God-Conscious is not Enough -- Put Trust in Jesus

It is not the matter of giving that is in question, but when and how to give. That often makes the difference between failure and success. The minute we put our work on a service plane, the alcoholic commences to rely upon our assistance rather than upon God. He clamors for this or that, claiming he cannot master alcohol until his material needs are cared for. Nonsense. Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth: Job or no job - wife or no wife - we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God.

 

Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house. (AA, pg 98)

 

 

AA undermines this dependence on "God" with Twelve Steps, which were originated by men.

 

From the moment that men and women enter the rooms of AA, they are taught to be dependent on other people.

 

Most members are encouraged to make the meetings "Their Higher Power". Therefore, they are depending on other people.

 

Newcomers have to get a sponsor, and this person tells the person what to do, what to read, how many times to take their inventory, and all the rest.

 

More dependence on men, and certainly not on God.

 

Furthermore, the meetings invite people to make just about anything a "Higher Power", whether it's "The Ocean" or "My Little Pony" or the sun, the moon, the stars.

 

How am I supposed to put my trust in something that is always changing, with which I cannot have a relationship?

 

We are called not to trust ourselves, or to put our trust in little gods of our own making, but to trust in the LORD, which we receive through His Son Jesus Christ:

 

"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. " (John 6: 29)

God-Conscious is Not Enough -- Focus on Jesus Who Works Through You

Much has already been said about receiving strength, inspiration, and direction from Him who has all knowledge and power. If we have carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us. To some extent we have become God-conscious. We have begun to develop this vital sixth sense. But we must go further and that means more action.  (AA, pg 85)

We do not receive strength from God because we followed directions.

In fact, to the degree that we have to do something, that we have to follow directions, or take certain steps for anything, then we frustrate the grace of God in our lives:

"1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." (Galatians5: 1)

Bondage speaks of the law, or any attempt through weak and beggarly elements to get to God, when He has sent Him Son to us (John 6: 29), that we may live through Him (1 John 4: 9).

We need not just to be forgiven of our sins, but we need life and that more abundantly:
"16For 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)

The idea that we follow rules in order for His Spirit to flow in us makes no sense at all, and certainly does not conform with the truth of Scripture:

"2Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. 5For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." (Galatians 5: 2-6)

Jesus Christ works in us through His own faith (Galatians 2: 20-21), not works, for faith and works cannot mix:

"But to him that works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." (Romans 4: 5)

God-conscious is not enough, for with Bill Wilson and the AA cult,  men and women are expected to work for the Spirit of God to flow in their lives. The Spirit of God cannot flow in our lives if we are walking in the flesh, or in our own efforts:

"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6: 63)

and

"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)

God-consciousness which does not focus on Jesus Christ will inevitably cause us to focus on ourselves, and when we look at ourselves, we return to the realm of self-effort, self-centeredness, and self-defeat.

"God-Consciousness" is not enough. Let us grow in our knowledge and awareness of Christ and Him Crucified.

God-Conscious is Not Enough -- See Jesus, Your Everlasting Strength

I was to test my thinking by the new God-consciousness within. Common sense would thus become uncommon sense. I was to sit quietly when in doubt, asking only for direction and strength to meet my problems as He would have me. Never was I to pray for myself, except as my requests bore on my usefulness to others. Then only might I expect to receive. But that would be in great measure. (AA, pg 13)

Bill Wilson was not God-conscious at all, but rather "self-conscious" since "I" was the first word that he wrote down, since he suggested that "his thinking" revealed "God-consciousness".

If nothing else, AA is all about subversion of our minds from their proper framework. God did not give us our minds so that we could create our own worlds.

In fact, our minds allow us to receive His greatest to the extent that we rest in Him:

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26: 3)

The next verse shares with us that "God" is more than some idea in our heads, or some "conception of God as we understand Him":

"Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength." (Isaiah 26: 4)

This "perfect peace" is not found in any God of our creating:

"5To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?

"6They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.

 

"7They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble." (Isaiah 46: 5-7)

 

Anything that we can come up with will inevitably fall short, for His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55: 8-10)

 

God-consciousness is not good enough. If we want to know God, if we want to see God, we need to know and believe on Jesus Christ:

 

"Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" (John 14: 9)

 

and

 

"[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:" (Colossians 1: 15)

 

God-Consciousness is not enough. Christ is the Light of the world (John 8: 12), and He is the Life of all (John 1: 4; 14: 6)

 

Anything less than Christ Jesus is the least of all.

Jesus -- More Than a God of Our Understanding: Much More -- Not Bill Wilson's God

It may seem incredible that these men are to become happy, respected, and useful once more. How can they rise out of such misery, bad repute and hopelessness? The practical answer is that since these things have happened among us, they can happen with you. Should you wish them above all else, and be willing to make use of our experience, we are sure they will come. The age of miracles is still with us. Our own recovery proves that!

 

In fact, this assertion is patently untrue. 95%-97% of people who enter AA meetings do not get sober, nor do they stay and practice all of the principles in their affairs.

