Alcoholics Anonymous teaches people to see the glass half-empty, and then get ready for the world to drink the rest of it away.
Once there is no water left in the glass, you have to take your inventory, because the loss causes you a resentment, and it's your fault that they drink the water.
AA is nothing but demands, and the program tells members that they have no supply of themselves. There is no wisdom, no life imparted to anyone.
So many of the emotional ills which I struggled with begin and end with this cult.
I did not have to live in fear, except that I had no idea that God was watching over me and living in me, just as Christ died for me and now lives in me (Colossians 1: 27)
One of the things that I was taught rested on this premise:
You need to be afraid of making the same mistakes.
You need to remember the wrong things that you did, so that you do not do them again.
No.
My Bible does not speak of fear with any reverence, but rather rejection:
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4: 18)
If we want people to behave better, the answer does not lie in threats and provocation, but in more of God's grace and righteousness revealed to us:
"11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; " (Titus 2:11-12)
It's the grace of God, not His law, which make us obedient and holy people.
Fearing that we will fail, or looking at ourselves in order to keep ourselves in line, creates sin-consciousness, and gives off the folly of self-righteousness in our flesh.
And self-righteousness, I learned, is as literal as trying to make ourselves righteousness. We just cannot do it. We can't. We need life, not just steps for living better.
And the steps are negativity at its worst.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
No, I did Not Believe the Gospel
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)
God wants us to prosper and be in health, but it all depends on how our souls prosper.
I cannot believe how much time I had spent trying to feel better about myself, trying to fight off bad thoughts and feelings, trying to make myself feel better, or to give myself the sense, the feeling that God was with me because I felt that way.
I cannot write this enough times: AA is an evil cult, one which imposes on men and women the evil fraud that their sins are not forgiven, and that they must live in their own strength.
The fear and dread which I wrestled with every day is more than I can describe.
This cult causes people's souls to founder and fail, There is no prosperity for the human mind when a man believes that the work is not done, that the debt is not paid.
For years, a life of taking one's inventory, of doing the best one could in spite of difficult people seemed the best that one could look forward to. At least it made no difference to me, since that was the best that I knew.
Taking one's inventory all seemed a part of living one's life.
I have since realized that all of that self-reflection on oneself, one's sin, creates nothing but problems. Putting one's life and emotions in the hands of other people, and letting them be responsible for who you are and how you feel, such a frustrating life will only breed contempt and discontent.
AA is a total scam, a fraud which reduces people to emotional wrecks, wracked with frustration and guilt, as well as fear and anger.
I cannot recount the amount of fear and frustration which I faced every day, overwhelmed by the sense that I could be set off by other people. The program makes people restless irritable, and discontented, telling them that they have to work an evil program every day just to stay one step ahead of selfish, fear, resentment, dishonesty blah, blah blah.
God wants us to prosper and be in health, but it all depends on how our souls prosper.
I cannot believe how much time I had spent trying to feel better about myself, trying to fight off bad thoughts and feelings, trying to make myself feel better, or to give myself the sense, the feeling that God was with me because I felt that way.
I cannot write this enough times: AA is an evil cult, one which imposes on men and women the evil fraud that their sins are not forgiven, and that they must live in their own strength.
The fear and dread which I wrestled with every day is more than I can describe.
This cult causes people's souls to founder and fail, There is no prosperity for the human mind when a man believes that the work is not done, that the debt is not paid.
For years, a life of taking one's inventory, of doing the best one could in spite of difficult people seemed the best that one could look forward to. At least it made no difference to me, since that was the best that I knew.
Taking one's inventory all seemed a part of living one's life.
I have since realized that all of that self-reflection on oneself, one's sin, creates nothing but problems. Putting one's life and emotions in the hands of other people, and letting them be responsible for who you are and how you feel, such a frustrating life will only breed contempt and discontent.
AA is a total scam, a fraud which reduces people to emotional wrecks, wracked with frustration and guilt, as well as fear and anger.
I cannot recount the amount of fear and frustration which I faced every day, overwhelmed by the sense that I could be set off by other people. The program makes people restless irritable, and discontented, telling them that they have to work an evil program every day just to stay one step ahead of selfish, fear, resentment, dishonesty blah, blah blah.
Monday, January 27, 2014
One Day at a Time -- Another AA Fraud
Alcoholics Anonymous is built on mindless, useless mantras.
"Let go, and let God," for example grants no one peace in the face of tragedies and trying circumstances. What good is one's conception of God if a man cannot explain terrorist activities like 9-11. Could not God, as we understand Him, have prevented such terrible events.
Without a proper understanding of human history as recorded in the Bible, men and women will never understand why a Good God does not intervene directly in the terrible events which transpire across the world, and that furthermore He is not the cause of the great evils in this world, and is not powerless to do anything about them.
Without going deeply into spiritual truths, I want to return to the basic, yet essential importance of seeing God as He really is, that He is greater that our past, our present, our future, our understanding, that He can reach out of eternity into our times and seasons and make bad things good, and good things great.
Our conception of God will be automatically bankrupted and fraudulent. It will be fraudulent because we deceive ourselves, or we allow others to deceive us, if we really think that we can understand God, or frame Him with any kind of proper perspective.
I have written at length about the danger of putting God into the box of our own limited conception of Him. We may end up projecting an abusive parent, our troubled childhood, onto God, when His consummate goodness cannot be reasoned, but must be believed.
Today, I want to attack one of the hollowest mantras, one which seems like simple, good advice, yet which turns out to be one of the worst lies in the program:
"One day at a time."
Sounds good, right? Do not worry about tomorrow, just live in today.
Yet the more that someone, anyone invests in this idea, the more scared, the more troubled one becomes. Why is that? I have to consider tomorrow, the next day, to plan for the future, to prepare for greater things to come my way, as well as factor in the potential troubles, dangers, and hardships which I may face.
If I want to live responsibly, then I cannot simply, resolutely live one day at a time. Now, AA proponents might challenge me with "You have to use common sense, of course." However, the AA cult takes away people's sense, telling them to turn their will and life over to a power greater than themselves, yet as they understand him, her, it, whatever. Oftentimes, we limit ourselves to the opinions and follies of other people, and more importantly the sponsors whom men and women bring themselves to submit to.
The stupid limitations of many sponsors so bankrupts peoples' understanding of God and his goodness, and forces people to give up any kind of common sense.
One day at a time created in my mind the idea of a God who was not going to help me with my tomorrows, who was not in my tomorrows.
Yet even the Bible provides a safeguard for our tomorrows., even if we are not supposed to be concerned about them:
"33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
"Let go, and let God," for example grants no one peace in the face of tragedies and trying circumstances. What good is one's conception of God if a man cannot explain terrorist activities like 9-11. Could not God, as we understand Him, have prevented such terrible events.
Without a proper understanding of human history as recorded in the Bible, men and women will never understand why a Good God does not intervene directly in the terrible events which transpire across the world, and that furthermore He is not the cause of the great evils in this world, and is not powerless to do anything about them.
Without going deeply into spiritual truths, I want to return to the basic, yet essential importance of seeing God as He really is, that He is greater that our past, our present, our future, our understanding, that He can reach out of eternity into our times and seasons and make bad things good, and good things great.
Our conception of God will be automatically bankrupted and fraudulent. It will be fraudulent because we deceive ourselves, or we allow others to deceive us, if we really think that we can understand God, or frame Him with any kind of proper perspective.
I have written at length about the danger of putting God into the box of our own limited conception of Him. We may end up projecting an abusive parent, our troubled childhood, onto God, when His consummate goodness cannot be reasoned, but must be believed.
Today, I want to attack one of the hollowest mantras, one which seems like simple, good advice, yet which turns out to be one of the worst lies in the program:
"One day at a time."
Sounds good, right? Do not worry about tomorrow, just live in today.
Yet the more that someone, anyone invests in this idea, the more scared, the more troubled one becomes. Why is that? I have to consider tomorrow, the next day, to plan for the future, to prepare for greater things to come my way, as well as factor in the potential troubles, dangers, and hardships which I may face.
If I want to live responsibly, then I cannot simply, resolutely live one day at a time. Now, AA proponents might challenge me with "You have to use common sense, of course." However, the AA cult takes away people's sense, telling them to turn their will and life over to a power greater than themselves, yet as they understand him, her, it, whatever. Oftentimes, we limit ourselves to the opinions and follies of other people, and more importantly the sponsors whom men and women bring themselves to submit to.
The stupid limitations of many sponsors so bankrupts peoples' understanding of God and his goodness, and forces people to give up any kind of common sense.
One day at a time created in my mind the idea of a God who was not going to help me with my tomorrows, who was not in my tomorrows.
Yet even the Bible provides a safeguard for our tomorrows., even if we are not supposed to be concerned about them:
"33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matthew 6: 33-34)
Man's greatest need is righteousness, that we have a stance of perfect justification before God the Father. With this gift of righteousness we receive His life (Romans 8: 10) and the abundance of grace with the gift of righteousness (Romans 5: 17)
We need life, and this life we receive through the Gift of God's Son:
"I am that you might have life, and that more abundantly" (John 10: 10)
Yet there is so much more to God than just getting through one day at a time. Notice that in Jesus' exhortation to seek His righteousness -- tomorrow will worry about tomorrow. I struggled with this passage for quite some time. Yet the more that the Holy Spirit witnesses to me of Christ, the more that I see that Jesus is He who has been from the beginning (1 John 2: 12-14).
He is worrying about our tomorrows, because He holds all our times in His hands. The central theme of Matthew chapter 6 is His life living in and around us, protecting and providing for us in all aspects of our lives:
26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? the Sermon on the Mount is the very life which God grants us through His Son." (Matthew 6: 26-27)
Like many people before I understood the fullness of God's gift of righteousness through His Son, I did not take to hear the full import of this wonderful verse. God our Father is actively feeding the birds! He is taking care of them, even now, and so every time we look out on the world, where we see every fowl, or more specifically unclean ravens (Luke 12: 24) are taken care of, all the time, every day!
Do we take time to consider these wonderful, safeguarding promises? How can we, if we are stuck relying on our own pitiful conception of God?
Consider also this wonderful promise in the Scripture, in the same Sermon on the Mount:
"28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" (Matthew 6: 28-30)
Do we not understand that God is actively clothing the flowers of the field, and these same flowers are here today, gone tomorrow. Yet God wishes to clothe us with the robe of righteousness through His Son (Isaiah 61: 10; 2 Corinthians 5: 21), and with His Son we can expect that He will freely give us all things with Him (Romans 8: 32)
He is taking care of all these things, and yet we are worth so much more than the birds and the flowers. How can we know this? Because He gave us His Son!
He prizes us so much, that He gave His Son for us (John 3: 16), and through Him we receive everlasting life.
Because we have His everlasting life and standing in His Kingdom, how can we not see the folly of settling for "One Day at a Time"? We have eternal life, and we are residents of His blessed Kingdom (Colossians 1: 13)
Our God is greater than our times, which He holds in His hands (Psalm 31: 15). I know that He is taking care of my tomorrows, as well as covering and recreating my yesterdays. We are held in His loving grip, and thus we do not take though for our tomorrows, because He is taking thought for all things in our lives:
"6Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." (1 Peter 5: 6-7)
And this matter of casting our cares on God means that we keep casting our cares on Him, and we have a growing understanding of How great He is. If we stay trapped in the silly notion that our tomorrows are out of our hands as well as His, we end up getting more afraid, not less:
"9Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
10Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:" (Isaiah 64: 9-10)
God is so great, so above time, change, and nature, that He can declare the end from the beginning, and in that order, too. We see things from our present, and oftentimes are present is adulterated by our limited misunderstandings about the past.
Take another look at Psalm 31:15:
"My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me."
Our times are in His hands. This is so much greater than "one day at a time". I do not want to settle for the hollow, faulty, fallen mantras of a man-centered cult which puts God not only into the box of man's limited intellect, but forces people to run this good through a stupid set of steps and in bondage to a "self-help" group which is no help at all.
Not only that, but because we are in Christ, time is no longer a final determinant in our lives:
"And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." (John 15: 27)
and
"13I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. . .. 14I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning." (1 John 2: 13-14)
To be a father, to be mature in Christ, is not based on what we do, or even what we know in our intellect, but that we see Him who has been from the beginning, who is in all things, and has made all things, and for who, all things are made: Jesus!
Forget one day at a time as a comfort measure for barely getting by. See more of the Son, and find that He is taking care of you and your times for all time, as well as one day at a time!
Sunday, January 26, 2014
A Plea to American Churches
At this time, I know of no other means than this BlogSpot posting.
I plea with all churches in the United States to cast out the bondage of Twelve Steps and AA from their spiritual campuses.
Twelve Step programs do not work. They create men and women who become dependent on a failed, man-centered, scripturally distorted program.
