3ABN Today Live - "True Step Ministries - Cheri Peters" (TL018516)

I want to spend my people wanna spend [Music] Lord let my [Music] hila hard on us then [Music] people hello I'm Shelley Quinn and welcome again to three a B and Thursday Night Live we are so excited to be here and we want to thank you so much for your prayers and your love and your financial support of the mending broken people network and we have someone here tonight it's gonna be a high-octane a couple hours let me tell you because we have someone that if you're familiar with 3abn you will know her well and she has I think let me just introduce her sharee Peters so you back you know I don't think I have been here for almost two years that's a shame so it's nice to be back and I have been working with you guys probably before that for 20-something years 27 years so I feel like it's family I even flying in driving in I was driving around going like it has been too long well you know you're one of our for the all-time favorite host of a program and if you haven't seen celebrating life and recovery you need to see that so we are going in these two hours so we're coming to you live so that means we can't make any mistakes we are in trouble and I have to say this Danny and Yvonne's were so looking forward to doing this interview tonight and the only reason that I got tapped on the shoulder to do this is because and I'd been a surgeon got ahold Danny a couple of days ago and removed his gallbladder no wait well we got to pray for Hampton we will pray for him but you know I do have to say because I don't want to make this sound like Danny has done nothing but brag on dr. John boss kind he's an Adventist surgeon in in Nashville and of course Danny was down there doing the new music project that we have coming out for camp meeting on the three angels messages it's just beautiful songs so anointed but Danny said that dr. John boss kind prayed with him before the surgery and he has he's just bragdun bragdun regs so I'm gonna go down to Nashville I ever need to get anything done tonight we're gonna get caught up with Sheree on her what's going on in her life what's going on in her ministry and she will be talking to us and sharing with us the changing face of addiction and this is going to be a lively two hours but it's information you need to know because you know Satan if he can't trap us one way some of us may say oh I don't have any drug addictions I don't have alcohol addictions I'm not an addictive personality we're gonna find out tonight almost all of us are and some of us don't realize the danger that were in actually before we get started though we were going to read 1st Corinthians 1:26 saying you're the one who suggested this normally I have something pulled out but Paul writes to the Corinthians and he says you see your calling brethren that not many wise according to the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise I think we both fit in that category yeah but you know I think a lot of people fit in that category and sometimes we step back and like Who am I to step up and do anything and God says man I promise you I will equip you just stand up be brave and watch what I can do and so I that was one of my favorite verses because of that is like he's not looking up for us to be greater for us to be wise he's just saying just trust me he said he goes on he says God has chosen the weak things of the world but to shame the things which are mighty you know this is true that as a matter of fact I think the reason God chooses the weak and the foolish things of the world is so that people will know it's God who did it I mean I ask myself Who am I to have the opportunity to talk to the world and share the good news of the gospel and you may be sitting at home thinking Who am I but remember the blessing is on the go so if you just stay up and say you know Lord Here I am sinned me he will do amazing things through you but before we get really rockin and rollin in your story let's have some music first because I know how much we love music we know how much you love music and tonight we've got one of my favorites Rudy Miceli in singing one of my favorite songs oh I want to know you more [Music] just the time my fears [Music] the time I feel but [Music] that's when the breeze begins to blow it [Music] Oh [Music] man might want to know you people within my soul I want to know you I'm looking in your eyes stirs up within me cries that sing I why [Music] and when my dating [Music] my heart begins [Music] it's gone I've run the race set my own pace and faced [Music] alarm saltines [Music] Oh [Music] my Oh [Music] I want to know [Music] No thank you so much Rudy Miceli and you know that is a sincere heart cry for him he's a wonderful person and God has given him such a gift and we're so glad that he uses it for the glory of the Lord if you're joining us just a few moments late our special guest tonight is sharee Peters who is the founder of true step ministries most widely known I think on 3abn as the host of celebrating life in recovery a dear friend a friend of three avians and a dear personal friend precious person and a wild woman you know I think wild in Christ I got to say with with Rudy that last time I worked with him he got up and sang and I was speechless and I'm never speechless but I you know I he does have he's the real deal as far as a man of God and his voice is so good and he ministers in me so yeah you know yeah I was I was definitely speech it's not a performance it's ministry yeah and I want to say with Danny and and I'd like to pray for him before we have to start but I would like with if it wasn't for three event if it wasn't for Danny I wouldn't be doing any ministry because I think that what you guys do for a lot of people what you did for me is you really looked at me like man what can we do to help this but what was really amazing is no matter what God called me to do I had such support from every single person here especially Danny and so my heart goes out with him it goes out for him and his surgery and I just pray for a speedy recovery why don't we pray right now and pray for our audience as well because we started by saying that God chooses the foolish things of the world so that he can show his magnificent magnificant and I say yeah right then sound right but so that he can show his majesty through us so we just want to encourage each and every one of you some people are at home feeling you don't have purpose and why am I here God can dear father God first of all I'd like to say thank you so much that you have your hand on us thank you so much that you use any of us it's just ridiculous to me but I just want to thank you for that and right now while Danny's going through surgery it's never easy to have somebody cut into you and I just pray right now where he's going through that has helped him to remember that you are God and you are great and your hand is on him it's always been on him for anybody watching in the audience this is a time that a lot of people are fearful but you know why take that away from us that this is a time right now that we could stand up and show the character of God the glory of God and we get to be a part of this whole and time stuff so I just pray for your Holy Spirit I pray that you anoint us put your hand on us and anybody watching tonight man I hope we hear your voice not any of our stories not about our ministries but let us hear what you have to say to us tonight in Jesus name amen and amen and I do want to report so that no one is overly concerned Danny is doing extremely well and he's of course he's a father he is he is but you know the story that you shared about how Danny and 3abn gave you a platform got you started helped train you up we hear that story all the time yeah that's what 3abn is about you know as much as it is a mending broken people Network it has given so many people nobody knew Doug Batchelor before he started coming here so let me let me just I would like to do one thing yes most of us know your story so well and she is literally a miracle from the streets but we have so many new viewers could you give us the Reader's Digest version of where God found you and how he brought you out I always love every time I get to tell the story I think it vindicates God's character really says that God is in the business of doing miracles so I was raised by a couple of kids that were lost in all kinds of things you know you know my dad eventually died in a crack house and and my mom had five kids and and and I was probably you know was their second child and I was the child that she felt kind of ruined her life if she wasn't pregnant she wouldn't have to be stuck where she was and all that kind of stuff so we never I never I don't think I had a mom where I don't think I had a dad my dad molested me from the time I was three months old and my mom tried to self-abort a number of times and so one of the things that I spent most of my life as a kid is trying to be loved I mean I I wanted to be loved in the worst way I tried to be funny and be cute and and do the right thing and and by the age of 8 I probably had I I would say my first real suicide attempt I tried to kill myself by jumping off of a house and and by 13 I was on the streets of Los Angeles and and when I say that if somebody knows what that is about they can get a sense of that but when I ended up on the streets homeless by 13 there were about 80,000 kids like me so in in just one major city in LA and so you are picked up and funneled into some pretty dark industries right away within for me within 24 hours and so I ended up on the streets for 10 years and you know I thought my growing up years were stuff but man what I saw in the streets and what we're capable of doing and when we talk about addictions that's my passion but what I saw was so dark and so ugly and I got at 23 years old I was done you know I was done somebody put a gun to my face and they were gonna blow my head off and I thought thank you so much I'm so done and and and then he changed his mind and I'm like you know just shoot me I you know please just shoot me and shortly after that I he left of course didn't shoot me was just trying to scare me and I say this all the time my next breath scared me I did not want to take a breath I did not want to be there I did not want to breathe and and shortly after that I end up meeting God in a drug house strung out on heroin and the only thing I felt was totally loved I felt loved my felt like what he said is that if you trust me I can change your life I had 42 warrants for my arrest I was strung out I like I said I lived in a drug house I was fairly illiterate and I I hope somebody hears what I say next but what he gave me was a little bit of a vision of Who I am the day after resurrection precious not not who I'm I had the day after I pull a needle out of my arm but Who am I the day after I I am very much a wanted child I'm very much innocent and I just just wept because I thought I've never been loved I've never been beautiful I've never been innocent and what God said is I've never seen you any other way that I think that the devil lies to us and says this is how he sees us but he is our Creator he knows who we are the day after resume and he doesn't see us in the midst of all this any and he says trust me I'll get you home I'll get you off and so being able to stand through that is I had to learn to read and I had to go to school and I had to figure out you know how do I live around normal folks when nothing I've ever had happened was normal and and then I found out that like cuz you mentioned wants to me that what people do you go to church and they're talking about the weather and you're like are you kidding you're talking about weather again you know I didn't know how to socialize I didn't know how to read the first thing that you go when you