Too Much Mixture in the Church

 This pastor is spot-on about the spiritual problems, which have become all to prevalent in the United States:

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One of the clearest examples of this perverse syncretism is Alcoholics Anonymous, and all the perverted self-help programs which it has spawned.

The "Big Book" uses Scripture to justify its cult-like mind control on adherents. Everyone is encouraged, urged to come up with "their own conception of God," or to "believe in a Power greater than myself, as I understood Him."

It's really disgusting. It's vile. It's idolatry of the worst kind, and it's time for the Body of Christ to cast out this cult from the churches.

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!

Laura Tompkins Tells the Truth: Stop Calling People who Struggle "Addicts"

 This is a Biblical principle which cannot be shared enough.

You cannot set people free from an addiction of a perversion if you label them according to that perversion. Should we be surprised if people drink compulsively after they are repeatedly labeled and shamed as "Alcoholics"?

Or drug addicts? Or sex addicts, or whatever else?

God sent His Son, to make us new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and thus we are made the righteousness of God in Him! (2 Corinthians 5:21). AMEN!

Still, Laura Tompkins' point about rejecting labels is so important, and it further shows that AA is a terrible cult which must be rejected at all costs:

 

Here's the post if you cannot read it above:

5 reasons why you should never call someone an addict

1. It creates stigma and shame. When you call someone an “addict” or “alcoholic,” it is shaming and can be a barrier to treatment. People with addictions often have underlying difficulties with how they view themselves and are sensitive to the judgment of others. Labels that are stigmatizing stop people from reaching out for help, and this stops them from working on the shame that probably underlies their addiction in the first place.

Condemnation kills. Pastor Prince has been preaching about this revelation for years.

That revelation is essential for people to break free of any bondage:

"There is now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)

2. Shame leads to a negative self-concept. When a person with an addiction is shamed with labels, it comes as no surprise that it leads to them thinking and feeling negatively about themselves. When we feel terrible about ourselves, how likely are we to achieve our goals? Very unlikely. Shame keeps people in the spiral of addiction. Ironically, this is what traditional treatment options hope to prevent, but often inadvertently make worse.

The last thing that we need is people looking ... at themselves. You look at yourself, you get depressed and obsessed. You look at Jesus, and He puts you at rest:

"2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." (Psalm 23:2-3)

3. People see themselves as the problem. When we label someone a “drug addict,” it removes the human perspective of examining a person with an addiction. The person is seen as a problem, not an individual. It also makes it hard for the person to see themselves as someone who is struggling, rather than as simply damaged or defective.

A person cannot be the problem without therefore wanting to get rid of himself. That is not the solution. We must break free of telling people that they are their problems. That is sick, and it is oh, so counter-productive.

4. It creates helplessness. It can lead to negative self-talk, such as: “If I’m an addict, then I’ll always be an addict.” Helplessness keeps people turning to alcohol or substances, even though they know these things are bad for them, because there don’t seem to be better options. However, if that individual sees themselves as "someone with an addiction," then they may also envision themselves as "someone without an addiction."

Exactly! Why stop drinking if being a drinker is what you are and what you do?

5. It ignores all circumstances. There’s a cognitive bias known in psychology as the "Fundamental Attribution Error," which states that we see our own actions as being driven by circumstances, while seeing others’ behavior as being driven by their personality. Think of the last time you were cut off on the freeway by a speeding driver . . . “Asshole” was the first word to enter your mind, right? But if you’ve found yourself cutting someone off, you’d say you’re “in a hurry” or “didn’t see them” and attribute your actions to the situation. Now think of how this applies to those you label as “addicts.” By labeling them as such, you ignore the role of their circumstances and attribute their actions fully to their built-in personality.

We are not defined by our circumstances, and therefore we should not do that to others. This is a great illustration.

How can we destigmatize addiction?

It’s clear that the language we use around addiction is powerful, and when used incorrectly, it can leave individuals with an addiction feeling powerless. We need to change the way we view addiction, how we label addiction, and how we treat people with addictions. We can do this by using person-first language and offering people choices in treatment.

What is person-first language? It’s simply removing terms such as “addict” and “alcoholic” and reducing the associated negative biases. Instead, we can say “a person with a substance problem,” or “a person with an alcohol addiction.” This may seem simple, but it makes a big difference. It separates the person from the addiction, which not only reduces shame and helplessness, but also increases a person’s self-efficacy by empowering them to seek help.

I might go so far as to say: "I am X. I have a drinking problem." Avoid the descriptive clauses altogether, too.

So, if you know someone who has an addiction, stop using the “addict” label. Try to reframe how you view them by using person-first language. If you are someone with an addiction, you should try this out too! And, seek out a treatment approach that is shame-free, judgment-free, and suits your individual needs.

It's so important not to focus merely on the behaviors. You have to go deeper. What is the wrong believing, what is the abuse that they are dealing with that is the real issue? That is what needs to be our focus. Why would anyone want to throw harmful chemicals to excess into their bodies? There are deeper, more painful, harmful realities that people are struggling with, and it is difficult for people to deal with them all at once.

Paul writes to the Romans that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).

He further points out that the the Holy Spirit transforms us from glory to glory as we behold Jesus, and we behold Him as we read the Word of God (2 Corinthians 3:16-18).

