Bishop Ellis stood in front of the edifice of Upward Ministries as he admired the view. The building was a true beauty, one which he knew about firsthand. Soon, it would be his.

As he stood there, speaking in tongues and pouring oil on the ground, his two sons came and stood on either side of him, speaking in tongues as well. They stood and spoke in tongues for a few more minutes until the bishop said amen. “Upward Ministries. Soon to be a Temple of Believers church. May the Lord make it so.”

Finn responded, “It will be done soon, Bishop,” and Hans added, “It’s just a matter of time, Dad.”

As the three stood there, taking in the architectural features of the building, Finn and Hans were distracted enough not to notice their father’s hands rising up behind them, and so were shocked into the ground when those hands smacked the backs of their heads simultaneously.

“You better not mess it up with your misdeeds, you fools! I have received many reports of your indiscretions and illicit dealings in this and many other projects, and even in your regular day-to-day affairs. I am a hard negotiator and I passed that on to you both, but I never engaged in immoral behavior to get things done!

“Was I aggressive sometimes? Yes. Did I apply pressure when I needed to? Yes. But did I go sleeping with married women and widows to get things done? Never! I taught you the ways of God more than I taught you the ways of business. Have some sense and repent before God strikes you both! My mantle and my office may be a covering and a shield to protect you from the enemy, but it doesn’t protect you from God! Now get up and get this thing done in a morally sound fashion!”

Hans got up first and asked his father, “Who is reporting us to you? Why did they fail to confront us? We would gladly have explained what was going on to them. There’s nothing immoral going on-”

The slap that greeted him removed the rest of the lies that had formed in his brain. “You want to lie to me, son? On sacred ground like this, you want to lie to me? Be careful, son. I am still a man of God, and a Bishop at that. Don’t make me have to remind you of Ananias and Sapphira. I am an old man and I am gradually losing my senses as the days go by. At least give me the honor of being able to leave this church in the hands of sons I can be proud of who will treat her well.”

With that, the bishop walked towards his car and was driven away shortly after.

Finn stood by his brother. “I think Marcus said something to him. He was never supposed to be in that room, but then bishop sent him there in his place. What does he know about business? He’s a prayer warrior! I’ll deal with him.”

As Finn turned to leave, Hans grabbed him by the hand. “Finn, don’t touch that boy. Even if you find out that he did say something to dad, leave him alone.”

Finn saw the look of fear on his brother’s face and was filled with surprise. “Hans, don’t tell me you’re afraid of the scrawny kid that is Marcus Sam.”

“He may be scrawny, but there’s something about him. I’ve known it since we were children and he was serving us while we pastored the youth church. You don’t touch that boy and survive unscathed. Leave him alone.”

Finn became even more surprised, which turned into something of a challenge. “Hans, you know that this bible we preach is nonsense. Church is all about business. All the prophets who make moff moff about public figures dying, what money do they have? Look, Marcus Sam is a small boy who needs to be put in his place. Don’t worry, I won’t use violence. I have just the thing for him.”

Hans let go of Finn and warned one more time, “Be careful, brother. Make sure you do not put yourself in God’s crosshairs over this man.”

“God’s crosshairs, bro? I would be dead by now if God actually existed. Now, let’s get out of here.”

*****

Marcus was in the middle of his afternoon prayer at home when he got a flash of a vision, but this time was different from every other time. Usually, he’d get a flash and wouldn’t see everything in the vision, but he’d know what was there, as though it were programmed into his memory.

This time, the flash came, but then it came again in slow motion, like an instant replay: Bishop Ellis standing on a large parcel of land with corn seeds in his hand, then bishop spreading the seeds out on the land from where he stood. But then, he looked in his hand and saw one more seed, so he carefully dug a hole where he stood, dropped the seed into it and covered it up. All of a sudden, green lines started to form but they weren’t visible to the naked eye; it was like Marcus had x-ray vision. The lines formed between all the seeds and became one giant network of seeds, but every single one of them connected to the seed that the bishop had just sown. Then they all started to grow into buildings, and the one where bishop stood became a massive building that looked just like Upward Ministries.

