INSTITUTE OF LOVE

Smoking Marijuana
Text Box: Marijuana, or as it is also commonly called; pot, ganja, weed, grass, is the most commonly used illegal drug in the U.S. Compared to other hard drugs, like cocaine, heroine or crack, marijuana is widely considered to be a soft drug. It is said through research that more than 25 million Americans age 12 and older use marijuana at least once in a year. Those in favor of smoking marijuana justify it by saying that it is an herb and that it is not harmful or addictive and therefore should be legalized. According to them, getting high on marijuana, or getting “stoned”, makes them feel and perform better. It medicates and relaxes them, and helps them cope with the difficulties in life. They also claim that it is not nearly as bad as smoking cigarettes. Others say that God created marijuana for our enjoyment. They base this on the following Bible scripture in Genesis 9 verse 3 where God blesses Noah and his sons and tells them the following: “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.” (Note here: God did not tell Noah and his sons to smoke herbs. He was clearly talking about FOOD!) In actual fact, the sad reality is that the short-term effects of smoking marijuana is memory and learning problems, distorted perception, and difficulty thinking and solving problems. The Bible does not mention the specific subject of marijuana, but we can draw obvious conclusions based on Godly principles and common sense. For instance, not every herb or leaf is for eating or healing. We certainly wouldn't want to eat poison ivy, for example. We must use common sense. In the Bible, God speaks about the fact that we humans, or our bodies, are His temple. If someone gives their life to God, He will live in them. Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will bring ruin upon anyone who ruins this temple. For God's temple is holy, and you Christians are that temple. 1. Corinthians 3:16-17 NLT And what union can there be between God's temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: "I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore, come out from them and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don't touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." 2. Corinthians 6:16-18 NLT Here is a testimony of a guy who came to his senses after years of smoking marijuana. His testimony simply says it all, as he gives us several excellent reasons why smoking marijuana is wrong and sinful: In most countries, it's illegal. Although many European countries have fairly lax laws on it (for example, in Germany it's legal to smoke pot in your own house), in the U.S., it's totally and completely illegal. We Christians are urged to follow the law of the land, as long as it doesn't conflict with God's law. It affects the mind, and in some cases, impairs it. I used to smoke pot ALL THE TIME. I quit a couple years before I became a Christian. Many of my friends still smoke pot...and I've got to tell you, I hate talking to them when they're stoned (which is pretty much all the time). My smart, amazing friends become complete idiots when they're high. 3. We are urged to not be mastered by anything. While marijuana is not physically addictive, it is most definitely psychologically addictive, which I think is much more potent. Think about it: With a physical addiction, something can be substituted. For example, heroin addicts used to be (and perhaps still are) given methadone to help with the withdrawal symptoms. There is no substitute for a psycho-logically addictive drug. And then there are just the common sense things, which have nothing to do with Christianity: Pot kills brain cells. It arrests maturation in adolescents. It causes people to become lazy and apathetic. It takes away a person's initiative. It affects short-term memory. Before I ever smoked pot, I basically had an eidetic memory. Now, I have trouble remembering things, and I have ever since the first time I smoked a bowl. I've been clean, like I said, for YEARS. I haven't touched pot in about three years or so. Pot REALLY, and LITERALLY, messes with a person's head. It's not so much a sin, as it is just STUPID! Spiritual Impact In addition to this guy’s personal experience of smoking pot and his rejection of it, I believe it is important to understand that all euphoric drugs open the user up to a spiritual world. Besides the physical intoxication and what the drug does to the body and mind, drugs are used, all over the world, as a way of entering the spirit world. Knowingly or unknowingly, a person subjects himself to spirit powers when being under the influence, and he has no control over what he allows to enter his body, in a spiritual sense. Demonic powers are gained access to a sedated and slowed-down individual, taking hold of their life and imparting ideologies, philosophies, lifestyle values, and mindsets into the person. That’s why intoxicated people “just aren’t themselves” anymore. They have no idea what they are getting into and they skid off track, turning into a person they cannot recognize. Their lives are not being pulled in a positive direction toward engagement, initiative, career, and family life, but rather they find themselves unproductive, selfish, and mooching off people, wasting time soothing their body and soul. The marijuana smoker believes he has the control, and that he can stop anytime he wants to, which he can. But the spiritual clean-up and consequences are many times tremendous. Most times, they will need deliverance from: idol worship, false doctrine, witchcraft, anxiety, depression, paranoia and fear, among many other things. Not to mention the psychological problems that surface, that were the reasons they sought to escape their painful issues in the first place, most commonly issues like parents divorcing, abuse, bullying, rejection, control, low self-esteem and fear.   Copyright©2009 Sophia & Edwin Christiaan Text Box: By Edwin Christiaan