Why did I end up in AA? Why did I end up going to meetings as long as I did?
It started with my return from college. I had just graduated with my BA, and not much else. Boy did I have attitude problems.
I lost my job.
I lost my job at a department store, where I was working over the winter holidays.
It was a seasonal job, and I hated it.
It was a terrible job. I had just returned from four years of college, and all that I had to show for it was the BA, but little else. I needed to get to work, apparently, but I had no leading, no direction in my life.
I had this terrible penchant of walking out of every job that I had ever had. I had no skill for tolerating conflict. For so long, I was convinced that life and all that was in life revolved around me. I had never realized it, nor how pernicious and dangerous it can become.
The last job that I had, I walked off the job because I was taken advantage of. It was at a gas station, and they made me train for free. No pay. The station was disorganized, the staff were rude, and the people who frequented the place were quite unhelpful but unkind.
It was a stuffy gas station job in my home city. I ended up walking off the job, I ended up giving up on the job because of confusing, mixed messages from my two parents, two people who were drifting further and further apart in their lives, and using my life as a battleground of their divergent wills.
I never realized how damaging a fraught marriage could be. I witnessed it, I endured it, and it caused more problems for me in the long run.
I walked off than job after one month, and now more than ever I was filled with fear about every subsequent job, that the employees and the employer were taking advantage of me. I would make sure to withstand anyone to their face, catch people taking advantage of me before they did anything wrong.
I had no capacity to judge anything. For too long, someone else had been making all the decisions in my life. I was often afraid of doing the right thing or the wrong thing.
I stormed off of one job after another from that point on.
When I graduated from college, I was back at home, and fearful about stepping out into the world. I walked off one job after two weeks, then I took the seasonal job for a little over one month.
Then I was laid off.
I was back home, cleaning up house, taking care of chores, when my mother began berating me for all kinds of terrible things. She then threatened to kick me out of the house if I did not go to AA meetings, to learn humility.
She was under the wicked delusion that I had lost my job because I was a bad worker, that I had done something wrong. I was laid off, simple as that. There were no hours for me to keep the job into the next year.
Shame on those people. I see now more than ever where the insecurity of most people comes from. A sense of disastrous abandonment had worked over me too much of the time.
My mother forced me to go to meetings because I had a "humility" problem, as if it was my pride which caused me to lose my job. Throughout the previous month, I was frustrated and angry because of the crude and unpleasant treatment which I had endured because of the workplace staff and the unmanageable conditions which I had faced. No matter how unpleasant and hurt I felt, my parents did nothing about it. They did not care one wit. They never taught me anything about this New Covenant.
To top if off, my other mother told me to go to AA, which simply made things worse.
I was sent to AA under false pretenses, as if I was doing something wrong to have lost a job, and thus I had issues that needed to be resolved.
The truth is, my mother lied to me at length, micromanaging my life and telling me what to do, how to live.
I did not need steps to learn how to live. I needed life, and that more abundantly, which I have in Christ Jesus, not in AA, not in what my parents tell me, and certainly not in myself.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
AA = Will Worship
"20Wherefore if ye
be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in
the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21(Touch not; taste
not; handle not; 22Which all are to
perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? 23Which things have
indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the
body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh." (Colossians 2: 20-23)
AA promotes nothing but will-worship.
No matter how times the "Big Book" tells people that this is a program to get rid of self, the meetings were filled with people who talked about the number of years that they had stayed sober.
I still remember one older lady who had gone for a ride in a fancy limosine, when she was offered a drink.
"I was this close to drinking again. It's easier than one might think."
Whereupon she shared at length how she had avoided that drink.
She had avoided it.
No matter how many times the writer in the book mentions "the Spirit" and the ease with which people stay sober, one thing that had struck me many times in meetings is that most members were living life as if it were an endurance contest.
The Twelve Steps does not give a man life, nor does the program offer redemption unhindered. The need for full absolution cannot be found in working steps.
In fact, it cannot be a work at all.
Mankind is born dead in his trespasses. He needs something more, something which he cannot be, have, or make on his own.
"Not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh."
Our flesh must be crucified, and we receive this death through the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ:
"20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 20-21)
For the believer, your flesh has already been crucified! Working the Steps only brings a man in Christ back to living under an Old Covenant. Will-worship is actually a form of death, an unnecessary and unprofitable practice which will cause man to fall victim to his flesh, trying to fix something that is dead and beyond repair.
Forget will-worship; Worship the Lord Jesus Christ, who has given you all things: Himself (Romans 8: 31-32)
AA promotes nothing but will-worship.
No matter how times the "Big Book" tells people that this is a program to get rid of self, the meetings were filled with people who talked about the number of years that they had stayed sober.
I still remember one older lady who had gone for a ride in a fancy limosine, when she was offered a drink.
"I was this close to drinking again. It's easier than one might think."
Whereupon she shared at length how she had avoided that drink.
She had avoided it.
No matter how many times the writer in the book mentions "the Spirit" and the ease with which people stay sober, one thing that had struck me many times in meetings is that most members were living life as if it were an endurance contest.
The Twelve Steps does not give a man life, nor does the program offer redemption unhindered. The need for full absolution cannot be found in working steps.
In fact, it cannot be a work at all.
Mankind is born dead in his trespasses. He needs something more, something which he cannot be, have, or make on his own.
"Not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh."
Our flesh must be crucified, and we receive this death through the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ:
"20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 20-21)
For the believer, your flesh has already been crucified! Working the Steps only brings a man in Christ back to living under an Old Covenant. Will-worship is actually a form of death, an unnecessary and unprofitable practice which will cause man to fall victim to his flesh, trying to fix something that is dead and beyond repair.
Forget will-worship; Worship the Lord Jesus Christ, who has given you all things: Himself (Romans 8: 31-32)
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Why People Cannot Make You Mad
Men and women are not defined by their soul or their sense.
We are defined by spirit, by the eternity which God has set in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3: 11).
Thus, we have no reason, no business to apply or define ourselves by what is see, for only what is invisible to the naked eye is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18)
So, people cannot really make us mad, since who we are has nothing to do with who we are.
In fact, everything that we have. Everything that we are, is bound up in Christ:
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 20-21)
We are to reckon ourselves dead in the flesh (Romans 6:11). We are called to set our eyes on things above (Colossians 3:1-4), for Jesus Christ is our life.
People cannot make us mad if they attack our bodies or our minds. We relate to God through our spirits, and men can do nothing about our perfect standing of righteousness in Christ.
I used to be so easily hurt, so easily crushed by the shock, awe, the slights and slanders of men.
Now I see that I am a new creation in Christ. I do not see myself, but I see Christ Jesus and Him crucified as the source of every good thing in my life.
Paul writes that we are to bring all things into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10: 5)
Why do we bring every thought into Christ's obedience?
Because when Jesus Christ obeyed his Father, by taking on the form of man and dying on the Cross, he ended up cutting the New Covenant with His blood:
"For this is my blood of the new testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26: 28)
"Testament" is the same word for "Covenant".
"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8::10-12)
When we live our lives Christ-conscious, we rest in His righteousness, which then activates the entire New Covenant -- He guides us from within through His laws in our hearts and minds. He is a God for us, and we are His people. He teaches us about Himself without any effort or striving on our part. Why? Because only the blood of Jesus can wipe away our sin, and make us so clean that God's Holy Spirit can enter us, so that Christ Jesus can be our glory from within.
We are no longer defined by what we think, nor do we get discouraged by what we feel. The curses of men cannot light upon us, either, because in Christ we enjoy the New Covenant as New Creation in Christ, that all our sins are forgiven.
The reproach of men cannot attack your Spirit. The grace of God abounds in the midst of man's wickedness. No weapon formed against you can prosper.
People cannot make you mad, also, because the fears and resentments of man is in his flesh, and you and I do not identify with our flesh anymore, because we are alive in Christ!
We are defined by spirit, by the eternity which God has set in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3: 11).
Thus, we have no reason, no business to apply or define ourselves by what is see, for only what is invisible to the naked eye is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18)
So, people cannot really make us mad, since who we are has nothing to do with who we are.
In fact, everything that we have. Everything that we are, is bound up in Christ:
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 20-21)
We are to reckon ourselves dead in the flesh (Romans 6:11). We are called to set our eyes on things above (Colossians 3:1-4), for Jesus Christ is our life.
People cannot make us mad if they attack our bodies or our minds. We relate to God through our spirits, and men can do nothing about our perfect standing of righteousness in Christ.
I used to be so easily hurt, so easily crushed by the shock, awe, the slights and slanders of men.
Now I see that I am a new creation in Christ. I do not see myself, but I see Christ Jesus and Him crucified as the source of every good thing in my life.
Paul writes that we are to bring all things into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10: 5)
Why do we bring every thought into Christ's obedience?
Because when Jesus Christ obeyed his Father, by taking on the form of man and dying on the Cross, he ended up cutting the New Covenant with His blood:
"For this is my blood of the new testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26: 28)
"Testament" is the same word for "Covenant".
"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8::10-12)
When we live our lives Christ-conscious, we rest in His righteousness, which then activates the entire New Covenant -- He guides us from within through His laws in our hearts and minds. He is a God for us, and we are His people. He teaches us about Himself without any effort or striving on our part. Why? Because only the blood of Jesus can wipe away our sin, and make us so clean that God's Holy Spirit can enter us, so that Christ Jesus can be our glory from within.
We are no longer defined by what we think, nor do we get discouraged by what we feel. The curses of men cannot light upon us, either, because in Christ we enjoy the New Covenant as New Creation in Christ, that all our sins are forgiven.
The reproach of men cannot attack your Spirit. The grace of God abounds in the midst of man's wickedness. No weapon formed against you can prosper.
People cannot make you mad, also, because the fears and resentments of man is in his flesh, and you and I do not identify with our flesh anymore, because we are alive in Christ!
Resentment, Fear, and all the Rest: Flesh!
AA distorts a man's proper identity.
He is not his feelings or his thoughts. I was surprised to be sharing this truth with a member who had been working the program for over thirty years. She never connected the truth of who we are, which has nothing to do with who we are.
All throughout the AA literature, the AA cult tells people to look at their feelings, look at their past, look at themselves.
All of this preoccupation with self is precisely the reason why people drink, binge, waste their lives on addictive substances. This love of self, this attempt to fix ourselves through our own means causes more of the problems.
Men and women were never meant to be the center of the universe, or the final focus of their lives.
The truth sets a man free, and the truth is that everything is not up to us, or all about us in the first place.
Man is a spirit, he possesses a soul, and he lives in a body. Man is not defined by what he feels or what he thinks.
Man is a spirit:
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7)
He possess a soul:
"In your patience possess ye your souls." (Luke 21:19)
He lives in a body:
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6: 19)
We do not identify with our bodies, but with the Spirit of God in us:
"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 11)
Paul then writes:
"16This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." (Galatians 5: 16-18)
Then Paul outlines what are the "works of the flesh"":
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5: 19-21)
Man is spirit, not flesh (the realm of self and self-effort), but to the extent that man in his own effort tried to do anything, to that extent will the flesh manifest in his life.
Her is the good news for every believe in the Body of Christ, and for anyone who is struggling to work the Twelve Steps and go nowhere: as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), you do not identify with the resentments, fears, envies, or any other negatives within you. In fact, you can simply dust them away as ashes, since you now identity with God's Spirit within you.
Resentment, fears, and all the rest are hold-over from the Old Adam flesh which every man and woman is saddled with in this life. Look at Christ, identity with Him, for:
"As He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)
He is not his feelings or his thoughts. I was surprised to be sharing this truth with a member who had been working the program for over thirty years. She never connected the truth of who we are, which has nothing to do with who we are.
All throughout the AA literature, the AA cult tells people to look at their feelings, look at their past, look at themselves.
All of this preoccupation with self is precisely the reason why people drink, binge, waste their lives on addictive substances. This love of self, this attempt to fix ourselves through our own means causes more of the problems.
Men and women were never meant to be the center of the universe, or the final focus of their lives.
The truth sets a man free, and the truth is that everything is not up to us, or all about us in the first place.
Man is a spirit, he possesses a soul, and he lives in a body. Man is not defined by what he feels or what he thinks.
