Sunday, August 24, 2014

THE IGNORANCE THAT ACCOMPANIES DRUNKENNESS

  THE IGNORANCE THAT ACCOMPANIES DRUNKENNESS
There can be no greater display or example of ignorance on this planet than that of two or more alcoholics and or addicts attempting to carry on a conversation amongst themselves or with others, while in the midst of their drunken stupor! It is impossible for a sober person to intelligently communicate with an alcoholic or addict while they’re in their unconscious state of drunkenness, or even during their rare and brief moments of hung-over sobriety. A few hours in a hangover does not constitute sobriety. Your “hangover” can last years, depending on the degree and duration of your intoxication. It takes a great deal of time well beyond “the hangover,” in recovery, and in a sober state of mind to begin to regain some resemblance of intelligence and intellect, and to see the regrowth of old dead brain cells, and the development and growth of new ones. The human being cannot grow or mature while in the unconscious state of drunkenness. If we started the use of persistent drug and alcohol use and abuse when we were 12 or 14 years old, and continue to do so for 20 years, we will end up being a 34 year old imbecile with the mental capacity of a 14 year old! I’ve personally witnessed many, and know that there are millions of alcoholics and addicts who spend their lives in “recovery”, relapsing over and over again, generally every time they’re confronted with a trial of any sort. Typically the longer a person continues in their drunkenness, the more trials they find themselves in, because their weakness and immaturity turns a common cold in their mind into what they perceive to be pneumonia or worse. In other words, a headache or flat tire, or someone cutting you off in the traffic, and a million other trivial daily events are seen by the alcoholic or addict as an excuse to get wasted, rather than face the situation intelligently. This is routine, common behavior for the alcoholic or addict who lives in constant denial and refuses to make the decision to change. Perhaps the biggest tragedy is that our society has created an environment of recovery programs that have millions of lost souls believing that “drunkenness” somehow has been redefined as an incurable disease, rather than the “sin” that it is defined as in the Bible! The world has convinced millions of alcoholics and addicts that there is no hope for them other than a lifetime commitment to their 12-step programs! And an even greater tragedy is that many of our churches today are following these programs instead of using The Gospel of Jesus Christ to teach The Truth and reveal the lies that keep so many in bondage to the sin of addictions to drugs and alcohol, as well as many of today’s other debilitating sins that are destroying the core of our country, our families!  
      
There can be no greater tragedy on this planet since the flood that Noah survived, than that of drunkenness amongst mankind! We’ve had our World Wars and many others, we’ve had plagues of all kinds, and we still have cancer and many other diseases we can't cure, we’ve had many tragedies like 9-11, we have many natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, etc., all which take thousands of lives in the blink of an eye, but none of these compare with the tragedy of drunkenness, and the death toll it’s produced since it was first mentioned in The Old Testament. While there are very few survivors of drunkenness, there are millions of innocent victims who are dragged into the pit of their hell and consequences, to suffer right along beside them as they slowly destroy their lives. Drunkenness has become the new “Great Flood”!

Yet the world is in complete denial, and not only tolerates it, but encourages and promotes it by ignoring and turning a blind eye to it! We promote and encourage it through the dereliction of a corrupt government fed by greed and the ignorance that greed creates. In spite of the millions of victims of this tragic epidemic, our governments are in the early stages of legalizing, even promoting the sale and distribution of dangerous and addictive drugs. Here in Colorado it’s become quite clear that the state’s primary interest is in boosting their income! With little or no concern out of sheer ignorance for the long term affects on our children, and the eventual millions of innocent victims it will have! Common sense and history will show any intelligent human being that “experimenting” with marijuana usually leads to “experimenting” with and addiction to other more deadly drugs. Out of denial, those doing the “experimenting” will always disagree and refuse to acknowledge the truth as they slowly, and gradually slip into the grip of, and addiction to, any of the drugs that they’re “experimenting” with! This is nothing more than a form of the same denial that alcoholics have been dealing with since the beginning of time!  
       
