AA, The Evil Bewitching Cult Which Takes Away the Only One Who Can Take Away Your Sins, Shame, and Condemnation

"O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?" (Galatians 3:1)

The last two weeks have been more than a wonder.

They have been a god-send of real revelation.

I have so much to write about, that I worry that I cannot finish it quickly enough, for all the other projects that I want to write.

The blood of Jesus covers all of my sins forever, past, present, and future. Pastor Prince has been stressing the importance of this crucial revelation, and "crucial" as in Cross is the crux of the point.

It's all about the Cross. Jesus did indeed complete a perfect work at the Cross.

And yet, for the longest time, I did not connect all the pain and hurt that I was feeling, with the fact that I simply did not realize that those pains, that sense of condemnation, was merely the misunderstanding that all of that pain, all of that condemnation was paid for, too.

Let me go back in time, just a little bit.

When I worked at a high school in the Los Angeles are, I struggled with this fear, that God's presence would be taken away from me or that I would fail, and then God would go away from me. I didn't know how to fail, let alone succeed, because I was so worried about incurring God's wrath.

There was this constant pressure to "keep my mind on God," and with this pressure, there was this constant fear of losing God's presence (favor) in my life, and that I would end up doing all kinds of bad, wrong, or terrible things.

Why did I have this struggle? This fight is going back almost twenty years, and from time to time, the fearful lingering would still rise up in my mind: "What if I take my mind off God? What if I am not thinking about Him enough? What? What if?! What if?!!"

That kind of bondage will drive you crazy, and that is precisely what happened to me.

2008 was a good year, in that I got that great job at the high school. I was on my last leg, had no money, didn't know how I was going to get through the year. Then I saw the ad, I told them the kind of job I was hoping to find, and they took me in.

So many good things were happening in my life, and I was connecting all of this with a proper, broad confession of faith: "I am the righteousness of God. I am righteous."

But the peace didn't last long. There were always fears of failure. There was always that frustrating premonition that something bad could happen, and it would be my doing, and therefore my undoing.

I didn't have an understanding of what it means to be righteous. I had understood what righteousness was, in that it was some kind of a magic charm or word, but I didn't realize that all of my sins, tomorrow and the next day and the next day, were paid for forever. 

I am righteous because Jesus paid for all my sins. There is indeed power in the Blood!

Yet, I did not know about this power at all. Why?

I was raised by a Stepper Mom. AA was the answer to everything. We were taught that if we felt bad, if we felt guilty, if we had some kind of "Resentment," that we need to take our steps, take an inventory, work a program, etc.

I recalled one of the constant themes pressed in the AA membership in the rewms, and it's this:

"All you have is a daily reprieve."

There is no certainty, peace, or lasting hope in the AA cult. You are taught that you have to keep "working your program" every day so that you don't slip up and drink again.

Does anyone not see how debilitating this kind of life can be? Every day, you are ultimately hounded by this dread that you could screw up and lose everything. You go through life uptight, fearful, constantly looking over your shoulder, worrying that you might fail.

I have also written many times about that toxic Tenth Step (Although all of it is toxic.) Living a life of having to promptly admit your wrongs every time you are wrong, every day looking over your life and seeing where you have failed: what kind of life is that?

And with human beings who have a severe tinge of shame and regret--for whatever reason--the searching never ends.

That's what Bill W. wanted. He desired to build himself into a guru who would have all the answers for everyone else. 

That constant soul-searching and fear-mongering in the back of my head dominated me for a few years, especially before, during, and after that teaching job in Los Angeles.

I walked around constantly trying to control my feelings, watching over my thoughts, constantly full of self-reflecting and self-loathing. It was an awful, empty life, one that I would not wish on my worst enemy.

All of that trauma and fear in the back of my head was nonsense, because there was no need to be afraid since all of my sins had been paid for and forgiven forever. But I did not know that, since I had not heard the fullness of the Gospel.

One of the questions that constantly nagged at me was: "What if you sin tomorrow? What if you do the wrong thing?" Finally, today, by the grace of God--THANK YOU, JESUS--I can fully answer that question:

"All of tomorrow's sins are paid for. Jesus has covered, paid for, wiped out all sin!"

I also struggled with a sense of loneliness and abandon during that very difficult time. What was I supposed to be doing with my life, then? Is it just an arbitrary free-for-all?

