You’ve all heard of AA, Alcoholic's Anonymous. The 12-step program to help people find freedom from alcoholism. Did you know AA was set up on the foundations of the Christian faith? In the early days, co-founder Dr. Bob Smith asked each person entering the program two questions to begin: "Do you believe in God?" and "Will you get on your knees right now with me and receive Jesus into your heart?" In those early days, Step 3 of the 12-step process read: “I will make a decision to turn my life and will over to God.” The other co-founder, a man by the name of Bill Wilson, spoke to the statement of this particular commitment: “each of us must fearlessly face the proposition: God is everything or He is nothing.”
When Alcoholics Anonymous started several decades ago, the program was resulting in a 75% success rate – that is, 3 out of every 4 people in the program never returned to alcohol again. Know what it is today? 20%! Only 1 of 5 is completely freed from the shackles of alcohol; the other 4 return to it in defeat.
The beginning of the drop in the rate of success can be traced back to almost an exact point in time ... when the original wording of Step 3 was changed. In the decades since Smith and Wilson originally penned the step of spiritual commitment, the word “God” has been replaced with the non-committal phrase “Higher Power.”
The point is obvious ...
If Jesus Christ is not everything in your life, your success rate will slip! You too must fearlessly face the proposition: God is everything or He is nothing.
Monday, October 19, 2009
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