By David Ryser &
Ralph Ray
Religion
(noun): A return to bondage. The word is traced to the Latin re meaning “again” and ligare meaning “to bind.” (Andrew Farley, in his book: God
Without Religion.)
Once upon a time there was a flourishing
and blissful kingdom ruled by a wise and benevolent King. The King took every opportunity to bless,
nurture, protect, and provide for His people.
The people lacked for nothing and enjoyed intimate fellowship with their
King. The King loved His people…and they
loved Him.
It could have gone on like this
forever.
But one day an evil sorcerer came
into the kingdom. This wizard was the
sworn enemy of the King and hated everything about Him. The sorcerer despised the King, His kingdom,
and everyone in the kingdom. Seeking to grieve
the King, the sorcerer used his enchantments to turn the hearts of the people
against their King. They rebelled
against the King. They rejected His
lordship…and His love.
The heartbroken King reluctantly
accepted the decision of His people and went into exile.
The kingdom was plunged into
darkness. The sorcerer oppressed the
people and abused them unmercifully.
This once happy and prosperous kingdom became a place of misery and
squalor. The people were forced to serve
the sorcerer’s every whim. And they were
cruelly punished if they failed to please him in any way.
Over time, many of the people
forgot about their exiled King and the blessings of His kingdom that they had
once enjoyed.
But the King had not forgotten
about His beloved people. He yearned to
be reunited with them. He frequently communicated
with those…however few…in His kingdom who had not fallen under the enchantment
of the evil sorcerer. He promised that He would send a Deliverer to
them. This Deliverer would come to His
people and demonstrate the King’s love for them…and for all of the people. He would defeat the dark magic of the
sorcerer and begin to turn the hearts of the people back to their King. He would commence to reestablish the former
kingdom and then turn it over to His people so that those who had once been
oppressed would themselves become instruments of liberation for the rest of the
people.
It was a good plan. And it would have worked.
One day the Deliverer came into the
kingdom and began to undo the sorcerer’s enchantments. Those who loved their King received the
Deliverer with open arms. Some others…who
heard the Deliverer’s words and saw His deeds…also turned their hearts back to
the King they’d forgotten. The sorcerer
was incensed! He, and those who aligned
themselves with him, attempted to subvert the work of the Deliverer. But their efforts were of no avail. The Deliverer outmaneuvered and confounded them
at every turn.
Then, having taught His people how
to carry on the work of reestablishing their beloved King’s kingdom, the
Deliverer left them for a time to prepare for a triumphal entry back to the
kingdom upon the sorcerer’s eventual…and inevitable…defeat.
The revolution began.
The struggle was fierce. The Deliverer’s people were badly
outnumbered, but they began to turn the hearts of the people back to the King
using the strategies and the methods the Deliverer had given to them. The King aided them in their fight by
providing them with what they needed to accomplish the work that the Deliverer
had given them to do.
The sorcerer fought against them
with all of the weapons at his disposal.
He first tried to ridicule and belittle them, but could not dispirit
them. He imprisoned and executed several
of their leaders, but this strategy also proved ineffective because their
leaders were not like those of the sorcerer.
Their leaders were everywhere!
The older and more mature among them would teach the others the ways of
the Deliverer…with great demonstrations of power. And they were not afraid to die. Their blood was like seed…the more of it that
fell to the ground, the more of them that were produced.
Then the sorcerer had an idea….
He offered the followers of the
Deliverer a truce. And it was so much
more than just a ceasefire. The sorcerer
agreed not only to stop the opposition and persecution, he even promised to assist
them with their efforts to restore the kingdom of the King. Because the job of reestablishing a kingdom is
hard work…even without opposition… the sorcerer offered to the Deliverer’s people
the services of a white elephant.
What a magnificent creature!
The white elephant was big…it was
huge! And strong. And smart.
And seemingly able to do the work of reestablishing the King’s kingdom
without much effort on the part of the Deliverer’s people. The sorcerer even supplied a large group of
handlers who were trained to be experts in the care and feeding of the white
elephant. The Deliverer’s followers were
only required to pay for the elephant’s upkeep…along with the salaries of the
handlers…and to perform any menial tasks requested by the handlers to assist in
contributing to the well-being of the white elephant. The Deliverer’s people enthusiastically embraced
the sorcerer’s proposal.
And this arrangement worked great! For awhile.
And then it didn’t.
You see, the white elephant the
sorcerer gave to the Deliverer’s people was a baby elephant. The more the handlers fed the elephant, the
larger it grew. And the more they cared
for it…and pampered it…the lazier it became.
Over time, the elephant did nothing but eat. And grow.
And sleep. Maintaining the white
elephant required an increasing flow of resources…in time, energy, and
money…from the Deliverer’s followers. In
addition, more handlers were required to oversee the feeding and coddling of
the ever-expanding elephant, so the salary burden on the Deliverer’s people
greatly increased as well.
It finally reached the point where
all of the people’s resources went simply for the white elephant’s upkeep.
When the Deliverer’s followers
questioned the handlers concerning the extreme cost of maintaining the white
elephant…along with an accompanying complaint of how little, if any, work the
elephant was accomplishing…the people were reminded that the handlers were the
elephant experts (also known as clergy)
while the people were untrained and unqualified (also known as laity) in feeding and caring for
elephants.
Properly chastened, the Deliverer’s
people continued… submissively…to provide for the white elephant.
So the work of reestablishing the
King’s kingdom went undone. The white elephant
required an increasing supply of food and nurturing, while producing
nothing. The Deliverer’s people no
longer had the resources to put toward the work of reestablishing the King’s
kingdom because they were putting all they had into the maintenance of the white
elephant.
There was only one thing the people
could do. They appealed to the King.
They fervently petitioned (one
might say “prayed to”) the King for more provision to pay for the upkeep of the
white elephant. The King’s refusal to
grant their request was communicated in a short, tersely-worded reply.
The note read: If you
had needed an elephant to reestablish My kingdom, I would have given you one.
Responses to this article are
welcomed. You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com
