DRUG OBSESSION (Idolatry) Is of the Flesh

Like any other earthly obsession, drug obsession becomes a form of idolatry wherein the person essentially worships drugs, illegal or legal. I personally experienced this curious practice growing up as a lost boy in the drug culture of the late ’70s.

Before we get into that, let’s start by looking at the New Testament’s list of works of the flesh:

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft (pharmakeia); hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21

While this isn’t an exhaustive list, it’s an effective all-around description of what the flesh — the sinful nature — produces (see Proverbs 6:16-19 for another list).

You’ll note in verse 20 that idolatry is a work of the flesh, which refers to the adoration or glorification of something above God. Then witchcraft is listed. The original Greek word for ‘witchcraft’ is pharmakeia (far-mak-EYE-ah), which literally means “the use of medicine, drugs or spells.” Pharmakeia is where we get the English words pharmacy and pharmaceuticals. It refers to an obsession with drugs. Since witches or sorcerers in the 1^st Century used drugs in their black magic, most English translations usually render pharmakeia as “witchcraft” or “sorcery,” but it could also be translated as “drug use,” which is how it’s rendered in GOD’S WORD® Translation. Since the moderate use of a drug for legitimate reasons isn’t a work of the flesh, a better translation would be “drug obsession,” which refers to the idolatry of drugs, whether illegal or legal. This relates to a preoccupation with buying/using drugs as well as trafficking.

“Drug obsession” is the more applicable translation of pharmakeia since it’s unlikely that people reading this know a single witch or sorcerer who uses drugs in their incantations. I’m not saying they don’t exist, but they’re extremely rare in developed nations.

My Experience With the “Drug Culture” and the Curious Drug Worship Thereof

The household I grew up in was relatively dysfunctional because my mother had a severe mental illness, but she was a loving Christian with a pure heart. Yet she didn’t teach us much of anything about Christianity or make us go to assembly (although I went with her on rare occasions); she wasn’t a Bible reader and just lived the life of a simple, loving Christian woman, but our household wasn’t a Christian home by any stretch. My father was an angry agnostic and atrocious verbal abuser, although he was a great provider and made sure the kids had plenty of clothes and toys, including go-carts, mini-bikes and motorcycles. While I had no relationship with him and he constantly cursed me, I’m thankful he regularly took the family on outings (hiking, swimming, skiing, camping, movies, etc.) and annual long-distance vacations. Despite his scary fits of rage, my mother brought warmth to the home and the siblings got along and were generally close.

In 1976 I was 12 years-old and took pride in my health and athleticism (I won trophies for running and long jump). By the time I was 4-5 months shy of 13 all my friends were regular smokers. I refused to start because I didn’t want to harm my body for no ostensible reason beyond looking ‘cool.’

Then my sister’s boyfriend, who was 17, encouraged me to try marijuana. I declined because I didn’t want to pollute my lungs and mar my health & athleticism. But he insisted that pot didn’t harm the body like smoking cigarettes. So I gave in. This was the gateway into drugs & drink for me and I lived the “party” lifestyle for the next several years.

The main goal of the gang of youths I regularly hanged out with was to “party” and “get f***ed up.” This was our purpose for living, generally speaking, and it was my introduction to life on this Earth as a 13-15 year-old teenager. Naturally, I just assumed that this was the way life was — you lived to get high or drunk or both. It was the purpose of life (!).

Friends would wear shirts or belt buckles with the marijuana leaf. We would use the iconic leaf in our crude art and graffiti. Our message was obvious: “We belong to the drug culture.” I didn’t know it then, but I know it now: We figuratively worshipped drugs and the misuse of foreign substances in general, which would include alcohol (for those not in the know, alcohol is ethanol, a psychoactive drug). Drugs were our ‘god.’

This is pharmakeia — drug worship.

Of course not everyone involved in the drug culture back then (or now) was guilty of drug obsession. Some people just drank and/or smoked pot, etc. at parties/gatherings and that was pretty much the extent of their involvement. But all of my immediate friends lived for “partying.” We did it before school, in school and after school; and then all summer.

So how did I escape the drug culture and obsession thereof? My involvement lasted close to 4 years from the time I was almost 13 to almost 17. While I didn’t turn to God and become a Christian until I was 20 years-old in 1984, the LORD allowed several misfortunes in my life over the course of those four years in order to progressively humble me and wake me up.

For instance, when I was 13 I got hit by a car while walking to school by a showoff motorhead, an older student; I landed on my head and nearly died from a head concussion. When I was 15 I fell off a 36’ cliff and ended up in a body cast for several months (yes, I said body cast); I spent my 16th birthday bedridden in that cast (shown above) and, once it was removed, I was on crutches for a few months (also shown). At one point I was suspended for smoking pot in gym class while, on another, I got expelled for possession of narcotics when a teacher happened to catch me with pills in my hand that another student was letting me check out. Since our group had a no-narc policy, I refused to say where I got the drugs from and so took the fall. I personally never trafficked drugs, although a couple of my friends did (whom I was no longer close to when they started doing it).

These mishaps allowed me to break away from the influence of my gang and provided periods of time to be sober. I was able to think clearly for the first time as a semi-adult and found myself enjoying it. I did a lot of reflection and read books. I questioned everything. Slowly, I started to see the error in the thinking of my drug-obsessed subculture. For instance, we would call anyone who wasn’t involved in drugs a “redneck.” It dawned on me that, if this were actually true, then great people like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln must’ve also been “rednecks” (rolling my eyes). In short, I started to see the absurdity of it all.

