The Addicted Society IV

We're certainly living in an addicted society; addicted to so many different things that it is really something! The most difficult addictions to overcome are substance abuse, be it: drugs—legal or illegal, or whatever other substance that you're going to have. A lot of people say, 'Are you on drugs?' They say no! But they don't tell you that they don't consider smoking pot being a drug. When you look at what is happening, substance abuse is the worst.

• television addiction: it's easy to make up your mind to hit the switch
• pornography addiction is a little harder to do because it's in your mind so much. But you can turn off the computer and not play the DVDs

But substance abuse is entirely different! People need a lot of help on that; if you do not make up your mind and finally make the decision—if you are on substance abuse—to quit.

When people get into substance abuse, they start out and think 'I can handle it. It's not going to affect me. I'll never get addicted.' They don't understand how powerful that these drugs are, and they don't realize what they're doing to their lives, their families: mothers and fathers, and their own children, etc.

What the schools do with Ritalin is very close to cocaine. They get addicted and they start at a young age. The reason that it is because there's no discipline at home, there's no discipline at school, and they do not have enough men teachers to have enough authority to rule over the boys. It's mostly boys that are on Ritalin because all of these feminist women cannot handle boys. They don't know what to do. They don't know how to do it. They don't think like boys. They don't think like men. So, the only way they can handle it is drug them out.

Here you have a generation coming up that is dumbed-downed, stooped-downed, drugged-downed, and by the time they get to teenage they're already hooked. Then mix in illicit sex and all the other things that go with it, and you have got a society that is headed for disaster—which we are!Also on the playground, there are those giving it out free and getting them hooked early.

What happens in families when substance abuse comes along is that it costs a lot of money. They end up not working, they end up stealing, they lose their homes, they lose their cars, they lose their jobs. Parents try to help them out. They lie to them; they rob them in the sense they say they'll do things. I know of one family that spent $8,000 for six weeks rehab. The guy went in there and everything was good, fine, lovely, roses; came out and right back to cocaine. Because in there he did not come to himself and he did not have a confrontation with God and His Word! That's a key!

In order to overcome—part 3 Repentance, Recovery and Reprogramming—there's got to be that repentance first; you've got to come to yourself; you've got to come to God! Not just a matter of admitting—like with Alcoholics Anonymous: everyone gets up there and says, 'My name is So-and-So and I'm an alcoholic'—while he's sucking on candy and puffing on a cigarette. He's still an addict!

Admission won't work. Just like this MSNBC thing in entrapping men coming after children in their pedophilia case. They all said, 'Oh, this is my first time.' Then they catch them the second time and they say, 'Oh, I need help!' They haven't said, 'I'm a dirty, rotten, pedophile and I'm repenting to God never again to get involved in it.' NO! They blame other people—'Oh, I need help. Oh, it's the society.' NO! It's your lust! It's your selfishness! All substance abuse revolves around lust, lawlessness and selfishness! Just for you! You think:

• nothing about your family
• nothing about your children
• nothing about your husband
• nothing about your wife
• nothing about the repercussions on the rest of the family
• nothing about the repercussions in the rest of society
• nothing about all the repercussion of all of those tax dollars going to try an enforce and help and stamp out and everything

I tell you what, someone said if you want a real eye-opener, go to a big city emergency hospital room on Friday night, where they have all of those who come in with 'ODs' and what do they have on Friday night to desecrate the Sabbath? All of their parties, rock concerts, all of the things where all of this goes on. It's something that this society is possessed of the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah and whoredoms, and possessed with the spirit of drugs. That all comes from Satan the devil, and that all comes from the enemies of God.

Before a person can really make any progress, he or she has to come to the point of understanding that:

• they have sinned against God
• they have sinned against their family
• the have sinned against themselves
• they have sinned against their bodies

The only way out is to turn to God! They can, in some cases, make some progress and make some improvement without going to God directly. However, that's very rare and few in between!

Let's look at something that is important. A lot of people think, 'well, if you study the Bible you're religious.' If you believe God, which is different than believing in God—because if you believe in God you're no different than the demons; they believe in God and tremble. People don't believe God! 'Well, the Bible is only for those people who want it.' They don't understand that God is going to judge them by the words in this Bible whether they know it or not!

After Jesus had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, Matthew 4:3: "And when the tempter came to Him, he said, 'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.'"

Jesus could have done it just like that. But if He had done it, He would have obeyed Satan and Satan would have become His god—because whomever you obey that's your god. So, if you are a slave of an addiction of any kind, that addiction is your god.

• you'll work for it
• you'll pay for it
• you'll lie for it
• you'll do anything for it

Some people even kill for it. That's your god! Now, whether you shoot it up in your arms, stick it in your nose, put it in your mouth that is your god!

Verse 4: "But He answered and said, 'It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."'"

Who is man? In this sense that's the plural of every human being on earth, from the time of Adam until the time there are no more human beings.

Let's also understand something else. This does not have to do with just people in the Church. This is all human beings that are walking the face of the earth at any time during any point in history. God expects them, if they are not converted, to obey in the letter of the Law. If they are converted to obey in the spirit of the Law.

