Friday, May 22, 2015
Who Would Have Thought?
In the years following the great stock market
crash of 1929, Charles Darrow, an unemployed salesman and inventor living in
Pennsylvania, invented a game. It became
popular with friends and family prompting him to market it in Philadelphia
department stores. His orders soon
increased to the point that he attempted to sell the game to the Massachusetts-based
Parker Brothers Company. The company turned him down, explaining that his game
contained "fifty-two fundamental errors" including: the game took too
long to play, the rules were too complicated and there was no clear goal for
the winner.
Undeterred, Darrow hired a printer friend to manufacture
five thousand sets. Reportedly, a friend
of Sally Barton, daughter of Parker Brothers' founder, George Parker, bought a
copy of the game, eventually inspiring Mr. Parker to buy a copy. He soon began to see the potential in the
game and subsequently made a deal with Darrow to pay him royalties on a slightly
adapted version. Since that time
Monopoly has been sold in 103
countries and in 37 languages. Over 200,000,000
games has been sold. Who would have
thought?
Some have argued that Darrow borrowed heavily
from the "Landlord", another game invented in 1904 by Lizzie J.
Magie, a Quaker from Virginia. Lizzie was
a part of a tax movement that was concerned about the excessive wealth that was
being amassed by landlords in America. Her
game was intended to illustrate the ugliness and unfairness of greed. Ironically that genre of game became popular
because people with very little money enjoyed playing a game in which they
could become rich. Who would have thought?
Sometimes our actions have unintended consequences. Sometimes things turn out much different than
we expect. History is full of examples,
but one stands out among the rest. In
the first century, Roman politicians partnered with the Jewish religious
leaders and ordered the execution of an itinerant rabbi from Nazareth. They
expected to put an end to an up and coming religious movement. Instead, they played right along with the prophecies
in Scripture. They publically killed Jesus and placed guards at his tomb. However, their painstaking efforts only
accented His great triumph when angels removed the stone and Jesus walked out
of the tomb past unconscious guards. Who
would have thought?
But that was just the beginning. Because of their dastardly deed, Jesus was
catapulted into the limelight. Today nearly
a third of the world's population claims to be followers of Jesus. NBC just launched a much anticipated TV
series called "A.D. The Bible Continues" which dramatizes the "aftermath
of the resurrection." The series is
the video version of the book of Acts, which documents how the disciples, led
by the Holy Spirit, "turned the
world upside down." Who would have
thought?
Unfortunately history does repeat itself. In our day politicians, governments and
religious leaders are acting much like they did in the days of the imploding Roman
Empire. Christians are being treated with great disrespect. Like in the book of
Acts, they are being told not to speak or act in the Name of Jesus. They are being asked to tolerate other's
values but their values are not being tolerated. Many are even being crucified
-- literally in some countries and
politically or financially in ours. But,
God will show Himself strong again in our day.
As governments collapse and morals cave, many will come to Christ, many
will be healed, and many will discover the joy of Christian living. Once again,
those who think they run the world will scratch their heads and mutter,
"Who would have thought?"
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