Persecution 1

Phil and Don sat in the Sunday morning meeting. They were newcomers to the church.  They were holding hands.  Don was wearing what looked like an engagement ring.
"Are you homosexuals?" asked Mikey.
"Yes we are," said Don, "and we're engaged to be married."
"Which of you is the woman?"  asked Mikey.
"I'm sorry," said Stanley, "this is a very traditional church."
"I think that's a perfectly sensible question," said Don.  "Not all gay men are effeminate but some are.  Actually, I have always thought of myself as a woman.  That's why I like wearing a lady's coat and scarf.  I call myself Don, although my real name is Donald.  I hate being called Donald."
"Donny is the woman and he is going to be my wife," said Phil, laughing.  "I wonder what we'd say if both of us were transsexuals?"  Stanley was holding a big blue Bible which was showing signs of wear and tear.
"Do you know what the Bible says about homosexuality?" Stanley turned over a few pages and opened the Bible at the book of Leviticus.  "I'm sorry, there's no way of putting it politely.  'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman.  That is detestable.'  That's what it says."
"It doesn't say that in my Bible," said Phil.  "What chapter of Leviticus have you got there?"
"Chapter 18," said Stanley.  "Verse 22."
Phil held up a big mobile phone.  "Do not have sexual realtions with an animal and defile yourself with it."
"That's verse 23 in my Bible," said Stanley.
Phil pressed a few more buttons on his mobile phone.  "Well, lots of things in Leviticus are detestable, but I can't see that verse."
"The Bible has been changed," said Mikey.  "Under the 2030 equality act, a publisher was prosecuted for producing a Bible that said that homosexuality was wrong.  The publishing companies didn't want to stop publishing the Bible, it's one of the world's best selling books.  So they removed any verses that said that homosexuality was wrong from the Bible and simply renumbered the chapters and the verses.  Phil, have a look at the title page of the Bible on your mobile phone."
"A collection of Christian and Jewish scriptures accepted by most of the world's religions," Phil read.
"You'll find that homosexuality isn't the only thing they altered," said Mikey.  "Verses saying that Jesus is the only way to God were removed.  Verses condemning idolatory were removed in case they offended Buddhists and Hindus."
"How did that come about?" asked Stanley.  "We should never have got rid of the New International Version, the original one published in 1979.  That says that homosexuality is wrong.  That says that Jesus is the only way to God."
"Indeed you are a very traditional church," said Phil, angrily.  "My wife and I are leaving."  He took Don by the hand and got up.
"Phil, don't be so angry.  Maybe they're right.  I've always wondered if what we were doing is wrong."
"Have you?"
"In the beginning the Lord made them male and female.  God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve."
"Donny, we both know that God didn't make you male or female."
"All right Phil, I can't help being what I am, but that doesn't mean that I have to have a sexual relationship.  What if they're right?  What if you can pick up any Bible printed on paper before 2030 and homosexuality is a terrible sin?  Do you have such a Bible?  We should see this for ourselves."  Stanley handed Don his Bible.
"There you are," said Stanley.  "I assure you, the Bible is the infallible word of God.  There are no mistakes in it.  If you read this Bible you will see that Jesus is the only way to God and that you need to repent of your relationship.  The book of Revelation says that if anyone takes anything away from the Bible God will take away from him eternal life."  Don was terrified.
"Phil, maybe we've been wrong all these years."
"I've been a Christian for ten years," said Phil.  "No one has ever told me my way of life is wrong before."

 

At Piddledon Farm the brothers were doing the washing up after tea.  The doorbell rang.
"I'll go and see who it is," said Mark, putting down the big plastic mixing bowl he was drying.  Mark opened the door.  A middle aged man stood outside.  He was not in uniform but was wearing a police badge.
"Is there a man called Stanley Jones here?" he asked.
"What's it about?"
"I'll discuss that with him.  I'm from the police.  Is he here?"
"I'll go and get him for you," said Mark.  Mark turned around to find Stanley standing close behind him.
"Mr. Jones, can I have a look at your Bible?" asked the policeman.
"It's on the bookshelf in the hall," said Stanley.  He left the policeman for a minute and brought the Bible.
"Can you show me some verses about homosexuality?"  Stanley opened the Bible at Leviticus 18. 
"Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman.  That is detestable," he read.
"Mr. Jones, you are under arrest.  You're not obliged to say anything, but anything you do say may be taken down as evidence and used against you."
"Under which law?" asked Stanley.
"Under the 2030 Public Order Act.  Use of threatening, abusive or insulting language likely to inspire hatred of minority groups.  Please accompany me to the station."

