I will warn you now – this post will offend people. If you offend easily, just skip today’s post and come back another day!
Many people think that the only problem with  Sodom and Gomorrah was the homosexual lifestyle. I thought so for many years, yet when you begin to study you find that their sins went even further – these were cities that had given up any vestige of godliness and were involved in every kind of vice imaginable. The Word says that they were “sinners exceedingly”in the sight of God. These were cities that I think reflect a lot of modern American cities today…and last week I visited one….oh my!
My mother likes to shop – I however did not inherit those genes (somehow my brother got them!) although I do love a good farm supply store Last week my Mom asked me to take her to Knoxville. It is quite a drive for us and the traffic is horrific and is a bit more than my Mom wants to tackle at age 80. So…we bit the bullet and went. She had been given a gift certificate for Christmas to a store in the Knoxville mall. It had been over a year (maybe two) since I have been to Knoxville except for picking up people at the airport. And many years since I had been to the mall there. Boy was I in for a surprise shock.
We were headed for Dillards, an upscale department store here in TN. When we entered the store the background music (Dillards: it is supposed to be in the background!) was so loud that I had to shout for my Mom to hear me…it was also a horrible choice of music. I felt sorry for the people required to work in such an environment – surely this would damage hearing over time! We left Mom shopping for shoes and made a quick trip out in the mall – my boys were looking for two things; a Christian bookstore (which we never found) and a game store. The boys and I play a lot of board games and love to go to game stores. We found one called the Gameboard which, unfortunately was on the other end of the mall!
We proceeded in that direction and I marveled at the things I saw….note: I was not marveling in a “Oh my isn’t that adorable” manner….perhaps I should say I was horrified at the things I saw. I spent a good deal of my time telling the boys – “keep your eyes to the floor”, “look to the left”, “look straight ahead”….I just couldn’t believe the window displays – as far as I am concerned Victoria’s Secret is purveying pornography!
Twenty years ago, Victoria’s Secret was a place to buy tasteful, feminine, elegant lingerie – truly a woman’s delight. I shopped there and most of the women in my church did also – women of ALL ages. What I saw in their window displays last week reminded me of a catalog I saw in high school called Frederick’s of Hollywood – nothing but trash. And the photos used to “sell” – I am shocked that they are allowed to display them – I thought things like that needed brown covers on them in public….Abercrombie and Fitch was just as bad. And there were others.
And the way the people in the mall were dressed uncovered!  Clolthing (what there was of it) looked like it had been sprayed on, bellies were bare, pants were so low that if you sneezed….well…..And what is the deal with piercing all available body parts? Even women in their 50s and 60s….I was aghast! And MUST we show those available body parts to the entire world – note to the world: “I really don’t want to see your latest navel piercings!” And don’t get me started on tattoos for women – when I grew up tattoos were for men. My Mom and I were probably one of the few women not sporting a tattoo – perhaps I am way behind the times…and perhaps I can even understand (not agree with mind you) a young person’s desire but why are women in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s getting tattooed? I suggested to my Mom that we stop in at the local tattoo parlor and get matching tattoos – I think mine should read NO NAIS! and I will place it right across my forehead. Perhaps this is the newest thing in body jewelry – but you don’t get to change it…and I wonder….when you get old, gain weight or get a little saggy does the tattoo change with you – increase in size or relocate as our body parts tend to do? Will that cute little butterfly turn into MOTHRA when you are 65? No offense to my tattooed and pierced readers but I guess I am from a different generation. And I still think private parts should remain just that – private! So, if you place a tattoo on your derriere, or pierce your belly button – please keep those parts covered – just because you decorated them does not mean we all want to suddenly see them – they are still private parts.
And lastly, the public displays of affection that IÂ witnessed between girl couples and boy couples and boy/girl couples….well – here is my take on it – the things that I saw, whether you are heterosexual or homosexual, belong at home behind closed doors and windows. “Some things just aren’t done in public” as Grandma used to say (although I think she was talking more about spitting!)
I was thankful when we saw the game store….well for about a minute I was. Although this store was full of wonderful and yes, even educational, games, it had at least as much pagan based garbage on display. Truly the enemy has infiltrated every portion of society. We got what we came for and quickly departed. As we returned to Dillards to get Grandma we again had to run the gauntlet of obscenity – “look down, look right” what I really wanted to do was scream “CLOSE YOUR EYES!”,  grab their hands and run for the safety of my car!  What must God think when he looks down on this sea of unrighteousness? How sad we must make our Saviour….who died for us so that we could avoid Satan’s traps.
We picked up Grandma, made a few other stops (safe ones!) and headed for home. What a great feeling to return to our little farm in the hills. So, Aunt Sue….as a favor to me, how ’bout next year you get Mom a gift card to a store a little closer to home because I don’t think I ever want to go to Knoxville again!
The Essential Herbalist 
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