"3Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 3-4)
Bill W. died of terrible cancer, unable to live according to the same cursed program which he had seduced millions to follow.
The word is spreading around the world, exposing that Alcoholics Anonymous is a dangerous, perverted, evil cult, one which robs men and women of the blessed assurance promised to them through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
He died on the Cross not just to put away all our sins, but to bring us into a status of everlasting righteousness, a new identity one with Christ, and to be blessed, eternal inheritors with God our Father.
Bill W. was a greedy, brutish man, given to all sorts of terrible perversions, cheating on his wife, stealing from members, lying to men and women who needed life and that more abundantly, yet insidiously sought to make himself a Christ-figure to replace the one and only Jesus!
Paul explicitly shared his concerns about believers being led astray by anyone preaching anything else besides his gospel:
"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (2 Corinthians 11: 3)
Paul had nothing but harsh words for anyone who preached anything but Christ and Him Crucified:
"6I 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. 8But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1: 6-9)
Paul would later write:
"I would they were even cut off which trouble you." (Galatians 5: 12)
We can rejoice today, those who rest and live by faith in Christ, who became sin that we be His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5: 21) -- that Bill W. was cut off, broken and bankrupt, brought into ill-repute, and that over time, every effort to praise his "program" has turned against Bill W., and more people are fleeing AA and stepping into the A+ which we receive in Christ Jesus!
Sunday, November 24, 2013
How to Grow in Grace
The proper habit of living and working in our lives must depend on more than a man-made program.
When I would get angry, when I would lose my peace, whenever I was frustrated, I would go back to working the step in the AA book.
For years, I found myself in bondage to so many hurts, failures, bad feelings.
When I read the Bible, when I see more of Christ Jesus as the bread of life, then I have peace.
We do not need something which fixes our flesh, but causes us to grow in grace through the Spirit.
It's not about taking steps, it's not about doing works.
It's about resting in Jesus.
It's about understanding our new and eternal place in Him.
It's about receiving more of His grace and righteousness in our lives.
For too long, I had believed that God did not love me because I still found myself getting angry, hurt, bitter, or when I faced difficulties in my life.
Today, and even more from one day to the next, I learn that Jesus has already taken care of every need, and all I have to do is keep receiving from Him.
Forget the Steps, and step into a growing knowledge of Jesus and His love for you!
When I would get angry, when I would lose my peace, whenever I was frustrated, I would go back to working the step in the AA book.
For years, I found myself in bondage to so many hurts, failures, bad feelings.
When I read the Bible, when I see more of Christ Jesus as the bread of life, then I have peace.
We do not need something which fixes our flesh, but causes us to grow in grace through the Spirit.
It's not about taking steps, it's not about doing works.
It's about resting in Jesus.
It's about understanding our new and eternal place in Him.
It's about receiving more of His grace and righteousness in our lives.
For too long, I had believed that God did not love me because I still found myself getting angry, hurt, bitter, or when I faced difficulties in my life.
Today, and even more from one day to the next, I learn that Jesus has already taken care of every need, and all I have to do is keep receiving from Him.
Forget the Steps, and step into a growing knowledge of Jesus and His love for you!
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Alcoholics Anonymous Robs People
God did not make us to be defined by our sins.
He wants us to be free from the status of sin, as well.
He did not want us to live in the dead actions of our sinful nature.
He wants every one of us to reign in life!
"For 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: 17)
In fact, when we see who we are in Christ Jesus, we no longer identify with our sins, nor do we get bogged down when we find ourselves still feeling fear, anger, or resentment.
Alcoholics Anonymous instills in men and women an essential sense of shame and reproach:
"I am man alcoholic."
No!
We are either dead in Adam, or we are alive in Christ:
"Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." (Romans 5: 14)
then
"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)
AA indoctrinates people to be poor and dependent, forever forced to lead one's life in line with failed programs and procedures in AA meetings.
Paul exposes these teachings of men:
"18Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." (Colossians 2: 18-19)
If anyone had a fleshly mind, that would be Bill W. the "Founder" of Alcoholics Anonymous, who wanted to make himself a modern-day Christ-figure, a charlatan who invited an evil cult based on Biblical distortions and lies to bring suffering men and women into bondage rather than setting them free through the truth of God's Word.
While AA robs people of taking in God's blood-bought blessings for us, the moment that we look to Christ and esteem that HE (not us) did everything for us, then we will walk in the Spirit, feed on His faithfulness, and reign in life.
He wants us to be free from the status of sin, as well.
He did not want us to live in the dead actions of our sinful nature.
He wants every one of us to reign in life!
"For 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: 17)
In fact, when we see who we are in Christ Jesus, we no longer identify with our sins, nor do we get bogged down when we find ourselves still feeling fear, anger, or resentment.
Alcoholics Anonymous instills in men and women an essential sense of shame and reproach:
"I am man alcoholic."
No!
We are either dead in Adam, or we are alive in Christ:
"Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." (Romans 5: 14)
then
"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)
AA indoctrinates people to be poor and dependent, forever forced to lead one's life in line with failed programs and procedures in AA meetings.
Paul exposes these teachings of men:
"18Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." (Colossians 2: 18-19)
If anyone had a fleshly mind, that would be Bill W. the "Founder" of Alcoholics Anonymous, who wanted to make himself a modern-day Christ-figure, a charlatan who invited an evil cult based on Biblical distortions and lies to bring suffering men and women into bondage rather than setting them free through the truth of God's Word.
While AA robs people of taking in God's blood-bought blessings for us, the moment that we look to Christ and esteem that HE (not us) did everything for us, then we will walk in the Spirit, feed on His faithfulness, and reign in life.
