Pint-sized preacher

On the set with him, were his parents and two interviewers. His proud parents showed film clips of their son pastoring a large congregation. They explained that their kid had been preaching privately since he was 19-months-old and produced a home made video to prove it. His father explained that he himself is a preacher and so is his father. The boy had been attending their church regularly with his mother since he was a babe in arms.

To the interviewer’s question, “Is this something he wanted to do or you were coaching him for?” The parents said that he was insistent that he wanted to talk to the congregation and kept begging them to allow him to do so. Questions directed to the tiny preacher were answered with one word wither “Yes” or “No”. He spent most of the time playing childish games with his tongue and lips, fidgeting in his chair and smiling to see himself on the monitor.

When I thought that he was the only little preacher, later in the day the station had a whole battalion of boys under twelve years preaching in churches. As my wife put it, after looking at the short film clips, “The whole thing looked as if they were making a mockery of religion. A real pappy show.”

As a matter of fact, an interviewer told the parents of the four-year-old who could neither read nor write, that surely what he was doing, was simply imitating what he had seen his father and granddad doing. They hesitatingly agreed to some extent but felt that it was much more than that and sincerely believed that their son was divinely inspired.

When we lived in East Dry River, there was a well dressed gentleman called Pa Ashoot who lived up the hill and had to walk up thirty-something steps to get to his home. On quite a few occasions, he would be drunk and that was a scene to behold as with a bag in hand, Pa Ashoot would stagger and stumble and straddle the steps. Then he would scramble and struggle to start walking up again. This scenario would be replayed again and again until Ma Ashoot who was twice his size, would arrive and assist poor Pa Ashoot.

Now, the seven and eight-year-old boys in nearby houses found this very exciting and decided to make a game of it. We would compete with one another to see who could play Pa Ashoot the best. He was imitated to the hilt and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously. If I tell you who was the regular winner of this contest, you would think I’m boasting. From genuine acting, the characterisations moved to silly clowning and then sheer buffoonery. Now, we all have an actor inside of us and that pint-sized preacher is an imitator of the highest order.

Yet, let us not forget, what King David wrote in Psalm 8, Verse 2 “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

The Good News Bible — Today-s English Version, puts the same thing this way, “Your praise Lord, is sung by children and babies. You are safe and secure from all your enemies; you stop anyone who opposes you.”

One Sunday morning, the pastor declaimed, “Other books were given for our information, but this book that I have in my hand, the Holy Bible, was given to us by the prophets of God, for our transformation.”