Story - Bully Pressure

Parable
of the
Ten Christians
The Pearl
of
Great Price
The Seed
Jesus Caught
a Preacher

Now Nebby, he's the big bully in the school, thinks he's the coolest cat around. I guess everyone else thinks he's pretty awesome too. Anyway, this Nebby guy, he puts a big picture of himself on the wall of the gym. Then he called an assembly. Can you imagine that? Well, at this assembly, he gets all the important kids together. You know the ones that always get good grades, or whose Moms and Dads have lots of money. And here's what he tells them all. He said "I got here a bunch of guys from the school band," pointing to them standing over to one side with their instruments. Then he continued. "When they play their instruments, you all are going to bow down to my picture here. Now, just to make sure you do it, some of my buddies will be watching, and they're gonna beat you up if you don't. Oh, and by the way, after they beat you up, you can forget about anyone ever talking to you, or they'll get it too." Now you can Just imagine how we all felt. Just looking at those guys, they were the biggest, meanest guys in the school.

Well, the guys from the band started to play, and of course nobody wanted Nebby's buddies getting after them, so they, all bowed down. All except for three guys. These three guys, will they were different, you know, well, they were Christians. So these three; Shaggy, Mick, and Benny, (those weren't their real names, but that's what everyone called them). These three guys didn't bow down.

Of course, Nebby's buddies saw them. after all, with everyone else down there on the floor, trying to be cool, you couldn't miss them. They went running, couldn't wait to tell old Nebby. When he heard it he was mad. I mean he was so mad, he hit a door... and broke it! his face turned red and he started muttering, and spitting and hissing. Finally, he cooled off a little and yelled for them to go get Shaggy, Mick, and Benny, and bring them to him.

Off they went, grabbed the three and brought them up front. Now of course, everyone else was still there, down on the floor like a bunch of fools, thinking they were being cool. Well Nebby's buddies got those three up front, and Nebby started in on them. "Now, I don't want anyone thinking I'm not a nice guy" he said 11 so I'll just tell you the rules again. So here it is. When the band starts playing, you bow down. Or you're all dead meat. Even if you are Christians."

Of course, he thought they'd do it. After all, everyone was afraid of him. But not these guys. Here they were, looking like three wimps, and he couldn't scare them. In fact, before he could tell the band to play again, they butted right in. "Look dude" they said "don't bother with the tunes. We ain't bowing down.'' Then another one chimed in "As far as your dogs here, call them off, our God can take care of them, without even trying. Then the third one Joined In "Yeah, 'these gorillas of yours could beat us to death, and we still wouldn't bow."

Now, we all thought old Nebby was mad before. It was nothing compared to then. He yelled and cursed and his face turned red. then he told his buddies "Just beating these Jokers up isn't good enough. See those sticks over there. Grab ?em and beat our fine Christians with them." I don't think they liked that idea. But hey, who?s going to argue with the main man, especially when he's mad.

Here's the weird part of this thing, when those guys tried to beat the three Christians, they couldn't. Every time they?d swing, they'd hit each other. While all this was happening, the three were Just smiling and standing there. In fact, it looked like they were talking to another dude, one wearing fancy, shiny clothes. of course, since all Nebby's bullies could hit was each other, they knocked each other out.

So here we are, Shaggy, Mick and Benny standing there with the guy in shiny clothes, and Nebby's buddies all lying on the floor, out cold. Well, Nebby didn't know what to do. He turned to his girlfriend and asked "Weren't there three guys when we started?" She (being real bright) said "uh, yeah." Now Nebby might not be too bright. But, sooner or later, even he gets the idea. He walks over to them, looks at them, and his mouth Just hangs open. He looks again. "Uh ... guys ... uh Shaggy, Mick, Benny... uh ... to seems like he forgot how to talk all of the sudden. "Guess I was wrong. There really is something to this Christian stuff after all."

Well, after all this, old Nebby changed. I mean, he actually gave his heart to Jesus, and became a Christian. The other three? They're still around. In fact, they have a bible study after school, in the cafeteria. God's still using them, all the time.

This story was taken from Daniel chapter 3 - the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego