Chapter 8 - The Letter to the Opossums

About the time that Billy the Bullfrog was leaving Sloth Square, Wilbert the Walking Stick Bug was about one hour from reaching Opossum Palace. As he walked, he stopped for a quick rest at a tree. Now, because Wilbert was a stick bug, he blended into the tree and looked like one of its small branches. While Wilbert was taking his rest, Bubba the Badger and his wife Brenda walked by the tree. Wanting to be polite, from the tree Wilbert said, “Hello good badgers! How has your day been?” When the badgers heard the voice, they looked up at the tree but saw no one there. Then with a confused look on her face, Brenda the Badger leaned over and whispered something into Bubba’s ear.

“Bubba,” she said quietly, “did that tree just ask us about our day?”

“I think so, dear, I think so,” Bubba the Badger whispered back. “I’m telling you, honey, mighty strange things have been happening around these parts lately. Mighty strange! And now the trees are talking!”

“Well Bubba, are we supposed to talk back to it?” Brenda the Badger then asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Bubba replied. Then after a pause he said, “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to be polite to a tree. However, we probably shouldn’t tell our friends. They might think that one too many squirrel nuts have fallen on our heads!”

Then Bubba and Brenda looked at the tree and said, “Umm, yes, Mr. Tree, it has been a fine day.” Just as Wilbert was about to answer, the two badgers scurried off quickly into the woods.

“Well, that was strange,” Wilbert thought to himself as he jumped down from the tree and started walking again. “Why in the world would those badgers talk to a tree? Trees can’t talk! Mighty strange, I must say, mighty strange.”

Wilbert then jumped down from the tree and continued his journey toward Opossum Palace. As he walked, the Holy Spirit reminded him of a time three years earlier when God had spoken a strong word of discipline to him. At the time, Wilbert had watched a program on television in which a minister was praying for people to be healed. As the minister prayed, some people were healed. However, instead of explaining that the signs of healing were meant to point to the hope of the Second Coming, in a prideful way the minister began to talk about the great anointing on his life. He also lied by telling the people they needed to give him money if they wanted to be blessed. Amazed by the healings, many people on the program began throwing money on the stage on which the minister stood. When Wilbert saw this, his heart became filled with greed, and he decided to follow the example of this man he had seen on TV. The following Sunday, he gathered a crowd of walking stick bugs together near his home. His plan was to preach the same message he had heard from the minister on TV, in the hope that he would receive some money from them. However, just as Wilbert was about to pray for the sick, the Holy Spirit spoke to him. “Wilbert,” the Spirit said, “My servants must never peddle the Word of God for profit. Take up your cross, and live for the age to come.” When Wilbert heard this, he wept and repented of his greed and sinful folly. Then with tears in his eyes, he asked the walking stick bugs he had gathered to forgive him.

As Wilbert the Walking Stick Bug remembered how much freedom God had brought to his own life through the fire of His discipline, he prayed for the opossums, that God would also open their hearts to the message in the envelope. Truly, Wilbert knew how hard it could be sometimes to receive a word of discipline.  However, he also knew that in the end God’s discipline always produces good and lasting fruit.

Finally Wilbert came around a hill and saw a large group of trees clustered together in the shape of a large, mighty crown. It was Opossum Palace. The sky was now getting dark, and as Wilbert walked closer to Opossum Palace, he noticed that up in the trees were hundreds and hundreds of opossums hanging upside-down from branches by their tails. Some of these opossums had gathered a crowd and were using their tails to spin in circles around their branches as fast as they could. Curious to learn more about what was happening, Wilbert quietly walked up a tree and started listening to what was being said. Because he was a stick bug and blended in with the tree, no one even noticed that he was there. 

“Leave behind all the rest, and come get your blessing from the best!” one of the spinning opossums shouted out to the crowd. “Watch this everyone!” The opossum then began to spin around the branch so fast that the whole tree began to buzz and shake. He then let go of the branch, did a somersault in the air, and landed back on his branch with his feet. When he did this trick, the crowd began to clap and cheer. Some even fell down on the ground and played dead. When the opossum stopped spinning, he then spoke to the crowd. “Today is your day, ladies and gentleman! Why wait for Jesus to come back? The kingdom of God is already here if you will just seize it and pull it down! Everything you could ever want is within your reach right here and right now. Health, wealth, fame and acclaim—it’s all yours now in Jesus’ name! Now, ladies and gentlemen, please repeat after me: ‘Hardships, hardships go away, cause we’re already kings in this age!’”

“Hardships, hardships go away,” the crowd chanted wildly, “cause we’re already kings in this age!”

As the crowd chanted, Wilbert turned his face to the left and saw a look of jealousy come over the faces of some of the other opossums spinning on nearby branches. These opossums then began spinning faster and faster in an effort to draw more opossums over to their branches.

