The purpose of an open mind, like having an open mouth, is to close it on something solid. You know, tolerance is one of today's most coveted virtues, but there are at least three different kinds of tolerance. First, there is the legal tolerance. that would be fighting for the equal rights before the law of all ethnic and religious minorities. Christians should be on the forefront of this campaign. Second, there is social tolerance. Going out of our way to make friends with adherents of other faiths, since they are God's creation who bears his image. And we ought to win the right to share the gospel with them. And that's also a good tolerance. But third, there is an intellectual tolerance. And this is to cultivate a mind that is so broad and open to accommodate all views and reject none. This is to forget G.K. Chesterton's understanding that I quoted as we began, that the purpose of opening the mind as of opening the mouth is to shut it again on something solid. To open the mind so wide as to keep nothing in it or out of it, is not a virtue. It's the vice of the feeble-minded. As we're about to discover in our passage of study today, it is also a problem that God does not want us to allow in his church. There's a great need in our time for men and women to be people who are so gripped by the truth of God's word That they will challenge falsehood on the basis of what God has spoken. We need to be a people who understand what God wants the church to do. And who do that without apology to those who want us to pretend that other religions and philosophies are equal and just as truthful. According to one of the commentaries I was reading in preparation for this message, 72% of Americans in the 18 to 25 age bracket believe that there is no such thing as absolute truth. The view appears to be shared by over half of those who claim to be born again Christians. Much of our society has absolutized relativism. They believe that it is an absolute truth that there are no absolute truths. Now, how's that for oxymoronic thinking? To them, the only non-negotiable truth is that everyone is right unless somebody claims to be. For some people today, tolerance for everybody and every thought is the only real virtue that exists. And intolerance is the only sin that exists. Because of the popularity of tolerance, many non-Christians no longer deny the possibility of miracles or of Jesus being a way to God. But to them, the Christian way is only one way among many. And they bristle at the claim that Jesus is the only true way. The absolute necessity of faith in Christ for salvation has become a most uncomfortable position for many Christians to hold today. Studies reveal that this remains the single most socially offensive aspect about Christianity. Our claim of exclusivism that Jesus is the only way. And there's been a trend toward accepting relativism inside the church for quite some time. It's likely to become a primary battleground of evangelicalism to grow even more serious. Among students at elite evangelical liberal arts colleges and seminaries, one third believe that other ways of salvation may be possible for those who've never heard of Jesus Christ. Now, we may disagree with many believers on several issues. You may not agree with all that I am presenting in this sermon series in the book of Revelation, and that's okay, as long as your objections are based on scripture. We can never, though, be tolerant of differing views of our standard of Jesus is the only way. We must never lack a backbone on matters that directly affect people's salvation. Let me tell you, let me just share with you something that relativists who accept Christianity as equal to all religions that they never consider. What kind of a heavenly father would send his own son to the cross if the plan of salvation was actually multiple choice. Is that a God you could love and trust? Not me. Now, we have been studying the book of Revelation here on Sunday mornings, and today we come to a fourth letter that John was instructed by Jesus to write. John was in fact given a threefold outline for the book of Revelation and he was told to write it and with these three emphasis. In Revelation 119, it says, write therefore the things that you have seen. Now he had just seen the image of Christ standing before him. And so the first major segment of the book of Revelation is the image of Christ that he saw. The rest of the verse goes on to say, the things that are. And after he describes this image of Christ, he tells him to write seven letters to these seven churches. And of course, John was living in the church age that you and I are still living in because the church age continues to exist. That very age that he was living in. The things that are. And then the church age is not going to go on forever. The church here on earth, and John was also told to write, and those that are to take place. And so right after we get these seven letters describing the church era, the church age, the church here on earth. Then we get in chapter four and following the events of the tribulation and the return of Jesus Christ. That which happens after the church age, in my belief. Now the church age in its entirety is represented by seven letters to seven churches. And this is the first series of seven that we come to in Revelation. Number seven represents completeness. These seven churches represent the complete history of the church from Pentecost to the church's