God-With-Us had come to Churchland and, since he was trending wildly across social media, many pastors were inviting him to speak in their sanctuaries and convention centers. They praised him for his authenticity and his wokeness, but they also kept a careful eye on him.

One morning, God-With-Us was ministering in a poor neighborhood when he came upon a line of invalids that stretched for blocks. Every year, a prominent doctor came down to host a one-day clinic for the economically disadvantaged. However many people he could see before sunset would receive professional medical care at no cost, no matter how deficient their health or health coverage.

God-With-Us saw a man who had been in a wheelchair for thirty-eight years and asked, “Do you want to be healed?”

“Yes,” the disabled man answered, “but it’s first come, first served. Every year, I am too late because I have no one to drive me and the buses don’t run until after the clinic opens. Besides, I can’t get decent health insurance due to my pre-existing condition.”

God-With-Us said, “Get up and walk.”

At once, the man stood, folded his wheelchair, and began to walk.

Amazed, the people nearby began posting online, “This guy opens his mouth and people are healed, even those with pre-existing conditions!” Videos of the man walking went viral and soon the whole neighborhood was bringing their sick and injured to God-With-Us, who healed every last one of them.

Now it was an election year and an ultra-conservative pastor-turned-politician was campaigning nearby. When the healthy man walked by dragging his wheelchair, the pastor-politician recognized him as a member of his church. Knowing the man to be poor and uninsured, he asked, “Who paid for your treatment?”

“Him,” said the man, showing a viral video of his healing. “He told me to get up and walk. So I did.”

The pastor-politician and his campaign team found God-With-Us and asked him, “Is it fair to take care of those who won’t take care of themselves?”

He answered, “My Father has never asked for a copay and neither will I.”

Indignant, they replied, “What are we, socialists? And who are you to attack our traditional values? There are seven days a week for working. If these people got jobs, they would have employer-sponsored coverage. But giving them handouts only enables them to continue being lazy and irresponsible!”

God-With-Us rebuked them, saying, “Shut up you two-faced phonies! If any of you had a daughter dying of cancer, he would give everything he owned to pay her medical bills, down to his last penny. Does a member of your own congregation not deserve to be healed without being crippled by debt? Which is worth more: People or money?”

“Fair enough,” said some, pretending to be sincere, “But can we really trust the government to spend our hard-earned tax dollars responsibly?”

“Give me a $100 bill,” he said. “What is written here?”

They answered, “The United States of America.”

“And beneath that?”

“In God we trust.”

“Then, give your dollars back to the ones who made them and your trust back to the one who made you.”

After this, the conservatives were furious. However, since they could not refute him, they discussed ways to discredit him. Some wanted to call the police on him, but they feared the public backlash because of his dark complexion.

Then, God-With-Us quoted Mother Teresa:

“Our poor people don’t need our pity and sympathy, they need our understanding love. They need our respect; they need that we treat them with dignity.”

“Today,” he said, “this need is fulfilled before your eyes.”

At this, the liberals rose up and marched him through the city. Crowds went ahead and behind, carpeting the road with campaign posters and protest signs, shouting:

“Save us, O Son of Social Justice!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of Human Rights!”

They took him to City Hall where they held a press conference to announce him as their newest candidate for president. With the cameras on him, God-With-Us laid the $100 bill on the podium. Then, without a word, he passed through their midst and went his way.

– Ryan Shane Lopez