Man is a spirit:
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7)
He possess a soul:
"In your patience possess ye your souls." (Luke 21:19)
He lives in a body:
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6: 19)
We do not identify with our bodies, but with the Spirit of God in us:
"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 11)
Paul then writes:
"16This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." (Galatians 5: 16-18)
Then Paul outlines what are the "works of the flesh"":
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5: 19-21)
Man is spirit, not flesh (the realm of self and self-effort), but to the extent that man in his own effort tried to do anything, to that extent will the flesh manifest in his life.
Her is the good news for every believe in the Body of Christ, and for anyone who is struggling to work the Twelve Steps and go nowhere: as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), you do not identify with the resentments, fears, envies, or any other negatives within you. In fact, you can simply dust them away as ashes, since you now identity with God's Spirit within you.
Resentment, fears, and all the rest are hold-over from the Old Adam flesh which every man and woman is saddled with in this life. Look at Christ, identity with Him, for:
"As He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)
Friday, January 25, 2013
"Celebrate Recovery" and a Sense of Dread
One friend of mine, his name was Stu, wanted to start his own Celebrate Recovery meeting at his church.
At first, about five people showed up, then about two or three more over time.
Eventually, he went around to other meetings pitching his meeting at other Celebrate Recovery meetings, looking for more people who would be interested in joining.
I liked the meetings for a little while. His meeting were more orderly, and he wanted to make the most of the time with other Christians who wanted to recover.
Like many people in recovery circles, Stu had low-esteem and a lingering sense of dread in his life.
Someone else very close to me, who was heavily invested in the Twelve Steps, also confided to me that every day she went around with a sense of dread, convinced that people were going to be mean to her.
This sense of dread is all too common for many believes, I think.
The reason is very simple: they do not believe that all their sins are forgiven, or they are operating under a conception of God drawn out of the Old Covenant.
The New Covenant could not be clearer:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."" (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
As long as men and women are convinced that they have to recover, then that means that they are not identifying with Jesus Christ. In Christ, we are made a new creation:
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5: 17)
How has this happened? Paul explained in the next verse:
"And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;" (2 Corinthians 5: 18)
We have been made the righteousness of God in Christ, and He has reconciled us with God the Father.
We do not need recovery, for every person who believes on Jesus Christ has been recovered, reconciled, and declared righteous.
Yet as long as individual believers continue to submit to obeying rules, keeping up appearances and accounts in order to reconcile themselves to God and make themselves righteous through their own efforts, they are not resting in the New Covenant, for every element of the New is based on what God will do, not us. Furthermore, the Old Covenant of obeying God so that He will bless us is replaced by the New (Hebrews 8:13), so it is pointless and fruitless to operate according to such principles, since God has offered us something much better in the New Covenant, which Jesus cut for us through His death on the Cross.
If men and women refuse to believe and rest in the final sacrifice of Jesus Christ, these are the consequences:
"26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10: 26-29)
A certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, sorer punishment: in other words, a sense of dread.
The adherence to rules on the outside instead of letting God reign in us form the inside will create this fearful foreboding, this sense of dread. I do not write these comments to suggest that people in Celebrate Recovery are not saved, but they are fallen from grace in that they are trying to earn what we must receive by faith.
At first, about five people showed up, then about two or three more over time.
Eventually, he went around to other meetings pitching his meeting at other Celebrate Recovery meetings, looking for more people who would be interested in joining.
I liked the meetings for a little while. His meeting were more orderly, and he wanted to make the most of the time with other Christians who wanted to recover.
Like many people in recovery circles, Stu had low-esteem and a lingering sense of dread in his life.
Someone else very close to me, who was heavily invested in the Twelve Steps, also confided to me that every day she went around with a sense of dread, convinced that people were going to be mean to her.
This sense of dread is all too common for many believes, I think.
The reason is very simple: they do not believe that all their sins are forgiven, or they are operating under a conception of God drawn out of the Old Covenant.
The New Covenant could not be clearer:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."" (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
As long as men and women are convinced that they have to recover, then that means that they are not identifying with Jesus Christ. In Christ, we are made a new creation:
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5: 17)
How has this happened? Paul explained in the next verse:
"And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;" (2 Corinthians 5: 18)
We have been made the righteousness of God in Christ, and He has reconciled us with God the Father.
We do not need recovery, for every person who believes on Jesus Christ has been recovered, reconciled, and declared righteous.
Yet as long as individual believers continue to submit to obeying rules, keeping up appearances and accounts in order to reconcile themselves to God and make themselves righteous through their own efforts, they are not resting in the New Covenant, for every element of the New is based on what God will do, not us. Furthermore, the Old Covenant of obeying God so that He will bless us is replaced by the New (Hebrews 8:13), so it is pointless and fruitless to operate according to such principles, since God has offered us something much better in the New Covenant, which Jesus cut for us through His death on the Cross.
If men and women refuse to believe and rest in the final sacrifice of Jesus Christ, these are the consequences:
"26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10: 26-29)
A certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, sorer punishment: in other words, a sense of dread.
The adherence to rules on the outside instead of letting God reign in us form the inside will create this fearful foreboding, this sense of dread. I do not write these comments to suggest that people in Celebrate Recovery are not saved, but they are fallen from grace in that they are trying to earn what we must receive by faith.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Who the Solution is. . .Jesus
I worked at a charter school, too, got everything that I wanted.
And I was still plagued by this confusion.
What was I supposed to be doing, exactly? How did I know that I was doing the right thing or the wrong thing?
I was so sin conscious in those days. The amount of tension and trauma that I felt on the inside was just more than I could imagine. No wonder I crashed and walked off the job.
First, I had not sense of rest or trust as to what I was sensing, feeling, what I wanted or did not want. I could do whatever I wanted, then a "whatever" attitude would be the dominant factor in my life.
The New Covenant deals with this problem:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts:"
I also felt very alone, as if God was someone whom I had to hold onto, not someone who was watching out for me and moving in my life. The second part of verse ten puts that lie to death:
"And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:" (Hebrews 8: 10)
Wow. The LORD Yahweh, who was and is and ever will be, is my God. He will move in my life in anyway that I need. He quickens in my heart what He has made me to be -- the righteousness of God in Christ -- and He moves within me both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
He has an intimate, fully caring relationship with me, because He gives to me the same standing as His own Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. I receive this Spirit of Sonship, and my heart cries out "Daddy!"
I never knew that Jesus Christ lives in me, or that His life in me was leading me in the Way that He wanted me to do.
One friend comforted me with "He will never leave you nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13: 5) For some reason, this was not good enough for me, and I never quite understood why. I "felt" that Jesus was far away, and these feelings were often all over the place. Feelings speak of "self", of "the flesh", but every believer is called to rest in His righteousness, not run to his or her own works and trust in his feelings.
Wow, how confused I was.
Rest is the last thing most Christians talk about, but Jesus Christ invites us to let Him be our rest.
I am thrilled to be able to explain everything finally and at last to myself and to anyone who many find himself or herself suffering through the same confusion of hearing New Covenant promises yet still laboring under Old Covenant traditions.
And I was still plagued by this confusion.
What was I supposed to be doing, exactly? How did I know that I was doing the right thing or the wrong thing?
I was so sin conscious in those days. The amount of tension and trauma that I felt on the inside was just more than I could imagine. No wonder I crashed and walked off the job.
First, I had not sense of rest or trust as to what I was sensing, feeling, what I wanted or did not want. I could do whatever I wanted, then a "whatever" attitude would be the dominant factor in my life.
The New Covenant deals with this problem:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts:"
I also felt very alone, as if God was someone whom I had to hold onto, not someone who was watching out for me and moving in my life. The second part of verse ten puts that lie to death:
"And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:" (Hebrews 8: 10)
Wow. The LORD Yahweh, who was and is and ever will be, is my God. He will move in my life in anyway that I need. He quickens in my heart what He has made me to be -- the righteousness of God in Christ -- and He moves within me both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
He has an intimate, fully caring relationship with me, because He gives to me the same standing as His own Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. I receive this Spirit of Sonship, and my heart cries out "Daddy!"
I never knew that Jesus Christ lives in me, or that His life in me was leading me in the Way that He wanted me to do.
One friend comforted me with "He will never leave you nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13: 5) For some reason, this was not good enough for me, and I never quite understood why. I "felt" that Jesus was far away, and these feelings were often all over the place. Feelings speak of "self", of "the flesh", but every believer is called to rest in His righteousness, not run to his or her own works and trust in his feelings.
Wow, how confused I was.
Rest is the last thing most Christians talk about, but Jesus Christ invites us to let Him be our rest.
I am thrilled to be able to explain everything finally and at last to myself and to anyone who many find himself or herself suffering through the same confusion of hearing New Covenant promises yet still laboring under Old Covenant traditions.
What the Problem Was, Really. . .AA (Christ Alone is the Only Answer)
I read my Bible, my devotional, and a chapter from the Big Book. I even read portions from "As Bill Sees It", as if those insights would give me insight onto how to live my life.
Still, life was not worth living. There did not seem to be anything worth doing in this life. I had no energy, no drive, no certainty that anything would be worth doing.
I was bored at my job. Yes, I was a full-time teacher in South Gate. I had all that I needed, but not the greatest need: righteousness:
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matthew 6: 33-34)
Righteousness is the key enforcer of the New Covenant, because God is propitious to our unrighteousness, and does not remember our sins and iniquities anymore (Thank You, Jesus!)
I took up a Masters Degree Program, hoping that achieving more things would make life worth living. Instead of tedium, my life was nothing but tension. I was rushing around from one activity to the next, with no down time. I was tired, had no capacity to rest, because I did not see Jesus as the All-Powerful Savior who wanted to move in every corner of my life. I did not realize that He is my Life in every way.
Once again, AA is to blame, because the program fosters in every person the dreaded, evil notion that they have to keep up their connection with God.
Jesus Christ alone is the answer, the only answer. There is no adding to all that Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross. When He said "It is Finished", he was not blowing smoke, he was not alleging that someone else would tie up loose ends, He was not hoping that someone would pick up where He left off. The work is done. Will you believe Him or not?
I did not believe Him at the time. The ministry of condemnation was still quite strong in my life, borne in my soul because of the law mentality.
In effect, I had the following:
"26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." (Hebrews 10: 26-27)
It's not enough to "have knowledge" of the Truth. We must choose to rest in the truth (Hebrews 4: 8-11) AA does not let anyone rest.
In Hebrews 10: 26-27), "sin wilfully" refers to the choice of Hebrew Christians who insisted on sacrificing animals, even though they believed that Jesus is the Messiah. Christians who have joined AA are also "sinning wilfully" because they believe that they have to confess their sins, take their inventory, search their hearts for any sins, when God does not even remember our sins anymore. The blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us (1 John 1:7), and any animal sacrifice suggests that the believer does not believe that Jesus did it all.
Christ is the only answer, because His blood atones completely. Man cannot be satisfied with sometime knowledge that people are not getting away with their wrongdoing.
I could never shake this sense of ill-will in my life, this sin conscience. Even when I talked with other Christians about what I was going through, they could tell me what this "emptiness" was. Frustrating, to say the least.
I went from tight, to uptight, to tied up in my life. I lost my temper, lost my peace, and did not know what else to do about it.
I walked off of one job after another, so fed up was I with all that I had done to find some peace in my life.
The one theme in much of what I was going through: when all else seemed to fail, I went back to an AA meeting, hoping to find some peace of mind, some answers. That was all I knew.
Yet the sin conscience remains, the sense that God is not happy with you, or that you are all alone in the world.
Still, life was not worth living. There did not seem to be anything worth doing in this life. I had no energy, no drive, no certainty that anything would be worth doing.
I was bored at my job. Yes, I was a full-time teacher in South Gate. I had all that I needed, but not the greatest need: righteousness:
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matthew 6: 33-34)
Righteousness is the key enforcer of the New Covenant, because God is propitious to our unrighteousness, and does not remember our sins and iniquities anymore (Thank You, Jesus!)
I took up a Masters Degree Program, hoping that achieving more things would make life worth living. Instead of tedium, my life was nothing but tension. I was rushing around from one activity to the next, with no down time. I was tired, had no capacity to rest, because I did not see Jesus as the All-Powerful Savior who wanted to move in every corner of my life. I did not realize that He is my Life in every way.
Once again, AA is to blame, because the program fosters in every person the dreaded, evil notion that they have to keep up their connection with God.