 

Our hope is that when this chip of a book is launched on the world tide of alcoholism, defeated drinkers will seize upon it, to follow its suggestions. Many, we are sure, will rise to their feet and march on. They will approach still other sick ones and fellowships of Alcoholics Anonymous may spring up in each city and hamlet, havens for those who must find a way out.

 

I am happy to report that AA is disintegrating in communities local and faraway.

 

The exposures are coming to light. The crime and corruption which run rampant in AA meetings is being exposed. People who have been harmed and abused in the rooms of AA are finding their way out.

 

Bill Wilson ran a racket which has impoverished people far more than has benefitted them.

 

In the chapter "Working With Others" you gathered an idea of how we approach and aid others to health. Suppose now that through you several families have adopted this way of life. You will want to know more of how to proceed from that point. Perhaps the best way of treating you to a glimpse of your future will be to describe the growth of the fellowship among us.  (AA, pg 153)

 

This program does not work.

 

This program does not allow people to settle into their own conception of God.

 

The Twelve Steps stir an individual to practice a conception of God based on the principles of men.

 

What point is a conception of God as you see fit, yet at the same time you have to relate to this "God" according to someone else's program?

 

 

Jesus -- More Than a God of Our Understanding: Much More -- The Truth

All of this talk about "God" is nice.

Jesus Christ, however, cannot be placed aside or to the side of any other:

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)

From my experience, along with the realities from many people, confessing one's sins is never enough. Something in our flesh, in our bodies, in our minds cannot rest as long as we believe that something that we have done must be punished.

"But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." (Romans 5: 15)

and

"1And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:" (Ephesians 2: 1-2)

"And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin." (1 John 3: 5)

Yet man has a greater need than for our sins to be forgiven. He needs life, something which Jesus gives to us:

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. " (John 10: 10)

In Christ, we find everything that we need:

"And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians 3: 19)

and

"For in him dwells all the fullness of the Deity bodily." (Colossians 2: 9)

He did not come just to save us from our sin, but to give us life, Himself:

"In him was life; and the life was the light of men." (John 1: 4)

This same life provides all things to us:

"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) In Christ, we are granted sonship with God the Father: "1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3: 1-3) God revealed Himself to us through His Son Jesus Christ. We cannot get this through our understanding. We must receive this as a revelation through His Word. Jesus is  more than a "God of my understanding", for He gives to us beyond what we can ask or think (Ephesians 3: 20)

Jesus -- More Than a God of Our Understanding: Much More

A God of my understanding.

It sounds so good, so natural, does it not?

The concept would allow me to embrace a "Higher Power" to my liking, not like the hateful deities which motivated men of war in ages past.

So went the argument in Bill Wilson's mind:

Despite the living example of my friend there remained in me the vestiges of my old prejudice. The word God still aroused a certain antipathy. When the thought was expressed that there might be a God personal to me this feeling was intensified. I didn't like the idea. I could go for such conceptions as Creative Intelligence, Universal Mind or Spirit of Nature but I resisted the thought of a Czar of the Heavens, however loving His sway might be. I have since talked with scores of men who felt the same way.

 

My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea. He said, "Why don't you choose your own conception of God?"

That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last. It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning. (AA, pg 12)

Then Bill Wilson shared:

There I humbly offered myself to God, as I then understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost. I ruthlessly faced my sins and became willing to have my new-found Friend take them away, root and branch. I have not had a drink since.

 

How can he talk about "sins" if this God he is bringing himself to is "as he understood Him."

 

What sins did Bill have to confess to, anyway?  This God, this new found "Friend" would later become "Father" then "Principal" in other parts of this book.

 

My schoolmate visited me, and I fully acquainted him with my problems and deficiencies. We made a list of people I had hurt or toward whom I felt resentment. I expressed my entire willingness to approach these individuals, admitting my wrong. Never was I to be critical of them. I was to right all such matters to the utmost of my ability.

 

"my problems and deficiencies" --I thought that He had sins which needed to be confessed.

 

I was to test my thinking by the new God-consciousness within. Common sense would thus become uncommon sense. I was to sit quietly when in doubt, asking only for direction and strength to meet my problems as He would have me. Never was I to pray for myself, except as my requests bore on my usefulness to others. Then only might I expect to receive. But that would be in great measure.

 

All of this sanctimonious talk runs contrary to the real life of Bill W., a flagrant philanderer and thief, a man who was clamoring for alcohol at the end of his life, who smoked obsessively until he had to struggle with an oxygen tank, and even then he chose to smoke instead of breathe.

 

"One Day at a Time" is Not Good Enough

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)

Just reading this passage now, after getting a greater understanding of Jesus Christ and all that He is, just makes me weary and despair.

Imagine a life in which we are called to live this "life" of "carrying God's vision" into every day.

Every day, waking up and asking the dry question "What is thy bidding, my master?"

"How can I best serve Thee - Thy will (not mine) be done."

