Satan's Pepperoni
Catch for
us the foxes,
the little
foxes
that ruin
the vineyards,
our
vineyards that are in bloom.
--
Song of Solomon 2:15
We know a couple who really live out
their faith, always doing things for others -- poster children for the Golden
Rule. Recently, something happened while they were on a mission of mercy that
pulled back the curtain a little bit on the spiritual warfare that's going on
all around us in the supernatural plane.
You know how God works in mysterious
ways? Yeah, well, his little pizza-faced adversary has moves, too.
It seems a middle-aged man in a
motorized wheelchair was in dire need of some temporary household help. A
quadriplegic, he was affiliated with a well-known religious cult. But
apparently, because he was not baptized, they wouldn't help him. A kind
Christian minister comes daily and bathes him and does his dishes, but was
going to be out of town. So our friends volunteered.
At the door, the man said briskly: "Do the kitchen
dishes, change my bed and remake it, scrub the kitchen floor, vacuum everywhere
and scrub the bathroom!" O . . . K. They split up the tasks and got
to work.
The man
wasn't all bad: he was on call duty for a human services hotline. They
overheard him being compassionate and helpful to several callers.
The husband
finished first, and sat down eyeball-to-eyeball with the man, asking, "So,
what's your story?" The two connected like long-lost brothers, comparing notes
on war experiences and such. The wife joined them. They settled in for a nice,
long chat.
The man
went on and on about his religious feelings and beliefs, which were definitely
off-base. Gently, but firmly, the husband was correcting a misstatement the man
made about Christianity, when . . .
BBBRRRING!
The phone rang. It was some drunk, wanting to order pizza. The man politely
told him that he had the wrong number, and hung up.
They got
back into their profound discussion. The husband was doing a great job refuting
the man's misperceptions about what the Bible really says.
BBBRRRING! The
phone rang again. The man had to answer it, in case it was from the hotline.
But it wasn't; it was the drunk again, wanting pizza. The man repeated that it
was a wrong number, and hung up again.
They resumed their talk. The man's cult
teaches that you have to do "works" to qualify for heaven. But that's not what
Christianity teaches. The man and wife were there doing a good deed for him
because they WANTED to, not to get "brownie points." Salvation, they explained,
is a free gift to all believers. All believers get to go to heaven. The man
looked intrigued, and then. . . .
BBBRRRING!
The drunk again. Now it was getting comical.
The
conversation went on for two hours. The drunk called trying to order pizza probably
20 times. It was distracting, and tough to keep their concentration and stay on
track. The wife said she is pretty sure it was Satan's attempt to block that
conversation, and get them so frustrated that they would give up and leave.
But they
didn't. They hung in there, even though the man wheeled out of the room a few
times in confusion, and the phone interruptions kept coming.
Eventually,
though, they gave him a New Testament, a booklet for seekers, and some candy,
and explained that, just as easily as he accepted those small gifts, he could
accept the eternal life that Jesus bought for him on the Cross.
He
said he was ready to do that - to acknowledge Jesus as the Ruler of his life,
and that nothing else besides belief in Him was necessary for salvation. They
led him in a standard prayer of the born-again believer, and listened as he
prayed a really sweet and obviously meaningful personal prayer.
From the
moment he opened his mouth on that prayer, the phone was totally silent.
Ha, ha!
"Somebody"
gave up when that soul was won!
Hell may
have no fury like a pepperoni scorned . . . but God's Delivery Service always
comes through. †
