RICHARD WURMBRAND

'Iromrlbe Lipû
Children

A k

From the Lips of Children

By the same author
Tortured for Christ
In God's Underground
The Soviet Saints
Sermons in Solitary Confinement
If Prison Walls Could Speak
The Church in Chains
The Answer to Moscow's Bible
Christ on the Jewish Road
Little Notes Which Like Each Other
If That Were Christ, Would You Give Him Your
Blanket?

From the Lips
of Children
Richard Wurmbrand

HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON   SYDNEY   AUCKLAND   TORONTO

Illustrations by Peter S. Smith
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Wurmbrand, Richard
From the lips of children.—(Hodder
Christian paperbacks)
 1.	Children—Religious life
 2.	Christian life
I. Title
248.8'2        BV4571.2
ISBN 0 340 39267 3
Copyright © 1986 by Richard Wurmbrand. First printed 1986. All rights
resemed. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, record-
ing, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publisher. Printed in Great Britain for Hodder and Stoughton
Limited, Mill Road, Dunton Green, Sevenoaks, Kent by Richard Clay
(The Chaucer Press) Limited, Bungay, Suffolk. Photoset by Rowland
Phototypesetting Limited, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Hodder and Stoughton
Editorial Office: 47 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP

To lovely Rosemary Harris, a loving friend with a
child's heart, the first to introduce me to churches in
Britain'

Contents
Prologue       11
Beliefs	15
Questions       28
Answers       44
Prayers	57
Interpretations       68
Misinterpretations       83
Versions	95
Reactions	106
Motives	123
Solutions	138
Admonitions       148
Explanations       158
Epilogue	170

A ship's captain took his six-year-old daughter with him
on an ocean journey. A terrible storm arose, and the
order was given for everybody to enter the lifeboats.
A maid came into the captain's cabin, where his little
girl was sleeping, and woke her. 'Quick! Come with me!
The ship is sinking.'
The girl asked, 'Where is my father?'
'The captain is at the helm.'
Then,' said the girl calmly, T can go back to sleep. He
will not let the ship sink when his child is on board.'
A child, standing on the ocean shore, waved to an ocean
liner passing by, hailing the captain to take him on board.
An adult watching him in amusement finally spoke.
'Don't be silly! You can hitchhike by car, but not by ocean
liner!'
Undaunted, the boy continued to signal. Suddenly a
boat was lowered from the ship. Sailors came to the shore
to pick the boy up. As they left he shouted back to the
astonished observer, 'You see - I wasn't silly. I knew
what I was doing. The captain of the ship is my father!'
May we have such childlike trust in our Captain!

Acknowledgments
Almost all the sayings of children recorded in this book
have been gathered by myself at the very source - 'from
the lips of children'. However, I acknowledge gratefully
other sources, including Alfonse de Liguori's Life of
Martyrs (for stories of children who died for Christ); the
secretly printed magazines of the Soviet underground
churches (for stories of prisoners' children); various
Christian publications including Daily Bread and Portals of
Prayer, and a few foreign publications.
Some of these stories have appeared in several ver-
sions in various places. It has sometimes been impossible
to find the original source.
Where I quote from children's own remarks, I have
used only their words. I hope they will not insist on their
copyright! Almost all the commentaries are my own.
Richard Wurmbrand

Prologue

Jesus is going to corne back with his arms full of toys.
Today new theologies are sweeping, like weather fronts,
across the globe: black theology, God-is-dead theology,
feminist theology, liberation theology, and many more.
So why should we introduce yet another - 'children's
theology'?
Jesus would surely have preferred it to some other
human fabrications. In fact He endorsed it: 'I tell you the
truth, unless you change and become like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven' (Matt. 18:3).

12	From the Lips of Children
To become like little children means to think as they
do, and that is as true in theological matters as in any
other. My grandson Alex (who at six years old was quite
well read in the Scriptures) once said to me, 'The Bible is
meant for children. Only the Children of Israel came out
of slavery in Egypt; the grown-ups stayed behind. Only
the Children of God enter heaven. It will be a country
without any grown-ups!'
Little did he know how close he was to the truth!
Jesus' teaching that we must become like little children
has been the subject of much thought and discussion
both by theologians and by philosophers. What exactly
does Jesus mean? Does He mean that we have to become
less complicated, more humble, more open, more trust-
ing? Perhaps He means we must be prepared to play?
What precisely are the characteristics of children which
we are to imitate?
The German philosopher, Karl Jaspers, commented: 'It
is part of the very essence of man that he is a philosopher,
and there is a wonderful confirmation of that in the
questions that children ask. It is not unusual to hear,
from their lips, profoundly philosophical statements.'
The psychologist Carl Jung went even further. He
suggested that adults whose minds were troubled should
play with toys, like children. He himself, he said, had
found it to be a helpful spiritual exercise.
A little Turkish girl of four years old, called Ariel, told
me, 'Jesus is going to come back with his arms full of toys.
He will even bring a piano for me!'
If we have not "become like little children', to whom
will Jesus give his playthings?
In the Bible it is written that 'a little child shall lead them'
(Isa. 11:6). A child whose parents were divorced came
across that verse and demanded, 'Then why don't they
let us lead? We would never have invented pubs, casinos
or nuclear war. If we were the leaders, there would be
no spankings and no divorce.'

Prologue	13
Jesus tells us that we must be born again, and that
suggests that we must return to the innocence and trust-
fulness of childhood. But it must be a genuine return. We
must not be people who put on childlikeness to order,
but people who are childlike by nature, having a spon-
taneous sense of dependency and an awareness that we
need to be guided.
Children have a great advantage; their minds are not
compartmentalised. They do not make a distinction be-
tween the concrete and the abstract. They have no need
to pretend.
So their thoughts on theological matters are of special
interest to us.
I have often been taken aback by the remarkable in-
sights of the children I have known. For many years now
I have been recording their questions and comments,
observations and insights. Many are from my own fam-
ily, from my son Mihai and my grandchildren Amélie
and Alex.
My hope is that the incidents which are recounted in
this book will help you to listen the more perceptively to
the children in your own life, and enable you to recapture
some of the unsophisticated candour and openness that
belong uniquely to childhood.
It is said that the child is father to the man. Similarly, a
child's intuitions about God may well help adults to
embrace true theology.

Beliefs
SMI
"It is cold outside. How are you?"
When he was five years old my son Mihai became
dangerously ill. His life was threatened; he needed an
emergency operation, a trepanning of the skull. This is a
major operation, in which a piece of bone is removed to
relieve pressure on the brain.
The night before the operation we called a number of
fellow-believers to gather round his bed to pray for a
successful outcome.
As I sat beside him I touched his body. It was burning
with fever. I said to him, 'Tomorrow you are to have an
operation, a dangerous one. It's possible that you will
die.'
Mihai replied joyfully. 'Then I'll go to heaven! Angels
must have splendid toys. An angel might teach me how
to play the harp!'

16	From the Lips of Children
'Well, it's not that simple; you are a sinner.'
'But Father, didn't you tell me that Jesus' blood
cleanses us from sin? I'm not worried - I will be in
heaven.'
'Well, Mihai, these brothers and sisters have come to
pray for your welfare. The Bible says that when someone
is sick, the elders of the Church should be called and they
should pray over him. Then he will recover. Do you
believe that?'
T believe everything the Bible says,' he answered
simply.
One brother after another prayed. Then Mihai himself
prayed: 'I thank you, God, that you are making me
healthy now, and that I will soon be able to go with my
father to the toyshop to buy a new toy.'
My hand still lay on his chest. As he prayed I felt the
fever diminish markedly. When he had finished his brief
prayer, I said to my wife 'Take his temperature. God's
miracles are measured with the thermometer!'
Sure enough, Mihai's temperature had dropped.
There was no need of any operation the next day. In-
stead, he played in the garden.
Several days later, I was able to take him to the toy
shop. At that time, the Soviet army had just invaded
Rumania, our homeland, and had shown a marked
liking for alcohol. A great deal of drunkenness was in
evidence.
When we entered the department store, a Soviet cap-
tain was there with a woman sergeant. They were
attempting to make some purchases, but were handi-
capped by not knowing our language. On the other
hand, the salesman could not speak Russian. I offered to
translate for them.
Mihai repeatedly urged me to tell them about Christ. I
too was waiting for the right moment.
After I had helped them in their spending spree, the
sergeant said to me, 'You have been so kind to us.

Beliefs	17
Perhaps you could do me one more favour. I need some
dresses. Where can I find them?'
Now I knew she was at my mercy!
'I haven't the slightest idea about such matters - but
may I invite the captain and you to come to our home for
lunch? Afterwards, my wife will take you shopping.'
Mihai was delighted that we would have them in our
home, where they could learn about the faith. 'Buy them
a bottle of wine,' he urged. 'Then they'll listen better. You
know that all their soldiers are drunkards!'
Probably he had heard me quote Paul's words: 'To the
Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. ... To the
weak I became weak, to win the weak' (1 Cor. 9:20, 22). I
smiled at his ingenuous suggestion; but I was indeed
able to share with my guests the fruit of the True Vine,
which gives life eternal.
Both officers were converted.
In the Soviet Union, Piotr, whose father was in prison for
his faith, was interrogated at school by a police officer
who had a hidden motive for his questions. Smiling and
apparently sympathetic, the officer said, T really like
your father, and I want him released. But I need more
information about him. Tell me about your father.'
'Oh!' replied Piotr. 'He tells beautiful children's
stories. When he speaks it's as if Jesus were present in the
room. Only last Christmas he told us how Jesus was born
in a manger, and how wise men came to worship Him.
We should worship Him, too.'
The officer ignored this. 'Where was this gathering?
Who was present? Who else spoke?'
The child sensed the danger. T can tell you the whole
story just as my father told it. Beyond that I have nothing
to say to you. You are not one of our people. I don't trust
you.'
Many disasters have been caused in the Church by
unveiling its mysteries to the profane, and by casting the

18	From the Lips of Children
pearls of the Kingdom before swine. It is important to
cultivate a discerning spirit, such as Piotr had.
When young Alex arrived home from holiday with his
parents, he went round the house kissing the front door,
his pillow, and many other things, repeating 'This is my
home.'
We should have that same spirit as we approach the
heavenly Jerusalem, which is our everlasting home. Even
though we may live very comfortably here, we are still
pilgrims and strangers in this world.
A missionary came back to the United States after forty
years of service in Africa, where he had endured many
hardships. Sailing on the same ship was President
Theodore Roosevelt, returning from an elephant-
hunting safari.
A large crowd turned out to greet the president, but no
one came to meet the missionary. He was feeling very
sorry for himself. Then he was comforted by an inner
voice that reminded him: 'The president has come home;
you are not home yet.'
When we reach the heavenly Jerusalem, we too will
impulsively kiss the door and threshold of our real home.
Here are some letters written to Basil Rishuk, imprisoned
in the USSR for his Christian faith, by his children
Andrew (ten years old), Gena (twelve), and Tanya
(fourteen).
I kiss you, dear Daddy, in the love of Christ. As I write,
it is cold and unpleasant outside. How are you? How is
your health? May the Lord shed in our hearts the peace
and joy that Jesus gives, in spite of all the tempests. We
will always trust only in Him. We believe that He will
give us power for the fight, that He will help us to
withstand the tempest.

Beliefs	19
It is important to withstand it, because we know that
the calm follows the storm and that this time it will be
eternal, with a happiness that has no end.
At home, everything is going well. We live in the
hope of seeing you, but also of seeing the Lord, so that
we may enter into eternal life, where no one will
separate us.
A hearty kiss.
Your son, Andrew.
Dear Daddy, I greet you in the love of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Papa, we never forget you. We pray constantly
to God for you. We pray for your health. We pray also
for all prisoners, and trust that God will keep them.
Daddy, ask the prison commander to allow a per-
sonal visit, for it is a long time until the New Year and
we all want to come to you. We have such a yearning
for you!
Your loving son, Gena.
Dear Daddy, Christ has risen!
How are you? May the resurrected Lord illumine your
camp, so that you may be joyous even in sorrow. When
I hear hymns sung my heart shrinks and tears run,
though I screw my eyes up as tight as I can. May we see
each other soon. You are alone, and we are all together.
But soon all will pass, and then you will be with us.
Be strong.
Your daughter, Tanya.
May we learn from such children to have a burning love
for our imprisoned brothers and sisters in Christ.
A Methodist missionary in Africa told of a child who
went to Sunday School and there heard the story of Abel
sacrificing a lamb to God.

20	From the Lips of Children
The next day the child made an altar from a few stones
out on the fields. On it, he placed a mutton chop. Then he
prayed.
'O God, my Father, I have made You a sacrifice. I have
only two pence, so I can't buy a lamb. If I owned any
lambs I would give You one; but I only have this meat.
Please, my Father, send fire down from heaven to
consume it.'
God did touch the meat, though not with fire. Ants
consumed it. Ants belong to God just as much as a flame
of fire does.
May we have a child's readiness to follow the example
of the saints of old, and bring sacrifices to God.
It might seem that the ultimate anguish is to lose a child
through death.
It is not so. There is worse suffering.
In the village of Dubrovo in the Soviet Union, a family
named Sloboda (the name means 'liberty' in Russian) had
committed the crime of being Christians.
For that crime Mrs. Sloboda was jailed for four years.
Her five children - Galia, Shura, KoHa, Liusa, PavlÜk (the
youngest five years old) - were taken away and placed in
an atheistic children's camp.
This type of separation is more difficult to bear than
that of death. Mrs. Sloboda never saw her children again.
At the age of forty-nine she died in prison, as a result of
torture. The children were only allowed to attend her
burial. At her grave, they recited this prayer: 'Lord, our
mother has died. Help us to be as righteous as she has
been. Help us to give a witness such as she has given.
Amen.'
And that was all. Unafraid of pain, they had decided
to walk the way of martyrdom. Detention in the Com-
munist camp had neither frightened nor 're-educated'
them.
Accepting suffering for Christ's sake will be an essen-

Beliefs	21
Hal part of children's theology, if they are provided with
true Christian models.
In Communist Rumania, a Christian girl named Viorica
was beaten harshly in school because she had invited her
schoolmates to church. She fainted during the beating,
and an ambulance had to take her to hospital.
Two days passed before she regained consciousness.
When she did, the doctor at her bedside said, 'You poor
girl, at last you have opened your eyes. All this time I
have been thinking of the cruelty of the Director who beat
you like this. My heart has been bitter with hatred. I wish
I could take revenge on him.'
Viorica smiled. 'There is no need to hate him. Jesus
taught us to love everyone. Just before I opened my eyes,
I saw Him and talked to Him. He asked me whether it still
hurt. And He told me that in heaven I will receive a very
beautiful crown, which is reserved only for those who
have suffered for Him. He told me to pray for those who
mistreated me, and to love them, because our influence
will help them to give their lives to God and so become
His children.'
According to children's theology, this is how a Chris-
tian should react to being flogged. Like their Saviour,
they know how to love when abused, and how to forgive
when persecuted.
Charles Spurgeon once said, 'A child of five, if properly
instructed, can as truly believe and be regenerated as an
adult.' This suggests that a child so instructed can have
very valuable theological insights.
When he was a child Spurgeon's mother told him,
'Charles, your father and I have trained you in righteous-
ness. We have taught you the Word of God. We have
lived a godly life before you. If you do not live a godly life,

22	From the Lips of Children
we will stand before God in the day of judgement and
bear witness against you/
A friend once argued with the adult Spurgeon that
children cannot really understand the gospel. Spurgeon
took him to his Sunday School, where the gentleman
asked one of the boys, 'What kind of a heart do you
have?'
'A very good one, sir,' was the reply.
The man turned to Spurgeon. 'You see? He does not
understand the ABC of the gospel. He does not realise
that he is a sinner.'
Spurgeon asked the child, 'How do you know your
heart is good?'
'Well/ he answered, 'I had an old heart, inherited from
my ancestors who were sinners. But Jesus gave me a new
heart. Jesus has no bad hearts to give! If He gave me a
heart I am sure it is an excellent one.'
ieinrich Heine, the German Jewish-Christian poet who
ved in the first part of the nineteenth century, wrote of
is early yearnings for God:
As a little child I was already asking questions such as,
Who is God? and, What does He look like? I could
spend whole days looking up towards heaven and
would be very sad in the evening because I had not
seen the most holy face of God, but only grey, silly
caricatures formed of clouds. I was totally confused by
astronomical events, which were not concealed even
from little children, and constantly marvelled that
these thousand million stars were big, beautiful earth-
balls like ours and that one single God ruled over each
shining world.
I remember that once, in a dream, I saw God very
high up and far away. He looked happily through a
little window in heaven, with the face of a pious old
man with a small Jewish beard, and scattered down-

Beliefs	23
ward a multitude of seeds that blossomed as they fell
from heaven, grew in the infinity of space, and en-
larged until they became glittering, populated worlds,
each as big as our earth.
I could never forget this vision. Several times I saw
the happy old man, sowing the seeds of worlds from
His small window in heaven. Once I heard Him click
His tongue as our maid did when she threw barley to
the chickens.1
As an adult Heine mocked religion and the churches. He
became the great friend of Karl Marx, the God-hater, and
forgot this vision, which became a reality to him again
only a short time before his death.
Those who are privileged to know God when they are
children should strive to retain their tender images of
Him, and not surrender them to pseudo-intellectualism.
'Remember your first love,' says Jesus. (If we fail to do so,
the images of those early days may come back to haunt us
at death.)
When she was four years old, Amélie was alone with my
wife and me in the chapel of Campus Crusade in San
Bernadino, California.
Suddenly, without any prompting, she stepped for-
ward and said: 'Jesus, I am Yours/
Since that time she has steadfastly resisted any calls to
commit herself to Christ. 'I did so once/ she says. 'I am a
child of God. I'm sure of it.'
If a child can be so sure that Christ has received her into
His loving care, why should we ever doubt that He has
accepted us, as our Saviour?
1. Heinrich Heine, Works (Lowit, Germany), Vol. II, pp. 425-56.

24	Front the Lips of Children
Julieta was an aristocratic lady who lived during the
reign of the fourth-century Roman emperor, the cruel
Diocletian.
She was asked to bring a sacrifice to a heathen altar, but
answered, 'I am a Christian. I am prepared to lose not
only my property but even my life, rather than deny my
God/
Alexander, proconsul of Cilicia, ordered that Julieta's
three-year-old child Quiricus be torn from her embrace
and be flogged to a pulp.
The child saw his mother's agony and struggled to
return to her. But he was held back by Alexander, who
sat him on his knees and tried to kiss him. Punching and
kicking, Quiricus freed himself from the tyrant and cried
out, 'I too am a Christian!'
In a rage Alexander grabbed him and beat him to
death. The ground was spattered with the boy's blood
and brains. Julieta, who was herself being flogged, cried
T give You thanks, O my God, because You have called
my boy to Yourself before me.'
Would we have the courage to say, T too am a Chris-
tian,' if it meant T too am prepared to die under torture
for Christ'?
A child did so.
St. Cyril, who was born at Caesarea, became a Christian
while he was a child. In consequence he was ill-treated,
and finally turned out of his home, by his idolatrous
father.
Word of this reached the judge, who summoned Cyril
to appear before him. He had been told that the child
frequently called upon the name of Jesus. So he promised
Cyril that he would work out a reconciliation between
him and his father - on condition that he promised never
to utter that name again.
The child answered: T am content to be turned out
of my father's house, because I shall receive a more

Beliefs	25
spacious mansion in heaven. Neither do I fear death; by
dying, I shall obtain a better life.'
In order to frighten him the judge ordered him to be
bound and had him led away, apparently to execution.
But he secretly gave orders that the boy should not be
harmed. The executioner brought Cyril to a blazing fire
and threatened to throw him in. But Cyril was quite
prepared to lose his life.
Tlie executioner then brought him back to the judge,
who said to him, 'My child, you saw the fire. Cease to be a
Christian, so that you can go back to your father's house
and inherit your estates.'
Cyril replied: 'I fear neither fire nor sword. But I long to
have a dwelling more magnificent, and riches that will
last longer, than my father's. God will accept me. So
hasten to put me to death, so that I can quickly go to enjoy
Him.'
Those standing by wept, to hear the child speak in this
way.
'You must not weep/ said Cyril, 'but rather rejoice,
and encourage me in my suffering, so that I may come to
have that house which I desire so passionately.'
He did not flinch from his position, and when death
came he suffered it with joy.
In the sixteenth century there was a great persecution of
Christians in Japan, under the Emperor Taicosoma.
At first, the officers whose responsibility it was to make
up the list of Christians to be executed refused to include
the name of little Louis. But the boy, who had been
baptised only a few days earlier, cried and begged to
have his name on the list. Eventually he was successful.
As he was led to his death, which was to be by
crucifixion, his face radiated joyful confidence; and those
who were watching were deeply moved.
The under-governor of Nagasaki presided over the
execution. He was willing to release Louis, provided that

26	Front the Lips of Children
he was prepared to renounce the Christian religion. But
the child declared, 'On such a condition I do not want to
live. If I die, I shall be losing this short and miserable life
and gaining a happy and eternal one/
When he saw the cross, upon which he was to be
nailed, he ran to embrace it. The cross had always been
an object very dear to him.
In another Japanese province, there was a further
persecution of Christians a century later under King
Canzugedono. Another little Louis was condemned to
die, and his mother with him. His last words to her were,
'My dear mother, I will not forget to call upon the name of
Jesus as long as I am alive/
They bound him to a small cross, opposite his mother,
and he continually repeated the sacred name. His
executioner, in a fury, killed him with his lance.
Let us learn from such children to find, in the very
name of Jesus, comfort in all suffering.
On that occasion, two more children were sentenced to
death: Thomas, who was twelve years old, and Peter
who was only six.
Their fathers were sentenced first. When Thomas
heard that his father was to be a martyr, he longed so pas-
sionately for such a death for himself that when his own
turn came he hastened to join him. Embracing his father,
he said, 'I am going to die with you for the faith. We will
go to heaven together/
The executioner wanted to spare Thomas the horror of
seeing his father being tortured, but the child cried out, 'I
want to die with him!' They brought him near to where
the bleeding body lay. There, his face radiant, he offered
his head to the executioner.
Little Peter also said, of his father, 'They will make me
die with him because I am a Christian. And I am so glad!'

Beliefs	27
Arriving at the place of execution, he knelt readily.
Seeing the executioner with his sword, he extended his
neck, all the time clasping his hands in prayer.
The executioner was deeply moved, and he replaced
his sword in its scabbard. 'I have no heart to kill this
innocent lamb/ he protested. A second executioner did
likewise, and so did a third. The child knelt patiently
until a fourth executioner carried out the sentence.
Those who are now past childhood, but have learned to
become like children, think as these young martyrs
thought.
Madame Guyon was a seventeenth-century contem-
plative who was imprisoned for several years because of
her beliefs. T claim for my dowry/ she wrote, 'only
crosses, scourges, persecutions, ignominies, lowliness,
and nothingness of self; which God, in His goodness and
wise purposes, grants unto me/

Questions

"How can God think
about me when He is
busy with all the
things He has tö do in
the world?"

Sometimes the thoughts of children explore unknown
worlds.
'Do boys have boy angels, and girls have girl angels?'
asked my granddaughter Amélie.
It was not a ridiculous question. Spiritual beings are
not sexless. The 'great and wondrous sign' that John saw
in his vision was no asexual being, but a woman (Rev.
12:1). Zechariah in his vision also saw women, some of
them demonic (Zech. 5:7-9). The 'night creature' men-
tioned in Isaiah 34:14 (called, in Hebrew, With) is be-

Questions	29
lieved in Jewish demonology to be the chief female
wicked spirit.
Amélie asked her father, 'Why is it that your wishes are
always the ones that have to be obeyed? The Constitution
says that we have equal rights.'
It is a fair question. There is an answer to it. The Bible
teaches great respect for one's parents. The only one of
the Ten Commandments that promises a blessing is
the fifth: 'Honour your father and your mother.' It is
in the interest of children to be obedient: they get
blessed.
Christian parents owe it to their children to give them
this explanation. In fact, they should be ready to reply
to any questions that their children ask, however
uncomfortable.
For example, Amélie once asked, 'How was God the
Father born? How did the whole thing begin? How did
He come to be in heaven?'
The best answer is simply this: 'Whatever age we
live to, we can only ever know a little. We must learn
to accept that limitation, however old or young we may
be/
Moses warned, 'The secret things belong to the Lord
our God: but the things revealed belong to us and to our
children for ever' (Deut. 29:29). And on the last evening
before His crucifixion, Jesus said to His disciples, 'I have
much more to say to you, more than you can now bear'
(John 16:12).
A question children often ask is, 'What does God look
like?'
I have a simple answer: 'What does the image in a
kaleidoscope look like?'
The image changes all the time.

