I don't consider myself a Christian but I agree with this. The void is made bigger by our using chemical relief rather than prayer or meditation and right living. We create an illusion of being disconnected from The Light and use more substances to reconnect while only getting farther away. Or perhaps it is not an illusion at all but the truth that our using drugs or alcohol or both does separate us from God. Then when we discontinue substance abuse we once again can feel a connection to God and each other. The void is like a vacuum, cold and airless and without love.

I don't think it is an illusion that drugs/drinking separate us from God/higher power/The Light. I know when I was actively drinking, I was far far from any light anywhere.

I believe that the person abusing the substances is trying to connect to something--to fill a void--but they only create a wider chasm. They separate themselves from other people as well as God. It's not just drugs that do this. Any excess can be harmful. There is a Bible verse that says that all things are permissible but not all things are beneficial. That's why the drugs are not the problem--it's the misuse of the drugs that is the problem.

EnglishGarden,

Do you know where I could buy The War of the Gods in Addiction? A friend suggested it to me more than a year ago, and at that time, it was unavailable on Amazon.com. I just checked, and it's still unavailable (except Kindle edition).

NoGround, I just ordered a used copy on amazon. Here is the link for more used copies:

Amazon.com: Used and New: War of the Gods in Addiction

Thank you, peaceandgrace! And good idea to buy used books anyway as environmental stewardship. I hadn't thought of it, but will make that my first choice from now on.

And thank you for starting this thread.

I see evil as a manifestation of the lizard brain. It's always there, buried underneath layers and layers of evolution. I'll add 'emotions' to the inhibitions that hide it. I think evil is a lack of conscience, whether temporary or permanent.

Dear Peaceandgrace: I've had this in the back of my mind for a few weeks now - and it relates directly to your post above. I've been kind of afraid to speak of it as it is borderline "whackadoodle". But I'll just put it on the table. When my AS was in the ICU, the night after he was extubated, he was completely unable to sleep in spite of the heavy doses of ativan every hour (they were doing a withdrawal protocol). He was hallucinating constantly and whenever he would close his eyes as if to drift off, they would immediately pop back open as if he had seen something frightening. This continued on for 48 hours. I know because I was there. At one point he tried to speak to me, but his voice was so raspy and whispery (due to being on the vent previously) - that I had to move my ear very close to his lips to try to understand what he was saying - I still don't know what he said, but I'll never forget the "presence" and the malevolent deadness in his eyes. The wry smile on his face was straight out of the Exorcist movie. I'm not kidding. I thought he said something like "this is my demon face" or "want to see my demon?". I couldn't really hear his voice. Anyway, I grabbed his face in my hands and commanded the presence to "depart from my son in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ".

Nothing dramatic happened. Everything remained the same although the "presence" never showed itself again. I remembered the story about the disciples that couldn't cast out a certain demon and inquired of Jesus as to why, and He said that "this kind only comes out with fasting and prayer" or something like that. Since we were in a Catholic hospital (perchance - it happened to be the assigned trauma center - none of the family is Catholic), a priest came by the first night. He said, somewhat matter of factly, something about demons controlling Js behavior. To be honest, I wasn't really listening that hard, as I was so traumatized by the horrific events. I wish I had asked him to pray for J - specifically, but this was before the extubation and the event I described above.

I honestly don't know how I feel about all of this. Most of the Christians that I have known that believe in demons and regularly pray against them, have been like I mentioned above, a bit "whackadoodle" and so I have tended to reserve judgement on the whole matter. I believe there are definitely forces of good and evil in a constant conflict that we can't see, all around us, but my understanding of this is fuzzy at best and I don't delve into it much. I also worry that it will become a distraction for the true work of growing in faith love and obedience, which is the real goal, and which ultimately vanquishes evil in ones life.

Anyway, I am simply thinking out loud with my morning coffee and warm puppy curled up beside me. I had a long 13 hour shift at my work yesterday, and am off today, so am being a bit of a bum.

Thanks for reading (way too long, sorry). 70X7

I agree that DRUGS are evil and they make people do bad/evil things. But that doesn't make the person evil. Ironically, a drug addict explained it to me this way when I was trying to find my AH this last week - he helped me to find him. He explained that he started using when he was 14 and he is now 45. He lives on the streets in 'drug central'. The primary focus of his day is to "make rent" (pay for a motel room) and get drugs. He said he chose that life - although what he'd love to have is a home, a family, a job. But he doesn't see that as a possibility because he has 'chosen' a life of drugs. He doesn't seem like an evil person, but I have no doubt in those 30+ years he has likely done unspeakable things.

Anyway, he warned me that when I saw my AH that I needed to realize that I wouldn't be talking to him - I would be talking to the drugs. He said through all of his years on the street you learn the difference between the two - the people and the drugs. He said it only takes him a minute to see the difference when you live so close to it.