Jesus invites us into a greater communion:

"Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." (John 15: 15)

When Jesus rose from the dead in His resurrected form, He offered an even more dear affiliation to His disciples and to all of us:

"Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." (John 20: 17)

"Go to my brethren", Jesus says to Mary.

We are adopted into God's 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. 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17And 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)

 Jesus is the first born of many brethren:, which includes everyone who believes on His Name:

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" (John 1: 12)

and

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." (Romans 8: 29)

God does not want us to see Him as a "master", but rather as our Father, or as "Daddy". This deepest of unions is more than any husband or wife or brother or sister, or friend can ever understand.

We are united with Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Herbews 13: 8)

He is outside of time, seeing one day as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day (2 Peter 3: 8)

He knows everything about us, and no matter where we go, He is there, and leading us the whole way, too (Psalm 139)

Jesus is the Way -- We can trust Him to lead us, because He is before all things, and all things do through Him consist. (Colossians 1: 15-20)

He has everything laid out for us. In fact, He is outside of time, unlimited by circumstances.

"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)

and

"Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it." (Ecclesiastes 8: 17)'

and

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!" (Romans 11: 33)

Instead of taking life "One day at a time", God invites us to cast all our care upon Him (1 Peter 5: 6-8)

As new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 17), we are outside of time, walking in a New Kingdom, and when we pray to Him, He can work in our circumstances as He quickens us to move.

"One day at a time" is not good enough. God is greater than time itself, and He foresees all that we need. Through His Son, we can be assured that He will care for us as He lives through us and provides all things.

AA: Not Knowing the Will of God

That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. (AA, pg 84)

Right away, I must rebut this notion of "God's pinch-hitting", as if there are certain thing that we can do on our own, and once in a while, we need God's help for bigger issues.

Jesus Christ did not die on the Cross to make bad men good, or to make weak men strong.

He died on the Cross to make dead men live:

"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." (Ephesians 2: 1-3)

And

"15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)" (Romans 5: 15-17)

Man sins because he is a sinner, for we are all dead in Adam. We can live in Christ, and keep receiving the gift of righteousness and abundance of grace instead.

There is no "progress not perfection" in Christ, because of Jesus' death, we are perfected forever (Hebrews 10: 14)

What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely upon it. (AA, pg 87)

The notion of intution runs into greater problems for the Christian trying to work the Twelve Steps.

The truth that lives in us (John 14:6; Colossians 1: 27) lives in us because we believe that all of our sins are forgiven.

AA teaches its members that they have to keep on confessing their sins, or alcohol will overtake them.

Either Jesus Christ has purged us from our sins, or He has not.

Peter explains what happens to believers who have forgotten that all of their sins are forgiven. After outlining the growth and characteristics of a child of God, because of God's grace in Christ, Peter then explains the consequences for those who lack those fruits of righteousness:

" 9But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:" (2 Peter 1: 8-10)

As long as men and women continue to take their inventories, they will never forget their sins. To have a fresh reminder of one's wrongdoing creates a man who is blind, who cannot see afar off, and one who will be easily seduced to lies and deceits:

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." (1 Timothy 4: 1-5)

The more religious individuals in AA, in my opinion, fall into this terrible bind. They believe that they are hearing from God, yet because they are not resting and receiving the gifts of righteousness which Christ Jesus has paid for us to receive, they end up heeding "seducing spirits", and the doctrines of devils".

The phrase "conscience seared with a hot iron" does not indicate a man who has no conscience, but a man who has a perpetual conscience of sin and guilt.

Such was the case for one committed adherent of the Twelve Steps. She insisted on taking her inventory, so convinced was she that she could keep up accounts with God.

Yet even David did not presume to know all that he had done wrong:

"Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults." (Psalm 19: 12)

and

"For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me." (Psalm 40: 12)

David even prayed:

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalm 51: 10)

Man cannot catalogue all of his sins. He cannot keep up with his own depravity. We need more than a corrective measure in our lives. We need to be born again, and receive a new heart, with a new spirit and new desires.

Otherwise, men and women will give heed to empty, fallen, seducing spirits, and do strange and immoral things, believing that they are doing God's will, when their choices run contrary to everything that God has outlined as holy in His word.  The same woman who insisted on taking her inventory all the time had no problem lying and slandering other people, either. She was convinced that she was righteous because she was "taking her inventory."
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Righteousness is a gift, (Romans 5:17)which we receive from a Person, who is our righteousess (1 Corinthians 1: 30)

Man does not have a problem with sinning. He is a sinner at heart, and thus he needs a new heart, a new spirit, a new being (Jeremiah 31: 33-34). In other words, he needs to be born again (John 3: 3; 1 Peter 1: 23).

