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PRAY NO to Drugs, Pornography, Gambling, Obesity and Smoking
The weekend of April 6 – April 7, 2013 has been designated as the 23rd Annual “Just Pray NO!” to drugs Worldwide Weekend of Prayer and Fasting. We are not only praying for the release of those bound by substance abuse but also for people to be delivered from pornography, gambling, obesity and smoking.
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. James 5:16
Since April 7th, 1991 “Just Pray NO!” has united millions of Christians from 150 nations and territories around the world in intercessory prayer on behalf of the addicted and their families. Not only is substance abuse America’s number one health problem, the devastation of alcoholism and other drug addiction has impacted families and communities worldwide.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12
Make a formal commitment to join with believers in Christ from around the globe this coming April. Put on the full armor of God and fervently pray in spirit and in truth. We are seeking to enlist millions of prayer warriors from around the world to join us in battle!
Is it your heart’s desire to see people delivered, healed and set free to serve the Lord Jesus Christ?
Cigarettes are Extremely Addictive Due to the Drug Nicotine!
Nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break. Tobacco addiction is the second-leading cause of death in the world!
According to the American Heart Association, nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break, while the pharmacological and behavioral characteristics that determine tobacco addiction are similar to those determining addiction to heroin and cocaine.
Tobacco addiction, the second-leading cause of death in the world, is a culprit for approximately 5 million deaths each year or 1 in 10 adult deaths. Currently, about 1.3 billion smokers live in the world; most (84%) live in developing countries. With the present smoking trends, tobacco will kill 10 million people each year by 2020. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that in the United States, tobacco use is responsible for about one in five deaths annually (about 443,000 deaths per year, and an estimated 49,000 of these smoking-related deaths are the result of secondhand smoke exposure). More Americans are killed by cigarettes than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs.
Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, and lung diseases (including emphysema, bronchitis, and chronic airway obstruction) and contributes to the severity of colds and pneumonia. Tobacco has a damaging effect on women’s health and is associated with increased risk of miscarriage, pre-term delivery, stillbirth, and infant death, and is a cause of low birth weight in infants. For every person who dies from a smoking-related disease, 20 more people suffer with at least one serious illness from smoking.
My paternal grandfather was so addicted to cigarettes that even after he had a tracheostomy (a surgeon cut a hole through his neck directly into his trachea to improve his breathing), he would sneak cigarettes and inhale them through the surgical opening. My grandfather was over 6 feet tall and normally weighed about 185 pounds. The radiation treatments were so debilitating that by the time he died from lung cancer, he was emaciated down to 90 pounds. I do not want to see anyone have to suffer unnecessarily because of nicotine addiction as he did.
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Mark 8:46
Despite the health problems, lawsuits, and rising prices associated with cigarettes, there’s still something seductive about the tobacco industry – the profits! The tobacco industry sells about six trillion cigarettes each year. The industry is highly concentrated with a handful of firms controlling the majority of the global tobacco market. The tobacco market was worth about $614 billion in 2009.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:10
There is a smoking ban for inmates who are incarcerated in Florida prisons but this restriction has been lifted for visitors and workers. The following is an excerpt from a letter that I received from an inmate at Apalachee Correctional Institution in Sneads Florida:
About all they did by stopping the selling of cigarettes was create a big black market for them. The staff is still allowed to bring in cigarettes but must go to designated areas to smoke. But because they can bring cigarettes into the prison that leaves an avenue open. Lots of guys have and are selling cigarettes for $2.50 each. Guys are buying them up and smoking them like Crackheads! Then they rob and steal from others to get more.
I noticed that there was a lot less violence before they “outlawed” cigarettes. I’d rather that there were no cigarettes but that is not going to happen since staff can bring them in. I’m sure $50 a pack of cigarettes is appealing to some of the staff. Usually there are 20 cigarettes in a pack. From the tobacco in a pack, 40 or 50 hand-rolled cigarettes can be made. You do the math! Anywhere from $100 to $125 can be generated from a single pack of cigarettes and it costs $10 for a lighter. But you really don’t need one because you can use batteries and a small piece of wire instead.
