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Twelve Steps Into the New Age

In case a drug addiction did not have enough of an impact on your life to lead to into the occult world of eastern mysticism, then your road to recovery will!1)see “How Drug are an Introduction to Occultism (Part 1)” https://truthwatchers.com/how-drug-are-an-introduction-to-occultism-part-1/ and How Drug are an Introduction to Occultism (Part 2) https://truthwatchers.com/how-drug-are-an-introduction-to-occultism-part-2/  As Marilyn Ferguson adds to her list of psychotechnologies, which are path ways into the New Age:

Self-help and mutual-help networks – for example, Alcoholics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, and their counterparts, whose twelve rules include paying attention to one‘s conscious processes and to change, acknowledging that one can choose behavior, and cooperate with ‘higher forces’ by looking inward.2)Marilyn Ferguson, Aquarian Conspiracy, p. 86

On page 419, Mrs. Ferguson presents her questionnaire which concluded that these “support networks” came in second place at 45 percent for the “instruments of social change they considered most important” in the personal lives of the 185 individuals that responded to her questionnaire.
These “self-help” or “mutual-help” programs have spanned across a large field which started with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and grew into Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Debtors Anonymous, Emotions Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Sex-addicts Anonymous, Smokers Anonymous, Shoplifters Anonymous, Workaholics Anonymous, etc. Each of these organizations is built around the original twelve steps and twelve traditions developed for Alcoholic Anonymous by its founder Bill Wilson, who received them from channeling spirit guides. “As he started to write, he asked for guidance. And he relaxed. The words began tumbling out with astonishing speed.” 3)‘Pass It On’: The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A. A. Message Reached the World, Alcoholics Anonymous World Service, Inc.,1984, p. 198 It was the occult practice of automatic writing that inspired the first written literature of AA.

The official AA biography of Wilson reveals, without embarrassment, that for years after AA’s founding regular séances were still being held in the Wilsons’ home and other psychic activities were being pursued, including consulting their Ouija board… it was mediumship that Wilson received the manual for Alcoholics Anonymous…4)Dave Hunt, Occult Invasion, Harvest House Publications, 1998, p. 297

This blatant confession of the occult roots of these “self-help” programs continues today. The official Narcotics Anonymous book states clearly that it is indeed a spiritual program. “This is a simple spiritual – not religious – program, known as Narcotics Anonymous.”5)Narcotics Anonymous, Fifth Edition, Narcotics Anonymous World Service, Inc. 1988 p.84 It claims to not be affiliated with any religion including Christianity. This shows specifically without any eligible argument that Christians cannot be affiliated with AA or any such programs. The Bible tells us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14-16). Jesus said “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33) If this program cannot confess Jesus, they are opposed to Him, as Jesus said Himself, “He that is not with me is against me” (Luke 11:23).
The N.A. book blatantly tells us what spirit is in this “spiritual program” before it even acknowledges that it is a spiritual program. On the very first page after the table of content this book shows the symbols of N.A. with this comment.

Simplicity is the key to our symbol; it imitates the simplicity of our Fellowship. All sorts of occult and esoteric connotations can be found in its simple outline, but foremost in the minds of our Fellowship are easily understood meanings and relationship.” 6)ibid, p. ix

This same book indirectly confesses their god to be Satan. Consider these quotes. “Living this program gives us a relationship with a Power greater then ourselves…” 7)ibid, p. 12 Compared with… “Because of our physical sensitivity to drugs, we are completely in the grip of a destructive power greater than ourselves.” 8)ibid, p.84 The spirit which N.A. members are encouraged to yield to as god, is called “a Power greater then ourselves.” Yet the force that binds them in their addiction also has this very same identification. Step three of the twelve step programs states, “We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.” 9)ibid, p.24 This god is the one who tempted us with sin, and will keep us bound in his “grip,” if we remain without the saving grace of the Lord Jesus, who alone can make us free. (John 8:32)
The interesting thing is that they admitted that “living this program gives us a relationship with a Power greater then ourselves…” It is a relationship with a spirit guide that this program offers. And the means of receiving this relationship is exactly the same as the Hindu religion. “In quiet moments of meditation, God’s will can become evident to us. Quieting the mind through meditation brings as inner peace that brings us into contact with the God within us.” 10)ibid p. 45 It is the meditation Hindus use to reach enlightenment, or “god-consciousness.” Notice that it states that the contact with this god is from within us. The NA book calls this “a spiritual awakening.” Step twelve emphasizes that the twelve steps are developed to cause this “spiritual awakening. “Step twelve: Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.” 11)ibid p. 48 The Alcoholics Anonymous book also depicts this as a fact in their program‘s “Basic Text,” even connecting it to the New Age movement by calling it “god-consciousness.”

