Woman charged with giving 4 year old crack

Recovery related news of the day
I noticed to items in todays news.

The first was about a woman charged with giving her 4 year old son crack.

The second is about a women alledged to have thrown sex,alcohol parites for teenagers.

Both articles can be found at www.christianrecovery.blogspot.com


Of course, these are allegations only and the accused are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.

Whats the point? We live in a very sick,degenrate society. America is not the land of the free and the home of the brave. It is the home of the drunks ,child abusers, and drug addicts. And the really frightening thing is that America is the best country in the world.

God Help Us.

Woman lets Toddler smoke Pot

Woman lets Toddler smoke Pot
Once in a while I come across a story that I think is worth linking too. This woman got caught. How many times does this sort of thing happen across the United States and they dont get caught? We are dealing with a spirit of evil.

Article at www.christianrecovery.blogspot.com

Alcoholism is not a disease

Why Alcoholism and Addiction are not diseases I am a long time member (20+ years of sobriety) of Alcoholics Anonymous And Narcotics Anonymous. I have read all the AA and NA approved literature regarding these addictions being a disease. Most members of Anonymous programs are indoctrinated with the idea they have a disease almost from the start. Considering the lost confused state they are in ,it is no wonder most accept the idea uncritically. It is also true that most drinkers and drug addicts do not believe they have a disease when they are using. But is this idea true? And is it helpful or harmful. Their have been books wriiten on this subject , most notably "The Useful Lie" by William Playfair which is worth reading. The truth of the matter is that there is no scientific proof that addictions are a disease, although many assert that there is. Stanton Peel (author of Diseasing of America ) has reviewed most of the scientific evidence and it is clear to the objective observer there is no scientific proof that addictions are diseases. The purpose of this short essay is not to argue the point and it is recommended the sincere seeker read Peeles work if he wants to review the so-called evidence. Belief in a lie can effect behavior. If a person truly believes he has a disease which triggers an allergy then he may indeed not drink or use drugs. It is also true if a person is hypnotized into believing he is a Rooster, he will crow like a Rooster. Why is this idea so appealing? First of all, the alcoholic/addict does not know what is wrong with him and this is an explanation. It is alsoappealing to the Alcoholic because most alcoholics/and addicts have done terrible things. The idea of having a disease is appealing. I have on occasion heard people in meetings say they were relieved to "find out"they had a disease and that they were "sick" people not bad people. It is easier for a proud, wrong person to admit there is something wrong with his body than admit there is something wrong with his soul. And that is what is wrong with the disease concept. The alcoholic/addict is a sinner in need of repentance. He needs to see his prideful, resentful,angry, disobedient sinful nature, and feel the attendent pain. This Godly pain is what the scripture refers to in the beatitudes "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted".Belief in a lie does not save,Belief in the tuth does. Think of it, the entire "treatment"industry in the United States is based on a lie.


Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free-Jesus Christ.

http://Christianrecovery.blogspot.com

Alcohol/Drug programs: Do they lie about their success?

Speaking of drug treatment programs and honesty let me pass on a little story.
An acquaintance of mine recently volunteered to be on the community board which
made the decision which treatment programs received government funding. He was an
active member of Narcotics Anonymous and knew most of the addicts that were in
recovery in the small town where I lived at the time. One of the counselors at the
recovery program came in front of the board ,giving a glowing report of all the people
they had helped. A few days later he saw the head of the program who was also a
Narcotics Anonymous member. My friend asked where were all these addicts were they
Had helped since he didn?t see them around town, and he knew most of the people in recovery? The answer he got was , ? I don?t know?. In fact, reliable statistics of the efficacy of modern treatment programs are hard tocome by. How can these treatment programs help anybody when they themselves are not
honest and lie about the number of people they help to get money?

At a future date we will be posting statistics on recovery as best we can find them. I
have already spent a considerable amount of time researching the subject. Some studies
say treatment works and others say it doesn?t. Really makes you wonder doesn?t it? Are
these programs going to admit they are failures if it means they lose their funding?

