Does
the Bible
Support the Drug War?
by
You can start by showing me where the Bible supports the fictions, fables and falsehoods of drug prohibition. Most so-called "Christian" and "Jewish" groups do not follow the Bible. For them the Bible is just a dusty old book they drag out when they want to scare the flock into putting more money in the collection plate. And the TV preachers twist the scriptures to the point where there's a dollar sign on every page (gimme gimme gimme).
I call it false religion when the leaders promote known lies and deliberately deceive people about drugs and a lot of other things.
The bottom line is that the Bible says nothing whatsoever about heroin, cocaine, opium or any other recreational drug, except alcohol. Not one word! Therefore, drug prohibition cannot be supported with the Bible. In fact, the scriptures condemn both the policy of prohibition and the tactics deluded apostates use to promote their heresy.
Needless to say, most religious leaders have set themselves in direct opposition to God by supporting a policy based on lies, dissembling and propaganda. Promoting lies forfeits any relationship with the Almighty and prohibition is nothing but a lie. Such are enemies of both man and God.
My grasp of the fallacy of religion and the subsequent necessity to
separate religion and public governance is in exact accord with the thought and writings of Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell.
You won't get any argument about separating church and state. False religion has caused more wars, strife and bloodshed than any other cause.
Jerry Falwell, Orrin Hatch and the Pope do not follow the Bible. Anyone who thinks the Bible supports drug or alcohol prohibition is welcome to step forward and prove it with in context citations from the scriptures. Prohibition is not found in the Bible! There are, however, many admonitions condemning lying.
The sermon below puts an end to notions that drug and alcohol prohibition are endorsed by the scriptures. Many people well versed in the Bible have been invited to debate my assertions using in context citations from the scriptures. Even university scholars of the Bible have been forced to admit that the drug war is an apostate notion. Prohibition is a false doctrine when added to Bible teachings. The terms heretic, apostate, enemy of God, hypocrites, lovers of darkness and deceivers apply to anyone promoting prohibition as a part of the Christian or Jewish faith.
So far no opposers have lasted two rounds trying to prove from the scriptures that prohibiting drugs and booze is a Godly idea. If Bill Bennett or the Pope would like to have a tilt, I'm ready anytime.
The important point is that "religious" people can be swayed by the Bible even if their leaders cannot. Knowing that the Bible offers no shelter for prohibitionists opens the door to recruiting some otherwise unreachable groups. On a personal level, no religious person except dyed in the wool drug warriors has failed to reject prohibition after some scriptural instruction. The majority become repealers or at least stop all support for prohibition.
Converting "religious" groups to repeal will destroy the last vestige of "moral" support for prohibition. When you use the Bible against the drug war, most people denounce prohibition almost immediately. That's because they accept the Bible's authority, not because of a clever argument.*************************
BIBLE TRUTH & DRUG WAR LIES
Genesis 1: 29 And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.
and
1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and enjoin abstinence from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for then it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
These scriptures by themselves put prohibitionists in opposition to the Bible regarding bans on any plant.*************************
However, there is no brief answer about the Biblical position on drug use, so pardon the length of this sermon. It would take a book to reasonably explain ALL of the scriptural principles violated by drug or alcohol prohibition. Let's start by seeing if the Bible has a policy about drugs.
Check any Bible concordance and you will find that "recreational drugs" other than alcohol are never mentioned in the scriptures. (Go to: <?param 0000,0000,D400>http://www.gospelcom.net/bible and see for yourself.) Therefore, to understand the Bible's position on drug use, we must examine the principles established for using wine, beer and liquor. The dozens of scriptures about alcohol use and its consequences fall into three main categories:
1. The consequences of excessive drinking and drunkenness.
2. The blessings of wine.
3. Medical use.
4. There are no scriptures banning alcohol or any other drug.*************************
DRUNKENNESS
The Bible has many warnings about excessive drinking.
Proverbs 23:29 Who has woe? Who has uneasiness? Who has contentions? Who has concern? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has dullness of eyes? 30 Those staying a long time with wine, those coming in to search out mixed wine. 31 Do not look at wine when it exhibits a red color, when it gives off a sparkle in the cup, [when] it goes with a slickness. 32 At its end it bites just like a serpent, and it secretes poison just like a viper. 33 Your own eyes will see strange things, and your own heart will speak perverse things. 34 And you will certainly become like one lying down in the heart of the sea, even like one lying down at the top of a mast. 35 They have struck me, but I did not become sick; they have smitten me, but I did not know it. When shall I wake up? I shall seek it yet some more.
Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a ridiculer, intoxicating liquor is boisterous, and everyone going astray by it is not wise.
1 Corinthians 6:10 nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit God's kingdom. 11 And yet that is what some of you were. But you have been washed clean, but you have been sanctified, but you have been declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit of our God.*************************
These scriptures condemn the loss of control and the damage done by excessive drinking. Note that drinking itself is never condemned, only the excess. It is critical to make this distinction because no matter what scripture a prohibitionist cites, it won't authorize a ban on alcohol use. If there was a ban on drinking, Jesus would have been a sinner for violating the law!
The Bible says that drunkards will come to poverty and ruin because of their excessive drinking, NOT because the community drove them into the wilderness or fined them or beat them or stoned them or did anything to them except let them sink or swim on their own.
The scripture at 1 Corinthians 6:11 "And yet that is what some of you were. But you have been washed clean," makes it clear that drunkards were living unmolested in the community because they were alive to repent when they got the good news.
Despite the fact that some people have ruined themselves with alcohol for thousands of years, no prohibition is ever suggested in God's word.
There are no Scriptures authorizing punishment for drug use or drunkenness.*************************
Wine is also mentioned as a blessing many times:
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WINE A BLESSING
Ecclesiastes 9:7 Go, eat your food with rejoicing and drink your wine with a good heart, because already the [true] God has found pleasure in your works.*************************
Psalms 104: 13 He is watering the mountains from his upper chambers. With the fruitage of your works the earth is satisfied.
14 He is making green grass sprout for the beasts. And vegetation for the service of mankind, To cause food to go forth from the earth,
15 And wine that makes the heart of mortal man rejoice, To make the face shine with oil, And bread that sustains the very heart of mortal man.*************************
Ecclesiastes 10:19 Bread is for laughter of the workers, and wine itself makes life rejoice; but money is what meets a response in all things.
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MEDICINE
The Bible also recognized the medicinal value of wine and alcohol.
Proverbs 31:6 Give intoxicating liquor, you people, to the one about to perish and wine to those bitter of soul. 7 Let one drink and forget one's poverty, and let one remember one's own trouble no more.
Story of Good Samaritan
LUKE 10:34 So he approached him and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine upon them. ........
1 Timothy 5:23 Do not drink water any longer, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent cases of sickness.*************************
How do we sort out these seemingly contradictory messages?
By understanding that the Bible warns against drunkenness, inebriation and heavy drinking, not reasonable consumption. Excessive drinking and unruly behavior under the influence are denounced. By inebriation, I mean drunkenness to the point of losing control, acting foolishly or injuring others through recklessness. Feeling "high" is regarded as one of the blessings of wine and not forbidden:
Psalms 78:15 And wine that makes the heart of mortal man rejoice,
and
Ecclesiastes 10:19 Bread is for laughter of the workers, and wine itself makes life rejoice; but money is what meets a response in all things.
CONCLUSION:
Using the Bible's alcohol policy as a model, calls for educating people about drug risks instead of punishing them. Like alcohol, drugs do not harm most users.
Punishing those who use a substance without harming themselves or others is never suggested in the Bible. Punishing someone whose drinking only harms themselves is not mentioned in the scriptures either.
How the prohibitionists ever managed to convince people that the Bible supported alcohol prohibition is beyond me because Jesus's first miracle was making about 40 gallons of wine at a wedding in Cana and he finished his life by using wine as a memorial in the last supper. It's impossible to see how prohibition can be justified when Jesus Christ himself was an alcohol user!*************************
[miracle at Cana -- water to wine]
John 2:3 When the wine ran short the mother of Jesus said to him: "They have no wine." 4 But Jesus said to her: "what have I to do with you, woman? My hour has not yet come." 5 His mother said to those ministering: "Whatever he tells you, do." 6 As it was, there were six stone water jars sitting there as required by the purifications rules of the Jews, each able to hold two or three liquid measures. 7 Jesus said to them: "fill the water jars with water." And they filled them to the brim. 8 And he said to them: "Draw some out and take it to the director of the feast." So they took it. 9 when, now, the director of the feast tasted the water that had been turned into wine but did not know what its source was, although those ministering who had drawn the water knew, the director of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him: "Every other man puts out the fine wine first, and when people are intoxicated, the inferior. You have reserved the fine wine until now." 11 Jesus performed this in Cana of Galilee as [the] beginning of his signs, and he made his glory manifest; and his disciples put their faith in him.*************************
[the last supper]
Matthew 26:27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."*************************
Failing to recognize the clear message of the Bible that alcohol should NOT be banned is one reason I call the religious wing of the prohibition movement "Puritan Delusionaries." They can't understand the plain language of the book they profess to follow. Hypocrites is one of the labels Jesus attached to people of this kind.
