"What... a demon..." After listening to Mary's account over the phone, Pastor Jeff comforted her, "Don't worry, Mary, there are no demons. God will bless you all..."
However, Mary on the other end was still worried. She voiced her suspicion that Sheldon was controlled by evil energy and wanted Pastor Jeff to come to her house to perform a holy baptism for her youngest son to drive away the evil aura from his body.
"Uh, alright. I'll be over in a bit..." Pastor Jeff heard her urgency and, after a moment's thought, agreed to Mary's invitation.
Then, he looked at Robin, the female traffic police officer who was gazing at him affectionately, and said meaningfully, "Perhaps this is God's guidance."
As a Christian, premarital acts are not allowed. Pastor Jeff felt that this coincidental phone call was God's reminder to him.
"What happened, Jeff?" Robin asked when she saw Jeff's sudden loss of interest after hanging up the phone.
It was the first time they were about to do something happy since they confirmed their relationship. And before this, they were clearly almost at the last step.
"Nothing..." Pastor Jeff guiltily averted his gaze and said, "Robin, you know I'm a pastor, and premarital acts are not allowed. So..."
Just as Pastor Jeff was feeling very conflicted, he heard Robin say, "Is that so? Then if we get married, will it be okay?"
Feeling that she didn't despise him, Pastor Jeff's eyes lit up: "Of course, the church rules don't have any requirements on that."
"That's great then..." Robin said happily, "Let's get married tomorrow!"
Tomorrow was conveniently the weekend.
"No, tomorrow is too rushed. The dress, invitations, wedding house, officiant, etc., there won't be enough time to prepare." Pastor Jeff could make do for himself, but he didn't want to shortchange Robin.
Even though Robin was in her thirties, this was her first marriage.
"Alright!" Robin felt his sincerity and then discussed, "How about next weekend?"
"Perhaps it could be next Saturday..." Pastor Jeff thought for a moment and said ambiguously.
And so, their wedding date was set. With a clear date, the two were no longer in a hurry for matters between a man and a woman.
After Pastor Jeff saw Robin out, he prepared the tools needed for the baptism and went to the Cooper family house.
Then, Jeff, dressed in his formal pastoral robes, performed an exorcism baptism for Sheldon, who was bewildered the entire time.
"Shelly, how do you feel?" As soon as the baptism ceremony ended, Mary quickly stepped forward and asked.
Sheldon, who had been inexplicably baptized, naturally felt very unwell.
Moreover, ever since Sheldon prayed devoutly to God in the hospital last time, the entire family had food poisoning the next day. Because of this, he no longer trusted God.
"I feel a bit cold..." Sheldon wiped the holy water dripping from his face and said truthfully.
Seeing that her youngest son didn't seem to be touched by God, Mary turned to look at Pastor Jeff, as if asking him for a solution.
At this moment, Pastor Jeff naturally couldn't give a clear explanation, so he suggested, "How about this, why don't Sheldon attend the church's weekend Sunday School? This might help him."
After the church service every weekend, Pastor Jeff would give a separate small lesson on faith to the children in town.
Most of the children who stayed to listen were from families where adults believed in Christianity, and they hoped their children would also believe in God like them.
Sheldon expressed strong resistance to this. He refused, "I don't want to go to the weekend church Sunday School. That's a waste of time. I'd rather stay home and learn more about science..."
Hearing Sheldon talk about science again, Pastor Jeff seemed to grasp the key point. He knew that in the last debate, the reason he lost to Sheldon was because the other party presented scientific evidence.
So, Pastor Jeff, who had privately gained some understanding of scientific theories, spoke up, "Very good, Sheldon. Since you mentioned science, you should know that you have no right to speak about something before you have a full understanding of it.
"So, if you don't want to believe in God, you should only make a conclusion after you have understood Him."
Pastor Jeff rattled off the argument he had prepared long ago. At this moment, he felt incredibly relieved.
As expected, Sheldon fell silent after hearing Pastor Jeff's paradox about science.
After thinking for a while, Sheldon, who still couldn't refute the other party, walked dejectedly to his room.
At this point, in the battle of faith between Sheldon and Pastor Jeff, Pastor Jeff had won a round.
In high spirits, he called out to Sheldon's retreating back, "Sheldon, I'll be waiting for you in Sunday School tomorrow."
However, Pastor Jeff, who had just won, hadn't been happy for long before he saw Mary and the others beside him staring at him with strange looks.
It was not considered honorable for an adult to bully a child in the eyes of others.
Pastor Jeff quickly realized this. He cleared his throat awkwardly and said, "My task is complete, so I'll be leaving now."
"I'll see you out." Although Mary also felt that Pastor Jeff's previous behavior of bullying her youngest son was a bit excessive, the outcome was good. So, she politely saw him to the doorstep.
Walking outside, Pastor Jeff suddenly thought of his wedding and felt that entrusting this task to Mary might be a good choice.
Looking at Pastor Jeff's gaze, Mary tentatively asked, "Is there anything else?"
"There's an important matter I need to ask you for help with..." Pastor Jeff explained about his wedding and sought Mary's assistance.
Hearing it was about a wedding, Mary first congratulated him and then readily accepted the task.
Meanwhile, back at the Cooper family house, Sheldon rushed out again after Pastor Jeff left.
"Moonpie, are you alright?" Connie asked with concern, looking at his tense little face.
"Pastor Jeff is right, I need to understand the church first before I can have a say..." Sheldon was unwilling to accept defeat. He decided to have another contest with the other party at Sunday School tomorrow.
Sheldon came out again this time because he wanted to learn about faith from everyone.
"I have a friend who is Jewish, maybe you can talk to him..." Connie understood Sheldon's needs and enthusiastically offered him advice.
Ira, who was over seventy, owned a furniture store and was currently one of Connie's suitors.
The call went through, and Ira, knowing Connie's intention, unreservedly introduced all aspects of Judaism to Moonpie.
Finally, he subtly indicated that if one didn't leave Texas, it would be better to believe in Christianity.
Sheldon, after hanging up the phone, pondered for a while and then sought help from everyone again.
He felt that the more churches he understood, the more authority he would have to speak.
Seeing this, Mike also briefly told Sheldon what he knew about Buddhism and Taoism.