Don called at the police station.
"I'm looking for Stanley Jones," he said to the woman on the reception desk.  "He was arrested a few hours ago and I was told he had been brought here."
"Are you a relative?" asked the police woman.
"Mr. Jones is my church pastor.  He gave me and my partner some advice about homosexuality.  My partner didn't like it.  That's why he reported it to the police.  Is he here?"  Don was led into a small cell where Stanley was being held.
"Hello," said Don.  "I'm here to support you.  Phil has done this.  I've always wondered, in the back of mind, if homosexuality is wrong."
"It is wrong," said Stanley.
"But Phil doesn't believe you.  Phil's going to press charges under the Public Order Act."
"They've told me about the Public Order Act."
"Stanley, the maximum penalty for breaking the 2030 Public Order Act isn't a little fine.  It's seven years in prison."
"I always thought this might happen."
"Did you?" asked Don.
"That's why I worked so hard to memorise a thousand Bible verses.  I have such a terrible memory.  It's taken me fifty years to learn them.  All from the early New International Version, the translation that I've used since I was a child.  I knew that  I would go to prison one day.  Some of them are set to music."  Stanley began to sing and do the actions to a chorus.  "The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and they are safe."  He built a tower with his hands and pretended to run.  He sang the line again.  "The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and they are safe.  Proverbs 18 verse 10."

 

Phil sat with his solicitor.
"My pastor has given me and my partner some unwanted advice about homosexuality."
"When did this happen?"
"We were attending his church for the first time.  He noticed we were a gay couple.  Out came this old fashioned Bible.  He read from it.  He read verses that aren't even in a modern Bible.  He told us that what we did was detestable to God."
"The Bible was written in a primitive time," said the solicitor.  "It contains some very dangerous statements.  Modern religion decides what is reasonable."
"My partner became frigid.  Donny, who has been my partner for several years, is afraid to come near me.  She thinks it is a terrible sin."
"Donald is a man."
"He has always thought of himself as a woman."

 

A policeman entered Stanley's cell.
"We're taking you to the airport," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"You're being remanded in custody until the case goes to trial."
"But why the airport?"
"You're going to the detention centre.  It's in Uganda."  Stanley was sat in the back of a police car, handcuffed to a policeman.  They drove off down the motorway towards Heathrow airport.

Stanley was escorted on to the plane.  He was still handcuffed to the policeman until he sat in his seat.  Then the policeman took off the handcuffs.
"Goodbye, Mr. Jones.  I'm leaving now, I don't come with you.  You can try to escape if you want to but the aeroplane has only one door and is surrounded by armed police.  If I were you, I wouldn't try."  Stanley was sat next to an untidy and slightly smelly teenager.
"What you in for then?" asked the teenager.
"I read the Bible to some homosexuals and told them they were committing a sin.  I'm a church pastor."
"Is that a crime?  I'm in for arson.  Setting my neighbour's bins on fire.  The doctor thinks I'm not right in the head and that I should go to hospital.  They won't listen."
"It's not so bad," said a man who was sitting behind them.  "It's a nice prison.  It's like a little town.  It's got its own airport.  You'll have your own cell but you won't actually be locked in there unless you do something wrong.  There's a big library and there's workshops.  There's a little shop where you can spend your pocket money."
"Have you been there before?" asked Stanley.
"I've been there several times." 

 

The plane landed at the airport in Uganda.  The pilot left the cockpit and gave a £20 note to an African man who met him at the top of the steps at the entrance door.
"Great," said the African, "I can go to work tomorrow and tell them to stuff it."  He kissed the £20 note.
"How did you manage to get the oil so cheap?  You can't buy that amount of crude oil for £20."
"I work at a military airbase.  I falsified the mileage on the planes.  I pretended that each military jet had flown 50,000 miles further than it really had.  I am refuelling your aircraft with the surplus jet fuel.  But I don't work at the airbase anymore.  Tomorrow I retire."

 