know when you yeah I just didn't know anything and so God has been absolutely incredible absolutely incredible and put some people in my life that we're incredible yeah I met a woman that let me do recovery at her house and she was a vegan vegetarian Adventist and I thought I was in how can I don't know if I could say that but but you know as a druggie you just think you know this is where you go for eternity when you've really acted out you know you go to a Vegas house but even what's really funny about that is she saved my life you know she's trying to give me cantaloupe and I'm trying to get some coffee or some drugs or anything and and she says how about water and I just thought well I can't stomach that you know and she was so patient with me and so loving that that you know as she let me see the face of God in a person which I had never seen and then and then she kind of mentored me like you need to learn how to read and you need to turn your life over and you need to find a church and and it was incredible it was incredible and the fact that God even sees people like us you know in and I think that now I know he's no respecter of persons and and we're all such a mess but but I've never not felt I have never not felt loved seen by him never well you know what what a blessing because some of us grow up in church you know I grew up in the church Christ and I I love Jesus but I didn't think God loved me I didn't know how to receive that love until one day as I was praying as an adult and just really pushing into the press pressing into the presence of God that all of a sudden I'm I'm I'm just worshiping him and what I heard him say to me was all these years you've wanted a father you know like you could crawl up onto their lap because my dad was killed when I was six and you know some of my story and and so I didn't have that security and the Lord just let me know I've always been here I am your father and it was like whoa you know and then I found Hebrews 1:3 that says that Jesus is the exact representation here here I loved Jesus but I had such a fear of the Father so and then I felt like but now you told me in the green room and I want you to share this story you told me in the green room recently you've been through a lot I mean you've were diagnosed with cancer I'll let you tell the story but you went to the Oklahoma Academy here you go hold on let me let me set that up though first all right because what was really interesting to me is coming from meeting God and going back to school and I got a nursing degree and I didn't say I'm inpatient psych softened and then got into ministry and so God has blessed oak since 1979 all the way to like today or the last few years he has blessed more than I can even imagine I mean I can't I feel like he he kisses me on the face every day and it's like I can't wait till you get up and I I mean I've been so blessed I was married and I have a child and all that kind of side of Greg and I think that what's really in a little granny and what's really interesting about our walk is that that I there's a thing I'd like to show you from immense devotional that that Brad gave me and with our with our walk what was really interesting is that Brad is your husband Brad is my husband okay and and and he said at one point he says Satan doesn't Satan doesn't Satan doesn't mess with himself concern himself when we're eating cereal or brushing our teeth or making a pit stop they are physical functions that don't affect your relationship with God or his people however the moment you cross into the world where your character can be express itself in conduct he's right there he Satan crafts moral temptations to fit hand in glove with you in his malicious and perverse way he's looking to meet the specific needs of his customer he does his homework he pulls out your past he examined your insecurities he researches your triggers and investigates your less noble ways of dealing with pressure stress and responsibility Satan never accidentally tempts men mm-hmm you the means of his timing always coalesce as coalescence with what's going on inside a man at any given moment and so in the years of my meeting God and getting into ministry and all that kind of stuff what was really interesting to me is the devil he could hit me with a lot of things but not much rock to me I had met God you know I had met God you can tell me one miracle and I mean I could think and I have my mind and I'm you know he restored my sanity and and and I have a home and I have a you know all that kind of stuff and so he couldn't do much but even with Jesus when he was tempted in the wilderness that Satan left him along and then came back for another a more opportune time and not long ago I understood what that meant mm-hmm and so I you know all of a sudden a lot of things happen and I just was getting hit with one thing after another after another after another and and you my husband was there was stuffin and the relationship and and I know that as a good Christian we don't talk about struggles and marriages but that's over tonight but so we were having struggles in our relationship and it was just one thing after another and then my mother-in-law moves in which I I don't know if anybody's had that but that's really tough three adults I'm living together and in what was really hard about my mother-in-law is you heard my back ground that I'm not the first choice for any mother with her I mean I'm just not the first choice if you were gonna draw a name out of a hat and say this is who I want my son to marry it wouldn't be a homeless heroin addict that that had this family and so your mother-in-law was a fairly sophisticated she's a violinist and played in the orchestra for years and and so it was really tough for her to even accept me four years into our marriage and so you moving in it was you know all of those triggers came up and and all of my insecurities came up and I think the devil really took advantage of that so I started looking at some things and somebody said you know this is so dysfunctional you need to study dysfunctional relationships and and and and I did and at one day I was having such a real tough time really tough time and I came in the house and I said you know God I don't know I don't know if I'm gonna get through this you know and I I remember going to Oklahoma Academy and and and I I they gave me a Bible and all the kids signed it and so I I went and found the Bible and I opened it up and God said I want you to read everything that these kids wrote and what was incredible to me about this Bible is that I had gone to do a week of prayer at the Academy and I loved them I mean I I loved doing I love working with young adults or young kids and and so I went to do a week of prayer and I had just been diagnosed with cancer so it was another time that was really tough and so I was remembering that and when I said to these kids that they said you know how are you and what's been going on in and I said I was gonna say it just kind of nonchalantly that I just got diagnosed with large granule acidic leukemia and when I said it I teared up and you know me I'm not a crier I mean I just you know I just am NOT I I just I'm not that person and so I teared up and and one of the kids said to another one you're gonna kind of whispered something and then they said would you mind if we sang a song for you and I thought yeah so they put me in the chair in the of the room and they all gathered around me and they say they said do they saw the fear in me and they said I think you forgot who God was how great God is and they sang this song it was a classical piece about the greatness of God the majesty of God and as they were singing it was so I mean the Holy Spirit was there and it was so incredible and I started to cry and one by one the kids started to cry and when they started to cry it's hard to sing so they fell on their knees and one by one we all are kind of on the floor on ur knees sobbing about the greatness of God and so at this point in my life when I'm looking at all of this dysfunction I'm remembering that and the greatness of God in and and Brad and I had such a difficult time he was coming down with Parkinson's and and he's stepping away from his job and I mean there was one stress after another after another and I'm studying about how dysfunction our relationship and I just want to say to anybody out there be careful how the devil leads you because I think what he did with me because I was so insecure and so all of my triggers were coming out and I was dealing with this household with not knowing actually how to act or if I'm even wanted and all that kind of stuff is what the devil said is you know what you're right to be upset about this you know sometimes reading a book about it can make it worse can't well it made it worse and and I I'm so good at studying so I'm studying about you know about dysfunctional relationship even you know being on the spectrum of narcissism and all kinds of different things and and I got so good at the studies that some of the counselors from the VA hospital said would you do in services you know you know how that is that's you know yours you study in that same way and so I'm doing in services and it pretty soon I thought you know what you know I think you know I think I just need to leave mm-hmm you know that's pretty serious you know it's really serious stuff and and one day something happened and it was horrible and you know it was just such an intense day and I thought you know I'm just leaving and I got in my car and and I'm driving away and in I just have to say I'm gonna kiss God on the face when I see him it's just so ridiculous so I'm driving away and there's this huge roadblock and I I have to turn the corner and there's another construction thing in another roadblock and then I get to this place where I'm gonna you know get something to eat and then go to the airport and fly out and my car breaks down stopping me no I thought it was the devil it was God but I didn't know that so I mean so find me I call a rented car place and I think and I'm just gonna take a rent-a-car and I'm gonna rent a car while it was five minutes after 6:00 in the place had closed at 6:00 so I'm thinking this is ridiculous so now I have to call Brad Brad my car's broke down you have to help me and and so you know one thing led to another and and and a friend of mine and it was really interesting I laughed for the weekend and within a couple days Brad and his mom offered to buy my house and put it in their name and I mean it was it was so bizarre it just it just happened so fast and it was so crazy and and so now they rejected kidding me it's very hurt like I can be kind of thrown out and I mean it was just a really tough thing and and I came back and I ran into a friend of my Joe and Brad and I met with Joe and he's just so wise got a not wise guy he's just a wise counselor man of God and and and Joe said Cherie you know what I love about you and I thought why because I'm not feeling very lovable at all my whole world is falling apart and he says I love the fact that you listened for God to lead you mm-hmm you hear it's voice and said I've just always loved that about you and and and I said you know I looked at him like where you going with this and he when I first met him he had left the church and him and his wife decided to come in the church one more time and we're gonna sit next to somebody and we're gonna ask him why you love God and if they have a lame answer we're out of here we're never coming back well they set next to me I thought for two hours you know but so you know he said I just loved the fact that you love God and you listen did Brad say you couldn't did God say you could leave Brad and they need to see just stop talking and I was so mad cuz I wanted to lie I wanted to say absolutely you know and but it wasn't