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02-19-2008, 03:45 PM
Healing by the Power of God
Or
A brand, new godless recovery program that has hit the internet
Dick B.
© 2008 by Anonymous. All rights reserved
When it came to healing by spiritual means, people used to quote from the Word of God. For example:
“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth.” 3 John 2.
“And [the LORD] said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the LORD that healeth thee.” Exodus 15:26.
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thing iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.” Psalm 103:2-4.
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” Matthew 4:23.
“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” Acts 10:38.
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” 1 Peter 2:24.
Early AAs believed those verses. They studied them and acted in accordance with them. And they were cured of alcoholism—by the power of God. If they were, why shouldn’t those of us who believe what the Good Book says, stand on those same promises, believe them, act upon them, and experience cure just as those in the Old Testament, the Gospels, the Book of Acts, and the epistle from Peter. Many of us do today. We do it within the parameters of Alcoholics Anonymous; and we are able to cite our own history as a basis for our beliefs and deliverance.
Now I don’t wish to empower a new idolatrous internet presentation and therefore won’t refer to the URL. But I will tell you that the tube presentation is becoming widely circulated by those who agree, by those who don’t see its significance, and even by those who don’t agree but just plug in their “in box” key and listen anyway.. It represents the worst of revisionist recovery chatter. Boldly, it asserts that, while A.A. had Christian beginnings (which it erroneously describes), someone agreed that it should be changed to admit people of all faiths and persuasions. And it does. True! It does, and that’s a settled situation.
But the existence of diverse opinions and populations in today’s recovery picture certainly does not preclude believers from believing. Believing that, if the power of God was, as the founders said, the source of their cures, it is just as available and efficacious today as it was from 1935 to 1938, and even thereafter.
The problem is that the new internet presentation just totally shakes off our early A.A. program and successful history which, according to Dr. Bob, took its basic ideas from the Bible. The presentation doesn’t mention the required early AA decisions for Christ or the pioneer Christian Fellowship (as Dr. Bob called it), or the essential studies of James, the Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians. Nor does it mention Morning Quiet Time—a must in early A.A. Nor the prayer meetings. In short, it just doesn’t mention real A.A. as it was founded and developed by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith. See my title Real Twelve Step Fellowship History.
Now don’t get your hopes up about finding information from this new lecturing crowd. If you are a believer in God, a Christian, a Bible student, or one in search of a relationship with God, you will find little in this presentation that is accurate, and even less that is helpful. Certainly not if you are looking to Almighty God for the answer to your alcoholism or addiction. Oh sure. If you want to choose your own god, the tube will tell you that you can. If you don’t want to believe in anything, it will tell you that you can. If you prefer giving some higher power an absurd, idolatrous name, why of course, you can call it Ralph, Gertrude, a Coke bottle, a radiator, a tree, the Big Dipper, good orderly direction, or your A.A. group. And these days, people won’t even laugh at you. Only if you mention healing by the power of God!
You’ve heard it all in meetings. You’ve read it all in recent recovery literature. And the woods today are still full of therapists and learned teachers who don’t believe in God, who remind us of the First Amendment and its prohibition of state sponsored religion, and who know they won’t get their government grants or insurance payments if they tell the truth about A.A.’s being a religion—a fact that has been established by court after court in recent litigation.
So, of course, they call it “spiritual, but not religious.” I have no idea what “spiritual” means (and neither do those who use the word in connection with A.A.). But you may ask “what religion?” I would answer, “Any religion that accepts the idea that Twelve Steps can lead you to a relationship with God. The Big Book suggests that point. And I would answer—the religion, denomination, church, and Bible of your choice. For in today’s A.A. you still have that religious choice. You’ve got the history to show that it always existed. And you’ve got the new research that shows it was the real position of the founders before Bill Wilson and Hank Parkhurst decided to form a corporation, sell stock, and revise their original cure ideas so that stock could be sold, published books could be sold, and members of all persuasions or none would accept and buy them—a decision which is still bearing fruit..
When confronted with erroneous truths and tempting but evil offers, Jesus took the position: Get thee behind me, Satan. The author of the Book of James wrote in James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” But I like to add the suggestion that he will be back! And it’s OK accidentally to let him light in your hair, but be sure not to let him make a nest there. Perish the day when I will waste any more time mouthing, or listening to teachers or preachers talk about, some mysterious “higher power” or “spirituality” or “god of their understanding.” AAs today are free to believe in anything they like—even a light bulb. They are free to seek healing from a chair of their own understanding. They can pray to a coke bottle for guidance if they like. They really can, but I often wonder just how many actually do. More important to me, by far, is the equally compelling truth that anyone—anyone in a 12 Step Fellowship at all—still has the right to believe in the God that the founders worshipped, prayed to, and asked for guidance. The God whose personal name is Yahweh. The God who’s only begotten son is Jesus Christ. And the God who revealed to holy men the prophecies in the scriptures. See James, Chapter One—a favorite of Bill’s and Bob’s—and the enlightening solution offered there to the pioneers.
What’s the bottom line? Don’t we have enough people already trying to move Americans, schools, churches, and even the poor AAs and addicts away from God? I think so, but I also suggest that the more you listen, the more you might begin to wonder if God has any place in your life. After all these tube presenter dudes (there’s a man and a woman at the start) have college degrees and perhaps sincerity. But for those who rightly wish to choose the power of God, it is not only unpleasant but distracting to listen to the new, recover-less recovery talks by speakers who tell us why we need to move ourselves completely out of the path to a relationship with God which the Big Book mentions so often. I submit my Heavenly Father is available at all times in all places and in all situations to those who wish to become His children and seek to know and trust Him. Dr. Bob said it far better in the last line of his personal story: “Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!” (Big Book, p. 181).
