Joshua hit the bottle of Cherry Coke?

Dr. Bob Rogers

Updated: Jan 24, 2013, 11:48 PM

Published: Jan 24, 2013, 11:50 PM

A popular spiritual says, “Joshua fit [fought] the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down.” One child got the words of the song confused and sang, “Joshua hit the bottle of Cherry Coke.” Unfortunately, he isn’t the only one who gets the stories of the Bible mixed up.

I heard a fable about a pastor who asked a class of Sunday school children, “Who broke down the wall of Jericho?” A boy answered, “Not me!” The pastor was noticeably upset and turned to the Sunday school teacher and asked, “Is this typical?”

She replied, “Pastor, the boy always tells the truth, and I really don’t think he did it.” Such a response sent the pastor straight to the Sunday school director.

After hearing the pastor’s grievance, the director tried to calm him by saying, “I’ve known the boy and his Sunday school teacher for a number of years and just can’t picture either one of them doing such a terrible thing.” In disbelief, the pastor sought out the chairman of the deacons.

The wise deacon tried to smooth the waters with some of his conventional wisdom, “Pastor, let’s not make a big issue of this. Let’s just pay for the damages and charge it to our maintenance account.”

If Joshua were here today, he might have to fight the battle of Bible ignorance. Surveys report that only 12 percent of Christians read the Bible every day. Few seem to know its contents. Is it any wonder that surveys also show that few Christians have a Biblical worldview?

Hebrew 4:12 (KJV) says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The apostle Paul told Christians to be strong and put on the full armor of God, which includes “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17) Joshua could not have had a sharper weapon than this!

Oh, but wait! Joshua did use this weapon. The walls didn’t come tumbling down because of Joshua’s sword or even a battering ram — they came down because of the spoken word. Joshua 6:5 says, “When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.”

And that is exactly what happened! God used words, a shout, to bring down the walls. God is still in the business of doing powerful things with the word today.

So, Christian, pick up your “sword.” With it, you can win the battle with the Enemy, the devil. Without it, you are defenseless.

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Is there a church for a big woman with an itch?

Dr. Bob Rogers

Updated: Jan 23, 2014, 10:34 PM

Published: Jan 23, 2014, 10:36 PM

A pastor was called to be guest preacher at a church. He knew this church was different when the congregation ended every line of the hymn with the shout of “yeehah!”

As he stood to preach, he noticed that people were spread out on the pews. He would see a person, then a space, then another person, and another space. He wondered why nobody sat next to another person, when he noticed on the pew beside each person was a cowboy hat.

Another time this same preacher was invited to a new church in the city. He was surprised to see that everybody there looked like they had fallen face first into a tackle box, because they had piercings and earrings on every part of the body imaginable. A rock band was playing alternative music on the stage.

As different as these two churches were, they were both growing and reaching people for Christ.

Years ago I was pastor of a small country church in the backwoods of Mississippi. There was another Baptist church just five miles away in the town (population 600). The pastor’s wife at the town church asked me, “Why don’t our two churches merge?” I said, “There are people in my church who would not feel comfortable or fit in at your town church.” She said, “Oh, come on. We’re a small town church. What could be so different?”

I said, “Well, I got one really big woman in my church who, when she gets to feeling an itch, she pulls her dress halfway up and she scratches herself.”

The eyes of this pastor’s wife got really big and she said, “I see what you mean.”

I forgot to tell her about another woman in my church who saw a roach running across the wood floor, so she stomped on it with her bare foot, laughed and shouted, “Aha! I got him!”

Yep, the culture was definitely different where I was pastor.

Jesus upset the religious establishment because He crossed cultural barriers. He loved to eat with tax collectors and Gentiles and other strange people. Jesus walked into the land of Samaria, full of half-breed Jews who worshiped in weird ways and talked different and smelled different.

Jesus walked right up to a Samaritan woman at a well and started talking her language. He accepted her culture, but he let her know her sinful lifestyle had to change. Soon she had the whole town following Jesus (see John 4).

So what cultural barrier is keeping somebody in your community from hearing the gospel? If you tear down the cultural barriers to share Christ in your neighborhood, you may hear the angels shouting, “Yeehah!”

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