Friday, November 22, 2013
Righteousness is Our Need, Not a Program
"Keeping Coming Back! It works if you work it!"
No, the program of Alcoholics Anonymous does not work.
The emotional demands placed on members, in order to stay sober, more likely drive them to drink, or to obsess on other perverse pursuits.
Consider the following:
No, the program of Alcoholics Anonymous does not work.
The emotional demands placed on members, in order to stay sober, more likely drive them to drink, or to obsess on other perverse pursuits.
Consider the following:
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.
If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us. They may be the dubious luxury of normal men, but for alcoholics these things are poison. (AA, pg 66)
To be labeled an alcoholic, that you have to fix yourself, maintain a program of not getting anger: there you have a life of futility and unhappiness.
A life where other people do indeed dominate you, where your feelings and thoughts are dictated to you through a religious cult-- there you have the recipe for a life of futility and unhappiness.
We are going to get angry in this life, and we should get angry.
Yet if you are a new creation in Christ, the sudden shocks and upsets in our lives will not only still be there, since we walk around in those bodies, but the frustration we may feel because we still see sin in our lives may set us up for greater despair.
Regarding the opinion of doctors whether alcoholics could recover or not, the AA book relates the following response:
"Yes," replied the doctor, "there is. Exceptions to cases such as yours have been occurring since early times. Here and there, once in a while, alcoholics have had what are called vital spiritual experiences. To me these occurrences are phenomena. They appear to be in the nature of huge emotional displacements and rearrangements. Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once the guiding forces of the lives of these men are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate them. In fact, I have been trying to produce some such emotional rearrangement within you. With many individuals the methods which I employed are successful, but I have never been successful with an alcoholic of your description." (AA, pg 27)
This notion of emotional arrangements suggests that these feelings, this pattern of thinking and feelings occurs without any responsibility or input from the individual.
The truth is - our feelings merely reflect what we are thinking. If we think of God our Father loving us unconditionally because of all that Christ Jesus has done for us on the Cross, we have a sure foundation for our peace and well-being.
If we have an identity based on a sense of provisional acceptance, one which must be renewed and maintained every day by working a program, then the frustrations we face, plus the failures we must accept, will give us the impression that our lives are no better.
We do not need a program of action, but a recognition of our new and eternal status in Christ.
When we see ourselves as children of God, taken out of death in our trespasses and seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, we find peace and wholeness which escapes most people, especially members in AA meetings.
This righteousness is the enforcement clause of 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)
For the longest time, I believed that my standing with God depended on how I felt!
I got this evil notion from AA:
Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. (AA , pg 58)
Our feelings cannot block us from God the Father.
Our feelings have nothing to do with our standing before God.
Righteousness has nothing to do with us, either, but with Jesus:
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
He paid for everything, not us. We can bring not one thing to standing in His righteousness, but to keep receiving this gift of righteousness. Not a program, but a gift!
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
You are Not Your Feelings -- You are in Christ
Alcoholics Anonymous teaches people to identify with their feelings.
Paul explains the consequences of such folly:
"For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8: 6)
We are to walk in the Spirit, not in our flesh, not defined by our feelings, but rather with Christ Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of God the Father (Ephesians 1: 21-22), and we are seated with Him (Ephesians 2: 4-8)
We are to identify ourselves with Christ Jesus, and not with our bodies or feelings:
"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)
Our life is hidden in Christ, who is the Image of the God the Father, the Creator of all things, and our Redeemer (Colossians 1: 13-18)
We are not our feelings, but we are children of God (1 John 3: 1-3).
We are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ to righteousness (Romans 6: 11-14), and we can rest assured in His righteousness and peace because Jesus condemned our sins, and sin in the flesh, when He died on the Cross.
We may still feel sinful emotions in our bodies and minds, yet we have only to bring these thoughts into captivity to Christ's obedience, where every sin has been put away forever (2 Corinthians 10: 5)
While AA warns members to be on guard about their feelings, to confess them with spot-check inventories and then go out of their way to help people, the Bible invites us to put off, or rather let go of this "Old man" (Ephesians 4: 26-32) and walk in the light as children of Light (Ephesians 5: 8)
Paul explains the consequences of such folly:
"For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8: 6)
We are to walk in the Spirit, not in our flesh, not defined by our feelings, but rather with Christ Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of God the Father (Ephesians 1: 21-22), and we are seated with Him (Ephesians 2: 4-8)
We are to identify ourselves with Christ Jesus, and not with our bodies or feelings:
"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)
Our life is hidden in Christ, who is the Image of the God the Father, the Creator of all things, and our Redeemer (Colossians 1: 13-18)
We are not our feelings, but we are children of God (1 John 3: 1-3).
We are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ to righteousness (Romans 6: 11-14), and we can rest assured in His righteousness and peace because Jesus condemned our sins, and sin in the flesh, when He died on the Cross.
We may still feel sinful emotions in our bodies and minds, yet we have only to bring these thoughts into captivity to Christ's obedience, where every sin has been put away forever (2 Corinthians 10: 5)
While AA warns members to be on guard about their feelings, to confess them with spot-check inventories and then go out of their way to help people, the Bible invites us to put off, or rather let go of this "Old man" (Ephesians 4: 26-32) and walk in the light as children of Light (Ephesians 5: 8)
Monday, November 18, 2013
A Revisit to Share the Reason Rejoice
It was a negative habit in my life.
The worse that I felt, the more compelled I felt that I had to do something about how I felt.
The frustrations and upsets in my life, they were all part and parcel of sin in the flesh, which was crucified in Christ when He died on the Cross.
Because I am crucified with Christ, just as Paul (Galatians 2: 20-21), I live by His faith living in me.