What else does this tell us? That everything in the Old Testament has been endorsed by Jesus Christ! No such thing as New Testament replaces the Old. The New Testament spiritually amplifies and magnifies the laws of God, as Jesus said. That's why in The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version we have Appendix H (also in A Harmony of the Gospels): How Did Jesus Fulfill the Law and the Prophets. Very important to understand! He did not, at any time, do away with or abolish anything that He did to improve from the physical of the Old Covenant to the spiritual of the New Covenant, you will see it was:

• to make the standard higher
• to make it spiritual
• to make it permanent

This tells us it applies to everyone!

Now we are going to see that while there are different programs that people can get into in the world—they may be taught to think positively; to overcome certain things—they haven't come to fundamental realization that the only way that they can change is:

• through God
• through His Word
• through His Spirit

This is where it has to be—can't be any other way—for a permanent change! You also have to consider the people raised in a society where God has been removed from their lives, removed from the school, removed from the churches—how do you do it? You have to tell them the place to begin is you need to find God, and you need to find Him in the Word of God! You need to understand that as much help as people can be, God can help you even more. His Word can help you even more. That can help you reprogram your mind.

It may seem like a very foreign thing to them to turn to God, but that's the very reason why the Word of God is here, so they can start someplace! Even those who don't believe in God and still make a measurable recovery, well that's commendable, but everything that they do that is in a positive way is based somewhere, somehow, on the Word of God, whether it is directly stated or not.

Let's look at the reprogramming that has to happen. When people get involved in addiction, they lower the standards of right and wrong, good and evil. They blur all of these into a way of thinking where these things are not wrong. And the reason that the addiction comes is because when they get to this point, they have nothing where they can just say no! They have no standard. They have no foundation. This is why in the Word of God the place to begin is not with conversion. The place to begin is getting the right things into your mind, then conversion can come later if that's what God wants.

The book of Proverbs is the place to begin; it is not a doctrinal issue concerning salvation, Sabbath, Holy Days or any of those things. The book of Proverbs is designed to give all people in the letter and, in many cases, the spirit of the Law how they need to live their lives. This is what is so important. Here's why you need the Word of God. Here's how you begin to do it.

As I mentioned, to admit you have a problem is perhaps the first half step. To really understand that you have a problem, begin to cope with all the consequences of it, and begin to realize what you need to do about it becomes another thing.

Proverbs 8:13: "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil…" You have got to come to hate what you are doing with such a passion that it gives you a motivation to not do it. That's the beginning of the 'fear of the Lord,' and that's the beginning of re-instituting a conscience that has been so destroyed by being addicted and compromising everything that you know and that you do. Here are the things that cause all the problems that people are in:

"…I hate pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverse mouth" (v 13). This means a complete change in thought pattern and behavior!

Now, the way that you rewire is going to take some effort. Every one of the recovery programs that they have, they have classes that different ones attend and they learn to identify things and they learn how to get their thinking squared around to a certain rate. But here is the way to break through even that a little bit more:

Proverbs 7:1: "My son, keep my words… [you do it through the book of Proverbs] …and store up my commandments within you. Keep my commandments and live…" (vs 1-2).

Just understand this: Before you live, overcome, survive and get out of this addiction you've got to keep the commandments of God, and it begins right here in the book of Proverbs. How do you orient your mind? The way that you orient your mind and get it reprogrammed is to put the right things in there!That's what it says here.

"…and keep my law as the apple of your eye. Bind them upon your fingers; write them upon the tablet of your heart" (vs 2-3).

This tells us something very important, because this is all about programming the mind and the thinking that you have. If you succumb to any addiction, you've got to reprogram your mind this way. At first, this is going to be very alien to a lot of people, because growing up in a society where God is not around, though they've had the Bible everywhere, it's a difficult proposition. But it can be done. 'Bind them upon the table of your heart.'

Let's come back to Prov. 3 and review it again, where it says it again; and wherever it says something like this it means that it's important. In overcoming an addiction, repetition to reprogram the mind is vital! Key things you have got to repeat and repeat, over and over again, and this is what the book of Proverbs does.

Proverbs 3:3: "Do not let mercy and Truth forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them upon the tablet of your heart."

Mercy and Truth have to do with character, the Word of God, the commandments of God, right thoughts, and "…write them upon the tablet of your heart." This tells what we need to do to reprogram the mind.

Verse 4: "And so you shall find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man."

Prov. 4 becomes the heart and core and the central way to overcome addictions and to get yourself reprogrammed where your thinking is getting squared around. Whenever you're on substance abuse, or addicted to anything, you're thinking has been all messed up. You may have a lot of various mood swings.

You may go along and because of health problems you have brought upon yourself because of the abuse that you have been giving to your body and to your mind, you also need to take care of your health. Sometimes these things will be residual in your body and your liver and come back and hit you again. That's all the process of getting it out of your system. You've got to have both the mental reprogramming and the health conditioning in order to get yourself back on the right way. Here is the difference. Here's part of the reprogramming—absolutes: right/wrong, truth/error, obedience/sin. This is what Proverbs does.

Proverbs 4:18: "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more to the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness..." (vs 18-19). If you've been addicted to something:

• think of all the darkness that you've gone through
• think of all the misery that you have suffered and caused other people to suffer
• think about the depressions that you have had
• think about the things that you have brought to others on it

It is a way of darkness! Here's what happens when you are addicted:

"…they know not at what they stumble" (v 19). They have fears, anxieties and all kinds of problems and difficulties because of it! So, there is the contrast.

