Straddling the fence is not a neutral position. It is sitting on the devil’s property.

Our good brother and friend Alexandre Magalhaes preached here in São José dos Campos. He told the story of the man straddling the fence.

On one side of the fence, stood an angel; on the other, the devil. The angel did not stop encouraging the man to jump off the fence on his side, the good side. The devil said nothing.

The angel kept up his appeals for the man to come down from the fence on the good side. The devil said nothing.

The angel never let up as he pleaded with the man to decide for God and get off the fence. The devil said nothing.

The man was intrigued that the angel spoke fervently and insistently, while the devil said nothing.

“Why,” he asked the devil, “have you said nothing so far?”

“Because,” replied the devil, “the fence is mine.”

Straddling the fence is not a neutral position. It is sitting on the devil’s property.

–by J. Randal Matheny

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