“14 Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. 19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” 20 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” (2 Tim 2:14-26 ESV)

Some have a little less to live on. Coaxed to grin and bear it, coaxed to give without reward, no recompense or honorarium, some still walk tantalizingly close to Victorious Things, to that which makes others even jealous, yet only a little to live on… only a pittance to humor and distract like a mobile in the sky.

Because Man lives in more than calm retreat and reflection upon his or her honorariums. Man lives even when a mob society robs and steals, mocks and gesticulates meanness in the general direction, grabs and commandeers without warning. Seizes and coaxes to do “a little more work ‘round here”. Where some bill by the hour, others are mocked should they even so suggest.

Yet the cliche image, that some starving poverty-stricken or resource-thin young lover of life does look heavenward and see or feel what no food nor satiety can afford, an Embrace from the Father, a mystical Spirit-Realm from the Son, a warm Alright and A-Okay from the Spirit. The Spirit who feeds these impoverished on some deeper level, one no sane person would choose for themselves, but all things told with equanimity and sooth, they Earn Salvation in the trenches. 

So, too, the forebearers of glad tidings, those who spilt the beans and told the Promises widely and with uncontrivable gumption and sincerity. To these… it all started as just a little innocent Gossip, but became a personal license—“No, we don’t laugh at your joking revelations… we need you to step up yourself”—to reign and to Represent, to have scarcely time for a day’s pondering, or at least so therein to be still Blinded and going on years minus some deep or intricate Reveal: Oh, so the innocent one was the sinner, and vice-versa. Oh, so the gladsome Exchange and Peace-laden Family, is on the devil’s doorstep with falling to pieces and crumbling at the simple atheistic Touch of the uneducated or those who never earned.

So Christian Witness teaches to love on and forgive All, because their perspective, a new one to us, perhaps, is just as marketable and copacetic, as our own more self-justifying ones. It was a smorgasbord, a buffet of personality types and sadly the newly minted soul pulls trump card on those long in the game: they’ve “read the book”; they’ve “heard the distant applause, the cheer, the crowds prophesied and Vivid”. Yet in no wise do we lose heart: many rejected the Gossip; many said, “Ha, that’s my man or woman you’re referring to… I’ll wait and let her or him speak for themselves”. Such was the Prophet Samuel’s word waited upon in the anointing of a new child King. Such was the Christ’s Word cause for reflection and Respect, for keeping a respectful distance on some spirit-realm, of knowing Word made Flesh and Dwelling Amongst us.

Their perspective, it is aided and abetted by Simple Sincere Integrity: they mean what they say, their horror or sense of being once-slighted always-slighted, is true; to such as these the calming Word of Christ Came, to minister to the wild-haired and deliriously-demon-possessed ones. And those rubrics of another culture, a culture within a culture, where “the woman is always to have our sympathy” as if the misogyny of Scripture still echoed in church halls today: these things vary from one culture to another, in some the women—Amazon-like—rule. In all, the poor and dispossessed perhaps still always have an Escape Valve, some way they rest not delirious at night.

The Scriptures are about an event called Coming to Christ. The Scriptures record His Words as sacrosanct and Meaningful, Invitational, non-Gossipy coming together words. We are not going to be tossed out in the judgment; we must therefore pick up the phone and do the dastardly and hard deeds. Even as we ourselves stand convicted: couldn’t we have made such-and-so phone call ourselves in years past? Where was that solemn Day of Prayer wherein the deeper dynamic, always rooted in a family’s original sin, was revealed? And why, upon seeing the horror film, didn’t we chirp up and chime in, with some correctives? Well, because people in their pride and pomp simply Will Not Listen, until doomsday is knocking at their door. They have their “favorites” and their desire to “level the playing field”… even with Atheism. So atheists run the church for a season: brilliant. As long as no personal gripe is playing out, as long as it is a rebellion and reformation akin to that of near-atheist Christ. Who had to discover for Himself what God the Father was saying to His prophets and anointed Kings. Who simply could not go half-way or lukewarm on Religion.