XLV

FOR WITH WHAT JUDGEMENT YE JUDGE, YE SHALL BE JUDGED

(MATTHEW 7:1)

SEVENIA SALLIE (GIRL PROPHETESS)

“Maybe I shouldn’t have burdened you with this,” Uncle Six said, causing me to jump and my eyes fly open.

 He had stepped out of my dad’s study room with a phone call, saying it would only take a minute. I assumed that meant five or ten minutes, but it must have only taken thirty seconds. I had actually relished the opportunity of a few minutes to get my head around my uncle’s revelation that he was bisexual and my Aunt Charlotte was transsexual.

“No, Uncle Six,” I said shaking my head. I crossed one leg over the other and smoothed my skirt. “Like I said before, it makes me feel even closer to you knowing we can talk about this stuff. Please continue. You were telling me that you and your boyfriend went to dinner and you met Aunt Charlotte for the first time.”

I noticed he winced when I said you and your boyfriend. He corrected me. “Former, sort of boyfriend.”

“Right,” I replied as I recalled him also telling me he couldn’t get comfortable being romantic with another man. “So go ahead with your story.”

“So Jesse tells me that Charlotte and I were perfect for each other. He said that believe it or not, as smoking hot female she looked, Charlotte was a male between her legs. Also, nobody in the Twin Cities knew that Charlotte used to be Charles. Her dream was to live as a woman with nobody knowing her secret. And if we were together, I could remain a closeted bisexual.

“When Charlotte and I met, her mostly complete transition was new to her. Although she received a lot of male attention, she was hesitant to date because she was so afraid that what was actually under her skirt might be discovered. She also didn’t know how to divulge her secret before a prospective date, or if things started to get serious. She feared how she would tell a heterosexual man that she actually had, you know.”

I nodded.

“So Jesse told her about me and she wanted him to introduce us,” he continued. “Hence having dinner at the restaurant where she worked. We went out for a few drinks after she got off that night. We clicked like you wouldn’t believe. It also turned out that she had a second job working part time at a funeral home owned by the same funeral home where I was apprenticing. But different locations. It just seemed like we were meant to be. We ended up spending the night together and have been together ever since.”

“So how did the fact that she had, a, um, you know,” I asked awkwardly. “How did that get her killed?”

“Oh yeah, our open marriage,” Uncle Six said, followed by a heavy sigh. “It wasn’t what most people probably think. It only occurred maybe once a year on average.”

“Only,” I said sarcastically and instantly regretted it. I gave him a sheepish smile. “Sorry.”

“You’re fine,” he said with a lighthearted chuckle. “So after we had been together a little over a year, we got married and she really  gained confidence as a woman.”

I felt like I was in the twilight zone. I simply couldn’t get my head around Aunt Charley, secretly being Uncle Charley. It was simply bizarre to me. I’m not being judgmental when I say this. This news did not change how much I loved her. It’s just that not even once in the years I had known Aunt Charlotte did I ever think, gee, I wonder if Aunt Charlotte was born a boy.

“She was still waitressing part time back then,” Uncle Six continued. “And one day she was telling me that a prominent player on the Minnesota Vikings had come in and sat in her section three Mondays in a row. She had Mondays and Tuesdays off from the funeral business. I then told her that the wife of our boss made a pass at me. That’s when our arrangement began. I suggested she fool around with the football player if I could defile our bosses wife. We both agreed that going forward, we could fool around with other people on occasion, as long as it was a one-time fling. No more than twice.”

“Wasn’t she afraid of getting found out?” I asked.

“Well, she was pretty confident by then,” he replied. “Plus, she didn’t go all the way. She would just, you know, fool around. She would…”

“I see,” I interrupted because I really didn’t want to see or hear my uncle describe sex acts. “I get the point. Please continue with why she was murdered.”

“Now, to make a long story short. Fast forward to two years ago. I started seeing Salena. At first it was to see if I could seduce her, but we really clicked as friends and I actually enjoyed studying the Bible with her. Charlotte misunderstood Salena and me, and she became jealous even though I promised her that we weren’t having sex. We started to fight a lot every time I planned an encounter with Salena.”

“Were you guys actually gonna divorce?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I was confused. In some ways I’m even more confused now. But anyhow, I guess to retaliate, she began to regularly see the guy who ended up killing her. Anyway, he found out she wasn’t all woman if you catch my drift, and he was also homophobic. I think you know the rest.”

“So that’s why he killed her?” I asked with a dazed expression. “It wasn’t over jealousy at being dumped. It was because he found out he’d been fooling around with a shemale. Is it okay to use that term?”

“It is with me,” he shrugged.

“I don’t want to unnecessarily offend,” I replied. “These days if you call something immoral, it might be considered a hate crime. Like my dad always says on his podcast. The majority of people with coexist bumper stickers should have a qualifier sticker that says, but you need to agree with MY views.”

“So you think being a shemale is immoral, I take it?”

“For me it would be.”

“But not for me?”

“To him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is a sin,” I replied. (James 4:17).

“So if I don’t see it as sin, it’s not sin then,” he said.

“Be careful, Dear Uncle, to neglect to seek God in the first place is as dangerous to your soul as seeking and ignoring.”

“What if I don’t buy into a supposed Holy book that was written two thousand years ago?”

