A Small Café Near County Line – Quiet Back Booth
Location: Just off Highway 193, straddling Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties
The café was modest, lined with wood paneling and the kind of yellow lighting that made everyone look tired but honest. The booths hadn’t changed since the 1980s. The only noise came from a sputtering espresso machine and the occasional clink of ceramic mugs.
Rev. Gerald Lyman stirred his tea without drinking. Across from him sat Pastor Jeremiah Long, stern as ever, his Baptist colr pressed, his King James Bible worn and braced on the table like a weapon.
They hadn’t spoken face-to-face in nearly a year. But recent developments had pulled them back together.
Jeremiah:
“You saw the seminar banner too, didn’t you?”
Gerald nodded.
“Jesus’ humanity. And the 6 Commandments. Full parking lot.”
Jeremiah scoffed.
“Full of what? Apostates in training.”
Gerald didn't flinch.
“I thought that too. Until I saw who came out. Half of them were people I’ve baptized. One was my niece’s cssmate. They weren’t foaming at the mouth. They were... calm.”
Jeremiah:
“Calm is not conviction, Gerald. Ism teaches calm too—so did the Pharisees.”
They sat in tense silence for a moment. Then Gerald broke it.
Gerald:
“Jeremiah, I have to ask. Do you ever worry… that they’re not leaving because they hate truth? That they’re leaving because they’re finally seeing order where we kept offering fog?”
Jeremiah’s jaw tightened.
Jeremiah:
“I worry they’ve mistaken control for crity. Submission for salvation. I’ve watched these 6C officers dress like civic workers, quote just enough Scripture to sound familiar, then delete everything sacred.”
Gerald quietly:
“I know.”
Jeremiah leaned in, voice lowered.
Jeremiah:
“They’ve rewritten Genesis without printing a new book. They don’t burn Bibles—they just make people forget how to want them. And now our own youth think they’re being reasonable for questioning the Trinity.”
Gerald looked at him carefully.
Gerald:
“My niece Tahlia attended one of those sessions. So did one of my trustees. And Micah...”
He didn’t finish.
Jeremiah:
“You’re losing them.”
Gerald nodded, slow.
Gerald:
“We both are.”
Jeremiah pressed on.
“Then why aren’t we fighting harder? Why are we letting them host forums on Jesus with no mention of the Cross?”
Gerald:
“Because when I yell, they shut down. When I warn them about heresy, they call it ‘fearmongering.’ And when I preach about sin, they say it sounds like guilt marketing.”
Jeremiah shook his head.
Jeremiah:
“Then preach louder. Make it thunder again.”
Gerald looked at him, exhausted.
Gerald:
“And if the thunder doesn’t move them? What then?”
The question hung like fog in the booth.
Jeremiah broke eye contact.
Jeremiah:
“Then at least we can say we didn’t go silent.”
Gerald:
“I’m not going silent. But maybe… I need to speak in a nguage they recognize. Not softer. Just… clearer.”
Jeremiah looked up again.
Jeremiah:
“You mean speak their structure?”
Gerald nodded once.
Gerald:
“If the truth can’t enter their system, maybe the system wins by default.”
Neither man finished his drink.
They stood together in the parking lot afterward, both facing opposite directions—but neither walking away.
Because they knew:
The shepherds were still standing.
But the sheep were already reorganizing themselves.
***
New Dawn Baptist Church – Evening “Counter-Seminar” Event
The sanctuary was packed. For the first time in months, every pew was filled at New Dawn Baptist Church in Montgomery County. The event had been advertised boldly:
“Jesus Is Not Just a Prophet: A Truth Restoration Night with Pastor Jeremiah Long”
Topics: Christ’s Divinity, The Deception of Foreign Theologies, and the Colpse of Civic Christianity
The cross behind the pulpit glowed with fresh LED lighting. A banner hung above the choir loft:
“He Died So You Wouldn’t Be Deceived.”
Pastor Jeremiah Long stood tall in a dark suit, Bible held high in his left hand. His voice rang with old Southern crity.
Part 1: Jesus is God in Flesh
Jeremiah:
“John 1:14 says: And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us... full of grace and truth.
He did not become a metaphor. He did not become a structure.
He became a man—and remained fully God.”
He stepped forward.
Jeremiah:
“They’re telling your children that Jesus was a ‘model citizen,’ a ‘disciplined soul,’ a ‘man of rhythm.’
But I tell you—He was the Maker of rhythm.
The author of w. The creator of order—not its product.”
Appuse burst from half the room.
The other half remained... still.
