Of course they are everywhere, but bizarre town names seem more prevalent in the South.  To be sure we have our fair share of “villes,” “burgs” and “dales” as well as the usual cadre of towns named for national or regional heroes and villains.  Southerners are especially fond of curiously curated Biblical places names like Corinth, Sardis, and Jericho that seem to betray a lack of familiarity with the text.  And in our beloved Arkansas, we have preserved, though mispronounced, our French origins in place names like Petit Jean and Fourche Valley.      

And then there are the seemingly inexplicable names whose origins live in the realm of folklore.  Names like Goobertown, Booger Hollow, Possum Grape, Ben Hur, Greasy Corner, and Romance.   Even familiar names sometimes have surprising origins.  Smackover, Arkansas is a transliteration of a French phrase that means “covered in sumac” and Hector was the name of President Grover Cleveland’s dog, chosen by the Cleveland himself when postal officials grew frustrated with the resident’s indecision over a name.  While the linguistic origins of Toad Suck vary widely and wildly from drunken riverboat crews to a local name for an animal’s watering hole.

But as far as I can tell, no Arkansas town is named for a game show.  In March of 1950, the town of Hot Springs, New Mexico changed its name to Truth or Consequences when the host of a popular radio quiz show announced he would air a special 10^th anniversary episode from the first town renaming itself for the program. Truth or Consequences was a trivia game in which contestants had two seconds to answer obtuse questions correctly or face some humiliating consequence, usually in the form of a crazy stunt.  When the show moved from radio to television, it was hosted by Bob Barker who would go on to host The Price is Right.  Barker traditionally ended each episode with the phrase, “Hoping all your consequences are happy ones.”

Unlike a game show, in real life the consequences of being in ignorance and unbelief from the Truth are never happy ones.  Jesus said. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” And again, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”   With Nicodemus at night, Jesus warned,

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. John 3:16-20

Refusing truth and the One who is The Truth has no happy consequences.  Throughout the Gospels, the scribes, priests and elders refused to believe Jesus.  They are paradigmatic of self-righteous unbelief.  An unbelief that believes only in its own actions and desires.  An unbelief that deifies self and defies the one true God.   An unbelief that justifies itself coram homo rather than trusting in grace to live coram Deo.  Time and time again they confront Jesus, try to trap him, and plot to destroy him.  

In Mark 11 as Jesus is publicly teaching in the Temple, they accost him and challenge his authority.  “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?”  In an unusual exchange, Jesus promises to answer if they first answer his question, “Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.”

Jesus’ question and the leader’s unwillingness to answer was telling.  It revealed their unfitness as spiritual leaders.  It showed their lack of true spiritual authority.  But worst of all it betrayed the hardness of their hearts.  Rather than seeking truth for themselves they tried to contrive a consequence for him and ended up caught in their own trap. 

Without truth there are no happy consequences.  Unbelief confuses proper understanding of authority, is concerned only about the acceptance of men, not God, and leaves us in arrogant ignorance of our true condition.  Are you arguing with God about his authority?  Are you more concerned about the good opinions of others than the favor of God? Are you increasingly arrogantly ignorant of your spiritual condition?  There is a Truth that sets you free.  But apart from Him there are only unhappy consequences.

Join us as we examine Mark 11:27-33 and consider the consequences of rejecting Jesus.  We meet Sundays at 10:30 am on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join our livestream on YouTube.