30	From the Lips of Children
In the Bible, God is likened to many things: love, a
consuming fire, a lion, a stone, a man of war, the Ancient
of Days, and many more. Everything can be in His image,
because He encompasses everything. He is all in all.
If a child responds to this by saying, 'I can't under-
stand/ then you must reply 'Neither can I'! God is not to
be understood but to be ardently loved. He is beyond
anything that man can imagine. He is what He is, not
what we fancy Him to be.
'How can God think about me/ asked a child, 'when He
is busy with all the things that He has to do in the world?'
Yet even man, with all his cares and activity, still has
time to think about sub-microscopic atoms, even tinier
electrons, and beyond them, the most miniscule
elementary subparticles. He makes hypotheses about
particles which he can only visualise mathematically, and
builds vast nuclear chambers to isolate them, to prove
their existence, because they constitute the very life of
mankind and the essence of his environment.
We may be just as minuscule in the scheme of things,
but we are very important to God; we are part of His inner
life. 'In Him we live and move and have our being' (Acts
17:28).
God is as interested in us as we are interested in every
facet of our bodies. Our minds are a part of His conscious-
ness. God also cares about the most minute details of His
creatures' lives.
A small boy asked his mother, 'Did God remember that
you liked curly hair when He planned me?'
The answer is, 'Yes, He did.'
Another child wanted to know, 'Why did God make
people, when He had the stars and the flowers?'
The answer is that it was for the same reason that we
appreciate having brains as well as kidneys, lungs and
toes - for the same reason that a man is not satisfied with
a 'Mona Lisa' or a 'Venus de Milo', but prefers a woman

Questions	31
who is alive, even though she may not possess an ideal
beauty.
When I am out driving with my son and grandchildren, I
often hear the familiar request, 'Grandpa, tell me a story!'
And Amélie fastens the seat-belt, settles herself comfort-
ably, and looks up at me expectantly.
On one occasion I decided to tell her about Noah's ark.
But I had not been telling the story long when she
interrupted.
'Why didn't the wolf eat the sheep in the ark?'
My son exchanged glances with me in the rear-view
mirror. We took deep breaths and in turn tried to pro-
vide an answer. But Amélie was not satisfied. Then she
brightened, and came up with an answer unassailable
in its logic.
'I know! When each animal entered the ark, Noah
fastened its seat-belt! He separated the wolf and the
sheep, so the wolf could only snap and not bite.'
Perhaps Amélie was wiser than she knew. We would
be well advised to widely separate individuals whose
temperaments dash, and who generate quarrels and
dissension when they are near to each other.
A child listened to a learned sermon that attempted to
explain away the plain meaning of Scripture. Eventually
she interrupted, exclaiming, 'If God did not mean what
He said, why didn't he say what He did mean?'
Out of the mouth of babes!
When he was quite a small boy, Mihai asked, 'Why didn't
God simply kill the devil, and put an end to all the
trouble?' (When he was grown up, his own daughter
Amélie asked exactly the same question.)
I replied, 'The devil was not always the devil. Once he

32	From the Lips of Children
was a good angel, until the day came when he chose to
become evil. If he had been killed, another good angel
might have made the same choice. So killing the devil
would have achieved nothing. Jesus did not say to the
devil, "Perish!" He said, "Get behind me!" He puts
demons to flight; He does not destroy them. We must
develop that inner resistance. We must learn to do as
Jesus did, and say to the devil, "No, I'm not going to
listen to what you are suggesting."'
In his childish way, Mihai understood the point, and
so in her turn did eight-year-old Amélie.
The famous American evangelist Billy Sunday told the
story of a twelve-year-old boy who went to a preacher
and begged him, 'Please go to the jail and speak to my
Daddy. He murdered my Mummy. We loved him so
much, he was always kind to us; but then he began to
drink. It was whisky that made him do it. Now I have to
look after my three small sisters. Please pray with him.
He's going to be hanged tomorrow.'
He added, 'They told us we would be given his body.
What am I going to do with it? Why don't they deliver it to
the owner of the saloon that sold my father the whisky?
Why don't they hang him? He murdered my father's soul
before my father strangled my mother.'
Who is going to answer the questions children ask?
Why is it that the people who receive the harsh punish-
ments are those who commit the crimes, and not the
brewers and publicans, the authors and publishers of
obscene literature, and the producers of television shows
that glorify violence - all of whom must share responsi-
bility for incitement to crime? Why not indict those
legislators and judges who let the poisoning of souls and
minds go unpunished?
I can name very precisely those people who destroyed
my soul with the poisonous ideas that they purveyed,

Questions	33
when I was very young and lacked discernment. I also
remember with shame that I too led others astray.
A child wanted to know, 'Will God do anything I ask Him
to do? That is what He promised - can I rely on it? Can I
really ask Him for anything at all?'
Yes, it is an all-embracing promise. 'Ask whatever you
wish, and it will be given you/ says Jesus (John 15:7). But
there is an 'if' preceding the promise: 'If you abide in me,
and my words abide in you.'
Be a living part of the mystical body of Christ; let His
words be your guide; and then you can ask anything, and
you will have it.
Those who fulfil the condition will never ask for any-
thing wrong.
Many children are still very young when it occurs to them
to ask why there is so much evil in the world. But if they
retain the mind of a child as they grow older, one can
teach them to see good in everything, and potential good
in everyone.
If a child asks, 'Why should there be evil?' then the
answer must be, 'How can what we regard as evil be used
for good?'
The crucifixion of Jesus was a terrible evil. But it served
the greatest good that this world has ever known; the
salvation of mankind.
The evangelist, Cerullo, asked a boy in Haiti: 'Do you
know Jesus?'
'Is that a new American drink?' he replied. 'I only
know Coke.'
The promoters of Coca-Cola have been more success-
ful than the promoters of Jesus. Many children do not
even know His name.

34	From the Lips of Children
The Church could learn something from the merchants
of this world, although it has an advantage that they do
not have. It has not a product to sell, but a person to
introduce; a person who has living water to give, so that
one need never thirst again.
A boy of four had to play Joseph, and a girl of the same
age Mary, in a Christmas play. The two children began to
quarrel while they were on the stage.
The boy's father chided him. 'You forget what role
you're playing! Joseph never quarrelled with Mary/
The boy answered, 'How do you know?'
The father was dumbfounded. How did he know?
And in truth, he did not know.
However, we know from the Bible that the disciples
quarrelled between themselves. Statues and pictures that
show the saints always smiling are the inventions of
grown-ups. Children know that saints on earth can be
weak and earthly - especially if they live with parents
who are Christians!
But if somebody happens to quarrel or commit some
other sin, it does not mean that he ceases to be a saint.
Christianity is not just a treasure and not just an earthen
vessel. It is a treasure in an earthen vessel. Deny that the
vessel exists, and you deny that the Christian exists.
When Mihai was five, he heard that the saints would one
day walk with Jesus dressed in white garments. 'Does He
have robes in children's sizes?' he enquired.
I assured him that they come in all sizes. St. Paneras
and St. Tarcisius were devoured by wild beasts; they died
as martyrs when they were only nine years old.
There are garments not only for those who are small
and large in body, but also for those small and large in
faith.

Questions	35
A bulldog, on seeing a pocket-sized poodle, de-
manded, 'Do you dare to call yourself a dog?'
The poodle replied, 'I admit that I am not as big as you
are, but you certainly can't call me a cat. A small dog is
still a dog!'
A feeble, fearful, backslidden Christian is still a
Christian, and still has a white robe waiting for him.
A class of children was shown a painting of the Nativity,
and told that the holy family was very poor.
Then where/ queried a child, 'did they get the money
to pay the photographer?'
The child's question could well prompt the reflection
that it is good to share not only bread with the poor, but
also the means of pleasure - such as provision for a family
portrait!
A mother assured her child, who had confessed a sin,
that 'the blood of Jesus has cleansed you from it/ The
child thought for a moment, and then remarked, 'You
said the same thing another time that I sinned. But where
is Jesus' blood when we don't sin? What does it do then?'
In the words of a hymn:
E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.
(William Cowper, 'There is a fountain filled with blood')
There is an unbroken stream of blood flowing from the
wounds of Christ.
Blood flows constantly in our bodies, never pausing,
never resting. It serves a hundred trillion cells, providing
them with oxygen, amino acids, nitrogen and many

36	From the Lips of Children
other necessities. It carries away waste products and
fights invaders. In the meantime, we go about our work
without any awareness of what is happening inside us.
Yet if the blood ceased to flow for a few brief moments,
we would be dead.
In just the same way, the blood of the Saviour flows
throughout His Church, nourishing it with heavenly
manna, and bearing away sins.
Let His blood be an object of our devotion. We need it,
even when we do not sin.
A child once asked her mother, 'If I had not been your
little girl - what would I have been?' She could not
imagine that she might not have existed at all. 'Non-
existence', 'nirvana' - these are concepts that only adults
wrestle with.
For years I was in solitary confinement, without books,
without paper or pen, without ever hearing a voice or a
whisper.
To occupy my time, I sometimes spent hours imagin-
ing what I would do in various situations. What would I
do if I were pope - prime minister - a celebrated writer -
pastor of a church - a millionaire - a beggar?
Once I tried to imagine that I was dead. I imagined
myself in a coffin. Loved ones stood around weeping. A
pastor said a prayer. Then I laughed heartily. 'If I can see
myself in a coffin/1 thought, 'then I can't be dead!'
Many things are possible in life, and it is possible to
imagine oneself in all sorts of situations. A soldier can
dream of becoming emperor. It's possible - it happened
to Napoleon. A beggar can become a millionaire. It's
possible -1 have known men who did. The reverse is also
possible.
Because all these reversals of fate are possible, we can
imagine them happening. But what is unimaginable is
that we might cease to exist. Life is a gift of God, and it
only finds fulfilment in eternal happiness.

Questions	37
The little girl found it impossible even to imagine never
having existed.
Alex's curiosity is boundless. When he was five, he
began to be suspicious about the origins of meat.
'Where do we get meat from?'
'From the supermarket/
'But where does the supermarket get the meat from?'
'From cows/
Alex's suspicions were confirmed. He became very
grave. 'Do you mean that we kill cows so that we can eat
their meat?'
'Yes/
'Why?'
'Because we need nourishment.'
'But/ asked Alex, 'do we at least explain to the cows
that that is why we kill them, and do we apologise to
them for doing it?'
Very orthodox Jews do. I have seen their special
'slaughterers', whose religious function is to sing hymns
while slaughtering animals. The kabbalistic purpose of
doing so is to communicate somehow to unreasoning
animals that they will be incorporated into the bodies of
the chosen people, and will thereby become part of the
temples of God, which is what our bodies are.
We ought to eat our meals with great devotion, re-
membering how many of God's creatures have been
sacrificed so that we may live.
When Alex was six, and had heard the story of Cain
and Abel for the umpteenth time, he said: 'In the begin-
ning it was Cain who was good and Abel evil, because
Abel killed a lamb, which is wrong, whereas Cain did
not. Lambs are nice, living beings. Why did God order
people to kill them for sacrifices?'
To kill a lamb wantonly - or, worse, to have somebody
else kill one because I like eating lamb chops - is wrong.
The Bible teaches that whatever we do we should do to

38	From the Lips of Children
the glory of God. Are we quite sure that He is glorified
when we kill lambs?
Millions of animals are sacrificed each year just so that
we can enjoy a good meal. But it is only justifiable to eat
animals when it is done in the sole desire that our
strengthened bodies may serve God better.
This is why the Talmud says, 'Every meal at which the
subject of conversation is something other than the Word
of God, is an idolatrous meal/
(On the other hand, vegetarianism does not necess-
arily make men better. Cain did not kill a lamb, but he
slew his brother; and Hitler was a strict vegetarian.)
A child was urged to eat carrots and peas because they
contained vitamins, only to retort, 'Why didn't God put
the vitamins in the sweets and ice-cream?'
My answer would have been, 'Because if s important
for children not only to have vitamins, but also to learn to
swallow what may be unpleasant to the taste.'
We all need to learn from the good and the unpleasant.
A Christian must welcome unpleasant things some-
times, because they are part of the 'all things' that God is
working together for our good.
Amélie at six listened to a sermon on Jesus' words, 'Let
the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these'
(Matt. 19:14).
Turning to me she commented, 'But all men were once
little children, and so they must have had the kingdom of
heaven. How did they lose it?'
I remember my childhood sins very vividly. It does not
require very much effort for most of us to remember how
we lost our childhood innocence: lying, stealing, perhaps
sliding downhill into a particular bad habit.
We had the kingdom, and we lost it. The Bible urges us

Questions	39
to return; we don't have to come to something entirely
new, but simply to return to what was once ours, to the
treasure that we lost.
A boy born in the satellite age was told by his father,
'We have just placed another star in the sky. We have
launched a manned satellite.'
He asked, 'Who placed all the other stars in the sky?'
To this his father, who was not a believer, had no reply.
If it took so much genius and skill and intellectual
brilliance to place into earth's orbit a satellite, manned by
only a few people, a far greater intelligence must have
been required to create the starry heavens.
The existence of man-made satellites is one more proof
of the existence of God.
A child heard his father say 'Faith moves mountains',
and asked him, 'Father, you believe in Christ. When did
you last move a mountain?'
The father was embarrassed!
Jesus surely did not intend that we should move real
mountains. One can imagine what chaos would be
caused, were men to decide to move the Himalayas, the
Rocky Mountains, the Carpathians or Alps according to
whim!
But there are mountains of difficulty, of all kinds, that
faith can move. Every believer should pay heed to this
blessing of God. Then he will be able to say when he last
moved a mountain!
When Amélie was eight, she asked me, 'You were once in
a Communist jail. How did you come to the free world?'
I explained to her that Christian organisations had paid
a ransom of £5,000 for my release.
'But,' she mused, 'you were in jail for fourteen years -

40	From the Lips of Children
why did it take Western Christians so long to collect
10,000 dollars?'
I had no answer.
Others, who still suffer in Communist prisons, could
have been helped long ago if it were not for our apathy.
How much do we contribute towards easing their lot?
But the question goes even deeper.
When Hudson Taylor went as the first missionary to
inland China, one of his first converts asked him, 'How
long have you Englishmen known the gospel?'
'For 1,600 years,' he replied.
'Then why did you leave it so late to tell us about it? My
parents and my ancestors died in sin, and went into the
outer darkness.'
Why is it, that the good things in life seem to take so long
to come to fruition?
I once discussed these matters with a child who, be-
cause he was a child, was not afraid to go even further in
his thinking. 'God is like us/ he observed. 'He has
promised that His kingdom would return. Jesus said,
"Behold, I come quickly." But He tarries.'
Let us continue to pray, 'Thy kingdom come', and do
all we can to hasten His coming. And let us 'never tire of
doing what is right' (2 Thess. 3:13).
In Canada some children were asked to write down what
they would ask the Pope if they were able to speak to him
during his visit to their country.
They wrote down such questions as: 'What can I do to
make God happier?', 'What can I do to help poor
people?', 'How do you feel when you have to make
decisions that will upset people?', and 'How do you feel
about not being able to marry?'
Children ask direct questions; they are much less in-
clined to be devious than their elders. And they expect
straight answers!

Questions	41
In front of Holman Hunt's well-known painting, 'Christ
knocking at the door', a large group of visitors stood in
admiration. One praised the colours; another noted the
expression on Jesus' face; another called attention to the
fact that the door had no outside knob, explaining that
the heart can only be opened from the inside. Still
another pointed out that the feet of Jesus were painted as
turned away from the door; long accustomed to being
rejected, He was prepared to depart.
Only one, a child, asked the question that really
mattered: 'Father, did they let him in?'
It was a very small question. But it is the principal
theme of the painting. All other aspects fade into
insignificance.
A scientist was speaking to a group of children about
Einstein's Theory of Relativity. A child raised the ques-
tion: 'And what if Einstein was wrong?'
Only God can be totally trusted. All human assertions
must be treated with a healthy scepticism.
A cardinal was once asked, 'What if scientists agreed
unanimously that the statements of the Bible are untrue?'
The cardinal replied, 'I would wait a while! Scientists
do not hold on to their certainties for very long.'
Once -1 suppose it was from weariness -1 protested to
Amélie, then aged seven, 'You can't ask questions about
everything!'
'Why not?'
'Because some things just happen. For example, Jesus
said, "You hated Me without a cause." '
But still she persisted. 'Why isn't there a "Why" for
everything?'
Even Einstein could not accept the theory of Heisen-
berg, the great German microphysicist, concerning the
indeterminism of elementary particles. Heisenberg had

42	From the Lips of Children
shown that the law of causality, which was considered
universal, has its limits; and therefore certain events have
no 'why7.
Adults as well as children have to learn to simply
accept certain facts that seem to do very well without our
analysis and our categorisations as to cause and effect.
It demands humility of mind. 'So much I know, and
further, at this stage, I cannot go/
The Hebrew Bible begins with the letter 'B' (beth),
written ^ - rather like a box with three walls. Hebrew
text is read from right to left, so the opening in the 'box'
faces forward. The rabbis explain that Scripture begins
with this letter because it teaches that you will never
know what is above, behind and below. And so we are to
look forward, in the only direction in which God wishes
to reveal Himself to us.
Amélie again: 'God must have known that Adam and
Eve would sin. Why did He allow it?'
Again this 'Why7 - the great 'Why'.
The response is simple. Sin is here, and we must fight it
unceasingly. To waste time on fruitless 'Whys' is simply
to sin all over again.
A person who has just been bitten by a rattlesnake will
be foolish to waste time speculating about why he was
attacked. Time is of the essence! The venom must be
extracted - or he will die.
There are times when 'What' and 'How' are much
more important than 'Why'.
Why so many questions, in a book about theology - even
children's theology? Isn't theology a set of dogmatic
statements?
No, it is not.
In the four Gospels, Jesus asks no less than 287 ques-
tions. His statements and assertions are far fewer in
number.
His first recorded statement is a question: 'Why were

Questions	43
you searching for me?' (Luke 2:49). As a child in the
temple, He, like children everywhere, spent His time
simply listening and asking questions (cf. Luke 2:46).
As an adult He retained this childlike characteristic.
Even on the cross, He asked a question: 'My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?' (Mark 15:34).
Later, confronting an enemy of His Church, He asked
him a question: 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?'
(Acts 9:4).
When I first became a Christian and asked myself two
vital questions, the only answers that I could find in the
Bible were two further questions.
Firstly, I needed to know, which was the true Church?
The Bible answered, 'Who is this that appears like the
dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the
stars in procession?' (S. of S. 6:10).
Secondly, I needed to know who was a reliable pastor
to follow. Again the Bible replied with a question: 'Who
then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master
puts in charge of his servants to give them their food
allowance at the proper time?' (Luke 12:42).
The question is 'Who?': the reply is also, 'Who?'
Questions are an essential part of true theology. As
Heidegger remarked, 'Questioning is the piety of
thought.'
'For we know in part' (1 Cor. 13:9).

Answers

"I would like my father to walk out
of the frame and be with us again."
When Mihai was five, I came home one day and learned
from my wife that he had committed some wrongdoing
for which he needed to be punished. This time I decided
to try a different approach. I left him alone.
The next morning, I told him the story of how Peter
denied his Lord, and how, later, Jesus asked him three
times: 'Do you love Me?' When I had told him the story, I
asked Mihai, 'Do you love Jesus?'
'Yes/ said Mihai.
I asked him again, 'Do you love Jesus?' And again he
answered, 'Yes.'
The third time I asked the question, he understood that
I was chiding him for his sin of the day before. Tears came
to his eyes as he said for the third time, 'Yes, I love Jesus.'

Answers	45
I thought that he might simply be repeating the words
of Peter without really meaning them. So I asked him,
'How do you know that you really love Him?'
His thoughtful rejoinder was: 'Jesus did not ask Peter
that. He was satisfied with the words, "I love you."'
Love really needs no explanation.
The comments of pre-school children indicate how much
of positive value they can be taught, even at an early age.
Little Alex brightened our lives many times with his
little pearls of wisdom.
'I like everybody in,the whole world,' he said once,
'because I belong to God. All except the devil - because
he put Jesus on the cross.'
Once, watching Romeo and Juliet on television, I tried to
explain the plot to him. Later I asked him: 'Did you
understand what was going on?'
His reply meant more than he knew. 'Yes - Grandma is
Jesus'Juliet.'
He had understood, without theological ramifications,
that Jesus' love for His own is like that of a bridegroom for
his bride.
A child sat in his grandfather's arms as both of them
looked in a mirror.
'Did God make us both?' he asked.
'Yes, of course.'
'Well, He does a much better job nowadays. He's had
lots of practice! Now He doesn't put wrinkles on faces.'
God - improving?
Well, strange as it may seem to us, He says so about
Himself: 'I will ... do better unto you than at your
beginnings' (Ezek. 36:11 av).
The fact is, that God has given this generation more
knowledge about health and much greater possibilities of
learning than previous generations - at least, in the

46	From the Lips of Children
Western world. May our young people respond by being
more faithful to Him!
Linna was six years old. She asked a newly-married man,
'Do you love your bride?'
'Yes, of course/ was the quick rejoinder.
That's good, because I imagine it must be awful to be
married to a woman you don't love.'
The only basis for marriage is love between two
people. Divorce is often the result when two people,
pledged to love and care for each other, break their vows
and abandon their commitments - unlike God, who
keeps covenant with His bride, the Church, and is
grieved when she is unfaithful (Matt. 23:37-38).
Tell me something about Jesus, in whom you say you
believe/ a man enquired of a young child.
The boy answered simply. 'I'm too small to say some-
thing great about Him.'
He did not know that he had repeated, almost ver-
batim, what Justin Martyr had said when asked to
explain the mysteries of Christ. Justin was beheaded in
the year AD 155.
'God  is  gigantic/  Alex  pronounced,   with  childish
finality.
I thought of John Mazzuconi, the Italian missionary
who died a martyr's death in New Guinea at the begin-
ning of the nineteenth century. Mazzuconi wrote, 'It is
wrong to call the ocean immense. I traversed it in three
months in a small ship. If one owned this whole world,
he would own something smaller than a grain of sand. I
wonder why so many fight to have it? Only One is truly
immense, and He is eternal.'

Answers	47
Eusebius and John Chrysostom were both among those
who praised the very young Christian child Barulas, who
was brought before the heathen governor Asclepiades
and asked: 'Which is better: to adore the one God who
made heaven and earth, or a multitude of gods?'
The child replied, 'God is an almighty being. If there
were many gods, they would become powerless, because
the might of one would cancel out the might of another.
God can be only one. Your gods are frauds/
The tyrant demanded, 'Who has taught you these
things?'
He replied, 'My mother, who was herself taught by
God.'
The child was flogged and beheaded.
His mother herself carried him to the place of execu-
tion, and without shedding a tear, kissed him; and,
telling him to remember her in heaven, gave him to the
executioner.
We should not forget that it is to a child that we owe
the writing of the most celebrated book about the holy
Trinity.
Augustine was walking on the seashore meditating on
this great mystery, about which he intended to write a
book; but he could not develop his thoughts clearly. He
was so frustrated that he was almost inclined to abandon
the project.
Suddenly, he heard weeping. Running towards the
sound, he found a child in tears. He asked what was the
matter.
'Look what a big hole I have dug in the sand,' the child
sobbed, 1nit I cannot put the whole ocean in it. Can
you?'
Augustine interpreted the question as a message sent
to him by God Himself. Challenged by it, he wrote the
book, but he wrote it with great modesty, realising that
God is limitless and we are very small. Like the child on

48	From the Lips of Children
the seashore, we can know only a very little about what -
and Who - lies beyond.
During a science lesson in school a pupil asked, 'Why did
God make the earth?'
Before the teacher had a chance to reply, a seven-year-
old boy gave the answer: 'So that people would have
something to stand on.'
He spoke a profound truth. This is why God gave
mankind the Law, the prophets, the Bible - even His own
Son.
A Pentecostal preacher patiently explained to Alex,
who was then five, the doctrines of his Church. He did
so with fervour, repeating again and again that this
was the only correct doctrine and that all others were
heresy.
I wanted to spare this preacher, by giving him the
impression that he was wasting his efforts on a child who
could not understand. So I asked Alex, 'Do you know
what the word "heresy" means?'
He replied straightforwardly. 'Sure I know! When you
have the right faith, you are happy. When heresy arrives,
your head begins to ache.'
The way of salvation is simple: 'Whoever believes and
is baptised will be saved.' Beware of things that cause
headaches!
Listening carefully to a narrative of the events that
led up to the crucifixion, Amélie at six concluded:
The disciples in Gethsemane were right when
they decided to flee. Peter was admonished for trying to
help. So why should the others have stayed? If they
were in the wrong, why did Jesus choose them in the first
place?'

Answers	49
Many a preacher has decried the weakness of the
disciples in deserting Jesus on that dark night in
Gethsemane. Curiously, the Gospels contain not one
word of criticism or rebuke.
The distinguished psychologist Viktor Frankl was asked
by his six-year-old daughter, 'Why do we speak of the
"good" Lord?'
'Some weeks ago/ he reminded her, 'you had measles.
The good Lord made you completely better.'
His daughter frowned. It was the wrong answer. 'But
don't forget, Daddy, it was Him that sent me the measles
in the first place!'
Children are not easily taken in by religious cant
and cheap propaganda for God. They take His words
seriously- 'Come now, let us reason together' (Isa. 1:18),
which means that both sides have a say.
When children ask us why innocent people suffer, we
have to confess to them that we simply do not have an
explanation for this mystery. They do not respond to
theological speculation about the whys and wherefores
of pain.
Can a guinea pig in a laboratory understand its many
sufferings? Is it aware that it serves the good of higher
beings? Our sufferings may be of great value for the
instruction of angels.
Let us not be afraid to admit how limited our human
knowledge is. Children's questions lead to a theology
that compels us to face up to our ignorance of many
aspects of reality.
God is omniscient. We are not.
Six-year-old Alex had been throwing sand at other chil-
dren, and as punishment had to report every day to the
school principal. He asked his mother to write a letter of
apology on his behalf, promising that it would never

50	From the Lips of Children
happen again. With this, the matter was settled. His
father attempted to impress upon him the lesson to be
learned from the episode. 'If you sin, you are hooked/ To
which the reply came, 'But with promises, you can get off
the hook!'
The prodigal son of Jesus' parable got away with even
less. He promised nothing, but just uttered a few words
that showed his repentance. It was enough. He had a
loving father.
Somebody asked a child what one must do before receiv-
ing forgiveness of sin. The candid reply was, 'Sin!' There
could not have been a better answer.
That is why the Catholic Church sings 'Ofelix culpa' -
'O blessed sin, which gave us such a Saviour'.
E. Stanley Jones, the renowned missionary to India, told
a story about a child whose teacher asked him, 'What
would you like for Christmas?'
Looking up at a picture of his father, who was dead,
the child said wistfully, 'I would like my father to walk
out of the frame and be with us again/
Children love their parents by instinct. When you stop
loving your parents, you have stopped being what Jesus
wants you to be - childlike.
One child asked another: 'What does it mean, to be a real
man? Does it hurt?'
The other child replied, 'It hurts a great deal. Grandma
is a real woman, and look how many wrinkles she has!
But only unreal people think that is ugly. I love her!'
A teacher once asked her class, 'What does the Bible
contain?'

