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"The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind."

 The 21st century changed mankind. We were all plugged into the internet one way or another. Some had implants, which could be put into the skin painlessly and would hold all your information. You could wave your hand over a scanner and pay for items and be paid through the internet. You would never have to touch a cent of money to have wealth, and could conduct business without having to move an inch. You could contact anyone in the world at any time for free, look up any bit of information in the world, and could never get lost. Missing persons cases became a rarity in that day, but I stuck with simply having a micro-computer, what they called a MiCo - the latest incarnation of the smart phone. After my ship capsized, I couldn't afford to lose all my information again. I was addicted to it. I couldn't fathom ever being off the grid again and feeling so alone. It was like humanity was one big family, and our minds were becoming one collective mind. If something happened, I would know about it through my feed.

That's how I knew he was coming. I was messaged and told "Jesus is coming." and I messaged back "They've been saying that for thousands of years." but my contact explained to me that there was a traveling drifter, a homeless man nicknamed "Jesus" because of his long hair and beard, and also because he walked in sandals and spoke about God. His actual name was Elan Smith, but no one knew who he was because he lived his whole life without using technology. No one knew his birthday, if he had a social security number, if he had a birth certificate, or if Elan Smith was his real name. He was an enigma, they told me, who spoke in riddles, but was not crazy or under the influence of drugs or alcohol. I was intrigued and went to dock my ship at the harbor, but he was already there on the shore, and quite a large number of people had surrounded him to listen to him. He was speaking but I couldn't quite make out what he was saying.

I asked some of the people "Who is this guy?" and they said they didn't know, but found him oddly fascinating and joked that he was Jesus. My curiosity was piqued and I needed to know more.

For some reason, I never revoked my belief in God. I always believed he existed, but just didn't care about me that much. Now, here he was, sending Jesus my way, after all these years. But no, I reasoned, the real Jesus would return from Heaven ready for war, and would slay the Beast of the Sea, and destroy all the demonic power that had taken over the world. This man had no such army of angels to aid him in conquering the world, although, I would say that the world at this point was a terrible place. Then again, was it ever truly good? I wondered this, and then I realized that Elan was waving me to come over to him. I snapped out of my pondering, and pushed my way through the crowd to Elan, who evidently was standing on a large tractor tire. How the tractor tire got there at the docks is truly a mystery to me, even to this day. I extended my hand to shake his hand, but he smiled, and reached around me to hug me instead. I pulled away and said "My name is Stan." awkwardly. He said "Stan is short for...?"

"Constantine." I replied.

"Come follow me." He said, as if he were picking the first of his disciples.

It's incredible how fast the human mind can think, and this was one of those rare examples of just fast my thoughts concluded that I should probably go with him. I don't know why I chose to do it. Maybe I was just bored with my life, or maybe I wanted to go on an adventure. Maybe a part of me believed he was actually the real Jesus, and that I would see him save the world. I had severe doubts about my ability to join him, because I was a former gang member, prisoner, and not very good with being social with people in person. Then I also began to realize that I was probably joining a cult, and there could very well be some ritual suicide at the end of this road. It didn't matter; I decided if his ambitions got too out-of-hand, that I would quickly make a run for it. But I decided to go with him, and see what he was all about, if anything, or if he was just a raving lunatic. There are always people claiming to be the second coming of Christ, and I sadly accepted that this was probably the case with him. It didn't matter, though.

He dismissed the crowd. "Go home everyone. It's getting late, and it will be getting cold, and many of you have work tomorrow." He said. A few people left, but most of them just stuck around, so he just walked through them and started walking. He looked to me and said "Walk with me." so I walked alongside him, and we were being followed by what had to be at least a few hundred people.

"Constantine." He said, "Tell me, where are you going?"

"Hell if I know. Following you. You told me to walk with you." I replied, a bit confused.

"If you are going to walk with me, you need to trust me wholeheartedly."

"I just met you though, how can I trust you?"

"Man has betrayed your trust, but Our Father will never betray your trust. If I serve Him, and do His will, your trust will never be broken."

"You mean God? He's already broken my trust."

"Then who is on your side? How are you still alive? Did God save your life from death so you could be fed to the bears in the woods? I'll you the truth, the rain falls on the righteous and the wicked, and the flesh is torn to shreds, it bleeds, it dies. But whoever is righteous and has faith will never taste death."

"I wish I could believe that, but people die. I've lost..." my tears began welling up in my eyes. I didn't want to cry.

"Tell me. I'm listening."

"My mother died when I was 15, and my best friend died three months ago."

"What was his name?"

"His name was Andy. He worked on my ship. We ran into a storm that just came up out of nowhere and he ended up drowning. He left nothing behind except his truck, and his brother took it. The sad part is, that bastard didn't even talk to Andy, not for years, and then comes out of nowhere to take the truck. I could've used that truck, because I had to sell mine, and my house as well. All I have is a boat. That's all I have left."

"Show me where Andy's brother lives."

"What? What the hell are you gonna do?"

"You said you couldn't trust me, and now I'm giving you an opportunity to trust me. Have a little faith. Do you not even want to see what sorts of things My Father can do? If you don't trust me, trust God."

I sighed and reluctantly agreed, so I led Elan to that asshole brother's house. Elan went to the door alone while it was dark outside and knocked. The door opened, and he had a long conversation with the person at the door. I kept thinking something horrible was going to happen, but to my relief, Elan stepped away from the door and it shut behind him. He walked back to me and said "Come with me." and I was just wondering now where are we going? And he walked around the house to the garage and opened the door, and there was Andy's white pick-up truck, just sitting there with a tarp over it, unused and untouched. To my complete shock, Elan handed me the keys to the truck. "Where did you get these?" I asked, concerned. I thought maybe he threatened the guy or something, but Elan said "I asked him to sell me the truck and he agreed. I want you to drive it for me." and he placed the keys in my hands.

"What did you pay him?" I asked, still feeling very uneasy about this whole thing.

"I had some money in my pocket, and I gave it to him." Elan replied nonchalantly.

"How much money did you have in your pocket?"

"Ten thousand dollars."

"What the fuck? Where did you get ten thousand dollars? I thought you were homeless."

"As surely as the Lord fed Elijah breadcrumbs collected by the crows, he feeds us. A rich man came up to me and gave me the money, because he heard that I had been doing the Lord's work, and I kept it until now. Now I am truly penniless on Earth, but in My Father's kingdom, my bank account will never run out."

"Wow."

I finally broke down into tears. I couldn't believe that I had Andy's truck back and that this stranger had just given all his money without a second thought to make it happen. We got into the truck together and drove off into the night. Smiling to myself, I said "I guess I can trust you now. Where to, boss?"

"We're going to go into the darkest depths of the human heart, to the landfills, to the morgues where the dead bodies are burned, to the nest of the snakes, and to the edge of the abyss."

"Sounds fun. Where can we find all this shit?"

"Anywhere and everywhere. The Lord's work is never done, it is a masterpiece that can never be completed by the hand of man, but with God, all things are rendered possible."