With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspecting inner resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than themselves.
Most of us think this awakening of a Power greater than ourselves is the essence of spiritual experiences. Our more religious members call it ‘God-consciousness.”
12)Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, Alcoholics Anonymous World Service Inc., 1976, p. 569-570

Again this “god” is an “inner resource,” as if it has been sitting around inside us waiting for us to discover it, or become enlightened of our god-consciousness. The frightening things is that it was stated that “with few exceptions” members have “unsuspectingly” tapped into it. This is the deception of these programs. They thought they came to find recovery from a drug addiction but were unsuspectingly and blindly led into the occult. This is similar to the story to sobriety from Bill Wilson, the founder of AA.

Bill Wilson, a struggling alcoholic who wanted to gain sobriety, was hospitalized four times between the years of 1933-1934. After being released the third time, his old school, chum and drinking buddy Eddy Thacher visited him at his apartment. After refusing to drink again, Eddy informed Bill that his reason for not drinking was because “I’ve got religion.” 13)Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, Alcoholics Anonymous World Service Inc., 1976, p. 9 Eddy’s conversion was at an Oxford Group meeting, which is the main premises that AA was based off of, even much of the occult aspects. Bill was no atheist but refused to view God as a personal loving Creator.

I had always believed in a Power greater than myself. I had often pondered these things. I was not an atheist. Few people really are, for that means blind faith in the strange proposition that this universe originated in a cipher and aimlessly rushed nowhere. My intellectual heroes, the chemists, the astronomers, even the evolutionists, suggested vast laws and forces at work. Despite contrary indications, I had little doubt that a mighty purpose and rhythm underlay all. How could there be so much of precise and immutable law, and no intelligence? I simply had to believe in a Spirit of the Universe, who knew neither time nor limitation…
With ministers, and the world’s religions, I parted right there. When they talked of a God personal to me, who was love, superhuman strength and direction, I became irritated and my mind snapped shut against such a theory.
To Christ I conceded the certainty of a great man, not too closely followed by those who claimed Him. His moral teaching – most excellent. For myself, I had adopted those parts which seemed convenient and not too difficult; the rest I disregarded.” 14)ibid p. 10-11

Bill wrote about his meeting that day with Thacher, saying, “My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea. He said, ‘Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?’ That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last.” 15)Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th edition, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc., p. 12 After this visit from Eddy, Bill visited a Oxford Group meeting looking for his friend, and supposedly excepted the altar call for receiving Jesus as his savior. But was this a true conversion or based on a concept of a god he invented?
The next day landed him in the hospital for drinking again where he was placed under the care of Dr. William Silkworth, who administered a drug cure concocted by Charles B. Towns, known as the Belladonna Cure. It contained the deliriants Belladonna and Hyoscyamus niger which cause hallucinations. It was these hallucinates that disconnected the normal connection of the spirit and brain, thus opening Bill to another spirit entity that was willing to interpose itself on him. This experience (a drug induced hot flash?) is what Wilson identifies as his true “spiritual” conversion. While under depression in the hospital, Wilson cried out, “I’ll do anything! Anything at all! If there be a God, let Him show Himself!”16)‘Pass It On’: The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A. A. Message Reached the World, Alcoholics Anonymous World Service, Inc.,1984, p.121 This invitation was taken up by a spirit which undoubtedly revealed itself to be Wilson’s god, for he describes his conversion confirmed with a sensation of a bright light and a feeling of ecstasy and new serenity. Wilson’s converting experience, which is similar to what New Ager David Spangler consider the Luciferic initiation, is what is held in remembrance every time the serenity prayer is recited at meeting around the world.
“In the 1930’ and 40’s the occult invasion was expanded greatly through Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).” 17)Dave Hunt, Occult Invasion, Harvest House Publishers, 1998, p. 289 And this occult invasion was originally funded financially by, John D. Rockefeller. Wilson received thirty dollars in weekly increments, adding to a contribution total of five thousand dollars. This was issued to Wilson for personal expenses as he worked at spreading his newly founded program. Besides this one exception, AA has been self sufficient and self supported financially, which was actually the idea of Nelson Rockefeller, who explained that the program would be a more effective outreach without financial reward but only good willed supporters from within the program.

