WITH SOBRIETY, SHOULD COME REALITY, EVENTUALLY !

WITH SOBRIETY, SHOULD COME REALITY, (EVENTUALLY) !

Drunkenness can be achieved through a number of forms of ignorant behavior, from drinking, smoking, snorting, injecting, and ingesting every conceivable form of poison, but over time, and if left unchecked, they all lead to one result; addictions! Most acts of drunkenness, long before they become an addiction, begin in an effort to hide or mask some form of emotional or physical pain. Turning to drugs or alcohol to hide or mask our emotional pain and fear is hiding or escaping from reality, which often leads to deadly consequences. Anyone involved in addiction recovery knows many others who choose to spend their lives in programs that claim to free them from their addictions, when in reality all the program does is convert the addiction to the program itself! They convince the addict that there is no hope for recovery unless they “keep coming back”! They do nothing to restore an addict’s hope by revealing or exposing them to The Truth! The Truth, God’s Truth, is the only hope any human being has of finding and facing life’s many hard facts of reality! And at the same offers them the only Hope there is, which is the Freedom found in The Love of Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified! That Truth is NOT presented in AA 12-step addiction recovery meetings. Alcoholics and addicts are living in the fog and denial of the fantasy land that the drugs and alcohol created, and 12-step programs are simply a continuation of that fantasy. Consisting of absolutely no Truth whatsoever! The AA program is nothing less than a huge worldwide cult created by satan to deceive millions of followers into believing that they are hopeless, helpless, and powerless through their false doctrine!     

After 30 years of sobriety, I’m still discovering reality which has eluded me all these years because of the thickness of the walls of deception that the devil and I built while I was wasted and following him! Even after surrendering our lives and wills to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and hanging our sin and drunkenness on The Cross with Him, we must continue to live in this filthy rag of a body, in this filthy sinful world! While The Truth is revealed instantly, the walls we built with the devil linger, and we must begin the long, slow process of tearing them down, one stone at a time. Our progress will be determined by our Faith and reliance upon our Savior, not on our own works. “Ye of little Faith,” will see little progress in tearing down those walls and building a new life with Christ. While sober physically, mentally and Spiritually you’re still living “behind the walls,” or in prison! Reality remains an illusion until you tear down the walls! An ongoing lifelong process for many it seems as I stare into the mirror.

When we spend decades of our lives at some level of unconsciousness, inebriated on various forms of drugs used for the sole purpose of escaping from reality, the few of us who are fortunate enough to have escaped that prison would be fools to assume that suddenly we’ve arrived back into reality! While we were lost in our sinful drunkenness, we began building an imaginary world around us, that we eventually became very comfortable living in. All based on lies and deception that we created to fit our own personal character flaws and denial. The entire personality, life, and character of an alcoholic or addict is a mere illusion. As we grow older, the lies grow bigger and the walls thicker. We become invincible in our own imaginations, until suddenly one day for a few of us we get struck by a bolt of lightning and realize what a lie we’ve been living!  

Addiction recovery programs are filled with millions of people who end up there because they couldn’t face reality at some point in their lives. Escaping reality for a moment, or an hour or two, suddenly becomes a lifetime of denial, eventually leading to a lifetime of pain, suffering, loss, and failure. Or a lifetime in secular addiction recovery programs that offer no hope of ever being “set free” from the bondage of our addictions, or from the bondage of addiction recovery!   

  

Sadly, there are far too many in addiction recovery, or who should be in recovery, because their need to escape reality is valid. Sadly, our world is filled with millions of children and adults who grew up as children suffering from all sorts of childhood trauma and abuse! From neglect, to physical and sexual abuse that has led them to seek any type of escapism they can find! Then there are many others in recovery who don’t have the luxury of a valid excuse like that, and end up in recovery for a host of other invalid excuses. Most of which are all centered around issues of insecurity. The very act of escapism is a form of insecurity, and our addictions become a form of false security. Sadly for most, we’re living in a world that is living in its end times, and reality is eluding them.

While sobriety may initially reveal some degree of reality, we’re only continuing to deceive ourselves if we think that with our newfound sobriety, we somehow instantly and naturally start living in reality. Until we rebuild the personal world in which we reside, one stone at a time, we’ll be strangers in a foreign land. We must learn to tear down the many walls we’ve built over the duration of our drunken stupor. Trusting others will be next to an impossibility, and can’t begin until we learn to trust ourselves.   

