Evangelism is About Revelation, not Reason

Last night, while I was visiting the Del Amo mall, a young man walked up to me.

His name was Anthony.

He started talking to me about Jesus Christ. He wanted to share the Gospel with me. I had no problem with him talking to me, since I had announced at the outset that I believe in Jesus, that He is my Savior, and I am so grateful for all the blessings which He has--and is--lavishing on me.

He began rattling off a number of Scriptures, including key passages in the Book of Revelation. He showed me passages about the Spirit and the Bride, and how they both invite us to draw from the Water o Life:

"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Revelation 22:17)

He then asked me "What does the water of life represent?"

I said "The Holy Spirit." and I referenced this verse in the Gospel of John:

"37In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" (John 7:37-39)

He then mentioned the account of Jesus with the woman at the well in John chapter. I agreed.

He then asked me whether I had the Holy Spirit or not. I shared with him: "Yes, I do."

He then asked me: "How do you get the Holy Spirit?"

I told him that because I believed in Jesus, I have received the Holy Spirit.

He seemed perturbed somewhat, that I had answers to many of his questions. It really showed how disrespectful he was, that he refused to listen to me at the outset, that I had said that I am a Christian, and that I believe in Jesus Christ.

At that point, I asked him which church he belonged to. I was starting to wonder if he was a Seventh Day Adventist or a Mormon, or a member of the so-called United Church of Christ, which denies the full deity and pre-eminence of Jesus Christ.

The discussion then veered to how people need to keep the law of the New Covenant. He pointed to the passage in which Jesus took the cup of blessing at the Last Supper, and He declared "This is my blood of the new and everlasting covenant."

I was really disturbed when he said "Law" in relation to the New Covenant. I began to interrupt him, but gently. "We are no longer under law. We are under grace. You can find this in Romans."

He would not let me finish. He then stood up, said to me "You are a lawbreaker," and he walked away. A simple rush of peace came over me. I did not lose my temper, I did not raise my voice. Before he walked away though, I chided him, "Why will you not let me speak. I have allowed you to speak, haven't I?"

At that point, he called me a "lawbreaker," and he left. He did not get the answers that he was hoping for, I suppose. He had probably been trained that he would force me into an intellectual corner and cause me to acknowledge that I am a sinner or something else. He was hoping to win me over with a clear decision for Jesus.

What was really striking about his evangelism, if one can call it that, is that he did not mention the name of Jesus even once. He did not give the impression that he even knew how Jesus is!

While that dialogue between Anthony and me had been taking place, there was another gentleman, an older man, who was watching. When Anothony walked away, he laughed and asked me "What was that all about?" I told him how he was trying to share the Gospel with me--although the reality is that he had no good news to share, since he wanted to bring me back under law, and did not mention grace once.

He then remarked: "Wow! That's so sad. He was upset that you are religious, even though he was trying to make you religious. One would think that he would be happy for you!"

He was not interested in helping me. He was interested in "winning a convert," or at the very least winning an argument. That is not true evangelism.

I must admit, however, that I waded into this similar fight for pre-eminence with the older gentleman who started speaking with me afterwards. He told me that he is not religious, and he believes that there are too many inconsistencies with belief, plus all the complexities in the world, for him to believe that there is a God.

I insisted on asking him some questions. He clearly was not prepared to articulate his views on the issue. He wanted to defend evolution, and I asked him the usual questions which set such thinking to naught, such as "where is the evidence?" I also asked him "Where in the fossil record does one find the transitioning species?"

I felt the Lord telling me "This is not the right time to share with this man. This is not the approach to sharing the Gospel with him." Still, I pressed him a few more times on a couple of questions about the origins of the uinverse, how everything came about if not by intelligent design. Then, it seemed as though he had to take a call, and I took that motion as my cue to walk away.

As I walked away toward the center of the mall, I realized a number of things. I used to be an agressive evangelist like Anthony. I had a set of questions that I would press on someone, and then I could turn the whole situation around on them to say "You are a sinner, and you need a Savior. Would you like to believe in Jesus Christ and let Him be Lord of your life?"

Back then, I was so interested in winning arguments based on intellect. Today, I realize that Jesus is not just real, and real to my experience, but that He is more than a nice thought or a sentimental result of our reasoning.

Jesus is alive! He is a person! And evangelism should be all about sharing a great revelation of how great He is in our lives. We should be talking about Jesus the same way that we talk about a loving friends, relative, spouse, i.e. someone whom we know intimately, and whom we want others to know intimately, too!

Evangelism is about sharing the Good News, and that Good News is summed up perfectly in Acts 13:

"38Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." (Acts 13:38-39)

We receive forgiveness of sins--all our sins. We are justified from all things, that we cannot receive by the law of Moses.

I did not understand the Gospel in this fullness at all. I had understood the Gospel as something so work-centered, so "I" centered. How sad it is, yet so true. No wonder I was not much of a witness in years past!

Today, I understand fully God's unmerited favor, which I receive through Christ Jesus. Today, I know that He is my life, my Savior. I am connected to a real Person, not just some figment of my imagination, or a set of principles or verses. 

"Herein is love perfected among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgement: because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

It has taken me a long time to understand how fully real Jesus is to me. It's never been about me or about my self-efforts. It was never about having the right thoughts or doing the right things to ensure that Jesus would always be with me, that His Spirit would always be at work in me.

Today, I am learning so much about how to let that River of Life flow through me uninterrupted, unhampered by my efforts. I am learning that to share the Gospel is as simple as declaring: "Jesus Christ has died for all your sins. You can receive full freedom from condemnation and receive His life!"

