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This country isn’t solving its drug and alcohol problembecause it has been legally excluding God

by Dennis Marcellino

Watching the “Addiction” documentary series on HBO yields a couple of conclusions.1. All addiction problems are rooted in emotional problems (e.g. loneliness,

boredom, depression, shyness, lack of peace, lack of confidence, lack of purpose,low self-esteem, hopelessness, emptiness, pain, a gut level irritation, lack ofinspiration, etc.). Simply put, people use alcohol and drugs to try to not have badfeelings and to try to have good feelings. One psychiatrist in the documentary saidthat people aren’t going to give up the only tool they know for being able to copewith unpleasant feelings: drugs and/or alcohol. The way that Dennis Marcellino,author of Addiction Free Forever, expresses it is: “You can’t expect that a personwill permanently ‘say no to drugs’ until they have something better to say ‘yes’to.”

2. Therefore the solution to the addiction problem (which the series says includes 23million Americans, but only 10% of them seek help) is to show people how tonaturally feel good and not feel bad. And there was an overwhelming consensusin the series by psychology professionals that new medicines were not going topermanently resolve an addiction problem, no matter how good they get. It wasalso a general consensus that it is going to take a lot of hard work to resolve theinner problems that drive a person to addiction.

“But”, says Marcellino, who has developed a Bible-based addiction recovery programthat guarantees permanent success, “that’s only because they don’t know that there doesexist a perfect method that shows how to do that: obeying the Bible to the letter. Andfrom what I can see and in my 14 years of experimenting through 22 approaches tolifestyle, problem solving and personal growth, that method is the only one that has thepower to resolve internal problems permanently.” He says “therefore it is obvious to uswho know that is true that this country hasn’t solved its drug problem because it has hada legal muzzle on God and the Bible in the mainstream.” He goes on to say, “the realproblem in this country and the biggest roadblock to resolving the addiction problem isthat such a good and effective thing as the Bible is getting the cold shoulder in themainstream institutions of media, education, and government.” And he says that he’spersonally experienced this cold shoulder in his attempts to get this solution out. “But”,he says, “does this country really think that it can stifle the purposes of this universe’screator without consequence? This is not only apparent with the bad feelings and lack ofgood feelings we experience when we don’t do things according to our creator’s gooddesign, but it is also physically manifesting in the many diseases that exist because of the

misuse of sex. We’re given free will by our creator, but only for one lifetime for each ofus. And God watches what we do with that free will, and then bases our eternal fate onwhat we did. But God doesn’t sit back without trying to guide us away from baddirections and into good ones. And two of God’s tools for doing so are: bad feelings andphysical maladies. And a person’s attempt to steal the euphoria that was meant as anatural reward for doing the right thing does not go without our creator doing somethingto try to correct that.”

Marcellino says that after watching the “Addiction” series on HBO he was amazed thatthere was no inclusion of what he found was the only effective solution for the emotionalproblems that users were facing. He says, “therein lies the problem. Although it mightFEEL to many like humanity is operating in a vacuum, one look at the giant universe andthis relatively tiny ball we’re on will show that isn’t the case. The medical/psychologycommunity errs in not recognizing that. They, like many other science theorists haveblinders on in that they only look for answers in the physical, not recognizing thatexperience is spiritual. And within experience are the root problems that cause a personto have a problem with alcohol or drugs. Within those blinders there is a DENIAL of thebigger universal picture and how DYSFUNCTIONAL humanity’s standards arecompared to the perfect standards built into each of us by our creator, for which weyearn. Therefore, people (and especially teens, who are new to having control over thereins of their lives) will reach for that something higher that they intuitively knows exists.And drugs often opens their eyes to that fact, as well as takes away the pain andmediocrity that comes with the dysfunction ways and lackings that modern cultures havebecome numb and blind to their acceptance of. But new generations won’t go down atleast without trying to not have to accept it.

Hopefully they will discover (which I try to help people discover) that idealism is aliveand well. People can find (as I have found) hope and beauty in the perfection that isexpressed in the Bible and the fact that it all can be proven to be true (which I do in mybook Why Are We Here?).”

But back to the ugly part of humanity, one example of how the legal muzzle on God hasbeen enforced is the lawsuit that the Freedom From Religion Foundation has broughtupon the Justice Department’s faith based “Innerchange Freedom Initiative” program.Strangely, this group is suing to muzzle a Bible-based program used in prisons that hashad a tremendous success rate, with less than 10% of released prisoners who wentthrough the program returning to prison, compared to 60% who didn’t go through itreturning within 2 years. So this begs the question: why is ‘what works’ being attacked?