true and so he said unless Brad unless God says you need to go home you know and it was the hardest thing hardest thing I ever did but I went home and now I have to study God what happened what happened that I could feel so right and I hope that I'm talking to somebody but what happened I can feel so right I can get all the books these secular books and counseling books and I'm so right every one of them backed me up I didn't exaggerate on the dysfunction all of that kind of stuff and how could I be so right and be so wrong spiritually and so I really had to ask that question and so I saw I pulling some things up and God took me to this story of David and so I go to David and he takes me to there was a time in David's life we was tired he was so tired and and he was in battle and he looked up and he's fighting and he looked up and he sees Goliath he's already slain Goliath and he sees Goliath and I think it stuns him he's tired he's weary he's looking up he smells like a lieth talks like Goliath is shouting like a lion and the guy behind him actually has to kill him and it was the son of Goliath right or the cousin of Goliath got that story it's in the end it's in Samuel and so 2nd Samuel and so what's really interesting is David ran into a lot of people that look just like Goliath that really was as angry if not angrier than Goliath at him because he killed the guy's father or his brother or his cousin and one thing after another he started to believe I believe that am I ever going to win this battle and the devil I think discourage him because he had won the battle he did fight Goliath this wasn't the same battle but in 2nd samuel 11:1 everybody's going to go to war you know he sends everybody out to war and as a king it's time to go you know at the king goes right and but this time he doesn't he stays back and takes a nap are you kidding me he takes a nap because it says in that chapter that he got up towards evening time so everybody's at war his men are being killed and he's taken a nap something is desperately wrong and so God was taking me to that that place where he got discouraged in Proverbs was his Hope deferred makes the heart sick that all of a sudden we get really sick when we get discouraged and we lose hope and and I was so there so I I was reading the story and I was so there and the devil is so strategic so he'd like he literally oppresses in such a way that we think we're following truth when we start to follow error and so I end up reading the story about David that he gets up later on in the night he goes taking a walk he sees Bathsheba gets her pregnant and all of the stuff that that turns for him but he was just tired he was just weary and what God said to me is don't let the devil do that to you do not do not get discouraged you have won these battles I've won battles after battle after battle through Christ I mean you know not because I was so smart or so wise but God has been so faithful and when the devil triggers you and says you never won you never had victory that is a lie and I had to then apologize to Brad is that I just got so lost in my triggers and I wanted release and I started to follow what the world said if this is the answer and the devil literally gave me as much fodder as I needed to start this fire and so I went to Brad and I just said to him would you please forgive me I also had to go to my church because it's amazing to me when we let ourselves get discouraged and we pull away that everyone that loves you I mean I have an incredible church family I'm incredible and so I stood in front of the church I said I would you please forgive me for everything I put you through with all of my craziness for that year and so we cried together and held each other and all of that kind of stuff but what I learned is a battle is very real and and and not only is a battle real but Satan says if if you allow yourself to start to rescue yourself mom you're in trouble you got to turn it to God the thing to me is that when when we have we can come to the Lord with open gaping wounds in rejection as child I mean I had that fear of abandonment and the rejection and all that that is something that's a very large open gaping room and and God heals that but you still have the scar there and it's like Satan knows how to come in in the very thing that was your worst fear and as you said when you're tired when you're down when everything starts piling on then he goes for that trigger point and there's only one time in my life I'm not gonna tell the story but one time in my life that I was at that point only been to a counselor one time and I read the book and I went into the counselor and I'm sitting there I've got the book outlined and everything and I'm going just and right at the end of the hour I burst into I mean the tears started and I'm going excuse me excuse me because I'm trying not to cry anyone he said to me he said finally he said I felt like I sitting here talking to another counselor but it was it was when things start piling up and just listen there's so many of us that we've had things that have happened in the past and God has made us overcomers but don't ever feel like Satan knows your number and and he is gonna come if he's it the one place that was the most painful thing that happened in your life he's going to come and if it's rejection or abandonment or whatever it is that's where he'll get you if you're not giving everything to God if you're holding on trying to fix it yourself and in the reading secular books interesting is the knowledge that I got from these books was it was good information yeah but I forgot the greatness of God hey man because you know if let's say that Brad would have put me under the same scrutiny that I put him under I wouldn't survive you know what I mean so it's like what God said is that is all true but I'm God you know what I mean it's all true the things that that I personally have been through and the dysfunction that I personally have in the things that Brad has to deal with with me is all true and I don't think that we can hold up under the scrutiny that the devil has can put us under and if we start doing that to each other it's like oh you know none of us would stand and so what God really said to me after a year because that was a year of my life is that you you have to instead of studying about the dysfunction of the people that you love study the Bible hey you know give back into the Word of God and and what was what I would love to say I would love to say that oh no I was doing devotions every day but I wasn't I started to get into this so much that I was even listening to book tapes as I was driving I was I was I was making sure I was making the right decision so I was really looking at all this stuff and the devil just had me running and I can't I think that for for me I because I've had such a strong or have such a strong relationship with God and I've been blessed in so many ways that I had no idea how strategic the enemy is to find those cracks I just want to find cracks and and one of the things about answering to one another and really having you know friends around and people that know you were around and people that you're accountable to is that people can say hey you know what be careful with this I want to finish the little stories telling you went that one time broke down crying he gave me a questionnaire and sent me home and it was like an eight page questionnaire that I was supposed to fill out so I could go back again and it was all the negative things you know about your parents your childhood and all this stuff and I'm starting to fill this out these are things that God had healed me long before and I was I guess in my thirties but anyway I already felt healed but as I started focusing as you said on all the negative things of the life it was like you know at first I was okay and pretty soon it was like you were opening that scar making it a gaping wound again and about halfway through this I'm getting into a good pity party and I'm feeling sorry for myself and all of a sudden this is what I hear from the Lord is you know turn your eyes to me trusting in me I'm gonna give you perfect peace this is all from the past I've done a new thing in you do you not perceive it and this is what I think we've got to be so careful when we rehash the negative of the past I in in and to me I I hear what you're saying I don't I'm right on the edge because I work with so many people because I work with outros folks that have paths that are crazy and they have to get it out and I think that there are times that that that it's you through Christ looking at that stuff and surrendering that stuff and and forgiving the people that have injured you in your life that's all good but I I had done this very what I'm saying is once it odd very in you three that's very the devil is very strategic in that when he sees that you are that he's hijacked you yeah I was hijacked for a year and and so the this for a whole year for a whole year before I walked out and so that that what's really interesting with Brad and I being able to look at each other and repent as to each other and to God is to look at each other and and realize that we are not we cannot stand outside of our relationship with Christ especially dealing with any kind of stress and so it was a it was an incredible learning experience to me and looking back on David and looking back on on the battle and I'm so grateful that those things are in the Bible that that you know people didn't just tell all their good stories because I don't think I would have survived this one but just the fact that's why you know it's God inspired every scripture because he lets us see that you know and we always tell people you see us here at 3abn and we work we live in a bubble we get to work with good Christian people we go to church with ISA and we are family I mean there's a very family or atmosphere here but none of us are perfect and you know everybody thinks that if you are ministering that you're perfect no you're not we've all got problems and issues I'd like you see you got a glimpse in that didn't you yeah yeah so the how is everything going with your cancer the cancer I've never you know I got diagnosed in 2006 I've never had any problems with it I you know so I you know I if it comes up it comes up but I you know I saw an oncologist for every three months for two years and finally I said you know do we have to keep doing this be you know raised yeah I've never had any I've never been treated I've never had any problems with it okay so we are going to we've only got about 13 minutes in this segment do you want to go ahead and and just jump right into the changing face of addiction so we can give them a little hint of what's coming up in the second hour I do and so within the ministry that I have one of the things that I I love is the fact that every single addiction every single time that we get pulled into areas that really Rock us is that we are either afraid angry lonely those things drive us to take care of ourselves you know whether it's you know like even with eating disorders like if I'm really having a hard time and and I think I think there's a gallon of ice cream in France you know I already feel better I mean so it's like we try to take care of ourselves and so we I really have over the years looked at addiction I was I was an addict my family are addicts my sister's got into math and and you know I I mean I just have all that grand grandparents died in their addiction with alcohol and and that kind of thing so I really looked at that addiction internationally I mean you know we've been all over the world looking at you know how we live with our various addictions and this last few years what I've seen is that we are dealing with a generation now that is the most addicted generation in the history of the United States and/or