Stanley found the conditions in prison quite pleasant.  He was sitting in the library one afternoon, reading and scribbling into a pocket notebook.  A tall African man who was a prison officer came to get him.
"Hello Mr. Jones.  Sorry to interrupt your studies.  British Ambassador on the phone."  The prison officer led Stanley to where an old fashioned telephone hung on the wall.  Stanley picked up the receiver.
"Good afternoon Mr. Jones," said a well educated voice at the other end.  "How are you finding your ordeal?"
"I don't regard having so much time to study the Word of God as an ordeal.  The worst thing about being here is when it's a hot sunny day and I want to go for a long walk in the hills."
"Go and join the other men sitting on the deckchairs outside," said the prison officer.  "Don't let the British Consulate think that we mistreat you."
"What are conditions like in there?"
"If you pay 20 shillings a week you can have a television in your cell," said Stanley.
"20 shillings a week?" asked the prison officer.  "That's far too much.  I'll give you an old television for nothing."
"Sounds like they're treating you quite well."
"It's OK, even the food is quite good."
"It's steak and chips tonight, with mushy peas," said the prison officer.
"I thought it was curry," said Stanley.
"No, I've often heard you talking about that cafe you went to in Newcastle when you were a young man.  Tonight it's steak and chips with mushy peas.  No expense spared."
"Do you want to know when the trial is?" asked the British Ambassador.
"How long will it take?" asked Stanley.
"The Crown Prosecution Service are deciding whether they have enough evidence to press charges.  It might be a couple of years before you get a decision.  After that, you could be waiting for a trial for anything up to a year."
"Not to worry," said Stanley.  "Thank you for your help.  Goodbye."  Stanley put the phone down.  "I think I'll go and have a sit on a deckchair outside."  He went outside and sat down beside the smelly, spotty teenager.  "What do you think of life in here?" Stanley asked him.
"It's all to do with money.  Here, they can afford to have good prison conditions.  They pay a prison officer £1 a week, and they're like a world famous footballer."  A prison officer was standing nearby.
"£1 a week?  I would be rich.  I'm paid £2 a year, and that's more than a doctor or a teacher would be paid."
"How did that happen?" asked the teenager.
"The country owed the World Bank a trillion dollars.  We couldn't pay it.  So the president devalued the currency a hundred thousand times.  The debt is now ten million dollars.  Now they can pay it off."
"I suppose the purchase of the aeroplane cost more than the building of this prison," said Stanley.
"The 797 was bought second hand from Ugandan airways for £8,000 and all the jet fuel is stolen by corrupt officials in the air force.  Mr. Jones, the spare parts for the aeroplane cost more than the combined cost of keeping a quarter of a million people in prison.  When they had to replace the clutch that was $5 million.  They have to buy the parts from Boeing.  Still, only $20 per person.  It's probably cheaper than Megabus."

 

It was time for the trial.  Stanley sat in a room with a prison officer, looking at the screen of a tablet computer that was positioned on a small chair as if the chair was an old fashioned TV stand.  Phil's solicitor appeared on the screen.
"What happened when you attended the church at which Mr. Jones was one of the pastors?"
"We were shown this really old Bible. The cover was torn and the pages were falling out.  Donny, my partner, was there with me.  Mr. Jones read us a passage from his old Bible saying that homosexuality was detestable."
"What effect did this statement have on your relationship with your partner?"
"When we went home that night, my partner had become frigid.  Donny seemed afraid to come anywhere near me.  The pastor had convinced Donny that it was a terrible sin, that our love for eachother was something detestable and disgusting in the eyes of God.  I felt like a second class Christian.  I felt like a third class Christian."  The judge appeared on the screen.
"Mr. Calvert, solicitor for the defence."  Stanley's solicitor appeared on the screen.
"Mr. Jones was simply reading a passage from the Bible.  He is a church pastor, it is his job to teach the Bible.  The Bible Mr. Jones was reading from was an old Bible.  Some scholars consider it to be more accurate than a modern Bible, from which many verses have been removed."  The judge appeared on the screen again.
"Which verses from the Bible have been removed?" he asked.  "Is there evidence of this?"
"In Psalm 96 the original translation reads, 'For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.  For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens.  Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.'  Today's Tablet Bible reads 'For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.  The LORD made the heavens.  Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.'  Most Hindus and Buddhists could possibly be persuaded that there is a greater spirit who made the heavens but they would not be told that all of their lesser gods were idols.  Certain parts of the Bible have been removed in order to avoid causing offence to gay people and other religions."
"Solicitor for the prosecution," came the judge's voice, offscreen.  "Is this correct?  Has the Bible been altered in some way?"  Phil's solicitor appeared again.
"It has been altered.  I can see absolutely no reason why not.  The Bible was written in a primitive time and contains dangerous beliefs."  The judge appeared on the screen and looked directly at Stanley.
"Mr. Jones?" he asked.
"I leave with you with the words of Martin Luther," said Stanley, beaming.  "Here I stand, I can do no other."
"That's your final word on the subject?"
"Yes it is."
"Well Mr. Jones, I accept that your words were not particularly violent or threatening.  I accept that you spoke from a genuinely held belief.  I will reduce the sentence for those reasons.  You will go to prison for three and a half years.  With the time you have served already, you will serve a further 9 months."