CENTRAL HOSPITAL chapter 4

CENTRAL HOSPITAL chapter 4

We gathered around Rod as we were leaving Central Square.

"Where will we go now?" I asked.

"Let's all go to Central Hospital to the baptizing," Rod said. "You'll want to see this. It's just over in the next ring. You'll find the Hospital is much smaller than you might expect. 'Outpatient' and 'home-service' take care of most problems. It's more efficient. Since the hydrotherapy unit is small, not many can squeeze into it. Most will watch this on their video terminals. And you will be able to download a recording later."

He led the way down the street, making a few turns along the way. Central Hospital was also built into the structure.

"Rod," Fred asked, "Does this Hospital front on another corridor also?"

"Yes, it does. Tiberias rotates to provide an artificial gravity. This gives us a sense of up and down. The rings are concentric, with the structures built between the corridors."

We entered and stood with our backs against the wall.

"There is Ned Jones," Rod said. "He will baptize his son, Jerry. And she is Klia Depoy, who will baptize her daughter, Hetta."

Ned and Jerry walked to the hydrotherapy tank, and stood facing each other.

"Jerry, Jesus loves you! I ask you to declare your faith in Him."

"Yes! I do believe that Jesus is God's Messiah, the Son of the Living God! I take Him as Lord of my life!"

"God bless you, Jerry, for your word of faith!"

Now Ned helped Jerry into the tank, while he stood beside it. Ned placed his right hand on Jerry's back and with his left hand held a handkerchief over Jerry's nose. Jerry held to Ned's left arm with both hands. Then he got down on his knees in the water.

Ned looked toward the videocam and spoke. "By the authority of Jesus Christ, I bury you with Christ and into Christ, to receive new life, to have your sins forgiven, and to receive God's gift, the Holy Spirit. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen."

Ned lowered Jerry completely under the water and immediately lifted him up again. All of us began to sing.

"Jesus, I love you! I give myself to You! Send Your wisdom to me, that I may live for You."

Then as we watched, Klia repeated the baptismal ceremony with Hetta. It was beautiful to see a father baptize his son, and a mother, her daughter. We sang our joy and praise for these young people begining their journey of spiritual life. We hugged each one - our new brother and sister in Christ!

"Rod," I asked. "You mentioned a Church that meets mainday and another alterday. How do you do this? That is, how do you organize it all?"

"Carl, you remember how it was on Earth when they began having multiple services. We are Central Church. But there are two Meetings, with different people and different leaders, yet still one Church. Each "Meeting" chooses nine elders. That is, there are nine elders for the mainday Meeting and nine elders for the alterday Meeting. These guide and counsel the members. All the church-elders meet together regularly to coordinate activities. If you think about it, the Jerusalem Church in Acts 2 was structured in this way. They had a Meeting in the Temple plus numerous house-groups meeting all the time. The Jerusalem Church probably had 100,000 members before persecution scattered it. But they were one Church."


Gwen, Rod's wife, joined us at this point.

"Let's take early lunch!" Rod said. "We often do this on Sunday. Just follow me. There is a Cafeteria not far away."

The place was packed. "Will they have room for us?" I asked.

"Sure! Let's fill our trays, and then we will look for an empty table. There always seems to be one. People come and go."

"I'm still amazed," Fred said. "Ham with no meat in it. Yeast derivatives! All these fruits and vegetables. And everything grown right here on Tiberias. "

"I'll take you to meet Hans Yoder sometime," said Rod. "He is the head of hydroponics and a genius in growing things and producing food."

"Over there," Rod said. "There's the group from the baptizing. Let's sit with them."

Rod led the way toward them. "Ned, Jerry, Klia, Hetta, hello! Congratulations! You'll never be sorry you took Jesus as the Lord of your life!"

An old gentleman came over to the table. He was the one who had come forward at the morning service.

"Rod, hello!" he said.

Then he turned to us. "It's a great day in my life! I'm Ford Prefect. I've always roamed around the galaxy, you know. Asteroid miner, isolated, a hermit. I've done most everything, good or bad. I surely wish now that I had made Jesus the Lord of my life when I was young, given my whole life to Him. But thank God, it wasn't too late! Now I'm put right with God and adopted into His Kingdom!"

We each gave him the right hand of fellowship, the kiss of peace, and a big hug. He sat with us and we talked together as others came and went around us.
"Better get a move on!" Rod warned. "It's time for the rush hour to begin."

We hurried to finish. We put the garbage in the disposal chute.

Rod held up his hand. "Let's go to a Bible Study. There is always one meeting somewhere."

A quick check at a terminal showed one meeting in the Solarium on Ring 5 East. We should just make it in time if we walked fast.

As entered we saw the group over in a corner - about twenty people. Tim Butcher was the leader.

"Tim! Kayor!" Rod shouted. "I've brought some brothers and sisters from Earth to see how we do things."

