Sunday Morning, February 14, 2010,

This morning, we had a discussion about religious detoxification. We started the lesson by reading Revelation 17:1-7 and Rev 18:2-7 about Mystery Babylon (Institutional Church system) and her intoxicating wine. This wine, which represents religious false teachings and traditions, makes her inhabitants (church members) spiritually drunk. And as in the natural, when a drunk person comes under the direct addictive influence of this spiritual wine, their thoughts, actions and lives become affected. And spiritual destruction and dependency is sure to follow.

Getting delivered from being a religious alcoholic is a very painful and difficult process. In the natural, the addiction recovery process involves at least 5 steps. These same steps apply spiritually as well:
 

1.   Giving up denial,

2.   Seeking help,

3.   Going through detoxification,

4.   Working the recovery program and

5.   Maintaining sobriety.

As an illustration, we took a look at the life experience of Paul, the apostle. He was schooled in Judaism  under some of the most noble and educated men. As a result, Paul became a very zealous advocate of her teachings and traditions. Even to the point that he consented unto the murder of innocent Christians, whom he perceived as being a threat to Judaism. But after witnessing the stoning of Stephen, he was pricked in his heart and God began to work with him. Soon afterwards, he was converted and came into a personal relationship with God. The first thing he had to do was to get alone with God in Arabia for three years. During this time, while in isolation, he experienced his own religious detoxification. He had to allow God to cleanse his mind and heart of the "religious" falsities to which he had become addicted. Once this inward cleansing took place, God further lead him to a path of spiritual recovery. After his recovery from mere religion, he became one of the greatest instruments in the hands of God!

Like Paul, we too have been in a period of religious detoxification in recent years. Many of us have been following a similar spiritual recovery plan as did Paul.  Years ago, we realized that there was something seriously wrong with the Institutional Church system that we were once a part of. In reality, she was keeping us spiritually drunk by her teachings and traditions. Over time, we became addicted and dependant on the system for our own spiritual life. Thankfully, we finally came to a point where we realized that we had an addiction to her wine, her intoxicating teachings and traditions. We also realized that for many years we had been denying the fact that there were real problems within the system and that we were indeed under her intoxicating influence. Like ostriches, we buried our heads in the sand and hoped that someday they would all go away. But through a period of crisis, we finally admitted to having a problem. We stopped denying reality and started seeking spiritual help from the Lord. Thank God He was there for us!

In the last 3-4 years, we have had to think soberly and to unlearn many things that we learned while in the "religious system". We have had to allow God to teach us from His Word. That religious detoxification process is sill taking place for many of us as we were very drunken and the intoxicating effects of Institutional Church religion had a significant hold on our lives. Thankfully, we can say that we are now on the road to spiritual recovery! It has not been easy. The detoxification process never is easy. But, it has been rewarding.

We can now boldly say that our spiritual vision is clearer. Our thoughts are clearer. And our lives are changed in ways that would have never expected. Looking backwards, we can see from “whence we came”. This encourages us to keep looking forward. We realize that we have yet a ways to go, but with the help of the Lord and the support of each other, we expect a fully recovery!

You can read the entire outline by clicking here.