You know not what spirt you are of
| Posted On: 09/09/09 04:01:04 PM |
Age 54, TX |
Your negative stenotype of Alcoholics Anonymous I find actually quite insane. You are damning in the name of Jesus what you simply do not understand with all the grace and mercy of a Grizzle Bear. In point of fact you are damning the saving work of Jesus! I am a born-again Bible Church involved Christian who has recovered from alcoholism because of the power and love of my savior, Jesus for 16 years - All of that time I have attended Alcoholics Anonymous. I have seen hundreds of professing Christians - and practicing drunkards - come to AA. I have seen few of these “Jesus-Jesus/Lord-Lord talkers” ever come to a place of true surrender along with the honesty, willingness, and open-mindedness necessary to recover from Alcoholism. Yet I have seen many former heathens do exactly that (get humble and surrender) who have come to a saving faith in Jesus. Why is this? I have asked God plenty of times. Simply put, I believe that these professing Christians could not admit that their real god was Alcohol or Drugs. Profess and Confess Jesus all they might - yet they practice was altogether different. They have been haughty, arrogant, un-teachable and unreachable because they knew it all already. They rejected the grace of God offered to them inside the rooms of AA because AA wasn't Christian enough for them. So they returned to drinking. You scare me because you sound all to much like one those types.
Nobody has to sell me on the faults of AA. But nowhere else have I seen alcoholics find the grace to change their lives in great numbers. I admit that many court appointed folks flop into AA and play games like having door knobs for higher powers but those “foolish” people are lucky to stay sober for anything like a month or more. Bible Christians still manage to witness that light bulbs and door knobs cannot save and only Jesus can (Acts 4:12) There is still enough Christian message left in AA's Big Book to be a powerful witness for Christ in the hands of a Bible believing Christian. One cannot do a proper Big Book Moral inventory without being hit squarely over the head with MORAL RESPONSIBILITY for One’s LIFE ACTIONS and HARMS.. Alcoholism can only be cured by an authentic spiritual awakening. Simply put God must first expel the mental delusion that an alcoholic operates under. The Bible calls this deliverance
Seventeen years ago Alcohol was my Lord and Master and was in total control of my life. Say what you will about AA but I gave the time to discover just how wrong I was about Jesus and God the Father. I was a bitter angry and hostile Atheist. If a person had approached me and started preaching to me I might have even tried to physically BITE them such was my hatred for Christ and Christianity. I have seen many miracles of restoration occur in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous. Who appointed you the Judge over the GRACE and MERCY of the LORD JESUS CHRIST?! I hope you will consider extending some Christian love and grace towards AA regardless of its many human failings. It is a field ripe for harvest to those of us who believe in the saving power of Jesus and walk into AA with the right spirit with Jesus’ love. You attitude toward AA is UNCHRISTIAN, UNLOVING, and just plain WRONG! If you would stop damning the lost you might discover that JESUS wants to same them. Please STOP opposing the WORK of GOD which you so ignorantly know so little about!
Sincerely,
Joseph White
Odessa, Texas
jeauxwhite@gmail.com
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- AA is universalist religion
| Posted On: 09/28/09 05:08:22 PM | | Age 56, OR |
I am damning the saving work of Jesus? Nowhere in Scripture are we instructed to join a universalistic, all-gods religion.
According to the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book (the A.A. “bible”), “We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of the Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men. When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God.”
Well, that sounds very loving and reasonable. Yet Christ Himself warns us against such a thing. Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father but through me. (John 14:6)
The Lord, in fact, SPECIFICALLY warns against the broad way. “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is BROAD that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.” (Matthew 7:13)
It is no coincidence that the A.A. Big Book again makes a direct reference to this spiritual Broad Highway: “If our testimony helps sweep away prejudice, enables you to think honestly, encourages you to search diligently within yourself, then, if you wish, you can join us on the Broad Highway. With this attitude you cannot fail. The consciousness of your belief is sure to come to you.”[2] (Bold mine)
In 2 Corinthians 6:14-17, we are told to separate ourselves. In Galatians 1:6-9, Paul says that he who brings another gospel is “accursed.” The Alcoholics Anonymous theology, wherein Christ is seen as one higher power among many, is most certainly another gospel.
If Christians were to base involvement in Alcoholics Anonymous on the Word of God—Sola Scriptura—we would not be at the meetings at all.
