The Addicted Society V

Heal Your Body, Your Mind and Your Spirit

Fred R. Coulter—January 14, 2006

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Believe it or not, here's something we also need to discuss. On part 4 I discussed some health things, because of the way that the food supply is today, we really need to take care of ourselves with a great deal of diligence.

Half of Americans use prescription drugs. In the case of an illness and you really need them, then that's fine. But let me just suggest one book that you might get; I'm not suggesting throw away your prescription drugs, because you may need them. But what I'm suggesting is that you investigate and see. This is particularly true for anyone who has been addicted, that you do not make a substitution addiction for your illegal drug addiction, which is very easy to do.

Now, let me mention in order of severity from least to worst. A television addiction, a music addiction… You have to be very, very careful with music. Just to give you an example:

I got the car washed the other day and it was about 8:50 in the morning and I'm sitting there sipping on a cup of coffee and guess what they have playing? The first hard rock of Elvis Presley. Banging away at 8:50 in the morning! I'm sitting there drinking coffee, trying to wake up, get ready for the day and all this sort of thing.

So, I asked the gal, 'Could you please ask the manager if he could put some softer music on—it's kind of nice to wake up to something pleasant.' So, she went back and turned if off. I said, 'Thank you, I do appreciate that.' But, I'm sure she turned it up as soon as I went out to get the car.

Here's this other lady standing there and I said, 'Boy, that's sure nice to have it quiet. That sort of pounds into your head—doesn't it?' She said, 'Oh, that's nothing,' she pulled out her iPOD and said, 'You'd be surprised what I have to keep me going all day long.'

So, she's got her iPOD with all the rock music that she pounds into her head all day long. I just looked at her and I said, 'That's kind of sad.'

It is, that you have to have your life governed by someone else. So, TV addiction: you can turn off the switch. Music addiction: You can turn off the player.

When you get into prescription drugs then you have to decide how you're going to take care of yourself. One book I would recommend is The author is Kevin Trudeau and it is: Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know—very, very good. By the way, he says, don't eat pork, don't eat shrimp, don't eat lobsters, and the best rest you can get is from Friday night to Saturday night, because of the cycle of the body and everything else. Maybe he's a 'closet Christian'—who knows!

Then you start getting into substance abuse, which then we can label cigarettes, then marijuana. The problem with marijuana is that lot of people who have been on harder drugs go back up the scale to marijuana because they say marijuana is not a drug. Well, all they're doing is substituting a worse evil for what they consider a lesser evil. Then you go down the line and the next one would be cocaine; worst than that is crack cocaine. Then you get into heroine and the worst of all is methamphetamines, because of what they do. The substances that they use to make 'meth' are so absolutely deteriorating to the body.

Handout: Brain Can Bounce Back After Meth-users Quit. That's an important thing. We won't read through it, that's an important thing because that means there is hope for the 'meth' addicts. Look at pg. 2 and look at what happens to people who get hooked on 'meth.' If this doesn't backup what the Proverbs say: 'In the end a dart goes through your liver.' All of these drugs affect the liver. It's very, very sad what happens.

This is important to understand for young kids; and this is why in the book The Marketing of Evil he says the solution for young people is home-schooling. Home-schooling with what they have online you can really do a good job. Actually, your children come out a whole lot better and they have many more job skills when they come to the job market, because they've learned how to think, they've learned how to apply themselves and so forth. The reason I mention that is because I heard an interview of a man who was a 'meth' addict, and someone gave it to him first when he eight-years-old!

It's a shame that we live in such an evil society, that you have to tell your young children some of the hard facts of life that they may be confronted with. We are in such a society that it's absolutely imperative that you do. At age 24 he was finally able to quit, after many, many bouts with recovery; it is profound. 'Meth' makes you feel so good that you think 'this is wonderful, this is the best stuff in the world.' People take it so they can do more, stay up later, and all they're doing is killing their bodies very quickly.

So, when you look at the pictures of what happens to people who become addicted to 'meth' it is absolutely incredible! That is sad. How much these people can recover that get hooked on that is really something. Then it gives some reports on all the different things about 'meth'; clandestine laboratories and so forth.

Delores saw on the History Channel about 'methamphetamine' laboratories. They can use up to 300 different chemicals to make 'meth.' They can buy a lot of the stuff right off the grocery shelf and put it together. One of the ones they use is Drano. Now if you want to know what that does to your system, just put some down the sink, if you can have a clear, plastic sink to watch it work…

It is so absolutely devastating that now policemen that have to go in and raid 'meth' labs are suffering from the effects of the chemicals that are in those places. In the city of Hollister they have a policy, especially if it's a mobile home, because a lot of them live in mobile homes and do the 'meth' there, they make them move the mobile home out and destroy it. That's how severe it is.

