Two days later, as Jackson was working on homework, he put his pencil down and looked at the clock. It was nearly midnight on Saturday. He had been working all day and still had quite a bit to go. Jackson decided to go for a walk and take a mental break. Jackson got up quietly, so as not to wake the family, opened the door, and left.
Jackson decided to take this walk as an opportunity to familiarize himself with the neighborhood. There were about 8 houses on either side of the street Jackson was on, then an intersection. On the shorter sides of the block were 2 houses. As Jackson walked, he realized that each block in the neighborhood had the same organization. Each house looked like the one before it, except painted differently.
Suddenly, Jackson noticed something strange. A man darted across the street and hid in the shadows of a nearby house. Jackson was curious, so he followed the man. As he crossed the street, he noticed that the man had dropped a slip of paper. He saw a perfect grid of rectangles. Within the borders of each rectangle were lots of tiny squares. It didn’t take long for Jackson to realize that it was a map of the neighborhood. As Jackson looked at it, he saw three X’s on three of the nearby houses. The X’s formed a triangle. They were in the opposite direction of where the man had been running. Had the man left something at those houses? Jackson didn’t know whether to follow the man or to investigate the houses.
“Well,” Jackson reasoned to himself, “I can find those houses later, but I might not be able to find that man.”
As Jackson rounded the corner where the man had been, he though he caught a glimpse of him just before turning a corner several blocks away. Jackson decided to follow him anyway. When he got to the corner where the man had been, he noticed a glimpse of light escaping the windows of one of the houses that had its curtains drawn. Jackson approached the window with caution and looked inside.
He saw about a dozen people all seated in a circle. One man was speaking, and he had a large book in front of him. They were all listening attentively, and Jackson noticed that they also had books with them. They all turned the books’ pages at the same time, which gave Jackson the impression that they were all reading from the same book. The window was closed, but Jackson managed to make out a few words of their conversation.
“Find…Ichthys…new…Rallison…Evans…Howard”
As Jackson heard the names mentioned, he looked back at the window. Sure enough, Mr. Rallison, Mr. Evans, and Mr. and Mrs. Long were all among those in the meeting.
Jackson was perplexed. What could these people have in common? Why were they having a secret book study in the middle of the night? How had the Longs gotten to the meeting without Jackson noticing? Jackson was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice that the noise inside had ceased and almost everyone seated inside was staring back at Jackson. Everyone, that is, except for Mr. Evans, who had left the building, rounded the corner, and grabbed Jackson.
“What should we do with him?” asked Mr. Long.
“We have no choice, he has seen too much now. He might report us. We must try to convert him,” responded a woman Jackson didn’t know.
“No! There is no way he would ever be converted. The government has indoctrinated him too much already,” said Mr. Evans.
As the group continued to discuss what to do with Jackson as if he wasn’t there, he took in his surroundings.
He was sitting in the same room he had seen through the window. It was a small living room with a low ceiling. There were green couches on either side of the room, and a loveseat between the two couches on the far side of the room. He also noticed that everyone had left their books out. He saw that they all had different book covers, but they seemed identical in size and content. Suddenly, he realized that they were Bibles. This was an underground church! Jackson wanted to leave and report them as soon as possible. Then he considered the fact the Mr. and Mrs. Long were here. They would be imprisoned, or worse, if he reported them. Jackson decided to wait and hope they let him go free.
Jackson now had an opportunity to better observe the man he had seen speaking when he first approached the window. He seemed to be the leader of the group. He was an older man, most likely older than Mr. Rallison. He looked physically strong despite his age, like someone who worked as a manual laborer their whole life. He had dark brown hair and eyes that seemed like they were ready to cry. Overall, he had the appearance of someone who was tired from life, ready to give up at a moment’s notice.
“Are we all decided then?” asked the leader. His voice was as tired as his appearance.
“I believe so, Philip,” responded Mr. Rallison.
“Jackson,” Mr. Evans began, “we have decided to give you a choice. You may leave tonight and pretend that you never saw a thing, or you may join us.”
“I don’t think this is for me” Jackson said, trying to restrain the urge to yell at them for being such a hateful cult.
“At least let us share our message with you before you go,” began the leader, Philip. Before Jackson could respond, Philip continued, “You see us as a group of haters adhering to an outdated moral system that worships something that doesn’t exist, correct?”
“More or less,” responded Jackson flatly.
“You have been fed lies about us by the society around you. We don’t hate non-Christians. We love them. We love them so much that we are willing to tell people that they are living in sin and need a Savior.” Here, Philip’s appearance changed. There was a light in his eyes, and he spoke with passion. “People think we are hateful for telling people that they have disobeyed the rules clearly set forth by God. They think we are legalistic and foolish because we follow a set of rules, but we follow those rules because we have been set free from our sin. We follow them because we know that God set those rules in place for a reason.”
“Let me guess,” Jackson interrupted, “I need Jesus, or I’ll go to hell because I’m a bad person.”
“What you said was true, but it is only a part of our message,” responded Mr. Philip.
“You were right that you deserve to go to hell because of your sins. We all do. And you were right in saying that Jesus is the solution to the problem. However, Jesus does so much more. He didn’t just pay for sins on the cross, He gave His righteousness. Now God sees those who accept His Son as completely redeemed. And not only do you not go to hell, now you get to go to heaven and enjoy fellowship with God. He gives meaning and purpose to our lives.”
There were several seconds of silence that followed. Jackson had never heard the message of Christianity presented that way, and he was interested in their offer to help him find meaning, but he still didn’t trust Christians. However, he was curious, not just about Christianity, but about the meeting in general. Jackson broke the silence.
“What did the map I found have to do with this meeting,” Jackson said pulling out the map he had found.
“I’m afraid we can’t tell you Jackson. You might report us,” responded Mrs. Long.
“Does Sophia know you guys are Christians?” Jackson asked, looking towards Mr. and Mrs. Long.
“Yes. She does not agree with our views, but she has agreed not to report us because she loves us,” Mr. Long said.
“Well Jackson, which do you decide, join us, or leave and pretend you never saw this?” asked Mr. Evans.
“How would you guarantee that I wouldn’t report you?” asked Jackson.
“We couldn’t, but we do have a few factors that help keep us hidden,” said a man Jackson didn’t know.
“Like what?” asked Jackson.
“We can’t tell you, Jackson,” said Mr. Evans.
“So, will you join us?” asked Philip.
“I need a chance to think about it,” said Jackson.
“Very well. Contact Mr. Evans when you have made your decision. He will give you instructions to help you find us again, should you so desire.” said Philip.
“Why not the Longs? I’m living with them right now anyway.”
“Because it is hard enough for both of them to get here without being noticed as is, let alone with an extra person.”
After this, Mr. Evans escorted Jackson out the door, and left him by himself as he re-entered to continue the meeting. Jackson walked home with a lot on his mind.
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