Free I, Judas the 5th Gospel by Bob Mayer Page A

table. “You are the Great Betrayer. You cannot be trusted.”
    “Jesus trusted me,” Judas said.
    Once more Angelique put a hand on DiSalvo, this time on his shoulder. “At least let us hear what he has to say, Father. He could have killed us when we stumbled out of the jungle. There must be a reason for this.” She turned to Judas. “Why can’t you tell us what it is?”
    “I can’t tell you what it is,” Judas said, “because doing so would remove your free will. Jesus was very big on free will, you know. It’s an interesting paradox. You have some information but not all. So you must make a decision based not only on what you know, which is incomplete, but what you believe. But isn’t what you believe based on what you know?” Judas didn’t wait for an answer.
    “After all, isn’t that the reason behind the Great Commission?” Judas asked, with a pointed glance at DiSalvo. “If someone who has never heard the word of God, like these people,” he added, indicating the natives who were gathered around“—hear it, then they have the choice whether to believe or not, correct?”
    Angelique nodded. “Yes. It’s our mission to make sure everyone has the chance to be saved before the Rapture.”
    “Ah!” Judas held up a finger. “Let’s be honest, here. When you say ‘our,’ you mean the Brotherhood. But the three of you, your specific task was to come here and kill me, which, pardon my skewed point of view, seems rather un-Christian.”
    “You are an obstacle to the Rapture,” DiSalvo said.
    “In what way?” Judas asked. He looked around. “What can I possibly do from my jungle home that will affect the will of your God?”
    “You—” DiSalvo began, but Judas stopped him.
    “We must begin at the beginning,” he said. He stared at the three of them. “Your faith is in God, but what you know of God is through the Bible, is it not?”
    Angelique nodded. Gates did nothing.
    “The Bible is the word of God,” DiSalvo said.
    “Do you believe the Bible is the actual word of God? Verbatim?”
    “It is.” DiSalvo was firm in his answer.
    “Unfortunately, it is not,” Judas said. “So let us start there. With some facts. Because we must exchange more information before we make our decisions.”
    Gates spoke up. “What decision do you have to make?”
    “You shall see,” Judas said. He stared hard at Gates. “And you haven’t told me what decision it is you have to make, Captain. Which master you will serve?.”
    “What do you mean by that?” DiSalvo demanded.
    Instead of replying to the question, Judas pointed at the battered metal case on the bench next to the man, attached to his right wrist by a metal handcuff. “And what decision do you have to make, priest?”
    DiSalvo didn’t answer, but the muscle on the side of his jaw flickered.
    “Perhaps your mission was not to kill me, but to use me?” Judas asked.
    DiSalvo remained silent.
    “But why talk about the Bible?” Angelique asked, deflecting the confrontation. “You say you are Judas, which means you met Jesus. So you know—”
    Once more Judas cut her off. “But you don’t trust me. You do trust the Bible, and you especially trust the good father here. So let’s talk about your trust. I could speak of all I know and you would choose to believe what you want and disregard anything I say that conflicts with what you already believe. And bear with me please; I am not challenging your faith. I am talking about a book about your God and your faith. Have you ever looked at the Bible like that? As a book? A story?”
    Judas did not wait for, nor did he expect, an answer, as he already knew what it was. Of course they had not considered the Bible to be anything other than the direct word of God.
    “The Bible is very uneven in terms of narrative structure,” Judas said. “The Old Testament, which I did not have personal experience with, but have been told about, is quite interesting in that manner. It starts out like a