Jesus Christ alone is the answer, the only answer. There is no adding to all that Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross. When He said "It is Finished", he was not blowing smoke, he was not alleging that someone else would tie up loose ends, He was not hoping that someone would pick up where He left off. The work is done. Will you believe Him or not?
I did not believe Him at the time. The ministry of condemnation was still quite strong in my life, borne in my soul because of the law mentality.
In effect, I had the following:
"26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." (Hebrews 10: 26-27)
It's not enough to "have knowledge" of the Truth. We must choose to rest in the truth (Hebrews 4: 8-11) AA does not let anyone rest.
In Hebrews 10: 26-27), "sin wilfully" refers to the choice of Hebrew Christians who insisted on sacrificing animals, even though they believed that Jesus is the Messiah. Christians who have joined AA are also "sinning wilfully" because they believe that they have to confess their sins, take their inventory, search their hearts for any sins, when God does not even remember our sins anymore. The blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us (1 John 1:7), and any animal sacrifice suggests that the believer does not believe that Jesus did it all.
Christ is the only answer, because His blood atones completely. Man cannot be satisfied with sometime knowledge that people are not getting away with their wrongdoing.
I could never shake this sense of ill-will in my life, this sin conscience. Even when I talked with other Christians about what I was going through, they could tell me what this "emptiness" was. Frustrating, to say the least.
I went from tight, to uptight, to tied up in my life. I lost my temper, lost my peace, and did not know what else to do about it.
I walked off of one job after another, so fed up was I with all that I had done to find some peace in my life.
The one theme in much of what I was going through: when all else seemed to fail, I went back to an AA meeting, hoping to find some peace of mind, some answers. That was all I knew.
Yet the sin conscience remains, the sense that God is not happy with you, or that you are all alone in the world.
What the Problem Was, Really. . .AA
Why was I not enjoy those blessings in my life?
The key enforcement clause of the New Covenant makes all the difference:
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 12)
As long as I continued to attend AA meetings, as long as I continued to believe that I was "not OK" with God, then I was not believing that Jesus had done everything for me:
"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6:29)
Why did God prevent the first generation of Israelites from entering the Promised Land?
"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4: 11)
They did not believe in God, they did not take Him at His Word. God the Father has sent His Son, the Word made flesh. It's time for you take to God the Father at His Word, and all things with Him.
As long as someone continues working the Twelve Steps, their actions, words, and thoughts war against the belief that all our sins are forgiven in Christ.
Returning to Hebrews 8, the last verse of the chapter tells all of us what happens to the Old Covenant:
"In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." (Hebrews 8:13)
AA members, like many tradition-minded church goers, are still operating under the Old Covenant, one which was faulty because of man, because he could not keep the law (Hebrews 8: 8)
The whole AA thing is a Ponzi scheme, forcing people to focus on themselves, when the answer, with all the blessings with him, is Jesus Christ, the Anointed Savior who wants to save us yesterday, today, and forever.
The key enforcement clause of the New Covenant makes all the difference:
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 12)
As long as I continued to attend AA meetings, as long as I continued to believe that I was "not OK" with God, then I was not believing that Jesus had done everything for me:
"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6:29)
Why did God prevent the first generation of Israelites from entering the Promised Land?
"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4: 11)
They did not believe in God, they did not take Him at His Word. God the Father has sent His Son, the Word made flesh. It's time for you take to God the Father at His Word, and all things with Him.
As long as someone continues working the Twelve Steps, their actions, words, and thoughts war against the belief that all our sins are forgiven in Christ.
Returning to Hebrews 8, the last verse of the chapter tells all of us what happens to the Old Covenant:
"In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." (Hebrews 8:13)
AA members, like many tradition-minded church goers, are still operating under the Old Covenant, one which was faulty because of man, because he could not keep the law (Hebrews 8: 8)
The whole AA thing is a Ponzi scheme, forcing people to focus on themselves, when the answer, with all the blessings with him, is Jesus Christ, the Anointed Savior who wants to save us yesterday, today, and forever.
What the Problem Was, Really. . .
I never felt at rest, I never felt at peace, at all.
I will never forget that one September evening.
I had it all. . .( or at least what one would call "all". . )
I had moved out of my parents house (finally).
I had my own job, full-time and fully benefited.
I had my own car.
There I was, sitting alone in a South Bay Burger King.
All I could ask was "Is this all there is?"
I did not have life, or that more abundantly.
I felt so alone in the world. So alone. Such is the price of self-centeredness based on trying to keep the law, trying to keep short accounts with God, for fear that anything that I might say or do would "cut me off" from the sunlight of the Spirit.
I read my Bible, I prayed to God, I I I.
Wow, a life of self is not worth even putting on a shelf.
This malaise seemed to follow me without end.
I was reading my Bible, but not in order to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord, but in order to cover pages. It was an exercise, one that gave me nothing but something to do.
So empty, so lost.
The common denominator in all of this: The Twelve Steps. I was still going to meetings in afternoons or on weekends.
The last meeting I attended, a Saturday just before Christmas vacation. Whatever I was looking for, I did not find.
The malaise never went away. What was I doing here on this planet?
Little did I realize in those days: I was still suffering from a sin conscience, the deep-set sense of alienation and wrongdoing which plagues every son of Adam.
AA cannot deal with this "sin conscience". Working the steps, taking your inventory, going to meetings, doing good works, none of it can fill the eternal need in every man:
"He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." (Ecclesiastes 3: 11)
In fact, the Holy Spirit works the greatest miracle into the heart of every believer once they receive the grace of God through faith:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
This is the New Covenant, people:
"For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26: 28)
Paul relates this powerful truth to the Corinthians:
"After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me." (1 Corinthians 11: 25)
and
"And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." "(Hebrews 12: 24)
The blood of Abel spoke judgment and retribution. The blood of Jesus speaks -- present tense! -- love, grace, favor, blessings, and every good and perfect gift in Christ.
I will never forget that one September evening.
I had it all. . .( or at least what one would call "all". . )
I had moved out of my parents house (finally).
I had my own job, full-time and fully benefited.
I had my own car.
There I was, sitting alone in a South Bay Burger King.
All I could ask was "Is this all there is?"
I did not have life, or that more abundantly.
I felt so alone in the world. So alone. Such is the price of self-centeredness based on trying to keep the law, trying to keep short accounts with God, for fear that anything that I might say or do would "cut me off" from the sunlight of the Spirit.
I read my Bible, I prayed to God, I I I.
Wow, a life of self is not worth even putting on a shelf.
This malaise seemed to follow me without end.
I was reading my Bible, but not in order to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord, but in order to cover pages. It was an exercise, one that gave me nothing but something to do.
So empty, so lost.
The common denominator in all of this: The Twelve Steps. I was still going to meetings in afternoons or on weekends.
The last meeting I attended, a Saturday just before Christmas vacation. Whatever I was looking for, I did not find.
The malaise never went away. What was I doing here on this planet?
Little did I realize in those days: I was still suffering from a sin conscience, the deep-set sense of alienation and wrongdoing which plagues every son of Adam.
AA cannot deal with this "sin conscience". Working the steps, taking your inventory, going to meetings, doing good works, none of it can fill the eternal need in every man:
"He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." (Ecclesiastes 3: 11)
In fact, the Holy Spirit works the greatest miracle into the heart of every believer once they receive the grace of God through faith:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
This is the New Covenant, people:
"For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26: 28)
Paul relates this powerful truth to the Corinthians:
"After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me." (1 Corinthians 11: 25)
and
"And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." "(Hebrews 12: 24)
The blood of Abel spoke judgment and retribution. The blood of Jesus speaks -- present tense! -- love, grace, favor, blessings, and every good and perfect gift in Christ.
AA says "Work!" -- Jesus Says "Rest!"
It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee - Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. (AA, pg 85)
While AA teaches people that they have to keep coming back, keep working their program, and keep themselves from alcohol, the Bible teaches differently:
"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made." (Genesis 2: 2)
"And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2: 9)
"And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever." (Exodus 14: 13)
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." (Exodus 20: 8)
"If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
"Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it." (Isaiah 58: 13-14)
"Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?" (Ruth 3: 1)
"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
"Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
"The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments." (Habakkuk 3: 17-19)
"28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11: 28-30)
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4: 9-11)
AA demands that its members "work a program" --- Jesus is our rest, and He wants us to rest in Him and receive all things:
"31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8: 31-32)
While AA teaches people that they have to keep coming back, keep working their program, and keep themselves from alcohol, the Bible teaches differently:
"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made." (Genesis 2: 2)
"And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2: 9)
"And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever." (Exodus 14: 13)
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." (Exodus 20: 8)
"If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
"Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it." (Isaiah 58: 13-14)
"Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?" (Ruth 3: 1)
"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
"Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
"The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments." (Habakkuk 3: 17-19)
"28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11: 28-30)
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4: 9-11)
AA demands that its members "work a program" --- Jesus is our rest, and He wants us to rest in Him and receive all things:
"31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8: 31-32)
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Esteem What Jesus Did
"If you want self-esteem, do estimable acts."
This quote is one of many cliches in AA which people keep coming back to hear, but one which never keeps people sober, let along happy, joyous, and free.
Something in man tends to fight, to rebel against resting in his own efforts. Whatever he has done, something inside of man continues to rail against him. Whatever good other people say about him, inside of himself, his accomplishments never amount to "enough."
God has placed eternity in man's hearts, and only eternity given, pressed down, shaken together, and running over can fill man up.
God gives the gift of righteousness and abundance of grace (Romans 5: 17) through His Son.
If you want self-esteem, stop looking at yourself, and start looking at Christ, your new self:
"17Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)
AA does not teach this. In fact, oftentimes Christians get shut down in AA meetings.
So much for love and tolerance.
Jesus does more than tolerate us, though. He takes us as we are, then make us one with Him so that wherever we go, whatever may happen, God does not see us in our sin, but sees us in His Son.
Esteem what Jesus has done for you at the Cross, and you will no longer about self-esteem:
"6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;"
(Ephesians 1: 6-7)
This quote is one of many cliches in AA which people keep coming back to hear, but one which never keeps people sober, let along happy, joyous, and free.
Something in man tends to fight, to rebel against resting in his own efforts. Whatever he has done, something inside of man continues to rail against him. Whatever good other people say about him, inside of himself, his accomplishments never amount to "enough."
God has placed eternity in man's hearts, and only eternity given, pressed down, shaken together, and running over can fill man up.
God gives the gift of righteousness and abundance of grace (Romans 5: 17) through His Son.
If you want self-esteem, stop looking at yourself, and start looking at Christ, your new self:
"17Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)
AA does not teach this. In fact, oftentimes Christians get shut down in AA meetings.
So much for love and tolerance.
Jesus does more than tolerate us, though. He takes us as we are, then make us one with Him so that wherever we go, whatever may happen, God does not see us in our sin, but sees us in His Son.
Esteem what Jesus has done for you at the Cross, and you will no longer about self-esteem:
"6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;"
(Ephesians 1: 6-7)
About St. Jude's "Non-AA" Treatments
I visited an interesting website which offered counseling people with drug and alcohol problems.
I definitely agree with some points of the program:
1. Addiction is not a disease.
2. People have living problems, which lead to drinking and using drugs
So far, though, I do not agree with the following:
People do not need self-actualization. The increase in drug abuse and drinking, from what I have observed, stems from this modern world-view which has caused people to make themselves the center of their lives. In centuries past, men and women identified with something greater than themselves, even if it was a monarch or a culture based on traditions.
The cult of self has created a world full of people who are insecure and self-centered, hurt and burned out because the world does not treat them well. We love ourselves too much, yet our self-love is just not enough.
Also, forgiveness and restitution and redemption cannot be earned or created, for Jesus Christ has provided us forgiveness from all sins as well as the gifts of righteousness and grace in Him.
People need truth, not therapy. People need life, not self-actualization.
I preach Christ and Him Crucified. People should not have to spend large sums of money to get sober.
I can attest to His power. My mother could not quit smoking, even though she had quit drinking seven years before. She just prayed to God for his Grace, since she had nothing of herself, and she quit.
God's grace is greater than man's goodness.
To any one who finds value or wisddom in these posts, you are more than welcome to comment.
I cannot stress this truth enough: "self-actualization" puts people on the broad highway to ruin, not recovery.
