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Another Cabbage Fart Of Clodhoppery
When I first prayed about the changes on which I have embarked, I had a distinct awareness that this would invite some kind of unwanted, and promptly intrusive, opposition from someone whom I consider one of the Chief Deputies of the Accuser of the Brethren. This person admits to, and even boasts about, an uncompromising ignorance and lack of knowledge, and yet always seems to have something discourteous to say.
But, during that prayer, I had the distinct impression that another shout-out from him is, in a paradoxical way, a solid and reliable confirmation that I am proceeding correctly. His opposition to my beliefs and what I hold dear is consistently antagonistic; it is a response as predictable as gravity, as reliable as the malodorous stench of a cabbage fart. And just as a cabbage fart is, in its impolite and sometime disgusting way, a confirmation of a good meal, so the Deputy Accuser's most recent opposition is, actually, an asset to me.
Revelation 12:10 gives us the provenance of the Deputy Accuser's authority and motivation. He is a servant of the devil, motiviated by that infernal influence, and driven by maleficent manifestations to assert the opinions he knows are neither wanted nor respected; but, over a recent period of time, have come to be expected. That we share a bloodline, a geography, and a history are conditions I cannot change; it is like the modern experience of the many inconveniences we have created for ourselves in our pursuit of existence in this world.
In his Epistle to the early Christians at Rome, the Apostle Saint Paul wrote (in 7:21): I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. This condition has been the spiritual affliction of believers as far back as, I believe, the Garden of Eden; when the snake in the grass (to cite Vergil; some for which the Chief Deputy has also criticized me) said, "Hath God said?" in Genesis 3:1. Saint Paul has given it a specific description: it is evil, it is always present, and it is triggered when the Christian attempts to do something good. The Deputy does not have to be aware of own identity, or even of his function within this world. The Deputy does not even have to acknowledge or accept the theological truth of his function and existence. The tapeworm and the stinkbug are not aware of their functions, or the scientific designation of their species, but they continue to function, without such awareness. In the case of the Chief Deputy, his continued assertions, subtle though he hopes they will be, are manifestations of his presence, of his frustration with his own lack of accomplishment, and of his need to attack . . . attack . . . attack. He is like a playground bully, who would rather break or disable a toy, rather than see someone else enjoy it. What the Chief Deputy lacks, and he feels that lack most sorely, he feels compelled to attack, to mock, do diminish; because, if he can diminish someone, he does not quite feel so alone on the lowest of level that he not only occupies, but embraces with enthusiasm.
So I am grateful for his efforts and for the witnesses he bears to the good, so that, even though he wishes to attack it, he is actually confirming it. It is the error of Balaam from the book of Numbers in the Old Testament.
Januarian
