Heroin Hell - Saving Your Kids from the Opiate Epidemic By: Eric Metaxas|Published: December 1, 2016 Topics: Drugs & Alcohol, Trends If you’re a parent, what I’m about to share on BreakPoint today just might scare the heck out of you. But you need to hear it. Elizabeth Blunt was a talented musician and athlete who attended a Christian high school and college. Gifted in foreign languages, Beth was preparing to work in international relations, perhaps in China. But she never made it. Beth died in May of an overdose of heroin laced with fentanyl—a cheap, synthetic opiate. She was not quite 23. “She never came home drunk, didn’t show signs of drug abuse,” Beth’s mother, Lisa, said. “She used to be the sweetest girl. I don’t know what happened.” The statistics are frightening. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every day in the United States, an average of 78 people like Beth die of an opiate overdose, including 29 from heroin. Every year, the CDC reports, opiate overdoses kill more than 28,000 people, and heroin kills more than 10,500. That’s more than all those killed on U.S. highways. And the problem is escalating. About 435,000 Americans in 2014 used heroin, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. That’s nearly three times the number just in 2007. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says drug and alcohol addiction is “a moral test for America,” with more than 20 million people embroiled in substance abuse problems. Only 10 percent of them are receiving treatment. “We can never forget that the faces of substance use disorders are real people,” Murthy said while releasing a report on the problem. “Are we able to live up to that most fundamental obligation we have as human beings: to care for one another?” What’s behind this hellish epidemic? One factor—heroin is a very affordable high. “Heroin is … cheap and available just about everywhere,” reporter Dan Ponce of WGN-TV in Chicago says. “A $10 bag can keep someone high for a day or two. …. Drug dealers will deliver heroin right to your front door.” Another is the neurological effect such drugs have on the brain. The surgeon general’s report notes that repeated use changes the brain, so that it demands more to function. It’s a vicious cycle that can trap our children in addiction. And it comes straight from hell. As Screwtape said to his junior-devil colleague, Wormwood, “An ever-increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula.” That describes drug abuse to a T. So now that we’re properly scared, what can we do to protect our kids from the hellish world of illegal drugs? First, pray for and with them. Second, talk with them—frankly—not only about the risks of substances like heroin, but about the joy and purpose available in Christ, which no drug can ever match. Third, really listen to them. And fourth, if necessary, get them into treatment. Come to our website for some great resources and encouragement in the fight against this scourge. Please know that there is hope for those who have become snared by drugs. Even in addiction, where sin increases, grace can abound even more. Help is available for those who choose it. For example, the Indiana Dream Center provides recovering addicts with effective, God-centered treatment. Its facility for women, Marilyn’s House, helps residents gain life and job skills, spiritual development, and mentoring. “To be held accountable, they don’t go anywhere alone,” says Jessica Brooks, a former heroin addict who now directs the ministry. “We’re pretty radical. We really live how the Bible says. Jesus sent them out in twos, so we go out in twos.” Heroin may be a taste of hell, but as this ministry and others show, there is hope--real hope—in Jesus Christ. Again, come to BreakPoint.org for resources. Further Reading and Information Heroin Hell: Saving Your Kids from the Opiate EpidemicCheck out the resources linked below for further information about the heroin epidemic and organizations involved in the fight against it. ResourcesSurgeon General Says Addiction Crisis a ‘Moral Test for America’ Justin Worland | Time.com | November 17, 2016 Heroin's Hold On Us Brittney McNamara and Alex Knisely | GateHouse Media On the Death of Philip Seymour Hoffman Stan Guthrie | BreakPoint.org | February 6, 2014 Former heroin addict now helping others beat back problem Rebecca Sandlin | Huntington County TAB | October 24, 2016 Quit Heroin - The Comprehensive Guide to Heroin Recovery Bill Dinker | Discovery Place Wheaton parents who lost son to heroin tell families to have hope Jessica Cilella | DailyHerald.com | May 25, 2014 Available at the online bookstoreSeven Things Christians Should Know about Addiction Steve Horne | Heritage Builders | May 2016 Freedom from Addiction: Breaking the Bondage of Addiction and Finding Freedom in Christ Anderson, Neil T., Quarles, Julia, Quarles, Mike | Bethany House Publishers | June 1996 The Heart of Addiction: A Biblical Perspective Mark Shaw | Focus Publishing | September 2008
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A new movie by Mel Gibson powerfully deals with the theme of freedom of conscience. At a time when the biggest threat to Western freedoms (conscience, speech, religion), from the rise of the totalitarian radical activist movement, seems unstoppably bound to subjugate all opposition, this is a timely movie for our times. From BreakPoint.org: "Times in which florists and bakers are being hauled before civil rights commissions, being fined, losing their businesses; times in which pharmacists in Washington State can lose their licenses for refusing to dispense abortion pills; times in which churches in Massachusetts can run afoul of “public accommodation” laws requiring gender neutral bathrooms—we do indeed have a model in Desmond Doss." "Before I go any further: “Hacksaw Ridge” is rated R for horrifically brutal battle scenes. It is not suitable for children. But it is an outstanding movie: the characters, the dialogue, the drama, and the cinematography are phenomenal. If you can stomach the scenes of death and destruction, you should go see it. And here’s the major reason why. I’ve never seen a film that so powerfully underscores the importance of freedom of conscience." Eric Metaxsas Read on-->> "Hacksaw Ridge" official trailer YouTube Values Under Attack: ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ and Religious Liberty Steven D. Greydanus | NCRegister.com | November 11, 2016 Available at the online bookstoreDesmond Doss: Conscientious Objector: The Story of an Unlikely Hero Frances M. Doss | Pacific Press Publishing Association | September 2015 How good would it have been to be a fly on the wall of this meeting? Just picture 40 odd of the most powerful, (and self-righteous, arrogant, dishonest) media executives on the planet being told off by Trump.