Those who are hooked on it really need the help and the support and the encouragement and they need to also repair their health by supplements, vitamins, juices, liver cleanses and different things like that. If they don't, that 'meth' in the liver is going to come out and hit them again, and when it does, if it's just a little bit, then they become angst and cranky and hard to get along with. If it comes out real heavy then it can have more severe results.

Guess where the 'meth' capital of the world is? In America? No, it's not San Bernadino. Lake Ellsinore? No! No place in California. 'Meth' capital of the United States? Franklin, Missouri! Virtually all the police there have swat team training, because you have to deal with it. It's amazing!

Referring to the handout: they have quite a few things here on the 'bounce back' level:

NAA levels didn't bounce back either when abusers kicked their habit, researchers noted, with levels staying more or less the same years later. However, former methamphetamine users who have been off the drug for one to six months showed elevated CHO levels suggestive of neuron growth.

When you take these drugs you actually sever the connections between brain cells, these little fiber neuro growths.

While those who have been off the drug one to five years had CHO levels equal to those of a healthy controlled group.

So, there is a recovery period, and they can recover. If you have the right kind of diet, the right kind of supplements and eating the right kind of food and probably drinking a lot of juices to purge your system, then the recovery level will probably be a whole lot easier. So, that's hope!

In all of these situations there has to be a condemnation of the drug. There has to be a condemnation of the practice. But there also has to be hope for the addict that they can get out of it.

What I'm trying to do here is show how they can recover; how they reprogram their minds. They have to repent, then there has to be recovery and whatever support group they need, wherever they can get that, they need that. But, you can't give yourself any fudge-factor! You've got to stick with it. They have to be very disciplined in it.

We're going to spend all the time in the book of Proverbs, because the book of Proverbs is very important in getting the mind programmed the way it needs to. The book of Proverbs is very, very important for young people so that they can get the values of right and wrong/good and evil, set! One of the problems that you have in public schools today is that beginning very early they can't teach them absolute moral values, because that would be akin to teaching religion in schools.

I've got an article here: Erasing of Christianity in America. That's what they have done. We're going to see another generation rising here that is going to overwhelm the so-called conservative movement! You can see this anywhere, anytime. Watch any sports event, especially college sports events. When they show a shot of the audience and the students and everything there, just think of this:

• they've grown up in a public school system where there is no God
• they've grown up in a public school system where everything is relative

Meaning: If you have an opinion and an idea and it's good for you, then it's truth for you!

What happens is that in that frame of mind where everything is relative, what you believe is true so you look to see things that will prove what you believe is true.

Whereas, those who know and understand the Bible, when they see it then they believe it, rather than believe it then see it! There's a difference. If you've watched anything of the confirmation hearings of Judge Alito and Roberts, you'll see that's exactly what they did. Those who were against them framed what they believe and then came after them to find it. That's how they work, rather than saying, 'What is truth and let's follow the truth.'

One thing that's going to help every addict is this, and also all young people: Not to scare them, not to give them fear, but to know that God is always there and that they can always cry out to God. They can always ask God for help.

This is quite a verse, Proverbs 15:3: "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good."

You can tie that in with the sermons that I did The Spirit of God, The Spirit of Man, The Seven Spirits of God.

Verse 4: "A wholesome tongue is a tree of life…" Do you see the contrast here? Wherever the Proverbs condemns and evil, it gives a way out—showing the right and the wrong. This is what addicts need. They need wholesome talking or speaking.

"…but perverseness in it crushes the spirit" (v 4).

Everyone who has been addicted to something has come to the point that you have blurred the standards enough that you don't think it's going to happen to you. 'Oh well, I can handle this. I won't get addicted.' And guess what, it happens! So, if you know anyone who has an addiction problem they need to overcome, encourage them and let them know, yes, it can be overcome! But they really need to grasp a hold of it themselves. When they come to that point then they can make progress.

Two Kinds of Fear:

Let's look at some things here concerning fear. Prov. 10 is a sudden shift in the book of Proverbs. Prov. 1-9 is all the preparation coming up to chapter 10. Here then we have:

• the good/the evil
• the right/the wrong
• righteousness
• wrong kind of fear/good kind of fear

So, the thing we're going to look at is the two kinds of fear.

Whenever someone is addicted they have fears, and they try and overcome the fears by denying the reality; that's what happens.

Just like how many people still smoke today but know that it causes cancer. Yet, you see them smoke. They don't think it's going to come upon them, or they think, 'Well, if I do this or I do that or if I do the other thing, then it won't come upon me.' But here is a truism in life that everyone needs to understand:

Proverbs 10:24: "The fears of the wicked shall come upon him…" Just like Job said, 'That which I greatly feared has come upon me.' God says to the wicked that He will bring the fear upon them.

