…my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge…. Hosea 4:6a (NIV)
It was December 21, 1898 when Marie Skłodowska-Curie and her husband Pierre discovered radium, the radioactive element that we now know for its dangers like the atomic bomb and radioactive poisoning. But early on little was known about its dangers. In fact for 40 years Radium was a popular tonic added to everything from lipstick to tea.
Here are some of the unbelievable products that were made with radium:
RADIUM WRIST WATCH
In the early 1900's some watch faces featured digits painted using Radium paint (it glows). There didn’t seem to be a problem until the jaws of the young women who painted the digits on the watches started crumble as well as them experiencing other dental problems. Apparently they would lick the bristles of their brushes to create a finer point all while ingesting a large amount of radioactive poisoning.
CHILDREN’S ATOMIC ENERGY LAB SET
The Atomic Energy Lab first went on sale in 1951 and featured low levels of genuine radioactive material for children to experiment with. It remained on sale until the late 1970's and although the materials were labeled as ‘safe' you wouldn't find many parents today willing to let their kids play with uranium ore.
RADITHOR TONIC
Manufactured from 1918 to 1928 by the Bailey Radium Laboratories, Radithor was a well-known patent tonic that was said to cure stomach cancer, mental illness and restore sexual vigor and vitality, it was even advertised as ‘Perpetual Sunshine' until it gained notoriety when Eben Byers, an American industrialist, drank a bottle a day for four years and consequently died in excruciating pain as cancer of the jaw caused his facial bones to disintegrate.
It’s crazy to believe that people actually used these dangerous products not realizing they were harming themselves. They were hurting themselves because of a lack of knowledge.
Ever wonder if we’re using something right now that we’re unaware that is harmful to us? What if we find out in 20 years that skinny jeans causes cancer of the ankles or those oversized sunglasses girls are wearing these days cause blindness in your right eye, but only when your crossing your eyes? What if soy in your latte wasn’t the best idea? What if those gluten free products are actually taking days off of our lives…I wouldn’t be surprised (those wicked gluten free products).
More importantly, what in your spiritual life is being destroyed because of a lack of knowledge? What is the enemy tearing you apart with because either you don’t know who you are in God or what weapon you have in the Bible?
God’s Word is powerful and effective. When you’ve filled your life with it, you’ve given God something to pull from to help you deal with whatever struggle comes. If I’m dealing with a certain problem He reaches into my stored Bible knowledge to give me the verse or the passage or the story that will direct me or comfort me or challenge me. But if He reaches into your storage, searches and searches yet finds nothing then you’ve made it hard for yourself, “John 3:16? That’s all you’ve got in here? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good one but it’s not going to help you with this problem.”
What’s in your Bible storage arsenal? Are you giving God something to work with to help you? Or do you struggle because a lack of knowledge?
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