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."
(Psalm 39:5)
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
This
website’s front page is:
www.
Psychology
-another gospel
“the rise of Psychology in churches occurs
when men