Why I Loathe Alcoholics Anonymous

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

For years, I was stepped in this terrible cult called Alcoholics Anonymous.

My mother was a recovering alcoholic, according to her statements, testimony, blah. She worked "the steps" every day of her life, so she claimed. She got sober in 1978, having had a spiritual revelation after drinking a morning mimosa. Something in her spirit told her "You don't have to do this anymore."

And that was the last time she drank alcohol. For the record, I feel compelled to point out that she received a spiritual revelation from God, not help or support from working Twelve Steps. However, the evil genius of Alcoholics Anonymous is to teach people that "It works if you work it" and the Big Book offers this guarantee that people who follow the Twelve Steps rarely fail.

The truth is, my Mom got sober without AA, but she still believed that she had to work the Twelve Steps every day of her life just to get through the day.

On another note, my mother quit smoking when she prayed, when she asked the LORD for help and stopped relying on her own efforts to quit. "I have no faith in me, and I have very little faith in you."

But God can use our little faith to do great things, and my mother was set free from smoking.

Sadly, she was still addicted to AA, and she worked that awful program, until it worked her to death.

Why do I loathe AA? It's not just that that legalistic, self-loathing cult damaged my mother, it's not just that that awful cult turned my mother into an abusive therapy who put her own "recovery" ahead of the needs of her children, her family, and anyone else--even Christ Himself!

I loathe AA because it teaches people to identify with a lie.

At every meeting, every member of the club in the "rewms" will say: "Hi, my name is ... , and I am an alcoholic."

Now, tell me ... how can we really expect anyone to break free of a damaging perversion if we teach people to identify with it? If you are "born" an alcoholic, then you should just drink and drink until you pass out or die.

BUT ... people are NOT born alcoholic. Just as there is no evidence that people are born gay, there is no gene for alcoholic. Granted, patterns of alcoholism do ensue in families, but it has to do with the abuse and trauma which children suffer from their parents, and there is this uncanny tendency for children to replicate the bad behaviors of their parents based on the imprinting and the wrong believing that comes with identifying with one's parents--no matter how bad they may be,

To sum up: no, people are not born "alcoholic." What's more, many people get over alcoholism without taking those ridiculous Twelve Steps.

The AA cult teaches lies to its members. It purports to not be a religious program, and yet members are instructed to turn their will and their life over to a "Higher Power" as they understand Him. Going beyond that, however, this Higher Power is still subject to the Twelve Steps--which have no pattern or value in the Old or New Testaments. In effect, the higher power for everyone in AA is not the Lord God as revealed in the Scriptures.

It's the creepy God of Bill W.'s insidious creation. (For those who don't know, Bill Wilson--or Bill W.--founded Alcoholics Anonymous.) Bill W. is treated with almost divine reverence in the meeting rewms of AA. It's really sickening. Let's state this fact plaintly once more: this "Higher Power" is an invention of Bill W.

It is total idolatry. Christians, Muslims, Jews, anyone who belongs to any faith community should reject AA out of hand. 

But for those who believe in Jesus, who recognize the Bible as God's Word, AA is all the more fully incompatible.

This terrible cult teaches people to identify with a sin, with an addiction, a moral failing.

What does the Bible say about our new identity in Christ?

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

We receive a new standing before our Loving Father. God is no more some distant deity, but our Loving Father!

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Romans 8:15)

and

"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." (Romans 8:17)

Yes, AA's Big Book makes one reference that "He is our Father. We are His children," but then goes back to leveling adherents with religious demands. The truth is, the AA program does not reveal anything about the Higher Power, aside from what is in the book. This notion of "God as I understand Him" is absolutely ludicrous. If I could understand God, He would not be God anymore, now, would He?

But I digress.

The biggest fraud about the AA cult is that it teaches people to identify with their sins, with their failures, with their faults.

At the top of this post, I quote Romans 6:11, in which Paul clearly declares to the Christian believers in Roman: "Reckon yourself dead indeed to sin, and alive to God through Jesus Christ."

When you are born again, you are no longer a sinner. You are a saint. You are a child of God. Yes, there is training, there is the process of sanctification, which the Holy Spirit works on and in us as we see more of Jesus in the Word (cf 2 Corinthians 3:18)

You don't need to take steps to be one with your Heavenly Father.

In fact, even in the Old Testament, taking steps to God's altar was expressly forbidden:

"Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon." (Exodus 20:26)

If we try in our own efforts to get right with God, we merely expose our nakedness, our sin, our shame:

"But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6)

But in Christ, we have the fullness of His work. He declared "It is Finished" (John 19:30)

But you are no longer a sinner, and you are called to no longer identify with sin or any sins in your life.

Alcoholics Anonymous urges people to keep identifying with their sins, to keep rehashing their failures, to keep going to the joyless AA meeting, to keep repeating the empty mantras, to fall in line with the mob mentality, the mob identity.

My mother worked the program all right ... until she ended up taking her own life in 2012. This is the first time I have made this revelation public, but it needs to be said. Anyone who learns that he has to keep looking at his own sins and failures, that he must keep "taking his inventory" to stay one step ahead of an alcohol relapse, is looking at an empty life full of shame, hurt, and loss.

The number of people who have committed suicide while going to the AA "rewms" is pretty staggering, as well. But is anyone really surprised? A relentless program of self-loathing and self-abnegation is not going to produce happiness, joy, or freedom. 

Did I forget to mention that AA members often tout that their program is a "selfish" program, as if that is something to be proud of ...?

