Breaking Free From Addiction - A Work In Progress

Recovering from Addiction – A Work in Progress

By Pastor Jim May

One of the greatest weapons that Satan is using against mankind today is the power of addiction. He knows how we were made and what drives us, and he has been busy since the Creation of mankind, perfecting ways to control and dominate the hearts and souls of men. Addiction is a powerful force that takes hold first of the mind, then the body and ultimately the very soul of those who get caught up in it.

Addiction can come in many forms. Most of us when we think of addiction, we think of the cocaine, or heroine addict, or perhaps the alcoholic who staggers out of the bar, gets into a car and then kills some innocent victim on his way home. But addiction goes much farther than that.

According to New Scientist.com, a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcoholism claims that drug abuse and alcoholism increased dramatically between 1991 and 2001.

The use of Marijuana, the mind altering and mood altering drug that many want legalized like tobacco, increased by over 18% during that decade. The rate of increase was much higher when separated into ethnic groups. The increase in marijuana use was 40% for Blacks and 54% for Hispanic people.

According to another source, LifeSite.net, “Pornography was compared to crack cocaine …when a US Senate hearing discussing the dangers of the addiction called on members to endorse a public health campaign warning of the dangers.”

According to an article in the New York Times, May 20, 2001, "There were 11,000 porn video titles last year [2000] verses 400 movie releases from Hollywood last year...[and] 70,000 pornographic web sites."

In case you haven’t noticed, the Internet has become the fastest and easiest medium to spread pornography, and now it is reaching down and taking hold of even of our youngest children because of sexual predators that lure them over the computer screen. Almost every day we hear of ministers, teachers, parents, doctors and people of all ages and every walk of life, whose lives have been ruined as a result of addiction to pornography.

But Alcohol, drugs and pornography are only the beginning. There are a lot more that we don’t hear as much about. Not much is said about nicotine anymore because it became an economic issue when cancer from smoking began to cost society so much. We are concerned about the social issues, worried about the moral issues, and cry about the destruction of families due to addiction, but when it starts hitting the wallet, well, that’s when we really get serious because we don’t want anything taking that “god” away from us.

There are a lot of groups operating right now who are trying their best to help people with the problems of addiction. I have heard of, and read about, many of the treatment centers in America, especially the drug rehab centers that are operated medically, where medication is used to help addicts overcome the effects of illegal drugs. The limited experience that I have had with these programs is that they help the addict overcome one drug but then he is still dependent upon another drug to stay free from the first drug. I also know that those whom I have known to go through these programs often tell me that they were able to get whatever drugs they needed even while they were in treatment and supposed to be protected from outside drug sources. I am no medical doctor so I won’t fault them for what they are trying to do. They are doing the best they can and I applaud their efforts, but the fact is that very few are really successful over the long haul in my experience.

I have also read much about the “AA” or Alcoholics Anonymous, including Al-Anon and AlTeen, groups that do all they can to help alcoholics of any age to overcome their addiction to alcohol. I have read about DA, or “Debtors Anonymous”, which is a program based upon the AA model that encourages fiscal, or financial, responsibility. It is intended to help those whose life has become unmanageable because of credit card debt and overspending. Then there is the GA, or Gambler’s Anonymous; a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and recover from a gambling problem. There is the NA, Narcotics Anonymous that directs its efforts at helping drug addicts. Then there is the OA, Overeaters Anonymous that offers a program of recovery from compulsive overeating.

It’s not just people with these problems that are addicts either. I am convinced that all sinners are “addicts” after a fashion because they are all addicted to sin and the ways of this world and cannot break free without divine intervention from Jesus Christ, the Son of God.