The Second Appearance

Bobby Cunningham, a young reporter in Vancouver was sent to Nelson, British Columbia to interview Rev. Larry Henderson, a respected retired Anglican minister for a story about his life which would be published the following Sunday. The minister didn’t want to talk about his life. He wanted to tell the reporter about an amazing boy named Russell Hendrix who lived on a farm just outside Nelson. Despite the reporter's protestations, the minister began telling the tale anyway. When nine-year-old Russell Hendrix ran away from an abusive uncle and wandered into Nelson during a blizzard in 1945 and into the lives of William and Bernice Hampston, an elderly childless couple who lived on their farm on the outskirts of that small city, he would change the lives of everyone in Nelson. Within months of his arrival, the people in Nelson began suspecting that Russell was Jesus Christ who had returned to Earth and was going to spend his childhood years in their city. After all, did he not raise eight-year-old Larry Henderson, his best friend from death when Larry died in the hospital? Did he not pray to God and ask God to ease the suffering of many that came to hear Russell preach and his prayers were answered and their suffering came to an end? Russell didn’t believe that he was Jesus Christ and further more, he didn’t want to be Jesus Christ. He simply wanted to be an ordinary boy. Despite the fact that he denied being the Redeemer and even the religious leaders publicly announced that he wasn’t Jesus Christ, many of the people in that city refused to accept Russell’s protestations and those of their religious leaders and they still came to him asking him for miracles. Russell climbed to the top of nearby Granite Mountain to be alone with God and he begged God to take away any powers that he may have given him. His wish was granted but he was left with the power of persuasion. The more that Russell told Larry about the life of Jesus, the more convinced Larry was that Russell really was Jesus. Over the years, the bond between them became stronger. Most of the people in Nelson were not sure if Russell was Jesus but they came to the churches nevertheless to hear him preach as a guest speaker and they readily accepted his advice on life issues. Then in 1951, when Russell was fifteen, everything turned for the worse for him. First, he was kidnapped by a farmer and his two grown sons. They wanted him to pray for Martha, the wife and mother of the trio. When she died during his prayers, they took him to an abandoned farm miles away and after stringing him up by his wrists in an abandoned barn, they whipped him, crucified him and then shot three arrows into him and left him to die. Unbeknown to them, there were two girls who were overnight camping in the barn. One of them ran for help and Russell was taken to the hospital where he died. The trio were discovered and during a car chase, their car smashed into a rock cliff and they were killed. Hours later, the doctors discovered that Russell had not actually died. This new revelation convinced the people of Nelson that he was truly Jesus Christ. Months later, he fell in love with Theresa Davis, the daughter of rich parents but after they were intimate and she became pregnant (it wasn’t his child) and he denied being the father of her soon-to-be born baby, she hanged herself. Her mother publicly denounced Russell and for this reason, he was too afraid to go back into the city. That summer, when Russell and Larry were overnight camping one night, Russell was bitten by a rabid coyote. When he realized days later that he was going to die a horrible death, he chose to die alone in order to spare his loved ones the trauma of watching him die. He climbed to the top of Granite Mountain, secured his feet to a tree with a chain and threw the key away. While he was dying, he dreamed he was on the cross next to Jesus and he begged Jesus to take him with him. The following day, Larry found Russell’s body and with the consent of William and Bernice, he buried him in a small clearing at the summit. When the newspaper reporter asked the minister if he believed that Russell’s spirit was still alive, Larry told him that fifteen years after Russell’s death, when Larry was a Anglican Church minister on his way to conduct a burial ceremony at a cemetery in Vancouver, he saw a fifteen-year-old boy at an intersection who looked just like Russell did when he was fifteen years old and he thought the boy recognized him also. Larry told the young reporter that he met Father Nichols, a Catholic priest who had been sent from the Vatican on orders of Pope John XXIII to find Russell Hendrix if he was alive or his body if he was dead and talk to the people in Nelson and report to the pope as to whether or not he thought Russell really was Jesus Christ and if not, determine if Russell would be eligible for sainthood. The pope gave Father Nichols enormous authority to look into the matter (even a snotty bishop was subservient to him) and several weeks later, he returned to the Vatican to report his findings to the pope. He told the pope that he suspected that the spirit of Jesus had in fact been in Russell and he believed that Russell was deceased although he wasn’t sure because Russell’s friend Larry hadn’t confirmed it. He reminded the pope that he himself said in one of his homilies that Jesus was on Earth. The pope said that he couldn’t deal with this issue during his reign but would put his thoughts and those of Nichols in the secret archives. Seven years later when reporter was overnight camping on Grouse Mountain overlooking Vancouver with his six-year-old son, Russell, he began telling his son, the story of Russell Hendrix as it was told to him seven years earlier.