At any rate, I hope I have explained fully why I loathe Alcoholics Anonymous. The blood of Jesus cleanses everyone of us from all sins (1 John 1:9), and Jesus rests as the propitiation (full payment) for our sins and the sins of the entire world. If He has paid for all the sins of all the world, then there is no reason for people to rehash their sins or rest in their failures. It's time to stop focusing on ourselves and start focusing on Christ Jesus! Forget the false god of Alcoholics Anonymous and believe in Christ and Him Crucified:

"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1:8)

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

If you find that you are still struggling with certain behaviors or bad habits, you just need to receive more favor, a greater revelation of Christ Jesus, and who you are in Christ:

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18)

and

"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. 

5Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:" (Colossians 3:1-5)

and

"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord," (2 Peter 1:2)

We don't need AA. Let us have grace, which we receive through Christ Jesus!

I See You, Lord! The Path of the Righteous is Shining!

 For the last few days, I have been meditating a long, long time on this one verse:

"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." (Proverbs 4:18)

It is really amazing, the degree with which the Light is shining.

This verse coincides perfectly with this prayer:

"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people," (Ephesians 1:18, NIV)

I have been praying this prayer for many months, many days, daily - and indeed, LORD, I see more of You! I see all that You have been doing!

Now, back to one of the revelations that came to me yesterday morning.

I was thinking about the times that I used to get upset, really angry with people.

I had such an intense sense of resentment, that I could not get rid of it. It was amazingly bad, awful, overwhelming. I could not understand why this sense of bitterness would just overwhelm me. All I did was get angry about that guy. I was so angry, and I could not understand why.

I can look back on those awful days, and there was one common denominator: Alcoholics Anonymous.

That awful cult teaches its adherents that they have to be free from anger. And we live in a world where people can easily offend us, and where we have this strange compulsion to think that we have to do something about how bad we may feel.

Well, that's what happened to me. I felt "guilty" that I did not push back, fight back, beat up on anyone who gave me crap or did me wrong. That false sense of shame, guilt, and condemnation followed me, in part because that was what others had passed onto me. Other people whom I looked up to were easily offended by everything, and they felt that they had to fight back, punch back, or rather punch first, to make sure that no one took advantage of her.

They felt so alone in the world, or worse yet, they felt that they had to take care of themselves.

Over the last week, I have received such a growing, amazing revelation of Your love for me, Lord Jesus! I finally realize why I was not "seeing" you: I had been believing all this time that I had to make sure that I did not have bad thoughts or feelings to "see You."

I had so closely tied my thoughts, my feelings, and worst of all the eruptions of my flesh, with this lie that if those thoughts or feelings were bad, then You were far away.

The answer is -- to see more of Jesus! It's about seeing You! You never went away! When David rubbed the back of my head, You were there. You had never gone away.

When I was wondering how I was going to pay the rent in July, 2018, you were there for me. You were there the whole time caring for me. I did not have to "do something" to see you.

It is so simple. You are so simple! You are simply so good!

"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:3)

Christ, You are Simply So Good! All this time, I was discredited with complexities, layers of doing and thinking and striving and all the rest. What nonsense I used to believe -- and that's what AA did to me, what it does to everyone who falls into those stupid lies, that we need to "take steps" or "work a program" to be OK with God, to stay one step aside of our sins, in reality our flesh.

Consider the warning that God gave the Israelites regarding the altar:

"Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon." (Exodus 20:26)

There are no "steps" to getting right with God. When we try to follow steps, when we try to get right with God via our own efforts, we expose nothing more than our nakedness, which is what happened when Adam and Eve ate from the tree that was forbidden them.

If we try to make ourselves OK in our own efforts, we fail. If we rest and trust in His Finished Work, we are set free, and we are made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

All this time, I was working too hard. Instead of seeing more of You, Lord Jesus, I was doing more. What a mistake! Lord, I see you at work now. THANK YOU! I understand fully that you are working fully behind the scenes! THANK YOU, JESUS!

All that Wrangling on the Inside is Gone

 I am no longer focused on this insane internal dialogue inside of me.

That sense of "how do I get through the day?" or "What do I do today?" is all gone.

No longer am I trying to figure things out. No longer do I wake up with this strange feeling, this sense of dread and overwhelm that the world is just a big scary place and I am all alone in it.

There is no longer this sense of drudgery and demand in my life.

I realize now that I am not trying to live this life on my own. I realize that this life is not something that I am trying to create through my own efforts.

All this time, I thought it was so normal to have all these thoughts, fears, wonders, and machinations inside of me. 

Now, I realize that all of that wrangling and wondering is a manifestation of flesh.

Indeed, I was trying too hard. There is no need to put so much effort into this life. Things are working out just fine, and I do not have to try so hard, try to figure everything out on my own to make things happen.

I am not alone. God is on the job. He has been working behind the scenes for quite some time.

His life has been flowing in me since the moment that I believed on Him. The problem that followed was that I thoguht that I had to add a bunch of other things in order to ensure that His life would keep flowing in me.

That is all wrong.

But all of this explains the struggle that I faced when I would have bad thoughts, unpleasant feelings, fears and worries about the future, etc.

I am not alone in this world! Jesus is taking care of me every step of the way! All this time, I was so busy looking at myself, and not looking at HIMSELF. 

Wow! What a mistake. Thank you, Jesus, for enlightening the eyes of my heart!

The End of Self-Help: He Transforms Us

Self-Help Leads to Nowhere

It is a pernicious lie that we change ourselves, or that we can indulge in self-improvement to improve our lot in life.

If I could fix myself, then there would no need for a Savior to come down from Heaven to save me.

