It all began with 12-year-old Mary Kellerman. Then, 27-year-old Adam Janus dies on the same day, presumably from a heart attack. These two are followed by Stanley and Theresa Janus, Mary McFarland, Paula Prince, and Mary Weiner. On this day in 1982, our trust in humanity dwindled as fear, skepticism, and cynicism began to be the new norm. It’s the day that these people took a Tylenol for a headache, not knowing that it was laced with potassium cyanide.
When we purchase a bottle of OTC medication, they all have a foil-wrapped cap and seals around the cap. The packaging is sealed as well, and the wary shopper wants nothing to do with anything that has seals broken. Why are we like this? It all traces back to this event in 1982.
The first victim, Mary Kellerman, woke up and wasn’t feeling good. Her head hurt and her nose was running. Mary’s parents told her to take a Tylenol and go back to bed and rest. Mary went to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and the next thing the parents heard was the thud as Mary slumped to the floor unconscious. Imagine their horror to find their child crumpled in a heap and within a short amount of time, she was dead.
To this day, no one has been convicted of the crime. James Lewis, a 30-something man, decided to capitalize on the situation by sending a $1 million ransom note to Johnson & Johnson, telling them that the deaths would continue if they didn’t pay up. Investigators at the time determined that Lewis could not have committed the crime. He was imprisoned, though, for extortion.
Years later, cold case investigators believe Lewis was responsible, at least in part for the crime. “The postmark on the [ransom] letter appeared to show Lewis wrote the letter before the public knew the deaths were linked to the tainted Tylenol pills, the [Chicago] Tribune reported. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Margolis, who successfully prosecuted the extortion case, told the Tribune he regrets that Lewis was never brought to justice for the deaths.”1
That which was good, Tylenol, became poison because someone else tampered with it. Can we see the spiritual application?
God’s Word is perfect, holy, and pure. Psalms 119:140 declares, “Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.” The writer of Proverbs agrees. Proverbs 30:5 says, “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.” But, when people tamper with it, it becomes spiritually poisonous.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 warns, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. (14) And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (15) Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” If we are not vigilant against those who tamper with Scripture, we become like those Paul warned of in Ephesians 4:14. “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”
How do we guard against ingesting an altered Word of God? We need to become like the Bereans as described in Acts 17:11. “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
Christians are not supposed to be like a bunch of guppies, swallowing anything placed in front of them. Be a Berean believer. Practice 1 John 4:1 as you go to church. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
1https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/james-lewis-prime-suspect-unsolved-1982-tylenol-murders-case-dies-76-rcna93459
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