It's all of Christ, none of me.
Today, I received a greater, glorious revelation.
There will still be upsets and hurts in my life. They are connected with sentiments of condemnation, from which we are completely free in Christ Jesus!
The challenge would often fall into -- is this upset, this angry thought something that I need to do something about, or not?
The answer -- Not!
Jesus Christ took care of every hurt, every setback, every pain at the Cross.
I also have learned, and I share with all of you.
I used to believe that how I felt would impact whether Christ was working in my life or not.
When I noticed that I would get angry, or frustrated, or anything else, then I would start to panic.
I needed to do something about how I felt, or I would miss out on whatever God wanted to do in my life.
Yet the New Covenant is all about what God does, and not us:
"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:
The worse that I felt, the more compelled I felt that I had to do something about how I felt.
The frustrations and upsets in my life, they were all part and parcel of sin in the flesh, which was crucified in Christ when He died on the Cross.
Because I am crucified with Christ, just as Paul (Galatians 2: 20-21), I live by His faith living in me.
It's all of Christ, none of me.
Today, I received a greater, glorious revelation.
There will still be upsets and hurts in my life. They are connected with sentiments of condemnation, from which we are completely free in Christ Jesus!
The challenge would often fall into -- is this upset, this angry thought something that I need to do something about, or not?
The answer -- Not!
Jesus Christ took care of every hurt, every setback, every pain at the Cross.
I also have learned, and I share with all of you.
I used to believe that how I felt would impact whether Christ was working in my life or not.
When I noticed that I would get angry, or frustrated, or anything else, then I would start to panic.
I needed to do something about how I felt, or I would miss out on whatever God wanted to do in my life.
Yet the New Covenant is all about what God does, and not us:
"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 is our God because He remembers our sins no more, for every sin was remembered in the Body of Jesus Christ at the Cross! He watches out for us and supplies all our needs because Jesus died on the Cross for us.
So, anytime we find upsets or tumults rising up within us, we can rest assured that this sin in our flesh has been condemned, crucified, and therefore is nothing to worry about.
Instead of looking at ourselves, Paul invites everyone who is in Christ:
"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)
Our feelings and our thoughts relate to Christ, for we are in Him, and as He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4: 17)
Oftentimes, I used to pray for God to remove feelings of anger and upset in my life. When I found that I was still feeling angry, frustrated, or just about anything else, then I would get fearful, or even despair, because I could not understand why God was not hearing my prayer, or answering my cry.
What I have learned as I grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord, seeing all that Jesus Christ accomplished at the Cross and accomplishes to this day seated at the right hand of the Father, the more that I rest in His Work, not in my feelings, nor in my thoughts.
Rest and righteousness has everything to do with Christ Jesus, not with me or anything that I say, do or think!
This is something to revisit and rejoice in as often as possible! Amen!
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Sin Condemned in the Flesh
Jesus did not die on the Cross so that we could keep feeling sorry for our sins today.
"12Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins." (Proverbs 10: 12)
God's Love is demonstrated to us on the Cross:
"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. 10Herein 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: 9-10)
There, God did not just cover our sins, but he purged them forever:
"13And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2: 13-15)
Read that again: all trespasses, all sins, all.
Jesus did not just die for our sins, but He remains our mercy seat, or our "propitiation" forever more.
We need this assurance because we still walk around in these dead-Adam bodies, in which sin in the flesh will manifest.
But this sin in our flesh has been condemned:
"1Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8: 1-4, NASB)
The devious nature of the Alcoholics Anonymous cult, including the misguided hopes of Celebrate Recovery, is to deceive people into trying to perfect their flesh, when Christ's death on the Cross also crucified our flesh forever:
"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)
When Paul wrote that he was crucified with Christ, He was speaking about sin in the flesh.
He also argues that everyone of us is dead to sin, but alive in Christ to righteousness (Romans 6: 11-14)
Because we are dead to the rudiments of this world, we need not worry about trying to fix our flesh. Instead, Paul invites us to set our eyes at the Father's right hand:
"1For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; 2That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; 3In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. 5For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ." (Colossians 3: 1-4)
This revelation means so much to me.
I have spent so much time still getting worried about how I feel, or trying to preempt my fears and upsets.
Now I have a reason not to worry about how I feel: Christ has crucified sin in the flesh! He has crucified the sin in my flesh!
For so long, I feared doing certain things, since I was constantly distracted, or feared being distracted. by sinful thoughts and emotions.
Wow! This is really cool!
More to share on this later.
"12Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins." (Proverbs 10: 12)
God's Love is demonstrated to us on the Cross:
"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. 10Herein 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: 9-10)
There, God did not just cover our sins, but he purged them forever:
"13And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2: 13-15)
Read that again: all trespasses, all sins, all.
Jesus did not just die for our sins, but He remains our mercy seat, or our "propitiation" forever more.
We need this assurance because we still walk around in these dead-Adam bodies, in which sin in the flesh will manifest.
But this sin in our flesh has been condemned:
"1Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8: 1-4, NASB)
The devious nature of the Alcoholics Anonymous cult, including the misguided hopes of Celebrate Recovery, is to deceive people into trying to perfect their flesh, when Christ's death on the Cross also crucified our flesh forever:
"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)
When Paul wrote that he was crucified with Christ, He was speaking about sin in the flesh.
He also argues that everyone of us is dead to sin, but alive in Christ to righteousness (Romans 6: 11-14)
Because we are dead to the rudiments of this world, we need not worry about trying to fix our flesh. Instead, Paul invites us to set our eyes at the Father's right hand:
"1For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; 2That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; 3In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. 5For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ." (Colossians 3: 1-4)
This revelation means so much to me.
