Does God heal addictions?

Does God heal addictions? If not does He view them as a sin that is out of a persons control or do you go to hell for having addictions?

I don't think there is any true "healing" of any addiction. I think that if we put our trust in God, we will be given the strength to overcome the temptation of the addiction.... but the addiction will always be there, waiting in the wings for a possible slip.

Do you go to hell for any other sin? OR does Jesus gift of salvation cover us?

Depends on what you mean by heal. Some people think if they can get down to half a prescription dose that is the best it is going to be. It just depends on how much faith people have.

We are justified by faith not works and the grace of God is an active force that does a work in us and through us.

Yes, it happen to my father, he was cigarette addicted and stop smoke after pastor pray.

Yes God does heal addictions and yes He does view them as sin.
One day in 1996 my life was in shambles and I was getting up at 5:30 every morning and started my day of drinking. I know if I didn't do something about it I would end up in jail, crippled up or dead. So I started reading the bible again for the first time in about 22 years and I started going to church but not before I downed about 3 tall boy beers. I know them church folks could smell my beer breath. LOL Anyways one night I was reading the Bible and drinking beer as usual and I went to bed. That night I had a dream and when I woke up I was delivered from Alcoholism and refilled with the Holy Spirit. That morning I went to DUI school running my mouth about Christ and the next time I went to community service I would run my mouth about Jesus. I know those folks thought I was crazy and a hypocrite for preaching Jesus while doing DUI school and community service for drunk driving and talking about Jesus.
This is when I had a revelation about addiction and it applies to all addictions. It is not that you can't quit an addiction, it is that the addiction won't let you go. Its a bondage and the addiction has you all rapped up in chains that are stronger then you are.
This is why we need Jesus to deliver us from our bondage's, because we are not strong enough to it ourselves and only Jesus has the power to deliver us from ourselves.
Mr. hornetguy is wrong about addictions. Thinking that we can never be completely cured of an addiction is the worlds way of thinking about addictions because they don't truly understand the power of bondage's. In the 24 years that I have been delivered from alcoholism I have never been tempted and have never had the desire to go back to drinking. Today I live in a house with all kinds of alcohol in the house and I am never tempted.
When Christ delivers anyone from any addiction it is a done deal and the cure is perminant. God never does a half job. He removes every smidget of need or desire of temptation from you. Why do you think there are so many praise songs about Jusus breaking chains?? Because only Christ can break the chains of addiction. God doesn't always deliver a person over night like He did me but for sure He can't or won't work on anybody until they reach out to Him for His help.

Nothing by entering the body corrupts a person, no, it is what a person carries in his or her heart.. If it is good, it is good. If what is there is murder and covetness, it is bad.

I do not recommend living on heroine, sex or alcohol and tobacco to prove this, but it is something to ask oneself and a weapon to fight any addiction.

I am happy that you have escaped the temptation to drink. I praise God for that. But, I guarantee that if you took a drink, you would fall right back into drunkenness. It might only last a weekend, until you came back to your spiritual connection, but it would still happen. That's the difference between addiction and non-addiction. I can take a drink, and walk away and not drink again. Your addiction would not let you do that. You are free from the temptation, but not the addiction.
That is what an addiction is.... the temptation to do something wrong. It might be a physical temptation, and it might be psychological, but it is something to which you cannot give in and maintain normalcy.

The addiction is still there, but through your connection to God through Jesus, the temptation is gone. Hopefully, for ever...

My mentor's wife was healed from drug addiction. Not in a natural way but a miraculous way. It happens but miracles are by that very nature dont happen all the time. My neighbors mother was a alcoholic. It took years of dealing with it before God freed her. She still gets tempted but it no longer has complete control and she has been free for 20 years. There are many many testimonials like this. But also many Christians who are not healed and in those cases. Scripture speaks to them also. Sometimes it is that God can work in our weaknesses. Or unfortunately sometimes the consequences of our sins may have done so much damage we could even face death. But even in the worst case scenario. The one facing death can still have a heart that turns to Christ and see salvation. Yah their choices caused their death, but also their choice to seek Christ gives them eternal life.

