Saturday was not a good day to watch TV unless you were interested in St. Whitney. After going through all 200 channels twice, she dominated even channels I thought would be exempt. So desperate to watch something of real value, I found car med TV, an infomercial. Now I hate commercials, so I really hate infomercials. Take some lousy actors, have them pitch a questionable product, get a fake audience nodding and smiling, and you have an infomercial. But this one was so bad I had to watch the first few minutes-like trying to turn away from a train wreck. You just have to watch.
They were advertising a plug-in scanner, advertised as just like the ones the techs at the dealerships use. WRONG! When your check engine light comes on, plug this in, it tells you the problem and you fix it. Just like that. Except Santa Claus is more real. Take for instance a code P1500, major evap leak. Usually a loose gas cap. Would you trust Mr. or Mrs. Scanner to fix your car when they can't even tighten a gas cap? How about a P100? Misfire. What cylinder is it? Do you know how many cylinders you have? Which one is #1? Is it a coil, coil pac, bad wire, bad plug, or did you run out of gas-which can cause a misfire? Remembering that it is a poor doctor who has himself for a patient, do you really trust this ad? And you end up at the dealer anyway. Ask yourself-if you were to spend billions of dollars on a product, would you give up all the info on it to just anyone? Would you let a student at hair school do your hair? Both her and the professional both have scissors...
Did you know that most dealership techs go to school 3-4 times a year, and get weekly updates on these items? And that many things are corrected via software updates-not available to the public? Or that sometimes when the updates don't work, the next week we are told to put back an older program because it worked better? So my best advice, is if you use your computer to diagnose your own car-RIGHT CLICK and see if that fixes it. I told that to a geek once, who later called me back, and wanted to know where he hooked up his lap top. While his cell phone was on speaker-just hope he wasn't driving at the time.
So taking bad advice, trusting someone you don't know, when the knowledgeable people are available can be frustrating. And dangerous. And is not a new concept. In the beginning...reads Genesis. Here we see Adam and Eve, created by God in His image, and who walk with Him everyday. Along comes a snake, Eve falls for his convoluted lie, and rather than even asking God, who she knew personally, believes the lie. And here we are today. If only she had asked God, instead of believing the devil, or even asked Adam, the results would be different. And so it continues today, not only on cars, but on TV, in books, college courses, and everyday life. We are trained to trust anyone or anything but God. And then suffer the consequences. Pastor Chuck offered some good advice in this. "Never turn away from that which you know to be true to that which you don't." Simple enough.
Now if only I can get a producer, and a product, I can do an infomercial. The product is here, the gospel, the author is here-God. I know, $29.95, and you can scan yourself. A self examination of your problem. Yeah, we're all honest, that's what got us into the problem in the first place. Throw in some pictures, test questions-hey we may have a best seller here! Does it come in colors? Can I use it while on my cell, while driving? Which celebrity will endorse it? Well...once again why pay for something that God offers for free? It is called salvation. Available only from Jesus. No new editions, just the only one that works. Direct from the creator, and no shipping or handling charges! What a deal! And He goes with me everywhere, and never needs recharging! Better than wi-fi!
You may now return to your all St. Whitney Saturday. It is too late for her-get Jesus while there is still time. Go with the original...Jesus!
Sitting in church is always better than sitting on the side of the road!
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com