Verse 20: "My son, attend to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart" (vs 20-21).

How many times have we read about the heart here? Three times! Very important! That's part of reprogramming. A simple way to start reprogramming is this: memorize the Ten Commandments! Then start memorizing some of the Proverbs. Let that be in your mind and go into your mind, because when it does your mind is a fantastic thing that God has created, and you can reprogram your mind!

They've been able to do this with people who have had brain tumors and they have had to take out one-half of their brain. Through therapy and reprogramming and teaching, they are able to recover to a very high degree every aspect of thinking and learning and speaking. But they have to really apply themselves to it. So, you need to realize how much you need to apply yourself, too; and it talks about 'in the midst of your heart.'

Verse 22: "For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh." This is going to give you:

• a good attitude
• a positive attitude
• a right way
• a coming out of the depths of the abuse that you have been in

Whether it is substance abuse, porn addiction, smoking cigarettes; whatever it is, it will help you.

Verse 23: "Above all guard the door of your mind with diligence…" You are responsible for what goes into your mind and stays in your mind! Some things can go in your mind and you can't get them out of your mind. You have to guard it!

Here's why: "…for out of it… [the heart/mind] …are the issues of life." The very thing of

• how to live
• why you're here
• where you're going
• what are you going to do
• how you're going to repair all the damage that has been done because of your addiction
• how you are going to find yourself
• how you are going to be stable
• how you are going to be able to control your emotions
• how you are going to do all of these things

The deeper the substance abuse and the difficulty that a person is in, the more they have to come back to ground zero and start everything all over again. That's what's important to remember, and that's what's you're doing. "…out of it are the issues of life."

That's why in being addicted your life is all messed up; your life is upside down. A lot of people end up doing crimes and things where because of drug addictions they steal, they commit murder, manslaughter, beat up people, and all because they're addicted!

Stop and think for a minute, what a fantastic thing that it's going to be when the Kingdom of God is on the earth. None of that's going to happen.

There's a book by Dr. Laura Schlessinger: Bad Childhood, Good Life. The long and short of that book is this: Regardless of what has happened in your childhood or in your life stop blaming other people! Stop blaming the circumstances! You got yourself in the circumstances, you fell into it and you gave into it. So, you've got to stop saying, 'He did it.' Just like those pedophiles they caught on MSNBC: 'Oh, this is my first time I ever did it.' Every single one of them. No!

Let's talk a little bit about Ritalin again because a comment was brought up that kids in school are given Ritalin and they're innocent victims of it. They're told that they need this and then when they get out of school they're addicted to it and now they're ripe for cocaine addiction and they're told that that is wrong. Not only are we dealing with substance abuse, we are dealing with adult abuse of children by giving them drugs.

When you watch the news, how many are drug ads? Almost all of them! It is Satan's endeavor to addict this nation, to destroy it. So, it's a perfect setting in an atheistic school where there is no God, where there are feminist women who destroy little boys, and they can't control them. Give them drugs! Give them drugs! Give them drugs! A drug for this, a drug for that, a drug for the other thing!

What did the world do for thousands of years without the drug companies? What do you do when you grow up and you've been reared on Ritalin? You're still faced with the same choices we're talking about here! If you want to get your life squared around, you're going to have to do this. And I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that are suffering from it and going through it. It's really quite a difficult thing for them. Also, a lot of parents don't want to take care of the kids anymore, so they turn them over:

• to TV
• to fast foods
• to video games
• to unsupervised playing with other children
• to daycare centers
• to teachers

Teachers are all frustrated because they can't control the kids, because they're not controlled at home. So, you have one great huge problem that is going to impact this nation in the next few years. The biggest thing we're going to be confronted with is overcoming addiction from those who grew up being addicted to the drugs and the system and to the way that it is.

I'll tell you what the final solution is going to be to a lot of it. The only way out of it with the state is to put the mark of the beast on them so you can control them.

Back to what we need to be doing here, because this is an important thing that we need to understand. If you're a child who has been victimized by it, and if you have come through the system and have grown up in it—and you don't know what to do with your life and you're fighting all kinds of wrong thoughts, depressions and all these sort of things—you have got to get on a health-cleansing program and a mental-cleansing program that does not involve drugs or medications, but where you can use those thing to clean your system out and get it functioning correctly; so you can begin to think. The first point in straightening is to get yourself to a point where you can begin to think!

Prov. 5 talks about the 'strange woman.' Let's not use this for just pornography, sex addiction, adultery and fornication, though many people are addicted to sex. They have sex clubs where they have 'swinging adults' where they swap husbands and wives and all of this sort of thing on Carnival cruises and in hotels and things like this. I mean, this world is going nuts! But what it has to be is that you have got to combine some of these Proverbs that we have seen, how you've got to hate the evil! If you don't, it says right here:

Proverbs 5:8: "Remove your way far from her…"—or whatever your addiction is: pornography, substance abuse, alcohol abuse, gambling addiction, food addiction; remove yourself from it.

"…and do not come near the door of her house" (v 8). Don't let any of these temptations take you down!

