The Writer

The Writer

The bed had grown terribly uncomfortable. Don had tossed and turned now for three hours. Grudgingly, he rolled to his left side and stared at the clock that had become his enemy. Now, three in the morning and intensely agitated, he rose silently, to not wake his wife and tread softly to the extremely small room he had especially built for his writing studio in the hall.

In this enclosed space, that had its own separate heating and cooling system and virtually soundproof from the rest of the house, he dropped into his chair and stared at the blank screen of his computer.

“Writer’s block,” he muttered angrily. “Why now?” 

Don had an assigned article, “Disturbing Trends in the Pulpit,” looming only two days away, and he couldn’t afford to be late. His primary financial breadbox, Christian Support Weekly Magazine’s regular assignment had to be completed and he was at a complete loss to how to write the fifteen-hundred-word article.

With no sleep on Saturday night and being expected to be in the Sunday service and Sunday School, which he was not prepared for, he struggled to grasp the gist of either requirement. He had considered calling in sick to his substitute teacher, so he could focus on this article, but that would be a lie, he wasn’t sick.

He considered other options of contacting ghostwriters on the internet, there were a plethora of Christian ghostwriters, who knew nothing of his writing style or his standard of writing. If he employed one of them, he would have to read, approve, and possibly rewrite the entire article or sift through many different articles to find one or more that suited him, and still be required to rewrite the entire article, not to mention, he would have to pay for their services.

With no suitable options, he continued to stare at the empty screen. Time had become a formidable foe and he was losing. Looking up at the wall before him, the plaque his son had given him for Christmas slapped him abruptly in the face. Time Waits For No Man! That used to be a joy to see. It was inspiring and kept him focused, but not this time.  It was an insult and a bold reminder of his circumstances.

It seemed an eternity had passed when his wife knocked on the door, “Honey, we need to get ready for Church. We need to be there on time. Pastor Whittaker announced last Sunday that he had a very special message for this morning and you do have Sunday School to teach.”

“Okay Hon,” he answered as nicely as he could.

She knocked again softly. “Having trouble this morning? Coffee is ready.”

Rolling back from the desk, Don stood and stretched. It was now eight-thirty. IStill in pajamas, exhausted, and after five and a half hours, the screen was still blank.

Showering and dressing, he went to the kitchen for breakfast and a cup of coffee.

“If I am late with this article, I could lose several assignments and lots of money,” Don explained to his wife of thirty years. “We cannot afford to take that kind of financial blow. I have run into a brick wall. I can’t get a direction on the subject material to make this article new and exciting. All I can come up with is a terrible repeat of something that everybody else has written. What can possibly be new and educational if it has all been covered before?”

“Let’s pray about this,” she smiled as she placed eggs and toast before him. She poured the coffee and sat down beside him, in an orchid dress with delicate lace around the hem, sleeves, and neckline. Her face radiated as she tipped her cup to sip the coffee. “Besides, how many times has God given you the perfect story when you least expected it? Remember, they gave you a bonus for the last article because it was above and beyond their expectations.”

“But this is different,” Don began to explain. “This is not about the warm and fuzzy feelings of an inspiring nonconfrontational topic. This article is a blunt realization of what is going wrong in the churches today.”

“I am sure that God's aware of what is going wrong in the churches today. You just have to let Him direct you in His ways and in His time,” she replied firmly but with the finesse that only she could get away with.

“I sure hope you’re right, because this article pays well. And I know that there are at least two other writers that were given the same assignment. Mine has to be better than theirs to make the cut.”

“Let’s let God be God. He will take care of it,” she continued with a broad smile, “His Word says that He will never leave us of forsake us, and I am confident that He won’t start now.”

They finished their breakfast, sipped down the last of the coffee and walked to the car.

Sunday School turned out much better than Don had expected. His substitute teacher was prepared to take the lead and did so with a superb presentation.

As everybody settled in for the morning service, Don just couldn’t get excited or involved in the song service. He stood when he was supposed to stand, sat when he was supposed to sit and even walked around greeting everyone when he was supposed to, but couldn’t remember who he had greeted and who he hadn’t when he returned to his pew again.  He was disconnected from the normal events, and it was just a dazed formality that he could have done blindfolded.

“I told you last Sunday that I had a very special message for this morning,” Pastor Whittaker announced as he stepped into the pulpit. “In fact, this message is so important, I will start a series of messages, to make the impact in your lives like God has impacted mine and told me that I should make this top priority.

“It is paramount that we grasp what I am about to share, because it has been affecting and infecting each and every one of us here at Calvary Gospel Fellowship, and the Christian faith.”