"…but…" (v 24). Now you see the complete opposite; this is why the Proverbs are so good, because what is so important for any addict to overcome an addiction is to begin to think in absolutes:

• right/wrong
• good/evil
• resist sin
• resist temptation
• yield to God

Reprogram your mind with these Proverbs! Read and study them over and over again.

"…the desire of the righteous shall be granted" (v 24).

If you want good things to happen, you have to be righteous with God, even in the letter of the Law. Since God is not calling people in the world—the calling to salvation is a special calling—God expects everyone in the world to live by the letter of His laws and commandments. They are blessed if they do.

The whole thing that the Church of God has, unfortunately—in condemning sin and condemning the world—not realized how God will deal with those in the letter of the Law if they obey Him. That's why you see many programs that work. Many people who follow the letter of the Law. We have a lot of letter of the Law Christians—don't we? They take some of the things of Christianity and they have certain amount of blessings because of it, though they may not necessarily be called to salvation. So, this is important to realize. You can't say, 'Unless you're converted there's no hope.' There's got to be some hope even in this physical life. IF they're successful in that, THEN maybe God can begin to call them and deal with them.

That's why people who confess their sins to God, not knowing anything about salvation, if they confess their sins and repent of them, God will forgive them to the letter of the Law. He will! That's important to understand, so that people who are addicts can have hope. We don't want to come along and say, 'You're an addict. Unless you're converted you're going o hell and burn,' because that'll never work!

Good Fear:

All right, let's look at some good fear. You take the pictures of these poor people who were addicted to 'meth':

Verse 27: "The fear of the LORD prolongs days…" They can change! They can turn around. They can cleanse their bodies and cleanse their minds. Reprogram their minds with the Proverbs and the Word of God.

"…but the expectation of the wicked shall perish" (v 27). That's why the Proverbs are good; they show this contrast. This is easy for them to understand. Those who have been addicted need things that are easy to understand, that are easy to remember.

Proverbs 14:2: "He that walks in his uprightness fears the LORD…" That is keeping the commandments of God, which are righteous; the laws of God, which are righteous!

"…but he who is perverse in his ways despises Him" (v 2)—everyone that comes out of it!

They're going to have to be dealing with friends that are fellow-addicts. When they come out of it, at first, they're going to be ridiculed. 'What are you trying to do?' They're going to be ridiculed. So, don't worry about people not caring for you. Maybe some of the friends that you've had in the past, that you considered friends, are really not friends because they got you addicted. If they despise you when you're coming out of it, walk away and leave them!

Verse 16: "A wise man fears and departs from evil…" That's a good kind of fear! Fear of God, fear of evil, and with addictions you've got to stay away from it. You've got to get totally out of it. If necessary, you have to move out of the area that you are in. Sometimes, in many cases, they have to do that, because there's just so much there.

"…but the fool rages, and is confident" (v 16). Quite a contrast—isn't it?

Verse 26: "In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence…" Anyone who has been hooked on any kind of drugs that's what they need, confidence!

This fear of God then is going to give them the confidence that God will hear them! God will help them! As long as they are using the way of God and the Proverbs of God to get their mind reoriented and reconnected and reprogrammed, God is going to hear them.

"…and His children shall have a place of refuge. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death" (vs 26-27).

• give yourself a space
• give yourself a cushion
• set some rules for yourself that:
• you won't do this
• you won't do that
• you won't do the other thing

and

• you will do this
• you will do that
• you will do the other thing

Whatever the addiction is:

• What is the temptation leading up to it?
• How quickly can you recognize it and stop it?

Each one of us are responsible for ourselves, what goes in our mind, what goes in our body, etc., etc. God gave that responsibility to us. So, if we have the fear of God to depart from evil; the snares of death!

I look back on my childhood and my teen life and my early adult life and I can see that there were certain key turning points where I had to make a decision.

• What was right?
• What was wrong?
• What was I going to do?

I can also look back and see that, yes, I'm convinced that God had a hand in giving me the right choice! That's the frame of mind that we need. This is something that needs to be.

You're going to have a lot of temptations if you've been hooked. You're going to have times when you're going to stumble and fail. Do not get discouraged. Remember this: As long as there is life, there is hope!

Here's what you do. You're probably—as well as all of us because we sin—you're going to have to confess your sins daily. You're going to have ask for God's mercy daily. That's an important thing. I know I do! One of the most important things in relying on God is this: Understand that you are not adequate yourself! I'm not adequate myself for anything. In teaching and preaching the Word of God, if I try and do it on my own because I'm some big thing, then sure enough I'm going to fall right on my face.

We all need mercy and Truth all the time, but here's what it does, here is the key. This is the program on getting your mind cleansed, purged, as well as taking care of your physical body with the things you need to do.

Proverbs 16:6 "By mercy and Truth iniquity is purged…" That's how it's going to be wiped out of your mind!

