TESTIMONY TO TRUTH

BECOMING A BIT STRONGER

And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony. And they did not love their soul until death.

Every time I give my testimony at a school I walk out of that school hall, a bit stronger than when I arrived. On top of that there a number of teenagers who will stop their experimentation. A bigger number will make a firm decision not to even try to see what it is like. And then there are those who openly accept Christ as their Lord and Savior and who are forever lost to Satan and his kingdom of darkness. It all started in that jail cell many years ago when God challenged me about telling and living the truth. This is one of the hardest things to do for a person who has the criminal thinking errors of a drug addict. When God told me to come clean and reveal all to the Narcotic cops, I freaked! How could He expect me to split on my friends? Eventually I submitted and wrote out 26 A4 size pages of information about our drug smuggling activities and handed it to the cops. They were totally knocked out. This was the first time in the history of the Police Force that such a thing happened. In retrospect there really was no other way. God wants us to live the Truth Life. I had to choose, either I submit and do it His way or else drugs would catch up with me again later. You see, I had asked God how come I was back on drugs and dealing once more, even after an absence of several years.

FROM JUNKIE TO CHURCH MODE

When I got saved as a hippy junkie I never confessed to my involvement in the drug scene. I never really took an open stand against drugs either. I became a Christian and moved into the church mode. I even became a pastor. I never really came clean about my past regarding drugs. I certainly went to no trouble researching it from God’s point of view. It was just part of a lifestyle which did not fit in with an upstanding Christian. When my marriage was a mess and my finances as well it became an option to consider. It would bring release from a lot of frustration as well as sort out debts. So deep down in my heart the lies had been festering. Writing out the confession of a drug dealer, was the first small step (although at the time it felt like trying to jump over the moon) I had to learn in terms of testifying to the truth. I could never foresee that this small test in loyalty would become a guiding principle in counseling sessions with addicts.

EVIL ASSOCIATIONS CORRUPT

From the very first moment a person finds himself in a circle of friends where a drug is being used, and he does not walk away immediately, his mind shifts into criminal thinking. You suddenly know you are on forbidden territory and if you do not get out of there in a hurry Satan is going to put thoughts of self-justification in your mind which you are going to grab like a drowning man grabs a lifebelt in the middle of the ocean. It is an universal truth that the Bible warns us against evil associations because they will corrupt us. It is part of our natural instinct to want to belong to a group. Peer-pressure has been a reality since Adam and Eve. She gave in to the serpent’s seduction and then Adam gave in to her. Both of them where hanging out in the wrong place where they met “bad company”, and the result? They were caught with evil communication, an in-sin-uation (emphasis on the sin) that God is holding out on them. This is at the heart of the drugging sin-drome (emphasis on sin) namely that when on drugs, you will get benefits a sober mind cannot deliver.

TRUTH THROUGH CONFRONTATION

What is one of the very first indicators that a youngster is drugging? They start lying. The lies become more frequent, the cycle of deception gets deeper, guilt and shame leads to depression, which requires more drugs, which creates even bigger lies and eventually fear and paranoia kicks in. It is when they get worried that their lies will no longer cover up their illicit behavior, that the open aggression starts. Getting to the truth then sometimes if not always requires open confrontation and even drug testing.

CHRIST DECLARED GOD’S LOVE

Christ openly and publicly declared God’s love to us and took the results of sin upon himself. Declaring the truth of God’s love broke the power of the insidious whispering of the serpent. “It is written” was the defense Jesus used against Satan when he tried the same trick which worked so well on Adam, namely, to cast doubt in the mind of the Son of God about his divinity. “It is written” is the one thing the Father of lies does not want to be reminded of. There are many Scriptures relating to the issues ex-addicts face that can be used very effectively when the Tempter shows up in your circle of friends. Here are just a few:

Ephesians 2:13: But now in Christ Jesus you who were once afar off are made near by the blood of Christ.

Psalm 32:7: You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall circle me with songs of deliverance. Selah.

Psalm 34:7: The Angel of Jehovah camps round about those who fear Him, and delivers them.

Isiah 41:10: Do not fear; for I am with you; be not dismayed; for I am your God. I will make you strong; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness.

Isiah 58:9: Then you shall call, and Jehovah shall answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If you take the yoke away from among you, the pointing of the finger, and speaking vanity.

Isiah 58:10: And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.

Isiah 58:11: And Jehovah shall always guide you and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones fat; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.

Isiah 58:12: And those who come of you shall build the old ruins; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

DR KRIGE AND HOUSE REGENERATION

This adapted content was extracted from A Biblical Approach to Psychotherapy authored by Dr Ado Krige, the Founding Director of House Regeneration, a South African drug rehabilitation centre offering a comprehensive discipleship training program. By applying principles of Biblical Therapy, using the Scriptures to teach, rebuke, correct, and train in righteousness, House Regeneration counsellors show anyone who has suffered from addiction how to fully understand why they do what they do and how to bring their belief systems in line with the Word of God.