The whole scam was created by a failed broker who wanted to make himself great, who loved preeminence (3 John 9)
Because many Christians believe that they can and must fix their fallen flesh, they end up in a never-ending cycle of frustration and despair.
In Celebrate Recovery programs, men and women earn even less sobriety and sanctity than member sin secular programs. The very few who manage to stay sober become the most dry, shriveled, and frivolous of Pharisees, blinded and blind guides who bring many youth into greater ruin.
I plea with every pastor who wants to see Christ and Him Crucified featured with greatest honor and glory -- get rid of Alcoholics Anonymous, remove all traces of Twelve Step program, and preach the fullness of the Gospel, righteousness through Christ and Him Crucified, and the abundance of grace according through God's gift of righteousness!
I plea with all churches in the United States to cast out the bondage of Twelve Steps and AA from their spiritual campuses.
Twelve Step programs do not work. They create men and women who become dependent on a failed, man-centered, scripturally distorted program.
The whole scam was created by a failed broker who wanted to make himself great, who loved preeminence (3 John 9)
Because many Christians believe that they can and must fix their fallen flesh, they end up in a never-ending cycle of frustration and despair.
In Celebrate Recovery programs, men and women earn even less sobriety and sanctity than member sin secular programs. The very few who manage to stay sober become the most dry, shriveled, and frivolous of Pharisees, blinded and blind guides who bring many youth into greater ruin.
I plea with every pastor who wants to see Christ and Him Crucified featured with greatest honor and glory -- get rid of Alcoholics Anonymous, remove all traces of Twelve Step program, and preach the fullness of the Gospel, righteousness through Christ and Him Crucified, and the abundance of grace according through God's gift of righteousness!
Greater Knowledge, Not More Work
We need to see more of Jesus, not practice a program in all our affairs.
If we struggle with pain and frustration in our lives, the reason is that we need to see more of God's goodness and grace at work in our lives.
If we find pain and suffering in our lives, if we find lack in any area of our walk with God on this earth, then we ask God for greater revelation of His love for us, as well as a full enlightenment into all that God has bequeathed us through His Son:
"15Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 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." (Ephesians 1: 15-23)
We receive a spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing more of Jesus, less of ourselves, and how much He loves us (Ephesians 3; 16-19)
How simple it is, and yet how challenging, nonetheless.
We need to understand more of how great He is, not seek Him for tips on how to live.
He is the fullness of all things, Jesus Christ, because He made the worlds, and through Him we live and move and have our being.
We need greater knowledge of Him who has been from the beginning, not more steps, not more work, and certainly not more effort through fallen flesh, in which we can have no confidence!
He has granted us great power in our lives, in fact, the very same power which raised Jesus from the dead!
Allow God to renew your mind to these wonderful revelations!
If we struggle with pain and frustration in our lives, the reason is that we need to see more of God's goodness and grace at work in our lives.
If we find pain and suffering in our lives, if we find lack in any area of our walk with God on this earth, then we ask God for greater revelation of His love for us, as well as a full enlightenment into all that God has bequeathed us through His Son:
"15Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 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." (Ephesians 1: 15-23)
We receive a spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing more of Jesus, less of ourselves, and how much He loves us (Ephesians 3; 16-19)
How simple it is, and yet how challenging, nonetheless.
We need to understand more of how great He is, not seek Him for tips on how to live.
He is the fullness of all things, Jesus Christ, because He made the worlds, and through Him we live and move and have our being.
We need greater knowledge of Him who has been from the beginning, not more steps, not more work, and certainly not more effort through fallen flesh, in which we can have no confidence!
He has granted us great power in our lives, in fact, the very same power which raised Jesus from the dead!
Allow God to renew your mind to these wonderful revelations!
Something More About A Conception of God
The more that I meditate on how great God is, the One who has revealed Himself in the Bible, whose historical record surpasses the facts and interpretations laid out by men of science and letters, the more disturbing becomes the notion that a man can trust in his own conception of God in order to draw power over an addiction, a perversion, or any other problem in one's life.
The loneliness, the powerlessness, the abject fear which I used to feel when I looked at the world, even when I would go out on any given day: it's unbelievable the number of setbacks and frustrations I had given into over the years.
I had no knowledge, no understanding of The loving God, who sent His Son, who is actively living and serving us in this our daily lives.
He is our life, and He is working in us and through us, willing and working us to do what He wants us to do!
What a wonderful life which God grants to us through His Son!
Yet so many people, even Christians, find that in their flesh dwells no good thing, yet they are convinced, often by distorted or limited teachings, that they can still do something about their flesh.
Such was my mother, and such was me too, since she so severely indoctrinated me into the AA cult.
As long as we think of God as Someone or something whom we can conceive in our minds, we are headed into great frustration, and even mental illness.
God as we understand is not god at all. He is greater than our times, our past, our future, and everything else. He fills in every need, every lack, and every corner of existence.
He is beyond time, yet He is fully timely, as well.
The paradox of Him who has been from the beginning is simply too great for us to fathom or understand. Many of the men and women in the AA meetings offered up their own conceptions of God, along with the Twelve Steps. Yet natural and political disasters would shake up the religious complacency of individual members. Why did their God did nothing to stop those terrible disasters?
Let's consider the truth of the Bible. . .in which God made a perfect earth and perfect man, with a simple command: eat freely from every tree, except one.
With the disobedience of man came the fall of humanity, and the prophecy of a second Man, who would grant to every member of humanity who believes on Him to receive His better standing.
If we do not receive the full account of the Bible, then our understanding will be flawed in trying to make sense of the senseless hurts and evil in this fallen world.
We need to understand God based on His revelation, not our understanding, reason, or intellect. Our sense of justice, fairness, and right cannot measure up, nor take in all the failures and fallouts of this fallen earth.
Not only that, but the goodness, the unconditional love of God is too great for us to come up, or to understand in our efforts.
I want to know that the God who is revealed in the Word is holding everything together, for He does (Colossians 1: 15-20)
I need to know that my God supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4: 19)
AA does not begin to touch the goodness, the greatness of God our Father!
For years, I struggled with great fear and trepidation, never understanding, and never resting. My understanding of God was way too small. I actually doubted and wondered whether God my Daddy would be there for me in the future. "Would be there"? Are you serious?!
Sadly, that's the way I used to think. I was so busy fixing my mind to think a certain way, rather than understanding that He is all things, and that He has promised to care for me in all things.
Why? Because of His Son, who died on the Cross, who cut a New and Perfect Covenant for all mankind, if we will just believe on Him (John 6: 29)
I never understood that Jesus is my life. That He is holding everything together.
And that He loves me!
He loves me just as much He loves Jesus! I never knew this! I was convinced for all too long that I had to feel a certain way in order for God's presence to be at work in my life.
Too much thinking, not enough believing, and the AA cult was all too great a part of these lies and confusions.
Yet I submit today, that I would not change one thing. I would have been willing to face all the pains and hurts of the past, which have permitted God's grace and truth to flow all the more fully in my life, or rather His life flowing in me.
When I learned that I was dead, and that I needed life, I was so full of joy. Finally, I was getting the answer for all the reasons why I was so frustrated and empty in my life. The fullness of my understanding was limited, was not complete.
I could not walk in faith, because I was convinced that I had to keep the law, or to keep laws, rules, regulations, and all the other little rude, rudimentary elements of this fallen earth.
"Let 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," (Colossians 2: 18)
I am glad that today, I can report on the dangerous wickedness of the AA cult, and the growing damage which this terrible program can cause, programming individuals to see themselves as broken alcoholics rather than as God's creatures who can receive the Spirit of Adoption and become sons of the Living God through Christ Jesus (1 John 3: 1-3)
I do not want a conception of God. I want to Truth which sets me free -- and that truth is Christ Jesus, who brought with Himself grace and truth (John 1: 17)
The loneliness, the powerlessness, the abject fear which I used to feel when I looked at the world, even when I would go out on any given day: it's unbelievable the number of setbacks and frustrations I had given into over the years.
I had no knowledge, no understanding of The loving God, who sent His Son, who is actively living and serving us in this our daily lives.
He is our life, and He is working in us and through us, willing and working us to do what He wants us to do!
What a wonderful life which God grants to us through His Son!
Yet so many people, even Christians, find that in their flesh dwells no good thing, yet they are convinced, often by distorted or limited teachings, that they can still do something about their flesh.
Such was my mother, and such was me too, since she so severely indoctrinated me into the AA cult.
As long as we think of God as Someone or something whom we can conceive in our minds, we are headed into great frustration, and even mental illness.
God as we understand is not god at all. He is greater than our times, our past, our future, and everything else. He fills in every need, every lack, and every corner of existence.
He is beyond time, yet He is fully timely, as well.
The paradox of Him who has been from the beginning is simply too great for us to fathom or understand. Many of the men and women in the AA meetings offered up their own conceptions of God, along with the Twelve Steps. Yet natural and political disasters would shake up the religious complacency of individual members. Why did their God did nothing to stop those terrible disasters?
Let's consider the truth of the Bible. . .in which God made a perfect earth and perfect man, with a simple command: eat freely from every tree, except one.
With the disobedience of man came the fall of humanity, and the prophecy of a second Man, who would grant to every member of humanity who believes on Him to receive His better standing.
If we do not receive the full account of the Bible, then our understanding will be flawed in trying to make sense of the senseless hurts and evil in this fallen world.
We need to understand God based on His revelation, not our understanding, reason, or intellect. Our sense of justice, fairness, and right cannot measure up, nor take in all the failures and fallouts of this fallen earth.
Not only that, but the goodness, the unconditional love of God is too great for us to come up, or to understand in our efforts.
I want to know that the God who is revealed in the Word is holding everything together, for He does (Colossians 1: 15-20)
I need to know that my God supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4: 19)
AA does not begin to touch the goodness, the greatness of God our Father!
For years, I struggled with great fear and trepidation, never understanding, and never resting. My understanding of God was way too small. I actually doubted and wondered whether God my Daddy would be there for me in the future. "Would be there"? Are you serious?!
Sadly, that's the way I used to think. I was so busy fixing my mind to think a certain way, rather than understanding that He is all things, and that He has promised to care for me in all things.
Why? Because of His Son, who died on the Cross, who cut a New and Perfect Covenant for all mankind, if we will just believe on Him (John 6: 29)
I never understood that Jesus is my life. That He is holding everything together.
And that He loves me!
He loves me just as much He loves Jesus! I never knew this! I was convinced for all too long that I had to feel a certain way in order for God's presence to be at work in my life.
Too much thinking, not enough believing, and the AA cult was all too great a part of these lies and confusions.
Yet I submit today, that I would not change one thing. I would have been willing to face all the pains and hurts of the past, which have permitted God's grace and truth to flow all the more fully in my life, or rather His life flowing in me.
When I learned that I was dead, and that I needed life, I was so full of joy. Finally, I was getting the answer for all the reasons why I was so frustrated and empty in my life. The fullness of my understanding was limited, was not complete.
I could not walk in faith, because I was convinced that I had to keep the law, or to keep laws, rules, regulations, and all the other little rude, rudimentary elements of this fallen earth.
"Let 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," (Colossians 2: 18)
I am glad that today, I can report on the dangerous wickedness of the AA cult, and the growing damage which this terrible program can cause, programming individuals to see themselves as broken alcoholics rather than as God's creatures who can receive the Spirit of Adoption and become sons of the Living God through Christ Jesus (1 John 3: 1-3)
I do not want a conception of God. I want to Truth which sets me free -- and that truth is Christ Jesus, who brought with Himself grace and truth (John 1: 17)
He Finished the Work (You Don't)
The very idea of waking up every day and staying one step ahead of any addiction or perversion, whether it's alcohol, drugs, sex, or anything else is not a life worth living.
We do not need an examined life.
We need life, and that more abundantly.
We find life in one Person: Jesus!
He finished the work, paid the full payment for all our sins in our life, and every sin we will ever commit, too.
The pain which keeps so many of us in bondage stems from the lie, propagated by AA, which suggests that men and women have to work to put out the fires, to make sure that we put out the fires.
Excuse me?
"16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:" (Ephesians 6: 16-17)
We may feel guilt or shame, but we are not saved by feelings. We are saved by grace, which we receive through faith.
When Jesus purged all our sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, signalling to the universe and all eternity that He had finished paying for all our sins forever (Hebrews 1: 3)
What has been difficult for me in the past, and yet what has created great peace for me today, has been to seen more of Jesus, less of myself.
He has been since the beginning (1John 2: 12-14)
The life of grace and truth in Christ is about seeing more of Him, growing in greater understanding of how forgiven we are in Christ.
Not how much more we need to do in order to be forgiven.
The greatest bondage in my life, much of the time, would begin and end with the false notion that I had to think/not think a certain way in order for Christ and His life to flow in me.
Wrong!
