Crossroads At the Day of Bapticost

by Jesse Steele

it because I like it.

  Jesus: To each his own. But do you know what’s especially strange about this?

  Alexander: What?

  Jesus: The author of this script obviously knows enough about Star Trek that he can have you talking about it, but has written my lines so it looks like God isn’t a Treker-fan?

  Alexander: Maybe that’s because he doesn’t want God to look like a geek.

  Jesus: The author of this script couldn’t make me look like a geek if he tried.

  Alexander: He’s a very creative author though. I really have to hand it to him.

  Jesus: But I’d just take all the credit. Who do you think created Creativity, anyways?

  Alexander: Okay. You win.

  Jesus: I already won. I finished first place, two thousand years ago.

  Alexander: I want to talk about Joshua.

  Jesus: He won three thousand years ago.

  Alexander: Why did he win?

  Jesus: Because he obeyed me.

  Alexander: You gave him favor because he obeyed what You commanded.

  Jesus: No. He gave himself favor because he obeyed what I commanded.

  Alexander: How does that work?

  Jesus: My commands make sense—and not just cents, but dollars.

  Alexander: I was always told that when we obey You, You show us favor.

  Jesus: I had favor on you when I gave you my commands, the secrets to prosperity, which would direct the funds, not just for repayment of your debt, but also your Life and success.

  Alexander: So, Your commands aren’t a way of testing our willingness to obey You?

  Jesus: Why would you helping yourself by obeying my commands be a test of your willingness to obey me?

  Alexander: Because Your commands don’t make very much sense and they are so difficult to follow.

  Jesus: You think that way because you don’t know the Power of my Word. My commands make sense and Joshua had no problem following them because he saw how they would lead him straight through prosperity and on to victory that comes in the end.

  Alexander: So, Your commands aren’t just random, crazy things we are supposed to do, then You come down… and break laws of physics… and do miracles… and have favor on us?

  Jesus: Nope.

  Alexander: Man…. You really are from an “upside-down” kingdom.

  Jesus: What is that supposed to mean?

  Alexander: Your way of thinking is so “upside-down” compared to mine.

  Jesus: I AM right-side-up. I don’t know where you get the idea that Heaven is inverted.

  Alexander: But Your way of thinking is completely opposite of how I have been taught.

  Jesus: That’s because you are the one who is upside-down. My Kingdom is right-side up. I assure you.

  Alexander: How do I get to the place where all this makes sense to me, though?

  Jesus: I have been telling you.

  Alexander: Your Word?

  Jesus: My Word is the Word of Life. It will guide you through the darkness and deliver you from danger and lead you straight-on through prosperity to success in whatever I have put in your heart for you to do.

  Alexander: Okay. So, Your Word will guide me.

  Jesus: If you read it.

  Alexander: Once a day, fifteen minutes. Is that enough?

  Jesus: Any amount of time with my Word of Life will give you more Life.

  Alexander: It’s difficult, though.

  Jesus: Going to hell is difficult.

  Alexander: Where did that come from?

  Jesus: You have to be determined in order to get to hell.

  Alexander: Determined at what?

  Jesus: Hell.

  Alexander: I thought the road to hell is easy.

  Jesus: It’s quite difficult, but many people are addicted to it. So, as difficult as the road to hell is—with the mountain range of my Love and Grace I have raised to block the way—people go there because they are addicted to the darkness.

  Alexander: I thought we had to work to escape from hell.

  Jesus: Obeying my commands makes sense and leads you to success, it doesn’t merely win my favor. If you don’t read my Word and drown yourself in the writings of my Holiness, you will think of me as a confusing God, and nothing will deliver you from the addiction to darkness that you were borne with.

  Alexander: How do I break the addiction?

  Jesus: With a new addiction: my Holiness!

  Alexander: Praying and reading the Bible and all that is so difficult, though I know it’s something I should do.

  Jesus: No. It isn’t something you should do. It’s something you can do… if you want to.

  Alexander: But I don’t have the desire. I only have this feeling that I “should.”

  Jesus: You could start by understanding what my Word is.

  Alexander: It’s a book that guides us. I know that.

  Jesus: My Word is much more than that.

  Alexander: How?

  Jesus: My Word is a glimpse of Glory.

  Alexander: It doesn’t make sense, though.

  Jesus: Neither does eating cheeseburgers. How did you come to enjoy cheeseburgers, anyways?

