"WHERE ARE THE OTHER NINE"?

"WHERE ARE THE OTHER NINE"?

Another one of many reasons Christians find sobriety eluding them.

WHERE ARE THE OTHER NINE?

Luke 17:11-19

11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:
13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 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.

WHERE ARE THE OTHER NINE?

Might I suggest that they've taken a wrong turn somewhere's along their journey and are now lost in the darkness on the wide road to destruction!? Having spent most of the first 40 years of my life as an alcoholic and addict, I don't see much difference between drunkenness and leprosy. Those of us who are lost in the darkness of our addictions can see no hope until Jesus crosses our path, and sheds light on our hopelessness, offering us freedom and Salvation! During the past 30 years, after having accepted His offer and choosing to share His Good News with others, I've come to the conclusion that while we all need to accept His offer of Eternal Life by accepting Him as our Savior, many, perhaps only 9 out of 10 will accept it! While many claim to have "met" Jesus along their paths, they refuse to Crucify their old selves, (Romans 6:6) or their flesh, and pick up their own cross (Matthew 16:24). Repentance is a price they are unwilling to pay, and the consequences for the alcoholics or addicts who continue to make meaningless excuses often keep them in their addictions as well as the darkness that accompanies them. These are the "many" Jesus speaks of below, who are on the wide road "that leadeth to destruction"! They are the ones listening to "false prophets" in "sheep's clothing" convincing them that the AA 12-steps are the only road to addiction recovery, when the Truth tells us that cults like AA will only lead us to hell!   
     
Matthew 7:13-15, 13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it., 15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 

WHERE ARE THE OTHER NINE?

Did they get lost at The Cross? Did The Cross become a stumbling block? Was the idea of repentance and obedience more than they could accept and commit to? Only Jesus knows!

It’s very easy today to get lost in the darkness along that very crowded wide road! Being a Christian today subjects us to a far greater degree of temptation and false teaching than ever before. We’re surrounded by the enemy on the internet, TV, and throughout the world, including many of our Churches. Many today, profess a relationship with Jesus one minute, and a minute later are engaged in the sin of one worldly activity or another. All the while defending and justifying their actions through some false teaching that they’ve heard in a “MEGA” Cathedral, or on TV, or the internet. Repenting with our lips one minute, and dabbling in sin the next, is not what God had in mind in Acts 26:20! “But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.”   I pray that you’re not one of the nine out of ten in AA who claim to be Christians, who have been "cleansed" of their addictions, yet they refuse to acknowledge The Truth, instead giving all the glory to, and defend, even promote the idea that their "cleansing" came from AA, or another similar 12-step program. Their defiance is well defined in the above scripture! Maybe 1 in 10 will see The Truth, that there is but one way to receive that “cleansing, “ while the other 9 take their "cleansing" for granted, turn away from God, and go back to their worldly ways! More than likely their next relapse is hiding right around the corner of their defiance and arrogance, just waiting for the next trial or temptation to appear, where their arrogance will be revealed. Psalm 17:10, “They close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance.” 

ARE YOU DENYING THE TRUTH

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT DIES AFTER SETTING HIMSELF ON FIRE!

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/standley-lake-high-school-student-dies-after-setting-himself-on-fire

DID THIS GET YOUR ATTENTION?  GOOD!

      This message is actually about denial and the end times. Denial is a subject that is usually found and discussed in addiction recovery programs, where I've been involved as an addiction recovery mentor for 30 years. That position has allowed me an opportunity to closely and intimately observe and evaluate the behavior of thousands of individuals from all walks of life, and in every circumstance imaginable. People from all Faiths, and of no faith. From Christians to atheists, and everything in between. People from many different cultures and nationalities, young and old. People struggling with every conceivable addiction there is. People who are just starting their addiction recovery and people who have been involved in it for their entire lifetimes. People who have found some success, and others who relapse over and over again. Nearly 30 years of face to face, eye to eye contact and communication, not from a distance, over the internet as I’ve been doing more recently. No matter who was sitting across the room or table from me, we all shared one mutual and common emotional demon that controlled our addictions, a part of human nature known as denial. I’ve come to recognize that denial doesn’t just exist in the area of addictions, but in every aspect of our lives! Denial is an emotional form of human nature based on the truth as we see and understand it. Some people see a bright, beautiful, blue sky as grey and cloudy, not because they’re color blind, but because they’re unhappy and living in a state of depression, and in denial of the truth. Others see a grey, dreary, cloudy day and rejoice that they’re alive to enjoy it!  

