A young man decided to write a book about famous churches around the world. He was visiting the United States, so he bought a plane ticket and travelled to Orlando, thinking that he would start by working his way across the US from south to north.

On his first day, he was inside a church taking photographs when he noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that read “$10,000 per call.”

Intrigued, he asked a priest who was strolling by, what the telephone was used for.

The priest replied that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 you could talk to God.

The young man thanked the priest and went on his way.

The next stop was in Atlanta. There, at a very large cathedral, he saw the same looking golden telephone with the same sign under it. He wondered if this was the same kind of telephone he saw in Orlando and he asked a nearby nun what its purpose was.

She told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 he could talk to God.

“Okay, thank you,” he said.

He travelled all across America, then on to Europe, England, Japan, and New Zealand. In every church, he saw the same looking golden telephone, with the same “US$10,000 per call” sign under it.

The young man decided to travel to Australia to see if Australians had the same phone.

He arrived in Perth, Western Australia, and again, in the first church he entered, there was the same looking golden telephone, but this time the sign under it read, “40 cents per call.”

The man was surprised, so he asked the priest about the sign. “Father, I’ve travelled all over the world and I’ve seen this same golden telephone in many churches. I’m told that it is a direct line to heaven, but in all of them, the price was $10,000 per call. Why is it so cheap here?”

The priest smiled and answered, “You’re in Australia now, son. This is heaven so it’s a local call”.