A Plea for Christian Help

A former Alcoholic/Addict seeks Christian assistance for those still suffering.

By Dick B.

Today’s Addiction Dilemma

Shall a seemingly hopeless, recidivist addict be sent for help to church, a clergyman, a physician, a psychologist, a detox, a hospital, A.A., a 12-Step program, treatment or rehab, counseling, a mental health clinic, the drug court, jail or prison, a dui information course, a diversion program, a secular recovery program, a Christian recovery program, a Christ-centered program, behavioral therapy, nutritional therapy, pharmaceutical therapy, or what?! It should be no surprise to learn that most chronic cases have done most or all of the above. I did. Yet, in 21 successful A.A. years, I’ve seen relapse after relapse, failure after failure, overdoses, drunkenness, and despair that has led to death by any number of means.

The Old School Approach

The cure of alcoholism by religious means is centuries old. So is reliance on the Creator. Whether in Billy Sunday revivals, temperance meetings, Salvation Army hands, conversions at Gospel and Rescue Missions, and medical management in hospitals, alcoholics and addicts have been lifted from the pit to the pinnacle. But usually, only if they wanted to be helped and dedicated themselves to the process. The simple ingredients: (1) Abstinence. (2) Reliance on God through Christ. (3) Obedience to the Creators Word. (4) Growth in fellowship through Bible study, prayer, seeking Gods guidance, and study. (5) Witnessing particularly by one converted and healed individual to someone new and still seeking help. And that’s exactly how A.A. began.

The Alternative Approaches

We’ve already mentioned some: In addition, there are government funds, benevolent grants, medical research, coalitions, recovery calendar days, Prohibition, drug wars and all the rest mentioned above. There’s no monopoly on approaches to solving addiction. All are frequently tried. Few succeed for any length of time.

The Enemy

Early AA’s, the Gospel and Rescue Missions, the Salvation Army, and many preachers turned to the Bible for truth about rescue and deliverance. They recognized:

1. The Adversary who, described figuratively by Jesus as the thief in John 10:10, comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. Bill Wilson called the devil the Boss Universal of the world who had chained him into captivity.

2. The temptation weapons, whether in the form of pleasure, pressure, or power, were described in deadly terms in the early A.A. favorite, the Book of James. For James 1:12-16 declared that where man is tempted, drawn by his own lust, enticed, and yields to sin, the conclusion death.

3. The solution Ephesians 6:11 calls for is putting on the whole amour of God and standing against the wiles of the devil; and, as James 4:7 promises: Submit yourselves therefore to God, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

4. The victory for a new creature in Christ: Either the power of darkness can triumph over mankind or that dominion no longer rules believers because the Father [Yahweh] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14) For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. (1 John 5:4).

The born-again child of God has a relationship with God, the power of God, the love of God, and a sound mind that is God-given and transcends the power of meetings, treatment, and scientific research.

The Need for Christians to Help Today

Secular approaches - those involving the removal of the Bible, the Creator, and Jesus Christ - are ascending in popularity as fast as those approaches are declining in results. Universalism - the idea that there ought to be one tent, one assembly, one fellowship, one church, one religion for all mankind - has made its mark in new 12 Step approaches. When proponents of the universal recovery society tell the newcomer that he can believe in something, or somebody, or nothing at all, they are mainly offering atheism and unbelief in a Society founded on the necessity for coming to believe. When the term Spirituality is used as a code name for illusory goodness and works, it may produce smiling faces, but it doesn’t cure addicts.

Christians within and without A.A. frequently shun or abandon 12 Step programs due to intimidation, misunderstanding, and fear. They surrender to the power of nothingness. Their illusion that A.A. stands for false religion and phony gods arises out of a tremendous ignorance of its history, and a failure to believe that the power of God is just as available within A.A., as it is outside A.A.. Additionly, they lack accurate information about the successful results in the early days of A.A. Christian Fellowship, when reliance on the Creator was the core of cure.

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