Our recommendations for Drug/Alcohol Treatment

This site is about recovery related issues. As part of that discussion we comment on the various strenghts and weakness of different treatment programs.

One thing I should point out to the reader is that I am not a professional web site designer and that at the present time I have to rely on services like blogeasy to make this information available. I appreciate the free service and realize it is only available because of advertisers.

However, the issues we are dealing with are life and death to some people. Just because you may see treatment programs advertised on the sidebar of this site you should not take that as my endorsement or recommendation of that particular program. More than likely I would not endorse them or agree with the course of treatment. One of my basic points is that the whole Recovery industry in the United States is pretty much lost: the blind leaders of the blind.


At the present time, the only place I am recommending is the B.O.N.D. program in Los Angeles. B.O.N. D. is not solely for people with drug or alcohol problems: its mission is to wake people up and rebuild the family by rebuilding the man.It is a non-profit , non-denominational church.


As I have said elsewhere, if you live in another part of the country send me an e-mail and I will recommend a non-profit organizaiton that will help you free of charge.


To sum up, the paid advertising on the side bar has nothing to do with me and I dont endorse them.


www.christianrecovery.blogspot.com

Recovery Times Article

Recovery Times Article
The publisher of Recovery Times ,www.recoverytimes.com, has graciously published an article I wrote entitled "Hate: The Root of Addictions".

Although there is an article with a similar title on this weblog, the article has been significant changed for the Recovery Times and includes quite a bit of information.

Thanks to the Recovery Times and I hope you will take the time to read the article.

Ted

www.recoverytimes.com

A Guide to True Peace

Step 11: Sought through Prayer and Meditation


The eleventh step of Alcoholics Anonymous suggest prayer and meditation. We will talk about prayer another time but the topic today is meditation. The step in its entirety reads:

?Sought through Prayer and Meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood him ,praying only for the knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry it out?


The seeker is advised to practice meditation in the step but there is not a whole lot of direction as to how to meditate. Transcendental meditation? Should we practice OM to ourselves repeatedly? Or perhaps a positive affirmation over and over. Is that meditation? Admitedly there is a lot of confusion on these subjects in both Alcoholics Anonymous and the other Anonymous programs. Narcotics Anonymous says in its basic text,? A basic premise of meditation is that it is difficult but,if not impossible to obtain conscious contact unless the mind is still? However, there is not a lot of specific direction as to how to accomplish this. Alcoholics Anonymous also give very little specific direction. The Big Book says the following, ? There are many helpful books also. Suggestions about these may be obtained from one?s priest, minister, or rabbi. Be quick to see where religious people are right.Make use of what they offer. God bless you if you have a priest, minister,or rabbi who can give you some good direction in this regard. If you don?t, then the purpose of this posting is to offer you some direction you can make use of if you will.

One of the reasons the author has been able to stay off drugs/alcohol for so long is that early on he made use of the practice of meditation and was fortunate enough to have someone to give him some specific direction. The purpose of meditation is to know the Truth, and to let the Spirit of Truth pain you into repentance. The reason why things like Transcendental Meditation are harmful is that the noises just help you do in a more sophisticated way what you have been doing all your life with drugs or alcohol: running from the Truth.

In the early years of Alcoholics Anonyous (when it had a much higher success rate) meditation played a much more important part in the program than it does now. Dick B. of Hawaii has written a fairly extensive well-researched book on the importance of meditation in early AA. The title of his work is: Good Morning, Quiet Time, Morning Watch . Meditation, and Early AA. Here is a quote from AA conference approved literature which makes the point succintly( Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers,P. 15):

The AA members of that time did not consider meetings necessary to maintain sobriety. They were simply ?desireable?. Morning devotion and ?quiet time? however, were musts.

