The House of War: Book One Of : THE OMEGA CRUSADE Read Online Free PDF

lattice screen. “Since my last confession three weeks ago, I accuse myself of lying. For this and all other sins, I am heartily sorry; humbly ask pardon of God and penance and absolution of you, Father.”
    “Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus…”
    Lying, the priest reflects, is the easiest of sins to succumb to. And why not? The culture at large considered it basically harmless and often necessary. There was even a popular reality television show, ‘The Art of Lying,’ which celebrated the sin. It rewarded its contestants for the ingenuity and sincerity of the lies they used to win everything from lovers to concessions from companies. It is little wonder that it is so frequently heard in the confessional. Many spent their whole lives lying, to others and even lying to themselves, without giving it any more thought than they gave to breathing. It is a rare soul, the priest knows, which remembers that it was a lie, a plain and a simple lie, that wrought the whole wicked and woeful world of man into being.
    “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen…”
    Monsignor Green speaks softly through the latticed partition between the booths. “And why have you committed this grievous sin?”
    “I lied to help overthrow the government, Father.”
    “Hail Mary…”
    Monsignor Green has heard many excuses for lying in his thirty-three years as a priest but this one struck him mute for a moment. Is the confessor serious? Is this a joke, he wonders? There certainly is a lot of anger in the crowds that came to protest the growing secularization of the government. Yes, the government needs challenging, correcting and changing. But overthrowing? Could there be Christians out there plotting treason?
    He prays not.
    “Full of grace…”
    The priest feels confidant identifying the voice of the penitent as belonging to a young, Alabama man he met soon after arriving in DC a week ago. The accent is certainly spot-on. The Alabaman is one of the many volunteerstaking turns providing coffee, meals and blankets to the masses gathered to pray at the nation’s monuments. Anthony is the young man’s name. Yes, thinks the priest, that is it; Anthony Romero. Monsignor Green talked with the darkhaired young man and a handful of others just the other day. The group of them had taken turns introducing themselves to each other. At his turn, Anthony explained that he worked at the Pentagon. This elicited much interest from everyone at the table. He went on to say that he worked specifically in the cyber-warfare department, fending off hostile computer viruses while simultaneously creating programs with which to infiltrate enemy computer systems.
    “It’s all very technical and very important work,” Romero explained. “Our country, like our Church, is constantly under attack.”
    “The Lord is with thee…”
    The priest was impressed with such earnestness in one so young. It is why he is now doubly disappointed to learn that so seemingly pious and patriotic a young man could involve himself in a plot to overthrow the government.
    “Why, my son?” The Monsignor asks. “Lying is a sin against God; treason is a crime against Caesar. Surely you know that it is a precept of our Holy Faith that ‘there is no power but from God, and those who are in power, are ordained by God.’ Why would you put both your immortal soul and your mortal life in jeopardy?”
    “Blessed are thou among women…”
    “Does not our Holy Faith also instruct us that we should obey God and not man?”
    “And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus…”
    “Only when obeying man would put us at odds with God,” the priest answers. “Surely, you know that?”
    “Our way of life is under attack, Father,” the young Alabaman whispers fiercely. “Our Church is being driven underground. These politicians are never going to be satisfied with just a wall between church and state.