By Pastor Bill Cox

My aim in writing this column, Serpent in the Woodpile, is to examine some of the dynamics of addiction and bondage, and to hopefully find some insight into helping people find freedom in Christ.

The soul-winning theme of this issue is an appropriate topic because, despite all the degradation and pain that sin and addiction brings, we need to remember that inside every broken, hurting life is a precious soul that Jesus died for and wants to transform.

We see this truth manifested in the dealings of the Master Himself. If we wanted to find a portrait of a broken, dysfunctional life of bondage, the classic example is the Gadarene demoniac of Luke chapter 8.

In this insane, demonized, frightful man, it’s difficult to see the image of God which is in every soul. Yet the powerful encounter he had with Jesus broke the chains of demonic oppression, drove off the tormenting spirits, and left him “clothed and in his right mind.”

We need to be careful we don’t view sinners the way the townspeople viewed the demoniac: as someone to be shunned and marginalized.

How many trophies of grace are hidden out there under tattoos, piercings and rap sheets?

A wonderful encounter in the gospels is Jesus’ dealings with the nameless woman profiled in John chapter 8 who was caught in the act of adultery.

While the Lord’s religious enemies only saw the woman as a target of condemnation and as someone to exploit for their purposes, Jesus saw her in a different light.

His words, “neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more,” were not only an absolving of her past guilt, but a ringing endorsement that she could be transformed into a woman of God.

We’ve always been moved by the poem often used in sermons, The Touch of the Master’s Hand by Myra Brooks Welch. It captures the possibility of transformation in every soul, no matter how much sin has taken its toll.

One of the strengths of our fellowship has always been our ability to tap into God’s redemption of those caught up in deep sin and to see them changed into fruitful, productive men and women of God.

One of the conflicts that Jesus had with the Pharisees arose over Him healing a crippled woman on the Sabbath in the synagogue.

As the story is related in Luke chapter 13, the ruler of the synagogue was irate that Jesus ministered to the woman on the Sabbath, and said: “Aren’t there six days to work? Let them be healed then, and not on the Sabbath.”

Jesus addressed their hypocrisy in caring for their economic interests on the Sabbath, but then He asked a question relevant to all of us:

“Shouldn’t this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound these 18 years, be loosed on the Sabbath?”

The relevance of the question is this: shouldn’t part of the work of the church and the time we set apart for God be dedicated to removing the Satanic mark of bondage and addiction from precious souls?

Otherwise we consign people to the world’s flawed and often hopeless methods of coping with these issues, and leave people struggling with lives of defeat and spiritual poverty. And we forget: There’s a soul in there!