Answers	51
A girl replied: 'In our Bible there are a lot of dates,
marriages, deaths, newspaper clippings, a birthday
card, a Christmas card, and that's about all/
Children who are brought up in homes where that is all
they can find in the Bible are in great spiritual danger.
What is in your Bible?
A five-year-old boy had recited his usual bedtime prayer:
'Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to
keep; If I should die—'
Here he stopped, and asked, 'Daddy, what's dying
like?'
'It's dark/ replied the father, for that was all he knew.
The little questioner remained awake in the dark,
sobbing uncontrollably.
Another child had a father who sent him to Sunday
school. He knew that his mother had a terrible fear of
dying. One Sunday he came home from church in great
excitement.
'Mother! You don't have to be afraid of dying any
more, because Jesus went through the tomb and left a
light behind Him!'
Jesus submitted to the power of death, and was en-
tombed. But He had the power of resurrection, and He
promises us this same experience if we commit our lives
to Him.
'Death' is the name given to a deep sleep, by those who
do not know about resurrection. But Jesus has the keys to
the grave. He knows how to give life to those who die.
The proof lies in His empty tomb.
A child who had just said his morning prayers was asked
by his mother, 'What did you pray about?'
T told Him to rest/ he said. 'I told Him to sleep in
peace, because I'm awake now.'
Love calls for reciprocity. Jesus says, 'Come unto Me,

52	From the Lips of Children
and I will give you rest/ May we not say the same thing to
Him, with all our hearts?
A Christian girl was once asked by a friend, 'How do you
begin to love Jesus? I don't love Him - I can't see any
reason why I should. I can't make myself love Him.'
The girl replied, 'Don't try! Just repeat to yourself,
"Jesus loves me," over and over again. It was through
Him that the flowers, the birds, and everything beautiful
were created; He went through a lifetime of suffering,
and died on the cross in great sorrow, for me; He has
prepared for me a heaven of exquisite beauty; He offers
me forgiveness for all my sins and a life full of joy. He
loves me, for sure! Never try to love Him. Just say again
and again, "He loves me/"
Later the other girl confided, 'I love Him.'
What a model of Christian witness! And what a sermon
in miniature!
A father once noticed that his son was reading the Bible a
great deal, and he asked him why. 'I'm preparing for my
final exam/ he said.
His motive was a good one.
Little Alex was asked, 'How would you make a painting
of love?'
'Two people kissing/ he answered.
'How would you paint death?'
'A man lying in a coffin, with a red cross on it. The cross
saves.'
'And how would you paint life?'
'I'd paint a man and the sun.'
It is not just the things that children say that are
remarkable, but also their drawings. Those reproduced

Answers

53

below were drawn by a four-year-old girl whose father
was convicted of raping her repeatedly.

MY MOM

MY DAD

In her drawings the middle part of both bodies is omitted.
It was abhorrent to her to think about that part of the
body. The father has no legs; they are replaced by phallic
symbols. She has scrawled over his face, reflecting the
anger she feels towards him.
If a child knew me as I really am, how would he or she
draw me?
J. Allen Blair told of a proud Sunday school teacher, who
was attempting to explain to children how they should
practise the virtue of obedience.
As he strode up and down the platform, everything
about his outward appearance betrayed his self-esteem -
his head was held high, his chest was thrust out, his
gestures were commanding.
'Now, children/ he boomed, pausing to fix them with
a stare, 'why do people call me a Christian?' He was

54	From the Lips of Children
clearly expecting somebody to respond with 'Because
you are obedient to Christ/
But a boy raised his hand and ventured, 'People call
you a Christian because they don't know you well
enough/
Little children find it hard to disguise their true feel-
ings, especially when they are talking about other
people. Telling falsehoods is something that they learn
later, often out of fear of punishment (though some-
times what is thought to be lying is in fact the child's
imagination).
Adults tend to be much less candid in what they say to
each other's face. Instead they learn the virtue of 'tact',
which is shown up as hypocrisy when they gossip about
an individual behind his or her back.
It is sometimes necessary to meet evil head-on, with a
child's directness. John the apostle, who wrote so exten-
sively and so beautifully about love, nevertheless had
this to say about Diotrephes ('who loves to be first'): 'I
will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping
maliciously about us' (3 John 10).
In the words of a wise man, '[There is] a time to
be silent and a time to speak' (Eccles. 3:7). Children's
theology 'tells it like it is'!
Children know how to apply what they have learned, but
sometimes they do it in unexpected ways.
A boy complained to his mother that his stomach
ached, and she said, 'If s probably because your stomach
is empty. I'll make you a snack/
Not long afterwards, a pastor visited the house. He
mentioned that he had a headache, upon which the child
observed: 'Probably, Pastor, it's because your head is
empty. You should feed it with something/

Answers	55
When pupils in a school in England were asked to name
the person with whom they would most like to be stuck
in a lift, a girl answered, 'A lift specialist!'
In a very real sense, we are all 'stuck' - not in a lift, but
on a planet bent on self-destruction. We go through life
like a train that roars through the darkness towards an
unknown destination. The problems of our own lives are
already too complicated for us, but when they are multi-
plied by the threats of nuclear war, the population ex-
plosion, pollution, increasing immorality, crime and
violence, they are too much to bear. Perplexed and
afraid, we can see no way out.
Jesus is a specialist in human tragedy. His was the most
tragic of all human lives. Poor, oppressed, rejected,
scorned, spat upon, whipped, crucified, buried - He
offered the only solution to the world's problems: the
power of His resurrection.
Let us prefer the Specialist to anybody else!
An atheist once said, in reply to a child who had claimed
to be a Christian, 'I will give you a pound if you can show
me where your God is!'
The child replied, 'I only have a fifty-pence piece, but I
will give it to you if you can show me a place where God is
not/
Addressing a group of schoolboys, a bishop gave the
following example of 'moral courage': 'A boy in a dormi-
tory, who, in front of everybody, kneels and says his
prayers before hopping into bed.'
He asked the boys if they could think of another
example.
'Sir,' a voice piped up, 'a bishop in a dormitory full of
bishops, who hops into bed without saying his prayers/
Bishops and prelates rarely have that courage! But
biblical authors like David, Job and Jeremiah had the

56	Front the Lips of Children
courage to complain to God, using words that to us might
seem blasphemous. We ourselves would probably have
suppressed such thoughts, and the result would have
been that they would have become submerged and un-
resolved within us.
Children teach us to have the courage not only to tell
God that we love Him, but also to argue with Him. In the
words of a hymn, He has 'the answer to all our question-
ings'. By the same token, He will surely accept us when
the questions are hard ones.

Prayers

Nadia reached up and
handed him the
flowers.

I was once a guest in a Christian home. I was rather
depressed, brooding about all the things that I do not
possess.
The children's bedtime arrived. A boy who was not
four years old prayed. 'I thank You, God, for my hair, my
face, my eyebrows, my eyelids, both my eyes, my
cheeks, my nose, my lips, my teeth, my tongue . . .' On
and on he continued, until he had itemised everything
down to the soles of his feet. He finished his prayer with
the request 'Make my Daddy and our guest happy/
His prayer was answered, as I realised that I possessed

58	From the Lips of Children
all the same things that the child did - and mine came in a
bigger size! I was also aware of other aspects of my being,
about which he had not yet learned. But I had never
recited them all in a prayer of thankfulness.
'A little child shall lead them' - even in prayer.
In Sunday school a pastor showed the children a tele-
phone. He explained, 'You speak on the telephone to
people whom you cannot see. It's the same with prayer.
You call God, and He listens. Don't be distressed that you
can't see Him. We speak to people we cannot see, every
day.'
A boy asked, 'Pastor, what is God's telephone
number?'
The pastor could have replied something like this: 'It is
a five-figure number: repentance, faith in Jesus' sacrifice,
love, truth and righteousness.'
During a prayer meeting a restless child continued to
misbehave after several warnings. Finally his exasper-
ated mother said to him, 'Come outside with me. You're
going to get a spanking!'
As he left the boy called out to the group, 'Pray for me!
Mother hits hard!'
Impressed by his plea, his mother decided not to spank
him. When they came back, he greeted the believers with:
T     see? Prayer works!'
A girl who had been naughty was sent to bed and advised
to pray to God that He would take away her bad temper.
She knelt and prayed: 'Dear God, please take away my
bad temper. And Mother's.'
We always need to pray from both sides of a situation.

Prayers	59
A child prayed, 'Dear God, please convince Father that
he should not spank me any more. You will remember
that I have already asked You to do this. How many times
do I have to tell You the same thing?'
We can take risks in prayer.
I overheard a girl praying 'Dear God, be nice and obey
your mother/ I remembered that there was a time when
God was on earth in the person of Jesus Christ.
It cannot have been easy either for the virgin Mary or
for Joseph to have such a child. I wonder, did His
uniqueness ever seem to them to be merely self-will? The
fact that there was some distance between the child and
His parents can be inferred from His words to His mother
when He was twelve years old, and she had sought Him
for three days: 'Why were you searching for Me?' (Luke
2:49).
He was obedient, in His own way. But when His
mother asked a special favour from Him at the wedding
in Cana, He answered, 'Dear woman, why do you in-
volve Me?' Perhaps when He was small, Joseph might
occasionally have said to Him, 'Please obey your
mother/
In a morning prayer, little Dorothy said, Thank you,
God, for this beautiful morning. My dog will enjoy it/
She had a breadth of vision. The Bible's vision is even
broader. God feeds the birds of the air and the beasts of
the field, so satisfying their needs. He also makes the sun
shine and the rain fall on the evil as well as the good.
Let us, like this little child, appreciate the joys given to
others, whether or not we share in them.

60	From the Lips of Children
I once stayed in the home of a farmer, whose three-
year-old Carlitos always prayed for 'Daddy, Mommy,
Grandma, the sheep, the goats, the guinea-hen, the
dogs, and the cat/
Do we pray like that, in detail - or in mere generalities,
like 'God bless the missionaries'?
Jesus prayed for Peter by name.
When he was only five, Alex prayed, 'Dear God, take
good care of Father, Mother - and also of Yourself. If
anything happens to You, we'll all be in trouble.'
It was not a unique prayer. Peter the disciple prayed
that Jesus would not go to His death. He was afraid that
their entire group would be in trouble without Him.
We can all pray not only to God, but also for God - that
His name might be hallowed, His kingdom come, and
His will be done.
A father and his little son sat down at the counter of a
small cafeteria for a bite to eat. 'We'll have a silent
prayer,' said the adult, and bowed his head.
Minutes passed. The boy's eyes remained closed.
When he finally looked up, his father asked him, 'What
were you praying about for so long?'
'How could I know how long my prayer was?' asked
the son. 'You told me it was to be a silent prayer!'
He may well have known more about silent prayer
than his father did. A silent prayer is one in which not
only the lips, but also the mind keeps silent. In mental
prayer one should close the mind's door and let no
distracting thoughts enter- not even the thought of time
passing.
The first disciples met behind locked doors out of fear
of the Jews, who could only destroy their bodies. So how
much more carefully should we lock the door when we
pray silently, so that no thievish idea may enter which

Prayers	61
might destroy the soul. The Lord can enter through
locked doors; and we desire no other guest.
Mental prayer means a time that is spent in the
embrace of Jesus, our heavenly Bridegroom. And what
bride, in such an ecstasy, could tell you how long it has
lasted?
During the night a loud knocking sounded at the door of
the Danielsky family in Russia.
'Open up! It's the police!'
The mother whispered quickly, 'What should I do with
the Bible? They'll take it away.'
'Open the door quickly - or we'll break it down!'
Piotr, the little boy, had a sudden idea. He took the
Bible and placed it under the blanket on his sister's doll's
bed. To Nadia, who was even smaller than he was, he
whispered, 'Don't pay any attention to the people who
are coming in. Just carry on playing with the doll, in her
bed.' Quietly, he prayed, 'Lord, please keep the Bible
safe for us.'
It was many hours later that the police left, taking with
them their plunder of hymnals and other books. When
they had gone, Nadia retrieved the Bible from the doll's
bed. The credit belongs to Piotr,' she said.
Piotr replied, 'Let us thank God. I prayed that they
would not find the Bible, and He heard my prayer.'
May we all cherish the Bible as tenderly as Piotr did!
Because of his faith in Christ, Nadia's father was in a
Soviet jail. She was walking one day with her grieving
mother through a meadow.
Turning to her, Nadia said thoughtfully, 'Be at peace,
Mummy. God, who takes care of these flowers, will also
care for Daddy.' She picked a few flowers and prayed:
'Dear God, please make it possible for Daddy to have
these flowers.'

62	From the Lips of Children
The next day she accompanied her mother to the police
station to leave a parcel of food for the prisoner. Nadia
smiled at the officer on duty. 'Do you have any children?'
she asked.
He looked down at her. She was very like the young
daughter he had recently buried.
Nadia reached up and handed him the flowers that she
had picked, saying, 'Uncle, please give these to my
Daddy. You will, surely, won't you?'
The torturer was no match for the little girl. The
prisoner received the flowers.
God does indeed answer prayer.
It was Nadia's birthday. 'Lord Jesus/ she prayed, 'last
year on this day my father brought me a bar of chocolate'
- chocolate is a luxury in Russia - 'but now, he is in jail.
You are my only hope. Please bring me some chocolate.'
Larissa, her older sister, rebuked her. 'We are only
allowed to pray for absolute necessities, not for dainties.'
Her mother agreed. 'We can only ask for food when we
are hungry, or for clothes when our old ones are worn
out. We can also pray for health if we are ill. But I don't
think that chocolate is a necessity of life.'
There was a knock at the door. It was their pastor. He
had known nothing of the birthday, but something had
made him buy chocolate for the children.
It was a lesson for Nadia's family, and for the rest of us.
Our God is a bountiful God! Sometimes He takes delight
in answering prayers for things which are not absolute
necessities.
Once, when Mihai was small, we left him with a baby-
sitter. Before going to bed, he prayed with her. He asked
God to bring us back home immediately.
After the prayer, he said to the babysitter, 'Please open
the door. My parents will be waiting there.'

Prayers	63
We actually were! I had discovered that I had forgotten
to take any money with me.
Mihai was triumphant. 'I knew my prayer would be
answered!'
May we have such childlike faith.
When he was a boy, Robert Louis Stevenson remarked to
his mother, 'Mama, one cannot be good without
praying/
'How do you know, Robert?'
'Because/ he said with an air of great finality, 'I've
tried.'
It might be valuable, I suggest, to try a childish ex-
periment. Decide to spend one whole day without
prayer. Then, in the evening, examine yourself and see
whether you have succeeded in being good without it (Be
honest!).
A little fellow was sent to bed early because he had been
naughty. Soon he reappeared. I've been thinking about
what I did/ he told his mother. 'And I said a prayer.'
Thaf s fine - if you asked your heavenly Father to
make you good/
'Oh no, I said something else; I asked Him to make my
mother put up with me as I am/
In the Greek New Testament, aphiemi means 'to for-
give' and 'to leave'. In the Lord's prayer, the text can be
read either as 'Forgive us our trespasses,' or 'Leave us our
trespasses.'
Each of us is a cluster of selves. One part of me wants to
be forgiven, while another part is very much attached to a
given sin and wants to be allowed to keep it.
One voice in us asks the Father to make us into saints;
another says, 'Put up with me, just as I am/
As adults, we repress this second voice. A child,
lacking our inhibitions, openly expresses this other side

64	From the Lips of Children
of his being. It is better to expose and then expunge our
self-centred attitudes than to repress them and deny that
they exist.
The Psalmist said, 'I... did not cover up my iniquity
. . . and you forgave the guilt of my sin' (Ps. 32:5).
When she was asked whether she prayed every day, a
little girl replied, 'Not quite every day - some days, I
don't need anything.'
She was right not to make prayer just a routine. .But if
we have nothing to ask God for, then let us thank Him for
that! And let us praise Him continually.
*       *       *
At a family gathering, little Alex prayed aloud as we knelt
together. 'God is great; God is good; and I thank Him for
the food.'
My wife gently chided him. 'Why did you pray like
that? It's not time for a meal.'
'That's not my fault,' Alex responded stoutly. 'I've said
grace, now it's up to you to give me something to eat!'
He had touched on a profound truth. It is written in
Scripture, 'Faith is being sure of what we hope for and
certain of what we do not see' (Hebrews 11:1). Let us
thank God for His blessings whether or not we have yet
received them. Then it is His responsibility to ensure that
we receive them - and He will not fail.
Jesus said, 'Have faith in God ... If anyone . . . does
not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will
happen, it will be done for him' (Mark 11:22-23).
The well-known Christian psychiatrist, Paul Tournier,
tells how as a small boy he used to dream of doing some
great deed.
With a toy construction set, he began to build a
strange machine, bristling with springs and gears.
One day,  he confided his ambition to his young

Prayers	65
sister. The machine was to be capable of creating life.
She asked him to explain how it would work, but Paul
was vague about that. He admitted that he would have to
rely on prayer. He would pray hard, and God would
work through the machine.
'If that is so/ exclaimed his sister, 'what are all the
gears for?'
What are our many gears for?
Once we have prayed, we must be patient. Even if it
seems impossible, we must quietly put up with our
impatience and allow God to work. He hears us, and he
answers us.
Billy Graham has five children. One day at family prayers
he was jolted by his son Franklin, who interrupted his
father's exposition of Scripture with the words, 'Daddy,
let's not talk so much - let's pray more.'
Even a child understood that talking to God is more
valuable than mere human talk.
But how we love our own talk!
A friend of ours died in circumstances that caused his
family to doubt his salvation.
Amélie, who was then seven, comforted them with
these words: 'I'm positive that he is in heaven. He was
very nice to me. I prayed for him. I said to Jesus, "God
promised Rahab, who did a favour for some Jews who
were in trouble, that she and all her house would be
saved [cf. Josh. 2]. This man belongs to my household.
He is in my heart." There is no doubt that he is saved!'
When Jesus saw the faith of the men who brought the
paralytic to Him (not the faith of the paralytic himself)
then, we are told, He honoured them with a miracle of
healing on their friends' behalf.
*       *       *
Allenby was the British general who freed Jerusalem

66	From the Lips of Children
from Turkish rule during World War I, without firing a
single shot.
When he was a boy he used to repeat his evening
prayers after his mother. They always ended with these
words: 'Dear Lord, we would not forget Thine ancient
people Israel. Hasten the day when Israel will again be Thy
people and will be restored to Thy favour and their land.'
What joy it must have given the God of Israel, to hear
an English boy pray such a prayer! In His good provi-
dence, God allowed Allenby to become the man to fulfil
his childhood prayers.
Dwight L. Moody, the noted evangelist, used to go into
saloons with a little boy named Tommy, who really knew
how to pray. If Moody7 s exhortations met with a cool
reception, Tommy would perch on a barrel of wine and
begin praying aloud. He then kept on praying until he
had 'prayed ouf all the drunkards. Many were converted
through his simple, yet effective, ministry.
A little girl prayed, 'Dear Lord, please make all the bad
people good and all the good people nice.'
We can learn from children how to wrap goodness in
cheerfulness.
When a Rumanian child heard, for the first time, that a
book exists in which are contained the names of all who
will enter Paradise, he knelt and prayed: 'God, please
write me down. My name is Rada Ionescu. I'd better spell
it for you, so that there will be no mistake/ And he
carefully pronounced each letter.
Then he added, 'Other people may have the same
name as me. So, please note my name and address, and
my date of birth, to avoid any confusion.'
Are we as precise and careful in our own relationships
with God?

Prayers	67
An eight-year-old boy in America prayed, 'Father, my
Daddy sometimes lets me sit on his lap and steer the car-
but he puts both hands over mine. Please, put Your
hands over those of the President as he rules our country,
to keep it safe.'
The prayers of young children are often full of insight.
A child knew he had done something very wrong. He
had told his mother a lie. So he prayed, 'O God, make it
not to have happened/
This is not such an unreasonable prayer as it might
seem. God can undo events for us. We regret having
committed a sinful deed. We know it was as red as
scarlet. Remorse cannot undo something done. Repent-
ance obtains forgiveness, but how can the lie, murder,
adultery, blasphemy or whatever it might be, be erased
from history?
God can do even this. He makes sins that are scarlet as
white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).
When Jesus changed water into wine at Cana, it
was into the best wine, which is old wine. The liquid
He gave to the wedding guests was not something
which had formerly been water and had suddenly
become wine. His miracle was profounder than that.
In place of the water was something that had always
been wine.
For King Hezekiah, God caused the sundial to go
back ten degrees (Isaiah 38:8). Suppose this happened
at 6 p.m. Miraculously, it was again 8 a.m. on the same
day. He had said rash words to his wife, he might
have been harsh with a servant, he might have issued
a bad decree - but it was as if things had never
happened.
God gave back to Hezekiah the day that had passed. In
the spiritual realm this is possible. The same can be true
of us in our daily lives. The child was right in praying
'God, make my lie not to have happened.'

Interpretations

"Look, your heads are bent!
You must straighten up too."

A Christian child, aged ten, had been brought up on the
Bible and its teachings about love. But there was a great
deal of quarrelling in his family.
One day, following a harsh exchange of words
between his parents, he approached his father. 'Daddy/
he said, 'please take me to an oculist, and to an ear
specialist/
'Why, son?'
'Well, there must be something wrong with me. I can't

Interpretations	69
see the things I hear in the Bible, and I can't hear the
things I see/
Many of us would have to say the same. Jesus is the
Word who became flesh. Our faith must be seen also in
the flesh.
'Alex, get in the car/ urged his mother. 'I'm taking you to
the doctor.'
'Why?' asked the five-year-old.
'Because of the cough.'
They came from the doctor's surgery to my house. Alex
was happy and carefree. 'The doctor hasn't got a cough/
he told me. 'We went to see him, and he's OK!'
Hearing him say this, I told him once again the story of
my conversion. Somebody who loved my soul brought
me to Jesus, though I felt no need of Him. The friend told
me that I must come to Him because of my sin. But I
emerged happy from that first meeting with Jesus. I had
discovered that He has no sin. He is clean and pure. This
gave me a joy that has lasted for half a century.
If Jesus had committed a single sin, He could never
have helped a single sinner. But because He was without
any sin, the sinner can have confidence that all his
transgressions are forgiven.
The last word is with Alex: 'So it's the same with Jesus
as with my doctor! If you are taken to him with a cough,
you are glad that he hasn't got a cough himself.'
When he was six, Alex sat looking at a picture of
Golgotha. 'They killed the one who was good, and they
killed those who were bad. But this is wrong. They ought
not to have killed the robbers like that. Jesus? Yes. They
were right to crucify Him, because His death opened up
the gates of heaven for us. But robbers should only be
locked up.'

70	Front the Lips of Children
Do we judge and speak evil of good and bad men?
A little French girl named Bernadette told her priest and
her whole village that the virgin Mary had repeatedly
appeared to her. This happened in Lourdes, and since
then the village has become a world-famous place of
pilgrimage.
Catholics believe in the objective reality of Bernadette's
vision; Protestants would prefer to say that she had a
subjective experience, because she was used to venerat-
ing Mary. These differing opinions, however, do not
alter the value of the following episode.
An unbeliever asked Bernadette, 'What kind of ex-
pression did the Virgin have? Was she frowning? Was
she sad? Did she smile?'
Bernadette replied, 'She was smiling.'
Then show me how she smiled. '
Bernadette, so the story goes, smiled with an inimit-
able expression of mingled compassion, tolerance, grief
for sin, painful surprise, and hopeful expectation.
The unbeliever fell to his knees. 'Now I believe!'
I have myself witnessed a similar incident in jail.
Have you ever looked attentively at the smile of a child
who has a personal relationship with the Saviour? In that
smile, all heaven is mirrored.
A girl of ten learned that the gospel must be preached to
every creature, and she came to the conclusion that this
must also apply to stalks of wheat. Were they not created
by God?
But what should she preach to them?
She went into the field, and shouted, The Bible com-
mands us to make His paths straight. Look, your heads
are bent! You must straighten up, too!'
We should call upon everyone to 'straighten up'. And

Interpretations	71
the stalks of wheat? They bow as a mark of gratitude to
the earth, for nurturing them with water and minerals.
My wife and I are Jewish Christians. When Mihai was
five, we took him to the synagogue on Simhat Torah
(literally, 'the rejoicing in the Law'), which is the festival
commemorating the giving of the Law on Sinai. The
scroll of the Law is taken around the synagogue, and the
people, especially the children, press forward to kiss it.
When the procession came near us, Mihai asked me,
'Should I kiss the scroll?'
'If s up to you,' I said. I had previously explained to
him the significance of the day and the ceremony.
The rabbi approached, and lowered the scroll so that
Mihai could kiss it.
'Thank you,' said the child, 'but I will not kiss it.'
The procession came to a halt, and hundreds of pairs of
eyes focused on him in consternation. Mihai, by now
extremely tense, repeated his words: 'I will not kiss it.'
When the service was over, the president of the syna-
gogue, who was a friend of mine, asked Mihai, 'Why did
you do that?'
'Sir/ he said, 'God has given us mothers for kissing.
The Law of God was given to be read and obeyed, not to
be kissed.'
In Orthodox Churches also, the Gospel, luxuriously
bound, is paraded so that all the communicants can kiss
it. Few ever read it, and fewer attempt to obey it.
There is a Jewish legend that Terah, Abraham's father,
was a manufacturer of idols. He made small wooden
figures of the gods and sent his son to the market place to
sell them.
But as soon as the boy Abraham found a buyer, he
would say to him, 'I can see that you are an elderly
person. Perhaps you are sixty or seventy years old.