Thee cults of "self" has reached Napoleonic proportions, with nothing but frustration, depression, and anxiety for youth who have been raised to believe that they are just fine as they are, that their self-esteem is all that matters.
No matter what a man does, no matter what he says or thinks of himself or others, the death that works in men because of our separation from God cannot be removed or satisfied with anything that we do. We do not need more of ourselves, we do not need to "know ourselves". but we need life, and that more abundantly. We are in bondage to ourselves, yes, but this bondage is sin, and sin afflicts every human being, not just those addicted to substances.
I commend any non-AA treatments, but anything without "The Way and the Truth" will have no life to impart, and life is the very thing that people crave but cannot create on their own.
I definitely agree with some points of the program:
1. Addiction is not a disease.
2. People have living problems, which lead to drinking and using drugs
So far, though, I do not agree with the following:
People do not need self-actualization. The increase in drug abuse and drinking, from what I have observed, stems from this modern world-view which has caused people to make themselves the center of their lives. In centuries past, men and women identified with something greater than themselves, even if it was a monarch or a culture based on traditions.
The cult of self has created a world full of people who are insecure and self-centered, hurt and burned out because the world does not treat them well. We love ourselves too much, yet our self-love is just not enough.
Also, forgiveness and restitution and redemption cannot be earned or created, for Jesus Christ has provided us forgiveness from all sins as well as the gifts of righteousness and grace in Him.
People need truth, not therapy. People need life, not self-actualization.
I preach Christ and Him Crucified. People should not have to spend large sums of money to get sober.
I can attest to His power. My mother could not quit smoking, even though she had quit drinking seven years before. She just prayed to God for his Grace, since she had nothing of herself, and she quit.
God's grace is greater than man's goodness.
To any one who finds value or wisddom in these posts, you are more than welcome to comment.
I cannot stress this truth enough: "self-actualization" puts people on the broad highway to ruin, not recovery.
Thee cults of "self" has reached Napoleonic proportions, with nothing but frustration, depression, and anxiety for youth who have been raised to believe that they are just fine as they are, that their self-esteem is all that matters.
No matter what a man does, no matter what he says or thinks of himself or others, the death that works in men because of our separation from God cannot be removed or satisfied with anything that we do. We do not need more of ourselves, we do not need to "know ourselves". but we need life, and that more abundantly. We are in bondage to ourselves, yes, but this bondage is sin, and sin afflicts every human being, not just those addicted to substances.
I commend any non-AA treatments, but anything without "The Way and the Truth" will have no life to impart, and life is the very thing that people crave but cannot create on their own.
Taking Your Inventory, You Cannot Receive His Love
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3: 16)
Jesus did not come so that we would take our inventories.
A guilty conscience will make it impossible for anyone to believe and receive the love of God. As long as we are looking at ourselves, whether because we have been conned into thinking that we are wonderful because of what we do, or we are convinced that we are evil no matter what we do
This cancer of self-centered condemnation is the legacy for all the sons of Adam:
"And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." (Genesis 3: 10)
From the moment that Adam and Even had the knowledge of good and evil, they looked at themselves, and realized that they did not measure up to right and wrong. Then they covered themselves with fig leaves.
Because they did something which God told them not to do, and by eating from the forbidden fruit, they ended up having a sense of wrongdoing, and that sense of wrongdoing was the very wrongdoing which God did not want them to have. They "surely died" that day, consumed with themselves and their sin, unable to focus on anything else.
AA does not set us free from ourselves, but causes men and women to be more consumed with themselves. If a man has to take his inventory every day, that means that he is looking and thinking about himself.
When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid? Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time? Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life? But we must be careful not to drift into worry, remorse or morbid reflection, for that would diminish our usefulness to others. After making our review we ask God's forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken. (AA. pg 86)
You have to think about yourself in order to take your inventory, do you not? Once again, the AA program creates people who end up frustrated and full of self-defeat because they focus on themselves instead of God.
What do you do if you sin in the way that you think? If you are like me, you will find yourself looking at your thoughts and feelings all the time. The madhouse which runs wild in a man's mind brings nothing but bondage and forces us to look at ourselves instead of looking at Jesus Christ.
If we are consumed with ourselves, we will not be able to receive His righteousness and grace. Jesus' death on the Cross is the signal and certainty to all mankind that God will never be angry at the world again, that we do not have to take our inventories and clean up the wreckage of our past to be accepted by God.
Consider the Prodigal Son. When he came back home, his Father rushed to him and offered him nothing but love with both arms open. Instead of stinking rags covered with pigs filth, the Father dressed the Son in a new robe, with a ring and sandals for his feet. This is God the Father, this is our Lord Jesus! He takes us as we are, looking for an easy job, and He goes further.
This God is beyond our understanding. Either you believe it, or you do not. As long as anyone continues to take his inventory, he will not be able to believe and receive the love of God:
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4: 10)
If Jesus has paid for all your sins, and continues to do so, then why would you continue to recount them? If you want to receive Jesus' love, then you must rest in the truth that you are made fully and forever righteous by his one-and-for-all sacrifice.
Jesus did not come so that we would take our inventories.
A guilty conscience will make it impossible for anyone to believe and receive the love of God. As long as we are looking at ourselves, whether because we have been conned into thinking that we are wonderful because of what we do, or we are convinced that we are evil no matter what we do
This cancer of self-centered condemnation is the legacy for all the sons of Adam:
"And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." (Genesis 3: 10)
From the moment that Adam and Even had the knowledge of good and evil, they looked at themselves, and realized that they did not measure up to right and wrong. Then they covered themselves with fig leaves.
Because they did something which God told them not to do, and by eating from the forbidden fruit, they ended up having a sense of wrongdoing, and that sense of wrongdoing was the very wrongdoing which God did not want them to have. They "surely died" that day, consumed with themselves and their sin, unable to focus on anything else.
AA does not set us free from ourselves, but causes men and women to be more consumed with themselves. If a man has to take his inventory every day, that means that he is looking and thinking about himself.
When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid? Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time? Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life? But we must be careful not to drift into worry, remorse or morbid reflection, for that would diminish our usefulness to others. After making our review we ask God's forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken. (AA. pg 86)
You have to think about yourself in order to take your inventory, do you not? Once again, the AA program creates people who end up frustrated and full of self-defeat because they focus on themselves instead of God.
What do you do if you sin in the way that you think? If you are like me, you will find yourself looking at your thoughts and feelings all the time. The madhouse which runs wild in a man's mind brings nothing but bondage and forces us to look at ourselves instead of looking at Jesus Christ.
If we are consumed with ourselves, we will not be able to receive His righteousness and grace. Jesus' death on the Cross is the signal and certainty to all mankind that God will never be angry at the world again, that we do not have to take our inventories and clean up the wreckage of our past to be accepted by God.
Consider the Prodigal Son. When he came back home, his Father rushed to him and offered him nothing but love with both arms open. Instead of stinking rags covered with pigs filth, the Father dressed the Son in a new robe, with a ring and sandals for his feet. This is God the Father, this is our Lord Jesus! He takes us as we are, looking for an easy job, and He goes further.
This God is beyond our understanding. Either you believe it, or you do not. As long as anyone continues to take his inventory, he will not be able to believe and receive the love of God:
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4: 10)
If Jesus has paid for all your sins, and continues to do so, then why would you continue to recount them? If you want to receive Jesus' love, then you must rest in the truth that you are made fully and forever righteous by his one-and-for-all sacrifice.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Jesus Finished It: Either You Believe it or You Don't
AA sucks!
AA is really bad.
AA distracts and blinds people from the glorious Gospel of full remission and righteousness:
"38Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." (Acts 13: 38-39)
Jesus Christ gives us all things.
The New Covenant outlines what His death at the Cross accomplished for every person who is willing to repent and believe the Gospel of grace (Galatians 1: 6):
AA is really bad.
AA distracts and blinds people from the glorious Gospel of full remission and righteousness:
"38Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." (Acts 13: 38-39)
Jesus Christ gives us all things.
The New Covenant outlines what His death at the Cross accomplished for every person who is willing to repent and believe the Gospel of grace (Galatians 1: 6):
"10For this is
the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts:
and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not
teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:
for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12For I will be
merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I
remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
He leads us from within, He loves from without and all about. He teaches us to know Him, so that we no longer need to spend our lives running around to experts and leaders who know even less. The Holy Spirit who lives within us leads us and guides into all knowledge and truth, and as we walk in the Spirit, we need not fear sinning or doing wrong, and even if something bad happens, we can trust that God will take every bad turn and turn it for our good.
Jesus finished it. Jesus is that good. Either you believe it or you don't.
| |||
Do Not "Outgrow" Fear, but Cast it Out through the Love of Christ
We reviewed our fears thoroughly. We put them on paper, even though we had no resentment in connection with them. We asked ourselves why we had them. Wasn't it because self-reliance failed us? Self-reliance was good as far as it went, but it didn't go far enough. Some of us once had great self-confidence, but it didn't fully solve the fear problem, or any other. When it made us cocky, it was worse. (AA, pg. 68)
Even the Big Book gives a question instead of an answer.
"Was it not?"
In a sense, it is true that fear is born of self-reliance.
But the idea that we can "outgrow" fear is just plain wrong.
The Bible teaches us what fear really is:
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1: 7)
Fear is a spirit, and something which does not belong to us. Something which we are not supposed to identify with.
Then the Bible relates the proper way to get rid of fear:
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."(1 John 4: 17)
Fear cannot be reasoned or worked out with our flesh. Fear is cast out with the proper revelation of God's love:
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4: 10)
Jesus Christ is right now the propitiation of our sins. This propiiation initiates to us and promises forever the New Covenant:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
He puts His laws in our hearts and minds. He leads us from within by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. He will be a God to us, taking care of all our needs and providing all that we want. As we delight in the truth that all our sins are forgiven, we can experience all the good that God has in store for us.
Fear is an evil spirit born of condemnation:
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4: 18)
This perfection pertains specifically to "conscience":
"1For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins." (Hebrews 10: 1-2)
and then
"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10: 14)
We are called to live in the newness of the Spirit, not weighed down with a guilty conscience, since all of our sins have been paid for.
The sources of fear in my life have rested in many strange things. I was afraid of losing money, I was afraid of losing my home, I was afraid of losing face in front of people, I was even afraid of being paralyzed with fear, so that I could not do my job or stand up to other people
This fear is born only of the sense that all our sins have not yet been forgiven, fully, nor that because all our sins are forgiven, He promises to take care of all our needs in our life.
This is the newest part for me. AA had taught me that I had to take my inventory, maintain short accounts, strive for everything. The New Covenant, bought and paid for through Christ Jesus, is based on the Power and Love and Sound Mind of Jesus Christ, for we have the mind of Christ, one which declares that we are accepted in the Beloved.
We do not outgrow fear, because the fear of punishment (Hebrews 10: 26-27) cannot be eased or satisfied with anything that we do, but through all that Jesus Christ has done in our lives.
Even the Big Book gives a question instead of an answer.
"Was it not?"
In a sense, it is true that fear is born of self-reliance.
But the idea that we can "outgrow" fear is just plain wrong.
The Bible teaches us what fear really is:
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1: 7)
Fear is a spirit, and something which does not belong to us. Something which we are not supposed to identify with.
Then the Bible relates the proper way to get rid of fear:
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."(1 John 4: 17)
Fear cannot be reasoned or worked out with our flesh. Fear is cast out with the proper revelation of God's love:
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4: 10)
Jesus Christ is right now the propitiation of our sins. This propiiation initiates to us and promises forever the New Covenant:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
He puts His laws in our hearts and minds. He leads us from within by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. He will be a God to us, taking care of all our needs and providing all that we want. As we delight in the truth that all our sins are forgiven, we can experience all the good that God has in store for us.
Fear is an evil spirit born of condemnation:
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4: 18)
This perfection pertains specifically to "conscience":
"1For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins." (Hebrews 10: 1-2)
and then
"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10: 14)
We are called to live in the newness of the Spirit, not weighed down with a guilty conscience, since all of our sins have been paid for.
The sources of fear in my life have rested in many strange things. I was afraid of losing money, I was afraid of losing my home, I was afraid of losing face in front of people, I was even afraid of being paralyzed with fear, so that I could not do my job or stand up to other people
This fear is born only of the sense that all our sins have not yet been forgiven, fully, nor that because all our sins are forgiven, He promises to take care of all our needs in our life.
