James Patterson’s Journal—The Story of The Congregation of Andria Church During The Dark Time (Patterson’s Tale #12)
(NOTE: Click HERE to read the previous CIVILIZATION’S INTERREGNUM columns.)
JAMES PATTERSON IS RESCUED AND NURSED BACK TO HEALTH BY FELLOW JESUS FOLLOWERS. HE BEGINS TO WRITE HIS JOURNAL AND PLAN FOR THE FUTURE OF THE SURVIVORS OF ANDRIA CHURCH.
“When I awoke it was daylight, and I found myself in the small cottage that belonged to Han and Mila Tempal, two of our Jesus Sect members. Their cottage was far into the forest and away from the normal foot traffic, but they had been searching for any fellow Jesus Sect members who had managed to escape the carnage, admitting to me that they had been too afraid to come to the church service the previous night. They had been doing what they could to tend to my wounds. Fortunately, Mila was one of those who helped birth the babies of our women, and she had a fair amount of medical skills and some basic medicines for treating wounds. She already had my shoulder and leg bandaged, but told me she didn’t have the skill to do much for the stab wound in my back, which fortunately had not punctured my lung. She had managed to stop the bleeding and had put what medicine she had into the wound, and was bandaging it just as I regained consciousness. I thanked her for her help, then told them about the carnage I had witnessed. They already knew all about it, however, and the three of us wept for my family that had been killed, and also for all of our friends whom we would never see again in this life.
“They tended to my wounds for the next two weeks, and I gradually got stronger. The stab wound became a little infected, but soon it also began to heal, and I was able to walk for longer periods. The military brutes had taken total control of Andria village, and the only people left alive, the Tempals told me, were about 200 pagans and a scattering of the others, who had sworn allegiance to the government of Democrata. They told me that as far as they knew there were no members of the Jesus Sect left in the village, they all having been killed or having fled to save their lives.
“While I was recovering from my physical wounds (I’ll never recover from my mental wounds, I’m afraid), I mentioned to the Tempals that I wanted to write the history of my time in Andria village. They both thought that was a good idea. Han went to one of his many storage boxes along a wall of one of the three rooms in their cottage and brought me a writing journal that had never been used. He told me that his mother had given it to them as a gift many years before. It was still in perfect condition, and I thanked them for their generosity.
THE ENFORCERS FIND AND KILL THE TEMPALS AND BURN THEIR HOME. JAMES PATTERSON FINDS A SMALL GROUP OF JESUS FOLLOWERS HIDING IN A CAVE ABOVE THE TOMAK RIVER.
“I actually began to write this history there in their small house deep in the forest outside of Andria. About a month after the terrible night when most of the Jesus Sect followers had been killed in our Old Church, I took my journal and pen stick and told them I was going to a place I knew that overlooked the river, at the edge of the forest, so I could think and write. I spent most of that day at that beautiful place, then started to return to the Tempal’s cottage. I smelled the smoke and heard the shooting even before I was half way there. By the time I got close I could see flames consuming the entire structure. I saw the last of a squad of uniformed Democratan troopers laughing as they disappeared into the forest. The trees near the burning home were all shredded by large caliber bullets, and I could see that the entire front of the cottage that had not yet burned was full of bullet holes. I carefully searched all around the burning home, hoping to find the Tempals hiding in the forest, but all I found was their faithful old dog, Jake, dead of an apparent bullet wound. I knew then that my friends were dead and had been burned to ashes along with their house. I carried Jake back to the still burning pile, kissed his faithful old muzzle, and put him in the fire, so his ashes would mingle with those he loved, and who loved him dearly.
“I carefully made my way down to the river’s edge and began to walk south, hoping that I would avoid military or Enforcer patrols by staying close to the Tomak river. I had only the clothes I had on, and no food, and darkness was coming upon me. I put my journal into my shirt and refastened it. As I tried to avoid stumbling over roots in the gloom, I had to leave the river’s edge and climb up a short way into the trees. I just barely noticed that there was what appeared to be a trail beaten down through the brush, so I began to follow it since it was leading the way I wanted to go. Just as it was about to get so dark I could not see (there was no moon that night), I noticed in the heavy brush what appeared to be an opening into a cave. I rejoiced that at least I’d have a safe place to sleep for the night, and began to walk toward it.
