No doubt you are familiar with the pictures and figurines of the three monkeys that cover their ears, eyes, and mouths with their hands—hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. A young man recently sported a T-shirt alteration of the traditional monkeys. His shirt depicted four monkeys. One was saying, “Hear no evil.” Another portrayed, “See no evil,” and another, “Speak no evil.” The fourth monkey was saying, “Have no fun.”
Several years ago a pastor and some of his young people made headlines when they built a large bonfire and the young people threw their rock music into the fire. The reason they gave for doing this was that young people so often commit immorality to a background of rock music that they wanted to be rid of its evil influence.
The fable is told of a greedy fox who was gorging himself on an animal he had killed. As he ate, a bone stuck in his throat, and he could not swallow it. The pain was so excruciating that the fox ran around and around seeking relief. He promised he would give anything if someone would remove the bone from his throat. He tried to get all the animals he met to remove the bone, but not one dared. Finally the crane agreed to try. The fox opened his mouth as wide as he could, and the crane stuck its long beak down his throat, loosened the bone, and pulled it out.
In the middle 1960s the religious world was shaken with an old teaching in new garb. This teaching was called the death-of-God theology. Theological swamis from various liberal church groups began proclaiming, “God is dead.” Many blindly followed their confusing signals. Many who would not dare follow the death-of-God theology quoted from the theologians who contributed to it. For example. Paul Tillich, a liberal theologian of those days was at best a pantheist, almost an atheist. Others loved to quote the German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose ideas at least helped create a climate favorable to the notion that God is dead.
The United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing says it costs about sixty-two dollars to print 1,000 bills of paper money. Each bill, regardless of its face value, costs about 6.2 cents to produce. In that sense a one-dollar bill is as valuable as a one-hundred-dollar bill!
Over 60 years ago, C. S. Lewis wrote a book entitled The Great Divorce. The contents of this book are in the form of a dream somewhat on the order of Pilgrim’s Progress. Lewis dreams and imagines that he is accompanying a busload of people traveling from Hell to the outskirts of Heaven. Each “ghost” from Hell gets the opportunity to enter Heaven if he or she will just let go of his most cherished sins.
When you reach the end of yourself, look up to God!
This is the time of year when people are thinking about the past, including the mistakes they made. They may have already suffered from the things they did last year and don’t want to repeat what they did.
“Love” is the most misused word in our language. It has been profanely used to advertise lust and to commercialize products on the market. The word “love” hardly conveys anything sacred or fine or holy to the minds of the masses.
It will soon be that time of year again! Before you know it Thanksgiving and Christmas will be upon us and then the New Year.
Human nature craves adventure and thrills. Who doesn’t enjoy reading a story of courage and skill in scaling a mountain, conquering a dread disease, or achieving an incredible goal?