by Teri Ong
…perplexed, but not despairing… 2 Cor. 4:8
I have been perplexed for a number of months as I have heard the advertisements on the radio for a company called “High Times Investments.” This is a company that is touting the positive financial benefits of the marijuana “industry.” The interested listener is invited to sign up for a webinar that will convince the potential investor that a small amount of money may provide such a windfall that the investor can retire in style. The webinars are hosted by high profile politicians and business people, which puts an aura of respectability around the enterprise. The alluring female voice giving this information to the listener says that the marijuana industry is set to “create billions of dollars in wealth.” These ads are running on all of the conservative talk stations in our state.
The good news is, we are no longer the only state with legalized recreational “weed” in the country, which means we are no longer the only magnet state for drug-heads. The bad news is, more and more states are “legalizing” a destructive behavior that should remain illegal, which it still is under federal law. Why is it that the doctrine of States Rights does not apply to restricting abortion, but does apply to allowing illicit drug use? Why is it that state governments are allowed to decide for themselves to harm life, but they are not allowed to decide to protect it? The Scriptural principle that comes immediately to my mind is this:
“For he who finds me [godly wisdom] finds life
And obtains favor from the Lord.
“But he who sins against me injures himself;
All those who hate me love death.” Prov 8:35-36 NASB
Our society increasingly has shown that it does not love God or His wise principles of life. Our society is increasingly unable to even apply rational thinking and common sense to the solving of problems. “Wretched Radio” host Todd Friel couldn’t get a group of college students to admit that he wasn’t a bowl of oatmeal, if he claimed to be a bowl of oatmeal. It doesn’t surprise me that we can’t admit that drugs, which proponents claim are a harmless form of recreation, are truly destructive and dangerous to the users, their friends and family, and anyone they may literally run into in public.
Since Colorado legalized marijuana, our “Driving Under the Influence” arrests have gone up, costs to law enforcement have gone up, deaths on our roadways have dramatically increased, “urban camping” and panhandling have increased, doped-up people increasingly are a public nuisance in restaurants, libraries, transportation hubs, etc. And now, Denver wants to establish “safe injection sites” for drug users that have gone over to hard drugs. Every place where this approach has been taken has turned into a zombie-filled neighborhood full of crime and death.
Is any of this a surprise? No. We have rejected godly wisdom and have proven that we love death. We are merely reaping consequences.
The marijuana industry is NOT a respectable business venture. The marijuana industry is NOT going to “produce wealth.” That is not to say that some people are not going to get rich by investing in pot-related businesses, but that is not the same thing as “producing” wealth. The marijuana industry will take money from miserable creatures who are addicted or who are in the early stages of trying to escape reality for any number of reasons, and will give it to calloused people who are willing to live off of their misery. Instead of helping them find solutions to the underlying causes of their problems, the marijuana industry helps them mask their problems, while at the same time making their problems worse. But those who sell it have little regard for the true well-being of those who are committing suicide by degrees.
About 40 years ago, Moody Bible Institute produced a fascinating film called “Empty Cities.” The premise of the film was that all great cultures have turned to drug use in the end stages of their civilization. This premise was backed up through archaeological evidence from around the world. Drug use did not cause the demise; rather, it was a universal sign of end-stage degeneracy and decay.
Revelation 21:8 lists seven categories of sinners that will have no place in God’s eternal Kingdom. One category is called “sorcerers.” When we think of sorcery, we think of black magic and divination. The word, however, is more germane to our topic than that. The Greek word translated as “sorcery” in the New Testament is “pharmakeia,” the word from which we derive the English word “pharmaceuticals”; in others words, “drugs.” The two concepts are related: sorcery often involves potions that put people into altered states of mind for “magical” evil purposes. However, escaping reality through a drug-induced altered state doesn’t have to be “magical” to be evil.
There are legitimate uses of medicines (Rev. 22;2, Jer. 8:22, 1 Tim. 5:23). But God is quite clear: He wants us to be of a sound mind, to be sober-minded, of sound judgment, etc. We are not to be drunk with wine or under the influence of anything else that makes us lose control of our rational faculties. Participating in the drug culture in any way, that is, as partakers or providers, is not God’s plan for His people. God pronounces as curse on those who get their neighbors drunk. And for those who get drunk, the effects are their own curse.
15 “Woe to you who make your neighbors drink,
Who mix in your venom even to make them drunk
So as to look on their nakedness!
16 “You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor.
Now you yourself drink and expose your own nakedness.
The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you,
And utter disgrace will come upon your glory. Hab 2:15-16 NASB
Our civilization is clearly in its end stage. We have rejected God. We have rejected truth. We have rejected living in reality. We are naked before God as a nation, and in disgrace. What are Christians to do while we wait for the Lord’s coming? We still have this responsibility:
11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. 14 For this reason it says,
“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.” Eph. 5:11-14 NASB
In upcoming weeks I will be writing more about the seven deadly sins in Revelation 21:8. Help me expose the “unfruitful works of darkness” in our culture by talking with others in Biblical terms, and by speaking out in public when you can.