I'll put it plain. Any Christian or Jew who supports drug or alcohol prohibition is going against God and the Bible.
The scriptures never call for punishment where zero injury to someone else occurred. Nor does the Bible tell those who can manage their drinking without trouble that they should give it up because some people become alcoholics. The same principle applies to drugs.*************************
FAILED DRUG POLICY IS CONDEMNED
The fact that drug prohibition is a disastrous failure by itself condemns the policy in Biblical terms. Jesus made this clear at:
MATTHEW 7: 15-20 "Be on the watch for the false prophets that come to you in sheep's covering, but inside they are ravenous wolves. 16 By their fruits you will recognize them. Never do people gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles, do they? 17 Likewise every good tree produces fine fruit, but every rotten tree produces worthless fruit; 18 a good tree cannot bear worthless fruit, neither can a rotten tree produce fine fruit. 19 Every tree not producing fine fruit gets cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Really, then, by their fruits you will recognize those [men]." Jesus Christ*************************
No one was robbing, whoring and killing over drugs when addicts could buy all of the heroin, morphine, cocaine, opium and any other drug they wanted cheaply and legally at the corner drug store. Since President Nixon declared all out war on drugs 50% of murders nationwide are considered to be "drug related," property crime rates have tripled and violent crime rates have doubled.
Obviously a policy that creates crime and victims where none existed cannot meet God's approval.
Nearly all of our so-called "drug problems" are more accurately defined as drug prohibition caused troubles because they simply did not exist before the drug prohibitionists turned the trade over to criminals and created an outlaw black market. Overdoses were virtually unheard of when addicts could buy pharmaceutically pure drugs, so prohibition is responsible for almost every overdose.
Proof that drug laws, not drugs, cause the crime, disease and moral breakdown among addicts comes from the Swiss Heroin Maintenance Program. Providing cheap or free heroin reduced crime among Swiss addicts by 60 per cent during the first six months of treatment and the crime rate eventually dropped 90-plus per cent. Permanent employment among patients more than doubled and addicts were able to resume normal lives.
There were also great health benefits. In the Swiss heroin maintenance trials (850 patients), only three new HIV infections, four hepatitis B infections and five hepatitis C infections (in a total of 11 people) occurred during the three-year study. This was very probably related to cocaine injected outside the program.
There were no overdoses in the Swiss study.
Compare that to the HIV/AIDS rate, health costs and number of overdoses among injection drug users in Dallas, Houston and the rest of the United States.
The Swiss saved about $45 per patient per day by supplying addicts with heroin. Most of the savings came from reduced law enforcement and health care costs.
The Swiss are so pleased with the reductions in addict crime and health care needs that they made heroin maintenance a national policy.
It is manifestly evil to continue a destructive policy after its failure has been repeatedly revealed.*************************
PROHIBITIONISTS AND THE TRUTH
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Harry J Anslinger was US Commissioner of Narcotics for 30 years and spread outrageous lies about drugs to get prohibition laws enacted. Reefer Madness, the claim that marijuana caused insanity, was Anslinger's greatest propaganda success and his greatest lie.
Anslinger lies about marijuana:
"How many murders, suicides, robberies, criminal assaults, holdups, burglaries, and deeds of maniacal insanity it (marijuana) causes each year, especially among the young, can only be conjectured."
The numbers could only be conjectured because they never happened! Not one of the "gore" stories Anslinger told Congressmen and the public has ever been verified.*************************
"If the hideous monster Frankenstein came face to face with the monster marijuana he would drop dead of fright."
"But here we have drug that is not like opium. Opium has all of the good of Dr. Jekyll and all the evil of Mr. Hyde. This drug is entirely the monster Hyde, the harmful effect of which cannot be measured."
"Some people will fly into a delirious rage, and they are temporarily irresponsible and may commit violent crimes. Other people will laugh uncontrollably. It is impossible to say what the effect will be on any individual."*************************
SENATOR DAVIS: How many cigarettes would you have to smoke before you got this vicious mental attitude toward your neighbor?
