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"Teaching God's Word to God's World"

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Have I Become Your Enemy?

A Satire

David A. Frye, Evangelist

The Apostle Paul established Churches in the Roman province of Galatia. After he left, people scholars, identified as Judaizers, followed Paul’s tracks and taught these infant Churches that Gentiles must become Jews in order to become Christians. This teaching was false doctrine, and not according to the plan of God. [Read Acts chapter 15.]  Therefore, Paul wrote the book of Galatians to refute the false teaching of the Judaizers. His letter was rather harsh seeing that he addressed the Church as “foolish Galatians.”

Galatians 3:1, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?”

Apparently Paul had not read the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. During his letter, Paul asked the Galatian Christians a probing question.

Galatians 4:16, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?”

 

Benny went to Malachi’s Body Shop to get some work done on his car. He was in the process of personally restoring his 1957 Chevy, but he needed a little professional body work done to make his car just right. Malachi, the Body Shop man, took great pride in his work. He had a reputation for doing a superb job. The cost to fix Benny’s car was $310.00.

 

When Benny received the bill, he said to Malachi, “All you are concerned about is taking people’s money. I’m not coming back here anymore.” Malachi looked surprised, but he took Benny’s check and gave him his receipt. He thanked Benny for his business, but he later wondered about Benny’s comments since he was just going by the book.

 

Elsie got a job at the local Christian Bookstore in her town. Everything went fine for a few weeks, but then Elsie started showing up late for work and some days she didn’t even show up at all. Of course, she never notified the manager that she wouldn‘t be coming to work that day. Someone else had to cover her duties at the last moment with little preparation. She would often make excuses about having to stay home and take care of sick kids, even though her husband was laid off work at the time. It must have taken the whole family to blow junior’s nose. Elsie began to complain that the hours weren’t conducive to her schedule, the store was too hot, the background music the store played for their customers wasn’t her kind of music, and the other employees didn’t speak to her when she came to work. Her boss tried to help her understand her responsibilities in every way that he could. But Elsie just wouldn’t cooperate.

 

When the boss confronted her about her lack of faithfulness to the store, she said, “If that’s the way you feel about it, I quit. There are other Christian Bookstores in this town anyway. I’ll just go to one of them!” Her boss later mused to himself, “It’s had to find dedicated workers these days.”

 

Grover and Estelle went to the courthouse to apply for a marriage license. Oddly enough, both of them had moved to town from neighboring states about the same time. One night they met at a Parents Without Partners meeting. They began dating and within a year they were engaged to be married. They were madly in love. All they ever thought about was each other throughout the day.

 

They filled out the necessary paper work to get their marriage license. The clerk of court told them to come back in a couple of days, and everything would be ready for them. When they returned, the clerk said, “I have some bad news.”

Looking concerned Grover said, “What’s the problem? We just want to get married.”

“Well,” said the clerk, “our research shows that you are still legally married in another state.”

“Still legally married in another state?” exclaimed Estelle! “I thought your wife had died. What else haven’t you told me?”

 

Grover’s face turned red. Then he got exceedingly angry. He looked at the clerk and said, “Who I marry is my business. You have no right to check my past or tell me what I can and cannot do.”

 

The clerk pushed the secret button that rang the security guard downstairs. While waiting for the guard to arrive, the clerk tried to calm Grover by saying, I didn’t make these rules. It is my job to uphold what the law says.”

 

Grover, embarrassed and angered that his secret had been discovered, didn’t even hear what the clerk had to say. The soon arrived and quickly escorted Grover out of the courthouse.”

 

Pete began to notice some problems with his vision. At times his vision was blurry and doubled. He even blacked out one day while working at his desk, but he dismissed it as stress and a recent lack of rest. Pete’s vision problem continued to persist on a more frequent basis. Finally, after almost having a wreck, he decided to tell his wife what was happening. She immediately called the doctor.

The doctor immediately scheduled a battery of tests for Pete.

After undergoing the tests, the doctor scheduled a meeting to discuss the results with Pete and his wife. Dr. Luke had been Pete’s physician for about five years.

“What did you find out, doc?” Pete said in a half joking manner.

Dr. Luke said, “Pete, your test results show that you have a malignant brain tumor. We can operate on it right away. Your chances of surviving the operation without permanent brain damage is 50/50. However, if we don’t remove the tumor, you have 6 months to live.”

Pete wasn’t prepared for such shocking news. He was thinking that it might be time for him to start wearing glasses. Pete sat silently staring at the floor for about 30 seconds. Then he responded in an unusual way.

 

He said to Dr. Luke, “Why did you tell me such bad news? You have ruined my life. Things weren’t that bad until you told me that I had cancer. It’s all your fault.

Dr. Luke was stunned by Pete’s response. He replied, “When most people learn that they have cancer, they want to know it so they can treat this great disease so they may be healed and have a longer life. Cancer is a deadly disease, unless it is eradicated from a person’s life.”

 

Pete’s said, “I don’t care what you say. You have ruined my life. It’s all your fault.”

Dr. Luke left the room emotionally shaken. He had never see anyone react to such news quite like Pete. He spent much time wondering about Pete’s reaction to the truth concerning the state of his health, his life, and his future.

 

And a preacher got up to preach.