OUT WITH THE GOOD AND IN WITH THE BAD
Of the few successful graduates who finish our regeneration program that backslide, every one of them confesses that the thoughts about the old cravings started popping back into their minds as their exposure to Bible study diminished. Even strong mature Christians cannot neglect regular exposure to God’s Word through disciplined study. Our minds need to be bridled with the firm hand of constructive Bible study. This is especially true for people who have not only let the wild horse bolt out of the stable, but they have also fed it a high-energy diet. The Scripture clearly states that the carnal mind is an enemy of God and whilst we are in this earthly tent, we must treat our minds like a prisoner of war. Given half an opportunity he will escape our custody and turn on us with traitorous vengeance.
A HUGE ADVANTAGE
This is where we as Christians have a tremendous advantage over secular rehabilitation centres. We have a vast network of Christian churches catering to every demographic and cultural group one can imagine. They can and should act as the aftercare service that is so crucial for addicts to be re-integrated into mainstream living. The only tragedy is that the Church does not know how to get involved. This is due to the fact that so many church leaders are still in a referral mindset when it comes to what they perceive as “psychological and medical disorders”. Most of them do not believe that they can counsel people very effectively with addictive compulsive behaviour. This is also because of psychological terminology that is used for sinful behaviour. The moment someone’s condition is described as a disorder or syndrome they believe it is out of the field of ministry and they refer their counselee to a pastoral or clinical psychologist. In South Africa, the professionals have gone so far as to want to claim exclusive ownership on such terms as counselling and therapy which is absurd of course, as both these words appear in the Bible and were used thousands of years before the likes of Freud, Jung, Adler and Rogers and their prodigy saw the light of day.
THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENCE
That being said let us get back to the important issue of helping the Church to see this wonderful opportunity for expanding their ministry vision. In our country we have set it as part of our mission to train ex-addicts in counselling, so that they can become voluntary helpers in Churches to function as intervention-counsellors for families where drug-related issues are detected, youth mentors at schools, or even full-time drug therapists. It is our desire to see that the Church becomes the first line of defence in our battle against this evil monster. In Revelations 18 the first couple of verses act as a universal call to arms for the Church against Babylon. Let’s go read from Revelations 18:4-7
“And I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that you may not be partakers of her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues. For her sins joined together, even up to Heaven, and God has remembered her unjust deeds. Reward her as she has rewarded you, and double to her double, according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix double to her. As much as she has glorified herself and has lived in luxury, so much torment and sorrow give her. For she says in her heart, I sit as a queen, and I am not a widow; and I do not see mourning at all.”
THE CHURCH MUST ATTACK
Now first of all let us agree that these words are aimed at the people of God, which we know as the universal Church. Secondly, there is a progression of action namely:
This does not imply passivity but aggression. The Church must attack Babylon. But who is she, this very powerful and rich entity? Verse 23 gives us an exact description which reads as follows
“And the light of a lamp will never more shine at all in you. And the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will never more be heard at all in you. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth; for by your sorceries all nations were deceived.”
A WORLD RULED BY THE ANTICHRIST
A careful study of the international drug trade will reveal astonishing facts relating to a global oligarchy that rules the finances of the world and its powerbase is in the masses of cash that have been generated since the 1700s through drugs. With this cash flow, they have managed to buy and manipulate their way into every major country in the world. Their main aim is to set up a one-world government under the dictatorship of the Antichrist. Most church leaders are totally oblivious to these well-documented facts yet these are the hidden powers described in Ephesians 6:12
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world’s rulers, of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
THE CHURCH WILL WIN
Once the Church takes ownership of the restoration of victims of the drug empire back into society via church fellowship, she will become involved in the eventual downfall of Babylon. What we must not lose sight of, is the fact that men like Freud, Nietzsche, and Jung were part of the plan to promote a drug-oriented worldview. Following in their wake were others who have furthered secular humanism under the guise of psychology, the religion of man. The political structure that undergirds it is the so-called “Human Rights Bill” which sounds wonderful, but it was the new broom that swept clean. Its purpose was to de-throne the Word of God, which featured predominantly in the establishment of new civilizations in the Western Hemisphere. Psychology has literally permeated the entire spectrum of everyday life, from the courts, through educational systems, into commerce and industry as well as the Church. It dictates the human viewpoint as against the Divine viewpoint. It is time the Church makes a Biblical stand for the truth. She can do so by returning to the Word of God as the full and final authority for the treatment of dysfunctional behaviour and desisting from referring its members to secular therapists. She can also assist by employing ex-addicts trained in biblical therapy as workers in reaching out to the community with its drug-related problems.
DR KRIGE AND HOUSE REGENERATION
This adapted content was extracted from Regeneration Versus Rehabilitation, 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.