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Falsehoods in AA
| Posted On: 04/10/09 02:06:03 AM |
Age 48, AZ |
I am a very strong Christian and have been attending AA meetings. I sponsor three women and have led atleast three of them to Christ. I don't know where you get your information. I have been doing a lot of questioning of AA myself too here lately. No doubt "higher power" is extremely offensive to me. But I am way more offended by what is happening with Christianity today. It has been so perverted, scripture has been SO TWISTED, Christians are so JUDGEMENTAL that atleast 60% of people AREN'T Christians because of other Christians. There ARE no excuses for people who profess Christ. Christ is going to come down harder on these "so-called" Christian churches than anyone! Read Revelations! I walk into AA and I get hugs from women and phone numbers. I walk into churches and I get perversion of the Bible and plastic smiles that mean nothing! Jesus himself condemned the "spirit" of religion. The gate is Narrow and so is the path. One little prayer of, I accept Jesus into my heart doesn't cut it! Going to Church and professing Christ doesn't cut it. You have to change your entire life and your attitude towards others. "You will know the tree by the fruit that it bears." Continuous and on going repentance! Every day! Why don't you just look at the 12 steps. Are you promptly admitting your wrongs? Have you taken personal moral inventory? Have you completly given your whole life to Christ? Have you made amends to EVERYONE you have offended? You can knock the program all you want. But telling some poor man who is a cronic alcoholic that he is just a sinner, and will get some guys over here to pray for you and you just accept Jesus Christ into your heart and it will all go away is a complete FARCE!
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- Christians who have Two religions
| Posted On: 04/11/09 01:27:27 PM | | Age 55, OR |
Well, it is good you get "hugs" and "phone numbers" at your A.A. meetings. You can get those at the Mormon church, at a Hindu Temple, and at many other spiritual places, as well.
Christians who attend Alcoholics Anonymous are essentially in two religions. On Sunday they say "Amen" when Christ is preached as the only name by which we must be saved.
But at their A.A. meetings those same Christians pray and spiritually partake with Wiccans, Mormons, and all who have made up their own "higher power."
A.A. is another gospel. It teaches it is not important who or what you believe in, only that you must believe in something.
2 Corinthians 6:14-17 tells us, "Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?
Or What harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? ...Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE, says the Lord."
A.A continues to divide hearts and deceive believers. And by the way, Christ delivered me from heroin and alcohol. I've been homeless in four cities and been to hundreds of meetings.
Our solution is Christ, within the context of the Body of Christ.
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Higher Power
| Posted On: 11/17/08 03:47:04 AM |
Age 51, UT |
I was introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous through a treatment facility in 1989. What attracted me to the program was that there were other people who were experiencing what I was and I could identify with them. I was 8 years into the program, and in those 8 years had experimented with many different types of spirituality. I was beginning to lose hope of finding this higher power that the program talks about. But I finally came to my last stand and picked up the Bible one day and began reading.
It did not take me long to come to an understanding that the only true life and freedom comes through Grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. The point is that it was not anything that I had done that brought me to this realization. Christ said it best when he stated "No one can come to me unless he first be drawn by the Father".
I was one of the fortunate people to have His grace bestowed upon me, and it does frighten me that the concept of a higher power could virtually mean anything. But didn't Christ and his apostles not face the very same situations and people during the times that they were alive. The very people that are described in so many scriptures as not inheriting the Kingdom of God, are these not the ones we should be reaching out to.
I have had encounters with people in AA about my resolve with respect to my belief in Christ, but this does not deter me from continuing to try and reach people. I don't have to agree with everything that AA offers and I generally don't. But that does not mean that there are not Biblical principles outlined within the pages of the Big Book of AA.
My advice would be to continue to reach out to the suffering people, and to show them Christianity in my walk, rather than my talk!
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- Amen
| Posted On: 01/29/09 09:22:23 AM | | Age 59, MN |
I couldn't have put it any better than this.
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The AA myth and Devils false Religion
| Posted On: 11/14/08 06:25:53 AM |
Age 37, ENGLAND |
I agree with the sentiment that AA has demonic and spriritual roots, if you read further in the lives of the co-founders you will see that the origins of AA are NOT based upon the bible( as many members say) but in the occult. Bill Wilson was involved in seances and spiritaulism,right up to the founding of this so called non occult organisation.