• What do you do when a temptation comes along?

Because, lo, they're going to come! They're going to put themselves upon you in a pretty powerful way.

• What do you do?
• How do you handle it?

You've got to recognize it when it comes! You know what it is, and the temptation is there: 'Oh, I need something to help me. Oh I've got this craving.'

I've told those who need to overcome smoking addiction and alcohol addiction—and it has even helped out in some cases of cocaine addiction—that whenever you get an urge, whenever you get a strong feeling that you've got to have whatever substance it was that you had before, get yourself a whole batch of lemons, and whenever you get a craving take a lemon, cut a little hole in the small end of it, and then squeeze it and suck on it. Just keep that with you and squeeze it and suck on it.

Very good, because your body is receiving something because it's craving something. What the lemon juice will do is it will help cleanse the system, will bring you Vitamin C, will help you regain your control—very important to do. What the lemon juice does is helps clean out the liver. You can take as many as you can. When you get too much your lips may get a little puckered and you may have a little lemon sore on the inside of your mouth temporarily, but you can overcome that. That helps cleanse the liver, helps end the urge.

James 1:13: "Do not let anyone who is tempted say, 'I am being tempted by God' because God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself tempts no one with evil."

• it's your own lust
• it is Satan the devil
• it is the society around you

Let's put in there another thing that unhinges your mind and sets you up for all kinds of addiction is the music: the rock music, the rap music and all of that.

I tell you the most brainless people in the world are those who drive through the neighborhood with the windows down and their low-booming box going BOOM! BOOM! and the whole neighborhood is shaking! Every house is shaking as they drive by, and they sit there and nod their heads: 'Hey, I'm cool!'

Verse 14: "But each one is tempted when he is drawn away and is enticed by his own lust." The temptation comes along and starts drawing you away and then you're entrapped by your own lust, your own selfishness, your own desire to please the self and to feed the addiction.

When you give into that, v 15: "And after lust has conceived…" A process that takes place, and each point along the line you can say NO, you can get up and run away from it, you can go get away from it, you can replace your thoughts with something else, you can do something else. In cases I've mentioned, grab a lemon.

"…after lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin…" There's a process; all of this you can stop up to the point of sin.

"…when it is completely finished, brings forth death…. [that's the end result of all of this] …Do not deceive yourselves, my beloved brethren" (vs 15-16).

Every time you justify giving into a sin or temptation, you are deceiving yourself and you're staying in deception, and you are serving self and Satan!

Let's talk a little bit about drug addiction for senior citizens. A lot of people are on drugs for many different things. A lot of senior citizen like to talk about the drugs that they have and say, 'I take this one and I take that one. What do you take?' The biggest drug-pushers now are the pharmacies and the drug companies.

If for example, Jim and Betty Hyles—way past 60 and into their 70s—they were talking to someone and they said, 'How old are you?' They were surprised when they told them what their age was. Then they said, 'By the way we don't take any medicine.' You don't take any medicine! Why? They try and take care of themselves and eat right and so forth!

A lot of senior citizens are addicts to the medicines that the doctors give you, and you are as much hooked as the addict that shoots up cocaine or heroine that you condemn! A lot of it is because you have not taken care of your health as you've gotten older! That's a struggle. I know what that's like and I have to take care of my health. I've had to learn. I've had to just come to myself and say, 'Fred, if you don't take care of yourself nobody will.'

Just as an aside for people who don't know the Word of God. You need to understand about clean and unclean meats. A lot of sicknesses are caused by pork, shrimp, lobster, by all the things that God said don't eat. And the there's a reason He said don't eat it, because He wants you to be healthy.

• What do you do mentally?
• How do you handle it mentally?

Proverbs 5:20: "For why will you, my son, be ravished with a strange woman…" Substitute that for whatever the addiction is!

• Will you be ravaged by marijuana? cocaine? methamphetamine?
• Will you be ravaged by pornography?
• Will you be ravaged by prescription drugs?

Whatever it is just put that in there and that's what it is.

"…and embrace the bosom of a stranger? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He ponders all his paths" (vs 20-21).

• God is there to help you!
• God is there to give you the strength that you need!

That's why the book of Proverbs, as well as the whole Bible. Here's a key; you can bank on this.

Verse 22: "His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be held with the cords of his sins." In other words, he's going to be a complete slave to his lusts and his sins, and that's what's going to control him! If he doesn't get a hold of himself and begin to work at overcoming the addiction:

Verse 23: "He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall breathe his last."

That's talking about an awful lot of people in the world today; an awful lot of people with the problems and difficulties that they are in.

Proverbs 6:20: "My son, keep your father's commandments, and do not forsake the instruction of your mother."

Again, reprogramming your mind. Consider your Father: God! Consider your mother as it were: the Church, but not in the strictest sense.

Verse 21: "Bind them continually upon your heart…" Notice how many times we've talked about the heart and what you need to do to control your thoughts. Bind them!

• make it a part of the way that you think
• make it a part of the way that you act

This is the only way you're going to get reprogrammed! It's not going to happen any other way.

