how he saw himself, however, it is not as Leto saw him Leto cast The Preacher as John the Baptist and used him quite deliberately to herald his own Messiahship It is recorded that Leto associated the death of the historical John the Baptist (Gospel IV) with the pseudo-death of his father, which locked him into his father's prophetic vision "Poor Baptist John," Leto thought "If he'd only had the courage to die some other way But perhaps his choice had been the bravest one How do I know what alternatives faced him1' I know what alternatives faced my father, though " It was in order to break out of the cruel jihadic path set for the Empire by Muad'Dib that Leto chose for himself the temble Golden Path This decision required that Paul Muad'Dib, who had imposed his will upon countless millions in the Empire, should himself be subjugated to the will of his son, Leto, the ORANGE CATHOLIC BIBLE ORANGE CATHOLIC BIBLE future God Fmperor The transfer of power took place during the great meeting of Leto, already m his sandtrout skin, and his father in flic desert, where there took place a duel in which the weapons were visions of alternate futures Leto saw further, as far as to Kraltzec, the Typhoon Struggle, the great battle at the end of the universe, known m the O C Bible (Revelation) as Armageddon, and so Leto prevailed over his father When The Preacher vouched for Leto s integrity (that he was not Abomination) before Gurney Hatieck, he already accepted his John the Baptist function, as is shown by his words "Once I opposed him, but now I do his bidding He is the Healer" He made that role explicit m his final sermon at Alia's Temple This sermon is full of biblical texts and applications of texts to the situation on Arrakis The Preacher began his address by associ atmg the Desert of Zan, the place of the first trial of the Zeasunni Wanderers, with the wilderness of the Exodus, where the Israelites (those ancient Fremen desert dwellers) were tried over forty years " I found myself m the Desert of Zan," The Preacher shouted (see Oh ash i IV-VII), "in that waste of howling wilderness [Laws XXXD 101 And God commanded me to make that place clean [cf Laws XVHI25-301 For we were provoked in the desert, and grieved fa the desert, and we were tempted in that wilderness to forsake our ways" (Psalm XCV8 10) By these allusions, The Preacher not only commanded die attention of his fremen hearers but authenticated his words as springing from the most ancient prophetic sources The words themselves challenged the Bremen with the charge of apostasy and stirred all hearers by their lightly veiled reference to the mysterious breachmgs of the qanats One of his hearers was Alia herself, who caught the Zan reference and wondered whether The Preacher was taking credit for the destruction wrought against the sietch strongholds of die loyal tnbcs His voice booming across the plaza, The Preacher continued to revive die associations of ancient prophetic words "WiW beasts he upon your lands," he said "Doleful creatures fill your houses [Prophets V 21] You who fled your homes no longer multiply your days upon the sand Yea, you who have forsaken our ways, you will die m a fouled nest if you continue on this path [Job XIX 18, note the original nest has become 'a fouled nest'] But if you heed my warning, the Lord shall lead you through a land of pits into the Mountains of God Yea, Shai Hulud shall lead you ' (Prophets LII 6-7) The Preacher drew again on the Fremen mystique by quoting from Psalm LX111 1, a text used in the daily chanted Hymn to Water "O God my flesh longeth for Thy way in a dry and thirsty land'" This text prompted an appeal from an old refugee Fremen woman, 'Help us Muad'Dib Help us'" to which The Preacher responded, pointing his nght hand (of blessing) over her head "You [die Fremen] are the onlv help remaining1 You were rebellious You brought the dry wind which does not cleanse, nor does it cool [Prophets LIV 11,17] You bear the burden of our desert, and the whirlwind cometh from that place, from that terrible land [Prophets XI1] I have been m that wilderness [Prophets CXIII 5 'I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought'] Water runs upon the sand from shattered qanats Streams cross the ground [Prophets XXV 6 "m the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert"] Water has fallen from the sky in the Belt of Dune' [Cf Laws XIII 'the land dnnketh water of the ram of heaven "] O my friends, God has.