I spent six years in AA looking for a solution to my drink problem and seeking help from Christ Jesus through the programme. The problem being is that I didnt trust Our blessed Lord and looked to idols in the programme of AA (which many members do), most members follow false Gods and pertain to having spiritaul experences.
You have to wonder what kind of 'spiritual experiences they open themselves up to. Demonic? Is say yes without a doubt. After all I should know after feeling very unwell and becoming oppressed the more I relied on this false religion.
AA teaches that a man will never be free this contradicts the Lord Jesus gospel that He is the only way to salvation.
AA keeps people in bondage to a beleif that can never be free from an illness that I belive now to be without doubt a demonic posession or oppression. After all the person with this 'illness' is often addicted to sinful behaviuor. I beleive that the roots of this illness is from sin and the sufferer falling away from the teaching of Our Lords gospel.
When I fully commited my life to Christ, I became an object of critcism and beratement in AA, my views (because I directly disagreed with the programme)led me to being chastised and I eventually realised that these so called 'good spipritaul people'where in fact self centred individuals who could not give themselves to Christ and his teachings.
They ofetn say in meetings and I have heard it numerous time that they say AA is not a cult. WRONG. It is a cult and a member is indoctrinated with false teachings. If you openly disagree with AA as a member you are berated. You are not allowed to speak wrongly of this institution. That is proof that it is a cult of secrecism and false teaching.
For anyone who is unsure and has a problem with drink lean on the LORDS GOSPEL AND GET LOTS OF PRAYER. Please do not give in to false doctrine.It WILL lead you astray and cause you misery if you truly do follow our blessed Lord Jesus.
God Bless
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Fooled again!
| Posted On: 05/12/08 03:07:32 PM |
Age 54, VA |
Judging by many of the responses to this article it is evident that once again many Christians have allowed themselves to be fooled and deluded into thinking that because a program "works" it must be from God and should be embraced by Christians. I have read a few studies that show that people who do not go through any revovery program have a higher recovery rate than those that go through AA. God has a two step program. 1. Repentance (as a result of hearing the true Gospel) and 2. Sanctification (Discipleship)
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- Healing the alcoholic by the power of God
| Posted On: 05/17/08 08:52:38 PM | | Age 83, HI |
Is A.A. Christian today? No. Was it a Christian Fellowship in the 1930's? Yes. In those early days, what did their fellowship do? They met daily in the Smith home in Akron for a morning Quiet Time with Dr. Bob's wife. They read the Bible, prayed together, sought God's guidance, and read literature like The Upper Room. Once a week they had what they called an "old fashioned prayer meeting." One called it an old fashioned revival meeting. They opened with prayer. They read the Bible. They prayed together and sought God's guidance together. They discussed the application of Biblical principles in their life. Then each was taken upstairs and, after the manner of James 5:16, there was prayer, followed by the newcomer's decision for Christ, the group's prayers with him that alcohol be taken out of his life, and the group's prayers with him for strength and gudiance to live by Christian principles. There was then the distribution downstairs of Christian literature and plans to carry the message to a new alcoholic still in the hospital. Their abstinence, reliance on God, efforts to obey His will, working toward growth in fellowship with Him, His son, and other believers, and helping others get straightened out produced their cures which they widely announced. God Bless, Dick B.
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ONLY JESUS CAN BRING TOTAL VICTORY
| Posted On: 05/12/08 10:42:08 AM |
Age 64, OH |
I was at a AA meeting one time. And this man stated that he had not had a drink in 5000 and some days. This man was far better off than an alcoholic that got drunk every day but he was still under bondage and NOT free at all. Total victory is not just being able to resist the temptation but total victory is no longer being tempted by the alcohol. I used to work so many hours in the winter that I never seen daylight. We worked seven days a week and 12 hours a day. Come friday night a large man who I worked with would talk me into stopping for a drink. if you went to the rest room there would be another beer on the bar and he would say "you are one behind". We would have forty beers on a friday night; I would never drink one other beer during the week. I would show up for work on Saturday morning still drunk and several hours later would start to feel terrible. But when I met Jesus He delivered me of this and I had no desire to drink. I was best man at my friends wedding and had ONE beer with him but not two. I have went years without a beer but then could have one for some reason if I felt the freedom from the Spirit. I have total victory over alcohol for I am free to partake of it but do not have the desire to. I see most of these people in AA as being in great bondage. It consumes them and they count the days. That is not victory at all. I do not have ONE thought of alcohol for years. Only The Lord Jesus Christ can bring this kind of victory. Jesus is my Rock and my Salvation. Lou
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For shame, picking on AA
| Posted On: 05/09/08 06:29:53 PM |
Age 61, MO |
The purpose of A.A. is most simply to help people who are truely addicted to alcohol to stop drinking ONE DAY AT A TIME. Before alcoholics can reconcile their sin, they must cure their physical addiction/sickness. The 12 steps are secondary to just making it to a meeting, and not having taken a drink of alcohol. There are many more important sin issues for Christians to pick on than the "higher power" of A.A. George Cancilla
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- AA is a spiritual decoy
| Posted On: 05/13/08 08:35:32 PM | | Age 54, OR |
The ultimate purpose of AA has nothing to do with sobriety. It is to draw unbelievers away from Christ, and to water down those who do know him.
