Celebrate Recovery
Is Celebrate Recovery Biblical?
There are about 35,000 churches that use Celebrate Recovery to help people overcome their addictions. However, not every church is convinced that Celebrate Recovery is from the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD). There are some very serious accusations made against Celebrate Recovery by these churches.
I understand both sides because I am very familiar with Celebrate Recovery.
I attended the first church in Tulsa to start a Celebrate Recovery (CR) program in Oklahoma. Eventually, I went with a friend to see what it was.
This church went all out in sponsoring a Celebrate Recovery program. CR had its own paid pastor to run just it. Also many members of the congregation volunteered to help out in many ways.
Celebrate Recovery had its own place to meet. Inside this place were interesting things, like child care for those attending CR.
My favorite was the He Brews coffee bar. Coffee was the closest thing I had to an addiction, and there was an excellent volunteer barrister serving up some great brews. He told me the secret was all in the wrist.
Soon the meeting started. The CR pastor explained how everyone had hurts, habits, and hangups. He further explained that CR was not just for helping people over come addictions to alcohol or drugs, but just about any kind of addiction there was. Then we were broken into smaller groups that sat in a circle. Generally, men were in some groups while women were in other groups.
In our circle, there was a trained CR leader, who conducted this part of the meeting. The CR leader told each person to say the following when it was their turn: "Hi, my name is "your name" and I am a grateful believer in Jesus Christ. I am struggling with ....". The person was then to spend three to five minutes explaining what they were struggling with, the challenges they faced that week, and confess to any time when what they were struggling with, had overcame them.
As we went around the circle, some men were quite dramatic and detailed in their talks, especially about their failings. These people got a lot of attention from the regulars. Other people, basically said that they had no failings to report, and lacked the drama of those who had failed. These people got very little attention. It was obvious, if you wanted to get attention from the group, then you had better have had a failure in the last week - the bigger the better.
While I was waiting for my turn, I noticed that those who reported failings seemed to be almost bragging about their failings. The first would be like, "I got drunk once this week". Then next would be like, "I got drunk, and took a hit of marijuana". The next would be like, "I drank, took drugs, and possibly got my girlfriend pregnant". The next would be like, "I went to a party one night, was so wasted on drugs and alcohol, that I am not sure how many women I slept with". The next would be like, "I went to two of those parties last week, and did worse".
I thought about all of their garden variety sins, that they almost seemed proud to have committed to show how bad they had been, then compared them to the sick and twisted things that I had done before the One Step program changed my life. Then I thought, "Amateurs!".
Finally, it was my turn to speak. I introduced myself, said that I was a grateful believer in Jesus Christ, and that I was not struggling with any addictions. Then I proceeded to tell them about the One Step program, and how I had completely overcome all of my addictions instantly and permanently.
The regulars sat there stunned. Finally, the awkward silence was broken with one of the sin braggers saying, "Get real". There was soon a chorus of similar expressions from most in the circle. Basically, they were saying, "liar". They could not believe what they had just heard.
There was a big difference between my talk and their talks. My talk barely mentioned my past addictions, but made a big deal about what the Father of Truth had done in my life through the One Step program. Their talks barely mentioned what the Father of Truth was doing in their lives, but made a big deal about their addictions.
Later, I told my wife what had happened. She had went to one of the women circles. She said that she had a similar experience.
I went to several more Celebrate Recovery meetings, ended up in new circles with different men, and each time I had the same reaction to the One Step program.
It seemed that the One Step program was in complete conflict with Celebrate Recover. While both agreed on some important things, like the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) being the only hope for not being controlled by addictions, they were polar opposites about exactly what people had to do for the Man of Truth to accomplish this. So, I stopped going to their meetings.
However, this did not get me away from Celebrate Recovery. Our church had tremendous growth. A large part of that growth was from people who had not been attending church, until they came to CR.
