Detainee 756 was well and truly terrified.  He had been awakened out of a sound sleep by a booming crash, as his front door was kicked in.  Three men burst through the splintered opening and made straight for him, as he rose from his bed and crept down the hall to investigate.  His arms were seized and pinned painfully behind him, while a black hood was forced down over his head.  Before he could protest or ask any questions, he was hustled downstairs to the street and manhandled into a waiting van with headlamps off and engine running.  Once dumped across the floor, he felt the vehicle rapidly accelerate.  The raid was over in less than 90 seconds.

Now he sat secured to a chair in pitch darkness.  There was an odor of damp concrete, which reminded him of the smell of the basement in his boyhood home.  A door opened behind him.  A moment later, the hood was yanked off his head.  A bucket of ice water was poured over his still pajama-clad form and the door softly closed again.  Gasping and coughing, he had the sensation of being alone in a confined space.  

DT756 opened and strained his eyes but could see nothing at all.  He squeezed them tightly shut again as suddenly, all was blinding light.  “Who are you?” he shouted.  No response.  “Where am I?”  Silence.

At last, a disembodied voice addressed him in soft, unhurried tones.   “We have a few questions,” it said.  “Oh dear.  You’ve spilled your beverage…”

“Why are you doing this to me?” DT756 spluttered.  “What have I done?”

“That is what you are here to tell us” rejoined the hollow voice.  There was a pause to let this sink in.  Then, “Detainee 756, you have been denounced—”

“Denounced?  By whom?”  

“—by a loyal citizen doing her patriotic duty.”

“What’s my supposed crime?” 

“You are accused of being a Christian.”

“That’s ridiculous!  I don’t go to church.  Haven’t set foot in one for years,” countered 756.

“We know” said the voice.

“I don’t give money to Christian groups or support Christian causes…”

“True” agreed the voice.  “We’ve examined your financial records rather carefully.” 

“I don’t have any Christian friends or associates…”

“None that we could find.”

“I’m not from a Christian family.  I have no relatives who are Christians.”

“Correct” said the voice.  

Detainee 756 groped for additional arguments, but since all of his previous statements had failed to have any impact, simply stuttered and fell silent.  His interrogator did not move on until DT756 mumbled, “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“Exculpatory evidence is supposed to establish innocence.  Yours does not.  Church attendance does not make one a Christian.  If it did, we would have become Christians long ago, since we attend services regularly.  The nature of our work requires us to know who frequents such places, what is being said, and what transpires there.  Just as mere church attendance does not prove guilt, lack of such attendance is not automatically disqualifying.

“Giving money to church and charity, even lots of money, for a lifetime, does not make one a Christian.  The Christians themselves say this.  They insist that divine favor cannot be purchased.

“Friendships and associations with Christians, even close ones, do not make one a Christian, any more than befriending and socializing with pilots confers the ability to fly airplanes.  The fact that you do not have any Christian friends or belong to Christian organizations proves nothing.

“It is the same with family.  Christianity cannot be inherited from parents at birth, legally transferred by adoption or married into in adult years.  According to their literature, becoming a Christian is an individual decision, an exclusive personal contract with God.”  A hint of sarcasm crept into the voice as it intoned this last phrase, as if the claim were somehow amusing. 

DT756 nodded as though he understood, afraid to admit he was baffled. “Who made the complaint?” he tried once more.  No answer.  “What’s the evidence against me?”   No reply.  How long would this game go on?  How long could it go on?  As if in response, his interrogation resumed.

“You were not entirely forthcoming on that last point, were you, DT756?   The one about not coming from a Christian family and having no Christian relatives.  The detainee hesitated.  “Come, come.  ‘Confession is good for the soul!’”  There was more than a trace of mockery this time.  “Why don’t you admit that prior to her death, your own mother was a Christian?  Now it was the detainee’s turn to be silent.  “Did you really think we did not know?  Did she indoctrinate you in your formative years?  Pass on her beliefs, perhaps?”

The prisoner, visibly trembling now, moved his bloodless lips, but emitted no articulate sounds.  The interrogator continued.  “Or was it your aunt, a devout believer in Jesus Christ“—this phrase was fairly shouted, near hysteria—”who took you to forbidden house church meetings of this illegal cult until her arrest and execution?”

DT756 shook his head, sadly.  “No,” he croaked, miserable.  “No.  Despite all your power and your vast resources, you’ve got it all wrong.  Yes, they tried to enlist me, but they failed.  I just couldn’t commit to following Jesus.  The only thing I learned from them was that being a Christian is far too dangerous.  It doesn’t pay.  My getting hauled in on mere suspicion, proves that.