That's why some of these programs that are by the state—the state can't tell you about God because they're forbidden—have a 3-step, 8-step or 12-step program that they go through. It only takes you so far; that's why there are so many repeats. Those that go through the drug rehab sometimes they've got to go through two, three, four, sometimes five times, until they get to the point they say, 'I'm tired of it and I've got to stop.' What happens? They finally made the choice they've got to quit! Here's a way you won't have to go back and repeat:

"…tie them around your neck. When you go, they shall lead you; when you sleep, they shall keep you; and when you awake, they shall talk with you" (vs 21-22).

What does that mean? Every person talks to himself all day long! That's called thinking within! So, if you have the laws and commandments of God that you are thinking on, it is going to talk with you as you go. In other words, you're going to think in the right way! It's going to help you overcome—'Get rid of stinkin' thinkin'!' {note sermon: Stinkin' Thinkin'! #s 1 & 2}

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I need to also mention something that's important: There are a lot of medications that people need. They may not necessarily be addictive medications, but they need them. If you're in that category, then that's fine; take those, no problem. However, do yourself a favor and do some research because there are a lot of things that you can find with natural remedies, herbs, and things like this that will help you.

For example: I just talked to a diabetic up in the Northwest, and he's had a terrible diabetic problem for a long time. So, he found out about cinnamon and started taking quite a bit of cinnamon and, lo and behold, he's lost 85 lbs and he has cut his insulin that he has to take every day in half. He told his doctor what he's doing. He said it works, and as long as it works, keep at it. He said, 'You're better off.'

So, look at that with other things, too. There are a lot of things that can be done to help your body and your system so you can function well without having to be on various drugs and medications. Lots of times a doctor will say you need this and you need that and you need the other thing. You may or may not need them; you need to find out for yourself because most doctors operate their practice based upon their malpractice insurance policies. They prescribe things for people that they really don't need to cover themselves in case of a lawsuit. You need to realize that. A lot of doctors do not practice to help you, they practice to minimize their malpractice insurance. Some doctors have to pay $200,000 a year malpractice insurance. So, you can understand where they're coming from, which gets back to another whole thing about not only are we to 'guard the door of our mind' but maybe we ought to say, we ought to guard the door of our stomachs—what goes in it and what we put there!

Jim was telling me about a woman who had been consigned to drugs because of mental difficulties, emotional problems and the state said, 'You need this and we'll provide it for you. You can get your prescription over here.' She took it and gained weight and gained weight and he saw her recently at a local restaurant and he kept looking at her and looking at her and said, 'I know this woman.' So, he went up and said, 'Are you So-and-so?' and she said, 'Yeah!' He said, 'My, you really lost a lot of weight.' She said, 'Yes, I just had to make up my mind to stop these medicines and lose weight.' She figured it out herself!

What does that tell you? That comes right in to what we've said all along: You have got to come to yourself and make the decision and commit to doing it! Not giving excuses; not blaming other people, but take responsibility for yourself: your mind, your body and your life!

Also another suggestion was brought up with this. A man went to a doctor and said, 'I'm having trouble sleeping and now he's discovered that his problem in sleeping was not what the doctor thought it was. The doctor said, rather than give him any real understanding, he said, 'here, take this drug.' He said, 'What is it?' Oh, it's not addictive. What you're up against is this: A lot of the drug salesmen convince the doctors to prescribe these things and give samples of it. So, what this man did was he went home checked up the drug on the Internet and the first thing it said was, 'This drug is addictive.'

You need to understand, people can get themselves in very bad situation when they give the responsibility of their health and their bodies and their minds to professional people who are locked into a system in the way that they do things.

They're able to help a lot of people. They're able to do a lot of good. There is a place for MDs, there is a place for chiropractors, there is a place for acupuncture, there is place for herbs, etc. But it's got to be in the right way. Now, there are a lot of doctors who are so busy that they have their nurses line them up and overbook and run them in and run them out, give them this, give them that, not even checking what to do. Please understand this: Doctors are not taught anything about nutrition!

A good book you need to get is Natural Cures: "They" Don't Want You to Know About by Kevin Trudeau. You might be surprised if you are on a lot of prescription drugs, that you can probably reduce the amount that you are taking or eliminate them altogether. You need to look at that, because you may be in the addicted position and think you're addicted because 'the doctor' has prescribed it. Remember, I did mention addiction to prescription drugs when we first started.

Proverbs 6:23—this is what the world does not like. "For the commandment is a lamp…" We are living in a dark world and you need to see where you're going, and the commandments give you light!

"…and the Law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life" (v 23). Instructions that tell you to do this; don't do that! Follow this; don't follow that! This is evil; this is good!

Verse 24: "To keep you from the evil woman… [whatever your addiction is, put it in there] …from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman"

Isn't that what it is when all the dealers come along. 'Here, try some.' How much does it cost? 'It's free, try it.' Get them hooked! That's what they did with crack cocaine. Destroyed lives! Destroyed communities! Destroyed whole areas of big cities! It was hard to get those crack addicts off of it.

Some of them, the only way they could get them out of the addictions was because they had committed crimes and they had to go to jail and they couldn't get any there. However, there are smugglers of drugs who bring it right into the jails. I've heard people say, 'When I was in jail for a drug thing, I could have gotten it right there.' Right here in Hollister, what did they find here recently? A probation officer, working for the county, was pushing drugs and carrying a gun! How corrupt is the world? We'll talk about what you need to do.

