Vol. 5, No. 1 March, 1968 Stuff About Things  Written on the walls of a large university building: "ON THE PLAINS OF HESITATION LIE THE BLEACHENED BONES OF COUNTLESS MILLIONS WHO, AT THE DAWN OF VICTORY, SAT DOWN TO REST, AND RESTING, DIED!" When God gave the Syrian king, Benhadad, into the hands of Ahab, king of Israel, a major victory had been won. But Ahab, pleased by flattery and lulled by complacency, gave away through compromise the victory won in hard combat. (1 Kings 20:1-f) God sent a prophet to make Ahab aware of his blunder. The prophet represented himself as having been charged with the safe keeping of a prisoner, but said, "as thy servant was busy here and there he was gone." Smith-Goodspeed says, "was turning to look here and there." The obvious point is that the man charged with a serious task (keeping the prisoner) was "fooling around" or "busy about nothing" and allowed the prisoner to go free. Ahab got the point. He "went to his house heavy and displeased." Will we sit down to rest and resting die? When a non-Christian tells me that some members of the church curse "like a sailor"; and others are habitual cold-check writers; and others will not pay their debts --- what do I say? Well, I can tell them that I have not heard the cursing, that I have no first-hand knowledge of their badcheck ways, that they owe me nothing. But do I dare challenge them to produce their proof? ------------------------- A little boy asked his dad, "Dad, what is a " Christian?" The father replied, "A Christian is a person who loves and obeys God. He loves his friends and neighbors, and even his enemies. He prays often, and blesses God's Holy Name. He is kind and considerate, gentle and holy, and is more interested in going to heaven than in all earthly riches. Now that is a Christian!" To which the child responded, "Dad, have I ever seen one?" -------------------------- Instead of "The church was united" a careless typist wrote, "The church was untied. "Now think this one over carefully: the "I" was out of place. [Previous Article] [Next Article]     Created on 19-February-2001 Page last updated