My body is rebelling, Father. Picking up branches this weekend, I used muscles that I haven’t used in a while. That along with another funeral for which to prepare is wearing on me. May this time produce good fruit for You, as well as, my preparations for services later in the week. Amen.
2 Peter 2:1-3 (<<click here to read the passage)
Did you realize that snake oil was originally a real-deal, legitimate thing? Between 1849 and 1882, 180,000 Chinese immigrated to the United States and one thing they brought with them was snake oil. It was made from the oil of the Chinese water snake, which is rich in omega-3 acids. It helped reduce inflammation. Snake oil, in its original form, really was effective, especially when used to treat arthritis and bursitis.
Of course, entrepreneurial individuals saw a market and since there weren’t any Chinese water snakes in the American West, many “healers” began using rattlesnakes to make their own versions of snake oil. This set the stage for entrepreneur Clark Stanley, aka The Rattlesnake King. He began reeling in the money at the 1893 World’s Exposition in Chicago when he took a live snake and sliced it open before a crowd of onlookers. But in 1917, federal investigators found that it primarily contained mineral oil, a fatty oil believed to be beef fat, red pepper, and turpentine. And the image of snake oil charlatans was born! (The NPR article is pretty interesting. Check it out! A History Of ‘Snake Oil Salesmen’)
Many were led astray buying into easy fixes for what ailed them!
Switching gears, another reason we must be diligent in reading Your word and speaking with – and listening to – You is to ensure that we are not led astray. Most definitely those who proclaim Your word are not infallible, we have our struggles, we make mistakes. Because of this, we as Your people must be discerning. We should pray for and lift up Your servants.
Yet another reason we should pray for discernment is that for millennia there have been charlatans who have been driven not by desires to further Your Kingdom but instead are all about fulfilling their own agendas of power or prosperity – some, at their core, have as their goal to undermine Your Kingdom. They are all about discrediting Your Church and Your name.
Some started with their hearts in the right place, but those first tastes of power and control moved things from their hearts to their heads. They were in charge after all. They deserved their portion of the “profits.” They, little by little, came to see themselves as above the Law.
Lord, first of all, may we all be diligent in keeping ourselves true to You – striving to immerse ourselves in the Bible and spending quality time in Your presence. Then may we fervently pray for those who lead us. May we pray for their purity of heart. May we not hesitate to go to them if realignment is necessary for their lives. May we do so in Your love, but may we not shy from the responsibility. And Lord, if they will not change may we not hesitate to remove ourselves from their influence on our lives.
Lord Jesus, help us to not be led astray into easy fixes for what ails us spiritually. Help us to seek Your face and to live pure and holy lives in Your power and strength. Amen.
(Mar 17th, 2017, Fri, 6:33 am)
Apr 25th, 2023, Tues, 6:15 pm