Verse 25: "Do not lust after her beauty…"—or after the effect that you want from the drug or whatever it is.

"…in your heart… [all these decisions are within] …nor let her seduce you with her eyelids" (v 25).

Where do you first see that? On Bug Bunny cartoons! Minnie Mouse would flutter, move her eyelids, and what do they have? Look at the look of every woman on the cover of every woman's magazine and what do you find? Some kind of look! Some kind of stare? Something!

Verse 26: "For by means of a harlot… [or an addiction] …a man is vanquished to a piece of bread, and the adulteress… [or drug dealer] …will hunt for the precious life"—or the pedophile, or the pornographer.

Verse 27: "Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?" (vs 27-28). Then it talks about adultery and all those sort of things!

I just found out here recently that there was a man (not in the Church but one of the relatives was in the Church) who happened to work on one of these offshore oil platforms. He was gone two weeks and home two weeks. His wife, while he was gone two weeks, had another man on the side; just before she divorced him and took everything. The judge agreed to give her everything and make him pay for all her debts, because that's how crooked the system is. You get the book The Marketing of Evil—there's a whole section in there on the 'divorce industry' and how much they are supported by the government.

What happened? He caught her and she left! Got everything! Unless you have a commitment to God, believe in God, believe God, keep His commandments, you're always going to have the subterfuge of deceitful human nature: whether it be man, whether it be woman, whether it be boy, whether it be girl, whether it is young, whether it is old. Whatever your situation is it's going to be there, and it's going to cause you terrible and miserable things in your life.

Verse 32: "But whoever commits adultery with a woman…" Whoever becomes addicted to any of the forms of addictions that we've been talking about, especially substance abuse:

"…lacks understanding; he who does it destroys his own soul" (v 32).

• destroy your mind
• destroy your heart
• destroy your ability:
• to think
• to reason
• to work!

All of those things are destroyed!

Verse 33: "He shall get a wound and dishonor; and his shame shall not be wiped away." That is unless you change and repent and turn to God!

Here's what the book of Proverbs does. It's called wisdom! Wisdom that comes from God, that's available to everyone in the world, not just those in the Church, but everyone in the world!

• right and wrong
• good and evil
• Truth and error

The first place to come, in making up your mind, is to realize there are absolutes and you need to begin thinking in the terms of absolutes, not in the realm of the gray areas where temptation lurks.

Proverbs 8:1: "Does not wisdom call? And does not understanding put forth her voice?"

How many books are out there written by how many people saying:

• get rid of this
• stop this
• how to overcome drugs
• how to overcome family problems
• how to overcome all of these difficulties

These are written by people who have wisdom that God has provided, that is there in the world and it is much like we find here in the book of Proverbs.

Verse 2: "She stands in the top of high places, by the place where the paths meet." In other words, it's out there for you to see and hear and understand!.

Verse 5: "O you simple ones, understand wisdom…" Begin to make right decisions! That's what the whole book of Proverbs is about—to give you wisdom! To give you the means of making the choices!

"…and, you fools, be of an understanding heart…. [Listen to these things!] …Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things" (vs 5-6).

Proverbs 8-9 are introducing the rest of the book of Proverbs, because you'll see when we get to Prov. 10 it suddenly changes. Prov. 1-9 is setting the stage so that you can being to use the Proverbs in a right way and understand what they are about.

Verse 7: "For my mouth shall speak truth…" Truth is what you need to seek in everything!

"…and wickedness is an abomination to my lips…. [starting to get the contrast: truth and wickedness] …All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing twisted or perverse in them. They are all plain to him who understands, and right to those that find knowledge. Receive my instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it" (vs 7-11).

If you lose your mind, your emotions, your health, you can't buy it with those things. That's what it's talking about. Study the Proverbs on your knees. What do I mean by that? Obviously, you can't do it all at once! You open your Bible to the book of Proverbs and you start reading and praying and studying; ask God, 'Help me to understand. Help me to put this together.'

You don't have to be there with your eyes closed. A lot of people think the way you pray is point your hand like this upward to heaven and you close your eyes and you mutter. No! Right while you're reading it you can pray. Ask for understanding. It's going to take time. This is a long-term project and if you need to, go back and do it again. Always come back and refresh your memory with it, because this is going to help you.

Verse 32: "And now, therefore, hearken unto me, O you children, for blessed are those who keep my ways."

• Are you tired of the curses and all the penalties that come along from the addiction that you're in?
• Are you tired of the self-deception and the lies that you've been telling yourself, that other people have been telling you?
• Are you tired of being depressed and having your mind all messed up because of these things?

Listen! v 33: "Hear instruction, and be wise, and do not refuse it." Don't say, 'Oh well, it's just some preacher!' or 'He's some religious nut!' Whatever!

Verse 34: "Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors." Anxiously anticipating how you can use the new Truth that you are coming across in the book of Proverbs!

Verse 35: "For whoever finds me finds life and shall obtain favor from the LORD." God will bless you! Even in the letter of the Law, even in the society in general. Where did we start out? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God! Every human being will benefit from it.

Verse 36: "But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul… [you're doing it to yourself!] …all who hate me… [can't stand God, don't want God, don't want the Bible, get rid of it, it's too restrictive] …love death." You think about that!