The congregation grew silent for a moment then the whispering started.

“Before you all get to speculating what I am talking about, let’s get right into the meat of the situation and the Word,” the pastor interrupted.

“There are teachings going around the world and they have been since about 387 A.D. and in the early 1930’s. BThese teachings started out with great opposition but over the years, it has grown and even prospered.

“We will be covering these separately and in great depth. I would venture to say that most of you will find it quite difficult to accept what I am about to present on these teachings. These teachings have ingrained themselves into the doctrines of the many of man’s denominational churches and have evolved to what modern Christianity has become in the twenty-first century.”

Pastor Whittaker continued to introduce the message of the morning but few heard what he had to say. Whispers grew louder to become audible murmurs. Conversations grew slightly louder than whispers to the point the pastor had to stop and get the attention of everyone.

“All in favor of going straight to Hell,” he said somewhat softly, “STAND UP,” he said with much authority.

Ninety-nine percent of the congregation stood to their feet like mind numb robots. Snickers rolled across the sanctuary from those who were paying attention and remained seated. The look on the faces of those who stood to their feet, about one hundred and fifteen people, was classic. They looked around, confused at what they had just voted on. They were completely befuddled and even embarrassed as Pastor Whittaker continued.

“Now that I have your attention again, let me continue. You can be seated.

“You see, this is exactly what is wrong with modern Christianity as we know it. Nobody is paying attention and thus, are probably headed straight to Hell and are happy about it.

“Let’s begin with the first mistruth that has swept through a majority of the Christian faith. But first, let me ask a question to start this off. With a show of hands, how many of you believe in eternal security?”

Murmuring began to escalate as people all over the sanctuary raised their hand and then put it down. But one lone person raised his hand and kept it raised.

“Yes,” Brother Williams,” Pastor Whittaker recognized.

“Correct me if I am wrong, Pastor” Brother Williams began in a strong, deep voice, “but isn’t that what you have been teaching since you arrived and took over the pastorate seven years ago? Isn’t that in our denominational statement of faith?”

“It is,” Pastor Whittaker stated boldly, “But as I prayed and earnestly examined the Word of God, I saw a terrible error in the doctrine that I have been teaching. It is the doctrine of man and devils.”

More gasps were heard but the congregation remained attentive.

“Augustine introduced a ten-point statement of faith that established the doctrine of the protestant concept of eternal security or once saved always saved as some have come to call it.

“The first five points is where modern day Calvinism originated. The last five points are where modern day Catholicism originated. So, if we look at all ten of these points, we will see that one man invented what we could call the Protestant religion and the Catholic Religion.

“I want to clarify, that it is not that he necessarily invented the Protestant and Catholic religion per se, he just made the teachings readily acceptable. It is a very deep study and I want to focus first on the Calvinist view.

“If we look at man’s doctrinal view, eternal security is very pleasing. It satisfies the need to feel secure and free of the fear of rejection. Rejection from God is the most horrible rejection that could possibly exist. So, to avoid the possibility of being rejected by God, Augustine and later, John Calvin, introduced eternal security.

“Many denominational churches have searched for a Biblical or a scriptural standard in which to build this doctrinal statement and have spent years trying to perfect it.

“If you were taught all your life that the sky was orange and not blue, you would believe that the sky was orange. Much like evolution, that is taught from the very early days in public schools, these students who are now adults are now believing that evolution is true, in spite what the Word of God and the truth of creation teaches.

“John 3:15-18 is one of the major Scriptures used to support the eternal security doctrine, as you all know. There are others but instead of teaching what the false doctrines say, I want to focus on the Truth of the Word of God.

“Like I said earlier, some of you won’t agree with this but if you can present an argument that will convince me otherwise, I will adhere to what I feel God is leading me to. If I am wrong, I will be the first to stand before you all, apologize and repent.

“Let me preface this subject with this statement. I believe in the eternal security of the believer.”

“Amen,” came strong voices throughout the congregation.

“When you turn away from God,” the pastor continued with vigor, “when you turn away from Jesus as Lord and Savior and you deny that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, then you by your own words and actions step out of God’s hand.

“Just like if you were lost at sea and drowning in the ocean and a person found you and threw you a lifesaver donut, or whatever they are called,” Pastor Whittaker chuckled, “you grab it and commence to get pulled to safety, because you saw your need of the donut and you grabbed it, you could consider yourself saved. When your feet were firmly planted on the ship’s deck, you were in fact saved.

