Flash fiction, a new morsel of story to keep we in the Underground well fed. See, I have written something for you, about you and me. Read The Gunslinger in The Underground, it will take 20 seconds. Then post a comment on Ted’s Facebook Fan Page BY CLICKING HERE and tell me what it means to YOU then join the larger discussion on Facebook.
A) A prophet is seldom welcome in his own stomping grounds.
B) The world conspires to steal what is yours.
C) Both or Other. I have been heard, now it’s your turn.
C.) Both AND Other. I think both A and B are true but also I think the Gunslinger has finally tasted freedom with his . . . errr, MY death. After all, I’ve always wanted to die. To see what it would be like . . . to be free of the constraints of this world. Finally free of the body that I feel holds me back each and every day. Don’t get me wrong, I love to live also . . . but to have no more pain, no more tiredness, nothing other than experiencing complete perfection in Paradise with Jesus by your side . . . I count the Gunslinger lucky.
*Both A and B AND Other . . . is what I meant to say. Those who return home don’t always enjoy a warm welcome with the fatted calf and those who work hard in life for what they desire often times get it unfairly taken away . . .
I would say C. And I would like to say that for such a short story, it was pretty awesome.
I love Ted Dekker books and as a Christian it is awesome to be able to read wholesome stories that rival what the rest of the world is reading. I have always said Ted Dekker is the Christian Stephen King, but come on really? The Gunslinger, Come on Ted.
A,B,C:
A: Authority is easier to hold when people don’t know your every secret. I think this is the weakest of the possibilities. The killing at the end leads me towards B.
B: Seems the gunslinger made a mistake leaving town. He gave up his former role of authority and others stepped in to fill the void. The worldly seldom relinquish power so easily once they have tasted it. Maybe the deed did revert, but I reckon a killing doesn’t lend that possibility credibility.
C: If I’m dead, the Lord must want it so. It seems a sorry way to die, someone gunning me down over a deed.
Also, in response to andrew. Ted often veils meaning in a strange cloak. I suspect there is more here than meets the eye. Perhaps Ted will reveal it in time.
C. It’s always trying to steal the happiness we get from God through manipulative means as well as rarely ever letting truth-telling prophets be welcome in their hometowns. Let alone anywhere else.
C, other.
What does it mean to me? Violence isn’t the best way to handle a complaint—there’s /always/ a faster gunslinger.
This flash-fiction piece was primarily meant for the Forest Guard. The story is a question to how your experience in being part of the Forest Guard was.Each of the three answers represents the different experiences the individual Forest Guard members had while promoting Green.
(c) You could have been unaffected by it, or (b) you could have only been in it for the competition or
(a) you could have been “persecuted” during your attempt to spread Green.
Answer (a) is about martyrdom/persecution. Standing up for what you believe in no matter the cost.
Answer (b) is about thinking only of yourself, thinking the world is out to get you.
Answer (c) is about just having fun. Not really caring about the reason why your doing something.
I chose answer (a) because of some of the things that happened while working to promote Green. People seldom want to hear about something that they don’t understand. They cast off what you say because it offends them, even though what you said isn’t offensive. But through the trial of being cast down, and cast out, you need to stand firm. You need to continue to spread the word about your faith even if people stab at you with harsh words or actions. We have the strength in Christ to be more than just conquers. You have to persevere.
Here are the key points in Gunslinger that refer to this being the Forest Guard Mission 2009:
Gunslinger = you
The bar = the grand prize
Vulture = predator
Predator = competitors
The deed= the contest
Three years= the three months of the contest
No reckoning= not knowing how the contest is going
Deed reverts= finally knowing who wins
Day is passed= the end of the contest
One man left standing= One grand prize winner
I think I would say A or possibly “other”. I feel like that a lot (except I haven’t been killed yet.) But I also think that it could be interpreted as that we are misfits in the world we live in. We disagree with the world. We stand out. It’s like we have purple skin or something
or at least that’s how it should be! But I’m not sure if I’m stretching this too far.
With a name like “Gunslinger”, I have a reputation of being fast, unpredictable and ruthless. Walking into that arena like bar, I have but two options: be prepared or not be prepared. Whatever the setting, my senses are trained and my reflexes automated to follow the programming I have installed during the last years. The knowledge that the world steals what isn’t theirs and that prophets aren’t welcome in their hometown can and will not alter my reasons to enter the bar.
