The devotional My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers for September 17th helps to make an important point regarding sinful addictions. It is based on 1 Corinthians 10:13, No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man…
 
  Oswald comments, “Yet many of us suffer from temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.
  A person’s inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside…Because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature.”

  Because recovery programs are humanistic and function at the lowest levels of the flesh, there is no real growth or progression spiritually. The programs/steps require life-long diligence in order to maintain sobriety because the participants never rise above the base level of sinful flesh where addictions and temptations to addiction reside. This is why those in recovery programs must believe they will never actually recover from addiction, but instead have just a “daily reprieve” from active addiction. In a way, what they believe is true for them because being “in recovery” traps them on the level of sinful addiction and the temptations to engage in sinful addiction.

  For those who have been blessed with repentance, and have turned to Christ and away from addiction, there is a continual sanctification and spiritual growth. The base level of addiction and temptations to engage in addictive behavior is left far behind as a believer is conformed more and more to the image of Christ. There is no need to “maintain sobriety,” or participate in a recovery program, because they have moved far beyond any need to do so.
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  This is one of the reasons recovery programs in churches are such a glaring red flag that something is very wrong – because it signifies that the Church, at least when it comes to dealing with sinful addictions is functioning at the base humanistic level rather than at the highest level of the spirit through the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Just as He was raised from death, we are raised from death in Him. Just as He walked out of the tomb in victory over death, so we walk out of the tomb in victory over death in Him. Just as He lives in us, we live in Him, and by His grace, we follow Him and bear fruit to His glory.

But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. - Romans 7:6

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. - Romans 6:4

What sin do you struggle with? What is it that constantly defeats you? Whatever sin it is has been paid for and defeated on the cross by the blood of Jesus Christ. The victory is won, but you must truly strive for repentance, strive to kill the sinful desires of the flesh by and through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ - there is no other way.

Thank you Recovery Reformation for all the work you do to bring the Truth of God's Word to people who are lost in the darkness of the recovery movement/industry. I attended over 300 aa meetings myself over the years and never once found any true or lasting peace in "the rooms". The twelve steps - the entire program! - construct a perpetual circle of guilt and shame. It is a system with no conclusion, you are always "in recovery", no matter how much "clean time" you have. It is a complete satanic distortion of reality. But PRAISE THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, today I am free. Through God's Divine Design, I was saved from aa. I have lived the reality of Jeremiah 29:11-14. This Friday, January 5, 2017 will be 4 YEARS since the Good Lord set me free from the bondage of alcoholism after 31 years of pure hell. JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY!! My only ambition in my new life of freedom is to help bring the truth of God's Word to as many people as I can. God has allowed me to pursue a university degree (at age 51), and I am currently putting my own story/testimonial in writing with the goal of publishing it to the widest possible audience. God has brought me from park benches and homeless shelters to a life of peace, strength, and joy. A true miracle. I will spend the rest of my days spreading The Word to the many, many desperate souls who can be saved by no other power than that found in Jesus Christ, the God of the Bible! Amen!