72	From the Lips of Children
So how can this god which my father made yesterday
possibly help you?'
So he returned home at the end of the day with his
merchandise unsold, and his father would beat him.
One day, he decided to test the reality of these gods for
himself. In Terah's home was a chapel containing a series
of wooden gods, with the figure of the chief god in the
centre. Little Abraham asked his mother to prepare a fine
stew, which he planned to offer as a sacrifice to these
so-called 'heavenly powers'.
He presented the food to the chief god, and knelt
before it to see what would happen. The hours went by
and still the god made no move. Finally Abraham took an
axe and smashed all the gods except the chief one, into
whose arms he placed the axe.
His father returned and found the idols hacked to
pieces. He asked what had happened, and the boy
replied, 'I presented some food to them. They quarrelled
over who should have it, and the big fellow killed the
smaller ones.'
'Don't be stupid,' said his father. 'They can't see, or
speak, or move.'
'Then they are no gods,' replied Abraham, and with a
rapid movement he destroyed the last idol.
Then he wandered far from his father's house, wonder-
ing all the time who had made the world.
He saw the moon rising, and said to himself, 'This
must be he!'; and he adored it. But after a few hours, the
moon set and the sun rose. 'Aha, this must be he!' he
cried, and so he adored the sun.
But the sun also set. Then he thought, There must be
someone who alternates the sun and the moon.'
He passed by a house and noticed a number of white
linen cloths in the garden. Later, returning by the same
road, he saw that the cloths were no longer white but
many-coloured. There was no one to be seen, but he
deduced: 'There must be a man in the house. He is

Interpretations	73
probably a dyer, and he has coloured the cloths. Like-
wise, in the heavens I can see no one, but I can see the
colour of the sky change every day. There must be an
invisible Master!'
And Abraham became a worshipper of the invisible
God.
When Amélie was nine, she came to me one day with a
serious question: 'Grandpa, are we allowed to say some-
thing when we know that God is wrong, or do we have to
swallow our questions and keep quiet?'
I replied, 'Great men of God, like David and Job, spoke
frankly with God when they sometimes had the im-
pression that He was in the wrong. You can do that too.
But what is it that has made you dissatisfied?'
'Two things. Firstly, He ought not to have given com-
mandments. Daddy gives commandments as well. One
should only give advice. Secondly, surely God was
wrong when He said "Love your neighbour as yourself."
We don't love ourselves very well. We torment ourselves
and make our lives unhappy. If we were to love our
neighbours like that, it would be awful for them! We have
to love them better.'
As regards Amelie's first criticism of God, she is cor-
rect; but the fault lies not with Him but with the trans-
lators of the Bible. What we call 'Commandments' are not
commandments at all, but expressions of desires and
enablings. The Hebrew language does not use the im-
perative, but the so-called 'jussive' tense. The prohibi-
tions do not begin with the imperative (which in the
Hebrew is lo), but with al, which conveys a desire.
A correct translation would be, 'Please do not kill/
'Please do not steal/ and so on. Or, more to the point, 'If
you love Me, you will not kill/ and so on.
As regards Amelie's second criticism, she is right
again. To love your neighbour only as well as you love
yourself would be inadequate. Jesus taught a better way:

74	From the Lips of Children
'As I have loved you, so you must love one another' (John
13:34). There is no greater love than to give your life for
another.
After a sermon on obedience, a mother sought to rein-
force the message for her child: Tou heard what the
pastor said - you must obey your parents.'
The child replied, 'You seem to have missed the other
part of the sermon. Are you obedient to father?'
We all have filters; we often hear in sermons only what
suits our interests and inclinations.
A little boy in New York wrote the following letter to
God.
Dear God, if You do all these things, You are pretty
busy. Now, here is my question: What is the best time
for me to talk to You? I know You are always listening -
but when do You listen to New York?
Perhaps it had occurred to the child that God does not
listen to every place at every time. For certain places, it
can be too late for God to listen. It is now too late for
Sodom and Gomorrah for Capernaum and Bethsaida,
just as there was a 'too late' for Esau after he had lost the
blessing.
It is better to make arrangements ahead of time. God
longs for human beings to communicate with Him. He is
so anxious for us to do so that He says, 'Before they call, I
will answer7 (Isa. 65:24).
A group of children were watching the space shuttle
Discovery taking off like a ball of fire.
A little boy shouted, 'God is putting a new star in the
sky!'

Interpretations	75
You can smile and say, This is a star that will last only
a few days.' But all stars have only a finite existence.
They appear, grow and die, like everything else in our
knowable universe.
But there is a God who has put them into the sky. He
also sends aloft the Discovery, according to laws that He
has ordained, and through the medium of human hands
and minds which are also His creation.
Children grasp this and go straight to the First Cause,
just as the Bible does:
'In the beginning, God' (Gen. 1:1).
Amélie was asked a riddle. A man on a river bank has a
wolf, a lamb, and a cabbage. He wants to get them safely
on to the other bank, and the condition is that he can take
only one at a time in his boat. How is he to do it? If he
takes the wolf first, the sheep will eat the cabbage. If he
takes the cabbage first, the wolf will eat the sheep. He can
take the sheep first, but on the next crossing he will have
to take either the cabbage or the wolf; in both cases, one
of the objects will be eaten on the opposite shore.
Some of the adults who were present hazarded a few
guesses. Finally Amélie said, 'We should hasten the
Lord's return through prayer and preaching, for when
that happens the lion and the sheep will be friends. The
cabbage will be safe, too, because the kingdom of God is
not a matter of food and drink' (cf. Rom. 14:17).
For her, the Lord's return was a certainty, upon which
she counted to solve the problems of life. Sadly, it rarely
enters into the calculations of adults. That is why He will
return for the children of God; for children He counts, He
is important.1
1. If you want to find the original solution of the riddle, remember that
what is taken to the far bank by boat can also be brought back!

76	From the Lips of Children
A four-year-old toddler had his own version of the
pledge to the American flag:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States, and
to the Republic for which it stands; one nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and Jesus [instead of
'justice'] for all.
One morning, a boy said to his father, 'I dreamed about
God last night.'
'What was He doing in your dream?'
'He was locked in a cupboard. He was begging me to
let Him out. What does it mean, Daddy?'
The father could have answered that when we shut
Jesus out of our lives, it is as if we were locking Him in a
cupboard, and all His powers of love and goodness with
Him. Let us unlock the door, and let Him enter our lives.
The Bible uses a slightly different image: Jesus says, in
effect, 'Behold, I stand at the door of your heart and
knock. If you let Me in [He never enters uninvited], I will
come in and eat with you, and share My bounties with
you' (cf. Rev. 3:20).
In Russia some children were taken from parents who
had taught them about God. In the atheistic boarding
school to which they were sent, they were given a doll.
When they thought they were unobserved, the chil-
dren decided to play at 'prayer meetings'. But they found
that the doll's knees did not bend and so it could not
kneel.
One of the children went to the teacher. 'Please can I
have another doll? This one is plain stupid/
'Why do you say that?'
'Well, everyone who does not kneel before God must
be stupid.'
It was a witness to the Communist teacher.

Interpretations	77
A sixteen-year-old Arab father took his baby girl to an
Arab orphanage in Israel. Her fourteen-year-old mother
had died in childbirth. If the child had been a boy, the
father's family would have looked after it, but they had
no use for a girl.
The young father visited the child, Muna, regularly. As
she grew older she looked forward joyfully to his visits,
and would wait for him to arrive, crying 'Baba [Daddy]
comes!'
Every time he came she clung to him, begging him not
to leave, or at least to take her with him.
Eventually he remarried and decided not to visit any
more. His new wife did not want the child, and he could
not bear his daughter's weeping.
Muna was devastated. She refused to eat or drink, and
sat at the door, repeating over and over again, 'Baba
comes.' No one could make her give up her self-imposed
fast. Finally she had to be force-fed.
Still she continued to insist, 'Baba cornes!' A mission-
ary tried to tell her about a heavenly father, but she
would not listen. One Baba had abandoned her. Why
have another, who would probably be no better?
Fortunately the missionary was able to convince her
that the heavenly Father is an entirely different kind of
Baba, a Baba whose love never fails. Muna became once
more a happy child.
Too many of us accept the notion of a heavenly Father
who might forsake us or let us down. Who needs a Father
like that? Have we not been forsaken by enough
humans? Why open ourselves up to another bitter
experience?
But this picture of the heavenly Father is a false one. He
loves to the uttermost. He runs to meet the returning
prodigal. He gives him the finest robe. He kills the fatted
calf in his honour. Then He says, 'What more can I do, to
prove I love you?' (cf. Isa. 5:1-4).

78	From the Lips of Children
When Mihai was four or five, he asked me, 'How was
Jesus born?'
He had heard the story many times, but I told him
again how Jesus was born in a stable, how the shepherds
and magi visited Him, and so on.
'I know all that,' he said. 'But I'm curious about some-
thing else. I've often heard you quote the proverb,
"Whatever is born of a cat, eats mice." But if Jesus had
been born like us, He would have been bad like us. So He
must have been born entirely different.'
Intuition like that has enabled Christians through the
centuries to believe in the revelation of the virgin birth of
Jesus.
The 'Christian Mission to the Communist World',
having received news of a Lithuanian Christian who
had been imprisoned for his faith, sent a parcel to his
mother.
To their great surprise, they received a letter of thanks
from the prisoner himself; because of a serious injury, he
had been released before completing his sentence.
He wrote:
Working as a slave-labourer in a uranium mine, I was
hit by a large chunk of rock. As a result I have become a
hunchback for life.
Naturally, I was deeply depressed. I was in love with
a girl. Would she accept me, with such a deformity?
Who would want to marry a hunchback? I felt like an
outcast. Little children mocked me, crying behind my
back, 'Hunchback! Hunchback!'
One day a little boy stopped me on the street and
asked me, 'Uncle, what is it that you are carrying on
your back?' I thought, Now I will be mocked again. But
nevertheless I replied, 'A hump'.
He looked at me with love. 'Uncle, I don't believe
that. God is love, He does not give people deformities.

Interpretations	79
What you have on your back is a box containing angel
wings. If you carry it with humility and love to the end
of your life, the box will then open; the wings will
unfold; and with those wings you will fly to a beautiful
heaven.'
I wept when I heard those words. Even now I weep
again, as I write these lines.
This Soviet child had within him the Holy Spirit, who in
Scripture is called the Comforter, and knew how to offer
a word of cheer to one in need.
We too have the promise of the same Spirit, and under
His blessed influence, our words can provide comfort
and encouragement.
A sick child was asked how he was feeling. He replied, 'I
suffer, but I suffer little, because Jesus said, "Suffer little,
children, to come unto Me." Only those who think of
their sufferings as little are called/
To this child a comma made all the difference. The
earliest Greek manuscripts have no trace of punctuation.
Jesus cou Id have pronounced the sentence like that!
The parents of President Ronald Reagan did not practise
much religion, but his grandfather did. When the family
were preparing to dine with him, little Ronald's parents
warned him, 'Grandfather always asks every child to
recite a Bible verse at meal time. You must have one
memorised.'
But the future president was only four, so his mother
found him an easy verse to remember: 'Jesus wept' (John
11:35). Ronald was now sure of himself.
At dinner, with ten children sitting at the table, grand-
father asked the first for a verse. 'Jesus wept/ he replied
promptly.
Ronald was in despair. What was he to do now? To

80	Front the Lips of Children
make matters worse, his mother had not been the only
one to find a simple solution to the problem. Two other
children produced the same verse, and grandfather eyed
them with displeasure. Ronald shrank in his chair.
When his turn came, however, he had a sudden
inspiration. Jesus weeps/ he volunteered.
The other children laughed. Grandfather rebuked him:
'That is not written in the Bible!'
Ronald defended himself. 'It may not be written, but it
is true.'
Grandfather was unrelenting: Jesus wept then be-
cause He was at the tomb of a friend. Why would He
weep now?'
'He weeps now/ said Ronald, 'because we children
only know that He wept a long time ago.'
That was a remarkable insight for a child. The Bible
teaches that we are involved with a God who is crushed
because of our adulterous hearts (Ezek. 6:9, nkjv). Our
Lord is also wearied (Mai. 2:17). When on earth, He was a
man of sorrows acquainted with grief. As such, He
represented the heart of God (cf. John 14:9).
At the age of thirty He was told that He looked around
fifty (John 8:57). So much sorrow was visible on His face
that some believed He was suicidal, and asked 'Will He
kill Himself?' (John 8:22). That is not a question that is
asked of somebody who looks cheerful and happy.
It is part of children's theology to seek God's sad-
ness, and to want to make Him rejoice with singing
(Zeph. 3:17).
A four-year-old in an American department store was
given several biscuits, among them one shaped like the
United States. His mother asked, 'What does this remind
you of?'
T know!' he replied, beaming. 'It's the weather.' It had
reminded him of the television satellite picture of the
United States on the evening news.

Interpretations	81
Does the name 'Jesus' remind us of the real Jesus, of
the whole Jesus; or does it only remind us of something
associated with that name?
As a pastor in Rumania during the war, I had only one
suit, which eventually became worn and frayed. I had to
get a new one.
One morning in our family devotions, we read these
words: 'The man with two tunics should share with him
who has none' (Luke 3:11).
Mihai, who was then four, interrupted. 'You've got
two suits now. You should give one to Brother X, who is
in rags.'
'Which one should I give him?' I asked.
'The new one, of course. God always gives the best.'
It was a difficult decision, but I took his words as a
mandate, and the God who gives generously somehow
kept me clothed.
On her first visit to a church with stained glass windows,
a little girl asked her mother who the persons were,
through whom the sun shone.
They are saints/ her mother replied.
She thought about this for a while, then said: 'Now I
understand what being a saint means. It means, to be a
girl through whom Jesus's beauty shines, even if I'm not
beautiful myself/
When one reads the sad biographies and dark episodes
in the lives of some saints, this childish definition
becomes astonishingly perceptive and true.
At our family devotions, we read the song of the virgin
Mary which is known as the 'Magnificat'. Then I said, 'Let
us pray/

82	From the Lips of Children
Amélie, then five, spoke up. 'Isn't what we just read a
prayer? We weren't just reading.'
In her childish thinking she had followed the Scripture
prayerfully. There was no need to begin to pray after the
reading!
No wonder Jesus said, 'Unless you change and become
like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven' (Matt. 18:3).

Misinterpretations

"In due course a tree will grow."
A father wishing to put his son to the test gave him a
pound coin and a ten-pence piece for the Sunday school
collection. Tut whichever of the two you want to in the
offering/ he said. 'It's your choice.'
When the boy returned he said to his father, 'I listened
to the pastor's advice - and I gave the ten-pence piece.'
'Is that what the pastor really said?'
'He certainly did! He said we should give cheerfully,

84	From the Lips of Children
and it was a lot easier to be cheerful giving the ten-pence
piece!'
We should all give as much as we can cheerfully, but
we have to learn how to give both cheerfully and with
generosity.
In our family, before going to church on Sunday each
grandchild receives from his daddy some money to put in
the offering.
Five-year-old Alex once queried this. 'Why should
I give money to God? Does He want to become a
millionaire? Let's send Him a Bible. You told me that
there's a verse in it that says, "The love of money is the
root of all evil/"
God not only knows but inspired the Bible, and we
need not remind Him of those words. But some pastors
would do well to ponder St. Paul's comment.
I know one clergyman whose small granddaughter
asked him, 'What does the word "allergy" mean?' He
explained it as an aversion to certain foods or medicines.
The child replied, 'I understand, Grandpa. You are
allergic to money.'
If only that were true of all ministers! Too many nowa-
days are preoccupied with their benefits and investment
and properties. Even the clergyman who told this story
said that he felt that this most beautiful compliment was
not entirely true of himself, though he wished it were.
Like many children, Amélie sometimes has a finicky
appetite.
Once I said to her, 'It's not good for you to only eat
dessert. You must first eat your soup and salad, and the
other good things that Grandma prepares.'
She replied, 'I eat as Scripture tells me to/
'What do you mean by that?' I inquired in surprise.

Misinterpretations	85
The Bible says that God prefers the dessert! Look, here
it is, read it/
The verse she actually showed me said that God led
His people forty years 'through the desert' - she had
misread it as 'dessert'.
I smiled, but I could not help wondering whether
perhaps we adults are not sometimes just as guilty of
reading into the Bible what we hope to find there.
The English language, with its many 'homonyms' -
words that sound the same but have very different
meanings - can be very confusing to a young child. A
five-year-old observed, 'It must be very wrong to fly in a
plane. Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you always/"
Of course, he had thought it said 'low'.
We smile. But in truth, Jesus is with us only if we
seek the low places. The Bible says that 'in lowliness of
mind' we should value others better than ourselves
(cf. Phil. 2:3).
On the other hand, Amélie once remarked that Jesus
must have enjoyed flying in aeroplanes. Puzzled, I told
her that He never flew. But she insisted that He did, and
pointed to a heading in her Bible: 'Jesus' flight to Egypt',
and to Luke 6:17 where it is said that Jesus 'stood in the
plain'. As his disciples and a large multitude were with
Him, she added, it must have been a large plane!
The subtleties of English spelling had not yet become
apparent to her.
I was reminded of a Russian Baptist who, unlike other
Baptists, insisted on making the sign of the cross. He
justified himself by asserting, 'It is written in the Bible
that we must do so/
In Russian, the word krestitsia has two meanings: to be

86	From the Lips of Children
baptised, and to cross oneself. He had adopted both
meanings of the word.
Schoolchildren were asked to draw the holy family.
One child drew them in an aeroplane. Four heads were
looking through the windows.
Curious, the teacher asked, 'You have Jesus, Mary and
Joseph - but who is the fourth person?'
That's Pontius, the pilot!'
From the mouths of babes have come many versions of
the Lord's prayer. One prayed, 'Our Father, Harold be
Thy name,' and 'Give us this day our jelly bread.'
But are grown-ups any better than children?
When Jesus cried from the cross, 'Eli, Eli,' His hearers
thought He was calling Elijah. How do we listen to the
words of the Bible?
Jesus once asked, 'How do you read it?' (Luke 10:26).
A child who heard that God Himself wrote the Ten
Commandments on tablets of stone observed, 'God must
write with His left hand.'
'Why do you say that?'
'Well, you read to me yesterday from the Bible, that
Jesus sits on God's right hand - so He can't move it.'
To an adult this is an entertaining deduction, but it is
also a correct guess. The Law comes from the side of
harshness, called in the Bible the left side; whereas grace
flows from the right side (cf. Matt. 25:33). The saved are
on His right.
Some children might have theological intuitions, but
since they are human and influenced by the good and evil
to which they are exposed, it is our responsibility to be
careful what we say in their presence.
A teacher asked in class, 'Is the world round?'

Misinterpretations	87
Isaac replied, 'No, Ma'am/
'Is it flat, then?'
'No, Ma'am.'
'Well,' demanded the teacher, 'if it is neither round nor
flat, what is it?'
Isaac was equal to the challenge: 'My Papa says it's
crooked.'
Another child was asked, 'Where do you live?'
'In hell,' was the startling reply.
Next he was asked, 'Who is your father?'
The devil.'
The teacher was shocked. 'How can you say such
things?'
'It's what my mother says, all the time.'
Children can receive negative images from us - of the
world, mankind, the Church, clergy, rulers, our nation.
If they do, we will be held responsible for their
negative or false theology.
It is wrong to criticise churches, clergy or grown-ups in
the presence of children.
During World War II, a child in an American home heard
only the worst about Germans from the tender age of
two. Since there was no television, the child could not
possibly understand what a 'German' actually was.
But once her mother warned her, 'Be careful; there are
germs on the plate.' Now she knew. When her father
came into the room, she announced, 'I've got Germans
on my plate!'
Be careful of what you tell children. If you stir up
disgust in them for a certain category of men, they may
unintentionally project it on to others who are related to
them perhaps only by a syllable.

88	From the Lips of Children
At the age of six, Amélie was more charitable towards
sinners than were most of her elders. 'I don't believe
there is a hell/ she said. 'Bad men enter Paradise as well -
but with a sad heart.'
Concerning the existence of hell, there has been much
debate. Is it a place, or simply a horrible state of mind
experienced by those eaten with remorse, with no hope
of reparation or restoration?
When St. John Chrysostom was asked which of the
two he thought was true, he answered, 'I don't speculate
about hell. I shun it!'
At seven, Amélie approached me one day and asked me
to baptise her dog.
'Honey, only humans are baptised, not dogs.'
'Why?'
'Because dogs can't tell the difference between good
and evil. They are not responsible.'
She was thrilled. 'If my dog has no sin, then it will
surely be with me in the resurrection!'
Does not Isaiah 11 describe the messianic kingdom as
belonging also to sheep and tame wolves, which will be
led by a little child?
Children's questions are sometimes perceptive, and
sometimes foolish and perplexing. Amélie once stumped
me with: 'Grandpa, why don't you bow to windows?'
'Wherever does the Bible say such a foolish thing?'
She promptly showed me: 'Honour widows.' With her
limited vocabulary and experience - she knew nothing
about widows - she had given the printer the benefit of
the doubt and supplied the 'missing' letter. She wanted
to fulfil a commandment which she thought she had
found in the Bible, even though it made absolutely no
sense.

Misinterpretations	89
When it comes to fulfilling God's commands - do we
lean on our own understanding?
Jewish theology distinguishes between mitzvah, a com-
mandment that is intelligible, and chok, a commandment
for which we can see no reason but which must be
fulfilled because God says so.
Members of a family were discussing the Christmas
story. The mother asked the others why they thought
Jesus was born in a stable.
Seven-year-old John answered, 'Because there weren't
any doctors at that time/
'But/ countered his mother, 'God could have provided
a nice place for Him to be born in if He had wanted to/
'Well/ reasoned John, 'God was in Mary's tummy, and
He couldn't work out anything from there/
We know of no high thoughts or great deeds on Jesus'
part while He was in Mary's womb. Some keep Him
locked up in a closet, and then wonder why he does not
perform miracles.
Eight-year-old Amélie confided one day, 'I love a boy
who is in my class, and I told him so.'
'What did he say?'
'He said he couldn't stand me, and he hit me on the
head as well/
'Well then, you had a chance to obey Jesus' advice to
respond with love!'
'But Jesus told us to turn the other cheek when some-
body hits you on the cheek. He didn't say what to do when
somebody hits you on the head. So I did the same thing
to him, and now he won't forget me/
Children, like us, have a tendency to pharisaism. They
also have their own excuses for evading the universal
duty of love, which applies in all circumstances when

90	From the Lips of Children
there is no specific commandment covering an unex-
pected situation.
A boy of six saw a skeleton for the first time and wanted
to know what it was.
Those are the bones of a man who has died/ he was
told.
'Oh/ he commented, with childish logic, 'so it's just
the fat that goes to heaven!'
In this case the child was wrong in his theology. Fat can
be an impediment to entering heaven: 'Small is the gate
and narrow the road that leads to life' (Matt. 7:14).
Delicacies and luxuries must be left to others if we are to
advance along that narrow way.
A Baptist child in America was baptised at the early age of
six, on a particularly cold day. Next day he sang with his
family the hymn 'Holy, holy, holy', which ends with the
words, 'God in three persons'. The child sang, 'God in
four persons.'
When he was chided for this, he said, 'But I was
baptised in the names of four persons. When the pastor
immersed me, he said "In the name of the Father- Brr! -
the Son - Brrr! - and the Holy Spirit - Brrr!" '
The pastor had shivered aloud, and the child, too
overwhelmed by emotion to register the chill of the
water, had assumed that 'Brrr' was the name of a fourth
member of the Trinity.
In Communist countries, where the underground
Church has no baptistries, believers in winter make holes
in the ice through which to baptise.
In Western countries, we should not only count our
blessings, but also ignore our inconveniences.

Misinterpretations	91
During family devotions a child heard that we are made
of dust and, when we die, return to dust. A little later he
commented, There's a man under my bed who's either
being born or dying/
'What do you mean?' queried his startled mother.
There's a lot of dust under my bed!'
Another child was taught that Adam became a living soul
when God breathed His spirit into him. He sighed: 'So
God is dead/
The child could not be convinced otherwise: 'Anyone
who gives up his spirit is dead/ he explained.
At five, Mihai asked me where apricot trees come from. I
told him, 'You have to dig a hole in the ground, put an
apricot stone in it, cover it and then water it. In due
course a tree will grow/
Excitedly he summoned his brother and together they
followed my instructions. After watering their buried
treasure, they dug it up again immediately to see
whether a tree had begun to grow. Naturally, they were
greatly disappointed.
Children in this respect make the same mistakes as
adults. We all rush to see results. God made the world in
six days, not one.
When I read to Mihai from the book of Joshua, about how
God ordered wars, his comment was, 'This must have
been before God repented and became a Christian/
Christians should take care not to read the writings of
the Old Testament undiscerningly.
Children, it seems, sometimes know only too well how to
be deceitful.

