A man named Preacher Thomas entered his church one morning
with a rusty,
old, bent bird cage.
He set the bird cage on the pulpit causing a few raised eyebrows.
Then he began to speak;
"Yesterday morning,
I came across a young boy who had three scared birds in a cage
shivering from the cold.
I asked him, 'What you got there?'
'Just some dumb old birds!'
'What you going to do with them?' I asked.
'Tease 'em, play with 'em, and pull out their feathers!'
'Then what you going to do with them?' I asked.
'Feed 'em to my cat, he likes birds!'
I went silent for a moment then asked,
'How much you want for them?'
'Oh, you don't want these,
they're ugly and they can't even sing.'
'How much?' I asked with a definite reply.
The boy thought for a moment and then said,
'Fifty bucks.'
I reached into my pocket and pulled out fifty dollars.
The boy took the money and vanished.
I picked up the cage,
walked to the end of the alley where there was a tree
and a small grassy spot.
I opened the door and by gently tapping the bars to the cage,
coaxed the birds out into the grass.
They were free."
That explained the bird cage on the pulpit.
Then he proceeded to tell this story........
"One day Satan and Jesus were walking;
after Satan had just come out of the Garden of Eden.
He was gloating and boasting.
'Yes sir, I caught me a whole world of people.
Set a trap they just couldn't resist.
Yep, got 'em all.'
'What are you going to do with them?'
came the reply.
'Gonna have some fun with them;
teach them how to hate,
hurt, and kill each other.'
'Then what are you going to do?'
'Oh, then I'll destroy them and bring them down into my kingdom.'
Jesus paused,
'How much do you want for them?'
'Oh, you don't want them.
They'll just hate you,
spit on you,
mock you and kill you.
They don't want you.'
Jesus paused and looked straight into Satan's soul,
'How much?'
Satan looked at Christ and sneered,
'All your tears,
all your blood,
all your footsteps,
all your strengths
...all your life.'
Jesus paid the price,
picked up the cage and opened the door."
