death of a star. What we will see is an extremely bright star, far outshining that of the others. This event will last for weeks, and it is imperative our candidate, a male baby, be born in unusual circumstances to fulfill one of the prophecies. This is why we will have four young females, descendants of the royal house of David, impregnated by young patriots, of good intelligence and strength of body.
Word will then be leaked to the madman Herrod that an usurper to his crown has been born. We must assume the worst case scenario here; that is Herrod will react violently to preserve his throne. If any of you have young relatives in the area at that time I suggest you have them evacuated to a place of safety. This will be the first test of many of both our plan and our candidate.
Provided he does survive then he will begin the long road of his education. Ben has the responsibility here to see he receives the best education from the elders, and that he is also kept healthy and strong. He needs to become skilled in some practical area, in order to prevent him from becoming too elitist. I have selected either carpentry or fishing as either of these will keep him physically strong and keep him in touch with the people. As to whom he marries, I will select a suitable candidate when the time is appropriate. As Ben has now added the Ark to our plan, I propose the candidate begin his instruction of its powers, provided we ourselves have understood them, in his mid twenties. By this time we will have revealed to him his destiny and he will have the knowledge and maturity behind him to come to terms with his role. By the time he is thirty he will be ready to go public. With his education and background, and the patronage of ourselves we should be able to promote him into a position of popular acclaim. He then has three years to stake his claim as the legitimate ruler of our people. I predict that he will be riding the peak of his popularity at the end of this time, and we should be able to both sweep the Romans out, and put this legitimate candidate of ours on the throne.”
The group’s heads were nodding in agreement as Joseph appeared to draw to an end. The plan seemed well thought out and had a logical flow to it. Joseph then drew a deep breath and continued.
“But he will never be allowed to take it. One of our men will betray him to the Romans & our candidate will meet his ultimate destiny. That destiny will be death at the hands of the Romans.”
The others sat stunned. John was the first to recover his wits and voice their collective thoughts.
“All this effort and planning, just to send our man to his death?
What is the point? How can I look at this candidate through his foundling years, his awkward youth, with the knowledge that he will die horribly at his physical peak? Sent to death by me, by you, by all of us”
Joseph’s voice was heavy with sorrow as he answered.
“We must. Our candidate must die in order to fulfill the scriptures. He will not in fact be the one to take the throne. He will be our martyr, the rallying cry for our second candidate who will carry the people to a popular uprising. History tells us this point; the dead martyr has more power than the living ruler does. The more mystiques we can create around the candidate, the greater his legend will be and his name will have the power to evoke great emotion. This is the way it must be for us to succeed.”
“And what is this name that will be the rallying cry of our people,” John demanded.
“Our nazarene will be called Jesus.”
Epilogue
Thirty years later the same men gathered. The fruition of their efforts, Jesus, stood amongst them. He was a strong, remarkably handsome man, who possessed great charisma. Joseph and the other members of that meeting so long ago, are now all stooped with age; all stood close by this great man and marveled at him, who, they had in fact created. He had turned out far better than they had planned, and his ability to manipulate the awesome power of the ark exceeded even that of its original creator and keeper. Joseph had them sit down as he began the meeting.
“Friends, we all know we are now at the thresh-hold of the final phase of our plan. Jesus has performed beyond our expectations, and he, as well us you, are to be congratulated. We have had an unbelievably good run of luck for the past 30 years. Jesus life to date has closely followed those scriptures that we so carefully studied.” As he spoke these words Joseph noted the nodding of his friend’s heads in assent
Joseph continued, “But now I must reveal to you a change in plan. Something happened many years ago that was most fortuitous.” The others, including Jesus who was clearly not party to the change in plan, exchanged puzzled looks. At that moment Joseph clapped his hands once and another man entered the room via the servants passage. The man was wearing a hooded garment. When he stepped into the light, he threw back the hood and a collective gasp went around the room.
Joseph stood up and put his arm around the mans’ broad shoulders. Smiling he turned to his stunned audience and said,
“Let me introduce to you James, Jesus’ twin brother.”
THE END
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