“Uncle Six, if you read the Word of God and then ignore what it teaches, that’s between you and God. I don’t want to appear like I’m being judgmental, but let’s take your marital arrangement for example. Even if a couple agree it’s okay to see other people, that doesn’t change the fact that it is adultery. However, due to your mutual agreement, it didn’t seem to cause the hurt and bitterness the sin of infidelity often does. Until recently that is.”

Uncle six winced at my bluntness, and I was about to apologize when he became testy. “Fair point. But are you gonna tell me it’s a sin for a person to take female hormones?”

“Uncle Six,” I said softly. “I have nothing but love and sympathy that Aunt Charley was, um, uncomfortable being male. Yet I believe if she would have taken her issue to God rather than a person or persons, she might have done things differently.”

“How do you know she didn’t?” He challenged with hostility in his eyes.

“I don’t,” I replied meekly. “And that’s precisely why we are not to judge.”

“How does a saint like you understand what it’s like to deal with real, powerful sexual desire?” My uncle asked angrily.

“How do you know I don’t?” I replied calmly. “Seems judging can go both ways. No pun intended.”

My uncle frowned and then asked. “Have you and Branch…?”

“No! Not until we’re married.”

“So you are gonna marry him one day?”

“No! I mean, I don’t know.”

“Have you kissed him?”

“Yes.”

“Deeply?”

“Yes, a couple, maybe a few times,” I stammered.

“Any touching?”

“Uncle Six!” I replied as I felt myself blush and my rear end start to rise off of my chair. “No. As a  matter of fact, we decided to not do anymore, um, kissing even. I mean other than quick pecks hello and goodbye. But then we stopped doing that when I decided, well, I mean, right now we are platonic friends with the possibility of more one day. That is after we get married. I mean if we get married.”

“I see,” he said, eyeing me skeptically. “So you’re gonna tell me you had powerful desires to have sex with him?”

“I did,” I replied boldly, even though I felt my face’s color deepen some more and my toes curl.

“Forgive me for doubting the strength of the power drawing you, dear niece, to fornicate.”

“Are you saying your temptations are stronger than mine?”

“Possibly, I believe that is so,” he said with a satisfied glint in his eyes.

“That’s not fair.”

“It isn’t?” he asked heatedly, and then sort of altered the subject. “You Bible thumpers hate gay marriage and a woman’s right to choose what they can do with their bodies.”

“Our bodies are the members of Christ and the temple of the Holy Ghost. We’re to glorify God in our bodies.” (See 1 Corinthians 6:15-20).

“But I’ve always been able to do what I want with my body,” Uncle Six said cynically.

“Yes, of course, due to free will. God wants service out of love. He’s not going to force you to choose between your penis and Him. You have to decide for yourself. Choose this day who you will serve.” (Joshua 24:15)

My Uncle looked absolutely stunned at me using the technical term for male genitalia. We both stared at each other for a long uncomfortable moment before I finally spoke again.

“To truly follow the Bible requires discipline. Disciple is actually a derivative of discipline. When you’re disciplined in God’s word, this brings righteousness. And unrighteous people are often disturbed by righteous people. The main reason Jesus, GOD WHO WALKED THE EARTH! Was tortured and murdered! Was because people, mostly religious leaders, were threatened by His Holiness.”

He snorted and shook his head. “Bunch of hypocrites.”

“Uncle Six,” I said quietly as tears started flowing down my cheeks. “The Holy Bible is where we find salvation, the church is just a by-product. I know you are cynical with the hypocrisy of religionists, I am as well. To a large extent you are correct. Just as religionists put Christ to death, religionists will attack God’s remnant people before He comes back.”

“But you’re the most religious person I’ve ever met,” he laughed sarcastically, but not bitterly. “So your own kind is gonna put you yourself to death?”

“Yes,” I said simply, and gave him time to ponder my answer.

I thought of the chaos of the 2020 pandemic and both sides of political lines. The racial injustice problems. How quickly people fell into obeying what the authorities told them with covid 19 . I’m not saying they shouldn’t have. Quarantining and wearing masks didn’t cause disobedience to God. But when the day arrives when the powers that be require you worship, or pretend to worship in a certain way, they have overstepped their boundaries. Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth doesn’t force worship, how dare man!

“How?” He asked after a minute.

“Prophecy tells us that there will come a day when people on earth will not be able to buy or sell unless they have the mark of the beast. In that time you will either have the mark of the beast or the seal of God.”

“You’re talking about the tribulation after the rapture, right?”

“The rapture is a false doctrine, you won’t even find it in the Bible,” I said.

“So what about your Pastor and the book I just read? How do I know that’s not false doctrine?”

“For one thing, his teaching about the war in heaven and the fallen state of mankind is admittedly theory and speculation. The rapture is taught as a fact. When you compare the rapture to a thorough examination of prophecy, it’s not even a good theory.”

“You’re starting to convince me,” my uncle said. “So, let’s put my past to rest for now and focus on the future.”

“Great, let’s get out our Bibles.”

My phone rang and caller id told me it was Destiny. I let it go to voice mail, but she immediately called again. I answered.

“Hi, Sweetie. Are you busy?” Destiny asked with a quiver in her voice.

“I was about to have a Bible study with Uncle Six, why?”

“Can you postpone it?”

This had to be important. Dee would never, ever ask me to postpone a Bible study with Uncle Six if it wasn’t.