Bryan
Toronto, Canada

​My name is Kevin I am in the Charlotte NC area recently left AA after the Matt Slick talk show was speaking of how its a cult and directed me to your website.  How I didn't see this before is amazing.  I am looking for other people maybe in my area....lost my support group one thing about AA that is...well convenient...first I sold my soul to drink and drug then I sold it for sobriety.  Everything you have said makes perfect sense...I have abused alcohol...drugs mostly cocaine...gambling porn and food...5 habitual sins that kept me in bondage...after I stopped drinking could not get away from porn and gained weight thanks to the sugar feast available at my home group.  I Just left a relationship that I started in the program...Got saved through Faith in Jesus Christ April thanks to my roommate.  I started praying to Jesus but had this feeling that something was not right...looking around at the hate of that "higher power" in the groups. My Sponsor must have been sent by God..an unsaved angry man who died 5 months ago literally due to anger...was very argumentative when he saw what he considered not AA behavior...had a blowout...got kicked out of his home group...the last meeting I saw him at he called the group a bunch of hypocrites because we were supposed to be non religious but recite the Our Father prayer...then stormed out of the room started arguing in the parking lot the next day he died...the reason I say he was sent by God was because he told me this was not a Christian program...told me I was in a cult....we would make jokes...and really did not like Bill Wilson at all as he called him an egomaniac....a womanizing hypocrite...and "The most famous anonymous person of all time".   Also told me to research the history of it...that is where it really gets scary...also the similarity with Aleister Crowley and the AA coin and his group named AA also...powerlessness and all that nonsense.  Then the fact that the Oxford Group and Frank Buchman and that cult being the basis for the cult of AA.  Occult, masonic like practices of seances, conjuring the dead and Ouija boards and his "burning bush" moment in the hospital 1934 where he "saw god"  who appears on command for old Bill while going through DTs under the Belladonna treatment full of a cocktail of various drugs and barbiturates...and high levels of mercury.  Also love how people who suffer from "terminal uniqueness' have to get with the program, we are all garden variety drunks....that statement REEKS of hypocrisy in that we all all sinners...and need Jesus...but don't think you are Unique in AA newcomer...hello you are in a satanic cult that has a whole program for one sin...so you can separate yourself because other people don't understand...and a 12 step program for every sin known to man...so if I get a coin for time abstaining from alcohol....then shouldn't I get coins for lengths of time I didn't commit other sins...please give my lifetime coin for not murdering please...I need my 3 month coin for not fornicating...and on and on.  To say it is a disease is a complete insult to someone who has a real disease like cancer.  If God sets you free you are free indeed, He does not wish that you identify yourself by or obsess over past behaviors you may have long since changed, those sins were paid for a long time ago.  Well looking forward to hearing from you soon...thanks and my God continue to bless your ministry...the real GOD that is...not a doorknob

By Chad Prigmore

​Are you a Christian in a Twelve Step program like Alcoholics Anonymous or it's spin off Celebrate Recovery, or a Pastor or Christian leader that believes the Twelve Steps are Christian in origin? Then please consider the following.

​From the Westminster Seminary:

If you are a Christian and have made a commitment to follow Jesus Christ, then you must believe that He is the center and reason for absolutely everything that has ever existed or will ever exist. All of God's creation from the beginning in Genesis 1 until the end of time as we know it – and on into eternity, it all has been for the glory of Jesus Christ. He is on every page of the Holy Bible from, “In the beginning,” in Genesis 1, to “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.,” in Revelation 22:21. Jesus is on every page of scripture in some way. All of history revolves and is centered on Jesus Christ and nothing exists that does not do so without His sustaining power. He holds all things together.

• Psalm 8:6, You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,
• John 1:3, All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
• Ephesians 1:10, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
• Colossians 1:16, For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him.
• Colossians 1:17, And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
• Hebrews 1:2, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
• Hebrews 2:10, For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
• Revelation 4:11, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

Every part of who you are as a human being is about Jesus Christ – even if you don't believe in Him. He is inescapable. One way or another, every human being who has or will ever exist will know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the human race and of all creation. It's just a matter of when and how each human being finally comes to know and accept the truth of Jesus Christ.

• Philippians 2:10-11, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
• Luke 19:38-40, saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."

All of God's Word in scripture, all that the prophets down through the ages spoke of is to reveal to us His magnificent, glorious, and mysterious plan to save mankind through the sacrifice of His only begotten and perfect Son. God did this to save us from eternal damnation and separation from Him because He loves us far beyond our capability as humans to fully understand.

• John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

So, if you are a Christian who believes that the Twelve Steps are Christian in origin how do you answer this question: if God did all of this, then why would he inspire two alcoholics in the 1930's to create a way to obtain sobriety – and never have His Son Jesus Christ be any part of it?

• 2 Corinthians 12:9 states, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

​If God's grace is sufficient, then why would we ever need something outside of and contrary to God's word to overcome anything?​

This is the truth of the Twelve Steps – they are a brilliant plan conceived by demonic forces that keep millions from coming to a true relationship with Jesus Christ, (If this seems far fetched to you then please read the Exposing Recovery page on this site that explains the facts pertaining to the origins of the Twelve Steps). Satan and his demon's have convinced people seeking sobriety to follow a “God of their own understanding.” Then, as they become drawn into the Twelve Step cult Satan begins lifting the temptation to drink, use drugs, whatever the sin is. Yes, Satan can remove the temptation to sin because he is the one that put it there in the first place. God does not tempt us.