I am alive because of His righteousness, not my own! It's not about working a program, but allowing Christ to work in us. It's not about following steps, but allowing the Holy Spirit to lead me by His peace.
How can the Spirit not lead us? If we believe that all our sins are forever paid for, then we have nothing to worry about, because we are always casting our cares upon Him who cares -- present tense, cares! -- for us!
His Finished Work works, everyone! Anything that you and I do will not work, because He has already taken care of everything!
We do not need an examined life.
We need life, and that more abundantly.
We find life in one Person: Jesus!
He finished the work, paid the full payment for all our sins in our life, and every sin we will ever commit, too.
The pain which keeps so many of us in bondage stems from the lie, propagated by AA, which suggests that men and women have to work to put out the fires, to make sure that we put out the fires.
Excuse me?
"16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:" (Ephesians 6: 16-17)
We may feel guilt or shame, but we are not saved by feelings. We are saved by grace, which we receive through faith.
When Jesus purged all our sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, signalling to the universe and all eternity that He had finished paying for all our sins forever (Hebrews 1: 3)
What has been difficult for me in the past, and yet what has created great peace for me today, has been to seen more of Jesus, less of myself.
He has been since the beginning (1John 2: 12-14)
The life of grace and truth in Christ is about seeing more of Him, growing in greater understanding of how forgiven we are in Christ.
Not how much more we need to do in order to be forgiven.
The greatest bondage in my life, much of the time, would begin and end with the false notion that I had to think/not think a certain way in order for Christ and His life to flow in me.
Wrong!
I am alive because of His righteousness, not my own! It's not about working a program, but allowing Christ to work in us. It's not about following steps, but allowing the Holy Spirit to lead me by His peace.
How can the Spirit not lead us? If we believe that all our sins are forever paid for, then we have nothing to worry about, because we are always casting our cares upon Him who cares -- present tense, cares! -- for us!
His Finished Work works, everyone! Anything that you and I do will not work, because He has already taken care of everything!
Saturday, January 25, 2014
A God of My Understanding is Not God
I need a God who is greater than my understanding.
Otherwise, this "god" is not a God at all.
As long as we permit anyone, or anything else to define God for us, we will find our thinking trapped, limited, and bankrupt.
And this conception of God cannot work with the revealed LORD God of the Bible, for that supposition requires the God in the Bible to submit to the counsel of the ungodly, as though the steps devised by men could perfect or complete the work which Christ finished at the Cross.
A God of my understanding, or anyone else's understanding, will be a mere projection of the authority figures whom we have interacted with in our past.
Did you have an abusive childhood? Imagine projecting that abusive parent onto your conception of God!
I endured that kind of abuse for a long time. I had no idea what was going on. I had no idea who to talk to. I had no proper understand of God and his grace.
None. Such is the result of allowing someone else to define God for you, instead of the Bible.
I am so enthused with the growing revelation of God's grace in my life.
I spent so much time trying to fix my feelings, when what I really needed was a greater revelation of God, because I do not understand Him:
"8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
I cannot understand this great love, but I receive it in great measure, nonetheless!
Otherwise, this "god" is not a God at all.
As long as we permit anyone, or anything else to define God for us, we will find our thinking trapped, limited, and bankrupt.
And this conception of God cannot work with the revealed LORD God of the Bible, for that supposition requires the God in the Bible to submit to the counsel of the ungodly, as though the steps devised by men could perfect or complete the work which Christ finished at the Cross.
A God of my understanding, or anyone else's understanding, will be a mere projection of the authority figures whom we have interacted with in our past.
Did you have an abusive childhood? Imagine projecting that abusive parent onto your conception of God!
I endured that kind of abuse for a long time. I had no idea what was going on. I had no idea who to talk to. I had no proper understand of God and his grace.
None. Such is the result of allowing someone else to define God for you, instead of the Bible.
I am so enthused with the growing revelation of God's grace in my life.
I spent so much time trying to fix my feelings, when what I really needed was a greater revelation of God, because I do not understand Him:
"8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
"10For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
"11So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah 55: 8-11)
His Word prospers all things, not the empty rhetoric of AA, which prospers no one and brings all too many into bondage.
I have since realized that I was all caught up in trying to hold onto God. He has been holding onto all of us. For this reason, I lived in so much bondage, as though I had to hold onto God, when any conception of God will automatically bring us into bondage which no one can escape.
John teaches that Fathers in the faith know "Him who has been from the beginning" (1 John : 12-14). That's Jesus! He is a Savior and Lover like no other. He is Life, and He wants to be the life for everyone of us who believe on Him!
John teaches that Fathers in the faith know "Him who has been from the beginning" (1 John : 12-14). That's Jesus! He is a Savior and Lover like no other. He is Life, and He wants to be the life for everyone of us who believe on Him!
I cannot understand this great love, but I receive it in great measure, nonetheless!
Friday, January 24, 2014
Saved by Faith -- In Bondage Through Feelings
Alcoholics Anonymous brings people in to bondage to their feelings.
We are saved by grace, which we receive by faith (Ephesians 2: 4-8)
What is faith?
"1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11: 1)
Faith is not about what we see, but about taking God at His Word.
We have to accept His grace by faith, because Jesus cannot die for us again.
Jesus cannot come down to earth and be recrucified.
Why? Because He now lives in a perfect body, through the power of an endless life (1 Timothy 6: 16; Hebrews 7: 16)
We accept His grace, and keep accepting it by faith (Romans 5: 17).
Yet in AA, we get caught up all the time in our feelings. If we feel resentment or anger, frustration or fear, we have to do something about those feelings, or we "may drink again."
No wonder so many people struggle with shame and fear in AA. They are living their lives through feelings, assessing their peace based on what they sense, see, feel, hear, etc.
The Bible grants us a better standing for peace:
"1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5: 1-2)
Notice that first verse: justified by faith. We receive it based on the word of Christ (Romans 10: 17)
We have access by faith (again, in what Jesus has done for us at the Cross), and we can expect good things because of this grace.
I cannot admit this truth enough: I wanted to feel saved, not just believe.
AA was a big part of that. And for so long, I kept running to other people, so that they could make me feel better if I was scared, afraid, etc.
There is no peace in our flesh, there is no rest in seeking peace through our efforts.
We are justified by what Jesus did.
And justified can just as easily be written "Just as if it never happened."
Yes!
We are saved by grace, which we receive by faith (Ephesians 2: 4-8)
What is faith?
"1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11: 1)
Faith is not about what we see, but about taking God at His Word.
We have to accept His grace by faith, because Jesus cannot die for us again.
Jesus cannot come down to earth and be recrucified.
Why? Because He now lives in a perfect body, through the power of an endless life (1 Timothy 6: 16; Hebrews 7: 16)
We accept His grace, and keep accepting it by faith (Romans 5: 17).
Yet in AA, we get caught up all the time in our feelings. If we feel resentment or anger, frustration or fear, we have to do something about those feelings, or we "may drink again."
No wonder so many people struggle with shame and fear in AA. They are living their lives through feelings, assessing their peace based on what they sense, see, feel, hear, etc.
The Bible grants us a better standing for peace:
"1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5: 1-2)
Notice that first verse: justified by faith. We receive it based on the word of Christ (Romans 10: 17)
We have access by faith (again, in what Jesus has done for us at the Cross), and we can expect good things because of this grace.
I cannot admit this truth enough: I wanted to feel saved, not just believe.
AA was a big part of that. And for so long, I kept running to other people, so that they could make me feel better if I was scared, afraid, etc.
There is no peace in our flesh, there is no rest in seeking peace through our efforts.
We are justified by what Jesus did.
And justified can just as easily be written "Just as if it never happened."
Yes!
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Peace is Found in a Person, Not People
One of the greatest crimes of the AA cult rests in the sponsorship game.
Men and women who enter the rooms are told to seek out a sponsor, a mentor of sorts, who listens to the people take their inventory, grant them "advice" on how to deal with major issues.
For years, I tied my peace and wholeness to someone else fixing my feelings.
I cannot believe that I put with such an outrageous routine, but year after year, if I was angry, fearful, frustrated, or anything else, I was running to my mother.
She was the one who pushed me through the AA program in every way.
I am learning not to condemn her. She was deceived greatly by the terrible AA cult, referring often to the fact that she was able to stop drinking.
Yet breaking free of any addiction is all about breaking free of condemnation. The AA cults attempts to divest individuals away from one addiction, alcohol, then bring them into bondage to another addiction: religion.
Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. God wants us to eat from the Tree of Life, and that Tree is Jesus Christ!
There is no life in our conception of God. None. We need the revelation of Jesus and His love for us, not our own works, not our own ideas, and certainly not the habits of sharing our sins and shame with other people.
For too long, I was running to other people to find peace. When I was full of fear, I was taught to run everything by someone else. That is the essence of emotional dependence, which is evil and wrong. Our peace is found in one person, Jesus! He is our peace (Ephesians 2: 14), the prince of peace (Isaiah 9: 6), and our perfect peace (Isaiah 26: 3).
It has taken me a long time to accept that every time I feel guilty or shameful, that I am dishonoring the sacrifice of Jesus at the Cross. In effect, I am not permitting Jesus to sit down, since He sat down at the right hand of God the Father because He paid the finally penalty for all our sins:
"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;" (Hebrews 1: 3)
We cannot run to other people to convince us, or to make us believe that Jesus finished the job. In fact, every time that we honor the fears and frustrations of other people, we are basically affirming that whatever problems they are facing, God's grace is somehow not enough.
How dare we live in worry! How dare we claim that someone else besides Christ and Him Crucified can atone for our sins!
The habit of resting in His righteousness, of walking by faith, is not easy for our flesh. We want to feel an answer. We want our feelings to be at peace. But any peace which matters must come from the truth that Jesus is the Person who gives us peace, not persons.
Men and women who enter the rooms are told to seek out a sponsor, a mentor of sorts, who listens to the people take their inventory, grant them "advice" on how to deal with major issues.
For years, I tied my peace and wholeness to someone else fixing my feelings.
I cannot believe that I put with such an outrageous routine, but year after year, if I was angry, fearful, frustrated, or anything else, I was running to my mother.
She was the one who pushed me through the AA program in every way.
I am learning not to condemn her. She was deceived greatly by the terrible AA cult, referring often to the fact that she was able to stop drinking.
Yet breaking free of any addiction is all about breaking free of condemnation. The AA cults attempts to divest individuals away from one addiction, alcohol, then bring them into bondage to another addiction: religion.
Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. God wants us to eat from the Tree of Life, and that Tree is Jesus Christ!
There is no life in our conception of God. None. We need the revelation of Jesus and His love for us, not our own works, not our own ideas, and certainly not the habits of sharing our sins and shame with other people.
For too long, I was running to other people to find peace. When I was full of fear, I was taught to run everything by someone else. That is the essence of emotional dependence, which is evil and wrong. Our peace is found in one person, Jesus! He is our peace (Ephesians 2: 14), the prince of peace (Isaiah 9: 6), and our perfect peace (Isaiah 26: 3).
It has taken me a long time to accept that every time I feel guilty or shameful, that I am dishonoring the sacrifice of Jesus at the Cross. In effect, I am not permitting Jesus to sit down, since He sat down at the right hand of God the Father because He paid the finally penalty for all our sins:
"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;" (Hebrews 1: 3)
We cannot run to other people to convince us, or to make us believe that Jesus finished the job. In fact, every time that we honor the fears and frustrations of other people, we are basically affirming that whatever problems they are facing, God's grace is somehow not enough.
How dare we live in worry! How dare we claim that someone else besides Christ and Him Crucified can atone for our sins!
The habit of resting in His righteousness, of walking by faith, is not easy for our flesh. We want to feel an answer. We want our feelings to be at peace. But any peace which matters must come from the truth that Jesus is the Person who gives us peace, not persons.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
I Was Hooked on the Feeling
For too long, I thought that I had to feel God's love in order for His love to be there.
Never once did I understand the fullness of the Cross, or the finality of all that Christ Jesus did for me.
I grew up in a home where my father put the Ten Commandments on the wall, and where my mother was a stepper Mom, obsessed with the Twelve Steps, and she insisted that I had to work those steps, too.
Even when my life was falling apart, to her I was still an alcoholic.
That's how deep she was in the cult. And as for my father -- he did nothing at all while my mother abused me with lies and scriptural distortions, making herself God, sponsor, and all-around do it all in my life.
I never knew God's love for me, because I was hammered constantly with judgemnet, reproach, and fear, all while going through the motions of the Twelve Steps, trying to live a life which He lives in me, and has wanted to live in me for so long.
God did the best that He could with what I was willing to let Him do.
I was so obsessed with feeling or not feeling, thinking or not thinking a certain way.
His love does not depend on how I feel, and nothing can separate me from His love.
If there is any bondage or lack in my life, all of it is borne on a lack of knowledge, a lack of understanding about all that He has done.
