What’ll they think of next?

I may have mentioned this before, but if I did it was quite a while ago so I'm telling you again that I'm an inveterate reader and collector of odd news articles and what I consider to be, interesting bits of information. Some may trivialize them and call it trivial information, but I don't care, I still like reading and hearing these odd little pieces. Having noticed that I've collected a few of them recently I thought that I'd pass them on to you and maybe weave a scriptural lesson from them. In giving it a go, here they are in no special order.

In the thought category of "What'll they think of next?" I happened across an advertisement for a new service available. It seems that, if you buy into this new service, you can have your ashes pressed into a vinyl record of your final thoughts along with some of your favorite songs. And, this service isn't just relegated to "your" ashes, it can also be done for your pet's ashes. Either way, it only costs $3,400 per record. What a deal!

The first scripture that comes to my mind, relative to the above paragraph and the service mentioned, is the words of Solomon "The Preacher" in the book of Ecclesiastes: "Vanity of vanities." The service of "pressing one's ashes into a record" just seems to me to be illustrative of a person glorifying and perpetuating themselves. It just seems to fit the "vanity" label to a tee.

Here's how I relate the book of Ecclesiastes to my view of the "vanity" of the "record service." A study of the entire book should lead us to understand the conclusion "The Preacher" came to. That after all is said and done, after all of our worldly pursuits are concluded, the end of the matter is this: that glorifying God and not ourselves is the only thing we can do while on this earth that isn't "vanity." As he concluded: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." (Eccl. 12:13)

Probably my greatest source of editorial fodder from temporal resources comes from either the government itself or news articles regarding a governmental endeavor. A few editorials back I used "political correctness" as a basis for my thoughts. I've noted a few items that fall into the "PC" realm and here's a few real quick ones that came to my attention.

Number one: Why is it okay to kill a fetus, but not put a convicted killer to death? And along that same line: Why don't we see activists "rescuing" fetuses like we see them "rescue" animals?

Number two: Has anyone besides me noticed that it's OK to teach homosexuality (IE: "alternate lifestyles") in our nation's schools but, whatever you do, DON'T MENTION GOD OR CHRISTIANITY!

Number three: This thought deals with what I see as the hypocrisy of the government. It seems that we have "freedom of speech" only so long as it's "politically correct." As an illustration of this thought, let me provide you with something spoken by a very astute man, Mr. Ben Stein. "Fathom the odd hypocrisy that the government wants every citizen to prove that they are insured, but people don't have to prove they are citizens." A brilliant observation.

Number four and final odd item: In the area of "religious beliefs" abounding in our world today the one I heard about recently is about as far out as one can get in the "oddity" genre. As strange as this sounds, I can speak to the veracity of it as I personally know a relative of this woman and her religious belief that I'm about to mention.

The woman I speak of lives on a farm in the State of Oregon upon which a couple of acres on her farm is planted in an interesting crop. She grows peanuts, but they're not for eating. She grows them for the leaves of the plants. If you're wondering why this has any religious significance, here's why: she believes that they are the only thing that Jesus will walk on when He returns to this earth at His second coming. Therefore, when He does return, the only place He will come to is her farm and her peanut patch.

I told you this was "out there." I have to admit, of all the reading and studying I've done regarding the "religions" of the world and all of the false doctrines I've heard of, I had never heard of this one. I don't even know if it has a name. Maybe we can give it one and call it "The Peanut Doctrine." And, besides what we read in God's Word, I wonder if she's aware of something else detrimental to her belief. I'm referring to all of the peanut farms in Georgia and I'm quite sure that they are substantially larger than her's.

Well, let's wrap up these various thoughts I've mentioned by looking at a scriptural conclusion. As to Number one: the unconcern for the yet unborn. I think those who will OK the killing of a fetus fit the character of those described in both Romans 1:31 and 2 Tim. 3:3 IE: those "without natural affection." Simply put in more modern English, the "heartless."

Number two: What the government and much of society call "alternate lifestyles" God calls "vile affections." (Rom. 1:26) Again, more modern English calls this a "debased mind" which is just one item on the list of unrighteous activities condemned by God in Rom. 1:28-32. And here's an added thought for you; if you believe the advancement of "alternate lifestyles" is no problem or even if you're ambivalent about the subject, you might want to read verse 32 again. "Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only who do them, but give approval to those who practice them."

A short scriptural thought on number three: One non-Christian way of behavior is that of being a "hypocrite." It's my personal view that "political correctness and/or speech" is the same as being "partial" and "with hypocrisy." Please read James 3:17 for the scriptural backing for my view here.

Wrapping up here with number four let's consider these passages: In 1Tim. 4:1-3 we read the warning that in the "later times" we'll see people depart from the faith by devoting themselves to "deceitful spirits" and "doctrines of devils." And furthermore, I think that this warning also fits right well with numbers 1 thru 3 also. There will be just about any and every kind of false doctrine available for someone to buy into that fits the way they want to believe.

As to our "Peanut Doctrine" another thing our "farmer in Oregon" must be unaware of is that nothing in the scriptures say that Jesus will ever set foot upon the earth again. As a matter of fact, it teaches just the opposite. In 1Thess. 4:16-17 says that when Christ does return we'll all be aware of it. That the "dead in Christ" will rise up first "then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord."

I'm just afraid that all the peanut patches of the world will remain untrodden by the "Son of man."

Ron Covey