Righteousness exalteth a Nation

Mercy Needed for Youth of our Land

As a pastor, I am very alarmed for the youth of our country, who are being destroyed by the drug world. Just today again, I had a father on the phone crying for help to rescue his teenage son from drugs and suicide. As never before, kids from even good and godly homes are being lured into doping. Some dabble in it and learn to hate it, but a great number are falling prey to its destructive powers.
The new powerful drugs such as fentonyl have the power to kill with a little grain sized powder. Those who sell these drugs are ruthless murderers, for they know only too well they are dealing in death. Deaths have occured from the very first ingestion of this drug - even first-responders who somehow ingest a little dust from their gloves have needed emergency treatment.  Sadly, this is not just happening on the back streets of our cities; it is happening in million dollar homes and hotel suites. It is killing the rich and successful as well as the troubled and disadvantaged.
There is also an alarming number of people hooked on these drugs through doctor's prescription pills given out for pain relief.  The stats show that the number of fentonyl prescriptions in our society has climbed steeply.  It seems that for years  few doctors realized the high risk of administering such drugs.
There is a sinister side to this plague of drugs in our society that has created a culture of death. It is as if all discernment has been taken away. One would think that as soon as the word is out that these powerful drugs are killing thousands upon thousands of people that the alarm would go off that this stuff is pure poison and to be avoided. But people don't seem to care for their own lives just as the drug dealers don't care who they kill.
How do we explain this from the light we glean from the Bible?  It surely tells us that the Bible is correct that the heart of man is deceitful and wicked. The Bible is right, man without God cannot find real satisfaction. The Bible also tells us that Satan is a murderer from the beginning. This state of affairs is ripe for the devil to destroy souls. 
John 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 
John 10:11  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 
John 10:12  But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 
John 10:13  The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 
John 10:14  I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 
In the gospel of Christ rests hope for our nation.  We need to repent of the sin of our generation and turn again unto God.  We fear that this may be God's judgment, where He gives people over to the evil of their ways, and it is young people who suffer due to their rebellion to God.
To Christian parents, I would say, Cling to Christ and to the gospel of the cross. "The good shepherd giveth His  life for the sheep."  God is still working redemption and reconciliation through the blood of Christ. God still saves, and He saves from the gutter-most to the uttermost. 
It is time for God's people to awaken to the death culture of drugs within our society and turn back to God for mercy and deliverance for the rising generation that know not the Lord.  It is time to pray for God to make the gospel great again to turn His people to walk in the paths of righteousness. 
For: "Righteousness exalteth a nation but sin is a reproach to any people." Proverbs 14:24  Christ is our righteousness.  He is our Saviour from sin. He saves from its guilt, its power and one day from its presence. Trust Him to save your soul from your sin. 
(Updated January, 16 2018)