AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) is Satanic!!

[Magenta]

That's right!
john Baker - that would have bothered me.
Honestly the steps are so tremendously hard to go through! Especially step 4 - When I arrived there I just stopped going to church (which was difficult because I worked there) - but I still managed to hide from all my friends) and I hunkered down in my house, angry at God and overwhelmed with all the inventory.
We had 8 weeks to complete our inventory!

And finally my sweet sponsor (or womens minister) kicked in the door to my house (pretty much) and kidnapped me to some graveyard she liked to visit for reflection and forced me (in a loving way) to tell her whats up.

And then I was pretty defiant and said "Well I didn't do my homework" and she was like "Well we are going to my house and you're not leaving until you are done"

I had no idea she could be so gangstah lol But I am so thankful she didn't give up on me lol

And yes - Many people are very hesitant to hear about God -
And so it is good that this is a bridge to patch up that way for them to be receptive to Jesus! Because without Him - there is so little hope - no light at all...

May I ask how many years you've been sober now? If that is ok? And have you been involved in AA the whole time?

Haha that made me laugh, in a good way Oh, you know, step four is supposed to be fearless but people do not like to see themselves or the wreckage they have created, and many dread doing it at first. Is it not wonderful to know that God sees all and loves us anyway? That God knows all and has forgiven us in spite of ourselves? What an awesome gift to receive. The challenge after that is forgiving ourselves

 

[Heart_Melody]

Haha that made me laugh, in a good way Oh, you know, step four is supposed to be fearless but people do not like to see themselves or the wreckage they have created, and many dread doing it at first. Is it not wonderful to know that God sees all and loves us anyway? That God knows all and has forgiven us in spite of ourselves? What an awesome gift to receive. The challenge after that is forgiving ourselves

My problem was that I did not want to admit that I was very hurt and angry at God because of some things.
I was inventorying at her house and it really was freeing but because I had rejected feelings for so long in my life I also had to now "Feel" those things.
It was one of the most painful things to have to receive the rejection in order to be able to release it - if that makes sense. I would start the process and it would hurt too much and I would stop.

How long have you been sober now? If it's okay to ask - and Have you been involved with AA this whole time?

 

[Magenta]

My problem was that I did not want to admit that I was very hurt and angry at God because of some things.
I was inventorying at her house and it really was freeing but because I had rejected feelings for so long in my life I also had to now "Feel" those things.
It was one of the most painful things to have to receive the rejection in order to be able to release it - if that makes sense. I would start the process and it would hurt too much and I would stop.

How long have you been sober now? If it's okay to ask - and Have you been involved with AA this whole time?

Yes, it is okay to ask, Melody, and I do not mind at all sharing this with you and/or anyone else who may read and be helped by any of this. I first got clean and sober at the age of 39 in 1994, when I cried out to the God I did not believe in, for help. I was not asking to stop using. What I wanted was to stop hurting. Within days I lost the desire to use after 24 years of drug and alcohol abuse.

I saw a pattern repeating in my life that I was powerless over, and in fact, had no problem admitting my powerlessness from a much younger age, because I had ended up in a psych ward when I was 20 after a very painful betrayal and heartbreak... I unintentionally overdosed a few times, and people who cared about me knew I needed help, and admitted me to the hospital. Unfortunately, in those days, they did not have the resources and knowledge they do now, and I was released after ten days in pretty much the same condition I went in, which is to say, very lost and broken, with no supports or follow-up in place.

I did not get sober for another almost twenty years! Once I finally got sober, I also relapsed after eight years, and was in and out of "the program" for about eight years after that, during which time I finally surrendered my opposition to God after being a "seeker" for a number of years. I celebrated my first nine years' milestone last December, and one of my pastor's wives presented my cake to me, and my pastor also spoke at the meeting. Heh, I was sharing the day with another woman who was taking her three year cake, and she said she had never heard Jesus mentioned so much at an AA meeting, but she did not mind because she is a Christian also

My first 12 step program was emotions anonymous, but I was attending AA for years before I got sober because I needed to hear people talking about their struggles and challenges and triumphs and joy even if I could not hear the solution yet. It has been quite the journey! Some of my testimony is here, in my Scripture Art thread I also attend NA

 

[Heart_Melody]

Yes, it is okay to ask, Melody, and I do not mind at all sharing this with you and/or anyone else who may read and be helped by any of this. I first got clean and sober at the age of 39 in 1994 after 24 years of drug and alcohol abuse, when I cried out to the God I did not believe in, for help. I was not asking to stop using. What I wanted was to stop hurting. Within days I lost the desire to use.