This is the newest part for me. AA had taught me that I had to take my inventory, maintain short accounts, strive for everything. The New Covenant, bought and paid for through Christ Jesus, is based on the Power and Love and Sound Mind of Jesus Christ, for we have the mind of Christ, one which declares that we are accepted in the Beloved.
We do not outgrow fear, because the fear of punishment (Hebrews 10: 26-27) cannot be eased or satisfied with anything that we do, but through all that Jesus Christ has done in our lives.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Why I Was So Unhappy PART V
I was lied to.
I was deceived.
I was told that this life was up to me. That I had to make sure that I kept up with God's exacting standards.
I was so afflicted with a sin conscience.
I had done and thought so many bad things. I had tried to maintain my own righteousness through my own efforts, and I was caught up short, so short.
I had done and said and even thought things that were so bad, and I knew that I had to pay for all the things that I had done.
I had to pay for those things!
Why did I not believe that all my sins were forgiven? I had gone to church for years, I had recited the Nicene Creed, I had prayed, I had tried to do good things. . .
I was taking my inventory, I was working the "Twelve Steps," and as long as we believe that we can earn or retain or maintain our righteousness through our efforts, then we find ourselves forever in this miasma of trying.
I was abandoned as a child, full of shame and guilt, unsure of how to get out of it.
I never wanted to feel guilty again.I never wanted to feel condemned again, but no one had ever explained to me that I felt bad because of a sin conscience.
A sin conscience based on, fomented by the Twelve Steps.
The Twelve Steps which make me responsible for my relationship with God. The Bible teaches that I have been adopted, and I had nothing to do with it. My job is to believe and receive that I have been transformed from death in sin to alive in Christ.
The knew standing is based on Himself, Himself, and Himself. The last thing that we will do is "Let Go and Let God", but how can I let go if I think that I have to do something.
Believe on Him whom the Father has sent -- Jesus Christ!
I was deceived.
I was told that this life was up to me. That I had to make sure that I kept up with God's exacting standards.
I was so afflicted with a sin conscience.
I had done and thought so many bad things. I had tried to maintain my own righteousness through my own efforts, and I was caught up short, so short.
I had done and said and even thought things that were so bad, and I knew that I had to pay for all the things that I had done.
I had to pay for those things!
Why did I not believe that all my sins were forgiven? I had gone to church for years, I had recited the Nicene Creed, I had prayed, I had tried to do good things. . .
I was taking my inventory, I was working the "Twelve Steps," and as long as we believe that we can earn or retain or maintain our righteousness through our efforts, then we find ourselves forever in this miasma of trying.
I was abandoned as a child, full of shame and guilt, unsure of how to get out of it.
I never wanted to feel guilty again.I never wanted to feel condemned again, but no one had ever explained to me that I felt bad because of a sin conscience.
A sin conscience based on, fomented by the Twelve Steps.
The Twelve Steps which make me responsible for my relationship with God. The Bible teaches that I have been adopted, and I had nothing to do with it. My job is to believe and receive that I have been transformed from death in sin to alive in Christ.
The knew standing is based on Himself, Himself, and Himself. The last thing that we will do is "Let Go and Let God", but how can I let go if I think that I have to do something.
Believe on Him whom the Father has sent -- Jesus Christ!
Why I Was So Unhappy Part IV
I never could stand up to people.
I was so bad with this: I would rehearse the hurts and slights of the past like the worst of them.
Shame on AA. Shame on Bill W., and shame on the therapists and social workers who reduce right and wrong, righteousness and condemnation, to silly concepts of a bygone era.
The truth does not go away. The stability of what is, what was, what will be does not go away. Simple as that.
You cannot stand up for anything if you feel that you have no right or reason to stand.
I used to feel angry and fearful about meeting certain people, but the biggest reason for this unease was that I never understood why I was so easily upset, why I seemed to have no control over how I felt.
I was upset, and I did not know what. I felt scared, and I did not know what to do about it.
I was so "afraid" of meeting certain people, for I had tied up my identity, my standing with how I felt.
Under the New Covenant, who we are has nothing to do with who we are.
We have received the Spirit of Adoption. True repentance has nothing to do with what we do for God, but everything to do with what God has done for us.
Will we let God pick us up? Will we receive the gift of God's own Son, Jesus Christ? Do we accept that He is the propitiation of all our sins, or not? Do we let Him save us through every difficulty of our lives, or not?
I was so unhappy, because I had believed, what so many Christians believe, that Jesus saves us from death to life, but as for living on this earth, we are on our own.
That is not the Gospel at all. We have received not just forgiveness of our sins, but we have received Jesus' own life and standing. If that does not make you happy, I do not know what to tell you.
I walked around with a sin conscience, because I believed like so many people that I had to make mention of my sins, get back and stay on God's good side. So, we find ourselves looking at ourselves, which the Devil enjoys immensely.
Today, now is the acceptable time. Believe all that Jesus has said and done and worked for you in your life.
Look at Him, not yourself, for as He is, so are we in this world!
I was so bad with this: I would rehearse the hurts and slights of the past like the worst of them.
Shame on AA. Shame on Bill W., and shame on the therapists and social workers who reduce right and wrong, righteousness and condemnation, to silly concepts of a bygone era.
The truth does not go away. The stability of what is, what was, what will be does not go away. Simple as that.
You cannot stand up for anything if you feel that you have no right or reason to stand.
I used to feel angry and fearful about meeting certain people, but the biggest reason for this unease was that I never understood why I was so easily upset, why I seemed to have no control over how I felt.
I was upset, and I did not know what. I felt scared, and I did not know what to do about it.
I was so "afraid" of meeting certain people, for I had tied up my identity, my standing with how I felt.
Under the New Covenant, who we are has nothing to do with who we are.
We have received the Spirit of Adoption. True repentance has nothing to do with what we do for God, but everything to do with what God has done for us.
Will we let God pick us up? Will we receive the gift of God's own Son, Jesus Christ? Do we accept that He is the propitiation of all our sins, or not? Do we let Him save us through every difficulty of our lives, or not?
I was so unhappy, because I had believed, what so many Christians believe, that Jesus saves us from death to life, but as for living on this earth, we are on our own.
That is not the Gospel at all. We have received not just forgiveness of our sins, but we have received Jesus' own life and standing. If that does not make you happy, I do not know what to tell you.
I walked around with a sin conscience, because I believed like so many people that I had to make mention of my sins, get back and stay on God's good side. So, we find ourselves looking at ourselves, which the Devil enjoys immensely.
Today, now is the acceptable time. Believe all that Jesus has said and done and worked for you in your life.
Look at Him, not yourself, for as He is, so are we in this world!
Why I Was So Unhappy Part III
I looked at my feelings for a gauge as to what I should do in this life. If you face nothing but conflict in a tight moment, then what will you have?
Every decision turned into a three act play. What if I did the wrong thing? What if I said the wrong words?
Nothing like Jesus' advice, in which He simply tells us to trust the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, who gives us all wisdom and knowledge, leads everyone of us. No need to wonder what to do, what to say:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:" (Hebrews 8: 10)
He puts His laws in my heart and mind. He guides me from within through the peace of Christ, which serves as the final judge, or arbiter, of all things.
You need any information? Ask God for wisdom, for Christ is made unto every believer Wisdom, along with every other good and perfect gift (1 Corinthians 1: 30; James 1: 17)
I did not believe that God was for me.
I had often believed that I had to act a certain way, or think certain thoughts, or fight against bad thoughts in order to stay in contact with the Lord.
All of this nonsense was taught to me from a young age in AA.
For so many years, I would sit in the bus, sit in the classroom, listen to other people, but I never wanted to share my thoughts or my views on anything, because I was afraid to do or say something wrong.
Sin conscience strikes again -- boo!
I was thinking about myself all the time. That's just wrong. I was wondering what other people were thinking of me. Doubly wrong.
I have only recently learned about:
"Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he
is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
Wow! Boldness! That's what I had always wanted. I wanted to be able to stand up to those people who had offended me as a kid, and now I know why it was so hard for me to stand up for myself.
Every decision turned into a three act play. What if I did the wrong thing? What if I said the wrong words?
Nothing like Jesus' advice, in which He simply tells us to trust the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, who gives us all wisdom and knowledge, leads everyone of us. No need to wonder what to do, what to say:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:" (Hebrews 8: 10)
He puts His laws in my heart and mind. He guides me from within through the peace of Christ, which serves as the final judge, or arbiter, of all things.
You need any information? Ask God for wisdom, for Christ is made unto every believer Wisdom, along with every other good and perfect gift (1 Corinthians 1: 30; James 1: 17)
I did not believe that God was for me.
I had often believed that I had to act a certain way, or think certain thoughts, or fight against bad thoughts in order to stay in contact with the Lord.
All of this nonsense was taught to me from a young age in AA.
For so many years, I would sit in the bus, sit in the classroom, listen to other people, but I never wanted to share my thoughts or my views on anything, because I was afraid to do or say something wrong.
Sin conscience strikes again -- boo!
I was thinking about myself all the time. That's just wrong. I was wondering what other people were thinking of me. Doubly wrong.
I have only recently learned about:
Wow! Boldness! That's what I had always wanted. I wanted to be able to stand up to those people who had offended me as a kid, and now I know why it was so hard for me to stand up for myself.
Why I was So Unhappy Part II
So, people would get on my nerves, people would make me mad.
People cannot make you mad. People cannot make you scared or frustrated, either.
If you know who is your God, than nothing can bring you down, nothing at all.
That sin conscience causes more problems than it solves.
It makes people feel defenseless and alone.
Thank you, God the Father for the New Covenant:
"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8:10-12)
We are not responsible for watching out for ourselves. He promises to be a God for us. This promise does not, shall not, cannot have anything to do with us.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of righteousness, people! Not of sin, not of judgment, but of righteousness:
"8And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." (John 16: 8-11)
Righteousness belongs to us, since "we" see Jesus no more with our limited five senses, but instead He abides in us through the Holy Spirit, and through the Spirit we receive the Kingdom of Heaven, which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14: 17).
This righteousness is a gift (Romans 5:17), which we are called to keep receiving, no matter what happens. Established in righteousness, we are free to receive all of Him, all of his grace.
I am not my feelings. Yet for too long, I was trying to fix my feelings.
The Bible teaches us otherwise. We are called to fix our hearts on Himself, and our hearts to be established in grace.
Now I understand the peace of contentment which is the rich legacy of all who choose to believe on Him whom God the Father has sent (John 6: 29)
People cannot make you mad. People cannot make you scared or frustrated, either.
If you know who is your God, than nothing can bring you down, nothing at all.
That sin conscience causes more problems than it solves.
It makes people feel defenseless and alone.
Thank you, God the Father for the New Covenant:
"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8:10-12)
We are not responsible for watching out for ourselves. He promises to be a God for us. This promise does not, shall not, cannot have anything to do with us.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of righteousness, people! Not of sin, not of judgment, but of righteousness:
"8And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." (John 16: 8-11)
Righteousness belongs to us, since "we" see Jesus no more with our limited five senses, but instead He abides in us through the Holy Spirit, and through the Spirit we receive the Kingdom of Heaven, which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14: 17).
This righteousness is a gift (Romans 5:17), which we are called to keep receiving, no matter what happens. Established in righteousness, we are free to receive all of Him, all of his grace.
I am not my feelings. Yet for too long, I was trying to fix my feelings.
The Bible teaches us otherwise. We are called to fix our hearts on Himself, and our hearts to be established in grace.
Now I understand the peace of contentment which is the rich legacy of all who choose to believe on Him whom God the Father has sent (John 6: 29)
Why I was So Unhappy
This news is good news! Good News for me, all the way!
I was depressed in September 12, 2006. I had everything in my life, but I was empty on the inside. This life seemed like something that I had to do, to make, to have, to be on my own.
It was never enough, no matter what I did. I was either bored and unhappy, or dreaded the possible events of the day, or feared talking or confronting other people.
I never understood why I was so empty and dejected at UC Irvine, or why my Bible studies never seemed to prosper.
I was trying to put the New Wine of Jesus in the Old Wine Sacks of legalism and AA.