I have spent so much time still getting worried about how I feel, or trying to preempt my fears and upsets.
Now I have a reason not to worry about how I feel: Christ has crucified sin in the flesh! He has crucified the sin in my flesh!
For so long, I feared doing certain things, since I was constantly distracted, or feared being distracted. by sinful thoughts and emotions.
Wow! This is really cool!
More to share on this later.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Why I Struggled to Believe
Religion is bad for you.
There is no nice way to put it.
As long as we believe that there are certain rules which we must keep in order to be accepted, then the power of God's unconditional love can never work in our lives.
Without the knowledge that God loves us, no matter what we say or do, or rather that we are loved in spite of who we are, we can never rest assured in our walk with God.
We must realize that we as in Christ, not in ourselves, or otherwise we will keep seeing our brokenness, our weakness, our emptiness in and of ourselves.
Alcoholics Anonymous not only scams members with this false notion of choosing one's own conception of God, but then levels people with a set of demands destined to keep members forever inadequate and bankrupted.
Religion for all of us, because God did not send His Son to give us a bunch of rules, but rather He sent His Son so that we can receive His Life, and through Him we can live and have life more abundantly.
I was learning about the Gospel of Grace for a long time. Yet at the same time, I was attending Celebrate Recovery meetings.
We cannot walk by faith in God's grace if we disdain the truth that He has paid for everything through the death and resurrection of His Son.
As long as we are convinced that the sin debt in our lives is not paid, then we will keep on trying to pay off that interminable debt with our thoughts, words, deeds, obsessive habits, compulsive behaviors, and every other religious trapping.
Why did I struggle to believe that all my sins are forgiven? I was still working these outrageous, unending, useless Twelve Steps.
We are called to rest in His Finished work, to trust that He has taken care of everything, regardless of how we feel, or what we think, or even what we do, or have done, or will do.
We accept this wonderful gift when we accept that we are not just bad people who need to be good, but rather dead men and women who need life, and this Life we find in one Person: Jesus!
This beautiful person we cannot know through our own empty, hollow intuition, for faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ (Romans 10: 17)
Yet when we believe in our hearts and confess out our mouths that Jesus is Lord, then we are saved (Romans 10: 9)
We receive His life, and all other things freely with Him, too!
Why I struggled to believe all of this? I was raised in religious, pushed through the Twelve Steps from my youth, plus a household where my father had placed the Ten Commandments, the Ministry of Death and Condemnation, on our walls in our house. We are not justified by the works of the law, but by the hearing of faith.
Law speaks also of demands, and any kind of demand placed on dead flesh will only bring forth death, sin, and bondage.
We who are called to be adopted sons and daughters of God through Christ are not called to live in the flesh, but rather to walk in the Spirit, resting in the truth that every sin has been purged, and that sin in our flesh has been crucified forever in the Body of Jesus Christ!
We will struggle to believe if we do not realize what God has called us to be, and that He wants to live in us!
There is no nice way to put it.
As long as we believe that there are certain rules which we must keep in order to be accepted, then the power of God's unconditional love can never work in our lives.
Without the knowledge that God loves us, no matter what we say or do, or rather that we are loved in spite of who we are, we can never rest assured in our walk with God.
We must realize that we as in Christ, not in ourselves, or otherwise we will keep seeing our brokenness, our weakness, our emptiness in and of ourselves.
Alcoholics Anonymous not only scams members with this false notion of choosing one's own conception of God, but then levels people with a set of demands destined to keep members forever inadequate and bankrupted.
Religion for all of us, because God did not send His Son to give us a bunch of rules, but rather He sent His Son so that we can receive His Life, and through Him we can live and have life more abundantly.
I was learning about the Gospel of Grace for a long time. Yet at the same time, I was attending Celebrate Recovery meetings.
We cannot walk by faith in God's grace if we disdain the truth that He has paid for everything through the death and resurrection of His Son.
As long as we are convinced that the sin debt in our lives is not paid, then we will keep on trying to pay off that interminable debt with our thoughts, words, deeds, obsessive habits, compulsive behaviors, and every other religious trapping.
Why did I struggle to believe that all my sins are forgiven? I was still working these outrageous, unending, useless Twelve Steps.
We are called to rest in His Finished work, to trust that He has taken care of everything, regardless of how we feel, or what we think, or even what we do, or have done, or will do.
We accept this wonderful gift when we accept that we are not just bad people who need to be good, but rather dead men and women who need life, and this Life we find in one Person: Jesus!
This beautiful person we cannot know through our own empty, hollow intuition, for faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ (Romans 10: 17)
Yet when we believe in our hearts and confess out our mouths that Jesus is Lord, then we are saved (Romans 10: 9)
We receive His life, and all other things freely with Him, too!
Why I struggled to believe all of this? I was raised in religious, pushed through the Twelve Steps from my youth, plus a household where my father had placed the Ten Commandments, the Ministry of Death and Condemnation, on our walls in our house. We are not justified by the works of the law, but by the hearing of faith.
Law speaks also of demands, and any kind of demand placed on dead flesh will only bring forth death, sin, and bondage.
We who are called to be adopted sons and daughters of God through Christ are not called to live in the flesh, but rather to walk in the Spirit, resting in the truth that every sin has been purged, and that sin in our flesh has been crucified forever in the Body of Jesus Christ!
We will struggle to believe if we do not realize what God has called us to be, and that He wants to live in us!
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Celebrate Recovery is a Fraud
Celebrate Recovery is worse than Alcoholics Anonymous.
While the program pretends to be Biblical, the whole program is based on crude distortions of God's Word.
Mixture is worse than all law or all grace.
