 

                        PARABLE OF THE "NEW SOAP"


     Once  upon  a time in a  far-away land far,far away,  a young man
named Joshua  announced  the discovery of  a marvelous  new kind  of soap.
People were skeptical at first, but they soon found that this new soap
made everyone very  happy  because  it got  them  so clean.  Because it
was so powerful, it got  rid of dirt and stains  that  had been around for
years.
     Because  Joshua's soap worked  so well,  men  found  that they had
more time  to  spend with their  wives  and children. Marriages got
better, people were  happier,  and everybody  admired the  young man who
had given them  the soap. Joshua refused to charge for the soap and gave
it away to all who asked for  it.   This bothered some  rich people, but
the poor loved  it.  Not surprisingly,   the manufacturers  of rival
kinds of soap soon became  very angry because their business was being
hurt badly.
     Before long, Joshua had followers who were traveling around the
country, giving  away  the new soap to all  who asked for it. Of course,
this new soap was  an  instant success becuase  the people  of Joshua's
country  had  been trying  for  years to make  themselves clean  with
their own homemade  soap.  Thousands became great fans of the new
soap,  and they formed small groups to spread   its  use.   The other
soap manufacturers   became desperate  and tried to get Joshua to charge
for  his soap,  but  he refused.  He  said,  "I prefer  to  give it away,
because  no money would be adequate payment for  a soap  as perfect and
complete as  this one is."
     When the soap manufacturers found that this strategy wouldn't work,
they started   a  smear campaign   against Joshua  and his followers.
They  said that the soap made cleaning too easy - that you should have to
work harder to get things clean.  They also said that Joshua  and his
followers were immoral because  they  had been seen  in  the company  of
the dirtiest people in the world.  Joshua  smiled when  he  heard
these  charges,  and said,  "Although everybody needs soap, it is the
dirty people  who  need the soap the  most!" These slanders didn't work
because the common  people  realized that  Joshua truly  loved them and
that is why  his soap was free.
     Since their other tactics failed, the  rival soap manufacturers
plotted to  kill the young man.  They paid  an informer  to  betray Joshua
and  then arrested him.  They paid witnesses  to perjure   themselves  in
court,   and finally they were able to have  Joshua convicted  of trumped
up "crimes"  and executed.  The soap manufacturers were certain  that this
would take care  of the  problem,   but  to their  dismay Joshua's
followers continued   to distribute  the soap.  Persecution  of the
followers didn't work either,  for Joshua's  followers kept spreading  to
new  areas  and kept giving  away  the soap.
     After  many  years, the   rival manufacturers   decided to  try   the
policy  of "if you can't beat 'em then join  'em." So they analyzed
Joshua's soap  and came up with a very  clever substitute,  which looked
the  same, but,  of course,  it didn't work. They used the same name for
their soap that Joshua   had  used  and organized a promotion campaign to
corner   the market.  Because of their organization and slick advertising,
they made great progress and even got many of Joshua's followers to join
them for a while.
     Soon, however; these infiltrators started    to charge for    their
counterfeit soap,  and, because their distributors  had replaced  many
of Joshua's followers, many people had to buy   the   soap   now - and
their substitute    didn't really    work!  However;  some  people read
Joshua's instructions  and  those of the  early users  of the soap and
discovered  how they could get it for free! Because of Joshua's  written
instructions,  down through   the  centuries there   were always groups
who distributed Joshua's real soap for free.
     After   several centuries   the leading  soap manufacturers   decided
that  they  needed a publicity gag  to stir up interest in their
counterfeit version  of the soap, so the  started Soap  Crusades to go
back to  Joshua's homeland and try to recover the original bucket in which
he had first made  the  soap.  Mighty armies  were raised  because
Joshua's homeland  was now  in he hands of some people  that didn't
believe in Joshua's soap. These Soap Crusades resulted in wars and the
deaths of thousands of people and much destruction and heartache.   Many
true followers  of Joshua protested against these campaigns,  but were
killed  for their   efforts.  Finally  the   Soap Crusades ceased,  but
they did stir up a  lot  of interest and sold a lot  of
the counterfeit soap.
     Several  centuries later,   when soap  sales were lagging  again,
the manufacturers  decided to use force to make  people  buy  their soap.
They started  an intricate system of  spies to report on people who didn't
use the "right" soap.  They also used a  group of   zealous   torturers
who   called themselves   the 'Investigation'   to torture people
suspected of not  using the  manufacturers soap.  Many  people
were  killed by the Investigation  for using Joshua's soap, and yet,
Joshua's soap continued to be passed out to all who asked, for free!
     After a few more hundred years, a whole  new kind of attack on
Joshua's soap  began.  This time the charge was made that Joshua's
written instructions were not really reliable.  This attack came from two
directions.  The first group of attackers said that the  instructions
were missing  some very  important  parts that  the  evil rival
manufacturers had taken out  in centuries   past.  various   of   the
attackers    claimed that    Joshua, himself,  had  come  and appeared  to
them, giving them special authority to "restore"  the lost instructions.
Of course,    the attackers   all   had different  versions of the
"restored" instructions  and  none of  them  were even  close to being in
agreement with each other. In many cases they weren't even   in  agreement
with   Joshua's instructions.  Even so; they were able to   deceive  some
of the  users  of Joshua's real soap.
     The   second group   of   these attackers  used a more "intellectual"
attack.  They  called themselves  the "Elevated  Critics" who said that
the instructions  didn't really mean  what they said,  and certainly they
weren't the  final  authority on how  to  get clean.   They  told  the
people  that Joshua  was just another good man  who had  high ideals,  but
his wasn't  the only  soap  around.  So they took  the "mythology"     out
of Joshua's instructions and left an empty  shell, which  couln't clean
anyone,  in  its place.
     Well,  about 2000 years have gone by  now,  and  Joshua's true  soap
is still available free, and people  are still  getting clean and being
happy.  And  there are those who try to peddle a similar but counterfeit
kind of soap for profit or power.  Now,  there  are some  who say you,
really,  can't get clean,  but  a little soap is  a  good thing  and
everybody ought  to  have some,  but don't go overboard!  Others worship
books about the original soap, and  still  others have Joshua's  true
soap, and have found that only through his power can they become clean.
     In our parable, Joshua's soap is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The
Gospel (which means "GOOD NEWS") could not be stamped    out    by the
"rival manufacturers" or anyone else, because it was a MESSAGE, not an
eartly system of priesthoods, rite and organizations.  The message of
God's provision for the gift of eternal life for sinful men has endured
even to our day  and  people are still getting "clean"  by submission of
their  lives to  Jesus Christ -ALONE.  In spite  of many  attempts  to
destroy the  Gospel message   by eradication of the believers,   or
perversion  of   the message itself,  the GOOD NEWS of what Jesus  Christ
did for YOU on His cross remains  as viable today as it was  on the
Resurrection Morning.  If you now see the NEED for the "SOAP" that  ONLY
Jesus Christ is capable  of providing,  a "SOAP" to cleanse you of
your sins "as white as snow",  we  ask that you follow the instructions
as originally given and as they are written in the inspired word of God.
(See Salvation or NT Plan for verses) 