Those who are addicted to pornography, you have to have your mind cleansed. You've got to stay away from it. You can't do it. You can't watch it. You've got to count it the most evil thing in the world. Just like a person addicted to a hard substance. You've got to have mercy and Truth. Repentance to God, mercy and forgiveness for your sins and replace it with Truth. What is the Truth?

• the Word of God
• the Laws of God
• the commandments of God
• the teachings of Jesus Christ

"…and by the fear of the LORD men turn away from evil" (v 6).

Notice how much the fear of God is important! As I mentioned before, the fear of God restores your conscience! When you get into compromising, everything is relative, nothing is right, nothing is wrong, whatever you believe if you think it's good, it's good; if you think it's bad, it's bad; you have to completely reorient your mind.

This is how you do it. You must develop a conscience, which then is going to be the automatic trigger of what's right, what's wrong, what's good, what's evil. This is going to give you a barrier and a buffer so that you are not going to be taken down by temptations. That's why when you read in 1-Cor. 6:

• What is the solution for sex sins?
• What does Paul say? Flee fornication!
• Why? Because you can't dabble in it, because if you dabble in it, you're going to go down!

You've got to get away from it! This is the same thing here.

Verse 7: "When a man's ways please the LORD…" It's possible to please the Lord! Is not God pleased whenever anyone is seeking Him? Yes, indeed!

"…He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." That's what you need to rely on, especially when you start overcoming, especially when you are having the problems of temptation with the addiction coming along!But give yourself more and more space from being in situations where you're going to be tempted and taken down.

Wisdom and Foolishness:

Let's look at some other things. Let's look at the wise and the foolish, because this is important to do. Just realize this: Part of repentance and part of admitting what is wrong is to really say, 'O God, I have been foolish and dumb and ignorant.' So, let's look at some things comparing wisdom and foolishness and so forth.

Proverbs 10:8: "The wise in heart will receive commandments…" Instead of having resistance toward the commandments of God, which is foolish, then you're going to be wise:

• you will receive them.
• you will receive the Word of God
• you will receive instruction from those who are trying to help you

"…but a prating fool shall fall" (v 8). In other words, if you don't hear, you don't listen, you're still going to fall!

Verse 9: "He who walks uprightly walks surely: but he who perverts his ways shall be known." There's no way around it!

When people are coming off addictions, when they make a little progress, they think they've really done it. Like one man I know of got so addicted that he wouldn't work. He had his own business, he could really do great, he could make fantastic amounts of money, but he got so wasted down on drugs and pot that he wouldn't work. It was hard to get through to him. Finally, I got through to him and he started to go back to work. But then he slipped back. I said, 'When are you going to go to work?' He said, 'Well, I've been to work, yesterday.' I said, 'You've got to do it every day.' One day is fine, but the next day is another day.

Here's the key, because it's going to be hard, as an addict you're used to giving in to the worst and not making yourself do anything. It's important for this:

Proverbs 11:27: "He that diligently seeks good seeks favor…"

• if you want God to bless you, be diligent
• if you want God to help you, you do your part
• if you want to get your mind reoriented—which is possible—and reprogrammed, and your brain reconnected the way it should be, be diligent!

Take every day, make sure that every day you start out:

• with the determination
• with the diligence
• with the guarding of your mind

to not succumb to any temptations! You've got to talk with yourself. You've got to tell yourself: Today's a new day. I made it through yesterday.

• What am I going to do today?
• Am I going to fear God?
• Am I going to keep His commandments?
• Am I going to resist temptation?
• What am I going to do when I'm confronted with some of my old friends?
• How am I going to handle it?
  • you've got to prepare yourself for it
  • you've got to think ahead about it

That's what it is here, v 27: "He who diligently seeks good seeks favor; but he who seeks mischief, it shall come to him." Always does!

Verse 29: "He who troubles his own house shall inherit the wind, and the fool shall be servant to the wise in heart. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise" (vs 29-30).

So, let it all be a tree of life, let it heal you! You have to heal your body, your mind and your spirit. All of that can be healed. That's all a part of overcoming and changing.

We've talked about a tree of life, here it talks about a well of life, Proverbs 10:11: "The mouth of a righteous one is a well of life…"—to impart and teach knowledge, and that's what the Proverbs is all about, to give you that.

"…but violence covers the mouth of the wicked. Hatred stirs up strifes, but love covers all sins" (vs 11-12). That's what we are dealing with here!

In starting out to overcome the addictions, starting out to change the past habit patterns, addiction patterns, thought patterns, sleep patterns and eating patterns; the addict's life is totally upside down!

What we are teaching is the love of God. That's what John said, 'For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.'

