Wesley and the Heroin Addict

From the truth is stranger than fiction file...

That there is an evangelist who is sailing around Britain, stopping here and there to evangelise whilst riding a fold-out bike and dressed as John Wesley is perhaps not even the amazing part of the story. More amazing is the true story of the impersonator/ evangelist John Holme and his real life dilemma in deciding "What would John Wesley do?" concerning a heroin addict who relapses. Can one be a heroin addict and a Christian at the same time?

The modern Wesley on the little bike struggles, prays and then first tries to help him get professional medical help to assist the addict in getting through withdrawals. When that doesn't work, he puts him on a train to head to where he can get a little heroin, then wonders what happens next. He writes, "I sought the Lord as to what to do next with regard to him. It was obvious, I must go to Aberdeen and encourage him that he wasn’t a failure." The story is at Operation-greatbritain.com. He tells of going to find the recovering addict after an episode of backsliding and writes

About an hour later and after several visits to the spot where he sits I arrived to find Kenny sat down looking very crestfallen. If only I had taken a picture of the look on his face when he saw me approaching, it was priceless, a mixture of astonishment and delight. We hugged each other, talked for a while before going off to get something to eat in the local Internet cafe.

It's a story of a Wesley impersonator helping buy a junkie heroin and yet my heart is strangely warmed by the way he doesn't want to abandon the man, but stick with him through a very difficult time in his life.

I don't know what John Wesley would have done, with his own emphasis on personal holiness. Yet it seems all to Christ-like not to be Wesleyan to follow up on the young man and offer encouragement and love rather than condemnation. What do you think the impersonator/evangelist should have done?

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor