The Tooth Fairy

For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

 - Psalm 139:13-17

            We worship a God of wonder and grace, power and mercy. His manufacturer's handbook, His instruction manual, is not an Aesop's Fable, or a romance novel. To those whom he chose to live in this world, before the world was formed (Ephesians 1:4), He gave discernment-- to be able to tell the real from the unreal. The Bible is a supernatural book. Christianity is a supernatural belief. God spoke and nothingness became "somethingness."

            My parents had their last child when their other three children were grown. We told this baby brother that, when he lost his baby teeth, if he put his teeth under his pillow, the tooth fairy would leave him some money. I still remember the morning when he got out of his bed, so anxious and disappointed, that there was no money under his pillow. My father, having forgotten, and being very concerned, began to help him feel around his bed, thinking that the money had gotten lost, as he fished a coin out of his pocket. Like Santa Claus, it probably brings a smile to God to see that fairy tales make children happy. We just hope that fairy tales end with maturity.

            A tenant, living in one of my buildings, his life tainted by drugs, told me he needed to make a change. I made the same mistake that many make, thinking that inviting him to church would bring the right assistance to him. He was a cradle-Catholic, had never been to an evangelical-Christian church. After the service, while walking home, I said, "What do you think?"

           

            He said, "It was the most pitiful place I could imagine."

           

            I had not been back to my house very long when the telephone rang. A lady, 72 year member of the church, said, "Tom, who was the young man with you at church? You know we like for the men who attend our church to wear a suit."

            You see, church, even the bride of Jesus, is still make-believe for many church members-- not real. It is a masquerade party. A matter of pretending. The soul of any man will never die. God is interested in the soul, not the shell. Christianity is not indifferent, just difficult. Most church members I have known, still think of their church activity as a fairy tale-- not real. Therefore, their faith, if any, is in vain. They are just going through the motions. In the ordinance of baptism, death to our old life of sin and rejection, raised out of a watery grave to walk in newness of life, or in the ordinance of the Lord's table, remembering His sacrificial death for us through the bread and wine, we are responsible for what we understand.

            I truly believe that the greatest mistake Baptists, and most evangelicals, have made in their outreach, discipleship, mission to the world, is not having a catechism. Most Baptists, and for that matter, other non-Catholic believers, especially those maturing in High School and College, do not know the basic theology of what they believe, certainly cannot defend their belief, and this is probably why 70% leave the church, never to return. Jesus was a God-man. Having put on a tent of humanity, He lived among us as a man, and yet had all the supernatural attributes of God. It is essential that the believer, who is saved by grace through faith, with the goal of heaven, possess an understanding knowledge between his biological self, and his supernatural soul.

            In the facade of party politics, conservatism, liberalism, we are left with the choice to pick the better of two evils. It would be so good to live in the real world of supporting someone for whom we have a passion, knowing that the individual we support has integrity and a passion for service.

            This matter of reality is seen throughout our lifestyles. I have known so many associates, even, I am sad to say, family members, who went to certain expensive doctor's offices, certain elitist stores, certain classy restaurants, simply because it made them look good. Before air conditioning was commonplace in cars, one of my aunts and uncles purchased an expensive car that did not have air conditioning-- only a few of that make did. But, to impress their family and friends that they had A/C in their car, would ride around with the windows up. This writer, blessed to have traveled the world, been to every continent, saw that most of the poorest people of the world live below the 30th parallel-- Africa, Asia, South America. The thing that impressed me most about travel in poor countries was the genuineness of heart. The people did not smile at me, treat me warmly, because they were expecting to get something out of me. In America, service people (waitresses, sales people) are taught to treat you nice because they want your money. I have never known a con man, whom I didn't like. They were always nice to me. Ministries have come to me wanting money. Pretending to be interested in me, in my disability, but I never heard from them again. A telephone call would have been so nice-- showing a spirit of concern.

            From childhood, I have been a student of history-- history of this republic, of the world, and certainly the history of religions. I have witnessed religions all over the world, their temples, cathedrals, shrines. I was reared in the poverty of Eastern North Carolina tobacco fields. I worked in the gummy plants, soaked with poisons, then cured/dried the plants for someone to suck into their lungs. The very religious people who produced this cash-crop realize its toxicity. The manufacturers of alcoholic spirits realize their product is poison. Big Pharma knows the toxicity of its poison. Tobacco, liquor, beer, and prescription meds are all dangerous, yet all are legal-- supposedly controlled.

            Travel throughout the world taught me much about people, but I also saw much about the treatment of animals-- mouths that cannot speak. God alone knows the suffering of animals from hunger and thirst. God is not buying everything that people are selling-- GMOs, synthetics, the atrocious treatment of our fellow man, healthy or disabled. To change things, we must learn to be radically different, to be able to discern fairy tales from the realities of this world.