"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot." (Revelation 3: 15)
Jesus did not come to make bad men good, but rather bring dead men mired in trespasses to life and seated in heavenly places with His Son.
When we receive His New Life and His new standing, we no longer look at our thoughts and feelings, but assess who we are based on who He is, and where He is:
"But 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: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. " (Ephesians 2: 4-7)
Paul tells us to focus on Jesus, for we now live in Him:
"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)
We are not struggling in our fallen flesh anymore, for Christ condemned our sins and sin in the flesh at the Cross (Romans 8: 1-3).
We have no reason to identify with our dead bodies, but rather we can renew our minds to the truth of who we are in Christ Jesus!
"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)
and then
"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)
Celebrate Recovery focuses people on their flesh, on their "old man" nature, which has been condemned fully and forever.
Instead of working steps, Paul invites every believed to grow in knowledge of God's love for them (Ephesians 3:16-19), and then as we see who we are in Christ, we walk like Him, because He lives in us.
Then all the upsets and frustrations, the sinful emotions and thoughts, are taken away:
"31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4: 31-32)
We overcome in every area as we grow in grace, understanding how much God has forgiven us for Christ's sake.
Celebrate Recovery is a massive fraud, a man-made program which brings people back under law ot establish what God has already done for us through His Son. Instead of falling from grace through our efforts, let us Celebrate Christ's death and resurrection, and reign in life through His gifts of righteousness and superabounding grace!
While the program pretends to be Biblical, the whole program is based on crude distortions of God's Word.
Mixture is worse than all law or all grace.
"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot." (Revelation 3: 15)
Jesus did not come to make bad men good, but rather bring dead men mired in trespasses to life and seated in heavenly places with His Son.
When we receive His New Life and His new standing, we no longer look at our thoughts and feelings, but assess who we are based on who He is, and where He is:
"But 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: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. " (Ephesians 2: 4-7)
Paul tells us to focus on Jesus, for we now live in Him:
"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)
We are not struggling in our fallen flesh anymore, for Christ condemned our sins and sin in the flesh at the Cross (Romans 8: 1-3).
We have no reason to identify with our dead bodies, but rather we can renew our minds to the truth of who we are in Christ Jesus!
"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)
and then
"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)
Celebrate Recovery focuses people on their flesh, on their "old man" nature, which has been condemned fully and forever.
Instead of working steps, Paul invites every believed to grow in knowledge of God's love for them (Ephesians 3:16-19), and then as we see who we are in Christ, we walk like Him, because He lives in us.
Then all the upsets and frustrations, the sinful emotions and thoughts, are taken away:
"31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4: 31-32)
We overcome in every area as we grow in grace, understanding how much God has forgiven us for Christ's sake.
Celebrate Recovery is a massive fraud, a man-made program which brings people back under law ot establish what God has already done for us through His Son. Instead of falling from grace through our efforts, let us Celebrate Christ's death and resurrection, and reign in life through His gifts of righteousness and superabounding grace!
Friday, November 8, 2013
It's OK To Feel . . .Anything!
I hated feeling bad.
I never wanted to be angry, and I didn't like the fact that other people could make me angry.
Now I have learned since then that what I feel has nothing to do with other people.
At all.
Moreover, God's love for me has nothing, nothing at all, to do with how I feel.
He loves me, and when I understand this love, then my emotions light up like a Christmas Tree.
I can be mad, sad, glad, and even afraid!
Yes, the Bible says that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18)
When I would interpret this verse, I often feared getting afraid, because then I assumed that God was not loving me.
No.
When we fear our feelings, we are operating under a lie.
God loves us because He sent His Son to die for us, and He has placed us in His Son, our righteousness and our life.
We receive all things through Him, too.
Our feelings, our flesh have all been crucified, so we need no longer feel guilty about our feelings, and we certainly should reckon ourselves dead to any kind of sin:
"8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10For in that he 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." (Romans 6: 8-11)
and
"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. " (Romans 8: 1-4)
It's OK to feel anything, because our feelings are merely an indicator of what we are thinking.
Let us renew our minds to the truth of who we are in Christ (Romans 12:1-3), and let Him guide us in His peace!
I never wanted to be angry, and I didn't like the fact that other people could make me angry.
Now I have learned since then that what I feel has nothing to do with other people.
At all.
Moreover, God's love for me has nothing, nothing at all, to do with how I feel.
He loves me, and when I understand this love, then my emotions light up like a Christmas Tree.
I can be mad, sad, glad, and even afraid!
Yes, the Bible says that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18)
When I would interpret this verse, I often feared getting afraid, because then I assumed that God was not loving me.
No.
When we fear our feelings, we are operating under a lie.
God loves us because He sent His Son to die for us, and He has placed us in His Son, our righteousness and our life.
We receive all things through Him, too.
Our feelings, our flesh have all been crucified, so we need no longer feel guilty about our feelings, and we certainly should reckon ourselves dead to any kind of sin:
"8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10For in that he 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." (Romans 6: 8-11)
and
"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. " (Romans 8: 1-4)
It's OK to feel anything, because our feelings are merely an indicator of what we are thinking.
Let us renew our minds to the truth of who we are in Christ (Romans 12:1-3), and let Him guide us in His peace!
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Not Coming Back, But Growing in Grace
At the end of every AA meeting, everyone gathers around the table (the coffee machine comes later), and after praying the "Our Father", everyone chants: "Keeping Coming Back, It works if you work it."
I have announced for years that the program does not work, yet part of this cult's scam lies in infusing members with a perpetual sense of failure, as if the reason why they do not stay sober or happy joyous, and free resides with the individual member.
AA is a fraud.
