I recently overheard a man talking about preparing chicken breasts that were the best he had ever had. The key, he said, was a particular salad dressing which he used as a marinade. After sitting in that marinade for a time, the chicken was baked and served. I recently purchased a bottle of that dressing, and will soon be trying it for myself.
If the man had said he marinated his chicken in Nyquil, I might have laughed out loud. What an absurd idea! Yet that very thing has apparently happened on the social media platform TikTok. Recently the Food & Drug Administration issued a warning that using Nyquil (a cough syrup) for a chicken marinade could potentially be dangerous.
I don’t know much about TikTok, but it often issues challenges. Some are benign, but others put people – usually children and teenagers – in harm’s way. I won’t detail the challenges here, but by doing an Internet search for “dangerous TikTok challenges” you’ll be appalled at what our youth will do simply because someone challenged them to do it.
TikTok originated in China, but the original master of dangerous challenges is found in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve were living in the perfect environment and had been given one command: Don’t eat from the tree in the middle of the garden. Eve reported this one restriction to the serpent, but his response challenged her to test the limits: “Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die’” (Genesis 3:4). Eve accepted the challenge and ate of the fruit, and so did Adam. But the taste of that fruit was suddenly soured as they tasted mortality for the first time.
Satan (identified in Revelation 12:9 as “that serpent of old”) challenged Jesus by offering Him “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” if only He would “fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:8,9). Satan failed in this challenge, for Jesus knew full well that “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve” (Matthew 4:10). Had Jesus done as Satan suggested, our Savior would have sinned and been disqualified from being the Lamb of God.
Look again at Revelation 12:9 and note that Satan “deceives the whole world”. He issues challenges (we call them “temptations”) frequently, and the FDA says nothing about the danger of doing as he suggests. God, however, gives us ample warning, like the one in 1 Peter 5:8,9: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith …”
Satan’s temptations pull at us powerfully, but we have the final say. Let us learn to say “No” more often to this deceiver. Most of us know better than to marinate our chicken in Nyquil. We also know better than to do what Satan says, especially if we imitate Jesus’ practice of knowing God’s will.
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
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Copyright, 2022, Timothy D. Hall.
