USA (MNN) — Every year more than 140,000 people die due to excessive alcohol use. This makes it one of the leading preventable causes of death in the United States.
Brandon Bower with The Lighthouse says that alcohol abuse may rank so high because of its normalization, especially social drinking. “If you look at a lot of kids cartoons these days, you will find alcohol-related things all throughout. Alcohol is normalized on TV and in movies. It makes sense that there’s struggles in the community with alcohol addiction, because of the normalization of this.”
Physical and Mental Concerns of Alcohol
Bower notes that not all alcohol use is sinful or due to an addiction. However, Scripture condemns drunkenness in many places, such as Romans 13:13. He says people must be wise as they interact with a substance that has the potential to cause long-term problems and addiction.
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Beyond issues like blood poisoning and organ damage, overconsumption of alcohol is a leading factor in many suicides. Alcohol use disorder is involved in about 25% of all deaths by suicide and ranks as the second most common mental disorder of those who die by suicide.
However, alcohol addiction is treatable!
A Different Kind of Program
The Lighthouse offers Biblical addiction programs for a variety of addictions, including alcohol. Bower says, “Whatever you’re addicted to has become the love of your life when Jesus was designed to be that love. So if we can replace alcohol with a deep love for Jesus, we don’t need to go back to our alcoholic tendencies anymore. But when we when we stop loving God as much as He deserves, that’s when these other things slip in.”
This approach to addiction treatment has helped restore lives again and again. Bower says he recently saw a graduate named Harold who said he’d been to 20 different rehab programs before coming to The Lighthouse. Nothing had worked. However, with the missing link of faith in Christ Harold is experiencing restoration in his own life as well as with his previously estranged family. The restoration is incredible and yet, it took Harold 20 different programs before he discovered what he was missing: Jesus.
Freedom in Christ
“There are very few Biblical addiction programs, residential programs across the US,” Bower says. “So we’re up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, by Michigan. We have a church in Florida that’s sending us people all the time. They just sent us their fifth guy to come to our program, because we’re the closest Biblical program to them that has open beds.”
Bower encourages people who struggle with alcohol addiction to reach out to them. Restoration is possible through Christ! Their phone number is 260-255-6413 and their website is biblicalliferecoverycenter.com. Whether someone is ready to apply for a program slot or just needs prayer, they can find information, encouragement, and people to pray for them with The Lighthouse.
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Header image courtesy of jarmoluk on Pixabay.