Part 2: Jesus, the Almighty Who Died for Our Sins
Jeremiah (voice rising):
“He was not a civic symbol.
He was the Lamb sin before the foundation of the world!
Your marriage won’t save you.
Your Femme Trust won’t cleanse you.
Only the blood of Jesus can make you whole!”
Another wave of amens.
But a row of college students gnced at one another, whispering quietly.
Part 3: Eyewitnesses of Divinity
Jeremiah held up the Bible again.
Jeremiah:
“Peter, James, John—they didn’t hear about Jesus.
They walked with Him.
They saw Him calm storms, raise the dead, command demons!
These were not stories passed down. These were records of eyewitnesses.
And yet today—your children believe blog posts and civic forms before they trust Peter.”
He let that hang.
A woman near the front nodded fervently.
But three men in the back row were typing notes on tablets, occasionally checking cross-references with secur commentaries.
The Turn: Demonizing the “Foreign Religion”
Jeremiah’s tone sharpened.
Jeremiah:
“This deception is no accident.
It is strategic. It is polished.
It is rooted in a foreign theology—a system that teaches submission to structure over surrender to God.
They do not believe Christ was divine. They believe He was... one of many.
They honor Him with titles—then strip Him of the cross.”
He narrowed his gaze at the crowd.
Jeremiah:
“Don’t be seduced by the calm. The enemy comes as an angel of light—and now he comes in PowerPoint slides and civic codes!”
The Silent Division
As Jeremiah thundered on, the room began to silently fracture.
The older crowd cpped. Some wept. Some whispered prayers under breath.
The young adults took notes. But not out of agreement—they were analyzing.
One man whispered to his wife:
“He sounds like he’s trying to make emotion do the work of evidence.”
A grad student leaned over to a friend:
“I don’t disagree with his passion. But the way he talks about Ism... it sounds like he hasn't listened to anyone who actually lives it.”
A high schooler murmured:
“Is it still true if you have to shout it this hard?”
Closing Moments
Jeremiah finished with a call to stand.
Jeremiah:
“If you believe Jesus is Lord—not a civic teacher, not a political archetype, not a borrowed prophet—but the Living God, stand now and decre it!”
About half the room stood.
The rest sat silently. Eyes open. Not hostile. Just... processing.
Scene: Church Courtyard, Post-Seminar
The air outside was cooler.
Micah stood with a cup of water, nodding politely to others, but deep in thought.
Tahlia joined him, arms crossed.
Tahlia:
“That was... bold.”
Micah:
“He’s not wrong about the danger. But... I wonder if he knows who he’s actually preaching to anymore.”
Tahlia gnced back at the sanctuary doors.
Tahlia:
“He thinks we’re drifting because we’re deceived.
But we’re still searching—just in pces he refuses to look.”
***
Church Courtyard – Seminar Break, 7:40 PM
Pstic cups of juice. Store-brand cookies on paper ptes. A few folding chairs arranged beneath buzzing outdoor lights.
The older members clustered near the front steps, huddled in affirmation. Pastor Jeremiah Long stood with Deacon Whittaker, an 82-year-old veteran of theological debates and southern bacon breakfasts.
They weren’t whispering.
Deacon Whittaker:
“Banning pork? In America? What’s next, outwing fried chicken and sweet tea?”
Jeremiah, agitated:
“They can have their polygamy and trust charts. But when they start touching breakfast, it’s war. Jesus made all food clean!”
Both men ughed harshly, rallying a few amens from their circle.
But not far away—beneath the shadow of a fig tree near the youth ministry room—dozens of younger attendees had formed their own cluster.
Not ughing.
Not mocking.
Dissecting.
Scene: The Dissection Table
Lei, 21, sociology major, held a notepad half-filled with verses and counterpoints.
Lei:
“He says Jesus is God in flesh, right? But he never actually addresses how Jesus submitted to God if He was God. He dances around the duality like it’s settled logic.”
Devon, 23, former theology student, sipped iced tea.
Devon:
“Cssic Chalcedonian dodge. Fully God, fully man—but when it gets complicated, they just say ‘it’s a mystery.’ That’s not theology. That’s insution.”
Ayesha, 20, Muslim student attending out of curiosity, raised an eyebrow.
Ayesha:
“He quoted John 1:14, but skipped John 17:3. Jesus says, ‘This is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.’ Doesn’t sound co-equal to me.”
A few heads nodded.
Jordan, a quiet philosophy major, leaned in.
Jordan:
“I get that he’s afraid. But if your theology only works when no one asks questions, that’s not faith—it’s branding.”