These people so regularly write things about their fellow human beings which are untrue, deceitful, hurtful, destructive and dishonest that their dulled-into-extinction consciences probably no longer recognize what truth and decency is. They daily destroy life after life, reputation after reputation, career after career, family after family. They arrogantly impose the fruit of their rotten worldview and character on society and work, not as reporters, but as cheerleaders of left-wing, Marxist social engineering programs and agendas. “Trump started with [CNN chief] Jeff Zucker and said ‘I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed,’ ” “Trump kept saying, ‘We’re in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media.’ He addressed everyone in the room calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars." The people have in Trump someone who is willing and bold enough to call things as they are. Being very unused to being told the truth these media big shots must have been in utter shock. Thank you Mr. Trump. Read about it here: NY Post 21st Nov 2016 "When people's concerns are dismissed as just the sorts of worries of a bunch of deplorables you can understand why they get very, very unhappy." Tony Abbott on the Trump victory. 11-11-16. (We should add the other names to deplorables such as bigot, hater, homophobe, islamophobe, rabid, dinosaur etc.)
The Australian We do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with have the power to demolish strongholds ✦ For our war is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil ✦ It is God who arms me with strength. He is the God who avenges me…who saves me from my enemies ✦ Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified or discouraged, for the Lord Your God will be with you wherever you go ✦ Do not be afraid of them for the Lord Your God himself will fight for you ✦ Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. ✦ The Lord is my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my shield, my stronghold ✦ No weapon forged against you will prosper and you will refute every tongue that accuses you — this is the heritage of the Lord’s servants ✦ For the battle is the Lord’s ✦ Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground ✦ And in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.
Courtesy "Let it not be said I was silent when they needed me." William Wilberforce. (We can easily say this of the children today as Wilberforce said it of the slaves in his day).
What if the Green Movement is not saving the planet but enslaving humanity?
Connect: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bluebeatsgreen Twittter: @BlueBeatsGreen #Blueisbest#BlueWorld Instagram: http://instagram.com/bluebeatsgreen Official Website: http://www.bluebeatsgreen.com/movie Featuring: Leighton Steward, Cal Beisner, Robert Zubrin, Lord Monckton, Steven F. Hayward, Mark Baird, Mike McKenna, Joe Voetberg, Michael Shaw, Vishal Mangalwadi, and many more. Synopsis: For decades the Green Movement has claimed that Earth is threatened by the activity and even the existence of mankind. Green policies dictate that the noble response is relinquishing our liberties to “save” the planet from peril. Award-winning filmmaker JD King sets off on a cinematic journey to challenge these Green philosophies, and overturn the tables on issues like carbon emissions, climate change, over-population, natural resources, and unmasks the UN’s Agenda 21 plan. BLUE casts a bold new vision: that through greater freedom we can realize a fuller potential for our fellow man and this beautiful blue planet we call home. Coutesy: The Caleb Report Not many inhabitants of planet Earth have not seen the famous photo, taken on 8 June 1972, of Kim Phuc fleeing the Napalm attacks in Vietnam. Few pictures show the horrors of war as brutally as the iconic photo by the Vietnamese photographer Nick Út. Kim's story does not stop there however. Years later, having fled Vietnam for the USA, Kim accepted Jesus as her Saviour and committed her life to Him. Kim recounts, "It was the fire of the bomb that burned my body, and it was the skill of the doctor that mended my skin, but it took the power of God to heal my heart." "How Now Shall we Live", Charles Colson, pg 483. |
Craig MannersWhile much of what is written in this Blog may currently appear to be counter-cultural, given our post-truth culture, it is in no way counter-human beings. I am always for people no matter what they think, do, or may have done in their past. Where I put forward ideas or debate against certain ideology, behaviour, ideas, movements, politics, I remain very much on the side of the human beings even though I may be opposed to their worldview, behaviour and politics. Such opposition is generally out of concern for the ultimate consequences of such behaviour or ideas, especially for children. |