Knowing the reality of the combined works of Ted, I am certain that the outcome of my actions will have a result. Whether I die here on the wooden floor to awake in a parallel reality to play a significant role - and to become able to undo the present reality - or to have the unwavering faith that God can raise the death prophet that walks in His will and assignment, I would step confident into the dark and meet my fate!
I have learned from Ted that there is not just one reality…the one I can see. The eternal reality of our Creator is so much more than we can imagine or think about.
D)None of the above.
Knowing your audience is everything. If this was meant for these Green Guard participants, it was largely lost on casual readers. Furthermore, if it is true that this is largely meant for another group, I feel a bit used, like being the stranger at the telling of an inside joke.
I think that it is C Both and Other. The world doesn’t like the light that we bring into it when we reflect the love and justice of God. We are deprived of what is ours (based on citizneship, etc.)first by passive means and then by force. The world will do all it can to be free of God’s penetrating gaze, and they think that by killing off “prophets”, they will accomplish that. When more and more “prophets” start coming, the question becomes when is too much “killing” enough?
On the otherhand, the mere depriving of “prophets” what is theirs is good enough for most. After all, why should someone not like them have what they have? People don’t like change, and they don’t like something that sticks out and is different from them. This removes them from their comfort zone, and they will do anything they can to get back to that state.
There is no real sense of justice in this world. Since justice is based on man’s interpretation of God’s Word, whose to say that it is complete. We will not have true justice until Christ’s return.
I see and feel this personally quite a bit.
I long for Christ’s return, so that true justice will be met even in my own actions. I want to reflect God and they only way that will happen is to be refined in God’s fire and corrected. You cannot be corrected by anyone other then a teacher or a loving parent and God is the ultimate teacher and loving parent.
First, let me say that I rather enjoyed this little fic. It was an interesting change of pace from the gut wrenching supernatural thrillers that you typically write (so you should totally do something like this for a full length story).
So, I agree with A but not in accordence with the story. I’m not sure I see how claiming a piece of property assosiates with being a prophet.
With B, that is also true. The world generally selfish - always trying to get what everyone else has. And I guess I can pin that to the story but it doesn’t seem to fit either.
So C, other. I actually see it as how we sometimes try and come in with this high and mighty attitude and how the world often regects that attitude outright and shoots us dead - ruining our witness. On the other hand, we can’t be super tolorent either and let people think that sinning is ok. It’s a very fine line that I’m trying to balance on…
I first want to say that I really enjoyed this “20 second” story. I think that it is a good idea because of the months in between novel releases.
I pick C) Other. What I noticed was that the gunslinger went to claim his bar, but he was rusty with his “gun slinging”. he allowed his “skills” to digress. Just like so many christians don’t read the Word and stay away from church and they get “rusty”. Look at what it cost him… his life. This can and does happen to all of us. To me the story was just a reminder to stay “sharp”.
The first thing I thought of while reading the story was that the gunslinger was a Christian who had not stood up for his faith in a long time.
And God said since you haven’t stood up for Me the last X amount of years your privileges have been revoked.
But I could see it going these other ways too. Good story.
My first thought was feeling cheated out of some valuable. To have lost out because I was seen as an outsider, a renegade who should not be seen with the likes of the good people of the town. I felt alone and hurt. I felt like really mad. It was like a tiny voice in the wilderness struggling to be heard above a bureaucratic bunch who hide behind the law to do all sorts of evil. No matter how much you fight to be heard they find a white paper way to push down.
The world does have a way of making you feel alone in the smallest of ways. Even your friends seem to be far when you need them during these periods.
I will say B. The Gunslinger for one did not read properly the terms of purchase. The Old man clearly stated that the deed says after three years of lying fallow the property reverts back.
So Yes am staying with B. It was very shady and wrong for such a term to be placed on such a transaction. Am sure the Old man knew there is no way he will stay in town for three years straight.
Making this into a full novel will be interesting reading. I have all your books from House to Black and am still looking to buy the rest of the books I do not have. My most favorite books are Blessed Child and A man called blessed. They were my first and since I have gone looking for all your books. I love the fact that you write about the spirituality of the Christian life but present it in such a way that even a non-Christian can read and apply it to their daily life. I will dare say it may even make believers of some non-believers. The Gunslinger will be a diversion but I know in your usual way it will still come out challenging us to rethink our moral stands about life.
So go for it.