AA works for one in twenty in terms of sobriety. In terms of people ending up in hell it is far more effective.
Cofounder Dr. Bob Smith, presented as a Bible believing Christian, was a Freemason and a fan of heretic Emmet Fox.
AA is a lie. Christ is the Truth. Rise up, O Body of Christ.
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- Primary Purpose
| Posted On: 11/07/09 10:23:32 PM | | Age 48, MO |
The primary purpose of AA is to stay sober and help othersto achieve sobriety. Period. We do not endorse nor oppose any causes, including yours! Please do not oppose ours.
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AA The Best Way -- Not!
| Posted On: 05/09/08 11:14:58 AM |
Age 56, FL |
Interesting that those purporting to be Christians have no problem with using any method whatsoever to help heal alcohol addiction. You might think first, though, that the person who buys into a false religion would be a lot better off as an alcoholic who knows the true gospel and doesn't pray to strange gods. Oddly, no one has mentioned 'The Most Excellent Way', a truly Christian substance abuse program that doesn't forsake the true gospel with the excuse that the ends justify the means.
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- Celebrate Recovery
| Posted On: 06/10/08 07:56:58 AM | | Age 39, MD |
Celebrate Recovery is just such a program that is a Christ centered approach to all of life's addictions - alcohol, drugs, sex, food, depression, abuse - anything that a person needs freedom from. They know that only Jesus can set a person free! It is a 12 step program that is truly founded on Jesus and the Bible, especially the Beatitudes. No other gods are allowed. Please look into this program, as it started in California and has spread to thousands of churches country wide, even world wide now!
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Healing by the Power of God
| Posted On: 05/08/08 02:57:37 PM |
Age 82, HI |
Is A.A. Christian? No. Are there Christians in A.A.? Yes. Are the several attempts to label Christians in A.A. adherents to spiritualism or "less than" Christians factual, godly, or useful? No. One poor soul insists on defamation as a tool by stating that a Christian is not a Christian just by going to church. True. This same detour source insists that A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob Smith could not possibly have been a Christian. And so forth. If the purpose of all this illusory talk is designed to drive Christians away from recovery, away from being ambassadors for Christ, away from helping still suffering people in A.A., it probably is doomed to failure. There is enough idolatry, secularism, universalism, and fallacious religious reasoning in recovery today to keep people drinking or miserable or without Christ for generations to come. No point in calling the facts to the attention of the naysayers. They see what they want to see, read what they want to read, and continue to lambaste Christians who love and serve in recovery fellowships today.
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Saved by the grace of God.
| Posted On: 05/08/08 11:08:51 AM |
Age 50, FL |
John,
Thanks for the article. I spent 10 years going to AA, I know there are those in AA who have a higher power other than Christ. All I can say is AA is for dealing with alcoholisim. Once someone actually stops drinking they are free to finally hear the truth and understand it. In all my time in AA I never rested on any other than my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Whether some do not trust in Him as I do has really no bearing on "getting sober".
I do not attend AA meetings any longer though I am now sober 23 years, which I totally attribute to my relastionship with Christ, I do continue to have a bible study with about 20 men who are in AA, most less then 90 days. I speak the truth in love and tell them to trust in the true God, accept no substitute. AA might help with alcoholisim, But Jesus will defeat the alcoholisim and save them from eternal damnation.
Romans 10:14,15 "How, then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them. And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
An't it Grand!
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