How many of you remember the comedy show that used to air on TV called, “Green Acres”? It was a nice, but silly comedy about a rich lawyer, Mr. Oliver Windel Douglas and his New York Park Avenue elegant and rich wife, Lisa.
Mr. Douglas wanted to live on a farm and do just that, farm. He wanted to grow corn so he could sell it to grocery stores and make a profit. His wife had several mink coats, lived in one of the richest apartments overlooking Park Avenue, and had all kinds of expensive jewelry and fine clothes that only a person of great wealth could buy.
But when they got married, Mr. Douglas took Lisa out of her rich neighborhood and the two of them moved to a shabby, but intact farm house in the country that always needed repairs and fixing up in a place called “Hooterville”. Hooterville also served as the backdrop for “Petticoat Junction”, another kind of country comedy.
There were a host of other comic characters that helped to fill out the ensemble. Mr. Haney, who was a country con-man who was always trying to sell Mr. Douglas some gadget or thing he thought the Douglases needed at some high price cost that was always well over what the gadget or item was worth. There was Eb, a young man who made the Douglas’ barn his home and who called the Douglases his “mom and dad”, but there was no relationship whatsoever. There was the store owner named Sam Drucker, the sanest of the characters, whose store often became the meeting place of the community people. Then there was the county agriculture agent by the name of Hank Kimball. Never was there more of a goofy character than Hank Kimball. Every sentence he uttered was soon mixed up by his own thought process. He could begin a sentence and within seconds, he began doubting if what he said was true or not, then he would leave, while anyone who listened to him was more frustrated than they were before he came. But the character I want to center on was Arnold Ziffel. Now “Arnold” was no ordinary son. In fact, Arnold was a pig owned by Fred and Doris Ziffel, a childless cantankerous old-fashioned farm couple who were born in the Grover Cleveland administration, and they treated Arnold like their very own son. Now, everyone in Green Acres could understand Arnold except Mr. Douglas, who only saw him as a pig! But Arnold was an avid TV watcher and a Western fan. He attended the local grade school, carrying his book pack in his mouth, he could sign his own name on paper, and when he grunted, everyone except Mr. Douglas understood what he was saying as though he was speaking English. Even Mr. Douglas’s wife, Lisa, could understand Arnold. Often Arnold would make his way into the Douglas’ home to watch their TV. When Oliver chided him, Lisa would step up to defend him. So he was some sort of “character”, if you could call him that. Yet, he made his presence regularly throughout the series.
Now, here’s the thing. Even though most of the characters saw Arnold as though he was human, he was, after all, only a pig. No matter what his “education” was, no matter how he was able to “speak English”, he was, is, and always will be, a pig, and never a person. Folks, what does this have to do with salvation? Just like the townsfolk looked upon Arnold as a person, many people today refuse to accept God’s simple plan of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. Instead they try education, they try human philosophies, they try religion and good living, they even try philosophical actions, but all of these different ways fall way short of God’s way to salvation just like the characters of Hooterville miscalled Arnold as a person! God only made one way to be saved from the entrapment of our sins, and that is through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. After trying all your other ways, why not try God’s way? It’s the easiest way. Simply by faith, ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and be your Savior today. Would you do that?