The walls we build to protect ourselves from our insecurities and fear of facing painful realities, eventually become masks of false identity that we carry wherever we go throughout life. We end up not only hiding from our perceived enemies, but from everyone around us including our loved ones, and ourselves. We can get so lost in our own false identities, that we don’t even know who we are ourselves!

For the few of us who wander out of the fog long enough to catch an occasional glimpse of reality, and see something that lures us back for a second look, and maybe a third or fourth, we may discover enough of reality to realize that we’ve been lost in an evil darkness that’s kept us from discovering the real Truth about life! God’s Truth! Should He decide to reveal that Truth to us through the fog of deception that we’ve chosen to hide in, our addictions and drunkenness, we can rest assured that He has a plan for our lives! A plan that doesn’t include continuing to live in denial and some false identity.  

      

Millions keep returning to the bottle because a simple glimpse of reality terrifies them! They’ve created their very own fantasyland in which to hide and exist. Denial convinces us that not only are we invincible, but that the fantasyland that we’ve created is reality! It can take years of sobriety to break through and tear down those walls that many of us began building as children, as fortress’s to protect us from the evil that lurked all around us, and for far too many, it was not a perceived evil, but a very real evil!

Even for Christians who have repented, and turned from their sinful drunkenness, and have come to know the One True Living God and His Truth, and have Faith far greater than a mustard seed, the scars left by addictions that were acquired by years of insecurity and abuse as a child, while healed on the surface, it can take much longer to heal the heart and memory. As Christians in addiction recovery, no matter what circumstances led us to choose drugs and alcohol to escape reality, it is imperative to maintain our close personal relationship with Jesus, as the enemy will always be just one step behind us waiting for us to stumble. Waiting to remind us of how weak we once were, and to try to convince us that we still are! Stay focused on the Truth, which is that you are “SAVED AND SOBER”!

DENIAL

DENIAL

No matter how painful the past may be, we must return from time to time for a short visit, to be able to see and understand the present, and recognize hopefully that we’ve not just survived the past, but that we’ve changed, grown, and matured from it. Many refuse to visit or explore the past because of the pain, and lock themselves into a closet of denial, refusing to examine, and consequently live in the present. The closet for many becomes drugs, alcohol, and other sinful behaviors which lead to another form of denial, then another, and another. Denial is merely a lie, and soon a person’s entire life is one big lie! In doing so, they’re allowing their painful past to dictate the present. Our lives are defined by our past whether we deny it or not. We can’t escape our past or hide from it! We must dissect and examine it piece by piece under a microscope until we understand ourselves and who we are, and how we fit into this evil, sinful world.  

For the Christian, that should be an easy task. Most of that initial and basic understanding is provided when we’re born again, and “IF” we’re Born Again. “IF” we’re truly Born Again we become “brand new creatures,”  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.” That means leaving the baggage behind, repenting and moving forwards. Anything else means you need to closely examine, meditate and pray over that word “IF”. Do a word search of it and where it’s used throughout the Bible, perhaps starting with John 8:31-32, “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; ³² And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Because if you don’t follow the “IF’S”, it means you’re carrying a lot of old baggage and still living in denial of God’s Powerful Truth, and the many promises He makes us for a Blessed and changed life. There is no reason or excuse for the Born Again Christian to remain living in the past through denial of the present. A very brief visit should quickly confirm that yes, that used to be me, but now I am a child of the One True Living God, who has set me free from my past, and now I am Saved and Sober!  

john 8: 31-32

Jesus says in John 8:31-32, the keyword here being....“IF”!  

Jesus says in John 8:31-32, the keyword here being....“IF”!

Jesus says in John 8:31-32, the keyword here being....“IF”!  

Jesus also said in Matthew 7:13-15,…. 

According to John 3:3 or according to Acts 26:20 we must repent ……. 

THE THREE RING CIRCUS OF ADDICTION RECOVERY!

THE THREE RING CIRCUS

OF ADDICTION RECOVERY!

We can divide addiction recovery into three circles or elements or groups. First, there’s the majority, who believe that their addictions are a disease, and that AA type 12-step programs are the only answer to “curing” that disease. Then there is another group that still follow the concept of 12-step recovery, but that there is some undefined “higher power” that can “heal” their disease and change their life, but they have no idea of who or what this “higher power” is, so they make up a false idol to worship. And finally, there is a VERY SMALL group who has discovered The Truth, and that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to Salvation as well as sobriety!