What we are trying to do and what you are trying to do is, through the forgiveness of God you are covering the sins and you are overcoming the past! As you overcome the past you're coving sins. If you're dealing with anyone who has been an addict, continually encourage them. You can warn them, but don't live in the past! You must take today, every day. That's one thing that athletes have; they have that mindset that you take today. They say, 'One game at a time.'

What is it that a good athlete is able to do, which every recovering addict needs to learn: If you make a mistake, learn from it and blot it out! In the case of overcoming addictions and things like that, repent to God and have Him blot it out and overcome it. He'll give you the strength to do it. All of these things are building blocks of recovery. They're all right there in the Word of God.

Now, we'll look at some of the fools, and everyone who has been involved in drug addiction has some sort of foolishness. Foolish to get into it.

Verse 21: "The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of wisdom." Quite a Proverb! Think about that!

Think about all the situations where people do foolish things and die. Especially teenagers when you get away from your parents for the first time and you are on your own and you know that you can do things that your parents will probably never find out about, and yea, all of us as teenagers did that! I mean, to say you didn't, show me; you're a perfect person! But know, as we started out, the eyes of the Lord are everywhere beholding the good and the evil! So, if you know, God knows!

Example of something stupid—and we all do stupid things, we all do foolish things. When I was about 13 or 14 we were blasting off firecrackers for the 4th of July and we have some of these cherry-bombs. You know what cherry-bombs are—don't you? They're about and inch and a quarter long, somewhere around there, and they're about half-inch thick and they're round and they have a fuse in it. We were lighting off these cherry-bombs.

So I did something very stupid! And God saved me from it, but it was stupid! I wondered what it would be like if I held it in my hand and let it go off? So I did! BAM! Whoooo, did that hurt! All my fingers and everything were there, and I said, 'That was stupid, that was dumb!' If my parents would have been there and I would tried to do it, they would have said, 'Don't do that!' But they weren't there. So, in my foolish wisdom I decided I'll see how it is.

Unfortunately, that's how a lot of people get hooked on drugs: try it, you'll like it, it's good; it'll made you cool! You look at the pictures of these poor people who have been on drugs—and notice it didn't take very long if you look at the timeframe—I wonder what they thought if they came to themselves and looked in the mirror and then looked at a picture of themselves before and asked: What have I done? Is this not dumb? Is this not foolish?

Don't let yourself get involved in stupid and foolish things when you're overcoming!

(go to the next track)

Prov. 12—here's the deceitfulness of it. All addictions are deceitful, and all addictions appeal to the lower based lusts of human beings. That you're going to get something great and special out this. But remember this:

Proverbs 12:15: "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes…"

If these things come along and they look good, they sound good, they appear good and pressure is put upon you, think about what's happening! Don't take the explanation that this is good or this is cool. 'Well, everybody does it.' Know this for sure: If everybody does it, it's got to be wrong! Except breathing! That's the peer pressure that comes along. That's why God gives so many warnings: Don't follow the crowd.

Here it is, the fool one way, "…but he who listens to advice is wise" (v 15).

What you're trying to do in overcoming an addictionis to recover from foolishness by using wisdom. That's what the whole book of Proverbs is; that's what the Word of God is, and that's what those who are trying to help you get across to you. Listen!

Verse 16: "A fool's wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covers shame."

This is what we're trying to do. We are dealing with a society out there that is so addicted, so hooked on so many things. I fear for the generation that is coming up now, because there is now a complete generation coming out that has had no training in God, no understanding of the Bible, and are now being nurtured on Harry Potter and occultism.

In the book Occult Holiday or God's Holy Days—Which? I talk about Hinduism—one practice of Hinduism is Deepak Chopra; who wrote in his book How To Know God the long and the short of knowing God is this: Know yourself and when you look in the mirror you see God because God is in you and you are God.

In Hinduism there is what is called the left-hand way to God. Here's the kind of reasoning that they use: Since God is everywhere—they believe in a pantheistic god: god is in the wall, god is in the ceiling, god is in everything, every person, god is also in the evil and corrupt.

Since that is the premise that they operate on, therefore, the left-hand way to God is to go do the evil and the base things, even sleeping in cemeteries with corpses that are rotting. This is where you get the body-piercing, the tongue-splitting, the tattooing and these shows that are on television now; reality shows! They are base. They are evil. They are teaching people to destroy their consciences and fear by doing things that normal people would not do. What that is doing is presenting the Hindu of the way of the left-hand way to God.

In other words, if you can find God through good, because He's in good, you can also find God through evil because He's in the evil. You talk about perverted thinking! Here Deepak Chopra said, 'Well, it's been a tradition for thousands of years so it must work.' What are people going to believe? All of those that get into it have justification—don't they? That's exactly what we're talking about. Here's what they're doing in that:

Proverbs 14:9 "Fools laugh at sin…" That's what's going to happen, especially for teenagers and young people!

