Introduction
Time for a quiz!
1. The cells which make up the antlers of a moose are the fastest growing animal cells in nature. (True)
2. The planet closest to the sun is Mercury (True
3. Pi to three decimal places is 3.142 (True. Not 3.141—this is a rounding error)
4. The second General of the Salvation Army was William Booth (True—trick question! The second General of the Salvation Army was William Bramwell Booth, but he was universally known by his second name to avoid confusion with his father.)
5. The animal who played Mr Ed was, in fact a zebra.
Who remembers the TV show Mister Ed? It was a sitcom back on the sixties based around a talking horse. When Mister Ed was first filmed, the producers had a very expensive problem. The horse cast as Mister Ed refused to perform on cue (if it performed at all), resulting in large bills for additional training and wasted footage.
The producers of the show were ready to throw in the towel and write off the venture when one of Mister Ed’s trainers came up with a solution: a nearby animal park had a trained zebra that was being used in live shows for the park’s daily tour visitors. The zebra (a female, called "Amelia") was trained to perform many of the same actions (e.g., opening and closing its mouth, stamping its feet on cue) required in the Mr. Ed role, and the animal park lent her out for a few days’ filming.
Amelia worked out fantastically well, exceeding everyone’s expectations, and the pilot was quickly wrapped up and sold to the syndication market. The producers made a generous donation to the animal park in exchange for continued use of Amelia, and she appeared in all the syndicated episodes as well as all the shows comprising the series’ entire five-year run.
The show’s premise, of course, called for a talking horse, not a zebra. The producers felt the concept was already absurd enough without stretching credulity by having to explain why someone would have left a zebra (let alone a talking one) at a country house, so they chose not to explain it at all. They stuck with the original premise instead: Mister Ed was always referred to as a "horse," and since the series was filmed in black and white, the viewing audience couldn’t tell the difference.
[At this stage I put up on OHP a picture of Mr Ed and a zebra. These pictures were entitled ‘How Mr Ed looks on Black and White TV’ and ‘How Mr Ed looks on colour TV.’ The pictures were taken from the Urban Legends web site, referred to later]
(The difficulty in resolving closely integrated black and white images on non-colour television receivers was one of the primary reasons AFL games were not regularly televised until the mid-1970s, when sales of colour TV sets started to outstrip those of black-and-white models. When black-and-white television predominated in the nation’s living rooms, viewers often complained because they couldn’t tell Geelong, Collingwood or North Melbourne players apart from the umpires. Likewise, Johnny Cash’s famous televised live concert performance at California’s Folsom Prison in January 1968 proved disastrous when several inmates wearing the traditional black and white prisoner’s garb slipped unnoticed past guards, who had been provided only black and white monitors with which to view the proceedings.)
Zebras are noticeably smaller than horses, so the set used for Mister Ed’s stable was built three quarter size so Mister Ed would appear larger than he really was. This gimmick also helped to mask the fact that Alan Young, the series’ star, was only a diminutive 5’4" tall.
Since a zebra’s gait is distinctively different than a horse’s, the rare episodes that called for scenes of Mister Ed running were filmed in long shots using real horses.
The substitution was an open secret around the industry, however, and continual sly references to zebras were worked into the show. In fact, for a joke there was an episode made in which Mr Ed pretends to be a zebra. Ed ran away to the zoo, leaned up against a newly-painted black fence, and hey presto! (Ironically, the photography crew actually had to shoot Ed’s "zebra" scenes for that episode in colour and then convert them back to black-and-white in order to make Mister Ed appear as a zebra to the audience!)
[This information is taken from the Urban Legends Reference Page at www.snopes.com/lost/mistered.asp]
****Oh dear. Who didn’t turn on their bulldust filters?****
Okay. Let’s ask the question again. True or false: The animal who played the part of Mr Ed was, in fact, a zebra.
It’s interesting how many people changed their vote then! Why did you do that?
In actual fact, the whole story about Mr Ed being a zebra is an urban legend—it’s not true! There were one or two times when zebras were used in the show, but the vast majority of Mr Ed’s filming involved a Palomino known as Bamboo Harvester.
What I have illustrated though is that we all have to develop what I call a bulldust filter. Now four wheel drivers know what bulldust filters are. When you go driving in the outback you’ve got to be careful of incredibly fine dust known as bulldust. This stuff goes right through normal air filters and can be sucked right into the engine. Bulldust in your engine can cause big problems. To stop it you’ve got to use a better air filter than the standard one.
Us humans need a bulldust filter too, because the one we were fitted with at birth doesn’t always do the job very well. What do I mean?
It’s a fact of life that we can’t know everything. We haven’t got time to check everything we hear. So we’ve got to trust other people. Now there are some people we trust. And there are others we don’t.
So whom do we trust?
† Lawyers?
† Doctors?
