Apr 9, 2009

One Last Post...

It's been a long run with this blog, but it's time to move on.

- This will be my last post on this blog, I am creating another blog and will release it's URL here first within the next few weeks. It's time for a new style, a new feel, and a new "Blog" basically, ha ha. I'd like to send out a big thanks to all who have sent me your prayers, comments, encouragement, and more! Since I started this blog I have overcome Drugs, Alcohol, and more recently, Cigarettes. - Not much left to quit.... I've also changed alot as a person, a husband, and a father... My family has the best gift I have received through this journey.

The new blog will be for the new me, It just seems time for a change, God Bless and Be Good...

To My Princess: "Thank you, I Love You." - :)

Dec 19, 2008

I Don't Beleive the LIE Anymore!

Over the past few days I have been learning alot about myself, and where I am today. You see, almost everyone I know has bought the lie that "Once an Addict, always an Addict." - I must admit, I totally believed that up until about 10 minutes ago. The Lord is God over all gods, mighty and powerful, and I will never again believe anything that doen't line up with the Bible and Scripture.

If you are struggling with Drug Addiction or have been labeled an "Alchoholic" or "Addict", please read this. It will change your life. It changed mine. Actually, just today I finally realized that I don't have to clean up and get clean to get closer to God and his will. It's the opposite! I have to get close to God in order to clean up and becaome free from addiction. And today- I AM FREE! Thank you Jesus, may this message bless everyone who reads it.

How Alcoholics Anonymous Doctrines Compare with Scripture

by Debbie Dewart, M.A.


AA ~ The Broad Road of AA

"To us, the Realm of the Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive, or forbidding...." Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 46.

Bible ~ The Narrow Road of Christ

"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: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matt 7:13-14).


AA ~ Contempt for Sound Doctrine

"Any number of alcoholics are bedeviled by the dire conviction that if they ever go near AA, they will be pressured to conform to some brand of faith or theology." As Bill Sees It, p. 201.

Bible ~ Sound Doctrine

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine…" (2 Tim 4:3-4).


AA ~ "God-as-you-understand-Him": Any Name "We suggest that you find a substitute for this destructive power, alcohol, and turn to a Higher Power, regardless of the name by which you may identify that power. We suggest that you turn your will and your life over to God, as you understand Him." The Clergy Ask About Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 9.

Bible ~ Jesus Christ: No Other Name

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).


AA ~ Powerlessness

"We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable" (Step 1).

Bible ~ Power in Christ

No believer can claim to be powerless: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philip 4:13).


AA ~ Spiritual Awakening

"Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps…" (Step 12).

Bible ~ Spiritually Dead in Sin

Man is spiritually dead, not asleep. He needs resurrection, not awakening. "Even when we were dead in sins, [God] hath quickened us [made us alive] together with Christ" (Eph 2:5).


AA ~ The "Big Book": AA’s "Bible"

Portions of the "Big Book," Alcoholics Anonymous, are read "religiously" at every AA meeting, much like Scripture readings at Christian worship services.

Bible ~ Sufficient for Life & Godliness

"His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue" (2 Peter 1:3).


AA ~ Leadership: "Trusted Servants"

"Our leaders are but trusted servants. They do not govern" (Tradition 2).

Bible ~ Leadership: Elders

AA’s leaders and individual sponsors usurp the role God has ordained for church elders to shepherd and "feed the flock of God which is among you" (1 Peter 5:2).


AA ~ The "Moral Inventory"

Step 4 requires a "searching and fearless moral inventory," essentially a detailed catalogue of past sins to be "confessed" to some other person to whom such confession is not biblically due.

Bible ~ No Condemnation

As Christians, our sins are fully covered by the blood of Christ. We confess our sins, as appropriate, to God and to those actually sinned against. New believers are nowhere in Scripture required to make a detailed list of all past sins. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:1).


AA ~ "Birthdays"

AA members celebrate annual "birthdays" based on the date of their last drink. They practice a "secular regeneration."

Bible ~ Regeneration by the Holy Spirit

Christians celebrate their new birth in Christ.


AA ~ The Goal: Sobriety

The goal of AA is abstinence from alcoholic beverages (sobriety). Other sins, such as sexual immorality, are commonly tolerated so long as the AA member isn’t drinking.

Bible ~ The Goal: Sanctification

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom 8:29).


AA ~ Fellowship/Unity: A Common Sin

AA’s fellowship is built around the common sin of drunkenness. "Personal recovery depends upon AA unity" (Tradition 1).

Bible ~ Fellowship/Unity: A Common Salvation "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Eph 4:4-6).


AA ~ Carrying "the Message"

"Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs" (Step 12).

Bible ~ Christian Evangelism

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matt 28:19-20).


AA ~ Incurable Disease

AA’s literature is permeated with the dogma, taught faithfully to newcomers, that "once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic." There is no "cure" offered, only continual abstinence from all alcoholic beverages.

Forgiven Sin

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor 6:9-11).

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If you need prayer or just someone to listen, just post your comment and we'll be avalaible to pray with you and for you.

Oct 26, 2008

Life on Life's Terms

We here this phrase "life on life's terms" quite a bit in recovery. As a matter of fact, if we're working a program of recovery, we live it...

About 3 weeks ago my niece, Lexi, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. This came as a huge shock to all of us and it was really hard to even grasp this new life Lexi was forced into... In the meantime, my sister in law (Lexi's Mother) was just about to give birth to her third child, a boy named Toby. All of the sudden, with no warning, Lexi has a diabetic attack or seizure in the middle of the night and then, at the same time, Brandy went into labor. During labor Brandy underwent an emergency C-Section and Lexi was taken to another hospital as she seemed to be falling into a diabetic comma... This was really bad and it just kept getting worse! Not only was everything going wrong, but we couldn't even get everyone in the same place. If you have kids, you know how bad this is. Well, if you don't have kids, you know how bad this is. We had Brandy in one Hospital and Lexi in another Hospital miles away from each other.

Lexi, not even 7 years old, has a life ahead of her filled with daily, even hourly, pricks and shots. And before that life can even start we have a new borne that was just introduced into the world rather violently through this emergency C-Section. God bless Brandy as she was so strong and brave - and still is. It must have taken everything she could muster not to break down. But, when life comes at you fast, you don't have time to breakdown. You get through it and move forward, that's just how it works.

My wife flew out there as soon as possible ( the next day! ) and was able to bring some much needed help to a very delicate situation. This is about the only good thing that did happen, my wife getting to go spend time with her sister who really needed her in a difficult, almost crisis, situation.

What's the moral to the story. There really isn't one, it's just life. We get dealt some cards and we play them as best we can. There are no do-overs or mulligans. It's just life. But it's never as bad as it seems. The morning this all happened my wife was crying- fearing that Lexi had died because no-one was answering their phones. As I suspected, their phones had run out of battery power and the "worst" had not happened. As we move forward we'll be praying, and praying, and praying for everyone.

Thanks for listening - JSH :)