If we do not have this new birth, if we do not receive this new spirit, then we cannot know the will of God, for He is not working within us (Philippians 2: 12-13)

Knowing the Will of God

That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. (AA, pg 84)
 
What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely upon it. (AA, pg 87)

If we want to know anything, let us look to our new life, which is Jesus Christ:

"3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 3-4)

Before we can know what to do, we need to know who we are and what we have:

"3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:" (Ephesians 1:3)

We have this new standing because of what Jesus did for us at the Cross:

"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:"" (Ephesians 2: 1-6)

The whole passage in the second chapter of Ephesians is chock full of powerful truths. Paul reveals who we are in Christ, but he starts out by outlining who we were -- dead in our trespasses. He further outlines that we were in bondage to enemy spirits, giving in to the demands of our flesh, our empty bodies which were not yet quicked by the Spirit of God living in us.

Yet once we received the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8: 15), God the Father then places us in Christ, and Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father. The highest place of honor, at God's right hand, is reserved for Christ Jesus, and He is the first born of many brethren, which includes every believer in the Body of Christ.

By His death on the Cross, Jesus Christ cut a New Covenant for everyone to enter into:

"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)

Because we receive (in fact, keep receiving) God's righteousness and grace (Romans 5:17), then we can allow God's grace and truth to flow in our lives because we are no longer fixated on fixing ourselves.

"My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise." (Psalm 57: 7)

We receive a new heart, and a new spirit because of what Jesus Christ has done for us.

Through the Holy Spirit, we receive Christ living in us:

"27To 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)

But Christ is not passively living in us:

"28Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily." (Colossians 1: 27-29) 

Christ is working in us!

To the Philippians, Paul states the same case once again:

"12Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2: 12-13)

To the Corinthians, Paul writes:

"10But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." (1 Corinthians 15: 10)

To the Galatians, Paul writes:

"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)

AA's God is just a figment of Bill Wilson's narcisstic self-righteousness. We need more than a  mere hunch or a spiritual brainstorm. We need Wisdom, and Christ gives us this wisdom:

"30But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 31That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1: 30)

The Holy Spirit within us also gives us all knowledge:

"20But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

Followed by

"27But 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."

As we grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord (2 Peter 3: 18), the peace of Christ will act us an umpire within our hearts (Colossians 3: 15). Because we receive the forgiveness of sins and the new heart and spirit from God the Father, we can trust that whatever he prompts in our hearts to do, it is in line with God's will.

The Frustration of AA: Progressing to Perfection Which Has Been Perfected

This thought brings us to Step Ten, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past. We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code. (AA, pg 84)

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 11)

Every man and woman who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is taken from death to life:

"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)

Then

"We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death." (1 John3: 14)

No one should read the verse from 1 John with a sense of fear or dread, because any love in our lives begins with God's love for us:

"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)

The English implies causation, the He came to be our mercy seat, but then no longer. The truth is that Jesus remains forever more our mercy seat, our justification before God the Father:

"Who [Jesus] was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." (Romans 4: 25)

then

"Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth." (Romans 8: 33)

If you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He died for your sins, and that He is your representative, your justification at the right hand of God the Father, then you are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 17)

We are no longer alive in our flesh, but instead we walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5: 16), and we identify with who we are in Christ:

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. " (Romans 6: 11)

and

"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. " (Romans 8: 13)

Now,before anyone falls for the falsehood that walking in the Spirit is a work which we must work for, Paul then explains:

14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Romans 8: 14-15)

We have been adopted into God's new family, with Jesus as the first born of many brethren (Romans 8: 29), including you and me. This Spirit of adoption has sealed us forever with redemption (Ephesians 1: 13, 4: 30).

While AA tells us "We claim progress, not perfection,", in Christ we are perfected because of the Holy Spirit::

"14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

16This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." (Hebrews 10: 14-18)

Instead of trying to be who you are in Christ, labor into the rest of righteousness (Hebrews 4: 8-11)which God grants to every person who believes on His Son and receives His Holy Spirit.

Meditate on Jesus, the Living Word Made Flesh

If circumstances warrant, we ask our wives or friends to join us in morning meditation. If we belong to a religious denomination which requires a definite morning devotion, we attend to that also. If not members of religious bodies, we sometimes select and memorize a few set prayers which emphasize the principles we have been discussing. There are many helpful books also. Suggestions about these may be obtained from one's priest, minister, or rabbi. Be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer. (AA, pg 87)

 

Prayer and meditation, according to AA, takes place at set times in our day.

 

The Word of God offers something better:

 

"1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

 

"2But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." (Psalm 1: 1-2)

 

We can meditate on His Law, because He has written His laws in our hearts and minds because of the Holy Spirit:

 

"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)

By seeing more of Jesus Christ in our lives, we meditate on the Living Word (1 Peter 1: 23), or the Word made flesh (John 1: 14).

Not Self Slipping Away, but New Self Already Seated

We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves . . . .(AA, pg 84)

The grand falsehood of AA, and all other religious programs, pushes a man to keep doing something that God has already done for them through His Son Jesus Christ at the Cross, who was raised for our justification (Romans 4: 25), and sits at the right hand of the Father as our ever-present justification (Romans 8: 33).

