SCRIP-BITS

Genesis 2:16-17.     And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
 
Oh Friends, this earthly life is something else yes! One day you’re healthy, the next you’re sick as a dog. One day you’re getting better, at least so you think, next day you’ve suffered a relapse, and are possibly worse off than before. Steups! I believe the philosophers would say, such are the vicissitudes of life. (smile) Ah really not smiling though, because in the last few days whatever unwelcome ailment I have, has apparently taken up more serious residence in my body than previously suspected. After a rather rough weekend, I went to the medic yesterday, and wonder of wonders, he only had to put his stethoscope to my back once, to declare: ‘Oh no! It’s bronchitis! You need antibiotics!’ Chuh! That diagnosis didn’t surprise me all that much, but by the same token, when the medic makes a pronouncement, we all seem to take it more seriously. So here I am now, on the cusp of a ten day antibiotic programme. After all the recent news about resistant superbugs, I really hope this one works yes, because I’m really tired of this sickness business. For too long now, it has had me not knowing whether I’m coming or going and playing havoc with my life. Ah mih people, what’s happening to our medical prowess eh? More germs are being spread through and contacted in hospitals than ever before. You go there for a simple procedure and never come back out because of something you caught there. And as fast as we pick up one thing, something else crops up. The diseases are mutating faster than we can handle them. And the sad part is that my current story is no longer the exception that it used to be ten years ago, even five, but now it’s the rule. So many people are contacting stuff, that it’s taking on nightmare proportions. Our immune systems no longer seem to be immune to much. So what now eh? Oh Friends, that’s just another tell-tale sign that we should be seeking to get closer to our Maker, than further away, as we are tending to do. Right now we’re supposed to be at the pinnacle of our evolutionary powers with all the modern technology we have at hand. But in practical terms, it seems that we’re really regressing, free falling into the abyss of despair and uncertainty. We’ve conquered so much of the earth that we now talk about it being a global village. But what benefits does that bring eh? Look at our worldwide economic situation. It’s the worse it’s being in many a year. But a few of the wealthy and powerful are doing better than ever. More billionaires are being made everyday. Yet poverty and hunger are possibly more widespread than they’ve ever being. Look at the health situation. It’s true that some people are being helped more than before, but millions of children are still dying from starvation and treatable childhood diseases. To make matters worse, things like polio, measles and tuberculosis, which we supposedly had conquered, are slowly but surely creeping back in, while the dreaded modern-day scourge of cancer now has us locked in a strangle hold, from which I don’t think we’ll ever escape, unless and until we change the way we live. And here I’m talking about the myriad of stuff that we put in our food, water and atmosphere, most of which have not been properly tested, and plenty of which are known carcinogens. Then look at the way we live nuh. Our societies have never been more selfish, greedy, resentful and warlike, though we call this our most humanistic period. Hn! War and strife rule the roost! So that even in supposed times of peace, we’re still at each other’s throat. All proper mores and manners have disappeared. There’s no longer any sense of honour in our societies. Most people don’t even know the word, much less what it means. Immorality is king; and thus one of the biggest commercial segments of our world society. That means godliness is fast taking a back seat. The family is no longer an important aspect of our culture, cause we’re ‘warring’ there too. True leadership is dead, as all our puppet-leaders are more interested in lining their pockets. And not only in the high echelons is corruption rampant, but in all walks of life, from top to bottom, and brazenly cultivated too. We won’t even mention crime, where ordinary people are scared to walk in many places in broad daylight, much less at night. The justice system is in shambles, a veritable joke, where criminals now expect to routinely receive two and three for one deals. Yes Friends, the courts are our new ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ programme. Domestic abuse seems to be on the rise again, if it ever went down. Parents are routinely killing their children and/ or themselves for foolish reasons. Mental health is seriously deteriorating, especially amongst the young, but help for the mentally afflicted is getting harder to come by. And I won’t even talk about the gun scene. We’re now in the age of the gun. And though the majority is against it, we’re allowing a small but powerful minority who profit from its spread, to tell us nonsense about its benefits. Steups! What benefits accrue from owning a gun eh, especially the sophisticated ones now being touted? The only thing I can think of is the saying, He who lives by the gun dies by the gun. It’s even been recently reported that slavery is more rampant than it was four hundred years ago. So what’s what eh? Ah Friends, this tirade wasn’t what I set out to write nuh. In fact I never really set out to write anything in particular, this all blossomed on its own accord. I guess the ugliness I’m seeing so prevalent in our world finally decided to come out. And what amazes me is that we’re looking for solutions in all the wrong places. And the one place where we will certainly find some respite, some solace from the numerous problems currently afflicting our society, we’re pushing further and further into the background. Yes Friends, I’m talking about our great God! The One who causes us to prosper in times of obedience. And also the One who causes us ‘sufferation’ in times of disobedience, like now. I’m truly surprised that more people aren’t making that connection, when it’s so obvious from the annals of history. And when you include the Word, it makes even more sense. But sense was something mankind obviously never had. You just have to look at Adam and Eve’s story to see that. They had everything, lived in a practical paradise. God only put one prohibition on them, as evidenced by our Bit. ‘And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.’ There’s no maybe or possibly in that directive Friends! It’s pure certainty all the way! So what happens? Our fore parents, weak, and foolishly beguiled by the evil one, ate from the forbidden tree. And they died exactly as promised! But yet, thousands of years later, we’re still doing the same thing; being disobedient to the directives of God, still following the foolish call, the empty lure of the evil one. And then we wonder why our world is in such a dysfunctional mess, why we’re dying and going to hell in the proverbial hand basket. Oh my people, when are we going to wake up and realize that Our God is real, and His pronouncements are very serious? Because until we do, there’ll be no surcease from our current demise. Much LOVE!…the question might be cloudy…but the answer’s as clear as daylight…JESUS…