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Brenda spilled the
coffee on the brand new tablecloth in the kitchen. She couldn’t believe
what she was reading!
“Oh my God! How could this happen?” She called out to her husband who
was just descending the stairs.
“How could what happen?” Jason quizzed her.
“Do you remember that guy we met at the convention last month? His name
was…”
“Marty somebody, yeah I remember him, he was kinda hard to forget. With
all that in-your-face proselytizing about becoming Missionaries and
spreading the word of God to the world and all that kingdom stuff! What
about him?”
“He’s dead!”
“What??!!”
“How…? Whe…?”
“It says here,” Brenda interrupted him, “that on the night of
October 22nd Martin Cyznisky was robbed and shot to death by person or
persons unknown. The police are theorizing that he stopped to give someone
a lift and was carjacked.”
Brenda put down the paper and stared at her husband in awkward silence as
he quietly sat facing her.
His face betrayed the guilt he felt inside, the same guilt he saw
reflected in his wife’s eyes.
They had ridiculed Marty that night as he attempted sharing on the
importance of representing Christ and spreading the "true
gospel," as he put it.
They rationalized that he was simply naďve to think that one person could
make any measurable difference in the world!
What, with all the famine and war and diseases running rampant globally it
made more sense to secure your own position first, instead of running
around like a chicken with it’s head cut off trying to right every wrong
in the world, after all, “Charity begins at home,” Jason remembered
saying to him!
“But it ends abroad,” Marty had countered. “The average
Christian,” he continued, “gets all he can and ‘cans’ all he
gets, it’s only about me, myself and I, his charity doesn’t end abroad
it ends right where it started… At HIS home!”
“I don’t want to start preaching (“Too late,” Jason thought) but
the great commission says GO into all the world and make disciples of men,
if we…!”
“My point is this,” Brenda cut him short, “how can we leave our own
homes undone and try to tell other people how to run theirs? What right do
we have to tell other people to leave their religion and join ours
when…?”
“That’s your problem right there,” Marty returned, his voice rising
in pitch and volume, “you’re trying to convert people to a religion
when that was NEVER God’s intention!”
Jason and Brenda stared at him quizzically.
“If the average Christian couple is in debt and their marriage is
limping along how can they go tell Hakeem who owns a successful business
and is happily married to stop serving Allah come serve Jesus?”
“So he can have what THEY have?!”
“Adam never lost a religion, he lost a kingdom!” Marty asserted.
“That’s why your religion doesn’t work for you! Jesus never preached
a religion, He preached about A KINGDOM!”
“REPENT! FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND!” He declared
evangelistically!
The conversation had started getting a little too uncomfortable for Brenda
and Jason so they'd made excuses and left Marty still trying to convince
them they were hearing and sharing the wrong message.
“Naďve and deluded,” Jason labeled him after departing his presence.
“Zealous and dangerous,” Brenda added.
But now he was dead.
And strangely, it seemed that in his death his message took on new life!
So, as they sat across from each other reflecting on that meeting with the
Missionary, Brenda couldn’t help but wonder after his words, “Not a
religion BUT a kingdom! The message of ‘The Kingdom’ is what the world
needs,” He had pleaded with them!
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a
witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come,” He had quoted
Jesus’ words from Matt. 24:14.
Now, with the darkening coffee stain as a reminder of the mess their life was in,
Jason and Brenda found themselves seriously considering the Missionary’s
position on the quality of the message they had been fed and why they were
reluctant to share it with others.
It’s not about a religion that doesn’t work, it never was… It’s
all about a kingdom lost and found!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everest John Alexander
is a Minister/Writer/Entrepreneur in public ministry for over 16 years
Pastoring for 4 years.
He's
married to his High-School sweetheart, Loraine and together they have two
children, Andrew and Jade.
His
first book, "Understanding The 3 Levels of
Salvation: Spirit, Soul & Body" is available at www.3LevelsOfSalvation.com and he's currently
working on his next book: "Understanding How To Pray
Effectively."
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Comments:
Everest, I love how you use dialogue to tell
your story and get across really deep messages. Great creative
character in Marty and I really like the line about "with his
death, his message took on new life."
You have real creative talent. Keep up the good work! Blessings,
Evelyn
~~~~~~
This was a good story and very realistic. I
could see this happening. It made me think about how I talk about
those who may be slightly more fanatical than I am. Good work! Donna.
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