Some the CR users began to resent our members that did not attend CR, even though those people were the ones paying the bills to keep Celebrate Recovery going. Soon, many of the CR users were separating themselves from the CR enablers, with CR users sitting in one area of the church and CR enablers sitting in another area. There was a noticeable rift between the CR users and the CR enablers forming. It got to the point of having almost two congregations meeting together in the same building at the same time.
The CR users enjoyed the comradery that they had at their meetings. In fact, their meetings had some great music supplied by their own band, great coffee, and fun events. There was no doubt that they were celebrating.
A few years after CR had started, most of the original CR users were still CR users, instead of becoming part of the CR enablers. In fact, most of them were still struggling with the exact same issues that they had when they started. At best, some of them had made great improvement, but had not completely recovered from their additions and became CR enablers. Some of them were actually worse off than when they started. It seemed to the CR enablers that the CR users were celebrating, but not recovering.
Many of the CR users had become addicted to Celebrate Recovery. They did not want to completely recover and become CR enablers. Their incomplete recovery was their means of remaining in Celebrate Recovery.
Eventually, the CR enablers got tired of paying for the celebrating, without seeing much recovery. It was not that the CR enablers had lost a desire to help people recover from addictions, but that they needed to see people recover from their addictions, and then join them in helping other people recover from their addictions.
Eventually, the number of CR users began outpacing the ability of the CR enablers to keep paying the bills for Celebrate Recovery. The constant growth of CR users outpacing the growth of CR enablers was causing financial hardship for the church. This was simply unsustainable.
The situation was worsened by many of the CR enablers leaving the church eventually. This constant paying to help people recover from their addictions, without seeing people actually recover from their addictions, had burned them out on Celebrate Recovery. They were burned out by this apparently futile effort to help people recover from addictions. They left to find a place where they could see results.
Finally, the church could no longer bear the financial burden of sponsoring Celebrate Recovery. Many of the pillars of the congregation were gone because they were burned out from being CR enablers. The rift between the CR users and the remaining CR enablers was getting worse. This church was effectively shut down completely, and had to merge with another congregation to survive. So, it was forced to stop sponsoring Celebrate Recovery.
Even though it quit sponsoring Celebrate Recovery, it will still be a while before that church is celebrating its own recovery, from sponsoring Celebrate Recovery.
In order to understand how this could have happened, requires understanding Celebrate Recovery.
Celebrate Recovery was started as a Christian alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous, that covered other addictions as well.
Celebrate Recovery was created by John Baker. He had been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and going through the Twelve Step program, but it just did not feel right to him. This is probably because Alcoholics Anonymous was started by Bill Wilson, a man who consulted with Spirits of Lies (devils aka demons aka unclean spirits aka gods) and the dead (Spirits of Lies impersonating the spirits of dead people) to create the Twelve Step program.
So Baker wanted a Christian alternative that would cover all kinds of addictions besides just alcoholism. So with the support of Rick Warren, he started Celebrate Recovery at Saddleback Church in California.
Baker began by modifying the Twelve Step program created by Alcoholics Anonymous to create a Twelve Step program for Celebrate Recovery that was unmistakably Christian in its wording, if you include the supporting scriptures. The twelve steps of the program (with scriptures) are:
1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. Romans 7:18 NIV
2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Philippians 2:13 NIV
3. We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1 NIV
4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. Lamentations 3:40 NIV
5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. James 5:16a NIV
6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10 NIV
7. We humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 NIV
8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31 NIV
9. We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24 NIV
10. We continue to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 1 Corinthians 10:12
11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us, and power to carry that out.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Colossians 3:16a NIV
12. Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to others and practice these principles in all our affairs.
Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore them gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Galatians 6:1 NIV
The twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are almost word for word the same as the twelve steps of Celebrate Recovery (without the supporting scriptures). There are these differences: 1) The word "alcohol" has been replaced with "addictions and compulsive behaviors" in step one. 2) The implied "We" for steps two through eleven is explicitly included. 3) The phrase "as we understood Him" has been removed from steps three and eleven. 4) The word "alcoholics" is replaced with "others" in step twelve.
