The AA cult is a massive failure not just because this wicked program inflicts a false identity on individuals, telling them that they are sick, insane alcoholics who must live a life of threatened high maintenance, but also because for all the talk about spirit and guidance, the program teaches people to identify and rely on their will, mind, and emotions.
Man is a spirit, an eternal creation from God:
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." (Genesis 1: 26)
God intended for man, His last creation, to have dominion over everything else which God had created.
Moreover:
"7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Genesis 2: 7)
Even though our bodies were made from the ground, the spirit which animates us comes from God, and just as a plant cannot survive outside of the ground, nor can fish live out of the water not stars live outside of the heavens, so too many cannot have life and that more abundantly outside of God Himself.
Yet if we fall for the lie that we can submit to our own conception of God, right away we are wandering into error, for God is not something or someone which we create in our imaginations or conceive in our minds.
He is revealed to us in nature, and is made manifest to us through His Word.
Worse than that, if we are spirit, and we came from God, then we do not identify with our feelings, but with His Spirit:
"The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." (Romans 8:16)
We are not reborn from our corrupted flesh, but we are reborn in our spirit.
Another reason why the AA cult is so dangerous and bad, is that the program teaches people to identify with their flesh, rather than the Spirit of God in him:
"For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8: 6)
All throughout the AA book, however, there is a frequent reference to all the emotions which we have to watch out for:
Referring to our list again. Putting out of our minds the wrongs others had done, we resolutely looked for our own mistakes. Where had we been selfish, dishonest, self-seeking and frightened? Though a situation had not been entirely our fault, we tried to disregard the other person involved entirely. Where were we to blame? The inventory was ours, not the other man's. When we saw our faults we listed them. We placed them before us in black and white. We admitted our wrongs honestly and were willing to set these matters straight. (AA, 67)
and then
It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee - Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. (AA, 85)
See the emphasis on will? We need more than a will, but the Way, who is Jesus (John 14: 6).
Man is a spirit, which is deeper than our will, mind, and emotions. We are more than our feelings, more than our thoughts, yet if we refuse to acknowledge this depth in ourselves, we should not be surprised to recognize emptiness within ourselves. We are designed for eternal things, not for temporal matters:
"15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." (1 John 2: 15-17)
We have His eternal life in us today (John 3: 16), so there is no reason for us to look at our feelings for life or anything better than all things that we have in Christ Jesus today.
Man is a spirit, not a soul and not his body. We do not identify with our feelings, we do not identify with our pain. We live because of His life.
He is our life, and He lives in us. We do not have to ask for God's will, for God is working within us both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2: 12-13)
We do not look for life in things, we do not find life in what we do, but we find life in Him who has been from the beginning (1 John 2: 12-14)
"In him was life; and the life was the light of men." (John 1: 4)
and then
"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10: 10)
and also
"1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 1-4)
We are not trying to be there in Christ. We are there. We are there in His Spirit.
It does not matter how you feel or what you think: you are there.
Man is a spirit, and we understand who we are in Christ as we read His Word:
"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you--they are full of the Spirit and life." (John 6: 63)
Could it be any clearer?
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