I saw a pattern repeating in my life that I was powerless over, and in fact, had no problem admitting my powerlessness from a much younger age, because I had ended up in a psych ward when I was 20 after a very painful betrayal and heartbreak... I unintentionally overdosed a few times, and people who cared about me knew I needed help, and admitted me to the hospital. Unfortunately, in those days, they did not have the resources and knowledge they do now, and I was released after ten days in pretty much the same condition I went in, which is to say, very lost and broken, with no supports or follow-up in place.

I did not get sober for another almost twenty years! Once I finally got sober, I also relapsed after eight years, and was in and out of "the program" for about eight years after that, during which time I finally surrendered my opposition to God after being a "seeker" for a number of years. I celebrated my first nine years' milestone last December, and one of my pastor's wives presented my cake to me, and my pastor also spoke at the meeting. Heh, I was sharing the day with another woman who was taking her three year cake, and she said she had never heard Jesus mentioned so much at an AA meeting, but she did not mind because she is a Christian also

My first 12 step program was emotions anonymous, but I was attending AA for years before I got sober because I needed to hear people talking about their struggles and challenges and triumphs and joy even if I could not hear the solution yet. It has been quite the journey! Some of my testimony is here, in my Scripture Art thread

Oh My goodness!!
What a testimony! My heart both breaks and is rejoicing over this.
i am amazed by the depths of pain and darkness some of us must descend. How much a person can experience - it truly astonishes me - and I admire you for your courage and strength - that you did not give up and you kept on going.
I am so thankful that you did not give up hope and that there were resources finally available that were able to assist you in finding both God and salvation - and freedom.

I can only imagine how proud your Heavenly father is - how he was bragging on your 9 year anniversary - slapping jesus on the back and pointing down at you and being like "THATS OUR GIRL! LOOK AT HER GO! WE OUT-DID OURSELVES WHEN WE CREATED HER. DO YOU REMEMBER?" and they had a big party with you. ^_^

I am also very glad whenever I hear that people are beginning to understand challenges (mental and behavioral) that can be so instrumental in a persons daily life and struggles - well lets call them challenges. I am horrified when I research how those "psych wards" would treat their patients - how they would torture them.


Haha - now I want cake! lol
I am so glad your pastors where there to support you - it makes all the difference in the world.

I remember once going to an IHOP (international house of Prayer) in a city I was a missionary in, and it was closed so we gathered in the parking lot and sang praises to the Lord. We did not know that there was a NA meeting happening right there and they were all sitting outside and having a smoke.

So we went over and we started talking to everyone - asking if we could pray for them. And I met the sweetest girl. I asked if she owned a bible and she said she never had her own bible before - and I gave her mine - this bible was beloved and had all kinds of little scribbles in it - photos, card, letters - everything - I just gave it to her like that. I hope she got to see that the bible is the living word - that God is our dad and Jesus our best friend and I still pray for her sometimes. It's been 10 years now

 

[Magenta]

Oh My goodness!!
What a testimony! My heart both breaks and is rejoicing over this.
i am amazed by the depths of pain and darkness some of us must descend. How much a person can experience - it truly astonishes me - and I admire you for your courage and strength - that you did not give up and you kept on going.
I am so thankful that you did not give up hope and that there were resources finally available that were able to assist you in finding both God and salvation - and freedom.