So these twelve steps of Celebrate Recovery are essentially the same twelve steps that Wilson got from consulting with Spirit of Lies.
However, the supporting scriptures make it very plain that the higher power involved is the Father of Truth.
Yet, no matter how sincere Baker was in his efforts to "Christianize" the twelve step of Alcoholics Anonymous, it is still the product of consulting with the dead. We are explicitly told to not have anything to do with consulting with Spirits of Lies or the dead (Deuteronomy 18:10-12).
The Twelve Steps of Celebrate Recovery also mention sin in an inconsistent way. The scriptures for steps one, five, seven, and twelve, connect sin to addictions, compulsive behavior, wrongs, shortcomings, and restoration. Yet the scriptures for steps four, six, and ten, do not connect sin to a moral inventory, defects of character, a personal inventory, or being wrong.
The biggest problem is, that the mapping of between these steps and their accompanying scriptures do not clearly define sin, nor distinguish between sin and just being human. They elevate addictions (like say to Celebrate Recovery), compulsive behavior (like tapping on something while thinking), and short comings (like being math challenged) to the level of sins by the mention of sin.
In like manner, they do not specify what to take a moral or personal inventory against, so it can be anything. In like manner, "defects of character" is subjective, and not necessarily sin. For example, some people believe that my insistence on sticking to the truth in all circumstances, is a defect in character. Finally, without a connection to sin, being wrong could include giving a wrong answer to any question.
So, if they mean sin, then they should just modify the twelve steps to say sin, instead of retaining the vague language that a man got from consulting the dead in his basement. Also, they should be including the definition of sin given in the Renewed Covenant (B'rit Chadashah aka The New Testament) - transgression of the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) (1 John 3:4).
Also, this not distinguishing between sin and being human, makes it plain that Celebrate Recovery is treating alcoholism and other sinful addictions as a physical allergy and a mental obsession, like Doctor Silkworth. They are following his lead in ignoring that these things are fundamentally spiritual problems.
The Book of Truth never speaks about addictions and compulsive behaviors. It speaks about sin (1 John 5:17).
Those who have compulsive behaviors like pornography, sex outside of marriage, transgender behavior, homosexuality, obsession with money, and getting drunk, will be kept out of the kingdom of the Father of Truth by their sin (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Those who are addicted to sex outside of marriage, pornography, drugs, hatred, violence, alcohol, and going to parties to do these things, will have no part in the kingdom of the Father of Truth (Galatians 5:19-21). Those who remain addicted to these things will not enter His kingdom, even if they call themselves followers of the Man of Truth (Ephesians 5:5).
The Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him) are to have nothing to do with violence, getting drunk, or sexual immorality, and are to give no place in their lives for falling back into these things (Romans 13:12-14). They are not to even so much as eat with someone who calls themselves a follower of the Man of Truth, but continues to be addicted to sexual sin, money, or alcohol (1 Corinthians 5:11).
The Children of Truth should be ashamed that they ever sinned against the Father of Truth (Romans 6:20-21). They should be ashamed to even speak about these sinful acts (Ephesians 5:11-12).
All of this is quite contrary to a group of people meeting each week to tell each other about how they are followers of the Man of Truth, and then bragging about how much they sinned! They should not be celebrating recovery. They should be mourning that they sinned!
What if instead of being addicted to alcohol, one of them was addicted to killing children? Would they be celebrating that the addict killed only one child this week instead of four? Yet, this is no different than celebrating that someone got drunk only once instead of four times.
They should be mourning, that those who have continued in sin might be taken out of their midst (1 Corinthians 5:1-2). They should be mourning over their failure in sinning against the Father of Truth at all, instead of celebrating that they sinned against Him less than before (James 4:8-10).