“I hadn’t taken more than a few steps when I heard the unmistakable sound of a rifle’s bolt being cocked. Someone told me to stand still and put my hands in the air, which I did immediately. I told them to not shoot me, and that I was a Jesus follower trying to hide from the military troopers. Two men came out of the brush and looked at me. One of them said—“I know you”. You’re James Patterson, Pastor Lee’s son-in-law, aren’t you?” I told them I was, and that I needed food and shelter, since my Jesus Sect friends, the Tempals, had been murdered by the military earlier that day. They both knew the Tempals and expressed their sadness upon hearing of the deaths of our mutual friends. They told me they were Jesus followers from a river village to the south of Andria that had been attacked two weeks before by the Democratan military, totally destroying it and most of its people.
“They led me into the cave, which was large enough inside to shelter what they told me were a total of ten men and two women, all Jesus followers. Three of them I knew as members of our Old White Church, and they hugged me when they saw who it was that had joined them. I could soon tell that they were a bit embarrassed when I recounted the events of the massacre that had occurred there, and how our Pastor Lee and our militia had put up a brave final fight. These three men told me that they had been afraid to come to the service that night, but I assured them that our LORD had preserved them for other purposes, and had healed my wounds because He still had something for me to do, even at my advanced age of 62.
“For the next five weeks all 13 of us stayed together in the cave. I wrote daily in my journal, trying to complete my history of my life and all about these sad and terrible events. We tied leaf covered branches together to make a small private space for the two women, whose husbands had been killed in the attack on Andria. Two of the men were good hunters who provided us with enough wild animals and turkeys to keep us alive. One was a skilled fisherman who was able to catch many fish late in the evening or early in the morning when no enemies were likely to be around. We had a small water spring seeping from rocks inside our cave, so we had food and water to keep all of us alive. We had no Bible, but as soon as I told them that Pastor Lee and the members of our church had elected me as their Elder, I became the instant leader of this small band of Jesus followers, for I had memorized many portions of God’s New Testament.
PATTERSON FINISHES HIS JOURNAL AND BURIES IT UNDER ANDRIA CHURCH. HE PREPARES THE REMAINING JESUS FOLLOWERS TO LEAVE ANDRIA AND CARRY THE GOSPEL OF JESUS THE MESSIAH FAR AND WIDE.
“By the time I finished this history I had decided on our action plan, and had discussed it with the others. We prayed long and earnestly over this plan, because it meant we would have to separate, probably never seeing each other again in this life. But we all agreed that it was what our LORD and Savior would have us do. Just like our LORD’S first disciples in the ancient time, we resolved to travel away from Andria and go where God would lead us, telling all we met about His Gospel, encouraging them to first become Jesus followers, and then become patriots and resist the evil men who had enslaved and brutalized us. We knew our Savior would want us to first change the people we met, showing them how to become followers of the One who loved us and gave Himself for us so long ago. Then we would try to convince them to change their society and their country so that liberty would flourish as it once must have on this continent centuries before.
“I told my fellow Jesus Sect members that we would go in teams of two, except for me—I will travel alone. But all of us will have our LORD and Savior with us as we seek to do His Will for as long as we can, for He told us in His Word that where two or more are gathered together in His Holy name, then He is there with them. If anyone does read this history in the future, I trust you will not consider us to be foolish in our determination to go among our fellows who lived in great fear and who were enslaved by an evil oligarchy of powerful men who have greatly decimated God’s people and who, in the end, probably will kill us as well. But as long as there are a few here and there who name the Name above all others, we will continue to spread our Savior’s Gospel—His good news of love, redemption, salvation, and eternal life, with all who will listen, just as did our Savior’s original group of disciples back in the ancient time.
