I'VE GOT AN ADDICTION
**************************************
INCREASINGLY MORE AND MORE, PEOPLE ARE FINDING THAT
THEY'RE ADDICTED TO SOMETHING OR OTHER - WITH FOOD, SEX, DRUGS AND EMOTIONS
COVERING MOST OF THEM (PSYCHOLOGISTS LIST HUNDREDS)
BASICALLY
IT'S SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN'T CONTROL BECAUSE IT CONTROLS YOU.
PEOPLE
NEARLY GO INSANE TRYING TO GET RID OF THEIR ADDICTIONS ONLY TO FIND THAT
THEY'VE REPLACED IT WITH ANOTHER. LIKE A WHEEL THAT GOES ROUND AND ROUND,
ADDICTIONS ARE A VISCIOUS CIRCLE THAT ARE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO GET RID OF. MOST
PEOPLE START READING THE "NEW IDEA" FOR ANSWERS, THEN BUY POPULAR
BOOKS AND THEN GO TO PSYCHIATRISTS
ONLY
TO FIND THAT THEY
CAN'T
HELP EITHER.
************
IN THIS PAPER WE'LL:
1.
FIND OUT WHAT
ADDICTIONS
REALLY ARE
2.
WHERE THEY COME FROM
3.
HOW TO GET RID OF THEM FOREVER
****************************
"AND
YE ARE COMPLETE IN HIM... "
(Colossians
2:10)
"MONKEY ON THE BACK"
Talk
to anyone who knows about addictions, who had one, who knows someone that's got
one, and truly "Monkey on the back" is a good description. No matter
what, a monkey on the back will not let go.
ADDICTED PEOPLE START LOSING FRIENDS Why does this happen? Very simple. As addicted
people are obsessed about themselves and constantly thinking how they can
satisfy their craving, friendships wane as the focus goes on the addicted
person. Friends simply get crowded out of the picture and in the end the
competition is too great.
ADDICTED PEOPLE LOSE MOST OF THEIR MONEY
Addictions cost money. Addictions are like a forest
fire that gets out of control.
Addicts start borrowing from friends, neighbors or
relatives and soon the cycle gets out of hand and very often the money doesn't get
paid back.
ADDICTED PEOPLE LEAD DOUBLE Lives
There is the public face and then there is the face
that no-one sees. Addicts feel that they have two people living in them. Each
one telling the other what to do.
ADDICTED PEOPLE FEEL WRETCHED ABOUT THEMSELVES
Because addicts have no control over themselves
they are slaves to their craving/s and there are few slaves who enjoy their
position of being dominated.
ADDICTED PEOPLE ARE LIARS
Many addicts will deny this one but this only goes
to show that it is true. They even lie that they're liars.
Over the years as the addiction has grown, addicts have
"compensated" for their condition. In the early stages they say,
"Well, it helps me get through the day. After all, I have a responsible
position and I do work hard."
This soon changes to fit into some medical
condition they saw on TV or read in a book or heard about.
Then they're under doctors orders for the
condition. Pretty soon they're off to some specialist who finds that it's
psychological and that's a relief for them because then there's an actual label
which can be applied and the condition becomes legitimate. ALL ADDICTIONS
STARTED OUT WITH LIES. Homosexuals are chronic and habitual liars - always
covering up, being secretive and making excuses about "something in the
`genes' so that it really isn't their fault at all and they were made like
it".
ADDICTED PEOPLE ARE ETERNAL OPTIMISTS
This is nice way of saying "They live in fairyland".
They are always hopeful of a cure but deep down secretly don't want to find one
otherwise they'd be cured and then probably wouldn't have the support and the
attention of those around them.
ADDICTED PEOPLE COMPENSATE IN OTHER AREAS
Addicts start making excuses both to themselves and
others and start making allowances. Responsibilities to family go by the
wayside and many addicts become `invalided'. This word comes from the
word in-valid.
ADDICTIONS ARE IDOLS IN PEOPLE'S LIVES
How is this possible? The idol in your life is what
you think about most - food, sex, drugs.
ADDICTED PEOPLE PLAY VICTIM OR PERSECUTOR
Addicts want attention one way or another -
sympathy or domination is all the same.
