Elephant Puppets

Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus is shutting down after May 2017 due to a sharp decline in ticket sales.  It, of course, is not the only reason, but the decline corresponded with the removal of live elephants from the shows.  The elephants had become increasingly controversial due to animal rights groups allegations that the animals were mistreated by the circus workers.

The latest version of the show features life-sized elephant puppets named Queenie and Peanut. While the puppets look to be real it is obvious that they are puppets because the human operators are clearly visible. The audiences love them!

As ringmaster David Williamson says, "You can't tell the story of the circus in America without elephants."

Much the same thing is happening in many of America's churches. The true Gospel of Jesus Christ has been replaced by other emphases because some see the Gospel message as imperialistic, ethnocentric, depressing, at odds with their belief in the essential goodness of Man, or exclusivist.  On the contrary, there are strong reasons to believe that a Gospel-less Christianity is not Christian.