the world I think and that is this younger generation Zinzi we had wide just an X Gen Y now gin see just this younger generation through their digital or their devices and that I love to look at neural chemistry and addiction does it actually change us and because you know I'm looking at a generation that I get to speak at schools high schools elementary schools colleges and they are the best I mean these kids are amazing and so when they are being hijacked through behavioral addictions it scares me that we're not talking about it we're not looking at it and we're not looking at it in the same way as that we look at drug addictions and in you know and I hope I have enough time to say this but Sigmund Freud when he first did cocaine you know he was psychiatrists and you know years ago but when he first did cocaine he just thought this is the best you know and I I can walk miles and I have energy and I love life and he deals with he dealt with depression and some anxiety and he did a couple snorts of cocaine and all of a sudden life was great and he wrote the cocaine papers I mean he wrote papers on it and he wrote his girlfriend and said I'm gonna be kind of almost famous for this because it's such a good thing this is like a miracle thing well a year or two later his nose is blowing out he's having addiction issues that are over the top and he had to just say that this is a nightmare and the only way he's had a hole in his nose and the only way to soothe the pain on his nose is had to snort more cocaine and there was in this vicious cycle and I think that with some of our addictions it's really clear that it trashes us some of the opiate addictions and we have this pandemic through the United States but with our device addictions or behavioral addictions it's not quite that clear but the neurochemical changes are exactly the same and so when we come back coming back and talking about what does that mean that they're the same and and and and I hope we get into some of that and I don't want to be an alarmist and I don't want to say this generation is lost because it's not they are incredible but I want to put a flag up and say yeah you know it's time to look at this and maybe rein in on some stuff you know I was reading the other day that's a generation Z this is the the new generator or the young generation are the is the loneliest generation that has ever has been as far as depression and loneliness and personally I think there's we were at a mall I think it was in Dallas around Christmas time and I was watching three pretty little girls and they were walking together two of them were having so much fun talking to one another and the other little girl was just they walked past about an hour later I saw the same three girls two of them are laughing and having fun the same little girl is just and and I mentioned a JD I said these two girls are connecting but this other girl is artificially connected and I think that's what's leading to all of this loneliness is they're getting so hooked on Facebook Twitter and it's meaningless junky stuff there's no personal real one-on-one relation but even and we don't we think that oh well this is just the younger generation it's all of them we had a party just a few years back that we had a bunch of the young people from 3abn and when I say young people these were up to 35 year olds and we're all sitting around we had dinner and everything but we're sitting around talking and the next thing I know five or six of them got there you know and we're all having this wonderful time and laughing and it's just so this is something that I resisted the smart phone when it first came out now I couldn't live without it and every time it beans I'm like Pavlov's dog because I have to check it frequently for I mean a lot of work things but when it beans you're right there and I know we're gonna talk about all of these things when we come back but what would you say has been since that day that you were at Oklahoma University and the greatness of God what you were reminded of the greatness of God besides the restoration I mean it's amazing the restoration of your marriage what has been the greatest joy that God has brought to you well I have to my daughter just had a baby and you know I that you know I got to be in the delivery room and this child being born and and I felt like every single thing I've ever struggled with made sense and when I held this child so I think that it's that that God promised to change not only my life but generationally and I'm saint and I think it's very angry about that but God has been faithful and now I'm holding my I held my daughter who has not done a drug you know and then I'm holding her daughter that is born just beautiful and healthy and so it is so I think that that the restoration of family is just incredible event and incredible and in the faithfulness of God have you ever restored I know your dad's dead but did you ever restore your relationship with your mother you know we've tried a couple of times but I wish I could say yes to that you know but I got adopted when I was 43 so so I you know I got adopted by a woman that asked me the same question and then she said can I adopt you so but my mom and I I don't think because there was so much damage we try it we try to but it just has never kind of worked if anybody has a prayer list just put me on there but you know sorry so I would say no and my my I was able to forgive her and I was able to let it go and I was able to the pain of that being able to give that to God but it comes up like I said when my mother-in-law moved in and all that rejection stuff and all that mother those wounds I allowed I think the devil to open those wide open yeah and and that's that was my point cuz I don't want I know that that is a therapy method to go back in the past in there but it is about giving it to God if you're only focusing I know that by the time I got halfway through that I had to tear it up because it was taking me back to a place that God had already healed and I just it was at a time in my life that I I wasn't as close to God as I needed to be I think so it's it is something that what is that scripture Isaiah 40 is it 43 18 or you you talk here for a minute don't leave any day or space that to me that there are times you have to look at that when it says confess your sins one to another pray for each other so you may feel I think there is some benefit and and and talking with each other but I think we have an enemy that says I can also use it yeah in and this is a scripture that came to my mind as I was going through that because as I said these are things I had forgiven everybody in my past but when you are tired when you've had things piled upon and piled upon it is so easy to get into a pity party and let me tell you something self-pity is straight from the pits of hell fear is too furious as well yeah but when you get into that self pity the poor pitiful pearl is what I used to say I was doing my poor pitiful pearl thing that's straight from the pits of hell if you've got to give it over to God but what he brought to me was isaiah 43:18 and 19 he said do not remember the former things nor consider the things of old behold I will do new thing now it shall spring forth shall you not know it I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert the beasts of the field will honor me the Jackals in the orchestration or ostriches oh because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to my people my chosen and the people I have formed for myself they shall declare my praise and I think that sometimes see we forget the greatness of God it's it's like we're we're like the ones who are will wandering in the wilderness saying why did you bring us out here to die you know it and you know the Lord told him in numbers 14 I believe he said he fought he kept talent he he gave the manna he had opened the Red Sea for them he gave them manna he gave them water from the rock he kept meeting their needs and they kept saying to Moses you've brought us out here to die we're gonna die here and God finally says to them hey do you think that's what it is fine we'll let you stay it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy there was a little clip that I saw on Facebook one time in a and it had a you know that Wacom game yeah were you active oh yeah palette and you just hit the things that pop up and and there was a little boy there woman said there was a little boy in line and everybody thought it was really funny he's four years old and he says I don't want to stand in line I want to go and play and no no you're gonna have fun and I don't want to hit those things you just hit one and it just pops up and what's the point and and so everybody in line is laughing at this kid because he's saying all this kind of stuff and so at one point that mother is just like and yeah and and people started laughing and talking and the kid ran around everybody and pulled the the tablecloth off of the game and there was two adults underneath the tablecloths just putting those little puppets up and so he said see this is ridiculous and everybody laughed but I think that that Satan is like those puppets that all of a sudden he'll put things up and they just pop them up and we'll be trying to put out fires and stuff like that in God says don't play get off the grid because what is really important what I've learned in my own journey is being able to say I believe that God can restore man bring water to the wilderness can literally make new and I have to be able to if God wants me to look at something I will look at it if God brings somebody in my life to walk through something I will walk through it but if the devil does it he never has a good reason to do it it's to trip you up but this when we forget the goodness of God and the greatness of God that I want to read this speaks in Syme ention it's it's numbers 14 27 where they're just constantly complaining God does one miracle after another miracle and they're constantly complaining oh God is Bri you know brought us out here to die woe is us and it and then finally the Lord says numbers 14 27 how long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complains against me I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against me say to them he's telling Moses you go tell them as I live says the Lord just as you have spoken in my hearing so I will do to you so I think there comes a time when we forget the greatness of God it's almost like God says if you're gonna keep speaking all of this negative it'll become a self-fulfilling prophecy because we put a chain on his wrist and he can't work in our lives anymore that's my thought we got to go do you agree say yes or no no no okay come back well you can totally change that we want to invite you to stay tuned for the second hour and especially because she's gonna correct what I just said but we're going to be talking more about the changing faces of addiction okay stay tuned [Music] hello and welcome back to 3abn today live if you're joining us for the second hour you weren't with us last hour our special guest is sherry Peters and we're having she is the founder of true step ministries a woman of God and we're having a lot of fun tonight just catching up we're talking and will continue talking we began last hour about the changing face of addiction and she's gonna she's gonna put her two cents worth on a scripture that I shared while ago before we do that though we want to go to a song first thank you again for being back here I love being back I love it I love you and I and I want to hear what your perspective is on this particular scripture but right now we want to go back to Rudy Miceli who is such a man of God and gorgeous voice and he's going to sing for us always always when I see my Jesus when I need his favor I know you [Music] always if I am