This upset Michael, so he went outside without his shirt on and chased the workmen away, then went back to bed.  The workmen thought they could see a handgun tucked in Michael’s pants, so they called the police who sent in the SWAT team!

Michael soon woke up to the shouts of armed-police on his front lawn, demanding that he throw down his weapons and exit the house.  When Michael came outside the police soon realized that Michael had a very realistic tattoo of a handgun on his stomach!  (See photo.)

The point of the story is that Michael knowingly went and got a tattoo of a realistic handgun on his stomach.  It wasn’t a real gun, but it looked like one.  He may have thought it was a good joke, but it carried the appearance of evil.  God tells us in 1Thess. 5:22, Abstain from all appearance of evil.”

This is another reason why we cannot go around looking like bad people, or behaving like them.  We may not actually be doing the bad things they do, but we’re not even to give the impression of evil.  Sometimes, when for a long time we have given the appearance of evil, we might just end up actually doing the evil.

Interestingly, a few months after Michael had his experience with the police, he was actually arrested for stealing some drugs and carrying an actual handgun concealed in the waistband of his pants!