Jesus was not just breathing when He declared:

"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." (John 19: 30)

To explain all that Jesus did at the Cross, Paul and the apostles expounded in a number of epistles, and even John reported that the world cannot contain all the books to record the miracles of Jesus (John 21: 25)

In every epistle, Paul starts out by glorying God in Christ, for all that He has done:

"3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:" (Ephesians 1: 3)

One of those blessings includes our new standing in Christ:

"4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:" (Ephesians 2: 4-6)

You and I are seated in Christ, high above all principality, power, and authority (Ephesians 1: 22), above the heavenlies. We are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 17)

Other scriptures relate that we are not changing into a new person, but that we have become a new person:

"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." (Romans 8: 15)

and

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. " (Romans 6: 11)

and

"22That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." (Ephesians 2: 22-24)

and

"Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." (Colossians 3: 9-10)

The Christian Life is not about getting better, or about getting rid of our old selves, but rather awakening to the revelation of who we are in Christ. Not once should anyone identify with his former self, thoughts and behaviors:

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 11)

then

"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." (Romans 8: 13)

and

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry" (Colossians 3: 5)

We are not called to "slip away" from our former selves, but no longer to identify with our fallen flesh, but rather live in the newness of the Spirit.

Walking in the Spirit -- Better than "Intuitively Know" . . .

We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves . . . .

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 84-85)

This passage seems like a dream come true. How often people want security as well as serenity to figure out what they should do and where they should go in their lives.

In fact, the notion of following "God" from within, waiting for voices, or for some even to relate to me God's will is quite dangerous and disturbing. So many forces from within and without can pressure us to say and do or believe anything. In my opinion, people invested in AA end up susceptible to all kinds of perverse leadings and evil diversions. Often, they fall into foolish thinking because the program teaches them to run their lives by a "sponsor", someone who has a little more time sober than they.

The Bible provides a better way:

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)

Everyone of us is called to a Person, Jesus Christ, not to set of rules, not to a list of principles, not to a set of demands and doctrines, but the Person of Jesus Christ:
"7To 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: 28Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily." (Colossians 1: 27-29)

Notice how Jesus was working in Paul, and in turn He works in everyone of us because He lives in us. He is our new life:

"1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 1-4)

These wonderful promises were laid out for all of us in the Old Covenant, which Paul the Apostle restates in the Book of Hebrews:

"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 New Covenant permits the Holy Spirit to live within every believer. By His peaceful presence, we can know what to do, and  more importantly we can know the Lord intimately.

Instead of following certain rules, or working Twelve Steps for that matter, every person who believes on Jesus Christ can receive His life and leading within himself:

"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2: 12-13)

When we no longer walk in sin, alienated from God because we are dead in our trespasses, we receive both the will and the while to do the things that God wants us to do.

His peace, one part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 22-23), directs us in the paths that He wants us to take, or say, or do:

"15And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." (Colossians 3: 15-16)

When we rest in Christ, letting His righteousness flow in our lives, God then quickens within us what to and what not do, and He leads us gently, by His own hand:

"9If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." (Psalm 139: 9-10)

AA Has a Higher Power -- Not the One in the Bible

Even as a child, the notion of "a higher power" offended my sister and me.

There is no power greater than God, there is no greater authority than Christ:

"But this man, [Jesus] because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.

"Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

"For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;" (Hebrews 7: 24-26)

Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, in the seat of power and authority:

"20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." (Ephesians1: 20-23)

Far above, above the heavens, at the right hand of the Father.

This cannot be understood within our limited intellect. We either believe it, or we do not believe it.

"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" (Romans 11: 33)

To believe  on Jesus Christ, in fact, is our one work, anyway:

"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 28-29)

While the crowd said "works", Jesus gently corrected them: "Here is the work."

To believe is just a nicer way of saying "receive!"

The last thing that we will do is receive from Him, it seems. Yet that is what God our Father wants us to do with His Son.

Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, beyond all power and authority, yet to recognize and respect this authority -- is to receive from Him:

"But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. 43But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: 44And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 45For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Mark 10: 42-45)

Far too many commentators have read this passage as a call to serve with all of our strength.

In reality, the chiefest among us will always be Jesus Christ, and He Himself declared that He has come to serve.

Jesus Christ is not just "a higher power", and while he is the Highest authority in the world, He is the King of Kings who makes us all kings and priests within Him (1 Peter 2: 9)

If we want to give Him his due reverence, we do so by drawing from Him, by casting all our care upon Him, for He cares for us (1 Peter 5: 6-7)

There is no "higher power" like this in human imagination, a King who is magnified to the extent that we allow Him to live and serve us.

AA's "higher power" is nothing, nothing, nothing at all like our God, like Jesus Christ:

"20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." (Ephesians 3: 20-21)

Cast Out Bill W.!

"Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

"So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free." (Galatians 4: 30-31)


AA brings people back into bondage because the Twelve Steps create this veneer of having to "do something" in order to get to God, or to be able to access Him.