end until the next period takes place when we are raptured off of this earth. We've been going through these letters, one a week, and seeing a dual fulfillment that John was addressing specific contemporary situations in each of these churches that were current going on in John's day when he pinned them But also, as Old Testament prophecy often did, they also clearly relate to future events. And in this case, seven definite periods of church history, all the way to the final church period of Laodicea. We've already studied the letter to the church at Ephesus. This letter parallels the literal church in Ephesus during John's day and the church period from Pentecost to around 100 AD, the time that the final apostle died, which was John. And then the next church age began. But this time of events that were going on in Ephesus and the church period of time from Pentecost to about 100 AD, both had patiently endured hardship. They had defended God's truth against false teachers. They worked sacrificially, but eventually they only did ministry out of a sense of duty. they had lost their first love for Jesus. And they were warned if they didn't repent that Jesus would remove the lampstand, their witness to the world from among them. Now, isn't it interesting that today when we look at the entire region where the church at Ephesus was, their testimony has been extinguished. It is a Muslim land today. Then as we studied the letter to the church at Smyrna, which amazingly parallels the period of church history from 100 AD to 312 AD, the church at Smyrna is the church under persecution, which is described in that letter. The letter said that there would be 10 periods of testing. And there were, from this period of time, From 100 AD to 312 AD, there were 10 emperors in Rome that tried to extinguish Christianity through severe persecution. But that eventually ended in 312. In 312, Constantine became emperor. And he married the church to the Roman Empire. and therefore to the rest of the world also. And John's letter to the church at Pergamum shows incredible resemblance to the events of church history from 312 to 590 AD. We studied this one last week. Pergamum means married. The very word means married. It's very interesting how even the names of these churches correspond with what is happening in that period of church history. Pergamum means married. And the church married the world. The letter to Pergamum addressed an existing sin of accepting the Nicolaitans. And the Nicolaitans were those people who ruled over the people in the church. They were ruling over them. Well, during the period of 312 to 590 AD, there was established and determined more clearly this ruling class of people in the church, the priests and the priestly system of bishops and archbishops and priests and so forth and cardinals and everything. In the letter that we come to this morning, The letter to the church at Thyatira, we see even more parallels between this letter and the period of church history that stretches from 590 to 1517, when Martin Luther nailed those theses to the door in Wittenberg. Now, Thyatira portrays the church in the dark ages. as it was then filled with corruption. Now, these names of these churches even prophesy about these periods of church history. You know what Thyatira means? Thyatira comes from two words, meaning sacrifice and continual, continual sacrifice. It was during this time that the church of Rome took off As it took off, it developed its theology. One particular theology I believe the name Thyatira relates to is the Mass. I think there can be little doubt that the Roman sacrifice of the Mass is foretold in this very word Thyatira, among many other parallels of this letter to this period of church history. As the name of each of these seven churches, this is remarkable prophecy. As I said, Thyatira means continual sacrifice. And during this period of the church history, mass was developed. Every time a Roman Catholic priest celebrates mass, according to their theology, the Lord Jesus is sacrificed all over again. Not just for the sins of the living, but also for the dead. Their doctrine of transubstantiation teaches that priests have the power to turn the bread into the literal body of Christ and the cup into the literal blood of Jesus. And that's why a priest today must make sure there is no remaining drop of wine left over after their celebration. It all has to be drunk. Every element of the bread has to be consumed. because it's this re-sacrificing of Jesus and his body. Well, we'll see some more incredible matches as we go, but it's time to read the letter now in its entirety. So we are in Revelation chapter two, and we pick up today with verses 18 through 29. And to the angel of the church at Thyatira write, the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you. that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works. And I will strike her children dead, And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you in Thyatira who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast to what you have until I come. the one who conquers, and the one who keeps my works until the end. To him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule with them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from the Father, and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The city of Thyatira was named by Alexander the Great in commemoration for the birth of his