The Cracked Acorn: Need to know

So that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped – 2 Timothy 3:14-17

When I was growing up and attending church, the preacher would remind us that a battle was raging. It was the battle for our souls. The pulpit was pounded, and supporting scriptures were quoted. The battle still goes on and will never stop. The enemy is very clever and does not rest as we do. While we sleep, computers around the world are gathering information. Companies are interested in what we eat, wear, and buy. How we use what we buy is their main concern. They are establishing a predictable profile of our society’s needs. The expanded markets hope to reach all our material and spiritual desires.

You may think that you are a private person. This would be true if you lived up a muddy road on the side of a 12,000-foot mountain and made and grew all you needed. Of course, you could not have a telephone or a cell phone or have any neighbors. Electricity would be a no! no! You would have to limit your connections to the outside world. The postman would put your mail in a post office box if you knew anyone that had the P.O. address. This sounds good, no junk mail.

Information can influence the individual about what to place before the “window of our soul.” I saw this in a religious bookstore one Christmas season. The gospel now appears in many books, CDs, and videos. I was looking for a replacement Bible. It was decided that recovering was more expensive than purchasing a new one. On this very busy mid-morning shopping day in a large store in Manassas, I was amazed by the many translations and versions that populated the one Bible stand. I was even more amazed that out of the many prospective buyers, I was the only one shopping for a Bible. I could have picked one and stretched out on the floor and read it from cover to cover. All eyes were turned to LEFT BEHIND and PASSION OF THE CHRIST and books about the lives of the TV evangelists. Surely, I knew what Jesus felt when he saw what was going on in the temple. No one was interested in a good sturdy covered Bible. Ah, to be sure, the internet, the PC, has done its job well and spread the gospel of the vast available warehouse of sugary religious Twinkies.

There’s a book that surpasses the sages, A volume of wisdom divine; And the glory that gleams from its pages, No splendor of earth can outshine. “Tis the light which will guide is to glory, The Sword of the Spirit of might; And to dwell on its beautiful story Is of heaven the sweetest delight.

‘TIS THE BIBLE! THE BIBLE! OUR GUIDING STAR THAT LEADS FROM EARTH TO HEAV’N, THE BIBLE! THE BIBLE! WE LOVE THE PRECIOUS BOOK OF TRUTH WHICH GOD HAS GIV’N. (#502 Sacred Selections)