Diluted Medicine

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” [Romans 1:16]

In 2005, cancer patient Georgia Hayes won a 2.2-billion-dollar judgment in a lawsuit against her former pharmacist, Robert R. Courtney. His crime: diluting her chemotherapy drugs with water. He did this to reap the profits from selling more of the expensive drug to other patients, but in the meantime his victim missed her best chance for a cure because she was not properly treated. The pharmacist admitted to watering down drugs for over a decade, affecting as many as 4,200 patients! The 48-year-old father of five children is now serving a 30-year sentence in prison!

This is not an isolated case. Sadly, drug counterfeiting has become an increasing problem in our society. The Food and Drug Administration checked out an average of five cases a year back in the 1990s, but now there are over 20 investigations a year. With more sophisticated technology, counterfeiters sometimes succeed in introducing counterfeit drugs into the system. For example, Procrit, which fights anemia and fatigue in cancer and AIDS patients, was counterfeited in 2002. Tap water that had not been sterilized was used to water down the original drug until it was only one-twentieth of its original strength. Not only was it weakened, it also posed a threat of infection from contaminated water. Epogen, a drug that is used to treat severe anemia, was also recently counterfeited. And there are others. These watered-down drugs could not be nearly as effective and did not help the patients who took them.

Likewise, some people water down the Water of Life. By teaching and preaching a “soft” or “cheap” gospel, they tamper with the medicine for people’s souls. Just like the watered-down medications, a diluted gospel is dangerous to spiritual health. One form of a diluted gospel says it is okay to keep sinning, because God always forgives the sinner. Paul addresses this argument by saying, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1,2). And Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).

The true, undiluted gospel of Jesus Christ is a call to obedience and discipleship.