The Book of the Law is Found

Pastor Boris was standing in front of the church on a Sunday morning. He had a home made type written folder in his hand.
"When King Josiah sent the priest to repair the temple, they found a book. The book was brought to King Josiah who had it read to him. The king tore his robes. He was terrified. The Book of the Law had been found. The people had not been obeying the special revelation they had been given by God. Today, the Book of the Law has been found in this church. We have not been obeying the special revelation we have been given by God." Pastor Boris opened the book and began to read from it. "Up until the age of one a child should be hit with a hand. After the age of one, the child should be hit with an implement, such as a wooden spoon." There were gasps of horror from one or two people in the congregation and one or two others were laughing.
"That book was written in 1972," said Matthew.
"Did this church exist in 1972?" said Tony. "We came here in 2012. I thought we were the first."
"It belonged to the Russian church," said Matthew. "The Siberian community church that existed in 1972. That's what we all descended from."
"That was in the heyday of communism," said Maria. "Could you have churches like this in the Soviet Union?"
"We built a farmhouse 100 miles away from the nearest Siberian village," said Pastor Boris. "You don't exactly apply for planning permission, you don't exactly inform the authorities of what you're doing. If someone was ill, we had a doctor and a pharmacist who worked in the nearest village. They came to visit us at weekends and brought the medicines then. It was only a 3 hour drive. After the fall of communism, we built a farmhouse in Poland. After the English border was opened and before they left the EU, we came here." Pastor Boris opened the book again and continued reading. "After the age of 5 the child should be hit with a strap that should be hung on the back door. If you use the strap too often, you are no longer acting in love." Maria started crying. "Well, that's what life was like in Russia in 1972."
"Of course it was," said Matthew. "That's when they built Chernobyl."
"I got hit with that belt all the time," said Timea, "and people were not acting in love. I can't believe that anyone would hang that strap on the back door and never expect anyone to misuse it." Pastor Boris continued reading from the book.
"Who has the responsibility for discipline in the community house? All the adults in that community house will share the responsibility."
"So the children are surrounded by a big crowd of adults telling them what to do," said Maria.
"Or preparing to hit them with a strap," said Timea.
"Chapter 2," continued Pastor Boris. "Boys Can't Run. Children are expected to play quietly, without running, as this would cause accidents and without shouting or laughing in a manner that would distract adults."
"We got hit with that strap for anything," said Timea, "even for just laughing and running around."
"It was a long time ago," said Matthew. "The world was different then."
"It wasn't that different," said Timea. "It was wrong even then, even by the standards of 1972. And Pastor Boris thinks it should be like that now."
"The reason this church is not growing is that God is not blessing it," said Pastor Boris. "The reason God is not blessing it is that we have lost sight of the plain and simple truths that are contained in this document. Chapter 3. Renouncing the Pleasures of the World. Christians should give up all their possessions and renounce the pleasures of this world."
"Does that mean you can't do anything you enjoy?" asked Maria.
"It means that people who live in community can't do anything they enjoy without feeling guilty," said Matthew.
"All right," said Pastor Boris. "That might be true. But if you do something you enjoy, it's got a hold on you. We got rid of the tuck shop on a Sunday morning. I've seen the way that some of you were looking at the chocolate bars and crisps. Addiction is when something like that gets a hold on you. You're sitting in church and you're looking at the chocolate bars and crisps. You can't wait. Well, you're supposed to be worshiping God, not longing to gratify the lust of the eyes with the lust of the flesh. How many people are addicted to hamburgers? A little child sees the big M sign on the Metro. 'I want to go to Macdonalds,' she cries. You want to go to Macdonalds too. You can't wait for Saturday lunchtime when you order that double burger with cheese and pour two packets of salt all over your fries. It's got a hold on you. Your soul should crave spiritual food and that's the only thing it should long for, not the pleasures of this world."
"I enjoy walking through the woods," said Valerie, "especially in bad weather, when I can feel the rain on my skin and the wind howling around my woolly hat."
"If everybody lived on sardine sandwiches there'd be enough food in the world to go around," said Magnus.
"Those are simple pleasures, godly pleasures," said Pastor Boris. "Enjoy simple food, enjoy walking through the woods in the wind and rain. Don't waste your time watching television and reading trashy paperback novels. Read the Bible. Read Christian books. Pleasure should be found only in the things of God. Then your soul will develop wings. It will soar into Heaven. When Josiah found the Book of the Law he tore his clothes and they had a big passover for the first time in years. We will celebrate the discovery of this book by fasting for a whole week and asking God's forgiveness." Pastor Boris closed his eyes and prayed. "Father God, we have sinned against Heaven and against you. We have neglected the simple truth that you have revealed to this church. We have allowed our souls to be encumbered by the pleasures of this world. Revive our church again. We renew to you the vows that we made to renounce the world, its pride and greed, the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh. Amen."
"We've already made the dinner," said Timea.
"That's all right," said Pastor Boris. "We will eat the meal that the sisters have prepared for us. Then we will fast until lunchtime next Sunday. What is it that we're eating?"
"Hamburgers and American style fries," said Timea.
"It was cheap and easy to make," said Maria.
"I'm sure the Lord wouldn't mind if we only did it once," said Pastor Boris.