Let's just do this. Why don't you do a survey of all the famous rock stars who are drug addicts and great abominable sinners in most cases. Most of their music is made to destroy your mind and get you to give into all these various addictions that we've been talking about.

As David Kupelian brought out in his book The Marketing of Evil, one of the first songs that came along that started people into thinking along promiscuous lines and then one step leads to another is this: If You Can't Be with the One You Love, Love the One You are With. That sounds innocent enough. 'Oh that rhymes, isn't that interesting?' Set to a nice tune. But it programs the mind for promiscuity. "…all who hate me love death." There you go, that's it!

Proverbs 9:6: "Forsake the foolish and live…"

If you've got friends that pull you down, they're not your friends! If you've got friends that pressure you and intimidate you to go along with what they want to do, which is sinful, especially if you're a teenager or a young person. You've got to go along and get along with everybody. You have been brainwashed in school in the 'herd mentality.' You've got to have people around. You can't do anything alone. That's exactly what Satan wants to lead you astray!

It was brought about in an ad, which talks about friends and what they do, and peer pressure. Corporations are out to make you buy what they want. Here's this one ad: This daughter comes up and says, 'Dad, I need 80-bucks.' He looks up from whatever he was doing and says, 'What for?' And she says, 'To buy some jeans. Everybody has them.' You gotta get along, go along; you've got to conform. Why do you have to conform to the herd? He says, 'Let's go look at it.' They went and found it online. Now, I don't know if he ordered it online, but I think the gist of it was that well, hey, he's going to agree with this because he's and investor and now he's going to invest money in this company because they're selling these ridiculous, stupid jeans at $80 a pop!

You can just repeat that over and over again! 'Oh, I gotta have these shoes because everybody's got 'em. Oh, I gotta wear these baggy jeans, which the crotch is down to the knees and I'm walking on the bottom of the cuff.' You've gotta have this hair hanging down and you've gotta have this black jacket, and you've gotta have these Nike shoes. All original thought—right? NO!

• You've been programmed!
• You've been had!
• You are addicted!

Verse 6: "Forsake the foolish and live; and go in the way of understanding. The one who rebukes a scorner gets shame to himself..." (vs 6-7).

That's what happens! When you say, 'That's wrong.' Who are you to tell me what to do? You're just an old fogy!

"…and the one who rebukes a wicked one gets himself an insult. Do not reprove a scorner, lest he hate you; give rebuke to a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise one, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning." (vs 7-9).

• Which are you? You have to make the choice!
• Are you willing to learn and change?
• Are you willing to come to yourself and repent and overcome these addictions
• Are you willing to quit going along with the crowd?

Know this: Jesus said, 'Broad is the way and wide is the gate that lead to death, and many are those who go in that gate.'

Know this: If the whole world does it, stop and think: Why should I? Maybe there are some things that they do that are good. But you have consider and make the choice. That's what we're talking about here in all these things.

Verse 16: "'Whoever is thoughtless… [that is, does not have understanding] …let him turn in here.'.… [come and sin with me] …And to one lacking understanding, she says to him, 'Stolen waters are sweet…' (vs 16-17). Oh, this is going to be the best thing that ever happened to you, whether it's:

• a woman
• illicit sex
• a man
• homosexuality—male or female

I mean, we've got to cover the whole thing—don't we? It's kind of like this cartoon that we had about the poor clerk who didn't know what to say with the attack against 'Merry Christmas'; should I say, 'have a good winter season; happy holiday or winter solstice festival. The woman in the cartoon said, 'Merry Christmas.'

Verse 17: "'Stolen waters are sweet… [this is good; never had anything like it] … and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.' But he does not know that the dead are there; her guests are in the depths of the grave" (vs 17-18).

Not many people realize it, but during the Civil War they had hordes of women—prostitutes—following wherever the soldiers went. This program said that more people died of venereal disease than were killed in the Civil War in America. Amazing!

Proverbs 10:1 "The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father…" Here we have a contrast—right and wrong, good and evil, wise and foolish, diligent and sluggard, and so forth.

"…but a foolish son is grief to his mother" (v 1).

You go back and you read what God said to Eve, that 'in sorrow shall you bring forth children.' That's not just the pain of childbearing. This sorrow here, 'heaviness of mother,' is because women have more of an emotional attachment to their children than the fathers, and they worry and they stew about their children, and it just becomes heaviness and depressing.

If your children are out there doing things you know they shouldn't do, and you have no control over it and you don't know where they are, and you don't know who they're with. It doesn't matter what age they are, whether they still live in your home, or they have their own home, whatever: 'Heaviness of his mother' regardless of the age.

Verse 2: "Treasures of wickedness profit nothing…" That's clear and easy to understand!

Recently, a woman didn't know it, but she got from the bank some counterfeit bills and she didn't know they were counterfeit until she went in to buy something, and now they have a machine where you can put the 20s, 50s, 100s and just lay them on there and it will instantly tell whether it's counterfeit or not.

So, she got $700 worth of these bills. I think they were $100 bills—all counterfeit—from the bank! She went to the bank and said, 'Hey, I want my money, I got these from you.' They said, 'Sorry, we're not responsible for it.' So now, if you get a $100 from the bank, have your own little black pen and go over it.