That is quite a difference from modern AA where one is advised that you have to attend meetings or you will get drunk. Perhaps AA has substituted addiction to meetings and the comfort of friendships in place of the Spiritual Awakening in the steps? Maybe this is also part of the reason (along with deleting all mention of Jesus Christ from the modern literature ) why modern AA has less of a success rate than early AA.

I hasten to add that I am not critical of AA principles or even the steps. I am however critical of what modern AA has become.

Back to meditation. Even Scripture does not give specific instruction on how to meditate. We have evidence however that scripture once contained such instructions:

My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart [shall be] of understanding.
Psalms 49:3
My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD
Psalms 104:34
O how love I thy law! It [is] my meditation all of my day.
Psalms 119:97
I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies [are] my meditation.
And lastly :

BE STILL AND KNOW (Psalm 46:10)


Mystical Judaism has a long history of meditation in the practice of Tefilin.Tefilin are small square black leather boxes, containing quotations from the Bible, which are placed on the forehead and the arm during the weekday morning prayers. Some of the earliest examples of Hebrew writing to survive are fragments from Tefillin. Tefillin were found in the Qumran caves dating from about the 1st cent. BCE. Jesus mentions tefilin in the New Testament. I am not suggesting that Seekers or believing Christians take up the Hebrew practice. I am suggesting that Scripture mentions the practice.
For the sincere seeker I point you towards a small booklet written in the early 18th Century: A Guide to True Peace. It is a little book written to nourish the spiritual life. Evidently it succeeded in its purpose, for it passed though at least twelve editions and reprintings from 1813 to 1877. Compiled anonymously by two Quakers, William Backhouse and James Janson, from the writings of three great mystics of a century earlier, F?nelon, Guyon, and Molinos, it was widely used as a devotional book by members of the Society of Friends.
A Guide to True Peace is available free (thanks to Terry) at :
http://home.comcast.net/~terryoregon/page5.htm
And may God Bless you in your journey

Has Alcoholics Anonymous Lost its way?

HAS ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS LOST ITS WAY?

I have been a member of Alcoholics Anonymous for 28 years. AA has become a worldwide and an American Institution. Treatment centers throughout the United States tout the 12 steps and Christian Churches in the USA provide meeting places for Alcoholics Anonymous. It is not polite to criticize AA. But countless American depend on AA and its teachings, so it is legitimate to ask ?Has AA lost its Way ? ? I say it has.
Its not that there is anything wrong with the 12 steps. AA?s founder, Bill Wilson, rightly said that the principles of the 12 steps came from the bible. Consider what one early AA member had to say years ago:
One morning, after a sleepless night worrying over what I could do to straighten myself out, I went to my room alone-took my Bible in hand and asked Him, the One Power, that I might open to a good place to read-and I read. "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?" That was enough for me-I started to understand. Here were the words of Paul a great teacher. What then if I had slipped? Now, I could understand. From that day years ago, I gave, still give and always will give time everyday to read the word of God and let Him do all the caring. Who am I to try to run myself or anyone else?*
Times have changed since then. All references to the Holy Bible have been taken out of the later editions of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, and not by accident. But that?s not all.
AA has a tradition which states:
?No AA group or member should ever, in such a way as to implicate AA, express any opinion on outside controversial issues?
Despite this fact, AA has taken a position of subtly and not so subtly endorsing homosexuality. There are many examples but one will suffice. Contrast that previous statement by an early AA with this statement by a modern AA:
In A.A. today, I know sober leather fans, transvestites, and members of every other sexual group there is. But the only important thing here is that we are all human beings, all alcoholics, and all in A.A. together.*
The sad fact is that the Gay Rights movement has infiltrated Alcoholics Anonymous and its literature. Being Gay is equated with being Jewish, Black, or Native American on the Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Website: http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/english/E_Pamphlets/P-13_d1.html
Don?t get me wrong, I don?t think Gays and Lesbians out to be excluded from AA, but only told that sin is sin. Anything less is a disservice to everyone, and contrary to the will of the Creator whose blessing we all seek.