I can only imagine how proud your Heavenly father is - how he was bragging on your 9 year anniversary - slapping jesus on the back and pointing down at you and being like "THATS OUR GIRL! LOOK AT HER GO! WE OUT-DID OURSELVES WHEN WE CREATED HER. DO YOU REMEMBER?" and they had a big party with you. ^_^

I am also very glad whenever I hear that people are beginning to understand challenges (mental and behavioral) that can be so instrumental in a persons daily life and struggles - well lets call them challenges. I am horrified when I research how those "psych wards" would treat their patients - how they would torture them.

Haha - now I want cake! lol
I am so glad your pastors where there to support you - it makes all the difference in the world.

I remember once going to an IHOP (international house of Prayer) in a city I was a missionary in, and it was closed so we gathered in the parking lot and sang praises to the Lord. We did not know that there was a NA meeting happening right there and they were all sitting outside and having a smoke.

So we went over and we started talking to everyone - asking if we could pray for them. And I met the sweetest girl. I asked if she owned a bible and she said she never had her own bible before - and I gave her mine - this bible was beloved and had all kinds of little scribbles in it - photos, card, letters - everything - I just gave it to her like that. I hope she got to see that the bible is the living word - that God is our dad and Jesus our best friend and I still pray for her sometimes. It's been 10 years now

Wow, that is very touching, and so very sweet of you to give your precious book away like that. Thank you also for your very kind words to me. I never thought about it the way you have, with God and Jesus celebrating with us... you are a riot

Melody, this is from a post I wrote shortly after joining this site almost five years ago:

I have a slightly different understanding because of the way I have experienced God, even while I was still running from Him in disobedience, rebellion, and defiance. I consider myself to have been lost at that time from my present perspective, but God knew exactly where I was. This was quite a few years ago, twenty seven to be more exact. My marriage had broken down following two first-trimester miscarriages, and a still birth that occurred less than two weeks before the nuptials. I also had a lot of baggage from my past that I had been unable to deal with/put "closure" on. It was around Passover in 1988, and a neighborhood evangelical Christian church was showing a movie on the life of Christ based on the Gospel of Luke. I had been brought up in a fairly strict religious environment but did not know Jesus, and was curious, and living in a world of unremitting emotional pain, so I went. As I sat in that church after seeing the first or second part of that movie, I am not sure at what point the following happened: my whole body was filled with the Light of God's unconditional love and forgiveness for me and all I had done, all the ways I had messed up my life, all my failures and mistakes, all of it bathed in the Light of His absolute understanding of how and why I had become the person I was, all of it bathed in the Light of His unconditional love and total forgiveness. I tell you, I wept. I felt so broken and so lost and so unredeemable, but most of all I felt unworthy. And of course I am unworthy.

Even after that, oh yes, it was a cherished experience, but even after that I did not believe in "that" God. I had begun a spiritual seeking phase, and carried on in that for another fifteen years until God clearly called me out of what I was doing. And yes, even after that, even after that clear calling out, my stiff-necked stubbornness was so set against Him it took another year following the calling out for me to surrender my life to Him.

Well, I was very rebellious and set in my ways against God, so I understand very well how people can be/are in their state of unbelief, even if the reasons for it differ, though as Christians we also understand it to be the natural state of the un-regenerated man: an enemy of God and hostile toward Him. I was raised in a religious home, and it hardened my heart against organized religion, also, but I did intimately know there was something, some underlying Spiritual force, and a few years before I first got clean and sober was when I really started to investigate and look for answers. My life was a terrible mess on a personal level but the seeking became a guiding principle, and a few years after I first got clean and sober, I started studying with shamans and professionally practicing my pagan interest, partially as a way to help others who were likewise seeking answers to their life's questions and dilemmas. I was caught up in that when I relapsed with eight years of clean time/sobriety... and when God once again very profoundly revealed Himself to me, it seemed unbelievable! Yet I had to come to accept that the Bible had the answers I had been seeking all along while I had been rejecting anything to do with it at the same time

Knowing these things, and how long suffering God is, and having experienced very powerfully for my own self His loving kindness, patience, and forgiveness, helps me to stand firm and desire to carry some kind of message to the addict who still suffers, to the alcoholic who still struggles, until they too become willing to turn to God and find the freedom and answers they seek, and the Truth and peace we know as Jesus Christ The rooms are full of success stories, and success stories waiting to happen. For anyone to call it Satanic is just, jeepers LOL.