92	From the Lips of Children
A Slovak nun, a primary school teacher, tells of an
amusing incident. She was distributing sweets to the
children on St. Nicholas' day. One child, Stanko, was ill,
so she gave a slipper full of sweets to another boy, John,
to take to him.
When Stanko was better, she asked him if he had
enjoyed the present. He claimed that he had never
received it. So she decided to confront the two boys.
'I gave them to you/ said John, pointing to himself.
'I didn't get anything/ protested Stanko.
But John, pointing to himself again, repeated, 'I gave
them to you. Don't you call me "you", when you speak to
me? Well then, I gave them to "you". I carried out my
assignment/
Once I had to speak to an American pastor about his
financial dealings, which were not above board. He said,
'You don't understand the Bible at all. All money belongs
to God. I am God's child. Whaf s wrong with depositing
God's money in the bank account of one of His beloved
children? We Christians all belong to one body. It only
seems that I have dishonestly taken for myself something
that belongs to another. We are one; the money belonged
to a member of the body; and after I have taken it,
continues to be the property of the same body - though of
another member/
Such deceptions are amusing in children, but in adults
they are criminal.
As we seek to become like little children in matters of
faith, let us at the same time remember that all of us,
children as well as adults, have sinned. We do well to
shun childish foibles, while emulating childlike faith.
The greatest danger in children's theology lies in the fact
that they are prone to gullibility. Because of their trusting
nature, they are easily led astray. The suggestibility of all
human beings is limitless, but it is greatest in children.
Two small boys were discussing the myth of Icarus.

Misinterpretations	93
There was once a prisoner who wanted to escape. He
stuck some feathers on himself with wax and flew. But he
went so near the sun that the wax melted, the feathers fell
off and he fell into the sea!'
'Is that a true story?'
'Of course it's true! It's in my history book.'
Another boy was a member of the Orthodox Church;
he was sure that St. George really did kill a dragon,
because he had seen ikons portraying the victory.
We can learn a great deal from children, but let us grow
in understanding and not be taken in by every wind of
doctrine, nor be led astray from the truth and go after
fables (cf. 1 Tim. 4). Furthermore, let us not demand of
our pastors that they 'tell us pleasant things' (Isa. 30:10).
A child asked his father, 'Why are all the pastors in
America either white or black? Why aren't there any
green pastors?'
'Where did you find such a silly idea?' laughed his
father.
'Daddy, you read yesterday from Psalm 23 that He
leads us to green pastors.'
This urban child did not know what a pasture was, and
could not relate to it.
Pastors must be very careful to communicate effec-
tively. Even adults can misunderstand what they are
told, thinking only in terms of their own theological
vocabulary - obviously more limited than that of the
pastor. They relate what he says to what they know.
I was born a Jew. The Christian language was com-
pletely foreign to me. When at the age of twenty-seven
I entered a Christian church for the first time and heard
the congregation singing of 'the lamb of God', I whis-
pered to my wife, 'These are the idolators of old who
worship animals!'
Children's misapprehensions should serve as a re-
minder to theologians and preachers, to speak the truth

94	From the Lips of Children
plainly. They are handling matters of eternal signifi-
cance.
'God must have an awfully big stomach/ said a little boy
returning from church.
'Why?' asked his mother.
'Because the Bible says, "In Him we live and move and
have our being." ' (Acts 17:28).
Another boy aged four observed that God must have
many ears, because He has so many prayers to listen to at
once.
The Hindus paint Krishna with many arms, because
God has to help many people simultaneously.
Children, and primitive religions, have sensed a truth:
heavenly beings have many more organs for perceiving
reality than we do.
It is written of the cherubim that 'their entire bodies,
including their backs, their hands and their wings, were
completely full of eyes' (Ezek. 10:12). They also have four
faces, with ears, noses and mouths on each.
If this is true of His heavenly creatures, one can be sure
that God is even better equipped for hearing, seeing and
handling everything. Children can be reassured about
God's capacity to take care of them. There is no need to
worry that a prayer will go by unheard.

Versions

Back to playing with toys.

I taught little Alex the verse, 'He shall pray unto God, and
He will be favourable unto him' (Job 33:26, av). But the
word 'favourable' did not exist in his six-year-old vo-
cabulary. When he came to recite the verse, he said, 'He
shall pray unto God, and God will pray unto him.'
He could not understand why his 'version' was wrong;
it tallied with his experience. 'I pray to God and tell Him
what I desire. Then He prays to me and tells me what He
desires. I tell Him I love Him; He tells me the same thing.
He prays even better than I do!'
We have a problem; we need a sense of purpose in life,
something to live for. Jesus has a problem; He needs
workers in His kingdom.

96	From the Lips of Children
We pray to Him about our problems. He also speaks to
us through the Bible, the Church, His special servants, an
inner voice, the events of life; sometimes even visions
and dreams.
Ultimately the child was right. We pray to Him, and He
tous.
Sometimes children have unusual insights. An eight-
year-old girl said, 'I wonder why all these people are
talking about their experiences with Jesus? I never had an
"experience". He told me to come; and I came. He said,
"I will give you rest," and He gave it to me. I wonder also
why they bother Jesus so much. He gave them rest; they
should give Him rest, too/
There are often guests in my home. The conversation
ranges over many subjects. Once I and a fellow-Christian
were discussing some philosophical problems. Ten-year-
old Amélie was quietly playing with her toys in the same
room.
I remarked, 'Every point of view is actually a "point of
blindness", for it blinds you to every other point of view.
If you look at the ceiling of a room, you cannot see the
floor, and vice versa. If you look at the right side of the
room you cannot see the left. Each point of view of a
party, religion or social class diminishes your ability to
see with equal clarity a different point of view. Only an
overall intuition can get at the truth/
To our surprise, Amélie interrupted. 'Only to see the
whole is still blindness. It keeps you from recognising
that there is not just the whole but also the parts, which
are different from each other. The "whole" is an abstrac-
tion, which means it is only part of reality. The truth
comprehends all the parts and their sum, in a totality/
Now I cannot vouch for the fact that these were her

Versions	97
exact words, as I had no tape recorder running. But the
thought here expressed was very definitely hers.
Everyone in the room was stunned for a moment.
Amélie went back to playing with her dolls.
A multitude of Christians are now so enamoured of
ecumenism that they can see only the whole as the
representation of true Christianity. But individual de-
nominations are as legitimate a part of the truth as is the
sum total of which they are part - and even that state-
ment assumes that an organic whole is a possibility and
that it would be recognised as such.
Let us pursue Jesus' desire that all Christians should be
one. Let us also value the certain truth that we have in our
own denominations. Christianity would not have de-
nominations were it not for the good of those who love
God, though we do not yet understand the mystery that
lies behind it.
But a child understood.
A six-year-old girl had heard the story of the annunci-
ation of Mary, and asked her father, 'What is a virgin?'
He replied, 'It's a kind of forest. Look at these pictures
of virgin forests in the Amazon. They are forests never
penetrated by man.'
'Oh!' exclaimed the girl. 'Then the angel saw her as a
virgin, alone in such a forest with no man ever to hug her.
So he came to spend an hour with her and tell her
beautiful things. Angels are neatY
Five-year-old Alex thoughtfully remarked, 'God will
have to be patient with me when I become an angel. I
won't be able to fly very well. I expect it is like skating -
you fall over a lot before you get good at it.'
Later he wondered, 'Aren't fallen angels merely angels
who are just starting out?'
The point about fallen angels is of course far-fetched.

98	From the Lips of Children
But Christians begin angel-like lives here on earth. Like
children, they should not be discouraged if they do not
become instant flying experts! It takes a great deal of
practice to develop spiritual as well as physical skills.
When Mihai was six, I attempted to impress upon his
young mind the truth of John 3:16, that God gave His
only Son to die for us.
'Isn't it wonderful?' I asked, and was taken aback when
he calmly replied, 'Not at all.'
I was surprised, and insisted that he explain what he
meant, and he readily did so. 'It is wonderful when a
poor man gives a large gift to the Church. But large gifts
are normal for a rich man. For God, it must be the normal
thing to give the best/
Since we belong to God's family, it should be normal
for us to give of our best too.
A child of five, on hearing the Christmas story, com-
mented, 'See what the angel wants you to understand.
The news of Jesus' birth was a great joy only to people.
For the angels, it was a great sadness. They were going to
be without Him for a long time.'
May we too always be aware of how angels feel about
what happens to us! Sin gives us pleasure; if it did not, we
would never sin. But it grieves the angels.
An eleven-year-old boy once acted the role of Joseph,
Jesus's adoptive father, in a Sunday school Christmas
production. When he discussed with his parents what
sort of shoes he should wear, they suggested sandals. He
wanted cowboy boots. When his father explained that it
was unlikely that Joseph would have worn cowboy
boots, the boy replied, 'Yes, but he didn't have braces on
his teeth, either!'

Versions	99
He had understood that biblical personalities can be
represented in a contemporary way.
Some believers do not accept this. A lady once said to
me, 'My daughter claims to be a believer, but she is not
born again. Look how short her dress is - and how bare
her arms!'
I pointed to the picture of her mother that hung on the
wall. It was taken in the last century. The lady wore a
dress as long as a nun's habit.
'What you yourself are wearing/1 pointed out, 'would
have seemed like a mini-skirt to your mother. You have
to accept the fact that your children may hold to the same
faith as you do, but in forms other than those to which
you are accustomed.'
The twelve-year-old son of a doctor learned in Sunday
school that Jesus was delivered up to death out of envy
(cf. Matt. 27:18). When he was asked why Jesus was
crucified, he replied, 'Well, in the Bible it says it was
because of envy. Doctors were mad at Him because He
healed people for nothing. If there were many like Him,
my father would be broke.'
A pastor's son contributed, 'He also deprived priests of
their income by forgiving the sins of men who had not
brought a sacrifice. Was Jesus right to take away the jobs
of men like that?'
Albert Schweitzer, like many hundreds of self-
sacrificing physicians, did not use his medical knowledge
as a means of making money. On the contrary, he served
the poor while remaining in poverty himself. Likewise,
many pastors have been more concerned about
preaching the gospel and ministering to others, than
about looking for high salaries and personal well-being.
Somebody asked a child what it is like when you die.
'When you die,' he replied, 'God takes care of you, just

100	From the Lips of Children
like your mother did when you were alive - except God
doesn't yell at you all the time.'
Ought we not to make sure that children do not see
such a contrast between God and ourselves?
God is perfect. Since we are Christians, children can-
not see why we are not perfect too. Jesus said, 'Be ye
perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect' - perfect
in this respect at least, that we do not yell at our children.
During the Nazi era, a great many members of my family
were killed for the crime of being Jewish. When the
slaughter began, Mihai was only two. He grew up in our
home, constantly hearing conversation about killing. It
seemed that whoever entered our home spoke only
about relatives and acquaintances who had been mur-
dered. The concept of actual killing was as familiar to
Mihai as toy soldiers and toy wars were to other children.
One evening, after we had prayed together before
bedtime, he asked me, 'Will we be killed too?'
He was only four.
I replied, 'Possibly.'
'How will it happen?'
'The police will come and take us away in a car/ I
explained.
Mihai had never been in a car. In Eastern Europe
pastors had no money for bus fares, let alone for cars. He
rejoiced. 'And will they drive us around much?'
'Quite a lot; to the edge of town.'
'And then what?'
'And then they will shoot us all with a machine gun.'
He was silent for a few moments. Then he said earn-
estly, They will kill us a little, and then we will be
resurrected much - and we will go to heaven. The police
cannot follow us there because they don't know about
the ladder that reaches up to the sky.'

Versions	101
The Soviet Baptist Peters was killed while transporting
Bibles which had been printed in secret. As his wife
wept, their four-year-old child asked, 'Mother, is heaven
a very bad, ugly place?'
'What makes you ask such a foolish question?'
'I can't understand why you're crying, now that Daddy
has gone to a place like Paradise, which you both always
told me was lovely.'
Compare what these children say with the words of a
pastor I read about. He was asked at a party, 'Can one be
sure? Where do you go, Pastor, when you die?'
'To heaven, of course,' replied the pastor. 'But why
should we talk about such a sad subject as death?'
For a Christian, 'death' is quite the wrong word. It
means passing to a much better life. 'He is not the God of
the dead, but of the living' (Matt. 22:32).
Often children do not 'put the lid on' the dead, but
speak of them as if they were still living.
Alex once prayed at the meal table, 'God, thank you for
the food. Please feed those in heaven also, especially
General Eisenhower and George Washington/
At the age of eight Amélie prayed for a multitude of
friends - and also for the well-being of St. Paul. I asked
her why. She answered, 'Paul finishes an epistle by
saying "Pray for us," and that includes the other
apostles. Mustn't we obey everything in the Bible? It
doesn't say anywhere that we must stop praying for
them when they die.'
A family had moved into a new house which was far
more luxurious than the one they had lived in previously.
The child wandered round admiring all the new and
different things, and finally exclaimed, "What beautiful
things we have now!' He would never have thought
to say to his father, 'These beautiful things belong to
you.'

102	From the Lips of Children
The child understood what the Bible says: 'All things are
yours . . . and you are of Christ' (1 Cor. 3:21,23).
In Russia, schoolchildren are taught that man has
descended from apes.
A child stood up and said, 'Thank you, teacher, for
giving us this explanation. I always wondered how Com-
munists could be so wicked. I never knew but now you
have made it clear. You are wicked because you come
from gorillas/
Another child in Russia reacted differently when told
of his alleged descent: 'That can't be true. I've seen apes
in the zoo and they're delightful creatures. It is a pleasure
to see them jumping around, they grin at children, they
are grateful if you give them a nut. I can't believe that
wicked Communists could have descended from such
happy creatures as apes.'
Rumania is an Orthodox country. In such countries it is
the custom for the priest to go from house to house with a
cross in his hand, blessing the family, on the first day of
every month.
Little four-year-old Gaby was stopped by a priest in the
street. He held out the cross towards her so that she could
kiss it.
Looking up at him gravely, she asked, 'Why should I
kiss it? The cross doesn't need my love. You do/ Where-
upon she reached up, grabbed hold of the priest's beard,
pulled his face down to hers, and kissed him right on the
mouth.
The words might have seemed impolite, the gesture
forward. But oh! If we could lavish on our fellow human
beings the love we show for mere things, how much
brighter this world would be! I know many Christians
who are attentive to the words of Scripture, but deaf to
the heart-cries of those around them.

Versions	103
It is not the cross, but the Man of the cross who needs
our love. And Jesus said in effect, 'Inasmuch as you have
shown love to your fellow man, you have shown it to
Me/
The child was right.
When he was five, Mihai said to me, 'Father, I was
smarter than you! When you were young you sinned and
then later you repented. I was born a Christian from the
very beginning/
A professor of religion once asked his class, 'How
many of you were born Christians?' Several hands went
up. He smiled tolerantly, then commented, 'No, you
weren't. You were born miserable sinners like all the rest
of us.'
We are not born sinning, but we are born sinners; we
need the grace of God to enable us to become Christians.
Through dedicated Christian parents, this grace can be
mediated to children at a tender age.
In this regard, Mihai had not been smarter than me!
Amélie wanted to know how Jonah managed to get out of
the fish.
Alex, with the confidence of a six-year-old, had an
explanation: 'Jonah was a prophet - that means he was
smart. When he boarded the ship he knew that ships
sometimes sink and that he might then be swallowed by a
fish. So to be on the safe side he put some red pepper in
his pocket. He put the pepper in the fish's nose and that
made it sneeze. Then he could slip out.'
We smile leniently at the naivety of a child, but how
prepared are we for emergencies? More to the point - do
we arm ourselves daily for the battle with evil? The Bible
describes in precise detail the armour that will help the
Christian to cope (cf. Eph. 6:13-17).

104	From the Lips of Children
At seven Alex loved football, and tried to explain it to his
Grandpa - who was not really interested: 'During the
game it sometimes seems that your team is losing, but in
the final minutes the game can turn and you can finish up
as the winner. If s the same in the game between God and
the devil. On Good Friday it seemed that God had lost.
Jesus had died on the cross. But then God turned things
round, and on Easter Sunday He put the ball in the
devil's goal! God came out the winner/
Let us never say 'We have losf or 'We are lost'. The
Referee has not yet blown the final whistle.
Six-year-old Alex was much impressed by a film about
chivalry.
'When I'm big I'll be a knight/ he decided. 'Then I'll
have to fall in love with a lady. But Grandpa, don't be
frightened. When you fall in love, you don't fall down
and break your bones. You fall up!'
A small boy once said something to another which he had
probably heard from his parents: Tour God is evil.' Such
words never come from the heart of a child.
The young Christian replied, 'Really? Then let's work
together to make Him good.'
'That's stupid. We can't decide how God should be.'
The Christian child (who was perhaps eight years old)
said, 'Sure we can. God was once a boy like you and me,
in the house of Joseph and Mary. They taught Him every
day by word and example to be loving, good, honest and
hard-working. If Jesus had been born in some other
home, wicked parents might have taught Him swearing,
lying, stealing and drinking. We can teach God.'
This was a child's way of expressing thoughts which
are too profound for words.
The Bible says that we can 'magnify God - which
means, to make Him bigger. Bigger in what? We can

Versions	105
make Him rejoice with singing (Zeph. 3:17). We can
make Him very sad. We can provoke Him to wrath. We
can decide how God should be. God is love - but so much
depends on our response.

Reactions

Little Alex injured himself
climbing a fence.

A child, who was expelled from Sunday school for being
naughty, cried, 1 want my money back!'
I once did the same. I was at a Sunday morning service
in a church in Boston, Massachusetts. The customary
offering was taken, and I put some money on the plate.
Then the pastor preached a sermon against Richard
Nixon.
Though I had not voted for Nixon, I was not at all
disposed to sit through a sermon against him in the
morning worship hour. I bore with the minister for some
ten minutes, then stood up and interrupted him: Tlease
start speaking about God' (he had mentioned neither
God nor Christ).
The pastor was unnerved, and shouted back, 'I have
the right to say what I like/
I replied, 'Not so, sir! When I ask for cheese at a
grocers, I get cheese; if I ask for tomatoes I get tomatoes.
The store belongs to somebody else but because I am

Reactions	107
paying, I am considered the boss. I've paid here, too. I
put money in the offering plate on the assumption that I
would get my money's worth of knowledge about God. If
you want to talk about Richard Nixon that's all right by
me, but then please give me my money back.'
I had applied the principle of children's theology. If
there were more children in the churches, pastors would
have to give proper value, or go broke!
We were walking in a park with Mihai, who was probably
four years old at the time. At one point he had to be taken
to a public lavatory. As he left he said, 'The lady in charge
is a very good Christian. She allows people to make her
home smelly. She couldn't be nicer.'
What a beautiful image of a Christian, who is friendly
and hospitable even to those he finds repulsive! He
remembers that Jesus showed compassion for the poor,
the unlovely, the weak; and that He invites to His ban-
quet those from the byways as well as the highways.
When Mihai was small I once spanked him for some
minor transgression. If you beat me again/ he told me, 'I
might die. How sad you will be then!' He was genuinely
not thinking about his own discomfort, but about my
sadness.
I was deeply moved.
When I myself was later passing through great suffer-
ing, I surprised myself by saying the same words to God,
echoing those of Job: 'You will search for me, but I will be
no more'(Job 7:21).
When somebody wrongs us, we would do well to
disregard our own afflictions and think rather of the
harm our adversary does to himself, and of his future
regrets.

108	From the Lips of Children
At the end of World War II, posters were displayed in
all the trams and buses, portraying hanged men. It
was effective propaganda for capital punishment of war
criminals.
One day, travelling in a tram with Mihai, I noticed that
he kept his eyes covered with his hand the whole time.
When I asked him why he did so, he replied, 'I don't
want to look at evil.'
It is recorded that Jesus knew no evil. It is far better to
have no knowledge of evil, than to know it and reject it.
When Mihai was five, I rebuked him for a sin. 'God has a
book, and in that book there is a page with your name on
it. There He writes down all your sins. There was one the
day before yesterday, another yesterday, and now you
have sinned again.'
He replied, 'Do you believe that God only writes down
the bad things I do? Doesn't He write down the good
things as well?'
He was right. The image of God as a policeman who
books one only for law-breaking is wrong - and harmful.
A child was given two coins, one for himself, the other for
the offering in Sunday school. Clutching them in his
hand, he trudged off to church. On the way he fell over,
dropped the coins, and could only find one of them
again.
'I'm sorry, God/ he said, 'but your coin is missing.'
Children can sometimes be selfish - just like their
parents!
When Mihai was small he could not be dissuaded from
coming with us to all-night vigils, though he sometimes
fell asleep half-way through them.
He would complain that the services were too short.

Reactions	109
He often said, 'Being in church is being with God, so why
not spend all our lives there? The church should be our
playground.'
He certainly acted as if it were, and could not under-
stand why everyone was so serious in church.
One Sunday morning he disrupted the whole service
with his noisy playing. By the time we got home I had
decided to punish him.
'Do you think it is nice that only the pastor's son
misbehaves in church?' I demanded.
He replied, 'You think I wasn't listening to the sermon.
But I know every word of it.'
'Very well; what was it about?'
'You spoke enthusiastically about forgiving somebody
who has sinned/ he replied. 'So you ought to do that
now.'
There could be no arguing with such words!
Almost since the day she was born, Amélie has heard
stories about Jesus. I have sometimes wondered what the
name could mean to a very small child, to whom so much
remains yet to be told.
When she was two, I showed her a picture of Jesus for
the first time, and pronounced His name, pointing to His
bleeding heart. She became very serious, and spon-
taneously kissed the picture twice, though she had never
seen anyone do such a thing.
Even at that early age, she knew that Jesus was a
person to be cherished.
Speak to babies about Jesus. Speak in their presence
about His glory! One cannot tell how early their under-
standing begins.
When Amélie was three my wife gave her a sweet. The
child took another piece from the box and gave it to me.

110	From the Lips of Children
Gently refusing it, I explained, Today is Friday. This is a
day on which we do not eat/
Of course, she asked why. I told her what fasting is,
and explained that it is an old Christian custom not to
eat on Friday, the day on which Jesus was crucified.
(This fast is particularly observed by the persecuted
Church.)
Amélie gave both sweets back to her grandmother,
saying, 'I will fast too.'
A boy wrote God a note: 'Dear God, church is all right,
only the services are very boring. Can you write some
new songs? Your friend, Barry.'
True religion is never boring, because its focus is on a
lovely person. The psalmist wrote, 'Sing to the Lord a
new song' (Psa. 149:1).
Dorothy, a girl of six, protested when her mother insisted
on treating her doll Elizabeth just as a doll.
'She's not a doll; she's a girl. I can tell. If she were a doll
I would not put her nappy on, so you see - she's not a
doll/
The way I treat a person affects how I think about him.
If I treat him badly I will begin to think of him as an
enemy.
If we get into the habit of following a false god, we
begin to think of it as real because we worship it. That is
how false religions begin. That is how the nightmare of
Jonestown started.
We should become like little children in matters of faith
and trust, but not in everything. Our powers of reason
and discernment must mature.

Reactions	111
Somebody asked a minister's nine-year-old son, 'Have
you decided what to be when you are grown-up? Will
you be a pastor like your father?'
He answered, 'I don't think so. Ministers work too
much and don't get paid much. My father could have
made more money as a plumber/
Another boy of six was invited to dinner along with his
parents. During the meal, he announced loudly to the
hostess: 'You sure don't know how to cook!'
Jesus tells us to become like little children, honest and
forthright - but not naughty and mean-spirited. The
truth should always be seasoned with politeness and
kindness.
One of my nieces had several guests at a time when her
husband was abroad. Being short of accommodation, she
explained to Alex, then five years old, 'You'll have to
sleep with me in my bed.'
'I can't do that/ protested Alex. 'We're not married!'
Would that those who are much older had such strong
principles!
Valladares, the Christian poet, spent twenty-two years
in Cuban jails. In prison, he was married. On his release
friends prepared a bedroom for the couple, who had not
yet enjoyed the privileges of their relationship.
'I cannot sleep with her yet,' he said gently. 'We
only had a civil marriage. I will wait for the religious
ceremony/
He and Alex shared the same theology.
My son and daughter-in-law once took the children to a
restaurant that was not very impressive from the outside.
Alex asked his father, 'Why are you taking us to such a
shabby place?'
But once inside, they saw that everything was clean
and pleasant.

112	From the Lips of Children
Alex asked to be allowed to say grace. 'I thank You,
God/ he said with childish candour, 'for the lesson You
taught me today, that I should not call somebody or
something ugly because of its outward looks. Help me
always to see the inside.'
Man sees not as God sees, for God looks at the heart.
Let us not be hasty in our judgements.
Victor, a Jewish child of five, was being driven past a
church. 'Father, let's stop here a while and see how God
is today.'
Do we go to church with such a purpose?
Victor also took part in a Christian prayer meeting, in
which every prayer began with 'Lord Jesus. . / Puzzled,
he asked, 'Where is God in your prayers?' It was a valid
question; Jesus taught us to pray 'Our Father7, and to
approach the Father 'in My name'. He never taught us to
pray to Himself.
A twelve-year-old Jewish child was told the story of Jesus
and was warned, 'Know that if all those things are true,
and you don't believe them, you will perish.' He replied
to the teacher, 'Know by the same token, sir; you will
perish if those things are untrue and you have believed
them.'
We all need to ask the age-old question, 'What is
truth?' However, unlike Pilate, we should follow it
through and not rest until we have found out the answer.
But the primary question should be, 'Who is truth?'
Jesus said simply, 'I am the truth' (cf. John 14:6). Having
settled that, we next learn 'Your word is truth' (John
17:17). The Jewish boy had no need to remain in doubt.
We must take care as to what we believe or disbelieve.
We walk a narrow pathway to heaven.

