idiots, though.”
“So, you agreed with it?”
“Yeah. Well, I agree that people’s natural state is to live in disobedience. I don’t think we’re there as a nation like you claimed.”
“We’re not.”
Victoria looked puzzled. “Then, why’d you say it?”
“It’s where we’re going.”
“You said it like it’s already happened.”
“I saw it.”
“What do you mean, you saw it?”
“I saw where we’re headed, where we ended up. It’s terrifying, Victoria. I don’t want us to go there.”
“What was that? Some sort of movie?”
Jeremiah shook his head. “He showed me. I saw it as clear as day. I know where we’re going, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Who? Who showed you? What did he show you?”
“God showed me. He spoke to me and told me to speak his words. I’m scared, Victoria, yet angry and sad and determined at the same time. I don’t really want to get up and tell people the bad news, but my heart burns whenever I consider not doing so.”
Jeremiah’s hands shook. Victoria reached across the table and wrapped her hands around his.
“If he tells you to speak, then you do it,” she said.
“You believe me, then.”
“Just make sure it’s him speaking to you.”
“The thought has crossed my mind.”
“You’re not sure?”
“I’m sure,” he said. “In the past, I might not have been, but I am now.”
Victoria smiled. “Well, be careful. Not what you say. Just look out for the people who don’t want to hear it. If it is true, you’re going to meet some resistance. That’s the way it works.”
Jeremiah smiled back. “Thanks, Vic.”
“No problem, J. Change of subject. Do you have any plans tonight? Me and a couple girls are getting together to see a movie. You can join us if you’d like. I can set you up with a friend. I think she’s had her eye on you. You’d like her.”
Jeremiah’s face turned red. “I’m already interested in someone else. Thanks, anyway. I’ll probably drop by, though. For the company. I need a little moral support right now.”
“Sounds good. We’ll start around nine o’clock, I suppose. See you then?”
Jeremiah nodded. Victoria walked off, oblivious to the pair of dark, brooding eyes that watched her move away.
“Give it up, Jeremiah,” he told himself. “She’s way out of your league.”
He waited until he saw her through the window to pick up his tray and leave.