Why do we have a problem with this? Because for so long, Christians have been getting mixed messages about law and grace. Yes, we are saved by grace through faith, and not by works. Yes, good, perfect.

BUT then we get this awful, destructive, very damaging mixed message, one which tells us that we need to keep the law in order to stay saved, or that we need to keep the law in order to become holy.

Not only is that absolute nonsense, but it's deadly. The law is a ministry of death and condemnation, and what's worse, the law was not designed to make us holy. It was designed to show us how unholy we are, to bring out the unholiness, the sin in our lives:

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

And

"23But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." (Galatians 3:23-25)

So, there you go. The law is not something that we live by, but rather something that we "die by." It cannot help us, but rather shows us that we are helpless, and need a Helper.

And Jesus is that Helper!

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:" (Galatians 3:13)

We do not transform or fix ourselves.

Daddy God transforms us, by the power of His Holy Spirit as we behold His Son, Jesus!

"17Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)

He fixes us, He makes us better, He causes us to resemble Him more and more. These changes are not based on our efforts, but rather as we receive greater revelation of Him!

This revelation is so important. For the longest time, I have been trying to fix myself, to work on my feelings, to feel better, to do more, to hold my emotions in line.

That is all wrong.

For the longest time, I thought that I was trying to live this life in front of me. I thought that this whole life depended on me. Yes, I knew that Jesus died for me, but no one had ever explained to me thate He lives in me and through me, and for me, too!

This is not a life of striving in our own efforts to make things happen. He changes us!

Consider this verse, too:

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:2)

Notice that Paul writes "be transformed," not "transform yourself." This is not a work that we do, but that He does.

This revelation eviscerates all pretensions towards self-help. This revelation in God's Word does away with Alcholics Anonymous, all the crazy "self-help" literature in bookstores all over the country, all over the world. This revelation puts an end to "The Daniel Diet" and all the other "You Do Your Part" books and resources out there pushed by Christian authors and commentators.

The end of self-help is in Christ. He transforms us. We do not transform ourselves. Simple as that.

We Are Not Supposed to Change Anything in Ourselves

There is no hope in self-effort.

Whatever problems we see in ourselves, whatever conflicts or pains or bad habits we see in ourselves, we cannot fix them ourselves.

We cannot fix ourselves!

God fixes us, He transforms us, He changes us.

It's never been about fixing ourselves.

It's all about fixing our eyes on Himself!

"I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning." (1 John 2:13)

It's all about Jesus, not ourselves.

It's about looking at us, but looking at Him.

No wonder there have been so many trials, failures, and losses in the Body of Christ. We do not seem Him alive, taking care of everything.

We have allowed the spirit of self-help to move in, when it is the Holy Spirit who helps us!

"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." (Romans 8:26)

and

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18)

The LORD fixes us, He transforms us as we look at Him more and more every day!

I May Not Get It, But I Know that God Has Got It

It's all about knowing that hes already taken care of everything. This was the revelation that I received when I was in Las Vegas. So Lord, opened the arm Of my heart so that I could see where you are taking me.

I do not have to do something extra to be taken care of.

I do not have to look over my shoulders.

I do not have to wonder if God is on my side anymore.

No longer do I have to add something to everything that Jesus has accomplished for me at the Cross.

No longer do I feel compelled to "do something" so that everything else will be OK in my life.

There are no longer any demands, any "states of mind" which have to be reached in order for Daddy God to bless me, for the Son to work in me, for the Holy Spirit to Guide me.

Jesus, You were so crystal clear when You comforted and exhorted the Israelites of your day:

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

I struggled with this simple command for so long, because I was so convinced, after years and years or wrong teaching and wrong believing, that there had to be a "my part" that I had to take care of. Am I really supposed to rest and let Him take care of everything.

YES!

"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4:11)

and

"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:" (Hebrews 8:10)

There is it! The New Covenant, and it could not be any clearer!

For the longest time, I kept thinking that I had to "Get something something done" or "I got to do something" in order to make it work out.

I was all wrong.

I was taught so many wrong things about my Daddy God. I was taught that God could come or go in my life depending on what I was thinking or feeling. I was taught that I needed to be hard on myself so that I would not fail, do wrong, miss our, or wrongly let someone get away with doing something wrong to me.

Now, I get all of it. It all makes sense to me. The fact that there were these unfounded demands placed on me kept convincing me that I had to "do something."

That is the flesh problem that Pastor Prince talks about at great length in a number of sermons. This flesh issue is this idea that we need to do something, think something to make everything happen around us.

Today, because I understand fully that the Law has been fulfilled, and that Grace is a person, I therefore have nothing to worry about. Life is not some 007 Secrecy plot, in which I have to guess whether I am going in the right direction or the wrong direction.

Life does not start with me. Life starts with Him!

"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)

and

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

and also

"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4)

There is it!

This is not a life of trying to figure everything out. This is not a life in which I have to get everything. He is my life, and He has got it all under control. AMEN!

I Could Not Rest Because of Mixed Messaging

"Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)

You cannot rest, however, if you do not think that God is on the job, or that you have to do something so that God will do something in turn.

One of the most notorious contradictions in the Alcoholics Anonymous cult, and throughout establishment Christendom, is this strange notion that God is taking care of everything ... BUT.

That "BUT" is so poisonous. This sense of "you need to do something more" was a rampant pressure that I would feel inside of me all the time.

Every day that I woke up, there was this question that would emerge inside of me: "What are you going to do today?"

This sense that I was all alone in the world, and that everything began and ended with me, was so prevalent in my life. UGH.

