PIE IN THE SKY

When I Googled “pie in the sky” I found the following post on Phrase Finder.

“Pie in the sky: A promise of heaven, while continuing to suffer in this life.

This is an American phrase and was coined by Joe Hill in 1911. Hill was a Swedish-born itinerant labourer who migrated to the USA in 1902. He was a leading light of the radical labour organisation The Industrial Workers of the World - known as the Wobblies, writing many radical songs for them. The phrase appeared first in Hill's The Preacher and the Slave, which parodied the Salvation Army hymn In the Sweet Bye and Bye. The song, which criticized the Army's theology and philosophy, specifically their concentration on the salvation of souls rather than the feeding of the hungry, was popular when first recorded and remained so for some years.

Long-haired preachers come out every night,
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;
But when asked how 'bout something to eat
They will answer with voices so sweet:

              Chorus:
              You will eat, bye and bye,
              In that glorious land above the sky;
              Work and pray, live on hay,
               You'll get pie in the sky when you die.

The phrase wasn't taken up until the Second World War, when it began to be used figuratively to refer to any prospect of future happiness which was unlikely ever to be realized;….”

 

So we find another lying Marxist using a clever parody of Christian Truth to provide a catch phrase for those who “suppress the truth in unrighteousness”. (I know from personal experience that the Salvation Army is and has always been one of the most generous of welfare organizations.)

 

I cannot know exactly when the men who filled the lecterns and pulpits of the Mainline Christian Seminaries and Churches in America self-consciously began to minimize the doctrine of Heaven with its promise of future joy and rewards in the presence of God, but I suspect that it happened gradually between 1850 and 1950. Today the preaching of the Hope of Heaven as THE motive to godly living, regardless of one’s circumstances,  is practically absent from the Christian pulpits of America. When was the last time you heard a sermon on the particulars of Heaven. Or for that matter, even a song about Heaven during worship?

Consider and ponder the importance that the Apostles John, Peter and Paul placed on the importance of constantly focusing on the HOPE OF HEAVEN as it relates to the quality our daily living.

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 1 Jn.3: 1, 2


All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure. 1 Jn.3:3

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 2 Pet. 3:10-14

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things; for you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry; because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Col. 3:1-10


Is it any wonder then that when we immerse ourselves in the practices of our existential, materialistic, pleasure seeking culture that we find ourselves, even as professing Christians,  stressed, discouraged and depressed? 

 

“This world is not my home.  I’m just ‘a passin’ through. If heaven’s not my home, O Lord what would I do?”