The answer -- a greater understanding of all that He did for me at the Cross!
Not taking my inventory, but resting in His love for me, and giving up the self-righteousness which demands that we think or feel a certain way.
Never once did I understand the fullness of the Cross, or the finality of all that Christ Jesus did for me.
I grew up in a home where my father put the Ten Commandments on the wall, and where my mother was a stepper Mom, obsessed with the Twelve Steps, and she insisted that I had to work those steps, too.
Even when my life was falling apart, to her I was still an alcoholic.
That's how deep she was in the cult. And as for my father -- he did nothing at all while my mother abused me with lies and scriptural distortions, making herself God, sponsor, and all-around do it all in my life.
I never knew God's love for me, because I was hammered constantly with judgemnet, reproach, and fear, all while going through the motions of the Twelve Steps, trying to live a life which He lives in me, and has wanted to live in me for so long.
God did the best that He could with what I was willing to let Him do.
I was so obsessed with feeling or not feeling, thinking or not thinking a certain way.
His love does not depend on how I feel, and nothing can separate me from His love.
If there is any bondage or lack in my life, all of it is borne on a lack of knowledge, a lack of understanding about all that He has done.
The answer -- a greater understanding of all that He did for me at the Cross!
Not taking my inventory, but resting in His love for me, and giving up the self-righteousness which demands that we think or feel a certain way.
AA is Mind Control
This new insight occurred to me today.
Alcoholics Anonymous is all about mind control, getting people to think and feel a certain way. The Gospel is not about making people think actively a certain way, but simple to change one's mind and believe that God is no longer angry at us, but rather that through the Finished Work of Jesus Christ,
The program starts with indoctrinating people to see that they are alcoholics, that they are born that way, and there is nothing that they can do about it. They are like men who have lost their legs, and they will not grow new ones.
Just rethinking about the statement, without taking it as true or not true in any fashion, just offends me outright.
When someone is drunk, when someone struggles to break free on their own from any addiction, the answer cannot be found in more effort. We do need power, but more importantly, we need life, and that more abundantly, which we cannot create on our own.
As long as we keep thinking that we can generate this life in our own efforts or by working steps, while claiming that all of it is God's power in us, we are destined to keep failing.
The scam with AA, though, is ultimately based on programming people to see themselves as forever sick, that they need to run their lives by someone else, and that every thing they do, every thought they have is tainted and flawed, and therefore someone has to do the thinking for them, whether it be the sponsor, the group conscience, or a life in which people are constantly looking at what they are thinking and believing, trying to stay one step ahead of fear, resentment, dishonesty, or any other defect of character.
In Christ, we rest in the truth that there is no condemnation, and that He is our life. We are not trying to create or conjure up this life on our own. He is our life, and this life is not hard track of hurt and pain, but righteousness, peace, and joy in His Holy Spirit.
One of the greatest scams from the Enemy, and from evil gurus like Bill W. and his AA cohort-clan, has rested on the foolish notion that human beings need a little more help, when they really need life, and that more abundantly (John 10: 10)
Jesus offers this to us every day, and He wants to live and thrive in every circumstance we face, guiding us to face all troubles, and in Him be more than conquerors.
It's not about training our mind, but rather renewing our mind to a greater understanding of Jesus and His New Covenant which He cut for us at the Cross.
Jesus does not tell us only to think about one thing, but rather to allow our minds to be filled with the fullness of God.
But wait, what about this passage?
"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" (2 Corinthians 10: 5)
It's all about context, everyone!
The previous verses in that chapter talk about the weapons of our warfare, which are might through God, not through our own efforts, mind you, and bringing down every thought of condemnation!
Anytime a thought of guilt or anger or fear pops up in our minds, our reaction needs to be: the Cross, and Jesus' ongoing ministry on our behalf at the Father's right hand.
He is still working on our behalf, helping us through all our struggles.
We will have bad thoughts, good thoughts, lustful, fleshy thoughts, but we are to reckon ourselves dead to all of that sin, and alive in Christ, alive in His righteousness!
This issue of full and final payment is so important, because for years I kept thinking that since I felt guilty or frustrated, it meant that I must do something.
The Cross answers every judgment, every condemnation, and even though there is still sin in our flesh, we can rest assured that sin has been condemned in our flesh, because when Jesus died, sin was condemned in His flesh on our behalf (Romans 8: 3)
AA is mind control. It's all about making people think that they have to think a certain way in order to be OK. The damaging frustrations which I endured because of this misunderstanding.
This one verse is a wonderful promise:
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26: 3)
Now, I thought that this passage meant that I had to have my mind fixed on one idea -- God.
Can you imagine the torture, the frustration? Even now, I reflect on how debilitated was my understanding of the Scriptures. God, the Lord, is greater than all times, than all troubles. He is my life, yet much of these wonderful revelations were never made plain to me.
Never.
Today, I rejoice in reporting that His peace is not based on what I am thinking, but that I believe, that I know and believe His love for me!
Even when my mind wavers, even when my emotions boil, I never have to wonder if He is on my side or not:
"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8: 31)
Then Paul writes:
"He 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: 32)
Later on, Paul writes:
"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Romans 8: 37)
Yet as long as I was convinced that His peace in my life was about my mind resting, or staying, or not moving, then I was in great bondage never-ending.
The more that I have grown in grace, the more that I began asking questions, such as why I never believed the simplicity of the Gospel.
And the answer: the AA cult, and the massive abuses and distortions which come from erroneous teaching, plus a prior inability to rightly divide the word of God.
Without the understanding of perfect righteousness accorded to us at the Cross, we will keep looking at ourselves, trying to fix our thoughts and actions to be pleasing to God, when we are pleasing to God already, because of what Jesus has done for us, and that we are now before God the Father as one of His own Sons:
"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)
AA is mind control. Read the Bible, and see how Jesus holds everything in His hands, including you:
"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:" (2 Corinthians 5: 14)
Alcoholics Anonymous is all about mind control, getting people to think and feel a certain way. The Gospel is not about making people think actively a certain way, but simple to change one's mind and believe that God is no longer angry at us, but rather that through the Finished Work of Jesus Christ,
The program starts with indoctrinating people to see that they are alcoholics, that they are born that way, and there is nothing that they can do about it. They are like men who have lost their legs, and they will not grow new ones.
Just rethinking about the statement, without taking it as true or not true in any fashion, just offends me outright.
When someone is drunk, when someone struggles to break free on their own from any addiction, the answer cannot be found in more effort. We do need power, but more importantly, we need life, and that more abundantly, which we cannot create on our own.
As long as we keep thinking that we can generate this life in our own efforts or by working steps, while claiming that all of it is God's power in us, we are destined to keep failing.
The scam with AA, though, is ultimately based on programming people to see themselves as forever sick, that they need to run their lives by someone else, and that every thing they do, every thought they have is tainted and flawed, and therefore someone has to do the thinking for them, whether it be the sponsor, the group conscience, or a life in which people are constantly looking at what they are thinking and believing, trying to stay one step ahead of fear, resentment, dishonesty, or any other defect of character.
In Christ, we rest in the truth that there is no condemnation, and that He is our life. We are not trying to create or conjure up this life on our own. He is our life, and this life is not hard track of hurt and pain, but righteousness, peace, and joy in His Holy Spirit.
One of the greatest scams from the Enemy, and from evil gurus like Bill W. and his AA cohort-clan, has rested on the foolish notion that human beings need a little more help, when they really need life, and that more abundantly (John 10: 10)
Jesus offers this to us every day, and He wants to live and thrive in every circumstance we face, guiding us to face all troubles, and in Him be more than conquerors.
It's not about training our mind, but rather renewing our mind to a greater understanding of Jesus and His New Covenant which He cut for us at the Cross.
Jesus does not tell us only to think about one thing, but rather to allow our minds to be filled with the fullness of God.
But wait, what about this passage?
"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" (2 Corinthians 10: 5)
It's all about context, everyone!
The previous verses in that chapter talk about the weapons of our warfare, which are might through God, not through our own efforts, mind you, and bringing down every thought of condemnation!
Anytime a thought of guilt or anger or fear pops up in our minds, our reaction needs to be: the Cross, and Jesus' ongoing ministry on our behalf at the Father's right hand.
He is still working on our behalf, helping us through all our struggles.
We will have bad thoughts, good thoughts, lustful, fleshy thoughts, but we are to reckon ourselves dead to all of that sin, and alive in Christ, alive in His righteousness!
This issue of full and final payment is so important, because for years I kept thinking that since I felt guilty or frustrated, it meant that I must do something.
The Cross answers every judgment, every condemnation, and even though there is still sin in our flesh, we can rest assured that sin has been condemned in our flesh, because when Jesus died, sin was condemned in His flesh on our behalf (Romans 8: 3)
AA is mind control. It's all about making people think that they have to think a certain way in order to be OK. The damaging frustrations which I endured because of this misunderstanding.
This one verse is a wonderful promise:
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26: 3)
Now, I thought that this passage meant that I had to have my mind fixed on one idea -- God.
Can you imagine the torture, the frustration? Even now, I reflect on how debilitated was my understanding of the Scriptures. God, the Lord, is greater than all times, than all troubles. He is my life, yet much of these wonderful revelations were never made plain to me.
Never.
Today, I rejoice in reporting that His peace is not based on what I am thinking, but that I believe, that I know and believe His love for me!
Even when my mind wavers, even when my emotions boil, I never have to wonder if He is on my side or not:
"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8: 31)
Then Paul writes:
"He 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: 32)
Later on, Paul writes:
"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Romans 8: 37)
Yet as long as I was convinced that His peace in my life was about my mind resting, or staying, or not moving, then I was in great bondage never-ending.
The more that I have grown in grace, the more that I began asking questions, such as why I never believed the simplicity of the Gospel.
And the answer: the AA cult, and the massive abuses and distortions which come from erroneous teaching, plus a prior inability to rightly divide the word of God.
Without the understanding of perfect righteousness accorded to us at the Cross, we will keep looking at ourselves, trying to fix our thoughts and actions to be pleasing to God, when we are pleasing to God already, because of what Jesus has done for us, and that we are now before God the Father as one of His own Sons:
"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)
AA is mind control. Read the Bible, and see how Jesus holds everything in His hands, including you:
"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:" (2 Corinthians 5: 14)
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
God is Love, not just a "Loving God"
The Bible says:
"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." (1 John 4: 16)
God is love!
AA diminishes this wonderful revelation, speaking of some loving God, or some loving hand of God which takes us out of the reeds of this life.
Yet how can anyone talk about a loving God if we still have to work these Twelve Steps in order to be accepted before Him?
If we have to maintain some kind of regimen so that God will not be separated from us, then what good is love?
It's not unconditional.
Yet the Bible could not be clearer about God's love for us:
"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)
How does this love manifest in our lives?
"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 4:1 10)
He loved us. He loved US. It's not about our love for God first, and the He loves us. The more that I let the simple truth sink in, the more apparent it becomes: how on earth or in heaven or in any other way could I ever love God in my own strength? What kind of love could I demonstrate that would be good enough for God?
Where did I get this dumb idea from, anyway? The AA cult, of course!
Even in more traditional denominations, free from the trappings of "trying to earn it", most people are able to rest, without much fire in their hearts, but at least they can rest to some degree.
This Love does not just take us out of alcoholism, or any other perversion, but rather leads us and guides us.
This love transforms us from death to life, from nothing to everything, in Christ:
"Herein is love perfected among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
Then
"Perfect love casts out all fear." (1 John 4: 18)
and last of all
"We love because He first loved us." (1 John 4: 19)
Some people may object to my leaving out "Him" from verse 19, yet that object is not there at all in the original text. We love everyone and everything to the degree that we know that He loves us, that His love, which he demonstrates to us in greater measure.
I cannot repeat this enough. We cannot appreciate God's love for us if we think that we still owe God something, that all of His work at the Cross was not enough. We must cast out once and for all this idea that there is something more which must be added. God is love, not just a loving God, and He wants us to receive this love, because there is no other way that we can love Him or anyone else.
"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." (1 John 4: 16)
God is love!
AA diminishes this wonderful revelation, speaking of some loving God, or some loving hand of God which takes us out of the reeds of this life.
Yet how can anyone talk about a loving God if we still have to work these Twelve Steps in order to be accepted before Him?
If we have to maintain some kind of regimen so that God will not be separated from us, then what good is love?
It's not unconditional.
Yet the Bible could not be clearer about God's love for us:
"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)
How does this love manifest in our lives?
"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 4:1 10)
He loved us. He loved US. It's not about our love for God first, and the He loves us. The more that I let the simple truth sink in, the more apparent it becomes: how on earth or in heaven or in any other way could I ever love God in my own strength? What kind of love could I demonstrate that would be good enough for God?
Where did I get this dumb idea from, anyway? The AA cult, of course!
