The first message of the gospel has always been to admit one is a sinner and be willing to "repent,” meaning turn from one's sin. Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous and many other Anonymous type groups (there are now hundreds of them) have similar sounding teachings but they have replaced identifying oneself as a responsible sinner into identifying oneself as some poor irresponsible, powerless, sick and/or diseased addict. Right there is where one of the real problems lies. 

Alcoholics Anonymous was originally founded on Christian principles. (9) However, their choice of descriptive words was changed so that the organization would not sound too overly religious. It figured people would not come to group meetings to seek help if they thought the groups had anything to do with organized religion. 

A.A. officials wanted to only help people with their self-indulged substance abuse problems and not for really offering to help change one’s life permanently for the better through faith and trust in Jesus Christ. They wanted to leave that task up to the various churches. You are never officially healed through AA or NA.

Anonymous groups are somewhat effective. Their track record is about 3% recover. (10)  However, that leaves a large percentage aimlessly hanging in the wind. Christianity offers a whole new life. AA/NA principles forever keeps oneself a powerless diseased addict. Some Christian treatment programs boast an 85% cure rate. (11)

People first need to identify their own substance abuse or drunkardness as sin so they can truly repent of it. If you leave out calling any type of substance abuse as sin then you have nothing to repent of and receive forgiveness from. Therefore, a person will still remain in a "sick" (sin) state for however long he or she cares to call it that. Therefore, maybe never winding up believing or obeying the gospel. However, that is between God and each individual man and woman.

God is not going to force His forgiveness or deliverance on anyone. But, the fact still remains; Jesus Christ forgives sins today as He has for over two thousand years. This is the simple life-changing power of the gospel message. 

There are millions of people over the ages who have overcame so-called and misidentified "substance abuse" and/or “drunkardness” as sin through the power of Jesus Christ without ever stepping one foot in a AA or NA meeting or rushing off to a doctor for a pill. The forgiving Gospel is not something new. 

The infamous and ever-changing DSM Code Book

The medical profession is guilty of mistreating and/or misdiagnosing addicts (sinners) in trying to keep addicts in bondage to doctors, DSM-IV and ICD-10-CM codes, insurance companies and drug manufacturers. (12) It pays to keep one an addict! It pays big-time!! Just ask many of Michael Jackson’s doctors.

Dr. Conrad Murray, charged with involuntary manslaughter charge in Michael Jackson's death  (13)

Doctors are not offering total deliverance from addictions. Why? Most doctors do not have the slightest clue as to how to even begin a true healing nor do they have a DSM-IV or ICD-10-CM code for it so they can bill their patients for their services. 

"Many doctors do not even have deliverance and forgiveness themselves, which is why there are so many psychologists and psychiatrists who are just as confused as their patients." I stated to the prison inmates. “They are like the blind leading the blind.” 

The medical profession is only offering a temporary bandage for people’s (sinners) substance abuse problems (sins) and one that has to stay on for the rest of an addict's (sinner’s) life. 

Doctors cannot offer overcoming power. They just continue to medicate, hospitalize and suggest secular counseling. In addition, an addict (sinner) is also ordered, many times by the court, to attend the dreaded never-ending secular AA/NA type meetings for the rest of his or her life. 

Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

Unfortunately, too many people have already moved way past any and all type of help by spending the rest of their lives either in prisons, psyche hospitals or worse; die from overdoses or suicide. Singer/songwriter Michael Jackson is the latest tragic example of such a life. 

Jesus Christ came to set men and women (sinners) free. He did not come to earth to put people (sinners) in bondage to the medical profession. The Bible says, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Mark 2:17). 

When the Bible clearly calls sin, sin (any kind… not just substance abuse)… then it is man’s responsibility to turn away (repent) from the, “if it feels good do it” mentality, and get on with a new life in Christ.

The Bible clearly also does say in Hebrews 11:25 that "there is pleasure in sin for a season." However, it also says in Number 32:23 that "your sin shall find you out." There are always consequences for sin in both Christians and non-Christians lives.

Sin, in any form, can NOT be covered or kept secret, no matter how hard we may try to conceal it. We might fool our wife, our husband, our family, the preacher, the whole community, but remember: "the wheels of God's justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine." (example - 2 Kings 9:35-37). We eventually do "reap what we sow." (Galatians 6:7-9).  There are many examples in the Bible that prove consequences from sin do come. However, they come in God's timing not ours. 

