The Pickling Process

 

Let me explain what has to be addressed after the addict stops using the drugs and has gone through a 30-day detoxification process I will use my story to illustrate the problem and the solution:

My wife Jeanie and I have lived two drastically different lives! Figuratively speaking, I am a pickle and Jeanie is a cucumber.

You saturate a cucumber long enough in vinegar, it will become a pickle. You can never turn that pickle back into a cucumber.

During those years of abusing drugs, I was pickled in a jar (world) of vinegar (sin). I had spent years being saturated with evil thoughts, evil words, evil actions, and evil habits. Those bad thoughts, words, actions, and habits changed (pickled) me forever. This is what I mean when I say, I am a pickle.

On the other hand, my wife Jeanie grew up on the mission field of Africa, the daughter of a Gospel preacher. She attended Christian schools and universities. She did not experience the extent of sin which I did. She did not experience the evil pickling process which I did. Hence, Jeanie is a cucumber and I am a pickle.

Now, I stopped abusing drugs in 1984, when I was arrested for the last time. On June 1, 1986 my sins were washed away when I was baptized into Christ. I came up out of that watery grave of baptism to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:1-4). When I obeyed the Gospel, I became a new creation. Old things were passed away, and all things became new (2 Corinthians 5:17). However, my experience with the devil and sin, and my memories of those 15 years in the pickle jar were not washed away. For the rest of my life, I have to be aware of, live with and even fight against my past pickling process (Galatians 5:1; Romans 6:17,18). In this regard, my fight of faith is very different from Jeanie’s fight of faith! She is a cucumber, and I am a pickle.

When you are ministering to a recovering addict, you must realize they have a past pickling process to overcome (John 8:32, 2 Peter 2:20-22). Some have been more pickled than others, and they will need more attention. The pickling process is what makes it so hard to win them back to the Lord. The devil has such a hard grip on them, it is almost impossible to pry them out of his clutches (Colossians 1:13; John 8:32; 2 Peter 2:22).

Some Scriptures can be applied to the pickling process: Some of the members of the church in Corinth were pickles: "9Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor £homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

The vinegar (sins) they were pickled in were fornication, idolatry, adultery, homosexuality, thievery, covetousness, drunkenness, and partying.

I believe this is why the church in Corinth was such a mess. Paul spent about a year and a half ministering to the messes in Corinth. Paul is the example I look to for help in ministering to messes.

The hardest stage of ministering to a recovering addict is the beginning stage (first 3-months). The pickling process corrupts one’s character (1 Timothy 4:2; James 3:14,15). I once heard a preacher who ministers to addicts say, “An addict can talk a cat off the back of a fish truck!”

The Apostle Paul wrote about the corrupted conscience: "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron."  (1 Timothy 4:1.2) 

The Gospel Advocate's commentary on 1 Timothy 4:1,2 explains how living in sin corrupts the conscience:   {branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron;—These men have become hardened and insensible to all feelings of justice and right. To live in neglect of a known duty or violation of a principle of right is to demoralize the spiritual man, weaken his moral character, and sear his conscience. This unfits man for the higher duties of life and gradually fits him for a life of sin and wrongdoing. Habitual violation of the sense of right educates a man for doing what is wrong. An occasional outburst, a great wrong repented of is not so fatal in its tendency, not so hardening in its influence on the heart and character of men as a continual violation of the principles of right in what are regarded as small matters. Peter, under the impulse of fear, could deny his Master and repent of it, and yet have a better conscience and a truer character than Judas Iscariot, who, during the time he carried the bag for the disciples, was doubtless guilty of petty peculations and pilferings continually. The man who cherishes some private or secret sin, which he thinks is petty and unimportant, is gradually hardening his heart and fitting himself for a total breakdown of his moral character that will develop itself in permanent open sinfulness and degradation. The conscience should be kept good and tender; the heart pure.   Gospel Advocate Commentary on 1 Tim. 4

 

Galatians 6:1 speaks of the restoration process needed to reverse the character damage caused by the pickling process of addiction: “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness…”

James 5:19.20 also speaks to the conversion (“turns him back”) process needed to repair the character corruption created by the pickling process of addiction: "Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.”

To restore one from the damage of the pickling process, intense attention (teaching, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, rebuke, and exhortation) is needed (2 Timothy 3:16,17; 2 Timothy 4:2).

Before restoration can begin, the pickling process must be stopped. Let me explain:

Quitting the drugs and alcohol is a beginning, but it does not necessarily stop the pickling process. Many come into our program and continue the evil thoughts, words, actions, and habits. They continue to resist God instead of the devil (James 4:7).

Many of the souls in our care are like the prodigal son (Luke 15) who went out to conquer the world and the world conquered him. Most of them come to us after having destroyed almost every good thing in their life. Some have already surrendered (Romans 12:1,2), but the typical program member has not.

The prodigal son surrendered (“came to himself”) only after all the money was gone, a famine hit his life, he was living with the pigs and considered eating the pigs’ food. It was at this point he thought of returning to his Father and then actually returned to the Father!

There are a few who come to the program already sick and tired of being sick and tired and in total surrender to God. These enjoy the program and prosper.