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Great Buzzard Eli James IV · (08-05-2014)

She was confused. She had no idea what arrow was being shot her way, but I had a window to reveal it.

Our conversation continued until the place was beginning to close. She was open to everything I had to say and I was willing to answer everything she asked. Her eyes told the story of her entire life and I heard every word. I felt every inch of pain she felt and heard every whimper she made in a dark corner by herself. She was able to fool so many.

She became an open book to me. And why me? Because I knew all too well what the human heart was like. It is a sick organ, and no amount of physical treatment will cure it. Only the words and actions by the Creator will mend it's brokenness.

She became the first follower that I had led to the Almighty. She struggled with her lifestyle, but I stood by her every step of the way. She was my disciple. She was my prize. I was her protector and I was her mercy.

I was also her judgment.

There comes a time when you show mercy so much, that it becomes time to turn your eye to their pain. She would cry out for me to rescue her, but I could no longer hear the tears in her soul. It wasn't because I couldn't hear, but because I chose not to. She would learn a valuable lesson in love that she would never forget.

She went to a darker time when I left her.

Sometime In The Past

It was finally my moment to confess to everyone who I was. The platform was magical. I was asked to preach on a Sunday morning in front of the town. I gladly accepted because it was time for the world to know who Eli James wasn't and who he was.

I remember every detail.

The purple dress the young blonde had worn who sat on the second row. Her child, Ryan, sat by her picking at the wooden pew. She would lightly slap the top of his hand so he would stop, then she looked my eye.

Jason, who had been blind for six years, sat listening to the songs that soothed his pain and let him see with imagination.

Then there was the front row. My family. My proud daddy ready to hear his song preach his first sermon. I could only imagine what he was thinking before I uttered a word. They tell me people would hate the name "Eli James" for years to come after my message.

"Great singin'! Folks, we have a special speaker for ya this mornin'. Ya'll know 'em well, and he's a great man-of-Gawd. Let's welcome Eli James the fourth."

The clapping was a symphony to my ears. I stood up and looked around to see all the fake smiles people gave. They didn't give two shits about who was speaking as long as it wasn't long-winded. This was their day to rest, and they didn't want to spend it hearing some guy talk for hours. They put up with it every week just because it was the thing to do.

I was about to open their eyes for the first time in their life. It was magical. It was a perfectly thought out and orchestrated plan. It was meant to be.

"Heh. I see ya all. Even with my eyes closed I can see ya. Watching... waiting... to see what I'm gonna say.. or what I'm gonna do. You're gonna hear every word I say. Some of you are gonna despise it.. despise me.. and want me to just die. I'm not here to tickle your ears and make you have a good old fashion time. I'm going to make you remember my name.. you're going to remember this message for a long.. long time. Are you ready for truth?"

I kept my eyes closed because I wanted to let my speech soak in through words and not my eyes. They didn't want to see my eyes because they would've told a much darker story. I stood there for a few moments to let it sink into their ears and plant seeds in their minds.

Money talks. Power talks.

I had people who were willing to work alongside me waiting outside at the doors of the church so no one could leave until I was finished. They were going to be force fed truth, and afterwards, could all rot for all I care.

"Don't try to leave. If ya do, my men waiting on ya outside will shoot you. Hehehe."

The audience had no idea if Eli was joking or telling the truth. They followed his laugh with one of their own, but it was more an uncomfortable laugh because they had no idea what was going on. They weren't planning on going anywhere. This was Sunday. Church time.

"Is the sky blue, or black? Depends how you were raised. If you lived in a village away from the rest of the world and were taught the sky was black, then it would always be black.

You people have fallen into that trap. You cling to your religious ways because it's how you were raised. You are afraid to live with a free mind and an open heart. You are all controlled by this monster called religion.

Jesus Christ. Muhammad. Joseph Smith. Buddha.

You accepted this because you don't know what else to do. Can we be honest with ourselves? You don't want to spend your off day here listening to some guy who doesn't know a damn thing about life, do ya?

