Masks

 I never understood why anyone would give serious heed to anything an actor said. I understand the celebrity angle of it, but at the same time, these people earn a living pretending to be other people. They are professional mask wearers, imitating mannerisms, accents, cadence, vocal pitches, twitches, and all manner of idiosyncrasies to make you believe they are someone else. The ones that do it the best even get awarded for it.

If you spend your life perfecting the wearing of a mask, why would I believe that you are being honest and forthright those thirty seconds you’re trying to sell me something I don’t really need for money I don’t really have?

For less than a dollar a day, you, too, can have that winning smile! Well, thank you for doing the math for me never was C list actor who played homicide victim number 2 in an episode of TJ Hooker, but that’s still $360 a year. Throw in the cost of shipping and handling, and you’re creeping up on four hundred bucks I can use to feed my kids for a week. Okay, maybe not a week. They’re growing like weeds, and more people are getting priced out of buying actual food, but I refuse to feed my children I Can’t Believe It’s No Meat, even though everyone can and does believe it’s not meat. You’re not fooling anyone. No offense intended to the artificial meat eaters out there, but real meat doesn’t jiggle like jello.

One of the metaphors Jude uses when discussing the ungodly, a word he returns to time and again, is that they are raging waves of the sea foaming up their own shame. Foam is created on waves when they’ve built up enough energy and momentum to crash violently against the shore. Those same waves can come in soft and calm, rolling on the breeze, but come a storm, a gale wind, or something that adversely affects them, and rage they will.

I repeat it often because it’s true and warrants repeating: I’ve been in ministry for a long time. I started at twelve, and I’m pushing fifty like I was Sisyphus with something to prove. I’ve seen ministries, ministers, churches, pastors, and shooting stars come and go, I’ve seen movements swell up and die down, and I’ve seen the rapture being prognosticated dozens of times only to see the dates come and go, so I have what some might call reasonable experience when it comes to the things of which I speak.

Some people seem perfectly normal, cool, calm, and collected until you tap on their pressure point. Once that happens, it’s as though you flipped a switch, and the smiling person before you turns into a snarling, finger-wagging harpy, screaming about how you’re not supposed to judge, everyone makes mistakes, plenty of people do worse, and so on.

You get blindsided by the reaction because what you said, how you said it, and the context in which it was said did not merit such a response. She asked if abortion was wrong, and you said yes, you believed it was murder, then she went off.

An opinion was sought, one was proffered, and suddenly, you’re doing your best not to snap the finger wagging in your face at the second knuckle.

You can discuss a hundred different sins with the selfsame individual while they remain dispassionate and logical, but hit upon that one for which they harbor shame, that one which still has them shackled to it like a lead weight they have to drag around all day, and their reaction will be swift and violent.

Just remember, it’s not you; it’s their sin. It’s not you; it’s their shame. That is what is fueling their anger. That is what is fueling their vitriol. Some people take it personally and react in kind. There’s no reason for it. Their sin and shame have so consumed these people that half the time, they’re mad with uncontrollable rage. Protect yourself and defend yourself if you must, but don’t sink down to their level because you are not a raging wave foaming up your shame.

We’ve all seen the videos, especially at pro-life protests, with people so out of their minds that they scream incoherent things while spittle is flying everywhere. That’s what Jude was talking about, and it’s another telltale sign one could readily look out for.

The clouds without water among us are big fans of the raging waves because as long as they have them on their side, they feel the raging waves will shut down anyone who opposes them personally. Tell a Beth Moore fan that she’s a cloud without water, and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

There’s a codependency between the angry contingent of society and those who would profit from the angry contingent of society. There’s an unwritten agreement of sorts wherein you don’t call their sin a sin, and they’ll defend you loudly and enthusiastically even when you happen to be Joel Osteen and have not a clue about the deeper things of God.

Smile on the weekends, cry on the weekdays, muddle through, and be positive, and everything will work out. You’ll see. Even if it doesn’t, Joel will never hear of it, and the raging waves defending him will silence anyone that tries.

There’s a reason it’s so hard to get through to some people. It’s not an accident; it is purposeful because the last thing the enemy wants is for someone in darkness to see the light. The last thing he desires is for someone who is lost to be found, redeemed, and reborn.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.