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DEADLY POISON (12)

by Stephen Whitney

Scripture: James 3:7-12
This content is part of a series.


Deadly Poison (12)
Series: James
Stephen Whitney
James 3:7-12


Of all careers, which is the most likely to kill you? It is not the obviously risky professions such as smoke jumper, secret service agent or soldier. The most dangerous job in America is an elephant keeper. From Hannibal's war in 200 B.C. to logging
operations in Thailand, man has learned to control the largest
land mammal, the elephant.

Over the millennia, techniques for training and controlling these large animals have changed very little. A short, wooden rod with
a small hook on the end is the primary tool. The handler uses the hook to pull a leg or the trunk, to get the elephant to move in a certain direction or to signal it to turn either left or right.

The intelligence of an elephant is typically over stated, they are somewhat more intelligent than a dog. They can be highly focused which causes us to think that they are smarter than they really are.

A well-trained elephant in forestry work or in other chores knows about 115 vocal commands and physical signals. There are over 90 pressure points on their body through which a skilled handler can signal the elephant what he wants it to do using a pointed stick.

Elephants are incredible problem solvers when it comes to moving
heavy weights or shifting loads on a truck. They may use their trunks, their tusks, their feet, their mouths or their foreheads selectively once they are given a task to accomplish. They somehow always find a way to do it with their great strength.

Psychologist Karen Pryor wrote, "People don't realize how easy
it is to train even difficult animals without knocking them around. You can train an animal's behavior with positive reinforcement. We have been able to tame all kinds of different animals in the
sense of controlling them to make them useful to us."

Psalm 143:1 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth.
Proverbs 13:3 Whoever guards his mouth preservers his life.

TONGUE CANNOT ...

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