(Here’s a favorite story of mine from Daniel 3, rewritten for emphasis.)
Once upon a time, there were three young men who were living captive in a faraway kingdom. The kingdom and its customs were very different from the place where they were from. As unusual as it was, they did their best to live in harmony with those around them.
One day the king called everyone in the kingdom to come to a big party. He had constructed a huge statue of himself and wanted to show everyone.
When the people arrived, he gave some unusual but very clear instructions. “When you hear the sound of the beautiful music begin to play, you must bow down to the statue,” he said. The music began to play and all the people bowed down. Yet the three young captives did not bow down.
Some of the men’s friends became concerned about the lives of the young captives. They yelled, “Bowing down is no big deal! The king is making everyone bow. Bow down!” To which they replied, “This isn’t right! We can only bow down to the One True God!”
Others cried out, “This isn’t persecution! The king is treating everyone the same! Bow down!”
One of their closest friends whispered, “Just because you bow your body doesn’t mean you have to bow in your head! Just imagine that you are bowing to your God.”
The three young men, driven by strong conviction, still refused to bow.
Soon the king heard of their stubbornness and demanded that they be brought to him. When the men appeared before the king, he said, “I’ll give you one more chance to bow!”
The young men did not hesitate. They replied, “Even if you give us another chance, we will not bow down. If you throw us into the fire, our God will deliver us! Even if He doesn’t, we will not bow down!” This made the king very angry and he called his guards.
“Guards!” he yelled, “Carry these boys into the large ovens! Turn the heat up seven times hotter than before and throw them in!” So the guards threw the young men into the fiery oven for not bowing down to the huge statue.
Not long after the young men were thrown into the roaring flames, the king looked in to see what had happened. He was astonished at what he saw! He exclaimed, “Those boys are walking around in the oven and it doesn’t even look like they are burned!”
Then, he became even more excited, “Didn’t we throw three into the flames? It looks like there are four walking around in the fire and the fourth looks like a god!”
The king commanded the young men to come out of the oven. Then he said to all the people, “These boys defied the king’s command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore, I make this decree: If any people, whatever their race or nation or language, speak a word against their God, they will be torn limb from limb, and their houses will be turned into heaps of rubble. There is no other god who can rescue like this!”
After all this, the king promoted the three young men to great positions in the kingdom.
THE END.