       I believe as a Christian, that it all begins with God’s all defining absolute Truth. Since God IS The Truth, we either belong to Him, believe in Him, trust in Him, and follow Him, or DENY Him! If we choose to DENY Him, we have nothing! God’s Truth is split into right and wrong. We’ve always known right from wrong according to man’s laws, now, as Born Again Christians, we know it according to God’s Sovereign Truth. Titus 1:16, “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” As Christians, we cannot deny, or even question any element of God’s Sovereign Word, or we’re denying Him and questioning His authority in our lives! As Saved, born again Christians in addiction recovery, God’s Truth has been revealed to us, and we can no longer claim our “drunkenness” as anything but sin. (Gal.5:19-21) We must repent according to Acts 26:20, “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.” That means that we must turn from the denial that has kept us in our addictions, and turn from the denial of any of God’s Truth as He has revealed it to us. This may seem like a giant task to some, but if we’re born again, we’ve received The Holy Spirit to help us, and He will convict us every time we slip up, and it’s up to us to act upon that conviction and repent, or “deny” The Truth!

      Now back to the original purpose of this message, “denial,” and how it applies to every aspect of our lives every day of our lives. The above headlines were in our newspaper recently and turned my stomach! During the past year there have been a number of heinous, tragic, and unimaginable news events, and other ridiculously immoral and indecent events that should have created public outcries, yet instead have been met with almost muted reaction! All of these events have led me to write a variety of musings about them to post on public media, which have also been met with little if any reaction. This leads me to believe, or really to confirm an idea that I’ve had for quite some time, that we’re living in a time and culture which first, is in total denial, and second, in complete apathy to the state of disarray that the world is in. Not long after I became clean and sober 30 years ago, and soon after became a born again Christian with God’s Truth revealed to me, I began to wonder if it was possible that the air we were breathing was so polluted with second hand marijuana smoke, that the entire populace were stoned! Or was it possible that generations of alcoholics and drug addicts and pot heads could have passed down genes to create a whole generation of “lost souls”? For those who are unaware of the damage that drugs and alcohol does to the human being, let me say this from 25 years of firsthand experience, whenever a person is drunk on alcohol, high on drugs, or stoned on pot, our minds are in a fog! Period! The entire world today, from top to bottom, appears to be living in a deep, thick fog! The entire world today appears, acts, and performs as if it were in a drunken stupor! When a high school student is so despondent, and his depression goes completely unnoticed until he commits suicide in front of his friends and classmates in the school cafeteria by setting himself on fire, we are clearly living in the very end times!
   

      As a Christian I fully understand that these are all signs of the end times, but I’m surprised and disappointed that there aren’t more Christians challenged and acting on, or fulfilling the words of Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” I’m certainly seeing a much clearer perspective of the words and message in Matthew 7:13-14, 13, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14, But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  As Christians living in the end times, there is little we can do to prevent headlines in the news like those we’ve been seeing recently, but we can do, and are in fact “commanded” “to go,” and share The Good News of The Gospel of Jesus Christ with all those who don’t know God’s Truth. And we can pray for all the victims of these tragedies, that they may see God’s hand in them as part of that Truth! Or, we can continue living in denial ourselves of The Truth, and hope that someone’s praying for us!  

DO ALCOHOLICS AND ADDICTS EVER GROW UP?

DO ALCOHOLICS AND ADDICTS EVER GROW UP?

One of the earliest and most important lessons I learned in my first days of addiction recovery was this; when alcoholics and addicts use the drug of their choice for the purpose of escaping the pain of reality, we stop growing in all aspects of our life! We become spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, and intellectually starved for growth. In essence, we become paralyzed in these areas, not to mention the damage being done physically at the same time! It was this very simple, basic, common sense reality that got my attention, and made it a simple choice to quit using drugs and alcohol to avoid reality. Basically, this is saying that if we start using drugs and alcohol for escapism or distraction, at the age of 15, 15 years later we still have the same spiritual, emotional, psychological, and intellectual capabilities of a 15 year old child, instead of a 30 year old adult! Or, if you should be fortunate enough to have survived these circumstances for 45 years, you’re more than likely still acting and living your life as a 15 year old child. A difficult reality to swallow, but one that abundantly explains the behavior of many in addiction recovery programs today. A reality that most assuredly will be met with denial by most 45 + or - year old alcoholics or addicts who have yet to accept the exact nature of their addictions. That exact nature being of course the fact that their addictions are actually an expression of sinful behavior, NOT a disease, and the result of spiritual warfare between The One True Living God, our Creator, and His Son Jesus Christ, and our enemy, the devil! 90% of alcoholics and addicts are living under decades old false pretences that “drunkenness” is a disease that can somehow be cured, someday perhaps by a magic pill or potion. Another 90% of the above alcoholics and addicts have also been mislead to believe that the only “cure” for their “disease” is in total and complete surrender to the secular 12-steps of AA and other 12-step programs which are in total and complete opposition to The Truth of God’s Holy Word! These cults have infiltrated many of our Christian Churches today through the deception of our enemy the devil, knowing, understanding, and taking advantage of these simple facts and the reality explained above. Drunkenness has been a well known tool of destruction used by satan since the beginning of time, well recorded and documented throughout God’s Word as sin, to keep God’s people from knowing Him. Still to this day, addiction to drugs and alcohol is one of satan’s most productive methods of keeping people from God and His Truth! AA, and other 12-step addiction recovery programs have been an invaluable asset for satan to keep The Truth hidden from unbelievers and Christians as well! By deceitfully professing to be of Christian origin, they’ve convinced millions of unsuspecting alcoholics and addicts to accept and believe that they’re a Christian program. Nothing could be further from the Truth! While there are many examples of heresy that’s being taught in their meetings, here are just a few of the most troubling ones; that members should adhere to the AA bible, known as the big book, and ignore God’s Word. That its members might choose and worship any god figure of their choice and understanding. That they shall refrain from any discussion of God’s Son, Jesus Christ in their meetings! Step #1 says that we are powerless, while the Bible tells us we are NOT! AA proclaims the most hopeless idea imaginable to its members with the claim of, “once a drunk, always a drunk”! While the list goes on and on, the point is already made, that AA based on just those few points can only be defined as a cult at best, and as a successful addiction recovery program at worst. The fact that they end every meeting with the words, “keep coming back, it works,” indicates just the opposite, if it worked, you wouldn’t need to spend the rest of your life there.

