The woman is in her mid-fifties. Educated but not employed. Married. Her life is a misery. No cable “R-rated” movies allowed in the house. Weekends are spent with religious music and hysterical prophets on the radio and television bombarding her ears; invading her privacy from speakers inside and outside of her upper middle class suburban home.

She is under constant haranguing from her spouse on her frailties and lack of devotion to God.  Is this a scene from an Iranian compound? No. Is this woman living under Sharia law? No.  This woman is an American citizen. She is also married to one of the most spiritually damaging men on earth; a proselytizing, Bible beating, born-again “Christian." One of the many who are currently, and hysterically, heralding the end of the world, 2012. 

I’m a Christian by choice. By deeds, by the manner in which I live and have raised my child, by the way I treat others: By virtue of faith in my savior. However, under this man’s scrutiny, I am damned to hell along with his spouse. Why? Because the zealous, condemning, and hypocritical guidelines this self-proclaimed Christian has slapped upon the face of God for salvation have overshadowed our faith and our simple, heartfelt beliefs.

He denies his wife her simple pleasures so he can tithe his way to heaven by virtue of donations to “real Christians”: pastors and “universities” even more hysterical than he is. Can one truly bribe God? Give instead to the poor, the mentally ill, to the homeless. Do it in silence, without bragging or posturing. Give from the heart.

He condemns her, her friends, and her family personally. Not that they don’t believe in Christ but because they don’t believe enough. She/they don’t believe exactly like he does, nor to the damn near psychotic level that he’s (just recently—O ye hypocrite!) taken religion in view that “the end is coming."  Can one truly deceive God?

Were I he, my prayer would be—in a major paraphrase and yes, a total mangling of a passage from Isaiah (Father, forgive me): Beat not down your brothers and sisters, your spouse and family in times of sorrow, despair and travail (or especially the end of the world!). Rather lift them as on the wings of an eagle, on wings of love, and bring them unto me.

I err. I’m human. But, I believe in love, kindness, charity and forbearance. It’s why I chose to be a Christian. I respect all religions based in love; Judaism, Buddhism. True Wiccans also love Creation.

This rabid harbinger is in for a major upset when the roll is truly sounded. When the shell of his hypocrisy is cracked. When his wife’s sore and wounded heart is bathed in Love. When his guilty, splintered soul is exposed. He gambles, drinks, smokes and has been known to view porn on the Internet.

Shakespeare was more than profound when he wrote, “Methinks thou (false prophet) doth protest too much.”