Not at all. Why?

"For 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)

This is the NEW COVENANT! This is the will of God the Father, of Daddy God, which Jesus accomplished at the Cross (cf Hebrews 10:9)

The same verse above describes how God will put his laws in our minds, and write them in our hearts. The original Hebrews word is "Torah," and that is not just law, but direction, guidance, and leading! It's a personal set of conduct given to us, imparted to us by His Holy Spirit!

"And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." (Isaiah 30:21)

But there's more than getting mere direction. He will cause us to know Himself intimately! 

"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." (Hebrews 8:11)

This was the key part. Daddy God is a real, personal Savior, a real, living God who is watching out for me. He is not some distant, faraway business leader or potentate. He is not someone whom I have to will into existence in order to live and breathe and have any being!

All of these wonderful promises were awaiting me--but I did not know about them. I read the Bible every day, sure, but everything was interpreted through the corrupt, evil lense of Alcoholics Anonymous. I have railed against this blasphemy many times before, and I will continue to do so to this day. Why would any of us limit or ruin God's Word by forcing it through the deceptive sieve of some empty cult?

Because that's what I was taught to do.

So, what makes all the amazing promises and guarantees of the New Covenant come to pass?

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

All our sins are forgiven! ALL OF THEM!

That is not what AA teaches. The awful cult tells you that you have only a reprieve, and that you have to take your inventory, and that you have to work amends. The work never ends in AA, and the sense of fear, dread, worry, sorrow, pain, bitterness, and worst of all condemnation just never goes away.

Why did I have such trauma and such difficulty? Because I was head deep and Acoholics anonymous, and this stupid lie that I had to take my inventory all the time. 

I did not know anything about the new covenant.

I did not understand that He has everything, paid for because that's what the Cross is for. If there were tinglings or bad feelings in my head, or fears or premonitions, the answer is the Cross. Now I understand more than ever what 2nd Corinthians 10:5 is talking about. I understand what the Helmet of salvation is all about (Ephesians 6:17)

Not Paying Attention to Our Souls, But Our Spirits

 "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16)

This verse has more meaning and more bearing for me every day.

For th elognest time, I was constantly paying attention to what was going on in my head. If I had a bad thought, a bad feeling, or a bad memory would poke at my head, I felt compelled to do something about it.

For the longest time, I really believed that my thoughts were my identity, and that what I was thinking would end determining what I would be doing.

Where does this wrong idea come from, in part?

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee." (Proverbs 23:7)

The king who sets food before someone, he thinks in his heart a certain way.

But that is not for all of us.

In fact, for those who believe in Jesus, we have received a new heart!

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26)

We receive a new heart, we become a new person:

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

We are not in our heads, we do not live in our minds, we must not identify with our thinking.

In fact, our minds need to be ... renewed!

"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)

Our minds are not our identity. For too long, I treated my head as who I am. Very dangerous, disturbing, out of place. I believed that God would speak to me, guide me via my mind, and therefore I needed to do everything I could to keep my mind cleared up.

But wait a minute ...

"The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly." (Proverbs 20:27)

And how does God shows us the way?

Through the eyes of our heart, not the eyes of our head or in our minds:

"The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints," (Ephesians 1:18)

It's about our spirit! It's about our heart! It's not about mind, and we are not supposed to let our minds run wild into all kinds of backward, bitter thoughts and meditations:

"(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)" (2 Corinthians 10:4)

and

"18This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; 19Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:" (1 Timothy 1:18-19)

For the longest time, I took responsibility for every bad thought or premonition I had. I cannot believe how passive I was about my brain, about my thinking. I don't live in my head, and that is not where anyone of us should live, either.

God is not going to speak to us in our heads. He speaks to us through our hearts.

He speaks to us through our spirit.

And for too long, I could not distinguish between my soul (feelings, thoughts, emotions) and my spirit.

Yet the more that I have been listening to God's Word, the more saturated I have become in God's grace, the more that I recognize that my spirit and soul are distinct, different.

"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

Today, there is a greater rest than I have ever felt before. I am not worried about what I may think of feel. I am not concerned about whatever thoughts, whatever fiery darts may come my way. Whatever happens in my head, that is not what matters. He lives in my heart (Ephesians 3:16-19), and He is guiding me from the inside out:

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

Whatever is hitting my head is not revelant, not important. I am not supposed to pay attention to how I feel or what thoughts spring up. That is not me, and none of that really matters. It's not about our souls, but our spirits!