Even in more traditional denominations, free from the trappings of "trying to earn it", most people are able to rest, without much fire in their hearts, but at least they can rest to some degree.
This Love does not just take us out of alcoholism, or any other perversion, but rather leads us and guides us.
This love transforms us from death to life, from nothing to everything, in Christ:
"Herein is love perfected among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
Then
"Perfect love casts out all fear." (1 John 4: 18)
and last of all
"We love because He first loved us." (1 John 4: 19)
Some people may object to my leaving out "Him" from verse 19, yet that object is not there at all in the original text. We love everyone and everything to the degree that we know that He loves us, that His love, which he demonstrates to us in greater measure.
I cannot repeat this enough. We cannot appreciate God's love for us if we think that we still owe God something, that all of His work at the Cross was not enough. We must cast out once and for all this idea that there is something more which must be added. God is love, not just a loving God, and He wants us to receive this love, because there is no other way that we can love Him or anyone else.
God is Greater Than Our Conception of Him -- More!
No, No, one thousand times no.
I do not want a conception of God.
In effect, if we think that God is someone, or something that we conjure up. . .then guess what?
This "God" will only be a manifestation of our prior experience, or whatever someone else taught us about God and His love.
There is just no way that any one of us can do God justice, in that we see Him in Christ Jesus.
Jesus!
He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14: 6)
I need the way, I need to know where to go and what to do. I do not need some haphazard set of steps which may or may not work for me.
This one verse came streaming through my head yesterday:
"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." (Romans 8: 38-39)
How about that? God's love cannot be separated from me, and I cannot be separated from Him.
Yet for so long, this truth never seemed to mean anything to me.
Why is that?
You want to know what! The terrible AA cult, this stupid, evil, nasty, no good, very bad cult.
As long as a man thinks that he can or must do something, anything in order to be accepted before Him from day to day, then we are destined to be looking at ourselves, and never at other people, but most importantly we will not be looking at God our Father, nor at His Son Jesus for our support, for our everything.
Let's take a look at the what the AA Book says:
With ministers, and the world's religions, I parted right there. When they talked of a God personal to me, who was love, superhuman strength and direction, I became irritated and my mind snapped shut against such a theory. (AA, pg 10)
Right away there's the problem. God is not a theory. He is a person, and He has revealed Himself to us through His Son Jesus! And we see Him in the Word:
So, we should be quite skeptical when someone invites us to choose our own conception of God.
I do not want a conception of God.
In effect, if we think that God is someone, or something that we conjure up. . .then guess what?
This "God" will only be a manifestation of our prior experience, or whatever someone else taught us about God and His love.
There is just no way that any one of us can do God justice, in that we see Him in Christ Jesus.
Jesus!
He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14: 6)
I need the way, I need to know where to go and what to do. I do not need some haphazard set of steps which may or may not work for me.
This one verse came streaming through my head yesterday:
"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." (Romans 8: 38-39)
How about that? God's love cannot be separated from me, and I cannot be separated from Him.
Yet for so long, this truth never seemed to mean anything to me.
Why is that?
You want to know what! The terrible AA cult, this stupid, evil, nasty, no good, very bad cult.
As long as a man thinks that he can or must do something, anything in order to be accepted before Him from day to day, then we are destined to be looking at ourselves, and never at other people, but most importantly we will not be looking at God our Father, nor at His Son Jesus for our support, for our everything.
Let's take a look at the what the AA Book says:
With ministers, and the world's religions, I parted right there. When they talked of a God personal to me, who was love, superhuman strength and direction, I became irritated and my mind snapped shut against such a theory. (AA, pg 10)
Right away there's the problem. God is not a theory. He is a person, and He has revealed Himself to us through His Son Jesus! And we see Him in the Word:
So, we should be quite skeptical when someone invites us to choose our own conception of God.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
God: He Understands Me Better
In the previous post, I stated at length from Scripture that the Lord as revealed in the Bible is greater than our understanding.
I do not want a God that I conjure up, or that I can conceive. Such a god would be too small for all of my challenges.
Besides, our conception of God is nothing, because whatever we understand to be God, that idea must submit to the man made Twelve Steps.
If God is so great, then why do we have to use steps which some guy dreamed up, or conceived, or something else.
AA is a devilish cult, one which replaces the consummate goodness of God, which leads to true repentance (Romans 2: 4), and replaces it one faux-guru's greed and egomania.
Not only do I want to know God, who is far greater than my understanding, but the Bible represents to us a God who understands us, and who understands me better than I can ever understand myself:
"Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" (Job 11: 7)
and
"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)
But about 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)
He keeps on serving as my mercy seat, by the way! (1 John 1: 7; 1 John 2: 2)
Here's more about how Jesus knows us:
"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)
Jesus ministers on my behalf at the right hand of God the Father, too!
"Who 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: 34)
and
"Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life." (Hebrews 7: 16)
This priest knows everything that we have been through, by the way:
"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4: 15)
For a glimpse of God's love for us, we can see how much God loved His people Israel:
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jeremiah 29: 11)
Jesus shared the depths of God's love for us:
"But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." (Matthew 10:30)
and
"Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Matthew 10: 31)
But most importantly:
"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)
He understands me better than myself, and He loves me as much as He loves Jesus!
I want to grow in grace and knowledge of the LORD, who has revealed Himself fully in His Son Jesus!
I do not want a God that I conjure up, or that I can conceive. Such a god would be too small for all of my challenges.
Besides, our conception of God is nothing, because whatever we understand to be God, that idea must submit to the man made Twelve Steps.
If God is so great, then why do we have to use steps which some guy dreamed up, or conceived, or something else.
AA is a devilish cult, one which replaces the consummate goodness of God, which leads to true repentance (Romans 2: 4), and replaces it one faux-guru's greed and egomania.
Not only do I want to know God, who is far greater than my understanding, but the Bible represents to us a God who understands us, and who understands me better than I can ever understand myself:
"Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" (Job 11: 7)
and
"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)
But about 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)
He keeps on serving as my mercy seat, by the way! (1 John 1: 7; 1 John 2: 2)
Here's more about how Jesus knows us:
"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)
Jesus ministers on my behalf at the right hand of God the Father, too!
"Who 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: 34)
and
"Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life." (Hebrews 7: 16)
This priest knows everything that we have been through, by the way:
"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4: 15)
For a glimpse of God's love for us, we can see how much God loved His people Israel:
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jeremiah 29: 11)
Jesus shared the depths of God's love for us:
"But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." (Matthew 10:30)
and
"Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Matthew 10: 31)
But most importantly:
"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)
He understands me better than myself, and He loves me as much as He loves Jesus!
I want to grow in grace and knowledge of the LORD, who has revealed Himself fully in His Son Jesus!
God: Much Greater Than My Understanding
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?" (AA. pg 12)
With all due respect. .No, with no respect whatsoever to this wicked cult:
I do not want my conception of God. No way.
Every human being who dreams up any conception, will inevitably dream up a projection of one's parents, or some dumbed-up religious personification.
God is too good for any man to dream him up. Any conception of God will ultimately deify ourselves, and man makes a terrible god.
Consider these wonderful passages:
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1: 1)
and how about:
"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)
and then there's also:
"According 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:" (Ephesians 1: 4)
How about these promises:
"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)
Or what about:
"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)
"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)
No More "Now What?"
The one question which would bring me into bondage, and would cause me great pain, revolved on this phrase:
"Now what?" or "What Next?"
This kind of thinking emanates from the notion that life and death ultimately comes down to me, and what I want to do.
Yet if we understand that life is not about us, nor does it originate with us, then we can receive great peace and grace, to meet every challenge in our lives, for if we are in Christ, and receive His promises in the face of all challenges.
He is our life, and we receive all things through His gifts of righteousness and grace.
Now that I consider how complete was His sacrifice for me at the Cross, all the more I understand the pain and frustration of struggling with thoughts and feelings which had suggested to me that the work was not finished.
Righteousness, justification, perfect standing before God, that we owe Him nothing, and in Him we own all things (1 Corinthians 3: 22-23) -- all of us need to grow in our understanding of this wonderful gift:
"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)
Righteousness is the key, and it's a gift, which means that we can add not one thing to it, including the Twelve Steps.
What does God's righteousness do for us?
"And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." (Isaiah 32: 17)
Righteousness works peace in our lives, and in Hebrew this word "peace" speaks of consummate wholeness, not just an absence of conflict, but also material and emotional prosperity, too.
For a long time, I struggled with the upsets and bad feelings/thoughts in my life. So much focus on ourselves does not grant us any peace.
The habit of doing something about fear and panic is giving way to a new revelation:
If Jesus Christ has put away all my sins, and has taken care of everything for me, then I have no right to ask "What now?" or "What next?" To broach the question implies that what Jesus did at the Cross was not enough.
That is simply not the case, since He died for all our trespasses (Colossians 2: 13)
Yet we are under attack with accusations from the enemy, and that is why Paul exhorts us with the following:
"(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10: 4-6)
These weapons are mighty through God, not us, and all of them point to Jesus' work at the Cross, away from ourselves and our efforts.
Why ask "What Next?" or "Why Now?" when Jesus has taken care of all our sins forever?
"Now what?" or "What Next?"
This kind of thinking emanates from the notion that life and death ultimately comes down to me, and what I want to do.
Yet if we understand that life is not about us, nor does it originate with us, then we can receive great peace and grace, to meet every challenge in our lives, for if we are in Christ, and receive His promises in the face of all challenges.
He is our life, and we receive all things through His gifts of righteousness and grace.
Now that I consider how complete was His sacrifice for me at the Cross, all the more I understand the pain and frustration of struggling with thoughts and feelings which had suggested to me that the work was not finished.
Righteousness, justification, perfect standing before God, that we owe Him nothing, and in Him we own all things (1 Corinthians 3: 22-23) -- all of us need to grow in our understanding of this wonderful gift:
"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)
Righteousness is the key, and it's a gift, which means that we can add not one thing to it, including the Twelve Steps.
What does God's righteousness do for us?
"And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." (Isaiah 32: 17)
Righteousness works peace in our lives, and in Hebrew this word "peace" speaks of consummate wholeness, not just an absence of conflict, but also material and emotional prosperity, too.
For a long time, I struggled with the upsets and bad feelings/thoughts in my life. So much focus on ourselves does not grant us any peace.
The habit of doing something about fear and panic is giving way to a new revelation:
If Jesus Christ has put away all my sins, and has taken care of everything for me, then I have no right to ask "What now?" or "What next?" To broach the question implies that what Jesus did at the Cross was not enough.
That is simply not the case, since He died for all our trespasses (Colossians 2: 13)
Yet we are under attack with accusations from the enemy, and that is why Paul exhorts us with the following:
"(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10: 4-6)
These weapons are mighty through God, not us, and all of them point to Jesus' work at the Cross, away from ourselves and our efforts.
Why ask "What Next?" or "Why Now?" when Jesus has taken care of all our sins forever?
Saturday, January 18, 2014
One More Thing About Forgiveness
The rage, the frustration which I felt for so long -- all of that came back to the false notion that if I felt mad or angry, that I had to still do something about it.
When it comes to explaining the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge, I am convinced that the difference rests on the following.
We may know something, yet we have not rested in the knowledge as final. We understand certain things in the Bible, yet we are still learning to release wrong, false, and old ideas which do not conform to our greater understanding of God's grace and truth.
We bring a lot of ourselves, from our past, learning, traditions, and prejudices.
The Word of God needs no addition, and grace means nothing if we are trying to accept it with our own efforts, or if we try to confirm God's Word and His goodness through our limited experience or requiring Jesus to conform to our understanding, our traditions, or our need to be accepted by others.
The more that we understand the fullness of how much we are forgiven through what Jesus did at the Cross, and that His death and resurrection require nothing on our part, then we start to see other habits or ideas in our lives which do not measure up to this truth, and we discard them in turn.
Now that I understand where the source of condemnation was coming from in my life, it has become a lot easier to see what I was never able to live at peace and rest.
For so long, I kept thinking that there was something that I needed to do, or that there was some additional knowledge which I had not yet received.
The truth is that there was many things that I had to unlearn, many wrong ideas which I needed to discard, and the Twelve Step cult was one of them.
When I realized that this terrible program was undermining God's grace in my life, and thus explained many of the hurts and hardships in my life, I stopped striving and started thriving.
Today, I no longer pressed, or forced to forgive people. I now realize that I was trying to o hard, doing too much, and now that I rest in all that Jesus did for me at the Cross, forgiving others and receiving more of His grace and blessings into my life is very simple, and very easy!
When it comes to explaining the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge, I am convinced that the difference rests on the following.
We may know something, yet we have not rested in the knowledge as final. We understand certain things in the Bible, yet we are still learning to release wrong, false, and old ideas which do not conform to our greater understanding of God's grace and truth.