 

[oldman]

Aa was not meant to be "christian only" which is actually great.
It brings many people a step closer to being open to Christianity and God - and it definitely can restore dignity to a human and help restore relationships, jobs and life quality.
My room mate was atheist all his life - and he is now an agnostic. Granted he wants a God who will allow him to live in sin - BUT he at least believes in a god now!

That is a huge step and he has gone from an alcoholic about to loose his liver - to recovering and living 12 years beyond what doctors had predicted.


But if you prefer a "christian aa" there is "Celebrate Recovery" by Rick warren (and another co author). I have been through this program to try and deal with my abandonment issues and it helped to restore my relationship to my mom somewhat.

right now my roomie is sponsoring a young man who is trying to get his life back on track to be a good daddy to his kids. And two days ago he relapsed. Please pray for him. This quarantine is really getting to everyone - there is no work to distract from the "thirst".

Early on in my AA visits I was told that when the urge to drink came, to drink a rather large glass of orange juice. Sometimes it is just the body missing the sugars in alcohol acting up

 

[laughingheart]

Yes, it is okay to ask, Melody, and I do not mind at all sharing this with you and/or anyone else who may read and be helped by any of this. I first got clean and sober at the age of 39 in 1994, when I cried out to the God I did not believe in, for help. I was not asking to stop using. What I wanted was to stop hurting. Within days I lost the desire to use after 24 years of drug and alcohol abuse.

I saw a pattern repeating in my life that I was powerless over, and in fact, had no problem admitting my powerlessness from a much younger age, because I had ended up in a psych ward when I was 20 after a very painful betrayal and heartbreak... I unintentionally overdosed a few times, and people who cared about me knew I needed help, and admitted me to the hospital. Unfortunately, in those days, they did not have the resources and knowledge they do now, and I was released after ten days in pretty much the same condition I went in, which is to say, very lost and broken, with no supports or follow-up in place.

I did not get sober for another almost twenty years! Once I finally got sober, I also relapsed after eight years, and was in and out of "the program" for about eight years after that, during which time I finally surrendered my opposition to God after being a "seeker" for a number of years. I celebrated my first nine years' milestone last December, and one of my pastor's wives presented my cake to me, and my pastor also spoke at the meeting. Heh, I was sharing the day with another woman who was taking her three year cake, and she said she had never heard Jesus mentioned so much at an AA meeting, but she did not mind because she is a Christian also

My first 12 step program was emotions anonymous, but I was attending AA for years before I got sober because I needed to hear people talking about their struggles and challenges and triumphs and joy even if I could not hear the solution yet. It has been quite the journey! Some of my testimony is here, in my Scripture Art thread I also attend NA

Love you Magenta.

 

[Lanolin]

maybe AA only works in conjunction with the gospel, otherwise its just a gathering of addicts hoping to get through the week.

talking about struggles is fine, but I suspect saying Im an alcoholic and I drank way too much last week every week gets old after a while. If the alcohol ever ran out, these people would be desperate and drinking hand sanitiser.

I can only say this cos I knew some alcoholics back in the day who kept denying they drank so much and then next thing I know they drank too much and in the same breath started boasting about it. It confused me.

 

[persistent]

Wow, that is very touching, and so very sweet of you to give your precious book away like that. Thank you also for your very kind words to me. I never thought about it the way you have, with God and Jesus celebrating with us... you are a riot

Melody, this is from a post I wrote shortly after joining this site almost five years ago:

