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It is an old & familiar story, but let me use it again. Yakov Smirnoff, the Russian comedian, wrote a book, "Seeing the USA on Six Rubles a Day." In it he tells about being overwhelmed when he first entered an American supermarket & saw the great variety of products there. He just couldn’t believe it.
He wrote, "As I walked down the aisles, the first thing I noticed was powdered milk. ‘Just add water & you get milk.’ Then I saw powdered orange juice. ‘Just add water & you get orange juice.’ Then I saw baby powder, & I thought to myself, ‘What a country!’"
ILL. One day little 3-year-old Beverly was playing with her toys. Her mother, who was folding laundry across the room, noticed Beverly’s blouse was dirty & needed to be changed. So she told Beverly to take it off & bring it to her so she could wash it.
After telling her twice with no response, her mother gave her the full 3-name call: “Beverly Elizabeth Provost, did you hear me?” Beverly answered, “Yes, Mama. My ears did, but my legs didn’t.” [Marguerite Provost, GA. Today’s Christian Woman, “Small Talk”]
Ivan the IV was the first Czar of all Russia. He was such a cruel man that they called him "Ivan The Terrible." He married 7 wives & abused them all. He was immoral & violent. He used to throw animals off the Kremlin Walls just to watch them die.
But when he died in 1584, historians record that they shaved his head & dressed him for burial in the robes of a monk, hoping that God would think that Ivan the Terrible was a monk, & thus allow him into heaven.
Is that how you get into heaven - by disguising yourself & hoping God will think you are someone else?
I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandment's would have looked like if Moses had run...
A few years ago Calvin & Hobbes were my favorite cartoon characters - Calvin, the hyper-active little boy with a wild & vivid imagination, & his companion, Hobbes, a tiger.
Well, in one cartoon Calvin & Hobbes were lying in the shade of a tree on a summer afternoon discussing the important things of life. Calvin says, "What if there is no heaven? What if this is all we get?" Hobbes answers, "Well, if this is all we get I guess we’ll just have to accept it." Calvin replies, "Yeah, but if I’m not going to be rewarded for my good deeds, I want to know it now."
ILL. Chuck Swindoll tells about a couple who went into a crowded fried chicken franchise & ordered a picnic box to go. In the rush of business a clerk accidentally handed them the picnic box in which the manager had hidden the deposit he was about to take to the bank. Fearful of being robbed, he had camouflaged the deposit.
The man paid his bill, took the picnic box, & they drove away. But when they got to the park & opened it, they discovered it was full of money. And they knew that a big mistake had been made. Now for many people that would be a great temptation. But this couple got back in the car, returned to the restaurant, & gave the money back.
Well, you can imagine how happy the manager was to see them! In fact, he was so grateful that he told the man, “Stick around, I want to call the newspaper & have them take your picture. You’re the most honest man in town.”
Oh no, don’t do that!” he said. “Why not?” asked the manager. “Well,” he said, “you see, I’m married, & the woman I’m with is not my wife.”
For more from Chuck, visit http://www.insight.org
Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.
"I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on...
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive."
The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.