Verse 2: "Treasures of wickedness profit nothing…"

How many deaths and murders occur because of trying to split the spoil of illicit gain? How many are in jail now because of trying to get treasures? Look at how many corporate executives have been indicted here in the past three years for what? Back at the end of the 90s when they were bumping up all the oil and the gas and all the electric prices and everything; and they were buying and selling back and forth to each other to create a shortage in the market and all this sort of thing, they found out: Hey, they made billions of dollars. How about Enron—$11-billion, that was fraud. Those that sold their stock in time lucked out, but the others were left holding the bag.

Verse 2: "Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death." In other words, do the right thing all the time!

Don't succumb to the temptation or the sin or the desire or the lust. You see how these change into simple to understand things. These are going to help program the mind, reprogram it what you need to do to get your mind squared around.

Verse 3: "The LORD will not allow the soul of the righteous to famish, but He thwarts the desire of the wicked."

Whenever you get involved in addiction, what happens? It's going to cost you a lot of money and it's going to cost a lot of other people a lot of money! In the case of teenagers and parents, it's going to cost the parents a lot of money. It's going to take away your substance, especially if you get involved, you get arrested, you go to court, you go to jail—and the jails are full of these things! Taking away substance. Yes, it does!

Verse 4: "He who deals with a lazy hand becomes poor… [which tells you what you need to do] …but the hand of the diligent makes rich." Quit being lazy!

Why are you poor? Because you won't work! The city of New Orleans is a testament to the whole welfare system of the poor that depend on the handout and they don't want to work! They had to get out and work and some of them say, 'Hey, I'm glad I'm working. I'm not going back to New Orleans. I'm not going to be enslaved into that welfare system anymore.' But it had to take Hurricane Katrina to get them out of there so they could see the difference—living proverb!

Verse 5: "He that gathers in summer is a wise son…"—because that's when the crops ripen!

You're not going to go out there in the middle of winter and pick apples. You're not going to go out there in the middle of the winter and dig up potatoes. You're not going to go out there in the middle of the winter and find any fruit or anything you can eat. Today, all you have to do is run down to supermarket, and we live in an artificial world! You don't have to work to get your food. You don't have to dig, you don't have to plant, you don't have sow, you don't have to harvest—you don't have to do any of those things—just walk down to the store if it's close enough or get in your car and go down to the supermarket and VOILA! the world is there for you! Where does milk come from? Oh, from a carton, mommy!

I'll tell you one story on Rachelle, she was about three years old when we were living out north of Hollister on Lover's Lane. We were in the throws of a drought at that time. So, we're coming back from church and here's this big area where they had all the sprinklers going to irrigate for the crop. And we're going along and she says, 'Look, daddy, it's raining!' Because, in her three years she hadn't seen any rain. She heard about it. So, she says, 'Look, daddy, it's raining!'

Notice the last half of this: right and wrong, good and evil: "…but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame" (v 5).

Today there are a lot of people who are hooked on drugs, or wasted out on marijuana. You will find in many of the building trades a lot of these guys don't get up till noon. I know one man who's having a house built and some of the guys he's dealing with are so-called 'recovering' drug addicts. They don't show up on time, so what does he do? He knows where they live, drives down there and sure enough, 10:30 in the morning the guy who's supposed to be out there working is still in bed!

You have the other extreme of those who are on methamphetamine are so high and hyper they get out there and do it as quickly as they can and they take shortcuts and they have sloppy workmanship. Here it is, right here, right in the book of Proverbs.

Verse 6: "Blessings are upon the head of the just, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked."

Why is there so much crime? Because they're wicked! They're not taught the way of God. Just think how much better it would be if the schools could teach the Ten Commandments? Or if the schools could sit down and teach out of the book of Proverbs? Give the children some consciousness of God so that they will have the understanding to know that they have to be responsible for what they do! They're going to be held accountable!

Most of the world is in the middle ground. They're sitting there in the middle ground and they say to their kids: 'Don't get involved in pornography. I've got this online so you can't get into pornography.' And they're sitting there reading a catalog from Victoria Secrets or the local paper in which the ads for women's wear are nearly pornographic. The kid looks at that and says, 'Huh? I'm not to watch pornography. What are you reading?' Oh, well, this is just a catalog! So you can see the things that you're confronted with.

These things are intended then so you can get your mind reprogrammed in the right way with the Word of God!

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

Scriptural References:

• Matthew 4:3-4
• Proverbs 8:13
• Proverbs 7:1-3
• Proverbs 3:3-4
• Proverbs 4:18-23
• Proverbs 5:8
• James 1:13-16
• Proverbs 5:20-23
• Proverbs 6:20-28, 32-33
• Proverbs 8:1-2, 5-11, 32-36
• Proverbs 9:6-9, 16-18
• Proverbs 10:1-6

Also referenced:

Books:

• A Harmony of the Gospels by Fred R. Coulter
• Bad Childhood, Good Life by Dr. Laura Schlessinger
• Natural Cures "They" Don't Want you to Know About by Kevin Trudeau
• The Marketing of Evil by David Kupelian

Appendix H: How Did Jesus Fulfill the Law and the Prophets (The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version)

Sermon: Stinkin' Thinkin' #s 1 & 2

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