I have a slightly different understanding because of the way I have experienced God, even while I was still running from Him in disobedience, rebellion, and defiance. I consider myself to have been lost at that time from my present perspective, but God knew exactly where I was. This was quite a few years ago, twenty seven to be more exact. My marriage had broken down following two first-trimester miscarriages, and a still birth that occurred less than two weeks before the nuptials. I also had a lot of baggage from my past that I had been unable to deal with/put "closure" on. It was around Passover in 1988, and a neighborhood evangelical Christian church was showing a movie on the life of Christ based on the Gospel of Luke. I had been brought up in a fairly strict religious environment but did not know Jesus, and was curious, and living in a world of unremitting emotional pain, so I went. As I sat in that church after seeing the first or second part of that movie, I am not sure at what point the following happened: my whole body was filled with the Light of God's unconditional love and forgiveness for me and all I had done, all the ways I had messed up my life, all my failures and mistakes, all of it bathed in the Light of His absolute understanding of how and why I had become the person I was, all of it bathed in the Light of His unconditional love and total forgiveness. I tell you, I wept. I felt so broken and so lost and so unredeemable, but most of all I felt unworthy. And of course I am unworthy.

Even after that, oh yes, it was a cherished experience, but even after that I did not believe in "that" God. I had begun a spiritual seeking phase, and carried on in that for another fifteen years until God clearly called me out of what I was doing. And yes, even after that, even after that clear calling out, my stiff-necked stubbornness was so set against Him it took another year following the calling out for me to surrender my life to Him.

Well, I was very rebellious and set in my ways against God, so I understand very well how people can be/are in their state of unbelief, even if the reasons for it differ, though as Christians we also understand it to be the natural state of the un-regenerated man: an enemy of God and hostile toward Him. I was raised in a religious home, and it hardened my heart against organized religion, also, but I did intimately know there was something, some underlying Spiritual force, and a few years before I first got clean and sober was when I really started to investigate and look for answers. My life was a terrible mess on a personal level but the seeking became a guiding principle, and a few years after I first got clean and sober, I started studying with shamans and professionally practicing my pagan interest, partially as a way to help others who were likewise seeking answers to their life's questions and dilemmas. I was caught up in that when I relapsed with eight years of clean time/sobriety... and when God once again very profoundly revealed Himself to me, it seemed unbelievable! Yet I had to come to accept that the Bible had the answers I had been seeking all along while I had been rejecting anything to do with it at the same time

Knowing these things, and how long suffering God is, and having experienced very powerfully for my own self His loving kindness, patience, and forgiveness, helps me to stand firm and desire to carry some kind of message to the addict who still suffers, to the alcoholic who still struggles, until they too become willing to turn to God and find the freedom and answers they seek, and the Truth and peace we know as Jesus Christ The rooms are full of success stories, and success stories waiting to happen. For anyone to call it Satanic is just, jeepers LOL.

I only recently had some very small sensation like you talk about here but not long ago I was talking to my Catholic neighbor, Freddie, who I now think about as 'the ant', because he is so busy with family matters, about buying my house, and I got him on the topic of religion and he told me that some years ago he had some sensations possibly similar to what you mention. I think in reading somewhere, Buckminster Fuller also had some sense of heightened awareness or something like it. My experiences are mostly external with a possible exception in 9th grade when I chugged a fifth of Scotch in about five minutes and saw a movie of my life flash in front of me. That night I would have been dead if my friend Robert would not have found my feet sticking out of some bushes where I passed out in the snow. The things we do. LOL...LOL...Robert told, me after I was recovered from that hangover which lasted at least two days, LOL,,,,LOL.....LOL...he dropped me on my head on the sidewalk carrying me home and threw me in my hallway and I vomited........LOL....LOL...and there was the filter to a cigarette he had given me shortly after I drank the Scotch....Apparently I ate...LOL...the cigarette....LOL...LOL ... Cracks me up every time, which is not many, I tell this event. gotta stop LOL

 

[persistent]

I only recently had some very small sensation like you talk about here but not long ago I was talking to my Catholic neighbor, Freddie, who I now think about as 'the ant', because he is so busy with family matters, about buying my house, and I got him on the topic of religion and he told me that some years ago he had some sensations possibly similar to what you mention. I think in reading somewhere, Buckminster Fuller also had some sense of heightened awareness or something like it. My experiences are mostly external with a possible exception in 9th grade when I chugged a fifth of Scotch in about five minutes and saw a movie of my life flash in front of me. That night I would have been dead if my friend Robert would not have found my feet sticking out of some bushes where I passed out in the snow. The things we do. LOL...LOL...Robert told, me after I was recovered from that hangover which lasted at least two days, LOL,,,,LOL.....LOL...he dropped me on my head on the sidewalk carrying me home and threw me in my hallway and I vomited........LOL....LOL...and there was the filter to a cigarette he had given me shortly after I drank the Scotch....Apparently I ate...LOL...the cigarette....LOL...LOL ... Cracks me up every time, which is not many, I tell this event. gotta stop LOL

