I went to a prison ministry event several years ago. It was blazing hot, but hundreds of inmates made decisions for Christ.
I was talking to one of the guys and he told me about the crime he committed. I never ask what someone did to get locked up, but he volunteered it, so I listened intently. He got really zonked out smoking marijuana and then thought of a man who owed him some money but wouldn’t pay.
He decided to steal his truck to get even and broke into his auto repair garage. After he got inside he thought he would make some interest on the money that he was owed by stealing some of his tools too. So, he loaded the truck with every tool he could find, ($175,000 worth of them). It was a difficult job because he was so stoned on the pot, that he didn’t have much strength or energy.
He worked into the night, stopping to rest after each toolbox was loaded, and finally completed his mission. He raised the garage door and ran into the office and found the key for the truck. He went out to start it and it wouldn’t even turn over. So he went back in the office and got a brand new battery and then back to the truck to install it in the truck.
When he raised the hood, he discovered why it wouldn’t start. IT DIDN’T HAVE A MOTOR IN IT!
By this time, he was exhausted, he simply had to sit down to rest and soon was fast asleep, and suddenly he was surrounded by the police. He’d left the garage door up and the police had been summoned by someone in the neighborhood.
One of the police officers laughed at him and called his friends over to show them that the guy had tried to steal a truck with no motor in it. He was sentenced to 26 years for this little escapade.
Today we are being told by a plethora of people that, “if it feels good do it”, and that marijuana is harmless and should be legalized.
Geez it kills brain cells and obviously some folks need every cell they have. There are consequences for taking mind-altering drugs. Maybe alcohol is more devastating to our health, and is conducive to alcoholism, which often leads to job loss, violence and domestic abuse, car crashes, suicides, fights, and the like, but legalizing other drugs is not the answer to reduce those crimes.
Marijuana is a gateway drug and leads to taking other more dangerous drugs. That means you get stoned on pot and while your inhibitions are lowered you do things you would never ordinarily do. Someone comes along with more dangerous drugs such as cocaine, heroin, or a hallucinogen while you are high on pot and you say, “sure why not”. Thus, you enter the highway to hell that is the beginning of the end for many in our society.
It is just another example of the decay of our culture. People cannot find what they are looking for because they are looking in the wrong places. They can’t have “fun” without getting high on something. “I had a woman who worked for me that told me, Well we’ve got to have something”. I tried to explain that the consequences are far from fun. Better to turn to God and the peace, joy, and love that He offers, than attempting to numb the mind. It’s just like going to the dentist. The Novocain numbs it and you cannot feel the pain then it comes right back. It is one of Satan’s most powerful tools.
Why does Satan need tools? He wants to destroy us and take us down with him?
1 Peter 5:8
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.