The Horse That Bucks You!

(What no one told Elvis)

By John Stallings


Once during a press conference, the late President Ronald Reagan was being asked some tough questions by reporters.

One reporter especially was being extremely rude insisting the president answer the same question over and over, obviously trying to pressure and corner him. One of Mr. Reagan’s assistants moved in to try to close out the session & allow the President to escape the situation. Later Mr. Reagan approached the aid and told him never to do that, that when he was asked the hard questions it stretched him and brought out his best. He gave the aid the analogy of a hitter in a baseball game. If they always threw soft pitches to him he could never hit a home- run. Blazing fastballs are the kind you need to hit home runs. Opposition, though it never feels good, has a tendency to sharpen us and help us to “check ourselves lest we wreck ourselves."

In Numbers 22, there’s of a man by the name of Balaam who was hired by Balak to curse the nation of Israel. On his journey to attempt this, the donkey he was riding saw an angel ahead of them blocking the way. This of course was God intervening to stop this prophet in his tracks. Balaam didn’t see the angel but the donkey did, so the animal kicked and bucked and finally fell down under Balaam and refused to go forward. Then the donkey actually spoke to the prophet asking him to be reasonable.

Strange story isn’t it? As many stories in the Bible, it’s to say the least, unusual, but filled with practical truth. The simple object of this story is clear: the donkey was trying to save Balaam’s life by restraining him from doing something God didn't want done. The animal could see the angel but Balaam couldn’t, consequently he threw the prophet off of him. Then Balaam started cursing, and the donkey asked why he was being so mean to him, reminding him that he had always been a faithful servant.

SOMETIMES THE HORSE THAT BUCKS US IS OUR BEST FRIEND

Hasn’t experience shown this to be true in your life? It certainly has in mine. In our humanness we want people to agree with us and by our very nature we don’t like to be opposed. But often that opposition is the very thing that stops us from making terrible mistakes. A friend who will accept less than our best from us or shower us with approval when we are wrong is a very dangerous friend. There is no more dangerous place for a person to be than in a situation where people are hesitant or afraid to tell them the truth.

A great example of this is of one of the most famous entertainers that ever lived, Elvis Presley. Elvis had many devoted friends around him but by their own admission, they just couldn’t tell him the truth. When they tried to talk to him, he wouldn’t listen so they finally quit trying. He was told many things but;

THERE WAS ONE THING NO ONE EVER TOLD ELVIS

He was from an Assemblies of God background where he got his religious training. They are a very fundamental church so Elvis was taught the Bible and knew well the Bible stories.

He was told that:

JESUS WAS GOD’S SON.

This was taught to Elvis from an early age and by all accounts he believed it. He loved and sang the old songs that spoke of Jesus’ love. He would go to the gospel quartet sings when he was so famous he had to sit in a private box.

He believed in the virgin birth of Christ and often told others he believed it. He knew that he was only a man like all other men but Jesus was divine. From his youth he was taught this and he believed strongly it.

Elvis also was told from an early age about:

SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST’S DEATH ON THE CROSS

Elvis knew he wasn’t his own savior but Christ died for all of mankind’s sins. He would even correct people sometimes when they referred to him as someone to revere and worship. He would tell them only Jesus deserves that worship. Elvis fully understood that man couldn’t save himself, and Christ came to the world to save us. He knew well that we are saved by Grace through faith in Christ. Elvis knew materialistic things couldn’t make him happy and he often said he’d give it all up to be free to walk down the streets and live a normal life.

Elvis and a friend of mine, a Quartet singer who’s now with the Lord were looking out the window one day of one of the tallest Hotels in Las Vegas. As they looked at the sights below Elvis told my friend that he could buy anything his eye could see but none of it could make him happy. Elvis very much understood that if he owned the world it couldn’t bring happiness.

Elvis also was told and believed that:

JESUS WOULD SOMEDAY RETURN TO THE EARTH!

Elvis spoke to REV. REX HUMBARD about this once in Las Vegas. He was told this as a child and he believed it. His exact question to the preacher was "Christ is coming soon isn’t he Rev. Humbard?" Of course the Minister assured Elvis that he was.

