Altered Status

Altered Status

6/23/18

Living in such a manner represents an abnormal state of order.  One can say that they identify with the world in a specific way but when they succumb to this lie they automatically place themselves into a setting which cannot produce anything but death.  God has a specific order for a reason and it is His desire that everyone lives in complete truth and happiness according to His Order.  Any alteration of such status may be accepted by the world and seem to have no immediate consequences but in the long run it will encroach itself upon our lives in such a horrific manner that if we do not understand how to correct this turn could mean the end of not only our physical lives but our eternal ones as well.  God is in the restoration business and it is His desire to restore everything to us that has been stolen, we just have to accept His Ways and return to this Holy Order.

Having worked in the medical field for over thirty-three years now I have witnessed many different types of scenarios that have humans ending up on the wrong side of an accident due to their volunteered impaired abilities.  Everything from gunshot wounds to sexual misconduct, my eyes and hears have been exposed to friends and non-acquaintances alike all presenting with some type of malady.  While there may be an innocent party involved in such delays, the focus is usually on the ones that cause the ruckus and thus end up grabbing the most attention.  I have chosen not to participate in such deviant activities for I have always had the concept of knowing exactly what I did the night before and if I did something could have a good recollection if needed.  That does not mean that my mind did not think about participating in such activities but I promised myself to have the decency to my family and to adhere to the respect of myself in not following through with such thoughts.

While I can honestly say that I have never been in such a tragic setting personally, we can turn on the television or read an article in the local or national news sources and see what others have fallen for this terrible chosen behavior.  It does not matter what period of human history one looks over this type of loose behavior occurs and at some point in the near future certain consequences arise from such activities, I guess the entire world does not have to explode for humans to personally repeat history and not learn from it.  The Bible gives us plenty of examples in this regard as well and while there are many social issues on the table today God wants to stick with only one issue but this issue serves as a perfect example of what occurs when people voluntarily alter their statuses enough that worldly order is allowed into their lives.  We also must remember that there are two sides to this type of activity, one who the altering occurs and those around who are in waiting to take advantage of the situation.  The human mind is a powerful instrument in our lives and we must never forget that once it has been invaded by the world its objectives will be obtained by any means necessary.

When we go out to eat in a restaurant one of the first things the waiter or waitress asks us if we would like something to drink.  The alcohol suggestions always flow freely right from the beginning and sometimes the asking employees become disappointed when only tea and water is ordered from our table.  I understand that many people who live in the western societies socially drink at most meals and as long as they do not drink too much their activities are not monitored closely and are of no concern, but when the alcohol flows readily and they lose the cognitive ability to reason safely and drive with caution their actions can harm others, including their selves.  And who has ever wanted a drink after a certain period of stressful time or who have come home from a very hectic day at work?  All of these types of settings occur each day around the world and all of us are susceptible to its effects if we are not careful.  However, in many parts of the world regular drinking water is not readily available still, so drinks such as wine and beer make up the local cuisine, so are all of these people wrong in drinking such ways?  God says there is a logical course for such activities and as long as it does not alter your state or status it is okay to have such drinks, but when it alters your activity in ANY way, enough is enough and you need to stop.

The Bible presents us with many examples of such conditions concerning diet and drink.  We must contend that the fermentation process back in the ancient days is basically the same as it is today, no matter what others try to persuade otherwise.  Purity in content was of the utmost priority for in many cases, as mentioned above, drinking water was nowhere to be found.  This means that a person who consumed too much alcohol would become drunk and since that person was human all of the “qualities” of being drunk would be same back then as they are today.  One of the most famous passages concerning this topic in the Bible occurs in Genesis where we are given the picture of Lot and his daughters and it is this truth that God wants us to understand the importance of being in control of our minds and actions at all times, for when we allow substances to overtake our lives it is a guarantee that an overthrow will occur.  In this example of Lot there are many other aspects of the story that will be addressed at a later date, but for now, we are going to deal with the ability of a substance to alter one’s status enough to produce grave consequences, both physically and spiritually. 