When you have to go against the crowd. When you have to go against those who have no morals. They're going to mock it! If you say 'No, I'm not going to do that because I'm not going to get involved in sex, I'm going to save myself until I marry.' You got to be kidding! Everybody does it! They'll mock at you.

Don't let that bother you. Stand up and walk away. It can be the same thing with drugs. 'Oh, let's go to this party.' And by the way, most parties and most dancing today is designed to break down the moral barriers that you have. If you've ever wondered why they have these flashing lights—strobe lights—it hypnotizes people! It gets them in the mood. It gets them into going along with everything that's going on. Then they add to it.

People have given me a lot of books. I have a whole stack of books. Someone just sent me something on rock music and what it does with the strobe lights and everything like this, and how the beat of the music is designed to break down the moral barriers of those who participate in it. Some people may say, 'Ahhhhhh, how can that be?' I'll just tell you this: If that is not so, then you tell me what causes all of the sin among young people today, if you eliminate that. Rock concerts, by the way, have music that is not designed to listen to. I mean, you hear it, but it is so powerful and they turn up the amps so high and the beat is so absolutely overwhelming that it is designed to go through your body. The sound actually goes through your body. I wonder if that has to do with the morals and everything like that.

You've all experienced this just a little bit when someone goes down the street with the windows rolled down and he's got this big boom box on and he's got his 200 watt thing in the backseat and he's driving down the street, shaking his head to the beat of it. It comes down the street BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! And as he's going down the street the houses vibrate, your room vibrates! And he may be 100 feet away going down the street! Think of what that's doing to the mind and to the body! Think of what it's going to take to get away from that kind of behavior so you can return to normal. That's really something!

Verse 9: "Fools laugh at sin, but among the righteous there is favor."

Verse 12—key verse, first one to memorize when you come into the knowledge of the Truth: "There is a way which seems right unto a man…"

That's what we have today: everyone is right, everyone has an opinion, everyone knows how to solve the problems of the world. They won't do it God's way.

"…but the end thereof is the way of death" (v 12). The very first thing! So, whatever you do check it out with the Word of God!

Very important! Here's the very first key thing that's most important to do: Stop lying to yourself! That's very important from this point of view: The way that you compromise yourself to sin is to lie to yourself that it's okay! Stop lying to yourself! You're also going to have to apply some self-correction. Let's look at some Proverbs here. When you first start out, you're on a difficult path.

Proverbs 15:9: "The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD, but He loves him who pursues righteousness…. [God loves those who follow after righteousness] …There is grievous correction…" (vs 9-10). It's going to be hard.

What about those who are hooked on alcohol so bad that they have the shakes, and they just can't get along without a drink. They have these bad dreams where a lot of them visualize that they're being, in many cases, attacked by things and snakes and all this sort of thing, that their minds are just so out of it. To stop that, 'I just got to have a drink' when they get the shakes so bad. That happens with heroin! That happens with cocaine! That happens with 'meth'! That happens with alcohol! The changing of that is grievous—you really need help when you're at that point. You need other people to help you, and you've got to do the things to not only build up your resistance health-wise, but set your resolve!

Verse 10: "There is grievous correction for him who forsakes the way… [of God] …and he who hates reproof shall die" (v 10). In many cases, you're up against a point: You're either going to live or you're going to die!

Here's what's important, v 31: "The ear that hearkens to the reproof of life…"—correction! People who want to continue in sin don't like correction. They just don't like it!

"…life shall remain among the wise. He who refuses instruction despises his own soul, but he who hearkens to reproof gains understanding" (vs 31-32).

What you need to do is go through the book of Proverbs and maybe through the whole Bible

Verse 33: "The fear of the LORD… [is restoring the conscience] …is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility" (vs 31-33). That's all involved in repenting, and so forth!

Proverbs 12:1: "Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge…"

What you have to do, you have to come from the point of resisting correction; then hating evil, then you have to come to the point of loving reproof and correction and then loving instruction. What you need is the saving knowledge to overcome an addiction.

"…but he who hates correction is stupid" (v 1).

Verse 5: "The thoughts of the righteous are right…" That's what you need to come to, the righteousness of God!It's going to give you:

• good thinking
• clear thinking
• decision making
• being able to resist sin and resist those things

"…the counsels of the wicked are deceit" (v 5). You can go all the way back to Gen. 3 and the Garden of Eden!

Verses 17: "He who speaks truth shows forth righteousness, but a false witness deceit. There are those who speak like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise heals."

In other words, what he's saying here: To face the truth of an addiction is difficult, and the first correction that comes along is like you're being stabbed! You don't like it.

Verse 19: "The lips of truth shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Deceit is in the heart of those who imagine evil…" (vs 19-20). This is what you're going to have to do, because it says there in Jer. 17:9 that the heart is deceitful above all things!