OOPS

 

[persistent]

maybe AA only works in conjunction with the gospel, otherwise its just a gathering of addicts hoping to get through the week.

talking about struggles is fine, but I suspect saying Im an alcoholic and I drank way too much last week every week gets old after a while. If the alcohol ever ran out, these people would be desperate and drinking hand sanitiser.

I can only say this cos I knew some alcoholics back in the day who kept denying they drank so much and then next thing I know they drank too much and in the same breath started boasting about it. It confused me.

Hey Lanolin I really appreciate your comment here. And you are not the only one who is confused by the alcoholic. The doctor's opinion in the book used by AA and referred to as the Big Book expresses your sentiment exactly. What you say about hand sanitizer is also right on. I worked with a guy from then Soviet Armenia and was in the Soviet army and he claimed they would strain shoe polish thru a potato to drink. There was a noted neurologist, Eric Kandel, that also did work on trying to understand what it is that is causing people like us to do what we do to ourselves. Now that I have accepted Jesus as my Savior I wonder if isn't just possible that we were handed over to Satan for a time? This thought just now came to mind. Maybe it is accurate. I really don't know. I started drinking as a child and maybe even so my antagonism toward God was evident. But Job was upright so that doesn't sound right. I don't know!

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

Satan and his demons ALL have fooled the world by their DECEPTOLOGY!!! I've herd stories of members still taken drugs and having sex with each other and much more......

Hi SpirtDove,

This is a clear description of what I studied years ago when I investigated AA. A couple people knew were members. I had a hard time trying to get them to see that belief in a Higher Power was not enough for salvation. It only comes through Jesus and what He accomplished through His Sacrifice and resurrection.

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

maybe AA only works in conjunction with the gospel, otherwise its just a gathering of addicts hoping to get through the week.

talking about struggles is fine, but I suspect saying Im an alcoholic and I drank way too much last week every week gets old after a while. If the alcohol ever ran out, these people would be desperate and drinking hand sanitiser.

I can only say this cos I knew some alcoholics back in the day who kept denying they drank so much and then next thing I know they drank too much and in the same breath started boasting about it. It confused me.

AA is based on works, while the gospel is based upon grace. I'm not against the folks who participated in AA. I've studied the core beliefs in the book they use and cannot see what is compatible with the gospel, can you?

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

Satan and his demons ALL have fooled the world by their DECEPTOLOGY!!! I've herd stories of members still taken drugs and having sex with each other and much more......

I just noticed that this person is banned. Hmmm. I wonder why?

Anyhow, this reminds me that I should ask the pastors of a couple of churches that I've recommended , why they have their 12 step program modeled after AA . I'm just curious.

My own limited experiences of the AA members that I tried to reach with the gospel was that they considered their book as a sort of spiritual book (Bible replacement) and the program as their salvation. I'm glad they saw that they sinned, and that they have a support to help hold them accountable from relapse.
The last member I spoke to though was open to the gospel, until their leader intervened to snatch the seed of God's Word like the devil.
That was likely an exception. I'm sure there are plenty of decent people involved.
I feel the need to point out, They need Christ first and foremost or the reformation won't matter. The one I've spoken to were hardcore into the reformation part as a replacement for the gospel. I think we should be aware so as to share the Good News and not let their beliefs in Higher Power, as they used to limit their terminology to, deflect the core issues.

"And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work."

Peace

 

[persistent]

Hi SpirtDove,

This is a clear description of what I studied years ago when I investigated AA. A couple people knew were members. I had a hard time trying to get them to see that belief in a Higher Power was not enough for salvation. It only comes through Jesus and what He accomplished through His Sacrifice and resurrection.