I have met too many people who have gotten sober without AA, and I have met many people who used to go to meetings, but stopped going, yet they stayed sober!
So, "Keep Coming Back" is a come-on which we should reject right away.
In fact, most false teachers and bankrupted gurus want people to keep coming back to them, to seek them for little bits and pieces of advice, yet the greater part of their prospects' lives remains unclear, misdirected, and unreal.
Such was the case for me, who had been brainwashed to believe that by working the Twelve Steps, everything would work out just fine.
The miracles which the AA program promises on pags 83 and 84 never materialized.
Those promises cannot be met in a program which teaches people to seem themselves as condemned, leg-less reprobates.
To be condemned to a life of taking one's inventory, of staying one step ahead of a disease from which we can never be cured: what kind of life is that?
It's not a life at all.
AA is a bereft and bankrupted program which teaches people that they have nothing, and yet they must keep working to maintain this nothing.
Instead of working for something out of nothing, God gives us everything through His Son, and we can do nothing but receive from Him.
That is the Gospel:
"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? 33Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." (Romans 8: 31-34)
There is no going back, once we enter into His Kingdom (Colossians 1: 13).
Let us grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord, instead (2 Peter 3: 18)
I have announced for years that the program does not work, yet part of this cult's scam lies in infusing members with a perpetual sense of failure, as if the reason why they do not stay sober or happy joyous, and free resides with the individual member.
AA is a fraud.
I have met too many people who have gotten sober without AA, and I have met many people who used to go to meetings, but stopped going, yet they stayed sober!
So, "Keep Coming Back" is a come-on which we should reject right away.
In fact, most false teachers and bankrupted gurus want people to keep coming back to them, to seek them for little bits and pieces of advice, yet the greater part of their prospects' lives remains unclear, misdirected, and unreal.
Such was the case for me, who had been brainwashed to believe that by working the Twelve Steps, everything would work out just fine.
The miracles which the AA program promises on pags 83 and 84 never materialized.
Those promises cannot be met in a program which teaches people to seem themselves as condemned, leg-less reprobates.
To be condemned to a life of taking one's inventory, of staying one step ahead of a disease from which we can never be cured: what kind of life is that?
It's not a life at all.
AA is a bereft and bankrupted program which teaches people that they have nothing, and yet they must keep working to maintain this nothing.
Instead of working for something out of nothing, God gives us everything through His Son, and we can do nothing but receive from Him.
That is the Gospel:
"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? 33Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." (Romans 8: 31-34)
There is no going back, once we enter into His Kingdom (Colossians 1: 13).
Let us grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord, instead (2 Peter 3: 18)
The Flesh, Ourselves Dead in Trespasses - Not "Self"
Selfishness - self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt.
So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God's help. (AA, pg 62)
The problem is deeper, and the solution is better.
We do not need God's help for us to focus on being better selves.
The troubles in our lives are not just of our own making, but of our own being:
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." (Romans 7: 16)
Paul is careful to distinguish himself from his flesh.
How is he able to do this?
Because of Christ in him and in all of us, our hope of glory (Colossians 1:27), who is our life (Colossians 3: 4).
He explains further:
"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)
The flesh, this dead body, alienated from God, is our legacy from Adam.
Christ the second Adam came to die for our sins and crucify sin in the flesh:
"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8: 1-4)
We do not need to be delivered from self, but rather we need life, and that more abundantly, which we receive from Christ.
There is nothing more cruel than telling people that they must die to themselves, but then not give them something better to receive.
If we do not receive a new life, then we will inevitably return to trying to fix the body and mind that we have with us.
We need to be brought into a new Kingdom, not just a different mode of thinking. We need to know that Christ Jesus has put away all our sins, and sin in the flesh, for good, that we may reign in life with Him.
The issue is more than "Self", but rather the flesh, our dead spirit which needs life, and which we receive when we accept the grace of God by faith in His Son!
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Not Confessing or Counseling, But Proclaiming His Righteousness!
Alcoholics Anonymous, like much modern, secular counseling, focuses on fixing people's fixing instead of establishing men and women in their true and proper identity in Christ.
Where does this notion come from that we need to fix our feelings, to dish on our past, to rehearse the past abuse which we suffered as children in order to fix our adulthood?
If most people would simply accept that dysfunctional families are the norm, not the exception, half the people seeking counseling would stop.
If we accept the Gospel, which permits us to leave off our old families and enter into a new Family, with God as our Father through Jesus Christ His Son and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.
We receive this Spirit of Adoption when we believe on Christ Jesus:
"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)
We should not spend time talking about our sins, or the sins of other people, including our parents, because in Christ we are blessed with all spiritual blessings, and His grace much more than compensates for every hurt and harming and hassle which we have endured in this life.
Another thing that needs to be put down: we should stop spending our time trying to feel better, and spend more time seeing all that Christ Jesus has given us through His death and resurrection on the Cross:
"But 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: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2: 4-9)
We are seated in heavenly places in Christ, so why are we caught up with what goes on here on earth?
Paul later writes to the Colossians:
"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)
Christians should not rely on worldly systems of any kind to find life and that more abundantly, which includes any Twelve Step program.
In fact, every one of God's creatures can enter in the God kind of Life by believing on Jesus, whom the Father has sent (John 6: 29), not by working steps, but by receiving His grace.
We have His life through His righteousness:
"And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." (Romans 8: 10)
We are in Christ, so instead of trying to fix our feelings, or our lives, we need to fix our eyes on where we are:
"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)
Our body is dead in that we are no longer living through our flesh, or our efforts, but rather the Spirit of God is living in and through us because of Christ Jesus!