AA has lost its way, and should promptly admit its wrong.

*The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, First edition
**My name is Padric, and I'm and Alcoholic (gay)

?2004 Christianrecovery.blogspot.com

Are Drug Treatment Professionals the blind leaders of the blind?

Are Drug Treatment Professionals the blind leaders of the blind?That's a true or false question. If you picked false you need to readthis post.Well, I picked up a copy of the paper a few weeks ago and saw an AP story that probably ran in many papers in California. The Headline is:"Study Finds High re-arrest rate"The article is kind of hard to read but the sub heading saysresearchers say Prop 36 drug offenders aren't getting enoughtreatment to make a difference.In the body of the article it says researchers suggest longer and moreintensive treatment is needed to make a substantial difference, andthat efforts should be concentrated on those with severe addiction.Id like to share my thoughts on these so-called drug treatmentprograms. Im not against effective drug treatment but one thingyou'll never read in stories like this is the possibility that thedrug treatment professional don't have a clue what to do , anddon't have a treatment that works. Longer "treatment" that isineffective isn't going to have anymore impact than shorterineffective treatment. And will someone please tell me what this"Treatment" is?I spent time at the so-called California Rehabilitation Center inCorona in the 1970's and I can assure you I saw very little"treatment". (Stabbings and race riots aren't treatment).In fact,one of the correctional lieutenants there told me , "We don't knowwhat to do with you guys. We just lock you up and hope youll get tiredof doing what your doing." At least he was honest.I also spent time at the Tarzana Family which had treatment methodsthey got mainly from Synanon, but which were also ineffective. Ill beposting later about my experience at Tarzana and their treatments.The closest thing they had to "treatment" was AA and NA, and you can check out my blogs: http://christianrecovery.blogeasy.com or http://christianrecovery.blogspot.com to see how these programs have lost their way in a spiritual sense. I acknowledge the 12 Steps as a program of recovery.I think there is arare individual here and there that uses the 12 steps ( which weretaken out of the Bible) and finds the experience of repentance andbelief in Christ. But your not going to find any tax supportedinstitution program talking about Jesus Christ or Repentance. They areforbidden by law from doing so.Is it any wonder they are ineffective?What Im saying is that the "Treatment Industry" doesn't have atreatment for drug addiction/Alcoholism. They compete for governmentfunding and are known to inflate their recovery statistics.But they are not about to step forward and say they don't understandaddiction or what to do about it. In fact, many of them don't knowthey don't know. They are blissfully ignorant wallowing in the liethey have been taught that alcoholism or addiction is some kind ofdisease.Don't look for them to admit their wrong anytime soon. There are toomany paychecks on the line."If the blind lead the blind wont they both fall into a ditch?"- JesusChrist

Http://Christianrecovery.blogspot.com

Drug Treatment- Inside a Synanon Clone Program

Drug Treatment- Inside a Synanon Clone Program :