little girl. And this place is the smallest of all of the seven cities, and yet it receives the longest letter of all seven churches. It was the headquarters from many of the ancient guilds, the Potter's Guild, the Tanner's Guild, the Weaver's Guild, Robemakers, Dyers, And it was the center of the dyeing industry. Lydia, the seller of purple, who in Philippi became Paul's first convert in Europe, she came from there, Thyatira. Thyatira was also known for the bronze workers that it had. Manufacturers exported brass from Thyatira. A coin of Thyatira shows Hephaestus, the divine smith, hammering a helmet on an anvil with the word kolobanos, which means fine brass. Look at verse 18 with me again. And to the angel of the church at Thyatira write the words of the son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. Our Lord introduced himself to his church as the son of God. That's distinctive because in the other letters he introduces himself as the son of man, his title. As a son of God, he rebukes, I believe, the church that would, in this period of history that it represents, degrade him and keep him as the son of a human mother while exalting her above him as the mother of God and the queen of heaven. Our Lord knew exactly how his church would develop. He's writing to it through John here in the book of Revelation, seeing that all of this indeed was going to take place. But he would have all men know that they are not dealing with prophets like Moses and Elijah, nor with apostles like Paul and Peter. They are dealing with deity, the divine son of God himself. The rise of Roman Catholicism made Jesus popular as the son of Mary, a position that robs him of his essential deity and thereby degrades him. But God had a son co-eternal, co-equal with the father. Roman Catholicism teaches those under its power that they must pray to Mary, in order to get through to God. This theology is nowhere hinted at in the scriptures. On the contrary, our Lord taught that the Father was to be approached in the Son's name. In Thyatira, conditions were foreshadowing Catholicism's efforts to lower the dignity of Jesus' name. And so it starts off, the Son of God. who has eyes like a flame of fire. There's nothing more piercing than flaming fire. Everything yields and melts before it. It penetrates all things, consumes every opposition, sweeps down all obstructions and presses its way with invincible power. And of this sort are the eyes of Jesus. They look through everything. They pierce through all masks and coverings. They search the remotest recesses. They behold the most hidden things of the soul, and there is no escape from them. God's not fooled by outer appearances. He sees the inward man. His eyes will search in judgment. They pierce, they penetrate, they command, they condemn. There is absolutely no person or thing that will escape the examination of his eyes. And it says his feet are like brass. That was an image that was familiar to the citizens of Thyatira. And brass speaks of judgment. The brazen altar in the tabernacle was a place where sin offering was sacrificed, Exodus chapter 38. And the lever was also of brass, and it spoke of self-judgment. For here the priests washed their hands and their feet as they went in and out of the holy place. Brass in the Bible is many times seen as a symbol of judgment. The brazen serpent that Moses raised in the wilderness in order for people to be healed when they were bitten by the snakes is another example of it. Of God's judgment of our sin, Numbers chapter 21. The Lord was establishing himself here as the judge of holiness. Judgment now gives his assessment of the work in the church of Thyatira. Thyatira was a working church. Jesus commends the church in Thyatira for five good things. It's works, it's love, it's faith, it's service, and it's patient endurance. Those are good things. And what's more, he tells them, your latter works exceed the first. They're doing good things, and they're apparently getting better at better at doing those good things. Look at Revelation 2 verse 19. I know your works, your love, your faith, your service, and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. Church was a loving church. Ephesus had left its first love. Thyatira had not. These saints were dependable. They were reliable. They were a dedicated people who did not quit if things got tiring and difficult and inconvenient. They didn't just get involved. They stayed involved and accomplished their purpose. Patience is needed if we're going to be successful in ministry. Patience speaks of a constancy and a continuance. Our Lord praises their patience and determination to continue in steadfast service. They weren't quitters. They would not look back, even in the days of severe persecution. The word patience is hapumon. And it means to abide under. We are to abide in Christ under tribulation. Trials cause our patience to grow and to help us mature in Christian character. We're to run our race for Christ with patience. Their last works were more than their first. As a pastor, I observed quite often A type of person who begins a task of ministry with cheerfulness and with enthusiasm. And then it comes to a standstill offering weak excuses for his or her failure. But there were believers in Thyatira who were known for their continued progress and increased usefulness. They were neither slipping backward or standing still. They were advancing steadily in their Christian