† Accountants?
† Friends?
† Preachers?
I guess we’d trust some of these people in some situations, and not others. So if a lawyer advises you on a point of law, you may trust him or her. If a doctor advises you on a medical issue you would be more likely to follow it than if, say, an accountant gave you the same advice.
However, we must turn our bulldust filters on! We can’t hope to know everything about what we are told by an expert, but sometimes we have to be able to sort out the good from the bad.
For example, how many of us know of people that didn’t trust the advice given them by an expert, and are vindicated? It’s a common story.
Why? Because we all turn our bulldust filters on at some stage. We instinctively have a bit of a nose for information or advice that is misguided. However, I’m concerned about times when we turn them off.
For example, there are some situations when we’ll take the advice of a friend over the advice of an expert. Why? Because they’ve been right in the past about some things. However, the thing I want to warn about today is how we never turn our bulldust filters on when Christians are talking.
****Bulldust Filters in the Bible****
Unfortunately we don’t always display a lot of judgment when preachers or other Christian experts are having their say. For example, many people believed me when I said that Mr Ed was a zebra. Most of us would have walked out this morning believing it, simply because I said so. I’m standing behind a pulpit, I have a microphone in front of me, and I have a Bible here to back up everything I say. I look like I know what I’m talking about.
However, I’m not an expert on early 60s sitcoms. I can talk as long as I like about Mr Ed’s zebraness, but nothing I do or say will ever make that true. It’s all bulldust!
Is it different when it comes to matters of faith? Well, no. Again, having a pulpit, Bible and microphone don’t make me correct. If I raise my voice and sound authoritative about something, it doesn’t mean anything except I can talk loudly! I heard of one preacher who knew people would believe him if he came across more strongly. He once wrote on the margin of his preaching notes: ‘Argument weak here. Thump pulpit and speak loudly!’
To be completely honest, there is very rarely a Sunday when I go home feeling completely happy about my sermon. When I finish, I’m normally concerned about a lot of things. Was that last point clear enough? When I said such and such, did it come across right? I think somebody might have misunderstood me! I know so and so will disagree with me on that other point—will they say anything to me?
And of course, I’m well aware of things that I may not have understood! It’s a frustrating thing, but standing up here and preaching is sometimes the only way I get to understand a passage. Of course, I don’t realise that until the time.
There is one other thing I get concerned about, though. People very rarely question me about my sermons. There are one or two people who have done that. I can only remember once that somebody has flat out disagreed with me. Of course, other people may do, but don’t feel right saying anything about it. Still, if you don’t agree with something I’ve said, please feel free to ask me. I might be wrong, and if I am, I don’t mind being told so. I might have been right, but unclear in my point. You might be wrong! However, there is no harm in discussing it.
What this means is that I want you to listen to God. There are several passages in the Bible that talk about this. There are passages that talk about challenging false teachers, and ensuring they don’t divert people from the truth. There are passages that talk about discerning the truth of what people say, and how some people are especially talented in that. However, we are all called to it! In Acts 17, the Jews who lived in the town of Berea are called noble, because they examined the Scriptures to check the apostle Paul was speaking the truth.
So please, read your Bibles! This is a great way to fine tune your bulldust filter. Now it may be hard to understand. Don’t be scared to ask what it means. Don’t be afraid to ask several people. That way you can start to get a good idea of what is really going on.
Also, be in prayer about what you see, hear and read. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will lead us in truth. When I preach, I always pray that God will make people remember the good bits, and forget the bits that aren’t so good. You should pray the same thing. Please, pray it now!
Now, if you hear me say something, and it seems a little bit odd, or doesn’t sit right with you, please don’t let it go. Don’t just think, well, he’s the Captain, it’s his job to know. That little niggle you get is your bulldust filter saying that something’s not right. It may well be God saying to you that there is an error here!
Now let me say that this doesn’t just extend to me. I’m giving you permission to disregard all the rubbish I speak (only the rubbish though!). I’m also giving you permission to disregard any bulldust any other preacher says.
Now there is a lot of this flying around, even in Portland. The reason I’ve chosen to speak about this today is because I’m aware of certain false teachings Christians seem to be falling for.
For example, there is the Prosperity Gospel . This says that if you’re a really good Christian, God will reward you financially. He’ll reward you really well if you give lots of money to the church.
That’s a lie.
There’s another teaching that says that if you get prayed for by a certain person in a certain way, you will be healed of all your physical and spiritual ailments. (And I you aren’t, it’s because you don’t have enough faith.)
That’s a lie.
Again, don’t just take my word for it. Find out for yourselves. But these are not biblical teachings. No matter how much the preachers concerned thump their Bibles, no matter how much they threaten you with hell and damnation, they are lies.
Don’t fall for them. If your bulldust filters pick these things up, don’t be afraid to disbelieve what you have heard.
