Oh, there once was some nothing that said,
“I am nothing, just something you’ve read
or you’ve heard. That is all
and my tales are tall,
but with nothing your minds have been fed.”
Magical Nothing
Category: Prose
Short prose
Six Sentence Story: Blessed Are the Pure in Heart
During the homily Father Thomas said that if you want to see God make sure you have a pure heart. William, a freshman in high school, didn’t like it when Aunt Cecelia poked him from the pew behind them when it looked like he wasn’t paying attention, which he often wasn’t, as she did just then.
After Mass as Father Thomas stood at the entrance of the church ready to shake hands and chat with anyone who was not trying to rush out unnoticed William stopped to ask, Father Thomas, can we see God if we look at someone whose heart is pure? Father Thomas thought and then answered, Those pure in heart may be the main way that God lets those with impure hearts get a peek at what they’re missing.
Outside William’s parents – surprised by their son’s sudden interest in such matters – and Aunt Cecelia – who realized her nephew was getting a little too old to poke – felt it best not to say anything further.
Years later recalling Father Thomas after admitting decades of mistakes, William got the peek at what he was missing that he had been promised when he finally opened his eyes.
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Denise offers the prompt word “rush” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Six Sentence Story: Jeremy’s Demon Infestation Problem
When Jeremy entered his home the demons scrambled. They looked like those fat cockroaches that ran about when he turned on the light. He stepped on some squishing them nicely, but the more he squished the more they kept coming.
He’d admit that when they first arrived they looked cute and he enjoyed playing with them, but he never thought they would overrun the place like a huge forest fire starting from a careless camp site.
What was poor Jeremy to do?
After fits of indecision because those critters still looked so cute, he finally realized that if he didn’t clean house from top to bottom inside and out they would completely take over.
Denise offers the prompt word “fire” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Poetry Slam at the SSC&B: The Hallway
Go down three granite steps and you will find
the Gatekeeper who’ll surely let you in.
Once you’re inside your stories may begin
to tell themselves and leave you far behind.
The others will have stories they’ll unwind
and you may test how true those tall tales spin.
Though some may even leave a tear or grin
they all will open doors inside your mind.
There is a hallway, too, that’s deep and dark,
and should you choose to wander that odd way
it only asks that you respect its night.
With every word you speak there goes a spark
but many sparks lead many folk astray
and all those led astray will need true light.
Denise offers the prompt word “word” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories and Poetry Slam.
Six Sentence Story: It Rained Until the Joy Came Out
Just to be here is a miracle even in the rain. To love someone while you’re here living your miracle is like putting a cherry on top of the whipped cream resting on top of a cherry vanilla milk shake.
But I don’t have anyone, Sally said.
You always have Someone, if you want Him, the Spirit Who made her His temple responded.
Sally agreed as she felt the rain stop and the joy come out.
Now if I added that the next frog Sally kissed in desperation served the function of her Mister Right, she would have missed Matthew, but what then would have become of that frog?
Denise offers the prompt word “function” to be used in this Week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Six Sentence Story: How Things Got Complicated
Joe was Beth’s backup plan when she spent the weekend with Mark not knowing that she was Mark’s backup plan, because Jane, Mark’s plan, had more backup plans than her scheduling software could consistently manage.
Eventually Joe found out about Mark and Beth found out about Jane.
Then Joe replaced Beth with Kate and Mark, unsure what to do, figured he better get rid of Beth to avoid conflict with Joe which all happened about the time Jane decided to get rid of him anyway, because – well – because everyone was all of a sudden becoming too miserable for her to live with.
And then things got worse, like an out-of-control forest fire, even for Jane whose remaining backup plans found out they were backups when she could no longer keep their names straight. And then it got so bad that six sentences were not enough to do it justice.
And that’s how things got complicated.
Denise offers the prompt word “fire” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Six Sentence Story: The Quiet Hours
After I stood to say goodbye to Lou and the tall, thin man walked him to the door, I sat down to finish my coffee noticing that the quiet hours were beginning when the Gatekeeper would play music outside the Six Sentence Cafe & Bistro. Thinking of that new dancer, Holli Spirit, at Lou’s club got me wondering if I could work her into the storyline somehow until I heard a snort come from the voice.
