Recovery Today – October 2010
by Fr. Bill Wigmore
In early recovery, a friend gave me a book titled: “Our Devilish Alcoholic Personalities.” It was abbreviated as: O.D.A.P. And in this book, ODAP was the name of the devil personally assigned by Satan to try to snag us alcoholics and addicts. Over the years, I think a lot of us have received more than a few sales-calls from ODAP. Some of us probably helped him make “Salesman of the Month” on more than a few occasions!
ODAP was, and still is, a very clever little devil. He knows just when and where to tell us the lies we want to hear. Maybe you’ve already heard him whispering some of these lies to you. Lies like:
- “One drink’s not gonna hurt you.” (or)
- “You don’t need to go to all those stupid meetings – Easy Does It, man!” (or how about)
- “It’s OK to have a few drinks – After all, you’re not really an alkie you’re just a cute, little dope-fiend!”
If you’re new to recovery and you haven’t heard ODAP talking to you yet, then just wait, he’ll show up; and that’s a promise! But be prepared for something very strange to happen when he comes to visit you. Know that when he comes – the insane and crazy thoughts that he’ll whisper in your ear – somehow they’re going to make sense to you when you hear him saying them.
ODAP knows how to read our minds – and he knows that as addicts, there’s one sick thought that we all share: And that’s the thought that: “someday, someway, we’re gonna be able to drink or drug again without getting ourselves dragged down to hell in the process.” That thought will stay with us until we’re long gone from this earth and returned to dust – and even then – our alcoholic dust has been known to get a little thirsty!
Now the modern world has grown leery of professing a belief in devils, but the wisdom that lies behind visualizing a character like ODAP has always made great sense to me. No sooner did I get sober than I was introduced to him, or to someone inside myself who was very much like him. Someone or something went right to work inside my head trying with all its might to suck me back into using the very stuff that was killing me. The Big Book tells us that we are engaged in a kind of “spiritual warfare” and whether we call the part of us that seeks our own destruction “evil” or “illness” may, in the end, make little difference. What does matter is the methods we employ in trying to combat it.
In the gospel stories of Jesus’ encounter with the devil, there may be a strategy or two that can help us win our own war of addiction. The first thing to notice is that these stories of Jesus’ temptations take place in the wilderness – when Jesus is alone and facing the deepest truths about himself. These are the times the devil likes to show up – when we’re alone, often at night, when the wilderness and the wildness inside begin calling to us. (I had an old sponsor who once counseled me “Bill, never to trust a thought that came to after nine o’clock at night; and be particularly suspicious of any ‘original thoughts!’” Those thoughts, much like our illness, can be “cunning, baffling, powerful” and, without help they can be too much for us.
In the temptation stories, the first thing the devil does is try to make Jesus question the truth of his own relationship with God. Each of the three temptations starts with the devil making the very same statement: “If you are really God’s son, then do this….”
In spiritual warfare, it seems really important to know which side we’re on and who our real leader is going to be.
- Are we really God’s sons and daughters that ODAP is speaking to?
- Have we really “placed ourselves under God’s protection and care with complete abandon?”
- Or are we alcoholics and addicts who are “lone wolves” out there in the desert going up against ODAP all by ourselves.
The devil knows that he can beat us - but he can’t beat God. And so the first thing he’s likely to test is our new-found-connection to God. The Big Book rightly underscores the essential importance of this relationship, “God’s either everything to us or he’s nothing.” God’s either our Father, and our Director, and our Principal – or else we’re really still the ones who are “large and in charge.” And if we’re in charge – then ODAP has a new customer to call upon – and he’s very likely to make a sale.
Now a second thing of interest to notice is the way in which Jesus answers the devil’s three temptations. Jesus never once tries to come up with his own clever and original answer to the test. He never once tries to rely on his own power. Jesus always quotes God’s very own words from scriptures back to the devil. He doesn’t rely on his own words, or his own strength to meet temptation – he relies upon God.
And so the spiritual lesson we can draw from all of this seems pretty obvious:
- If we go up against our illness and the temptations that go along with it – if we go up against them by ourselves – then we’re going to lose.
- If it’s me fighting single handed against my addiction, then please go right ahead and bet on my addiction – cause it’ll win every time.
- But the Big Book promises that, while lack of power is our dilemma, “there is One who has all power – that One is God” - and if we want to stay out of the hell of our own addiction, it strongly encourages us “to find Him now.”
About the Author:
Fr. Bill W. is President and CEO of Austin Recovery.
Send comments, questions, speaking requests, or treatment scholarship donations to:
Fr. Bill W. /Austin Recovery / 8402 Cross Park Dr. / Austin, Texas 78754 or email: BillW@AustinRecovery.org