“Ferraris Are American Cars!”

            For some reason, I was recently thinking about my time in the first grade.  Granted, that was a long time ago and most of my memories are fuzzy at best.  However, one thing I do vividly remember is the one cool thing we had in that classroom (aside from me, of course).  It was a set of playing cards.  But, these were no ordinary cards; these playing cards had pictures and statistics of various fancy and exotic cars from around the world on them.  I would pray for rainy days so we wouldn’t have to go outside for recess and so I could stay in and just pour over my beloved car cards.  This is when my love for the Ferrari 250 GTO began. 

            I’m sure that bringing all of this up seems odd.  But I do it for a reason, to tell this story.  One rainy day, when I was re-examining my car cards (specifically, the one of the Ferrari 250 GTO), a classmate of mine told me that Ferrari’s were made in Italy.  I firmly disagreed with him, saying that they were American cars.  This is when he pointed to the part of the card which told about the car’s country of origin and, sure enough, it said “Italy.”  I still didn’t believe it.  So, I looked through the rest of the car cards, picking out all of the Ferrari cards.  And, to my astonishment, my beloved car cards had mislabeled every single Ferrari!  So, I brought them to the teacher and told her about this grave error.  And, she too informed me that Ferrari’s were made in Italy.  Severely unnerved by all of this, I went home and laid my plight before the supreme authority in the land, the knower of all things and one who makes all things right, my dad.  And, it was only after he told me that the cards, my friend, and my teacher were all right that I began to entertain the notion that I had been so wrong for so long.  And, eventually, I came to accept the truth.

            Now, obviously, I didn’t say all of this to just relate some amusing story from my childhood.  I said all of this to illustrate a very relevant point to soul-winners today.  There are a lot of people in the world and, more specifically, in our lives who just believe things which are completely erroneous about what the Bible says.  The time of year in which we are now entering is a perfect example of this.  So many people believe that the Bible speaks of things like “Fat Tuesday” and “Ash Wednesday” and “Easter Sunday” when it clearly does not.  And, when (as a friend) you point the truth out to them, that the New Testament only says to celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the Lord’s Day every first day of the week (1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Acts 20:7) and that treating man-made holidays the same as this one true Biblical holy day is sinful (Galatians 4:10-11; Matthew 15:8-9), many will simply choose not to believe.  They may even look at what the Scriptures clearly teach and still deny the truth.  Sadly, I am afraid that so many people will accept the truth only after they hear it from God the Father.  But, by then, it will be too late (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; Romans 14:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:10).

            So, what can/should/must we do?  Three things.  One, we can have faith in God and trust in the power of His holy word (Isaiah 55:8-11; Romans 1:16-17).  Two, we should pray for doors to be opened (Colossians 4:2-4) and hearts to be softened (Luke 8:4-15) for & at the preaching of the Gospel.  And, Three, we must go into all the world, preaching the Gospel that “King Jesus Saves!” to every creature of every nation (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16), whether they immediately believe it or not.  This is what we can, should, and must do to help the lost learn, believe, and obey the truth to their salvation and to God’s glory.  Let us resolve ourselves to do these things, praying for & encouraging each other in these things, as we all strive to glorify God.

~Curtis Carwile