OBVIOUS & NOT SO OBVIOUS ADDICTIONS
You
may have been reading this paper and feeling sympathy for the type of person
mentioned here - perhaps even feeling a touch sanctimonious or just thankful
that you don't suffer the way these "poor wretches" are. Many people
have addictions and you wouldn't even know - they keep it locked down real
tight. These addictions live in a few rooms of their mind that no-one is
allowed to enter, not even themselves in some cases.
WHERE DO ADDICTIONS COME FROM?
The Bible says: "For from within, out of
the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye,
blasphemy, pride, foolishness:" (Mark 7:21-22)
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer 17:9)
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
envyings ...." (Galatians 5:19-21)
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our
iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6) "There
is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth not
"(Eccles. 7:20) "Every man at his best state is altogether
vanity."
DON'T BE SURPRISED AS TO WHERE ADDICTIONS COME
FROM?
WE DON'T GET ADDICTIONS, WE ARE ADDICTIONS !!!!
EVERY PERSON ALIVE IS AN ADDICT - CHRISTIAN OR
NON-CHRISTIAN
If you are a Christian, have you died and gone to
heaven yet? Have you been given a glorified body without sin yet? If not you
are living in a body of flesh and although you may be saved, your flesh is
warring against the Holy Spirit in you.
Are you doing everything that the Lord wants you
to. Do you pray enough, read your Bible enough, preach enough, witness enough
(ALL THESE ARE ADDICTIONS for not doing what we should be doing).
Do you think about and dwell in God's word enough?
Do you get caught up in life's affairs often and temporarily forget about God?
Are you, sometimes reluctant to share your faith?
IF SO, YOU HAVE AN ADDICTION IN GODS' EYES and WE
ARE ALL ADDICTS. We all seek to do our own pleasure and will ALL of the time.
Because some of us are saved we tend to think that we are immune from the
flesh, but this is called THE ADDICTION OF DECEPTION.
CHRISTIANS FALL INTO THREE CATEGORIES
1.
MANY HAVE OBVIOUS ADDICTIONS
2.
MANY HAVE ADDICTIONS THAT ARE NOT SO OBVIOUS AND CAN HIDE
3.
THE REST HAVE ADDICTIONS THAT THEY'RE NOT EVEN AWARE OF.
As we stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ
(for those who are saved) and we stand before His purity and holiness, we shall
see what sinful, addicted liars we were... & we were saved by His grace.
WHAT'S
THE SOLUTION?
Many
people have run off to get `delivered' and that doesn't work; others have tried
little tricks out of the New Idea and that doesn't work; others have tried to
forget about it and that doesn't work; others try praying harder and that
doesn't work; others try fasting and that doesn't work; others read the Bible
more and that doesn't work; others get counseling and that doesn't work .....
ARE YOU GETTING THE PICTURE - ANYTHING THAT WE TRY WILL NOT WORK!
The
Lord God left his people in the wilderness to humble them (Deuteronomy 8:2).
God allows addictions to humble us and to show that we have a body of flesh. He
wants us to go to Him broken and totally devoid of any plan of rescue for
ourselves - just like when you got saved. You called out to Him and said:
"God save me I'm a sinner, I deserve your wrath in hell forever. I can't
save myself. I believe Jesus died for my sins. I need Jesus as my Saviour.
Thank you for saving me."
It's
no different now! Everyday must be the same. Your sanctification is just
your justification in action.
EVERYDAY MUST BE THE SAME AS WHEN YOU FIRST GOT
SAVED AND YOU CALLED OUT TO JESUS IN HELPLESSNESS TO BE SAVED. GOD DOESN'T GIVE
OUT A LITTLE HEALING HERE, OR A LITTLE BLESSING THERE, OR A LITTLE DELIVERANCE
HERE OR THERE ... HE ONLY GIVES JESUS. NOTHING ELSE WILL WORK! "FOR IN HIM
DWELLETH ALL THE FULNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODlLY. AND YE ARE COMPLETE IN
HIM... (Colossians 2:9-10)
By
Harley Hitchcock
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
Psychology
-another gospel
“the rise of Psychology in churches occurs
when men