made meaning bird or sad I know [Music] rescued me from danger with his handlers he brought me to his [Music] is my take my Savior now I am always I will go here [Music] rescue me from [Music] with his body [Music] brought me to live [Music] never [Music] there's my king my face No [Music] welcome back and thank you so much Rudy that was a beautiful song he's he's a special guy you've had the opportunity to administer with him a few times haven't you you know even when he's one of the few vocalists that I it's like I have to stop and listen he reminds me of kind of a Josh Corbin I'm kind of thing and he's just so good okay so amazing before we get further since we left that on and know I had read numbers 14 verse 28 say to them as I live says the Lord just as you've spoken in my hearing so I will do to you and he's talking to the people who have seen miracle after miracle after miracle and do nothing but complain and whine and never trust in God so I would say that that myself included in some of the people I work with it's that I I I'm sorry if they misunderstood but I I don't feel like it was that I was whining and complaining about God I'm not so I was literally hi I think sometimes we're hijacked and we think we're going in the right direction and our relationship with God is not in question or our dependence on God is not in question we're not asking to go back to Egypt any of that kind of stuff but we've been deceived so much that our choices are just skewed and so so I just went when you said say yes or no I'm thinking I don't think I I meant that and it wasn't that like I didn't want to go back to drugs or back to Egypt or I didn't want to you know any of that kind of stuff I I thought I was actually following God and so I think that sometimes we're so deceived that if the enemy just says as long as I can keep you tired as long as I can keep you stressed as long as I can keep you hopeless man like when it says in Proverbs you know Hope deferred makes the heart sick and as long as I can keep you discouraged and I think even with David he got so tired about running into the Philistines and all the relatives of Goliath that literally in battle at one point he couldn't even move and someone else had to save him from being killed and so I think that it that be aware when you start to get tired and discouraged it's not a safe place to be amen I mean all right let's pick up on the addiction to what happens when people become addicted to say their smartphone are addicted to the Internet tell us what is going on in the brain well let's talk about that you know the brain at first and I'll show you it's a picture of what I tell people this is my brain it but it really is it and so what's really interesting about the what the neuro changes that happen with the brain is anything that we do changes our brain the first time you've had candy or or chocolate or any of that kind of stuff your brain actually sets pathways up and synapses kind of burst and it's a really big deal and when you ride a roller coaster and any of that kind of those kind of things that your brain is so amazing that it changes and and so when I when I look at just addiction and what they know about their brain is that recent developments and their neurology and and and this is a quote I'm going to read from a guy named Karns but thanks to recent development in neurology radiology and genetics that we now have a clearer picture of how addiction takes hold of the human brain we have solid evidence scientific evidence that working a friendship or 12-step group any of those kind of groups literally rewires our brain for recovery so the brain changes and is rewired by connection and and so I really got fascinated with that with with heroin addicts it takes 15 months to change the brain and actually get it to fire writing to be using your frontal lobes again and all of those kind of things meth addicts some workaholics eating disorders religious addicts and a lot of people don't like me talking about that one but any kind of addiction the brain changes the neural chemistry of the brain changes and it takes a while to bring that back up and so I'm gonna go on with that quote because it's just a fabulous thing to to think about is today through MRIs and other high-tech tools we are able to deep inside the brain which i think is so fascinating and monitor the biochemistry of perception and emotion sanity and sickness compulsion and addiction healing and recovery so I can I can actually look with the tools that we have where we used to have a theory about all this kind of stuff but now you can look at the brain and see the changes that happened as we get tweaked like if they would have studied my brain in that year that I was studying dysfunction there would be some changes in that my hopelessness and my you know being you being so hyper vigilant about that there's changes that happen they can show you a picture like if name somebody that you loved in your life that you just think I loved my mother mother so they can show you a picture of your mother and then they can show you a picture of a neighbor that you weren't real crazy about in different parts of your brain actually light up I mean it they can see the difference and I thought that that is incredibly fascinating if you know if you get more and more lost or depressed your you you you start to shut down on certain parts of your brain you start to melatonin and your sleep gets all messed up and all of that kind of stuff happens and so we're going with the quote it and and because I think that this study of this information is so amazing so so addiction changes the brain laying down neural network so the chemic and that chemically encouraged us to repeat harmful and compulsive behaviors so we get we start to get lost in addiction and all of those kind of networks change the brain changes it's it's almost like if you break your arm and you have to go in and get your arm set and they put a cast on and it takes three or four months to heal addiction literally does a break of some kind so it breaks and your your your the way the the brain functions or your biochemistry and all that kind of stuff what what's fascinating is they can see that and so they can see it was drugs they can see or sexual addictions they can see it with with any kind of obsessive compulsive addictions and once a track is laid with an addiction the the spidering from the neurochemical pathways the spidering of that is usually compulsive and addictive behaviors that spider off of that so you have one track that is an addictive track then you've got another one that lets say that I have an eating disorder but now I'm gaining weight so now I have a depression now I end up online and I'm on Facebook all day long I mean all of those kind of spiders from an addiction take hold but you can act you can see it in the brain and and what that does with your neuro chemistry as it starts to shut that down so your pleasure centers flatline and what they call is an hedonistic disorder developed so not depression but I get bored easy I'm trying to stimulate myself I'm lonely I'm withdraw and I'm doing all of that kind of stuff which then promotes more addictions so that the outside of even even our device addictions is that's kind of the norm in how addiction works okay so let's stop for just a second so what you're saying though to isn't there some truth that if you are doing a drug or if you're doing whatever it is you're doing that you'd become addicted to that it's there's the dopamine or whatever it's releasing in your brain but once you continue in a pattern of it don't you have to do more to get the same release because it does start flatlining is that how it works so so when you say when you when you do a drug and you have to do more is that if let's say that I do methamphetamine okay and methamphetamine gives me an overabundance of neuro chemistry which causes a euphoria so it's almost like instead of a drip of this neuro chemical it's like turning a faucet on full-blast so I get an overabundance so then when I when I come down off the meth my body is not producing the same amount of that neuro transmitter so now it feels even worse it feels like like what just happened I feel dead and so I have to then artificially kick it up to where my body starts to flood my brain again with that neuro chemical so it the the drug is addicting in and of itself but what really changes my brain is all of the neurochemical changes that the drug caused okay you know I don't know if that makes sense are you perfect says to me there's a book called I'm thrilled to death and in Archibald Hart who's an incredible guy but he he said that we are with our drugs and behavioral addictions we are thrilled to death we are causing our neural chemistry to fire so rapidly that we're always moving we're checking our phone we're doing this there's never a down moment I mean I don't have to be inside my head I don't have to take a breath I don't have to sit back and so my I I force myself to go at a pace that is not it is not how it was created to be so eventually my body and my brain says enough enough and and and that's where that flatline the first for the first time I think I understand when people you always talk about workaholism is is it addictive I think I'm understanding what you said for the first time it's just that you get a rush from constantly working and always having the and I mean I just confessed to that you know the constant deadlines and you may whine about it so yeah but but it's like it's it's what it motivates you in you drive rush and it's hard for me to relax we went at Christmastime we went out to the farm we always go to Dallas first then we go to the farm and those first couple of days at the farm are the most boring thing I've ever done because everybody sits around watches TV and hardly even talks and it's just like you're sitting there like oh I'm nearly coming and glued it takes a good it's probably the fourth day that I start unwinding but so that's partly you know I've already just say I run on adrenaline but you're saying that that's actually doing something in your brain it's an addictive process and it changes your brain and so I love when you say that because a lot of people most in most addictions are behavioral addictions right and so we we think of heroin and alcohol and whatever but most addictions are those behavioral addictions but when we change our brain if all of a sudden that neural chemistry is not functioning so I am NOT finding joy I'm not excited about anything things that used to kind of I find pleasure with I'm it's actually a little boring and like going out to a farm or walking around or all that kind of stuff and so I've changed my ability to enjoy life I have to I have to move it I have to do some fresh and I have to have that rush and so we do it in different ways we do it with work we do it with food we do it with drugs we do it with sex we do it with religion we do it with whatever but we push ourselves to a point where we are driving those neural chemicals and so so now we have a generation and I can't say just a generation because we're all kind of being pushed into this it's into this you know Facebook and in social networking and our devices is that the wind cell phones came out everybody you know some some older folks didn't even unlike I don't know how to use this and I don't know how to tax and and very seldom do you have that now my 93 year old mother can Texas as well as the next person so it is that we have trained ourselves to never have that down moment I don't have to have a down moment I can be moving all the time you know I can if I if I am bored if I am needing some some kind of feedback or some kind of box I can go on Facebook and post a picture and get a like or you know all of those kind of stuff and there are people and this is the