“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” (Isaiah 58:6, NIV).

     Ksenia Ovchinnikova has sued McDonald’s over an advertisement featuring cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets. The Orthodox Christian claims the advert caused her to break her fast during Lent. Despite successfully fasting for the previous sixteen years, she was unable to resist the temptation and wound up eating a burger. In a court filing, Ovchinnikova wrote:

     In Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is a moneylender. Shylock demands repayment from Antonio who owes Shylock a substantial sum of money. Shylock takes Antonio to court to exact a “pound of flesh” as repayment. Portia, an accomplished lawyer and friend of Antonio; disguises herself as a man and presides over the hearing as the prosecuting judge.

     I marvel as to how two people can view the same event and yet come away with different perspectives. As the adage goes, no two people see the same thing alike. Just ask the tourists who visit Lock Ness.

“A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12, NLT).

     I once heard the Christian author, Howard Hendricks, say, “A [person] not in an accountable relationship is a moral accident waiting to happen.” Such was the case for the twentieth-century evangelist, William Branham.