WATERING
DOWN THE CHEMO

Topics: Evangelism; Gospel; Greed; Ministry; Preaching; Scripture; Truth

References: Leviticus 19:17; Matthew 18:15–17; Luke 17:3; 2 Timothy 2:15

In 2001, a Kansas City pharmacist was charged with diluting the cancer treatment drugs Taxol and Gemzar to make a profit. After pleading guilty, the pharmacist, Robert Courtney, was sentenced to thirty years in prison. Judge Ortrie D. Smith told the man, “Your crimes are a shock to the civilized conscience.” Judge Smith also ordered Courtney to pay $10.4 million in restitution and a $25,000 fine. In his plea agreement, Courtney admitted diluting drugs for profit since 1992, affecting as many as 4,200 patients.

This man held life-saving power in his hands and for the sake of greed and personal gain diluted it to the point where it could not help people. We can do the same with God’s life-saving truth.

—“30-Year Sentence for Druggist,” The New York Times (December 6, 2002)