What a drama. What a stressor. What a weight I carried on my shoulders!

The stupid AA cult tells people "Let Go! Let God!"

And yet, you have to work these stupid Twelve Steps non-stop to stay one step ahead of alcohol overtaking your life again.

What is this madness? This is the worst of mixed-messaging ever. That is beyond outrageous. 

More Revelations About Succumbing and Not Succumbing

Yesterday, I was thinking about all the struggles that I used to deal with.

God is showing me the thought patterns and the other struggles that were going on in my mind.

I had a bad host of bad believing, simple as that. It really is true, and it really is that simple.

I was not believing the Gospel in its fullest. It takes time to get there, for all of us are transformed from glory to glory as we behold HIM! (2 Corinthians 3:16-18)

The fact is that none of us will ever understand the Gospel to the fullest because there is so much to understand:

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

So, another revelation came to me yesterday:

Why did I struggle with temptations, nasty thoughts, bad feelings?

I would fall into this pit of asking myself some really unpleasant questions:

How did I get out of this bad set of emotions last time?

What do I do if I have those bad memories next time?

What will I do tomorrow if I have those illicit desires again?

Those questions are all predicated on this lie: "I have to do something. I have to maintain something" in order to be OK with Daddy God.

That is all wrong. Jesus has completed the work (John 19:30)! There is nothing more that I have to add. If I have a thought, a memory, a painful reflection from the past, it does not matter.

I don't have to do anything about it, because Jesus has already done everything that needs to be done about it! YES! AMEN!

I do not worry about tomorrow or the next day or the next day. He has all those days taken care of. Tomorrow is already cared for because He has promised to be a God to me, based on the New Covenant:

"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

 11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

 12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8:10-12)

We can rest assured that He is Our God because "I will be merciful (lit. propitious) to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."

That is good for good! That is ever in our favor forever! There is nothing more that needs to be added to that. All the questions that used to assault my mind "What are you going to do tomorrow, the next day?" are all answered: "He remembers my sins NO MORE!"

I does not matter if I sin tomorrow, the next day, if I fail tomorrow, the next day.

He is My God, and He is on my side forever ... BECAUSE OF HIS SON JESUS!

BOOM!

All of these verses I have heard and reheard, rehearsed many times over.  Now it is made more manifest. It takes time, but He indeed has come through for me. JESUS!

AA is a Selfish Program, and That's Its Problems

Alcoholics Anonymous tells its members that selfishness is their biggest problem, that self centeredness is their biggest problem. However, the whole program starts with them worshipping a God of their own understanding. They are very simply worshipping themselves!

Ultimately, if we trust in some god based on our limited understanding, we are pretty much believing in ourselves. What kind of madness is that?

And yes, indeed, many people who frequent the rewms of Alcoholics Anonymous are selfish. They have been taught to see themselves as victims, as though they have no control over this so-called disease of "alcoholism," They are terrible Pharisees in their own right, and they go out of their way to make themselves feel good, to take care of themselves.

There is something called a "newcomer frenzy" which breaks out in the AA rewms. When a new person shows up, all the self-serving old-timers rush at the person, wanting to go out of their way to help this person. It's all about making themselves feel good, nothing else. They will push other people away and harm others, just so that they can feel good to rush and be that first person to "help" this newcomer.

It's really disgusting. The most helpful thing, the most unselfish thing that anyone can do in AA is to turn people away from that awful cult, and get real help from the Gospel!

AA is a selfish program, one which basically teaches people to worship themselves.

No, I Don't Want to Believe in a God of My Understanding

Today, I am going to be sharing a number of rapid, wonderful revelations which I have received over the last week.

It was really true, that I was in bondage so deeply to this false, law-centered, anti-Christ cult called "Alcoholics Anonymous."

The wrong thinking, the wrong believing was so strong, so imposed, so overwhelming. By the grace of God, I am so grateful that I am set free.

Here's the first of a number of posts which I will be sharing today.

No, I Don't Want to Believe in A God of My Understanding

I don't ever want to believe in a God of my understanding. My understanding is too limited, and cannot take in how good God is. His ways are not my ways, and the grace of God is not something that we understand. If we could understand God, then He could not really be God. The beauty, wonder, and rich complexity of the universe is too much for us to understand, to comprehend, to take it.

You have to receive the truth of how good God is based on the testimony of His Word. We have to know that there is no way but the grace of God. There is no way to overcome based on our own efforts.

I have been reasoning from my experience to God. That is wrong. We must reason from God's word to our experience, not from our experience to God' Word. For too long, I have viewed God based on what other people have told me, or what I experienced, or based on how I decided to read God's Word for myself.

No! We start with the truth of God's grace, and then we gain understanding from there. YES!

God is Good, and thank God the Father that He gave His Son Jesus Christ for us! He is worthy of praise because he is good. We don't praise him so that he'll be good!

Alcoholics Anonymous is a devious cult which gives people the pretense of freedom, because they get to believe in a god of their own understanding. That is so sick! That is so ridiculous. There is no freedom if you are in bondage to a lie, if you believe in something or someone that is simply not able to help you.

I still remember sitting in some of those terrible Al-Anon meetings, with the bitter women (and some men) who were content to blame everyone else for their problems and never take any responsibility for their own. Some of the people at these meetings were so disrespectful, too, so filled with anger and self-righteousness. I am so glad that I walked away from those terrible meetings--but it's pretty astonishing how much of a chokehold that awful cult had on my life.

Thank you, Jesus, for setting me free. AMEN!

More Revelations About Resentment: It Is Finished!

 I went to the hospital yesterday to pick up some paperwork.

