The Book

Once upon a time there was a book, a very important book. It was important because it was written by the Creator of All Things to His creation. It told the creation about the Creator and what the Creator expected from His creation. A long time ago, the book was a very rare book and very few people had one. It was so rare and so important people would come from miles around just to hear someone read the words of the book. Not just anyone was permitted to read the book, there were special people, Book Teachers, who read the book at special times and only in special places. The Creator wanted people to read the book often so they would understand good from bad and live a good life.

The Creator has an enemy. The enemy is called the Destroyer. The Destroyer hates the book and does not want people to read it. Having only a few books made him happy because he did not want anyone understanding good from bad. The Destroyer saw the people gathering often to hear the words of the Book Teachers and he was not happy. One day the Destroyer came up with a plan. The plan was a sneaky way to get the people distracted from the words of the book.

First, the Destroyer planted an idea in the minds of the Book Teachers. “This book is very special,” the Destroyer whispered in the Book Teacher’s ear. He continued, “It is so special it needs to have a special cover made to protect the book.” The Book Teacher’s eyes lit up and he started designing just the right cover for the book. “After all,” the Book Teacher thought, “this is no ordinary book, it is special.”

In the morning, instead of reading the book like he did each morning, the Book Teacher started designing the book cover. “It must have many expensive metals and stones, and it must have a lock to keep it safe.” Day after day the Book Teacher became more and more excited about making the book cover, and each day he studied the book a little less.

By the end of the week, the people gathered to hear the words of the book, but something was different. Instead of a nice long study of the book, the Book Teacher taught a short lesson and filled the rest of the time with a report on the making of the book cover. All of this made the Destroyer very happy and the Creator very sad.

Week after week the people heard less and less about the words of the book and more and more about the book cover. Finally after many weeks the book cover was done and it was ready to be shown to the people. At the end of the week, the people gathered to hear the words of the book. Instead of teaching the book, the Book Teacher unwrapped the book cover and showed it to all the people. “Oooooooo,” said the people, “look at all the gold and diamonds and rubies.” “I have never seen such a beautiful book cover,” they said, “surly a book cover like that must cover an important book.” But instead of teaching the book, the Book Teacher started explaining about the process of making the book cover.

The Destroyer was never so happy. That night the Destroyer spoke once again into the mind of the Book Teacher. “If only the people knew how important the book is,” he whispered, “then they would want to hear it more.” Of course the Destroyer did not want the people to hear the words of the book more, he wanted to distract them once again. “What needs to be done is a Book Opening Ceremony to bring out the book in the beautiful book cover, then the people would know this book was very special,” the Destroyer breathed into the ear of the Book Teacher.

Every day of the whole next week the Book Teacher decided to spend designing the Book Opening Ceremony. There had to be trumpets and banners and music and a small parade to carry the book to the place for reading. Of course all these events took time and practice to get them just right. So instead of studying the book, and teaching the book, the Book Teacher designed elaborate costumes and ceremonies to honor the book. Each week the people were taught less and less of the book and each week their Creator became more and more sad. As the people learned less of the book, they broke more and more of the Creator’s laws. They could not see the difference between right and wrong or between good and bad.

One day, just like it says in the book, the Creator is going to return and hold the Book Teachers responsible for listening to the Destroyer. The Creator is going to punish the bad people, but He will punish the distracted Teachers much more severe. It is time the Book Teachers, also known as Pastors, Preachers and Evangelists get back to teaching the Word of God instead of seeking more and more exciting ways of embellishing its contents.

God through Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 tells us, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”