God is an "if" God. "If" we obey, He blesses.  However, "If" we disobey He curses. (see Deuteronomy 28) He chastens/disciplines those that He loves. (Hebrews 12:6)

Prison inmates in chapel service

“It is fairly easy to see the direct consequences of sin as we sit here in prison.” I remarked to the inmate crowd. Many shouted out an “amen” in response. “This is not rocket science,” I continued. 

The entrance into God's new birth consists of believing the good news that Jesus is the Messiah who died and rose from the dead for our sins.  Next is identifying oneself as a sinner (not as an addict), repenting (being willing to turn) of all known sin (including all substance abuse), confessing sin to God and receiving the forgiveness and cleansing from the unrighteousness it brings. 

Water baptism in Jesus’ name should follow and allowing God to baptize with His powerful Holy Spirit. This process is very simple and was the first entrance statement as to how to enter the Kingdom of God stated by the Apostle Peter in Acts 2:38 on the Day of Pentecost. It is what brought people then in the 1st century and the generations that followed, and is what continues to bring people (sinners) now into the overcoming newness and power of life and right into the Kingdom of God.

empty prison cells

Prisons will empty overnight if inmates would just receive, believe and obey this simple message. Budgets could be balanced. Rehabs would have to close due to lack of clients. Drug overdoses would cease. Bars and breweries would close. Judges, prosecutors and prison guards would have to find other lines of work. The reduction of victims of crimes would be so reduced that police forces would need to be decreased instead of having to hire more officers.

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Footnotes

(9) - AA's beginnings - The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are basically a reliable and orderly approach to recovery from alcoholism and other forms of addiction. While Bill Wilson, the original author of the Steps, may not have been a born again believer himself, both he and Dr. Bob Smith did have vital relationships with people who were sold-out Bible-believing Christians. One of the prominent individuals (for whom Bill Wilson had great respect) was Rev. Samuel Shoemaker, a well-known evangelist of the early twentieth century. Some of the people involved in the beginnings of AA had come to Christ through a New York City rescue mission founded by Shoemaker. Also, through a fellowship movement called the Oxford Groups, they were both have contact with a number of sincere Christians. 
In developing the AA program, they borrowed from many different sources, including Biblical Christianity. The 12 Steps evolved out of six steps originally developed in the Oxford Groups. Their six steps were definitely Christian, as was the first version of the 12 Steps that were intended by Bill W. to be a more expanded outline of the progressive actions that lead to a new and changed life. It was only later, after sharing his first draft of the 12 Steps with some of the other early AA's, that the more overtly "religious" statements were edited out. We should not judge AA with the same standards by which we might judge a group that claims to be a Christian organization. It was never meant to be a Christian group, although there were some people involved in the beginning who would have wanted it to be. We might note that, even today, AA (practiced properly) does encourage people to get spiritual instruction and fellowship from the Church and other organized religious bodies outside of itself.
(10) - Treatment Doesn't Work -  Like Alcoholics Anonymous, treatment professionals claim success in the face of contradicting evidence. AA groupers boast “Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path.” The truth is people rarely succeed when following the path of those in AA. As stated previously, 95% of the existing treatment centers in the United States adhere to the 12 Step philosophies. Not surprising, the success rate of treatment is no different from the success rate of AA: 3%.  http://www.baldwinresearch.com/index.cfm
(11) - Teen Challenge Proven Answer to the Drug Problem -    http://teenchallengeusa.com/docs/NW_study.pdf
(12) - The term "alcoholism" is a widely used term first coined in 1849 by Magnus Huss, but in medicine the term was replaced by "alcohol abuse" and "alcohol dependence" in the 1980s DSM III. Similarly in 1979 an expert World Health Organization committee disfavored the use of "alcoholism" as a diagnostic entity, preferring the category of "alcohol dependence syndrome". In the 19th and early 20th centuries, alcohol dependence was called dipsomania before the term "alcoholism" replaced it.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholism#cite_note-Nurnberger-91
(13) - Michael Jackson's Doctor Appears in Court - http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-conrad-murray-court-trial,0,2164347.story

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