John Ellison Says Christianity Saved Him From Addictions

As an amateur astronomer, John Ellison waited 30 minutes for his eyes to adjust to darkness. One set of bright headlights would blind him and he’d have to start the adjustment period all over.

Now that Ellison is a Christian, the converse is true. It took awhile for his heart to adjust to God’s light, but now he sees clearly and no longer fears the darkness.

The 42-year-old Coeur d’Alene man’s first brush with Christianity occurred when he was a just a child spending a year with his maternal grandmother, Winifred Spenser.

“I lived with my grandmother for a year and she was very religious and she shared that with me,” he said. “But Christianity’s light exposes all the flaws that you don’t want to see. So I was real uncomfortable with it then.”

It took Ellison nearly 30 years to seek out Christianity on his own.

In the meantime, Ellison began experimenting with alcohol and marijuana while still in high school. The combination of drugs and a low self-esteem was a fast track to addiction.

He spent most of his 20s and 30s drinking and smoking pot, void of direction. He lived in California before moving to Coeur d’Alene.

Without pointing the blame at his family, Ellison said his unstable childhood contributed to his insecurities.

“I was like any child raised in an unpeaceful environment,” he said. “But my problems are not my parents’ fault.”

Ellison knew the alcohol was destroying his life and managed to give it up five years ago, only to replace it with a much stronger and more expensive addiction to cocaine.

Ellison expertly hid his $150-a-week habit and held a job while using the powerful drug.

“No one knew how bad I was becoming,” he said. “The last few months I was smoking it. I knew it wouldn’t be long before it killed me.”

“When I became a Christian, God chose to deliver me from cocaine and my addiction was immediately over,” he said. “I was powerless to change my life. I had tried all the treatment programs. But they only treat. Jesus heals.”

Ellison explained that the substance abuse programs promote abstinence. But Christianity took away the stress and the anger that the drugs were numbing.

“In Alcoholics Anonymous, the first step is admitting you have a problem,” he said. “Until you’ve reached that point, you can’t go on. It’s the same with Christianity. It’s a process. Until you admit your sins, you are powerless to change your life.”

Admit, believe, confess.

“Christianity isn’t a part-time lifestyle either,” he said.

“It’s a commitment. Walking with the Lord demands a lot of time. You need to have a relationship with Jesus. You can’t put Jesus on the back burner and go back every time you have a problem.”

Christianity took some time to grow in Ellison. From the first seeds planted by his grandmother, to the first time he walked through the doors of the Church of God in Coeur d’Alene three years ago, to the brief marijuana relapses he experiences months after declaring himself a Christian, Ellison knew walking in God’s light took time.

“Pot is not as destructive as cocaine, but it leads people into a false sense of security. I felt extremely bad and it made me realize how completely dependent I was on him and that I had to separate myself from that environment.”

Just as Ellison had formerly shied away from Christianity’s bright light, so did his old friends.

“When you become a Christian you emit a spiritual light, and when you are living in darkness that light bothers you. As soon as my old group of friends found out I was a Christian, they stayed away.”

His grandmother, on the other hand, was thrilled.

“She was doing emotional back-flips,” he said.

The rest of his family was happy that he had finally found stability.

Ellison still works in a stressful sales job and still faces daily trials.

But now that Ellison walks in God’s light, he knows he’ll never return to his former ways.

“I can see why I was confused and depressed before,” Ellison said. “The Bible is like a road map to life. If you don’t have that, then you don’t know what you are supposed to be and how you are supposed to act. Now that I have him, the only thing I regret is not becoming a Christian sooner.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: People of Faith

People of Faith examines the impact of faith and spirituality in every day lives. If you have a story suggestion, contact correspondent Shawna Rorem via e-mail at srorem@hotmail.com.