You go out, and work with your hands. This man of God sits around and prays.

And yet he lives in a house with sparkles and you live in a house of splinters.

You pay him to speak to ya on your day off... and you sit there with fake smiles and cold hearts. You don't want to speak up because deep down you've bought into this lie of the big man upstairs is going to attack you for being bad.

It's why you people sit there and won't even stand up against me! You're afraid of the invisible reign of a man who you've never heard utter a word. And this.."

Eli points at the pastor.

"This is your mediator? He's the one that speaks to you from God's behalf? A man that's never swung an ax or tasted the blood of an enemy? Weak people follow weak leaders.

Behind my eyes is something dark. It's not the absent of light, but the absent of good. This is who your great Lord created. You placed you in the midst of a man ready to do harm if you move in his way.

Surely not your parents, Eli? Surely not your family?

Try me and see what happens. Hm.

I am no respecter of persons. Isn't that what your book says your God is? YOU FUCK WITH ME AND I WILL END YOU. It doesn't matter who you are.

I will strike vengeance on those who oppose me and my plan. Isn't that what your God says?

I will rescue those who love and follow my ways. Isn't that what your book says?

By that simple logic.. friends.. family.. in your hearing... you've been worshiping the invisible me. I am your God now... Worship Me or Die Denying Me!"

A group of men walk in the church with knives and guns. Eli stands there with his arms stretched out and a big smile on his face. He jumps off the stage and walks up to his father, Eli James III.

"Stand up."

Eli James III is a bit teary hearing what his sad had just said. He doesn't stand up. Eli James IV looks around at the shock given on peoples faces and seems to enjoy it. He looks back at his father...

"I said, STAND UP! Come on, Pops! Have a backbone."

Eli III stands up slowly and the two look at each other.

"What have you done, boy?"

"I said what everyone here has been thinkin' for years. You included. I've set you all free."

"I think no such thoughts, Eli. I am still your father. You will..."

"I will do as I please. No man can control me. Not a mayor, not a general, not a president, and sure as hell no damn man like yourself... Pop."

"Why are you doing this?"

"I've been doing this for years. You believed everything I fed you because you believe everything he feeds you. You follow the weak. Here I am, giving you a way out.. a way for ALL OF YOU.. to be out and be free. You oppose me?"

"Don't do this, son."

"Do you oppose me?"

"If the words you shared from that pulpit are what you believe, then, yes, Eli. I oppose you."

"Weak. It's good thing today is my day.. and I have chosen to show mercy."

Eli taps his father on the face and kisses his cheek. He then starts to leave the building as everyone gives a sigh. His father slowly turns to Eli to speak some words.

"Son, y-you are not welcome back in this town. You are no longer my son!"

"Heh. Have I ever been?"

It was the day I vanished from the town. My dad, from what I hear, took a lot of shit because of what I had done. I didn't care. I was ready to let the world know who I was and to show everyone what kind of preacher they had in the midst.

I left and did my own thing. I made lots of money. I had lots of women. I was living a dream most would kill for. I was king and no one was going to stop me.

Then I heard words that I will remember forever...

"Eli, your dad is sick and is dying. He's asking for you."

My two sisters found me to tell me that. I didn't really care to see him and really didn't care if he died. We hadn't talked in quite some time and it was established I wasn't his son, and he wasn't my dad.

I went. If he asked for me, then I figure I'd go.. and it was that week I was changed. It was no longer about money, drugs, sex, and power. I learned it was about spreading the message of truth.. because truth outlasts it all and it's the one thing we cannot break.

I was able to spend a short time with him and heard many prophecies told over me that came true. When I told people off that day in the pulpit.. it was told long ago in a book my dad had. It was prophecies concerning Eli James IV. I couldn't believe my eyes that everything was coming true. It was a mini book about my life and what I was being prepped to be.

I was being molded in the truth teller that the world needed.

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