When I met with Brother Adong recently, he looked quite healthy, with a smile on his face that he could not hide. But he was completely different after he had been taking drugs for 18 years. At that time, he smoked, drank, gambled, and went whoring. His eyes were green and his face looked ghostly pale. Coupled with his tall figure, he just looked like he was going to do something really bad.
Brought into the Underworld by His Friends
The beginning of Brother Adong's life can be described as smooth sailing. Adong has had a flexible mind since childhood and began to learn to do business at the age of sixteen, so when he was thirty or so, he successfully settled down.
However, Adong could not escape the fate of "men become bad when they have money." At a young age, he made a number of disreputable friends and picked up some bad habits, like drinking, gambling, taking drugs, and going whoring. He was also involved in fighting and gun possession. He became a member of the underworld. Until now, so many years later, his body still has a dozen obvious scars left when he was in the underworld. At that time, he also gathered a group of people to set up a casino. He could earn thousands of yuan a day through that casino, and they would share the money and then spend it randomly.
After the arrest because of the many crimes committed, Adong was sentenced to a total of five and a half years in prison. His wife used to be a bank manager with good character. Because Adong did nothing but evil and even engaged in extramarital affairs, his wife decided to divorce him.
It is worth mentioning that all of Adong's family used to believe in Buddhism. Influenced by the family atmosphere, Adong, who was also a Buddhist, once went to the temple to receive training and got the certificate to be a monk.
Adong's 18-year Long Road of Taking Drugs
Adong first started using drugs in late 1990 and early 1991. At that time, the society in China did not pay as much attention to anti-drug propaganda as now; there was no drug rehabilitation center in Adong's hometown, and even the police did not know what drugs were.
In his twenties, Adong learned to take drugs from his friends out of curiosity. Because he mixed with the underworld, Adong has many injuries around his body. He often felt pain, but after taking the drugs he would feel much better.
Adong recalled, "When the drug was sucked in, I would feel like flying, and I could see what I wanted to see. That feeling is very intoxicating. Heroin is narcotic and very relaxing. After taking meth, when the music starts, the meth goes in, and you could get what you want. If you want money, you would see the tree full of money, just like a fruit tree full of fruit. If you want women, you will see beautiful women. Without happiness, why would so many people take drugs?"
In a very short time, Adong tried all the accessible drugs at that time, such as heroin, ketamine, ecstasy, and meth. In fact, if you count methadone, the "legal drug," Adong's drug history is as long as 18 years. The main drug used was heroin.
In the beginning, he only used a little drug. Then he gradually increases the amount. Adong started to take drugs more frequently. Every ten hours he would need to take drugs once. If he had many drugs, he may even take drugs 24 hours a day except for sleeping. If there was no drug, he may take some other drugs, such as sleeping pills, instead.
More than 1.9 meters tall, Adong weighed more than 200 kilograms before he started to take drugs. He has been exercising since he was very young, so his body was very strong. But even the best body cannot withstand such a long time of heavy drug use. The chaotic life destroyed Adong's originally strong body. Finally, he suffered a cerebral infarction, and his arms and legs became very inflexible. He walked with a limp, and he could no longer write with his right hand. After taking drugs for a long time, Adong also came into contact with many people who died because of drugs. "People I know died from shots, drug use, and even being beaten." Adong recalled, "Now the people I used to work with in the gangsters and drug addicts I was familiar with in my neighborhood are almost all dead," Adong recalled.
A Failed Road to Rehab
Adong knew that he might die from drug use. So, his family sent Adong to a rehab center. When he was in voluntary rehab, it was a very difficult time for him. Because of the long-term drug use, Adong had a serious drug addiction. Once the drugs were stopped, his body would have a serious reaction. At his worst, Adong even wanted to end his life by jumping off the building of a voluntary rehab facility.
The voluntary drug rehab did not let Adong successfully detox, and later he was sent to a compulsory rehab center. In the following two and a half years, Adong did not take drugs, but after getting out of the rehab center, Adong immediately relapsed. "When you get out of the rehab center, you basically relapse. Probably very few people will be able to successfully quit drugs." Adong said. "If you don't take drugs, you can't stand it at all. Drug addiction is not only a psychological addiction but also a physical addiction."
"In the 1990s, it took several hundred yuan to take drugs once. Later, it became more expensive. Five hundred, six hundred, or even eight hundred were always needed for taking drugs once. The drug addicts' own money had long been spent if they reached this degree. So, drug users will start to scam. They would borrow money from their family, relatives, and friends and end up heavily in debt."
"Later, people would start to lose their humanity, and they would be extremely hungry for drugs. They would be willing to do anything for a few hundred yuan. It’s pathetic that people can actually fall like this."
Released from prison five and a half years later, Adong still couldn't kick the habit of drug use. Then he turned to methadone, which he took for about six years. "Methadone is an alternative to drugs that the government allows to be legally given to those who are addicted to drugs. In fact, methadone is also a drug, but far less harmful than drugs like heroin, and much less. But you can't just drink the methadone randomly. You have to drink it on the spot and are not allowed to take it out."
Enter the Evangelical Rehab Center, which Turned His Life Over!
The family relationship of Adong was almost completely broken due to long-term drug addiction. Adong seemed to be abandoned and forgotten by everyone. But even so, God did not forget him. When Adong was the most lonely and sad, God's will and deeds began to quietly appear.
