A little fly on the wall sat listening to some very nice, very sincere Christian men talking about how upside-down the world was, and how downright evil the liberals are, were, and always will be, and one of them brought up a friend of his, a very good Christian young man, that wanted to join the liberal organization Greenpeace to do some good in the world, but was horrified that they expected him to sign a vow that he wouldn't share his faith while out helping in the world. These good men marveled at how evil the world could be, where "sharing your faith" could be considered a bad thing, where the planet was put above "saving souls."
But let's try and make sense of this, even though the world is a crazy, crazy place, and where people are having a harder, harder time even THINKING, let alone thinking well or good.
Sharing Faith on the Sly.
Five men in a rubbery dinghy with "Greenpeace" emblazoned on the side raced toward the oil slick along the shoreline where Eskimos were valiantly attempting to rescue beslimed baby seals. The bold, handsome man at the front of the dinghy, peering through powerful binoculars, whispered beneath his breath: "God help those poor heathen!"
The second man, peering over the first man's shoulder, started, and then spoke in a low voice directly into the first man's ear: "Hey, are you a, um, Christian?"
The first man smiled and kept his voice soft as he answered, "Yes, I am, but I try to keep it quiet. You know, that disclaimer we had to sign about not sharing our faith?"
"Yes," answered the second man, "it was tough to sign, and I hate to admit it, but I don't think I can live up to it. I feel compelled in my spirit man to share my faith with those poor pagans dancing on the beach. That's the whole reason I came."
"Amen, Brother," the first man returned, smiling broadly, you share the same inclination with me! With two of us, we'll be more than twice as strong."
"A cord with three strands is not easily broken," said the third man, speaking not so softly, reaching out his arms to clasp the shoulders of either men seated before him. "Looks like there are three of us apostate Greenpeacers racing toward that beach and those unsaved children of the damned."
"Make that four," said the fourth man, laughing. "I thought I was the only one deceitful enough to join Greenpeace all for the purpose of brining the Good News to the evil ones!"
"We are of one accord," said the fifth man, slowing the engine of the rubber dingy to give the fellowship a greater few moments to sing their praises before the Lord. "A mighty thing shall happen today, my Brothers! We shall wrest the unclean from the clasp of Satan!"
The five men felt the anointing of God upon them, the storehouse of Heaven releasing its showers of blessings, and for a few moments all the fish in the area were scared away by shouts of "Hallelujah!" and "Amen!" and "Praise God!" and "The gates of hell shall not prevail against us!"
The first man, half-turned in his seat, smilingly exclaimed: "Before noon I hope to have most of them Eskimos baptized in the frigid waters, and we can go extra fast and cover extra territory with five of us baptizing those filthy children of the devil!"
There was silence in the dinghy, which now sat dead in the water. The faint cries of the Eskimos striving valiantly on the beach barely reached the men.
"Excuse me?" said the second man. "Did you say baptize. And I take it you mean, like in, um, WATER?"
"Of course. Shall we gather at the river, you know? We are going to dunk them for Jesus!"
"Baptist?" four voices harmonized as one.
"Certainly," the first man said, looking a little wary, "Aren't we all? You know the old saying, if you know your Bible, you must be a Baptist!"
"See," said the second man, "we don't want to turn these poor savages off with legalism, all your formal mumbo jumbo, religiosity, and old school rituals. We need to get the Holy Spirit into these unsaved wretches, they need a fire baptism, they need the second blessing! Before we're done today, Friends, I want them evil creatures transformed into children of God and speaking with new tongues!"
"Oh Great, oh how wonderful -- a Charismatic!" said the Baptist, slapping a hand over his face.
"Oh. Boy. Oh boy oh boy," said the other three men, in unison, almost like a choir, almost in harmony, all of them scooting toward the back of the dinghy.
"I know he's a Baptist," the Charismatic said, "but you three guys are all Charismatic, aren't you? Or at least Pentecostal! Please?"
"I'm a Jehovah's Witness," the third man said, "and I'm sorry to tell you, you BOTH are in apostate forms of Christianity. You don't really know Jehovah, not at all."
"Let's not fight," the fourth man said, calmly, very calmly, "And you too are in apostate Christianity," he continued, speaking with agape love to the Jehovah's Witness. "None of you even have this book!" he concluded, displaying several shiny new copies of the Book of Mormon.
The three men at the front of the boat groaned. Then the four men turned in one accord to regard the fifth man.
"WELL?" Four men said as one, viewing the fifth man with open hostility.
The fifth man closed his eyes and prayed: "Heavenly Father. And Our Most Precious Mother Mary, Perpetual Virgin. I am adrift in this vessel with four apostate children from Thy One Universal Church, including a Legalist, a Nut, and two Cultists. I pray that Thou dost open their foul ears to thy Catholic Truth, and open their deceived eyes, and speak Holy words through their filthy lips so that we might capture more territory for Thy Body, Lord. Amen." The fifth man then opened his eyes, unbuttoned his top shirt button and revealed his clerical collar. He said sweetly: "Confession, anyone?"
