We’re putting the finishing touches on a new teaser with a Wolfish theme, and I can’t get over how beautifully poetic and chilling the King James version of the warning is:

“..Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves…”

I’ve been advised to not use any scripture whatsoever in a teaser, and I think I know the reason.  The only people who can use scripture in entertainment are people who have thoroughly proven themselves to be heathens or bona fide skeptics.    So, if you see a big “Warner Brothers” logo come up on the screen, followed by some apocolyptic verse from Revelations, it’s okay, because no one actually expects any biblical wisdom from Warner Brothers.   (The audience feels safe and secure knowing no one will challenge them.)

The flip side of that reality, is that anyone with a heritage/spiritual dimension can’t use scripture because, well, people will feel a sermon is coming on.

Too bad.  The King James version of the Bible is too beautiful to ignore.  If the Coen Brothers can use it, I’m going to use it.

As a “churched” person all of my life, I know how this particular verse strikes people within the congregation.   First of all, they don’t get the part about the sheep’s clothing.   They actually think a wolf will look like a wolf, contrary to the admonition of Jesus.   The image Jesus paints is that of someone who really does appear gentle and lamb-like.   Think of the weakest, most soft-spoken, anemic looking pastor you’ve ever seen —   someone unable to flatten a worm on the brick beneath his feet.    You hear constant affirmations of peace and good will and joyfulness and  tolerance.   Those are the pastors you have to be careful about.

Second, the church almost always thinks the real wolves are outside the flock.  They point out all the doctrinal problems with the other folks, and they think the wolves are feeding, safely, at a distance.    I actually passed the script for episode 2 by an ordained minister friend of mine.  I thought our Pastor Silence Laud might be a tad outlandish in his machinations, but my pastor friend responded “I’ve know a few JUST LIKE HIM.”

Someday, our little town of Courage, will have a warrior pastor of some sort, someone very much like Abraham Wood of Chesterfield, New Hampshire, who guided his community for 50 years, but we’re doing a little testing of the flock this time.  You should be able to judge for yourselves soon.