• James 1:13, Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

As the temptation is lifted the Twelve Step follower is drawn deeper into the cult by believing that a “God of their own understanding” is helping them. Satan now has his victim far off the narrow path that leads to salvation through Jesus Christ and onto a wide path of destruction. The poor soul seeking sobriety has been completely duped. The book Alcoholics Anonymous says on page 46, "We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men."

• John 14:6, Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
  
• Matthew 7:13, Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.

There is only one way to God and that is through His Son Jesus Christ – you must believe in Him, accept Him, and follow Him completely with no variance.

Christ can do much more than enable you to maintain sobriety. He is sufficient to meet all of our needs in a way beyond what we could ever imagine. Please, do not be fooled into believing that anything in this world can offer you a solution for any sin that holds you in bondage. The only way to be reconciled to God, the only way to be freed from the bondage and pain of sin is through faith in Jesus Christ. The only joy there is - is in Jesus Christ. You only must believe in Him and follow Him.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. - John 8:36

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. - 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

By Chad Prigmore

In 1 Corinthians 6:9 the apostle Paul mentions idolatry as a sin of the unrighteous. Not only does Alcoholics Anonymous promote and encourage idolatry through its concept of creating "your own conception of God", but the entire concept of recovery put forth by the modern recovery movement, and especially by programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Celebrate Recovery is an idol itself to those who are drawn into it.

One of the most glaring lies that begins closing the trap around the unwary alcoholic or addicted sinner is the idea that their alcoholism or addiction is a disease from which they will never fully recover, but will only be granted a "daily reprieve" from for as long as they "give themselves" to the program of recovery. But we see in 1 Corinthians 6:10 that "drunkards" (Alcoholism) is listed as a sin and therefore, is not a disease according to scripture. If AA were to present the truth that alcoholism is sin that can only be overcome by the blood of Jesus Christ it would nullify the need for its own twelve-step program. So instead, the AA program leads its adherents into the lie of the disease concept which begins the indoctrination into idolatry.

The idol of recovery demands complete submission and the sacrificing of one's life upon it's Twelve Step altar. The book Alcoholics Anonymous on page 58 states, "Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves." The use of fear, accusations of being dishonest, and even threats of death through relapse by not submitting completely to the Alcoholics Anonymous program are common all through the literature of it's program and professed by it's "sponsors" to those they claim to be helping.

The idol of recovery's victims are fooled into trading relief from their sin of addiction for the sin of idolatry in a life long worship of a false God in a false church known as the "Fellowship of the Program". If you have bowed and submitted to the idol of recovery, and committed your life to it's worship through programs like Alcoholics Anonymous - that is your choice. But if you profess to be a Christian who has been led into the recovery movement through a program like Celebrate Recovery which is simply the Twelve Steps of AA with some mostly erroneously applied Bible verses mixed in, are you not living in contradiction to the Christian gospel and commands of scripture? As 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 states, Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Also, we are directly commanded in 1 Corinthians 10:14, Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

Relying on and living for a program in an effort to be in recovery - even if that program claims to be Christian is nothing more than idolatry. Those in Christ are told in scripture, And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30), looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2). We are to look faithfully to Jesus and to Him only for deliverance from every sinful desire and for every need we have.

But "Christian Recovery" programs - especially Celebrate Recovery do not look to Jesus, but instead look to and point others to the false idol of recovery completely ignoring the commands of scripture - even going so far as to disregard the command of God in Deuteronomy 4:2 and actually printing their own Bible with the demonically inspired Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and the Celebrate Recovery program written into it. 

You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you, - Deuteronomy 4:2

Celebrate Recovery, by mixing the worldly demonic teachings of Alcoholics Anonymous with the word of God in an effort to draw people into the idolatrous recovery movement, displays the dangerous heresy that the apostle Paul warns about in 1 Corinthians 10:21 which says, You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Spend some time researching the demonic origins of Alcoholics Anonymous and the massive amount of heresy put forth in their books, Alcoholics Anonymous, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, as well as many others and it becomes glaringly clear that Celebrate Recovery is indeed a program which promotes the cup and table of demons with a Christian marketing angle.

