12/28/2018
New audience..
Coven Or Covenant
Not again. They audibly groaned when he entered the building. Troublemaker. Loose cannon. Please God, not again. And church was going so well. Attendance was up. Offerings reached new peaks. No recent sexual scandals, publicized anyway. Life was good. Why, after his last tearful rebuke about having no spiritual moorings, they had even started occasionally quoting, more often misquoting, the Bible.
The hapless CEO shepherd didn’t dare rebuke him openly. The response would sting. The Broken Man, his birth name forgotten, limped up the isle leaning on his walking stick, and sat down as if waiting. The suddenly shaken shepherd of Success Life Church, Inc., knew from painful experience they were about to be uncomfortably confronted with the Holy One of Israel. Again.
Why wouldn’t he just go away?
The elders had a prepped a tactical response should he ever dare again darken their doors. Suddenly, up on the theater view screen, his photo appeared like a mock mug shot; front view and side view as if he were a criminal. It said UNWANTED in black letters and listed his crime of spiritual arrogance and always causing trouble. A few people snickered but most sat in squeamish stone cold silence.
Why wouldn’t he just go away?
A woman's voice taunted, “Are you here to cause even more trouble?”
The Broken Man arose and, echoing with the dreadful authority of the ancient prophets, answered. “I am not the one who troubles Israel, oh king. It is you and your ministry assassination, oops, association who brought about this spiritual drought by loving money over God, by feeding yourselves and your pleasure-loving piggish wives; and you’re traded truth for the love and approval of men. And sadly, your people love to have it so.”
The thoroughly unamused steely-eyed Mrs. CEO, Senior Shepherdess, impeccably dressed, manicured nails unsheathed, surgically enhanced breasts heaving, wearing a breathlessly beautiful strand of pearls, jumped to her feet as if ready to rumble. She retorted, “Why you.. you… trouble maker! How dare you? NOBODY rebukes our ministry CEO!” She charged to the front with such rage she stumbled, breaking her strand of precious pearls. She gasped in horror as pearls fell and scattered beneath the chairs.
The Broken Man used the confusion of the moment and limped to the staging area walking through those scrambling for the spilled pearls. With a wry smile, he said, “Thank you for that prophetic introduction, Mrs. CEO. I’ve come to tell you a parable.” And the CEO sighed and simply sat down on his golden elder chair watching mortified as the entitled wives hunted, grunted and squealed, searching for fallen pearls like pigs seeking delicate truffles.
“Like so many of God’s servants I was unjustly pilloried with false accusation and driven out from this very church. You maligned and falsely accused me, driving me finally to the Cross. I prayed for understanding asking for a black and white answer to this lament: God, why? What destroyed my life, ministry and reputation?”
"Like St. Peter on the rooftop, I was in prayer when suddenly a billboard appear in my mind with the answer. The board was solid white with stark black lettering. It was a literal black and white answer. It read simply: MANIPULATION IS A FORM OF WITCHCRAFT.”
Amid the fallen pearls the room fell funeral silent from guilt and dread as the prosecution continued.
“Recently, the Spirit showed me, well, like two identical, umm, something like white marble p***c baths like the ancients Greeks and Romans used. The bathhouse on the right had a pool of gentle flowing waters, clean and clear as crystal. It was beautiful.”
“The people, and there weren’t very many, were dressed in white robes of righteousness. They washed each other, served each other while actually preferring one another, even helping each other drink, especially those too weak to drink for themselves. Some even swam in the gentle flow of this divine river and no wonder, ‘There is a river which flows which makes glad the city of God.’ There was no bullying, manipulation, threatening, and no selfish ambition. The whole scene was marked by simplicity and love crowned by the presence of the most Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “By this will all men know you are my disciples that you love one another.”
He paused and asked quietly, “Are you known by this?” And in the deafening silence he continued. “This first kingdom is branded by the godly word COVENANT.”
“Now contrast the other bath… it was vile, filthy like a broken toilet kept in use but overflowing and unflushable. The water had stopped flowing long ago. It was black, putrid and stagnant. The pool reminded me of a cauldron or an unclean pig trough. Its filthy, poisoned waters were guarded by a wolf pack of entitled, religiously titled elites. “‘You want a drink?’ they taunted, ‘It will cost you everything! We are God’s gatekeepers. You come through us or you don’t come at all!”
“Smiling, snarling people driven by selfish ambitious were trampling one another, warring for prestige and market share to build profitable, personal kingdoms with His blood while the flock languished from exposure, hunger and thirst. This kingdom was marked by self, slander, reviling, lying and malicious manipulation. The true healing waters of life had ceased to flow here, for they were as ‘damned’ as the people, for a different spirit was at work here, an unholy spirit, which was nothing but defiling satanic witchcraft,” he said.
“This other competing kingdom is branded by word similar to COVENANT but it is a dark, ungodly imitation of the true. It is called a kingdom of… COVEN.”
Palpable shock.
“Covenant or Coven; two competing kingdoms, one true, one false, one of Christ, the other anti-Christ.” His voice broken, his eyes blazing, he asked, “Which kingdom marks you?... Now come out of her and touch not the unclean thing!”
And the Broken Man turned, fixing his eyes on the disbelieving, slack-jawed CEO shepherd, and said, “I have knocked at this door for the last time. Enjoy this illegitimate kingdom you have cobbled together while you can because even that which you so foolishly think you have will soon be taken away from you.” The audience gasped as the CEO jumped to his feet and thundered, “You’re just jealous of me!” The Broken Man didn’t dignify the accusation with a response but used his cane to strike away a fallen pearl from his path and limped towards the exit. A quiet handful arose and followed after him.
He finally and forever went away
The panicked CEO, ever mindful of his need to feed, thought quickly. He flashed his famous, well-practiced mesmerizing smile and said, “Now that we’ve heard from the devil, you know, the ree…ligious – don’t you just hate religion, amen? - let’s move on! Why, I’ve got a prophecy from God…”
And the crowd began to thaw as conviction waned, his beguiling, devilish smile drawing them back, and they were soon laughing at his jokes, and the floor-show came to life, and the stage light-loving Mrs. CEO, clutching a handful of fallen pearls, jumped to the stage and began throwing her pearls into the squealing audience oblivious of the absence of the greater Pearl now gone from their midst. She yelled, “Com’on ladies, get the band rocking, get your flesh jumping, let’s jump-start revival!…” as the darkness they worshiped and loved began descending …
And the handful of outsiders who left Coven in search of Covenant asked the Broken Man, “How do we find the true kingdom of God?” He smiled, “Fear not little flock. You find the kingdom by finding the King Himself in your prayer closet and through His Word…” And suddenly his cane transformed into a shepherds staff, and resplendent light began to bath them as He opened their seeking eyes, revealing Himself…
Jeremiah was right. "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.”
Isaiah 55:1 Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Bryan Hupperts
© 2000 - 2014
