Start with a cage containing five apes.
In the cage, hang a banana on a string and put stairs under it. Before
long, an ape will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana.
As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the apes with cold water.
After a while, another ape makes an attempt with the same result -- all
the apes are sprayed with cold water. This continues through several more
attempts. Pretty soon, when another ape tries to climb the stairs, the
other apes all try to prevent it.
Now, turn off the cold water. Remove one ape from the cage and replace
it with a new one. The new ape sees the banana and wants to climb the
stairs. To his horror, all of the other apes attack him. After another
attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he
will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five apes and replace it with a new
one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous
newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm. Again, replace a
third original ape with a new one. The new one makes it to the stairs
and is attacked as well. Two of the four apes that beat him have no idea
why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are
participating in the beating of the newest ape.
After replacing the fourth and fifth original apes, all the apes, which
have been sprayed with cold water, have been replaced. Nevertheless, no
ape ever again approaches the stairs. Why not?
Because that's the way they've always done it and that's the way it's
always been around here.
And that's how church policy begins...
--Author unknown. Found circulating the Web via email.
A WORD WITH YOU By Ron Hutchcraft
I Peter 5:5-9
My first time in Hawaii I was there for just one day, in between travel legs. And since I only had a short time, there was one place I definitely wanted to make it a point to see - that was Pearl Harbor. I've got to tell you, that is an emotional place to visit, especially the Battleship Arizona memorial where hundreds of American sailors are still entombed at the bottom of the harbor. One of the many intriguing facts about that Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was a transaction that took place well before that "day of infamy" - one that no one could have ever imagined would contribute to the awful losses of December 7, 1941. The United States made a deal to ship millions of tons of scrap metal to Japan - metal which was reportedly used to build some of the very airplanes that bombed Pearl Harbor!
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Sending Ammo To The Enemy."
It's not a good idea to give your enemy things that he can eventually use to sink you. It's a mistake we make all the time - with the enemy of our soul, the devil. Our word for today from the Word of God reveals three ways we can actually hand our enemy the raw material with which he can later bomb us.
I Peter 5:8 is that important warning to "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him." Around that warning, Peter talks about three aspects of our life that potentially give our enemy the weapons with which to ruin us.
In verses 5 and 6, Peter says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand that He may lift you up in due time." OK, pride - that's the first kind of ammunition you can send to your enemy. When you are starting to be all about you, when you're allowing your ego to get bigger and bigger, you are handing Satan the gun to shoot you with. Proud people eventually end up making arrogant mistakes, hurting people they care about, and poisoning their relationship with God.
If you are more and more getting life revolving around you, if you're becoming more and more self-seeking, self-promoting, self-centered, the devil has you exactly where he wants you. It's exactly where he was just before he was expelled from heaven. Now, before the fall, "humble yourself under God's mighty hand." It never has been all about you. It's all about Him!
The second way you can help Satan sink you is to disobey I Peter 5:7 - "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." Anxiety, or worry - that allows Satan to come between you and your Lord. He can use your anxiety to get you to panic, to live in fear instead of faith. Your defense? Release what you're worrying about to the One who's taught us that "the battle is the Lord's."
And then I Peter 5:9 tells us to "stand firm in the faith" when you're going through a time of suffering. If you let your pain turn you away from God rather than to God, Satan can exploit your wilderness to bring you down. Notice - all three of these satanic windows - pride, anxiety, and suffering - have one strategy in common - to get you focusing on something other than Jesus ... focus on yourself, focus on your worries, focus on your pain. He can beat you - he cannot beat Jesus.
So which one is the devil's best weapon to sink you with right now - pride ... anxiety ... suffering? Well, just surrender it to Jesus - and refuse to send ammunition to your enemy!
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Copyright (c) 2001, Ron Hutchcraft. Reprinted with permission. "A Word With You" is a radio outreach of
Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc..
A Fun, Faith 'n Funny Bone Feature 