Since 4 Aug 1989 I have attended what I would say are countless numbers of AA meetings primarily to keep from picking up that next drink. I like to say that I was wife ordered. I was out of work and out of money and on the 3 Aug 1989 I came home early, 5 or 6 pm, from the Moose club or the B&E saloon. First thing in the door K accused me of being a GD alcoholic. I don't know why but I agreed with her and said, "give me $20 and I'll go to an AA meeting." I had no clue she had been talking with her boss, who had many years in AA, and they were both working on sobering me up. I later realized some of their tactics. No hard liquor.....I tried dodging by claiming that Jack Daniels was needed for barbecuing and I didn't think twice about drinking the cheap Black Velvet for free as a volunteer bartender at the Moose Club. The Insanity goes on. And I could possibly have gone on were it not for the fact that I had drunk up almost everything. I did get to an AA meeting at 6 am 4 Aug. 1989 and thanks especially to a woman named Charlotte, at the AA club on Harbor Blvd in Fullerton, Ca., who sympathized with my condition and told me I could sit there at the 'members only after meeting time', club and go to the next meeting and so forth. What got thru to me at first was a phrase, "keep coming back". And I did and at times some people at the meetings would get too religious for me and I was not going to participate in that kind of nonsense. I was very antagonistic toward religion and the words 'higher power' were tolerable but not any God talk for me till quite some time later. And there were proselytizers of all sorts. At least they seemed to be proselytizers. Some were apparently what they termed 'wet brained'. One guy was ecstatic with his discovery of a 'new age' store and bought himself a crystal on a neck chain. Some were ready to take you to some local church. Get the picture! A variety of beliefs. Around the end of Aug 1989 I got word that my older brother had died and I flew to Chicago for the funeral. Turned out he died of cardiomyopathy and the death certificate implicated alcohol as a contributing factor. I don't recall who paid for the tickets. And I don't recall if I went to an AA meeting in Chicago but I think I did. I certainly did starting about six years later. I only quit going to AA meetings about five years ago. And it seems that most of the meetings I went to the focus was primarily on staying away from the next drink. I have been involved with some 'church' people during my life and I don't recall any of them focusing on not drinking. As a matter of fact, some of them encouraged drinking. Including my own family. There were a lot of people in AA that got me thru some close calls. I can't say the same for 'church' people. Go figure. Maybe this phrase sums up; "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". Sounds PARADOXICAL!?

 

[persistent]

Hi SpirtDove,

This is a clear description of what I studied years ago when I investigated AA. A couple people knew were members. I had a hard time trying to get them to see that belief in a Higher Power was not enough for salvation. It only comes through Jesus and what He accomplished through His Sacrifice and resurrection.

Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Looks as though this verse indicates the WHOLE WORLD is the region that is DECEIVED. Sounds as though that would include this chat is included and also the ENTIRE planet EARTH. The Devil is in the details. I attended AA for over 25 years and have lived on planet earth all that time and now proclaim Jesus as my Savior and from what I understand of the Bible God works out His Plan in His Time in His Way and His Work will be accomplished where ever those he chose are. Read it for yourselves in the Bible. Almost any version. It will take a little work on your part.

 

[persistent]

Hi SpirtDove,

This is a clear description of what I studied years ago when I investigated AA. A couple people knew were members. I had a hard time trying to get them to see that belief in a Higher Power was not enough for salvation. It only comes through Jesus and what He accomplished through His Sacrifice and resurrection.

Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Looks as though this verse indicates the WHOLE WORLD is the region that is DECEIVED. Sounds as though that would include this chat is included and also the ENTIRE planet EARTH. The Devil is in the details. I attended AA for over 25 years and have lived on planet earth all that time and now proclaim Jesus as my Savior and from what I understand of the Bible God works out His Plan in His Time in His Way and His Work will be accomplished where ever those he chose are. Read it for yourselves in the Bible. Almost any version. It will take a little work on your part.