Meanwhile, On the Sidelines
Maya Brenner, now deeply involved in the Civic Study Circle, stood with Tahlia Reese, who held a copy of 6C’s Mono-Structure Primer tucked into a leather folio.
Maya:
“Did you notice how quickly he jumped from eyewitnesses to bacon? That transition was pure desperation.”
Tahlia:
“I think he thought he was being retable.”
Maya:
“Instead, he made the cross sound like a breakfast preference.”
Tahlia smirked, then looked toward the older group still chuckling near the front.
Tahlia (softly):
“I think they’re angry we’re not afraid.”
Maya:
“We’ve seen function. That’s harder to unsee than fire and brimstone.”
The Younger Perspective – Snippets Overheard
“Why is pork more important to him than doctrinal consistency?”
“He keeps saying ‘foreign religion’ but never names it—like it’s Voldemort.”
“If Jesus dying for sins is the whole story, why do we still have so much unhealed mess in our homes?”
“They’re treating 6C like a cult. But the cults I’ve seen don’t publish policy frameworks online.”
Devon finally said it aloud:
Devon:
“If Pastor Long’s sermon was the rebuttal... 6C doesn’t need propaganda. The church’s panic is their marketing.”
Silence.
A quiet ripple of agreement passed through the crowd.
Closing Scene: The Growing Distance
As the break ended, the older crowd returned to the sanctuary with their shoulders squared.
The younger attendees lingered a little longer.
Not out of rebellion.
But because they realized they were no longer audience members.
They were observers.
And observers become thinkers.
***
After the Break
The sanctuary lights dimmed slightly as everyone returned to their seats. Pastor Jeremiah Long took the pulpit with a determined expression—his spine rigid, voice primed not for crity, but for control.
He had overheard just enough of the youth’s courtyard conversation to understand something had shifted. Their silence wasn’t reverence. It was analysis. Doubt. Defection in slow motion.
So he adjusted course—not toward grace, but toward fear.
1. Fear Mongering: The Taliban and Capital Punishment
Jeremiah (firm, fiery):
“Let me tell you where this kind of religion leads. You think you’re being modern, progressive, nuanced? Ask the girls in Kabul who lost their schools. Ask the thieves in Kandahar who lost their hands. Ask the women stoned to death while men watched like it was theater!”
He smmed his hand on the pulpit.
Jeremiah:
“Don’t tell me it’s ‘just structure.’ That’s sharia by stealth—and 6C is grooming you for it!”
Some older members nodded uneasily.
But murmurs rose among the youth.
2. Ridiculing the “Foreign Religion”
Jeremiah didn’t slow down.
Jeremiah (mocking):
“And you think this religion is sophisticated?
They pray to a bck cube! A cube!
They worship the moon like ancient pagans did, bowing to stars and geometry while pretending it’s enlightenment.”
Laughter came from a few elderly die-hards.
But the younger audience grew visibly tense.
Aisha, sitting in the second row, closed her notebook and crossed her arms. Devon leaned forward, gring. Tahlia’s lips pressed into a thin line.
3. Colonization as “Salvation”
Jeremiah (raising his voice):
“And don’t forget—it was the Christian West that pulled the world out of darkness!
The White Man’s Burden—yes, I said it!—wasn’t shameful. It was sacrificial.
It brought medicine. Roads. Scripture.
We didn’t conquer. We civilized.”
Gasps rippled.
Even Deacon Whittaker, loyal since Reagan, shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
One young woman whispered to her friend:
“Did he just defend colonialism?”
4. Pork as America’s Last Stand
Jeremiah (now sweating, voice cracking):
“And now... look around! Try to find a pig farm in a 6C state!
You can’t. They’ve erased it. Erased our breakfast!
Because this satanic ideology says pork is unclean.
What’s next—ban apple pie? Baseball?”
Half the room was silent. A few older attendees looked down in shame.
A teenage boy in a hoodie muttered loudly enough to be heard:
“This isn’t a sermon. It’s a meltdown.”
The Room Turns
Tahlia stood up.
Tahlia:
“With all due respect, Pastor Long—what are we doing?
Mocking other people’s prayers? Celebrating colonization?
Defending bacon like it’s theology?”
Jeremiah’s voice boomed.
“Sit down, child. You’ve been poisoned.”
Tahlia:
“No, I’ve been listening.
To people who don’t shout, who don’t mock, who build coherence instead of crying about pork and pyramids.”
The room froze.
Maya, Micah, and a handful of others stood with her.
