The Beatdowns

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

After hearing these things a Man Of The World was unimpressed.

"Excuse, my good man. You talk about what will happen, but what about now? What happens now to these people you speak of?"

"Oh, now? Well, now they're fucked six ways to Sunday."

"Fucked as in nothing good happens for them or like really fucked?"

"Fucked like in your worst imagination. Raped, tortured, jailed, maligned, ostracized, and killed in the most sadistic ways possible."

"I see. Not much of a calling card that. So evil has won the day."

"Remember when the Israelites were warring to make a homeland for themselves and suddenly started losing battles? This was because a few among them started to loot their vanquished foes. Had that been allowed to continue they would have been wiped from the face of the Earth. Instead, the looters were purged to preserve the good. But now it's the opposite. The world purges the good in the false hope of making evil safe."

"That strikes me as a bit of a logic problem then. If the good are purged and since evil is self-destructive, that leaves no one left alive in the end."

"True dat."

"Well, how come you got it made? Why hasn't anything bad happened to you? Seems to me your whole argument is invalid since you're doing so well."

"They don't know who to kill until the truth has been fully spoken. Then I'm to be vilified and nailed to a cross until I die with painful thorns stuck in my head."

Onward Christian soldiers!

"So what's the point of all this?? Why were we ever made to begin with just to be wiped out? This is insanity! So much human suffering..."

"Everything will be fine in the end. The good will be restored and the evil of their own volition will leave."

"That all seems too good to be true. Fuck, man, why not just do it now? It really sucks here and is getting worse every day."

"Once this happens no more souls can be saved, the window will be forever shut. In order to save the maximum number the window is left open as long as possible."

"But why wait? I heard God can do anything."

"You heard wrong."

"So there's no hope for the present?"

"There's always hope or the window would close. Just don't confuse hope for yourself with hope for the world - and don't confuse hopelessness for the world for hopelessness for yourself. One is your concern, the other is your Maker's."

"I'll be damned. What a shithole place this is! What in the hell ever possessed me to be on this cursed planet!"

"No one's here who didn't ask to be."

The Man Of The World walked away spiritually destitute and inflamed. He saw no profit in what he heard and vowed to take his reward in this world instead of the next. And for his trappings of power and luxury he would smirkingly "praise God in Heaven" to all who would listen, getting the world to vote him as holy and thus buy the stairway to heaven. And that's how he became a killer.