Bill was visibly frustrated as he briskly strode into Dave’s office.
“Hey Bill, what can I do for you?” Dave asked pleasantly.
“You can accept my resignation,” Bill snarled.
“What?” Dave replied, in confusion.
“That’s right, I’m done,” he continued.
“OK Bill, I see that you’re very upset; why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
“Five Smooth Stones is what’s going on!” he said,
“You mean the Christian Rock Band?” Dave asked.
“Come on Dave, what else would I be talking about?” he shot back.
“OK, I just want to make sure I understand what the problem is?”
Bill’s expression twisted as he explained, “It’s really pretty simple, I’ve been teaching Sunday School in this church for almost twenty years now, and it’s been like pulling teeth to get anyone interested in this ministry; especially the kids. We never have any budget, we fight to get teachers, and even when you get some kids in the classroom, you fight to get them interested in anything to do with God. But let some guys with guitars show up, and all of a sudden, we’ve got money to upgrade the sound system, we’ve got an army of volunteers to set up the stage, and the kids are acting like its Christmas Eve.”
“So you’re upset that everyone is excited about this band coming in?” Dave asked in confusion.
“It’s not that I care about the band,” he responded, “I just wonder why no one is excited about working with this ministry until some group of hot shots they’ve heard on the radio comes around. Is this really even about ministry, or is it just a meeting of the ‘Five Smooth Stones’ fan club?”
“OK Bill, I think I understand where you’re coming from. First off, as the Superintendent of the Sunday School, no one understands better than me about the struggle to keep this ministry going, and to get people excited about it; but having a nationally known Christian band just volunteer out of the blue to come, and give a concert here is a blessing, not a curse. This will give us an opportunity to reach the kids in a way that we’ve never been able to before.”
“Will it Dave?”
“Will it what?” he again asked in confusion.
“Reach the kids,” Bill replied.
“I don’t know, but don’t you think that it’s worth a try?” Dave pled.
“I don’t know what I think anymore,” he said. “I’m beginning to doubt that I’ve ever reached any of the kids that I’ve taught over the years.”
Dave’s face fell, “Come on Bill, you don’t really believe that, do you?”
“No really; I’ve watched them come in, and sit through my class like it was detention. They do there time, and then they leave,” he responded. A few years later, when you see them on the street, they either don’t know you, or you find out that they’re living with their girlfriend or something.”
“You know that isn’t every kid’s story,” Dave defended.
“I know, but the good kids seem to come from good parents. They’re fine when I get them, and they’re fine when they leave,” Bill asserted. “I just can’t see where I’ve made any difference in their lives.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“You’re right Dave, I would be.”
Just as Bill finished, an assistant knocked on the open door, and exclaimed, “They’re here!”
“You mean the band?” Dave queried.
“Yup!” the assistant chirped.
“Send them in,” he directed.
Bill rolled his eyes, and said, “I should go.”
“No Bill, you should stay and meet these guys,” Dave replied. “It may make a difference for you.”
With a heavy sigh, Bill grumbled, “I don’t see how, but whatever.”
As two members of the band stepped into the office, Dave quickly moved to the doorway and extended his hand. “Hey guys, we’re excited about you being here. I’m Dave Roberts, the Sunday School Superintendent’ and this is one of our teachers, Bill Walker.”
Bill smiled weakly, and shook the guy’s hands as well.
“It’s a pleasure to be here, and to see you guys again. I’m Chris Smith, and this is Tom Howard. The rest of the guys are unloading our equipment.”
Dave looked confused, as he asked, “So you’ve been here before?”
“Oh yes Sir,” Chris replied. “As a matter of fact, Mr. Walker was my Sunday School teacher.”
The men exchanged a look of shock before Bill turned to Chris, and confessed, “I’m sorry, you do look familiar to me, but your name doesn’t ring a bell.”
Chris smiled knowingly, “Back then they called me Willie.”
“O Lord,” Bill exclaimed. “Little Willie Smith! Of course, I remember you now!”
“It’s been a long time since anyone’s called me Willie,” Chris chuckled.
Dave exuberantly asserted, “So you guys have some history together?”
“Oh yeah,” Bill nodded. We’ve definitely got some memories.”
Sheepishly, Chris nodded in agreement, “Yeah, some pretty bad memories really.”
Again, confused, Dave asked, “Bad memories?”
“Willie, I mean Chris, was going through a tough time back then,” Bill defended.
“It’s true,” Chris affirmed. “It was probably the lowest time in my life. I was here living with my Aunt, while my parents tried to work out their problems with the law, and each other. I was pretty angry, and I definitely didn’t want to be in church.”