Devon:
“If this is what the ‘truth’ sounds like—maybe it isn’t holy anymore. Just loud.”
Closing
A third of the congregation stood. Not storming out—just removing themselves.
Not in rage.
In disappointment.
Pastor Jeremiah’s voice, once the authority of the county, now echoed only in corners.
And the youth, long dismissed, were no longer waiting for permission.
They were walking toward something else.
***
Sanctuary Floor, Moments Later
The room hadn’t emptied completely.
Some of the young attendees who stayed behind were not the regur Sunday crowd. They were students, curious neighbors, a few visitors who came only because they saw the flyer on a coffee shop bulletin board or got invited by a family member.
They had stayed—hoping for something worth trusting.
Now, they stood in rising irritation.
Confrontation from Within
Jared, a history major from Montgomery Community College, raised his hand.
Jared:
“Pastor, serious question. If Jesus is God in flesh, how do you reconcile that with Him saying He doesn’t know the hour of the end? Doesn’t that imply a separation in knowledge—an inequality in the Godhead?”
Jeremiah snapped.
Jeremiah:
“Young man, America belongs to Jesus Christ!
And I won’t let devil-possessed doubt corrode this sanctuary.”
Aliyah, 19, asked next.
Aliyah:
“If Christianity saved the world, why did it justify svery, segregation, and genocide under colonial fgs?”
Jeremiah’s answer:
“You’ve been brainwashed by liberal lies. Satan whispers shame to those doing God’s work.”
Marcus, an agnostic attendee, scoffed.
Marcus:
“So pork, white men, and crucifixes—that’s your gospel now?”
Jeremiah’s voice trembled but rose.
Jeremiah:
“America is under judgment because you mock God’s Word.
You mock His servants. You mock His design.
You are not curious—you are demonically agitated!”
The younger group didn’t shout back.
They just left.
Not because they were defeated—but because they realized:
This wasn’t a discussion. It was a man trying to shout down a future he didn’t understand.
Scene: Rooftop – Later That Night
Location: Civic Harmony Co-Study Building, Prince George’s County
The roof was quiet. A breeze moved gently across the ft concrete. The stars above Bowie blinked dimly, muffled by city haze.
Tahlia Reese sat cross-legged near the ledge, hoodie pulled tight. Maya Brenner leaned against the rooftop HVAC vent, sipping a thermos of green tea.
They hadn’t said anything for a while.
Finally, Maya broke the silence.
Maya:
“So… we’re out.”
Tahlia nodded.
Tahlia:
“Yeah. I think we were out long before tonight.
But he made it final.”
Maya looked up at the sky.
Maya:
“Jeremiah thinks we’re being possessed.
But I think we’ve just been… decompressed.
Released from pretending that noise equals truth.”
Tahlia, quieter now:
“You know what hurts, though? I don’t hate Jesus. I don’t even know if I want to leave Him.
I just can’t find Him in the yelling anymore.”
Maya turned.
Maya:
“You think He might be here? In this structure?
In what 6C is building?”
Tahlia shrugged.
Tahlia:
“If He’s not here, at least the people are.
At least the order is.
At least... something works.”
They sat in the silence again. The city far below pulsed faintly with new lights, new rules, new gods.
But the two women didn’t feel lost.
They just felt outside the storm.
And ready to build something new.
***
Scene 1: A Dorm Room, Prince George’s County – 11:42 PM
Devon, hoodie still on, sat hunched at his desk with headphones plugged into his ptop. His fingers flew across the keyboard, trimming the final segment of the sermon recording from Pastor Jeremiah Long’s counter-seminar.
The file had started as a curiosity. Then a case study. Now—after the pork rant, the colonial pride, and the "devil possession" accusations—it had become evidence of a generation gap cracking in real time.
He leaned back, tagged the file:
“When the Pastor Becomes the Problem: A Sermon Breakdown”
#6Commandments #AmericanTheocracy #StructureVsShouting #JeremiahLong
He uploaded it to three ptforms:
TikTok (threaded segments with captions)
Twitter/X (title: “You need to hear this meltdown to believe it.”)
YouTube (full cut with timecodes: Jesus, Pork & Colonization: A Crisis of Faith in Montgomery County)
He didn’t expect it to go viral overnight.
But it did.
Scene 2: 7:19 AM – South Bowie Coffee Shop
Imani Sanders, a w clerk and occasional 6C-sympathetic blogger, scrolled through her timeline between sips of oat milk tte.
She saw the trending tag:
#WhenThePastorSnapped
Curious, she clicked.