AA has been around for decades and there is no doubt that it has helped many lost souls find sobriety, and God has even revealed Himself to some members in the program, just as He does to criminals in prisons. However, if they were in fact of Christian origin as they claim, they would be focused and centered on God’s Word, The Truth, and leading its members to Salvation as instructed in Matthew 28:19-20. Then Salvation and The Truth would lead them to sobriety and to be “set free” from other sin.             

*If we start using drugs and alcohol at an early age, and for as long as we continue to use them, to hide from The Truth and reality, there is no reason to expect that we will ever recognize or understand The Truth! Even though God has revealed His Truth to nearly every human being on earth, we can’t understand it while in a drunken, or drug induced stupor!  The Truth that clearly explains His command that we should all repent from our sin, and turn to Him for forgiveness and everlasting life with Him! If we don’t repent from the sin of “drunkenness,” or until we do, we can expect to continue to live in the “fog,” and the consequent dysfunctional behavior that accompanies our addictions, and will eventually incapacitate our ability to recognize or understand The Truth, and act upon it! John 8:31-36 is perfectly clear that we must know and follow God’s Truth if we’re to be “set free.” “Set free” from the bondage of sin, which keeps us from a close personal relationship, and Eternal life with Him.  Again, these are very simple, basic, common sense realities that are often overlooked or misunderstood by their very nature. No matter what our age, our maturity is based on our sobriety. There are millions of lost souls today who are living in tired and worn out bodies, with millions of hard miles of drug and alcohol use and abuse on them, but, or consequently, haven’t heard or accepted God’s Truth, and until you do, The Truth cannot “set you free”! You must hear it, believe it, and 
act upon it to receive by Grace, God’s forgiveness and everlasting life with Him! Sobriety, along with many other blessings will follow those who are obedient to His Word.



    

DENIAL!

     Denial is a form of pride. It begins with our thinking so highly of ourselves that we think we can do no wrong, and allow satan to convince us that there is nothing wrong with putting poison in our bodies that will eventually kill us. During this slow process of death, or in all reality, a form of suicide, we render our minds dysfunctional and end up in total denial. This becomes the foundation of all addictions. It leads us to try our first beer, pill, or needle! Or any other sin! Satan convinces us first, just as he did in the Garden, that there is nothing wrong with the sin we’re about to engage in. Then, since it felt good and there appeared to be no negative consequences, we try it again, and again, and again, and again, until it becomes an addiction. But denial and pride is still guiding us, and has us convinced that we’re in control and there is no problem. If we started our drinking with a beer, most of us have moved on to vodka, or other stronger alcohol, eventually in quantities that will float boats, before we begin to realize that we might have a problem. If we started our drug use with a joint, many of us have moved on to heroin or other deadly drugs, in quantities that will surely kill us before we begin to realize that we might have a problem. For those of us who are fortunate enough to someday come to this realization, that we indeed do have a problem, we graduate from denial into recovery. Here we find two choices of recovery, as in anything in life; there are always two choices, God’s way, or the world’s way, which of course is satan’s way. For those of us who are unfortunate enough to be part of the masses that choose help from “the world’s way,” or from some undefined “higher power,” and the world’s many secular 12-step addiction recovery programs, all of which are owned, operated, and managed by satan, there is little help available to them. In fact your first brainwashing indoctrination will be a lesson in how you’re a hopeless, “powerless,” drunk, who will always be a drunk. (“once a drunk, always a drunk”) One of aa’s many slogans or mottos. For those few of us who are fortunate enough to seek help through The Grace of our Living God, the Creator, and His Son Jesus Christ, help can be found and embraced!  Sobriety can be achieved and life can be restored as we transition from being “in recovery,” to being totally “recovered.” Our freedom can be celebrated as we are “set free” according to John 8:31-36, “IF” we “abide in His Word”! The first two verses in that group, “IF” they’re consciously understood, will freeze many in their tracks! “What, I have to obey God’s Word”? For those with that reaction, herein is where “denial and pride” enter back into our continued struggle with recovery. Many of us have been subjected to so much false teaching in our new age mega churches over the past few decades, that the Truth has become a fairy tale! Many believe that genuine repentance and the idea of obedience has become an artifactual relic or remnant left over from the Old Testament, and is no longer relevant. Many use certain scriptures to defend and justify their sinful behavior. “We’re all sinners,” being the most popular. When this happens, our Faith becomes irrelevant because we’re placing it in a false God or idol that we’ve been taught to worship! As soon as we encounter and fail a trial or temptation, we want to blame someone else and God is our first choice. We are now in total denial of God’s Truth! And we will suffer the consequences! 

