Every Pretender Will Have His Place(Kylee Callais) They didn’t go because they wanted to. They went because of who they were and who all their friends were. Pretenders. That’s what they were, even if they never admitted it to themselves. None of them really loved God, or Jesus, or whoever it was Christians worshipped in that building they called a church. They just went because it made them feel less bad about themselves and what they were really doing in their spare time.

James played the drums every Sunday morning in the church. But Friday and Saturday night, you could find him standing on the street corner dealing drugs. Of course he wasn’t just dealing, he was using too.

Sara sang in a beautiful voice that got people to listen, however that was where the beauty ended. The rest of the time it was horrible curse words and vicious comebacks and rumors. All she did was hate.

Ethan prayed over the offering every service for as long as anyone could remember. At home he was stealing money from his parents to fuel his drinking habit.

Everyone saw them the way they wanted to be seen, good kids that did right in the sight of God. No one saw the handful of pills James threw into his mouth. Or the venomous rumors Sara spread on an anonymous blog. The alcoholism that was overpowering Ethan went unnoticed by all.

Because of what their masks portrayed them to be, no one would have guessed a tragic car accident would claim all three of their lives.
One morning in a funeral home, three caskets lay at the front of a room. The people all said the same things.

“They were such good kids. Always doing the right thing.”

Each casket held a special item, a microphone for Sara, a drumstick for James, and a prayer book for Ethan. But while their bodies were here on earth, their souls stood before the throne of God.

Looking at them, He saw beyond what everyone else saw, into who they really were, a drug addict, a backbiting gossip, and an alcoholic. Even further, He saw that they were pretenders. He opened His mouth and said the words that held so much pain in them.

“Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you.”

Sara, James, and Ethan knew God had done what everyone else could not do; He had seen past the façade and the mask that they had worn for so long. And as they were thrown into the pits of Hell, they all had the same thought; a thought they wished they could share with anyone who would listen and heed their warning.

“Every liar, thief and adulterer would have their place in the lake of fire. But so would every pretender.”

---