The New Covenant: Not Contigent on Me

 I have written about this subject so many times. My mind is resting like never before.

There is new meaning to this verse for me:

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

Yesterday, after 6pm, I pretty much decided to rest for the rest of the evening. I decided that I wanted to catch up on rest. If I am tired, there is no need to fight against it. Just rest. That's OK. No condemnation.

I was resting and receiving greater and greater revelation about the New Covenant.

Here's the text of it in Hebrews 8:

"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)

What enforces the New Covenant is not something that we do, but something that He has done:

"I will be merciful (literally, propitious, provide a payment) for their unrighteousness, and I will forget their sins and iniquities." 

Every bad thing that we have done, wilfully or otherwise, God will not hold against us. He will not bear a grudge against us. He will not use against us. Our sins and inquities are gone forever. That is all sin. If anyone has a problem with that revelation, consider that when Jesus died for all our sins, all our sins were temporally in the future! All means all! Amen!

There is nothing in the New Covenant which dictates that we must do something to make it happen besides believe it.

None of these conditions are contained in the New Covenant:

1. As long as you keep your thoughts clean and pure.

2. As long as you keep your mind fixed on Jesus in some way, form, or fashion.

3. If you go to church every Sunday

4. If you confess your sins once a week to the local priest.

5. As long as you do not have lustful thoughts or feelings.

For the longest time, I bought into this horrendous, painful set of distractions, that I had to think, feel, imagine certain ways to ensure that God would be with me. A sense of doubt, panic, and fear would ensue every time my mind would waver or I would get distracted by angry, bitter, or lustful thoughts or feelings.

For years, I have been listening to Pastor Joseph Prince, and I have been learning more and more about the wonderful New Covenant which the Lord Jesus has cut for us.

Yet, it really is true: it takes a great deal of time for all of us to understand how fully forgiven we are. It was so difficult for me to rest in the truth that Jesus is taking care of me every step of the way, every step in the day.

So much has been changing in my life over the last year. Yes, there was the COVID-19 pandemic, and yes, there were ridiculous, brutish lockdowns which hurt businesses of all sorts across the country. Many lives were shaken to the core, and families which had coexisted peacefully had to learn to get along with each other more deeply, more intimately, for better or for worse.

I say without any evasion or suppression that my life went very well throughout the year 2020. No matter how bad things were turning out in the world, my life was getting better. Much better.

The New Covenant, in which God is very much a God to me, and I am one of His children, has played out more than ever. For all that hurts, pains, and setbacks which I have faced, life is good!

Even if I am tired, God is still a God to me. His grace, His power in my life is not contingent on what I do, or how I feel. It's all about Him!

Everything that Pastor Prince has been preaching, now all makes sense to me.

When I think about my struggles with sexual temptations, I see at its core, my deepest fears, and the most profound source of condemnation, was that those perverse sentiments were cutting me off from my loving Father, and that they were frustrating God's grace in my life.

The bondage, the pain, the deception is so strong. Today, thank you Jesus, I understand fully that all of that is lies. ALL OF IT!

For the longest time, I would get worried upset, frightened, tense if what I was thinking was wrong, bad, negative, etc. Now I understand that the New Covenant, the grace and peace which God promises to me, is not dependent, not contigent on how I feel, what I think, or even what I do.

My Mind Is Now at Rest -- He Places My Mind at Rest

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

I understand the full import of this verse now.

For the longest time, my mind was constantly racing, constantly churning.

For the longest time, I thought that I had to think about God constantly, when really He was thinking about me, and that's what really matters:

"But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" (Galatians 4:9)

All this time, I was so busy in my mind. I really believed that I had to jump-start my day by getting busy thinking about everything.

For the longest time, I did not realize that I did not have to "conjure up" the Lord. I was so busy trying to plan, think, commit, plot, conspire to figure everything out. I really believed that everything in this life was my responsibility.

If I was caught off guard or if I did something wrong, I would fault myself so greatly, and then I would resolve to try harder not to fail next time.

What I have learned now, is that I am not trying to live this life. This life is not my life, but His life in me:

"Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also." (John 14:19)

And

"20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Philippians 2:20-21)

For too many people, this revelation makes little sense. They do not really believe that Christ Jesus is our life. They believe that this life is a life that they must generate on their own. Yet that is not the case at all.

