Faith

All The King's Horses

by Jeff Drinnan
07/20/20
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Our faith, as Oz Guiness wrote, should not be privately engaging but socially irrelevant.

One example where the faith community stepped in is the opioid epidemic. The "official" goverment entities and secular rehabs are losing the battle of the war on drugs. Why? Because their inititiatives are not steeped in the gospel.

At an event at one of the ministries that help those trapped in the voluntary slavery of addiction, someone from a government agency in Bucks County, PA said that he is not allowed to talk about God when his agency helps people with their drug and alcohol problem. I learned that a local rehab in my area does not allow it's employees to bring up the gospel.

Years ago when I worked at a Methadone clinic in Montgomery County, PA, someone representing a church group stopped in and offered help for the clinic's clients. The center showed no interest. The clinic hired counselors who "were there before" ; they had past trouble with drugs. One such counselor, while hanging out with his counsellees outside of the clinic got busted with them for using drugs.

After the counselor got busted and fired, the clinic stopped hiring street smart counselors but hired what I called the suit and tie college boys. One of them met with me after work and went through materials to try to get me interested in being a counselor there. The author of the materials knocked the doctrine of sin and the total depravity of man and pointed out that if a drug addict acknowedges sin as a reason for his problem it would bring him or her down. Further, the author mocked pastors who preach that we are sinners. I decided not to become a counselor there.

One positive thing a local methadone center in Bucks County does is encourage clients to go to outside sources for help. Some of them choose to go to a Christian group for counsel. Methodone helps addicts better deal with the physical cravings, and if used right, helps them quit "slow turkey", as the ad for a quit smoking product puts it. Christian counseling helps drug abusers get to the root of the problem and stay clean.

Many of the people at the ministries I've connected to were former drug addicts who were redeemed. Of course the leaders, none of whom were there in a "professional" capacity, and participants in the programs have temptations, but these ministries are better able to deal with problems because they help one another through God. Human reasoning doesn't work, as evidenced in the failure of those outside the church to deal with the problem, which is rooted in sin.

God and His Bible are sufficient. "By his devine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence." -2 Peter 1:3.

All the king's horses and all the king's men can't put broken people back together again. Only the true King, God, can redeem broken people and make them whole!