The common, average person who’s grown up into adulthood without the need or use of drugs and alcohol to escape reality and suppress any emotional duress that reality might bring, will never be able to comprehend the sheer ignorance that accompanies addictions. Denial could very well be the leading example of that ignorance. An alcoholic might best be defined as someone who can’t live without alcohol, yet every single alcoholic I’ve ever encountered, will quickly proclaim in defense of their behavior, and out of total denial, “I can quit anytime”! Many will show up for their 10 thousandth AA meeting after 30 years of constant relapse, telling the group that “I can quit anytime”! Still others after 30 years of constant relapse, will tell the doctor who’s just informed him that he has incurable liver cancer, “I can quit anytime”! The Gospel Truth is that we can’t quit anytime without accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior who will set us free once we've repented and turned from our sin to follow Him! Once you've accepted His offer of Salvation, you can be Saved and Sober!           

It troubles me greatly, and has so since the day 20 some odd years ago, I first started ministering to and mentoring alcoholics and addicts, that our government and educational systems believe a person can learn how to counsel alcoholics and addicts through books and classrooms, and be qualified because of a degree or certificate on their wall! Until someone has felt and experienced the pain and suffering and many consequences that accompany addictions, they will never be qualified to counsel someone who might be minutes or hours or days away from the last drink or drug that will kill them! The only book needed to counsel any human being struggling with a sin issue is The Bible, God’s Holy Word and The Truth! Scripture has been telling us for centuries that drunkenness is sin. Yet man, in just the past century, through lies, heresy, and false teaching, has convinced millions to believe that sin is a disease that somehow miraculously can be healed simply by spending the rest of your life in a 12-step program, worshipping any god you can conceive! The world has been producing an infinite number of counselors who believe and teach this rubbish, and convince millions of hurting and vulnerable alcoholics and addicts that it is the truth! This blasphemous teaching can also be found in most of our churches today! Addictions are a very tragic and potentially deadly epidemic that possesses millions of people around the world every day, and requires serious and experienced intervention that can lead someone to the only true God, Jesus Christ, which in the final analysis is the only permanent solution to eliminating drunkenness from a person’s life! Once a person has committed his or her life to Christ, they can turn to Him any time of day or night, in any circumstance, and directly and personally seek HIS counseling rather than the fallible advice of another man.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

THE TEN PERCENTILE



THE TEN PERCENTILE
Today’s Leper...
Leper; According to Merriam-Webster  
lep·er
 noun \ˈle-pər\
: a person who has leprosy
: someone who is disliked and avoided by other people
Full Definition of LEPER
1
:  a person affected with leprosy
2
:  a person shunned for moral or social reasons

I believe it’s safe to say that the world today is filled with many lepers. If we compare today’s alcoholics and addicts, drug dealers, child molesters, homosexuals, and other deviant sinners by the above definitions with the lepers mentioned throughout The Bible, I suspect there is little difference. I believe that Luke 17: 11-19  can be interpreted as telling us that for every 10 “lepers” who ask God for forgiveness and deliverance, 9 will stay on the same road they’ve been traveling on, and only one will turn back and praise, worship, glorify, and follow Him! When Jesus travels through our villages today…. In the form of a Holy Spirit filled Christian serving Him by sharing His Gospel Truth with the many “lepers” in the world today, a few of them will come out of their closets and ask to be set free from the bondage of their sin.
Whether we find them in our Churches, hospitals, mental institutions, addiction recovery programs, prisons and jails, homeless shelters, or in the streets and alleys, many will reach out to God for deliverance from the pain and suffering that their sinful behavior is causing them. And many also, because of today’s false teachings and consequent misbelief and misunderstanding of God’s Truth, will believe that they’ve been Saved simply for asking, not realizing the need to repent and turn from their sinful behavior, and to turn to Jesus Christ and follow Him! They believe God’s Grace is a license to sin! The one who recognized the miracle of Jesus’ deliverance, turned back to praise and glorify Him, and Jesus’ words to him were, 17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.  Our salvation is based on repentance and determination to change and live a new life worthy of God’s Grace which we will need when we do fall short. The other 9 above never turned back to praise God and accept His Grace, and hear His words,  19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

All of the unsaved world today needs to hear God’s Gospel Truth! They need to search it as the Bereans did in Acts 17:11 until they understand it. Not until then will we know if we’re Saved or lost!