course. How is it with you? Is your last state worse than your first? Is your latter end worse than the beginning? Or is your faith growing? Is your love increasing like what they are commended for here in Thyatira? The believers in Thyatira were commended for their growing and good deeds and We should not only take comfort in gathering for worship or rejoice when people give their lives to Christ in our church. We should also seek to grow in love and faith and acts of service because the times are critical and we must spend our days wisely and faithfully. Have you run out of gas spiritually? Are you really serving the Lord or stuck in a swamp of apathy and unconcern in your Christian life? Dr. Earl Radmacher, who was president of the seminary that I attended, would often say, a person I am becoming today is preparing me for the person I shall be for all eternity. That's profound. A person you are today will determine the rewards and the responsibilities of your tomorrow. Your life now will impact your responsibilities in eternity. Even though this letter parallels the church period of the dark ages, I am certain that there will be many from the church that is described here who are going to be in heaven with us. And because of their dedicated service here on earth, They're going to have great responsibilities in heaven because of their dedicated service. Now with this shared belief that Thyatira represents what the church became. And as we look at today, we know as the Roman Catholic church. Dr. Henry Ironside wrote, the Lord gave Rome credit for a great deal. That is good. Remember from the seventh century to the present, there has been a great deal in the way of good works in the Roman Catholic Church that cannot be overlooked. There have been Roman Catholic nuns and monks who have been ready to lay down their lives for the needy and the sick. Centuries before Luther, every hospital in Western Europe was simply a Roman Catholic monastery or a convent. The Lord does not forget all that. Where there is a bit of faith, his love takes note of it all. If there are hearts in the church of Rome that amid the superstition reach out to the blessed Lord himself, he meets them in grace and demonstrates his love to them. I am not presenting any of this material here today with the slightest hope that you would feel smug? Well, I'm not a Catholic. I'm not presenting this material to you today so that we would have ill feelings, hardness of heart toward Catholics. I'm not preaching this today for that reason. I'm preaching through the book of Revelation as it's describing what the church became. And you know what it does for my heart and I'm hoping it's doing for yours as we see that God saw and was warning and this prophecy actually happened. It encourages my faith that I'm serving a God who's sovereignly in control. Amen. And that's all I'm doing here. I don't want us to walk out of here and say, well, those Catholics. Last night, Patty and I had the privilege of having dinner with a former Catholic priest who was over all of Eastern Oregon. We had a delightful time with him. Wonderful person, wonderful person. We had a priest here in town who was a personal friend of mine, Father Joseph, who I believe is a Christian. Because as we talked back and forth, we finally started talking about this faith in Christ alone is what saves you. And he was fully on board with that. There are some. There are some. When I met Patty, she was raised in the Catholic church and her desire, when she found Christ, she wanted to stay in the Catholic church and tell everybody about Jesus and that it's by faith in Christ alone. But like I said, she met me and I was Baptist. That changed. Verse 20. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols." So what was wrong in Thyatira? Sure, there were all these great things, but what was wrong? They were so concerned and thoughtful for the temporal good of others, that they became foolishly tolerant toward matters that are eternal. They developed an optimistic, positive thinking that blinded them toward absolute truth. Nathan did not act this way. He confronted King David. You are that man, O King. Joshua did not act that way. He confronted Achan and the ground opened up and swallowed him. Paul confronted the apostle Peter publicly for not wanting to eat with the Gentiles. And he confronted the church at Corinth repeatedly for their worldliness. But Thyatira, they were a people of sweet tolerance. The people tolerated evil in the church. And that's done so often today. It's often done in the name of love. But you cannot tolerate evil. When evil becomes strong, it will not tolerate righteousness. Thyatira tolerated a woman who was called Jezebel. Let me just say, a good woman is the best thing on earth. Women were the last at the cross and the first at the open tomb. The church owes a debt to her faithful women, which she can never estimate to say nothing of the debt we owe in our homes to godly wives and mothers. But an evil woman is the most dangerous thing on earth. It's highly significant that so many false religions and modern delusions were begun by prophetesses. Whoever this Jezebel of Thyatira was, our Lord says that she was a prophetess. She claimed inspiration, a new revelation. She taught and seduced Christians to commit fornication, to eat things sacrificed to idols. She also dealt in the deep things of Satan, some highbrow philosophy from the world of