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Jesus Puts Down Religious Nonsense

¹ Jesus turned and talked to his cowboys and the rest of the folks who were sittin' around. He said, ² "The hypocritical preachers and the lawyers of the Code are experts in the law of Moses. ³ Y'all need to do what they say, but don't act like they act. They sure as heck don't practice what they preach.

⁴ "They will load y'all down with impossible tasks they wouldn't be willing to bear. ⁵ They have silver on their saddles and jingle bobs on their spurs, just so y'all will think they are important. They are all talk and no action. ⁶ They like the box seats at the rodeo and want to be the first in line at the chuckwagon. ⁷ They care about bein' recognized at the feed store and bein' called by fancy titles.

⁸ "But y'all cowboys who ride for me don't need fancy titles. Y'all have only one Boss and you are all brothers. ⁹ Don't call anyone on earth 'boss' because you only have one Boss and he is in heaven. ¹⁰ Don't let anyone call you 'teacher' either. You only have one Teacher and he's the Boss's Son. ¹¹ The one who is the top hand among you will be your servant who works like a pack mule. ¹² Whoever tries to rise above others will be thrown down and whoever lowers himself will be raised up.

Jesus Gives It to the Religious Know-It-Alls

¹³ "You hypocritical preachers and lawyers of the Code are going to come to a terrible reckonin'. ¹⁴ You slam the gate to God's Green Pastures in the face of cowboys and cowgirls. Y'all won't ever ride through those gates, nor will you allow anyone else to ride through.

¹⁵ "You hypocritical preachers and lawyers of the Code are going to come to a terrible reckonin'. You ride over mountains and cross great territories to win one cowboy for the Boss, and when he saddles up, you make him twice the son of hell that you are.

¹⁶ "You blind trail guides have a day of reckonin' comin' to you too! You tell folks, 'If you give your word by the church building, it don't mean nothin'; but if you give your word by the gold in the church, you are obligated to keep it.' ¹⁷ You blind idiots! Which is more important: the gift, or the means by which the gift is made? ¹⁸¹⁹²² The cowboy who gives his word by heaven gives his word on the Boss's throne and by the one who sits on it.

²³ "You hypocritical preachers and lawyers of the Code are going to come to a terrible reckonin'. Y'all give a tenth of everything from tobacco to toilet paper, but you forget about the important part of the Code: mercy, justice, and faith. You should give a tenth of everything, but don't forget the more important matters. ²⁴ You blind trail guides will pick a piece of dirt out of your coffee, but then eat a mud pie.

²⁵ "You hypocritical preachers and lawyers of the Code are going to come to a terrible reckonin'. You'll wash the dirt off the outside of your coffee cup, but leave the inside full of greed and perversion. ²⁶ If you'll get the inside clean the outside will follow!

²⁷ "You hypocritical preachers and lawyers of the Code are going to come to a terrible reckonin'. You are like pretty cedar caskets. You look good on the outside, but on the inside, you are full of rotting flesh and worms. ²⁸ That's the way y'all appear to people. You look good on the outside, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and rebellion.

²⁹ "You hypocritical preachers and lawyers of the Code are going to come to a terrible reckonin'. You carve fancy headstones for the prophets and decorate the graves of those who rode with the Boss. ³⁰ You say, 'If we lived way back then, we wouldn't have been a part of the posse that murdered these great people!' ³¹ But you are proof that you are the sons of those posse riders. ³² Just keep on doin' the same things they did and actin' the way they acted. ³³ You're all coyotes! You're the bastard sons of coyotes! How are you gonna escape the truck that leads to the slaughterhouse? ³⁴ I will send my cowboys and wise foremen and experts in the code of Moses to you. But y'all will string 'em up or nail 'em to a cross or whip 'em away from your meetings or run 'em out of town. ³⁵ That's why you'll be found guilty for every cowboy, starting with Abel. ³⁶ I promise that you people livin' today will be punished for all these things.

Jesus Cries about Jerusalem Again

³⁷ "Oh my town of Jerusalem! You have killed all those I sent to take care of you. I want so bad to take all your children and comfort them like a momma hen comforts her chicks, but you have shunned me. ³⁸ Now your church will be deserted and full of tumbleweeds. ³⁹ You ain't gonna see me again until you say, 'Blessed is the cowboy who comes in the name of the Boss.'"