With a look of satisfaction, Dave said, “I guess things changed after you got to know the people here.”
Chris grimaced slightly, “I wish I could say that was true. Honestly, I was hateful to everyone here, especially Mr. Walker. This is part of the reason that I wanted to come back; to apologize, and to let you know that you didn’t waste your time on me.”
Bill’s voice was noticeably softer as he continued, “As I remember, you went back to your parents. I guess they got their issues worked out.”
“Not really,” Chris replied. “My Aunt sent me back because she said that I was unmanageable. Things got a lot worse after that. My father eventually went to jail, and the courts took me away from my Mom. I was raised in a Foster home after that.”
Dave almost seemed to be pleading, “So,I guess they got you back in church?”
“No, they were good people, but they weren’t church people,” he said.
“So how do you go from where you were to a Christian Rock band?” Bill asked.
“By the time I was taken from my mother, I was so angry, and depressed that I was thinking about killing myself. I had actually planned it out, but then I remembered something you showed us in class,” he said turning toward Bill. “Do you remember the string that you had that stretched all the way across the room, with the little piece of string hanging from the middle of it?”
“Oh sure,” Bill nodded. “I still have that in my classroom to teach kids about how short this life is compared to eternity.”
“Well it works,” Chris declared. “I remembered that picture in my mind, and I realized that killing myself might end the pain of this life, but that it would simply be trading it for an eternity of pain. That depressed me even more, but then I remembered when you taught about the prodigal son, and you said that no matter what happens you can always come home to Jesus. I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so that night, alone in my bedroom, I asked Him to come into my life, and to help me. And He did.”
Dave could see Bill’s eyes filling with tears, as he exclaimed, “Wow, what a great testimony.”
“You know Chris gives his testimony at every concert, and we’ve seen hundreds of kids give their hearts to the Lord,” Tom added. “Many of them talk about how someone once told them about Jesus, but that it wasn’t until they reached the bottom that they were willing to call out for help. As a matter of fact we wrote a song about it for our second CD.”
“Wow!” Dave gasped.
“Yeah, it’s called “Believing for the Harvest,” Chris added. “I thought of how Mr. Walker’s ministry had touched my life, and I knew that he’d probably never know about it. It struck me that there are a lot of faithful servants out there who pour themselves into kids, without ever knowing whether they’re making a difference. I guess I wanted to honor their service and their faith.”
Pulling out a CD from his case, Tom said, “I just remembered that Chris wrote a little dedication for the song that we put on the CD cover. It says, ‘This song is dedicated to Mr. Bill Walker, and to diligent servants like him, who are faithful to sow and water, knowing that they may never get to witness the harvest. They will never fully understand the impact their lives have made until they get to their Father in Heaven’.”
Bill could no longer contain the tears, as Chris warmly embraced him, “Thank you Mr. Walker.”
“Thank you Willie,” he whispered.
As the two men separated, Tom stepped up and hugged Bill as well, “I want to thank you too Mr. Walker.”
“For what?” he queried.
“Well, Chris is the one who led me to the Lord, so I figure that I also owe you some thanks.”
“God bless you son,” Bill cried.
As the men separated, Chris declared, “We really need to go help the guys set up the stage; maybe we can get together afterward, and talk some more.”
“That would be great,” Bill said as he wiped his eyes.
As Chris and Tom headed out the door, Dave turned to Bill, and smiled, “Where were we?”
Bill smiled sheepishly, and replied, “I believe that I was saying how excited I was about tonight’s outreach, and how I can’t wait to get back into class on Sunday morning.”
Dave’s expression grew more serious, and with his voice was filled with emotion, as he said, “God bless you Bill.”
Tears once again began to flow, as Bill choked, “God bless you Dave.”
Bjcorbin's Blog 
The Way
Posted in Commentaries, tagged admonish, anti-christ, authority, champion, connection, deceive, deception, discern, embodiment, end times, eternal, eternity, evoke, exchange, fix our eyes, focus, genuine, hate, illusion, image, influence, Jesus name, kingdom, life, manifest, Sceva, seen, Spirit, spiritual, substitute, temporal, transform, truth, unseen, warning, way on September 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The danger of living in the social media age is that we can gather a following of like-minded folks, spend our days shouting into the echo chamber, and cancel anyone who dares to disagree with us. Devoid of any contrasting perspective, it’s easy to deceive ourselves into believing that our perceptions have become reality. And with the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), we can be sure that our electronic feed will remain full of voices that endorse and reinforce our illusion.