His feelings are our feelings, and today because Christ Jesus sits in glory and honor the Father's right hand, so do we in this world (1 John 4: 17)
We do not need to confess sins or seek counseling. What we need to do is confess our righteousness in Christ!
Where does this notion come from that we need to fix our feelings, to dish on our past, to rehearse the past abuse which we suffered as children in order to fix our adulthood?
If most people would simply accept that dysfunctional families are the norm, not the exception, half the people seeking counseling would stop.
If we accept the Gospel, which permits us to leave off our old families and enter into a new Family, with God as our Father through Jesus Christ His Son and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.
We receive this Spirit of Adoption when we believe on Christ Jesus:
"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)
We should not spend time talking about our sins, or the sins of other people, including our parents, because in Christ we are blessed with all spiritual blessings, and His grace much more than compensates for every hurt and harming and hassle which we have endured in this life.
Another thing that needs to be put down: we should stop spending our time trying to feel better, and spend more time seeing all that Christ Jesus has given us through His death and resurrection on the Cross:
"But 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: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2: 4-9)
We are seated in heavenly places in Christ, so why are we caught up with what goes on here on earth?
Paul later writes to the Colossians:
"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)
Christians should not rely on worldly systems of any kind to find life and that more abundantly, which includes any Twelve Step program.
In fact, every one of God's creatures can enter in the God kind of Life by believing on Jesus, whom the Father has sent (John 6: 29), not by working steps, but by receiving His grace.
We have His life through His righteousness:
"And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." (Romans 8: 10)
We are in Christ, so instead of trying to fix our feelings, or our lives, we need to fix our eyes on where we are:
"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)
Our body is dead in that we are no longer living through our flesh, or our efforts, but rather the Spirit of God is living in and through us because of Christ Jesus!
His feelings are our feelings, and today because Christ Jesus sits in glory and honor the Father's right hand, so do we in this world (1 John 4: 17)
We do not need to confess sins or seek counseling. What we need to do is confess our righteousness in Christ!
Saturday, November 2, 2013
No Relatiopnship with Rules
Most people like to say that Jesus has not called us into rules, but into relationship.
Yes, that's true, but what kind of relationship?
I have a relationship with my mailman, for example, based on transactions he conducts in my mail box.
I also have a relationship with my boss, not always a cordial one, a relationship based on performance.
We cannot receive Christ, or have any relationship with Him based on what we do:
"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: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2: 4-9)
Not one based on rules, but rather the Ruler living for us and through us and watching out for us!
"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)
Then Paul quickly comments:
"Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily." (Colossians 1: 29)
This Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords:
"15Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." (1 Timothy 6: 15-16)
Yet this King wants to serve us:
"For 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: 45)
Only in Mark's Gospel, where Jesus is depicted as the tireless servant, to we find the direct account in which Jesus is seated in full power and kingly glory at the right hand of the Father:
"19So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God." (Mark 16: 19)
Most people have not learned about the Ruler, the Servant-King who lives to serve us in Christ Jesus.
In Christ, we have received all things because of Him:
"3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 3-6)
This Spirit of Adoption has nothing to do with rules:
"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: 15-17)
Forget about rules and regulations, including the insipid and troublesome Twelve Steps. We are called to walk in the Spirit, and allow the same Spirit to transform us from glory and glory into the very image of God's Son, Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
Yes, that's true, but what kind of relationship?
I have a relationship with my mailman, for example, based on transactions he conducts in my mail box.
I also have a relationship with my boss, not always a cordial one, a relationship based on performance.
We cannot receive Christ, or have any relationship with Him based on what we do:
"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: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2: 4-9)
Not one based on rules, but rather the Ruler living for us and through us and watching out for us!
"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)
Then Paul quickly comments:
"Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily." (Colossians 1: 29)
This Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords:
"15Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." (1 Timothy 6: 15-16)
Yet this King wants to serve us:
"For 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: 45)
Only in Mark's Gospel, where Jesus is depicted as the tireless servant, to we find the direct account in which Jesus is seated in full power and kingly glory at the right hand of the Father:
"19So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God." (Mark 16: 19)
Most people have not learned about the Ruler, the Servant-King who lives to serve us in Christ Jesus.
In Christ, we have received all things because of Him:
"3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 3-6)
This Spirit of Adoption has nothing to do with rules:
"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: 15-17)
Forget about rules and regulations, including the insipid and troublesome Twelve Steps. We are called to walk in the Spirit, and allow the same Spirit to transform us from glory and glory into the very image of God's Son, Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
Forced Identify Forces You to Identify
Alcoholics Anonymous instills in its members a sense of hopelessness.
A new identity, based on an illness, defines the life of members, who were expecting to be reborn, only to find that apart from not drinking, their lives do not get much better.
In many cases, individuals addict on something else, like coffee, or sex, or going to meetings. I still remember some members who would go to meetings for debt, for codependency, or for any other failing that came to mind.
It's just crazy!
The program teaches people to identify with alcoholism, then ingrain in individuals the notion of peace, however temporal, which comes with being in "the rooms".
If you identify with a perversion, you will feel comfortable around people who identify with the same. There's a deluded sort of honor in identifying with one group of people as opposed to another.
My own mother would go around saying: "Arthur, he's one of us. He's a friend of Bill W."
No, I am not!
What happens, often in the rooms, is that men and women become more comfortable with the rooms, with the people, and less comfortable with the world at large.
How many times did I hear people share that they felt safe sitting in a meeting, and their heart was beating.
How does translate into any kind of life outside of AA?
It doesn't.
Everyone of us needs life, not another program, or a set of rules, or distractions which cause us to run from life instead of rest in Life, the Person of Jesus Christ.
This forced identity, coerced because of vain repetitions in the meetings, causes people to figure themselves as nothing or incomplete without the program of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Give me a break!