Jesus Christ dispels this lie with one verse:

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. " (John 14: 6)

There is no other way but through Jesus Christ, and by His death and resurrection, we are taken from dead in our trespasses to alive and seated in heavenly places in Christ.

We do not need to take any steps, because God has brought us to Himself:

"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)

This truth may assault the religious training of some people, but God is no longer angry at the world. He has imputed all the sins of the world to His Son, who is the propitiation of our sins (1 John 2: 1-2).

God is not mad at anyone any more. (Isaiah 54: 9) There is a hell, however, for those who refuse to believe on Jesus, whom God has sent to be our substitute for our sins, and to be our mediator before God the Father in heavenly places.

At any rate, the law was not given to man in order to make us holy, but rather to prove to us that no one can be holy in his efforts, that he requires righteousness imputed to him:

"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." (Galatians 3: 19)

then

"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Galatians 3: 20)

Now this verse throws off seminarians and pastors:

"Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:" (Romans 5: 20)

In effect, any set of rules devised by man to get us closer to God will actually magnify our distance from God, or it will cause us to be alienated in our minds that God is angry with us.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans8: 38-39), and He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13: 5)

As children of God, we are no longer called to grow in knowledge of the law, but rather we are called to know Him and His grace, for the two are inseparable.

The law is contrary to grace, by the way:

"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." (Galatians 5: 4)

Grace is higher than law, and for that reason returning to the law implies that we fall from a higher place.

God's grace teaches us to live godly lives (Titus 2: 11-14). Law of any kind will actually bring out the very thing that we want to remove from our lives: sin.

So, just as Abraham and Sarah cast out the bondwoman Hagar, just as Paul exhorts the Galatians to remove any trace of the law from their lives, so too every child of God who counts on his sonship in Christ must cast out Bill W. and the Twelve Steps, which do not bring us closer to God, but in fact frustrate His grace from working in our lives.

The Galatian Error -- Mixed Message of God's Grace and Man's Effort -- Part III

The Greatest Error of AA is the simplest one - Jesus is not first, foremost, or forever.

A "god" of my understanding, as presented by AA, turns into some fictive deity based on a stern following of the Twelve Steps.

Whatever God you claim to believe, he or she or it must submit to the Twelve Step program.

Yet submitting to any program of men just brings us under bondage once again to the elements of the world:

"But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" (Galatians 4: 9)

and

"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." (Colossians 2:8)

It's all about Jesus Christ -- the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.

Jesus Christ, the life and the love of every believer.

Nothing could be more practical than that.

There is no need to return to the law, since God places His laws in our hearts and minds:

"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)

 The Spirit of God within us gives us all wisdom: "But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." (1 John 2: 20)

and
 "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: 27)

He lives in us, and through us, and works in us:

 "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2: 12-13)

There is no mixing the Good News -- it's a Gospel of Grace, not works: "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ." (Galatians 1: 6-7)

It's the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of the grace of Christ, and nothing less, and certainly nothing more, for Christ is everything for us:

 "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1: 21)

and

"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." (Colossians 1: 15-20)

This is far more than any "God of my understanding." He can take care of anything, can He not? Don't mix the message. Christ is as practical as it gets. No "Twelve Steps" needed.

The Galatian Error -- Mixed Message of God's Grace and Man's Effort -- Part II

So, many well-being, well-feeling, yet wrong-believing Christians are bringing back the law into their lives, convinced that the inner workings of Christ in us through the Holy Spirit are not adequate to lead us.

The Bible is very clear on the matter of faith and our commitment to a Person, not to a code, a creed, or a concert of conduct:

We are called to live by faith:

"And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." (Genesis 15: 6)

This verse contains the first mention of faith, and this faith is connected with depending on the LORD, the God of Abraham who was, is, and always forever will be for us (Hebrews 13: 8) because of all that Jesus Christ has done at the Cross.


"Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2: 4)

and

"By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5: 2)

This faith gives us grace:

"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)" (Ephesians 2: 5)

and then

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" (Ephesians 2: 8)

Now faith saves us, and by faith we live.

Jesus taught us to believe on Him, the only work:

We can have God's faith:

"And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. (lit. have the faith of God) (Mark 11: 22)"

"29Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 29)

Paul writes about the faith of God:

"For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?" (Romans 3:3)

He also writes that we live by the faith of the Son of God:

"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)

It's all about Jesus Christ, who gives us His Life, and through His Life, we live:

"9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (1 John 4: 9)

This faith is a gift from God, and it all centers on Jesus Christ!

The Galatian Error -- Mixed Message of God's Grace and Man's Effort

My mother was a well-meaning soul in many respects.

She believed, as do many Christians, that God sent His Son to die for our sins, that we are assured our place heaven, but as for living on this earth, we are on our own.

Much of this confusion stems from the fact that many people are only receiving half of the Gospel, if even that.