darkness, some ism of the devil. In Thyatira, there was something mysterious and high-sounding about Jezebel's ism, And it appealed to some of the Thyatira Christians, just as some present day isms attract some church members. We have a lot of people who will not believe the plain word of God, but who will fall for any ism with double jointed words that nobody can pronounce, much less understand. Jezebel was the heathen wife of Ahab in the Older Testament. And Ahab, under the influence of this wicked wife, 1 Kings 16.33 says, did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. He was an ungodly Jewish king, married to an ungodly pagan woman. It was Jezebel who was essentially responsible for establishing pagan worship in Israel. Jezebel led Israel to commit spiritual fornication by worshiping Baal instead of the true God. Jesus uses Ahab and Jezebel's union as a picture to point out what was happening at Thyatira and what would happen in that period of church history that it represents. Such is the church that is involved with the pagan practices of false religion and this world. The church with its rights, its forms, its ceremonies had formed an ungodly alliance with the pagan world. This is one of the darkest periods of the church's history from the time of Christ to present time. Jezebel is a symbol of all that is evil and ungodly in this day. There's no question that whether Jezebel was a real person or not, she typified an ism, which was a complete system. And that system, I believe, I believe it is what developed into the Catholic Church. For starters, number one, When the papal church introduced images and pictures into its churches for the people to bow down to, it became idolatrous. And that's what's described in this letter, that the church would do. Number two, when it set up its claim that the teaching of the church is equal, and in some cases superior to the word of God, why, that is assuming the role of a prophetess. And I think that's what's being described there. Number three is Jezebel encouraged Israel to practice immorality. The system of the Catholic Church gives encouragement that immorality is permissible as long as you were baptized as an infant, went to confessional with a priest, say enough our father and hail Mary prayers, If you were married in the Catholic Church and had a priest administer last rites over your death wife, then you're okay, no matter what you did. Jezebel was permitted to teach in the church. How often churches have appointed teachers that should never be allowed into the position as a teacher. Unholy character will produce unholy creed and it's going to corrupt people. Jezebel was crafty and deceived the people in her teaching. And by crafty methods built up a following. Sin makes itself attractive to deceive and to defile. But no amount of loving and sacrificial works can compensate for the tolerance of evil. We could be the most loving church. We could be the most sacrificing, giving, loving body of Christ. But if we tolerate evil in our midst, we are an anathema. No amount of loving and sacrifice and works can compensate for tolerance of evil. The church was permitting a false prophetess to influence the people and lead them to compromise. Verse 21. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. The Lord Jesus Christ has patiently dealt with this false system for more than a thousand years. And there has been no real change down through the centuries in this system. In fact, Rome boasts that she never changes. Semper idem. Always the same. When churches fail to exclude the unrepentant, They bear part of the responsibility for the sins provoked by the Jezebels in their midst. Jesus holds the fact that the Thyatiran church tolerates Jezebel against them. You see, holding the fact that we are tolerating somebody like Jezebel against our church, I pray it never be. Because if we ever start tolerating somebody like Jezebel, somebody with flagrant, unconfessed sin, we can be sure that he is holding it against us as a church. Verses 22 and 23. Behold, I will throw her into a sick bed and those who commit adultery with her, and I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works. And I will strike her children dead and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the mind and heart. And I will give to each of you according to your works. I believe that this gives very strong indication that the Jezebel system of Christianity will be around. Will experience. And we'll suffer through the great tribulation when it comes. I think that's what this is indicating. The Jezebel system characterized the dark ages period of church history, that which comes forth out of it will still exist and go through the tribulation. I think it's what it's saying there. Now look at our encouragement in this. When God's time arrives, this will be a just judgment upon those who have wrongfully treated the true believers of Christ. Yes, indeed, the tribulation is coming. And those who have followed the doctrines of Jezebel are not going to make out too good. You and I certainly have not had to suffer for our faith like those who have lived through the Inquisition period of the Dark Ages, when simply owning a Bible could cost you your life. But let me encourage you to apply what Jesus says here to any fellow believers whom you feel have wronged you and gotten away with it. Jesus will give to them as their works deserve, it says. That's enough. Knowing