Sadly and Regretfully . . .

. . . my premier critic, the winsome Mr. Nass, has decided that my demonstrations of local bigotry and unwise association with and affirmation of white-separatist, white-supremacist groups is worthy of his Roll On The Floor Laughing My Ass Off response. (For those of you not into text shorthand, that's what ROTFLMAO means).

Now, if Nass and his boys simply think I'm an idiot, that's fine with me. There are certain people whose approval, never mind admiration, I'm perfectly happy to decline. On the other hand, given his juvenile response to very real instances of Gospel defamation here in Moscow, and his additional offering of truly racist observations of the terrible plight Blacks have foisted onto a victimized white America have me convinced that he has a heart nowhere near tenderness. (He says, also, that I talk about "racism" too much. I'll try to substitute "un-Godly hate," if it makes him feel better).

At this point, you ask, "Why would you respond at all to him, Keely?" Some of you would add, "Why, you give every sign of being a reasonably sane person!" But here's the deal: I don't give a Dontbian's Ass about what he thinks of me. I couldn't care less about my standing in his circle of privileged Anglo-Celtic warriors, who also loathe me. If you're known by the company you keep, you're certainly commended by the company who despise you.

But what if there was a Kinist, a Reconstructionist, an unsaved bigot, a neo-Confederate, or just a confused Classical Christian student out there who's been uncomfortable with the theology they've been fed? What if the "gospel" of the old South fits them like a pair of sneakers from three seasons ago? What if someone who doesn't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, Reconciler of the divided and Advocate for the poor and the outcast, reads Prevailing Winds? What if they saw a different Jesus, one in whom no racial, class, social, or gender distinctions prevent full access to and service in the Kingdom? What if all of this made them ditch the Kirk, Kinism, neo-Confederates and uber-patriarchs and join a truly Christ-honoring church?

What if my words led someone, by the grace of God working through me, to read the New Testament and discover this radical Savior for themselves?

My responses to Nass really aren't for him, and I won't engage him any more unless his comments provoke something that I think God can use in a sense apart from his smugness and ignorance. I can be smug and arrogant, too; if Nass' attitude causes me to answer him with correct doctrine and practice but with a less-than-kind demeanor, then I am convicted.

I won't stop taking on people, especially locally, who degrade the Gospel and sully its witness on the Palouse. I won't even stop employing my own dainty little Serrated Edge in doing so, if it seems right -- and never against those outside the Church. But wrestling with a man who thinks all of this is a hoot, except for the "blacks are bad for America" part, risks becoming a sideshow leading away from the main event -- the work of my precious Lord Jesus, and my part in proclaiming it.