While this type of pattern is unhealthy on many levels, it is most dangerous from a spiritual standpoint. Throughout the scripture we are warned against leaning on our own understanding (Prov.3:5-7), about the deceitfulness of our hearts (Jer.17:9), and of the great deceivers and deceptions that will be visited upon God’s people (Matt.24:24). We are cautioned against focusing on what is seen, as it is perishing (2Cor.4:18). And most importantly, we are told to fix our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb.12:2).
I suspect that popular renderings of a singular “Anti-Christ” figure, from our depictions of the End Times, have clouded our understanding of the true spirit of anti-Christ, which manifests in many forms. While we’ve been taught to make bold declarations against such things, I have found that these spirits are not nearly as intimidated by our use of Jesus’ name as we might think. Like the sons of Sceva, the Chief Priest (Acts 19:13-16) or those people Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:21-23, we can try to evoke His name while having no genuine connection to Him (John 15:5). In such instances, this word carries no spiritual authority.
Ultimately, attacking the authentic, life-giving connection to Christ is the aim of the anti-Christ spirit. It tries to redefine the “work of God” as being something other than believing in the One that He sent (John 6:29). It offers symbols and rituals and formulas and brokers as a substitute for a genuine one on one relationship with the person of God. It offers earthly prosperity and temporal gains as a substitute for genuine spiritual authority.
It encourages us to know ministers by their gifts instead of by their fruit (Matt.7:16). It fills the atmosphere with voices and things to look at, so that we don’t discern the still small voice of God (1Kings 19:11-13) or fix our gaze on the Giver of Life (Heb.12:2). It inspires religious leaders to build an earthly replica of the kingdom, so that the genuine Kingdom does not become manifest.
This spirit does not care that Jesus’ name is plastered all over our buildings, bumper stickers, t-shirts and letter heads, as long as we don’t look anything like Him (Rom.8:29). It does not oppose our gatherings, as long as people aren’t genuinely connecting with the Savior (or each other). It does not resist our endless Bible study, as long as the scripture remains little more than a tool for the rationalization of our own carnal interests (John 5:39-40). It is not against us viewing Jesus as a resource for strength, as long as cultivating an authentic relationship with Him never becomes the goal. In such cases, the inclusion of Jesus’ name actually lends a sense of legitimacy to the whole deception.
Evidence of this spiritual influence would be a people who call themselves “Christians” yet aren’t identifiable by their love and grace for one another (John 13:35); who aren’t concerned about the fact that they nor their leaders look or sound anything like Christ (Rom.8:29), and who are more concerned with current events (i.e., the seen realm) than eternity (i.e., the unseen realm) (2Cor.4:18). They would likely be a people who were known more for their divisions than their unity (Eph.4:4-6).
In the absence of Christ’s Lordship, such a people would be destined to idolize mere men, and likely to crown themselves an earthly king (1Sam.8). And apart from the guidance of Christ’s Spirit, they would be highly susceptible to hollow and deceptive philosophies, which depend on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world (Col.2:8).
It would be difficult to argue that this isn’t a fairly accurate portrait of Western Christianity.
There are so many scriptures that appear to be warnings for individuals who count themselves as believers, or followers, or even disciples. Passages referencing a people who possess a form of godliness but also deny the power thereof (2Tim.3:5), who honor Jesus with their lips, but whose hearts remain far from Him (Matt.15:8), and/or who will exchange God’s thoughts for the rhetoric that fuels their true passion (2Tim.4:3-4). Yet we can convince ourselves that these words don’t really apply to us because we are good and moral people, who hate what is evil and champion the proper value system.
Despite the fact that many Christians would say that we are fast approaching, or perhaps even living amid the “end times”, there seems to be little concern regarding the Lord’s admonishments to the churches in the book of Revelation. If we really believe His return is imminent, we should probably be mindful of what it looks like to forsake our first love for some other passion (Rev.2:1-7) and perhaps be on the lookout for the false prophets who threaten to lead us astray (Rev.2:18-29). We might also want to ponder what might cause Him to view us as “lukewarm” (Rev.3:14-22).
Jesus taught that He is the way, the truth and the life; and that there is no other path to the Father (John 14:6). But the anti-Christ spirit works diligently to separate our concept of these things from the person of Jesus. It invites us to fix our eyes on anything but Him. Unless Christ becomes the embodiment of our truth, we will never walk in the way He’s ordained for us, nor experience the life He died to give us.
Ultimately, God’s ways are much higher than our ways (Isa.55:8-9) and that pattern was so perfectly demonstrated by Christ that at the end of His life He was able to say that, if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father (John 14:9). Through this perfect reflection of the Father’s heart, Jesus became “The Way” for us (John 14:6), and now the only thing that keeps us from walking in that way is “the way that seems right” to us (Prov.14:12) instead.
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