The Foolishness of AA

Get ready for more hurt feelings.
In which I point out the foolishness of 12 Step Programs and the other Pop Psych Self Esteem philosophy which has taken over Christendom.

Step 1. I admitted I was powerless over alcohol and my life had become unmanageable.

This is followed by the 11 Steps of how I will overcome my addiction and how I will begin to manage my life. The first of these steps being-

Steps 2&3 I turn my life over to a God I create in my own imagination.

Somehow this is believed to be simpler and more powerful than saying, "Stop doing that. Take responsibility for your life and do what is right."

This sounds somewhat like a Biblical theme, "Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning;" (1Cor.15:34) Probably that is why it is not said. Give a sin a different name, tell people it is not their fault, but most of all keep God out of this. (The real God that is.) (Is 45:5)

A god that comes from a man's imagination is merely an image of himself. For there are only two gods in a man's life, Self and Christ. The decision to follow one excludes the other. (Matt 16:24, Mark 8:34) The decision to follow Christ is the way of life (John 14:6).

I say allow the world to have their way. Allow the courts to accept only one method of "treatment" for people with addictions. The courts are of the world, not of the church. But I demand at all times that the world be kept OUT of the church.(James 4:4) And that in the church there be nothing spoken and taught but Christ and Him crucified, risen and coming again. (1 Cor 2:2)

Why is it again they do not use the Gospel? (Rom 1:16-17)

What if Satan Ruled?

What would things look like if Satan actually took over a city? The first frames in our imaginative slide show probably depict mayhem on a massive scale: Widespread violence, deviant sexualities, pornography in every vending machine, churches closed down and worshipers dragged off to City Hall. Over a half-century ago, Donald Grey Barnhouse, pastor of Philadelphia's Tenth Presbyterian Church, gave his CBS radio audience a different picture of what it would look like if Satan took control of a town in America. He said that all of the bars and pool halls would be closed, pornography banished, pristine streets and sidewalks would be occupied by tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The kids would answer "Yes, sir," "No, ma'am," and the churches would be full on Sunday ... where Christ is not preached.
quoted from Michael Horton,"Christless Christianity: Getting in Christ's Way " in Modern Reformation.

So if the churches are full and the name of Christ can't be mentioned, what could they possibly be teaching?

Let's try to come up with some ideas:

• Your Best Life Now
• Purpose Driven Life
• Possibility Thinking
• 12 Step Recovery

Then there are the spiritual giants:

• Prayer
• Spiritual Formation
• Spiritual Disciplines
• Meditation and Silence
• Chicken Soup for the Soul
• Holistic wellness
  

O.K. I admit, I couldn't really come up with any ideas on how there could possibly be a church without preaching Christ, and Him crucified. So I just looked around at all the popular megachurches today.

And that, my brothers and sisters in Christ, makes me very sad indeed.

maranatha