As I was driving home, I was thinking some unhappy thought about some people that I do not like.

Then I started gaining a greater revelation about the past struggles which I had endured when I was younger. I used to get really angry or upset about the things that people may have said to me or had not said to me.

Then I would get angry a second time around because I needed to "do something" about those feelings because someone had "made me mad."

That was all wrong believing, and that wrong believing was due to that evil cult called "Alcoholics Anonymous."

"We have to be free of anger!" the AA cult warns people. "We must not allow resentment to get stuck in our minds!"

Oh No! We must make sure that we do not have any negative thoughts or feelings! EEK!

Give me a break.

The work is DONE in Christ Jesus! We do not have a "daily reprieve," but rather an eternal release from all our sins and all our shame.

When I received this simple revelation, I started to feel light-headed. I mean, my body really started to relax! I finally understood why I had been so emotionally uptight for so long.

It also helped to explain why I was having blood pressure issues for so long, just as my parents had had blood pressure isues, too!

The work is done! Jesus paid the price.

Shame on AA. God damn that evil cult! Thank God for COVID-19, I guess, in that people are no longer going to "the rewms" to be brainwashed with these harmful lies, such as "You were born an alcoholic" and "It works if you work it."

Give me a break!

But this revelation is massive. All this time, I was constantly trying to steel myself and my mind so that I would never get "offended." The reason that offenses rage in people is that they do not believe that all their sins are forgiven, and whenever anyone challenges them with emotional slights or insults, they feel compelled to fight back and correct the record.

When you know that you have been forgiven, when you know that you have been fully justified from all things, it does not matter what people say about you. You really don't care, because the Final Word has been declared about your status: "It is Finished!"

You Have Not Lost Your Legs, and He Can Give You New Ones

"We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones."

That's what AA claims. And like many of its claims, it is a lie.

In fact, it is a lie from the pit of hell.

No, people are not "born alcoholics," no more than are people born gay, or born in the wrong body.

This is the fundamental fraud of this whole cult of fraud.

What does the Bible say about healing, health, and even our legs and the ability to run?

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)

You can't run if you don't have legs! Yes, those who wait (literally, hope) in the Lord shall have their strength renewed, and they will run! Not only will they run, in fact, but they won't get tired, and they won't collapse from fatigue, either!

But wait! What if your legs don't work, or you cannot run?

Jesus can heal you!

"5And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? 7The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. 8Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath." (John 5:5-9)

It's OK to Get Angry, and God Doesn't Get Angry with You if You Get Angry

 Another great post from Laura Tompkins' blog:

The entire idea that your perfectly normal feeling of anger is somehow a poison you are choosing to drink just by allowing the feeling… is a 12 step cult platitude designed to stop you from living in your immense power.  Reject the very idea that “anger is a luxury you alcoholic/addict cannot afford.”  Or the ever-popular “resentment is death.”  Anyone who attempts this platitude is trying to shut you up. Anyone who insists your feelings are not facts is abusing you.  Anyone who spews such nonsense is gaslighting you. The meme above sums is up perfectly.

What are some other abusive platitudes of the 12 step cult religion?  There are hundreds from which to choose.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend with people deserving of your company.

Now, here's my commentary.

The AA cult is well-known for this terrible platitude: "We must be free from anger," and "Anger is the dubious luxury of normal men."

There are two lies in that second trite phrase "Anger is the dubious luxury ..." First, it is not dubious, in that anger is needed for us to decide to make changes in the face of unjust outcomes, choices, and outcomes. Jesus never ever said "Don't be angry." Second, it's normal to get angry, and people who struggle with alcohol addiction are not a different species of a subclass of mankind. That false identity needs to be rejected at all costs.

Today, I just want to focus on the truth that "It's OK to Get Angry."

He did say in the Sermon on the Mount:

"But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." (Matthew 5:22)

It's all about being angry "without a cause," or "heedlessly" in the original Greek.

There are times that we should be angry. And there are bad memories that are ... bad memories. We do not need to fight or force our way away from them. There is nothing that we have to really do about them in many cases.

However, if we impose on people a law "Thou shalt not be angry," we are bringing people into bondage, and we are giving power to their flesh. Have you ever noticed how the more that you try not to be angry, the angrier you become?

Also, again, it is essential to get angry sometimes. When a child is being abused, when an innocent person is being bullied, when people in power do wrong things and do not respect their role or their oath of office, you and I should get angry. That outrage invites us to do something constructive and effective to stand up to that evil.

Consider what Paul writes to the Ephesians:

"Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:" (Ephesians 4:26)

It's so important for people to realize also that God will never got angry with you ever again after you beleive and receive His Son:

"For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." (Isaiah 54:9)

Did you see that? He will never get angry with you again! And I challenge you, in the accounts in the Old Testament featuring Abraha, amd Jacob, that for all their failures, not once did God ever get angry with them. There is no record of rebuke or God being wroth with them, either. God corrects us with dealings, and He guides us with His grace, but He never gets angry with us ever again. AMEN!

For me specifically, this "Don't Get Angry" aspect of the AA cult is particularly damaging. We get angry, we have upset thoughts from time to time, or we remember unpleasant events from the past. Does that mean that we have done something wrong? Does that really mean that we have to make adjustments to our time and and place, or do something right away or else?

There is untold, unprecedented harm in telling people that they should never get angry. When they are victims of wrongdoing, or when they suffer hurt which requires redress. they end up doubling down into a maelstrom of self-loathing and shame. No one should ever fall into such a mess. We should be free!