The first group, the majority is by all probability, going to spend much of the rest of their lives doing what is known as the 1, 2, 3 step, relapse dance. While many may have come to recognize their denial, and how it’s kept them in their addictions, they just move into a different type of denial, believing they have a disease which requires their lifetime membership and attendance of AA meetings. Many simply switch from one addiction to another! Or become dependent upon, or addicted to the AA program itself! And as lifetime loyal members, refuse to listen to any common sense or Truth. According to scripture, even if they find sobriety, most likely they will remain on the “wide road” to eternal destruction, otherwise known as hell! For those unfamiliar with God’s Word, I’m referring to Matthew 7: 13-15. Which in essence tells us that only a few will be going to Heaven.

The second group is not really very far behind the first, unless, and until they come to realize that their “higher power” is The God of The Holy Bible, who sent us His Son as a sacrifice for our sin, who, if we choose to follow and trust Him with our lives, He will free us from our addictions.

This leads us to the third group. A group which I have come to believe is in a very precarious and dangerous place. A group that has been led to believe centuries of false teachings and doctrines that have destroyed the church. The practices of most churches today cannot be distinguished from the behavior of the world! Sin is being accepted and tolerated, even excused as normal behavior, leaving the world and the lost that are in it, to believe that we’re all saved! Or, that repentance is no longer necessary for Salvation. This leads us back to addiction recovery in the church, where secular 12-step addiction recovery programs are being used in vain to minister to the millions who are suffering from addictions to drugs and alcohol! These false teachings blindly negate the very need for recovery by denying or overlooking the absolute need to repent! There are many people in church recovery groups who profess to be Christians, yet have no idea what repentance means to their sobriety or their Salvation. It’s nothing more than a 10 letter word. Many think that God’s Grace is a free ticket to continue in their sinful behavior without consequence, never taking note of, Romans 6:1-3; What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? ² God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? ³ Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Many more believe that all scripture pointing to the fact that we’re “all sinners,” or Paul’s struggle with his sin in Romans 7, are excuses to sin!  

This brings us back to 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. ..…“and few there be that find it”!  Will you be one of the few? One of the few who will hear Jesus Words, “His lord said unto him, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” in Matthew 25:21?

The ringleader of this circus of course is satan. In all of his many disguises he deceives the world today just as he did in the garden in the beginning of time. His audience has changed, but not his tactics. Adam and Eve were basically innocent and uninformed other than the direct instructions and warning from God, their Creator. Today, we’re anything but innocent, and endlessly informed and warned since birth of right and wrong, and the consequences of making the wrong choices. Yet we choose to make those wrong choices over and over again ignoring the warnings and knowledge of the consequences. Even professing Christians, who know God’s Word, allow satan to deceive them with obvious lies that lead them away from God and His Truth! There have been millions, if not billions of innocent people over the centuries who have been deceived by satan cloaked in robes, disguised as preachers and teachers in their churches with every imaginable false teaching and doctrine designed to lead them away from God’s Truth! The “few” who will get to, and through the narrow, strait gate, will do so only because they sought a close personal relationship with Jesus Christ, which led them to hunger for an understanding of His Truth, and a desire to follow that Truth and please Him! The few who repent and turn from their sin, rather than make excuses to stay in it! The few who hunger to serve God and share His Truth with the lost, not seeking any rewards here on earth, knowing ours are just inside the narrow gate!

Amen     

AA has been misleading millions

Addiction Crucifixion Fellowship is a ministry that leads to being Saved and Sober! We do not share or accept any false doctrine that justifies sinful behavior in the professing Christian. Repentance is a condition of Salvation AND sobriety! Making excuses for sinful behavior such as, “we’re all sinners,” is completely twisting scripture that is meant to show us that we can be “set free” from our sinful nature “IF” we repent as in Acts 26:20, and “IF” we live according to God’s Word as in John 8:31-32. Any form of "drunkenness", whether from drugs or alcohol, which we find mentioned throughout God's Word is in context with other sin, and is just that, sin! The world, (satan) would have you believe that it's a disease and that there are 12 easy steps to cure it! AA has been misleading millions of unsuspecting, alcoholics and addicts for decades into believing that they're some sort of a Christian program, yet they deny the very presence of Jesus Christ and His Holy Word in any of their meetings! This is pure blasphemy which keeps the Christian from The Truth as well as sobriety and Salvation! They DO NOT teach repentance, which is the only way to Salvation!     

Addiction Crucifixion Fellowship is a ministry that was formed over a decade ago to plant and spread seeds of God’s Gospel Truth as it pertains to addiction recovery to millions of lost souls trapped in circumstances, including churches, that don’t know or share the Truth regarding addiction recovery or Salvation! Saved and Sober is a book I’ve written for anyone involved in addiction recovery who is seeking The Truth, which is quite simply that “IF” you’re Saved, you should be sober! Quite simply put, I don’t believe that should The Lord return today, you will be going anywhere’s with Him if your drunk, stoned, or in a drunken stupor! You’ll be “left behind”!