When I would reenter the gang after these breaks I engaged in drug activity less and less. For instance, if someone passed me a joint I would say “No thanks” and would get flak for doing so, which surprised me. I thought the counterculture was all about personal liberty? Apparently not, I discovered. It was more about being a socially manipulated sheep and developing negative habits/addictions. Why were we so obsessed with getting high/drunk anyway? What’s so bad about living in reality? By the time I was almost 17 years-old drugs were no longer an obsessive daily activity for me, although I would occasionally go to parties on weekends and, then, only drink, with just a couple exceptions.

In short, I was no longer a drug worshipper. I was no longer in bondage to pharmakeia. I was now on the road to finding the truth and powerfully found the Lord a few years later (John 14:6).

Legal Drugs

It’s important to point out that obsession with legal drugs — medications — is just as much pharmakeia. Just because a doctor prescribes the drug doesn’t make it necessary or right. I’m not talking about the moderate usage of a drug for legitimate reasons, like treating diabetes. I’m talking about taking myriad drugs (“meds”) on a regular basis and blowing the time & moolah to do so. The doctor keeps prescribing more and more “medication” because physicians are often linked to Big Pharma and the medical field is a business, which needs customers to exist and thrive. They’ll even prescribe drugs for kids just for being kids, like Ritalin, aka methylphenidate. Sometimes there’s a side effect to the previous drug the doctor prescribed and so the next one supposedly counteracts it. On and on it goes. They’re pill happy. It’s pharmakeia, obsession with drugs, aka drug idolatry.

Twenty years before the “drug culture” began to emerge, healing evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson was in the habit of taking sedatives, including the barbiturate Seconal, to help with winding down when she prematurely died at the age of 53 in 1944. Just think, without this “medication,” we could’ve had this mighty woman of God for another 25 years or more!

The potent film Requiem for a Dream effectively illustrates the negative consequences of drug addiction, whether illegal or legal. But, be forewarned, it’s rated R and not a fun experience whatsoever, although it’s certainly artistic.

**What About the Occasional Recreational Use of a Drug (Which Includes Alcohol)?**

Despite what lifeless legalists might say, the Bible plainly says: “There’s a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). So some measure of recreation is healthy (it’s when we do things to excess that it can become an “idol” in our lives). For instance, in the New Testament we see Christ at a wedding celebration turning water into fine wine (John 2:1-11), not to mention the father of the prodigal son — a type of Father God — excitedly throwing a party for his repentant son (Luke 15:11-32) (you can read some great insights on this powerful story here). Meanwhile the LORD permitted the Israelites to partake of “wine and strong drink” at certain festivals (Deuteronomy 14:26), but this obviously wasn’t an excuse to be an out-of-control drunkard in light of other clear passages (Proverbs 20:1, Proverbs 23:20, Ephesians 5:18, Romans 13:13, 1 Corinthians 5:11 & 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Remember the hermeneutical rule: Scripture interprets Scripture.

Whether it’s okay or not for a believer to use a drug — including alcohol — for recreational purposes on a particular occasion depends on several things:

Is the drug legal in the location? The Bible exhorts believers to obey the laws of the land; not complying with these laws tends to ruin your witness for Christ.
Can the believer engage in this activity while remaining in a state of self-control, which is a fruit of the Spirit? See Galatians 5:22-23 and 1 Peter 4:7. In other words, out-of-control excess must be avoided.
If a believer’s recreational usage of the drug in question — including alcohol — is likely to cause another believer to fall, then they shouldn’t do it. Paul said “It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves” (Romans 14:21-22). The basis for this instruction is love for others — selfless concern for the welfare of other people — which corresponds to the second greatest command (Matthew 22:39). This is the New Covenant law of Christ, which is the law of love. Living according to this simple law fulfills all the moral laws of the Old Testament.
Where is the believer at on his/her spiritual journey? What is his/her calling in the kingdom of God? What has the Holy Spirit specifically instructed him/her on this matter? Only the individual believer can answer these questions. Christ said: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48).
Expounding on that previous point, one minister friend told me he occasionally drinks a glass of wine on his front porch while communing with the LORD, praying about this or that. Another minister said he was on a ski vacation in Colorado and sat in the Jacuzzi alone while drinking a glass of wine; he proceeded to have a prayer session where he interceded & conducted spiritual warfare, but the Spirit later rebuked him for conducting serious prayer while drinking wine (alcohol). In neither case were they getting drunk, but rather praying while enjoying “the fruit of the vine” (Psalm 104:14-15 & Mark 14:25). The first minister had zero qualms about doing this while the latter said God told him to cease doing it. Who’s right and who’s wrong? They’re both right because they were both convinced about the Lord’s leading in their lives on this matter at that particular time. Paul put it like this: “One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind” (Romans 14:5). I carefully worded the statement “the Lord’s leading in their lives on this matter at that particular time” because — who knows? — the Spirit might one day instruct the minister differently.

I debated on whether or not to include this final section because this kind of honest material will naturally draw flak from legalists or immature believers who tend to see everything as black and white. But Fountain of Life is not for stiff-necked legalists or immature believers intent on staying ignorant; nor is it for Christians who blindly submit to authoritarian pastors who tell them what to do and not do, what to believe and not believe. This teaching ministry is for people who want to grow in their relationship with the Lord and increase their understanding of the Holy Scriptures, even when it comes to “controversial” topics. I say this with zero arrogance, but rather as a humble servant of the LORD.

Insights on Moderation

Can Christians Drink Alcoholic Beverages?

The Issue of Eating Meat Sacrificed to Idols

How to keep BALANCED in every area of Life

Libertinism — What’s Wrong with It and How to Walk FREE

Legalism — Understanding its Many Forms

Berean Spirit — What is it? How Do You Cultivate It?

(Pseudo) Science is the “New God” and Dubious Scientists are the “New Gods”