You are invited to a Formal Dinner and are properly seated. Dignitaries are also present at the Table. But – you notice something very strange – the Napkins are soiled, the Plates have old food dried on them, the Silverware has some old food in the Fork Tines, someone’s Lipstick imprint is on your Goblet – what would you do? Would you ask the Butler/Server for a clean Place Setting? Or, would you choose to not make an issue of this and cause embarrassment for the Host and Hostess? But suppose, as the Server is bringing the food to the table, he trips and falls – scattering the main entries of the meal on the floor? What if the Host says: “it’s alright, the floors have been vacuumed earlier this week, and if you don’t mind, serve your plate from what has fallen on the floor…” – now – what would you do? What if the Host suggested there are many people in the world who would be grateful for the opportunity to be in your place, using your dirty plates, and selecting choice food that had been scattered on the floor? Would you accept that suggestion and comply? Would you have a sudden loss of appetite? Would you excuse yourself from the table and not return? What if you were prevented from leaving, would you try to force your way out?
A worse scenario is occurring in our culture and society. The Core Values of the Nation are quickly eroding; “change you can believe in” is more Socialistic (and Marxist) than it is Constitutional. Things of lesser value are being dished up almost every day and served on Dirty Plates – but many people don’t seem to mind. Let’s change the above illustration just slightly. Suppose the setting of the Formal Dinner was in a TB Sanatorium and the Table conditions were the same – how would you feel, act, proceed. Tuberculosis was often associated with Consumption – “Consumption is the terminal stage of tuberculosis…If tuberculosis were always recognized when it is merely tuberculosis and proper treatment followed nobody would need to die of the disease…” The key is proper identification of the disease; proper treatment of it; and safeguards put in place to prevent it from spreading and becoming fatal. One thing is certain - you would not want to eat off of a dirty plate that had been used by a TB Patient! You would insist on sterile utensils.
One of the confusing trends of our times is that politicians and people willingly eat off of the dirty plates without any reluctance or protest. Like Hogs at a trough, they keep eating away and rooting to find more. Some of the evidences and description of the presence of Hogs is: “Hogs root up acres of land, and they've been used to plow fields. They'll flip over entire mats of forest floor to get at the meal underneath. Uncommonly you'll see gashes in tree trunks cut by the teeth of an aggressive boar. You more often see large roots that have been chopped through with their tusks. Frequently you'll see dead wood, chewed open with chunks scattered all around, as the hog goes after the worms, insects, fungus and occasional small mammal or bird tucked into it. Hogs root their beds in the ground. They lay in the holes which keep them cool in summer, warm in winter and help them hide. The beds are large, bowl shaped craters, most often under cover, but they can be in the open too…”
The Dirty Plate Syndrome is evidenced in Jeremiah 23:9-17 where The Lord observes: “…the land is full of adulterers…and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up…Both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in my house I have found their evil, declares the Lord. Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall…In the prophets of Samaria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah… Behold, I will feed them with bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land." Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.” Does this sound like our current trend and direction in our culture, namely, “filling you with vain hopes…”? Stop Eating Off Of The Dirty Plates! Consider these things with me!
A worse scenario is occurring in our culture and society. The Core Values of the Nation are quickly eroding; “change you can believe in” is more Socialistic (and Marxist) than it is Constitutional. Things of lesser value are being dished up almost every day and served on Dirty Plates – but many people don’t seem to mind. Let’s change the above illustration just slightly. Suppose the setting of the Formal Dinner was in a TB Sanatorium and the Table conditions were the same – how would you feel, act, proceed. Tuberculosis was often associated with Consumption – “Consumption is the terminal stage of tuberculosis…If tuberculosis were always recognized when it is merely tuberculosis and proper treatment followed nobody would need to die of the disease…” The key is proper identification of the disease; proper treatment of it; and safeguards put in place to prevent it from spreading and becoming fatal. One thing is certain - you would not want to eat off of a dirty plate that had been used by a TB Patient! You would insist on sterile utensils.
One of the confusing trends of our times is that politicians and people willingly eat off of the dirty plates without any reluctance or protest. Like Hogs at a trough, they keep eating away and rooting to find more. Some of the evidences and description of the presence of Hogs is: “Hogs root up acres of land, and they've been used to plow fields. They'll flip over entire mats of forest floor to get at the meal underneath. Uncommonly you'll see gashes in tree trunks cut by the teeth of an aggressive boar. You more often see large roots that have been chopped through with their tusks. Frequently you'll see dead wood, chewed open with chunks scattered all around, as the hog goes after the worms, insects, fungus and occasional small mammal or bird tucked into it. Hogs root their beds in the ground. They lay in the holes which keep them cool in summer, warm in winter and help them hide. The beds are large, bowl shaped craters, most often under cover, but they can be in the open too…”
The Dirty Plate Syndrome is evidenced in Jeremiah 23:9-17 where The Lord observes: “…the land is full of adulterers…and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up…Both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in my house I have found their evil, declares the Lord. Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall…In the prophets of Samaria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah… Behold, I will feed them with bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land." Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.” Does this sound like our current trend and direction in our culture, namely, “filling you with vain hopes…”? Stop Eating Off Of The Dirty Plates! Consider these things with me!
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