What I believe is the initial choices are sin but the addiction is like a illness. Or the consequences of sin. Sin can lead anyone to Hell. We all are guilty. It is the work of Jesus Christ that saves us. Christians are not perfect either but that is why we needed a Savior. We will not be perfect until we are glorified in Christ. Right now we are being sanctified which is a continuing process until death. Christ has justified us and we are seen as righteous by God.

First of all one should be clear about what an addiction is.

Merriam-Webster
Addiction: a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity having harmful physical, psychological, or social effects and typically causing well-defined symptoms (such as anxiety, irritability, tremors, or nausea) upon withdrawal or abstinence.

So essentially it is a harmful habit. And just as habits can be developed, habits can be avoided. And because it is harmful, it comes from the sin nature ("the flesh"). So yes it is a sin to be addicted to anything.

God heals diseases, and He also heals souls. At the same time He gives His children the gift of the Holy Spirit, and one of the reasons for that is to empower the believer to overcome the flesh. But the believer is commanded to crucify or mortify or put to death the flesh and to walk in the Spirit (be controlled by the Spirit).

Which means that all addictions can be broken provided you are willing to pay the price. As the definition shows, there may be withdrawal symptoms, but they do not last forever.

At the same time the term "addiction" can also be applied to doing that which is good. People can be *addicted* to helping others for example, or giving generously for the benefit of others.

I give God the credit but it took me 10 years of repeated failure to quit smoking. Healing? yes, I am not tempted by it, but repulsed by the thought instead.

Mr. Hornetguy you don't know anything what so ever about me or my relationship with God. But what I do know is that your statement
"But, I guarantee that if you took a drink, you would fall right back into drunkenness." is without question DOUBT CASTING regarding God's ability to deliver folks from addictions.
Are you saying that God doesn't have the power to cure us from our addictions to the point that we would never go back to that life even for a weekend? Are you saying that God does an incomplete job when He delivers someone from the bondage of addiction???
Are you trying to speak evil into my life and walk with God by telling me that "I guarantee that if you took a drink, you would fall right back into drunkenness." ??? The very fact that you have told me I would fall back into drunkenness for any reason tells me that, Yes you are speaking evil into my life and that is the work of Satan. He is using you to do his bidding and you are so rapped up in the way the world thinks about bondage's you can't even see it.
Jay3009 is reaching out to us for advice and help and all you have done is DOUBT CAST on God's abilities to help him. I am trying to encourage him with my testimony and you start trying to speak evil into my life because I disagreed with you and glorified God beyond your abilities to comprehend what God is able to do. Look at his profile picture. I don't know about you but I can see the pain he is face in from his profile picture.
I can take a drink and walk away. Out of curiosity I tried that once and it felt like I was putting poison into my system. My body literally rejected the alcohol in the drink. Because God never does a half job, He always does a complete job.
So you can take your DOUBT CASTING and trying to speak evil into my life and GET THEE BEHIND Me SATAN.

Abusing one body is sin.. So abusing drugs leads to damaging ones body..

if God wills then a person will be liberated from their addictions, what ever drug or combination of drugs they may be.. But even if God does not will it, then a person should never think that God is ok with substance abuse.. We keep on believing God and trusting that the Atonement of the LORD Jesus covers us..

And you need to lighten up, buttercup....

This is a discussion of OPINIONS.... like adults do. My experiences with addicts, both drug and alcohol, along with my experiences with various 12 step programs (faith based, by the way) have led me to my beliefs.

If you have another opinion, I'm ok with that. I have absolute faith that God can do healings. I also know that heroin addiction is a physical NEED that a person's body has. Sure, you can detox, and you can resist the temptation through God's help, but that physical need is always there.

I'm speaking NOTHING into your life.... if you cannot have a civil, adult discussion, without going all Robert Tilton on others, perhaps this is not a good venue for you.

