An Allegory... part six
Chapter 11
RIGHT AND WRONG MATERIALS AND METHODS
…Before we settled down for the night, a man of experience gave us something to think about on our air mattresses. “There is a right way and there is a wrong way,” he said. “The right way is the King’s way and the wrong way is our way. It’s just that simple. We cannot do whatever pops into our head and think that, since we do it for the King, everything will turn out all right. The King Himself told a woman one day that she must worship in spirit and in truth. We have been very conscious that we must work in conjunction with the River of the Spirit of the King. We must also know that all must be done according to truth. The King said, ‘I am the Truth’, and when we abandon truth, we abandon the King.”
It was like serving a huge meal before going to bed and I could not sleep. Two verses from His Majesty’s book were playing in my mind, “From Thy precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” I remembered, as I learned to walk by the Stream, an inner light lighted the Word and I could read in the dark. It led me, when my natural eyes could not see the path. I grew to love that true word and to love truth is to hate lies – every false way.
We taught the children as we moved from place to place. I was teaching simple arithmetic and the class was learning multiplication tables. I would give a problem, such as, “How much is eight times seven?” calling the name of a student and expecting an instant response. After two or three correct answers, one student’s answer was two numbers off. “Wrong!” I exclaimed and he was offended. “Who says it’s wrong?” he retorted. Just because some brainy person says it’s supposed to be a certain number, doesn’t mean that it’s the only answer.” That made me think about a little incident in a senior citizens’ home, where my grandfather lived. The people were sitting around a table playing ‘Bingo’. My brother was looking over Grandpa’s shoulder. “B Nineteen!” the caller shouted and my brother watched the old man put his token over B-18. “Hey!” he said, “he said B nineteen, not B eighteen.” “Ah,” Grandpa answered, “that’s close enough!” A great writer for the King declared “A runner does not receive the prize, if he breaks the rules.”
We were quiet and thoughtful, as we drank our breakfast coffee the next morning and once again packed our things to continue our journey. We heard rifles firing ahead of us and then we heard no more. A few hundred yards later, we saw a sign announcing the area to our right as a practice range for hunters. A few men were huddled around a figure lying on the ground, behind the range. Curiosity moved us to approach and we saw the figure was the body of a bearded old man. One of the hunters was on his knees crying at his side. “We told him! We told him, that we would be practicing here at 10 a.m. Why didn’t he listen?”
Another hunter spoke quietly to us, his voice shaking, “The old man is a hermit, who lives about a mile away. He always walks through the woods to visit his son, who has a cabin on the other side of the range. They are the only residents in this area. We know this and always stop at his cabin to warn him beforehand, letting him know exactly when we plan to begin shooting. Because he is a hunter himself, he’s always respected the range and there’s never been a problem. Apparently today, he had urgent business with his son and crossed behind the range, just as we opened fire. We had even waited ten minutes after ten, to be sure.” The old man fell about 50 yards behind the target, at which the man kneeling at his side was shooting. It was he who discovered the pocket watch clutched in the hermit’s fingers. It was 14 minutes slow. This terrible tragedy illustrated to us how much more important it is to be right on target in the King’s business. The consequences are more severe than what we had just witnessed ...
Chapter 12
THE BORROWING PRINCIPLE
…..We had been on this pilgrimage now for several years and there were some, who were growing tired of living in tents. Several of the parents, especially those who did not have many opportunities in their childhood, wanted to see their children find a good place and settle into the world's system. They wanted to live in one certain place and take advantage of the offers that were available to all the citizens of this world. A few had received an inheritance from their parents and other relatives, of which they wanted to make use.
There were those who felt that all of us needed more polish and skill, to gain the respect of those outside and become a little more integrated in society. I have already referred to those that said that certainly we were lacking in equipment and technology that could be helpful in proclaiming the King's message.
One evening, after a long day's journey, those who harbored these longings were especially vocal. We heard complaints about the difficulties that we were constantly confronting and lack of security for the future, at least from an earthly point-of-view. It was time to confront the issue and bring things to a head. We called for a meeting.
As always, the King's Manual was opened and recognized as the ultimate authority. We appealed for help from the River, submerging in it, so that it would influence us according to the principles of the city from which it flowed and we could see beyond the world that surrounded us. Several of us spoke of the superiority of the land of our citizenship, of the great gulf between our nature and that of the citizens of this world, and finally of the wonderful provision we had continually received for all our needs. We spoke of how short our journey on this earth was and how soon we would go to our real home and be there forever.
We mentioned also the power and capabilities of the River to wonderfully impress those to whom we announced the King's message. We tried to express the need, not just to attract the outsiders, but that they would be drawn to us because of the presence of the River and the person of the King through our lives.
When reminded of these things, those, whose hearts belonged to the King as His sanctuary, began to respond positively and recognize that they had almost succumbed to the seduction of enemy thinking. Others, however, were more determined than ever to follow through and bring their longings to completion. They eventually left us, having loved this present world. They settled in cities like Earthly Provision and Worldly Security. It had to come to this point, because the King will not allow his citizens to have their hearts split in two directions.
After these had made their decisions, it seemed that the River's power became more real to us than ever. Whatever we asked for, and even more than we asked, before long came floating down the River. Just to experience the reality of the things which we believed was unbelievable and provided more joy and satisfaction than anything, for which we could ask of this world. Even the young ones, who had many years before them in this life, found that there was nothing better than being with the King, serving Him and seeing His supernatural attributes working through their lives. Some of them went far away to take the King's message to other lands. We all said goodbye to them with tearful eyes, but with hearts exploding with gratefulness that they were involved in things that would never grow old, decay or tarnish. In spite of heavily feeling the loss of those who had separated from us, we had made a firm decision to follow in the Way of Faith and the King backed our commitment, pouring out His blessing ….
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