I’d have to say C. because both A and B are entirely true.
as always, i believe that there is a deeper meaning. what it is, i’m not sure. but here is what i do know. i would pick A. this fight is more than just another person we fight. its about the spiritiual side. this story could be seen in that way. the christian coming home to fight the evil in town. and through the gunslinger’s death, life has been achieved. i remember readin a verse in the bible, where i cannot remember. but i do remember that it was said that the princes of the land try to get rid of God by killin Jesus when all they did was streghten His cause. perhaps that is the true underlyin meaning….
Partially B, but it also tells me that my inaction or disinterest in what is mine opens the door for the enemy to steal what is mine.
I liked it although I’m not enthused about dying in your story. you gave enough info to give the shadow of the story but were brief. Will you continue to write the story?
I would say c. It was a mission for justice and my last chance to right a wrong that was comitted six years earlier. And do what I knew was right even if it cost me my life.
C, I think. The gunslinger’s mistake–my mistake, our mistake–was leaving town. We have retreated from our roles in politics, in education, and other places of authority, leaving others to step into those roles and do with them what they will.
I’m not gonna go too spiritual here… I think some things can get over-spiritualized and cheesy. I see it as resistance to change. Maybe that’s just cause of where I’m at in my ministry right now. You’ve got the gunslinger who’s returned to the small town. The old geezer tells him to “go back to the city and run with [his] own folk.” The Gunslinger wants to take the store by force, but is killed in the scuffle.
In small towns things run slow, change happens even slower. Older people of small towns want to leave the change to the big city folk. They would rather have their own ways. Often when the young “gunslinger” - or guy who wants to make a change in the way things have always been done - comes into town ready to go he is overwhelmed by those who will do anything they need to to resist that change.
ps… not bitter, just my story
C) Both or other. Being the gunslinger is like being who we are now. Followers of Elyon. When told and promised some land like the Israelites by Him, we know there will be those who will try and shoot us dead so that the promise will not continue. Those who own the property now and the land promised, will do everything they can to stop us from getting it…but we’ve been promised. Whether or not we come to claim that land with our life or just watch as time passes by, is our own decision and journey to take.
A story written by a dead man, a man who came to claim what was rightfully his, trapped by a law he didn’t write, but probably knew. Viewed as an outcast, maybe those who knew him felt abandoned…sometimes truth is stranger than fiction
I think the answer is multi-facated. Jesus was not welcomed in his hometown because they knew him as Joseph the carpenters son. However, that can also bare the greatest witnesss. Given time people will see the changes that have occured in your life and will begin to wonder what has changed. The world always wants what we as christians have. They don’t know what it is or were to get it. They don’t even know what to call it but they want it. The deed in question I took to mean the salvation that is offered only in Jesus Christ. I, the gunslinger, have every right to it. It is mine to claim anytime that I want. Jesus offers it freely. However, there is always someone (Satan) who tries to tell you that you can’t have it. He constantly holds the “deed” away from me, making me feel like I deserted it, don’t deserve it. Only when I am dead can I truley have the satisfaction and see a tangable manifestation of what my salvation means. True freedom from the constraints of this world. True authority to claim the rightful deed to salvation.
The Gunslinger,
It’s been done already
c) I agree that a prophet is seldom welcome in his own town and when that prophet has been away for a very long time, its even more difficult. Everyday and in everyway the world and its deciets tries to steal wot is ours…”our salvation”. With the many distractions and deception, without our faith being hinged on the almighty is easy to go astray from The Way. Thats why the Gunslinger comes back to his town after a long time and finds that its been taken over.
I do not despair however because i know the promise that has been set before me when i was accepted into God’s house and the fact that the Gunslinger returns shows repentance and that means taht even after he is shot dead, he lives…
Hi,
Thank you for stopping by ACFW tonight. I enjoyed meeting you.
Both of the statements are true above. The first describes an interesting dynamic straight from the Bible. And, sigh, life
The second describes the phenomenon of the fallen world, humanity, even family. And, sigh, life
Since they are both so recognizable, you’d think we’d have excellent solutions to the complications they cause… sigh, life.
I’m glad God’s plan trumps our human plans
Best wishes and welcome to American Christian Fiction Writers,
Angie Breidenbach
Publicity Officer, ACFW
pr@acfw.com
It is a bit like the coin story in the bible. In your story three years have passed and the gunslinger has not claimed it and then he dies still not having claimed it. Today we can allow time to pass without claiming our spiritual giftings and using them.
hope you like my answer
I would have to say C. That’s really all I have to say on the matter of the Gunslinger.