It is because we are in hell, our living suffering in these bodies of death that we have addictions. People turn from their addictions to serve a living God. He can give us rest when and if we do not harden our hearts .

In prayer and supplication we make are request known. We have a example in the Son of man Jesus as well as Jonas. The last sign as a wonder.

I'm happy to see that Merriam Webster agrees with me.....

"That is what an addiction is.... the temptation to do something wrong. It might be a physical temptation, and it might be psychological, but it is something to which you cannot give in and maintain normalcy."

It does not matter if a person does a sin casually like once a month, or does it everyday having more of an urge to do it, it is still a sin, and the person is responsible for it.

If someone is addicted to pornography they still are responsible for it, and if they are addicted to stealing they are still responsible, or addicted to a drug they are still responsible.

Just because a person has more of an urge to do a sin than somebody else does not mean they are not responsible and off the hook.

And anybody can cry out to God and ask for help, and follow Him and the truth, so if they refuse to acknowledge the truth which causes God to work in their life to help them to overcome then they are responsible for the power is there for them to receive.

Also people although they have an addiction still can beat it if they want to which many people have beat heroin and never done it again that were atheists, and the same with alcohol or cigarettes, and pornography, they stopped doing it.

Also people who claim Christ have no excuse for an addiction for God will not allow them to be tempted above what they are able to handle, and will give them an escape from the temptation so they can bear it, so the saints are not tempted as hard as the world.

But some have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof, and are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.

There is no excuse for sins whether an addiction, or casual sins, for the power of the Spirit is there for all to receive if they acknowledge the truth.

And even if it is an addiction among the people in the world there is no excuse for they still have a choice between good and evil, and can beat it with effort of trying to beat it.

As long as one person can live sinless and be right before God, who is the man Christ Jesus, and make it to heaven then heaven is open for any person that acknowledges the truth.

And since the man Christ Jesus behaved in goodness then there is no excuse for the world why they cannot behave that way, and the same power is available to them to overcome the flesh.

If one person can beat an addiction then there is no excuse for anybody that cannot beat an addiction, and there has been people that beat an addiction by their own power not acknowledging the truth.

Some saints may say they are struggling with sin, but there is no struggling with sin but not submitting to the Spirit.

It is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so we have a choice, and can make the good choice, and an addiction is no excuse that only means they like the sin a lot but they still have a choice to not want it.

So if they are tempted hard by it is no excuse for they can still bear through it for it is only a mental, or physical affliction but they can still not do it.

I do not see an excuse for an addiction but they like the sin a lot more and they are the ones that put them in that spot by engaging in that sin much, so they can also get out of it for the world can get out of it that does not acknowledge the truth.

So how is there an excuse.

But even though the world can beat an addiction they still will have some sin in their life, which denying the truth of Jesus is a sin.

When Jesus hung on the cross besides giving us salvation, what He was saying was I deny this world and how it operates, and I go against your heathen ways, and will not give in to the temptation of this world to go by it, or give heed to follow your heathen ways.

And Jesus paid the price by being persecuted, and tortured, and nailed to a cross, and people cannot seem to beat an addiction that is nowhere near that level of pain and suffering that Jesus went through, and cannot beat the temptation of those addictions when Jesus suffered way more denying the temptation of the world.

Heb 12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Heb 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

The saints alive have not even had it as bad as Jesus that resisted the temptation of the world, and Jesus denied the world and did not sin, and was punished for going against the operation of the world, so how can a person have an excuse for having an addiction to cigarettes when that temptation is nowhere near the things Jesus went through as He denied the world and the temptation of it.

Jesus was persecuted, and beaten, and crucified, for denying the world, and a person cannot give up cigarettes for they say they have an addiction to it.

There is no addiction other than they like that sin a lot and they allowed it to get somewhat of a hold on them to where they craved it, but a sin that a person has a desire to do a lot is not excuse and they are responsible.

