The vision of the Tin Man

Yesterday morning as I sat at the kitchen table looking out the window, I envisioned a “Tin Man” (like the one in “The Wizard of OZ”) walking down the sidewalk. He was approaching some young people that were sitting at a bus stop. Now, these young people could not believe their eyes as they looked up the sidewalk. They saw this Tin Man creature walking awkwardly, swaying back and forth, squeaking loud and coming their way.

Two of the three were ready to up and leave, when one of them said, “hold on, lets see what this is all about!”. The man approached them and said with a very deep voice, “Hi there, I have some very good information about God.” He reached into his little side compartment and lifted the door and grabbed some leaflets and handed them each one. He withdrew his very squeaky arm and lifted his very squeaky leg and proceeded down the sidewalk in the same fashion that he came, walking awkwardly, swaying back and forth and of course, loud squeaks.

Here’s the insight to what these young people saw with their eyes and thought with their minds.

When the Tin Man was coming their way, they said to themselves, “wow! this guy really needs some oil!”.” He can’t really be serious, can he?” “What does he think he is doing out here?”

The next thing they noticed as he got closer, was the large stamped letters on his chest. It read, “RELIGON”. So immediately they put two and two together, and knew exactly what this man was all about. There was no smile. There was no personality involved. It was all cold, very “tiny” and mechanical.

Then, after the man left them, they all looked at the literature that he had passed out. On the front, it had a name of a certain religion. It had a church name and an address on it. It also said, “you are welcome”. Inside, it told about it’s religious beliefs and followed with Bible scriptures.

One of them, after looking at it briefly, walked over to the trash can and tossed it in. There was one who took it and tore it into several pieces and tossed it to the ground. The other just put it next to where she was sitting on the bench.

The bus came and off the three went.

This is an excellent story of what religion amounts to. Basically, it’s dead. There is no life in it. And nobody wants it. Just like the Tin Man, they spot him coming, and wonder what in the world is that. They see and hear that there is no life in the person, let alone any real personality. They know upfront, what the religious person is up too.

Besides being a religious man, what was the Tin Man really lacking?   OIL!    What is the “OIL” a symbol of?   You got it!    THE HOLY SPIRIT!

If we have not been baptized in THE HOLY SPIRIT, there is NO life in us. And the people that will notice first are the “unbelievers”. We will be powerless. It’s the need of the hour. They don’t want stuffy old religion. Why would a dead person (spiritually) want dead religion? It makes no sense. His spirit is looking for life. It continues to search for life. Yes, usually in all the wrong places, but it still searching for something that can make it come alive. It will spend the rest of it’s days on earth, searching.

His spirit cries out,  “Will someone give me life!”  “Will someone show me life”   “Can I see the LIGHT OF THE SPIRIT in anyone?” “Please!”