1st Corinthians 13
(Copeland Refresh)
1. If I speak in the language of the currently evolved, self-absorbed man, or the mythical, movie-inspired, angel creature; there is no capacity for love within me. I am mere noise — din in the collective soul.
2. If I have the self-appointed gift of T.V. evangelistic prophecy, and know all the mysteries and nuances of hyper-pandering; and if I have the ‘faith’ to create mountains of wealth for myself through razor-perfected, guilt-inducing donations, who needs Love? I have all the nothing I could ever possibly need.
3. And if I give just enough possessions to perpetuate the myth of The Prosperity Gospel, but not enough to affect the bottom line; create an illusion of self-sacrifice, my profits will be secure through the ignorance of the sheep.
4. When expedient, love is faux-patient and faux-kind; love is transactional, negotiable, and well-suited for manipulation.
5. Love is scripted, an act; seeks its own aggrandizement, utters retributory incantations toward every perceived maligner,
6. Delights in the weakness and failures of others, especially thine enemies, and rejoices in self-defined ‘truth’,
7. Bears no faults; hopes and believes only in its own power and endures only acclamation
8. Love in one’s own godhood cannot fail; every uttered word prophetic; a holy language to cast spells for riches and glorification.
9. For we know The Bible perfectly, the words of God are all there to speak into existence.
10. There is nothing more to know or need. The ink is divine, the Book — the embodiment of the Almighty.
11. When I was a child, I used to speak, think, and dream the words, thoughts and hopes of a mini-god; when I became a man, imagination transformed; a wet dream of divine proportions.
12. Now I see clearly; face-to-face with the black and red heaven-sent script because I can read God’s English. I know myself fully. I am the ink.
13. So now faith, hope, love abide these three; I am as I say they are…
god become God.
My journey began as the PK (preacher’s kid) of a Southern Baptist Minister. While conservative, my parents instilled the underlying concept of an Almighty God. Truly Almighty in the sense of a never-ending, always deeper exploration of this knowable, yet never fully comprehensible person the religion calls God/Jesus/Holy Spirit. Because of that, biblical literalism, though taught, wasn’t critical or even a high priority in my own heart & mind. It never really lodged itself in me as a necessity. Add to that what my dad labeled a ‘Dreamer’ personality, I questioned, pondered, adjusted, changed, morphed, transformed, and, in general, created a lifelong ‘crisis of faith’ because of the constant bumping up against those walls of dogma which made no sense to me considering a God that was bigger than & defied any and every box. In the early 1980’s, when the ‘Faith Movement’ & Charismatic-ism was shifting into 2nd or 3rd gear, my wife & I spent a few years involved and learning the ‘language’ of potion spells that, amazingly (/s), ‘littered’ The Bible. Some deeply painful events (a story for another day) led to a complete vaporizing of everything we thought was true, down to the very shaking & loosening of bedrock. It took many, many years but eventually I came to experience a deep abiding thankfulness for that world-shattering meltdown. The above is a tribute to that experience & the journey toward being heartbroken for all those who are captured by & enslaved by this species-endangering cult. Not necessarily singling out Kenneth Copeland — well… yes, I am, but there is a plethora to choose from. He just kinda perfectly embodies the extremity.
