Jesus Christ Show | Hour 2 - Alcoholic, trying to be Christian [05/19]

Alcoholic, trying to be Christian
Was in a church that later is a cult

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to KFI on demand.Don, welcome to the Jesus Christ Show.
Yeaes sir, Hello, Hi Don, How can I help you?
Well? My question is about beinga Christian and being entangled and the bondage

(00:24):
of alcohol. I understand, Iwould not say well versed, But first,
anyway, in what scripture says aboutas those saved by through fire,
I'm in a twelve step program andyet I fail many times. The reason

(00:49):
I'm in a twelve step program iswhen I pray and I assume the position
I get on my knees, andGod will not take this craving from me
as according to the AA program.And the reason I say that is because

(01:14):
I have allowed this thing to comeinto my life after I have given myself
to the Lord. Uh. I'mkind of at a loss for words.
But but for for the the Uhwhat what is your understanding of what is

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going on in our lives? Asan addict? No, As far as
as the Bible says that I wouldrather be a doorkeeper in the house of
my Lord, my dilemma is howthe rewards that I'm going to lose in

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heaven. My perception of God ishe has a hammer waiting to come down
on me because I'm not doing what'sright. No, the reality is that
you have chosen to asscue all thebasic windows and doors and apparatus that God

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has built into your head and intoyour body, and that you have chosen
to blurry those such a degree thatyou can't see much of anything here,
let alone anything dealing with God.So God wants you not a form of
punishment. God wants you to clearthose things up, the ones that you

(02:53):
brought to yourself. Yes, sothat you can see Him clearly again here
and for the afterlife. But prayingfor God to take away the urge is
in the sense that these are thingsyou brought into your life to begin with.
You need to clean your own house. You can pray for strength to

(03:16):
do so, but you need toclean your own house. You brought them
in, you built them up.Where is the joy where I do that?
And have I? Have I goneacross the line? Nope? Is
no is no line to cross,sir. The only line you can cross

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is one of death. After rejectingthe whole sum of what Christ had not,
of course not not. I havenot rejected it, of course not.
You're on an ugly path, andyou're going to get past it,
and you're going to reverse it,and you're going to work the steps,
and you're going to do the processto get this out of your system prayer

(04:00):
fully and with the guidance of God, and you're going to get to the
other side. You know, it'sbeen a long past, my Lord,
and one that's worth it. Well, it is worth it, but you
know it's it's it's so hard.I can can you please keep talking?

(04:30):
Sure? I just want you tothink about the process in what you've gone
through. Some people get to tostep seven and they read something like humbly
ask Him to remove our shortcomings,and they think that it's a process of
just reversing everything, and it's not. You can't. You're not looking for

(04:50):
God to do it all. You'relooking for God to give you the strength
to do what you need to doto get better. I'm such a carnal
Christian? What is what is yourtake on on I'm not given myself to
the world, but I am entangledwell, and you're human, Well,

(05:17):
worry a little less about you anda little more about God. Don't get
so, sir, don't get socaught up in what you're doing. It's
not about you in that sense.It's about God. It's about what God
does, what God can do.It's not about you. What makes Christianity
different. Every self help book,every other belief system, it's all about

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them. And look, you're goingto get christ consciousness and you're going to
get this, and you're going toovercome that and you're going to become of
this and it's and that's not whatChristianity is. Christianity is about God and
about God being the author and thefinisher of your faith. I have been
told that my faithfulness does not dependon God's faithfulness. No, but you

(06:11):
have ye. I so struggle.Well, welcome to the world. Brother.
It is a place of many struggles, and you will continue. But
you will have something that other peoplethat struggle don't, and that is the
gospel, the good news that ifyou believe and you have that into your

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life, and you have God leadingyour life, then even through the struggles,
you're doing better than most. Ido care, of course you do.
You wouldn't have called if you didn'tcare. Well, okay, I'm

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sitting in my driveway. It's justgoing through all this. You know,
I've got a lot of things goingon my life and I am I am.
I'm not sober today, sir.Okay, I was sober yesterday,

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but today my heart I was poundingand I've got church I have to go
to and well not have to,but you're going to go to church drunk.
Let me tell you something. AndI don't know if this is the
first time you've heard the show,third time show, but let me tell