The first drug treatment program chosen for me (besides CRC- which is the California Department of Corrections ?Program?) by my parole agent was the Long Term Family Program at the Tarzana Psychiatric Hospital.I was somewhat shocked when I arrived there.
My first view of the ?Family? was in the cafeteria and it looked like a line of carnival sideshow freaks. The men had shaved heads and wore dresses. The women were wearing men?s clothes. Some were wearing paper bags over their heads with eye,nose,and mouth holes. All were wearing cardboard sandwich board signs with crayon marked messages on them.It was a weird menagerie of bizarre design.
My first night there I was rudely awakened at 2:00 A.M. by our phase leader screaming ?Creep,creep, creep?. As I was to find out a ?creep? meant to be awoken in the middle of the night for ?therapy?. It is amazing what can be done to human beings in the name of ?Therapy? The first therapy was to stand on the wall. Standing on the wall was a big part of Tarzana. If you were ever stood in the corner as punishment as a child with your face against the wall, then you have a sense of standing on the wall. Usually it was from 10-30 minutes. However there were times when we stood on the wall for as long as 20 hours. This ,of course, is cruelty and not therapy but that?s what they did. In the beginning I was not told a lot about the program except that I would have to have a lot of blind ?faith? and that the program worked.
The Tarzana Family was a Synanon clone program. A Synanon Clone program is one modeled after the infamous Synanon program in Santa Monica.. Many people know a little about the Synanon program and certainly a large number of people went through it.At the time I was in Tarzana (the early 1970?s) synanon clone programs were still popular , but seem to be more replaced by 12 step programs these days. Tarazna itself still exits and now hosts 12 step programs . Tarzana was run by former drug addicts who were graduates from the Camarillo Family program. Therapies were varied but it was basically group therapy. The Synanon Game which was developed at Synanon was used there and I believe it is still used as therapy in some drug treatment programs.
Briefly, the game is group confrontation. One person is placed on the ?hot seat? or probe and basically attacked by other people in the game. Much truth is said but since we are talking about corrupted drug addicts it is often without love (at least in my experience). Much non-truth is also said. The purpose of the game is therapeutic but well---let the reader judge the efficacy of sick drug addicts acting like psychiatrists to one another
The Candidacy phase of the program lasted a few weeks. It was ,I suppose, a period of time where the candidate got oriented and the program observed the candidate to see if they were acceptable. Many, many people ?split?during the candidacy phase due to the creeps, standing on the wall and other ?therapies?. I remember one fellow who split and we heard several weeks later that he had committed suicide. Drug addiction is a serious business and many don?t survive it one way or another.The candidate phase lasted a few weeks and then it was time for my screening into the family.
Screening was accomplished by the Synanon Game. I walked into the room and was put on the hot seat. They started asking me questions like what had I been doing there. I gave them the answers I thought would please them. I told them I had been fulfilling the assignments I had been given etc.,etc,etc,Then they started verbally attacking me. I had never experienced anything like it.There were maybe a dozen people and they started shouting things at me, and insulting me; I was told to sit on my hands. More shouts.Screaming. Ridicule. I started getting angry. No anger is not the word for it. Hate.Resentment. Deep burning ready to kill hate.The same kind of hate I felt when my mother beat me as a child. I remember someone saying ?look at that hate?. I exploded at one of the senior staff members,? You can take this whole great big program and roll it up into a little ball and STUFF IT UP YOUR ***.? The staff member himself gave me an ultimatum to apologize or get out. They started counting down as a group. 10,9,8.,7,6, 5,4,3,2,1- ?YOUR OUT?. I felt like it was prize fight and I was being counted out. When they said ?YOUR OUT? it became a hypnotic suggestion to me due to my resentment.. I closed my eyes and went out. I went into a hysterical trance like state.
I remember them telling me to open my eyes. I replied that I couldn?t. I was in a
trance like state and my eyelids were stuck shut. They kept telling me I could open my
eyes but I tried and couldn?t. Apparently, the group attack and the intense hatred had
produced a hypnotic state and the suggestion ?Your Out? made me go into a semi-
conscious hysterical state. I vaguely remember them calling some of the staff members at
home and saying ? What we feared would happen has finally happened?. I have no
memory of waking up but I must have because I remember them sending me out of the
room and I came back. ?Welcome to the Family ? they said and hugged me.

Honestly, I don?t know if this sort of thing goes on at Tarzana now, but it certainly
Did then. Sleep deprivation, shaving heads, wearing dresses for men, standing in
Uncomfortable positions on the wall, verbal attacks by entire groups: all this was considered therapy. It was all done With tax dollars. If you are wondering what all this had to do as ?treatment? for drug Addiction, you are not the only one. 30 years later Im still wondering.

?2004 Christianrecovery.blogspot.com