ELVIS WAS TOLD & BELIEVED THAT CHRIST COULD STILL HEAL THE SICK.

He would sometimes lay hands on people and pray for their healing. This was taught to him in his youth and he believed it, according to those who knew him best. He understood that Christ healed because he was compassionate. He knew that "By his stripes we are healed”. Elvis was taught this from his youth and firmly believed it.

All you need do is read a few of the many books written about Elvis and you’ll know all of this and more is true of him. Whether or not, at the end Elvis ever placed his complete trust in Christ as his personal Savior is not my place to say for only God knows that. But Elvis knew the truth.


ELVIS KNEW AND LOVED GOSPEL MUSIC

Those who knew him best testify that what he loved most was to gather around a piano with friends and sing gospel music until the wee hours of the morning. The only Grammy awards Elvis ever received were for gospel albums. There’s no doubt about it, Elvis Presley was a man well versed in all things Christian. He had been taught it and he knew it well. In one way you could look at the life of Elvis Presley, with all he knew about God, the Bible, Gospel music and spiritual things, & say he could, with a few adjustments, have been an international evangelist. Some close to him say he even spoke of the possibilities of that happening someday. But there were problems and the biggest one was,

NO ONE EVER TOLD ELVIS ---NO !!!

If someone had told him NO and made it stick Elvis may be alive today! If doctors had BUCKED Elvis, and told him no, he may have straightened up his life and gotten off the drugs, but it just never happened. From what I’ve heard, the doctors had a vested financial interested in keeping him on drugs. If those around him would have stuck their heels in the ground and said NO, we won’t bring you drugs, we won’t work for you or with you until you get off these poisonous substances, things would have been different for Elvis. You may say,-- Elvis wouldn’t listen to them and that may be true but the fact still remains that NO, taken seriously by Elvis, could have saved his life.

MOST OF US DON'T LIKE TO HEAR NO EITHER

God told Ezekiel in Ezekiel 3:18 that if he didn’t warn the wicked of their ways, their blood will be on his hands. Once he did warn them it was all on them. Think about it: Most of us don’t like to hear no either. If we are dead set on a course of action and a friend speaks his mind and says he doesn’t think it’s the correct thing to do, that can be a bitter pill to swallow. Some people push everyone from their lives who don’t always agree with them but many people have been saved a lot of heartache because a friend was willing to enter their displeasure zone in order to speak something into their lives that went against what they wanted to hear.

I read a story about a miner who spent most of his time looking for gold in desolate areas. One night when he was trying to sleep, his dog started barking. He told the dog over and over to stop barking but still the dog barked. Finally in A fit of rage the old man got up and shot his dog. When he lay his head down and went to sleep, men who had been waiting outside his camp came in and beat and robbed him and left him for dead. That dog knew the men were there and tried to warn the old man but to no avail. The old miner probably killed his best friend that night.

If a red light comes on the dashboard of your car, and you get out and disconnect it, unless the light is malfunctioning, you have only doomed yourself to an ultimate problem, because now you will have nothing to warn you of impending danger. It’s never a pleasant experience to be bucked either by a horse or another human being. In Balaam’s case, the mule that threw him off was the best friend he had because he saved him from certain death. The angel posted by God on his path was there to see he proceeded no further. We often view opposition as negative but it’s a negative that can result in positive results.

Televangelist Jim Bakker has written an excellent book entitled “I was wrong”. In the book he tells of a letter received from Pat Roberson warning him of some of the pitfalls of the television ministry and admonishing him to be careful in his fundraising. In retrospect Jim sees that he should have had more of a listening ear to what his fellow Minister was saying but he was so busy building a ministry that he failed to be watchful. That oversight resulted in several years in jail. Hebrews 12:11 says;

“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yeildeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby”.

There’s an old saying that most people would rather be ruined by praise than saved by correction. It behooves us all to be willing to listen to the voice of those whom God has placed in and around our lives.

As with Balaam, sometimes the HORSE THAT BUCKS US will be the best friend we have.

Blessings,

John