Bonfire of Vanities
Hennie Symington

Many of those who had practised magic brought their books together and burnt them in public. They added up the price of the books, and the total came to fifty thousand silver coins. In this powerful way the word of the Lord kept spreading and growing stronger. Acts 19:19-20

Not many people know who Savonarola was. He was an intelligent young priest with a very strong sense of right and wrong who lived in Italy during the fifteenth century. He preached zealously against the sins of his time and the abuses of the pope and other clergy. He even went as far as calling the church a prostitute.

He has a wide audience among the peasantry, but the nobility and the clergy wanted to crucify him. One day he challenged the people of Venice to burn everything that enticed them into sin on a pyre. And what a great fire it was: foul books and pictures, gaming tables, paintings of a dubious nature - in fact anything that could be considered as sinful went up in the smoke. Unfortunately, after a while people tired of the poor priest that in the end he was also burnt at the stake.

In Acts 19 we also read of a bonfire where vanity and sinfulness went up in flames. When a bunch of sorcerers at Ephesus saw how powerfully Paul brought people to faith, they brought all their magic books and idols - to the value of 50,000 pieces of silver in total, we read - to be burnt.

When looking at some of the things that believers are exposed to today, we also wish that we could start a great big bonfire with some of the stuff such as certain movies, magazines, emails, music video, websites, posters, dangerous drugs and liquor which rob people of their morality and steal the innocence of children. If this should happen it would be the mother of all bonfires!

Make your own little bonfire
Of course we can’t go around burning stuff, but nothing stops you from building a little bonfire in your own heart where you can get rid of some of those things in your life you know will start little fires of desire in your heart and in the hearts of others. By doing so, you will go against the tide and stand as a beacon of light for others who have also had enough of folly.

Prayer:
Spirit of God, please come with your holy fire and save us from those things that enslave and destroy us. Amen