From the Land of Fruits and Nuts

All Leo Serrano thought that he was doing was renewing his driver's license. Evidently in California, part of that process us having your fingerprints scanned into a database, and that just struck Serrano the wrong way. He made an offhand comment to the DMV agent, "I'm against their mark of the beast system." He thought no more about the incident until he discovered last week that his new driver's license had been suspended.

He was told by the California DMV that his comment about the “mark of the beast” had raised red flags. This reference from Revelation refers (in one interpretation anyway) to the end of the word, and that evidently flagged Serrano as being suspicious. He was given a medical form to fill out and was told to call a driver's safety official in Fresno. In other words, referring to the book of Revelation was enough to call into question his mental health! I know how he feels; I once preached a sermon series on Revelation and several people thought I was nuts! When the DMV was asked to clarify their position, they declined to comment because the case involved medical confidentiality! Isn’t that cute!

Now, I don’t believe that scanned fingerprints are “the mark of the beast” of the Apocalypse. In fact, I have a totally different take on the book than the one evidently espoused by Mr. Serrano. But to have one’s mental health questioned because one makes a passing reference to the Bible is itself crazy, even given the "Continental Shift Theory." That's the one where the continent shifted and all the fruits and nuts rolled over to California!

At any rate, we can no longer assume appreciation for the Bible is a mainstream view in our culture. To take the Bible seriously as a spiritual guide in the 21^st century will be viewed as quaint (at best) and as crazy (as with Mr. Serrano). The time when most people recognized the Bible as the “Good Book” has long sense past. To follow God in our world will more and more take us out of step with the culture around us. So what are we to do? Peter tells us to live such good lives before the world that their insults pack no punch—

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:12)