The 13th Enumeration by William Struse, Rachel Starr Thomson Page B

this might have with the many fundamentalist Christians who support Israel?”
    Darius positioned a slightly surprised look on his face—but inwardly he was elated. He couldn’t have asked for a better setup. The only person he disliked more than a Muslim fanatic was a Christian one. “What do you mean?” he asked.
    Mr. Klein continued, “You claim the artifact confirms Nehemiah was a governor under Darius, son of Hystaspes. This claim seriously undermines one of the most central pillars of Christian thought concerning the Messiah. Daniel 9 is considered one of the most important prophecies of the Old Testament. According to most Christian interpretations, it was fulfilled by Jesus. Its fulfillment is contingent upon a command during the reign of a Persian Artaxerxes. If you say Nehemiah was a contemporary of Darius in 520 BC, this makes it seventy years too early for Jesus to have fulfilled that prophecy.”
    Gloating inwardly, Darius responded, “Mr. Klein, are you referring to the theory popularized by Sir Robert Anderson?”
    Aaron Klein nodded as he said, “Yes, sir, I am.”
    Darius continued, “The same Sir Robert Anderson of Scotland Yard and Jack the Ripper fame?”
    Klein, with a look of surprised confusion on his face, started to answer, but Darius interrupted him and continued in a patronizing tone. “For those of you who do not know of the famous Sir Robert Anderson, he was appointed as a London police commissioner at the time of the Jack the Ripper murders. He was never able to solve the crimes, and only years later we learned from his diary that he blamed the murders on an immigrant Jew.”
    Aaron Klein groaned inwardly, but outwardly he did not show any emotion. He had to give the devil his due. Darius Zarindast had set him up perfectly, and he hadn’t seen it coming. Then, for good measure, Darius had kicked him when he was down. Well, he was a big boy and he would take his medicine. He could see that most of the faces in the room were turned toward him with disdain and scorn. Aaron had been in the business for some time, and this was the first time he could remember being so thoroughly embarrassed. Darius Zarindast had seemed almost eager to give his answer.
    Okay, Mr. Zarindast, you made your point , he thought to himself, but you have also warned me that there is something else going on. Something I don’t know about. And I will be watching.
    As Aaron Klein was finishing these thoughts, Darius drove his point home. “I hardly think the pet messianic theories of a failed racist investigator are worthy of our consideration.”
    Darius could hardly keep the gloating look off his face as he watched the expressions of the other people in the room. He knew not one out of fifty would check his facts to see if what he had implied was true. The truth of the matter was that Sir Robert Anderson’s personal journal did not indicate any prejudice regarding the suspect. Anderson was a devout Christian who wrote extensively on the Bible and was well respected by his peers. He even predicted the Jewish people would return to the land of Israel based on the prophecies of the Bible, and this at a time when the Jewish state did not yet exist. His circle of friends and associates included Cyrus Scofield, E.W. Bullinger, and John Darby, some of the great biblical scholars of his day. In Darius’s personal investigation of the subject while at the Four Crowns Research Lodge, he had found no evidence to suggest Anderson was part of some Masonic conspiracy to hide the Ripper murders, as some conspiracy theorists claimed. In fact, he had often wondered if Anderson was not appointed the position as a patsy. That was how they worked. If in fact the Masons were behind the murders, what better person to put in charge of the investigation than a devout Christian? Darius laughed inwardly. Sir Robert Anderson, the gift that kept on giving.
    Darius, indicating the tablet in the display case, said, “I encourage you to check