Reactions	113
A child, on being shown the splendid mausoleum of a
millionaire, exclaimed, 'This is really living!'
Alex, who has been in many prosperous homes, re-
marked 'It isn't good to be a millionaire. It makes you
nervous, and then you don't share with people.'
A husband and wife quarrelled constantly, and finally
decided to get a divorce. On hearing this, their six-year-
old child - who had been a constant witness of their
disputes - said, 'I can't tear myself in two to please you.'
Next morning he told his parents, 'My shoulders and
arms are aching. During the night I felt like Daddy was
pulling me by one arm and Mummy by the other. I feel as
if I've been torn in pieces and I don't know how to put
them back together again.'
God Himself has put into children's hearts the in-
tuition that 'What God has joined together, men should
not separate.'
In Russia, secondary school pupils are taken to the
Museum of Atheism in Moscow.
A guide showed one school group all the exhibits
designed to prove the evils of religion. They were shown
pictures illustrating man's evolution from animals, the
horrors of the Inquisition, and so on.
Then the guide showed them an ancient crucifix. 'You
see, children, in olden times people were backward.
They believed that there was a man called Jesus who was
God's son. It was supposed that He came from heaven to
earth, to save men from their sins. In their stupidity, they
believed that He took everybody's sins upon Himself and
that, animated by love, He was crucified for our mis-
deeds. Our forefathers had no sense! Their religion said
that if anybody believed in Jesus he would be forgiven for

114	From the Lips of Children
all his sins, and would eventually be resurrected from the
dead, just as Jesus Himself was resurrected, and would
enjoy a beautiful life for all eternity!'
A girl of twelve began to weep.
'Comrade teacher,' she said, 'Thank you for telling us
these interesting things. My wrongdoings have been
greatly distressing me. I made my mother cry; I lied to my
father; I cheated at school. I have been wondering how I
can get rid of my sins. And I am terrified of dying. Every
time I see a funeral, I think, "Some day I will be lying in a
coffin, and everything will be over." But I want to live!'
She continued, 'If no modern intelligent person can
believe what you have told us, then I will return to the
foolish ways of our forefathers. It is better to be foolishly
forgiven, and be resurrected, than to be burdened with
them intelligently and miss heaven. I will always be
grateful to you for what you have shown me.'
Once Amélie saw Jesus in a dream. He was saying gently,
'Come to Me/ She went to Him, circling as if in a dance.
Dreams about Jesus are rare. They may well be pre-
monitions.
The Russian Christian, Gennhadi Malachov, had com-
pleted his prison sentence, and his family had arrived at
the jail to take him home.
At the prison gate, his daughter asked, 'Father, where
are you going?'
'I am coming home with you, my child.'
'No/ the girl said unexpectedly, 'you must stay here.'
'Why? Aren't you happy that we will be together
again?'
'No/ replied his daughter, who had been born after his
imprisonment and had never known him at home. 'I
have always been taught that my Daddy's place is in jail,
to suffer for Christ.'

Reactions	115
A Christian child should know that his father is a
cross-bearer, and should be surprised to see him without
a cross. Jesus said, 'Take up your cross, and follow Me/
That is the role of the Christian, the 'Christ-follower'.
The child of Michel Sakharov went with his mother to
visit his father in jail, where he had been imprisoned for
his faith.
The prisoner stretched out his arms to the child and
said, 'Come to me, darling.'
The child clung to his mother, and said, T don't want to
go to him. My father is handsome, I've seen his pictures;
this skinny wrinkled man is not my father.'
Children of Christians tortured and imprisoned by
Communists are not the only ones who fail to recognise
their loved ones. The Jews loved God in glory, but when
the Son of God appeared first as a baby in a manger, and
later as a marred and crucified Saviour, they failed to
recognise Him.
Malachov's child had sharper spiritual perception than
Sakharov's.
During the Christmas season a Sunday school teacher
told her class about Jesus' birth in a stable. The following
week one pupil asked, 'Do those poor people have a
house yet?'
That is a good reaction to the Christmas story; the Holy
Family should have a home. My own home should
certainly be made available. Better still - my heart.
After visiting Israel for a few days at the age of eight,
Amélie observed, This is a land where cats don't scratch,
dogs don't bite, and all men are good.' After a brief and
unpleasant encounter with a cat, she changed her mind.

116	From the Lips of Children
'Some cats scratch - but they must have come from
somewhere else/
It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Jesus taught us to look at the lilies as they grow, not
after they are picked; at birds as they are fed by God, not
after they are killed by predators. We are told to worship
God 'in the beauty of holiness', and to think about
'whatsoever things are lovely'.
We ask God to turn away His eyes from our sins. Let us
also learn to turn our eyes away from what is ugly. Let us
open our eyes to the beauties of the holy land, the holy
Church, the holy nation, the holy Bible.
Little Alex injured himself while climbing a fence.
Examining his wounds, which were bleeding, he said,
'Now I know what a crucifixion is like.'
May we also bear every wound as a reminder of Jesus'
sufferings on Golgotha.
Before our trip to Israel, I promised Amélie that I would
take her to all the places that were significant in the life of
Jesus: Bethlehem where He was born, Nazareth where
He grew up, places in Galilee and Judea where He
preached, and then the places where He was judged,
whipped, crucified and entombed; finally, the place of
His ascension.
She thought for a while, and then said, 'Let's do it the
other way round. Show me first the place where, glo-
rified, He ascended to heaven. Then I will not be so sad
when I see the places where He suffered.'
I was reminded of meeting a Russian lieutenant during
World War II. He knew absolutely nothing about Christ.
I told him the story of Jesus' birth, childhood and
baptism, and then described the Sermon on the Mount,
the parables and the miracles. He, who had never heard
anything like it, was jubilant. Dancing round the room,

Reactions	117
he exclaimed, 'What fairy-like beauty! How could I have
lived, without knowing these things?'
Then I told him how Jesus was betrayed, arrested,
bound, sentenced, flogged and crucified. He could not
hold back his tears. When he heard that Jesus' enemies
had asked Him to show them He was the Son of God, by
descending from the cross, he considered that it was a
reasonable demand. He was sure I was going to say that
Jesus agreed to it.
When He heard that in fact, Jesus actually died on the
cross, he collapsed into an armchair and wept bitterly. He
had found a Saviour - but to no avail. Jesus had died.
Only when I was able to tell him the story of the
resurrection did he once again rejoice. I could have
spared him the tears and anguish, if I had told him at the
beginning that the story of Jesus has a happy ending.
Four-year-old Terry listened to a religious broadcast and
heard the preacher say, 'Jesus is mine/
'That's wrong!' he exclaimed. 'He forgot about me..
Jesus is ours, not only his.'
Take all you can from Jesus and his Church, but
remember that nobody has a monopoly. Jesus taught us
to pray 'Our Father', not 'My Father'.
A boy who had heard me speak of 'narcissism' asked
many questions about it.
Narcissism means self-admiration. Narcissus was a
legendary person who spent all his time gazing at his
own reflection, which was to him of surpassing interest.
The boy remarked, 'Then our Sunday school teacher is
a narcissist. He boasts that man is the crown of creation.
But when I went to Marineland I saw whales and dol-
phins doing amazing things. Can men do forty-ton back-
flips? Why does the Bible call Jesus a lion and a lamb?

118	From the Lips of Children
Because the lion is more powerful and the lamb more
gentle than men.'
Little children are free of adult sophistication, and they
don't look down on the animal kingdom. It's true that
God made only man in His image. He gave him a mind
that thinks, feels and reasons. But unlike Narcissus, man
is to reflect God, not himself.
Michel Horev, a Russian Baptist, wrote from jail the story
of his conversion. His father Mihai had died a. martyr's
death, leaving his mother very poor and with four small
children.
Once she was peeling potatoes - their only food - and
asked Michel as a favour to read the Scriptures to her as
she did so.
Michel baulked at that. He found the Bible boring. 'You
read, and I'll peel the potatoes/
That's not such a good idea; I'll have to find my glasses
first, which might take a while. Please be kind and read to
me/
/What part do you want to hear?' he said reluctantly.
The Sermon on the Mount.'
Such a long passage, thought Michel. Three long chapters.
He was a very poor reader, and his eyes were weak. He
got the Bible.
'Blessed are the poor in spirit,' he began, struggling
over the words. 'Blessed are those who mourn.' But
suddenly his eyes were opened to words which were not
on the page. Blessed are my parents. My father suffers in
chains. My mother is sad. Her life is bitter, too.
'Blessed are the meek/ he continued. Jesus must have
meant my parents. They've always been so meek. 'Blessed are
the merciful. . / Mother would share her last piece of bread
with anyone who was hungry or poor. 'Blessed are the pure in
heart. . .' They've never had a spot on their hearts. 'Blessed
are the peacemakers . . / They don't know what hate is. If it

Reactions	119
were left to them, they would even be at peace with the
Communists.
'Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteous-
ness'sake . . /For this blessing I am without a father.
His mind flashed back to earlier days. What a strange
man his father had been - as strange as this book!
His mother had told him that when he had been born,
the doctor had said to Michel's parents, 'The boy's eyes
seem weak. He may never see very well. You will have to
accept the fact that he may soon be totally blind.'
On hearing the doctor's sombre prognosis, his father
lifted the infant Michel towards heaven and said, Thank
you, God, for giving me a son after four girls, and thank
you that he has poor sight, perhaps no sight at all . . .'
His mother interrupted - 'Stop this senseless prayer!'
Tears coursed down her cheeks. 'You don't give thanks
for a child's blindness/
'Do you believe, then/ replied her husband, 'that God
makes mistakes? If he is blind he will be useless for
factory work or for any profession. Therefore he will be
dedicated to the Lord's work. The Bible can be read in
Braille/
Remembering this, Michel thought to himself, That must
be how Mary thanked God for giving her a Son whom the
prophets described as a 'man of sorrows', destined to die on a
cross.
'Rejoice, and be exceeding glad . . / He read on and
on, through page after page of the Sermon on the Mount.
By the time he had finished, he had settled in his heart
that he belonged to Jesus.
His father's predictions came true. He really did be-
come a pastor, and as a result he too has been in prison
for many years. He is in prison as I write, and he is almost
blind.

120	From the Lips of Children
In Aurora, Colorado, USA, an eight-year-old boy named
Charlie hanged himself.
He had sometimes been mischievous. Once he deliber-
ately ruined school equipment belonging to other pupils.
As a punishment his mother told him she would with-
hold his pocket money to pay for the damaged articles.
He became resentful. 'When I'm naughty I have to lose
my pocket money, but when my parents have a big
quarrel and they are naughty God does not keep back
their pocket money.' His final argument was suicide at
the age of eight.
Charlie's brother told his grandmother, 'Charlie went
to heaven to visit God, but he'll be back in a couple of
weeks.'
No doubt, when Jesus returns, Charlie will be back,
together with all who have suffered innocently. Will we
be able to look into their reproachful eyes?1
Parents, teachers and judges often have to punish
wrongdoing, and in this they are the representatives of
God, who hates sin. Everyone who punishes must take
good care to be very God-like, lest those who are
punished be driven to despair. Unjust punishment in-
flicted by unrighteous men can produce indelible
trauma, neurosis or psychosis.
Biographers tell us that one beating received by the
young Lenin caused him to tear the cross from his neck
and become a God-hater for life. His father had asked a
priest what he should do with his son, who had failed to
attend church. The priest replied, 'Beat him and beat
him.'The boy overheard.
One slap received by Tito when he was an altar-boy
made him a revolutionist and a mass-murderer. Having
been slack in his duties of serving the priest, he was
punished with a slap he never forgot.
Many people are like Charlie. They say, T get punished
1. Story from Denver Post, 22 April 1985.

Reactions	121
for my mistake, while God is good to those who beat me -
though their sins are greater than mine.'
Children's theology demands that adults behave as
they expect others - especially children - to behave. They
all too easily perceive the fallacy of 'Do as I say, not as I
do.'
Jesus said, 'If you love Me, keep My commandments' -
but He kept them too.
Some boys were misbehaving. Their Sunday School
teacher wished to impress on them the fact that God
would judge them. So he lectured them at length, repeat-
ing over and over again, 'Where is God? I say, where is
God?'
One boy whispered uneasily to another, 'Let's get out
of here - we're getting blamed for so many things, next
he's going to say it's our fault that God's disappeared.'
Of course children should be taught to be aware of
their sinfulness - but there is a need for proportion in all
things! We must not make them feel responsible for all
the tragedies of their homes and the world at large.
They have been born into a world that is full of sins
they did not commit. The entire weight of sin has been
carried by Jesus. It should not burden a child's heart.
In Sunday School the pastor was describing the cruci-
fixion and death of Jesus. A child said afterwards, 'That
story can't be true!'
'Why?' responded the pastor.
'If it were true,' the child replied, 'you would have
tears in your eyes as you told it.'
Such incidents taught me how to preach.
A boy whose mother was dying at Christmas time went
into the church and took the figure of the baby Jesus out

122	From the Lips of Children
of the crib. On the way home, he said to the figure, 'Now
you can see what it's like not having your mother/ When
his mother recovered, he put the child Jesus back.
We can have childlike daring in our relationship with
God. Who could not forgive a child?

Motives
'Oh, but others see my kite!
It gives them joy."
When Mihai was only five, I came home one evening to
find him very distressed. He had been playing with an
electric wire and had received a shock. To teach him a
lesson the baby-sitter had told him, 'Now you will die/
Mihai believed her, and told me the sad story. Trying to
reassure him, I said, 'Don't worry- if you die, you will go
to heaven.'
Tes,' he said, 'but I want to stay here, to do more good
deeds.'

124	From the Lips of Children
St. Paul once wrote that he wanted to depart and be
with Christ 'which is better by far; but it is more necessary
for you that I remain in the body' (Phil. 1:23-24).
Was Mihai speaking out of altruistic motives like Paul,
or did he simply want to get out of an embarrassing
situation? I can't tell.
I was similarly unsure of eleven-year-old Amelie's
motives when she badly wanted to have a horse. I told
her, That could cost a fortune! You could do a good deed
by giving up what you want, and giving the money to the
poor.'
'But that's what I want it for!' she explained. 'So many
people beat horses. This horse might even be bought by a
circus, where it would suffer terribly learning the tricks it
would have to perform. If I had it to look after, the horse
would have a very good life.'
Do we make our decisions out of pure motives? Are the
good intentions we claim genuine?
There is more than a touch of irony in the story of the
atheist's child who said to his parents, 'It's safer not to tell
God that we don't believe in Him. Then He might take us
to heaven anyway.'
When Amélie was tiny, someone told her the story of
Lourdes. To my surprise, she insisted that I take her
there.
'Why?' I asked. 'You aren't ill.'
'But I want to pray at Lourdes, that I won't become ill.'
Must we wait for trouble before appealing to God to
free us from it? Must we for ever fall asleep only to
awaken time and time again in revivals and crusades? Or
would it be wiser to pray, 'Lead us not into temptation'?
The chief concern of pastors for their flock should not
be the recovery of sinners, but teaching their congre-

Motives	125
gâtions how to vanquish sin when it first intrudes, and
how not to entertain lustful or impure thoughts.
My wife and I once stayed with an Indian family whose
five-year-old boy had just been given, for the first time in
his life, a really beautiful pair of shoes. I was barefoot,
because my legs were hurting.
During the meal he must have overheard the words of
John the Baptist: 'He who has two tunics, let him give to
him who has none.' He took off one shoe and handed it to
me.
When, not realising what was happening, I made no
effort to take it, he asked whether he had done something
wrong; perhaps I was not a believer?
He certainly proved that he was a believer.
When he was nearly four, Alex heard his sister say, 'I'm
going to be a doctor when I grow up.'
Feeling that he needed to say something about his own
plans, he chimed in, 'When I'm big, I want to be a man
who will make his mother happy.'
What a beautiful ambition! We would do well to copy
it. We can make our heavenly Father rejoice over us with
singing (Zeph. 3:17). We can make heavenly Jerusalem-
which is our mother - rejoice. Even a prodigal son can
make his father happy by returning home.
A Scottish pastor was given notice of dismissal. During
his years of service, it seemed that nobody had been
converted.
Moreover, he had allowed a foolish thing to happen
that had scandalised the congregation. When the offer-
ing plate had been passed around, a nine-year-old boy
had asked the sidesman to put the plate on the floor.
Wondering what would happen, the sidesman had done

126	Front the Lips of Children
so. The boy had stood on the plate. The congregation had
not understood that he had given himself as an offering.
That boy was Robert Moffat, who later became a well-
known missionary in Africa. His son-in-law was David
Livingstone.
We can learn from this child the best kind of giving.
A missionary in Uganda in the nineteenth century told
this story.
His church had a gift day, but instead of sending their
gifts ahead of time for decorating the church, they
brought them with them on Sunday morning. When the
service was over and the missionary stood looking at the
pile of gifts, he thought he heard something. Raising his
head, he saw a little African girl in the aisle.
'Do you want to speak to me?' he asked.
Very timidly the girl came to the front of the church,
and said, 'Please sir, I want to give something.' Putting
her hand into her scanty garment she pulled out a bag.
Opening it, she brought out handful after handful of
silver and gold until there was a pile on the table worth
more than all the other gifts put together.
The missionary said, 'You ought not to have done this.
Tell me where you took the money from, and we will put
it back.'
The child burst into tears. 'It's all mine!'
'It can't be!' exclaimed the missionary. 'You are much
too poor.'
Then the story came out. The child had sold herself as a
slave in order to be able to give money to the church.
To become self-sacrificing like God is an excellent way
to find Him.
The archives of the China Inland Mission contain a letter
sent over a hundred years ago to its founder, Hudson
Taylor.

Motives	127
If you are not dead yet, I want to send you some money
I have saved up to help the little boys and girls of China
to love Jesus.
The Christian Mission to the Communist World received
a similar letter from a boy of nine:
Mr. Wurmbrand, my mother read to me from your
book, Tortured for Christ. I had tears in my eyes when I
heard about the sufferings of Christians under the
Communists.
I hope you are grand enough to accept criticism
without getting offended. My Mom told me this is a
sign of grandeur in a man.
We live in Rhodesia. You lead missions in many
countries. Why not in ours? It was wrong of you not to
think about it. Many Rhodesians would help. I'll
volunteer to become your general director. It must be
nice to be at the same time a general and a director and
also to serve the Church. Do your generals wear uni-
forms like those of The Salvation Army? Please reply.
Don't despise the little ones. Our angels daily see the
face of God.
I replied with a four-page letter telling him what his
duties as general director would be.
As a result, not he but his mother became our general
director, and the nine-year-old 'missionary' became her
assistant.
The story is often told of the six-year-old boy who was
carrying another aged four. An adult asked him, 'Isn't he
too heavy for you to carry?'
The reply was, 'He ain't heavy. He's my brother.'

128	From the Lips of Children
Amélie remained in the house as we accompanied de-
parting guests to the car. Within minutes she joined us,
saying, 'I was afraid that if I remained alone I might do
something stupid.'
People are especially prone to doing stupid things
when they are on their own and unobserved. But why
should they be alone? There are no loners in God's
service. Christians should remain in constant fellowship
with their brethren.
Amelie's comment reminded me of a quiet madman
who was a member of my congregation in Bucharest,
Rumania, years ago. Once, when we invited him to
lunch, my wife set before him the usual knife, fork and
spoon.
He said, 'Please, take the knife away. I know I am mad,
so I have said to God, "Since I'm foolish I don't know
what I might do if I had access to a knife/' So I promised I
would never hold one in my hand/
If only all adults and mentally healthy people had such
wisdom!
Many devices for rescuing individuals from alcoholism or
other bad habits are often unsuccessful. I read of one
method that was very successful.
A five-year-old boy said, 'Mummy, do you know what
I want for Christmas more than anything else?'
Little con-man! thought his mother. I wonder what he's
after?
The answer bowled her over. He said, 'All I want is a
Mummy who doesn't smoke any more. I love you very
much, and want you to live for a long time.' Then he put
his chubby arms around her neck and kissed her.
She had to brush away a tear. She never smoked again.
A mother gave her son an apple. 'Share it with your
brother in a Christ-like way.'

Motives	129
'What do you mean?'
'Give your brother the bigger half !'
Handing the apple back to her, he said, 'Why not give
it to my brother and let him have the chance to share it
with me in a Christ-like way!'
We smile. But it ill becomes us to pass to others the
duty of being like Him.
Children can be disarmingly honest when their motives
are not entirely pure.
A grammar class was asked to write a sentence contain-
ing an object. One child wrote, 'Dear lady, you are really
very beautiful.'
'Thank you very much/ responded the teacher, 'but
what is the object in this sentence?'
'To get a good mark,' the pupil replied candidly.
When my grandson Alex was four, I asked him for a kiss.
He said, 'I can't give it yet.' After an hour, he came to me
and announced: 'Now you can have the kiss.'
I asked, 'But why not earlier?'
'Because my kiss wasn't yet stuffed with enough
love.'
Are our kisses always stuffed with enough love? There
is nothing more saddening than a loveless kiss.
When Luke, who was nine, heard people cursing the
gypsies for stealing and fortune-telling, he wanted to be
taken to them so that he could share his sweets with
them. He told his mother of his intention: 'When I grow
up, I am going to wash the feet of gypsies, just as Jesus
did. Isn't that better than complaining that people have
dirty feet? Will you let me do it?'
That child died young, having lost his sight. On his

130	Front the Lips of Children
deathbed, he said: 'I would like to take all the gypsies
with me to heaven/
'If someone wanted to kill me/ observed Amélie, 'I
would say to him, "First let me tell you the story of
Jesus." If he killed me afterwards, at least I'd go to
heaven.'
Her thinking was wiser than her years. Christians in
Communist or Islamic countries who are brought before
torturers or executioners make it their first priority to tell
them about salvation through Christ. Before answering
any questions from their interrogators about the under-
ground Church, they share their faith. Then what comes,
may come.
Isaac Feinstein was a Hebrew-Christian missionary in
Rumania who was killed in the Holocaust. He left six
children behind him, one of whom died at the age of
nine. On her deathbed she comforted her mother: 'You
have five other children. Papa is in the next world,
without any of his children. If s only right that I should go
to him.'
That is how easily a child who believes is able to face
death.
A blind child was flying a kite. She was asked, 'Why are
you doing that? You can't see anything.'
'Oh, but others see my kite! It gives them joy. And I
have the feeling that it draws me upwards.'
A child asked, 'If I pray, will I get everything that I ask
for?'
'Yes, but only if it is good for you/
'Well, "all things work together for good" anyway, so I

Motives	131
don't have to pray for good things! Can I pray for what is
bad, and get it?'
The answer is yes, it is possible. Balaam, a false
prophet, was granted the fulfilment of a bad desire, but
this resulted in his own destruction.
A girl named Catherine read the whole Bible, Old and
New Testaments, eight times before she reached the age
of twelve. Are you wondering what became of a girl like
that?
She became the wife of William Booth and the co-
founder of The Salvation Army.
Such a little child can lead us, by her example, into the
Word, so that we too may maximise our usefulness in the
kingdom of God.
Count Zinzendorf, at the age of four, was taken to
an art gallery in Düsseldorf, Germany. He stood
before a picture of the crucified Christ. It bore the in-
scription, "This I have done for you; what are you doing
for Me?'
Then and there, the little boy decided to dedicate his
life to the Saviour.
He could never forget that question. While still a child
he told himself, A faith that does nothing is just babbling.
When he was grown up, he formed the community of
the Moravians, which has as its motto, The Saviour
deserves everything'. Missionaries from the community
went to Greenland, to India, to Africa.
Acknowledging the decisive influence of a picture on
the life of this Christian, can we discredit the use of holy
representations in worship? We use pictorial Bibles and
Bible story books for the instruction of children. Perhaps
art might serve to arouse the child in every adult.
Children's theology does not object to religious art.

132	From the Lips of Children
A partially paralysed girl, who was distressing to look at,
was avoided by adults and children alike. No one wanted
to be subjected to her endless complaints.
Finally she realised what the problem was. She de-
cided not to complain any more. She would tell jokes -
jokes even about her own disabilities - and she would
amuse and cheer up those who were in her company.
Soon people were delighted to be in her presence.
Eventually she became a professional comedienne.
In November 1984, Galina Viltchinskaia was freed after
five years in jail, which had been interrupted only by
three months of freedom. From jail she went directly to a
service of the underground Church in Habarovsk. It was
the normal thing for her to do; after all, she had been
imprisoned for her faith.
When she was released she was twenty-seven years
old. The church in Russia which told her story to the
outside world said that she was extremely thin, and had
shrunk so that she looked like a child of eleven. Her face
was yellow; she had little hair left. It was an effort to try to
smile.
Because of continuous starvation in prison, her body
was unable to manufacture fat. It was reported that it
might be months before she could eat normally - assum-
ing that she remained free, which was considered very
unlikely.
When a friend met her who had known her in the old
days, she exclaimed, 'What have they done to you? You
look like a child!'
Galina replied meekly, 'I should have made myself
look like a child of God, but I suppose I did not, so they
did it their own way. '
The Russian Baptist leader Mihail Khorev tells of one of
his childhood experiences.

Motives	133
During the siege of Leningrad in 1941, he was living
with his mother and three other small children (his father
had died in jail for his faith in Jesus). The family was
doomed to starvation.
His mother used to pray, 'Thank you, God, that you
love us so much/ Little Mihail always wondered about
that. If God loves us so much, why can't we have a piece of
bread?	t
One day she brought home a piece of cheese, divided it
into four, and left the room. Mihail wondered why there
were not five pieces. Unsure what to do, he held his piece
in his hand.
After a few minutes, his mother came back into the
room and asked, 'Does anybody have a piece of cheese
left?' Mihail nodded. His mother continued, 'Old Kolia,
our neighbour, is dying of hunger. I asked him what was
his last wish, and he said, "Something to eat". The last
wish of a dying person ought to be granted. Would you
give up your piece of cheese?'
Mihail went with his mother to see how Kolia would
eat the cheese. When his mother placed it in the dying
man's mouth, he smiled and breathed his last. He had
not been able even to swallow the morsel.
Mihail was tempted to remove the cheese from the
dead man's mouth and eat it himself. When would he
ever see cheese again? His mother saw what was going
on in his mind.
At last he said, 'I gave the cheese not to Kolia, but to
God. I won't take back a sacrifice given to Him.'
His mother was happy. Later Khorev wrote, from
the same jail in which his father had died, T can testify
that the greatest happiness for a man is to be totally
consecrated to God.'
Have we made vows to God which we have later
regretted? Then let us remember the saints and the
martyrs - not only those of old, but also those of today.

