DANGER: NO SENSE OF SMELL

As of this writing, I have smelled basically nothing in well over three weeks. Nothing. Nada. You’ve already concluded why--COVID. Pre-virus, I had an extraordinarily acute sense of smell—which was generally a blessing but at times a curse. I have found my loss of smell upsetting--I cannot taste my food; disheartening—I cannot be awakened by the aroma of anticipated morning coffee; life-changing—I no longer see a need to bathe since I seem never to stink (just joking on this one); and even depressing—I begin to think, whatever the reassurances from virus veterans, that I will never regain my sense of smell. But until reading an article in the newspaper two days ago, I never thought of the loss of smell as being dangerous. I should have. Something was bugging me when I spilled gasoline on my clothes while filling my lawnmower’s tank. I kept thinking, “I can’t smell gasoline.” That pestered my subconscious, but I soon forgot about it as I concentrated on mowing. The spilled gasoline came back to me when I read the article. The point the reporter made was that the loss of smell from COVID was dangerous and could be life-threatening for those who lived alone. Those with COVID-affected anosmia cannot smell natural gas, or, I might add, smoke. Therefore, their home could have a major natural gas leak or have a hidden smoldering fire, and they would never know it. Inability to smell could be disastrous. Yes, losing one’s sense of smell can be a very dangerous thing. As I contemplated this reality, it occurred to me that too many Christians have or are losing their sense of smell. Before elucidating that thought, let me share something else that bothers me—pouring spoiled milk on my cereal. I’m one of those who fastidiously seeks to avoid ever tasting spoiled milk. So, I’ve developed a habit of de-capping the milk jug each morning and sniffing to see if it has gone bad before pouring it over my cereal. The expiration date can be three weeks in the future, and I’m still going to sniff before partaking. People also sniff for natural gas leaks, smoke, and many other things. Thus, a metaphor has emerged in our common vernacular. We speak of performing a smell test. A smell test is an effort to determine if something is genuine, ethical, believable, etc. Without a sense of smell, I cannot do a smell test on the milk. Many Christians today never do a smell test. They accept into their lives, partake in their worship, gulp down from their teachers, consume from new books, things that would have been repugnant to the Apostles, the first Christians, etc. It never crosses their mind to do a smell test to ascertain if these things are God-pleasing, doctrinally sound, or spiritually edifying. For most, it would be pointless for them to do a smell test. Why? They have lost their sense of smell. Something could doctrinally stink of humanism, occultism, new ageism, pseudo-psychology, and post-modernity, and they would never detect it. They have no sense of smell. They have lost what gives them a sense of smell. I have no sense of smell because the coronavirus has severed the supporting cells to my olfactory neurons which send messages to my brain. My sense of smell comes from these olfactory neurons and their supporting cells. Analogously, the Word of God, the Bible, is the olfactory neurons and supporting cells of the Christian, church, movement, and denomination. In so many cases being no longer inculcated with the Word, no longer consulting the Word, no longer immersing in the Word, and no longer venerating the Word as an authority for belief and living, much of American Christianity has a damaged olfactory system. Without the olfactory, there is no smell. Without smell, there is no smell test. As I can no longer determine if the milk is spoiled, too many Christians can no longer tell if what they are hearing, seeing, reading, is spoiled or not. What I mean is they have lost their discernment. They no longer can differentiate between truth and falsehood. Many Christians can no longer tell whether something is genuine, believe-worthy, correct, or even moral. The olfactory neurons, what cause smell, are simply not there. The Word of God is simply not there. In wide-swath of American Christianity, how-to, motivational, and story-time sermons have replaced preaching the Word. It’s worse than that. The Bible is no longer seen as the final authority for belief, worship, and living. With no ingrained Word in their worldview, thinking, or processing, Christians have lost their sense of discernment. They cannot tell when the milk is spoiled. They gulp down the spoiled milk of elements of other religions, faddish culture, false doctrine, and non-Christian thinking, all the time insisting it is fresh, wonderful, the greatest thing ever. But, there is hope. Just prior to reading the news article, I had told my family, “I am trying to remember how things I’m eating smell. Maybe this will trigger its return.” Encouragingly, the article confirmed that there are things one can do to regain his smell. One thing is to take sniff food items with strong odors. This could forge new olfactory neuron paths. This is also the way Christians can regain their sense of smell, their discernment. Return to the Word. Return to Truth. Return to daily consumption of the Word. Return to Biblical preaching and teaching. Partake of it. Take it in. Ingest it. Soon, the sense of discernment will return. A new book, a new form of worship, a new charismatic orator, a new teaching, a new movement will appear. Christians will do the smell test. They will smell the gasoline in the clothes with which the charlatan garbs his teaching. They will smell the smoke from the hidden smoldering false doctrine. They will smell the spoiled-ness of the milk behind the glamour, lights, faddishness. They will smell the danger. And, they will thank God, their sense of smell has returned—as, I pray, mine soon does. Pastor Clifford Hurst