'Not at all. We have been made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). There is no reason for any of us to feel shame, to second guess our anger when someone says something offense or out of place, and we feel the need to correct the record, to confront that false statement.

It's OK to get angry. What you do with that anger is what determines whether you have sinned or not. This is such a great relief to revisit, and I pray that whoever chances on this blog post will rest in the promises of God's Word. It is essential for me to make this plain and clear, too: being angry, and even if you sin in your anger, does not cause God to go away from you. He does not leave you or forsake you, and your standing of righteousness before Daddy God in Christ Jesus does not change either!

Faith is not about feelings, and being faithful is not about not being angry. We don't have to wonder if God will come or go if we get upset. That bondage was so awful for me. I felt that I had to stop bad thoughts and bad feelings from pouring into my head in order for God to work through me and bless me.

Wow! How wrong I was. It's OK to be get angry, and God does not turn His back on us or go away from us if we are unjustifiably angry about something, about anything. No matter how unjustifiable our anger may be, we are justified in Christ! (Acts 13:38-39)

The Twelve Steps, Properly Revised, by Laura Tompkins

This is the accurate Twelve Steps that everyone needs to know once they escape from "The Rewms."

Special thanks to Laura Tompkins for this hilarious and oh, so accurate post.

Click on the original link here.

1. We decided We were “Not Powerless” over alcohol – that Our lives had become dominated by AA.

2. Came to understand that We were never as morally reprehensible as some AA members had led Us to believe.

3. Made a decision to turn and walk away from Alcoholics Anonymous forever.

4. Made a scorching and fearless indictment against AA as an organization.

5. Admitted to Ourselves and another Human Being that We had been ambushed into joining a religious cult.

6. Were entirely ready to relieve Ourselves of the self-defeating bullshit We were taught at AA.

7. Familiarized Ourselves with cult indoctrination tactics in order that We may never fall into a similar trap again.

8. Made a list of all AA-members who had harmed Us, and became willing to confront them all.

9. Called such people on their bullshit whenever possible, except when to do so would significantly injure them or others.

10. Continued to indict Alcoholics anonymous and when We were wronged promptly expressed our disapproval of it.

11. Sought scientific empirical evidence that could help Us to defeat addiction; focusing on Ourselves as the Power to carry that out.

12. Having been awakened from the AA nightmare as a result of these steps, We tried to carry this message to other victims of AA, so that everyone might know the truth about the Alcoholics Anonymous cult.

You are not alone.

Many of Us have been misled by the religion that claims not to be a religion. Some of Us suffered for years oblivious to the fact that AA offers no reliable or even sincere method to help alcohol troubled people to recover from addiction. When We felt hopeless. They used it against Us.

They told us We were powerless.
They did it to break Us down.
They did it to make Us unsure of Ourselves.
They did it to recruit new members for their religious cult.
We’re here to expose AA for what it really is. If You’ve tried AA over and over again, and You’re not getting the results you were promised, maybe it’s time You tried something else.
Think about it.

— Gunthar

Like I said — Brilliance.

However, many members (and ex-members), have an understandably difficult time deprogramming from all the scare tactics forced down their throats in AA.

Why?

You see, Bill Wilson was the kind of person who had to lie about who he was because he hated himself for very specific reasons, that we will never know — very specific reasons that he avoided facing his entire life. He avoided delving into his self-hate by becoming a guru, all the while acting as if he did not want to be a guru. He is the most brilliant guru of all time.

And since he hates himself so, rather than figure out why, he had to develop a program that would make its members hate themselves just as much, or hopefully more … to justify his hate-filled heart and to develop a posse of fawning disciples. Oh, and to 13th step (sexually harass) all the women.

Wilson had chronic depression and killed himself slowly with nicotine and then begged for whiskey on his death-bed — now that’s some SERIOUS SELF HATE.  Having compassion for him is fine as long as you refrain from following his path or from defending his cult religion.

Stay the fuck away from AA.

— Laura Tompkins

It Seemed as if Nothing Was Happening, But He Was Working

            

This video really spoke to me today.

For a few days, a few months, and even into the last year, I have noticed that I have slowed down considerably. I am not doing as much as I used to do when I was an activist all over the place.

I used to visit a number of city council meetings every day. I liked getting involved in public action and activism.

With COVID-19 and the slowdown which occured all over the world, including in government business, I was not as active as before. I found myself reading less, writing less, walking less. I slowed down considerably in late 2019, when I caught a terrible cold. I presume that I was afflicted with the Wuhan flu myself, honestly.

I also started to slow down somewhat when I was going to be held in contempt of court for a crime that I did not commit, when I had been the victim in the case that was being adjudicated. That did depress me a great deal. It was really difficult for me to understand all that was going on around me at that time. I found myself tired a great deal. I did not have the same kind of energy that I had had in the past, with all the activism, the writing, and the organizing that I had been doing.

This slowdown in all of my activities worried me somewhat. I was so used to doing, doing, doing. And now I found that I was not really interested in doing all that much at all, even for my job with MassResistance.

For about a year, I have continued to grow in grace, listening to more and more of God's Word, being transformed from glory to glory as I behold Jesus Christ in the Word. My thoughts have become calmer, and I am no longer afflicted with guilt, fear, shame etc. when I have bad thoughts, feelings, memories. I realize now that even with my growing understanding of the grace of God, I was still adding onto the Finished Work of Jesus Christ. For too long a time, I was still convinced that I had to feel a certain way, think a certain way, not have certain thoughts running through my mind, etc.

All of those lies are getting swept away. It's getting easier to recognize the wrong believing that has been all too pervasive in my life.