It's time for everyone of us to call out AA for what it really is: a dangerous cult which grabs people through state-sponsored coercion (mandatory AA meetings), then hooks them with indoctrination, and finally pulls them in with a forced identity, which forces them to "Keep Coming Back."
(A lot like those ugly monsters in the horror comedy "Tremors")
A new identity, based on an illness, defines the life of members, who were expecting to be reborn, only to find that apart from not drinking, their lives do not get much better.
In many cases, individuals addict on something else, like coffee, or sex, or going to meetings. I still remember some members who would go to meetings for debt, for codependency, or for any other failing that came to mind.
It's just crazy!
The program teaches people to identify with alcoholism, then ingrain in individuals the notion of peace, however temporal, which comes with being in "the rooms".
If you identify with a perversion, you will feel comfortable around people who identify with the same. There's a deluded sort of honor in identifying with one group of people as opposed to another.
My own mother would go around saying: "Arthur, he's one of us. He's a friend of Bill W."
No, I am not!
What happens, often in the rooms, is that men and women become more comfortable with the rooms, with the people, and less comfortable with the world at large.
 |
| AA: Like Tremors -- Grabs, Hooks, Then Pulls You In |
How does translate into any kind of life outside of AA?
It doesn't.
Everyone of us needs life, not another program, or a set of rules, or distractions which cause us to run from life instead of rest in Life, the Person of Jesus Christ.
This forced identity, coerced because of vain repetitions in the meetings, causes people to figure themselves as nothing or incomplete without the program of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Give me a break!
It's time for everyone of us to call out AA for what it really is: a dangerous cult which grabs people through state-sponsored coercion (mandatory AA meetings), then hooks them with indoctrination, and finally pulls them in with a forced identity, which forces them to "Keep Coming Back."
(A lot like those ugly monsters in the horror comedy "Tremors")
My Name is Arthur . . . and I am a Child of God
This is the how and why of it. First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn't work. Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director. He is the Principal; we are His agents. He is the Father, and we are His children. Most good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom. (AA, pg 62)
This passage has some truth in it, so no one should be surprised or reconsider the cult-like core of AA. All cults have some element of truth in them.
God is our Father, indeed.
However, at the same time men and women in the AA meetings have to identify themselves as alcoholics, men and women who have lost their legs, never grow new ones, and must assume a new pathway in life in order to survive. In the midst of seeing ourselves as alcoholics, how can we rest and believe in the Father's love?
The need for God's love as our Father is more than the AA book can offer. This evil cult twists the goodness of God, identifying Him as Father, yet at the same time levels every member with rules and regulations, meetings, sponsors, and other unconnected nonsense.
How can anyone see God as a Good Father if all of these Steps are required in order to be effective?
In order to be His child, we need to be adopted, and this adoption does not take place based on what we do, but in what He did for us:
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5: 8)
What did this love accomplish for us for those who believe on Him?
"3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 3-6)
When Jesus died on the Cross, He not only paid for all our sins, but granted to us a Spirit of Adoption (Romans 8: 15), brought into sonship to God through His Son, for we are accepted in the Beloved Jesus. Not just sons, but loved and cherish in God.
We are blessed with all spiritual blessings, in every need, in all things. Because we believe on what Jesus did for us, we are predestined to be His sons:
"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)
We are Sons of God, beloved, who believe on Jesus, whom the Father sent (John 6: 29)
"But 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)
We are seated with Christ, in Christ Jesus, above the heavenlies, above every problem, above every carnal deception and temptation.
Beloved, you cannot be an alcoholic and a child of God, and you certainly cannot be a child of God who struggles with alcoholism, or any other perversion:
"12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Romans 6: 12-14)
We are under God's grace in His Son, and by this grace we are who we are in Christ (1 Corinthians 15: 10)
My name is Arthur. . .and I am a child of God (period).
This passage has some truth in it, so no one should be surprised or reconsider the cult-like core of AA. All cults have some element of truth in them.
God is our Father, indeed.
However, at the same time men and women in the AA meetings have to identify themselves as alcoholics, men and women who have lost their legs, never grow new ones, and must assume a new pathway in life in order to survive. In the midst of seeing ourselves as alcoholics, how can we rest and believe in the Father's love?
The need for God's love as our Father is more than the AA book can offer. This evil cult twists the goodness of God, identifying Him as Father, yet at the same time levels every member with rules and regulations, meetings, sponsors, and other unconnected nonsense.
How can anyone see God as a Good Father if all of these Steps are required in order to be effective?
In order to be His child, we need to be adopted, and this adoption does not take place based on what we do, but in what He did for us:
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5: 8)
What did this love accomplish for us for those who believe on Him?
"3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 3-6)
When Jesus died on the Cross, He not only paid for all our sins, but granted to us a Spirit of Adoption (Romans 8: 15), brought into sonship to God through His Son, for we are accepted in the Beloved Jesus. Not just sons, but loved and cherish in God.
We are blessed with all spiritual blessings, in every need, in all things. Because we believe on what Jesus did for us, we are predestined to be His sons:
"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)
We are Sons of God, beloved, who believe on Jesus, whom the Father sent (John 6: 29)
"But 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)
We are seated with Christ, in Christ Jesus, above the heavenlies, above every problem, above every carnal deception and temptation.
Beloved, you cannot be an alcoholic and a child of God, and you certainly cannot be a child of God who struggles with alcoholism, or any other perversion:
"12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Romans 6: 12-14)
We are under God's grace in His Son, and by this grace we are who we are in Christ (1 Corinthians 15: 10)
My name is Arthur. . .and I am a child of God (period).
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