“Now, if you purposely jump off the ship after being saved from immanent death, back into the raging sea and perish, you cannot say that God pushed you off the ship, you cannot say that God rejected you and you cannot say that you didn’t know what you were doing. You were once lost but was found and delivered from death, but because you rejected life, you plunged yourself out of the saving hand and perished in the abyss.

“God will in no way, cast you out of His hand and no man can force you out of God’s hand. However, if you step or jump out of it of your own volition or by your own choice, you do so at your own peril.

“In the Book of Matthew and Chapter Twenty-five,” he paused, “consider the ten virgins that were chosen to be married? Remember that there were five that were wise and five that were foolish? Were not all ten chosen to be the bride of the groom?

“They were all in the same room, waiting for their groom to come get them. If the five foolish would have gone prepared, they would not have missed the wedding. If they would have just stayed in the room, even though their lamps would have gone out, they could have ripped the bed sheets into strips to serve as wicks for their lamp and kept it lit, even if it was dim and smoky, they most likely would have been there when the groom came by.

“However, they chose to leave and get oil because they were not prepared to go the distance. The groom did not cast them out. The five wise did not cast them out. They left of their own accord. They stepped out of the marriage contract by leaving the room.”

The congregation was evenly split. Some gazed in fascination and others gawked in disbelief. Bible pages were rustling all over the sanctuary as people searched the Word to either prove what the pastor was saying or prove that he was wrong.

Don sat there mesmerized in what God was showing him, concerning the disturbing trends that were troubling the pulpit. He grabbed his notebook and started scribbling notes as fast as he could.

He glanced a Dora. Her facial expression of shock was evident, but he was unsure if it was shock of belief or disbelief.

He watched many in the sanctuary as they nodded in agreement or wagged their fingers in condemnation. But calling this message, a special message, was a great misnomer, this was a ground-breaking discovery.

This was just what he needed to inspire the article that had to be written. What greater disturbance could possibly be addressed? But, Don pondered to himself, what was the second topic that he wanted to broach? Could he get the magazine editors to postpone the article or could he get them to expand it into a short series?

He could hear Pastor Whittaker speaking but his mind was racing and not paying full attention. He knew that he could get the CD after the service. The five-dollar donation would be an investment rather than an expense.

 “Now, turn to Romans Eleven,” Pastor Whittaker announced. “Verses sixteen through twenty-four. Correct me if I am wrong, but were the branches that were broken off not a part of the tree and holy? Were they cast off because they were holy and needed more room for the wild branch to be grafted in? Not at all! They were cast off because they rejected the tree and the root in which they were growing.

“They were cast off because of their own doing, not the cruel judgement of the holy tree or root, but the unbiased response of the holy tree and root. They chose to become a wild and unclean branch. Should they repent, they will gladly be grafted back in.

“Galatians One, verses six and seven,” the pastor continued with authority. “I know that time is getting away from us and there are many more Scriptures that I need to cover but I want to look briefly at this for just another moment.

“Paul says that he marvels how some of the Galatian church are so quickly removed from the grace of God by another gospel and are coerced away from the faith by those who pervert the Truth.

“How can you be removed from a place that you have never been? How can you be drawn away from the Truth, when you have never known the Truth? How can you be drawn away from Christ when you have never been with Him?

“Truth is,” the pastor paused, “you can’t. You cannot be taken out of a place where you have never been. You cannot backslide as the Scripture puts it, if you have never been to that point. You cannot get a divorce if you have never been married. You cannot pervert the Gospel if you have no knowledge of the Gospel.”

Across the congregation, it was like a light appeared. Heads that were nodding negatively previously were now looking more agreeable to this new revelation that they were hearing. There were still some dissenters, but not near as many.

As Pastor Whittaker spoke and began his closing statements, Don again turned to his notebook that was inundated with scribbled notes as he tried to keep up with his thoughts and his pastor’s comments.

As Don and Dora drove home after the service, the conversation was directed toward the message of the morning. Dora had a somewhat adverse opinion and Don was rather ecstatic about his newfound doctrinal standard and his new article. Despite their differing opinions, they were both excited to see what their study at home would reveal.

After lunch, Don headed straight to his room, he sat at his computer and began pecking rapidly as words flowed across the screen like water through a funnel. The more he wrote, the better he felt about his article and the newly introduced “old” doctrine.

As he delved into the Word of God, he presented both sides of the argument masterfully but leaned heavily toward his brand-new doctrinal standard.

At seventeen-hundred words, he proofread it and emailed it to his editor. Within the hour, he got an email back with a promise of follow-up articles concerning this topic. In fact, the email read, this could become a monthly column with his by-line.