– Mardi Ford

– The Observer

UNION One of Billy Graham’s more memorable sermons explores a way to solve all the world’s problems through a change of heart one soul at a time.

Sound too simple? Well, that’s how it’s worked since God offered His own heart on the cross 2,000 years ago.

Pastor Bill Bishop’s life is just one example.

A year ago, Bishop wasn’t sure how his new congregation at the Union United Methodist Church would feel about him sharing the story of his old life with the broader community.

But now he believes his nearly 30-year victory over an addiction to alcohol and drugs will encourage others to consider spiritual warfare in their own fight.

“We Christians need to make ourselves available to others. The Bible says, ‘Pray ye one for another,’ and ‘The prayers of a righteous man availeth much.’ I believe my witness in life has to do with my past. I can’t lead without that being a part of it,” he says.

The story of Bishop’s past could be that of any young man who graduated from high school during the turbulent 1960s and ’70s. Bishop joined the U.S. Navy, shipped out to Vietnam, saw more than his share of ugliness, got injured and was declared 60 percent disabled.

But back in the states, it was the damage to his soul rather than his body that led to a spiraling lack of control over anger, alcohol and drugs.

“You get to a point where you step outside yourself and it’s like you are watching you do these things completely detached. And you have another drink to feel better about it all. I self-medicated for years. But that just adds another layer of problems Oh, oh! Now I’ve spent all my food money,” Bishop says, recalling past self-destructive behaviors.

Behaviors which eventually got him into trouble with the law and landed him in prison a reality check.

He was the second person to enter the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous at the state hospital in Pendleton. The mid-1970s program of accountability, making amends where possible and learning different behaviors was the cornerstone of the program used at facilities like the Powder River Correctional Facility today. But Bishop said the first two key steps were recognizing the problem with addiction and relying on God for the power to change.

“I was addicted to alcohol and drugs for years. But then, I accepted Jesus Christ. And everything began to change,” he says, now with a twinkle in his blue eyes.

“No matter how bad it is, no matter how critical the situation seems, you can still have a good life. Grab hold of the thing that can help you that being Jesus Christ.”

Bishop’s concerned with today’s politically correct version of the 12-step program, which has taken the power of the Living God and watered it down to any higher power the participant wants to use.

“The problem with that is that it allows people to grab hold of anything they can, any form of religion at all. And that is especially tempting for those who’ve been burned by church and already turned their backs on Jesus,” Bishop says.

For Bishop, becoming Christlike was painful because so much had to change. He says the pain come from learning who he was and the old flesh that fought hard to keep him there.

Bishop would also like to see the 12-step program add another step one that teaches serving others.

“True change comes when the goal is not how I can be helped, but when I begin to ask, “How can I help you?” Then we have become a giver rather than a taker.”

Bishop encourages anyone seeking spiritual counseling to contact him either by phone at the Union United Methodist Church, 562-5848, or by e-mail to awmin@uci.net .