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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for April 6, 2009
“Robinson Crusoe: The Rest of the Story”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
Have you ever heard the story of Robinson Crusoe?
You probably know that he was shipwrecked, and that he befriended a savage and called him “Friday.”
I knew the story. I’d seen it on TV. I’d read short versions of it.
I thought I knew the story – so when I finally read the unabridged version, I was shocked.
I was shocked at just how Christian it was. In all those years, having heard and seen the story so many times, I never had an inkling that it was such a Christian story. In fact, I don’t remember God having anything to do with Robinson Crusoe. I thought it was simply a tale of survival on a deserted island.
But let me tell you, there are some spiritually powerful parts in the story!
For example, listen as Robinson Crusoe describes his spiritual state of being before the shipwreck:
“I had, alas! No divine knowledge. What I had received by the good instruction of my father was then worn out by an uninterrupted series, for eight years, of seafaring wickedness, and a constant conversation with none but such as were, like myself, wicked and profane to the last degree. I do not remember that I had, in all that time, one thought that so much as tended either to looking upwards towards God, or inwards towards a reflection upon my own way; but a certain stupidity of soul, without desire of good, or conscience of evil, had entirely overwhelmed me…”
He basically said that God was nowhere in his thinking. He said, “I was all that the most hardened, unthinking, wicked creature among our common sailors can be…not having the least sense, either of the fear of God in danger, or of thankfulness to God in deliverance.”
So he survived the shipwreck and ended up alone on the island. Certain items from the ship washed ashore, and one day – and he described this as a momentous event – he found a Bible.
Now this is important. He didn’t have a lot of other things to distract him. No internet or TV or magazines. No sailor buddies or parties. It was just him and this Bible, and he said, “I began seriously to read it.” “Beginning at the New Testament,” he said.
And now listen to the effect on him.
“It was not long after I set seriously to this work till I found my heart more deeply and sincerely affected with the wickedness of my past life…”
You see that? This is a man who had given no thought to either God or his own sins. But as he read the Bible, he started feeling convicted. He sensed his great need for mercy.
Then one day he read these words, “He is exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and to give remission.” At that he said, “I threw down the book; and with my heart as well as my hands lifted up to heaven, in a kind of ecstasy of joy, I cried out aloud, ‘Jesus, thou son of David! Jesus, thou exalted Prince and Saviour! Give me repentance!’”
Boy, you sure don’t see that scene in the Saturday morning cartoon version of Robinson Crusoe!
He went on to say, “…I looked back upon my past life with such horror, and my sins appeared so dreadful, that my soul sought nothing of God but deliverance from the load of guilt…”
He even said that he did not pray to be delivered from the island. He said the deliverance of his soul was much more important.
So the salvation of Robinson Crusoe is a huge part of the story, yet it’s often minimized or ignored altogether. Most people focus on Crusoe’s life on the island, but Crusoe said that didn’t even compare to the new life he received through Jesus Christ!
And then the savage came to the island, “My man Friday.” And what did Crusoe do? He “began to instruct him in the knowledge of the true God…”
“By degrees,” wrote Crusoe, “I opened his eyes. He listened with great attention, and received with pleasure the notion of Jesus Christ being sent to redeem us…”
“I entered into a long discourse with him upon the subject of the redemption of man by the Saviour of the world, and of the doctrine of the gospel preached from Heaven, of repentance towards God, and faith in our blessed Lord Jesus.”
So long story short, Crusoe led Friday to Christ. And Crusoe was deeply moved that through the shipwreck, not only had he come to salvation, but salvation had also come to the savage.
“This savage was now a good Christian, a much better than I,” Crusoe wrote. “We had here the Word of God to read, and no farther off from His Spirit to instruct than if we had been in England.”
Crusoe concluded, “I say, when I reflected upon all these things, a secret joy ran through every part of my soul, and I frequently rejoiced that ever I was brought to this place… I continued in this thankful frame all the remainder of my time…”
So there you have it, the part of Robinson Crusoe you may have never heard, and yet Crusoe said it was the most important part.
At first he thought the shipwreck was a terrible thing, but in the end he rejoiced.
Why?
Because through the shipwreck, he himself came to a new life in Jesus Christ, and then Friday as well. And after that he spent the rest of his time there, not in despair, but in thankfulness.
Some great lessons for us all, including great spiritual lessons, which can be found in the unabridged version of “The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
Click here for the entire text of Robinson Crusoe:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext96/rbcru10.txt
© 2009 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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