THOSE BOTTLED SINS

by CharlesRobey
(Trussville, AL USA)

"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. "(Galatians 5:16-17)

"You canning again, grandmother? Why, you have enough vegetables canned to last a lifetime. Besides, you have enough filled jars left over in the big pantry to last through several winters," I declared rather loudly.

Grandmother immediately gave me one of her big smiles and just kept on cooking.

"And if you keep up all that cooking, canning and rattling those pots into the night, none of us will get any sleep. Or if we do sleep, we will probably all dream about this canning, about all those filled jars," I continued.

Grandmother just smiled again and kept on stirring that big metal canning pot.

"Guess I'll have to get used to it, as it happens each year about this time. I'm going to bed. 'Night, grandmother, night all, sweet dreams."

Then it happened.

I found myself in an old musty, dark pantry. It was so dark I could hardly see my hand in front of my face. "How spooky is this?" I thought.

About that same time, I heard a noise coming from the back of the room.

"Who's there?" I shouted.

"Come on back and join me and I will put you to work. Filling these jars is more than I can handle, as it keeps coming in!" someone yelled back.

"What keeps coming in?" I inquired. "And why is it so dark in here? What kind of pantry is this? What are you doing? And what are you sealing up in all those big jars?

I had no more finished my questioning, when the strange man reached out and taking my hand, he guided me over to where the many jars were lined up in some type of order. He then continued by giving out a sadistic laugh as he pointed to the jar labels.

Being curious, I started picking up the jars and reading the various labels: Adultery, Fornication, Uncleanness, Lasciviousness, Idolatry, Witchcraft, Hatred, Variance, Emulations, Wrath, Strife, Seditions, Heresies, Envying, Murder, Drunkenness, and Reveling,

Wow! What a list of sins! As if by divine guidance, my conscience got the best of me. I immediately proceeded into my Sunday School mode by asking this strange character, "Why seal up all those sins? Even if you could temporarily keep sins bottled up, there are not enough jars in the whole wide world to bottle up the population committing all those fleshly sins. For these type sins just seem to quickly fester and grow throughout the entire world. No one, outside of God Himself, could ever handle all this heinous sin. Do you actually think you can just physically bottle up sin and it will simply go away? You just need to throw away all these jars and open up your Bible, God's Word," I said in disgust."

This little sermon just seemed to drastically agitate the stranger. His eyes appeared to blaze with fire in the darkness of the pantry and fire seemed to also be protruding from his mouth.

Seeing as though I was getting the better of this character, I continued my sermonette.

"How foolish can this concept be? Don't you realize sin has always been and always will be? It was because of the sin of pride, that the angel of light, Lucifer, fell from God's heaven. (Isaiah 14:12)(Ezekiel 28:14-18) It was because of the sin of our first parents that has caused all the inherited sin. (Genesis 3:1-7) It is sin that caused the tower of Babel to be built. (Genesis 11:1-9) It was because of sin's wickedness that Noah built the Ark and the entire human race was destroyed except for eight people. (Genesis 6:14-8:19) It was because of sin that our Lord had to die on the cruel cross. (John 3:16) And now it is because of sin that this old world is in such a mess. And you want to simply bottle up all of history in some old, fragile jars. I think not."

I went on, "Just exactly who are you anyway? And where did you come from? You surely don't follow the Bible concepts. For neither you, nor any other human can stop this wave of sin. Do you not realize, the closer we get to the end times, the more sin you would have to bottle up?" (II Timothy 3:1-7, 9, 13) (II Timothy 4:3-4)

I couldn't help but chuckle a little, as I concluded my little sermon. I felt my quoting of Scripture, coupled with my laughter seemed to really disturb this quaint little man.

With that dissertation of mine, the strange man really showed his colors. He picked up his weird-looking red cloak and ran right straight through the side of the pantry, leaving behind a fiery trail of smoke. Yes, he did. In fact, his weird exit seemed to have an opposite effect. For all of a sudden, the pantry lit up as if the environment was controlled by God Himself. And the strangest occurrence happened. It had to be by divine enablement. All the jar labels mysteriously changed from bad to good, from evil to spiritual axioms. The jars were now bearing such labels as: Love, Joy, Peace, Forbearance, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control.

This dream must have gotten the better of my sleep, for I suddenly awakened from my dream in a total panic mode. As a matter of fact, my pajamas were totally soaked. I found myself completely confused. Did it really happen? Did my little sermon actually chase him out of my life? I surely pray so.

All I know is that this strange man's exit was humanly impossible, leaving like he did through the brick wall, followed by a puff of smoke. Not only did he go through the wall, but I could smell the scent of fire and smoke through the bricks.

Furthermore, after awaking from my odd dream, as if by a supernatural design, I happened to recognize grandmother's old tattered Bible lying on the table. Why is it here? She never lets her Bible out of her sight. What was so disturbing to me was that her Bible seemed to be glowing in the dark. Picking up the Bible, I was divinely directed to a certain Scripture passage highlighted in red. I then began to read.

"When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, or the Lord will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared." (Proverbs 3:24-26)

Wow! is grandmother an angel? If not, she has surely missed her calling.

"Grandmother, Grandmother, where are you?" I called.

"Why I'm still in the kitchen cooking. I want to finish before dawn," she replied.

"Can you stop your canning for a moment, just long enough to pray with me?" I begged.

"Why, sure I can, my son. Let us kneel down."

Author's Postscript

In this fictitious blog, we have a mirror of today's world. We see a young man, who according to the blog, seems to be spiritually minded and well-versed in the Scripture, but was somewhat disturbed with a life of the past, that being the old-fashioned task of canning food for future consumption.

This environment then seemed to be carried over into his dream world, mixed with a surprise visit from the evil one. (Ephesians 6:12) However, by way of this young man's knowledge of the Scripture, the evil one suddenly departs, leaving the young man increasingly confused about life. He was only rescued by the nearby position of his grandmother's Bible, coupled with her prayer.

What a nice fiction dream blog. We know that the evils of sin are all around us. So how did the main character of our blog deal with this evil? Simply by being well-versed in the Scripture and having a loving grandmother divinely sharing positive Scripture verses and dedicated prayer. To this, I shout a big "Amen" and "Hallelujah!"