HERSHEY AIN'T CHOCOLATE

HERSHEY’S AIN’T CHOCOLATE

Sorry ladies, and any other chocolate lovers out there, but the title is true, Hershey’s ain’t chocolate!

This story was originally covered by the Smart Set, an online magazine of Drexel University. The article claims that Hershey’s chocolates, for the most part, aren’t really chocolate. They’re “the terrible bastard children of chocolate and corporate frugality,” according to Meg Favreau, writing for The Smart Set.

It seems that Hershey’s, and other industrial chocolate makers, mix their real coco butter with other vegetable oils. This process makes production cheaper, but it also makes something that is not chocolate. For now, the FDA requires Hershey’s to call its industrial byproducts “chocolate flavored” instead of real chocolate. However, according to Favreau, the website refers to the candies as “chocolate bars” and “milk chocolate.” That may change, however, as industry groups lobby the FDA to relax its definition of “chocolate” to include other vegetable oils.

So much for thinking that if it looks like chocolate and tastes like chocolate it must be chocolate!

It reminds me of a time when one of my children came home sporting a $10 G.A.P. hoodie, instead of a GAP hoodie!

As I think of this deception by Hershey’s my mind turns to a Bible verse found in Matthew 24. It was also a foot stomping gospel song by Johnny Cash – “Matthew 24 is Knockin’ at the Door!” The verse I am referring to is the 24th verse in Matthew; 24 "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.

I wonder a lot about the many “Christ’s” we have in our world today. There is the “Christ” of slick, multi millionaire TV preachers who will tell you that Jesus wants you to be rich and free of illness. There is the “Christ” presented by others who want us to live lives of perpetual suffering and misery. There is the “Christ” worshipped by cults who believe that Jesus was just an angel, or a brother of Satan, or just one of many roads that lead to God. There is Green Day’s “Jesus of Suburbia”.

So what do we do? We don’t have an agency like the FDA to tell us if we are following the real Christ or not.

We could learn something from FBI agents trained to discern the difference between real and counterfeit money. You may be surprised to know that these agents don’t spend countless hours studying counterfeit bills, but study the real money instead. This way, when something phony is placed before them, they can identity it as such immediately.

Stay tuned for future postings as I examine the real Jesus, and in doing so, help us all to beware of the false Christ’s spoken of in Matthew 24:24.