Pearly Gates

{bitem: #2181143}
Here is a copy of my entry into the 2019 Spec Faith Winter Writing Challenge.

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Pearly Gates

The Guard would never let me enter if he knew what I was planning. The Guard was Simon Peter the Apostle, seated beside the Pearly Gates.

As I approached, he recognized me, as someone who he’d known during his time on Earth, as another one of Jesus’ Apostles.

He said, “Judas?”

“Hi, Pete. Should I say 'Saint Pete'?” I told him, “Been a long time.”

“Right. Two thousand years, and it’s not long enough.”

I looked beyond him, at the gates which rose high above us.

"So these are the Pearly Gates!" I exclaimed. "Made from a single pearl, that's over 200 feet high? I truly feel sorry for the oyster that produced it. I'm sure it didn't just tickle."

Then Peter asked, “What are you even doing here? You know you’re never getting in.”

“Yeah. I know. My name, Judas Iscariot, is accursed above all names. I’ve never met anyone else with my name. I’m the only Apostle who nobody would name their son after. The world is full of people named Peter, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, James, Joseph, Timothy, Philip and the others. While there are men named Jude, and women named Judy, I’ve never heard of anybody named Judas.”

“You want us to do something to change that?” Pete told me, “Forget it. It's something you're just going to continue to live with.”

“I know. That's what everybody's always thought, until now. I’ve just come to let you know, that it's about to change.”

“In what way?”

“There is,” I told him, “a new, non-denominational church about to open, in the New York Metropolitan Area named “The Judas Iscariot Bible Church.”

“Oh, we’ve heard of it. Believe me. We know everything about every heretical cult there is, was, and shall be.”

“But the members aren’t heretics Pete. They’re born again, Bible-believing Christians who’ve accepted Christ as Savior.”

“Yes. We are aware of that.”

“What that means is that while I’ll never be allowed to pass beyond these Pearly Gates, these people, who’ve taken the Name of Judas Iscariot, will.”

“Praise the Lord, Judas.” My former Associate told me, “Good-bye.”