Mark Earley, President of Prison Fellowship said, “(The ACLU and Americans UnitedFor The Separation Of Church And State) have a long history of engaging in religiousdiscrimination and intimidation, and basically what they’re trying to do is deny people offaith the opportunity to participate on a level playing field in the public arena and toprovide services to those who have volunteered to already receive them.”(It should be noted that 3 of the founding board members and the Executive Director ofthe ACLU were Marxists. And Marxism is committed to spreading atheism and stiflingreligion. It is also interesting to note that the ACLU isn’t legally challenging a court inMissouri that mandates that prisoners engage in Transcendental Meditation.)

This problem of the mainstream courts legally banning support for Bible-based programsto rehabilitate prisoners is also true for programs to rehabilitate alcoholics and drug users.

Dennis Marcellino says the success of the “Innerchange Freedom Initiative” programmakes perfect sense to him because in his many years of seeking a cure for his ownpersonal drug and alcohol addiction and the internal problems that fueled it…years thattook him through many counselors, programs and 22 approaches to lifestyle and personalgrowth…he eventually found that only a life fully committed to Christianity worked.And what he means by “worked” is: it was the only thing that gave him the peace,guidance, deep fulfillment and strength to easily be able to “say no to drugs” andalcohol. But not only was he freed from alcohol and drugs 24 years ago…they becamedistasteful, as the natural feedback from our body first told us they were.

But he says that just a casual involvement with Christianity won’t be enough to“work”. What is needed is a full understanding of Christianity and a total commitment inheart, mind and will to its ways. But, he says that “Having an alcohol, drug or anyaddiction problem can be a blessing in disguise, because if they push a person into havingto fully try on Christianity, he or she will find that its ways are also the optimum possibleways that a human being can conduct his or her life. Plus, it fulfills the very purpose ofour life and guarantees a great eternity.”

So in his outreaches to alcoholics, addicts and prisoners, he tells them that they shouldsee their imprisonment (whether in an actual physical prison or in a personal prison of themind and heart) as a great opportunity to merge with the highest approach to life.Because without the pain of their current circumstance, they might lapse into a semi-comfort that many lapse into and then avoid God and miss out on His greatness…nowand in the great eternity He promises His followers.

Marcellino points out that the approaches of the psychology community (constrained bythe legal muzzle on the insurance industries, public schools, and government agenciesthat support it), and the 12 step programs that appeal to a nebulous “higher power”, aren’tadequate enough to guarantee permanent recovery from alcoholism or addiction. That iswhy he developed the Addiction Free Forever program, which is a 10 phase, at-homeprogram that guarantees permanent elimination of addictions. He guarantees that aperson who goes through his program will be able to say they are an EX alcoholic or EXdrug addict, no longer a “recovering” one. Plus, the entire program costs less than onevisit to a therapist. He says that the “higher power” approach didn’t work for him becauseit didn’t give him the specific instructions on how to think and live that eventually provedto be necessary for his recovery.

In his program he teaches how to have “a full understanding of Christianity” and showswhy and how to have “a total commitment in heart, mind and will to its ways”…all ofwhich he says leads to a life of joy, great purpose and deep fulfillment. He says that hisprogram never asks a person to believe anything, but rather shows them how to know thatGod exists, the Bible is true and how to be in union with God’s Spirit within them. Hesays that it is this “knowing” and “union”, and properly responding to them that gives aperson the strength, peace, guidance and deep fulfillment that are needed to be free fromaddictions and have the best life possible for them.

Here’s some of what others have to say about his work:

"A carefully reasoned argument against drug use that goes further than telling people to "just say no"--itoffers real help for people who want to break free of the bondage of drugs. The book gives vivid insightinto the realities of the drug culture that most of us never see."Dr. John MacArthur Jr., popular author, radio minister, and pastor

"Very powerful material. An amazing piece of work by an amazing man." Scott Fagan, Head of the recovery unit at Brotman Hospital (one of Los Angeles' largest).

"It is our wish that every person stricken with an addiction to drugs can overcome it with the success youhave had. It is the dedication of people like you that give all of us hope for the future.” G. Albert Howenstein, Jr., Exec. Dir., Office Of Criminal Justice Planning, California Governor's office

© 2007 Lighthouse Publishing

Dennis Marcellino is recognized as an innovator in addiction recovery by some of thetop administrators in this field and is the author of highly acclaimed books. Hisbreakthrough addiction recovery and life transformation book and workbook can be seenat www.AddictionFreeForever.com

To book him for a media interview, go to www.AddictionFreeForever.com/media.html