I would go to class during the day, then run off to Columbia Housing, to the local park, and I would read my one chapter of the Bible, along with a few selections from "One Day at a Time in Al-Anon". I "felt" the presence of God in that place, but God is more than a presence to be felt, but a Daddy who loves us, who never leaves us nor forsakes us, who promises us all things. It's never been about feeling, nor even about thinking, but rather it's about believing, about resting in the truth that all our sins are forgiven, and thus in Christ all our needs are met, and He lives in us and leads us by His Holy Spirit all the time.
Jesus cannot reveal Himself to people who blinded by the law or by tradition. Just as Cleopas and wife did not recognize Jesus Christ on their way back to Emmaus, because their eyes were blinded, so to every Christian who tried to live the Twelve Steps will find that the program blocks them from seeing Christ Jesus, whose death and resurrection has given mankind the way from death to life, from dead in trespasses to alive in righteousness, from impoverished in a fallen world to seated in heavenly places and blessed with all spiritual blessings.
I was reared in AA from a young age. I was taught that if I felt bad, it was my fault in some way, because that's what religion teaches people. "Take it on the check", "bear it all", "The only problem with you is you," and so on and soon.
No wonder I was, was mind you, and easy target for bullying as a kid! AA teaches people that they have no right to speak up for themselves. I was taught that I should never speak up because I might get into trouble, or "something bad would happen to me."
That's the sin conscience, people! "You deserve to be treated this way, you deserve it."
AA teaches people to feel that way. Evil stuff, people!
I had acquired everything in my life, and my life was nothing but acquisition, and that was simply not enough
Jesus came to bear all the sins and hurts and pains so that we do not have to. We do not have to put up with abuse or disrespect. We do not have to lose our tempers, but we do not have to forfeit our peace in order to tolerate intolerable conditions.
I was taught for so long that I was supposed to put up with other people. I had no choice.
AA teaches people this silly line of thinking. Not only are you powerless over alcohol, but you are also powerless over everything else, including yourself. No wonder people get scared, no wonder people get frustrated. They see the world, and they see themselves without any resort but to put up with everything.
AA is really bad, and really really bad for young people, like me, when I was learning all of that garbage.
I was depressed in September 12, 2006. I had everything in my life, but I was empty on the inside. This life seemed like something that I had to do, to make, to have, to be on my own.
It was never enough, no matter what I did. I was either bored and unhappy, or dreaded the possible events of the day, or feared talking or confronting other people.
I never understood why I was so empty and dejected at UC Irvine, or why my Bible studies never seemed to prosper.
I was trying to put the New Wine of Jesus in the Old Wine Sacks of legalism and AA.
I would go to class during the day, then run off to Columbia Housing, to the local park, and I would read my one chapter of the Bible, along with a few selections from "One Day at a Time in Al-Anon". I "felt" the presence of God in that place, but God is more than a presence to be felt, but a Daddy who loves us, who never leaves us nor forsakes us, who promises us all things. It's never been about feeling, nor even about thinking, but rather it's about believing, about resting in the truth that all our sins are forgiven, and thus in Christ all our needs are met, and He lives in us and leads us by His Holy Spirit all the time.
Jesus cannot reveal Himself to people who blinded by the law or by tradition. Just as Cleopas and wife did not recognize Jesus Christ on their way back to Emmaus, because their eyes were blinded, so to every Christian who tried to live the Twelve Steps will find that the program blocks them from seeing Christ Jesus, whose death and resurrection has given mankind the way from death to life, from dead in trespasses to alive in righteousness, from impoverished in a fallen world to seated in heavenly places and blessed with all spiritual blessings.
I was reared in AA from a young age. I was taught that if I felt bad, it was my fault in some way, because that's what religion teaches people. "Take it on the check", "bear it all", "The only problem with you is you," and so on and soon.
No wonder I was, was mind you, and easy target for bullying as a kid! AA teaches people that they have no right to speak up for themselves. I was taught that I should never speak up because I might get into trouble, or "something bad would happen to me."
That's the sin conscience, people! "You deserve to be treated this way, you deserve it."
AA teaches people to feel that way. Evil stuff, people!
I had acquired everything in my life, and my life was nothing but acquisition, and that was simply not enough
Jesus came to bear all the sins and hurts and pains so that we do not have to. We do not have to put up with abuse or disrespect. We do not have to lose our tempers, but we do not have to forfeit our peace in order to tolerate intolerable conditions.
I was taught for so long that I was supposed to put up with other people. I had no choice.
AA teaches people this silly line of thinking. Not only are you powerless over alcohol, but you are also powerless over everything else, including yourself. No wonder people get scared, no wonder people get frustrated. They see the world, and they see themselves without any resort but to put up with everything.
AA is really bad, and really really bad for young people, like me, when I was learning all of that garbage.
It was a Guilty Conscience All Along!
I felt bad all the time.
I felt that I had done something wrong, or that my bad feelings suggested that I was doing something wrong, and therefore I and neither right nor authority to speak up for myself.
I could never be sure if I was being rightly or wrongly offended.
I acted as if I was all alone in this world.
Notice the prevalence of "I" in this post. Paul wrestled with "self" with "I" so much in Romans 7, but who we are in ourselves is nothing but dead, and any attempt to improve ourselves produces weak and beggarly elements all the way.
Such is the result of a sin conscience, in which the sense of wrong-doing and foreboding stays with someone. We know that we must measure up, but we cannot measure up in anything that we do. This realization produces despondency and death. Too often, death overtakes men and women in AA through suicide.
AA fosters this wickedness. Men and women are not meant to walk about feeling sorry for themselves and holding themselves accountable to live according to a set of rules.
The Law, the knowledge of Good and Evil, invokes nothing but condemnation and death.
God wants us to have life and that more abundantly.
It was the Twelve Steps which fostered this awful sense of ill-will in my life.
Pastor Joseph Prince mentions that condemnation is the root of all of man's problems.
He was not kidding:
"26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." (Hebrews 10: 26-27)
There is no other sacrifice left, there is not other way to pay for our sins, or to rid ourselves of the sin conscience. Either we believe that Jesus Christ did it all, or we do not believe it at all. Either we rest in His Promise, or we never rest, and we bear condemnation and death in our bodies, alienated in our minds, and lost to eternal life, or for the believer lost to all the good things which God works within us and outside of us to our benefit and His glory.
I felt that I had done something wrong, or that my bad feelings suggested that I was doing something wrong, and therefore I and neither right nor authority to speak up for myself.
I could never be sure if I was being rightly or wrongly offended.
I acted as if I was all alone in this world.
Notice the prevalence of "I" in this post. Paul wrestled with "self" with "I" so much in Romans 7, but who we are in ourselves is nothing but dead, and any attempt to improve ourselves produces weak and beggarly elements all the way.
Such is the result of a sin conscience, in which the sense of wrong-doing and foreboding stays with someone. We know that we must measure up, but we cannot measure up in anything that we do. This realization produces despondency and death. Too often, death overtakes men and women in AA through suicide.
AA fosters this wickedness. Men and women are not meant to walk about feeling sorry for themselves and holding themselves accountable to live according to a set of rules.
The Law, the knowledge of Good and Evil, invokes nothing but condemnation and death.
God wants us to have life and that more abundantly.
It was the Twelve Steps which fostered this awful sense of ill-will in my life.
Pastor Joseph Prince mentions that condemnation is the root of all of man's problems.
He was not kidding:
"26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." (Hebrews 10: 26-27)
There is no other sacrifice left, there is not other way to pay for our sins, or to rid ourselves of the sin conscience. Either we believe that Jesus Christ did it all, or we do not believe it at all. Either we rest in His Promise, or we never rest, and we bear condemnation and death in our bodies, alienated in our minds, and lost to eternal life, or for the believer lost to all the good things which God works within us and outside of us to our benefit and His glory.
AA, Condemnation, and Freedom in Christ
Man in born into this world dead in his trespasses (Ephesians 2: 1)
This reality strikes modern hearers as unjust. It is unjust, in that it was Adam's fault to begin with, yet on the other hand, mankind is plagued with sin, which in itself intimates to man that he does not need to answer to anyone or anything, but instead he gets to make his own way in the world, just as Adam and Eve attempted when the ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Such knowledge is just too great for mankind. God is interested in leading us in the most intimate relationship, by the peace of Christ, which indwells us by the Power of the Holy Spirit.
God had breathed His Spirit into man in order to create him, then he put the man into a deep sleep and formed "woman", whom Adam named "Eve".
Since the fall of man, men and women walk the earth with a sense of alienation, of distance and loss. We have become preoccupied with ourselves, just as Adam and Eve immediately looked at themselves and found themselves wanting and inadequate.
The knowledge of Good and Evil, the standards of right and wrong, inevitably lead us to look at ourselves. In a sick sense, Adam and Eve "took their inventory", and discovered that "they were naked", even though they had been naked from the moment that they were formed from the earth and fashioned into living, speaking spirits by God.
They looked at themselves. This innate, inane, insane tendency is the root of every evil, for in looking at ourselves, in imposing on ourselves the demands of measuring up and stepping out into whatever we are deemed to seek, we will never measure up or succeed. By looking at ourselves, we ignore the inexhaustible supply of God the Father, who made all things in the Garden of Eden and all over the newly-formed Earth for their pleasure.
The problem of modern man, of mankind today, is that we look at ourselves, and only ourselves, for all the answers, for all of our needs. Instead of resting and receiving more from our Father, we look about on our own to get by, and thus we give in to whoever has the power to protect and guide us.
For this reason, above all others, it is wrong to make right and wrong a matter of might and throng. How many people stand on one side of an issue cannot determine forever the proper course or vale of anything. The changing opinions of one man, a leader, will lead others to change their opinions of anything. The needed status of men cannot rest in the needy state of mankind.
Man needs acceptance above all, and then everything else is taken care of. Jesus said it perfectly: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and the rest shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)
Added unto us, just as bountifully as the Garden of Eden, but moreso, because Jesus Christ died on the Cross not only to cleanse us of all sins forever, but also that we may receive Himself living in us through the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit accords to us God Himself within us, and ensures that He will never leave us nor forsake us, that we are convicted of righteousness, much better than convinced of "being right."
When people find that they want more for themselves, want to improve their fallen flesh, they then engage in every possible conduct or behavior, whether through pleasing themselves or doing good for others. No matter what any man does, for better or for worse, no one can make himself any better. Of himself, he is nothing and has nothing of merit to stand on or boast in. For all of man's accomplishments, nothing can ever be "good enough." "Vanity of vanities" cried out King Solomon. Not in our works, but in fearing God, resting in His redemption and righteousness, do we find Life and that more abundantly.
Instead of pointing men and women to the truth, hurting people who are overcome by their failures in this life, AA teaches people to identify with their fallen selves, then provides a "program" which keeps them in bondage, defined by their sin and their failures. Men and women need righteousness, but righteousness, as revealed by God, cannot be earned nor merited. Either we believe it and receive it, or we do not.
AA misdiagnoses the problem, and provides a "solution" which makes it worse. The program has a semblance of truth, as all cults do, but these distortions create more bondage.
The sense of "wrong-doing" in men cannot be removed with more "good doing". In fact, the sense of ill-will and ill-favor gets worse because for all of one's efforts, this body of death does not get better, but worse. No wonder men and women quit AA in complete despair and take their lives. They are fed the pablum which states "It works if you work it", but it can never work, for none of our works can break us free from the death within us.
God's gift of life breaks us free. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Under the New Covenant, there is nothing but blessed assurance for every person who receive the Gospel, that in Christ we receive remission of sins and full justification from everything that we could not find in the law of Moses (Acts 13: 38-39)
AA never gets rid of the sense of condemnation. In Christ, there is perfect freedom and trust, that He will be your God and you will know Him without any added steps or efforts on your part.
This reality strikes modern hearers as unjust. It is unjust, in that it was Adam's fault to begin with, yet on the other hand, mankind is plagued with sin, which in itself intimates to man that he does not need to answer to anyone or anything, but instead he gets to make his own way in the world, just as Adam and Eve attempted when the ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Such knowledge is just too great for mankind. God is interested in leading us in the most intimate relationship, by the peace of Christ, which indwells us by the Power of the Holy Spirit.
God had breathed His Spirit into man in order to create him, then he put the man into a deep sleep and formed "woman", whom Adam named "Eve".