MR. ANSLINGER: I believe in some cases one [marijuana] cigarette might develop a homicidal mania, probably to kill his brother. It depends on the physical characteristics of the individual. Every individual reacts differently to the drug. It stimulates some and others it depresses. It is impossible to say just what the action of the drug will be on a given individual, of the amount. Probably some people could smoke five before it would take that effect, but all the experts agree that the continued use leads to insanity. There are many cases of insanity. (1937 Sworn Congressional testimony)*************************
MR. DINGELL: I am just wondering whether the marihuana addict graduates into a heroin, an opium, or a cocaine user.
MR. ANSLINGER: No, sir; I have not heard of a case of that kind. I think it is an entirely different class. The marihuana addict does not go in that direction. (1937 Sworn Congressional testimony)
When Anslinger's Reefer Madness claims were discredited, he changed his tune and invented the "steppingstone theory" claiming that marihuana did indeed lead to HEROIN addiction.
Mr. Boggs: From just what little I saw in that demonstration, I have forgotten the figure Dr. Isbell gave, but my recollection is that only a small percentage of those marijuana cases was anything more than a temporary degree of exhilaration ....
Mr. Anslinger: The danger is this: Over 50 percent of those young addicts started on marijuana smoking. They started there and graduated to heroin; they took the needle when the thrill of marijuana was gone.
Sworn Congressional testimony for Boggs Act 1951.*************************
Over 50,000,000 US citizens have tried marijuana, so if there was a shred of truth to the "gateway theory" we'd have 30 or 40 million heroin addicts instead of the 1.5 million we actually have.
Obviously the US Treasury Department, which Anslinger represented didn't care about correlation and causality because as the scientific evidence proves that very few marijuana users go on to any other drug. Barry McCaffrey and the other drug crusaders claim "Marijuana is also a gateway drug," but "For every 104 people who have used marijuana, there is only one regular user of cocaine and less than one heroin addict." Department of HHS, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 1997.
Drug warriors deliberately mislead by noting the number of addicts who tried marijuana and ignoring the fact that very few marijuana users ever try heroin, let alone became addicts.
Anslinger didn't mind using perjury and dissembling whenever it suited his purpose and drug czar Barry McCaffrey repeats the same Reefer Madness lies about marijuana and heroin to this very day.*************************
God himself would become a liar, if he approved Harry Anslinger's Reefer Madness propaganda.
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PROVERBS 19: 9 The false witness will not be free from punishment, and he that launches forth mere lies will perish.
EZEKIEL 13:8-9 "Therefore, this is what the Lord Jehovah has said: "For the reason that you men have spoken untruth and you have envisioned a lie, therefore here I am against you" is the utterance of the Lord Jehovah. And my hand has come to be against the prophets that are visioning untruth and that are divining a lie. In the intimate group of my people they will not continue on, and in the register of the house of Israel they will not be written, and to the soil of Israel they will not come; and you people will have to know that I am the Lord Jehovah."
JOHN 8:44 "You are from your father the Devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because the truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of the lie."*************************
A lengthy sermon could be aimed at lying. But a few easy points should make the Biblical view clear. The FIRST sin mentioned in the Bible was the lie told by the Devil to Eve in Eden (Genesis 3:1-15, John 8:44). Jesus was betrayed by a liar and convicted by lying witnesses in the same kind of trial that drug defendants usually get, namely justice never enters into it. The person who most resembles a narc in the Bible is Judas Iscariot, the liar, thief and traitor.
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What would Jesus do?
Prohibition's biggest failure from a Christian view is that it tramples the "law of love" into the ground.
How would Jesus treat a junkie on the road to Jerusalem? Would he beat the man senseless and throw him in prison for 5-10-20 years or even life-without-parole for using drugs?
Violating the law of love is the absolute kiss of death for drug prohibition from a Biblical view. Destroying drug users under the pretense of "helping them" is the Devil's way.*************************
Mark 12:30
and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' 31
The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There
is no other commandment greater than these." Jesus*************************
The contradictions mentioned here plus a dozen other clashes with Biblical principle are sufficient for drug prohibition to earn the Almighty's eternal damnation.
Bible standards are based on truth, light and love while drug prohibition rests on lies, hate, persecution and deep spiritual darkness so there can never be a union between the two. Drug prohibition is a low down Satanic scheme.
I welcome discussion and debate.
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