In order to quit deceiving yourself, you've got to admit that you've been lying to yourself. You've got admit and forsake all of your faults, deceitful justifications for doing what you're doing. Then you have to replace that with Truth. You have to replace that with righteousness. It's really quite and exercise for you to overcome.

"…but to counselors of peace there is joy. There shall no harm befall the righteous, but the wicked shall be filled with trouble" (vs 20-21).

Think about what happens to all of those who are addicts:

• How many times do they get arrested?
• How many times do they go to jail?
• How many times do they post bail?
• How many times do they go to rehab?

All of that's mischief and difficulty and the rehab, hopefully, will help. But for some people, the only way to get them off of it is to do some jail time. However, even in jail you have to be careful, because they can smuggle drugs in there. It still gets down to your own decision!

How to Overcome:

Verse 22—let's understand that this is important: "Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD… [quit lying to yourself, lying to others] …but those who deal truly are His delight." That's what God wants you to do—His delight! Let's see the program on how to do it. God gives the ways. God shows how.

Proverbs 16:1: "The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, are from the LORD."

If you want to get your heart squared around, get your mind squared around, be able to overcome an addiction, you've got to have the preparations from God, which is from His Word!

Verse 2: "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirits." God knows! You can trust Him all the time for everything:

• He's merciful
• He's kind
• He's righteous
• He wants you to overcome
• He wants you to change
• He wants you to kick the habit

You've got to do this, v 3: "Commit your works unto the LORD… [that's how to do it; he right works develop right thoughts] …and your thoughts shall be established." Because if you're addicted to something, your thoughts are all helter-skelter, they're not established!

• they've got to be established in Truth
• they've got to be established in righteousness
• they've got to be established in discipline

All of that amounts to what you're doing is building character! So that you can have the strength to say, 'no!' You can have the strength to resist!

What will happen, the further and further space you give between yourself and your addiction, the more you're going to understand this. The more that you apply the Proverbs in your life and go through and learn them, think about them and pray about them: study the Proverbs on your knees in a prayerful attitude before God! Let that be correction to you directly from God with His Spirit, which He will do! It's going to take time to do it. Just take it as a project to go through.

Diligence & Discipline:

Let's look at diligence, because all of this is going to take discipline. Discipline is a synonym for diligence.

Proverbs 12:24: "The hand of the diligent shall bear rule…" Let's apply this in several ways:

• you have to rule over yourself
• you have to rule over your thoughts
• you have to rule over your lusts and your temptation
• you have to rule over sin

Remember what God told Cain when he brought the wrong kind of offering, God said, 'Sin lies at the door, but you shall rule over it.' Cain wanted to do it his way instead of God's way. So, if you're going to overcome: "The hand of the diligent shall bear rule…"

In going through these Proverbs and in setting out a course of overcoming addiction for yourself, you have to be diligent in it. Make yourself a list; give yourself reminders; set yourself out a pattern to do so, by using the different things that we have covered here and diligently do it. Then you will rule over yourself! When you rule over yourself, what's going to happen?

• you're going to be reliable on the job

no more calling in sick when you're not sick, but you're on drugs

• you're going to work better at work
• you're going to work better at home
• you're going to treat people better

because you're off this addiction, whatever it may be

• you're going to have a clearer conscience

because you're fearing God and developing a conscience

But you have to do it diligently! "…but the lazy shall be under tribute" (v 24).

What is the biggest tribute that drug addicts are under? Paying for the drugs! They're under tribute because they lose their jobs, they lose their families, they lose their children; all of those things happen, they follow one right after the other. So, you've got to be diligent in it.

They're going to be times when you're depressed. Everyone coming out of any kind of addiction is going to be depressed. Why? Because they haven't used their minds correctly!

Verse 25: "Heaviness in the heart of man weighs it down… [That's a way of saying depression. Ever been depressed? Yes!] …but a good word makes it glad."

How do you get out of depression? You pray! You study! You get the words of God! Let them be in your heart and in your mind, and that will lift you up!

What does Paul say? Philip. 4 is what you need to do in time of depression. Let's add to this one more addiction. We won't really say it's an addiction but a bad fault: People who worry all the time that everything is going to go bad, and wonder about how the bad things are going to happen. Sooner or later they do happen. The way to get out of that kind of thinking, worrying and the way to get out of depression is to set your thoughts aright. Here we have it:

Philippians 4:6: "Do not be anxious about anything…"

If you're anxious or have anxiety or you're worrying; what's the old saying? A worrywart! If you're a worrywart, stop worrying. Ask yourself this: How many of your fears and worry actually took place? You'll probably find not very many!

"…but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to Godin everything." Whatever it is. God:

• help me out of this
• help me to overcome this
• give me mercy and grace
• forgive me my sins

And then begin focusing on the right things!

