Apples of Gold
Radio Script for December 8, 2008
“Walkaway Wife”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
Pinocchio was off for his first day of school.
But someone else had other plans for the little wooden boy.
A puppet with no strings? Surely there’s a way to make money off that.
So Honest John pounced on the opportunity.
Now listen to what he said to Pinocchio. “Well, well. Quite a scholar…a man of letters.”
See, Honest John didn’t come right out and say what he wanted. He didn’t say, “Hey little boy, come here so I can sell you to Stromboli who will make money off you and throw you in a little cage.”
No, he started with flattery. He called him a scholar.
He told Pinocchio he could be famous, “with that personality, that profile, that physique!”
Now if Pinocchio would have been paying attention he would have noticed that the flattering words were not true. He was not a scholar. After all, it was just his first day of school. He did not have a good profile (especially when he told a lie), and as for his physique, his arms were like little sticks.
Next Honest John made what we call in the sales industry an “assumptive close.” He closed the deal with Pinocchio by simply acting like the deal was done and started to hustle him over to Stromboli.
But then he did a very interesting thing. Honest John began to sing. Oh, the song sounded innocent enough. But it was a subtle part of his plan to lure Pinocchio over to Stromboli so he could collect a fee.
The song said, “Hi-diddle-dee-dee, an actor’s life for me. A high silk hat and a silver cane, a watch of gold with a diamond chain…it’s great to be a celebrity, an actor’s life for me.”
At this point Pinocchio’s conscience tried to break in and get his attention; his conscience being Jiminy Cricket.
But Honest John kept singing, “…with clothes that come from the finest shop and lots of peanuts and soda pop…”
Jiminy finally broke through and said, “Remember what I said about temptation? Aha, well…that’s him.”
Finally Pinocchio heard some truth, and what was his reaction?
“Oh no, Jiminy, that’s Mr. Honest John!”
And off Pinocchio went, to a small taste of fame and a big dose of pain.
Now I know that’s just a kid’s story, but it’s a great illustration of a Biblical truth. Proverbs 12:5 says, “…the advice of the wicked is deceitful.”
I’ll say it again. The advice of the wicked is deceitful.
Start with that last word, deceitful. Deceit means it’s not true, but we think it is.
I cannot stress how big this is. We can be deceived, but think we aren’t. We can think we are on exactly the right path doing exactly the best thing, and yet we aren’t.
How can we tell?
Back to Pinocchio. He received conflicting advice from two sources, Honest John and Jiminy Cricket. Who should he listen to? One promised years of labor in a boring old school. The other promised fast fame and fortune. Who should he listen to?
According to Proverbs 12:5 he should take into account their character. Don’t just listen to the message, but also consider the messenger.
I heard a new phrase last week, “walkaway wife.”
Dr. Gary and Barb Rosberg got a call on their radio show from a man whose wife had announced she was leaving. She didn’t seem to have a good reason for it, and Barb called her a walkaway wife.
Then she asked an interesting question. “Have any of her friends recently divorced and remarried?”
What she really wanted to know was, “Where is she getting her advice?” If she’s getting it from divorced friends, then she might be getting advice such as, “Hey, it’s time to move on. You deserve better. You deserve to be happy.”
See, it is very important that you are careful about where you get your advice. And it needs to be from people of the highest moral character.
Now think about Honest John’s song. I think songs can also be very persuasive for the walkaway wife. You can literally fill your iPod with songs about new love and romance and being swept off your feet. Combine these with the dream of a better life and the advice of less-than-moral friends, and suddenly it’s easier than you thought to simply walk away from your family.
So pay close attention to the advice you are getting. It might be quite tempting. And it might also be deceitful, but the very nature of deceit is that you don’t know it.
So how can you weed out the good advice from the bad?
We find an important tip in Proverbs 12:5.
When getting advice, we need to make sure that the advice giver is of the highest moral character.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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