In ‘Seances, Spirits, and 12 Steps,’ http://mywordlikefire.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/seances-spirits-and-12-steps/ we examined the spiritualism of Alcoholics Anonymous cofounders Bill Wilson and, to a lesser extent, Dr. Bob Smith. We observed that Bill Wilson, the man who wrote the 12 Steps, was involved in psychic activity for decades. While some may attempt to claim Wilson as Christian or insist he was used by Jesus Christ, his spiritual service was in reality to the god of this world.[1] He was a man who cared deeply about his fellow alcoholics, but he was never a Christian.
Why is this important? Alcoholics Anonymous has been successfully but incorrectly portrayed as Christian in origin. Although it is clear from Scripture alone that we are to have nothing to do with strange spiritual systems (2 Cor. 6:14-17), the misinformation about A.A.’s alleged Biblical roots has convinced many that Christians could and should attend 12 Step groups.
Biographer Robert Thomsen knew Bill Wilson personally. There are numerous biographies now, and it is significant that Thomsen’s biography of Bill W. was the very first.
In the book, ‘Bill W.,’ Thomsen takes us to Wilson’s life before Alcoholics Anonymous existed. To the time when Bill Wilson had been hospitalized yet again for his alcoholism. An amazing thing occurred in his hospital room. A white light, a sense of a Presence, and Wilson never drank again. Wilson describes this Presence as “…the great reality. The God of the preachers.” (PASS IT ON, pg. 121))
But was it? The God of the Christians? Well, no. For years Wilson had been exposed to the Swedenborgianism of his wife and her family. This religion loves the Bible–but rejects Christ as Savior. Emanuel Swedenborg, whose interpretation of the Bible is the basis for the religion, believed he spoke with all manner of spirits and deceased beings from Martin Luther to Aristotle to the Apostles.
While Wilson was not a Swedenborgian per se, he was very much influenced by Swedenborg’s spiritualistic accounts, and by his rejection of a Biblical, fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. Wilson also learned (?) through New Thought advocate Emmet Fox, some years later, that the Bible was not as the fundamentalist Christians interpreted it.
It is understandable if a Christian, upon reading this quote about “The God of the preachers” would assume Bill was referring to the Biblical God. Wilson never accepted Christ.
Wilson’s own wife Lois had a grandfather who was a Swedenborgian preacher. Swedenborgians believe, among other things, that no religion has an exclusive path to salvation.
Here, in the first biography of Bill Wilson, Thomsen describes the “god” Bill Wilson experienced: “There could be no doubt of ultimate order in the universe, the cosmos was not dead matter, but a part of the living Presence, just as he was part of it. Now, in place of the light, the exaltation, he was filled with a peace such as he had never known. He had heard of men who’d tried to open the universe to themselves; he had opened himself to the universe. He had heard men say there was a bit of God in everyone, but this feeling that he was a part of God, himself a living part of the higher power, was a new and revolutionary feeling.” (Bill W., by Robert Thomsen, pg.223, Bold mine)
This is panentheism.
From this point on Wilson was a sober man, and some months later cofounded Alcoholics Anonymous. Again, there is no doubt Wilson and A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob Smith were trying to help alcoholics. But A.A. has served to point many away from the God of the Bible.
Something rarely recognized, but very profound, happens to people in A.A. It is as if great, invisible chains are placed on those looking for help. For, once in Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, Christians and nonbelievers are taught that sobriety is only possible through the 12 Step religion.
There are other invisible chains as well. For thousands of Christians, Alcoholics Anonymous has become an idol. Many believers literally have more faith in A.A. and the 12 Steps than in Jesus Christ.
Have Christians ever considered—truly examined—the spiritual message of Alcoholics Anonymous? People are taught it is acceptable to believe in something, anything, some higher power to help one overcome alcoholism. By no means does this have to be Jesus. If someone wants to believe in Allah, fine. An unnamed spirit, fine. Yet Christians in A.A. are expected to pray and worship with those who exalt other gods. Let’s read what Paul states about this in Galatians 1:6-8:
“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” (Galatians 1:6-8)
Paul is not done. This man, who was changed so dramatically by the same God who frees alcoholics, continues:
“As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you have received, he is to be accursed!” (Galatians 1:9)
The power and the horror of the A.A. mythology is the belief that it alone can help. Our churches are full of people who have been delivered by Christ, and who know they have no need of A.A. or the 12 Steps. The ministry Setting Captives Free[3], for example, is a Biblical approach, very effective, and can be found online.
God’s people have the right—and the obligation—to understand A.A.’s origin is a mixture of anti-Biblical elements. Our erroneous view of A.A’s cofounders, promoted so aggressively by certain Christian authors, has actually done much damage to the Body of Christ. They should not be celebrated or portrayed as Christians, but rather recognized as men who were used to spread a spiritual darkness that has overtaken many.
As covered elsewhere, the official A.A. biography of Bill Wilson, ‘PASS IT ON,’ documents many of Wilson’s forays into Biblically forbidden activities such as spiritualism. These were so frequent he describes the following as “the fairly usual experience.”[4] He writes:
“The ouija board got moving in earnest. What followed was the fairly usual experience—it was a strange mélange of Aristotle, St. Francis, diverse archangels with odd names, deceased friends—some in purgatory and others doing nicely, thank you! There were malign and mischievious ones of all descriptions, telling of vices quite beyond my ken, even as former alcoholics. Then, the seemingly virtuous entities would elbow them out with messages of comfort, information, advice—and sometimes just sheer nonsense.”[5]
A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob Smith, portrayed as a devout, Bible believing Christian in numerous books by author and A.A. apologist Dick B. and others, was also committed to these prohibited activities.