most incredible thing to me there are and and as an addict the the first time I had this reaction I was in Thailand and we were rescuing people in the sex trade industry and and I was in Bangkok and I took Sabbath and and took off and and went to find a church and and I got a the Bangkok Post I should have brought the copy because I've saved it but I got the Bangkok Post and it was in English and there was a young guy I'd never heard of him but he was bin Laden and and he was doing the interview right and so I was reading this interview Osama bin yeah so it was awhile ago so I i'm reading the interview and he was in bangkok in it was called the burma triangle buying opium farms to convert opium to really high potency heroin so he could flood russia cuz there was a conflict that he they had just lost in afghanistan and he said a flood russia was some good heroin i can take down the youth i can take down the country and so he really did he got chemists in there he made a lower grade heroin into an high grade heroin sold it for real cheap and flooded russia and you've been to russia the heroin problem is off the chart with you and so when I read that and I thought that is so evil there's something about knowing that someone purposely did that I think that's satanic it's very satanic and I think that even in this country part of that is the same kind of thing but so that was the first time I had this reaction the second time I've had a reaction that's strong about what somebody is purposely doing with our addictions is the money that goes in to try to get us hooked on our devices it's a billion dollar industry I mean when even even for for that farm game there was a farm game on Facebook I don't know if you remember that where you could go in and it was so innocent but you could go in and and you can plant a crop and and then you come back and if you don't water your crop it dies or you get some animals and you have to feed your animals but they have heard a lot they they did the game so that you would come back at intervals yeah right and they did the game with tones and beeps and and and if they died you could buy something and and bring them back to life or restore that or you know so so it was just a way to bring you back and so they'd a lot of things in the in in gaming and in and social networking and whatever and the goal is to get your time and your attention and nobody took that very serious at first say they they got really good at that they find out some of the folks that develop these games would get games that would get you addicted as quick as possible because they want that coming back they want not let's take it just pause for a second because I saw Steven Steve Jobs was interviewed and somebody asked him well what about how did your kids like the iPad the new iPad and he said I don't let him have it and I've seen these software engineers who developed these games now I'm not I've got a Facebook account but I don't really face but I don't have time I I don't know why I opened a Facebook account really cuz I just don't have time but these software engineers that are working on the phones and and everything that you're saying they have said yes they do it to make it addictive and they won't let their children they have these devices there's there's a group in Silicon Valley that has a elementary school for their kids you know and they have no technology in that school so these are the software engineers of the technology that they send their children to school they don't allow to have done and so what what's really interesting about that is that they are people that say that we understand what we've done we understand the addiction part we understand the it used to be there was everybody has a stop thing like one one programmer said that her favorite game years ago was a game called mist and and it my daughter played at Brad played it so I you know I've seen the game and so she said what was she loved about that is that every 30 minutes or so because it was it's an older game but every 30 minutes or so her computer would crash and she would have to reboot it and and get back in but it would give her time to take a break and go do something else or leave the game entirely right now games don't crash there is no stock gap but there's you know she shows on Netflix it used to be that when the show if you went to see an program that you liked and you watched it yeah after 30 minutes it would stop and ask you if you would like to watch the next episode right but now it doesn't it automatically loads the next episode within four or five seconds and so there's no stopgaps anymore and what they found out if there's no stopgaps you will stay there longer you will though it's like the binge watching yes but it becomes and so you'll so a lot of the programming online and with games and and all that kind of stuff is to get get people coming back or staying longer or addicted and you know everybody kind of knows that what they don't they didn't take into account and this was I think the danger of all that kind of stuff what they didn't take into account is you are changing the lives of how people socialize soso you know you've got all of this stuff and we have the right yeah you know that that when you're on Facebook and when you're on a lot of the social networks and I shouldn't probably just pick on one but when you're on these social networking sites that if you go off the site to look at let's see some hair product you come back on and all of a sudden you get ads for that hair product oh yeah so everything that you do all the information is put into a computer and the computer analyzes that information and then feed you what you are interested in or what will sell so all the information is literally used and manipulated and and even in there's a certain new Mike phone what I'll use it for besides calling is well I've got my Bible got Bibles on there but I'll read the newspaper on there and if I've ever gone to Amazon and looked at anything you know you're reading long and all of a sudden here this thing pops up that you looked at the day before so it's very nor connected its it it connected because it's it's how we've done our commerce now our marketplace now and and I think that what no one took into account because the information is fed into a computer and facts are just you know people can pull in whatever facts like there was a one incident where someone said they wanted to do discount tickets to Las Vegas during a holiday thing and who's gonna buy that so who should we market to so if they think figure out a group to market to then they can put those ads on those people's social networking sites right and so the computer shot out who you market to and so who do you think you would market - on a holiday to go to Las Vegas single people bipolars that are almost out of control really and so how the computer doesn't know that's wrong I mean that's so wrong they know somebody's a bipolar everything know cuz you're a but everything is fed into the computer and the computer just spits out information no social conscience just information and so I don't think that when all of this stuff was being developed I don't think that any of us saw today and we didn't see our kids one of the things about our kids I just did a high school a week of prayer at a high school and I loved it I loved working with kids but I asked the kids you know I'm supposed to talk about drugs raise your hand if you deal with drugs and none of them did they all had devices they are all were dealing with those addictions but not drugs this is a group that even sexually acting out they're going to send pictures or do chatroom so they're going to do all that kind of stuff but they're very safe and the decisions are being made and they're in their room for six hours online they're not out getting high or finding dealers or all that kind of stuff but the neuro changes that are happening are the same so I look at this group and I thought no this stop because you're going repeat what you just said so the neuro chemical changes that are going on in your brain are the same whether I'm taking heroin or if I'm on my phone there are neurochemical changes these addictive whatever you want to call them not hormones but the the addiction what are they not hormones help me even even the the neuro chemicals the transmitter all that kind of stuff but even there are there are people that made like even some of the games like one guy is it answer that question first is that true yeah if when I'm on my phone if I'm a child that's addicted to my phone I'm getting the same neural chemicals released as an addict as any addict so that's why loneliness and hedonism that sense of being bored that sense of being isolated all of the stuff that happens with edie addicts is happening to children Wow because of our devices the younger the children are involved in devices without some checks like you know they they say even with little kids if you're going to give them something on a device blocks and you're teaching color or numbers they said make sure that you have physical blocks or colors that you're you're doing this transition into the real world from the device and so it's like there's things that you can do to get around that but what what where we're at right now and where people are even quitting the industry because they had no idea that they would change the way we socialize with each other that they would take not only a generation because it is this generation that kind of grew up with the cell phone in their hand is really at risk you know other countries are making laws against even being able able to program to them but but you've got this whole generation that's at risk but then you've got this that all the way to my mother-in-law who's 93 that is in her room playing card games or text Dean or on social networking because she's lonely and that's where she gets her needs met and so so it has hijacked us and it's a solution the hot dissolution is man we you know even I would love I would love to say this to every Christian listening or to the church in general is a solution is that we have to be so real now that's unbelievable we have to when we say with a family of God we actually need to step in and socially be the family of God to spend time with each other to connect with each other we're so disconnected and lonely that that that as we step into especially looking at the greatness of God to heal all this is that where does he send someone for healing and if he sent them into the church do we have the time to say you know let's go but here's my question if you're trying to heal somebody from this kind of addiction probably half of the adults are addicted as well I mean everybody's got to have a wake up it's a forty eight percent in the United States has some kind of digital a digital addiction addiction forty percent eight percent of the total and they're saying and they said this generation the younger kids that's higher but just you're looking at you're looking at this it has it as it's almost tipping the scales that as far as is what Trina the most III don't have my cell phone but what's really interesting is that with cell phones is that now I can take the device with me wherever I go and when it bings I get a little dopamine hit so it's a lot as dollars ski but it's it's it's like it's like a little drugging and they know they what one guy was looking at one of the games over 1.5 million people are involved in right now it's war Wow or war of Warcraft but that game he said I usually try out every game because he's a developer but I can't afford to lose months or years of my life and I know I would if I got into that that game and for some folks they're saying that once they're in the game it's so exciting it's so much more exciting than real life and all of your neural chemicals are