His hospice nurse gave me Pastor Bob’s farewell message.
Should I feel guilt for the fate of your souls? Look at our history! Our denomination sprang from the twisted mind of an evil man who had his henchmen burn dozens of people at the stake for disagreeing with him. I never told you that! And, you were too lazy to find out on your own! If you knew, you didn’t care!
You never wanted to notice how my decades of sermons and Bible Study classes steered clear of the call to Catholic Communion that Jesus repeated eighteen times, “If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood you do not have life in you.” You stayed here, where there was no way you could “have life in you”!
I encouraged you to read The Bible. None of you wanted to see how I avoided passages like “Verily, verily I say unto you thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven.”
As we skipped by such passages as if they meant nothing, you kept giving me money.
Why would you support me after I kept you from The Only Church Jesus Founded? Because I listened to your whines when you wanted to trade in old spouses for new? Because I told you how “sensitive” and “searching” you were when you slept around? Did you support me because I told you “Your personal fulfillment is very important.” with sincerity fairly dripping as I spoke?
When you wanted reassurance, I would tell you “Jesus is your Best Friend Forever!” That was the kind of mindless pap you wanted and paid for, and that’s what I gave you!
Now, I am in the final stages. I have little time left. A Catholic priest goes down the hospice hallway every day. He hears Confessions. He gives communion and Last Rites to the dying. Can I ask him to forgive my sins?
Could he forgive what I did to you? Or, what you did to me?