A LODGE AMONG CUCUMBERS
W Carl Ketcherside

The daughter of Zion is left as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers.  — Is. 1:8 

The world around us is changing. All of us know that. Many try to ignore it. They want to awaken and find things exactly as they have always been. But we are in the Space Age. The horse and buggy days have gone forever. We can no longer operate as we once did. The day of the three week meetings every night including Saturdays, is past. It is over and gone. I once held a seven week long series of such meetings. It went right through Christmas and New Year. I immersed seventy people. The congregation where I held it now has less than twenty.

The times are like they were in the days of Isaiah. And the modern daughter of Zion is being left like a cottage in a vineyard. All the grapes have been plucked. The vines are tangled. The leaves have fallen off. There is no use to maintain a shelter against the sun and rain. No one is going to steal anything. The cottage is broken down. The windows have been knocked out. The roof is shattered. If the Lord had not left a small remnant we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah. Brethren do not realize this as yet. They protest that all is well. But they are merely treading the courts. They are calling assemblies.

It is high time that we make some changes. We must "relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." Our large cities are social pig pens. That is why everyone has moved to the polished suburban areas. The alcoholics, drug users, immoral and retarded are without hope and without God in the world. It is time for those who search garbage dumps for pizza crusts to find something better to digest. And it is as we go among them that they will find incense which is not an abomination and feasts that God's soul does not hate.

We must cease to depend upon professional preachers to save the world. One of the greatest demonstrations of our day is the World Bible Class. It makes use of any man, woman or child who wants to be a teacher. Hundreds of people in remote areas of the world are being led to Christ by people of whom they have never heard before. Communities of believers are meeting in jungle fastnesses to worship the Lord of hosts. It is not done by a formal, stilted, dyed-in-the-wool process but by simple lessons drawn from the Word.

It is time for us to begin in our country. The best way appears to be by home Bible study classes. If two or three gather to search the scriptures God will bless it. We will have to get out of our church "edifices" to do it. Modern man is scared silly of "church buildings." He is afraid they are traps, set and baited. He will seldom go near one. He fights shy of them. Any child of God can teach a home study. Where Nell and I attend there are three going on. One is for women, one is taught in the home of newer members, another in a storefront.

Those who live in an apartment can secure a study for the others who dwell there. This means that women will not have to leave its security to risk getting out on the street. Such a study can be taught by anyone who is familiar with the Book. Teacher and pupils will grow as they search the scriptures together. Everyone can get in on it. There will be no more sour faces because one was not called upon, or because one was given more to do than another. Think of new arrangements for teaching the Word. If nothing else, go to a nursing home and bring joy and comfort.

I want to make a special plea for instruction of the young, especially teen-agers. They are definitely in need of frank and open sharing. They should be taught the dangers of alcohol, drugs and dope. They need meaningful instruction about sex. And they must be taught about suicide. It is important that they see an example of genuine love shown to them. They must be taught self-respect, dignity and the value of commitment to one greater than self. If you have the ability to teach youth I urge you not to delay. It is now or never. In a few years it will be too late.

There must be a real concern for the aged and lonely. Our population is gradually becoming older. This is a strange phenomenon. But it presents a duty and an opportunity. The banishment of the silver-haired to homes where other aged and sick appear is not enough. Those who conceived and delivered us into the world deserve more than arbitrary abandonment. They should not be condemned to wither like a dying oak or like a garden that no one waters. We should not become irate at some of the traditional positions to which they cling. They are merely voicing what they have been taught — echoing the things of yesterday.

It is time to remember that mere giving of money will not postpone the coming of disaster. God said to ancient Israel, "Do you think I want all these sacrifices you keep offering to me? . . . Who asked you to bring all this when you came to worship me? Who asked you to do all this tramping around in my Temple? It is useless to bring your offerings. I am disgusted with the smell of the incense you burn" (Isaiah 1:11-13). We must realize that the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake the Lord will be condemned.

The prescription has been written out. The remedy is ready for the taking. "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well." This is a definition of repentance. Surely it is necessary in our lives. Unless we plan to be "as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that has no water," we had better plan to get right with God today. Tomorrow may be too late. We may become like a lodge among cucumbers!