I have to agree with that - it's no real epiphany, but to hear it from someone on the other side kind of validated my own thoughts on it. I have seen the drugs and the 'evil' in my AH. But I know that isn't him. I, too, see the light in his eyes - tormented light at this point because when he is clean he is in a constant struggle to keep the 'evil' at bay. Isn't that why we all stay connected to these addicts? Because we love them so deeply and can still see that light?

I have seen that look in my,mom's eyes. She was psychotic--partly because she is bipolar & partly because of the drugs. She was looking at me and accusing me of steeling her car ( of course, I hadn't). When I looked in her eyes, I saw absolutely nothing. It was like she was gone, and was replaced with nothingness or void. That look scared me. It seemed like something from The Exorcist. She is not an evil person. She can be a very good person. It's like the drugs take our loved one's away, and they are replaced by something unrecognizable. They are stripped of their personality.

He probably did pray for your son. I can't imagine a priest or any member of a religious organization making a hospital visit and not praying. Kind of goes with the territory. What the priest could have done, though, had you asked is pray for you, too. We need prayer as much as anyone, especially during difficult times such as these.

Do you believe your son is a Christian? I know some people believe Christians can be possessed, but I don't. I believe they can be oppressed (influenced by demons)--but not possessed. Possession is reserved for those who do not have the Holy Spirit residing in them. If your son is a Christian, if you believe as I do, then you can at least have some comfort knowing as bad as it is, your son is not actually possessed.

Dear seventy! THIS. IS. WHAT. I. AM. TALKING. ABOUT. I don't believe my son is evil, nor did I say (as some have misread) that addicts are evil people. It's the evil spirit/demon presence that you speak of, seventy.
I do believe we don't know a fraction of the spiritual forces, both good and evil, that exist in the "unseen world."
I do know when my son yelled at what he called "the voice" inside him to go away, and then the voice would answer back in an exorcist type voice, I prayed hard for his soul silently. This calmed him, but the ER doctor said he had never seen anyone so psychotic.
I don't claim to have any answers to the evil question. And, I may never know. However, I believe good is stronger than evil in the cosmic battles going on outside of our conscious mind/current scientific knowledge.
It sure gets sticky doesn't it?
When someone has been in the presence of an evil entity/demon, noone can tell him/her that this doesn't exist.
Thanks for posting this. I'm still struggling with the question.

peaceandgrace

Dear kmangel: If the definition of "Christian" is having the Holy Spirit in dwelling, then there would have to be evidence of this, i.e.: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Since I don't see the fruit, I guess I would have to assume he is not. :-( But I will add that only God Almighty can see the heart. NO ONE ELSE. So I have to leave these matters to Him alone.

The priest did pray and offered me communion that night by my son's bedside. It was a beautiful experience of grace for me and I'll never forget his kindness (I am not a Catholic, so he was bending the rules a bit).

And who knows, maybe I was having PTSD. I know I haven't been emotionally "right" since the night this happened. I'm grateful for Al-Anon and SR and I know I'll heal eventually, but the wound is deep and I'm still really hurting right now. :-(

Erk! This is a bit of a scary subject, but I think I have experienced this too - or something I didn't at all understand.
My closest friend became an addict. We remained close for a while, but over the years, and also struggling with my ex's addiction problems, I distanced myself from her and she was angry about that.
My last conversation with her was kind of frightening. She was saying all kinds of things, hurtful things, and emotionally violent things, and as she was speaking I was getting frightened. I thought to myself, Oh my God, you're really sick - and she repeated those exact words. Then I was thinking, who are you? She repeated those exact words too. Then I thought, what is happening here? I don't understand. She repeated those exact words also. Like she was reading my mind. There was more...
It probably doesn't sound like it, but it was really frightening. I felt almost like she was inside me or something?? I know it sounds crazy.
I knew her from when we were children, six years old, I thought I knew her like the back of my own hand - now I don't feel like I know her at all and have remained scared of her since that phone call.
I haven't been quite the same since that phone call either because it feels like if I don't know her, who do I know? And what was going on in that conversation?
There are things in this life that nobody can ever explain. I still miss the person I once knew so well. I still hope she gets better. I don't think I'll ever understand what was going on back then. It scares me even talking about it! )-:

I spoke to my RAS that drug addiction is the closest thing to demon possession as described in the Bible. Fortunately he never demonstrated behavior as others have described. That would really creep me out. However, my son went on a trip to Italy with my husband and me and two of our couple friends. He was using drugs at the time, though early in his addiction so he wasn't as deeply entrenched as he was to become. My husband is a snorer so I always wear ear plugs. I don't hear anything at night but his muffled snoring. That may have been a blessing that particular time as my son swears the house was haunted. He said a door kept opening and closing in the night in the hallway. Didn't I hear it? I didn't. Our friends did but they believe it was natural, wind related. My son was in his mid twenties, not a child. He still insists it was a ghost. So, who knows. Maybe his messing with the evil of drug addiction awakened something in that house. I am just glad he didn't share his fears with me at the time. He waited a year or so later to tell me. Otherwise that trip would have not been as nice a memory for me as it was!