ILLUSTRATION:
Gospel Tract Society, Inc., Independence MO
-Snakes in an Atheist's Grave -
Last September, while engaged in a Defenders Conference in Idaho, a gentleman by the name of Mr. C. M. Crew came to me with one of the strangest stories I had ever heard, about an atheist in Ohio who was said to have been very bold, blatant and outspoken against God and the Bible; a man who had defied the Supreme Being by saying: "If there is a God my grave will be infested with snakes."Said, Mr. Crew, "At the funeral it was necessary to remove a snake from the grave before the casket could be lowered. The sexton told me he had killed four big snakes at one time: never saw a snake at any other grave. I saw several holes in the ground at this grave."Mr. Crew said that he would ask a gentleman in Alliance, Ohio, to write me more details. On September 20th, I received further word from Alliance together with a picture of the bronze monument at the atheist, Chester Bedell, who died in 1908 at the age of 82. This letter said:"Mr. Bedell said while living there was no God and never did believe in One. He did not hesitate to speak of these things. Occasionally he attended the Presbyterian Church in his home town of North Benton, Ohio, and the members said it threw such a coldness over the people as soon as he entered. He built a monument years before his death. His statue is of bronze and in his uplifted right hand is a scroll with this inscription, UNIVERSAL MENTAL LIBERTY. Under his left foot is a scroll representing the Holy Bible with the inscription SUPERSTITION. Before his death he made this remark, "If there be a God or any truth in the Bible let my body be inhabited with snakes". Since his burial the family lot has been full of snake holes around the curbing. The snakes can be seen any day you visit the grave yard. Last year twenty of us went out on the 30th of October and saw three snakes. The neighbors there say the more they kill the thicker they seem to be."Who would not be interested in a story like this? I was. I wrote immediately to the Rev. L. P. Lehman of Franklin, Pennsylvania, not far from North Benton, Ohio. Mr. Lehman motored to the cemetery and wrote me that the whole circumstance was "weird but evidently true."Late last month (April) I had an opportunity to make an observation of my own. While engaged in a Defenders Conference in Youngstown, Ohio, I was taken by automobile first to Berlin Center and then to North Benton. As we came to Berlin Center, I asked an old man if he could tell me where the Bedell grave was. "Sure, everybody around here knew where Chet Bedell was buried," said the old timer. So many miles south, then turn to the right, then about a mile, then to the right, then turn right again just before getting into North Benton. "You can't miss it, big bronze monument in the grave-yard. Looking for snakes?" --grinned the native. Later another man told us, "Well, if Bedell did ask for snakes, he sure got 'em."By this time I was in a state of real expectancy. We turned to the right and sure enough, there was the monument, the upraised scroll, the other scroll under his left foot, the stern bronze countenance, the tomb stones all about, the caretaker at work nearby. We parked our car, and approached the grave, camera in hand. Was it a hoax? or was it true?Mr. E. E. Flowers, my companion, was first to see a snake. "O look there," he shouted. Yes, there it was. We walked around the grave and counted one, two, three, four, five, six. Mr. Flowers killed one. I photographed one. We took other pictures. The sexton told us he had killed four that morning, has killed as high as twenty in a single day. Finally he said, "I don't know, maybe the Lord did have something to do with it." We saw the angry looking holes around the curbing. The snakes are garter and black snakes.I was told by a neighbor that Bedell was in twenty-one lawsuits during his life and that he owned approximately twenty-five hundred acres of land in the community when he died. We were told that he once wrote a book and that his daughter, now a woman 75 years old, residing in Berlin Center, might have one. We called on her to inquire, and her answer was, "No, I wouldn't have any of the old devil's literature in the house." "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul." Mk. 8:36.This is the story. I am not explaining it. I am only relating it as it has come to me. The pictures were taken the day we visited the monument.
APPLICATION: Many times sinners think they can push God around, and that there will be no consequences for sin, but Chester Bedell lost his soul, he was wealthy in this world's stuff, but what good did it do him?
Luke 16:22-23 "...the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments..."
Galatians 6:7 "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."