Matthew sat in the big dining room next to the farm kitchen and poured some milk shake flavouring into a cup of milk.
"You can't drink milk shake when you're fasting," said Maria.
"Pastor Boris said we should drink plenty of fluids."
"Plenty of fluids, not plenty of calories."
"Quite right Matthew," said Magnus, "if you're not used to fasting, you should drink plenty of milk and eat plenty of fruit."
"There you are," said Matthew to Maria, "advice from the expert."
"Except that I drink my milk without any flavouring," said Magnus. "It's UHT milk and no one could ever enjoy it." Matthew added the usual amount of syrup to his milk. He noticed a small amount of syrup still remained in the small plastic bottle. Not having enough for another drink and not wanting to waste it, he poured all the flavouring into his cup. The cup was over full. He picked it up and the milk shake spilled everywhere. Colin came into the room.
"I've had the most terrifying experience," he said. "I've been watching television on my tablet. There were all these adverts for food. It hit me so hard because I was fasting. Sausages, beefburgers, chips. I've never had such a strong desire to go to Aldi."
"Why were you watching television, Brother?" asked Magnus. "We're supposed to be fasting from all worldly pleasures."
"I was in search of Christian teaching on YouTube. I found a documentary on the book of Revelation and, right in the middle, the adverts came on."
"Watch our church's YouTube channel," said Matthew. "There are never any adverts on that."
"That's because no one ever watches it," said Magnus. Colin picked up a bunch of grapes. They were dried up, shrivelled and brown. He ate 2 of them and threw the rest in the bin.
"Why are you throwing those grapes away?" asked Maria.
"Because they're dried up and they taste really sour."
"Someone could still eat them."

Monday was Leaders' Day. Pastor Boris had asked all the men to come to the hall for a few hours of teaching.
"You won't get people to obey all of God's laws all the time," he said, "that would be impossible. So it's more normal to think of a short list of rules that you definitely want them to follow. So you get the rule of St. Benedict, in a benedictine monastery. What would be the rule of Pastor Boris? What would be the rule of Weedon Reservoir Community Church?"
"Poverty, chastity and obedience," said Magnus.
"Poverty," said Pastor Boris, "money is shared, possessions are shared. Have nothing of your own. Chastity. I want everybody in this church to be married or celibate. I'll have none of this, 'l'm happy enough to be single for Jesus until I meet someone who changes my mind.' No half measures, either bring up a family for Jesus or be single and celibate for Jesus. You can serve God with whole hearted devotion if you make up your mind. Marriage has it's advantages but those who are celibate will have far more time to devote to the Lord's service. If you're not expecting to get engaged to be married in the next six months, make a lifetime vow of celibacy. I mean a lifetime vow. Never mind, 'But God might want me to get married when I'm in my sixties.' Do you intend to be serving God less when you're in your sixties than you do now? Obedience. Who do we obey?"
"God," said Stanley.
"Okay," said Pastor Boris. "But you need somebody else to tell you what God's will actually is."
"President Boris," said Matthew, sniggering.
"I like that," said Pastor Boris. "President Boris is a strong leader." He clenched his fist and shook it in the air.
"You are like the British Prime Minister," said Matthew, "and your leadership team are like the government cabinet ministers who agree with everything you say and never say anything against you. We are like your MPs. We have to tow the party line and we're not allowed to talk to the newspapers." Pastor Boris smiled.
"Excellent, Matthew. You will be a senior leader in this church one day. Are there any other rules of Weedon Reservoir Community Church?"
"Forsaking the pleasures of this world," said Colin.
"Correct. Focus your mind on the things of God. Another van load of old Christian books has been put in our library this week so that people can focus on the godly pleasures of studying God's word and studying the writings of Christians throughout the ages. Who needs a television? Who wants to watch the latest news or the latest film channel? God has something better. People say that we're holier than thou. We do want to be holier than thou, holier than you, holier than they are. We do want to be holier than worldlings, and holier than the Christians who live in the world and conform to the lifestyle of the world and are almost indistinguishable from worldlings."