The bishop jumped for joy when he saw it, but then that building exploded, and blew up all the others in the process. Right after that, a tsunami came and swept all the buildings away along with the bishop.

Marcus understood the vision but didn’t see the significance; it looked like a variation on the dream with the burning church. He picked up his phone and called the bishop, who didn’t pick up. Then he grabbed his keys and was about to leave for church when someone knocked at his door.

At the same time he heard the knock, he felt an anger rising up inside of him. He was not a man prone to anger, but the level of anger he felt was worse than any amount of irritation he’d felt in his life at any time.

He opened the door and found Finn’s secretary, Salma, staring at him. He started to say hello, but then he noticed that she was wearing shorts that should not be allowed in public, and a zip-up jacket which was zipped only up to her stomach with no evidence of clothing beneath it. He immediately understood the anger and slammed the door in her face.

When she started banging at the door and screaming for help, he knew that he had very little time. He picked up his backpack from the chair and went out through the back, but not before hearing Salma crying to the neighbors that he had invited her over for sex and had refused to pay her.

He quickly went out through the backdoor, jumped the wall into his neighbor’s yard, and then snuck his way through their backyard until he got to their back gate, which he jumped, and immediately began running.

*****

Christie entered her house, threw her bag somewhere without looking and slumped into the couch, looking awfully distraught. She put her phone down and looked at both her palms, as though she was surprised they were still there and still intact. She looked up, as though she was talking to God, and then lamented, “Why do men choose not to understand the bigger picture? We all will make so much money with this deal, and no one would be the wiser. Why do people hate progress like that? Ugh. Now look what I’ve had to do.”

Then she picked up her phone and waited expectantly for it to ring. A minute later, she got a text: “Elder Jordan Stevens has passed on.” She shook her head as a small bit of remorse formed in her heart, and said “Rest in peace, Jordan.”

Then she forwarded the message to Hans Ellis, who immediately responded with a green light emoji and a thumbs up emoji.

She sent one more message to Finn which said, “It’s done. I need company.”

Less than an hour later, Christie lay nestled in Finn’s arms in her couch. When he came in, he’d seen her demeanor and knew that it would be better just to be there for her than try to engage her in any way. So he put on some smooth jazz music and sat with her. He saw her blink away tears multiple times, but he chose not to mention it or say anything at all.

He was close to falling asleep when he felt her pulling his arm closer to her and rubbing up on his forearm. Then she said, “All this time we’ve had our arrangement, I never would’ve imagined you could actually be sweet. I thought you would walk in here and be pissed because I wasn’t looking for sex. But you’ve surprised me today. You’ve held me all this time and haven’t even tried to make a move or force me to speak or do anything. I’m grateful for this, Finn. I really am.”

Finn looked at her and said, “I have my moments. Also, speeding up the timeline for a man’s death isn’t exactly easy. I still think there were other ways to fix this, but-“

“Trust me, this was the best way. Jordan was always a paranoid man, but I kept him on because he was a sick man who I was sure would never make any board meetings. He always thought I was a witch and even went as far as organizing secret prayer meetings whose goal was to get God to make my late husband divorce me. If we had tried other ways, he would’ve pushed back without any evidence just because of his personal distaste for me.”

“You knew him better, so I’ll take your word for it. Let me know if you need anything. I’m treating you today.”

“The only thing I need from you is a guarantee of the five million dollars for me and the two mil each for the rest of the board.”

“You have my guarantee. Hans approved eight for you and three for the rest. Call it a raise based on commitment to the cause.”

“Good, then I’ll be alright. It’s not my first rodeo.”

“You’ve done this before?”

“Let’s just say I had a life before the Lord found me, or before Reverend Jim Simmons found me, whichever makes sense to you. And that past is one that very few know about.”

“Remind me not to get caught in your crosshairs.”

Christie smiled and looked up at him as they lay there, listening to the music.

It’s like these dudes and Christie set the bar lower with each episode. What the heck! Yeah, God’s business is being treated like a mafia thingy. Those warnings Marcus gets from God definitely aren’t jokes…