going and I am hooked up with people from all over the world that are in guilds that we're saving somebody or were going out and killing somebody or whatever the task is that I I have this game that if you if you got the people that are involved in that game and added them up they would be the 11th largest country in the world that's just one ganster and so that's serious and so now as a church I think we're done it's like it's like I wanted to say we are we are done we got to wake up we just got to wake up to say it's so important that we know that God said to love one another and to connect with each other and to reach out and and and and and touch and be friends and do those kind of things that this is a time where it's needed more than anything else all the Bible studies we give our great all of the stuff that we do is great but if we don't get this one we're in trouble so how do you get someone to even be interested if they're that addicted I mean if they're getting that much pleasure how do you get them to even say yes I'll come to your social events there's no there's no clinics and centers for addicts in digital all over the place China has the most because they've actually passed laws France has laws that you can't even program to somebody six and under and the United States is kind of falling back behind on all of that but we're catching up because people are waking up because you go into the mall and you see young kids on online I mean they're not not having a good time and they're not interacting with each other so so ie so I think that what what I've done and I only will talk to myself because everybody everybody else has different ways that they respond but I have a Star Ranch or an equine Assisted there pcenter right and so I go into place okay on just a second let's explain what equine therapy cuz this is really becoming a big thing it's of course is I work with at-risk kids and veterans and people that have really intense PTSD issues whether that's from family dysfunction or from from being in the war and so we work with horses to get people to connect and come out of that and there's a study that I love that says that if you get a vet with a relationship with a horse for five weeks their PTSD is decreased by eighty seven percent so not just a little bit and I've noticed that with even our kids I have a young cerebral palsy kid that was viciously raped and when you get your voice back on a horse you get your voice back and your fear is dealt with and so we use horses to interact but know nobody brings devices they they are hands-on they're outside they're in nature and so I think different people will have to figure out and in the church is what are your gifts and what do you love like I love horses I love cycling I love I love bowling and I'm so bad at it but I love that and so I really make sure now that I interact with with people that I love and I hang out with friends and I put my phone down and in in my daughter just said it's it's unheard of to put your phone down and not carry it there are times that I don't carry it with me at all and people will say well you've got to be reachable well I actually don't you know I think that we think we do and we think the world is going to crash around us if we don't but there's something that happens is when I can slow down enough to breathe and if I'm gonna get my neural chemistry back on par I have to slow down enough to breathe because I was never created to move that fast we just were not you know and I realized David asterik has four years he turns his cell phone off on sabbath's he never accepts any calls on Sabbath and but the other day I came home from work been really really busy yeah as I walked through the door of course the home alarm goes off and then a dehumidifier went off at the same time so the home alarm is going beautify and my phone was banging several times I knew somebody was sending me texts and then it started ringing and I literally felt that's the first time I felt like this I'm not this kind of person but I literally felt like I just like to throw that thing I'm done he'd been ringing all day long you know and you're and then your computer every time you get an email it's been being there is we are getting to that point where we're always on and never off it's a conscious effort I think when you step away from any addiction and this is one that most of us are involved in when you step away from any addiction is being able to turn to God and say man I'm lost in Egypt yeah you know and and and so being able to say is what what is your suggestion and when he says be still you know and know that I'm God take a breath especially that Sabbath rest you know and I think that even on that we that that we are hijacked I think that we're hijacked and so we're so hijacked that when we do get to take some table jacked by state we're hijacked by the enemy and my hybrid attacked by seint know when we have the time to take a breath is we don't want to minister to someone else and and I just want to take a breath and so we're at the end of the great controversy the end of the great controversy I need you to minister to me I need to be able to minister to you this is not a time to where I I'm gonna just kind of withdrawn take care of myself so I think that God is just saying be aware that on a global level this is not just the US but on a global level that people are being hijacked and we're being hijacked in ways that are changing us neurochemically we're not in our frontal lobes our pleasure centers are our flatlined we're bored most the time we can't even they asked a group of kids if you let's say that you had to give up your cell phone or your arm which one no question for me cellphone but that kid said what arm he isn't my texting oh yes so what arm and so the fact that everybody laughed at that and thought that was a joke but if you ask somebody it's not a joke to a lot of people it's like what are you talking about and I don't know if I could live because I have learned that all my social networking all my friends are online I had some it dependent on the game that I'm doing are in different countries but everybody I connect with is online my dialogue with people at the at a restaurant or at the mall is about a game or is it about a movie that you saw or whatever it's that we have learned to allow these devices to be are all in all and so it's like like that year that I really focus on that what was dysfunctional about my relationship that I lost sight of the greatness of God and I think that right now we're so focused on the online stuff and and the things that are demanding our attention that we don't realize the addictive process that is happening and we've lost sight of God and Goddess as saying man wake up an entire generation is is is lost and you know we've we've gotten them to where they're afraid to walk to the school bus themselves we don't want them to walk across the street without being kidnapped and so they don't leave the room they're just on their devices and they're the safest generation ever but they're lonely and afraid and I and I think that I think that the enemy strategically has say almost said checkmate right but it's not checkmate because God is asking us to wake up so what can people do I mean right now you know and I'm so thankful I never got like I think I posted twice on Facebook but I'm thankful I did not get involved in that for you you have to have quote unquote have to have your phone for work cause some texts and most of a ministry oriented but what are people there and I'm making excuses maybe what are people to do what are you supposed to do at home if you discipline are how do you start or even yourself if you realize okay do you just limit the amount of time that your child what are some practical we're not talking children we're just talking people now but what's really interesting there was a a woman that said she wanted to kind of check out you know how much time am i actually spending and she she is a game producer and she also teaches at one of the universities but how much time how am I actually spending on the phone and so so at one point she said I'll just create an app that will track that and so she thought maybe like an hour and how many times do I actually look at my phone you know in a day so so she said average she was spending three-and-a-half hours looking at her phone not listening to music not doing any of that kind of stuff but with the app track when you were just kind of looking at your phone browsing you know on social networking or whatever and so three-and-a-half hours so she put the app out for some of her friends the average was anywhere from three and a half hours to nine hours a day that people were looking at their phone and picking it up at least thirty times just checking like if it being happened and you just pick it up so every time you moved your phone the app would say oh whatever and so the app is called moments if you're interested called what moments and so if you're interested put that app on and you would be surprised at at how much time most people don't sleep with their phone far from them even if they've charged it it's charged close to them so we wake and sleep with being able to hear that thing and so so it's it's not realistic to even say that your children are gonna grow up in a digital free world but what kinds of time constraints you know are they are are you playing are you laughing with friends like you know like we have the horses and some other things that I do and I'm on a bowling league and you know I should be kicked off I'm so bad but I'm on a bowling league and I like to cycle I have a road bike and so all of those kind of suffices you've got to start if your life was a pie and he's social real socialization where your hands on in front of somebody and in play and and work and and if physical stuff and nutrition and everything was on a pie and you had to have equal pieces yeah you know just in your mind how would you create those equal pieces and so how would you you know your spirituality is is that is your work three-quarters of the pie and everything else being fit in and in smaller increments and so being able to just start taking responsibility for how am I using this technology and and what are you modeling for your children's and what am i modeling for my friends and my children my children are grown but my little granny or my friends that I hang out with and and when I'm with them am I on their phone like there's there's a thing that people do now which i think is really a fun idea is that when you go out to dinner with a group of friends everybody puts their phone in the middle of the table and whoever touches our phone first has to pick up the check so like go ahead check your messages but it is just being able to consciously even if you make a joke out of it is how do I disconnect from from an environment that is not necessarily evil in and of itself but it's changing the way we it's changing yeah your neuro chemistry it's void it's change it's changing our social network yeah it's just so crazy and and there are people now that are trying to say it's time to rein it in you know let's it's time to pull back and say and this is never what I intended you know even creating some of these games there was one guy that that that did a game that was so popular that people were talking almost immediately about being addicted and and and it forced you to stay on the game and to go from one level to the next and at one point he pulled the game and he said I'm gonna pull the game because he felt so guilty and guilty and so the next game that he developed was a nice game too but it had those stops in it and it didn't have the same addictive quality because remember I said you can feed in all kinds of information like if if on wow I can I as a developer I can I can analyze