Indeed, we are called to a life of rest, so that He may work through us, that He may live in us:

"9In 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)

We live through Him, not our efforts. He lives in us, not alongside us while we try to figure everything out on our own.

Consider the fullness of 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)

All our sins are forgiven, paid for, put aside forever. We can rest assured that He is our God, that He is for us, not against us (Romans 8:31).

He is alive! He does not come and go depending on how we feel. Whatever we are thinking or feeling, that is not going to prevent Him from manifesting in our lives, blessings us, favoring us, even when we do not deserve it.

Now I understand the fullness of the Gospel of Grace!

"10Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:" (1 Peter 1:10)

and

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:" (Galatians 1:6)

My mind is at rest. I do not have to work. He is working. I just get to receive all that He is doing.

Thank you Jesus! You have placed my mind at rest!

"28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

Receiving Righteousness, and the Rest is Added Unto Us

I was meditating on this verse in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew:

"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:31-33)

I found this passage difficult to understand, because wasn't I supposed to take care of myself, wash myself, etc?

It's only in the last five years that I have learned what we are men are without Jesus: Dead.

He is our life (Colossians 3:4), and He has called us to receive His Life (John 10:10; 14:6)

Righteousness produces life in us!

"In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death." (Proverbs 12:28)

and

"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17)

We do not just receive life, but we reign in life!

How about that?!

Furthermore, Jesus relies on key examples to show how our Loving Father takes care of the birds and the flowers:

"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" (Matthew 6:25-26)

The birds of the air are fed by our Daddy God. He cares for us far more than He cares for the birds. WHY? Because He gave His Son for us!

"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (1 John 4:9)

Notice that God our Father not only set His Son for us, but wanted us to live through Him!

Paul affirms this wonderful revelation, which is still so missing, so lacking in churches today:?

"20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2:20-21)

Notice how Paul compares righteousness by faith versus righteousness by the law--which cannot be, since Jesus had to die on the Cross for us to receive righteousness.

Now, at one point in my life, I noticed that I was receiving manifold blessings.

Yet when I came across this passage in Matthew 6:33, I was worried: "How do I seek His righteousness?"

The answer would come to be about three years after that, when I learned what righteousness is all about.

First, Paul explains how we become justified:

"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 cannot be justified through ourselves, but rather we are justified because of Jesus.

Then there's Romans 5:17, which talks about how we receive--keep receiving the gift of righteousness. OK, then why does it say in the Gospels "seek" and in the Letter to the Romans "receive."

In fact, we are made the righteousness of God in Christ! (2 Corinthians 5:21) We are not seeking righteousness, but we have been made the righteousness of God.

We are as righteous as Jesus Christ Himself!

"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)

There has been a change, church!

Jesus died on the Cross, fulfilling the Old Covenant and enacting a New Covenant, which He accomplished through His blood:

"Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you." (Luke 22:20)

and

"And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." (Hebrews 12:24)

What was the one thing that had kept me in bondage, then, in those earlier years?

I kept thinking that God's presence in my life would come and go depending on how I felt, or what I was thinking. I was not thinking the right thoughts or feeling the right way, if I did not ensure that my mind was on him at all times, then He would go away and I would have to struggle to bring Him back.

That is outrageous! I cannot be condemned for anything. His peace will never depart from me!

"9For 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.

"10For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee."

God will never be angry with me again!

Why? Because He has granted me His righteousness!

"14In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

…

"17No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD."

"Their righteousness is of me!"

So, I no longer fear for the future, because I know that He is already there, having declared the end from the beginning. I also recognize that my righteousness is not dependent on me. No matter how I feel, no matter what I am thinking, no matter how I may fail or do wrong, He has me in His hand:

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." (Isaiah 41:10)

Notice that fear is dispelled because of His righteousness!

This was so new to me.

He is my life. He lives in me and around me. I never have to worry about Him being there for me, because He has promised to never leave me or forsake me.

"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."

I never have to worry about failing, because righteousness is a gift from HIM--and He invites me to keep receiving it!

So, now we can come back to Jesus' promise to us from the Sermon on the Mount:

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)

Every day, I learn more about this gift of righteousness. So much wrong thing which I used to subscribe to, and now it's all being washed away! 

Thank you, Jesus!