Adong has a Christian cousin who advised him to go to a church-run rehab facility. The evangelical rehab center on a mountain is different from those voluntary and compulsory rehab centers. "The life in the evangelical rehab center is very simple. The brothers read the Bible and pray every day." After entering this rehab center, Adong found that his hands and feet were much more flexible. His speech ability improved a lot, and his brain was more sober. "My bad habits are also gone. In the past, when talking to people, I used to swear first and then speak. After a few months in the Evangelical Rehab Center, I went home, and people were surprised to see me. 'Adong, why do you look so good and refreshed?' I said it is the grace of God."
The true grace of God soon came in a great way. "One morning, while we were kneeling down to pray, the Spirit of God seized me. When He caught me, I started crying for more than two hours, and in the end, I couldn't even speak. After crying, I got a great release. Tears seemed to wash away all my dirt and filth. I felt relaxed, and my heart was happy. This was clearly Jesus redeeming me," he recalled.
"I have experienced all kinds of suffering in my life. So many years later, I still have a dozen scars left due to all kinds of fights. At that time, I believed that a man could bleed but never shed tears. But when the Spirit of God came, I wept like a baby. These God-given tears washed away all dirt and filth from me, and I am reborn."
After this special experience, whenever Adong read the Bible again, he could understand it, and he was often touched in his heart. One day when Adong read the "Parable of the Prodigal Son" in the book of Luke, "I found that my whole life was written in this story, and I looked exactly like the second son. I cried again after reading this story, for a long time."
Even so, getting clean is not an easy task. "The first time I went into the Evangelical Rehab Center, it was very difficult for me. Especially in the first 20 days, I could only sleep for about an hour a day, and I felt very uncomfortable, as if many ants were crawling all over my body. But when I felt bad, I would think of Jesus, and I would feel peaceful in my heart. But after 20 days, the Holy Spirit filled me completely and I was clean."
He added, "Because of drugs, you would have an addiction. This kind of addiction is in your mind. Your mind would feel itchy and uncomfortable if you did not get drugs. Your mind will keep urging you to find the drugs. But after I believed in Jesus, Jesus replaced my addiction, and I no longer have the desire to take drugs. I stopped taking drugs physically, I quit drugs in mind, and I no longer have any interest in drugs."
Since then, Adong has completely stopped taking drugs and "completely does not need methadone anymore."
Because he has a history of gun possession, Adong needs to report to the local police station every year. After being reborn and saved, when Adong went to report again, he told the police that he believed in Jesus and would no longer hide guns, take drugs, gamble, or commit other crimes.
"When I used to take drugs, my eyes were green, and I was as pale as a ghost. People were very afraid when they saw me, and they stayed away from me. Now the situation is totally different. I would smile at people every moment, and I even would smile when I'm alone. When others meet me, they are amazed. They would wonder, ‘How can he change so much?’ It would be easy for people to become bad, but few bad people can be good again. They have never seen anyone who can change as big as me. It's really an amazing thing."
In Adong's view, the way of detoxification in the Evangelical Rehab Center is completely different. "Life in Evangelical Rehab Center is living together, reading the Bible, and praying every day, and everyone becomes very happy after doing these things." Then the Spirit of God will come down and fill you. After being filled with the Spirit of God, people's spiritual eyes are opened, and their past life experiences can be seen. As if we were watching a movie in a movie theater, my life experience was shown to me scene by scene, and my tears flowed out uncontrollably. In this process, you will see a lot of mistakes you have made before, you will see some very despicable things you have done before, and this kind of moment would be very painful. You would ask yourself, 'How could I do such a thing?' And then you would repent. This is a deep impression of God on me. A man who has such an experience of being filled with the Spirit of God is bound to change, and it is not by himself that man can change, but by God and God's Spirit."
Overcome Obstacles and Copy the Whole Bible with His Left Hand
Brother Adong developed a strong interest in the Bible during his rehabilitation and praying. "I was almost fascinated by the Bible." This is the reason for him to copy the Bible later. However, copying the Bible by hand was not an easy task, especially because Adong could not even write with his right hand.
After trying it out, Brother Adong finally decided to learn to write with his left hand. With practice, he began to copy the Bible book by book. By 2021, he had copied the entire Bible and is currently on track to complete a second copy. He said, "When I began to copy the Bible, I found that I knew almost nothing about the Bible. And the Bible is wonderful. It's different every time you read it and every time you copy it."
After Brother Adong’s successful detoxification from drugs, he is currently participating in some services of the Evangelical Rehab Center. In addition, he ran a restaurant when he was young and now he can serves many people through cooking, especially young people, through his own hands.
He said that with the improvement of government propaganda and social attitudes, many people have realized the dangers of drugs. There are far fewer drug users, especially those who take heroin and methamphetamine. There used to be a lot of people coming to the Evangelical Rehab Center, but over the years there have been fewer and fewer people coming in. In this context, the Evangelical Rehab Center has also made many transformations according to reality. At present, the people here are mainly the ones who want to get rid of Internet addiction and alcohol addiction. Many people who have Internet addiction are young people around 20 years old. The fundamental method of getting rid of addiction is still the same, that is, through faith and gospel, let them unite with God, unite with God's spirit, and get rid of these addictions by God's power.
Brother Adong said that as he has been committed to following Jesus for all his life, he is dedicated to spreading the gospel to more people so that people in trouble can be free and released in Jesus Christ.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
