A can of worms! For many, the idea of a can of worms doesn't conjure up pleasant thoughts. To me, many a happy day began with a "can of worms". We would "dig" worms to go fishing. Really, most of the time we didn't have to dig, as we found that if we laid boards on the top of the ground in certain places, the worms would come to the surface. All we had to do was to turn the boards over and pick up the worms. We then headed to the Kawkawlin River for a day or night of fishing.
I remember my brother Ted fishing at one of the bridges that went over the Kawkawlin River. That was in the days when you could actually eat fish that came out of the river. We were using our can of worms and Ted thought he had caught the "big one". As he started to pull the "big one" in, he looked down and saw he had actually caught a large snap-ping turtle and not a fish. My father told him, "pull it in, pull it in". As Ted looked down at that ugly snapping turtle, he suddenly said, uh-uh, and dropped the turtle back into the water. Those were the good days of happy memories of a family fishing to-gether.
You probably have heard the expression, "open-ing a can of worms". I never thought about a can of worms being a negative thing. The expression however, inplies a can that we would be better off leaving closed. Perhaps it came from some time in the past where cans of food got wormy. I don't know where that expression started. But we have cans of worms in our theology. A couple of those "worms" is that some people might be burned and the other is that some people might be damned. Our modern writers would have you believe that a God of love just wouldn't do that. (Damn or burn someone) But the scriptures clearly say that He has and He will do exactly that. One of promises found, as claimed in the testimony that follows is in Malachi 3.
I like the simplicity of Malachi's message. Jesus did too. He specifically gave it to the Lehites upon his visitation to the Americas. Do we believe Malachi's message today? And if we do, are we willing to trust God to deliver? Will he tell the destroyer to pass over us?
(From My
Book of Acts {page 132}, by Oscar
Case.)
"When I lived in northern Montana some years ago, I had a homestead of
320 acres of good land. I had improved it with a house and had a crop of 12
acres of flax, 20 acres of oats and 10 acres of wheat. I came home one day at
noon for dinner and while eating lunch I looked out the kitchen door across
the road to Mr. Alair's wheat. He had 320 acres all in wheat, I saw a large
black spot on the ground.
I said to my wife, "what's that over on Alair's wheat?" She said, "I don't know. I've been watching it all morning and it's getting larger." I said, "I'm going over there and see". I went, and of all the worms I had ever seen that was the limit. It looked to me like there was a carload. I came back and I said, "Sweetheart it's about time we were getting down on our knees. She said, "what?" I said, "that's army worms and they are coming straight toward our crop and taking that wheat smooth to the ground." It was in June, the wheat was about six inches high.
She said, "they will take our crop." I said, "No they won't. I've paid every cent of my tithing and the promise is, "the destroyer will pass you by". She said, "Do you think God would send those worms by?" I said, "He sure will. Let's pray right now and ask him to do it". We agreed and right there we got down on our knees and I told the Lord all about it, and asked him to send those worms by. He did. And those worms crawled right straight across my place for three weeks and took the crop on the other side.
That Mr. Alair was a Presbyterian preacher who talked at the school-house and had his Sunday school every Sunday. He was up there to my place every day, and he would always say, "Case, are they eating on you yet"? I'd say, "No, the Lord sent those worms by". He said, "You don’t' think He could do that do you"? I said, "Certainly. Don't you know about that promise? They will pass you by." He said, "I didn't think He could do it for you." I said, "look at those worms they are in a hurry, they didn't take a bite out of anything I had, garden or crop".