People cannot recover or improve if people insist on identifying people with their struggles. We are set free when we realize that He has finished the work!

No Flesh Shall Glory in His Presence: Rest In His Life

"27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29That no flesh should glory in his presence." (1 Corinthians 1: 27-29)

I have not been writing about my hatred of Alcholics Anonymous for a long time.

I have seen so much goodness in learning the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the four accounts of which grant us different insights into the wonderful God who became man, Jesus!

I have found that from time to time a sense of condemnation still weighs on me. When nothing seems to be happening, I would get flustered, then I would get really angry. This sense of "I have to be doing something" would weigh very heavily on me."

It was unbearable. Just yesterday, I found myself too tired to do the writing and reading which I had planned on accomplishing. I was so sad, then I became desperate and fearful. 

How true it is. People have been telling me that I work too hard.

A sense within me had taken hold of me for so long. If I wasn't doing something, I was not doing enough. This chronic nagging has overtaken me from time to time.

Where did this sense of condemnation about "Must Do! Must Do!" come from?

It came from Alcoholics Anonymous:

"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." (pg. 85)

"We must carry the vision" -- hustle! Hustle! Hustle!

Get busy! Do stuff! Do not rest!

Three pages letter, we read:

"We become much more efficient. We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves. It works - it really does. We alcoholics are undisciplined. So we let God discipline us in the simple way we have just outlined. But this is not all. There is action and more action. "Faith without works is dead." (pg. 88)

"There is action and more action." Get busy! Must work! Must busy myself!

WRONG!

That's not the Gospel.

"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)

If God sends His Son to give you life, then you must accept that you had no life to begin with. How can a dead man do anything?!

In fact, even before the fall of man, God intended his "very good" creation to rest, and by resting God can work through Him!

"And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." (Genesis 2:15)

The word "put" is actually "lay to rest" or "cause to rest".

We need to understand how our loving Daddy has placed us in a finished word, and He invites us to enjoy and guard it.

How cool is that?

Check out Naomi's comforting advice to Ruth:

"Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?" (Ruth 3:1)

It's about seeking rest, a recognition that He is on the job for us!

We need to get off this jag that we have something to offer God!

We can do nothing apart for Him!

"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15:5)

All of this militantly opposes the AA mentality, which is "work, work, work"! The whole AA cult is turned into "Do things for God."

We can't do anything for Him. He provides us all things ... through His Son:

"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)

We live through Him, not through our own efforts:

"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)

and

"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)

In fact, God's heart for us is revealed in John's Third Letter:

"Beloved, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers." (3 John 2)

For me, these revelations are new and necessary.

For the longest time, I have been convinced, pressures, pressed upon to make all things happen. If I wasn't doing something, then nothing was getting done. I also faced the perverse hardship that certain opportunities were not happening, or worse that I would miss God's opportunities in my life.

Now I know that that is no longer the case. We are too close for that kind of thing. He grants me life, and His life leads me and guides me in all things. I used to think that I had a set opportunity every time that I went out into the world to reach out to "someone." Some days, I would go home at the end of the evening,  feeling very depressed and unhappy, because I did not find and work with that "divine appointment."

Now I have learned that God is giving me all things to begin with. It's not about me doing anything for God--it's all about God doing all things in and through Me.

The more that I rest, the less that I strive, the more that I am able to let Him accoplish so much through me. Therefore, I do not have to worry about struggling for results to occur in my life. It's His life, to begin with, and He is working all things to come about in me:

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" (Philippians 1:6)

Let's walk by grace, not by our flesh, our self-effort. Reject the cult of man, the rat race, of the religious world, AA include.

Let us rest that He may work in us!!

Father Leo Booth, and the Power of No Condemnation in Christ

I have been meditating on the story of Father Leo Booth for some time over the past few weeks.

This man is a liberal-leaning deacon, pastor, whatever when he was serving at Oxford University. He acknowledged that he struggled with alcohol addiction in terrible ways.

He would wake up in the morning completely soiled.

He went to work drunk, too. All the time that he spent trying to cover up his perversion, he was struggling, trying to keep up appearances.

Why? Because the shame that would overcome him if anyone discovered that this prim and proper deacon.

Then one day, driving drunk, Father Booth got into a car accident.

His car was totaled, Father Booth sat on the curb overwhelmed with the accident.

Father Leo Booth

Then he overhead the students walking back behind him. And he heard them talking about him:

"Oh, there's Father Leo again. He got drunk."

"Father Booth got into a car accident? No surprise there!"

And so on.

The same people who were talking about him, were the same students and staffers he had worked with all that time.

They knew that he had a drinking problem, but they did not shun him. In effect, they didn't care.

Now, Booth reports that when he realized that he wasn't fooling anyone anymore, he sought help.

But I add another layer to this revelation.

For the longest time. Booth was hiding his drinking problem because he was ashamed, he feared the condemnation that would fall on him when people found out that he was a drunk.

But then he realized that they did not care.

The condemnation was broken off in his life, and he was set free.

That's the Biblical principle, the truth that sets us free (John 8:32):

"There is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus."

When we understand that there is no condemnation at all in Christ, when we understand that we will never be condemned for failure, for sin, that we have been fully forgiven, granted the gift of righteousness:

"Be it known unto you therefore, men andbrethren, 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" (Act 13: 38-39)