A man was stopped by the fish and game-warden in Canada. He had with him two buckets of fish. He was leaving Shaw’s Point, well known for its great fishing. The fish and game warden asked the man: “Do you have a license to catch all those fish?” The man replied to the game warden: “No, sir. These are my pet fish.”
“Pet fish?” the warden replied.
“Yes, sir. Every night I take these fish down to the lake and let them swim around. After a while, I whistle and they jump back into their buckets, and I take them back home again.”
“That’s a bunch of hogwash! Fish can’t do that!” was the outburst from the Warden.
The man looked at the game warden for a moment, and then said: “Here, I’ll show you. It really works.”
“O.K. I’ve GOT to see this!” The game warden was curious now. The man poured the two buckets of fish into the lake and stood and waited. After several minutes, the game warden turned to the man and said, “Well?”
“Well, what?” the man responded.
“When are you going to call them back?” the game warden prompted.
“Call who back?” the man asked.
“The FISH,” the warden said.
“What fish?” the man asked.
I have had quite a few gullible moments in my day. As I have matured in the faith, I have seen people sometimes want to twist the truth. Their tactic is to confuse us or mislead us by placing doubt in our minds. Sometimes we have to be quick thinkers and extremely tuned in to the Holy Spirit in order to see through misleading statements or questions.
For instance, Jesus was once present for a tense situation in which a woman had been caught in the act of adultery, then brought to a public place, possibly near the temple, in order to be stoned to death as the law demanded. These Pharisees (experts in the law) saw an opportunity to trap Jesus into publicly condoning the killing of a sinful woman.
They confronted Jesus with … ‘What do you say, Jesus? Kill her or not?!” Instead of answering their question, he proposed that “whoever is without sin may cast the first stone.” They all left, of course.
Ask God to give you the ability to discern and respond to people with hidden agendas, not so you can embarrass or confound them, but to help them and others find the truth.
For two years I hosted a national call-in radio show on XM satellite radio, called The Healing Touch. It aired from midnight to 2:00 a.m. for 5 nights a week. One caller was a lady who complained that she had been praying for help from God for 7 years and he either wasn’t listening or didn’t care.
I told her that neither of those were true, according to Scripture. I asked her if she read her Bible … “not much.” How often do you pray … “not much.” Do you attend a church … “no, not really, I don’t have time, and besides they aren’t nice to me.”
I don’t know where this came from … well, really I do … it wasn’t from me. But out of my mouth came this thought … “Ma’am, you could go into your bathroom, turn on the shower, then go and stand in your living room for 7 years and never get wet.”
As you grow in faith through Bible study, reading powerful books, sharing and discussing with others the meaning of faith issues, and living in faith community with a fellowship of believers, God will teach you to see through misguided people with distracting and devious questions. Warning … he will ask you to love them anyway.
Stay alert!
Chaplain Mark