Letter from a close family member... Need help responding...
What a powerful illustration of the affect that our choice of friends can have on us, especially if we leave Jehovah after being 'raised' by him from infancy!
Pack of Wolves
There was a farmer who raised sheep and had trouble with wolves stealing his sheep. He loved his sheep and didn't want to lose even one of them. One day the wolves came and the farmer quickly raised his rifle and POW! - killed every wolf he shot at. As he turned his rifle toward a shadow he saw a puppy wolf huddling besides a fence post shivering. The farmer felt sorry for him, picked him up, tucked him inside his coat and took him home.
As time passed, the farmer grew to love the puppy wolf and took him every day to help him tend his sheep. The sheep loved the puppy wolf too and thought of him as one of them. The puppy wolf learned to call the sheep by their names, just like the farmer did.
It wasn't long before he grew to full size and the farmer trusted him to care for his sheep while he rode to town to buy supplies. Then one day the puppy wolf was running in the farmer's field and heard howling in the woods. He ran to the edge of the fence and watched as a pack of wolves approached. They seemed happy to see him although he didn't recognize them. One by one they told him of all the fun they were having, running anywhere they wanted, doing whatever they pleased, no one telling them what to do! They invited him to come on the other side of the fence with them. The puppy wolf thought about the fence and how he'd never been on the other side of it. The more he listened he began to wonder if he was missing out on something. It only took another minute and he dug under the fence and left with the pack.
For three seasons he lived with the wolves. They had plenty to eat and did whatever they wanted. It was such fun and he was glad for the choice he made. But winter came and everyone became hungry and restless. It was cold, so cold, where would they sleep. The puppy wolf began to think about the farmer and how he'd never slept cold and never felt hunger. Soon he heard the leader of the pack announce it was time to steal some of the farmer's sheep, so they could survive the winter. The puppy wolf loudly exclaimed, "NO, they are my friends, don't hurt them". But the leader said, "You're one of us now, do as you're told!" They all began to run fast toward the farmer's property. The puppy wolf reluctantly followed. Soon they arrived and began to dig under the farmer's fence. The farmer heard his sheep cry out so he grabbed his rifle and ran to shoot at the wolves. BANG! He killed one after another and soon was face to face with a wolf backed up against the fence post who cried out, "Wait, don't shoot me, I'm the puppy you raised. I'm your friend. Don't you remember me?" But the farmer looked at the wolf and saw how matted his coat was and how he smelled like the rest of the pack. He said to the wolf, "I don't know you." He raised his rifle and shot....BANG!!! The wolf was dead!
Brother Mc... said that there was silence in the auditorium, and then the brother giving the talk said, "Brothers, when Armageddon comes and Jesus is doing his destruction work, will he recognize you"?
Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are...
Brother Mc... gave an illustration at this same assembly: Have you ever wondered how to describe how long FOREVER is? "If you could build a box one mile wide, one mile high and one mile deep and Jehovah told you to drop one grain of sand in the box every five hundred years.....when it will be filled....that would be the START of eternity"
Isn't that something to think about? May we both be there to see the box filled!!!!
"The righteous themselves will possess the earth, And they will reside forever upon it." - Psalm 37:29