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For a few years I led a Christ-centered 12-Step group in Houston, Texas. Although I shared some past struggles with the people who attended that group, I in no way considered myself to be an expert in substance abuse. I learned a lot from those men and women. Now, 20 plus years later, I still at times help people get free of drug and alcohol dependency but those aren’t the only things we address. Every bit as damaging are other problems, such as the destructive thought patterns, habits and, compulsions that entrap so many. One thing these all have in common is that they are inspired by satan, who hates God and, therefore, hates people since people are made to be restored to the image of God.

Once when I was a young Christian I turned to a friend and I asked him if he was going to go to heaven whenever he died. He enthusiastically said, “YES!” When I asked him why he said, “Because I always do everything right and I never do anything wrong.” He also believed that because his performance and behavior was perfect he and his family would have a problem free life. His logic was faulty because it was based on his own perfect performance and the Bible teaches that this is impossible. “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20) As Christianity has devolved into a more and more consumer-friendly business doctrines have

Reading the news or any FaceBook feeds would reveal that someone….somewhere is offended by something on any given day. EVERYONE is offended from time to time because we are living in an ungracious time in which people seem to take delight in acting like spiritual pigs. Often, it’s not an act. They often really ARE spiritual pigs, just being themselves, rolling around in the slop of public attention. Any Christian who takes any stand on any issue that matters to the Lord will eventually collect a few people who will hate him for it. When others hate him for it they (sadly even other Christians will do this at times) apparently feel as if it is proper to try to destroy the other person at any

Having Church “Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.” (Acts 12:5) I enjoy what this verse serves to remind us: that “the church” is people. Think about it for a minute. Do you think some dedicated building that was empty almost all the time took a few moments to pray for Peter? How about an organization? No. PEOPLE prayed for Peter. Neither “church buildings” nor Christian religious organizations had yet been added to the Lord’s Church by the time Peter was thrown in the prison. In fact, God never intended for His Church to become a mere earthly “organization”. The Church is an ORGANISM – a living thing comprised of living humans wh

“Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; for the LORD will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught.” (Proverb 3:25-26) One of satan’s favorite things, it seems, that many people experience is fear. Some people spend so much time in fear that it becomes almost a form of worship for them because they dedicate their time, effort and focus on being afraid. In this Proverb, the Hebrew word translated as “afraid” is a form of the word used as “fear” in this famous verse: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge...” (Proverb 1:7a). That’s right, God equates obsession with fear to be worship-like. Can you imagine satan wanting