Page 12 - Overcoming Addiction

Genesis 3:14
Yahweh God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are
you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your
belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life...”

The nature of the serpent is described in the curse that Yahweh spoke upon
it. The words “on your belly you will go” are filled with symbolism. The spiritual
sense of this statement is that the serpent would be ruled by its appetites, it
would go forth on its belly. The next phrase is also symbolic, “and dust you will
eat all the days of your life.” This too is a parable pointing to the type of appetites
that would rule the beast. Man’s flesh was formed of the dust of the earth, and
here is symbolized an appetite for fleshly things.
When Adam and Eve presented themselves to the beast for obedience, they
fell under the rule of the beast nature. They began to be driven by the appetites of
their flesh. The apostle Paul alludes to this form of slavery in the following words:

Philippians 3:18-19
For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even
weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is
destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame -
who set their mind on earthly things.

Christ referred to Satan as “the god of this world.” This fallen sinful world
lies under his dominion, and those who are citizens of this world are ruled by
their belly. Their minds are set upon earthly things. They are dust eaters. Paul
also defines for us what many of these fleshly appetites are to which man is
enslaved.

Galatians 5:19-21
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity,
sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger,
disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and
things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you,
that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Addictions of all types certainly fall inside the scope of this list. Some are
addicted to various forms of immorality and sensuality. Some are addicted to
idolatry, they covet the material possessions of this world. Some are addicted to
anger and all that goes along with it. Others are addicted to drunkenness and
carousing, which would include addictions to all types of substances that alter
one’s mood and mental state.
All these fleshly appetites entered into the human race through our first
ancestors. “Through the one man’s transgression, the many were made sinners.
Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death
spread to all men, because all sinned.”
As we understand that the accounts of the creation and the fall of man are
historical, as well as being spiritual parables, we begin to perceive many things.