134	From the Lips of Children
A poorly-clothed barefoot Egyptian child who was about
ten years old pointed to the Nile. He told me, 'As a
baby, Moses floated on that river in a basket. Princess
Hatsheput saved the little boy, who then went on to save
his people and to save mankind from much ignorance. I
have nothing either - but nobody has saved me.'
Incredible things can result from the saving of a single
child.
I told this story to an adult afterwards, who retorted,
'Nonsense! How do you know that the child you save
won't turn out to be another Hitler?'
How cynical we become as we grow up! Children
are much less inclined to indulge in such negative
speculations.
A Moslem boy of thirteen heard a Christian extolling the
sublime teaching of Jesus, that we must love our enemies
and turn the other cheek when we are beaten.
He said to himself, 17/ test this teaching. He slapped the
Christian.
True to his convictions, the Christian wept silently,
saying, 'I am weeping for you.'
Surprised, the Moslem boy asked to be shown what
part of Scripture contained this strange command. He
was shown the text in Matthew chapter 5, and after
reading the chapter through he decided to live according
to its precepts. But he could not break the habit of
swearing, nor could he see any lîlessedness' in mourn-
ing and in being poor.
He consulted a wise Christian, who explained, 'The
teachings of the Sermon on the Mount are not command-
ments given to men; no man could fulfil them. There has
only ever been one life motivated by such love, and that
was the life of Jesus Himself. Ask rim to come into your
heart, and He will change you.'
The boy did so, and became a new person.

Motives	135
A five-year-old, who had been ill since birth and had an
incurable handicap, awoke from what the doctors had
believed to be a coma.
He said to his parents, 'I saw Jesus. He sent me back.
He did not tell me why/
Many of us have escaped near-brushes with death. Let
us believe that it was Jesus who sent us back. We might
not know for what specific purpose, but it was surely so
that we might serve Him whole-heartedly.
Mihai was eight years old when he came home from his
Catholic school and announced that he was not going to
pray any more.
I said, 'All right, you have the freedom to decide what
you want to do. But can I ask you how you came to make
such a decision?'
He complained that he had had two discouraging
religious experiences that day.
In class, he had discovered that he had forgotten the
exercise book that contained his homework. So he had
prayed to God, who can do anything, to make the
exercise book fly the short distance from home to school.
Had I not told him that God took a whole man, Ezekiel,
and transported him from Babylon to Tel-Aviv? So it
would be no problem for God to fetch his exercise book.
The prayer had been in vain. The book did not arrive,
and his teacher had scolded him.
Later, in the religious knowledge class, his teacher - a
monk - told the pupils about a mason who swore at the
virgin Mary while working on a high scaffold. As punish-
ment, the blessed virgin allowed him to fall from the
scaffold that very day and break his legs.
Unable to bear this, Mihai had stood up and said,
Teacher, that can't be right. If someone wrongs my
father, he forgives him. Surely the virgin Mary is even
better than my father? If somebody speaks badly of her,

136	From the Lips of Children
surely she forgives. The man must have fallen because he
was careless/
In answer to this argument the teacher had given Mihai
a slap.
We decided that the best course was to leave Mihai
alone. We did not force him to pray.
At the same time I told his story to a lady who knew the
Catholic archbishop, who made the monk apologise to
Mihai. After that they became friends, and once more
Mihai joined with us in prayer.
Later still, I shared a cell with that same monk in
prison.
Political circumstances forced the father of Laura del
Carmen Vicuna to flee from Santiago, the capital of Chile.
She was still a baby when he fled. Soon afterwards he
died, leaving the poor mother to work as a seamstress to
support her two little children.
The mother, who was very beautiful, soon became the
prey of a rich but brutal landlord, Manuel Mora. He grew
tired of the woman he had lived with for a while, branded
her like an animal with a red-hot iron, and chased her
away.
The knowledge that her mother was living in sin with
Mora caused the young Laura much suffering.
At the age of ten she took her first communion. On that
day, in 1901, she wrote down the following resolutions:
 1.	My God, I wish to love and serve You all my life
long. Therefore I give You my soul, my heart, myself.
 2.	I would rather die than insult You by sinning.
Therefore I wish to  shun everything that could
separate me from You.
 3.	I take it as my aim to do everything I can to ensure
that You may be known and loved, and to repair the
insults that You receive daily from men, especially
from my relatives.

Motives	137
When she was twelve, Laura unwittingly aroused the
lust of the same Mora and had to flee. To avenge this
insult, Mora bound her mother to a pole and flogged her
almost to a pulp. Laura, inspired by Jesus' words about
the good shepherd who gives his life for his sheep,
decided to offer her life to God on behalf of her poor
mother.
Soon she fell fatally ill. But despite her sickness, Mora
attempted to seduce her. Only the intervention of neigh-
bours saved her.
Towards the end of her short life, she said to her
mother, T am dying. I have asked Jesus for this. For two
years I have offered my life to Him so that He might give
you the grace of repentance. Mother, before I die, will I
have the joy of knowing that you will return to God?'
Her mother promised, and Laura died breathing the
words 'Thank you, Jesus. I die satisfied.'
She was thirteen.
Her mother kept her promise and became a believer.
She refused Mora's demands, even when he threatened
her with a revolver.
Jesus wants more children like this, to offer their lives
for the salvation of sinners.
A child was anxious to wear spectacles, because he
thought they would give him the same prestige as his
father, who was a bespectacled executive.
He was taken to an optician, who showed him a chart
and asked what letters he could distinguish.
T can see the first letters very well - H, I, C. But I can't
see the next ones - S, A, B - at all.'
Our amusement at this story belies our own inclina-
tions! When we read the Bible, we readily accept what fits
in with our own ambitions and preconceptions. But we
fail to see what does not agree with our own theories or
pet sins, because we want to see the world through
spectacles of our own choosing.

Solutions

God doesn't wear shoes.'
I have shouted many Hallelujahs in my time - but I never
thought to hurl them at the enemy's head!
My grandson at the age of five was determined to
become a soldier, though he was not sure whether in the
American, Israeli, or Salvation army. He looked forward
to the time when he would be able to shoot, but thought-
fully anticipated my reaction. 'Don't worry, Grandpa. I
won't shoot with bullets - but with Hallelujahs.'
This struck me as being thoroughly biblical. Are
praises to the Lord ('Hallelujahs') really as ineffective as
we might imagine? In Joshua's time, when it was time for
the Jews to capture Jericho, they were commanded not to
shoot but to blow their trumpets and shout. A great
victory was gained.
Consider too the great victory of Jehosophat over the
Ammonites and Moabites - sworn enemies of the Lord -

Solutions	139
when he sent an army of singers against them, praising
the Lord. 'You will not need to fight this battle/ the Lord
promised, and the enemy was utterly destroyed and left
much booty.
We would do well to shoot with Hallelujahs!
I have always enjoyed telling Bible stories to my grand-
children. I remember telling Alex how Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon had set before his citizens the alternative
of bowing before a statue portraying him as a god, or
being thrown into a burning fiery furnace.
I asked Alex what he would have done. 'Would you
have bowed to another god than our heavenly Father?'
'No way!'
'So you would have let yourself be thrown alive into
the fire?'
'No way!'
'What other choice would you have had?'
'I would have thrown Nebuchadnezzar into the fire!'
Five-year-old Alex listened carefully to Jesus' story of
the man who owned a hundred sheep, lost one, and
searched until he found it. Joyful at reclaiming his loss,
he gathered his friends for a feast. The conclusion of the
story is that in heaven 'there will be more joy over one
repenting sinner than over ninety-nine people who need
no repentance'.
'What did you learn from the story?' Alex's father
asked him.
'The man should have watched over his sheep more
carefully; then he would not have lost one/
Clergy expend a great deal of energy on revivals and on
seeking to rehabilitate Christians who have gone astray.
Would it not be better to warn Christians about the
pitfalls and bypaths that might lead them astray in the
first place?

140	Front the Lips of Children
When he was four Mihai said to me, 'Father, what can I
do? I'm bored/
I suggested that he should think about God.
'What can I think about Him with my little mind? He
can think about me with His big mind.'
Instead of theological speculations, which are often
fruitless because of the limitations of our minds, we
would do better to assure ourselves, through Christ, of
God's friendship. Then He will be free to take care of us
without hindrance.
A child tried to draw a picture of God, and was rebuked.
'Give up this silly attempt. Nobody knows what God is
like/
He answered simply. 'They will when I have finished.'
Whenever I came home after work, Mihai would ask,
'Father, did you brin&me anything? Good evening/
One morning I read to him the story of how Jesus
chased the merchants from the temple, and I took the
opportunity to draw a lesson from what we had read.
'You are a temple - but you also have merchants that
must be chased out. '
'What merchants?' he asked.
'One merchant is in the habit of asking first what gift I
have brought, and then offering me a greeting.' He
acknowledged that this was true.
'You have a second merchant/1 added. 'You love Jesus
because He promises you Paradise. Would you love Him
if He had no Paradise to give? To love Him just for what
you can get out of Him is mercenary.'
Mihai replied, 'You have to pretend that you don't
know He can give you Paradise, and say to Him simply,
"I love you." But deep down, we know what He can
give/

Solutions	141
A father agreed to be a one-man audience for a drawing-
room Nativity play produced by his four children.
One played Mary, another Joseph, and the third an
angel bringing the good tidings. The fourth child
presented herself: 'I am the three Magi who have come
from the East/
When it was pointed out that she could not possibly be
three wise men, she replied, 'Why not?'
And why not, indeed? Nobody is a single self, but
rather a cluster of selves. We have the outward man, the
inner man, the hidden man of the heart, the Id, the Ego,
the Super-Ego. Often we 'talk to ourselves', or conduct
mental arguments with ourselves.
It was the best in Peter that acknowledged Christ as
'the Christ, the Son of the living God7. It was the worst in
him that denied his Master, saying, 'I do not know the
man/
To a greater or lesser degree, we are all 'split person-
alities'. Very young children are probably the most
integrated among us.
One child can play all three Magi. Were an adult to
attempt the role, the three would probably quarrel within
him.
A mother was putting her child to bed. 'Don't forget to
pray for Grandma, that she might grow very old with us.'
'Why?' asked the child. 'Wouldn't it be better to pray
that God will make her young again?'
The fact is, that those we pray for will one day be young
again.
Andrew Carnegie, who was known as the King of Steel,
became rich as the owner of the greatest steel mills in the
world.
When he was a ten-year-old boy in Scotland, he had a
rabbit-hutch but no food for his little animal friends. So

142	From the Lips of Children
he told the neighbourhood boys that if they would gather
clover and dandelions for the rabbits, he would name the
animals after them. The deal was accepted.
Carnegie learned early in life how fond men are of their
own names, and he applied that knowledge throughout
his life.
Years later he named his steel mill in Pittsburgh after
Edgar Thomson, director of the Italian railway company
to which he wanted to sell steel rails. He had learned his
lesson well!
Perhaps he had been inspired by reading what the
Bible says in this regard. God promised Abraham, T will
make your name greaf (Gen. 12:2). Jesus promised the
overcomer, T . . . will acknowledge his name before my
Father and his angels' (Rev. 3:5).
Don Pedro, king of Brazil, intended to build the first
hospital in his country, but had no money. So he issued a
decree promising to everyone who gave the sum of
$10,000 the title of Baron; to those who gave $20,000 the
title of Viscount; and to those who gave the sum of
$40,000, the title of Duke.
Money began to pour in, and the hospital was built.
When inauguration day came, the veil covering the
plaque was drawn aside to reveal this inscription:
This hospital has been donated by human pride to
human misery/
At some time or other, everyone suffers from frus-
tration or a lack of self-confidence. Consequently most
people - including ourselves - are not as we would like
them to be, and so we must meet them on their own
ground as we attempt to win them for the kingdom.
Little Andrew Carnegie made use of a form of recogni-
tion-award to accomplish what he wanted. Let us apply
his tactics, by making sure that in our churches every
individual counts and is highly regarded.

Solutions	143
The Sunday school teacher rambled on and on about the
great characters of the Bible, starting with Adam and Eve;
after an hour he had only progressed as far as Jeremiah.
'Now comes Ezekiel/ he announced. 'Where should I
place this great prophet?'
A girl answered promptly, 'He can have my place - I'm
leaving!'
Worse things can befall a preacher who has not learned
the skill of communicating the gospel in terse words!
Nauka i Religia, the chief atheist magazine of the USSR,
tells of the life of some Christian families who fled to the
tundra (treeless arctic plains) and the taiga (swampy
forests) of Siberia, in order not to associate with the
God-hating Communists. They were discovered by
anthropologists, after living a solitary life for forty years.
The scientists recorded the following story about two
children in the community.
When a dog died, one child said, 'Let's bury it and put
a cross on its grave/
The other said, 'It wouldn't be lawful; the dog wasn't
baptised.'
Then lef s put a garland on the grave. The dog will see
it from heaven and rejoice.'
The atheist Einstein was brought to believe in God by a
very small child; none other than Yehudi Menuhin, who
astounded the world at the age of six with his violin-
playing.
Einstein was visiting Menuhin's father, a practising
Jew. They discussed ideas about God, and Einstein ex-
plained why he did not believe in the existence of God.
Yehudi, the wonder child, overheard the dis-
cussion while playing with his toys, and interrupted.
'Mr. Professor, I will prove to you that God exists.'
Amused, Einstein asked, 'What is your proof?'

144	From the Lips of Children
Yehudi took his little violin and began to play. Einstein
listened in ecstasy. When the child finished, he asked
Einstein, 'If there were no God, how could a child of six
play music that delights thousands in concert halls?'
Einstein never again claimed disbelief in God.
A little girl was talking to her mother, who was busy in
the kitchen. She was telling her the events of the day.
When she had finished, her mother said, 'Now go and
polish Daddy's shoes.'
The girl did not enjoy the task, but she obeyed. Soon
her father came in, but before he had a chance to thank
her, she asked, 'Who polishes God's shoes?'
Her father was no theologian. Even if he had been,
would his theological qualifications have been any help?
Somewhat embarrassed, he said, 'I suppose some
good angel considers it an honour to do so.'
She was not satisfied. 'I was wrong- God doesn't wear
shoes. He told Moses, "Take your shoes off, because you
are on holy ground." God is always on holy ground in
heaven. So He can't wear shoes, and there's no need to
worry about it.'
At family prayers that evening, her father read how
Jesus washed His disciples' feet.
She remarked, 7esus too had walked barefoot, or with
just sandals, on the dusty roads of Palestine. It would
have been nice if one of the disciples, after having his feet
washed by Jesus, had offered to wash His feet. How
come it didn't occur to any of them?'
Again, the father had no answer. He had never real-
ised that we must not only accept Jesus' services, but also
ask ourselves what little things we can do to help Him.
His daughter was wise beyond her years. It is import-
ant for us to consider the theology of children.

Solutions	145
Today's headlines contain many unnerving and tragic
events, among them the abduction, kidnapping, rape
and murder of little children. Like many concerned
parents, my son instructed both his children never to get
into a stranger's car and to refuse any toys, sweets or
money from strangers, however pleasant they may
seem.
Once he decided to test Amélie. 'Would you go into
someone's car if he offered you 500 dollars?'
'No way!'
'What if he offered you 5,000 dollars?'
'No way!'
'But what if he offered 50,000?'
'Well. . . 50,000 dollars is a lot of money. I'd tell him,
"Give me the money and I'll ask my Daddy what I should
do."'
Everyone has a breaking point. Anyone can resist a
small temptation. But if it is really enticing or overwhelm-
ing - don't be in a hurry to give in. Rather, ask the One
who has told you not to yield, the One on whose good
intentions you can always rely.
A little girl in a wretched attic, whose sick mother had
nothing to eat, knelt down by her bedside and said
slowly, 'Give us this day our daily bread.' Then she went
into the street, wondering where God kept His bread.
Turning a corner, she spotted a large, prosperous bakery
and thought, This must be the place!' So she went in
confidently and said to the baker, 'I've come for it/
'Come for what?'
'My daily bread/ she said, pointing to the tempting
loaves. 'I'll take two, if you please - one for my mother
and one for me/
The baker wrapped them and gave them to his little
customer, who started at once for the door.
'Stop, you little rascal!' said the baker roughly.
'Where's your money?'

146	Front the Lips of Children
'I haven't got any,' she replied simply.
'Haven't any? You little thief! What brought you here,
then?'
The harsh words frightened the little girl and she burst
into tears. 'Mother is sick, and I'm so hungry. In my
prayers I said, "Give us this day our daily bread," and
then I thought God meant me to fetch it, so I came.'
The rough but kindly baker was softened by the child's
simple story, and instead of punishing her he said, 'You
poor girl! Here, take this to your mother.' And he filled a
large basket with bread and gave it to her.
The famous missionary to Africa, George Moffat, went to
a new tribe and found to his amazement an inscription on
a tree: "The Christian school gathers here.' He did not
know of any Christian missionaries who had been there
before him.
Soon he found a twelve-year-old girl and asked her
about the school. Well, she said, she was the head-
mistress and the only teacher. She had lived in a neigh-
bouring area for a time, where she heard the gospel; and
she had returned to be the first missionary to the tribe.
It is not impossible to recruit children for home and
foreign missions. In fact, children have special access to
people's hearts.
A four-year-old boy from Sri Lanka, born with terrible
deformities, listened intently as his father read in the
Scriptures of how the disciples questioned Jesus about a
man handicapped from birth: 'Who sinned, this man or
his parents, that he was born blind?' (John 9:2).
The little boy broke in to ask, 'Mummy and Daddy, did
you sin, and was I born blind because of that?'
The parents replied, 'We were God-fearing from child-
hood. We are not conscious of any sin that would have
deserved such punishment.'

Solutions	147
The child then said, 'If that is so, I can be quiet. God
will show in me some work of His.'
Now some thirty years later he is still alive, living
mostly in hospitals in great suffering. Through his quiet
witness, God shows that a cross can be borne patiently,
lovingly, and with the hope of a better life in Paradise.
A boy of twelve threw a stone that accidentally hit one of
the family geese on the head, killing it. Scared of the
consequences of his carelessness, he buried the dead
fowl, thinking that his mother would not miss it since
they had a number of geese.
That evening his sister blackmailed him. Tonight you
can wash the dishes. Otherwise I'll tell Mother what you
did.'
So he washed the dishes. But when she tried to black-
mail him again the next day, he replied 'No, today you
wash the dishes. I told Mum all about it - and she forgave
me.'
If you have committed a sin, however large, will you
allow men and devils to inveigle you into more and more
sins to cover up for the first? Better be quick to confess
your sin to God. You will not surprise Him, for you are
certainly not the first sinner. In fact, He would be
surprised if you did not sin.
Know also, He forgives gladly. Where appropriate,
confess your sin to the one you have wronged. And be
aware how important it is that you do not let anyone force
you into a wrong direction for ever, simply because you
have taken a single step in that direction.

Admonitions
"Have one, child.

Origen, one of the most celebrated teachers of the ancient
Church, passed through the gamut of suffering, though
he did not attain to the privilege of dying a martyr's
death.
He was only a child when his father Leonid (who later
died for his faith) was arrested. When he heard that his
father had been imprisoned, he did all he could to get
himself jailed. His mother tried in vain to dissuade him.
Finally she hid his clothes in desperation, and so forced
him to stay at home.
Unable to do anything else, he wrote to his father:
'Beware of altering for our sake your decision, that you
will suffer for Christ.'
Some Christians, thinking of the suffering that their
loyalty to Christ brings their families, crack under press-
ures and persecution. Some are concerned lest their

Admonitions	149
dangerous stand for Christ might make members of their
family forsake the faith, because of the heavy burden that
their father's sacrifice imposes on them.
I have heard many martyrs' children exclaim, 'If only
my father had kept silent, my childhood would not have
been so bitter.'
It is a great encouragement to have children like
Origen. When I was in jail, my son who was then very
young sent me letters in the same spirit in which Origen
wrote. His first words to me, when he was allowed to see
me after four years of detention, were: 'I have a rich
Father who is taking care of me. You need not worry.'
The guards who were listening knew that he was my
son. They wondered who this rich father might be.
May we encourage all who walk the way of the cross,
assuring them that we do not resent the suffering that we
may endure on their account. They should know that we
are proud of them.
Strolling through a park with six-year-old Mihai and his
friend, I sometimes found myself left behind as the boys
skipped ahead. All of a sudden Mihai spotted a man
reading a book. He went up to him and said, 'You'd be
better reading the Bible!'
'Why?'
'It tells you how to go to heaven. If you don't, you will
burn in hell. See that tall man over there? He's my father.
He'll explain things better.' With such an introduction, I
was able to take the opportunity to explain further. The
man was won for God, and is today one of Rumania's
greatest Christian poets.
Let us be evangelists, preparing the way like John the
Baptist.
At five, Mihai attended a prayer meeting where there
were prayers for the poor. 'Father,' he enquired, 'why do

150	From the Lips of Children
you bother God with prayers for the poor? Put your hand
in your pocket and give!'
Many say that they do not know how to pray. A child
provided the answer: a good deed is a wonderful prayer.
Once I explained to a child how tiny we are in this
immense universe. Man ought to be humble. He is no
more than a pebble.
The child (who was eight) replied, 'A pebble is a big
thing. If it gets into the shell of an oyster, it becomes a
pearl! If s wrong to despise oneself/
When my granddaughter was seven, she watched me
drawing men's faces. My drawing is worse than poor.
She said earnestly, 'Grandpa, you are sinning. God made
men to be beautiful. In your drawing you are making
them ugly!'
I would have liked Picasso to have heard those words.
He painted men ugly. But then I realised how often I have
labelled people bad whom God loves and who are
appreciated in His sight. A pebble can become precious,
and a sinner can be of great value.
A five-year-old child was watching his mother as she
made some cakes. Eventually he had a bright idea.
'Mummy,' he said, 'you have taught me so many nice
words. May I teach you some as well?'
'Yes, of course. What would you like to teach me to
say?'
'Try "Have one, my dear child!" '
The mother accepted the instruction immediately.
A group of us were discussing some serious mission
problems. Amélie, who was about six years old at the
time, was playing with her toys. Presently she inter-

Admonitions	151
rupted. 'Grandpa, whereabouts is the word "problem"
found in the Bible?'
'Nowhere that I know of/
'But you all believe in the Bible - why are you so
worried about something that's so unimportant, it isn't
even mentioned in the Bible?'
I learned from this childish comment that looking for
solutions to problems can be a useless exercise. It is
simpler to reject problems, as things that do not belong to
our lives.
In a life which has seen a great deal of suffering, I have
learned that it is a sin to be plagued with headaches!
In the Bible, Jesus is called the head of the Church, and
the believers are the body. Now, neither the foot nor the
elbow can have headaches - only the head. So a believer
with a headache has usurped the role of Jesus! It is as if he
said, 'Come down from the throne! I am the head now.
To prove it, I have headaches.'
In what sense do we have headaches like this?
At night Luther used to pray, 'God, is it my world - or
Your world? Is it my Church - or Your Church? If it is
Your Church and Your world, please take care of them. I
am tired, I have to go to bed. Goodnight, my God. We
will see each other in the morning/
Let us leave everything in God's hands.
A boy of six overheard his older sister exclaim several
times, 'Oh God!' Finally he said to her, 'You're doing
wrong. Don't bother God.'
There is an old teaching in the Bible that is almost
completely neglected. Jairus was rebuked: 'Why bother
the teacher?' (Mark 5:35). The Psalmist says, 'My soul
waiteth upon God' (Psa. 62:1, av).
It is said that Teresa of Lisieux once chided a nun for
constantly complaining about her troubles. 'Don't bother
your sisters. They each have their own burdens/
The nun accepted the rebuke in a good spirit. 'You are

152	From the Lips of Children
right. From now on, I will only tell my troubles to Jesus.'
'Oh, no/ Teresa said, 'to Him least of all! Has He not
suffered enough? Let Him have peace/
A couple had always put their toddler in the church
crèche, which is often very noisy. The day came when
they decided to take him into the adult service for the first
time. Before they did so, they told him, 'No talking in
church'.
Everything went well while the choir was singing. But
when the pastor began to preach, the boy shouted, 'No
talking in church!'
Most older children would probably agree that there is
too much talking in church! If the words they heard there
were warm with love and truth - the 'real thing' (which is
the meaning of the Hebrew word for 'word') - children
would not mind long services. In the underground
Church and in India, I have seen children quiet and
interested in services lasting two to three hours.
When the Union forces finally gained victory in
America's tragic Civil War, a jubilant crowd cheered
Abraham Lincoln. He asked the people what should be
done with the leaders of the rebellious South. They
roared, 'Hang them!'
Lincoln's son, Tad, said, 'Father, don't hang them, but
hang on to them/
'You are right/ said his father, and acted accordingly;
and so, in the opinion of some, made his assassination
inevitable.
Whether the child reflected the man or the man the
child, the Union was saved, and today America is one
nation under God.

