You stumble to the medicine cabinet, your head throbbing from a headache and desperately in need of some OTC relief. The pain makes you squint as you search the shelves for a bottle of Tylenol, Excedrin, or Motrin. Finally, you spot a brand-new box of your go to pain reliever. While you are pleased to have found it, you are also annoyed. You aren’t feeling good and now you must fumble with the packaging.
The box has a thick, tamper-resistant seal on both ends. After breaking through, you find that the bottle has been shrink-wrapped in some heavy-duty cellophane. In your condition, should you really be using a knife?!? You do because it’s the only way to get it off only to be greeted with the child-proof/adult-proof cap. After struggling with it for a while, it finally pops off, hits the floor, and rolls under the cabinet. What you see now is a foil seal. Seriously?!? You can poke your finger through the foil on some brands, but others just seem to stretch. Out comes that knife again. Once the foil is off, there’s a wad of cotton. By this time, it’s probably jammed deeper and you have to dig it out just to get two pills. After all of this, your head hurts worse and you wonder if it was worth the effort.
Why must we go through all of this? It all stems from what happened on this day in 1982. In the Chicago area, someone had tampered with Extra Strength Tylenol, lacing it with potassium cyanide. “Seventh grader Mary Ann Kellerman was the first to die after taking the medicine overnight to combat a sore throat. After the next victim, Adam Janus, didn’t wake up from a nap, he ended up in the emergency room in critical condition, and later died. After visiting his older brother in the hospital, Stanley Janus went back to Adam’s house with his wife, Theresa. To alleviate their stress-induced headaches, they both took capsules from the open Tylenol bottle that was sitting on the counter. They too were poisoned—Stanley died that day, and Theresa the next, after lapsing into a coma.
“Other victims included Mary Reiner, who had a headache after giving birth, 31-year-old Mary McFarland and flight attendant Paula Prince. After Prince’s death, Richard Keyworth and Philip Cappitelli, firefighters in the Windy City, realized that all seven victims had ingested Extra-Strength Tylenol prior to becoming ill. Further investigation revealed that several bottles of the Tylenol capsules had been poisoned with cyanide.”1
The person who perpetrated the crime was never caught. However, an extortion letter demanding $1 million to make the killings stop was traced to James Lewis, a tax consultant. He served 12 years for writing the letter and though he was the prime suspect, there was never enough evidence to pin it on him. He died at the age of 76 in 2023 from a pulmonary embolism.2 The case still remains unsolved. Since then, all the product safety measures used are a direct result of this crime.
Think about this for a moment. A person works hard to get their bottle of Tylenol opened. They believe the effort is worth it and what’s in the bottle is going to take the headache away. What should have provided relief instead provides death.
Spiritually speaking, how many people are in a worse situation? They’ve gone to a church, “bought” the latest remedy for their sin, opened the bottle, took the pill believing that it would save their soul, and poisoned themselves right into a Christless eternity.
Should this raise our righteous indignation? Should it cause us to speak up, shouting out a warning to those who might take the religious drug of choice? Well, it caused Paul to speak up.
“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: (7) Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. (8) But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (9) As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (10) For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. (11) But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. (12) For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:6-12)
Paul makes it clear what the Gospel message entails. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 says, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; (2) By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. (3) For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (4) And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures…”
This Gospel message is so important and powerful that Paul declares in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
Never does Paul mention baptism.
He doesn’t speak of doing good works for salvation.
He doesn’t advocate for church membership and classes.
Never does he tie the observance of the Lord’s Table with salvation other than to declare it a place for believers to gather.
Giving isn’t mentioned with salvation.
Following the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, or some arbitrary rules of a church cannot produce salvation. To say that they do is worse than someone tampering with bottles of Tylenol, lacing them with poison, and unsuspecting people buy the remedy only to find that it leads to death.
ANYONE teaching anything besides the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as the plan of salvation is poisoning people with the worst poison ever. Hell lasts for an eternity. And there are plenty of spiritual serial killers out there, pumping out a false gospel every day.
Let us not be fearful to call out the peddlers of poison and to share with people the true, pure Gospel of Jesus. Jesus said in John 8:32, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
1https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/september-29/cyanide-laced-tylenol-kills-seven
2https://www.distractify.com/p/did-they-catch-the-tylenol-murderers
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