Apples! Not Sugar Plums!

It’s apples, not “sugar plums that are dancing in my head” these days! Growing up, it was a ritual for my family to visit the apple orchards at this time of the year! So, in this fall season leading up to Halloween, I’m thinking about all things involving apples: apple pie, apple turnovers, fried or baked apples, apple salad, apple snack slices, apple cider, and most of all, caramel apples!

A tempting selection!!🍏🍎

I have been fantasizing for weeks now about the delectable and monstrous St. Louis Merb’s Bionic Apple covered in pecans! I like to get them at the Edwardsville Dierbergs Markets because it saves some time and the drive into the city! I won’t carry out anything less than four to six! This allows us to give away our favorite annual treat to family and friends!

As stated, I was already thinking about Merb’s when Marc popped in and texted several pictures while they were in metro Salt Lake City, Utah this weekend celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary. One photo was from a candy store they discovered in Park City, a former mining community before snow skiing became the dominant revenue for the economy.

This quaint store, the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, is in an area called “Old Town Cellars.” It’s on a long stretch of shops on Main Street and features gourmet caramel apples. The display case included the traditional varieties along with more than twelve (by my count!) additional specialty apples!

Imagine this… Granny Smiths covered in every confection a customer could dream of and all of this “dancing in your head!” There were toppings of Snickers, Oreos, cheesecake, M&Ms, Heath/Toffee, Sea Salt, and of course, apple pie variety! And we’re still talking about caramel apples? I would have dropped to my knees begging for a selection like this!

In Christian history, the apple has been given a bad name. Early artists incorrectly depicted Eve reaching up to give Adam a taste of an apple in the Garden of Eden. The story of the Fall records how Adam and Eve fell victim to the Serpent’s deception and defied God’s warning not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (see Genesis 2:15-17: 3:2-5). Yet, there is no record in Scripture specifying that the forbidden fruit was an apple!

How did the humble apple become so maligned? Theologians explain it as an accident that may not have been so accidental. In Latin, the word for evil is malum and the word for apple is malus. Did historians and Bible translators fall prey to a simple misinterpretation or was this a deliberate play on words gone wild? We’ll never know, but we do know that many today still believe the forbidden fruit was an apple!

Putting all that speculation aside, one thing we know is that Adam and Eve deliberately yielded to temptation and were disobedient to the gracious God who had given them a perfect world with everything they needed. Their sin has rolled throughout history, and it has become our failing, too. Each of us has fallen prey to the tempter’s deceptions and sin. This is to our peril!

But God has provided a better way! “For the sin of one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17, NLT).

Let’s celebrate God’s wonderful grace in Christ and choose to live in triumph over sin and not defeat!

Mike Keppler, retired pastor,
active churchman and
doting grandparent.
Contact: drmjkeppler@gmail.com
©2018-2024 All rights reserved.
Serve by Design. mjkministries.com

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