If Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes

   Some of what is in this article I have written about before, but perhaps I will do a better job of explaining in this one. Several months ago, I wrote a two-part series on how Christians can be free from secret sin and stay free though the power of God’s transforming word, “The Cords of Death” and “Free From the Cords of Death.”  Although these articles, I thought, were all about deliverance, a reader informed me there is a much easier way to be delivered. “Ask Jesus to be your Savior and sell out completely by daily placing yourself on the altar of God, as a living sacrifice.”

   There was some supporting material provided indicating that as long as you stay on the altar, God will do all the work for you, as it pertains to being transformed by the renewal of your mind, Romans 12:2.  So I believe other people may believe this too.  I don’t believe it and please let me explain why.  I now have 30 years of experience with people in recovery or repentance from various addictions. Most everyone wants the easy,  simple way explained by the person who wrote to me, including me. People in recovery and professionals in counseling refer to this easy way as “The magic wand theory.”

   People with decades of dysfunctional living patterns that have shattered their own and the lives of others around them rarely want to face the consequences of ...