The stench of accumulated garbage and the lack of hygiene mix with the smell of marijuana, crack and alcohol.
They are not homeless; they’re people from various parts of South Africa that gather in the streets in Johannesburg. Because of addiction, they lost everything, like their home, car, money, family and the will to live.
Determined in the war against addiction, we found Commissioner Street, where drug addicts come together. This location is just one of the many point-of-sales for drug users in Johannesburg – our Cracolândia.
A curious fact is that they spend all day picking up trash on the street, as well as cans and other recyclable materials. Some ask for donations, and yet others spend the day stealing in order to get enough money to buy drugs.
When they get together, the addiction marathon begins. They are out of it, walking back and forth like lunatics, talking to themselves, until they pass out on the floor.
When we arrived for the Addiction Cleansing Therapy, we couldn’t even breathe because the air was thick with marijuana smoke, our eyes burned.
While we were talking to them, some were smoking marijuana, others snorting and some even injected cocaine; but most had tears in their eyes. They were desperate for a change, wanting to leave that lifestyle.
Last Sunday, we gathered those who were willing to change their lives, 40 people in total. We gave them a bath, clothes, food and took them to the Last Rock meeting. On the Altar, those who wanted to change their lives handed in the drugs they had in their pocket.
It’s interesting that the Universal Church is the only place in the world where addicts had in their drugs, which are the same reason they steal and are even able to kill, if necessary, to obtain them.
Certain heads of rehabilitation centers have been looking for our help, because they don’t know what to do to solve their patients’ problems.
On Commissioner Street, in the dumps, the meanest place in society, the UCKG is there. And we will rescue many lives from here; men and women who will be born of God and join our “Last Rock” army to revolutionize this continent.
In addition to drugs, another serious problem is alcohol, which is considered the main numbing agent in South Africa, affecting 17.5 million people, 30% of the South African population.
One in 14 people are users of some kind of drug, summing a total of 3.74 million people. Statistics show that one in three South Africans is a drug addict.
Therefore, we have no other alternative: we have to confront the devil with all our strength and remove the lost souls out of his hands.
We are going to explode! It’s all or nothing! Either God is or He is not.