"Good to see you, Rod. You visitors are most welcome!"

"I'm Tim Butcher," he said, holding out his hand. "This is my wife, Amy" He pointed to her. "This is Zack Zakerzewski, and his wife Sharon, their daughter, Triska, and their sons, Enoch and Jared."

"Tim," Rod said. "You can introduce the others later. Explain just how our Bible Studies and Zones work."

"Sure. We base our church life on Proverbs 27:17. 'People learn from one another, just as iron sharpens iron.' We want to have as much interaction between our people as possible. Christians really do need each other."

"There is a Meeting on mainday and another alterday. Each Meeting breaks down into around a hundred Zones. Each zone chooses an expediter every six months who will coordinate activities. Each person is urged to be in contact with at least one other member (not family) during each day, if possible. Family contacts are in addition to this. Everyone is urged to take part in the zone system. Zones visit around so that each member of an Assembly will come in contact with every other member at least once every four months. Now, this is all voluntary, of course. We are careful to avoid authoritarianism. We try to be an extended family."

"Do your Zones meet together, that is, the whole Zone in one gathering?"

"Sometimes. But more often as 'cell groups' in smaller numbers. The Jerusalem Church in Acts met in 'cell groups' in different homes and shared their food together. The 'church' doesn't cease to exist between Sundays. Throughout each week groups are meeting at all times and places. Some meet in the morning, others at noon or night; in homes, more often in solariums. Everybody is somebody! We help preserve this spirit by the 'sharing' in small groups. These core groups are at the heart of our life and ministry."

"How are you able to apply this in problem solving?" Fred asked.

When someone has a problem, he or she would first call upon one of the other members who have the specialty needed to solve the problem. We have a web site in the Library Computer."

"Smaller study groups like this meet all the time, and on different levels of maturity. For example, in one like this we try to involve friends and neighbors, with the idea of introducing them to Christ. We want to share our faith and our life with them. Some groups are for new Christians, some are for more advanced study, and some on the leadership level. Rod teaches many of the more advanced classes."

"What about Bibles?" Chet asked. "What versions do you use?"

"Anyone can punch up a Bible on his or her screen. The Library Computer has Versions in all the Earth languages, and of course, Basic. We can't spare paper for books, tracts, etc. But all these are in the Library Computer. Anyone can view them at any time. All you need is a terminal. There are tapes and programs and even entire worship services from Old Earth. The menu shows it all."

Tim concluded: "When you divide this activity among the membership, it doesn't involve all that much time for each person. We want a 'servant ministry' to be 'user friendly' and to always be there to help in time of need. Compare Jesus' teaching in Matthew 25."

When our study concluded, we walked to a soft drink machine and enjoyed our favorite refreshments.

"You can certainly tell that Tim is a schoolteacher," Rod said. "He can give you more details than you want to know."

"But I really appreciate that," I said. "It will help me report to the people back home about the wonderful things you are doing here on Tiberias."

"But tell me about your Sunday services," I said.

Tim answered: "We have only one 'worship assembly' in each duad. We, the church, come together on Sunday in a worship service of praise and devotion. It's the high point of our week. When we gather at the Lord's Table, it is a celebration of Who He Is and who we are in Him!"

We were reluctant to leave. We each gave Tim and the others a hug and the kiss of peace.

"Let me take you to a leadership class," Rod said. He led the way back to the main corridor, and we all boarded a floater.

Rod's leadership class were all waiting when we arrived. He introduced us and we hugged everyone.

After we found a place to sit, Rod began. "We are studying Revelation chapter 5," he said. "It is God's act in Jesus the Lamb by which God gives the verdict of not guilty in regard to those who are paid for by the bloody-death of Christ. Paul shows us that the whole Universe shared in the benefits of this act, as we see in Romans 8:20-22; Colossians 1:20."

"In interpreting Revelation, we take the general view of Hendriksen in his book, More Than Conquerors, published on Earth around 1940. Some of the views people once held about eschatology were tied to Old Earth and no longer make sense out here in space."

"I remember Hendricksen," I said. "He viewed Revelation as picturing a continuous cycle of events. Wasn't his view called 'The Philosophy of History?' An 'amillennial' point of view, which was unusual at the time."

"Right," said Rod. "Some used to say: 'He is coming, and boy is He mad!' We believe the great Plan is working itself out. God is in control. All this is part of the process. We believe the 'church' in a geographic area goes through a cycle. Christ is preached, people become disciples of Christ, the visible church grows greatly, Satan brings in opposition, the church seems to die out, and then it all repeats again. That is oversimplifying, of course."

"That surely fits in with history," I said. "In the last years of the 20th century, Communism fell, and people in Eastern Europe and the 'Iron Curtain' countries turned to Christ. That was something no one would have predicted. Also in Usono [USA], a 'Christian nation,' people seemed to turn away from Christ and religion fell on hard times.”