Gloria Deo
Dickb@dickb.com
Or
A brand, new godless recovery program that has hit the internet
Dick B.
© 2008 by Anonymous. All rights reserved
When it came to healing by spiritual means, people used to quote from the Word of God. For example:
“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth.” 3 John 2.
“And [the LORD] said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the LORD that healeth thee.” Exodus 15:26.
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thing iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.” Psalm 103:2-4.
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” Matthew 4:23.
“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” Acts 10:38.
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” 1 Peter 2:24.
Early AAs believed those verses. They studied them and acted in accordance with them. And they were cured of alcoholism—by the power of God. If they were, why shouldn’t those of us who believe what the Good Book says, stand on those same promises, believe them, act upon them, and experience cure just as those in the Old Testament, the Gospels, the Book of Acts, and the epistle from Peter. Many of us do today. We do it within the parameters of Alcoholics Anonymous; and we are able to cite our own history as a basis for our beliefs and deliverance.
Now I don’t wish to empower a new idolatrous internet presentation and therefore won’t refer to the URL. But I will tell you that the tube presentation is becoming widely circulated by those who agree, by those who don’t see its significance, and even by those who don’t agree but just plug in their “in box” key and listen anyway.. It represents the worst of revisionist recovery chatter. Boldly, it asserts that, while A.A. had Christian beginnings (which it erroneously describes), someone agreed that it should be changed to admit people of all faiths and persuasions. And it does. True! It does, and that’s a settled situation.
But the existence of diverse opinions and populations in today’s recovery picture certainly does not preclude believers from believing. Believing that, if the power of God was, as the founders said, the source of their cures, it is just as available and efficacious today as it was from 1935 to 1938, and even thereafter.
The problem is that the new internet presentation just totally shakes off our early A.A. program and successful history which, according to Dr. Bob, took its basic ideas from the Bible. The presentation doesn’t mention the required early AA decisions for Christ or the pioneer Christian Fellowship (as Dr. Bob called it), or the essential studies of James, the Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians. Nor does it mention Morning Quiet Time—a must in early A.A. Nor the prayer meetings. In short, it just doesn’t mention real A.A. as it was founded and developed by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith. See my title Real Twelve Step Fellowship History.
Now don’t get your hopes up about finding information from this new lecturing crowd. If you are a believer in God, a Christian, a Bible student, or one in search of a relationship with God, you will find little in this presentation that is accurate, and even less that is helpful. Certainly not if you are looking to Almighty God for the answer to your alcoholism or addiction. Oh sure. If you want to choose your own god, the tube will tell you that you can. If you don’t want to believe in anything, it will tell you that you can. If you prefer giving some higher power an absurd, idolatrous name, why of course, you can call it Ralph, Gertrude, a Coke bottle, a radiator, a tree, the Big Dipper, good orderly direction, or your A.A. group. And these days, people won’t even laugh at you. Only if you mention healing by the power of God!
You’ve heard it all in meetings. You’ve read it all in recent recovery literature. And the woods today are still full of therapists and learned teachers who don’t believe in God, who remind us of the First Amendment and its prohibition of state sponsored religion, and who know they won’t get their government grants or insurance payments if they tell the truth about A.A.’s being a religion—a fact that has been established by court after court in recent litigation.
So, of course, they call it “spiritual, but not religious.” I have no idea what “spiritual” means (and neither do those who use the word in connection with A.A.). But you may ask “what religion?” I would answer, “Any religion that accepts the idea that Twelve Steps can lead you to a relationship with God. The Big Book suggests that point. And I would answer—the religion, denomination, church, and Bible of your choice. For in today’s A.A. you still have that religious choice. You’ve got the history to show that it always existed. And you’ve got the new research that shows it was the real position of the founders before Bill Wilson and Hank Parkhurst decided to form a corporation, sell stock, and revise their original cure ideas so that stock could be sold, published books could be sold, and members of all persuasions or none would accept and buy them—a decision which is still bearing fruit..
When confronted with erroneous truths and tempting but evil offers, Jesus took the position: Get thee behind me, Satan. The author of the Book of James wrote in James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” But I like to add the suggestion that he will be back! And it’s OK accidentally to let him light in your hair, but be sure not to let him make a nest there. Perish the day when I will waste any more time mouthing, or listening to teachers or preachers talk about, some mysterious “higher power” or “spirituality” or “god of their understanding.” AAs today are free to believe in anything they like—even a light bulb. They are free to seek healing from a chair of their own understanding. They can pray to a coke bottle for guidance if they like. They really can, but I often wonder just how many actually do. More important to me, by far, is the equally compelling truth that anyone—anyone in a 12 Step Fellowship at all—still has the right to believe in the God that the founders worshipped, prayed to, and asked for guidance. The God whose personal name is Yahweh. The God who’s only begotten son is Jesus Christ. And the God who revealed to holy men the prophecies in the scriptures. See James, Chapter One—a favorite of Bill’s and Bob’s—and the enlightening solution offered there to the pioneers.
What’s the bottom line? Don’t we have enough people already trying to move Americans, schools, churches, and even the poor AAs and addicts away from God? I think so, but I also suggest that the more you listen, the more you might begin to wonder if God has any place in your life. After all these tube presenter dudes (there’s a man and a woman at the start) have college degrees and perhaps sincerity. But for those who rightly wish to choose the power of God, it is not only unpleasant but distracting to listen to the new, recover-less recovery talks by speakers who tell us why we need to move ourselves completely out of the path to a relationship with God which the Big Book mentions so often. I submit my Heavenly Father is available at all times in all places and in all situations to those who wish to become His children and seek to know and trust Him. Dr. Bob said it far better in the last line of his personal story: “Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!” (Big Book, p. 181).
Gloria Deo
Dickb@dickb.com