A voice in the wilderness, calling out. Make straight the path. Open the gates.
A lone voice, crying out from a loner. Wearing animal skins and eating wild honey and locusts, quite the sight.
Crowds flocked to him, living in the rural lands, along a river, preaching a difficult message. Repent your sins, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.
2000 years later, a voice on the internet, calling out. Sin. Consume. Greed. Envy. Lust. Sex with no attachments, no consequences for our actions. Hedonistic and aggrandized.
A stranger on the street, crying out, make straight the path. Unsolicited advice, that The Way is difficult and few will make it. The voice implores that he comes with water but the one that comes after him comes with fire. Yawn.
Who, if any, are listening? Are we tuned out to messages not incoming on Snapchat, Instagram or X?
If the Baptist arrived today preparing the way for the Lord, would anyone notice? If his follower count wasn’t high, if he didn’t record a good reel, would you care? If the Baptist wasn’t an influencer, on all the hip podcasts, with endorsement deals, would he save a single soul?
We’ve never been more technologically advanced and we’ve never been so close to the verge of collapse. Western civilization, with our birth rates, will collapse. Western Civilization, with our moral compass lost, our faith in God dwindling, rampant immortality growing and aggrandized, would we pay any attention to a prophet? Our young barely pay attention to their dates they meet on Hinge, swiping for love and connection the same way they swipe for paper towels on Amazon.
As you grow older, you start to sense your mortality. Satori!
Satori is a Zen term for sudden enlightenment. In the West we might call it an “ah-ha” moment. My satori was sensing the coming of my mortality.
I take pride in my life and how I present myself. Warrior-Poet, but my time of being dangerous nears an end. Unpredictable yes, savvy and experienced, but raw power, the time draws near when I must leave the arena to younger men. Tick,tick,tick….
It came at the right time, and I heard John’s voice calling out. Hypocrite it shouted at me. Sinner.
I did not pray or listen to God’s wants of me. Somehow I felt blessed, but I didn’t deserve it. I had to make straight my path. I had to lose “proverbial” pounds to fit through a narrow gate. I had to find comfort in walking the harder road.
I’m not judging you. I’m not better than you. I’m trying to help you. If my mistakes can help you avoid your own, by all means take them from me and learn from them.
Don’t wait to hear the voice. Open your ears to it now. Reject modernism. Close ranks around your spouse, your children, the people that mean the most to you.
Reject abortion. It’s not a popular thing to stand against and you will lose friends, but it is murder of innocent life. It’s a terrible sin that society is trying to normalize. Don’t condemn the mother, just pray for one person to change their mind.
Work your job. Trade time for money. It’s not a sin to do honest work for honest wages.
You don’t need gender reveals, you don’t need destination weddings, you don’t need F-250’s or heavy debt. You don’t need adultery or porn.
Find beauty in humility. Small tasks done for the greater good. Make small your ego, your pride. Live within your means.
Come back to Church. Don’t be intimidated and harden not your heart.
The way isn’t complicated. We have lost our way. Don’t be afraid to turn off the road that our modern world wants you to walk. Leave the highway, find a quiet side street, and understand our time here is short and our time in heaven, God willing, is forever.
Satori!