John 3: 16 is so simple as to mystify, like a man who misplaces his glasses, which have been resting on his forehead the whole time:

"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)

Not just so that we would not perish, but God sent His Son so that we would have eternal life, and we receive this life through Jesus Christ Himself:

"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" (Colossianss 1: 27)

and then

"3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 3-4)

In my life, I had always known and believed that I was going to heaven.

As for living on this earth, I had no idea what I was doing, or what I was supposed to do.

Bob George, a pastor based in Oregon who sponsored a program called "People to People" Ministries, submitted that many people are in bondage to this error.

His words are telling:

"The Galatian error has been the greatest thorn in the flesh of the church since the very beginning. In many places and times, it has been bold and straightforward. . .The one that is much more difficult and much more common. . .is committed by groups that swear up and down that a person is saved by grace through faith alone. . .Their only problem is that their use of the word "salvation" is limited to your initial acceptance of Christ, the issue of where you go when you die. Here and now, though, they teach that God accepts you on the basis of your performance of certain rules and regulations." (Classic Christianity, 1989, pg 126)

This is simply not the case for believers who have been made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21), and who cannot expect to go from Spirit back to law and self-effort:

"Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3: 3)

In fact, in trying to be good and holy through our efforts, or in "the flesh", these perversions are the result:

"19Now 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)

So, like many people, my mother and I and  many others in "Twelve Step" Programs do not know how to live, since we only heard that part of the Gospel that informed us that Jesus died on the Cross for our sins.

My mother would often share: ""With these two books, you will be just fine. The Twelve Steps makes the Christian life practical."

Reckon Yourself Dead to Sin insted of Wrecking Yourself Trying Not To Sin

This thought brings us to Step Ten, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past. We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code. (AA, pg 84)

While Alcoholics Anonymous tells people to keep looking at themselves and correct their bad thoughts and actions, Paul the Apostle invites us to identify with a different Person altogether:

"For in that he [Jesus] died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." (Romans 6: 10-12)

We do not identify with the sin and shame and condemnation in our bodies and minds anymore, but rather we identify with Christ Jesus, because when we accept that He died for us and as us, then we receive His righteousness and reign in life (Romans 5: 17)

John could not have written this truth more clearly:

"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)

For many years, I have lived this life as if I had to "maintain" my standing or "keep myself" righteous. For a long time, when I failed, or even at the end of the day, I would think about what I did wrong, confess, and then move on. Even at a very low ebb in my life, I was still going over what I did wrong, looking at my sins, and making sure that I was coming clean before God.

Yet in Christ, God no longer sees our sins, for in the New Covenant he swears that He will remember our sins no more (Hebrews 8: 112)

The teaching that we must confess our sins in order to be forgiven is a distorted reading of 1 John 1: 9, to be begin with:

"9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1: 9)

First of all, John uses the "editorial we", in that he is not referring to himself. Second of all, the same passage teaches that confession of sins leads to forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness, not just some or most.

Paul writes that Jesus was raised from the dead on account of our justification (Romans 4: 25)

Because of Christ's death and resurrection, we receive new life, and we become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Therefore, believers in the Body of Christ are to acknowledge that they are dead to sin, but alive in Christ, who is our life (Colossians 3: 3-4)

While AA wants people to identify with their sin, with fallen Adam, God places us in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 2:6), and thus we identify with Him, not with ourselves, and certainly not with our thoughts, our feelings, or any of our sins.

As long as men and women in the Body of Christ continue to see the sin in their lives as something that they must fix through their own efforts, to that extent they are fallen from grace (Galatians 5: 4), and thus they frustrate the grace of God in their lives (Galatians 2: 20-21).

Too many Christians have wrecked themselves trying to work the Twelve Steps, as if they can follow a formula to make themselves better. God has provided a better covenant, based on better promises, in which He has provided His Son the Propitiation of our sins (1 John 2: 2), and then God gives us His Son through the Holy Spirit, so that we live through Him, not ourselves:

"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (1 John 4: 9)

The life that we live, we live by the faith of the Son of God, not in our own strength, but through His:

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4: 13)

and

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4: 19)

As long as we try to live this life in our strength, we are setting ourselves up for the curse of the law in our lives:

"For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law." (Galatians 5: 3)

Alcoholics Anonymous is worse than any scam. This "program" puts well-meaning believers back under law, and thus they end  up wrecking their lives instead of reckoning themselves dead to sin and shame.

Ladies and gentlemen of the Body of Christ, reckon yourselves dead to sin and shame once and for all, and stop wrecking yourselves under the terrible regime of AA. Let Christ live in you, and his grace and righteousness will cause you to reign in life (Romans 5: 17) over every sin, shame, and addiction.

Resentment, Frustration, and Now Exhilaration Part III

God's grace has granted us Jesus' unmerited favor. Jesus is the "firstborn from the dead" (Colossians 1: 18, Revelation 1: 5) and the firstborn of many brethren (Romans 8: 28). Jesus is the "Firstborn", which indicates that there is a second-born, a third-born, etc.

