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Welcome to the June 2022 edition of author David Claiborne’s newsletter, a monthly publication about vandalizing churches and vamping.

Hung On the Inverted Cross

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, go ahead and put it down. You can come back to it later; it will still be there when you’re ready. If you’ve read some of my past newsletters, you may recall that I am something of a Kevin D. Williamson fan. May 2022 was quite a doozy of a month for these United States between leaked Supreme Court documents and back-to-back mass shootings. While I don’t intend to evolve this into a political newsletter despite my own hobby as a political junky, Williamson is in rare form for his own May 10 newsletter, which is about pro-abortionists deciding that desecrating Catholic churches is the thing to do now. Give it a read if you find time. (Sorry if the link doesn’t work; it may be behind a paywall.) We Christians tend to fight like a castrated doubles team (the balls just aren’t there), but sometimes a little spit and vinegar does a body good. Teaser quote: “The inverted cross is still the cross, and the underside of Christian civilization is still Christian civilization…we don’t have scary movies about liberal humanism or yoga.”

Now that I’ve eaten up 132 words padding my newsletter by talking about someone else’s, let’s get on with it.

For my part, upon observing all the hair tearing and gnashing of teeth that went on during the news cycle following the release of the draft Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade that lasted until some human dreg decided to shoot up a supermarket, I could not help but think of my own children. For one, my children are precious to me, and I cannot imagine a world without them. The thought of others willingly aborting their own children causes me to shiver. For two, the behavior on display was not the behavior of adults, but the lashing out of infantile minds, complete with tantrums. It recalled to me the bad behavior of children I have known, including my own, and I treat it as such in my own consideration. Which is to say it bore no weight on my conscience nor cost me any sleep, nor had any hope of persuading me. I know and believe that those who know and believe with me, together we are in the right. The adults are wholly on one side of this issue.

Which reminds me not coincidentally of a woman who wrote a review for Part One. She gave the book 2/5 stars, which is her prerogative, and I certainly do not begrudge her her tastes and preferences or the low star rating; she even had some good criticism to offer which I have taken to heart. A little internet sleuthing, or stalking if you prefer, led me to her personal blog and webpage where it became clear she was very much not the type of person who would have picked up any piece of Christian literature, let alone my piece of little known Christian literature, and sat down with a jolly smile on her face to binge read. I presume the review service I was using begged and/or cajoled her into reviewing my book since I was threatening them with issuing me a refund for their non-services. At that point, apparently anyone would do.

What struck me is that she was a self-described God-seeker in the bio on her blog.

Permit me a small detour. If there’s one thing that makes a religion, any religion, worthwhile, it is that it will not allow you to remain yourself as you are and continue as an adherent. Not for very long at least. You must change. Christ’s teaching is pregnant with such language (…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies… (John 12:24 ESV)).

But reading this woman’s bio, a veritable checklist of secular bona fides and causes du jour, it was clear she was not really seeking God, but seeking herself as god, unwilling to change, and seeking the one religion that would tell her she was already fine just the way she was.

Lady, I’m here to tell you: you’re already a part of it.

I’ll close out this section by plagiarizing Mr. Williamson just once more: “…there is a reason they end up standing there, bereft, confused, fearful, lonely, screaming themselves hoarse, full of dread, outside the church. Some advice: the door is always open if you decide you want to come inside.”

Yes, even you pro-aborts, you are welcome to come to Christ. So come to Him and be well.

Various

I finished (mostly) the revisions for Part Two a couple weeks ago, which is a relief because I feel like for the last few months I’ve been vamping in the updates section of this newsletter. Sometimes tasks just take a while, so there’s not much to say until it’s done, you know?

At any rate, look forward to not much else to say for a while in this section again. Next step is to record the audiobook, which for me doubles as a kind of a last editorial pass to double-check the spelling, grammar, and phraseology before I sign off on the final print version. There’s something about reading aloud that highlights mistakes and demi-mistakes. That step’s essential not just because it makes sure the manuscript is clean, but because it tells me how large the manuscript is, which is information I need before I can tell the illustrator the cover dimensions.

I’m also working on something else, but that’s going to have to remain a tease for now. [Smiley face.]

My wife and I are just coming off sort of a week’s staycation. We were going to travel somewhere local, as in within a couple hours’ driving distance, but when you take your young kids on vacation you just end up taking care of them somewhere else where it’s more difficult instead of at home. We both managed to not do too much work, however, so it counts as a vacation.

The full audiobook for Planet Mission: Part One is up on YouTube now. Go give it a listen. You can subscribe to my channel for free here. 

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In Closing

Congratulations to all the graduates, and happy Father’s Day to all the dads! If you ever get the opportunity, don’t hesitate to let yourself be one.

David