Clean and Free

A Biblical Counselor's Guide for Understanding and Counseling Addictive Behaviors

Ronald J. Morse

• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781098046729
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religious Counseling

There is a crisis in the world today, and that is the crisis of addiction. It is not new nor even extraordinary, but common and universal in the history of mankind.The world is always looking for answers-for reasons and solutions to all of our problems. There is a new remedy out there for everything it seems and they all claim to have the sure thing. The problem is that too many of them don't work at all and too many more simply miss the mark. They don't really understand what the root of the problem is, and therefore, cannot find the solution. This is evident in the war on addiction: what it is and whom it affects. Where can we find the truth of what it is, and its root cause, and how to defeat it?The Bible is the most amazing book in the history of the world. It not only tells us what our problem is, but also how it came to be, what its consequences are, and even how it can be corrected. The answers are all there if we are careful to look.This work is a biblical understanding of addictive behaviors and how, in just a few steps, we can identify them and overcome them. God loves you and wants you to be free and for your life and family to be restored. He came to this fallen world in the person of Jesus Christ to make us clean and free.

Foreword

This book is the third revision of a work that was copyrighted way back in 1998. The original, entitled Clean Addiction Recovery Ministry, was an eight-session counseling ministry for inmates in the Monroe County Jail, in Rochester New York. I was, at that time, a ministry volunteer in the jail, and the chaplain asked me to develop a recovery program that could be used there. As time went on, it sort of took off and I travelled around the state giving seminars to churches and other groups on how they may use the ministry for themselves.

The first revision, written in 2001, was an expanded version of the work to be an explanation of addictive behaviors for biblical counselors, which included both part one, the eight sessions that deal with overcoming personal addiction, and part two, the restoring of a husband and father to the family and to God’s design. This version has been the textbook for the ministry. So for the last twenty years or so, I have had this going but never really considered publication. Since then, the ministry has grown and there have been a number of changes, additions, rewordings, and eliminations. I remember my creative writing professor many years ago saying, “You never really write; you rewrite and rewrite.”

At any rate, this is written for people who are biblical counselors or for those who are interested in understanding what addictive behaviors are, how they are manifested, and how they can be corrected. I have not used a lot of twenty-dollar words and tried to make it simple and understandable for practically anyone. The understanding or definition of addictive behaviors is clearly illustrated in the Bible, from its cause in the great fall, to the horrific consequences and the way to overcome them. Addictive behaviors are not only common to the human experience; they are the human experience.

I can guarantee that many people, who consider themselves fairly well-managed and in control, would not agree with the idea that they were born addicts, but that is what I believe the Scriptures tell us. It is Jesus Christ that came into this world to give us spiritual life and freedom from the idolatry of the self.

It is my hope that you will look at this with an open heart and an open mind.

Dr. Ron Morse

Aiken, South Carolina

November 2019

Acknowledgments

I must first acknowledge with all sincerity and humility, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has, by His grace and immeasurable love, saved me from a life of sin and opened my eyes and heart to His Word, and in whom I owe all things pertaining to life and happiness. It is by His grace that I have survived in this world, after years of rebellion, choosing not to retain the lie and blessings of the knowledge of Christ that I received in childhood, but in His good timing and pleasure recaptured my heart and has since directed my path. It is by His goodwill that I joyfully serve Him as a minister of the gospel and will continue to serve as He so mercifully permits, until He takes me from this mortal frame to be with Him forever in His Kingdom.

I also wish to acknowledge my beautiful wife, Cynthia, who has been ever with me, encouraging me and blessing me with her love, patient perseverance, and companionship.

Introduction

There is a crisis in America. The crisis is one of addictive behaviors. The crisis of addiction is mostly focused on the use of drugs and alcohol, but though they are in the forefront, they are not the cause of this crisis. The use of intoxicating substances is only one of the symptoms of a much deeper societal problem. In the decades of the 1960s and 1970s, there was an increase in the use of drugs for recreation or therapy that was unheard of. The popularization of the use of drugs like LSD and marijuana, followed by experimentation with PCP, peyote, psilocybin, and amanita mushrooms, particularly in the baby boomer generation and that subculture, later increased in the use of cocaine and the cheaper derivative crack or cocaine base. Pharmaceutical use of therapies for anxiety, depression, and chronic pain literally exploded in this new age of discovery. Powerful drugs for the treatment of these and other maladies emerged, and the development of Benzodiazepines and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) along with the promise that help for whatever ailed you was only a prescription away, helped the generation of a pill-popper society and a drug-related culture. The rock band The Rolling Stones produced songs in the 1960s like “Mother’s Little Helper” and “19th Nervous Breakdown,” which were distinctly directed at these new therapies and applied a sharply acute sarcasm of a real growing problem. In their song “Mother’s Little Helper” the “little yellow pill” is Valium. In some respect, the pharmaceutical companies have sold us a bill of goods, in their marketing of drugs. The claim is that all of our problems can be simply solved by a new pill. I believe it was the DuPont chemical company’s one-time slogan, “Better living through chemistry.” With tongue firmly planted in cheek, that is what we are promised every day on TV with some new drug. We have become a truly drug-centered society.

