WHAT IS ADDICTION?
Addiction – the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity. When someone surrenders habitually or obsessively to specific substances or behaviors.
Addiction comes from the Latin addicere meaning “enslaved by” or “bound.”
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
We believe that Addiction is rooted in the Spiritual realm and is an attack from the enemies of God, perpetrated in the carnal mind and manifested in the sinful flesh to keep a person separated from God and blinded to the knowledge of truth of the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ and their reconciliation back to God.
Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
A person becomes addicted to a substance or behavior when he or she is drawn away by his or her own desire for that substance or behavior in order to receivie its fleshly momentary reward of pleasure. As that person is drawn away and enticed to act out the behaviors of the addiction to receive pleasure, they are lead into sin which ultimately brings forth death because the wages of sin is death. Addiction is a sin and a person addicted to a substance or behavior is a prisoner who is enslaved or bound by sin.
James 1:14-15 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
If the devil can gain control of your mind and set up addiction strongholds, then the body through action is soon to follow. Desires of an addicted flesh, create thoughts in an addicted carnal mind, and those addictive thoughts create addictive actions and addictive actions lead to a bondage to sin which brings forth death to the slave. The battlefield of addiction always forms first in the mind, then spills out into the persons life like a tidal wave of sin and disobedience.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
On a biological level, addiction happens as a result of adaptations in the brain due to continued substance use or addictive behavior. When addiction has taken hold of a person, the individual is no longer acting out of free will. The substance use or addictive behavior becomes almost like a reflex. The person loses self-control and cannot regulate their behavior normally. The person is bound by their desire and becomes a prisoner to the substance or behavior they have no control over. The part of the brain that deals with freedom of choice is not operating properly. The area in the brain responsible for regulating feelings and emotions is also malfunctioning. The mind has become obsessed and preoccupied with the addictive substance or behavior. The addicted person’s soul has become compromised and will begin to suffer. The soul is composed of the mind (ability to think), emotion (ability to feel), and will (ability to act). Addiction attacks all three of these components of the soul equally. Addiction is a disease of the soul where the person is chained to the substance that they cannot stop using.
Dopamine is a naturally occurring chemical in the brain. It is a neurotransmitter that plays a major role in motivating behavior by producing the sensation of pleasure as a reward for basic human behaviors. Drugs and addictive behaviors also produce dopamine in the brain and will also make a person feel good. They activate the dopamine pathway and recreate what naturally occurs in the brain to produce pleasure. The brain has a natural reward system to help us learn behaviors that are necessary for our survival as humans and the use of drugs and addictive behaviors manipulate it.
Using drugs and engaging in addictive behaviors makes the person feel good with pleasure. It is a way of recreating the natural reward system, God has constructed within us to ensure we do certain behaviors that are for our good. This system rewards us in a way to ensure that we will do it again, because we like the way it made us feel and motivates us to do those things that will ensure our survival as basic and as instinctual as the natural rewards of food, sex and procreation. The drugs and addictive behaviors activate these same reward centers, but they do it in a much more effective way. They do it stronger and for longer periods of time. This is the “high”, the addicted person feels and it is their motivation to keep on using the drug or engaging in the addictive behavior. Drugs and Addictive Behaviors hijack the brain’s dopamine system. The hijacked brain becomes dependent on drugs and behaviors because natural rewards are no longer providing normal levels of dopamine or pleasure. The brain has also become trained for higher levels of dopamine that the natural reward system can no longer provide. The drug when used or the addictive behavior when acted out, directly affects the dopamine and kicks it over and over again. Huge amounts of dopamine are released. The signal to the person’s brain is that this drug or behavior is incredibly important and the brain learns it and is conditioned to a pattern of use and reward. This function of bringing immense pleasure through dopamine is now hardwired into the brain. At this point, there has been a change or adaptation to the brain as if the person is in a state of deprivation where taking the drug is indispensable for survival. Chemical messages are now firing through the brain saying to the person, you need this drug or you may die! It’s as powerful as that!
When we are able to understand this and how the drug profoundly changes a person’s brain, then we can better understand why they choose the drug over everything else in life. Once this powerful connection in the brain has been made, it is going to take something even more powerful to break it. After being addicted to Crack Cocaine for 25 years, I finally found the only thing powerful enough to break the chains of my addiction and completely restore my mind and soul, Jesus.
After 25 years of drug addiction, stealing from people and my family, going to jail and prison and ruining every relationship I had in this world; I finally laid on my face in a prison chapel and cried and wept and begged God to forgive me and to save me. I told Him, “I hate myself, I hate this world, I don’t want this anymore, all I want is You. If You save me; I will serve You the rest of the days of my life!” In that moment on the prison floor, I felt my soul crack open and my spirit pour out onto the floor like a drink offering and I wept until I had nothing left. God emptied me that day and when I was finally able to get myself together, I wobbled to my feet and stood in His presence. Since that day, I have never been the same and I have never again had the desire to drink alcohol or use drugs. Once I was released from prison, I joined a spirit-filled church and God began to teach me His ways. There, I was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of my sins and I began to walk in the newness of life. In 2013, Jesus Christ found me in a deep dark addicted pit of death and destruction. He brought me into Godly sorrow and led me into repentance. Jesus broke the chains of my addiction and I have not even thought about having a drink or drug ever since. God renewed my mind and healed my brain and He brought rest and peace to my war-torn, beaten and weary soul! I have been delivered from addiction!
John 8:36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
Put your faith in Jesus Christ and cry out to Him to save you and He will answer you and show you a “Better Way“. A way to live your life better and more complete than the way you have been living in your addiction. He will deliver you, if you surrender to Him and become a new creation in Him through your own death, burial and resurrection. The old addicted person must die and the new man or woman of God will be born-again and walk in the newness of life. Become a new person now, who has overcome addiction and is a Disciple and Witness of Jesus Christ. This is your true destiny! You will not be a drug addict another day when you put your trust in Jesus like I have done!