Escaping Reality

The first time I was in Russia, forty years ago, when it was class book communism, I was accompanied by a reporter-executive from radio station WOR, New York City. Moving around the large cities, Moscow, Leningrad (the name of this city has changed several times) we were amazed at the alcoholism... people of all ages drunk on the streets. I remember saying to him, “If I had to live in this offal place I would escape by staying drunk.” Mankind cannot stand much reality. It is the human psyche, neurological condition, to escape. Many of you will remember Jack Nicholson in the movie A Few Good Men. He said, “You cannot handle the truth.” I have found in my life that Satan's greatest weapon is his ability to assist us in compromising truth. “Broad is the way.” (Matthew 7:13), Hell will be full of people who would not face the truth. The truth is the truth whether anyone believes it or not. We do what we do because we believe what we believe, and most believe the absolutes of God's Word, living a clean life, internally (what you put into your body) and externally, does not apply to them. Most people, like my disability of blindness, believe they will never be disabled, that nothing bad will ever happen to them.

The Magna Carta of the Christian is found in Ephesians 4. Here we find the dangers of opening doors to problems.

The parent opens the door to a child's addictive lifestyle by not early establishing discipline, routine, habits, the honor of one's name, ancestry. Some think it is escaping reality to establish family honor in a child's life... esteem in one's name... esteem in appearance. The early establishment of chores, careful food intake, careful consideration toward others, even animals. One does not become a good citizen by accident, haphazard living. God does not care whether a father loves a mother or not, He prefers a child born of love. He does expect their flesh becoming one flesh to result in a civilized, productive citizen.

The door is opened to obesity (One-fifth of all children are obese) when parents start with a diet of sugared cereals, soft drinks, etc.

The door is opened to drug addiction with Ritalin or other Barbiturates. There are side effects for every drug... even an aspirin. ADD, ADHD were unknown just a few years ago but they have become a funnel for money to schools and parents. I can assure you that children on drugs in elementary school will be addicted to drugs of some sort the remainder of their lives. Worse yet, always on their record, when seeking employment, insurance.

The door is opened to alcoholism, a method of drug escape, drinking beer, wine coolers, etc. Four or five percent alcohol in beer leads quickly to fifty or sixty percent alcohol in bourbon. A small jolt with marijuana leads to a much larger jolt with cocaine. Among the heaviest alcoholics, women meet or surpass men. Both men and women are involved in alcohol rehabilitation. Alcoholism is a disease - abusive, dependency, twice as many men as women, simply because it does not affect women's employment or driving as much as men. Next to money, chief cause of divorce, four times higher with alcoholics. One of the saddest persons I have ever known, a surgeon whose wife was an uncontrolled alcoholic, because of his children, he would not divorce her.

Equally sad, an aunt and uncle whose female child born after they were 40 years of age, the daughter became a drug addict, destroyed them psychologically and financially.

The door is opened to addictive gambling with the almost innocent purchase of lottery tickets, betting on ball games. The wife of one of my college friends, a man exceptional in professional ability and personality, called me recently after he had been found dead in a Las Vegas hotel. She said, “He had a marvelous practice, two marvelous children, both doctors, but gambling had conquered him.“

The door is opened to idol worship when we put other things before God, such idols as technical toys (ipods, iphones, etc.). Many know more about ball scores, millionaire ball players, millionaire golfers, millionaire race car drivers, than they know about the poverty of real human beings around them.

The door is opened to greed and envy with constant attention to the stock market. Bankers are not your friends, stock brokers make money from you whether the market is going up or down. Sure, the price of gold, silver, palladium is important on the world stage. Don't neglect the performing stage of your family, friends, neighbors. One of this writer's greatest regrets, not keeping friendships in repair. Mark Twain said,”Friendships must be kept in repair.” The memories of High School, college friends, become important in old age.

The door is opened for your health problems when you neglect what you put in your body. Your body is a temple not a dumpster. Ill health comes from two main reasons, lack of nutrition for your cells and the toxicity of your cells from chemicals, mostly from plastic.

Many have asked me, why so much cancer? Everybody has cancer cells, everyone has cancer. It is a matter of your immune system whether tissue destruction starts. Cancer cells can disguise and trick. Much adulterated food, now eaten by humans in fast food places, was once put into pet food. Nothing is more destructive than GMOs and MSGs. Diabetes, an unknown disease while I was in school, is now an epidemic.

Satan has a plan for your life. 1) To keep you from becoming a Christian 2) To keep you from helping others to become Christian. 3) To keep you from caring about anything, even the health of your own body, the future of your country.

In trapping animals, pests, you look for tracks so you know where to put the trap, the poison. Satan is the tempter, knows how to trap us. Deal with your sin quickly, know the inescapable reality of Heaven and Hell.