How is there an excuse.

But like some people say we are born homosexual, which homosexuality is a sin and if a sin we are not born to be homosexual, for that is the case we would have an excuse for the sin, and then we could say we are born to steal, and born to fornicate, and to do sin taking away the choice to where we have no choice but to sin, and cannot beat it, but we know we can beat it because we have the choice to do good, and by the Spirit we can beat it completely.

But some people want to lessen the responsibility of abstaining from sin, and we can do something about it by saying it is an addiction.

Which many people who claim Christ say they cannot abstain from sins, and sin daily, and sin does not affect their relationship with God, and they hold unto sins, but the Bible says if a person hates sin, and does not want sin by the Spirit they can abstain from sins, which a Spirit led life will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, for they have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts, and show the ways of the Spirit and not the flesh.

People try to have an excuse for their sins because they want to enjoy those sins.

Oh we are born homosexual then that means we are born stealers, and fornicators, and we cannot help to be that way and cannot change it, but then it takes away the choice that we can do good, and gives us an excuse for the sin which cannot be so for nobody can get away with sin.

God does heal addictions for those on Jesus' side for He gives us power to overcome sins whether we like the sin a little or a lot.

So people should stop saying addiction and change it to they like to do that sin a lot because they have a craving for it for they still have a choice to do good for that did not go away.

They act like they cannot help to be that way all the while it is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so they have the choice to do good.

People when they are hurt physically a lot will undergo physical therapy that can hurt like the dickens as they go through it to cause their body to start functioning properly again.

But people cannot bear through it with the cravings of the sin they like that they say is an addiction, and get back to functioning properly to stop doing their sin.

It does not make sense to me this talk of addiction for I look at it as they like the sin a lot so they do it a lot, and try to act like they cannot help it or they are struggling, which they are only struggling because they do not really want to give it up, for if Jesus can go through what He went through, and a person can go through physical therapy with the pain and get through it, then they have no excuse and can do the same.

But Jesus had the desire to go to the cross, and people that do physical therapy have the desire to go through it.

But many people that have addictions do not have the desire to go through it, and there is many people that are suicidal, so there is many people that do not care that much about life and themselves so they have harmful addictions and do not care how it is affecting them.

Addictions would make the most sense for people who do not like their life and depressed, and want to escape problems, but there is still no excuse, and some people blow things out of proportion and are crybabies.

But to show them mercy for I do not want a holier than thou attitude, and I do not want to cut them down for my life is going good, but it can happen to anybody if they are down and out, but there still is no excuse.

Yes indeed!

I have known persons to be totally healed from alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, the Lord Jesus does a job properly!

No I don't need to lighten up at all. You literally spoke evil into my life by telling me that I am garrantied to backside back into drunkenness if I take a drink.
"But, I guarantee that if you took a drink, YOU would fall right back into drunkenness." You see that word in all caps? You were speaking to me. Those were your words not mine and as far as I can see that is speaking evil into my life and it wasn't any kind of discussion. It was an accusation or even better a declaration and I called it like I see it. I would never ever tell you or anyone else that they were garranteed to backslide for any reason even if I thought they would. It is simply the wrong way to minister to any believer. What you said was an insult not only to me but also towards the work that God has done in me and so many others like me and especially towards God. Only an evil heart would guarantee the backslide of another believer. And now your trying to gloss it over with some sort of garbage talk. I know all about the heroin addiction as I used to shoot myself up every day while I was in Europe and I am telling you that all addictions are the same physically, mentally and spiritually, they are a bondage beyond our ability to control ourselves once we are consumed by the addiction. But God can and does deliver us completely from our bondage's.
What you should do is admit your fault and apologize not to me but to any one who read your post and to God. Insulting the work of God
within a believer by speaking a fall or backslide from thier walk with God is the same as insulting God. The Thousand dollar man doesn't have a thing to do with this conversation but he did have one thing in common with you. He spoke with Satan whispering in his ear.