Although both A and B are often true, what is implied by the story? I am a gunslinger, so I am fast, deadly, and experienced. I never even went for my gun. What does that mean? I wasn’t going to try? I will say A, and explain in that I came back to finish something, yet not knowing what it was I needed to finish, I would let events play out as they would. Although B is certainly true a large percentage of the time, a contract is something that has to be agreed on, so it has no relevance in this story. I just hope that Dekker continues. I want more to come.
I read the entire Full Circle series and I am both glad and sad to say that “Green” was both extremely satisfying and also horribly dissappointing! LOL!!! I NEED MORE! Dont want to offend, but just share my sincere desire for a more complete ending. Will there be a fifth, final, full closure book to the circle? Maybe “Blue: Beyond the Circle”… I really REALLY hope so. Thanks.
Old Time Preacher Man, Justin
Hello Ted,
I was banned at the little Circle and banned again when I posted anne ominously…
I guess you could say -I’m with the banned.
6 days to do your work. 6 days to prosper. And on the seventh day you shall do no work.
And on the third day. Billy wrote: Jesus rose again.
Boy howdy… I’m hungry.
Oh…
D. None of the above.
(All of the below)
I don’t know how else to contact you other than here. I am reading Obsessed right now and wanted you to know if you don’t already that starting about chapter 37 and continuing on from there the pages have gotten mixed up. I am not sure all of them can be figured out. This is a copy from the Sonoma County library. I don’t know if all of the copies are like this or not. I am curious if you discovered this earlier and if there is another addition which has been corrected. It is such a good story I would love to have an edited, corrected copy. I have read most of your books and am a huge fan. I have loved most of your books and hated a couple of them, Skin and House. Being a Peretti fan as well I was so disappointed in House. Not because of the dark material but because it just rambled on and was poorly written. Not to discourage. Maybe you have many who loved these books. Like I said I am a huge fan and hope to be able to read your books for years to come. I am 59 so not all of your fans are youngsters. I have read everything my library has to offer and will now hit up the bookstore for the rest of them especially since the library hasn’t completed some of the series. I am in awe of authors such as yourself who have such a gift. Leda Hoffman
Ok, this time I read the Gunslinger. I say neither in this case. You live by the sword you die by the sword. The guy is willing to die for a bar. Doesn’t really sound like a prophet to me. We want to believe he is a good guy only because he is one of your characters, Ted but your good guys always live at least in everything I have read so far. This guy is dead. You hold on too tight to this world and the desires it presents and you could lose your life.
Leda
Leda
C - both. I think that the story could have been about someone who lived there before, and then he comes back and get killed for trying to take what’s his, or as the world, aka bar tender, not letting you claim what is rightfully yours
I think the point of the story is after you leave an old way of living, you can never really go back. If you try, you will find you don’t really fit in. Therefore, those who do fit in will want you dead rather than put a blemish in there perfect world.
What I really really think of the story is that it was kind of lousy.
I see A) to be very true. In this story I see a lot of pride though. it is interesting to me that fighting for territory and what is rightfully mine in this story does seem to have an air of pride behind it because pride ultimatly does lead to death. I am the gunslinger and so are you, because we each have pride issues in our lives. It is one thing to be a prophet and suffer for righteousness sake and not be accepted for the truth, it is quite another to be caught up in the results of prideful living. In the end, we all really need to die to pride and live for another (Jesus Christ), but then that’s not the end but in reality the beginning.
C. Neither. Once a protector of a teritory, gun slinger…. leaves, in this case abandons, for a long period of time… his place is no longer there, spiritually there was a transition and what was rightfully his, he or i abandon, then it is given to or taken by someone else.
To force us to install adobe flash player to use your site is shameful.
Get over yourself…
Other: Greed has its’ own rewards.
I would have to say C Ted
Its not A. There doesn’t seem to be a prophet here. Prophets are never welcome in their home town. Jesus said so.
B seams too simple for your mind.
C. This seams to be a simple story of knowledge. The old Geezer had it and was confident in it. He waited for the day and it had passed. The bar belonged to him. The gunslinger was ignorant of the law. didn’t read the fine print maybe. I’d say this is encouragement to read the Word of God so that we don’t wait until it’s too late. The day is near.