When we lived in Hawaii we had a large lot on which there were many kinds of trees. We had a number of coconut palms, a banana tree,a papaya tree, a plumaria tree, and a lichee nut tree. Coconuts grew in abundance and also the bananas, and we really enjoyed the papaya fruit with lime juice, and the plumaria tree had a profusion of fragrant plumaria blossoms for making leis. But the lichee nut tree was a complete disappointment since it didn't bear any fruit for three years. Now lichee nuts are delicious; they are like big green grapes with large pits all enclosed in a tough, spiny skin. They are considered a delicacy by orientals and are quite expensive in the market, so I really wanted that tree to produce fruit.
I went to the nursery for advice, and I was told I had a choice. The local natives believe that a tree that doesn't bear has an evil spirit or devil. The witch doctor tells them to beat the tree with a chain to beat the devil out, and it works. The reason it works, and the reason the tree doesn't bear is because the sap returns to the roots in the fall. Beating the tree damages the channels in the bark through which the sap flows, thereby trapping the sap in the branches which stimulates the production of fruit the next spring. I was told that I could accomplish the same result by girdling the large branches with 1/4 inch saw cuts. Beating the tree with a chain was much more dramatic, but I preferred the more scientific method. I followed instructions, and the next year I had a bumper crop; people came from all around the neighborhood asking if they could pick some nuts.
You may laugh at these superstitious and misguided people who believe that trees are possessed by devils, but we well educated, sophisticated moderns are just as gullible in many ways. People journey halfway around the world to see some apparition or bathe in water with miraculous healing powers; they spend millions of dollars on exotic concoctions from shark teeth to rhino tusks, from grizzly bear testicles to sea coral in search of a magic elixir of health or long life. We still live today under the shadow of the fabled "fountain of youth."
Many people today are struggling with devils of guilt and remorse and are striving to find solace in vain superstition or cunningly devised fables. In doing so we are following the counsel of modern gurus who instruct us in New Age mysticism or pentecostal celebration when the only solution to our problems is the truth as found in God's Word, the truth that will set us free. Instead of flagellating ourselves with weird and illogical solutions in the pursuit of a fruitful life, we need to apply the principles of divine inspiration and common sense logic in our quest for happiness and redemption. Only in this way can we really be successful in "beating out the devils."
