April Fools Day

Psalm 14:1 (NIV)

The fool says in his heart,

    “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;

    there is no one who does good.

There have been many practical jokes pulled on folks in recognition of this day. In 2005, the media reported that NASA had discovered water on Mars, and had actual pictures on the official NASA website. Those who went to the NASA website to check it out, found a picture of a glass of water sitting on a Mars candy bar.

On April Fools Day in 1996, Taco Bell announced that they had purchased the Liberty Bell, and that they would be renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Man, people were calling the national parks department, all in an uproar. Later in the Day, the press secretary for the white house announced that they would also be selling the Lincoln Memorial and renaming it the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

The April 1985 edition of Sports Illustrated reported that there was a new rookie signed up to play for the Mets. This rookie, named Sidd Finch, supposedly trained by Buddhist monks, was said to have a 168 MPH fastball that he delivered with pinpoint accuracy. Mets fans rejoiced until they found out it was an April Fools joke.

1998 Burger King published a full page advertisement in an American newspaper announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" especially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger, etc.), but all the items were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The next day, Burger King issued a follow-up.

The follow-up press release said that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many others [had] requested their own 'right handed' version."

Probably the best April Fools joke ever reported was when the BBC news program “Panorama” reported in 1957 that due to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. Many people called in wanting to know how to grow their own spaghetti tree.

Psalm 14:1

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."

The most foolish thing anyone can do is fail to believe in God.

The fool believes that good people go to heaven.

The fool believes going to church isn't important.

The fool believes you can ignore what the Bible says about sin.

The fool believes there are errors in the Bible.

The fool believes there is no place called hell.

The fool chooses to neglect salvation that comes only through faith in Jesus.

Let’s make it our goal to share the good news of Jesus to those around us. Let’s be bold so we can show the truth to the foolish.

Dear Lord, thanks for giving us the wisdom so that we can make wise decisions rather than foolish ones. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.