The back pages from all the Bibles in the Chapel are gone. They used those pages for rolling paper. When that supply ran out, they started using the wrapping paper from the toilet paper rolls! Pages from the dictionaries in the library are now gone too! I never thought that nicotine would have such control over the guys, but it does. What’s going to happen to these guys when they get out? If they can’t control their urge to smoke, what happens when they are exposed to addictive drugs and alcohol? Scary!
If I offered a group of 100 people each a cigarette laced with arsenic and told them that before they finished smoking their cigarette that they would die a horribly painful death, do you think that even one person would try it? Why then are people so willing to smoke cigarettes knowing full well that eventually they will develop a painful and potentially fatal smoking related ailment such as lung cancer or emphysema?
Are smokers simply self-destructive, in denial or incapable of making rational decisions? Perhaps they were tempted by advertising or gave in to peer-pressure when they were susceptible youths or took up their parent’s bad habit and now are addicted. Many smokers do not want to stop smoking regardless of the consequences. Those who want to quit, find it nearly impossible to do so on their own because nicotine addiction is not just a chemical problem it is a spiritual stronghold!
Pharmakeia is a word found three times in the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. It is the root word from which we get our English word pharmacy or pharmacist. Pharmakeia is translated as witchcraft or sorcery. It speaks of the occult magical arts which are often found in connection with idolatry. Drug and alcohol abuse including nicotine and caffeine addictions, like witchcraft, are powerful, demonic strongholds.
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? Romans 6:16
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. Exodus 9:1
When the Hebrew slaves were in bondage in Egypt they cried out to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for a deliverer. Passover recalls the deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. Passover is both a historical account and a prophetic picture. Moses “The Deliverer” is a type of the Messiah (Christ). The bondage of slavery in Egypt is a type of the bondage of sin in the world. Pharaoh typifies Satan. The Passover, when the firstborn male child passed from death to life by the blood of the lamb, is a picture of our passing from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of the Son by the shed blood of the Lamb of God.
Persons who are addicted need to break the demonic strongholds in their lives by repenting of their sins and placing their trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross. They need to be born again and receive the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
Many people wonder why God does not help them when they cry out to Him to be set free from their addictions. The reason that they remain in bondage is that they want to be set free – but are unwilling to surrender their lives to Jesus. The “KEY” that will set a person free is to understand that the Almighty’s purpose in setting a person free is to “SERVE HIM.” Jesus must not only be your Savior but your Lord! When you cry out, “Dear Jesus, forgive me of my sins and deliver me from my addiction and I will serve you the rest of my life!”– Not only will you be set free, and have a healthier lifestyle, you will inherit eternal life, know true joy and receive God’s blessings!
You can be set free from smoker’s cough. You can be free from the horrible smoke smell that permeates your clothes and your home and from the cigarette butts and dirty ash trays. You can save thousands of dollars a year that literally goes up in smoke. You can benefit from whiter teeth and pinker lungs. You can add years to your life span and enjoy a better quality of life!
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:8-10
If you have never made a confession of faith then say the following prayer aloud:
“Lord Jesus Christ,
I know that I am a sinner and there is nothing that I can do to earn my way to heaven. Although I deserve God’s wrath, by God’s mercy, I accept your free gift of eternal life by faith. I believe that You were born of a virgin and died on the cross to pay the price of my sins. I believe you were buried, rose again on the third day, have ascended into heaven, and will soon come again.
Lord, please forgive me of my sins, come into my heart and take control of my life.” AMEN
Then you have just made a decision by faith, to accept the free gift (God’s grace) of the substitutionary sacrifice of the Messiah (the Christ), whose suffering and death paid the price of your sins.
You have been born again. As a new-born, you need to be nourished.
