Broad-mindedness: The Enemy Within

A dog walked into the telegram office one day. He took out a blank form and wrote on it: “Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof.” Then he handed it to the clerk. The clerk examined the paper, and then said to the dog, “You know there are only nine words here? You could send another ‘Woof’ for the same price.” The dog replied, “But that would make no sense at all!” I’ve got to tell you, there’s a whole lot of ‘Woofing’ going on in our country that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Political correctness has the whole world under surrender to bullying anti-bullies who threaten the very well-being of those trying to expose all the bullying going on. Woof. Woof. Woof!


Edward Gibbon, author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, has attributed the fall of the Empire to: * The rapid increase of divorce; the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society. * Higher and higher taxes and the spending of public monies for free bread and circuses for the populace. * The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal. * The building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within, the decadence of the people. * The decay of religion – faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life and becoming impotent to warn and guide the people. Let’s compare these things to what is breaking down our society today. If we want to label these five problems categorically we might say: * The breakdown of the traditional family. * The unwillingness of able-bodies to enter the workplace. * Entertainment seen as a basic need rather than recreation. * Defending against enemies on foreign soil rather than the enemy within. * God and the Bible for consumerism rather than individuals for the God and the Bible.


[Proverbs 14:34] “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.” The preacher is sometimes accused of being “narrow-minded” because he insists upon the Christian living in obedience to Christ. All of life is narrow, and success is to be found only by passing through the narrow gate and down the straight way. There is no room for broad-mindedness in the chemical Laboratory. Water is composed of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. The slightest deviation from that formula is forbidden. There is no room for broad-mindedness in music. There can be only eight notes in an octave. The skilled director will not permit his first violin to play even so much as one half a note off the written note, chord, or key. There is no room for broad-mindedness in the mathematics classroom. Neither geometry, calculus, or trigonometry allows any variation from accuracy, even for old time’s sake. The solution of the problem is either right or wrong – no tolerance there. There is no room for broad-mindedness on the athletic field. The game is played according to the rules with no favors shown for charity’s sake. There is no room for broad-mindedness in the garage. The mechanic says that the piston rings must fit the cylinder walls within one, one-thousandth of an inch. Even between friends there cannot be any variation if the engine is to run properly. Now, then, shall we expect that broad-mindedness should rule the realms of Christianity and morals? Remember, it was Jesus himself who said: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7”13-14). The real enemy lies within. Satan is still active. He is doing his work to make a nation built upon faith in God reject the very principles of its foundation. Each heart must undergo a serious self-examination if we are going to make a turn-around before it’s too late.