We bring a lot of ourselves, from our past, learning, traditions, and prejudices.
The Word of God needs no addition, and grace means nothing if we are trying to accept it with our own efforts, or if we try to confirm God's Word and His goodness through our limited experience or requiring Jesus to conform to our understanding, our traditions, or our need to be accepted by others.
The more that we understand the fullness of how much we are forgiven through what Jesus did at the Cross, and that His death and resurrection require nothing on our part, then we start to see other habits or ideas in our lives which do not measure up to this truth, and we discard them in turn.
Now that I understand where the source of condemnation was coming from in my life, it has become a lot easier to see what I was never able to live at peace and rest.
For so long, I kept thinking that there was something that I needed to do, or that there was some additional knowledge which I had not yet received.
The truth is that there was many things that I had to unlearn, many wrong ideas which I needed to discard, and the Twelve Step cult was one of them.
When I realized that this terrible program was undermining God's grace in my life, and thus explained many of the hurts and hardships in my life, I stopped striving and started thriving.
Today, I no longer pressed, or forced to forgive people. I now realize that I was trying to o hard, doing too much, and now that I rest in all that Jesus did for me at the Cross, forgiving others and receiving more of His grace and blessings into my life is very simple, and very easy!
Learning More About Forgiveness
Alcoholics Anonymous lived in the background in my life, like the four walls of a bedroom.
No one notices or dismisses the walls, because there would be no room without the walls.
Then again, we were never supposed to live in our bedrooms for the rest of our lives, anyway.
I had never once questioned the juxtaposition of Twelve Steps and the Bible, for that's what my mother had taught me.
She was so wrong, and the consequences could have been deadly, but praise God for the Gospel Revolution/Restoration taking place in the world. Thank you, Jesus Christ, for Andrew Wommack and Joseph Prince (and of course Kenneth Price and even Kenneth Hagin), the simplicity of the Gospel, based on rightly dividing the Word of God, which magnifies Jesus Christ and makes nothing of man's efforts or thoughts.
It's all of Christ, none of us.
Grace is not just what saves us, and more than what keeps us (yet is very important). Grace is what "lives" us, too!
The Gospel is all about grace:
"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:" (Galatians 1: 6)
Notice that this grace does not come from man, or from tradition, or experience, and definitely not from the law, but from Jesus, who brought grace and truth (John 1: 17)
Grace is all unmerited, undeserved favor, and God wants us to receive and keep receiving His abundance of grace with the gift of righteousness (Romans 5: 17)
Why most people do not understand grace, ultimately rests on the fact that man does not understand that He is dead in his trespasses. Man does not need help to be good, but he needs life to overcome the death into which every man is born because of Adam:
"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)
We cannot receive His grace if we still think that we can or must do something more to earn it.
Righteousness is a gift, which means that we do or give nothing in order to receive it.
This includes working man-made programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and other Twelve Step spin-offs like Celebrate Recovery.
I never forgave others because I never believed that I was fully forgiven, and I never felt fully forgiven because I kept thinking that I had to take an inventory, or take stock of my thoughts, feelings, and actions in order to maintain or remain forgiven.
Never once did I understand that Jesus lives in me through His Holy Spirit, and many people never knew how deep I was in the Twelve Step cult when I was growing up.
The Gospel means that we are fully justified in Christ. Yet as long as I was still working Twelve Steps, I was not resting in His Finished Work.
If we do not believe that He has taken us from death to life, from orphan to sonship, from poverty to prosperity through the blood of Jesus Christ, then we will not be able to forgive others.
Consider this wonderful verse in Ephesians:
"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 forgive or rather extend grace, as God has been gracious to us!
I never understood this grace, because I was so busy working Twelve Steps to maintain a standing of some sort before God.
"For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." (Galatians 3:10)
and
"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." (Galatians 5: 4)
"Justified by the law" can include working Twelve Steps, as if what Jesus did at the Cross was not good enough for putting away our sins once, for all, and forever!
I have also learned that I do not "have to" forgive, but because I have been forgiven all of sins, I get to forgive others. The only reason I walked around frustrated and bitter was that I did not rest in the finality of all that Jesus did at the Cross.
When I realized that those false demands, those false walls should never have stood there in the first place, it was easy to step out and let go!
No one notices or dismisses the walls, because there would be no room without the walls.
Then again, we were never supposed to live in our bedrooms for the rest of our lives, anyway.
I had never once questioned the juxtaposition of Twelve Steps and the Bible, for that's what my mother had taught me.
She was so wrong, and the consequences could have been deadly, but praise God for the Gospel Revolution/Restoration taking place in the world. Thank you, Jesus Christ, for Andrew Wommack and Joseph Prince (and of course Kenneth Price and even Kenneth Hagin), the simplicity of the Gospel, based on rightly dividing the Word of God, which magnifies Jesus Christ and makes nothing of man's efforts or thoughts.
It's all of Christ, none of us.
Grace is not just what saves us, and more than what keeps us (yet is very important). Grace is what "lives" us, too!
The Gospel is all about grace:
"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:" (Galatians 1: 6)
Notice that this grace does not come from man, or from tradition, or experience, and definitely not from the law, but from Jesus, who brought grace and truth (John 1: 17)
Grace is all unmerited, undeserved favor, and God wants us to receive and keep receiving His abundance of grace with the gift of righteousness (Romans 5: 17)
Why most people do not understand grace, ultimately rests on the fact that man does not understand that He is dead in his trespasses. Man does not need help to be good, but he needs life to overcome the death into which every man is born because of Adam:
"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)
We cannot receive His grace if we still think that we can or must do something more to earn it.
Righteousness is a gift, which means that we do or give nothing in order to receive it.
This includes working man-made programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and other Twelve Step spin-offs like Celebrate Recovery.
I never forgave others because I never believed that I was fully forgiven, and I never felt fully forgiven because I kept thinking that I had to take an inventory, or take stock of my thoughts, feelings, and actions in order to maintain or remain forgiven.
Never once did I understand that Jesus lives in me through His Holy Spirit, and many people never knew how deep I was in the Twelve Step cult when I was growing up.
The Gospel means that we are fully justified in Christ. Yet as long as I was still working Twelve Steps, I was not resting in His Finished Work.
If we do not believe that He has taken us from death to life, from orphan to sonship, from poverty to prosperity through the blood of Jesus Christ, then we will not be able to forgive others.
Consider this wonderful verse in Ephesians:
"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 forgive or rather extend grace, as God has been gracious to us!
I never understood this grace, because I was so busy working Twelve Steps to maintain a standing of some sort before God.
"For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." (Galatians 3:10)
and
"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." (Galatians 5: 4)
"Justified by the law" can include working Twelve Steps, as if what Jesus did at the Cross was not good enough for putting away our sins once, for all, and forever!
I have also learned that I do not "have to" forgive, but because I have been forgiven all of sins, I get to forgive others. The only reason I walked around frustrated and bitter was that I did not rest in the finality of all that Jesus did at the Cross.
When I realized that those false demands, those false walls should never have stood there in the first place, it was easy to step out and let go!
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Condemnation (Including AA) Kills -- Christ Saves
People die in AA meetings.
Of course they do. They are still under condemnation, convinced that the debt is not paid.
I have lived under that cloud of a long time.
Today, I declare with glowing fullness: the debt has been paid. The debt was paid in full at the Cross.
Now I grew up in a "Christian home", yet a home where people believed that we have to add to our salvation, that we have to obey the Ten Commandments in order to be blessed.
I was also taught to work the Twelve Steps.
This cult is Twelve Steps to frustration and condemnation. There is no life, no health, no hope in a program when we believe that we have to fix all the problems in our lives.
Jesus did not die on the Cross so that we would continue to die daily in our walk on this earth.
He died on the Cross so that we could live in Christ, or more importantly that Christ can live in us.
He Finished everything at the Cross.
Yet for years, I walked around with this junk in my life, that every time I felt bad, I had to do something about it.
A life of putting out fires, I was going around in circles.
The mechanism in my flesh, and perhaps in the flesh of many people, lies in this insane idea that we have to feel or not feel a certain way, so that we are not frustrated or angry in all that we do.
Christ is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1: 30) This faith has nothing at all to do with feelings, but everything to do with Christ Jesus. We are not holding onto our righteousness, or any sense of peace in our flesh, but we recognize ourselves dead to sin once and for all (Romans 6: 11-14)
AA kills people. Check out this YouTube clip if you do not believe this reality.
Of course they do. They are still under condemnation, convinced that the debt is not paid.
I have lived under that cloud of a long time.
Today, I declare with glowing fullness: the debt has been paid. The debt was paid in full at the Cross.
Now I grew up in a "Christian home", yet a home where people believed that we have to add to our salvation, that we have to obey the Ten Commandments in order to be blessed.
I was also taught to work the Twelve Steps.
This cult is Twelve Steps to frustration and condemnation. There is no life, no health, no hope in a program when we believe that we have to fix all the problems in our lives.
Jesus did not die on the Cross so that we would continue to die daily in our walk on this earth.
He died on the Cross so that we could live in Christ, or more importantly that Christ can live in us.
He Finished everything at the Cross.
Yet for years, I walked around with this junk in my life, that every time I felt bad, I had to do something about it.
A life of putting out fires, I was going around in circles.
The mechanism in my flesh, and perhaps in the flesh of many people, lies in this insane idea that we have to feel or not feel a certain way, so that we are not frustrated or angry in all that we do.
Christ is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1: 30) This faith has nothing at all to do with feelings, but everything to do with Christ Jesus. We are not holding onto our righteousness, or any sense of peace in our flesh, but we recognize ourselves dead to sin once and for all (Romans 6: 11-14)
AA kills people. Check out this YouTube clip if you do not believe this reality.
Jesus Died So That All of Us Can Live
"Some of us have to die so the rest of us can live."
This phrase gets bandied about in AA meetings.
Suicide is all too common in the meeting rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous, along with a lot of lies which suggest that the program works, this "simple" program, if you work it.
BS!
"Blamethenile" set up a series of videos about the dangers of this evil cult, and he shared that the above comment is one of the most offensive statements he heard in the meetings following a suicide, even though yes indeed all the comments are patently offensive.
Now I want to share the blessed truth and wisdom of something so much better.
No one on this earth has to do die so that we can live.
Someone already died, so that not only we can live, but we can reign in life:
Jesus!
"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:" (1 Peter 3: 18)
and
"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)
The fact that people die in AA meetings proves well enough that the program is anything but a death-march, sometimes very slow, and sometimes so fast that the high suicide rate cannot be ignored.
Jesus died, becoming sin itself, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
When He died on the Cross, He died for our sins, and also for the sin in our flesh, too.
Even when we feel sinful emotions or tendencies, we do not have to do anything about them, for they have all been condemned. All!
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1: 7)
The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin -- present tense, people! His death gave way for His blood to be shed and cleanse us at all times. Nothing better can top that!
Jesus died so that we can all live! He lives, and we live too, through Him!
This phrase gets bandied about in AA meetings.
Suicide is all too common in the meeting rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous, along with a lot of lies which suggest that the program works, this "simple" program, if you work it.
BS!
"Blamethenile" set up a series of videos about the dangers of this evil cult, and he shared that the above comment is one of the most offensive statements he heard in the meetings following a suicide, even though yes indeed all the comments are patently offensive.
Now I want to share the blessed truth and wisdom of something so much better.
No one on this earth has to do die so that we can live.
Someone already died, so that not only we can live, but we can reign in life:
Jesus!
"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:" (1 Peter 3: 18)
and
"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)
The fact that people die in AA meetings proves well enough that the program is anything but a death-march, sometimes very slow, and sometimes so fast that the high suicide rate cannot be ignored.
Jesus died, becoming sin itself, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
When He died on the Cross, He died for our sins, and also for the sin in our flesh, too.
Even when we feel sinful emotions or tendencies, we do not have to do anything about them, for they have all been condemned. All!
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1: 7)
The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin -- present tense, people! His death gave way for His blood to be shed and cleanse us at all times. Nothing better can top that!
Jesus died so that we can all live! He lives, and we live too, through Him!
Monday, January 13, 2014
Emotions Alone Do Not Mar Soul Prosperity
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)
No, we do not have to be free of anger.
We are not blessed by God, we do not receive His grace and peace in our lives, nor do we walk in His goodness because of our feelings, or our lack of feelings.
Ridiculous nonsense!
Consider Cain in the Old Testament:
"8And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him." (Genesis 4: 8)
The first murder was a result of failed religion, that man's efforts cannot please or appease God.
