10-02-2013, 07:08 AM
He walked fine; except for accidentally kneeing a chair on the way out. Jensen wasn't drunk, surely, just a little overwhelmed.
At least half a dozen times he considered asking Tony to leave. Twice Jensen took the hesitant breath to do so too, but the tension was palpable between them. For reasons he couldn't grasp, nor wanted to, he was morbidly fascinated with these powers. The nerve to remain scratched shallow in his heart, like chickens scraping at the dirt, but still digging deep enough to maintain his interest. Yeah, Pastor. Get yourself a good cabin on the Lake of Fire. You'll be there a while.
Lost in thought, and so he walked lazy and saturnine toward the nearest metro stop. One flight below street level and the sudden glory of ancient Russia met them in the tunnels below. Jensen barely saw it, just as he felt he was barely moving.
He peered down the tracks into darkness and acknowledged Tony's question. "Two stops, white line."
He finally pulled his hands from his pockets, but only to weakly sweep his hair from his eyes. The strands fell back to their former obscuring jobs almost immediately. "Shame," he scoffed, disbelieving. His conscience knew better. Hold it together, Jensen. He planted his feet.
He looked Tony in the eye, resolute with conviction as his mind fell into memory. His fists clenched. So aggressive of this certitude, it was about the only life sparked from Jensen in months, "There shall not be found among you anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord."
Having studied the passage obsessively for years, it was with a heavy heart he quoted the Old Testament. Otherwise, the passage scrolled naturally from an accent crafted by God's hand to touch the hearts of those listening on his behalf.
He fixed Tony with a sad look. By that alone, they were both damned. But if the Old Testament weren't enough, the New complimented God's original covenant with Israel. If not for his own sake, perhaps Tony could still salvage his own soul. It was the closest to sharing the hope of the gospel Jensen had come in four dark years.
"Outside the kingdom of heaven are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters." And the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, but thoughts of redemption faded fast.
A shadow of shame fell across this second quote. If the original Hebrew translation for sorcery was a contested word -- even the Greek for pharmakeia might today refer to a pharmacist rather than a sorcerer -- those other condemnations hit their mark. Anger from betrayal, blackmailed for layers and layers of sin, adultery, idolatry, lust and prostitution, the penitent pastor had spiraled uncontrolled from the very blackness that gripped his heart. Impenetrable as that train tunnel. And a man died because of it.
"Shame is the least of what I deserve," he uttered soberly. That there were others damned as he was not a comforting revelation.
Edited by Jensen James, Oct 2 2013, 07:11 AM.
At least half a dozen times he considered asking Tony to leave. Twice Jensen took the hesitant breath to do so too, but the tension was palpable between them. For reasons he couldn't grasp, nor wanted to, he was morbidly fascinated with these powers. The nerve to remain scratched shallow in his heart, like chickens scraping at the dirt, but still digging deep enough to maintain his interest. Yeah, Pastor. Get yourself a good cabin on the Lake of Fire. You'll be there a while.
Lost in thought, and so he walked lazy and saturnine toward the nearest metro stop. One flight below street level and the sudden glory of ancient Russia met them in the tunnels below. Jensen barely saw it, just as he felt he was barely moving.
He peered down the tracks into darkness and acknowledged Tony's question. "Two stops, white line."
He finally pulled his hands from his pockets, but only to weakly sweep his hair from his eyes. The strands fell back to their former obscuring jobs almost immediately. "Shame," he scoffed, disbelieving. His conscience knew better. Hold it together, Jensen. He planted his feet.
He looked Tony in the eye, resolute with conviction as his mind fell into memory. His fists clenched. So aggressive of this certitude, it was about the only life sparked from Jensen in months, "There shall not be found among you anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord."
Having studied the passage obsessively for years, it was with a heavy heart he quoted the Old Testament. Otherwise, the passage scrolled naturally from an accent crafted by God's hand to touch the hearts of those listening on his behalf.
He fixed Tony with a sad look. By that alone, they were both damned. But if the Old Testament weren't enough, the New complimented God's original covenant with Israel. If not for his own sake, perhaps Tony could still salvage his own soul. It was the closest to sharing the hope of the gospel Jensen had come in four dark years.
"Outside the kingdom of heaven are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters." And the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, but thoughts of redemption faded fast.
A shadow of shame fell across this second quote. If the original Hebrew translation for sorcery was a contested word -- even the Greek for pharmakeia might today refer to a pharmacist rather than a sorcerer -- those other condemnations hit their mark. Anger from betrayal, blackmailed for layers and layers of sin, adultery, idolatry, lust and prostitution, the penitent pastor had spiraled uncontrolled from the very blackness that gripped his heart. Impenetrable as that train tunnel. And a man died because of it.
"Shame is the least of what I deserve," he uttered soberly. That there were others damned as he was not a comforting revelation.
Edited by Jensen James, Oct 2 2013, 07:11 AM.