05-06-23

Meat. A good item that many cannot live without. For some, meat has lost its appeal. For others, meat has become a vegetarian substitute that gives one more gas than the local Chevron station. There was a time when the Children of Israel asked, demanded, begged for meat. The Bible tells us that God gave them meat to their fill and then they died! You can read about their experience in Exodus 16:13-15.

While the eating of meat has become a staple reality for many in our world...would it ever be okay to eat a human?  You read right! On October 13, 1972, an Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed in the Andes Mountains. The accident left the survivors stranded for 72 days! That's over 2 months in the snow! To stay alive, the survivors did the unspeakable...they survived on their companions.

Just the thought of this is repulsive. Many have thought of the experience of survivors of that plane crash and have uttered horrible things at the extreme actions of their survival instincts. Barbaric. Reprehensible. Disgusting. Morbid. Carnivorous. Sinful. These are just a few words to describe the feelings of many on the survivor's actions. Would you ever do this? I would venture to say...you have! Listen.

"Gossip reveals a lack of true culture and refinement and of true goodness of heart; it unfits one both for the society of the truly cultured and refined in this world, and for association with the holy ones of heaven. We think with horror of the cannibal who feats on the still warm and trembling flesh of his victim, but are the results of even this practice more terrible than are the agony and ruin caused by misrepresenting motive, blackening reputation, dissecting character? Death and life are in the power of the tongue." - AUCR Sept. 15, 1905, par. 5

There is nothing more destructive as gossip in the Christian Church. If you have partook in this action...you need to repent. For this very action is keeping our church from growing into a safe place where sinners can find the sin-saving Savior! May God help us this Sabbath to stop being cannibals of those we love!

So, until the next time, this is Pastor Tello reminding you that thoughts do change lives!