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Godwin Cotter




Mark Twain once quipped that he would like to go to "heaven for the climate, hell for the company". It's a common misconception that sinners have more fun and sinners are more fun. As if we will be missing out if we cast our lot with Jesus and follow the narrow path. What about the broad and smooth road to destruction? "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I not travel both, And be one traveler, long I stood." Thinking, thinking, what the heck, the broad and smooth road currently has 72 genders, not just the boring old two. How cool is that? Well actually it's not. The existence of the opposite gender has captured our common imagination since we were in the garden of Eden. I'll stick with that, thank you very much.


Jesus does warn us that a road trip to heaven with Him won't be a picnic, but we jump to our own conclusion that it won't be fun. Neither Bill Gates or Klaus Schwab has been able to corner the market on fun, there is no monopoly on it. The holy anarchy of fun is like the Spirit, we can't command it, only receive it.


We sometimes celebrate how we have freed certain sins from social stigmas, legal restraints and religious admonitions. Hooray for us, but are we having more fun... or are we becoming more depressed? It seems that we are becoming beset with addictions, not health and wellness. Addiction is a child of loneliness. We're not feeling the joy, fulfillment and grateful satisfaction with our own plate of spaghetti as was promised.


You may acknowledge that we're fun-deprived in our post-Christian society but that is irrelevant because Christianity is against fun. Aren't Jehovah Witnesses the only true Christians because they are against birthday parties? Surprisingly, the Christ attended His share of parties when on earth, plus He supplied the drinks at the wedding feast of Cana when the supply ran out. Not only that, it seems like Jesus had more success in spreading the Gospel at dinner parties with tax-collectors and sinners than with acceptable society. The tax collectors and sinners were aware of their existentially desperate circumstances. Skip-the-Dishes and too much alcohol merely kicks the can down the road. Sinners knew there had to be a better way.


The status quo also gave dinner parties where they invited Jesus but like many of us, their motives were mixed. They were wary of the V.I.P. guest. Simon invited Jesus over but was silently observing Jesus to see if He would meet Simon's pre-conceived criteria for being a prophet. I can relate to Simon, in his reserved, smarter-than-thou cynicism. Yet Jesus performs a surprise miracle and casts out seven demons from a surprise guest, Mary Magdalen.


Dare we hope that Jesus will cast the demons out of our society? You don't see the signs that we as a society need an exorcism? The foaming at the mouth (i.e. twitter mobs), the speaking of unknown languages, (check out this Klingdon Dictionary that has sold 300,000 copies)... the list goes on. We're faltering like Joe Biden is when reading his teleprompter. How many family Thanksgiving barbeques have been balkanized into all-out-take-no-prisoners-political war, rivalling the Hatfield-McCoy feuds of the past? Doesn't one long for the day when somebody's nose would be out of joint over who took the last meatball rather than another's political affiliation or stance on vaccines? The controversy arising over the striking down of Roe vs. Wade has distracted the public's attention for the appalling lack of drag queens to help in the education of preschoolers and kindergarteners. But I what do I know? Not that much really.


Anyways, back to the NROP Glasses; Luke has successfully ditched the NROP glasses. Now he is tempted to order the EGAR Glasses. The story ends on a cliff-hanger, one that kind of mirrors my own life.

I was able to beat the news-media addiction temporarily when I was active with Exodus 90, but now the bad habits are returning. Keeping them at bay is kind of like a Whack-a-Mole game. The Exodus 90 program was smart in that it got you to plug up the holes for the pop-up vices all at once. For 90 days, no screens (except for work), no snacks, no sugar, no desserts, plus a rigorous implementation of prayer, exercise and 7 hr. sleeping regimes, weekly accountability meetings, etc. For me, if I let one demon in, the unclean spirit invites others. It becomes like a rave. Like just this week when I was binge watching YouTube much too late at night and I felt an enormous urge to go downstairs and binge eat ice cream and junk food. I only refrained because of family peer pressure. The family would be either follow my lead or regard me with disdain (probably both).


The above two pages are the end of this comic book. But the end of one work of art is the beginning of the next because... artists gotta art. Sam Mercier, whose brilliant and unique art graced NROP Glasses can be contacted at: https://www.facebook.com/ExploreWithSam should you want to recruit him for artistic projects the way I did. You may want to order your own copies of Sam's previous two books: My Name is Sam and Yes I can and Exploring With Sam: A Winnipeg Beach Coloring Book. I am not willing to part with my copies.


But at this point, I will make a big reveal in dechiphering of the two anagrams in this comic book. For the first one, read the word right to left and "NROP" becomes "PORN" which explains why Luke was having trouble seeing women's unique personalities and faces. The last page has another anagram the can be deciphered in the same way. "EGAR" Glasses becomes " RAGE" Glasses. Some people say I mansplain things a lot. I guess that is my gift.

Please check out the other comics on this website. The Christmas Present, The Refining Fire, and Repentance.





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