what tasks the majority of the people are choosing you know is it saving somebody is it assassinating is or whatever but what task is it and I can analyze that and I can analyze the colors and the sound and and how somebody's clicking in and in their involvement the intensity of their involvement well the next task I'm going to develop is going to look like this plus them so so I've it's not I'm analyzing everything to keep you the either there or coming back all right so I'm gonna I'm just gonna put my thumb on top of you nice if there are parents or grandparents from watching at home in addition to dealing with our own addiction what are give three steps what would you do if your child right now if you recognized I've got a 10 year old 11 year old 12 year old a teenager who spends so much time on the phone give three practical steps where do they how do they start raining that in how did they change this yeah I have I have a two-year-old little granny and even at that age is that I have before Christmas I got her jump house oh there she is she's so cute and the picture that she's looking at is my daughter when my daughter was five will help so but she is so amazing so now she's two and I got her jump house so I really I got her saddle so that she can actually be on the horse when she's a little bit bigger now she can't do it by herself but when she's bigger so she's outside she's doing chores with me we just got five chicks for her birthday the first part of April and and so she does chickens when she's at my house and so I I consciously don't use the devices to babysat a lot of people tend to it's easier if you're rushed to put a movie on or to hand somebody a game or something or if you're driving in the car and a long distance trip it's it's really easy but if I know that for every time I do that that I'm I may be adding to something that she's gonna be dealing with her whole life yeah so making conscious choices and is it and what's really toughest we're all so stressed because we're all moving so fast is that it's to make a conscious choice to slow down yourself and to actually say how how am I going to interact and have this time with in and we want to look at these your pictures of your ranch but the other point I wanted to make was if these software programmers for the phones and for the internet and the gaming and everything if they will not let there if Steve Jobs won't let his child have an iPad there's I mean there's obvious reasons why not so we probably we monitor in that time but it's it's unrealistic there's different organizations especially with children some organizations will say abstinence complete abstinence and other organizations we'll be talking about using your devices responsibly responsibly so it just depends on who you listen to some of these these kids and some of these programs and the access to what they have worldwide is so good it's so good it's that we've abused them so and and and we're spending too much time and all that kind of stuff so I would say monitor limit time definitely don't have your kids go to sleep in China there's a law called the Cinderella law that from a certain time at night I think it's 10 o'clock at night to 6:00 in the morning it's against the law to have your kids on on their devices and so they call it the Cinderella law and so so there you know people are waking up because it's changing us so it when we need to talk about a neurochemical change to a group of people that are coming up that are going to be your next leaders or your next you know that that it is drawing a lot of attention so as Christians I think monitor definitely spend time with each other and a lot of times that's the one thing that we don't have is how do we slow down enough to say man I love you I love you and I want to hang out with you not FaceTime you not text you I want to I want to actually hang out and so being able to do that get your kids involved in not not hobbies or tasks just fantastic but something that they love and enjoy and that has nothing to do with devices I Brad and I took a glassblowing class and we had so much fun I mean so much fun so it's like what is it that you can do that our hands on face you know instead of saying lol laugh out loud be with somebody and actually laugh out loud you know because not because of any as a reason but you're incredible and you were incredibly made event you are losing yourself in these devices I mean okay we've got some pictures that I don't want to miss so you brought some pictures of and if you haven't heard of equine Assisted Therapy I really want to encourage you because it I mean I'm just blown away it's at what they're accomplishing and it doesn't necessarily mean some programs you never get on the horse you're just bathing and brushing and feeding but it's unbelievable I haven't quite figured this out why I guess because you're outside but the animal itself I don't know what it is but they're they're saying many breakthroughs and there's a lot of equine Assisted Therapy places that are opening so let's look at you're starving and I have to say it and I hope this is all right is that if anybody ever wants to help us with donations or any of that kind of stuff half the time I don't have gas money yeah but oh and we've got to talk about your DVD boxset and so with the equine Assisted Therapy as one of the things with hands on touching laughing taking instructions being outside taking a breath and we call our Star Ranch it's not a fancy place at all it's it's was put there in 1955 but I love it and so we have horses we have kids coming out this kid right here that you're seeing is losing his eye and is going blind but you know he's working with horses I've got horses that have been donated for the last I think the first horse we got was and whatever yours and this paint is named Harley he's lame it doesn't look it but he's our mascot for our veterans program because most veterans walk in and they don't look like they need any help but they they do and so all the horses that we work with all the people we work with have these incredible stories that they are trying to step across whether it's they've lost a parent whether they have had problems with the law whether they've had drugs or alcohol issues whether you know it's like you know it's just absolutely amazing and so these kids are not on their devices do you see any yeah they don't have this phones they're not on their devices this is our dental clinic that we take our horses to so I mean it's it's really an incredible thing to say that now right now in the history of the great controversy we have to laugh with each other this is our youngest group and they're so precious and even I yell whatever you define oh that's Harley he's amazing but even our youngest kids some of our youngest kids their father is in prison for domestic violence and these kids look as sweet as can be but they are single parents home looked at all kinds of violence as deal dealing with their own addictions one of our kids came up to me and said I watched movies all the time that's his way of escaping and he said to me I have to listen to me at a event at his elementary school do you think I'm addicted we absolutely is but for him to even say that and I was able to say you know what just make sure you're outside some make sure that you're on your bike make sure you're calling friends and and those kind of things and so that it's not saying that I'm never gonna watch a movie but it's saying that I'm gonna I'm going to take that pie and really kind of divide it out you have the celebrating life and recovery DVD boxset tell us about that because tonight she is going to offer you a special camp-meeting price on that and actually it's a summer sale isn't it it's a summer sale the box set celebrating life in recovery is a 14 week set for churches or communities will would teach you how to do friendship ministry with recovery issues and so it's 14 weeks and you'll watch video clips and you'll learn how to dis dialogue with each other not council not try to fix anybody but to live let God do the fixing and connect with people in the community or within your church and so some people say I don't know how to do that and I don't know what to do next I promise you that once you start doing it it's easier than you think the first part of giving up devices and starting to connect again you go through withdraws people don't think I'm telling the truth but you'll feel agitated you'll feel shaky all of that kind of stuff you'll reach for your phone over and over but try to do things over and over that you can you can a step away from that so the the friendship ministry set that I that I wrote with a group of people in recovery is so amazing and we took all the clips that we use from the show that we've done here celebrating life in recovery so we have been great interviews and great testimonies and and so that can't medium price usually the prices 250 camp-meeting price is a hundred and fifty or 149 whatever 150 and man if you want us to come with a box seat set just call me up and what you add together okay so you can go to three eight in store.com that's 3abn store dot to come and you can get this where we'll be running this is a summer sale now you would want to you can do that at any time except we asked not that you purchase online on the Sabbath or call us during normal business hours that's Monday through Thursday from I guess we start opening up the the 7:30 is when the phones start ringing to 5:30 and that number is six one eight six two seven four six five one so that's a really great sale now so great cell and if you go to our website true step org there's all kinds of videos on people that have run it and those kind of things and so you can go there and and see how it's really easy to run listen I know they've got your address back there if you want Sheree to come speak at your church or maybe at a camp meeting or just want her to come to an event please go to the here's her address roll and let me read this for you it's true step ministries at post office box 163 Kuna Xena Kuna Kuna Idaho eight three six three four and that phone number is 208 five six two eight four seven seven and the website is true step Arg true step that's T ru e st epor g or you can email them at info at true step org how's that I've never read a voiceover that's pretty hey we are just getting right down to the end you're you are I've just kind of been sitting here soaking all this in and it I will say it's it's shocking to me to know that being addicted to your phone has the same effect on your brain as being addicted to cocaine so it is something serious remember the devil is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and he will do anything he can to derail you well take sweet thank you so much for coming to my class now we're glad you're here and and just sorry you have to leave so fast you've got to come back soon you we want you to know how much we love you and we want to thank all of our blessing is on the go evangelistic team members you are what keeps this ministry going the mending broken people network going out and sharing the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ our prayer for you is that the grace of Jesus the love of the Father and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit will be with you now and always and put those cell phones down and call some how can you call some talk to somebody all right [Music] you

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

Views: 8,617

Rating: 4.8333335 out of 5

Keywords: 3ABN, Three Angels Broadcasting Network, yt:quality=high, Cheri Peters, Celebrating Life in Recovery, Addiction recovery, Rudy Micelli, true step ministries, Sex, drugs, dysfunctional relationships

Id: zrPOT8au-CM

Length: 116min 0sec (6960 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 13 2018