  Alexander: I don’t know. I just had one once and I started liking it the more I ate it.

  Jesus: It doesn’t have to make sense. Just, imagine being in my throne room, with me. Ever wonder what eternity will look like?

  Alexander: If I think too much about that I’ll become so Heavenly-minded that I’ll be of no earthly good.

  Jesus: You mean you’ll be of no Worldly good.

  Alexander: Eh?

  Jesus: I AM the designer of your brain and your heart. I know how addictions work—that if you merely “understand” everything you will never get addicted to anything. My Holiness isn’t a mystery, it’s a Fascination and an addiction, that’s why you can’t fully understand it… and you don’t need to.

  Alexander: My pastor says that. I wish I had the resolve to be addicted to Your Holiness.

  Jesus: When you enjoy something, even working hard at it is a pleasure—you’d never think of an addiction as “having resolve.” Those people who pray to me for hours on end—do you think they enjoy it?

  Alexander: Probably.

  Jesus: Not as much as I enjoy them, but I AM a big God. They, also, enjoy praying very much. Time with me is the most pleasurable thing they can have.

  Alexander: Better than cheeseburgers?

  Jesus: Way better.

  Alexander: So, all this stuff about Your Word and Spirit… it’s really about an addiction to Holiness?

  Jesus: It’s about being addicted to either the Light or the Night. The Night is passing. I have been separating Light from Night ever since the Beginning. And, soon it will be Daytime. I wrote about it and gave you a picture. And that picture is in my Word. Know my Word and it will light-up your mind with my Holiness and you will be addicted. Then, more and more Scripture will simply make sense.

  Alexander: I can understand something and be fascinated by it?

  Jesus: You understand fire, but it still fascinates you.

  Alexander: Now You’re sounding like my mother.

  Jesus: Through time with my Word, I will replace the “Mystery of Holiness” by giving you “Fascination with Holiness.” Just as with fire, the more you understand, the more you are fascinated.

  Alexander: That’s great and all. But I want to live and do. I love actions and obeying You. I still need to balance my faith with good works.

  Jesus: They don’t balance.

  Alexander: HUH? You need both though!

  Jesus: That’s right.

  Alexander: Well, which one is it?

  Jesus: In Time.

  Alexander: I’ll learn in time, okay.

  Jesus: No. They co-exist in Time.

  Alexander: I’ll understand some day?

  Jesus: Plant the Seed of Life in your heart by faith… then water it by prayer, fellowship, worship, and meditating on my Word… then share the f
ruit with others through your actions or “good works.”

  Alexander: With faith, I have eternal Life? But that’s not the end. Meditate and we’ll naturally Obey, Prosper, and Succeed. Joshua 1:8.

  Jesus: Faith first. It’s part of your mind and belief. It’s why I told Joshua to meditate on my Word before I even mentioned obedience.

  Alexander: When You put it that way it feels like a huge burden has been lifted off my back.

  Jesus: A relationship between faith and works can only happen in a sequence. If you see “faith” and “works” as a balance instead of a sequence you’ll put the focus on yourself because you’re attempting an impossible task. Good works aren’t arbitrary—they expand samples of my holiness to the world around you through your actions. You don’t want to become disillusioned with your own holiness—become fascinated with mine. Meditate on my Word so you can recognize me when I call you.

  Alexander: So, I need to stop reading the Bible like it’s a to-do list or an “obedience-forgiveness permutation chart.”

  Jesus: The problem isn’t in how your charts and graphs define forgiveness, it’s in the mere fact of using my Word for charts and graphs at all. Technical definitions can’t replace simple growth.

  Alexander: I need to just soak in Your Word and let it wash and water my mind.

  Jesus: That’s what I wrote it for. I AM the Word who cleanses and makes all things new.

  Scene 8: Revelate

  Carl: I wish I knew how to hear God’s voice. [thinking he is alone]

  Jesus: You can.

  Carl: I know I can hear You but… Oh, it’s You, Jesus.

  Alexander: Don’t forget Alex.

  Carl: You both got here at the same time. Did you ride together?

  Jesus: No, we walked. I like walking, even better than swimming.

  Carl: When will You teach me to walk on water?

  Alexander-Jesus: Just stay focused.

  Carl: You both said the same thing.

  Jesus: We spend a lot of time together, so Alexander is “in tune” with many of the things I think.

  Alexander: What do you think we were just doing?

  Carl: Walking on water?