Romans 12:2 says, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We, as followers of Jesus Christ are not to be conformed to this world but instead to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds by seeking the Lord and by the prayerful study and meditating on of His word by the leading and working of the Holy Spirit. We are to discern what is of God's will and what is of this dark and fallen world by testing everything and holding it up to the light of scripture and seeking only what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

If you are a Christian who has been misled by the modern idol of recovery you must reject it and flee from it, understanding that in Christ is the only absolute truth and freedom from sin and you must abide only in Him. Reject and cast off the things of this world and seek to understand and grasp the awesome and merciful truth of 1 Corinthians 6:11:

If you are a Christian who was fooled and trapped in the false teachings of Twelve Step programs, I hope you will read and meditate on the words of this wonderful prayer. When I realized the truth of the Twelve Steps I was horrified that I had participated for so long in such heresy. I asked the Lord for forgiveness, turned from the path I was on and repented of the sin the Twelve Steps had led me into.

Chad Prigmore

​Dear Lord,
I am so sorry for the way I'm wasting the precious life you gave me.
Forgive me for living like a selfish three year old.
Forgive me for any pride I take in my "wild times" war stories.
Forgive me for believing in worldly labels like addict, alcoholic, and many others.
Forgive me for portraying myself as sick and diseased.
Let me see the reality of my state.
I am not a victim.
I am a sinner, and a law breaker.
I am guilty for my crimes.
Forgive me Lord for making a program my Messiah and savior instead of you.
Forgive me Lord for putting The Big Book in front of or even alongside your awesome word.
Forgive me for every recovery meeting I ever attended because a recovery meeting is all about ME!
Forgive me for sitting in a room where you are horrifically referred to as a higher power. My heart aches that I described you in that way.
Have mercy on me for holding hands and reciting the way you taught us to pray as a cheap means to a better life. Show me what that prayer really means!
Forgive me for every sponsor I ever had and I pray that you would reveal truth in their hearts that they might also be saved.
Lord, from this day forward I put my faith and trust in you.
I repent, I am turning from my sin and wicked way of life and I desire to live a life that is pleasing to you.
I believe Lord that you went to the cross and took my sins, my lawlessness with you and you suffered and drank down the cup of wrath that was mine.
I believe I am saved through grace alone, in Christ alone.
It is this grace that keeps me sober and changes my desires.
I believe that your word is sufficient for my life.
Father, thank you for the gift of your son.
Holy Spirit, fill me and help me live the life I am called to.
All praise and thanks to Jesus Christ my Lord who took me from death to life and from darkness to light.

Amen!! 

- By Doug Hardy

By Chad Prigmore

​Every alcoholic or addict knows what slavery is. You become a slave when you hate the booze and you hate the dope - but it doesn't matter. You reach that point where your liquid and chemical friends that used to be so fun begin to take and take and take until the stuff on the outside of you is either gone or completely messed up, and then they start ripping out pieces of your soul. And even though you despise the thought of giving them more after each time they have used you up, it's not long until you go looking for them again. And each time you find them they make the horror go away just a little less and for not quite as long as they did the last time, and after they've worn off and gone away the terror is a little worse than it was the time before.

The truth for the slave in this state of servitude is that they are already dead. Not because of their relentless friends booze and dope. The slave is dead because he is a slave to sin, and anyone not freed from the clutches of sin regardless of whether they look like it or not is a dead man walking.
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The slave to sin is not a sinner because he sins; someone is not a sinner because they are an alcoholic or an addict. The slave sins because he is a sinner, he was born with a nature already enslaved to sin as we all were. His nefarious friends feed on the sin that has already killed it's slave.

There is only one way out of the bondage the Sin Slave is trapped in death to. But the slave must beware, because the darkness of this world will do all it can to entice and lure the slave away from the only truth than can redeem him and bring him back from the dead. He must learn and know the one and only truth that can save him.

The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray. - Proverbs 5:22-23

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- 
and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 
so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  
not a result of works, so that no one may boast. - Ephesians 2:4-9

"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." - Acts 4:12

By Chad Prigmore

​We are born in iniquity and rebel against God by nature. The world, being in rebellion will fool the unregenerate into believing their sin being manifest as addictions are only disease and their problems are the symptoms. But in truth our addictions are the deadly fruit of sin which we are helpless to ever be truly freed from outside of the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ. 

Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" And the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 3:10-12, ..."None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."

So how does the rebellious sinner overcome their very inborn nature? By being born again as a new creation in Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 makes clear the saving miracle of regeneration through Christ, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."