Yet God did not stop talking to Cain:
"9And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper" (Genesis 4: 9)
Even when God pronounced a curse against the first murder, God responded with grace (since Jesus would absorb Cain's sins as well as the sins of the entire world - 1 John 2: 2)
God even blessed Cain with protection, as soon as he relented from his pride and admitted that he could not survive in a hostile word (4: 15)
The nature of God is to bless us, in spite of not because of ourselves:
"It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not." (Lamentations 3: 22)
Keep in mind that Jeremiah penned this accurate portrayal of God, in spite of the fact that Jerusalem had been wasted and the remaining Israelites carried off to Babylon.
God enacted the part of the Old Covenant which required judgment and condemnation for the Israelites when they refused to honor their part, the Ten Commandments and all the rest, which no one can keep.
Paul writes to the Roman:
"Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" (Romans 2: 4)
We are not blessed because of our goodness, but because of His goodness, and His goodness is based on the grace of God, demonstrated at the Cross and flowing into every believer:
"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:" (2 Corinthians 9: 8)
With this poor understanding of emotions, I misread this verse, which had brought me into bondage, only because I had misread them:
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26: 3)
I kept thinking that I had to make sure that my mind was stayed or rested so that God would keep me in perfect peace. Hence, I endured a great deal of emotional turmoil in my life, convinced that how I felt, or did not feel, determined whether God was with me or not, or whether I was hearing properly from Him or not.
Having looked at the Hebrews, I am convinced that the verse may read:
You keep the mind rested in perfect peace because He trusts in You!
It's all about Him, not us!
Then there's this verse:
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)
I have written in prior posts that our soul prosperity depends not on our feelings first and foremost, but rather that we are walking in the truth that our sins are all put away, that we walk in the truth of the Gospel (Galatians 2: 4, 14).
All our sins are forgiven, and God Himself has pledged that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
For too long, I had believed that how I felt determined whether God was with me or not. Yet He already lives in me, and any emotional upset which I may face cannot bring me into any bondage, or separate me from His love and grace (Romans 8: 38-39)
Emotions of any kind, even anger, do not separate us from Him, nor do they mar our prosperity within or without In fact, our insistence on feeling or thinking certain way causes us to fall from grace and try to earn what God so freely gives, and which we can only receive by faith!
I am so grateful for the grace of God, which I receive through Christ Jesus. I understand now more than ever why I faced so many challenges in this life, particularly in my emotions.
The nature of God is to bless us, in spite of not because of ourselves:
"It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not." (Lamentations 3: 22)
Keep in mind that Jeremiah penned this accurate portrayal of God, in spite of the fact that Jerusalem had been wasted and the remaining Israelites carried off to Babylon.
God enacted the part of the Old Covenant which required judgment and condemnation for the Israelites when they refused to honor their part, the Ten Commandments and all the rest, which no one can keep.
Paul writes to the Roman:
"Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" (Romans 2: 4)
We are not blessed because of our goodness, but because of His goodness, and His goodness is based on the grace of God, demonstrated at the Cross and flowing into every believer:
"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:" (2 Corinthians 9: 8)
With this poor understanding of emotions, I misread this verse, which had brought me into bondage, only because I had misread them:
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26: 3)
I kept thinking that I had to make sure that my mind was stayed or rested so that God would keep me in perfect peace. Hence, I endured a great deal of emotional turmoil in my life, convinced that how I felt, or did not feel, determined whether God was with me or not, or whether I was hearing properly from Him or not.
Having looked at the Hebrews, I am convinced that the verse may read:
You keep the mind rested in perfect peace because He trusts in You!
It's all about Him, not us!
Then there's this verse:
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)
I have written in prior posts that our soul prosperity depends not on our feelings first and foremost, but rather that we are walking in the truth that our sins are all put away, that we walk in the truth of the Gospel (Galatians 2: 4, 14).
All our sins are forgiven, and God Himself has pledged that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
For too long, I had believed that how I felt determined whether God was with me or not. Yet He already lives in me, and any emotional upset which I may face cannot bring me into any bondage, or separate me from His love and grace (Romans 8: 38-39)
Emotions of any kind, even anger, do not separate us from Him, nor do they mar our prosperity within or without In fact, our insistence on feeling or thinking certain way causes us to fall from grace and try to earn what God so freely gives, and which we can only receive by faith!
I am so grateful for the grace of God, which I receive through Christ Jesus. I understand now more than ever why I faced so many challenges in this life, particularly in my emotions.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Someone Help Me!(?) -- Someone Has!
AA teaches people that when they feel angry, afraid, or upset, they need to do something about it, and oftentimes it involves running to a sponsor or sitting in a meeting and complaining about the upsetting setbacks which seem to be other people's fault.
Give me a break!
So much of this emotional bondage stems from the lie that other people have such consummate control over how we feel, when in fact much of our frustration stems from our empty self-effort and our wrong beliefs, coupled with a false identity, such as "I am an alcoholic."
No wonder alcoholics are often labeled childish and irresponsible. The very program which is supposed to help people actually hinders them and induces them to regress into emotional dependence all over again.
No one had ever told me that my soul prospers because of the Gospel, the truth that in Christ all my sins are forgiven, and that I need no add one thing in order to finish eh word which Jesus completed at Calvary.
Of course, sitting in AA meetings week after week, or in Celebrate Recovery meetings at length, causes us to frustrate God's grace, because we are convinced that the work is not done, that we have to maintain our standing before God through our efforts.
There is no such program taught in the Bible, but the truth of the Gospel (Galatians 2: 14) and the promise of Christ in our lives:
"9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." (Romans 5: 9-10)
We do not need more help, or comfort measures from other people to get through or emotional upsets. It's the truth which sets us free, and as we grow in grace, understanding how much God has forgiven us, the love which He has shown us through the death and resurrection of His Son, we find a growing peace and greater power to face the world.
I never realized the simple yet essential importance of grace, that all my sins have been paid for. The strange resentments which would overtake me, the fears and guilty recriminations which washed over me from time to time, all of this was part and parcel of a lack of understanding, that there is no going back to fix or complete a work which Jesus did perfectly (John 19: 30)
All this time, I was plagued with this sentiment of "What are you going to do about?"
For a time, I realized that there was nothing that I was going to do, but even then, we have to rest in a full and final response, one which beats down any opposition, or any lingering since of frustration and shame:
"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10: 4-6)
This temptation has become easier to resist, as I simply rest in the truth that Jesus did it all, and that no thought, no sentiment of resentment of upset may stand in the place of all that Christ Jesus has done for all of us at the Christ.
We do not need to seek help from other people, because there is nothing that anyone can or must or needs to do beyond all that Jesus has done for us at the Cross.
This blessing of righteousness is a gift which we receive, and keep receiving (Romans 5: 17), and we are established (Isaiah 54: 14) in this gift because of the Spirit of God who convicts us of this righteousness (John 16: 8-11)
No, beloved, stop running to other people for assisting or comfort. See more of Jesus, understand all that He is and has for you, but most important walk in the truth of the Gospel, that you are justified from all sins (Acts 13: 38-39)
Give me a break!
So much of this emotional bondage stems from the lie that other people have such consummate control over how we feel, when in fact much of our frustration stems from our empty self-effort and our wrong beliefs, coupled with a false identity, such as "I am an alcoholic."
No wonder alcoholics are often labeled childish and irresponsible. The very program which is supposed to help people actually hinders them and induces them to regress into emotional dependence all over again.
No one had ever told me that my soul prospers because of the Gospel, the truth that in Christ all my sins are forgiven, and that I need no add one thing in order to finish eh word which Jesus completed at Calvary.
Of course, sitting in AA meetings week after week, or in Celebrate Recovery meetings at length, causes us to frustrate God's grace, because we are convinced that the work is not done, that we have to maintain our standing before God through our efforts.
There is no such program taught in the Bible, but the truth of the Gospel (Galatians 2: 14) and the promise of Christ in our lives:
"9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." (Romans 5: 9-10)
We do not need more help, or comfort measures from other people to get through or emotional upsets. It's the truth which sets us free, and as we grow in grace, understanding how much God has forgiven us, the love which He has shown us through the death and resurrection of His Son, we find a growing peace and greater power to face the world.
I never realized the simple yet essential importance of grace, that all my sins have been paid for. The strange resentments which would overtake me, the fears and guilty recriminations which washed over me from time to time, all of this was part and parcel of a lack of understanding, that there is no going back to fix or complete a work which Jesus did perfectly (John 19: 30)
All this time, I was plagued with this sentiment of "What are you going to do about?"
For a time, I realized that there was nothing that I was going to do, but even then, we have to rest in a full and final response, one which beats down any opposition, or any lingering since of frustration and shame:
"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10: 4-6)
This temptation has become easier to resist, as I simply rest in the truth that Jesus did it all, and that no thought, no sentiment of resentment of upset may stand in the place of all that Christ Jesus has done for all of us at the Christ.
We do not need to seek help from other people, because there is nothing that anyone can or must or needs to do beyond all that Jesus has done for us at the Cross.
This blessing of righteousness is a gift which we receive, and keep receiving (Romans 5: 17), and we are established (Isaiah 54: 14) in this gift because of the Spirit of God who convicts us of this righteousness (John 16: 8-11)
No, beloved, stop running to other people for assisting or comfort. See more of Jesus, understand all that He is and has for you, but most important walk in the truth of the Gospel, that you are justified from all sins (Acts 13: 38-39)
Condemnation that Kills, Can Kill No More
Condemnation kills. It really does.
As long as human beings feel that they owe something still, as though there is some outstanding debt I their lives which they have to resolve, no man can live and thrive.
This status of condemnation kills us, sometimes slowly, and sometimes more quickly, depending on the level of shame, guilt, or reproach.
I cannot believe how normal, how natural this sense of shame and frustration hampered my walk. For a long time, I walked around in a sense of guilt and shame, as though I had to do something about every shock and sense of wrongdoing in my life.
The scenes that would play out in my mind, I had believed to be the cause of so much pain. The truth is simpler, and has set me free. Thank you, Jesus!
Growing up in a cult-like program like AA, members like me were convinced that every time we felt bad, scared, frightened, resentful, or any other negative emotion, it meant that we needed to do something about the thought, the feeling, or the unpleasant sentiment.
I have grown up with people who feel guilty about getting angry, or that living in anger is a sin. There is nothing wrong with being angry, as long as we do not sin, nor let the sun set with any inordinate wrath still hot within us (Ephesians 4: 26).
Any other unpleasant emotions, more often than not, tie to some negative thinking or untrue belief which has brought us into bondage.
One of those lies includes the notion that we must have no negative emotions within us before we discipline someone, or that we have to feel a certain way in order for God to work in our lives.
I was in bondage to all kinds of ridiculous lies, and as I see more of Jesus in the Word of God, the more that I am transformed into His likeness, one which stands for the truth, loves as God loves me, yet does not fear the reproach of man to make a stand for anything that goes wrong.
I do not have to do anything, and in fact any effort on my part to do something more is an insult to all that Christ Jesus has done in my life, as though His death on the Cross was somehow not enough.
My next post will explain the complete source of this conflict.
Condemnation of any kind, however, will drive us to fixing ourselves, to try and remove that unpleasant sense of wrongdoing.
God has indeed provided a better way -- No, the best way: through His Son! In Christ, there is no condemnation. (Romans 8: 1). In Him, we are blessed with all spiritual blessings, and we are fully accepted, granted the same righteousness as God Himself!
We are seated in heavenly places in Christ, as well, receiving His glory and power in this life.
Now that I see the wonders of all that Jesus is and does for us, I find that one negative habit which persisted for so long is ebbing away, and now more quickly than ever.
Whenever I would get angry, or fearful, or anything else, I would start to panic, convinced that I had to do something about the unsettling emotions. For so long, I was programmed to run to someone else to ease the pain, to undo the sense of shame which other people seemingly caused me.
What a self-centered life we lead when we are caught in justifying and comforting ourselves instead of letting the Comforter do the job, and do it much better!
All those years, I was so busy trying to make myself feel safe and secure, free from any sense of reproach. I even attempted to stifle thoughts and memories simply because I did not want the sense of shame and alarm to peak afterwards, thus "blocking" the flow of God's gracious Spirit into my life.
I have since learned that our peace is not based on what I feel, and especially not on what I do, but on Jesus, and all that He has done:
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26: 3)
He keeps me in perfect peace, because I trust in Him, and this trust flows from what Jesus did for me at the Cross. If we do not rest in the truth that all our sins have been put away forever, then we will find our faith corrupted or frustrated.
Condemnation is more subtle than I had realized. When I felt afraid, the reality was that I really felt ashamed. I felt bad about the things that I did, and more importantly I felt that I had to do something about the feelings, since I was indoctrinated from youth to work an evil program to be OK with God.
Talk about living under a curse!
As long as human beings feel that they owe something still, as though there is some outstanding debt I their lives which they have to resolve, no man can live and thrive.
This status of condemnation kills us, sometimes slowly, and sometimes more quickly, depending on the level of shame, guilt, or reproach.
