"Hopper, a nail appeared."
"Grab it!! What does it say?"
"It says King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Shadow, you renounced your faith?"
"No!! The thought didn't even cross my mind. I'm sure Dragon could've brought Hopper back to life if he really wanted too."
"Well then, there must be something in you that believes because the nail came out, but since it's still crooked and in an L shape then that means..."
"There are a lot of fake Christians in this world that per fess that they follow God and have a religion but once the doors to there houses are closed then…."
"They could care less who God was or what His commandments were."
"Exactly. Eighty three percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians while thirteen percent say they have no religion. In all fairness though; only four to ten percent are true Christians. My bible teacher put it this way. 'There are ten to maybe fifteen of you here that say you all are true Christians but out of the fifteen of you; only three will one day die being true Christians. That doesn't mean the other twelve aren't; that just means that everytime a struggle and a challenge arrives their way; only three people will have the most times where they turn back to God. The rest might turn back to God once in a while but then there will be a day where they turn away and say I will deal with these challenges no more. "
"Phewph. Well that was easy if I am being honest. What's next?"
"You already said it."
"I did? Oh yea. Piss, I did."
"Hey, no synonyms or street slang to hide what you're actually saying either."
"I got it. I got it. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in Vain."
"That's easy. Just don't use Jesus' name in front or behind of a curse word; or go to Him about very trivial irrelevant things in your life."
"Leo, that is a very misrepresentation and misunderstanding of what that command means. What it truly means is whenever you say or think of the word Jesus and words like Him then you do so in a respectful manner. If you're thrashing out hate and anger towards Him while saying His name in order to deter people away then that is an example of taking His name in vain. Basically, say His name with respect and don't say it with disrespect."
"How are we supposed to find a nail supporting that. It's not like we're going to walk up to someone who is having a bad day and they'll say JC."
"Are you sure about that?"
"What are you insuen….ahhh MotherFucker. Jesus Christ, man that hurt. Why did you have to stomp on my big toe?"
"Told you I could make those words come out of you. By the way, thanks for the key and I hope that you don't kiss your mother with that mouth."
"Zeke, there were way better ways to handle that commandment besides what you just did. As for you Leo; your journey ends here. Go home and think of what you've done."
"What? Zeke made me do it. Why don't you punish him?"
"Ohh, we will punish him, but nobody can make another do something. I don't care if you were demonstrating your knowledge of words to showcase what not to say or not. Whatever your reasons were; there was no need to show off."
"But!"
"I said go. Next time I see you I best be hearing apparition and not curses. Showing off to others just so that you can tell them what not to do will get you nowhere. I don't care if you're joking; telling someone else's story because they said it so you want to tell someone else exactly what that person said so you say the 'word' they said because well...it's their story anyways. I'm just retelling it to others. Even then you should not be doing that. I don't even want you insinuating...no...thinkin about those words. Hold every thought captive, says the Lord and don't even let it escape your mouth before God has dusted it to make sure it is clean and can come out. Now begone from me before my anger boils over and I have to do something in the sight of the Lord that I don't want too."
"Fine..I never wanted to come anyways."
"Brother, wait!!"
"No, I must go. Don't worry Zeke. Before long I will no longer be your brother!!"
"Leo!!!"
"No! Zeke, let him go."
"What do you think he meant by those last words?"
"Only God can know what is truly in his heart and He alone can bring Leo back to us. As for you…."
"Oh no."
"I got my eye on you. You are going to walk in-between us from now on. Hopper, take the reins and I'll take the rear while Zeke sits in the chair."
""W...whhh...what's the third commandment?"
"Ha, we have a good one. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Zeke, just be happy that tomorrow is Sunday and not today or else God's wrath would be on you and your household; this day."
"Ummm!! So how do we keep the Sabbath day holy?"
"I'm glad you asked because you have a lot to learn, little sheep.
"Most people think that keeping the Sabbath day holy means simply to rest like Jesus did; and not do any hard work on that day but it means a whole lot more. In fact; the Israelites and Hebrews thought the Sabbath that way until they saw God preaching and healing on that day. Now healing and performing miracles on that day was not accepted but listen to Jesus' response to their accusations. Now Jesus knew not to heal on the Sabbath, but when you have sick people coming to touch your robe twenty four seven; then it's hard to say no. Yes, Jesus sadly did turn away a lot of people when they asked to be healed, but again that is not talked about much. Actually most of the Bible is not talked about on a Sunday morning. One Sunday afternoon; Jesus saw a blind man come to Him and He immediately put mud on the man's eyes so that he could see. The next day the Pharisees saw Jesus do this so they had the blind man brought in and questioned. The Blind man answered all their questions truthfully and asked if he was indeed born blind; he said yes. They then had the blind man's parents summoned in so that they could confirm; but the parents were wiser and knew that if they said yes then they would be thrown out of the synagogue/town for hearsay and hypocrisy. That's why they said we know this man. He was indeed born blind but as far as who saved him we do not know. Ask him; for he is of age. Long story short the man kept retelling his story because the Pharisees wanted to trick Jesus but the man said you are disciples of Moses and I am a disciple of Moses but I also believe in God. Moses never healed a blind man so that means the one who was able to heal my blindness had to be directly from God. When they asked Jesus; Jesus said, 'As long as it is day we must do the work of Him who sent us. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
"That means that any hard work other than following Jesus should be held until tomorrow. That does not mean however that when people come knocking on your door saying they want to be healed that you should turn them away because 'The Sabbath is a day of rest and should only be used as such for singing, dancing, and praise, but nothing else.' So keeping the Sabbath day Holy does not mean simply to go to church; go home; and then rest. It also does not mean that if you don't go to church on Sunday then that means you can just rest all day. You see where I am going with this?"
"I think I'm getting it but how do we show that people are doing this wrong?"
"Follow the pastor!!"
"What?"
"Follow the pastor. After he gets done speaking; follow him back home and just observe what he does. Most people like my fam and I'm sure others too just go home and sleep because hey, isn't the Sabbath a day of rest? Idiots. Sunday is one of the only few days where you have the biggest congregation of believers under one roof at one time so why not use that to your advantage? Take the whole day and go around spreading the gospel and performing miracles because God says He is stronger in a church then just in an individual. I promise you that if churches did that every Sunday instead of just singing three songs as the norm; having a five minute break; and then a forty five minute to an hour sermon; ending around twelve o: clock; then not only would that church be stronger but there reach into the lives they touch would also increase. That is my challenge for churches today. Turn your two hour service into at most a half a day service and then watch the positive impact that God does through you."
"Shadow, look. A nail just appeared."
"Ahh!! Ahh!! Ahh!! Gimme that nail and any others that you have."
"You still don't trust me do you."
"Trust is not given, little sheep. Trust is earned meaning that you can lose it over and over again but you can also regain it over and over again. Let's keep this moving shall we?