Do you think when someone is a alcoholic that it is a spiritual thing? like a demon is in you?

Question

Or do you think it is a spiritual curse? Do you think God can take it away if you pray or do you think he can't or wouldn't?

Answer 1

I think that alcoholism is a chemical addiction which may or may not have spiritual overtones to it. Can God take it away if you pray?

Well, of course God can do anything that He wants to. But if a person just wants to be freed from their alcoholism so that they can go on with their life apart from God then it's not too likely that He will perform that miracle for them. Someone has to "repent" which means turn around and go the other way of their life as a drunkard and turn to God and let Him fill in the vacuum that such a decision will create. Otherwise they will be worse off than when they started.

"When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation."
Matthew 12:43-45

If a person just cleans up the house of their life and doesn't fill it in with the indwelling presence of God's Holy Spirit then they will never be freed from the power of their addiction.

As someone who was a drunkard for all of my adult life before I heard the call of Christ but who hasn't had a drink in years I can testify to this from personal experience and from seeing what has happened to friends of mine who have relapsed over and over again because they wanted to live their lives under their own power instead of seeking God with all of their heart and living a changed life in Christ.

Answer 2

There are two types of alcholism. One is a chemical allergic reaction that actually causes the person to want more of the very poison that is killing him. This person is a true alcoholic and it is not of a spiritual basis. There is the alcoholic of which it is a spiritual issue and as long as they rebel against God, they choose to allow this demon or if it's not an actual demon, it has become an idol, to stand between them and God. This latter one can be given up, whereas the first cannot. I was married to a man who had drank since the age of 9. He was considered an alcoholic. However, on a bet that he could not give up alcohol, for $5000 a year he has now been sober for 20 years. We divorced just prior to this as he was also a man who liked to beat me for the pleasure of watching one be in pain. Because he was able to simply quit, he was not chemically bound, it was a choice. However, he was not able to get rid of the meanness. Years later he was saved and with salvation he was released of the need to be mean - that was his true demon. The alcohol had been an idol.

As far as taking away a person's alcoholism, nothing is impossible with God, we know this from scripture. However, sometimes what a person has to learn, is to be reliant upon God, and like a naughty child that will not stop until Moma finally whips him for his bad behavior, God allows our bad behavior until we choose to rely on him and then he allows it to stop.

I hope this has cleared up types of alcoholism and the relationship that can be found in it and a role that God may allow to play out through it. It's his desire that we all come to know him and sometimes when we are very stubborn, he will allow some very terrible things to happen so that we will eventually reach a point that we have no choice left, but to say, Ok, God, I know you want me, here I am.

Answer 3

Definitely a physical/psychological illness and not a "spiritual curse". As a physical illness, it seems to run along family lines (I've seen this in two families I know. Goes back for generations.)

As a psychological illness, I imagine that if someone truly believed that pray to God can take it away, it might work. I am a Buddhist, and as such don't pray to God, but if that is what brings peace of mind and balance to an individual, then go for it.

Answer 4

You have picked a complicated subject that has many emotional and physical facts connected with it, but I do believe that you can be spiritually oppressed, whether it be by alcohol, depression, anger, etc. But Jesus came that He could set the captives free and give us life abundantly.

Also, a curse doesn't have to be something spoken over you through witchcraft or voodoo; a curse is anything on your life that brings or causes evil. Curses can be generational. Divorce, sexual abuse, etc., that perpetuate from generation to generation.
Those things are not too difficult for the Lord to take care of, if one is willing to trust the Lord for freedom in those areas.

Answer 5

Alcoholism has nothing to do with spirituality.

Alcohol is a drug and it creates certain chemical reactions in a person's brain. If the person likes the alcohol, and they get a rush of endorphins when they drink it, they will continue drinking in order to create that same sense of euphoria - at the expense of the rest of their body and possibly their life.

It is an addiction, like any other. It has to be unlearned - disassociated from being a good thing in order for the person to be cured.

Your best bet isn't praying, it's getting that person to rehab. Standing by them and telling them you love them and are there to support them and want them to live. Get hands on and save their life before they lose it.

Answer 6

I am a recovering alcoholic. Yes God can remove the compulsion to drink, and will if you truly believe in him and ask. However there will be some footwork one must do to stay sober one day at a time. God wont just take that away and make anyone all better all of a sudden.

Answer 7

I think alcoholism is a way to deal with the demons that haunt you, the things in life you cannot deal with. does anyone really thing that a 60 year old alocholic is drinking for the fun? well i guess some do, but the one i know has problems to work out and they dont, they just turn to drinking... i think if you prayed to God he would give you the strength, but you would have to work through it just as hard...

Answer 8

I think God gives us free will. A will that we often abuse. You can pray for guidance in the matter but it is up to the person who drinks to stop. I think Demons may heighten this persons craving and temptation and I think God can sends Angels to help fight away those demons but in the end it will be the drinker who has to find the power to overcome the illness.
The bible says: I can do all things through him that strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Answer 9

Good question. I was an alcoholic for forty five years and the only way I got rid of the curse was to ask God to take it from me. He did, and worked so well, I asked him to take the tobacco cravings and he did that too. This is all true. I am a baptize Baptist, a respected church member and this is just part of my testimony.

Answer 10

My parents think alcoholism is a spiritual curse. I just think some people can be genetically prone to alcoholism