I cannot believe how normal, how natural this sense of shame and frustration hampered my walk. For a long time, I walked around in a sense of guilt and shame, as though I had to do something about every shock and sense of wrongdoing in my life.
The scenes that would play out in my mind, I had believed to be the cause of so much pain. The truth is simpler, and has set me free. Thank you, Jesus!
Growing up in a cult-like program like AA, members like me were convinced that every time we felt bad, scared, frightened, resentful, or any other negative emotion, it meant that we needed to do something about the thought, the feeling, or the unpleasant sentiment.
I have grown up with people who feel guilty about getting angry, or that living in anger is a sin. There is nothing wrong with being angry, as long as we do not sin, nor let the sun set with any inordinate wrath still hot within us (Ephesians 4: 26).
Any other unpleasant emotions, more often than not, tie to some negative thinking or untrue belief which has brought us into bondage.
One of those lies includes the notion that we must have no negative emotions within us before we discipline someone, or that we have to feel a certain way in order for God to work in our lives.
I was in bondage to all kinds of ridiculous lies, and as I see more of Jesus in the Word of God, the more that I am transformed into His likeness, one which stands for the truth, loves as God loves me, yet does not fear the reproach of man to make a stand for anything that goes wrong.
I do not have to do anything, and in fact any effort on my part to do something more is an insult to all that Christ Jesus has done in my life, as though His death on the Cross was somehow not enough.
My next post will explain the complete source of this conflict.
Condemnation of any kind, however, will drive us to fixing ourselves, to try and remove that unpleasant sense of wrongdoing.
God has indeed provided a better way -- No, the best way: through His Son! In Christ, there is no condemnation. (Romans 8: 1). In Him, we are blessed with all spiritual blessings, and we are fully accepted, granted the same righteousness as God Himself!
We are seated in heavenly places in Christ, as well, receiving His glory and power in this life.
Now that I see the wonders of all that Jesus is and does for us, I find that one negative habit which persisted for so long is ebbing away, and now more quickly than ever.
Whenever I would get angry, or fearful, or anything else, I would start to panic, convinced that I had to do something about the unsettling emotions. For so long, I was programmed to run to someone else to ease the pain, to undo the sense of shame which other people seemingly caused me.
What a self-centered life we lead when we are caught in justifying and comforting ourselves instead of letting the Comforter do the job, and do it much better!
All those years, I was so busy trying to make myself feel safe and secure, free from any sense of reproach. I even attempted to stifle thoughts and memories simply because I did not want the sense of shame and alarm to peak afterwards, thus "blocking" the flow of God's gracious Spirit into my life.
I have since learned that our peace is not based on what I feel, and especially not on what I do, but on Jesus, and all that He has done:
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26: 3)
He keeps me in perfect peace, because I trust in Him, and this trust flows from what Jesus did for me at the Cross. If we do not rest in the truth that all our sins have been put away forever, then we will find our faith corrupted or frustrated.
Condemnation is more subtle than I had realized. When I felt afraid, the reality was that I really felt ashamed. I felt bad about the things that I did, and more importantly I felt that I had to do something about the feelings, since I was indoctrinated from youth to work an evil program to be OK with God.
Talk about living under a curse!
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Why I Was Bitter (How Christ Makes Me Better)
I never forgave people. Never.
I heard that many people struggled with forgiveness, too. This subject receives so much treatment in our churches, too.
People walk around full of bitterness, resentment, easily hurt feelings, because they do not know that they are forgiven from all their sins.
I was the same. I never felt that I was forgiven for some things which I had done wrong.
I was bitter, because I was living under this constant sense that I had to measure up to a standard, and if I failed, then I would have to suffer with consequences of some kind.
This standard bore down on me as I was growing up because of a parent who never let me forget when I had failed.
I was left at the airport when I was fourteen years old. My mother had gotten so tired of my depression, and I was depressed because of the never-ending standards of shame and reproach which comes from AA.
She wanted us to live by the empty mantras of that terrible cult, a set of standards which grants none of us peace. Why? Because the debt for our sins and failures never ends. Never.
Everyday, when I was living in a crummy apartment filled with frustration and fear, not sure if I was doing the right thing or the wrong thing. I never understood the shame and frustration of those days, until recently.
The Gospel of Grace has opened my eyes to so many wonderful things. The Bible is an open book which speaks to me in wonderful ways.
The truth is, that many preachers on TV are doing a really good job, and some of them are magnifying God's grace in ways which I would have never understood before. Those people who were preaching the Gospel had no idea that at home, I had an abusive parent who was teaching me lies in the Twelve Step program.
I remember Pa Robertson, and many other people, who shared with the world that they broke free of alcohol addiction and other perversions through Christ and Him Crucified. He gives us life, yet in many churches, especially churches which highlight or promote the Twelve Steps, people do not break free. They do not get sober, or they end up switching sins from one element to another. Many alcoholics, for example, become religious fanatics or AA-fanatics.
Just terrible, and that's what I grew up with.
I was bitter, because I was living, or rather dying under a program which grants no rest, no freedom, no release from our sins:
"For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins." (Hebrews 10: 2)
The the writer of Hebrews talks about the one who offered the full and final sacrifice for our sins:
"10By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (Hebrews 10: 10)
and then
"12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; " (Hebrews 10: 12)
When Jesus died on the Cross, He paid for all our sins:
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;" (Colossians 2: 13)
Now, for the longest time I had believed that Jesus died for me, but the fullness of His grace was never made clear to me. Why? The AA cult, and the constant shame which was placed on me from someone else who had raised me in AA, and who in turn never forgave others, because she never felt forgiven:
"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 are "forgiving one another" actively when we understand that Christ has forgiven us in the past, and this action touches into our present and our future.
Whatever one's bitterness, God's grace through Christ makes us better, and we receive this grace as we understand how fully and forever forgiven we are in Christ!
I heard that many people struggled with forgiveness, too. This subject receives so much treatment in our churches, too.
People walk around full of bitterness, resentment, easily hurt feelings, because they do not know that they are forgiven from all their sins.
I was the same. I never felt that I was forgiven for some things which I had done wrong.
I was bitter, because I was living under this constant sense that I had to measure up to a standard, and if I failed, then I would have to suffer with consequences of some kind.
This standard bore down on me as I was growing up because of a parent who never let me forget when I had failed.
I was left at the airport when I was fourteen years old. My mother had gotten so tired of my depression, and I was depressed because of the never-ending standards of shame and reproach which comes from AA.
She wanted us to live by the empty mantras of that terrible cult, a set of standards which grants none of us peace. Why? Because the debt for our sins and failures never ends. Never.
Everyday, when I was living in a crummy apartment filled with frustration and fear, not sure if I was doing the right thing or the wrong thing. I never understood the shame and frustration of those days, until recently.
The Gospel of Grace has opened my eyes to so many wonderful things. The Bible is an open book which speaks to me in wonderful ways.
The truth is, that many preachers on TV are doing a really good job, and some of them are magnifying God's grace in ways which I would have never understood before. Those people who were preaching the Gospel had no idea that at home, I had an abusive parent who was teaching me lies in the Twelve Step program.
I remember Pa Robertson, and many other people, who shared with the world that they broke free of alcohol addiction and other perversions through Christ and Him Crucified. He gives us life, yet in many churches, especially churches which highlight or promote the Twelve Steps, people do not break free. They do not get sober, or they end up switching sins from one element to another. Many alcoholics, for example, become religious fanatics or AA-fanatics.
Just terrible, and that's what I grew up with.
I was bitter, because I was living, or rather dying under a program which grants no rest, no freedom, no release from our sins:
"For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins." (Hebrews 10: 2)
The the writer of Hebrews talks about the one who offered the full and final sacrifice for our sins:
"10By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (Hebrews 10: 10)
and then
"12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; " (Hebrews 10: 12)
When Jesus died on the Cross, He paid for all our sins:
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;" (Colossians 2: 13)
Now, for the longest time I had believed that Jesus died for me, but the fullness of His grace was never made clear to me. Why? The AA cult, and the constant shame which was placed on me from someone else who had raised me in AA, and who in turn never forgave others, because she never felt forgiven:
"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 are "forgiving one another" actively when we understand that Christ has forgiven us in the past, and this action touches into our present and our future.
Whatever one's bitterness, God's grace through Christ makes us better, and we receive this grace as we understand how fully and forever forgiven we are in Christ!
Friday, January 10, 2014
Bringing Thoughts to Christ, not to Twelve Steps
"5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10: 5-6)
I never understood this verse as much as I understand it today.
We are not trying to eliminate from our heads every thought except thoughts about God.
We are subduing every attack of the enemy against us to what Christ Jesus did for us at the Cross.
In AA, members are taught that they have to confess their upsets, their resentments, and other emotional setbacks in order to remain emotionally balanced.
The truth remains that in Christ all our sins are forgiven, including every sin in our bodies and in our mines, and the sin in our very flesh has also been condemned (Romans 8: 3)
We are now children of God (1 John 3: 1), and this Spirit within us transforms us from glory to glory into the image of the very One who died for us, who lives in us, and who will come for us in the last days.
So, what's all of this talk about bring thoughts into captivity?
The verses before the ones quoted above talk about the weapons of our warfare, which are "mighty through God". God is at work around us, and He prepares us a table of victory before our enemies (Psalm 23: 5). He causes us always to triumph (2 Corinthians 2: 14), and because of His death on the Cross, Jesus made an open display of our enemies (Colossians 2: 15)
Instead of trying to force our thoughts into a box, we focus on Christ, and we allow His Spirit to bring our thoughts in line with His will for us.
Now, what's all of this about bringing thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ?
Notice that it's the obedience of Christ, not our obedience, and certainly has nothing to do with any obedience of ours. There is not one thing that we do of ourselves, for we are dead in our trespasses, we have absolutely nothing of ourselves. Without Jesus, we can do nothing (John 15: 5), for in Him alone are we complete (Colossians 2: 10), and His perfection is so good (Hebrews 10: 14), that we can rest assured that He will remember our sins no more (Hebrews 10: 17)
Any thoughts of shame, guilt, or accusation must be brought into captivity to the truth that in Christ, all things have been paid for, provided for, and taken care of forever.
Now, imagine the terrible frustrations and pain which Christians endure who insist on working Twelve Steps to perfect themselves? In effect, they are rearming the Devil and his hordes, and giving them ammo and permission to keep attacking the Body of Christ.
Bring every thought, every accusation to the obedience of Christ, that His obedience justifies you at the right hand of God the Father, and that you are seated with Christ, in Christ, and that every blessing you have, you have these blessings because of Jesus (Ephesians 1: 3)
Do not allow any tradition of men, including Twelve Steps, bring you into bondage again!
I never understood this verse as much as I understand it today.
We are not trying to eliminate from our heads every thought except thoughts about God.
We are subduing every attack of the enemy against us to what Christ Jesus did for us at the Cross.
In AA, members are taught that they have to confess their upsets, their resentments, and other emotional setbacks in order to remain emotionally balanced.
The truth remains that in Christ all our sins are forgiven, including every sin in our bodies and in our mines, and the sin in our very flesh has also been condemned (Romans 8: 3)
We are now children of God (1 John 3: 1), and this Spirit within us transforms us from glory to glory into the image of the very One who died for us, who lives in us, and who will come for us in the last days.
So, what's all of this talk about bring thoughts into captivity?
The verses before the ones quoted above talk about the weapons of our warfare, which are "mighty through God". God is at work around us, and He prepares us a table of victory before our enemies (Psalm 23: 5). He causes us always to triumph (2 Corinthians 2: 14), and because of His death on the Cross, Jesus made an open display of our enemies (Colossians 2: 15)
Instead of trying to force our thoughts into a box, we focus on Christ, and we allow His Spirit to bring our thoughts in line with His will for us.
Now, what's all of this about bringing thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ?
Notice that it's the obedience of Christ, not our obedience, and certainly has nothing to do with any obedience of ours. There is not one thing that we do of ourselves, for we are dead in our trespasses, we have absolutely nothing of ourselves. Without Jesus, we can do nothing (John 15: 5), for in Him alone are we complete (Colossians 2: 10), and His perfection is so good (Hebrews 10: 14), that we can rest assured that He will remember our sins no more (Hebrews 10: 17)
Any thoughts of shame, guilt, or accusation must be brought into captivity to the truth that in Christ, all things have been paid for, provided for, and taken care of forever.
Now, imagine the terrible frustrations and pain which Christians endure who insist on working Twelve Steps to perfect themselves? In effect, they are rearming the Devil and his hordes, and giving them ammo and permission to keep attacking the Body of Christ.
Bring every thought, every accusation to the obedience of Christ, that His obedience justifies you at the right hand of God the Father, and that you are seated with Christ, in Christ, and that every blessing you have, you have these blessings because of Jesus (Ephesians 1: 3)
Do not allow any tradition of men, including Twelve Steps, bring you into bondage again!
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