Who are all of those other "born"? Every person who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who came in the flesh to die for our sins, to grant us His righteousness, and to give his the Spirit of Adoption (Romans 8: 15).

We are:

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3: 3)

and

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." (1 Peter 1: 23)

and

"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," (2 Peter 1: 3)

AA tells us that we are "alcoholics" who need to work a program, and that we can only rest in a daily reprieve. In Christ, we are taken from dead in our trespassses to alive and in full glory through Christ Jesus.

Resentment and frustration cannot break our fellowship, our sonship before God in Christ. Such a notion is just unthinkable in the fact of the truth.

First resentment and then frustration were the focal points in my life. Now, there is nothing but exhilaration, because Jesus Christ is my life, and in Him I am blessed with all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1: 3)!

Resentment, Frustration, and Now Exhilaration Part II

The most clear and convincing and victorious statement on this could not be clearer:

"38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romanss 8: 38-39)

Paul, like many believers, had to be "persuaded", in that his mind had to be renewed to the truth of Christ Jesus, based on His Word and His Work (Romans 12: 2). He grew in grace and knowledge of the Lord, and thus he knew His Love, because God is love (1 John 4: 8), and the more you know Him, you will know and believe how much He loves you.

At any rate, this notion that how we feel, or what we think, or anything else can separate us or cut us off from the sunlight of the Spirit is nothing but evil lies.

Jesus died on the Cross not just to get rid of, to pay for all of our sins (Colossians 2: 13), but to give us His life, as well:

"[Jesus] 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: 14)

"Redemption" speaks of being bought back and reclaimed by the proper owner. We were meant to be with God and for God to live with us for all time, yet the Fall of Man, from Adam's sin, corrupted us with sin, and thus the separation between God and man had to be repaired by Jesus Christ, God made man, the Word made flesh.

In Romans 8, where Paul writes that nothing can separate us from the love of God, he includes a key element too often left out in our churches:

"14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17And 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: 12-17)

We have nothing to fear because He has made us children of God, he has adopted us! In fact, God the Father loves us as much as Jesus:

"23I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." (John 17: 23)

We understand this better the more that we understand who we are, and whose we are:

"10But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1 Corinthians 15: 10)

and
"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)

Resentment, Frustration, and Now Exhilaration

It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these, do we squander the hours that might have been worth while. But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die. (AA, pg 66)

Of the many lies, distortions, and half-truths which I have read, this passage contains one of the most glaring and damaging.

I cannot write how much and how long this "insight" incited nothing but frustration and anger for me growing up as a child and still struggling as an adult.

People used to make me mad. They really frustrated me.

I never really understood why.

Now I see that this "Big Book" was founded on nothing by "bigger lies", one of which includes the empty notion that "resentment" is a serious issue which we must get rid of, or else we will drink again, or we will cut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit.

Yes, this passage is a bold-faced, stereotyped, faulty, foolish, empty, evil lie.

In Christ, we cannot be cut off ever from God:

"Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." (Isaiah 55: 13)

and then

"Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." (Isaiah 56: 5)

This passages come from the Old Testament, all prophesies of the work that Jesus accomplished on the Cross for all mankind.

The New Testament:

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6: 37)

and

"My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." (Hebrews 10: 29)

and

"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13: 5)

"Never" there translates the Greek ""Ou me", which means "by no means", "no way at all", "not in the least of the slightest." In short -- we can never be cut off or forsaken or lost of let aside or cast off ever.

Reckon Yourself Dead to Resentment, Fear, and Other Negatives in Your Life

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 11)

AA teaches people to identify with their sin:

"My name is Arthur, and I am an alcoholic."

The words "I am" are quite powerful. The more that we identify or label ourselves according to something, the more that our thoughts and feelings will accord with this identity.

Alcoholism, like many other perversions of our minds and bodies, are all works of the flesh, or our fallen sin natures:

"19Now 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)

Paul emphasizes that the Kingdom of Heaven is not something that we can earn, but a kingdom which we must inherit.

We reign in life through Christ Jesus (Romans 5: 17), as we continue receiving His grace and righteousness in our lives.

In fact, because of Christ's death and resurrection on the Cross, we go from dead in our trespasses to alive and seated in heavenly places in Christ:

"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:"

We do not identify with this world, or anything in it, including alcohol, alcoholism, and certainly not Alcoholics Anonymous.

 3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:" (Ephesians 2: 1-6)

We are no longer called to live in our flesh, trying to fulfill ourselves in empty pursuits and the sinful lifestyles of our dead-in-trespasses lives. Why would we, anyway, since God has seated us in Christ, who now sits at the right hand of the Father, in full glory?:

"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)

Resentment, wrath, upsets of any kind - they are works of the flesh, which we end up producing in our lives to the degree that we forget who we are in Christ, and identify with our fallen flesh.

AA teaches people to identify with the fallen flesh. Reckon yourself dead to the resentment, fear, and other negatives in your life, and look to Christ, the Author and Finisher of faith (Hebrews 12: 2), for He is our life (Colossians 3: 3-4)