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you something. Then if you've listenedfor any length of time, you know
that the only thing I do tothose that are imbibed is hang out because
my words are of no value toyou when you have not even valued yourself
today to hear them. Okay,So rather than going down that dance,

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I leave you with this, andthat is that the process of imbibing may
numb certain parts of who you areto allow you to do some things in
your own head. It's not thetruth. Truth is you'll be able to
do all of them without the alcoholat all. Okay, But you,
if you are trying to receive God'sword, if you are trying to really

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receive what God has for you,you are piling pillow on top of pillow
on top of mattress on top ofpillow, on top of mattress and pretending
like you're trying to hear him.Why do I do that? You do
it because you think that it cutsthe edges off. It takes some of
the pain away, takes some Youthink you can't focus because of the pain,

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so you dull the pain. ButI'm telling you, the dullingness of
the pain is taking away any more. But the dullingness of the pain is
not allowing you to connect with God. Any doctor will tell you that they
want to know what your pain isfirst. They have to, because without

(09:09):
that then they're not going to beable to diagnose you properly. They're not
going to know what's really going on. You have to feel it. You
have to feel it, and youhave to let God work with you around
that pain. That's just the truth. I know it's not the fun thing
to hear, to be said,not what you want to hear. But
I will tell you this. Youcan call any time as long as you're

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sober. When it comes to thepeople that call the program, my only
hope is moments of inspiration, thedesire to point them in a particular direction
or maybe see things a little differently, and if that starts, the starting

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of that process is somebody richly imbibed. It's kind of hard. It's kind
of hard to deal with somebody who'sdrunk or otherwise impaired. So we've made
it mostly the case of the programto not have the deeper discussions with somebody

(10:18):
who's drunk, because then it canbe almost comedic or it ends up just
being sounding like they're just fodder,and that's not appropriate. So that's why
we allow them to go and soberup and then give us a call when
they're sober. Twelve step program isoften one that shows its face on the

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program because people that are going through, whether it be food or alcohol or
narcotics, they're trying to work atwelve step program of some kind to be
able to get themselves back on theirfeet. And we applaud that most of
the time, and there are somebad ones most of the time working the

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twelve step. The twelve steps thatthey have in that program in their Big
Book well is a great starting place, and we applaud that some biblical biblical
truths, and we applaud that whenthey lose sight of that or they don't
know who their higher power is thatand that alone is when it becomes a

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problem. Dan, Welcome to theJesus Christ Show. Thank you, thank
you very much, and good morning. I have a question. I was
involved in a church that I nowknow is a cult. Okay, what

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made you believe it was a cult. The defunding prophet made many false prophecies.
And my eyes are now open,okay. And anyway, I was
asked by a member of a personwho's done the same thing if I was

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born again and and I and IChrist and Jesus are in my life.
I mean, I mean God,I'm part of me. I'm nervous.
God and Jesus are in my life. And I've been prompted by the Holy
Ghost twice, so I know youguys exist. I pray daily. Now

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do I need to physically go andget baptized by another church or just continue
to keep God in Jesus in mylife. Well, the baptism would be
a choice in the sense that itwould be it would be a physical showing
and outwards showing of something that you'redoing. You don't necessarily need to be
baptized multiple times, but if youreally feel this church was not the church

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you belong to, and then itwas a false church of sorts. Then
once you find a good, solidchurch that you're comfortable with, it might
not be a bad symbol for youto do to redirect your life under good
standing in that particular church and totake the time. But do you need

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that for salvation? No, okay, you don't need to need an extra
dunk. It's it's it's just amatter. It really is a way for
you to say, Okay, nowI'm a new creation. I've washed off
the false teachings of that other church. I have died with Christ, and
I resurrect with Christ. And thatprocess I think will be a healthy one

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for you. Not a man,not a mandate. Really, it is
about having Me the Father in yourheart, the Holy Spirit in your heart,
and allowing God to direct your life. M hm, well, I
played. I prayed daily multiple times, and like I said, I had,
I've been fun by the Holy Ghosttwice. The second one was a

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verbal one. Scared the heck outof me. But anyway, Yes,
I found a church right in myneighborhood and I feel very comfortable. And
if a loving, accepting church goodask if they have a mission statement,
and something you could read that shouldbreak down all of their beliefs about the
Trinity, who they think Mary is. These types of things give you a

