A "Very Important" Issue

So, you want to be a mover and shaker?  You want to get attention, help shape the direction of things?  Then there is one thing you need.  You need a "very important" issue.

So, what does this mean - that you must carefully wait and bide your time for the next earth shattering issue - like Arianism, or the denial of the Real Presence?  By no means!  That would require patience - ain't nobody got time for that!

The key is to create for yourself a "very important" issue, and here is how.  What you do is you look for something small and relatively unnoticed that might be slightly off - the sort of thing that most people would just instinctively as Christians who have been trained to bear with one another just sort of shrug off and ignore.  Where they would by second nature just cover it, or bear with it.

And then, YOU HAMMER IT!

Then you take one of two approaches - either the approach of offense or the approach of indignation.  If you take the approach of offense, you focus on how whatever happen has offended you, upset you, hurt you.  Now, this can be a strong approach because it makes you the victim, and it's hard for people to gainsay you without being a villain.  However, you need something that actually is semi-legitimate here, lest that whole "Little Boy Who Cried Wolf" story come back to bite you.

If you take the approach of indignation, you jump in and complain about what someone did to someone else.  The beautiful thing with this approach is that your blowing things all out of proportion is "merely a sign of your zeal" - see how great and wonderfully you love this poor person who was being oppressed (and didn't even seem to notice or care).  Here you take on the role not of the victim, but rather the hero.  The problem is, people will want to fight heroes... so you have to be prepared to be a bit more aggressive in response.  Keep the issue in focus - that is, keep pointing to the poor people who clearly were victimized by these mean people over here.

Now, in either case, someone might try and resolve the issue - smooth over the issue.  YOU CANNOT ALLOW THIS.  Discord and strife are the waves that you will surf to power upon.  Things need to be unforgivable!  You need to paint them as earth shattering events that establish a terrible, dire precedent that must be stamped out.  Never forget!  Keep the agitation going - that way people will be happy that you are fighting the desperately important fight for them.

Because, that's what is important.  You need to be doing it *for*... for the people, for the Church, for Jesus.  You are the lynchpin, and they need to see it and know it... that's how you energize your base.  Keep the focus on what you are doing for Jesus (and whatever you do don't bring up Jesus "for you" - that's the sort of thing that leads to forgiveness and peace... Jesus has a tendency to want calm waves, and with no waves, no surfing for you!).

Well... that's what you can do.  And perhaps you will do it poorly... and that way you can be the occasion for ME to turn you into a "Very Important" Issue - that way I can be indispensable.