  Alexander: No, spending quality time, together.

  Jesus: But there’s a lot I don’t tell Alexander.

  Alexander-Carl: Huh?

  Jesus: I’ve already said it.

  Alexander: If You’ve “already said it,” then You did tell me.

  Jesus: Not just you, everyone.

  Carl: I know what He means.

  Alexander: But you don’t spend time with Him like I do.

  Jesus: Oh, Carl does spend time with me, but you are right, it isn’t the same.

  Carl: Jesus wrote many things to you in the Bible.

  Alexander: The Bible was written to me?

  Jesus: I wrote it to everyone.

  Alexander: Then why don’t You just tell me while we are walking?

  Jesus: Carl, care to answer?

  Carl: Because Jesus doesn’t often repeat Himself. Remember the time He healed that blind dude and the Pharisees kept bugging him. Dude was like, “I already told you once, wasn’t that enough?” He saw their nonsense how Jesus saw it.

  Alexander: Are you saying Jesus thinks like a high-productivity business man? “Don’t make me say it twice!”

  Jesus: I AM the one spoke the world into existence. Do you realize what would happen if I went around saying everything over and over until people decided to listen?

  Carl: Jesus reveals Himself at every sunrise, every lighting storm, and every cherry blossom.

  Jesus: And I’ve revealed myself through my Bible. If you want to know what I think about something, don’t always take our one-on-one time to ask me, just read my Book.

  Carl: I agree. Bible study is my preference.

  Jesus: Do you only know your friends through email?

  Carl: No, my friends are different. I can actually see them.

  Alexander: I see the Lord. He’s right here.

  Carl: Yeah, but this is a weird experience. We’re just fictitious characters in a story some guy wrote to make it easy for people to understand.

  Jesus: You don’t have to see me with your eyes to walk with me. Let your heart see.

  Carl: That makes sense! We need both!

  Alexander: Jesus was saying stuff about all that the other day. What’s your take?

  Carl: To understand Jesus we need to know the Bible well, but not stop there.

  Alexander: We need private-personal time with Him.

  Jesus: They are not the same.

  Alexander: If I have a choice, I prefer to walk with Jesus and know Him that way. His Holy Spirit can teach me.

  Carl-Jesus: Wrong.

  Jesus: I AM the one who decides which things are given through my Word and which things are given through my Spirit. Don’t ignore what I wrote to you.

  Carl: Scripture requires diligence. You don’t want to learn all there is to know in a year and not learn after that.

  Jesus: Some people stop learning.

  Alexander: Why? You gave Your Holy Spirit.

  Carl: They stop studying.

  Jesus: Or they stop walking with me… or they never walk with me and all they do is study.

  Carl: There’s got to be something deeper. Both of us know You, sort of. I study a lot and Alexander walks a lot. We can learn from each other. But even in that, I feel like we’ve hit a glass ceiling. We want more.

  Jesus: More?

  Carl: Yes. We both want to run with You, not just walk.

  Alexander: He’s starting to sound like me.

  Jesus: Carl loves me.

  Alexander: But, honestly, I never wanted to admit this… even in all my exciting hyperactivity, I, also, feel like I’ve hit a glass ceiling in our friendship, Lord.

  Jesus: How so?

  Alexander: When I became a Christian in high school we were great friends. I prayed and learned so much about You in a short time. But somewhere it all seemed to reach a plateau. Did I do something wrong?

  Jesus: You’ve done lots of things wrong—and I died for each one of them.

  Carl: That’s not what he means.

  Jesus: Oh, really? Well, then, tell me what your friend means. [with a patronizing-sarcastic-grandfatherly-loving smile]

  Carl: Alex is asking if he’s done something wrong that caused him to stop growing in his friendship with You.

  Alexander: We walk together, but I don’t feel close to You like I did in the beginning.

  Carl: You could start studying your Bible deeper, for one.

  Alexander: But I don’t have time for seminary.

  Jesus: I didn’t call you to seminary.

  Carl: You could just trust me more and not argue with me when I “seem” to make things complicated.

  Jesus: And, Carl, you must actually make things less complicated. Remember Alexander doesn’t need to hear all the big words you use at seminary. Explain things so he learns more about me, not just more about vocabulary.

  Alexander: Thank You!

  Jesus: You’re welcome, a thousand times.

  Carl: Is new vocabulary bad?