        We’ve come full circle; first, years ago we began our addictions by denying that drugs and alcohol was a problem, now years later we’re denying that God can “set us free” because we can’t handle The Truth, and refuse to “abide in His Word”! Many Christians deny, ignore, or simply don’t understand the significance or complications of John 8:31-36, or the consequences thereof. “IF” we’re not abiding in His Word, we will not know the Truth, nor be “set free”! Many Christians are in total denial to the fact that their relationship with God is “conditional”! There are many “IF’S” throughout God’s Word indicating certain “conditions” that He puts on our relationships with Him. Many Christians today have been mislead into believing that they can pray a simple prayer of Salvation, be Saved, and go on about their daily business as usual without being instructed about conditions such as those implied in Acts 26:20, “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.” Yes, we must pray that prayer of Salvation from the bottom of our hearts, if we believe God has called us out of the darkness of our addictions, we must repent and be set apart, 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” There must be change, and we must be conformed, Romans 8:28-30, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” The scripture is perfectly clear. It’s now available in accountable translations that don’t require a degree in Theology to understand. Yes, there is a lot of false teaching in our Churches today that require our keen vigilance, and that’s why God gave us the message we find in Acts 17:11, “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” The problem we see with addiction recovery in the Church today can be attributed to the false teachings of AA type 12-step programs that have been allowed into our Churches over the past few decades, and the denial of God’s Truth by millions of Christians who have been brainwashed by those false teachings. AA 12-step false teachings have become false idols to millions in addiction recovery programs around the world! And just as they were in complete denial in the beginning of their addictions, today they’re in complete denial that their 12-step program has become their God! Even in our Churches we find many who can quote more from the AA big book, than from God’s Word! An indication that they have more Faith in the man made false idol of AA, then they do in The One True God, our Creator, who sent us His Son, Jesus Christ, who through Grace, and Grace alone can “set us free” from our addictions!

       We find denial in every form of sinful behavior, making it in a way a form of pride. Whether it be drugs and alcohol, or homosexuality, pornography, gambling, or any form of idolatry or other sin, the minute a Christian points a finger at a brother or sister regarding their behavior, no matter how gently and lovingly they do so, the offender will jump up kicking and screaming that we’re being “judgmental,” and making excuses in defense of it. When we point to scripture to back our allegations, they’ll immediately counter with other scripture which would be nothing less than blasphemy to use scripture to justify or defend sinful behavior. This insane behavior is pure denial, and until it’s recognized and acknowledged and dealt with by the offender, that person will remain in their sin. There is no simple disconnect switch or delete button. Those of us involved in addiction recovery as counselors, mentors, recovery group leaders or facilitators, or friends, must realize that there is little we can do to break through that denial. We can pray for the individual, and ask God to bless us with the right message to share with them, fellowship with them and share The Truth (plant seeds), and water those seeds with more Truth and encouragement until the individual see’s for themselves the situation they’re in. Once someone see’s who they’ve become, and where they are, and how they got here, recovery can begin. With Jesus truly in their life, and surrounded by others who truly have Jesus in their lives, recovery should be a relatively easy process. It is at this stage where false teachings by others who do not truly have Jesus in their lives, must be avoided at all costs! It is at this stage where we must keep our eyes, ears, and minds focused on God’s Holy Word, our hands reaching out to God seeking His presence for guidance, and on our knees until we hear an answer! We must learn to be patient, recognizing the importance of waiting on Him to reveal His purpose and plan for us in His timing, which will build our Faith and character. Your impatience will not speed up God’s work, but only slow down your progress! May you find many Blessings in your addiction recovery with Christ at your side!