You asked...

Dr. Smith,

Our church as recently started a program that appears to be a Christ-centered 12-step program. While it may be worth while, my concern is it will be addiction-management, rather than healing of the lies that may be at the root of the addiction. Could I have your thoughts?

Ed Smith's response...

In the early years of this ministry I was very excited about what Theophostic Prayer Ministry could accomplish and was very zealous about saying so. I have not changed my position at all in that I see miraculous results with people all of the time. However, my zeal was interpreted by some as my saying that nothing else in the ministry arena was effective. This is not so. Even what I did before learning to use the principles taught in this approach was effective in its context. The truth is, nothing is more effective in restoring people's lives than the touch of the Lord Jesus. However, the Lord is not bound by any method. He can do whatever He desires in what ever manner He chooses. I agree with you that there is a very good chance that many addictions are rooted in the vain attempt to manage emotional pain. However, once the addiction has taken root there is also the physical problem that must be attended to. 12-step groups can help meet the need of maintaining abstinence and cleaning out the system so that the person may attend to the lies that he or she is holding onto. You might seek to appeal to the leadership of your church to look into applying the Theophostic tool along side of the 12-step approach. The two fit very nicely together. There are many ministries that are doing this. One in particular is led by a man named Paul Hardy (Recovery for the City) in Virginia Beach. He can be contacted at mailto:paulh@asbc.net

I hope that this helps,

Ed Smith