Since the fall of man, men and women walk the earth with a sense of alienation, of distance and loss. We have become preoccupied with ourselves, just as Adam and Eve immediately looked at themselves and found themselves wanting and inadequate.
The knowledge of Good and Evil, the standards of right and wrong, inevitably lead us to look at ourselves. In a sick sense, Adam and Eve "took their inventory", and discovered that "they were naked", even though they had been naked from the moment that they were formed from the earth and fashioned into living, speaking spirits by God.
They looked at themselves. This innate, inane, insane tendency is the root of every evil, for in looking at ourselves, in imposing on ourselves the demands of measuring up and stepping out into whatever we are deemed to seek, we will never measure up or succeed. By looking at ourselves, we ignore the inexhaustible supply of God the Father, who made all things in the Garden of Eden and all over the newly-formed Earth for their pleasure.
The problem of modern man, of mankind today, is that we look at ourselves, and only ourselves, for all the answers, for all of our needs. Instead of resting and receiving more from our Father, we look about on our own to get by, and thus we give in to whoever has the power to protect and guide us.
For this reason, above all others, it is wrong to make right and wrong a matter of might and throng. How many people stand on one side of an issue cannot determine forever the proper course or vale of anything. The changing opinions of one man, a leader, will lead others to change their opinions of anything. The needed status of men cannot rest in the needy state of mankind.
Man needs acceptance above all, and then everything else is taken care of. Jesus said it perfectly: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and the rest shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)
Added unto us, just as bountifully as the Garden of Eden, but moreso, because Jesus Christ died on the Cross not only to cleanse us of all sins forever, but also that we may receive Himself living in us through the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit accords to us God Himself within us, and ensures that He will never leave us nor forsake us, that we are convicted of righteousness, much better than convinced of "being right."
When people find that they want more for themselves, want to improve their fallen flesh, they then engage in every possible conduct or behavior, whether through pleasing themselves or doing good for others. No matter what any man does, for better or for worse, no one can make himself any better. Of himself, he is nothing and has nothing of merit to stand on or boast in. For all of man's accomplishments, nothing can ever be "good enough." "Vanity of vanities" cried out King Solomon. Not in our works, but in fearing God, resting in His redemption and righteousness, do we find Life and that more abundantly.
Instead of pointing men and women to the truth, hurting people who are overcome by their failures in this life, AA teaches people to identify with their fallen selves, then provides a "program" which keeps them in bondage, defined by their sin and their failures. Men and women need righteousness, but righteousness, as revealed by God, cannot be earned nor merited. Either we believe it and receive it, or we do not.
AA misdiagnoses the problem, and provides a "solution" which makes it worse. The program has a semblance of truth, as all cults do, but these distortions create more bondage.
The sense of "wrong-doing" in men cannot be removed with more "good doing". In fact, the sense of ill-will and ill-favor gets worse because for all of one's efforts, this body of death does not get better, but worse. No wonder men and women quit AA in complete despair and take their lives. They are fed the pablum which states "It works if you work it", but it can never work, for none of our works can break us free from the death within us.
God's gift of life breaks us free. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Under the New Covenant, there is nothing but blessed assurance for every person who receive the Gospel, that in Christ we receive remission of sins and full justification from everything that we could not find in the law of Moses (Acts 13: 38-39)
AA never gets rid of the sense of condemnation. In Christ, there is perfect freedom and trust, that He will be your God and you will know Him without any added steps or efforts on your part.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
AA and the Welfare State
If there is one prevalent common denominator in AA meetings, it would be the number of people who become shiftless and unemployed who frequent the meetings, who never get a job, who then live off the government.
I remember meeting a number of people who were able-bodied enough, yet they were receiving disability from the government. Another lady was getting disability because she was "depressed".
The federal government often sends people to AA who have been arrested for DUI or other crimes, and so they enter into the system, but never get out.
Of course, there is also the growing number of people in AA who take medication and visit psychiatrists, which in more ways than one turns into a racket. Therapists make no money if people get better. Psychiatrists make not money if they have no patients. Pharmacists will sell no products if men and women receive the knowledge of the truth and learn that the world does not revolve around them, but around a great big God who made the Universe, who sent His Son, and who offers eternal life and all good things with Him.
The real crisis of modern man, and the source of all of this "therapy", is that men have told themselves that the world revolves around them, and if they cannot sense something, then it is either not true or not relevant. The biggest problem with this assessment lies in that the world simply does not resolve around us, and that our expectations of how the world works does not correspond with the reality of how indeed the world works.
I speak a language that I did not invite. I live in a home which I did not build. I wear clothes that I did not make. I drive on a road which I did not pave. I have a body which I did not form through my own efforts. There is too much about us which declares that everything is not about us. Not at all.
Yet if men presume to be consumed with themselves, they will do nothing but consume, since in man is nothing but lack if he is left to himself. With God as revealed in His Word,men will inevitably identify with whatever they can find. Often, they end up dependent on the Government.
And AA enables this dependence. One has to wonder if Bill W. colludes with state officials in order to bring people to his meetings, and thus keep the organization flowing as he did. AA is part and parcel of the growing welfare state, which tells people that they have to look to the government or to an assembly of people in order to "get by", along with the check from the government, of course!
Members of AA: "Fearful Looking"
"26For if we sin
wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth
no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain
fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the
adversaries." (Hebrews 10: 26-27)
From a fairly young age, I walked around with a sense of fear, or a sense of wrongdoing within me.
For a number of years, I never quite understood why I always felt so bad. I was afraid about the future, and I was overcome by my past.
Then I read Hebrews 10:
"1For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins." (Hebrews 10: 1-2)
Men and women are seeking perfection in some way, and yet obeying the law cannot bring that sense of perfect, for "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23)
The search for peace and fulfillment will always turn up empty if we find this life in this world. We find life in the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Jesus Christ (John 14: 6)
When He died on the Cross, he paid for all our sins, and He fulfilled the law for us fully and completely, so that Satan can no longer tempt us or shame us with condemnation (Colossians 2: 13-15)
To this day, Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, and He justifies us before the Father forever more (Romans 8:31-33).
Instead of a sense of judgment, Jesus has granted us His Spirit, who convicts us of righteousness (John 16: 8-11)
On the other hand, in AA men and women come and go every day with a deficit weighing over them. First they have to take their exhaustive inventory, the Fourth Step, and confess all their sins and failings and perversions to someone else. Then they are called to do a "spot check" inventory every day, usually at the end of the day.
The record-keeping that members of AA are expected to maintain should be enough to dissuade anyone from joining, or from staying along for any length of time. Most importantly, all of the negative confessions, "I'm an alcoholic", creates the very sin conscience which Jesus came to remove from us once and for all.
From a young age, I was taught to run all of my problems through the Twelve Steps. If I got angry, I had to take my inventory. If someone was making me mad, I had to see what "my part" was in the mess. Often, people were wrong who had hurt me, but the sin conscience created by AA causes people to look at themselves entirely. AA also teaches people that other people have control over our thoughts and feelings, when in truth our feelings merely respond to what we are thinking. We can choose not to be sad, or offended, or filled with resentment if we choose to believe that in Christ all our sins are forgiven, that we identify with His life in us, and thus we can reckon ourselves dead in the flesh.
Furthermore, because there is no final sacrifice, whether with Jesus Christ or with the shedding of animals' blood, the sense of "retribution" within men never goes away. People who have wronged us never seem to pay for what they did, they seem to be getting away with it, they have made us angry, and now we have to "take our own inventory" to do something about what someone else had done to us? This program is an evil cult which teaches people to be docile and dependent in the face of abuse and hurt, which feeds empty lies to people as truth, only to keep them locked in bondage,
Worst of all, people who "work" this program find a "fearful looking" in their lives, often wondering if they may take another drink, or do something else wrong, They doubt if God is really on their side or not, especially when bad things happen in the world, and they have no stable criteria to know who God really is (and He is much more than anything that we can conceive).
I lived a depressed life for so long, and also a very anxious life, often wondering what would happen to me, often fearing what could take place. No wonder so many AA old-timers stay in the clubs and never venture out anywhere. The "fearful looking" of a sin conscience never leaves them, and they have nothing to remove it.
From a fairly young age, I walked around with a sense of fear, or a sense of wrongdoing within me.
For a number of years, I never quite understood why I always felt so bad. I was afraid about the future, and I was overcome by my past.
Then I read Hebrews 10:
"1For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins." (Hebrews 10: 1-2)
Men and women are seeking perfection in some way, and yet obeying the law cannot bring that sense of perfect, for "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23)
The search for peace and fulfillment will always turn up empty if we find this life in this world. We find life in the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Jesus Christ (John 14: 6)
When He died on the Cross, he paid for all our sins, and He fulfilled the law for us fully and completely, so that Satan can no longer tempt us or shame us with condemnation (Colossians 2: 13-15)
To this day, Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, and He justifies us before the Father forever more (Romans 8:31-33).
Instead of a sense of judgment, Jesus has granted us His Spirit, who convicts us of righteousness (John 16: 8-11)
On the other hand, in AA men and women come and go every day with a deficit weighing over them. First they have to take their exhaustive inventory, the Fourth Step, and confess all their sins and failings and perversions to someone else. Then they are called to do a "spot check" inventory every day, usually at the end of the day.
The record-keeping that members of AA are expected to maintain should be enough to dissuade anyone from joining, or from staying along for any length of time. Most importantly, all of the negative confessions, "I'm an alcoholic", creates the very sin conscience which Jesus came to remove from us once and for all.
From a young age, I was taught to run all of my problems through the Twelve Steps. If I got angry, I had to take my inventory. If someone was making me mad, I had to see what "my part" was in the mess. Often, people were wrong who had hurt me, but the sin conscience created by AA causes people to look at themselves entirely. AA also teaches people that other people have control over our thoughts and feelings, when in truth our feelings merely respond to what we are thinking. We can choose not to be sad, or offended, or filled with resentment if we choose to believe that in Christ all our sins are forgiven, that we identify with His life in us, and thus we can reckon ourselves dead in the flesh.
Furthermore, because there is no final sacrifice, whether with Jesus Christ or with the shedding of animals' blood, the sense of "retribution" within men never goes away. People who have wronged us never seem to pay for what they did, they seem to be getting away with it, they have made us angry, and now we have to "take our own inventory" to do something about what someone else had done to us? This program is an evil cult which teaches people to be docile and dependent in the face of abuse and hurt, which feeds empty lies to people as truth, only to keep them locked in bondage,
Worst of all, people who "work" this program find a "fearful looking" in their lives, often wondering if they may take another drink, or do something else wrong, They doubt if God is really on their side or not, especially when bad things happen in the world, and they have no stable criteria to know who God really is (and He is much more than anything that we can conceive).
I lived a depressed life for so long, and also a very anxious life, often wondering what would happen to me, often fearing what could take place. No wonder so many AA old-timers stay in the clubs and never venture out anywhere. The "fearful looking" of a sin conscience never leaves them, and they have nothing to remove it.
Righteousness is Key -- Not Taking Your Inventory
The New Covenant in the Bible is the following:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
This is the New Covenant, the promise that God's grace is forever shed upon the earth:
"11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus 2: 11-14)
"Blessed hope" is more than some humanistic, sappy, sorrowful "maybe so", but a certainty, based on "Yea and Amen":
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," (1 Peter 1: 3)
"Living hope" , not "about to be born hope" or "dying hope",and this hope lives in every believer:
"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:" (Colossians 1: 27)
Jesus Christ is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30) and in Him we are made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
Righteousness is the key to the New Covenant, because in righteousness, we have a perfect standing before God the Father, one in which none of our sins are remembered forever. Every believer is made the righteousness of God in Christ.
Now comes the wicked essence of AA and any other Twelve Step Program. . .
The Twelve Steps teaches people to "take their inventory, but for us to justify ourselves by rule-keeping will frustrate the grace of God in our lives:
"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." (Galatians 5:4)
The New Covenant replaces the Old Covenant, which was based on keeping the Ten Commandments, then offering sacrifices because no one can keep the law. In fact, the law was brought in so that every man would stop justifying himself and recognize his need for a savior (Romans 3: 19-20). Paul writes it this way:
"23But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." (Galatians 3: 23-25)
God wants us to get rid of the law, or "cast out the bondwoman", if you will (Galatians 4: 28-30)
The writer of Hebrews could not make it any clearer:
"In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." (Hebrews 8: 13)
The Old Covenant had faults, in large part because we human beings could not keep it. AA brings in the law once again, telling people to "work a program" which no one can work.