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38
In order to grow and mature spiritually you need to:
- Be baptized into Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ)
- Speak to God each day through prayer. (Pray each day in the name of Yeshua/Jesus).
- Read your Bible every day. When you read the Bible, God speaks to you through His Word. (If you don’t own a Bible, then we will help you get one.)
- Find a Bible believing church and attend regularly – both worship services and a Bible study.
- Share with someone what God has done for you.
Please contact us. We want to rejoice with you!
Unleash the Power of Prayer and Fasting
There is great spiritual power in prayer and fasting. Addiction is a spiritual bondage that must be fought with spiritual weapons. Fasting and prayer will enable you to be empowered by the Holy Ghost and allow His anointing to break the yoke that binds you.
Mark 9:17-22a
Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”
He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”
And he said, “From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him…”
John 10:10a
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
The cost and consequences of alcoholism and drug dependence place an enormous burden on American society. According to the “National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence,” Addiction is the nation’s number one health problem. Addiction strains the health care system, the economy, harms family life and threatens public safety.
There are more deaths and disabilities each year in the U.S. from substance abuse than from any other cause.
- About 18 million Americans have alcohol problems; about 5 to 6 million Americans have drug problems.
- More than half of all adults have a family history of alcoholism or problem drinking.
- More than nine million children live with a parent dependent on alcohol and/or illicit drugs.
- Heavy drinking contributes to illness in each of the top three causes of death: heart disease, cancer and stroke.
- Almost half of all traffic fatalities are alcohol-related.
- Between 48% and 64% of people who die in fires have blood alcohol levels indicating intoxication.
- Fetal alcohol syndrome is the leading known cause of mental retardation.
- One-quarter of all emergency room admissions, one-third of all suicides, and more than half of all homicides and incidents of domestic violence are alcohol-related.
Alcoholism and drug dependence are not just social or medical issues, the outward manifestations of violent acts and lewdness associated with drunkenness and drug highs confirm that addiction is spiritual bondage that must be fought with spiritual weapons.
Romans 6:16
Do you not know that if you continually surrender yourselves to anyone to do his will, you are the slaves of him whom you obey, whether that be to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness.
Your mind is the battlefield of the spirit. Whether you’re bombed, blasted, whacked, wasted, drunk, stoned, or high, on alcohol or other drugs, you’ve given the thief the opportunity and the right to enter into your mind. Altered states of consciousness can also be accomplished through eastern mysticism, transcendental meditation and bio-feedback. Whether by means of distilled spirits or by occult practices that open the dark side of the spiritual realm, the result is still the same – spiritual bondage.
Satan comes disguised as an angel of light. Sin feels good for a season. By getting high on drugs or by the habitual drinking of beer or other alcoholic beverages many have surrendered themselves to the will of the evil one and have been enslaved by sin.
“How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him…” Mark 9:21-22
Usually when we think about suicide, we imagine one act of desperation. Someone jumps off a bridge or takes a loaded gun to their head. This demon possessed young man often was thrown into the fire to burn alive or into the water to drown since childhood. Yet, this biblical account is not quite as uncommon as you would suppose. There are millions of Americans and even some reading this teaching who since childhood have been choosing to slowly kill themselves.
More Americans are killed by cigarettes than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs.
John 10:10a
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
Cigarette smoking is a major cause of cancers of the lung, larynx, oral cavity, pharynx and esophagus and is a contributing cause in the development of cancers of the bladder, pancreas, uterine cervix, kidney, stomach, and some leukemias.
Smoking is a major cause of heart disease, bronchitis, emphysema, and stroke and contributes to the severity of colds and pneumonia. Tobacco has a damaging affect on women’s health and is associated with increased risk of miscarriage, pre-term delivery, stillbirth, and infant death, and is a cause of low birth weight in infants. Furthermore, the secondhand smoke from cigarettes has a harmful health effect on those around the smoke.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Mark 9:22b
“… But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
It was not only the son that needed help, relief and deliverance but the father as well. How often have we found comfort in times of trouble when a friend was compassionate enough to listen to our problems? The father grew hopeless, not only as he endured through years of agony seeing his own son suffer; but unable to even offer some measure of comfort to his son who was mute and unable to speak to his father of his fears and pain.
