Scripture: Hebrews 12 v 15: "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled."
Matthew 15 v 17 - 19: "Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever enters in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught?
18 But those things that proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulterous, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies."
From the beginning of Creation when God created everything He declared it to be very good. When Adam fell into sin, everything God created became tainted. Animals became wild and dangerous; men became killers and other evil things; plants became poisonous and the planet became polluted.
Eventually men found that certain plants could be used to take away pain and could be antiseptic aiding the healing process. Over the centuries this has become very refined. Unfortunately the corrupt people took advantage of a lucrative element and drug trafficking became a cottage industry.
The victims of the plants Satan poisoned became addicted to various drugs and the knife got twisted as they were sent to rehab to go cold turkey from the drug they were enslaved to. An endless cycle of despair. Addicts have a love hate relationship with their drugs. But once the hook is in the soul it is difficult to remove.
Over the years of this ministry the Lord Jesus has shown me the root of ALL addictions lies in Bitterness. The vulnerable soul has many bitter experiences from divorce, physical or sexual abuse, neglect, rejection or loss of a parent. Bitterness and resentment gets added to rebellion in the teen years and all resistance to the entrancing recreational drug world crumbles.
The big traps are peer pressure, rap and metal music, easy availability of drugs, clubs, and the real megamonster - the need to escape from the bitter pain of past experiences. Jesus says that what you put in your mouth or up your nose is harmless - it is what is triggered in your soul when you take narcotics that causes the problems.
Your soul consists of intellect or the mind, emotions and will. Drugs separate the harmony and balance of the soul. When the will desires to do drugs the mind loses its stop signs. The emotions do a roller coaster ride and you are on your trip. You experience the great rush of (false) peace and all your troubles seem so far away. Until the trip is over and the cold hard reality of life sends you into a spiral of depression that needs another drug hit to take you up again. Your soul is now enslaved to Satan for the duration of your addiction or until death, whichever comes first.
If you are addicted to alcohol, the spirit of alcohol influences you. You can be a happy drunk, a violent drunk or a totally unconscious drunk. In whichever of these you pick it won't be long before you become someone else's problem. If you have a motor accident that kills or injures people, it is called driving under the influence. The influence of spirits. Not the bottled variety, the unseen, grotesque variety.
Spirits sent by Satan to destroy mankind any way they can. That American white supremacist in Buffalo killed ten people who never knew it was coming. Just a few days ago. There has been more since. Plus the horrible war in Ukraine. Satan is the thief who comes to kill, steal, maim and destroy. People on TV talk about the demons in his head but it's just a saying. Except people do have demons and they are controlled by them.
Nicky Cruz of Teen Challenge in New York, on Times Square, he was influenced by demons in his gang to kill some rival gangsters. David Wilkerson came to New York on God's mission to set Nicky and others like him, free. In Nicky's testimony, in his book, Run Baby Run, he tells of walking into their mission building and finding an unconscious heroin addict on the stairs. He prayed over him in tongues then carried him up to the meeting room. The addict was completely free of heroin by the time he sat him down. Jesus has power over spirits and He gave us that same power.
There is only one perfect solution to this addiction to any substance and that is to kill the root of the problem. The root is Bitterness. Every addict I have dealt with has a problem with Bitterness, Unforgiveness and Memory Recall of Hurts. Until these areas are thoroughly and completely eradicated the hook of addiction is fairly immovable. Once the addict is free of the main drug demon, all these roots must be dealt with. It takes time and patience.
The strongest addiction hook is Nicotine. It opens the door for alcohol and other drugs. The common elements are bitterness in the product. Nicotine is a seriously bitter substance and a quarter teaspoon of raw nicotine will kill a horse. Alcohol is another very bitter substance and pills are bitter too.
The demon in the soul is called Bitterness and IT craves bitter substances. The demon forces its human host to feed IT with bitter substances. It is an evil spirit that controls you to feed its hunger for bitter stuff and its reward is the utter destruction and ultimate death of its host.
Read Mark 5 to see how Jesus engages with the demon-possessed man and then with the demon itself which is called Legion. They had a conversation. The demon did not want to leave that place. Jesus sent it into a herd of pigs which violently suicided over a cliff into the sea. The man was completely healed and in his right mind. The people ordered Jesus to leave. No-one wants to believe that demons are real.
Drugs are dangerous. Cigarettes cause horrible lung diseases. Alcohol creates monsters once the craving sets in. We are spirit beings, and when our spirits are empowered by the Holy Spirit, Satan is afraid of us. When we are confronted by him and discern the demon, he thinks we are feeble and he can capture us. When we command him in confident tones and bind him in the name of Jesus, we tell him to come out of that addict, that alcoholic, that rapist, that murderer, and never return. We send those demons back to Hell. They scream and shout , their voice comes out of their victim's mouth, Stop it, you are hurting me. It's the demons panicking. Fun is over.
Many people come with a label called "I can handle it!". This is a lie Satan uses to great effect continuously. Another charming lie is "It won't happen to me!" The users of herbs called weed or dagga or cannabis think that they are well in control of a basically harmless herb that was created by God for their pleasure. Read Ezekiel 8 v 17 for God's answer to that! That's why they call it Dope, Dope!
Jesus died to set you free! Through faith in His name your chains are broken. Forgive those who have hurt you and you will be forgiven. He will remove the addiction as if you were never bound by it. He will deliver you from the power of your enemy. Stay close to Jesus and the enemy will not return. Be obedient to His Word and it will feed your hunger and bring you true peace that lasts forever. Please never forget that Jesus loves you and that He has forgiven you - believe and receive.
James 4 v 7: "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you."
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Jesus is the Prince of Peace - the highest authority of Peace in the Universe. Fill us with His true peace and flood our souls with it so we never need pills or tranquillisers or anti-depressants ever again. Help us to forgive to kill the bitter root within our souls that gives Satan the ability to enslave us through drugs. In Jesus' name And to His glory. Amen.