snake oil is getting tastier

"Ask rain from the Lord
    in the season of the spring rain,
from the Lord who makes the storm clouds,
    and he will give them showers of rain,
    to everyone the vegetation in the field.
 

For the household gods utter nonsense,
    and the diviners see lies;
they tell false dreams
    and give empty consolation.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
    they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd."

Zacharia 10:1-2

Time was you could spot a snake-oil salesman a mile away. They came riding into town with a wagon full of elixirs, a slick line or two, and a really quick tongue. 

In hind sight we, at this stage in time, laugh at all of the suckers who were taken. How could they be so stupid? 

We are just as duped. We  run to the first shiny wagon with the smooth voice that pulls into town on our TV's, computers, and MP3s. 

The hawkers are no longer poor. They are millionaires. 

They are no longer carry a bamboo cane and wear a bowler hat. They are well dressed. 

They no longer strangers. We have made them cultural icons.

Like little kids who in the heat of summer we salivate, beg, cry and run to the first truck we see offering a what all adults know is no good. 

They tell us things that make our heart race, our desires full, our lusts fulfilled. They help us find our happy place. So we pull out the cork and drink to the dregs...but

Like a one night stand the next day our lives are still our lives and the world hasn't really changed...

If we are headed to a bright new day where is the rain? Where are the crops? 

Where is the universal joy? Where is the care for the widow, the orphan? 

Why do we kill our babies and our old for the sake of "convenience " or the others out of hate?

If you are running after the cart. Please stop, just for a moment, and consider drinking from Living Water. That's one of the names given to Jesus. He's also called the Balm of Gilead, and the Bread of Life. 

Why do we have to keep trying new oils, new ways, new plans? Because they all fail. Period. 

Don't get duped. You'll be called stupid. 

That's OK.

You will healed...and some are even cured!