FLASHLIGHT FRED

By Clinton White

Once upon a time, there lived a man named Frederick G. Finglehooper. He was commonly known as "Flashlight Fred."

He founded a religious cult with a massive following.

The nickname was attached to him because everywhere Fred went, he carried a long five-cell flashlight.

Not just at night. Not just for jacking deer, or seeing in the dark . . . Oh no! Fred shined his five-celler on the very brightest of days.

If you asked him why, he would say, "So I can see where I am going, you fool!"

Of course anyone watching Fred walking to the grocery store with all five Evereadies humming under a cloudless sky wouldn't have much question as to who the real fool was.

A huge nuclear furnace called the sun blazes with undefinable fury 93 million miles from the earth; yet it takes light from this glorious lantern only 8.3 minutes to reach our planet.

Temperature within the sun reaches 14,000,000 degrees centigrade. It loses four million tons of mass each second; yet it is so enormous that it could burn for another six thousand million years!

Scientists who study this marvel of creation stand in awe! It contains 335 quadrillion cubic miles of violently seething, bursting gasses. It is hard for us to think in terms of 335 quadrillion when just a single quadrillion is 1,000,000,000,000,000. These gasses weigh more than two octillion tons. Have you ever seen an octillion written out in full? Well here's one for you to look at . . . 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Now, step back in our story and hold "Flashlight Fred's" five-cell light beside these flaming quadrillions.

Daffy!

Imagine a man clinging to a meager, waning source of artificial light, when such a magnificent heavenly source of illumination exists to light his way.

I am sure you know by now that "Flashlight Fred" is a fictional figure. But strangely enough those who practice his folly number into the millions!

You, yes, even you, might be a devout believer in the philosophy of the mythical "Flashlight Fred."

Every day you might exercise his belief that though a brighter light burns in the heavens, it is necessary for you to cling to a source of illumination that has been manafactured by man.

I am not speaking of the sun, but the Son.

I am not speaking of the light that comes at dawn to chase away the night, but the Light that comes to dispel darkness from the hearts and souls of men.

Jesus said, "I am the Light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).

Spiritual light!

The Bible says, "The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light" (Isaiah 60:19).

This speaks of an expeience available to men where they are no longer guided by light they see with their natural eyes, but rather light that has shined into their hearts.

Scripture says, ". . . the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth" (1 John 2:8).

This divine Light is everywhere. We live in the brilliance of its rays as surely as we walk beneath the sun. Scripture says, "In him (God) we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

You may say, "What light? What God? I don't see anything but the same old wretched world with its misery and death!"

The Bible defines people who walk through the light daily, yet never see it . . . "We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night" (Isaiah 59:10).

Think about it! Let your imagination see that picture! Men with 20/20 vision staggering blindly beneath the midday sun. Why? Why?

Because they are "Flashlight Freds"!

Clinging stubbornly to man made light, they close their eyes to the light that shines from Jesus and clutch their own ideas and opinions.

Like Fred, they shine the feeble light of human reasoning everywhere they go. Even though the brilliance of divine truth blazes like a million suns, they have more trust in the faint, all but invisible light that emanates from the human brain. (In comparison to the wisdom of God.)

A wise man, King Solomon, once said, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5).

In other words, "Fling away the flashlight, Fred!"

Why would men want to reject divine Light in favor of human understanding?

Jesus answered that question when He said, "This is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved" (John 3:19-20).

When you are holding the flashlight, you can point it where you want. But when God is holding the light, you have no control over where it will shine. As long as we hold the lights, we won't shine them on our own sins and shortcomings. Oh, we will certainly throw a light on everyone else's! We take that old five-cell light and shine it on our neighbor's adultery, the kid's pot smoking and on the faults of everyone we meet.

But we won't drop those flashlights and walk into God's penetrating spotlight.

No! Because then our own true selves will be exposed.

Several years ago, on a visit to the Harvard Crime Detection Laboratory, I saw a spanking clean white towel held under a special light. I was amazed! That light brought out blood stains and a number of other kinds of grime that had been scrubbed until it was invisible to the human eye . . . but perfectly illuminated and detectable under the beams of this special light.

God's light is like that.

It hurts to stand under those revealing rays and face up to all the filth and muck that has stained our souls for so many years.

But it is worth it.

God doesn't leave us there. He washes out those stains until they are not even detectable to His probing eye. How wonderful it is to be clean . . . deep inside!

Then you begin to see wonderful things in this new light. You see the hope of Heaven, the joy of living a life devoted to God. (It always seemed like such a drag when you walked with that other light.) Now you rejoice! You have seen the light! You know that God is with you and will never forsake you!

Your life style will change. Others will not understand your zeal and fervent love for Jesus. They will roll their eyes and tap their heads with a forefinger when your name is mentioned. Yes, they may think you have gone mad.

But remember you are standing in the true light. They are all holding a flashlight and are groping about as though it were pitch black dark.

Tears will flow down your cheeks because you have been awakened to the true tragedy of this world. God has offered the gift of light and life . . . yet men stubbornly refuse to accept it.

"And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not" (John 1:5).