Talk Show From Church Which Ministers To Alcoholics And Drug Addicts

[JoChris]

Interesting show for people (like myself) who too easily forget "there for the grace of God, there go I..."
These pastors formed a church who had many new converts but they were still drug/ alcoholic addicts.

Like they say, they can't make people stop using drugs if they DON'T to do so. It sounds like many of their new converts had real struggles with backsliding and then coming back, backsliding then coming back, just like the apostle Paul describes in this passage, especially verses 18-25. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+7&version=KJV

Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

 

[Tatilina]

There are Christians who believe and jusify that it is okay to smoke marijauna and that there is nothing wrong with it. I know that to not be true when 7 years ago, I prayed and asked God to help me quit smoking weed. My husband and I were heavy users. We'd go through maybe half an ounce a week. Regardless of that, God had answered my prayers. It began with hating the smell of it. I could not for the life of me stand the smell. I started to feel extremely dizzy and faint. I also developed some sort of allergic reaction to it. Whenever I would go to touch it to cut it up, I began breaking out in big hives. If I didn't wash my hands right away afterwards, when I would rub my eyes, they would become super itchy like a bad mosquito bite. I also started experiencing what it felt like my throat closing up on me after.

I know for a fact that God does not condone using drugs when you are a Christian. Our bodies are his temple

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

12“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”b 17But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.c

18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

I know this verse is dealing with sexual immorality mostly, but I believe it still applies.

 

[JoChris]

Just finished watching it, quite a few listed weaknesses of AA:
I thought I had read somewhere that Alcoholics Anonymous had become very non-religious and generalised, plus it provided no hope for real change.

If there are any people who have used this type of program I am very interested in your opinion of this pastor's analysis of AA.

Does Narcotics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Sex addicts Anonymous, Codependents Anonymous et. al. use the same material as AA, just with changed terminology and issues addressed as relevant to the group?

 

[JoChris]

There are Christians who believe and jusify that it is okay to smoke marijauna and that there is nothing wrong with it. I know that to not be true when 7 years ago, I prayed and asked God to help me quit smoking weed. My husband and I were heavy users. We'd go through maybe half an ounce a week. Regardless of that, God had answered my prayers. It began with hating the smell of it. I could not for the life of me stand the smell. I started to feel extremely dizzy and faint. I also developed some sort of allergic reaction to it. Whenever I would go to touch it to cut it up, I began breaking out in big hives. If I didn't wash my hands right away afterwards, when I would rub my eyes, they would become super itchy like a bad mosquito bite. I also started experiencing what it felt like my throat closing up on me after.

I know for a fact that God does not condone using drugs when you are a Christian. Our bodies are his temple

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

12“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”b 17But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.c

18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

I know this verse is dealing with sexual immorality mostly, but I believe it still applies.

That is a GREAT example of answered prayer in your life!!!!

 

[rainerann]

I think people struggle with backsliding at first because they don't really understand the spiritual principle of perseverance or how this is a requirement for a Christian. We are saved by grace, but we will still experience trial and tribulations. I remember when the verse about being perfected became painfully real for me.

"Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us," (Romans 5:3-5).

Hope may not disappoint, but it isn't easy to get there sometimes. There is nothing really to prepare you for this either. Becoming a Christian is this special moment where you realize that Jesus is who He says He is and you are effortlessly lifted out of darkness. The enemy cannot harm the way he was able to before. There is a new sense of safety that fills you relief.

Then, you jump into some 300 mile long pool and have to swim to the other side. That is what it is like to be a Christian. It is not for the faint of heart.

 

[Tatilina]

I think people struggle with backsliding at first because they don't really understand the spiritual principle of perseverance or how this is a requirement for a Christian. We are saved by grace, but we will still experience trial and tribulations. I remember when the verse about being perfected became painfully real for me.

"Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us," (Romans 5:3-5).

Hope may not disappoint, but it isn't easy to get there sometimes. There is nothing really to prepare you for this either. Becoming a Christian is this special moment where you realize that Jesus is who He says He is and you are effortlessly lifted out of darkness. The enemy cannot harm the way he was able to before. There is a new sense of safety that fills you relief.

Then, you jump into some 300 mile long pool and have to swim to the other side. That is what it is like to be a Christian. It is not for the faint of heart.

You forgot all the piranhas chomping at you as you struggle to avoid while getting to the otherside, thank God for that invisible protective barrier!

 

[JoChris]

I think people struggle with backsliding at first because they don't really understand the spiritual principle of perseverance or how this is a requirement for a Christian. We are saved by grace, but we will still experience trial and tribulations. I remember when the verse about being perfected became painfully real for me.

"Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us," (Romans 5:3-5).

Hope may not disappoint, but it isn't easy to get there sometimes. There is nothing really to prepare you for this either. Becoming a Christian is this special moment where you realize that Jesus is who He says He is and you are effortlessly lifted out of darkness. The enemy cannot harm the way he was able to before. There is a new sense of safety that fills you relief.

Then, you jump into some 300 mile long pool and have to swim to the other side. That is what it is like to be a Christian. It is not for the faint of heart.

It is also a process of learning that you can't overcome sin by mere will-power. We need God's strength to overcome sin. God sometimes permits us to fail to humble us and make us call out for Him.

 

[Tatilina]

It is also a process of learning that you can't overcome sin by mere will-power. We need God's strength to overcome sin. God sometimes permits us to fail to humble us and make us call out for Him.

As well as disciplining us...that is very hard to undergo...it can also a painful process and so unpleasant

Hebrews 12:4-11

4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,

and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,

6because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”a

7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.