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Throwing the Devil under da Bus …
By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
Do you ever thing that we give too much “credit” to
Satan, a/k/a the devil, for the misfortunes of our mistakes
or mis-adventures?
I mean. consider the following scenarios. What
behavior would you ascribe to the intervention of the devil?
(1) Boy takes cookies from jar and is caught by Mom and the
boy blames the devil for his sweet tooth cravings.
(2) Girl takes family car to go to shopping mall and is
ticketed by police for driving left of center.
(3) Man gets home late at night and stumbles in the darken
garage and topples over a can of nails which later punctures
a car tire.
(4) Man tells daughter not to go to a late night/early
morning teen party and the girl says no and the dad loses it
and allegedly assaults her and is arrested.
Ooops. Sorry about number four … I heard that Creflo
Dollar allegedly matches up with that scenario and was
arrested for it. My bad.
Now, tell me. Which of the above “situations” would you
place directly at the feet of Satan as he being the
architect causing such mayhem and discord?
It is obvious for the above number one, that the boy
was actually in the throes of being ensnared by the devil
and thus had no ability to choose not to eat the cookies
and, as such, he, like a zombie, was forced against his will
and he did eat the sugary treats. Score one for the devil.
As for the above number two, any idiot could clearly
see that a teenage girl in her right mind would not be
tempted to go to the mall and hang out with her best buds.
So, it is obvious that Satan was needed to push her
over the edge and have her take the car and make that dash
for mall freedom. Score yet another victory for the devil.
As for the above number three, who has not been in that
situation wherein you are in a darkened area and cannot see
but you take your chances and stumble along, hoping that you
can make it without a mis-step.
It is clear as day, that it obviously would take the
craftiness and cunning of Satan to derail that poor man into
not turning on the garage light so he could see the can of
nails directly in his path. Why this man would succumb to
the wooings of Satan and proceed on in the dark is still yet
a mystery.
As to the above number four, now that is a toughie. What
would it take for a man who has written about 30 books about
family and the gospel word, to avoid blaming the devil for
any mishap with his daughter.
I mean, wouldn’t it be easier and better to avoid giving
Satan credit for such nonsense by simply admitting, “hey, I
blew it. I got mad and went after the girl and it was a dumb
thing to do!”
Why make Satan more powerful than he already is than you
giving him credit for simple and stupid things that we can
do or have done at one time or another.
That is like the Wizard of Oz movie in which the Wizard
was exposed as being smaller than he is because he was using
smoke and mirrors to intimidate and frighten Dorothy and her
posse.
Once you realize that Satan, the Adversary, probably
does not specialize in the disappearance of sugar cookies or
the call of the mall to teenage girls, you can get your
perspective back in place and understand that we have
choices to make and all choices are not influenced by the
presence of the evil one….Satan.
I mean, if we allow for the fact that people can
invariably burn their pancakes, over-sugar their tea, fail
to properly program a VCR or buy the wrong type of oil for
their car, and then not say, “The devil is out to discredit
me,” life is not as threatening as it appears to be.
Creflo Dollar (no, I do not support his ministry or his
aberrant prosperity-ridden “gospel”) needs to quit throwing
Satan under da' bus and fess up.
I know. I know. For him to say that his halo just got
dented, would not look good to his donors and supporters
since he advocates he is a “god” (small ‘g’).
I guess it would not look good if a “god” purportedly
chokes his kid or hits her with a shoe or punches her. That
would not be the best PR for keeping his cash cow of
“Name It..Claim It!” rolling across the airwaves and diving
into your pockets and purses.
So, what you do is, you blame it on Satan and crank out
a tear or two in front of your Sunday audience and they will
rally to you and join in a hearty chorus of, “Let’s blame
the devil!”
Results? You are off the hook of being remotely seen as
a mean daddy and Satan is on the hook as being the puppeteer
who is calling the shots.
Satan takes the hit and you are free to go and if there
is a next time, you will do any punching or choking or shoe
throwing in a broom closet where there are no witnesses.
Sorry, Satan, go fish somewhere else! So, if someone
gets a flat tire or receives bad restaurant service or
overcooks a meatloaf casserole, we now know who is behind
those shenanigans. We are onto your tricks!
Contact Lafe Tolliver at
tolliver@Juno.com
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