“Weren’t you the one running my mouth like it was on fire when I was talking to Lou?” I asked him.
You didn’t shut me up, did you?
“I almost did.”
I know, but what counts is you didn’t.
Denise offers the prompt word “fire” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Biblical Patriarchy Against the Feminization of the Church
My gut feeling on the patriarchy is that it is biblical and my gut feeling on the feminization of the church is that it is not biblical. However, I didn’t understand what the issues really were nor would I have been able to justify those gut feelings until I listened to some of Mike Richter’s videos at The Heroes’ Forge. The theme of The Heroes’ Forge is “Men want to be heroes, and women want to be with heroes.”
The history of the feminization of the Church as Mike Richter outlines it in the video below begins with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1848. Today, the feminized alternatives to biblical patriarchy fall under terms like the covertly feminized variations of “complementarianism” or the overtly feminized variations of “egalitarianism”.
What makes the various positions of complementarianism and egalitarianism unbiblical are verses, such as, Ephesians 3:14-15, Acts 2:29, Hebrews 7:4, Matthew 6:9, Genesis 2:7, 22, 1 Timothy 2:12-14, Genesis 18:19, Ephesians 5:22-24, and Matthew 7:16. Mike Richter refers to these verses in the video below beginning at 13:48 showing how they stand as a rebuke against the feminized church.
This Is a Test
Are you defensive about those verses above when they refer to “patriarch” or God as “Father” or when they talk about a wife’s submission to her husband or a husband’s responsibility as head of his family or that there are consequences when these verses are ignored that are seen in the fruit of a family’s life? Do you realize that these verses are not optional?
If you need to repent, now is always the best time to do so.
The feminization of the Church has much in common with Darwinian and big bang evolution: They are all a corruption of Genesis 1-11.
They were introduced over the last few hundred years to undermine biblical Christianity while fooling Christians who followed them into thinking that they were still “biblical” or still “full gospel”. Many of these now Christian-in-name-only feminized therapy organizations capitulated to become the institutional “church” we see today.
Below Mike Richter interviews David Edgington. It is a continuation of the topics covered above.
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Six Sentence Story: From Death To Life
When Aurelia returned to the Six Sentence Cafe & Bistro she joined the red-headed writer at a booth and then they wandered to wherever with the Bartender. With the men and women at separate locations the men could have a serious conversation (and perhaps even the women as well, but I can’t imagine what they might be talking about even though I could hear them doing a lot of it).
On the male side of the room Lou and I, thanks to prodding by the tall, thin man, were fast becoming good friends with Lou even inviting us to go with him to his Bottom of the Sea Strip Club and Lounge, but I told Lou that I’d rather read a paper on what amino acids and nucleobases were found on the asteroid Bennu than go to a strip club. To elaborate – although I don’t think it helped – I said, Long ago when I was young and stupid I found myself lying on the floor while a woman having only words at her disposal frantically commanded life back into my motionless body and a voice advised me not to try to regain control, but merely trust that I would according to her words even though I witlessly ingested the drugs she wishes now she never brought.
How long has that voice been watching over you? Lou asked.
Now that that incident slipped back into my memory it must have been – forever.
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Denise offers the prompt word “slip” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Six Sentence Story: The Voice Talks To Lou, But – Well – You’ll Find Out
After the voice rescued me from Lou’s cloud of demonic darkness, the tall, thin man figured I might as well get to know Lou in person and so we all sat at a table with the red-headed writer (though Aurelia had to leave when her phone told her to stop lollygagging and get back to work). The chitchat took some time to unravel its yakkity yarns making a way to my invisible friend, but when it did I had to concede to every skeptic at the table – which was all of us – that I never actually saw the voice nor did I even know his name.
The Bartender brought coffee and desserts and the chitchat resumed until it ended abruptly when Lou, wanting to get to the bottom of the mystery without wasting any more time, insisted that I, Tell that silent voice of yours to say something. I then heard the voice speak one word, Something, the minimum that Lou asked him to say.
From the expressions on the faces of those sitting with me at the table, I realized that none of them heard the voice and so I told them what the voice said. Looking at Lou look back at me I could tell he thought I was too far gone, too mental, too whatever and therefore harmless no matter how hard his terrified cloud of demonic darkness tried to convince him otherwise.
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Denise offers the prompt word “yarn” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 