Down in that place called Hades, Satan summoned his three chief demons to a debate on how to win as many souls as possible for the Kingdom of Hell. After much discussion, one of the demons came up with an idea. “I know,” he said. “How about I disguise myself as a mortal and go to earth proclaiming that there is no such thing as God or the Devil or Heaven or Hell? I’ll tell everyone that there is no inherent good or evil and the only thing that matters is self-gratification. That way, alcohol, drugs, gambling, promiscuity, debauchery and the like will no longer be taboo. I predict that I’ll be able to secure the souls of up to half of the world’s population!”

Satan thought this was a wonderful idea and was just about to give it his approval when the second demon interjected. “I have an even better idea,” he said. “I’ll disguise myself as a mortal and go to earth, but I’ll proclaim that there is a God and a Devil and there is place called Heaven and a place called Hell, so everyone had better go to church every Sunday or else!” He then went on to say, “But then I’ll tell everyone that, as long as they go to church on a Sunday, the rest of the week they can literally do whatever they like. That way, I reckon I could get the souls of three-quarters of the world’s population down to Hell.”

Satan was delighted, and rubbed his hands together with glee, but then the third demon piped up. “I have the best idea of all, and an idea that could get everyone on earth down to Hell.” The whole of Hades fell silent as Satan nodded, beckoning the third demon to continue. “I’ll disguise myself as a mortal and go to earth and I, too, will proclaim that there is a God and a Devil and there is place called Heaven and a place called Hell. I’ll tell everyone that they must live clean and honest lives and follow the teachings of the Bible… But then I’ll also tell everyone that there’s absolutely no rush so they can take all the time in the world to think it over!”

And the moral of the tale is this: those who sit on the fence can end up having hell to pay for it!

R. Ian Seymour (adapted from Maximize Your Potential)