If one has studied this passage before it is clear that there are many different aspects of human activity that occur when we take into consideration what Lot and his daughters did after the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah.  As stated before, it is this one single aspect of losing control over one’s actions that will be focused on here, for when one loses control and the ability to sustain regular maintenance of your entire being, others shall recognize this setting and could take advantage of such hideous accounts for their own delight.  It is this mental and physical impairment that sets the stage of a catastrophic result that continues to play out in our societies today and what is scarier is that the world promotes this condition and has now turned to laws and constitutional amendments in accomplishing such feats, following a pied piper does not make one wise or enlightened, only a rat.

Lot and his family were supernaturally instructed to flee their city pending the city’s utter devastation by God.  The wages had been set and it was to be noted that Sodom, Gomorrah, and other cities in the valley were to be completely destroyed due to their living and thriving off of their homosexual lives and laws.  We know this fact about Sodom and Gomorrah because when the angels came into the city they were propositioned by the men of the city, a small taste of what was yet to come occurred to those men but still, they choose not to change their ways or hearts.  Lot and his family fled the city and were on the way up to the designated place of safety when the destructive process began and we also know what occurred to the wife of Lot when she disobeyed the supernatural instructions that were given to her.  Lot and his daughters reached the cave and protection was available even though the mental torment of what occurred to their lives was still fresh in their minds.

During the time in the cave that God had provided for them, one would have believed that they would offer up praises and thanksgiving for the salvation of their lives, for it is human process to sit back and to think about what has just occurred and wonder what might have happened to you if things were different.  We see this pattern of thought process developing due to the conversations that the daughters had concerning their livelihood and survival of their father’s lineage.  While this is a noble suggestion on some levels of concern, the manner in which they chose to extend Lot’s lineage goes TOTALLY against the plan and will of God.  It is also of grave concern about how they planned to accomplish this process as well.

It is a known fact that when a human being’s mind is in full control of their personal surroundings and décor not much can be attributed to their actions that they are not or will not be aware of.  One of the most hotly debated topics of our present time deals with the legalization of a previously illegal drug, marijuana.  While the drug is relatively safe and can be processed to enhance its true value for medical concerns, its grown form gives off a state of altered status in which the people using such drug method lose some capabilities to function at the normal pace that many positions demand.  I am not here to argue for or against such drug legalization but when a society votes to accept such altered status’ as being the norm, the directional setting of said society cannot prove to be favorable.  It is alcohol and the products thereof that is in question here during this example and how alcohol was used in excess by the daughters to alter the status and mind of their father.

The daughters understood what an excess amount of alcohol did to the human body and how the consequences of the previous night’s binge had the following day.  The daughters also knew how their father’s mental state would be while in this excessive state thus used such setting and conditions to execute their plan.  It is this issue that concerns God because if an excess of a drug is powerful that it can impair the senses enough to compress moral and stable issues into a manipulative and/or impulsive request, it can also do the same on the spiritual aspect of our lives as well.  Remember God gave us His Spirit inside our bodies and if our physical is led into a direction so shall the doors of our spiritual be opened as well.  Genesis 19 states that the plan that the daughters had was to get their father drunk, then sleep with him and hopefully become pregnant, which both of them did on successive nights.  From all accounts of this story, Lot was in such a state that he did not even fight back or try to deter the daughters from their intentions, he complied and fulfilled their desires and provided them with results from their wicked plan.

Through the deviousness of their plan together it is known that Lot would have never agreed to such a plan if he was of sound mind those two nights.  If Lot was willing to do such a deed, then through the daughters’ own personal knowledge about their father would have suggested such acts while sober and would have not had to rely upon consorted alterations.  Lot was in no state to fight back or to prevent the acts that were unfolding those nights and even though those plans coming from the girls were wicked they were allowed to continue and to be completed.  It is this altered state of being that Lot allowed he to be placed in and it was through this known state that the plan was executed perfectly.  Now, if the people involved here knew what would occur to the human state when too much alcohol had been consumed, it is safe to say that Lot, through all of his eyewitness accounts in Sodom and Gomorrah would know what the excessive amount of alcohol would do in his body as well; Lot was not a dumb or stupid man.

