The Trinity Game

uncomfortably in his seat, thinking:
Here it comes…
    “So do not be afraid to give to the Lord what little you have, for it will be returned to you, one-hundred fold
.
” Trinity flipped the pages. “Luke 6:38—Jesus said, ‘Give, and it shall be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over—
running over!
—will be put into your lap; for the measure you give, will be the measure you get back.’
Amen
, and
Amen
.”
    A blonde in a white pantsuit walked onstage from the wings. She looked like a beauty pageant runner-up, twenty years past her glory. She handed some sheets of paper to Trinity and flashed a smile to the audience.
    “Thank you, Liz,” he said, and she left the stage. “The telephones backstage are ringing off the hook and our telephone ministers are taking your prayer requests, so I want you to call that number on the screen. We only have time to read a few on the air, but
all
of your prayer requests are brought to my personal altar after the program is over, and I pray over each and every one.” He flipped through the sheets, scanning each one and nodding, then held them against the pages of his Bible. He closed his eyes.
    “Lord, we know that you hear our prayers, and prayers made in faith are answered. I ask you now,
in Jesus’s name
, to work a financial miracle in the life of Heather from Virginia Beach, who just lost her job. Bring our sister Heather a new and better job, and break the yoke of poverty off of her. And we ask you to look down upon Sarah from Minneapolis and smash that breast cancer, melt that tumor away…”
    Daniel scanned the crowd as Trinity rattled off more names and misfortunes. He estimated the majority was about evenly split between black and white, with maybe 20 percent Hispanic and 10 percent Asian. He looked from face to face, searching for any sign of skepticism, but found none. These people actually believed the swill Trinity served up. More than that, they loved it, and they loved Trinity for taking their money.
    Some things never change.
Daniel pushed away childhood memories of revival tents packed with dirt-poor farmers and laid-off factory workers who couldn’t afford a stick of deodorant, but somehow found the money to fill Trinity’s giant glass jars to overflowing.
    Trinity stopped praying mid-sentence. “Wait!” he said. He opened his eyes and looked straight into the camera. “God has just shown me something. Some of you watching at home are wavering. Don’t deny it—I have
seen
it. My words have awakened your faith, and you want to show your faith to God with a thousand-dollar vow to this ministry, but you say,
‘Why should I sow my seed to this preacher on TV?’
I mean to tell you, that is the
Devil
sabotaging your faith, tryin’ to keep you from your rightful inheritance in Christ!” Trinity flipped some pages and gave the Bible a mighty
thwack
. “First Corinthians, the Apostle Paul says of preachers, ‘If we sowed spiritual things
in
you, is it too much if we reap materialthings
from
you? So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living
from
the gospel.’ Word of
God!
It is written, in
Jesus’s
name!”
    The congregation called out
Amens
as the master preacher executed a side-shuffle that would’ve made James Brown proud.
    “See, God has prepared a
magnificent feast
, and Jesus has reserved a seat for you at the head table.” He patted his belly and shook his head. “And you say, ‘Thanks, Lord, but I’m not hungry, I had a big lunch. Maybe next time.’” The crowd laughed right along with him, until his smile melted away and his expression became deadly serious. “My-oh-my, you had a big lunch. That is the
Devil
talking! See, the Devil’s got many tricks to play on you, my friends, and I’ll let you in on a little secret: his two favorites are
doubt
and
procrastination
. More lives have been lost, more opportunities missed, more fortunes squandered, more relationships destroyed, through
doubt and procrastination
, than by any other means. They are the Devil’s twin tools of sabotage.”
    Trinity lashed out at the air with his Bible. “Get away, Satan! You can’t stop me from speaking the truth—I’m anointed by the blood of Christ!” Then he froze, his Bible in mid-strike.
    He remained frozen far too long, and worried murmurs began spreading through the congregation.
    His timing is usually perfect
, thought Daniel,
why is he doing this?
    Trinity’s