There is a spirit or an energy that can be felt in the meetings. This is sometimes the newcomer’s first concept of a Higher Power. Ideas from the past are often incomplete and unsatisfactory. Everything we know is subject to revision, especially what we know about the truth.18)Narcotics Anonymous, Fifth Edition, Narcotics Anonymous World Service, Inc. 1988, p. 91

There is definitely a spirit present in every meeting, as it is similar to a séance, invoking such deceitful spirits. There is a long history recorded of such activities in AA recorded in what has been called “the spook files.” What is actually contained in these files is a mystery, for they have been sealed by AA, but what is known of them is found in the Letters to Rev. Sam Shoemaker and Father Ed Dowling, verifying Bill Wilson’s quest into the supernatural realm of occult, spirit contact, and Ouija board experiences. In one such letter, Bill writes to Rev. Shoemaker expressing this truth of members feeling a spirit present.

Throughout A.A., we find a large amount of psychic phenomena, nearly all of it spontaneous. Alcoholic after alcoholic tells me of such experiences and asks if these denote lunacy — or do they have real meaning? These psychic experiences have run nearly the full gamut of everything we see in the books. In addition to my original mystical experience, I’ve had a lot of such phenomenalism myself.19)Pass it on: The story of Bill Wilson and how the A.A. message reached the world, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, p. 374

The spirit guide that dictated much of the material to Bill Wilson was called Boniface, a supposed dead monk who reformed old monasteries and Church structures. Looking for advice from this Catholic Priest friend father Dowling, Wilson writes.

One [spirit] turned up the other day calling himself Boniface. Said he was a Benedictine missionary and English. Had been a man of learning, knew missionary work and a lot about structures. I think he said this all the more modestly but that was the gist of it. I’d never heard of this gentleman but he checked out pretty well in the Encyclopedia. If this one is who he says he is—and of course there is no certain way of knowing—would this be licit contact in your book?20)Robert Fitzgerald, S.J. The Soul of Sponsorship: The Friendship of Fr. Ed Dowling, S.J. and Bill Wilson in Letters. Center City, MN: Hazelden Pittman Archives Press, 1995, p. 59

From this quote it is apparent that there was more spirits that Wilson had contact with, as he refers to Boniface as “this one” as if there have been many more. It is self evident that there was extreme amounts of occult spirit contact occurring in the house of Wilson and the early and even present meetings of these programs. But let me draw us back to a quote I referenced earlier.

There is a spirit or an energy that can be felt in the meetings. This is sometimes the newcomer’s first concept of a Higher Power. Ideas from the past are often incomplete and unsatisfactory. Everything we know is subject to revision, especially what we know about the truth.21)Narcotics Anonymous, Fifth Edition, Narcotics Anonymous World Service, Inc. 1988, p. 91

This spirit presence is identified as an energy, similar to a impersonal “force” concept of god derived from the pantheistic view of the New Age movement. More importantly, notice that this spiritual force or “energy” gives the newcomer the impression that “Everything we know is subject to revision, especially what we know about the truth.” The subject that is open for being revised is what you believe about Jesus. Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6) and only “the Truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). But this program and the spirits that lead it’s meetings are conspiring to revise the Truth, by provoking an experience of “spiritual awakening.” The New Age concept of Jesus as a vessel used by “the Christ” spirit is prevalent in these meetings, as such a spirit claiming to be “the Christ” confirms the idea of a “spiritual, not religious” organization is vital for spirits to “slip suggestions” to individuals attending such gatherings.

But we [spirits] see you do not realize this [the immense power of group focused thoughts through visualization and meditation] and take a secular path which frequently does not even mention the word ‘God’ of higher power. This is not to your advantage and does not further your purpose…
Your fear that peace organizations may be thought as religious restricts your own good….
Therefore, I say to you that at any meeting where you gather … you should ask that the power and support of God, or heavenly forces, be present to help bring fruition to your ideals…. And being spiritual and being religious are two different things. We do not ask you to designate any one religion, but we do ask you to recognize the Creator-of-All and call upon that power, force, or source, to support your plans. It is also possible during such times of quietude that we can slip suggestions into your minds with ideas that might be useful to your peaceful purpose.22)The Christ, channeled by Virginia Essene, New Teachings for an Awakening Humanity, S.E.E. Publishing Co., 1986, p. 57-58

Freedom from an addiction cannot be accomplished by means of a program that invokes the very presence of the spirits that seeks to enslave you with such addictions. “And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?” (Matthew 12:26)

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If you liked this article, you may also be interested in Crept In Unawares: Mysticism by Heath Henning is available for purchase here.

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Heath Henning
Heath Henning
Heath heads the Set Free addictions ministry on Friday nights at Mukwonago Baptist Church and is involved in evangelism on the University of Wisconsin Whitewater campus, offering his expertise in apologetics at the weekly Set Free Bible Study every Tuesday evening. He currently lives in East Troy, Wisconsin with his wife and nine children. Read Heath Henning's Testimony

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