Perhaps nestled in the middle of a province or hugging some lake or river shore, this nondescript community epitomizes normalcy on the surface in almost every sense of the word. Visually, it is Shangri-La. And indeed it is for those who seek surface sprituality or none at all. Yet, all the while, before townsfolks' eyes, passsers-by go about their business unknowingly, at least in the beginning, victims of a shunning practice. When the truth registers, these victims slowly begin to fracture, if not disentegrate, when they discover the conditionality of their former acceptance within any given group. Too late do they discover that vendors of vengeance have wrested this perogative from the Lord's hands in order that they might administer it themselves in a spiritual Angry-La.
However out of control the individual in his road rage, terrororizing his victim on the highway, he stands but a pussycat alongside of the calculated sheep rage that seethes forth from the frothing mouths of irate shepherds in Shunnington. How and why does it happen? Well, often a lost sheep strays into what seems to be friendly pasture which feeds those of his kind. Later he learns that though there is some external resemblance, the internal condition of the hearts remains devoid of any Christlike twinning. Consequently, the sheep departs, most often with difficulty as he has learned what happens to those who have done so before him. Nonetheless, in great trepidation, some do flee, being more fearful of the insanity of staying. than the repercussions of leaving. They are more hopeful of the promise of the Christlike in the "somewhere" but heretofore unknown.
What terrorizes sheep in an otherwise safe looking pasture? Actually, when a lost soul seeks safe pasture and inadvertantly discovers he has found measures as bad as what he has left in the world, imagine his confusion. Unfamiliar with such rabid pronouncements against other brethern groups in innuendo or overt condemnation, the sheep fixes his eyes on the exit sign. Hearing miles of misrepresentations about how all other groups are hellbound stirs up fear that should be only reserved for the Lord. Learning that others who have left have been marked as having a demon either paralyzes efforts to escape or expedites the departure date. Seeing the practice of shunning all others who have broken ranks with those forming the wall of intimidation is frightening. To go and serve God or to stay and become one in Shunnington, subjugated by man concretizes the dilemma. Escape, however, finds favor in the bondage busting power of the Lord.
Shunnington represents a mythical place, doesn't it? Drive by character assassinations are machinations of the mind, aren't they? The smoking gun is not the foaming mouth, is it? Jonestown people stayed and played follow the leader. Alas! Today people will follow lifeless traditions, demented leaders, beautiful buildings, and the like, while following Christ becomes an afterthought. In Shunnington though many might stay to drink a dangerous concoction of man-made doctrine, they risk possible spiritual death. Jesus says in Matthew 23:27, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...how often I have longed to gather your children together...but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate." Want out? Take the exit from Shunnington near 2 Timothy 3:5. http://www.geocities. Com/ babalabean. Also on 106.9 fm on chrq Sundays at 8 a.m. Sponsored by CFP Concepts, Inc., C'ton, NB