According to early A.A. member Tom Powers, “Now these people, Bill and Dr. Bob, believed vigorously and aggressively. They were working away at the spiritualism; it wasn’t just a hobby.”[6] No one would know this better than Tom Powers. He participated in many of these psychic incidents alongside the A.A. cofounders.
“As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My Face against that person and will cut him off from his people. You shall consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 20:6-7)
Dr. Bob, while a consistent Bible reader, did not interpret the Bible as the Word of God. Rather was he more in line with the heretical New Thought interpretation of Emmet Fox.[7] This has been a source of confusion for many who have wondered about the spiritual origin of Alcoholics Anonymous.
When someone calls the A.A. cofounders Christian, let them know Dr.Bob and Bill Wilson used a heretical book by Emmet Fox, a book that denies the Salvation of Christ, as an A.A. teaching tool. The book is deceptively titled, ‘The Sermon On The Mount.’[8]
Author Emmet Fox writes, “The ‘Plan of Salvation’ which figured so prominently in the evangelical sermons of a past generation is as completely unknown to the Bible as it is to the Koran.” [9]
No believer would share such heresy with hurting alcoholics—but the A.A. cofounders did. Dr. Bob loved this book.
Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob looked to the Bible for general principles. They were not saved and sanctified individuals hungry for God’s Holy Word. This is why they could so easily violate His prohibitions about communication with the dead.
According to author Susan Cheever, Dr. Bob “began every morning with meditation and prayer and twenty minutes of Bible study. Like Bill, Bob believed in paranormal possibility, and the two men spent time ‘spooking,’ invoking spirits of the dead.”[10]
Because the Body of Christ continues to be flooded with literature claiming A.A. is Christian in origin, it is necessary to politely but strongly correct Dick B., author ‘The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous,’ The Good Book and the Big Book: AA’s Roots in the Bible,’ and many others.
A prolific writer, Dick B. has his fans. On his website under ‘Endorsements,’ Dick B. had listed, for quite some time, an enthusiastic message from…Robert Schuller.
Celebrate Recovery, the well known “Christ centered” 12 Step group, was founded in Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church. Celebrate Recovery is full of sincere people who are doing the best they can with the system given to them by those they trust. But, again, are the 12 Steps intended to help the church–or to serve as a decoy?
In his book, ‘The Truth War,’ the 12 Steps are addressed by John MacArthur. He writes, “Others would formally affirm Christ’s sovereignty and spiritual headship over the church, but they resist His rule in practice. To cite just one instance of how this is done, many churches have set various forms of human psychology, self-help therapy, and the idea of ‘recovery’ in place of the Bible’s teaching about sin and sanctification.” …”So wherever the work of God’s Word is being replaced with twelve-step programs and other substitutes, Christ’s headship over the church is being denied in practice.” (pg.159)
Dick B.’s belief is that use of the Bible, the A.A. cofounders’ involvement with the allegedly “Christian” Oxford Group, and Anne Smith’s “Quiet Time” and “Guidance” demonstrate some of the Christian beginnings of Alcoholics Anonymous. As shall be pointed out in future articles, these incorrect claims have served to link the Body of Christ with the New Age fundamentalism of A.A’s 12 Step religion.
One of the most misleading factors in the origin of Alcoholics Anonymous is the Oxford Group. Founded by Frank Buchman, the Oxford Group was a pseudo-Christian movement that eventually became the MRA (Moral ReArmament), an organization that reached out to all faiths. But, in truth, this is also what the Oxford Group did.
Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith both attended Oxford Group meetings before they were introduced to one another. The great preacher H.A. Ironside said of the Oxford Group:
“It appeals to people who reject the inspiration of [the Bible] as well to those who profess to believe it; it appeals to people who deny the Deity of Christ as well as to those who acknowledge it; to those who deny the eternal punishment of sin as well as those who believe in it. Here in our city it is openly endorsed by the Swedenborgians and by leaders of the Unitarians, as well as by a number who belong to orthodox churches. But it is silent about the blood of Christ.”[11] In other words, it was very much a forerunner of Alcoholics Anonymous. And equally deceptive.
Well, wait a minute, bottom line, don’t people get sober in Alcoholics Anonymous? Not as often as you might think. A.A. cofounder Bill Wilson himself tried to find alternatives for those for whom A.A. was not effective. Including, unfortunately, LSD.[2] The good news, the secret that should not be a secret, is that Christ has been delivering people all along.
Some years ago Alcoholics Anonymous conducted a triennialsurvey and found that only five percent of the people still attended meetings one year after initial attendance. I don’t think A.A. has done any research since, because that is not an impressive success rate, and doesn’t speak very highly of its effectiveness. If you know of an updated study, please send it this way.
In the coming weeks we shall be examining the Oxford Group and Anne Smith’s role and understanding of “guidance.” We will do our best to confront and correct false information and misunderstandings. With so many books about A.A.’s supposed Christian beginnings in circulation, only the Lord God can straighten this mess out. Only He can expose darkness to the Light.
Yes and Amen.
Endnotes:
1. Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounders Were Not Christians http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/article.php/3537/Brannon-Howse/John-Lanagan
2. PASS IT ON, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. pg.369-70
3. http://www.settingcaptivesfree.com/home/our_courses.php
4. PASS IT ON, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., pg. 278
5. Ibid., pg. 278
6. Ibid., pg.280
7. http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/article.php/3537/Brannon-Howse/John-Lanagan
8. Emmet Fox, The Sermon On The Mount
9. Ibid., pg. 5-6
10. Susan Cheever, My Name Is Bill, pg. 197
11. http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-Ironside.html H.A. Ironside, The Oxford Group Movement: Is It Scriptural?
