Overheard at Table Two

Lyle, hands around his coffee mug, says, "I remember you were talking about that sniper bumper sticker the other day when I saw another one just as I was coming here, it said

YOU KEEP THE CHANGE
I'LL KEEP MY RELIGION AND MY GUNS."

Steve says, "Ah yes! Just another soul lost to corporate lies. They think their eyes are opened but they've really been deceived."

Guy says, "What's that part there in the Bible where Jesus says - or maybe it was the letters of Paul - where it's written that there will be many false Christs?"

Steve says, "Revelation, maybe?"

Lyle admits, "Man, I sure envy those who can quote chapter/verse, but I wasn't never one of them."

Guy says, "Well, I've been thinking . . . we've always thought that He was saying there would be a bunch of false prophets rising up claiming they're the Second Coming, and we've been looking for leaders of mega-churches, or charismatic demagogues, but what if . . . what if the false Christs that He was talking about are in the Churches themselves? You know, the ones that go with the party line of 'I've been saved, but let's bomb Iraq!'?"

Lyle says, "You mean the 'Crusader' Christians."

Steve says, "Personally, I've never thought anybody could really see the love of Christ coming at them at a thousand feet per second."

Lyle, finishing his coffee, says, "It can't. I've only ever seen the love of Christ in either two hands closed together in prayer, or open palms going for a handshake or a pat on the back."