That being said, if you choose to follow the millions of others who excuse their sinful behavior and drunkenness with the commonly heard “we’re all sinners” excuse, rather than repent and turn to God, as we’re instructed to do in Acts 26:20, which is quite clear;  “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,”

you will be left behind! Our Salvation is conditional, otherwise everyone would be going to Heaven, and Christ’s sacrifice on The Cross would have been in vain. Matthew 7:13-15 is also quite clear that; 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.

 “And few there be that find it”! Are you one of the few, or one of the many mentioned above busy making excuses for your sin? Are you sure you’ve not been duped by one of the many false teachers mentioned above in Matthew 7:15, “a ravening wolf” leading you straight to hell, or are you confident it is in fact Jesus Christ you’re following, and you don’t have to worry about hearing Him say someday as He did in Matthew 7:21, “ Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”  If you’re indeed following Jesus, you won’t be lost in sinful behavior and making excuses for it. You’ll be busy setting Godly examples to the lost who need to hear The Good News of Jesus Christ Crucified! Which brings forgiveness and Salvation, not excuses!  

Would you prefer to be SAVED AND SOBER,...or drunk, wasted, headed to hell? Don't tell me that's a difficult decision!

ARE YE SAVED?

ARE YE SAVED?

After centuries of false teachings from every conceivable pulpit imaginable, from millions of smiling faced chameleons, representing thousands of “churches” and false doctrines, whether deceitfully, or from misguided good intentions, there is still a very narrow road to Heaven! With very little traffic on it! 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. No matter how “wide” these false teachers have painted the picture, the Truth is in Jesus’ Words in Matthew 7:21-24,  ²¹ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? ²³ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. ²⁴ Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: Much to the dismay, shock, and complete rejection or denial of millions, if not billions of professing Christians worldwide, is the Truth accepted that Salvation is a “conditional” gift offered through God’s Grace by not simply accepting the Truth that He sacrificed His Son for us on The Cross, but that we must repent and follow Him by obeying Him and His Word!  John 8:31-32, ³¹ Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, “If” ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; ³² And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. “But I’m a sinner,” many will use as an excuse when confronted about their daily behavior! Yes, we all are, and are forgiven when we repent. Repenting, however, is turning from our sin, not excusing it and saying “I’m sorry” every 15 minutes using scripture in defense of it!  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. We are not born again to continue in our sin!  John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.  

Are ye indeed Saved, or have you simply been duped by some sly or deceived false teacher into believing that all you need to do to be Saved is “take an oath, pledge an allegiance, promise to do good works, commit to tithing, or show up at church every Sunday! The only way that you’ll know for sure yourself, is from God personally, through His Word, revealed to you directly and personally through His Holy Spirit! We need no middlemen! Teachers and pastors can help us understand the history and purpose of Church history and how we fit in, but only God Himself can reveal Himself to us personally through The Holy Spirit! “IF” you’re indeed Saved, you will have a close intimate personal relationship with your Savior through His Word as revealed through The Holy Spirit! You must spend time in The Word to get to know The Author and build that relationship. Taking anyone else’s word for it can be eternally fatal! 

How do we know if our pastor, teacher, or mentor is telling us the Truth? First, you can rest assured that many, if not most of them aren’t! Not always deceitfully, but simply, and in some cases out of “pure blind love,” and their own ignorance of The Truth! There is only “one” way to be assured that we know and understand The Truth! Through the personal guidance of The Holy Spirit as we search The Scripture daily! We must live as The Bereans in Acts 17:11  These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.   

We should never rely solely on man’s counsel on any matters of life and death either here on earth, or Eternally! We are clearly living in a world dominated by false teaching! The Mega $$$ churches have taken over, and many Mini churches are following in their shadows and false teachings. It is up to each and every individual Christian to “seek ye first, the Kingdom of Heaven,” to seek and cultivate his or her close personal relationship with Jesus Christ, through The Word of God, as led by The Holy Spirit!  

Are ye Saved? Only God knows, and the answers are only in His Word, not on man’s lips! Studying His Word, The Truth, with the guidance of The Holy Spirit is the only way to finding the answer to that question.

"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 Lord and Savior, few, perhaps only 1 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), and become "fishers of other lost sheep", lost in the wilderness of drunkenness as we once were! 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.”