“If you know so much about me, you must be aware that I didn’t publicly mourn my mother or speak up in my aunt’s defense, when they took her away.  I was ashamed of them and scared for myself.  I never told anyone what they shared with me about their faith.  And I defy you to find someone who can honestly say that I did.”

After a long moment, the incorporeal voice spoke softly, soothingly.  “As you may be able to appreciate, DT756, your admission of cowardice, as embarrassing as it may have been, is not persuasive.  Spreading the lies of an illegal religion is hardly an activity that you would have carried out in the presence of corroborating witnesses.  So, the lack of witnesses to such activity is not probative.  Still, as an impartial public servant, naturally it’s my desire to find a workable solution.

“What would you be willing to do to prove your loyalty and devotion to the collective?  What wouldn’t you do, to demonstrate that you pose no threat?  Would you agree to a written confession to hiding your background from the authorities?”

DT756 (wearily): “Yes.”

 “Do you agree to make a public apology?”

“Yes.”

“Will you serve a brief jail term—say, 6 months?”

DT756 (in a hoarse, barely audible whisper): “Yes.”

“Will you perform community service, in order to avoid further…scrutiny?”

The detainee’s head jerked up, suddenly alert.  “What kind of community service?”

“In your eagerness to offer reassurance of your good citizenship, it shouldn’t matter what kind.  But I was going to suggest a little ride-along program, in which you could help ferret out lost and misguided souls who might be flirting with—or worse—actually practicing Christianity?  What would you say to being part of the entry teams making home visits, much as you experienced this evening?   Visits to people like your deluded mother and your seditious aunt?” 

“No.”

“Louder please.  This interview is being transcribed.”

“No.  I would say, ‘no’.”

“Oh, citizen…  I must say, I’m very disappointed in you.”

“Me, too.”

“I had hoped you were a little smarter than that.”

“I’m beginning to think that playing it smart isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  I have to follow Jesus, now—thanks to you.  You showed me my worst fears and forced me to face them.  You didn’t mean to, but you broke their power over me and your power, too.  I’ve wasted too much time cowering in front of people like you, bowing and scraping.  I’ve stewed in guilt and self-loathing long enough.  With God’s help, I’m taking my life back, starting with my self-respect.  I’m through denying the truth and betraying everything and everyone I love by my self-serving silence.  You’ve set me free, you great genius!  I’m going to see my dear mom and her courageous sister, again.  That’s something else that you can’t offer me, but Christ can—”

After his microphone was cut off, Detainee 756 continued to make his confession of sin and his long overdue profession of faith in Jesus.  On the other side of the one-way glass, sat a figure hastily scribbling the word, “Hopeless” across the file marked, DT756.  The hand paused.  “Hopeless” was lined through and replaced by the word, “Incurable.”  

“You’re losing your touch,” said someone standing nearby, one eyebrow raised and a wry smile playing at the corners of her lips.  “Compassionate termination,” came the reply.  “Euthanize, and…“ (the file was tendered) “archive this.”  Seconds later, the door behind Detainee 756 opened once more.  Two burly guards stepped up to the chair to which he was bound, one to each side.  The black hood was once again pulled down over his head.  “Father, forgive them” whispered 756, “for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34a) 

HOW TO BE SAVED:

• Admit to God that you are a sinner (that you have not kept His moral law to perfection; in your thoughts, words, and actions you have done what His law forbids and have failed to do what His love demands).  This is seeing yourself from God’s point of view and agreeing that He is right about you.  Be as specific as you can.
• Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised Him from the dead.
• Sincerely repent (turn away) from your sins, asking God to forgive you and to use His power to help you resist temptation, no matter how strong the pull of sin may be, at first.
• Acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of your life.  Invite Him to move into your heart and take up residence there, so that He can change you from the inside out.
• Trust His promise to save you and give you a new spiritual birth and a new nature (thoughts, desires, priorities, hopes, dreams, and character).

SOME KEY TRUTHS:

• “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23)
• “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10)
• “For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23)
• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)
• “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8)
• “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”  (I Corinthians 15:3,4)
• “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)
• “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him…”  (Revelation 3:20)
• “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  (Romans 10:13)
• “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”  (Romans 10:9)
• “Verily, verily, I say unto you; He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life; and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”  (John 5:24)
• “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name.”  (John 20:31) 
• “These things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”  (I John 5:13)