Admonitions	153
An American pastor was once asked to preach in Japan.
When he came home, his young son asked him, 'How
could people understand you? You don't speak
Japanese.'
His father explained. 'I spoke a couple of sentences in
English, then someone translated my words into
Japanese.'
The child considered the explanation, and then said
brightly, 'Father, why don't you stop in your sermons
occasionally, and have somebody explain what they
mean?'
In Aria, which is 50 kilometres west of Addis Ababa in
Ethiopia, the first German missionaries bred cattle. They
had a twelve-year-old boy looking after their herd.
One evening they observed him reading to his friends
from the New Testament which they had translated.
With great difficulty he stumbled through the words,
trying to make some sense out of them. Finally, he closed
the book and prayed: 'God in heaven, these white men
have come to speak to us about Jesus, but they have
heads like wood. They speak our language poorly and we
can't understand them. Break open their heads, and put
the words of our language into their brains, so that we
can learn.'
Many good Christians who try to heed Jesus' advice to
become as little children have difficulty in understanding
some of the sermons for grown-ups. Preachers who can
speak 'theologese' or 'philosophese' ought to learn to
speak 'childese'. They would do well to remind them-
selves that their learned discourses are out of the reach of
some listeners; or that their sermons are neither practical
nor down-to-earth.
Jesus told us to feed His sheep - not His giraffes!

154	From the Lips of Children
Once Amélie told a playmate, Tell your father not to ask
my Grandpa to play chess. Grandpa hates to beat anyone
even at chess, and he hates taking other people's pawns.
I can see how he always loses at chess.'
I wish I were as altruistic as my grandchild perceives
me to be!
Once we arrived at a hotel in San Francisco, and the
manager informed us that we had no reservation and
there were no rooms available. We argued with him, but
it was no use. Finally Amélie spoke up. 'You're supposed
to be saints. Why are you arguing? You should be
praying/ Abashed, I bowed my head.
I had scarcely finished when the manager called me
over, and said, 'You're in luck! I've found you a room.'
Amélie simply said, yI hope you learned your lesson/
I had. But would I remember it? Would she?
Sometimes when my son Mihai felt tired and prayed too
briefly with his children, Amélie would pluck his sleeve
and say, 'Daddy, we haven't prayed enough/
Do we pray enough, by children's standards? We pray
to the heavenly Father through Jesus. Does the holy
Child think that we have prayed enough?
A group of thirteen-year-olds were asked to illustrate one
of the Ten Commandments by drawing a picture. Several
chose the seventh: 'You shall not commit adultery'.
One boy's effort showed a stick-man taking a stick-
woman by the arm. Above his head was a wordless
heart-shaped thought-balloon; above hers was a
thought-balloon containing the question, 'What about
my husband?'
When temptation blurs spiritual vision, it is helpful to
focus attention on the possible effects of such a wrong

Admonitions	155
course and to consider the likelihood of people getting
hurt.
When the first atomic bomb was dropped on
Hiroshima, the American pilot on his return was sur-
rounded by reporters who asked, 'What do you think
about this action?'
He replied, 'Why don't you ask the victims?'
The child in his rudimentary picture teaches us to put
ourselves into the situation of the wronged party before
we decide on a course of action that will cause that
wrong.
Mihai was perhaps five years old when he sat on my lap
and commented, 'You seem sad today. Why?'
I said, 'Because I realise I am a great sinner.'
He answered, 'You know what the proverb says: God
takes away His gifts from those who are dissatisfied. Be
thankful for what small goodness you have/
At the same age, Amélie counselled me, 'Never com-
plain about the state of your heart. You can be sure you
will go to heaven, believe me.'
Cornelia, an eight-year-old, once interrupted one of
my sermons. 'Don't tell lies when you preach! Don't say
you are bad! Aren't you washed by the blood of Jesus?
You are a saint!'
I was judging myself according to the deeds I had
committed; these children believed my sermons assert-
ing that those who trust in Jesus are made whiter than
snow.
Why should Christians not be able to say, with David's
simplicity, 'I am holy' (Psa. 86:2)? Indeed, we are called to
be saints (1 Cor. 1:2).
A father told his child, with a wealth of detail, the parable
of the lost sheep. To dramatise the story, he told how it
had crawled through a hole in the fence at night and then

156	From the Lips of Children
wandered away. But fortunately the Good Shepherd was
able to find it.
When his father finished, the child commented, 'I
suppose Jesus made sure He mended that hole in the
fence.'
Pastors too should concern themselves not only with
regaining the backslidden, but with seeing to it that their
parishioners do not backslide in the first place.
The late Archbishop Fulton Sheen once told about how
he lost his way when trying to find Philadelphia Town
Hall. He asked directions from a group of local boys.
They told him the way and asked him why he wanted to
go there.
T have to give a lecture, on "The Way to Heaven"/ he
replied. 'Would you like to come with me?'
One boy laughed. 'How would you know the way to
heaven, when you don't even know the way to the Town
Hall?'
Children, like parents, are inclined to reject advice on
how to get to heaven when their informant does not
know how to behave decently upon earth.
The fact is that understanding and behaviour are not
always cultivated to the same degree in a human being.
David, and many other biblical and modern saints, could
give very reliable information about the way to Paradise,
while wandering far off from the paths of righteousness
themselves.
Let us be sure that we discriminate between the man
and his message. And for the clearest directions about
the way to heaven, let us choose the Word of God.
A group of ten or so Christians of different persuasions
were gathered in my home. We were having a heated
debate about biblical problems.
The holy rule had been forgotten: that when discussion

Admonitions	157
waxes hot, it should be abandoned. People shouted at
each other in anger.
Mihai, who was about four years old at the time, was
present. When the argument reached a peak, he said four
Greek words quietly: 'Kardia kai psyche mia.'
The others, assuming he was speaking in tongues,
asked me what they meant. I translated: 'One heart
and one soul.' They were stunned into silence. The
discussion ceased.
The only explanation I can offer is that Mihai must have
heard me when I read the New Testament aloud in the
original. The words occur in Acts 4:32: 'Now the multi-
tudes of those who believed were of one heart and one
soul.' I would have drawn my wife's attention to the
beauty of the words, and the fact that they rhyme - kardw
. . . mia; and I would have explained to her what they
meant.
Mihai had apparently remembered all this, and used
the words at the right time.

Explanations

"I'm playing ball with God."
When Amélie was eight, she asked me to tell her yet
again the story of how Jesus washed His disciples' feet.
When I came to the words spoken to Peter - 'Unless I
wash your feet, you have no part with Me' - she was very
sad.
'Jesus didn't wash my feet; so I have no part with Him
either/ she mourned.

Explanations	159
I tried to explain. 'You were baptised. You have seen
others being baptised.'
'But that's no help/ she countered. 'Jesus said that He
must wash our feet. Anything else will not do.'
A chill travelled down my spine. I quoted many Bible
verses before I found one that satisfied her completely:
'The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sins' - those
of the head, the hands, the feet, 'just everything/ I
explained.
'Well then/ she asked, 'if you are washed by Jesus, you
are absolutely sure of entering heaven?'
'Absolutely sure.'
'Are you positive?'
Tes, of course/
Then give me the names of the disciples whose feet He
washed/
I started to give her a few names. She broke in: 'Didn't
He wash Judas' feet as well?'
'Yes, He did.'
Then it is absolutely certain that Judas Iscariot is in
Paradise/
'I'm afraid not/
'Why not?'
'Because he betrayed his Lord by selling Him for thirty
pieces of silver/
Amélie brought the discussion to an end by observing,
with great candour and perception, 'Grandpa, it's not
enough to be washed by Jesus; you have to behave
afterwards.'
In that one sentence, she had summed up the entire
epistle of James.
A Catholic child of eight gave a good explanation of
'holiness': 'Every person has a circle round his head, just
as we see in the holy images. Some walk carefully so as to
be right under the circle. Then it lights up. They are the

160	From the Lips of Children
saints. As for the rest of us, the circle remains invisible.'
No saint could have explained it better.
Nina and her small brother were fascinated by the siren
of a passing ambulance.
Attempting to educate the wide-eyed toddler, Nina
explained, They have the siren so that cars will stop and
let them go past.'
Her brother disagreed. 'I don't think so. They make a
big noise so that everybody will know "Here is somebody
you should pray for because he's in great need." '
Who was right? I suspect both were!
I once read to Mihai from 1 Corinthians 11:28 - 'Let a man
examine himself.
Puzzled, he asked, 'How?'
I said, 'We must knock on our chests and ask, "Heart,
do you love? Heart, do you love?" ' To illustrate, I smote
myself hard on the chest.
Mihai objected. 'In the railway station, I saw a man
going from one train wheel to another, striking them
with a hammer. I asked him to let me do it. When he
handed me the hammer, I was surprised to see how light
it was. He explained that if the wheels were struck with a
heavy hammer at every station, they would eventually
break.' (What Mihai had seen, of course, was
the process of testing wheels for damage by listening to
the vibrations of the metal when struck.)
'So/ continued Mihai, 'I believe we ought not to beat
too hard on our chests, but only very lightly. Otherwise
we might break our hearts! We should ask the heart very
gently, "Do you love?" and if the heart whispers "Yes,"
we ought to be content.'
I learned something valuable that day. Self-
examination, yes; but not self-torture.

Explanations	161
Kindergarten children often surprise us with their un-
expected juxtapositions of ideas. Looking at a picture-
book about Africa, a five-year-old concluded, There
must have been a lot of ice in the Sahara, and a lot of
people must have slipped and fallen over - or God
wouldn't have put so much sand on it!'
Can we fault this child, for trying to make sense out of a
world for which the Father cares so deeply?
A rabbi walking down the street saw a little child playing
with a ball. He fell into conversation with him.
'What are you doing?'
The boy replied, Tm playing ball with God.'
The rabbi laughed. 'How do you do that?'
The little one replied, T throw the ball up to Him, and
He throws it back down to me.'
We should strive, like little children, to interpret events
like these with such simplicity. Things do not fall because
of the Law of Gravity, but because God allows them to fall
for our good. He may use the Law of Gravity, which He
ordained, to accomplish His ends; but we should see His
hand in all that happens to us.
We interact with a living God, our loving Father; not
with blind laws that impinge upon our material, psycho-
logical or spiritual world.
A father gave pocket-money to each of his children, and
asked how much of it they were going to give to Jesus.
The youngest replied, 'Nothing'.
Surprised, the father queried, 'Don't you want to show
Jesus how much you love Him?'
T don't have to show Him a thing,' the toddler said
earnestly. 'He knows exactly how much I love Him, even
if I don't put a penny in the basket. '
The child was quite right. We must learn not to use
religious jargon when we speak to children. To show

162	Front the Lips of Children
Jesus we love Him, we give ourselves. Then because we
have given ourselves, we delight in giving things. God
doesn't need our money - the cattle on a thousand hills
are His - but He allows us the pleasure and privilege of
rilling human need by sharing with others.
Sometimes children display a refreshing honesty.
When Mrs. Booth of The Salvation Army preached on
one occasion, she noticed a child in the front row crying.
She paused to comment, T am moved to see a child
weeping at the sufferings of Jesus.'
An adult might have been happy to accept the compli-
ment. But the child stood up and admitted, 'No, lady; an
insect got into my eye.'
Let us not pretend to have more spirituality than we
actually possess!
Bramwell Booth was the General of The Salvation Army.
His young children prayed, 'Dear Lord, send the Army a
lot of money to make Papa happy.'
Alex says of his father, 'He wants to be a millionaire so
he can give all the money to the Church/
It is not money, but the love of money that is the root of
all evil.
Children make theological mistakes just as adults do. A
pastor once delivered a rousing sermon about sin and
hell.
'One thing is certain,' he thundered. 'Every man,
woman and child in this parish will die one day. There is
no escape!'
A boy in the front row began to giggle.
'Every person in this parish,' reiterated the pastor, 'will
die.'
The boy continued to laugh.

Explanations	163
Affronted, the pastor challenged him. "Why are you
laughing?'
Tm not from this parish/ he replied.
Amélie at the age of five volunteered her own explana-
tion as to why the capital of Rumania is called Bucharest.
'It's because the country is Communist, and if you're
caught with a religious book, arrest will follow.'
In a small provincial town in Rumania I went to the
Presbyterian church and asked for the pastor. Some
children were playing in the churchyard and one of
them, who was about twelve years old, offered to take me
to the manse.
As we walked, I asked him about himself and learned
that he was to be confirmed the next week. I asked him,
'Do you believe in Christ?'
He replied determinedly, 'Oh, no. I'm only getting
confirmed because my mother really insists/
'Why do you feel like that?'
His answer was remarkable. 'I believe that if it were
true that God created, 2,000 years ago, the marvellous
Christ I'm taught about, He would also have made some
little Christ in every generation, in every town, to show
us that such a character is possible. But - I've never met a
Christ. My father is dead, my mother is poor and has lots
of children. Nobody has ever given me a sweet or shown
me any kindness. There never was a Christ.'
I asked another question: 'Isn't your pastor a little
Christ?'
'No/ he said.
We had arrived at the pastor's house. The boy left. I
took the opportunity of relating to the pastor what the
child had said, emphasising his desire to meet a little
Christ.

164	From the Lips of Children
'What an idiot!' said the pastor.
He was right. But who was the idiot?
Little children love stories. When Amélie was five she
begged, 'Grandpa, please tell me about Jesus, but every
little bit, from when He was born to the very end.' Then
she added, 'I know you can't do that. Nobody can tell the
whole story of Jesus because it isn't finished yet.'
And so it is written in Mark 1:1 that the evangelist
records only 'the beginning of the gospel about Jesus
Christ/
Let us also acknowledge that we know very, very little;
but the little we do know is so beautiful that it is well
worth repeating and well worth investigating further.
I remember having to tell Mihai off for some wrongdoing
when he was small. Convicted, he stood before me with
bowed head. I asked him, /Why don't you look me in the
face?'
'I don't want to look at your mouth when it says harsh
words/ he said simply. 'I want to look at the loving heart
from which they come/
A child was taken to the opera for the first time. He saw
The Masked Ball and was very impressed.
At home, he said to his father, 'I didn't understand
what was happening on stage. What is the opera about?'
His father replied, 'It is all sung in Italian, and I don't
understand Italian. But the orchestra conductor's son is
in your class at school. When you are at his house, why
not ask his father? I'm sure he'll be glad to explain/
The boy did so, but the conductor could not help. 'I
have to spend my time seeing to it that every instrument
and singer comes in at the right time. I've never actually
watched what happens on stage, so I can't tell you. But

Explanations	165
wait a minute: the tenor who sings the leading role will be
here for tea soon. He'll explain everything/
So the boy asked the tenor, but he replied, 'I'm not on
stage all the time, and I've had to memorise so many
roles. ... I really don't care about what the others are
singing while I get a bit of rest in my dressing room. But
look, here is the stage manager. He'll tell you.'
The stage manager had little more to offer. 'I only have
a very general idea. My concern is the scenery, not the
plot.'
So the boy went to the author of the libretto, who
replied, 'I only wrote the words. I've wondered myself,
sometimes, about the weird music that draws attention
away from the words.'
He went to the composer, but he only said, 'The Masked
Ball? Who knows? As far as I'm concerned, the author
could have made the Governor of Boston a Spanish
cavalier. For me, the text was just an excuse for my own
musical fantasies.'
The child went back to his father, much enlightened.
'Nobody knows a thing. We're all playing some little part
in a drama we don't understand.'
So it is written in Scripture: The man who thinks he
knows something does not yet know as he ought to
know' (1 Cor. 8:2).
Love is the key to knowledge and to meaning.
When she was eleven, Amélie had to write an essay in
school on the subject of capital punishment. In her efforts
to gather all the arguments for and against she consulted
many people, including me.
Six-year-old Alex listened for a while, then gave his
unsolicited opinion: 'I am for capital punishment - but
with love.'
St. John of the Cross wrote, 'On the last day we will all
be judged by love.' Sometimes life obliges us to use harsh

166	From the Lips of Children
methods and take up unpopular attitudes; but even these
should be motivated by love.
The late Orthodox priest Sheludkov of Russia, a man
much persecuted, tells in his book about a twelve-year-
old boy in Moscow.
A terrible thing had happened; young Misha was a
believer, and the Communist teachers had found out.
A conclave of teachers gathered to persuade Misha to
abandon his faith. They asked him, 'How can you believe
in God? Have you ever seen Him?'
He answered, 'If I were to see Him, I would not believe
in Him. The real God is invisible. Gagarin the first
cosmonaut mocked Him saying, "I looked around in
space and could see no God." Was he so ignorant? Didn't
he know that God is invisible?'
We all wish sometimes that we could see God visible in
our lives, giving direct answers to our questions or
providing us with the things we most desire. But if He
were thus visible, He would not be God. In our sinful
state, we cannot look on Him and live. That is why God is
the Invisible in the events of our lives, the mysterious,
the awe-inspiring in our experiences.
We are pilgrims, bound for another world. What our
senses can perceive in this world will never satisfy the
human soul. We are looking for a better city, 'whose
builder and maker is God'.
Then we shall see our Redeemer face to face, and know
who He is.
The writer Elie Wiesel was once an inmate of a Nazi
concentration camp. He tells of a starving Jewish child
who was hanged for stealing a piece of bread.
The child asked for no explanation. He did not cry, nor
even protest. life had been given him without expia-

Explanatwns	167
nation, and in a cruel way; life was taken from him
without explanation.
Where was God?
God was right there, on the gallows with the child,
silent and hurting. What is there to say, in the solemnity
of such an hour?
Christ too was 'led like a lamb to the slaughter. . . He
did not open His mouth' (Isa. 53:7).
I explained to a child of nine that hatred is an evil.
She said, 'Then hate is sin, and so is love/
'Where did you get the idea that love is sinful?'
'Well,' she said, 7esus said we should love each other
as He loves us. Everything less is sin. I don't love
anybody as Jesus does. I would not die on a cross for
anybody/
From this discussion I held on to the concept that to
love less than Jesus does is sin.
On the altar of sacrifice in the temple of Jerusalem, the
blood of animals was to be found, that cleansed wor-
shippers from their trespasses. But once a year, the altar
itself had to be cleaned.
Before God, even our good deeds are like filthy rags.
Only Jesus' righteousness satisfies. Only His love is
worthy of this name.
One evening the son of a celebrated evangelist threw a
tantrum. When his mother went to sort him out, she
asked him why he had behaved so badly.
'I didn't do it,' he said. The devil did it.'
Oh, that we would have the wisdom not to attribute to
ourselves actions that we deplore, and not to despair
when we fall into sin! The devil really does seek con-
stantly to ensnare us in attitudes and actions that are
alien to our nature.
Let us place the blame where it belongs, and quietly

168	From the Lips of Children
acknowledge the mis-steps in our lives, and firmly de-
nounce the devil's doings in our lives.
And then let us pray:'Our Father. . . .lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.'
A boy was making a brave attempt to draw a dog in pen
and ink. The result was pleasing, except that the dog had
no tail.
Naturally, an adult who saw the picture asked,
'Where's his tail?'
He answered disingenuously, 'If s still in the ink-
bottle.'
Sometimes we are criticised for not being polished
saints. A few years ago, there was a saying that was
popular: 'Be patient with me - God isn't finished with me
yet.'
Our virtues are still 'in the bottle', along with His
promises.
'He who began a good work in you will carry it on to
completion until the day of Christ Jesus' (Phil. 1:6).
A child asked his mother how he was born. She told him,
'God sent you into the world.'
'And how were you born?'
'I was sent by God too.'
'And Grandmother?'
Tes, she was sent by God as well/
'Mummy, why has there been no sex for such a long
time in our family?'
In these days of television and Playboy Magazine,
children are aware of sex from a fragile age. They won't
stand for fables.
They should be told about sex, but told of it in its
fullness - its beauty and its dangers. They should know
that God has provided a framework for the precious gift
of life to appear.

Explanations	169
A child came back from Sunday School very excited. 'We
learned how Moses brought the Jewish people over the
Red Sea!' he told his mother. 'He just waved his stick,
and building materials fell from heaven! Then he waved
it again, and everything stuck together and made a huge
bridge! Then he waved his stick again - and there were
horses and carts to carry the old people!'
His mother frowned. I'm sure he can't have said that.'
'Well/ replied the child, 'if I told what he really said -
you wouldn't believe it!'
Nowadays children suck scepticism with their
mother's milk. They don't take Bible stories on trust.
We must not only tell children the stories of God's
miracles. We must also explain to them that an almighty
God can do things we cannot; and we must explain to
them why God worked miracles, and how trustworthy is
His Word.

Epilogue

Love for God should always
resemble that of a child.

Not long ago, I had a dream that made a vivid impression
upon me.
I was in a prison cell again. On my bed was a giant
caterpillar. I wanted to get rid of it, but couldn't because
the door was locked. I had no alternative but to kill it, and
I succeeded in doing so only after great efforts. Ex-
hausted from my exertions, I suddenly realised that what
I had killed was the child in me - that capacity to believe
wholeheartedly, love unstintingly, trust implicitly. I had
killed the best in me.

Epilogue	171
I awoke with a feeling of great sorrow. Is it possible to
kill the child within the man?
Today, abortion is a controversial issue. Some fifteen
millions of the unborn have been killed in the United
States alone during the last decade. In Red China, new-
born girls are slaughtered by the thousand, because
women are not allowed to have more than one child and
they would rather have a boy.
We also kill spiritually. We murder the child within,
the child who, as Nietzsche wrote, 'wishes to play'. Even
Marx, that implacable foe of religion, was driven to
admit: 'I have to concede to Christianity one great merit.
It has taught men to love children/ It has done more than
that. It has taught men to love the child in themselves.
In this area, children's theology is unique.
After Christ had ascended to heaven, His followers
referred to Him as 'the holy child, Jesus' (Acts 4:27, av).
Why?
A Cambodian girl, Arn Chorn, who grew up in the
middle of the holocaust that annihilated at least two
million of her countrymen - including her family - gives
an interesting answer.
Children are less angry than adults and forget insults
more quickly. Maybe children know more about their
imperfections, and when we do, we have a chance to
laugh at ourselves more easily and not take ourselves
so seriously. Maybe as children, we can feel a brother-
hood of imperfection. Children are less sure that they
are absolutely right. Adults, who are sure that they are
absolutely right make war - even religious war - over
their absolute lightness.
Jesus chides us with the observation, Tou have forsaken
your first love' (Rev. 2:4) - a child's love. Love for God
should always resemble that of a child.
Many believe that the innocence of children is a myth

172	From the Lips of Children
created by adults. Freud went so far as to call children
'polymorph perverse'.
I do not wonder. He was repeating what David said
long ago: 'Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the
womb they are wayward and speak lies. Their venom is
like the venom of a snake' (Psa. 58:3-4).
This is the bitter complaint of a father who had several
wicked children. Perhaps Freud experienced similar
frustration.
As for Jesus, He admired in little children their un-
qualified love, trust and openness. When the religious
leaders and theologians of the day shut Him out, the little
ones, with their children's theology, accepted Him,
climbing all over Him, and, I think, hugging and kissing
Him with unabashed warmth and ardour. Without
knowing theology, they embraced the God about whom
theologians argue.
The heart of the gospel - the Good News to which all
Scripture testifies - is that God loves, forgives and
accepts His creatures; and Jesus came as Man to
demonstrate this true character of Deity (cf. John 3:16).
May God grant us the grace to grasp this, with the
simple faith of a child!
The author welcomes correspondence. You may write
to him at:
Christian Mission to the Communist World
PO Box 19
Bromley
Kent
BRI 1DJ

Who Speaks For God?
Charles Colson
In a day when the Christian gospel is mocked, when
moral absolutes are denied, when evil is rampant and
even welcomed, God calls his people to speak bravely on
his behalf. The issue of power, AIDS, capital punish-
ment, the trivialisation of sin, secularisation (particularly
within the Church), and the disastrous divide between
personal piety and public action are all examined by the
former aide to President Nixon in this cogent and chal-
lenging book on confronting the world with real Christ-
ianity.
'He combines a clear, attractive style, the sharpness and
precision of a top lawyer, the breadth of vision of a
statesman, with pungent biblical perspectives/ Church
Times
'Thought-provoking reading to dip into and mull over.'
Christian Family

One Heart, One Voice
Andrew Maries
What exactly is worship? And what part does music play
in its expression? Should every church have a choir?
What about structure - does it impede spontaneity?
These and other questions are explored in this practical
and challenging book on the ministry and mission of
music in worship. With a foreword by Betty Pulkingham.
'Here is practical and sensitive help from someone with a
classical music background, harnessed to an openness
for the needs of today's church.' Anne Watson
'Every minister and church musician should buy it.'
Church of England Newspaper
Andrew Maries worked closely with David Watson at St
Michael-le-Belfrey in York.

Heaven On Your Doorstep
Max Sinclair
The family is under threat today as never before. Even
Christians wonder whether God can make any differ-
ence when they hit problems.
Max Sinclair, author of bestseller Halfway To Heaven, has
discovered from experience that God both sets the stan-
dards for family happiness, and provides the means
whereby it can be achieved. Writing frankly about his
romance with Sue, marriage, parenthood, God's call to
full-time Christian work and the serious car accident
which left him partially paralysed, Max demonstrates
that the miracle of happier relationships is within the
grasp of every Christian.

The Bible is meant for children. Only the
children of Israel came out of slavery in Egypt;
the grown-ups stayed behind. Only trie chndren
of God enter neaven. It will be a country without
any grown-ups/
This observation by Richard Wurmbrand's grandson
Alex is just one of the many delightful anecdotes and
children's sayings in this attractively illustrated
volume. Children's insights sharpen adults' minds
and in collecting and commenting on them - many
from behind the Iron Curtain - Pastor Wurmbrana
challenges Christians to take seriously Jesus' teaching
thatnis followers must become like children.
Pastor Richard Wurmbrand spent fourteen years in
Romanian Communist prisons for his faith, and is
author of several books including the classic
TORTURED FOR CHRIST
ISBN  0-
90195

£1.95 net in UK

78034

 392676