Today, how many fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, suffer when they see the ones that the love bound up by addiction? How many have grown hopeless after years of enduring the broken promises and lies?
“… But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Mark 9:23
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
The father, after many years of emotional pain and dwindling hope, again suffers the disappointment of finding the disciples of Jesus unable to help. Understandably, the father then questioned Jesus by saying, “If You can,” have compassion on us and help us. Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, is full of compassion and unlimited in power. Instead of rebuking the father for questioning the Master’s ability or desire to help, Jesus challenges the father to step out in faith. “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
The father was not only subject to the pain of his child’s suffering but also to the stigma of a child who evidenced demonic possession. Had he failed as a father? Was it his fault that his son no longer was in control of his life? If Jesus was unable to deliver his son, wasn’t the father going to suffer public disgrace once again?
Mark 9:24
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” This short, but sincere and honest prayer was immediately answered. Both the father and his son were free after years of physical pain, emotional suffering and spiritual bondage.
Mark 9:25-29
When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”
Addiction is not limited to alcoholism, drug dependence or smoking. There are blood-bought Christians who are struggling with pornography, eating disorders, lust, anger, or jealousy.
“This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
1 John 3:8b
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Jesus was anointed to proclaim release to the captives and to set free those who are oppressed…
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Before we can be made clean, we must first recognize our sinfulness.
Recently, I took a panhandler to breakfast and asked him his name. He called himself “Doc.” He had a PHD from Michigan State in English literature… He had been living on the streets since 1999. He had been a lecture in his church up north; meaning that he often read publicly from the Scriptures and assisted in serving communion. He even insisted that he had a relationship with Christ and was able to quote some verses. Why then, was he living in the streets pan-handling, filthy, diseased and undernourished? It wasn’t because he was a drug addict, he only had a couple of beers each day and he never got rip-roaring drunk.
I told him that he could not serve two masters, Christ and beer. His response was honest, although it brought me to tears. He said, “I guess I’ll have a couple of beers every day until I die.”
Many people seek Jesus as savior but they refuse to make Jesus Lord of their life.
Are you willing to make Jesus Lord of your life by submitting your will to His? Will you allow the Son of God to do a work in you so that you may be wholly sanctified spirit, soul and body? Will you cry out to Jesus, “I believe you can deliver me” “Help my unbelief!” Will you fast and pray in order to be empowered by the Holy Ghost and allow His anointing to break the yoke that binds you? Then pray this prayer:
“Lord Jesus Christ,
I know that I am a sinner and there is nothing that I can do to earn my way to heaven. Although I deserve God’s wrath, by God’s mercy, I accept your free gift of eternal life by faith. I believe that You were born of a virgin and died on the cross to pay the price of my sins. I believe you were buried, rose again on the third day, have ascended into heaven, and will soon come again. Lord, please forgive me of my sins, come into my heart and take control of my life.” AMEN
Then you have just made a decision by faith, to accept the free gift (God’s grace) of the substitutionary sacrifice of the Messiah (the Christ), whose suffering and death paid the price of your sins.
Please contact us, we want to rejoice with you!
You have been born again. As a new born, you need to be nourished.
Acts 2:38
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
In order to grow and mature spiritually you need to:
- Be baptized into Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ)
- Speak to God each day through prayer. (Pray each day in the name of Yeshua/Jesus).
- Read your Bible every day.
- When you read the Bible, God speaks to you through His Word. (If you don’t own a Bible, then will help you get one.)
- Find a Bible believing church and attend regularly – both worship services and a Bible study.
Share with someone what God has done for you.
"Just Pray NO!" Ltd. 