The Making of a Preacher -Prep

Believe It!

Matthew Marks is a preacher of The Gospel of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, HIStory's Only Messiah.

The people in Matt's Society, who are redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb are called Christians. These Christians believe that Jesus was viciously scourged, that He was crucified on a Roman cross, that He died without any of His bones being broken because He gave up His Spirit at the moment of His choosing around 3:00 PM on a Friday, which would provide His followers sufficient time to "tidy up" before sundown, which started the Jewish Sabbath. The Christian believers are convinced that Jesus was completely dead from about 3:00 PM on that very same Friday throughout the Jewish Sabbath, and that He restored life to His Own Body in a completely new kind of Life, that could never die, by His Own Will & Volition just before sunrise on the first day of the week, (aka Sunday.)

These Christians have no doubt whatsoever that the hours that the death of Jesus was extant in His Divinely Human Body were no more than the ratio of one hour being equal to each stripe of the scourageman's lash. If the reader will recall Roman Law required "40 lashes save one" (or 39 lashes.) The hours between Jesus' death and resurrection were approximately 39 hours, which is equal to the hours of 3:00 PM on Friday to 6:00 AM on Sunday morning. This time is consistent with the Scriptural prophecy that Jesus would be "raised on the third day." In the Jewish understanding of time "on the third day" did not require 72 hours (or a complete three days on the calendar.) Let the reader be assured that Jesus' death at 3:00 PM on Friday, constituted "death on the first day." Jesus lying in state in the tomb throughout the Jewish Sabbath (aka 6:00 PM or sundown on Friday through 6:00 PM or sundown on Saturday) constituted "death on the second day." Jesus continued to lie in state in the tomb on the first day of the week (aka 6:00 PM Saturday or sundown through to about 6:00 AM on Sunday morning or sunrise.) Those approximately twelve hours, constituted "death on the third day." This was instantly interrupted by Jesus "raising Himself on the third day." This was when His female followers showed up at the Garden Tomb with spices to finish the job that was cut short on Friday. However, they met a very-much-alive Jesus, mistaking Him initially for the gardener.

The mindset of the Christian soaks the warp & woof of this Society, even though only a small percentage of the residents are actual Christians. This is consistent with the Society of the Colonial States in the New World, during the time of The Great Awakening that was the foundation stone of the creation of The United States of America.

In the days of this fledgling country as well as on ZoNed4, where Matthew Marks enjoyed a fruitful ministry, the average citizen, based his or her life, on the Ten Commandments, that are found in Exodus 20. The people might not have always accepted the tenants of "these truths" into their hearts, but the vast majority of the citizenry were at least Christians in their minds. Even the drunks, when confronted by their sottery (or drunkenness) on the street, would often reply, "I know. I know. I'm not living as I should, but I plan to get back into church very soon when I clean up my life. You watch. I'll be sitting by you in church before you know it!" That would be the end of it, until the next time he was found to be staggering around in public.

Law-abiding, Christ-Honoring citizens, especially the businessmen & businesswomen in their midst, live by the saying, "My word is my bond." Ironclad contracts may still be written for the organized to "cross all of their 't's & to dot all their 'i's," but such paperwork is totally unnecessary since the people of this world would be totally mortified to let even one aspect of their verbal commitments go lacking.

Any man, woman, boy or girl in this Society, who "lives loosely," neglecting to pull their weight in the slightest way to shoulder their part of the high calling of goodness, cleanness, civility, and godliness, is publicly shunned and must bear the labels of "rebellious," "uncivil," and "disgraceful." The laws are enforced by the code of conduct observances and shaming of those, who do not "play by the rules." Crime is virtually nonexistent by virtue of the fact that Society is so socially interconnected. In the retelling of Matt's history, the reader is made aware of his many dalliances of a sexual nature in which he nearly crosses the line with some attractive lady or in the temptation to wander into a website of lewd pictures. Most of these events fall short of the major scandals, which are seen in today's news, regarding public figures. However, the sense of guilt over internal sin is so acute, that Matt feels it just as intensely as if he had actually committed the act.

This begs the question, "How can such a Society, that is so godly (at least on the surface) have citizens, who create websites with lewd pictures?" That, my friends, is your 1% that really doesn't care about having anything to do with anything godly, let alone with God Himself."

As for technology per se, the world of ZoNed4 enjoys a ubiquitous internet capability in which computers, laptops, phones, and any other possible format from the very small screen of a watch to the very large viewing of wall-sized screens. Of late programmers have had to create invader-proof software, due to the 1% of the ungodly part of the population. However, overall internet traffic is "by and large" trouble-free.

Matthew Mark's very young live was permeated with godly impressions on the walls of his home and in the buildings of his town. Matt went to church with his family at least three times a week as required by his father. The family went more days of the week during the fall and spring revival meetings and during the Vacation Bible School week in June of each year. One might say that "Matthew cut his teeth on hymnbooks." Considering how many hymnbooks Pastor Marks had to purchase during Matt's preschool years, the saying wasn't far off from reality.

The Christian mindset permeates the plot of this story to the degree that if Christian thought is removed there would be no story. Matt battles himself and his own very strong tendencies to sin, but he does the battle because he cares very much about doing the Will of His Lord in the midst of the frailties of his humanness. Lazarus Watyudid and Andy Attelpate are the emissaries from the Dark Kingdom, whose sole purpose for existence in this story is to exploit Matt's internal struggles with the ultimate goal of pushing him away from his Lord.

If sin had never entered Earth or been applied to ZoNed4, then life would be rather plain and uneventful, regarding the current human mindset. However, the redemption of the mind creates the ability to see a world of possibilities when humans agree wholeheartedly with The Lord Jesus Christ.