"Until the Great Revival," Rod said. "The Holy Spirit 'blew' across the nation and melted hearts. Which is to say," Rod added, "that the Spirit made an opportunity for men and women to decide to believe in Jesus."

"Robert Brinsmead said it," Sam Golden spoke up. "He said to imagine a great arch. Our side says: 'Whoever wishes may come'; and on God's side it says: 'You did not choose Me, I chose you."

"It certainly is a paradox," Rod said. "God's Plan is much more vast than anyone could imagine. Everything relates to Jesus and the Good News!"

"But people are evil," I said. "Even our best obedience is tainted with sin."

"Certainly," said Rod. "That is why we must claim Jesus, His righteousness, the power of His resurrection. We must reach out in faith to seize Him and claim His finished work."

"What a God we serve!" said Ned Jones. "Praise His Name forever! It boggles our minds to think that He loves us!"

Let me insert here: The Church on Tiberias views forgiveness and righteousness taking place in the Mind of God. 'I will treat them with kindness, even though they are wicked. I will surely forget their sins.' [Hebrews 8:12; Romans 4:8] They accept each person who 'names the name of Christ' to the extend they are perceived to be in harmony with the Christ of the Scriptures. The Body of Christ includes every saved person. This Kingdom of His dear Son is a place of safety [Colossians 1:13]. I am finding the Church on Tiberias to be very like the Church I attend in Nashville back on Earth.


Later, we were eating pie and ice cream around a table in the Cafeteria.

"Rod," I said, "I can see now that in the past our thinking has been distorted somewhat by our church-buildings."

"You've got it," Road answered. "Now, I know that back on Earth you use your buildings to advantage. Don't misunderstand what I am saying. A church-building is 'good,' but it may encourage pomp & ceremony, ritual, even entertainment, rather than focusing on praise and worship. Not that such things are 'bad,' but praise and joy and a sense of 'family' are more important."

"Yes," I said. "And I can see that living here on a Cylinder tends to force people to live a 'minimalist' life style."

"Right again. We have been 'liberated' in a sense, being packed into this Cylinder like 'sardines in a can' [whatever that meant]. The first century Church must have been like this. Certainly we think they were close to God and to each other in that early time."

Rod continued: "Don't let that fool you, however. We are all still very 'human' in our weaknesses and problems. The early church had all the problems you find on Earth today, and on Tiberias. It is very difficult to 'disagree without becoming disagreeable.' Someone said that, and it is surely true."

"Are you really able to talk things out?" I asked. "How do you go about solving everyday disagreements?"

"We church-elders are not 'deciders,'" Rod answered. "We are 'older brothers looking out for the other children.' We give 'Body life' a high priority. We all work together and talk things out. We want the togetherness of the communes on Old Earth, but without the limitations. I believe they used to call this form, a 'non-residential household.' That is, not living in the same house, but forming a close knit extended Family."

A note of explanation. These disciples are diverse. From differing cultures and backgrounds, they have very little in common - except Jesus Christ! They are multi-racial and multi-ethnic. The church represents all the colors of God's rainbow. They are united by Christian love and fellowship.

John wrote in Revelation 5:9-10. "Then they sang a new song, 'You are worthy to receive the scroll and open its seals, because You were killed. And with Your own blood You bought for God people from every tribe, language, nation, and race. You let them become kings and serve God as priests, and they will rule on earth.'"

"Rod, are you able to avoid triumphalism?" I asked.

"Triumphalism. You mean the idea that we have God 'in a box' and that we then despise everyone else. I suppose the simplest answer is that we love Christ - and therefore all our brothers and sisters in the Lord's Family. We therefore love non-Christians also. We may not agree with them, but if God so loved the world to send Jesus - we must so love the world of humanity also."

Rod continued: "In the 1960's a man named Suenens wrote a book, 'A New Pentecost.' In it he looked to the future of his religious family. 'We shall have, therefore, a period of greater freedom in the life of the Church and her individual members. It will be a period of fewer legal obligations and fewer interior restraints. Formal discipline will be reduced; all arbitrary intolerance and all absolutism will be abolished. Positive law will be simplified, and the exercise of authority will be moderated. There will be promoted the sense of that Christian freedom which pervaded the first generation of Christians.' I think he was prophetic in this. This is the Church on Tiberias."

"But I hear you stress Jesus: His death, His resurrection, His second coming," I said.

"Yes, this is the way it ought to be. Without Jesus there could be no church, no salvation, no hope, no joy. And the church is a platform from which to proclaim Jesus is Lord!"

"Rod, you are reminding me of an old book I read. 'A World To Win.' The author emphasized that the name, Jesus, means 'God saves.' That along with Paul, we will respect the culture, language, feelings and attitudes of people and key the unchanging truth to that framework. We will build, not destroy, and explain the gospel in terms sure to be understood."

"1 Corinthians 9:19-23. That's what you are talking about"