“So that history will know our names, here are the precious ones that God directed me to in that cave on a dark night. Our prayer is that some day the darkness of evil, as personified by that cave, will give way to the beauty of light, as liberty is once again reborn in this land. My companions, all in their 20’s to 40’s are:
*Peter Simmons, our fisherman, traveling with Andrew Simmons, his brother, and a good hunter;
*John Thorson, a carpenter, traveling with Fillup Bethson, a farmer;
*Bart Nathan, a farmer and hunter, travelling with Mathew Levy, a metal worker;
*Tommas Dachmas, a farmer, traveling with Jaymes Alfeus, a teacher of music and a wonderful singer and story teller;
*Simon Cannon, a builder of fishing boats, traveling with Ted Judeson, a former pagan and keeper of animals.
“And lastly, me—James Patterson, Elder of the Old White Church in Andria village, who will be traveling only with his memories. The two brave women who have done so much to keep up our spirits over these past weeks have concluded that they are too frail to travel far, and have decided to not go to other areas. Mary Bethson and Martha Whatley will accompany me as far as the small river village called Kaynah, where they have friends and relatives who hopefully are still alive and who can shelter them. We were informed that Kaynah has mostly been spared by the military purges, so they told us that they would try to have a place of refuge there for us if we ever needed to return to this area.
“Tomorrow long before dawn I will return to my home in Andria, accompanied by Andrew and others for protection. I was told a few days ago that my house still stood, although it has been pillaged by several bands of Enforcers. Under my house I have stored various items, one of which is an old metal box given to me many years before by Rachard Lee, in which I plan to seal this journal and then bury it as soon as I can safely do so under our Old White Church. Several of the men will assist me in digging a hole deep enough to hide this history, and cover it with dirt and stones, for my wounds have left me too weak to do this alone.
WHY DID JAMES PATTERSON WRITE HIS JOURNAL?
“I have written this history of my life in Andria so that you of the future will know that I and my brothers and sisters in the LORD once lived—we lived lives of desperation and great fear, at times, but we did love each other—we raised our children—we opposed evil as best we could--we supported our friends—we loved and served our LORD and Savior, perhaps not with all of our hearts, or all of our minds, or all of our strengths, but most of us tried to serve Him the best way we knew how under very difficult conditions. And He put a dream into our minds, I believe. He gave us—He gave me—a dream of a future where the tyranny that some men exercise over the minds and bodies of their fellow men no longer exists—a future where people truly love and support each other in peace, rather than succumbing to the desire to persecute and enslave and control others. That desire has been an evil impulse that seems to have existed since men first disobeyed God in His beautiful Garden—an evil impulse that still exists in all of us, I’m saddened to admit, for I and my family and most of the Jesus followers that I have known have suffered greatly because of it.
“Perhaps on this earth this dream I have will never become reality until our Savior returns to establish His earthly kingdom. But I would like to believe that someday, somewhere, it will. I’ll not live to see it come about, but hopefully you of the future will. That is my dream, and my prayer, for you, which, except for these words in my journal, is all I have to leave you after living for 62 years. In two or three days all of us will set forth on our journey, trusting in our Heavenly Father to guide and protect us. Only you of the future will know if our efforts were blessed by Him, or were thwarted by the evil one.
“Remember me—a pilgrim from your distant past who tried to serve his Jesus God in a time when that was forbidden. Someday, in Heaven, we’ll all meet and we can rejoice as we walk the streets of gold with our Savior. Perhaps we’ll not even recall these terrible times when we tried to survive in our humble little village that, despite its imperfections, I really loved.
“Until that blessed time, peace be with you, and may Glory and Honor be with our wonderful Savior, forever!”
JAMES PATTERSON
Elder of The Old White Church of Andria
Country of Democrata
11th day of Summerlate, A.D. 2410
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NEXT TIME: With our final lecture by that 32nd century “history professor”, we’ll conclude the tale of “Civilization’s Interregnum” with Part 21: The Triumph of Freedom!