Verse 7: "And the peace of God…" This is what needs to happen!

You need to have the peace of God, the peace of mind, because all of those who are depressed do not have peace of mind. All of those who are worrywarts do not have peace of mind. You have to ask for the peace of God, which comes from God. Wiping out of the sins, cleansing of the heart, cleansing of the mind, all of those together.

"…which surpasses all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true… [that's what to think on] …whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things…. [that's how you're able to do it] Whatever things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, you do also; and the God of peace shall be with you" (vs 7-9).

That's how to get your mind on that. And this is what's so important in diligently keeping your heart and your mind and your soul. Because if you do that, God promises you success.

Stop and think for a minute: Every one of these men who teach successful living. I've been to some of Zig Zieglar's things years ago. What does he do? He goes right back to the Word of God—YEP! He says without love and without Truth you can't be successful. He helps a lot of people succeed, and one of things He teaches is that you have to be diligent! That's the key in overcoming.

Proverbs 13:4: "The soul of the sluggard desires and has nothing…"

Example: I don't know what the circumstances are, so I'm not judging the heart. There's a homeless man that I walked past him and I thought, Fred, you're going over here to the hotel, it's warm, it's comfortable, and you're going to have a nice bed to sleep in. I turned around and gave him whatever money I had in my pocket. I think it was $20-25, whatever. He was thankful to get it. Then I asked him, 'Do you have any place to take a shower.' Oh, yeah, I take a shower once a week. He named the place where he goes.

Here he is, everything he had in his life was in this little cart in a couple of plastic bags, and he's wrapped with a plastic hood over his head to try and keep the cold out. I said, 'How long have you been homeless?' Twenty-two years! That blew me away! Though I felt sorry for him, I had to think of this: In 22-years surely he could have come to a condition, if he would have applied himself just a eeny-teeny bit to get out of that situation.

I think that personifies this Proverb

Verse 4: "The soul of the sluggard desires and has nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be abundantly gratified." That means to receive the goodness of everything! That means you're going to have the riches of everything.

Verse 5: "The righteous hate lying…" That's what you need to do to quit lying to yourself!

Prov. 15:19 tells us that a lot of the troubles we have in life are our own difficulties. With the help of God and with the help of the Word of God, and with the help of others you can come out of it!

Proverbs 15:19: "The way of the sluggard is like a hedge of thorns…" Nothing but trouble in your life everywhere you turn! Nothing works out right. All kinds of problems. All kinds of difficulties. Notice the contrast:

"…but the way of the righteous is made plain" (v 19).

• you can see your way through it
• you can overcome it
• you can change

I have gone through this series step-by-step with all these Proverbs to give you a pattern that now you can take that and you can use this to study:

• sit down and write out what you need to do
• sit down and think out what you need to overcome
• list your weaknesses and then give yourself a program:
  • how do I overcome weaknesses
  • how do I overcome temptations
• use the Proverbs, which will give you the answer

Proverbs 13:12: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick…" God always gives you hope! He will give it to you! It is there. You have to rely on it, but you have to be diligent to secure it.

"…but when the desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life" (v 12). When you receive that hope of overcoming, it's going to be like a tree of life!

• to restore your mind
• to restore your body
• to restore your heart
• to restore your spirit
• to bring you back to a semblance of normalcy in your physical life

And when you do that, now you are ready to begin seeking the spiritual things of God to help you with spiritual growth and change, because the hope that God gives is eternal life!. Of course, that's the next step.

I hope with this series that we have done on the addicted society helps define the problem, look at it realistically and gives you some things that you can do to help overcome!

Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

• Proverbs 15:3-4
• Proverbs 10: 24, 27
• Proverbs 14:2, 16, 26-27
• Proverbs 16:6-7
• Proverbs 10:8-9
• Proverbs 11:27, 29-30
• Proverbs 10:11-12, 21
• Proverbs 12:15-16
• Proverbs 14:9, 12
• Proverbs 15:9-10, 31-33
• Proverbs12:1, 5, 17-22
• Proverbs 16:1-3
• Proverbs 12:24-25
• Philippians 4:6-9
• Proverbs 13:4-5
• Proverbs 15:19
• Proverbs 13:12

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• 1 Corinthians 6
• Genesis 3
• Jeremiah 17:9

Also referenced:

Books:

• Natural Cures—"They" Don't Want You to Know by Kevin Trudeau
• Marketing of Evil by David Kupelian
• Occult Holidays or God's Holy Days—Which? by Fred R. Coulter
• How to Know God by Deepak Chopra

Article: Erasing of Christianity in America
            by Jon Christian Ryter
Sermon: The Spirit of God, The Spirit of Man, Seven Sprits of God #s 1-2

FRC: bo
Transcribed: 12-20-09
Reformatted/Corrected: 6/2020