SWEET LIES AND WILEY SCHEMES

 

 

By Mary Ann Wray

 

The world is full of dichotomies and contradictions. The old adage which says that the only thing that is consistent in this world is change remains forever true, with one exception we’ll see later on. No wonder most of the world lies in a constant state of confusion and turmoil. At any given moment whether it be after the disclosure of new breaking events or other reports with little intrigue and public significance, there are multiple media whistle blowers and watch dog groups constantly flashing loud signals and pointing fingers at each other. Meanwhile public pundits, political candidates and high-ranking government officials run amuck with false accusations against their competitors laced with miniscule elements of exaggerated truths. This partisan spirit has long pervaded human history and has ever been present in the midst of society and in the church at large.

Fads and fashions constantly flux through a never-ending cyclical maze of extremes. Whether it is a new diet, haircut, style of clothing, new teaching, new religion or new president, society seems to thrive on the excitement and challenge of change while complaining about it at the same time. In the world of fashion within our lifetime alone, we’ve seen the extremes of high necklines, low necklines, short skirts, long skirts, cut offs, cuffed slacks, laced blouses, see-throughs, V-necks, crew necks, bold colors, muted colors on and on etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. My mother used to say, “Better hang on to that old skirt or dress because in a few years, it’ll be back!” So true…

There really isn’t anything new under the sun. The writer of Ecclesiastes put it this way, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.” Ecclesiastes 1: 9-11.

As far back as the days of Noah, mankind scoffed and ridiculed warnings from God through His Words, while signals flashed urging men to wake up. The problem is that our own individual and collective life’s lessons tend to drift even after we’ve been warned by the past. The events taught in history class by elementary and high school teachers, along with precepts taught by our parents, learned in Sunday school, and hear in biblically inspired messages tend to fall by the wayside. Sadly, our own mistakes, like history, have a way of repeating themselves over and over. Why? When we forget the lesson behind the bad results of ignoring warnings, we’re likely to repeat the same things. We tend to get stuck in following the path of least resistance despite being pulled out of past ditches.

Sweet Lies

The fact of the matter is that we are fallen human beings and live in a fallen world. Take away our skin, whether it is brown, yellow, black, red or white and we all have the same muscles, bones and red blood. Our humanity and mortality are our equalizer. 

As a case in point, here’s a brief history lesson that took place in the early twentieth century I find very interesting. A little-known chemist of his time and the events surrounding his life’s work,  serve as an analogy for an important life lesson. At the cusp of one of the greatest eras of prosperity, prior to modern times, an extraordinary chemist laid the foundation for the American pure food movement. Harvey Washington Wiley, October 18, 1844 - June 30, 1930, was the founding father of the Association of Official Analytic Chemists. Also known as the “Crusading Chemist”, he was a whistle blower to his generation. He had good intentions of helping society rather than causing controversy and harm. His motives seemed to be pure, just like the sugar he fought to preserve.

Wiley spent a large amount of time in Bismarck, North Dakota studying the use and mastery of the polariscope, a complicated device that was used by gemologists to determine how light is deflected within a stone. Wiley used the polariscope to analyze sugar and syrup chemistry at the behest of the Indiana State Board of Health. He was tasked with determining the “adulteration” of these commodities that were on sale to the general public within the state. Wiley wanted to help the United States along with others develop a thriving domestic sugar industry. Even though sugary foods are frowned upon today for obvious health reasons, sugar was and is a huge source of capital in the United States.

Wiley organized a volunteer group of young men, called the “Poison Squad” in 1902, who tested the effects of chemicals and adulterated foods on themselves. Women of Federated Women's Clubs also participated. Major canneries became supporters of the legislation and voluntarily stopped using questionable chemicals. Finally, the battle was won on June 30, 1906, when President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Pure Food and Drugs Act, largely written by Wiley himself. That same year, he quickly earned the title previously mentioned as the, “Father of the Pure Food and Drugs Act.” It was a period of pure food “revival” if you will.

Wiley took over the laboratories of Good Housekeeping Magazine and established the Good Housekeeping “Seal of Approval.” But in 1925, Wiley addressed then President Calvin Coolidge regarding his growing concern over the laxity of oversight and enforcement of the Food and Drug Act he worked so tirelessly to bring about. Somehow, his words seemed ominously prophetic and needful in our time not only in public affairs, but in our religious community as well. There were a few key phrases in his letter that really seem to “jump out and shout.”  What his letter basically said was, “What happened to all the research, effort, sweat and toil that went into the passing of the Pure Food and Drug Act the US Congress commissioned me to spearhead in 1906?” Just nineteen years later the food industry reversed its direction.  

Almost 100 years later some of the same food additive issues are being addressed by pure food whistle blowers today. The second irony is this has a spiritual application today.  How much has the word of God been adulterated by the spirit of greed and covetousness from certain false teachers and prophets looking to make a profit? Watering the gospel down to palatable bite sized segments of truth that don’t challenge, change or convict anyone towards repentance doesn’t bring a lasting change. The gospel has become sugar coated, especially in America, and polluted by false doctrines. False teachers have caused the Word of God to lose its purity and intent through mixture.  Jesus warned about the leaven of the Pharisees. He spoke about leaven  used for raising bread dough, as a metaphor for teaching. Sadly, the church is full of leaven today.

When sugar is mixed with other substances like sucrose or saccharine it can be called sugar, but it really isn’t. It took a discerning chemist like Wiley, to discover the pollutants. When the gospel is mixed with the prosperity message, hyper-faith teachings, and the like, they can call it the gospel but it isn’t. It takes discerning minds and hearts who are astute in the Word of God  to see the mixture and call it out. Rightly dividing the Word of God with the help of Holy Spirit, can do what a polariscope does to analyze sugar additives and gems for clarity. I believe it is time for us as Christians to stop relying solely on someone else to spoon feed us teachings and take the time to know God and the word of God for ourselves like the Bereans did in Acts 17.

A baby drinks milk and eats pureed foods because it has no teeth and relies on its mother to do what it can’t. When we are a young Christians, we need someone else to teach us foundational truths much like being spoon fed to grow. But once you know how to read, we still need to measure these teachings by God’s Word for ourselves. We have the Bible plus a myriad of study tools free and available online that helps us to do the research. If we’ll study the teachings we hear ourselves, we’ll discover there may be a lot of additives mixed in that we need to discard. Medical science bears out the fact that sugar can be addictive but it holds no nutritional value. I don’t know about you, but I got sick and weak on a lot of mixed teachings in the past. I’ve made up my mind to be responsible for my own spiritual health. How about you?

“So then, we may no longer be children, tossed like ships to and fro between change gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, the prey of the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, gamblers engaged in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead. Rather let our lives lovingly express truth in all things speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him who is the Head, even Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One. For because of Him the whole body the church in all its various parts, closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part with power adapted to its need is working properly in all its functions, grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.” Ephesians 4: 14-15 Amplified Version.