By Doug Apple Manager, Wave94

This here’s a story ‘bout Billy Joe and Bobbie Sue.  Two young lovers with nothin’ better to do.  So they got married and joined a church.  Not just any church, mind you, but the most exciting church in town!

This church was drawing people like flies, and they were truly wonderful people.  They really seemed to care about each other.  And they were all about the sharing.

They got so carried away that one day a man stood up and announced that he had sold a house, and that he was giving all the money to the church!  Wow! Billy Joe and Bobbie Sue just looked at each other in amazement.  They had never heard of such a thing.

The next week it happened again.  Someone stood up and gave away all the money they made from selling a beautiful tract of land right on the edge of town.  The congregation cheered their approval of the man’s generosity.

That night Billy Joe said, “You know, we could do that.”

“Do what, hon?” said Bobbie Sue.

“We could sell that piece of land we own and give the money to the church.  We’re probably not going to do anything with it anyway, not anytime soon.  What do you think?”

“I think it’s a good idea,” said Bobbie Sue.

So the next day they called a realtor friend of theirs and put it on the market.  At the next service Billy Joe stood up and said, “Bobbie Sue and I have decided to sell a piece of property we own and give the money to the church!”

The congregation cheered with enthusiasm.  People came up to them afterward, and Billy Joe and Bobby Sue were the center of attention.

To their surprise they quickly had a buyer, and he offered exactly what they hoped to get in the first place - $100,000.00.  Wow.

That night Billy Joe sat at the kitchen table.  “Can you believe we sold that land already?  It happened so fast my head is spinning.” He sat there, holding the check.  “Look at all those zeroes.”

Bobbie Sue turned from the refrigerator.  “I think the freezer is going out.  I’ve got it turned down as low as it will go, but the ice cream is still all mushy.”

Billy Joe’s brain kicked in.  “Well Bobbie Sue, we have the money for a new refrigerator right here.  And what about that stove?  Wouldn’t you like a new glass top stove?  Why not a whole new kitchen!”

Bobbie Sue burst his bubble.   “You seem to have forgotten - that money is for the church.”

“Hmmm,” he said, looking at his mushy ice cream.  “Well we’re part of the church, too.  Why can’t we get some of the things we need around here?”

“Good point,” she said.

“Well what about this.  What if we gave 80 thousand to the church, and kept the rest.  Anything wrong with that?”

“Are you going to tell them?”

“I don’t see any reason to.  What do they care?  They’re getting 80 thousand bucks!”

“Another good point,” said Bobbie Sue.

“You know, maybe we better not make such a big deal out of it.  I think I’ll just swing by the church tomorrow and drop off the check.”

When Billy Joe pulled up to the church the next day he was a little nervous to see all the cars.  Looked like a deacons meeting or something.  He walked in and people were just socializing so he went up to the pastor and handed him an envelope.

“Here’s that money, pastor.”

The pastor glanced upward, then looked Billy Joe right in the eyes.

“Billy Joe, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?  That land was yours, Billy Joe.  You could have done anything with it you wanted.  But now look what you’ve done.  You have not lied to us, but to God.”

Billy Joe froze.  The blood drained from his face.  His eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed.  A deacon who was a doctor announced what they already feared.  Billy Joe was dead.

Later Bobbie Sue dropped by the church, not knowing what had happened.  The pastor got that look in his eye again.

“Bobbie Sue, did you get $80,000 for that land?”

Her eyes dropped for a moment, then she looked him square in the eye and said, “Yes, that’s exactly what we got.”

The pastor said, “How could the two of you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?  Did you know your husband stopped by here today?  Did you know he dropped dead right at this very spot?”

Bobbie Sue felt the full impact of what she had done.  She had bold face lied to God Himself.  Her knees buckled, and she collapsed – dead.

And great fear seized the church, and everyone else who heard what happened to Billy Joe and Bobbie Sue.*

Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

*  A retelling of the story of Ananias and Sapphira from Acts 5:1-10

This article originally published on March 22, 2007.

Written by :

mkwestmark

 

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