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

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

More dependence on men, and certainly not on God.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We need not just to be forgiven of our sins, but we need life and that more abundantly:
"16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3: 16)

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

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

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

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

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

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

and

"16This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. " (Galatians 5: 16-18)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

and

 

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

 

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

 

Anything less than Christ Jesus is the least of all.

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

This program does not work.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

All of this talk about "God" is nice.

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

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

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

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

and

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

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

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

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

In Christ, we find everything that we need:

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

and

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

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

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

This same life provides all things to us:

"31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8: 31-32) In Christ, we are granted sonship with God the Father: "1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3: 1-3) God revealed Himself to us through His Son Jesus Christ. We cannot get this through our understanding. We must receive this as a revelation through His Word. Jesus is  more than a "God of my understanding", for He gives to us beyond what we can ask or think (Ephesians 3: 20)

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

A God of my understanding.

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

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

So went the argument in Bill Wilson's mind:

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

 

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

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

Then Bill Wilson shared:

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

"One Day at a Time" is Not Good Enough

It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee - Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. (AA, pg 85)

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

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

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

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

Jesus invites us into a greater communion:

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

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

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

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

We are adopted into God's family!

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." (Romans 8: 15-17)

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

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

and

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." (Ecclesiastes 3: 11)

and

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

and

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

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

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

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