Even with this information onboard, Lot could not escape the effects of the alcohol and what it did to him and thus what it was designed to do as well, which was to alter his frame of mind so that someone else’s plan could be completed; it is this state that many people utterly refuse to remember when it comes to human reality and the consequences of our actions.  In the instance of Lot’s daughters, both girls conceived and produced ethnic races that caused many heartaches not only to God but to Israel as well and these actions are still burned on the hearts of people today that live in Israel or identify with the Israeli people even in this current generation.  The human body has not changed one bit since this occurrence in the cave where Lot and his daughters were staying, in fact, technology now allows us to actually see all the way down to the genetic level of exactly how one’s body will react to any drug that is introduced into the body, voluntarily or involuntarily injected or submitted.  This means that the same conditions can occur when altering substances are put into our bodies and since purification methods are far more advanced today than back in previous times, the potency for such alterations is greatly enhanced.

It is well known that this topic could include any subject matter and be considered relevant, but what God wants us to understand here is that this issue is a human issue and one that revolves around the human alone.  It does not matter what type of substance the human intakes for if it alters the status of the body it is going to alter the status of the spirit as well.  As stated before God put into us His Spirit which means that whatever we intake and place into our physical lives also will have an effect on our spirit as well.  In the case of Job, it was not the alcohol’s fault for Job understood what alcohol could do to his system and he still allowed his status to be changed.  The consequences of such actions may have been considered to be physically adequate but the results of such acts proved to have long-lasting curses on many people in the future.  It was the direct result of Job being tricked by his daughters that allowed for such future devastation and all of this could have been prevented if he had only kept his state intact and alert.  The modern Church has forgotten how important it is to keep Satan out of our lives for we have invited him into the doors of the church (temple) while standing there smiling and actually holding the door open for him during this invitation.

It is this altered state that of course grabs many of our attention because it quickly reminds us of certain past details at some point in time.  When these memories flood our minds we cannot help but wonder what really occurred during those times and while certain bits of information may trickle out from time to time, the full truth may never be known.  God asks us the question that concerns most parents and that is how do we know what we are doing if we allow ourselves to be altered by some substance that is not normally in our general or even organic systems?  The implications of having a good time are automatically skewed by this activity and serve as a perfect example as to why it is important to always remain sober while walking this journey.  I am not advocating for complete abstinence for the Bible does not mention such activities, but God does want us to understand how important it is for His prized creations to stay alert at all times for once our enemy has a hold of a part of our lives it is difficult to completely close those doors.  God created us in a specific manner in mind which follows an even more specific order and that order included being of a sound mind at all times.

Humanity many times writes off such warnings as a scare tactic, or a holy roller trying to keep people from having a good time or relaxing after a stressful week; that is not what God is saying to us.  God wants us to continually remember how important it is for us to know what is going on around us at all times because our eternal lives are at stake as long as we take air into our lungs.  This topic should come as no surprise to anyone since there are many states in this nation pushing to legalize certain drugs that are currently considered illegal.  We must consider the fact that if the world is trying to make light of a substance that clearly alters the state of our bodies and to legalize its mechanisms something must be amiss somewhere.  The world and its leadership shall never promote anything that is of good and sound quality for it knows nothing of the sort.  That is why God wants us to think about the measures that we place into our paths and into our lives because when the world’s hype and lies are over our eternity can also be forever altered in a way that we will not be able to see and know God’s truth again.

The pressures of the world are great enough that we do not need to voluntarily give our enemy easier access to our physical and eternal lives.  Church, it is time we step up and show the world that we understand the implications of such personal disasters and that we provide a viable example and alternative message to what the world deems as acceptable and harmless.  Altering the status of any machine, motor, or more importantly, the human body is a dangerous game and can prove to be harmful if played with on any level.  God created us in such a manner that we have the ability to reason and see what is actually going on around us due to our clear and cognitive mind and physical state, your purpose that God has given to us is the target by our enemy and if he can gain access to your life he will distort this divine purpose and create a state of havoc that some may never recover.  God is calling for us to come back to Him so that He can restore our lives to a guided and perfect state of eternal protection all we have to do is turn our hearts back to Him and place His Ways first in our hearts.

DLB