The Bird Cage

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 The Bird Cage

 A man named George Thomas was a pastor in a small New England town. He
 entered his church one Easter morning with a rusty, old, bent bird cage. He
 set the bird cage on the pulpit causing a few raised eyebrows.
 
 Then he began to speak. "Yesterday morning I came across a young boy who
 had 3 scared birds in a cage shivering from the cold. I asked him, What do
 you got there?' Just some dumb old bird!' What are you going to do with
 them? Tease em, play with em, and pull out all their feathers!' Then what
 are you going to do?' Feed em to my cat, he likes birds!' The pastor then
 went silent for a moment and asked, How much would you like for those
 birds?' Oh, you don't want these, they're ugly and can't even sing!'
 How much?' came the pastor's definite reply. The boy thought for a moment
 and then said, $10' The pastor reached into his pocket and gave the boy
 $10.
 The boy took the money and then vanished. The pastor picked up the cage,
 walked to the end of the alley where there was a tree and a small grassy
 spot. He opened the door by gently tapping the bars to the cage, and coaxed
 the birds out into the grass.
 
 That explained the bird cage on the pulpit.
 
 Then he proceeded to tell this story:
 
 "One day, Satan and Jesus were walking and Satan had just come out of the
 Garden of Eden. He was gloating and boasting. Yes, sir, I caught me a whole
 world full of people. Set a trap that they just couldn't resist. Yep, got
 them all.' What are you going to do with them?' came the reply.
 
 Gonna have some fun with them; teach them to hate, hurt, and kill each
 other.' Then what are you going to do?' Oh, then I'll kill them and bring
 them down into my kingdom.' Jesus paused. How much do you want for them?'
 Oh, you don't want them. They'll just hate you, spit on you, mock you and
 kill you. They don't want you.' Jesus paused and looked straight into
 Satan's soul, How much?' Satan suddenly realized, looked at Jesus and
 sneered, All your tears, all your blood, all your footsteps, all your
 strengths, all your life.' Jesus paid the price, picked up the cage and
 opened the door.