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

Since 4 Aug 1989 I have attended what I would say are countless numbers of AA meetings primarily to keep from picking up that next drink. I like to say that I was wife ordered. I was out of work and out of money and on the 3 Aug 1989 I came home early, 5 or 6 pm, from the Moose club or the B&E saloon. First thing in the door K accused me of being a GD alcoholic. I don't know why but I agreed with her and said, "give me $20 and I'll go to an AA meeting." I had no clue she had been talking with her boss, who had many years in AA, and they were both working on sobering me up. I later realized some of their tactics. No hard liquor.....I tried dodging by claiming that Jack Daniels was needed for barbecuing and I didn't think twice about drinking the cheap Black Velvet for free as a volunteer bartender at the Moose Club. The Insanity goes on. And I could possibly have gone on were it not for the fact that I had drunk up almost everything. I did get to an AA meeting at 6 am 4 Aug. 1989 and thanks especially to a woman named Charlotte, at the AA club on Harbor Blvd in Fullerton, Ca., who sympathized with my condition and told me I could sit there at the 'members only after meeting time', club and go to the next meeting and so forth. What got thru to me at first was a phrase, "keep coming back". And I did and at times some people at the meetings would get too religious for me and I was not going to participate in that kind of nonsense. I was very antagonistic toward religion and the words 'higher power' were tolerable but not any God talk for me till quite some time later. And there were proselytizers of all sorts. At least they seemed to be proselytizers. Some were apparently what they termed 'wet brained'. One guy was ecstatic with his discovery of a 'new age' store and bought himself a crystal on a neck chain. Some were ready to take you to some local church. Get the picture! A variety of beliefs. Around the end of Aug 1989 I got word that my older brother had died and I flew to Chicago for the funeral. Turned out he died of cardiomyopathy and the death certificate implicated alcohol as a contributing factor. I don't recall who paid for the tickets. And I don't recall if I went to an AA meeting in Chicago but I think I did. I certainly did starting about six years later. I only quit going to AA meetings about five years ago. And it seems that most of the meetings I went to the focus was primarily on staying away from the next drink. I have been involved with some 'church' people during my life and I don't recall any of them focusing on not drinking. As a matter of fact, some of them encouraged drinking. Including my own family. There were a lot of people in AA that got me thru some close calls. I can't say the same for 'church' people. Go figure. Maybe this phrase sums up; "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". Sounds PARADOXICAL!?

I've also had church people, cousins, offer alcohol to my family member who had gone through hell losing his family and given it up cold turkey. Years went by and I was soooo mad to learn that they gave a bottle of wine and a friend gave a pack of beer imports. All Catholics... Next thing was back to the addiction. Broke my heart and nearly killed him from mineral depletion and organ failure.

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Looks as though this verse indicates the WHOLE WORLD is the region that is DECEIVED. Sounds as though that would include this chat is included and also the ENTIRE planet EARTH. The Devil is in the details. I attended AA for over 25 years and have lived on planet earth all that time and now proclaim Jesus as my Savior and from what I understand of the Bible God works out His Plan in His Time in His Way and His Work will be accomplished where ever those he chose are. Read it for yourselves in the Bible. Almost any version. It will take a little work on your part.

Thanks for sharing that personal part of your life!
The video in the OP made a couple of claims that I had forgotten when vetting the organization for my family member.long ago.

I don't hold anything that Bill Wilson was into against the membership. I'm glad that you had positive results and extended your life by finding a way to fight off the destructive substance.

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Looks as though this verse indicates the WHOLE WORLD is the region that is DECEIVED. Sounds as though that would include this chat is included and also the ENTIRE planet EARTH. The Devil is in the details. I attended AA for over 25 years and have lived on planet earth all that time and now proclaim Jesus as my Savior and from what I understand of the Bible God works out His Plan in His Time in His Way and His Work will be accomplished where ever those he chose are. Read it for yourselves in the Bible. Almost any version. It will take a little work on your part.

I think the 12 step groups in the churches I went to were called Celebrate Recovery. I can't say that I know anything about that except what was told to me. It was formatted after AA, but had a Biblical emphasis. I found that nearly every subject taught will have the teacher's religious, metaphysical, or focus brought into it.