Drugs & alcohol in the news
Here is a look at some recent drug & alcohol related headlines:
- Students vomit and collapse after wild party
- Rhode Island becomes third state to permit medical marijuana
- Mexican drug bust reveals 2,200 pounds of cocaine, stuffed inside frozen sharks
- Alcohol abuse by GIs soars to 11.4%
- Traffic increases along ‘Cocaine Coast’ (coast from Acapulco to Guatemala)
To repeat what we have said before, there are four verses in particular that speak of drugs in Revelation. Most English versions of the book use the words sorcery, sorceries, and sorcerer, but these are not accurate translations. Let’s look at the four verses briefly, using the New King James Version and a Greek dictionary.
Revelation 9:21: And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries.
Revelation 18:23: For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived.
In both of the above verses, the Greek word rendered as sorcery/sorceries is pharmakeia, and means “medication store.” This is where we get our English word “pharmacy” from. A pharmacy is a place where you go to get drugs.
Revelation 21:8: But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral,sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.
The word sorcerers in this verse is the Greek word pharmakeus, and it literally means “druggists.” This where we get our English word “pharmacists” from. A pharmacist is a person who sells drugs.
Revelation 22:15: But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
In this verse, sorcerers is actually the Greek word pharmakos, and it is essentially an earlier form of the pharmakeus of Revelation 21:8. It means someone who is addicted to drugs, and gives us the English word “pharmacology,” or the practice of looking to drugs for an answer.
As an interesting side note, this pharmakos actually became a term for a pagan religion where a human scapegoat would be expelled from the city in time of crisis, in an effort to bring relief upon the land. Today, many people look to mind and emotion altering drugs to escape from the pressures of life.
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