But still, there has been this concern: "I am not doing as much as I used to. I am not inclined to do as much as I used to do. What is going on?"

And then I found this video. Indeed, it may seem that in our times and trials, in which we seem to get so little done, in fact Christ Jesus is getting a great deal done behind the scenes! I can attest to this revelation in my life in so many ways, and there are numerous examples of this, including and especially the account of Joseph and his trials. First, he received the two dreams, then he was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, imprisoned for three years, neglected by the butler whom he had helped -- but then at the right place at the right time God restored him and promoted him to a place of prominence and pre-eminence to fulfill His perfect will. AMEN!

Now more than ever, I recognize that these quiet times that I am going through are enabling Daddy God to shape me and mold me, to allow His life to flow through me more than ever, to allow Him to open the eyes of my heart, and to allow Christ to abide, to make Himself at home in my heart by faith!

YES! I am not worried about missing out, I am not worried about ending up in the wrong place or not doing enough. Most importantly, though, I know that I am stepping into a lifetime of blessings and opportunities provided for me by Daddy God, on account of the price that Christ Jesus His Son paid for me to receive.

Starting the Day With Nothing But Gratitude

LORD JESUS!

Today, I am just so thankful, so grateful.

When I woke up this morning, I woke up at a more normal time, as I used to in the past.

Instead of struggling with sleep and waking up groggy at 4am or 5am, I woke up at about 7:45am.

WOW! This has been pretty consistent for the past week. AMEN! 

For the last year and a half, I have struggled with sleep. It started in late 2019, when I found myself going to bed earlier and earlier. I was just tired a great deal.

Then I found myself getting up at 2am, 3am, 4am. It was really bad. There were days that I just felt like a zombie going through the day. My "time clock" was off, so to speak.

For the last two weeks, though, I have been receiving a greater, fuller revelation that Jesus has taken care of everything. I understand more fully what it means to grow in grace, to understand His unmerited favor. God is at work in my life, not because I have done or am doing something, but because He is at work and doing everything.

When we rest in Him, He works in us. AMEN! YES!

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

This is no fantasy. This is not something that I have to work on to make sure that He keeps working. 

WOW!

And so, I am waking up with greater gratitude than I ever have before. I know that I am not stepping into this world on my own. I am not trying to create the day for me. I know that He is my Perfect Peace (Isaiah 26:3), and everything is taken care of.

That has taken a great deal of the weight off my shoulders. I no longer feel tired. I know longer dread waking up in the face of some considerable challenges or demands on my time.

And I sleep better. There is no longer this nagging voice in the back of my head that is telling me "Don't forget to do this!" and "Don't forget to do that," and so on.

This is really something.

Even today, I found that I had a little trouble going to sleep, but I did not worry about it. I know that the next day, this day, did not depend on me and my mood. That took so much of the strain off of me. Thank you, Jesus!

And even this morning, as I was getting ready for the day, I was just thanking God for this beautiful home where I live. I pay below market rent in a great city, in a very good climate. While so many people complain about the weather or the price of housing or the cost of living, I am nothing but blessed.

THANK YOU JESUS!

Life Process Program: The Dark Side of AA

 

The title and the post all speak for themselves. Please share:

The Dark Side of AA

Alcoholics Anonymous is a decentralized collection of support groups for alcoholics attempting to quit drinking. The groups are not professionally run or administered. Indeed, this is one of AA’s claims to fame, and its appeal — people in need helping people.

But, in any group of needy people, things can go wrong. Without supervision, anyone can attend, and perhaps pursue harmful agendas. One of these agendas is the predatory pursuit of members — often by older or criminal men of younger, vulnerable women. This template is more common than our society’s love affair with AA allows us to recognize.

Blogger Laura Tompkins has written about the tragedy of Karla Brada, who was murdered in August 2011. At the age of 30, Karla had a DUI — she had a relatively low-level BAL (.08) but had had an accident. This perhaps indicates that she was an inexperienced drinker.

Although a sub .10 BAL doesn’t scream “alcoholic,” Karla was referred to an inpatient alcoholism rehab clinic, where she was bussed to AA meetings. At one of these she met — and moved in with — Eric Allen Earle. Earle was one of many people mandated to attend AA as a condition of his parole. According to Tompkins, Earle’s rap sheet “includes multiple charges of battery, assault with a deadly weapon, domestic violence, disturbing the peace, evading arrest, reckless driving, elder abuse, multiple DUI’s, and now, felony murder. Earle allegedly murdered Karla by strangulation after she had asked him to move out of her condo.”

Whatever the criminal resolution of this case — and any civil charges that may follow — we can ask about the nature of AA and how this might happen. Does putting people in a situation where they are taught not to trust their own thinking — which, they are told time and again, is what got them into the fix they are in — make young women like Karla vulnerable to predators? We can reflect back on the whole idea of how it is therapeutic to belong to groups with such self-denigrating memes as these:

• “Stop your stinkin’ thinking’.”
• “Your best thinking got you here.”
• “Don’t go into your mind alone; it’s not a safe neighborhood.”
• “Your thinking is alcoholic.”
• “You have a thinking problem, not a drinking problem.”
• “Utilize, don’t analyze.”
• “You need a checkup from the neck up.”
• “We’re All Here Because We’re Not All There.”
• “… no alcoholic … can claim ‘soundness of mind’ for himself.” — William G. Wilson, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 33.
• “I am powerless over people, places, and things.”
• “You have alcoholic thinking.”

Could these contribute to a young woman’s loss of self-esteem and feelings for herself that might cause her to consort with a predator, and then to — too late — regret it?