that Jesus will judge them should enable you to pray for them that they will repent and avoid the treatment that they deserve. Verse 24. But to the rest of you in Thyatira who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Praise God. His faithful servants who refuse to follow the theological trends of the day. Praise God for his mercy. The deep things may have been all those extra biblical teachings of the church, that only the class of priests were allowed to know. And the priests treated the laity as though they could not understand the deeper truths of the church and of its teaching. We should hold tightly to the basics of our Christian faith and view with extreme caution any new teaching that turns us away from the Bible. Verses 25 through 29. Only hold fast to what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. And he will rule with them with a rod of iron as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Those who are part of the Jezebel system will suffer and go through the tribulation, I believe, but those who resist it and hold on to the basics of the Christian faith will rule and reign with Christ in the millennium. The idea of the saints reigning with Christ is in keeping with the original purpose of God for man. In Genesis' account of the creation of man, first of the divine injunctions was regal in character. God said, let them have dominion over all the earth, Genesis 1.26. Now the failure of the first Adam with reference to his rule over the earth did not mean that man had lost forever his divinely bestowed dominion. It is to be restored. It's spoken of several times in scripture. In Daniel 7 verse 18, but the saints of the most high shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever and ever. Luke 12, 32, fear not little flock for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Romans 8, 17. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. And first Corinthians six, verses two and three, do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more than matters pertaining to this life? In other words, Jesus never intended Christians to be losers. A believer is a creature of victory, not defeat. We have the victory because Jesus has won it for us. I want you to observe a phrase in verse 26, and then we'll be done here in just a minute. In verse 26, it contrasts the phrase, my works, with what we see in verse 19, your works. My works, the supernatural work of Christ, the work that only God can do is what we are told to hold on to, not my works, the works that I do. It's only what Christ does that brings us into heaven. And so there's a contrast that we're given here. between our good works that we're counting on to get us into heaven, which isn't going to work, and Christ's works, those we hold on to. It's totally a product of his work. Christ pledges himself to believers as he says, I will give you morning star. That's Jesus. The promise of the morning star is a promise that the overcomers will be identified with Jesus. We're going to share with him and his rule. He is not only our rewarder, he is our reward. We have a star, a finished work and a finished revelation. So we need to hold fast. We need to hold fast to them until Jesus comes again. But we need to remember this. One of the primary threats against our holding on until Jesus comes is that Jezebel still exists in many churches. Jezebel can be very charming. Sometimes she teaches a Sunday school class Sometimes she sings in the choir. Sometimes she gives a lot of her time and talents, abilities, and money to the church, but she commits a sin, everybody knows it's sin, and they tolerate it. Eventually, she leaves the church to just accept it. Jezebelism led to spiritual adultery, and we need to be aware today of any behaviors or teaching from men or women that makes God's people unfaithful to him. In love, we need to confront Jezebel, if we ever find one, so that she does not infect the whole church. There's a great need for this to be taken seriously once again, not in terms of a witch hunt, but always with a view to bringing the person back to the truth and the ways of Christ. Story is told of a certain African tribe. They learned an easy way to catch ducks for dinner. You beaver fans might appreciate this. Catching their agile and wary dinner would be a feat indeed, so they formulate a plan. The tribesmen learned to go upstream and place a pumpkin in the river and let it slowly float down toward the flock of ducks. At first, the cautious fowl would quack and fly away. After all, it wasn't ordinary for pumpkins to float down the river. But the persistent tribesmen would subsequently float another pumpkin into the regathered ducks. And again, they would scatter only to return after the strange sphere had passed. Again, the hungry hunters would float another pumpkin. And this time the ducks would remain with a cautious eye on the pumpkin. With each successive passing of a pumpkin, the ducks would become more and more comfortable. Until finally, they accepted the pumpkins as a normal part of life. When the natives saw the pumpkins no longer bothered the ducks, They hollowed out pumpkins, put them over their heads and walked into the river. Meandering into the midst of the tolerant fowl, they pulled them down one at a time. Dinner, roast duck. Tolerance can be very Dangerous! The purpose of an open mind, like having an open mouth, is to close it on something solid. Let's pray.