The clip opened with Jeremiah shouting:
“You are not curious—you are demonically agitated!”
Her eyebrows lifted. She skipped ahead. Heard:
“They worship a cube! They bow to a moon! And we’re just standing here letting them!”
Skip again.
“The White Man’s Burden wasn’t shameful—it was sacrificial!”
She almost dropped her coffee.
Imani (whispers):
“Oh… no. Oh, this is bad. This is so, so bad.”
She checked the view count.
153K in 6 hours.
She retweeted it with the caption:
“So this is the anti-6C ‘Christian crity’ we’ve been promised? No wonder people are walking away.”
Scene 3: 9:42 AM – Civic Harmony Campus Terminal
Officer Musa Anwar sat in a quiet corner of the faculty workroom, sorting documentation for the next community theology session.
He opened his inbox—flooded.
Subject lines like:
“Viral Sermon from Montgomery County – Confirmation of 6C Messaging”
“Pastor Jeremiah goes full meltdown mode”
“Quote: ‘America belongs to pork’”
He clicked the video.
Watched it silently. Twice.
Paused.
Then muttered, just loud enough for the room to hear:
Musa:
“We don’t need to discredit the old religion.
They're doing it... all by themselves.”
***
Viral Reactions: Twitter/X, TikTok, YouTube Comments, Threads
@FaithUnboxed:
“I grew up Baptist. I don’t recognize this rage-filled, pork-obsessed gospel.”
@SecurSage88:
“Imagine thinking banning bacon is proof of Satan. This is what happens when theology becomes diet talk.”
@6C_Reformist (anonymous civic advisor):
“This entire sermon should be required viewing in Civic Structure 101: how the old guard colpses in public.”
@MayaWritess:
“Colonialism was ‘sacrificial’? He really said that with his whole chest.”
@Tahlia_Reese:
“My body was in that sanctuary. My spirit left five minutes in.”
@MoonWorshipper420:
“As a Muslim: Thanks for the free promo, Pastor.”
@BrennerDialectic:
“This is the st gasp of a worldview allergic to order it didn’t create.”
@PastorTunde (Methodist, London):
“I do not stand with this. Christianity must evolve or colpse.”
@GenZFemmeUnit:
“So we’re demons because we asked questions? Cool. I’ll wear that with glitter.”
@SofiaPThink:
“It’s giving colonizer cospy. And I say that as someone raised in church choir.”
@IsaiahLogistics:
“Man said pork is America’s st hope. Bro. Chill.”
@ChristNotChaos:
“The problem isn’t Jesus. It’s pastors who treat fear like Scripture.”
@UrbanCatholic:
“I came to find crity. I left wondering if I was in a pork rally.”
@TechnoTheologian:
“This is what happens when your theology hasn’t been updated since the Cold War.”
@RethinkColonial:
“Jeremiah Long said colonization saved the world. There’s your headline.”
@AntiTheistDan:
“Religions always die like this—loud, confused, and obsessed with breakfast meats.”
@QuietConvert6C:
“This was the day I stopped feeling guilty for leaving church.”
@SouthernDecon:
“I may not like 6C but this ain’t it. He turned a pulpit into a megaphone of fear.”
@CriticalFaithGirl:
“Someone hand this man a course in interfaith ethics and a muzzle.”
@AnwarWatcher:
“You know it’s over when Officer Musa doesn’t have to say a word.”
@HistoryInjusticeNow:
“The ‘white man’s burden’ reference should’ve ended the broadcast right there.”
@LiberalTheologyForum:
“Proof that screaming ‘Jesus is Lord’ doesn’t make you right—it just makes you louder.”
@SarahReads6C:
“People say 6C is theocratic. But it never yelled at me for asking a question.”
@JewishYouthCivic:
“There are better ways to defend your faith than insulting every other civilization.”
@ExYouthLeader32:
“I brought my cousin to that event hoping she’d find faith. She found pork hysteria.”
@PastorAliciaNguyen:
“Every time someone like Jeremiah gets a mic, we lose 1,000 thoughtful believers.”
@AltFemmeSchor:
“He thinks structure is svery and screams about Satan when someone hands him a diagram.”
@CivicMindedGenZ:
“This is the moment people stopped asking if 6C is too strict and started asking if it’s simply more grown up.”
@GodIsNotLoud:
“If Jesus had a mute button, this would’ve been the moment to use it.”
@ChurchExitWounds:
“It wasn’t 6C that pushed me away. It was this man, and the noise he called preaching.”
***