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good, good structure as to whothey are. Sometimes they give you copies
of it. Sometimes it's on theirwebsite, and these things should show you.
If there's it's like everything will begreat. You're reading through it and
then all of a sudden they believewe live on a spaceship and you're like,
whoa, whoa, whoa. Sothat might be a great place to
start for you, But the theunsaved don't worry about it. It's the

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ones that care about God and reallywant to be in His embrace that are
concerned. So your call pretty muchpoints to the fact that you are a
person of deep faith and that weonce gotten God in their life. So
on the right track. Okay,my friend, thank you very much.
You are quite welcome. And it'shard sometimes when you come across those things

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because there's a lot of churches outthere, and I try and tell you
because we're not here to point outevery church or to give recommendations per se,
but there are general ideas that youshould be looking for in a church.
Church is going to be a family. It's going to be a body
of individuals that are coming together tolearn. It really is the Holy gas

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station. Every weekend, you're goingto be refilled. You're going to shake
off that that bad jujuw you hadin the hallway with that wing nut you
work with. It's kind of angeringyou and poking at you and trying to
get you to do stupid things.You're going to lay at the feet of

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the Creator. The pain that you'regoing through with family, with friends,
maybe it's illness, and you're gonnago Father. I trust that your plan
is bigger than my ability to understandit and to pray for peace. And

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in this process you're gonna you're gonnacome across people that you like, people
that you don't like. It's gonnabe frustrating and all of those things.
But church is that place to torejuvenate. They welcome you into the sanctuary.

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And often you just think sanctuary,church building. That's the inside of
the church building. Oh, thesanctuary is that place where you find sanctuary,
where you plug in with God.You listen to the voices of those

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that sing, you hear the praiseof God. You lift your hands to
the heavens showing that you're holding ontoo nothing in your life. Right now,
you're merely trying to connect with theMaker. And in those moments,

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you let go of the things,the old, those big, rusty,
weighty anchors that you've had in yourlife, and you welcome in. You
welcome more and more of spirit in, and it can be so powerful,
so lovely, so spiritual, sopowerful. That is the goal of church.

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It's not for the pastor to spreadhis wings and explain his politics and
why he's voting for this guy ornot that guy, or any of those
things. It's merely building principles foryou, reinforcing the scripture that God has

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already written for you to use inyour life in a powerful way, in
a meaningful way, in a waythat ties in truly to what you do
each day. And it can bea very beautiful thing to connect with the

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family of God. If it becomesweird, or if it becomes militant,
or if you can see that thedemands that are coming from the pulpit are
not about you bettering your life,but it's about you participating in the church.
And that's not wrong. You shouldbe part of the family it is

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a community, and you should beushering, or you should be watching those
babies that need to be watched,or you should be leading worship, being
in worship. You should be doingsomething because it's all hands on deck.
But you should also be balanced aboutwhat those things are and what you need,

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and that it's not just about ashow. It's just not a fun,
sassy, splashy way to spend yourweekend. You're rejuvenating, you're consuming
the word of God in a waythat should be respectable. You get profits

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and leaders and people that think thatthe most gnostic of ways, that they
have this direct line and they cometo you and they want you to shut
up and listen, and that doesn'tseem so godlike. Then you'd be leary.

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You look for the concerns where they'refleecing the flock or they're changing,
or that there's sexual immorality running backand forth between the music team and the
children's parental team. It's always someweird mix between two groups that should not
be exposed to each other in thatway. But be aware of your church,

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be a part of it, makeit good, but be aware of
what's going on so that you canbe a proper, a smart, an
effective person for change and that churchand then consequently it will change you.
But the minute you get the minuteyou get one peep, one peep that

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there's problems like that where you thinkcertain things are being disregarded, whether they're
trying to start some sort of following, you graciously tip your hat and move
on your very way, because insituations like that, it tends to get

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worse, not better. And Iassure you there is always always a church
for you, Madison, Welcome tothe Jesus Christ Saw. Hi there,
How are you? I am wellon you? I'm good? What's going