  Jesus: A little is okay, just not too much. And only if it is necessary, just like slang and grammar. And, Alexander, be willing to learn new words. I AM the Word.

  Carl: That’s great, but I don’t think that will help us break through our glass ceiling.

  Alexander: Yeah. What do we need?

  Jesus: Revelation.

  Carl: We know that, we are asking how.

  Jesus: Revelation.

  Alexander: Rhema.

  Jesus: “Rhema” means “mere words.” You have those. You might prefer to say “logos”—“a word or words with deep intent.”

  Carl: Getting back on topic… Jesus, would You please tell us how to break through this glass ceiling. I can walk with You more and Alex can dig a little deeper in the Bible academically, with my help, so he doesn’t have to go to seminary, but what
else is there?

  Jesus: I keep telling you.

  Alexander: We want Revelation.

  Carl: Revelation?

  Jesus: Yep.

  Alexander: Wait! You mean the book?

  Carl: No.

  Jesus: Yes.

  Carl: Revelation!? No one understands that book! And people only argue about it. I even know one congregation that was about to split and they made the book of Revelation “off limits” and it restored them to unity.

  Jesus: I saw that. I WAS very sad.

  Alexander: Why is unity a sad thing?

  Jesus: They threw out the last book of my Word because they didn’t understand me. They missed the dessert!

  Carl: But it’s about the End Times. We can’t understand that until the next life—until eternity.

  Jesus: So, why did I inspire it as part of my Scriptures?

  Alexander: That’s a good question.

  Carl: So we can know that we don’t understand You?

  Jesus: Why would I take so much time, and call a book “Revelation,” from the word “reveal,” just to send the message that you can’t understand the message?

  Alexander: That wouldn’t make any sense.

  Carl: You are a God of mystery?

  Jesus: But I AM not a God of nonsense. I have revealed myself in my Word. If you want a deeper Revelation of my heart, you know where to go. I gave it a big label and placed it at the end of my Book so everyone would know where to find it.

  Alexander: So, You are saying that Revelation makes more sense than Carl?

  Jesus: Oh, yes.

  Carl: I make lots of sense!

  Alexander: But can you make sense of Revelation?

  Jesus: That’s the wrong question.

  Alexander: I thought You wanted us to read it.

  Jesus: No matter how much you read Revelation, you will never understand Revelation as much as Revelation understands you.

  Alexander: You have a good point, I don’t even understand myself sometimes.

  Carl: So… Just read it?

  Jesus: Revelation is where I reveal the future and explain the past. Your thinking must be transformed to understand all that. Renew your mind through meditation on my Word.

  Alexander: Just read it.

  Jesus: You will understand more of the book of Revelation the more you know what it says, even without understanding it all. But it’s a two-way street. My Word becomes more familiar with you. The more confusing any book of my Bible may seem as you read it, the more of your own heart is revealed to mine.

  Alexander: So as we come into the Light of Your Revelation, we are revealed to You?

  Jesus: Knowing and being known are often related.

  Carl: Why Revelation specifically? Why not the gospels?

  Alexander: He never said not to read the Gospels.

  Jesus: Every part of my Word will help us grow closer. In Revelation I show you my house.

  Carl: But You explained Your house in Exodus with the temple plans.

  Jesus: That was my old house. You want Revelation about my new house, where I AM preparing a place for you… where my friends are your friends from all over the world… and we are all waiting for you.

  Alexander: “Waiting.” I’ve heard that concept. “Salvation isn’t just about believing Jesus so we can wait to go to Heaven. We must work now.”

  Jesus: We who are in Heaven are the ones waiting. You are working.

  Carl: That answers a lot of questions I had.

  Jesus: Revelation from me tends to shed Light on a lot of questions. Then they often answer themselves.

  Carl: How can I know more, though? It’s not every day I get to have a face-to-face with Jesus.

  Alexander: He’s been telling us.

  Carl: What!?

  Alexander: Read.

  Jesus: Revelation.

  Carl: I will, but…

  Jesus: You already knew that “Heaven is waiting while you are working.”

  Carl: How did I already know that?

  Jesus: It’s in Revelation. Just read it: everyone’s worshiping me. The activity is on the earth.

  Carl: Oh, yeah. It’s so simple I looked past it.

  Alexander: That’s true. We do tend to make things more complicated than they really are.

  Jesus: Just read. Listen. Know what I said before trying to “read my mind.” I will reveal myself if you will be still and accept my Word.

  Carl: But what about