There is nothing new under the sun

 

"There is nothing new under the sun." William Shakespeare said that, right?  Nope. It is from the Bible in Ecclesiastes 1:9.

Spam Phone Calls

I received a phone call from Woonsocket, Rhode Island (USA) and totally ignored it. In fact I deleted it. I do not know anyone in Woonsocket or the entire state of Rhode Island. The call was either a wrong number or what is called "spam." (The derisive word "SPAM" comes from a canned spiced ham product which many people consider to be awful but which many others enjoy. It has a reputation similar to that of the also unfairly maligned fruit cake.)

Spam phone calls are a particular problem in the United States. Massive numbers of automated phone calls are sent by businesses trying to increase their profits or are sent to deliver a particular message (often political) to as many people as possible.  This type of Spam is merely a nuisance. In 2017, the United States Federal Trade Commission received 7,157,370 complaints about spam calls. The problem is escalating. There were 4.5 billion reported spam phone calls in the United States in June of 2018. These spam phone calls are essentially total garbage.

A second type of spam calls is is intended to be hostile and is criminal. One form of these aggressive attacks is intended to completely clog up phone lines and render them useless. This is a form of denial of service attack.

An even more criminal type of spam attempts to deceive or trick as many people as possible to respond to the call and to voluntarily give out their personal information such as bank account numbers, credit card numbers, computer sign-on passwords, etc. The motive here is to steal money.

In today's world  everyone is constantly surrounded by what is essentially SPAM; totally worthless garbage. Messages flood at us from television, movies, radio, music, books, news organizations, junk mail, flyers, and other people. The vast majority of it is secular or explicitly non-Christian. Some of it is malignantly anti-Christian.

There is an old saying in the Southern United States about a person so holy and high-minded that he or she is of no use in the real world. This is not what God wants. He wants us to let Him use us for His purposes here in the real world. We are told to he holy (separated) because God is holy, but we are also told to be "in the world but not of the world." Essentially, do not be useless.

Ignoring the vast majority of the garbage swilling around us does not mean that we must have no interest in culture, or learning. or books, or music, or sports, or fashion, or outdoor activities, or politics, or any other thing. It does, however, require us not to chase after every wind (especially those which we know stink). It also requires us to learn to recognize "the stink" even when a little perfume has been added.

Leviticus 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7, 1 Peter 1:16, John 15:19; 17: 14-16, Ephesians 4:14, Ecclesiastes 6:9

The Bread of Life

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating." Luciano Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007) is considered to have been one of the greatesy operatic tenors of all time,with a strong booming voice which never missed a note. He was a large man who loved life, women, and food, a lot. His meals, especially, were legendary.

Gluttony is considered one of the great sins, but enjoyment of food is not gluttony. The idea of the sin of gluttony is eating (or any other activity) taken to an excessive level, especially when the activity is at the expense of others. It reduces back to The Great Sin; the deification of self.

The enjoyment of food, the study of food, and the appreciation of cooking as an art form are all acceptable to God as long as we remember that our real food comes from study of the Word of God, communion with His people, and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.

"Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works." 
Ecclesiastes 9:7

"Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." John 4:34

"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." John 6:35

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." John 6:51