The Opiate of the People

     Opiates are drugs manufactured from the poppy plant such as morphine and codeine. Morphine is from the German word morphin which originated from Morpheus who was the Greek God of dreams and the son of Hypnos. His story was told in the book Metamorphoses. Why the explanation?
     Karl Marx claimed that religion was the opiate of the people. The implication was that people needed a god to anesthetize them to the extent that they need not experience the hardships of life, thus living in  a dream world. Marx's implication was also that people created God, not that God created people!
     Marx was wrong about that! God can neither be proven nor disproven. However, God can be disenfranchised. One method of disenfranchising God is remaining oblivious to his Existence. One method of that, of course, is to have faith in the doctrines of Marx where socialism will take care of you, ignoring the fact that the afterlife is immune from Marx's notions. Marx's Utopia, if it were possible, would be un-utopian in that it would at best be temporal. Thus, Marx was a type of serpent whose voice Satan used for deception! However, this commentary is not about Marx. It is about insobriety.
     Two "opiates" are a real problem at the moment. They are not from the poppy plant but they are "opiates of the people" just as Marx accused religion. Christianity does allow one to face tomorrow because of faith:

Mat 6:33-34 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.

     Basically, Marx taught to ignore God. He and his comrades could be trusted to take care of tomorrow. Neither he nor socialism can do that? It is all a façade! Only God can take care of tomorrow. There is a divine Utopia coming, not for the masses as Marx addresses, but for the few:

1 Cor 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

     Therein is the "opiate". God will take care of you! There is one worse than Marx who desires that you disbelieve that; he is Satan and many in the world are his spokesmen.
     Adolph Hitler wanted to create a super-human soldier. He did that with the German invention of crystal meth. For a period of time, his Panzer Divisions were super-human without fear of anything. They almost made the world into a German version of Utopia. In a short time, the ugly face of meth began to take its toll. German soldiers became zombie-like and their mental and physical health deteriorated exponentially. Crystal meth helped the Third Reich to lose the war and is said to have contributed to Hitler's own demise, yet deceived Americans take it in large doses. When will people ever learn that contentment is in the hands of God? Meth users are fools but they are not sober enough to know how foolish they are.
     Years ago, the Western world was fed propaganda - that tobacco products were not unhealthy but even good for the smoker (sic)! A few are shown below (https://www.google.com/search?q=vintage+cigarette+ads&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=qfzq-M3I-0Z0iM%253A%252CRNdDj3CLJJtSSM%252C_&usg=__SV8Bddyl2BRLNMoGcrxZDTXuHvc%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjU-dbyxrfbAhWN0YMKHTHdDyMQ9QEIKzAA#imgrc=_)

     Those are funny now but they were convincing then! I was deluded into believing that smoking was not harmful! Who do you suppose wanted us to believe cigarettes were healthy? Did you guess? The tobacco industry! The Devil wants you dead, and he spoke through ads like those. He spoke with partial truth. Cigarettes are enjoyable! They relax and many even have "good taste" just as advertised; just like the fruit on the forbidden tree. Many surely died and still do from this lobbying effort. Those ads were no more than propaganda to get naïve people to spend money. The government said little for a long time because tobacco was good for the wealth of the nation, or so it seemed, and for taxation. America's legacy is tobacco. Part of the foundation of America was based on human weakness - the desire to smoke!

     Satan knows how to deceive. Few will accept a repertoire of negative effects/affects. If the propagandists said, "cigarettes will kill you" or even "make you die early," fewer would have smoked them! Satan knows we're not stupid but he is well aware that we are unwise! His M.O. is to make bad things sound good by focusing on the benefits - usually pleasure. Look at all the pleasure cigarettes would provide, according to the tobacco industry: health, contentment, glamorousness, improved athletic performance, and even to cure asthma! How foolish we were and still are! As Yogi Berra often said, "deja vu all over again". 

     How so? The marijuana lobby is advertising the same garbage! In their propaganda, marijuana is healthy and kind to it's smokers, sniffers, and those who eat and ingest it. There may be some medical benefits, among them apathy, which helps those with chronic pain. However, there are other ways of obtaining relief beyond consuming marijuana! The reputation of marijuana has been cleaned-up so as to sell better. It is advertised as non-addictive. Anyone who has seen marijuana users try to quit understand well that it's as hard to quit marijuana as it is cigarettes! 

     The very "good" of marijuana is also its "bad". The ability to alleviate pain is what makes the user apathetic. Indeed, the word "burn-out" clearly identifies the person who uses marijuana regularly. They are apathetic to the things of life even to the point of lack of motivation! I have seen some with stunted emotional growth who are fifty but handle life as if they're twelve! 

     Marijuana has as much as eighteen more times more tar than cigarettes. Many have heard the deep and mucous-sounding marijuana cough (so much for helping asthmatics). That's tar filling the lungs! Additionally, marijuana has a cornucopia of substances not yet studied. Seriously, this drug could be the new miracle asbestos (sic) which protected us from heat so  much; another killer people accept so readily!

     Of course, I am not a doctor but I have worked with those who are heavy users. They are pitiful! What could be more pitiful than a beautiful woman clinging to a roach with stained fingers or otherwise sane people smoking bongs? What is more pitiful than infusing the delicate pink lungs with smoke from burning weeds? What is more pitiful than depending on THC to survive life? The silliest is ignoring the precepts of God for a few chemical highs! 

     One person who rationalized his use told me that the Bible says nothing about smoking marijuana. Let's take a look and see:

1 Pet 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour...

     How many users would describe themselves as "sober"? How many would brag on their "vigilance" Indeed, the purpose of marijuana is insobriety and apathy. People smoke dope to relieve inhibitions. People will do what they otherwise would not under the haze of marijuana. It protects their conscience from conviction. They can not only do no wrong but they perceive themselves as more alert although they live in a dense fog! Employers don't hire marijuana users for a reason: they are less alert, less safe, and more apt for truancy and health problems. As a former employer, I would never hire anyone I even perceived to be a pot-smoker! As a worker, I didn't want to be around them because of the danger. As a driver, they can kill me on the highway, and as a Christian, their dependence on something other than God is offensive!
     People may rationalize its use by a comparison to alcohol. I could write much on the negative effects of drinking engine fuel but will save that for another day. Alcohol is the lesser of two evils, and Satan cares little which evil to which people have an addiction. Some say that the prohibition of alcohol failed to work. I ask, Is the proliferation of alcohol working?  It is not. What we don't need is another way to be legally addicted!
     The Christian should ask, "In what do I trust?" Is it God that is trusted or is it Soma? Marijuana is an "opiate of the people" because it allows the Devil to devour those who are not sober enough to fight him off! Marijuana is indeed the "devil's weed" because it allows the user to enter Satan's territory and not even realize where the user treads! WWJD? Jesus would not smoke dope as he never even drank wine! We're to be Christlike. Don't be a dope!