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on? I'm calling because I'm callingbecause I have an older sister. My
older sister was five years old whenmy parents married, and I didn't actually
know that she had a different daduntil I was in my teens. But
she has a lot of resentment,a lot of anger, a lot of
unresolved issues from her childhood which comeup every time the fountain gets together,

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and she basically just continues to sortof beat my mom up for the mistakes
that she perceived my mother made.And it's difficult for me to be in
that environment without wanting to jump tomy mother's aid. And sure, but
when when you say she she beatsher mother up, what what do you
mean? Well, I mean she'sphysically I'm sorry. My mother, my

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sister was conceived out of wedlock backin the fifties. My mother is a
very strong Catholic. She was neverforgiven for that by her mother and so,
and my father is not a goodguy. So my mother, my
sister, perceives that my mother dida bad thing by marrying my father,
which of course she didn't know whenshe married him, and her exit options

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were not the options that women havetoday, so she couldn't easily divorce my
father when she found out that hewasn't a good guy. So when we
get together, my sister continues tobring these things up. She continues to
bring up subjects that she knows hurtsmy mother and embarrasses my mother. And
so it's difficult for me to sitquietly because I want to jump to my

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mother's defense. How much she justcreates a negative situation when I do that.
What's the age difference between you andyour sister? About six years.
She's older, she's the older one, and she feels those things. Yes,
when she was born because my motherhad to work. Her grandparents raised
her, and so when she wasabout five when my mother married my father

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and who became her stepfather, andshe was very spoiled by her grandparents.
So when she came to live withmy dad and my mom, it was
a big shocked to her because myfather's in the military and ye had a
certain way of raising kids that wasvery stern. And so I don't think
she's ever forgiven my mother for takingher out of the environment when she was
basically spoiled and a princess. Butalso my father was a bad man who

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did bad things. So what's yourquestion for me this morning? Question is
how do I protect my mother anddefend my mother and support my mother in
a way that still follows my faithwithout causing a war with my sister.
Well, they may not be mutuallyexclusive. A war may be at hand,

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and a war may be just ifyou're protecting your mother. Does your
mother feel like she needs to beprotected? Well, no, well I
don't. My mom was never forgivenby her mother, so she kind of
listened to that her whole life.So when she hears it when my sister
is basically the same voice, andshe couldn't protect herself against her mother,
so she can't protect She doesn't knowhow to stand up to my sister,

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and so my mother doesn't necessarily askme for that protection. But I listen
to my mother's sob and cry becauseof the pain that my sister causes her.
So well, if the problem willlie in the fact that if you
can't be backed up by your mother, it's all or not. So you

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can say I don't want you here, or you can say whatever you want,
but if your mother doesn't back itup, it won't mean a thing.
So you could move her away,you could keep her away, you
could do all kinds of things.But truthfully, it sounds like either your
mother calls me or it doesn't getdone. It just is. It's not

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something you can really put yourself in. You can monitor it while you're there
and try and keep it civil thebest of your ability, but really,
if your mother takes it, that'sgoing to be a very difficult hurdle to
get over. Yep, you're right, it's unfortunate, but that's the truth.

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And even though she doesn't know how, you could talk to her.
You can talk to her and gothrough it all and say Hey, I
want you to stand up to thisperson, and then you have to look
at what's happening and that you maythink that you deserve it because X,
Y and Z and you don't,and it's it really weighs on the rest
of the family too. And youknow, and if you just went away

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and boycotted the situation, the badsister would come by and do the stupid
stuff. And there's really no wayunless you get bought full buy in you're
right, and you know, temporaryrestraining order from her and all these things
that would make her know that it'sserious. But it sounds like an ugly

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cycle that nobody thought to break.I don't want to contribute to it.
But I don't want to contribute toit. But again, I don't want
to just sit there and listen toit and watch my mother. You know,
come on, Yeah, that isquite unfortunate. If she ever does
anything physically or anything you find tobe damaging, you first have to convince

(27:08):
your mother that it is those thingsas well. And once she sees that
it's physically damaging or an emotionally damagingsituation, then whatever it might be,
then maybe you can get her ormotivate her to do the right thing.
But without that, it kind ofmakes it two against one, and the
person you're trying to save really isagainst you because they're okay with whatever's going

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on, and that therein lies ahuge problem and one that lets a lot
of people off the hook in life, unfortunately. KFI AM sixty on demand