( S u d d e n l y I knew the end was near. I had come to the ^ end of the road. I faced insanity or death. Weak and exhausted, my body reeking with alcohol, I climbed the stairs to my big, corner bed-room. Staggering to the side of the bed, I stood for a moment weaving, then crumpled to my knees with a dispairing outburst of tears. I cried out to God, “ Oh God, Oh God, please do something.” Something had to be done. I was a confirmed alcoholic, a slave to a bottle. I wanted to quit drinking but I couldn t quit. I couldn’t let go. I had made many promises and meant them, but I couldn’t keep them. DECEIVED AND I was sick physically, mentally, and spiritually. Physi- cally, my body craved alcohol for its continued existence; mentally my mind was confused and muddled; I was unable to think clearly; spiritually my soul was separated from God the only One Who could help me. It is im possible to describe all the horror and fear that I went through. Only one who has had this problem can under stand. If you are an alcoholic, you know exactly what I’m talk ing about. If you’re the heart-sick mother or wife of such a person, you, too, know. No doubt you want to know what you can do to help him. Keep praying for him. If you are a young person and you’ve been playing around with this stuff, let me warn you that you, too, can become an alcoholic in the same manner that I did. No alcoholic ever started out with the slightest intention of becoming an alcoholic. How then do they get that way? W AY OF DECEPTION Proverbs 20:1, says that wine and strong drink are deceivers and mockers. “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” Alcoholics are people who have been deceived by alcohol, and the deception comes in three easy steps. Here they are. The first step is the “ try-it” step. Someone, perhaps your friends, the gang, a buddy, or your host will say, “ try it” . “ Come on, it won’t hurt you.” “ Everyone does it.” “What’s the matter, are you chicken?” My host said, “ try it” when I was 14 years old. I did, and I was drunk for the first time in my life. Social drinking is where most alcoholics begin. 7 he second step is the “use it for everything” step. I began to use it for parties, social events, athletic events, holidays, birthdays, the blues, and a variety of other things. Everything I did soon became associated with drinking, and although I little realized it at the time, a habit pattern was being established that made alcohol the center of my life. The third step is the “ crave-it” step. I don’t know when this step begins; no one does. Up to this time alcohol had been deceiving me into a life of complete dependence upon it, but now nearly twenty-five years after that first drink, it began to mock me. A ll along the way I had deceived myself by saying, “ I can quit it any time I want to.” Now I wanted to quit, but I couldn’t. My body craved alcohol; I lived to drink and I drank to live; my mind was so obsessed that I would go to any length to get alcohol. I would drink anything that had alcohol in it. I was at the end of the road. I faced life or death. I realized that. I was helpless and that only God could help me. As a social outcast I felt lonely, hated, and mis understood. Now at last down on my knees, I cried out to God, “ Oh, God please do something, please take away this craving.” , : NOVEMBER, 1959
DELIVERED A few days later, with shaking hands and bleary eyes, I started reading a Bible that my wife had placed in the room. I turned to the Gospels and read about the Lord Jesus; how He went about healing all sorts of sick people; how He had compassion on the mistreated multi tudes, and how He loved them; how, as He hung on the Cross, He cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me?” Then suddenly I knew why! God had forsaken Him. This was what I had been looking for, and I called out to Him, “My Lord and My God.” As my understanding grew clearer, the tears began to flow freely, for I realized as never before that Jesus knew all about me and cared for me. He knew what it was to be lonely, for in that moment that He was cut off from God, as He was bearing my sins, He was lonely, and so He understood my loneliness. He knew what it was to be a social outcast like me for He was made a social out cast by the society of His day, and so He understood my problem. He knew what it was to be hated and mis understood even as I felt that I was, but the best part was that this same Jesus wanted to be my Friend. He loved me. He understood me, and now He beckoned me to come to Him. “ Come unto me,” He said, “ and I will give you rest.” Oh, friends, I came to Him. I couldn’t help but come to Him for I had fallen in love with this wonderful, lovely Lord Jesus. Do you blame me? He kept His promise, too, for He gave me rest when He im mediately took away that horrible insidious desire and craving for alcohol. I now have had 7 years of living with a Saviour whose love becomes more precious every day. Is alcohol a problem with you? Why don’t you let the Lord Jesus take care of it for you. He wants too. He loves you and He cares for you. Right now He beckons, “ Come unto me, and I will give you rest.” 15
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