Today, the war is against a new trend in the pharmaceutical industry—pain management. The crisis in the overdose and misuse of opioids, particularly drugs like Oxycontin and Fentanyl, have created a national emergency that, through the increasing number of deaths related to the misuse of these drugs, has gotten the attention of the US Congress. The problem that is consistent with opioids is that they are exceedingly powerful, and when people have been prescribed these medications are no longer able to access them legally, turn to the streets, where the cheaper and more attainable heroin still reigns as the king of drugs. One of the first states to bring this into focus was New Hampshire, where the number of deaths from heroin and opioid overdose reached epidemic proportions in 2015.

In our attempts to find remedy and recovery from these epidemics, the emergence of treatment facilities, drug treatment courts, private hospitals, and dozens of other addiction recovery programs have occurred. Although millions of dollars are spent and months of therapies, the success rates of these programs is remarkably low. I remember, when I was counseling in Rochester, New York, and worked with judge Roy Wheatley King in the Rochester Drug Treatment Court, he told me, “I know who will make it and who won’t.” In those he said that would make it, the numbers were very low, despite the much-touted 65 percent success rate of the program. The reason for his rather prophetic judgment will be discussed a little later in this writing.

Recently, claims that addiction is a disease has been the driving force behind many of the programs that include medical treatment. Scientific studies have shown the effects of drugs on the pleasure centers of the brain and the resultant chemical changes in the brain, which causes a physical need for the continuing introduction of the substance. This change does not occur naturally, but only when that part of the brain is bombarded with the chemical that effects that change. What I mean is that a person is not born an alcoholic or dependent on heroin. You have to introduce those toxins into the body to produce the chemical effect and the following discomfort of withdrawal that produces a compulsive behavior to relieve the agony of the withdrawal. It is the “hair of the dog” and a “fix.” For this reason, many have come to the conclusion that addiction is the compulsive behavior associated with the drug. Chemical dependency is not a disease, nor is it addiction. Addiction itself is not a disease, but a behavior that can cause disease. For example, if you drink a quart of bourbon every day, it will eventually cause disease of the liver and pancreas. A person that smokes four packs of cigarettes every day and eat tons of deep fried foods is at a much greater risk of heart disease, cancer, or emphysema, than someone who does not. Most heart disease can be prevented by a lifestyle that encourages healthy choices.

It is vitally important for us to understand the root cause of addiction if we are going to provide help for those who are suffering and for their families. As I said before, drugs and alcohol are not the cause of addiction but are symptoms of a deeper societal problem. Though they are in the forefront, addictive behaviors extend to hundreds of other areas of normal life, like food, work, money, sex, relationships, sports, recreation, education, religion, and I could go on for hours. There is a root of addictive behavior that is behind all of these differing expressions of the behavior. As a biblical counselor, I believe that the answer to all of this is clearly laid out for us in the Scriptures. Now, the Bible does not speak about heroin or crack cocaine, but it does speak about the human condition. It is the human condition that is at the root of addictive behaviors.

What I will attempt in the writing of this book is to uncover the root condition that can be defined as addiction and the remedy for it. Addiction is a societal malady that is as old as humanity itself, and none of us are immune to it, and it has in these last days become a vastly varied and malicious problem in America. Not all will agree with what I have to say. In fact, many will be greatly offended by the confrontational nature of the book. That is okay. That is a part of the problem! The great English journalist Malcom Muggeridge said, “The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.”

The explanation of the root and nature of addiction will have this effect. I pray that you would read this with an open mind and an open heart, and that the truth of Christ may take hold of us all. To God be the glory!

Part 1

What Is Addiction?

Before we can get an understanding of addiction, we should probably come to understand what it is not. Addiction is not a disease; it is a behavior. It is also not a “moral failure,” as we, as a society, defines what is moral and what is not. The question of morality only comes into view when the addictive behavior is associated with that which is harmful, illegal, or not accepted as part of our civilized society. The moral question typically arises with the use of alcohol or drugs, or when a behavior like gambling takes away from a person’s responsibility to himself and others. Drunkards, as they used to be referred, have always been the objects of social disdain. Their lack of control over their use of alcohol has ever been regarded as weakness and immorality. It is the same with drug use, which leads to other behaviors not typically accepted as part of our social environment. Drug use often leads to crime, usually beginning with stealing money or valuable objects from family and friends. It may then lead to larceny, burglary, or even violent armed robbery. The habit needs to be filled; however, it can. These are examples of what we normally consider addiction is. We single these behaviors out because they are damaging. But there are hundreds of ways that people may be “addicted” sometimes without even knowing it. If the behaviors are not harmful to themselves or someone else, they are viewed as merely habits or peculiarities. Think about those who work themselves to death or those who overeat, or chase money, or relationships. Any activity that is pursued to attempt to fill a void in a person’s life can be thought of as addiction, as it is currently understood. Addiction is not what we think it is, and it is more commonly associated...