book excerpt
Preventing addiction is better than suffering from its ill effects and wasting years of your life and lots of money trying to be free from it.
Therefore, resist the temptation to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or use illicit drugs by:
Do not continue looking at the temptation for that was Eve’s down fall. She ate the illicit fruit because it begun to look delicious and like it could teach her something new for When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. (Gen 3:6)
So, do not continue gazing at the alcohol, drugs or cigarettes because if you do, your perception of them will begin to change. They will begin to look like they can offer you a pleasurable experience that will teach you something new or benefit you in some other way. They will then change from being a definite NO to a MAYBE and finally into a YES. You will then find a reason to justify yielding to the temptation and doing the wrong thing.
Redirect your mind to do the right thing. If Eve had redirected her mind from the devil's words to doing the right thing as per God’s words, which were, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it (Gen 3:3) chances are that she would have never touched the forbidden fruit let alone eaten it.
So, when you are tempted to sip, swallow, sniff, smoke, inject or inhale something you know you should not even touch, instead of thinking about your tempter’s words, redirect your mind to doing the right thing and don’t touch the addictive substances.
Remind yourself that you can get addicted from your very first sip, sniff or smoke and suffer for the rest of your life. Adam and Eve lost their wonderful life in the Garden of Eden to one of laboring hard for the rest of their lives just because they tasted that one forbidden fruit.
So, do not toy with the idea of trying it just once. Ignore your tempters for they will falsify facts to trick you the way satan, The serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness (2 Cor 11:3)
Remind yourself that Adam was punished for eating the banned fruit even though he was served by Eve his wife for She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Gen 3:6)
So, don’t use drugs, alcohol or cigarettes even if they are given to you by someone you trust like your brother, sister, best friend or closest cousin for you shall reap the negative consequences regardless of who offers them to you.
Remind yourself that despite their excuses, both Adam and Eve were still punished for eating the illicit fruit. Adam’s excuse was The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree (Gen 3:12) Eve’s excuse was The serpent deceived me (Gen 3:13)
So understand that excuses and blame shifting will not spare you the negative consequences of using drugs, alcohol or cigarettes.
Remind yourself that what Adam and Eve lost was not worth the taste of that fruit no matter how delicious it was. They lost their idyllic life of lounging while naming animals when they were sent Out of the garden of Eden to till the ground (Gen 3:23) and labor hard for the rest of their lives. They also lost their innocence and openness and became guilty and secretive like most drug users, for when God called him, Adam said, I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself. (Gen 3:10)
Recognize therefore, that by using addictive substances, you’ll loose your idyllic teenage life and become cagey as the addiction tightens its grip on you. You will also loose your good health and spend the rest of your life struggling with chronic sicknesses like cancers, convulsions and cirrhosis. So, don’t touch them or taste them.
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