Dead silence in the boat.
Before it was over, before the end came, a lot of things were said, and anger grew. Only truth could be told. Not your truth, but my truth. Only the Gospel should go out, not your false Gospel. Only Jesus should be preached, but not your Jesus as he is another Jesus. Not your god, but my God. Cult. Occult. Liar. Deceiver. Wolf in sheep's clothing, False shepherd. Servant of Satan. Satan his very self.
When the rubber dinghy with Greenpeace emblazoned upon the side finally drifted close enough to the shore, three men waded out through the oil slick and guided the craft up onto the beach. The people on the beach gathered around the dinghy and sadly stared upon its contents.
"More Christians come to secretly share their faith?" one of the men asked.
"I wish they knew about the seven different Christian churches we already have here," another man said.
"Eight," helped another person, "you're forgetting about the Non-denominational church in the old building that used to be a Skidoo repair shop."
"Don't forget the Christian hospital," chimed in another.
"Yeah, we could have used some help with the poor baby seals," another said. "Isn't that what Greenpeace is all about? Helping people? Helping the environment?"
"Better call Greenpeace. It's a pretty good rubber dinghy, looks almost new" said an old woman.
"I recognize it," said a man with glasses. "Last month it floated ashore with a Presbyterian, an Adventist, an Anglican, and two Pentecostals."
"Oh yeah, one Pentecostal with tongues and one without," agreed a teenager.
"Think we ought to pray for these poor, um, brothers?" a young woman queried, tears in her eyes.
"I doubt they would appreciate it," said another person. "Unless we could agree on the style of prayer. And to who, or, Who?"
"I think you mean Whom," contributed a very helpful person.
"Let's pray for them anyway," suggested a child.
And, joining hands, they did.
"Dear Lord Jesus," the child prayed, "please help people to know what You meant when you talked about judging. Help them to know that only You know their hearts, our hearts. Please forgive them, Father, for they don't really know what they're doing, do they? How come they never do? Please help them to get the telephone poles out of their eyes so that they can help us with the speck in our eyes. Help them to learn how to pray, so that You can change them, help them, lead them out of the dark where they are so afraid, into the light, Your light. Help them to know that talking about You and Your way is not the same thing as DOING Your Word, keeping Your commandments. Help them to know that they have to change, really, not pretend, before they can help anybody else change. Please help them to learn that hating and loving aren't the same thing. In Your Name, Jesus, we pray, amen."
"Amen," all agreed.
* * *
Sometimes we think something is unfair, but then again, we probably haven't thought it through. Sharing faith, it isn't always sharing faith, is it? We don't always want Muslims sharing their faith with us, do we, or Jews, or Christians who just ain't up to snuff, do we? Not the Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons or Catholics. Just those like us, you know, that are SAVED, and know the TRUTH, right? When we say "share our faith," we mean THE TRUTH, not what THEY peddle. But then again, we probably haven't thought it through.
It's something, about sense, you know? It pretty much makes sense. Anyone can do it -- THINK, I mean. You just have to make an effort, to see through the propaganda, the slogans, buzz words, "thinkless" speech, knee-jerk reactions and angry, bitter rhetoric. Try it, thinking, what have you got to lose in a crazy, crazy world?
What's this world coming to, anyway, is what I'd like to know.
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...Just Trying to Make Sense in a Crazy, Crazy, Loony-Tunes World.
Just give Thinking a chance.
THINK. Think your own thoughts.
Use the MIND that God Himself gave you, the thing that makes you unique, the thing that encompasses YOU, your mind, your noodle, your "heart" as the Bible calls it. Think with it, it's what God wants you to do. If you only think the thoughts of other people, you are not doing what you were designed to do. THINK. Or at least think about thinking, that would be a good start.
Sense is not evil. Common sense is a good thing. You think you can't figure it out, but that is because you haven't ever tried.
What is more important? What you say, or what you DO? Speakers and Hearers of the Word, or DOers of the Word? What if your actions don't match your words? Can you speak one way, and BE another way?
Society is robbing you of thought. Ads and gurus and the very worst of "teachers" are right now sapping your very soul. Aspartame and sucralose and Acesulfame K and splenda and MSG and high-fructose corn syrup and perpetual bombardment by cellular phone rays and the worst of nutrition-free diet is all adding up to rob you of your very ability to THINK. But you can yet do it. Exercise your gray matter.
Society is robbing you of thought. Ads and gurus and the very worst of "teachers" are right now sapping your very soul. Aspartame and sucralose and Acesulfame K and splenda and MSG and high-fructose corn syrup and perpetual bombardment by cellular phone rays and the worst of nutrition-free diet is all adding up to rob you of your very ability to THINK. But you can yet do it. Exercise your gray matter.
But let's try and make sense of this, even though the world is a crazy, crazy place, and where people are having a harder, harder time even THINKING, let alone thinking well or good.