It was lunchtime. The men walked through to the large dining hall.
"I'm looking forward to a nice juicy pear and a glass of milk," said Matthew. When he got into the dining hall the crates of pears and apples had gone, as had all the boxes that each contained 20 cartons of milk. "Where have all the milk and the fruit gone?"
"Where have they gone?" asked Stanley, laughing. "They haven't gone anywhere. We've eaten all the fruit and drunk all the milk. It's run out now. I think that big metal urn full of soup is what we've got to eat now."
"At least it's still warm," said Colin, as he used the soup ladle to pour some of the dull brown fluid full of carrots and onions into his bowl.
"For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful," said Magnus. "Let us think of people in poor countries who would be grateful even for this soup."
"They'd have to be very poor to be grateful for this," said Matthew.
"Indeed it is possible," said Magnus. "I gave an Indian family a tin of beans. 'Best food we've had for years,' they said."
"Were they Heinz baked beans or were they really cheap supermarket beans?" asked Matthew. Matthew began to eat the soup. "If there's no milk, I'll have to make a cup of black tea."
"There's no tea bags either," said Stanley. "They used them to make the soup. That's why it's that brown colour."
"Food enough to keep body and soul together," said Magnus. "I wonder how much food that would be?"
"Pastor Boris said that the first Communists lived on 200 grams of bread a day," said Stanley.
"How much bread is that?" asked Matthew.
"About five slices," said Stanley.
"Thank you, Stanley, you've answered my question. A slice of toast for breakfast, two sandwiches for lunch, and two slices of bread with soup for tea. Food enough to keep body and soul together."
"Magnus," asked Matthew, "if everybody lived like that, would there be enough food in the world to go around?"
"You know what, Matthew, I was just about to say that. Yes there would, and I imagine we could throw in a couple of sardines and an egg a few times a week as well."

It was Saturday night. A group of people were praying together in the large hall. The atmosphere was electric. Matthew started singing in tongues very loudly and playing his guitar.
"Should I continue my song?" he asked. "Am I distracting you?"
"Matthew," said Maria, "I haven't heard anyone pray in tongues like that before but when you do it the air seems to dance with electricity. So please, carry on." Gary started running around the room with a drum, banging out a steady rhythm and chanting words that only made sense to him and to God. Everyone else was praying in their heavenly prayer language but in a much more orderly way, what Matthew called the English way.
"This is revival prayer," shouted Pastor Boris into the microphone. "Everybody praying together as loudly as you can. Don't be embarrassed. Don't be inhibited. Let go. Let God. This kind of prayer is associated with revival all over the world." The praying in tongues was not quite so orderly anymore. The sound of the worship grew louder. Matthew thought it was a good job that it was only 8 o' clock and none of the neighbours would be kept awake by it. Then Colin shouted into the microphone,
"The Lord is going to do something truly amazing this weekend. He is going to do something amazing in the lives of the Badgers. The Badgers will find Jesus this weekend."
"The badgers in the garden?" asked Timea. "I didn't know animals could become Christians."
"Not those sort of badgers," said Maria. "The ones who stole our shoes. There is a gang of children called the Badgers."

On Sunday morning the Badgers were all sitting in church together.
"Toffer," said one of them, "you burgalled this church, then you stole everybody's shoes from outside the flat. Do you think God wants anything to do with you?"
"I think he loves us," said Toffer. "I've brought the tablet back." He was holding a small computer.
"Didn't you sell it?"
"No. It had loads of Christian songs on it. I started to listen to them. The Lord has been working in my heart."
"Hello!" said Tracey, beaming a big smile at Toffer and giving him a big hug.
"Hello Miss. What should I do with this tablet?"
"Give it to the man sitting over there next to all the electrical equipment." Toffer gave the tablet to Colin.
"Thank you," said Colin. "God is going to do something really great in your life this weekend." It was Stanley's turn to preach.
"A reading from the book of Romans," Stanley said, as the words appeared on the big screen. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Toffer started thinking of all the bad things he had done. He was physically shaking. "God's standard is perfection. This should cause us to despair. But instead it causes us to rejoice. Jesus died so that we could be forgiven."
"Can God forgive me for all the terrible things that I've done?" asked Toffer.
"Yes," said Stanley, "he can." Pastor Boris spoke into the other microphone.
"Stand up if you want to give up everything for Jesus." Toffer stood up.
"Yes I do, yes I do. I'll come and live with you on the farm when I grow up."
"Praise the Lord," said Colin.

The next Sunday Matthew went to Toffer's house to give him a lift to church in the car. A six foot skinhead covered in tattoos came out of the house.
"What have you done to little Christopher?" he asked. "He doesn't swear anymore, he doesn't get into fights and nearly murder the other children. What have you done to him?" Matthew thought this man was going to give him the worst beating he'd ever had in his life.
"He decided to bring back the computer he'd stolen from the church. He stayed to listen to the sermon. No one forced him to do anything."
"Can you do the same thing for me?"