In the last issue of Arizona Highways there is this story of an honest cowboy. It seems the fellow was founded forking the saddle of someone else's horse, without permission, course. When brought to trial the man was asked by the judge if he was the defendant or plaintiff in the case. The cowboy looked up at the judge with a puzzled expression and answered, "Judge, I'm the one who stole the horse."

It seems a lawyer overheard the exchange and figured this cowboy needed some first class defending. But if he was to have a chance at all, the facts of the case must be ignored. So he brought in the widowed mother of the man, his wife and children, put his arm around our hero and asked, "Does this look like the kind of man who'd steal a horse?"

That was too much for the jury who instantly brought a verdict of "innocent." The judge asked the cowboy if he had anything to say and the cowboy sort of grinned and asked, "Judge, does this mean I get to keep the horse?"

Later on a friend asked him, "Did you or did you not steal that horse?" The cowboy said, "Well, I thought I did, but after listening to that there lawyer, now I ain't so sure."

I kind of like that story. It's funny and full of the sort of stuff that makes Arizona lore what it is. But it has a tragic parallel in the spiritual world.

The word of God puts us on trial every time we read it. So much of it is so easy to understand that we need help to misunderstand. Invariably, people who have no ax to grind and are not already tainted by party doctrine on divorce and remarriage understand what Jesus had to say on that subject in Matt. 19:9: "And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he that marrieth her when she is put away committeth adultery." Like the cowboy, they know very well from the beginning that they "stole the horse" when they read what Jesus said.

Enter the brotherhood lawyer appealing to the emotional consequence of doing the right thing. He reminds the man of his present wife and children and the sorrow separation will cause the family and has him pronounced "innocent" by a jury of his peers( God's judgment notwithstanding ). Enlightened against and unburdened from the Scriptures and the truth he speculates that he may keep his adulterous mate. He is defended in his action by those who have encouraged it, as they rail against those who plead for the truth as being too narrow minded and insensitive.

Suddenly what was clear is not so clear. A simple passage has been brutalized of its simplicity. "I thought I understood that passage, but now that Brother So and So has explained it to me, I'm quite sure that I don't." And so it goes. Our lawyers have done such a good job tickling ears that its mighty near impossible to distinguish truth from error. And souls are lost.

Isa. 5:18-21: "Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope; that say, Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it! Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!"