There’s A Reason It Says, “Poisonous”

Duke was one of the best dogs we’d ever had.  He was a German Shepherd who had won our family’s heart.  We got Duke as a puppy and watched him grow up with our kids.

One day Duke started acting strange.  He was drooling excessively and shaking.  We attended to him quickly and were about to take him to the Vet, when suddenly he heaved over and died.

We were completely blindsided.  We didn’t know what had happened to Duke.  We began searching for clues.  We found some harmless looking little pieces of a green wax-like substance on the patio.  Then more by the fence.  Then more on the other side of the fence.

Duke had eaten rat poison from the neighbor’s backyard.

I’ll never forget my 9 year old son’s shoulders shaking as he wept while he and I wrapped up Duke in a blanket, dug a hole, and buried him.

This is a brutal way for me to relate something to you.  I don’t like reliving it.  But it’s very important that you hear this.  Obviously if you love your pets, you need to keep them away from poison.  

But there’s a poison that can kill you, and yours

One of the greatest strategies of Satan is to subvert truth.  It’s what he did in Eden.  It’s what he did in the beginning days of the Church.  And it’s what he’s still doing right now.

Like rat poison, Satan introduces little thoughts in our minds that, left alone, begin to take us off track from what God has said in His Word.  These thoughts lead to ideas, which lead to conversations, which lead to error. Deadly error.
Paul warned Timothy about this…

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some. (2 Timothy 2:15–18, NKJV)

Profane and idle babblings seem innocuous enough, but they spread like cancer, and can ultimately derail someone’s faith—poisoning the very thing that allowed them to know God in the first place.  Killing the trust and understanding of God’s Word.

There’s a reason it says, “poisonous” on a box of rat poison.  We’re to stay clear of it…it’s dangerous!  And there’s a reason we’re to stay clear of anything that would cause us to stray from the God’s truth…it’s deadly!