There shall not be found among you…one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whosoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. (Deuteronomy 18: 10-12)
Although his name is unfamiliar to most, Emanuel Swedenborg was a great influence on A.A. cofounder Bill Wilson, and therefore a great influence on both Alcoholics Anonymous and the 12 Steps.
As we learned in ‘The first version of the 12 Steps,’ Emanuel Swedenborg wrote of a spiritual ‘twelve steps’ long before the creation of Alcoholics Anonymous.(READ) Swedenborg (1688-1772) has been called the “Father of modern spiritualism” for good reason. Like Bill Wilson, Swedenborg communicated frequently with familiar spirits posing as deceased people or other spiritual entities.
An extremely talented man who excelled in many fields, Swedenborg in the 1740s was troubled by strange dreams. Then, in 1745, something incredible happened. As Professor George P. Landow writes, “that night in 1745 his visions began to invade his waking life as well. As he ate, he became aware of frogs and snakes crowding into his private dining room, and an unknown gentleman materialized in a comer to rebuke him for eating too much. Back home in Salisbury Court the stranger appeared again, and introduced himself as Christ, the man-God, creator and redeemer of the world. He then made an important announcement: humanity stood in need of a definitive explication of holy Scripture, and Swedenborg had been selected to provide it; moreover, to assist him in his labours, he was to be given unrestricted access to the entire spirit world.”[1]
This false ‘christ’ gave Swedenborg “unrestricted access to the entire spirit world.” Swedenborg obediently spent years communicating and learning from demons posing as Paul the apostle, Luther, Newton, entities from other planets, and many others.
Directed by these familiar spirits, he wrote what he believed was the real interpretation of Biblical Truth. Of course, since he was being taught by fallen angels, his teaching denies salvation through Christ alone.
Thus, one of the Swedenborgian tenets of the New Church states:
“Salvation is not dependent on the doctrinal specifics of the religion you have followed on earth. As long as you have lived a life acknowledging God and refraining from evil because it is against Him, you will be saved. Acknowledging God does not necessarily mean recognizing Him by name. A person can be ignorant of religion and still acknowledge God by living a life of goodwill. This is because the choices that we make on a daily basis are what determine whether we end up in heaven or hell. Yes, worshipping God is essential for admittance into heaven, but we worship Him through the actions of our lives.”[2]
Many people over the years have been fascinated with Swedenborg, or exposed to his teachings, and this certainly includes A.A. cofounder Bill Wilson. Wilson married into a Swedenborgian family.
Swedenborgians absolutely love and respect the Bible, even as they deny salvation through Christ alone. Swedenborgian influence seems to have affected Wilson in two major ways. First, he was now exposed to people, including his wife, who valued the Bible as Spiritual Truth, but did not interpret it as the literal Word of God.
Like the gnostics with their “special knowledge,” Swedenborgians believe only Emanuel Swedenborg was given the real truth of the Bible. This is very important in terms of A.A.’s 12 Steps, because Bill Wilson began A.A. and the 12 Steps with the understanding that the Bible did not have to be understood in a literal, fundamentalist manner.
This, of course, is also what Emmet Fox taught. His heretical book, ‘Sermon on the Mount,’ was loved by both Bill Wilson and A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob Smith. While endorsing the Bible (?), the book denies the salvation of Jesus Christ, and was used as a teaching aid in A.A. until the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book was written![3]
As spirits gave Swedenborg his blasphemous interpretation of the Bible, so was Bill Wilson given the 12 Steps. While many desperately want them to be Christian, Wilson’s Steps never stated Jesus Christ is God. Based on their real spiritual origin, God’s people should not be using them at all.
…they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. (Jeremiah 8:30)
These, then, are profound Swedenborgian influences on Bill Wilson: As an unsaved person he learned Swedenborgian “understanding” of salvation and ”interpretation” of the Bible. Of equal significance, Wilson’s immersion in spiritualism was almost certainly triggered by exposure to Swedenborgianism.
When Wilson was being treated for alcoholism in Towns Hospital in December of 1934, he demanded that God show Himself. Wilson was, as they say in A.A., “sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
This was the spiritual experience that that would forever change Bill Wilson’s life. He would never drink again. According to his official A.A. biography, Wilson cried, “If there be a God, let Him show Himself.”[4]
Wilson states, ”I became acutely conscious of a Presence which seemed like a veritable sea of living spirit. I lay on the shores of a new world. ‘This,’ I thought, ‘must be the great reality. The God of the Preachers.’”[5] But what God? What Preachers? This passage is often used by those who want A.A. to be Christian in origin.
Robert Thomsen is the author of ‘Bill W.,’ the very first biography of Bill Wilson. He personally knew Wilson. Thomsen’s book comes from his own conversations with the A.A. cofounder, and from historical documentation. [6]
What was Wilson’s understanding of God after this experience? Thomsen writes, “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.”[7] (Bold mine)
This is panentheism. It is not found in the Bible.
Francis Hartigan was the secretary for Lois Wilson, Bill’s wife, for thirteen years. He had many conversations with Lois about Bill. He writes, ““[A.A. cofounder Bill Wilson's] belief in God might have become unshakeable, but he could never embrace any theology or even the divinity of Jesus, and he went to his grave unable to give his own personal idea of God much definition. In this sense, he was never very far removed from the unbelievers.”[8] (Bold mine)
In conclusion, many of the books promoting A.A.’s alleged Biblical origin are inaccurate. This is a grievous thing, because many have been lured into this system based on these books. If the 12 Steps are unholy in origin, does a Holy God want His people using them?
There is another bit of false history that has impeded our understanding of the 12 Steps. For, while downplaying–or ignoring–factors such as spiritualism and Swedenborgianism, some authors have made a cottage industry of portraying the neo-evangelical Oxford Group of the 1930s as a Christian/Biblical root of Alcoholics Anonymous.
This is simply not true. The Oxford Group had some Christian members–so does Alcoholics Anonymous. Please read Martin and Deidre Bobgan’s excellent ‘12 Steps To Destruction,’ which can be found online. Here is what they have to say about the Oxford Group: http://www.pamweb.org/e-books/12steps-ebk.pdf (Go to pg.104)
H.A. Ironside, a fiery and Biblical preacher of the 1930s, also had something to say about the Oxford Group:
“This movement appeals to both modernists and fundamentalists alike. It appeals to people who reject the inspiration of this Book as well as 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 to those who believe in it. Here in our city it is openly indorsed by the Swedenborgians and by the leaders of the Unitarians, as well as by a number who belong to orthodox churches. But it is silent as to the blood of Christ.”[9] (Bold mine)
Please note that Pastor Ironside mentioned both the Swedenborgian and Unitarian endorsement of the Oxford Group in his city. This alone indicates O.G. doctrine was not Biblical. The Oxford Group, in truth, had much in common with A.A. today.
It is accurate to state that A.A. took general principles from the Oxford Group.
But not Jesus Christ.
Endnotes:
1. George P. Landow, Professor of English and the History of Art, Brown University, http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/swedenborg2.html
2. http://www.newchurch.org/beliefs/salvation.html
3. Mel B., New Wine, pg. 111-112, 114
4. PASS IT ON, pg. 121
5. Ibid., pg. 121
6. http://www.lewrockwell.com/white/white45.html
7. Robert Thomsen, ‘Bill W.’ pg.223
8. Francis Hartigan, ‘Bill W.,’ (pg.123)