  As Wilbert listened to the chanting crowds, his mind went to 1 Corinthians 4, where Paul rebuked the Corinthians for forsaking a life of the cross because they saw themselves as kings now in this age. Because the Corinthians thought they had become kings before the Second Coming, they were acting in the same way that all the rest of the wicked kings in this age act. Wilbert knew from his own experience the dangers of seeing himself as a king now, apart from the return of the King of kings.

His heart stirred with love and compassion, Wilbert the Walking Stick Bug then raised his voice and shouted loudly, “Oh opossums of Opossum Palace! Leave these foolish ways behind before the storm comes, and start living for the age to come!”

When he said this, the opossums were startled and began looking around. They could not see who was talking because Wilbert blended in with the trees and did not stick out. “Who are you? Where have you come from?” different opossums from the crowd then began to shout. These opossums were so used to being mesmerized by pizzazz, clamor, and exaggeration, that they weren’t sure how to respond to a nameless and faceless messenger.

“My name is Wilbert the Walking Stick Bug, and Jesus has sent me here with a message for you,” Wilbert said. He then opened his envelope and pulled out Jesus’ letter to the opossums. When he did so, the Holy Spirit came upon him and he began to read the letter boldly:

Dear Opossums,

First, I want to say that I love you very much. And it is for that very reason that I, Jesus, have a few things I must tell you. Dear opossums, have you forgotten that before receiving glory on the third day, I first bore the reproach and slander of men outside the camp? Have you forgotten the example of My holy apostles, whose flesh I filled up with afflictions as My representatives? They rejoiced when counted worthy of suffering disgrace for My name, for their hope was in the inheritance they would receive at My return. You opossums, however, are seeing things upside-down. You see yourselves as kings now, and thus you treat one another like jealous dictators. Dear opossums, what good is it if you gain the whole world in this age and yet forfeit your life in the age to come? I exhort you to repent and leave your own petty kingdoms behind, that you may inherit a kingdom established not by human power at My return. Take up your cross and live as pilgrims and sojourners in this age of darkness. Until I return to establish My justice on the earth, forgive and pray for your enemies, just as I forgave you on the cross; cry out for the salvation of the wicked, remembering how in mercy I plucked even you from the fire; lay down your lives for one another in this age, that you may inherit true life in the age to come.

O opossums, do you not realize that a semi-truck is coming down the road at full speed, and you are in the middle of the road?  I counsel you: Turn from your foolish ways before you get run over! Forsake the momentary crown and embrace the wisdom of the cross, in the hope of a crown that will last ever! For I, yes I, am going to test the hearts of all creatures with fire. In those days you will not be able to bind and speak your cares away. Will you still love Me and remain mine even through the pressures of those times? Will you still consider Me worthy of worship and adoration as I prune you to the uttermost? If you hold fast to Me and carry your cross in this age, then as surely as I live, I promise that when I return I will set you in positions of authority over the earth as true kings and queens. My dear opossums, you are not yet ready to receive a scepter in your hands. However, I am not giving up on you! And because of that, I must discipline you to get you on the narrow path and prepare you to rule faithfully at My side in My coming kingdom. In but a few days, I am going to send fire to the Western Woods, and in a moment your own kingdoms will be burned up in the flames. When this happens, flee to the Great Oak. There you will find healing and truth for the days ahead.

Love,

Jesus

When Wilbert finished reading the letter, many of opossums, especially the spinning opossums, became angry. “Whoever you are, why are you being such a stick-in-the-mud?!” one opossum cried out.

“You have a poverty spirit!” another cried. “Surely your message is of the devil! God wants us to have our cake in this age, and He wants us to eat it too!”

Then another opossum shouted, “The earth is ours now, dominion is ours now, and with enough money in our pockets, there is no mountain we cannot climb! I break off your words and their negative influence!”

As these opossum’s continued railing at the Walking Stick Bug they could not see, Wilbert looked to his right and saw a young opossum on his face weeping in repentance. “God, forgive me for my pride!” he prayed. “Forgive me for my self-righteousness! I am the chief of sinners! Have mercy on the wicked of the earth, just as You’ve had mercy on me. Justice and judgment belong to You alone!”

Then one of the angry opossums looked up. Squinting his eyes, he suddenly noticed that one of the sticks up on the tree had eyes. “Hey, there he is!” the opossum shouted. When Wilbert realized that they had spotted him, he began to jump from branch to branch on different trees until the opossums again lost sight of him. He then turned to leave Opossum Palace. As he started walking away, he whispered a prayer. “Father, just as You have had mercy on me, the most self-righteous of all creatures, have mercy on these opossums whom You love,” he prayed. “Get them ready for the last days, and prepare them to receive a crown that will last forever in Your coming kingdom.” Then shaking the dust off his feet, Wilbert the Walking Stick bug began the journey back to the Great Oak.