Farron Hancox and Lisa Price presented awards during the "I'll Be Home for Christmas" Banquet at Wisdom in Living Life Training Center. ~ Photo by Bob Dill
A catered dinner and a variety of deserts, including the favorite banana pudding, were followed by a parade of individuals freed from addiction after training by the Wisdom in Living Life Ministry. They rejoiced in telling their experiences that included rising from addiction to illegal drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol and pornography and beginning a new life, never again returning to the life of drugs, crime and broken families.

They were attending the annual “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” banquet at the Wisdom in Living Life Ministry Training Center located at 12408 A Old White Horse Rd., in Travelers Rest, South Carolina.

Guests attending the annual event included the Chief Magistrate (Summary Court Judge) of Greenville County, Diane Cagle-Holcomb, before whom many of the former addicts had appeared in earlier years, and the Mayor-Elect of Travelers Rest, Councilman Wayne McCall, both of whom are strong supporters and advocates of the highly successful ministry.

The prescription for the cure for addiction taught by Wynn Freeman and his former students, all former addicts, is the only permanent cure for addiction known to man.

Founder and CEO of Wisdom in Living Life Ministry, Winn Freeman, explained that, “Most treatment programs involve minimal emphasis on personal accountability and moral choice in the active addict. There is a tremendous emphasis on reliance in a nebulous ‘Higher Power,’ who it is believed, will aid the ‘recovering’ individual in remaining ‘clean and sober.’ This approach removes all responsibility from the addict from his or her choices and relegates God to the ‘helper’ rather than Savior.

“Through practical experience in our own lives, and watching the transformation occur in hundreds of others, we have come to know that Jesus Christ is the only Higher Power, and in naming Him addicts can transcend ‘recovery’ and instead embrace ‘transformation,’ moving beyond recovery! Again, this is where addiction ends and life begins,” Freeman emphasized.

Individuals, families and government agencies spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually seeking relief from addiction through treatment and recovery programs that can provide temporary relief for many addicts. Unfortunately, many times the recovering addict lapses back into the old habits. Eventually they become so totally enslaved to substance abuse that they are incapable of rescuing themselves from the addiction. Many turn to crime in order to support their habits.

Wisdom in Living Life Ministry provides instruction for achieving a permanent cure, based on Biblical principles that teach that through Christ a person can put aside old habits and become free of the urge to seek drugs and other sinful habits that have become an addiction.

The training is based on 2 Corinthians 5:17 If a man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things pass away and behold all things become new.

Those who attended the Christmas Banquet saw the happiest group of people you will find anywhere. They were former hopeless drunks and drug addicts who now have families restored, have gained meaningful employment and have become teachers of others who have also come to the realization that they cannot become free from addiction alone and are willing to follow the undisputed example of those who have become “a new creature” in Christ.

Most traditional substance abuse programs treat addiction as a disease and focus on recovery through mental, emotional and physical rehabilitation. Rather than the disease model approach to substance abuse treatment, Wisdom in Living Life Ministry provides faith-based substance abuse training, counseling and guidance to addicts and to families and groups such as pastoral staffs and leaders in churches and businesses who are addressing substance abuse issues.

Since it was first developed, this faith-based approach has had a 71 percent success rate.

That means that one year after finishing the program seven out of ten graduates were still free of alcohol and drugs. Conventional secular substance abuse programs have less than a ten percent success rate.

Ted Cochran, Director of Operations at Homes of Hope, and a former student of Wisdom in Living Life Ministry, was the guest speaker. He discussed how Christ restored his life and freed him from addiction several years ago. He is now teaching others what he was taught and had at least a dozen of his students with him at the Banquet.

Several other former students spoke of their transformation from an addict to a respectable citizen who is pointing others to the lasting cure for addiction and a new life through Jesus Christ.

Guests and former students were welcomed home by Winn and Rhonda Freeman and special music was provided by Family Harmony, featuring the Mark Dibler family.

Wisdom in Living Life Ministry is a non-profit, faith-based ministry founded in 2000 by Winn Freeman, himself a former addict. Its goal is to prevent and eliminate drug and alcohol addiction one life at a time. It is operated by a staff which brings to the work a wealth of experience in residential and life skill training programs, law enforcement and criminal justice. An active board of directors is comprised of representatives from local business, educational, law enforcement and financial communities.

Anyone who is sincere about being free from addiction of any kind, or would like to help or learn more about the ministry may contact Wisdom in Living Life Ministry Temporary Training Center at 12408 A Old White Horse Rd., Travelers Rest, SC 29690, call the help line at (864) 271-HELP (4357), or go to the website at www.wisdominlivinglife.org  for additional information.

During the Christmas and New Year holiday season, it is estimated that 180,000 Greenville County residents will abuse alcohol and other drugs. Some 200 will try drugs for the first time. Up to 58 percent of teens will consume alcohol at least once and 1,415 teens will ride in an automobile with an intoxicated driver. During this time, someone will die of a drug overdose. Dozens of criminal acts will be committed by individuals under the influence of alcohol or other drugs and many of their victims will be sober law-abiding citizens.

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