Righteousness is the key to all good things, not taking your inventory, for Jesus said that when we receive His righteousness, then all other things will be added unto us (Matthew 6: 33)
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
This is the New Covenant, the promise that God's grace is forever shed upon the earth:
"11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus 2: 11-14)
"Blessed hope" is more than some humanistic, sappy, sorrowful "maybe so", but a certainty, based on "Yea and Amen":
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," (1 Peter 1: 3)
"Living hope" , not "about to be born hope" or "dying hope",and this hope lives in every believer:
"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:" (Colossians 1: 27)
Jesus Christ is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30) and in Him we are made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
Righteousness is the key to the New Covenant, because in righteousness, we have a perfect standing before God the Father, one in which none of our sins are remembered forever. Every believer is made the righteousness of God in Christ.
Now comes the wicked essence of AA and any other Twelve Step Program. . .
The Twelve Steps teaches people to "take their inventory, but for us to justify ourselves by rule-keeping will frustrate the grace of God in our lives:
"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." (Galatians 5:4)
The New Covenant replaces the Old Covenant, which was based on keeping the Ten Commandments, then offering sacrifices because no one can keep the law. In fact, the law was brought in so that every man would stop justifying himself and recognize his need for a savior (Romans 3: 19-20). Paul writes it this way:
"23But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." (Galatians 3: 23-25)
God wants us to get rid of the law, or "cast out the bondwoman", if you will (Galatians 4: 28-30)
The writer of Hebrews could not make it any clearer:
"In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." (Hebrews 8: 13)
The Old Covenant had faults, in large part because we human beings could not keep it. AA brings in the law once again, telling people to "work a program" which no one can work.
Righteousness is the key to all good things, not taking your inventory, for Jesus said that when we receive His righteousness, then all other things will be added unto us (Matthew 6: 33)
AA: Ponzi Scheme, Not Pyramid Scheme
In one meeting, one of the members shared that AA has got to be the greatest Pyramid Scheme there is.
A pyramid scheme depends on one person sharing an idea with two or three people, and then those same three share with the same people, and so on and so on.
The whole set up reminds me of the Farah Fawcett Commercial. "He tells a friend, then he tells a friend. . " The commercial showed a picture of Fawcett in one screen, then two screens, then four screens, then eight.
There is one problem with that analogy. In a pyramid scheme, each person profits and then pays it forward. In AA, people come and lose something, and they keep on losing,then they bring in other people, telling that they are losers who need to do certain things, and then they end losing more, and so on.
AA is not a Pyramid scheme, but a Ponzi scheme based on negativity and self-loathing, contradictions which end up creating the very problems which the program claims to resolve.
Men and women who have a problem with alcohol cannot break free by being defined by the problem. By identifying with the perversion, the only that someone, anyone, can break free is to die!
One chapter in the "Big Book" claims that members of the program are "reborn" -- how can one be reborn" if they are "alcoholics", men and women who have "lost their legs."
AA does not give anything to anyone because the program is based on lies and distortions. The truth sets you free, but lies bring you into bondage. Any program that puts a person into bondage is a program that takes away, not gives.
A Ponzi scheme works exactly in that manner. Some charlatan, like Bernie Madoff, promises a huge return on an investment, but the money for this scheme comes from hitting someone else up for more money, and part of those funds pay off the first person, and so on. The idea in the end is that the Ponzi schemer makes off with lots of money, while the investors are left holding the empty promises, the broken bonds, and hollow wallets.
Madoff made off with a lot of other people's "made off", but in the end, he got caught.
Bill W.'s Ponzi Scheme is still rolling. In the halls of AA, "old timers" have given up everything just to work a "simple program", so in order to "make the most" of their "new status", they bring more people into the program, since they have to share the Twelve Steps with as many people as they can, and practice those principles in all their affairs.
In effect, the program leaves them with a deficit that must be filled by bringing other people into the program, who in turn are brought into bondage with an identity based on a negative aspect, one which tells them that if they do not work this "simple program",they will drink, and to drink is to die.
AA is a Ponzi Scheme, one of the worst, because the program is still running, and those who work this program lose more than their money -- they lose their lives.
A pyramid scheme depends on one person sharing an idea with two or three people, and then those same three share with the same people, and so on and so on.
The whole set up reminds me of the Farah Fawcett Commercial. "He tells a friend, then he tells a friend. . " The commercial showed a picture of Fawcett in one screen, then two screens, then four screens, then eight.
There is one problem with that analogy. In a pyramid scheme, each person profits and then pays it forward. In AA, people come and lose something, and they keep on losing,then they bring in other people, telling that they are losers who need to do certain things, and then they end losing more, and so on.
AA is not a Pyramid scheme, but a Ponzi scheme based on negativity and self-loathing, contradictions which end up creating the very problems which the program claims to resolve.
Men and women who have a problem with alcohol cannot break free by being defined by the problem. By identifying with the perversion, the only that someone, anyone, can break free is to die!
One chapter in the "Big Book" claims that members of the program are "reborn" -- how can one be reborn" if they are "alcoholics", men and women who have "lost their legs."
AA does not give anything to anyone because the program is based on lies and distortions. The truth sets you free, but lies bring you into bondage. Any program that puts a person into bondage is a program that takes away, not gives.
A Ponzi scheme works exactly in that manner. Some charlatan, like Bernie Madoff, promises a huge return on an investment, but the money for this scheme comes from hitting someone else up for more money, and part of those funds pay off the first person, and so on. The idea in the end is that the Ponzi schemer makes off with lots of money, while the investors are left holding the empty promises, the broken bonds, and hollow wallets.
Madoff made off with a lot of other people's "made off", but in the end, he got caught.
Bill W.'s Ponzi Scheme is still rolling. In the halls of AA, "old timers" have given up everything just to work a "simple program", so in order to "make the most" of their "new status", they bring more people into the program, since they have to share the Twelve Steps with as many people as they can, and practice those principles in all their affairs.
In effect, the program leaves them with a deficit that must be filled by bringing other people into the program, who in turn are brought into bondage with an identity based on a negative aspect, one which tells them that if they do not work this "simple program",they will drink, and to drink is to die.
AA is a Ponzi Scheme, one of the worst, because the program is still running, and those who work this program lose more than their money -- they lose their lives.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Let Go and Let God Depends on His Righteousness: Part II
"Let Go and Let God".
I wrote before about this trite phrase which more often than not creates contrite frustration for members of AA.
How can I believe that God is taking care of everything if I have to maintain my spiritual fitness before Him?
This is crazy. If I am constantly looking at myself to make sure that I am OK with God, there is no way that I can let go and let Him take care of anything.
From the previous post, you can take in the truth that our righteousness does not depend on us, cannot come from us. We either receive it as a gift of grace because of Christ's death on the Cross, or we can try to earn it, and fail every time.
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive ([lit. are receiving] abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17)
But not:
"For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5: 20)
For the Christian in the Body of Christ, righteousness is a gift that we keep receiving because of the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, who grants to us adoption into Christ (Romans 8: 15) and puts God's laws in our heart and mind (Hebrews 8: 10-12):
"8And when he [The Holy Spirit] is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more."(John 16: 8-10)
Everyone of us has an inner witness of righteousness because of the Holy Spirit. Instead of overwhelming ourselves with "Twelve Steps", which frustrate the grace of God in our lives, let us rest and receive the gift of righteousness from the Holy Spirit, the same righteousness which enforces the rest of the New Covenant in our lives on earth and for eternity.
I wrote before about this trite phrase which more often than not creates contrite frustration for members of AA.
How can I believe that God is taking care of everything if I have to maintain my spiritual fitness before Him?
This is crazy. If I am constantly looking at myself to make sure that I am OK with God, there is no way that I can let go and let Him take care of anything.
From the previous post, you can take in the truth that our righteousness does not depend on us, cannot come from us. We either receive it as a gift of grace because of Christ's death on the Cross, or we can try to earn it, and fail every time.
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive ([lit. are receiving] abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17)
But not:
"For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5: 20)
For the Christian in the Body of Christ, righteousness is a gift that we keep receiving because of the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, who grants to us adoption into Christ (Romans 8: 15) and puts God's laws in our heart and mind (Hebrews 8: 10-12):
"8And when he [The Holy Spirit] is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more."(John 16: 8-10)
Everyone of us has an inner witness of righteousness because of the Holy Spirit. Instead of overwhelming ourselves with "Twelve Steps", which frustrate the grace of God in our lives, let us rest and receive the gift of righteousness from the Holy Spirit, the same righteousness which enforces the rest of the New Covenant in our lives on earth and for eternity.
Let Go and Let God Depends on His Righteousness
"Let Go and Let God".
I heard this phrase so often in the meetings, yet something inside of me just would not "let go".
Then again, since members of Alcoholics Anonymous spend so much time looking at themselves, how can one expect God to look out for them?
A God of my understanding will expect me to behave, or I will not receive a goods from Him.
The New Covenant is not based on a God whom we have to barter with in order to get anything:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
First of all, God writes His laws in our hearts, which speaks to our very core being. He also places our laws in our minds. How does He do this? By the power of the Holy Spirit:
"But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." (Matthew 10: 19-20)
and
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 16: 26)
and
"But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. . . But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. " (1 John 2: 20, 27)
The Holy Spirit lives within every believer, not only granting him knowledge of God's will, but also the inner witness that we are now the children of God, brought into His family:
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." (Romans 8: 15-17)
This same Holy Spirit teaches us all things about Jesus Christ, who is our life and our source of all blessings (John 15: 26).
The key element that turns us from alienated and distant from God to fully blessed, favored and loved is the enforcing element of the New Covenant: righteousness.
"I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more."
God will not remember our sins because He has remembered all of our sins and the sins of the entire world in the Body of Son:
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Peter 2: 24)
Therefore, when we know and believe in the love of God, which has put away all of our sins, then we can trust that He will be God to us, taking care of all our needs. This grace is given to us at an ultimate price: the death of His Son for all our sins, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5: 21).
However, as long as we continue taking our inventory, as long as we insist on working away our sins with "Twelve Step" work, we inadvertently frustrate the grace of God in our lives because our actions indicate that we do not believe that He will remember our sins no more.
If we want to let go and let God, then first we must let go of all our sins once and for all, resting in the truth that Jesus has paid for it all. Then we can rest assured that through the righteousness accounted to us, that God will take care of everything in our lives, and even take the bad and turn it to our good.
I heard this phrase so often in the meetings, yet something inside of me just would not "let go".
Then again, since members of Alcoholics Anonymous spend so much time looking at themselves, how can one expect God to look out for them?
A God of my understanding will expect me to behave, or I will not receive a goods from Him.
The New Covenant is not based on a God whom we have to barter with in order to get anything:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
First of all, God writes His laws in our hearts, which speaks to our very core being. He also places our laws in our minds. How does He do this? By the power of the Holy Spirit:
"But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." (Matthew 10: 19-20)
and
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 16: 26)
and
"But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. . . But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. " (1 John 2: 20, 27)
The Holy Spirit lives within every believer, not only granting him knowledge of God's will, but also the inner witness that we are now the children of God, brought into His family:
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." (Romans 8: 15-17)
This same Holy Spirit teaches us all things about Jesus Christ, who is our life and our source of all blessings (John 15: 26).
The key element that turns us from alienated and distant from God to fully blessed, favored and loved is the enforcing element of the New Covenant: righteousness.
"I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more."
God will not remember our sins because He has remembered all of our sins and the sins of the entire world in the Body of Son:
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Peter 2: 24)
Therefore, when we know and believe in the love of God, which has put away all of our sins, then we can trust that He will be God to us, taking care of all our needs. This grace is given to us at an ultimate price: the death of His Son for all our sins, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5: 21).
However, as long as we continue taking our inventory, as long as we insist on working away our sins with "Twelve Step" work, we inadvertently frustrate the grace of God in our lives because our actions indicate that we do not believe that He will remember our sins no more.
If we want to let go and let God, then first we must let go of all our sins once and for all, resting in the truth that Jesus has paid for it all. Then we can rest assured that through the righteousness accounted to us, that God will take care of everything in our lives, and even take the bad and turn it to our good.
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