Daoud is disowned

Dear friends, dear listeners,

After praying, Dawood heads toward the home of his friend Younes, where he hopes to begin a new life. His hatred toward heroin grows even stronger because of his suffering at the hands of his father.

Respected listeners, in this part of the program, let us listen to the life story of someone who was exposed to narcotics since childhood.

My name is Ikram. I must tell you that I was addicted to heroin for more than ten years. In those years, I believed there was no hope for my rescue and that I was condemned to die. But later I learned that salvation from heroin is possible. This is the story of how I became addicted to drugs, how those drugs brought humiliation and suffering into my life, and how I was finally saved.

I was the only child of a loving family, and I was also a good student in school. We had a relatively good life, but sometimes I failed in dealing with life’s challenges. Whenever I failed, I would withdraw, isolate myself, and try to escape from my problems in this way.

When I was sixteen, one of my friends—who was older than me—suggested that I try injecting heroin. When I extended my arm for the injection, I thought I would scream from the pain of the needle, but instead of screaming, I felt a pleasure that overtook my entire body. Within a few hours, all my fears disappeared. I became intoxicated, and that constant feeling of shyness and nervousness that always followed me simply vanished. I wanted to feel that way forever.

I experimented with many other narcotics too—sleeping pills, alcohol, cocaine, and more. Each one had its own kind of intoxication and freed me temporarily from my problems. Drugs not only gave me a world free of difficulty, they gave me a sense of identity. Most of my friends also used narcotics. Each of them has their own story. But for every addict, the ending is the same: a miserable death, illness, and spending everything on drugs.

Addiction slowly chains you. When I became addicted, I thought I had found a new path in life, but my mind and body had become so weak that most of my decisions were irrational. I thought about only one thing: drugs. How to buy them, where to find them, and where to use them.

I used drugs constantly and spent every bit of money I earned on them. I injected drugs into my veins, and the pleasure after each injection was the only thing I lived for. This lifestyle lasted for years. Some days I did not use drugs, but I always felt an emptiness inside that pushed me back toward them.

Eventually, my body became so dependent on heroin that I could not even imagine quitting. I was not only afraid of withdrawal—I was afraid of my empty, meaningless life. What I understand now is that quitting drugs alone was not the only thing I needed. I carried confusion, depression, misguidance, anger, and hatred toward others. To continue, I needed more drugs.

But in my final year of addiction, I had quit all other drugs except heroin. Yet quitting heroin was extremely difficult because I used it in large amounts. Sometimes I would wander the streets for hours looking for heroin. I stole money from home, borrowed money under false pretenses, and even pickpocketed in markets. Anything I found, I stole.

Several times I tried to quit heroin. I made efforts, but I always fell back. The pressure of heroin on me reached its peak when I met members of a Christian group. They were kind and insisted on helping me. I went to a house specifically made for helping addicted people. There, I finally freed myself from heroin. It took a week to overcome withdrawal. I was terrified of the pain of withdrawal, but even that passed.

After years, for the first time I lived without drugs. My mind cleared, and I began thinking about my past life. The eight weeks I spent in treatment taught me how to live. An addicted person must re-enter the real world and put these lessons into practice.

In the first days of quitting, friends and family can help the addicted person greatly. They must understand that addiction is a disease and its treatment takes time. Life without drugs turns a person back into a human being—someone capable of normal emotions such as joy, sorrow, and so on.

For those who are addicted, different treatments exist. But the person must show courage and determination. The best way to be saved from drugs is to stay away from all of them. It may seem easy to you, but for an addict, drugs feel like the only way to cope with problems and to feel better.

Music

Dear listeners, you noticed that in this program we heard from two people who said they were freed from the nightmare of heroin addiction. Both decided to free themselves from its captivity, and both needed people to support and care for them.

Dear friends, we end this episode with the hope that all our people—especially the youth of our homeland—are freed from the evil grip of heroin. Until the next program, may God be your helper and supporter.

Dear friends, now listen to another program from Radio Voice of Life.

Music

“Praise the Lord, all heaven and earth belong to God…”

(Christian hymn continues)

Dear friends, greetings. Let us begin the program with praise to Almighty God:

“O my soul, bless the Lord, and all that is within me bless His holy name…”

(Extended Psalm-like recitations continue)

There was once a young man who, for months and years, argued constantly with his parents. One day, after a heated argument, he left home in anger and went to another city. After several years of sin and reckless living, he returned to God and regretted his actions. He wanted to return home but felt ashamed to face his parents.

He wrote them a letter, asking for forgiveness, and requested that if they were willing to accept him, they should tie a white cloth on one branch of the old oak tree in front of their house.

Two days after mailing the letter, he boarded a train toward home, trembling with fear. As the train approached the town, he told the man sitting beside him his painful story. The closer the train got, the faster his heart beat. Finally, he could not bear it anymore and said:

“I’m afraid to look. Please, look at the oak tree. If there is even one white cloth on a branch, tell me. And if there isn’t, tell me that too.”

As the train passed the house, the man looked out the window. With great astonishment, he saw not just one white cloth but hundreds of white cloths tied to the branches.

He said:

“If human parents can show such love and forgiveness, imagine how much more our Heavenly Father—the Almighty God—loves us.”

In the Holy Gospel we read:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”