They should be willing to hand over the one who continues in sin, including getting drunk, to the Father of Lies to suffer physical harm, that they might stop committing the sin, so they can enter the kingdom of the Father of Truth (1 Corinthians 5:3-5).
Anyone who tells people that they can remain in some addiction that the Book of Truth calls sin, without suffering the wrath of the Father of Truth is a deceiver (Ephesians 5:6-7).
The Man of Truth was born into this world to save people from their sins, not just the penalty of their sins (Matthew 1:21). The Man of Truth died, was buried, and was resurrected, so people could be free from their sins, not just the penalty of their sins (Romans 6:4-7). The Father of Truth gave the Man of Truth, so people could be free from their sins, not just the penalty of their sins (Romans 6:21-23).
The Man of Truth commands that people sin no more after being healed by him (John 5:14). He commands that those he has delivered from the penalty of sin to sin no more (John 8:9-11).
The Man of Truth says that people must repent to enter his kingdom (Matthew 4:17). He came to call sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13).
The Children of Truth therefore are to preach repentance, not recovery (Luke 24:47). The Father of Truth has granted repentance unto life, not recovery that takes a lifetime (Acts 11:18). There is no recovery without repentance (2 Timothy 2:25-26).
In Heaven, it is Celebrate Repentance, not Celebrate Recovery (Luke 15:7). The Angels of Truth are part of Celebrate Repentance (Luke 15:10).
So, it is completely against the message of the Book of Truth (The Bible) to teach that people are to slowly recover from sin, step by step, celebrating each step along the way. Celebrate Recovery is contrary to one of the foundational teachings of the Man of Truth - immediate and permanent repentance from sin, which leads to death, through faith in the Father of Truth (Hebrews 6:1).
Those who come into the House of Truth are to abandon sin completely, not to be in continual recovery from sin (Romans 6:1-2). They are not to repent of their repentance from sin (2 Corinthians 7:10).
The Father of Truth does not want you to perish, so He has been holding off judgment to give you time to repent, and come into the House of Truth (2 Peter 3:9).
The Father of Truth says that now is the time for repentance (Acts 17:30). Today is the day, to come into the House of Truth and be saved (2 Corinthians 6:2).
So come into the House of Truth, by surrendering control of your life to the Man of Truth, because you believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9).
Come into the House of Truth!
There are about 35,000 churches that use Celebrate Recovery to help people overcome their addictions. However, not every church is convinced that Celebrate Recovery is from the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD). There are some very serious accusations made against Celebrate Recovery by these churches.
I understand both sides because I am very familiar with Celebrate Recovery.
I attended the first church in Tulsa to start a Celebrate Recovery (CR) program in Oklahoma. Eventually, I went with a friend to see what it was.
This church went all out in sponsoring a Celebrate Recovery program. CR had its own paid pastor to run just it. Also many members of the congregation volunteered to help out in many ways.
Celebrate Recovery had its own place to meet. Inside this place were interesting things, like child care for those attending CR.
My favorite was the He Brews coffee bar. Coffee was the closest thing I had to an addiction, and there was an excellent volunteer barrister serving up some great brews. He told me the secret was all in the wrist.
Soon the meeting started. The CR pastor explained how everyone had hurts, habits, and hangups. He further explained that CR was not just for helping people over come addictions to alcohol or drugs, but just about any kind of addiction there was. Then we were broken into smaller groups that sat in a circle. Generally, men were in some groups while women were in other groups.
In our circle, there was a trained CR leader, who conducted this part of the meeting. The CR leader told each person to say the following when it was their turn: "Hi, my name is "your name" and I am a grateful believer in Jesus Christ. I am struggling with ....". The person was then to spend three to five minutes explaining what they were struggling with, the challenges they faced that week, and confess to any time when what they were struggling with, had overcame them.
As we went around the circle, some men were quite dramatic and detailed in their talks, especially about their failings. These people got a lot of attention from the regulars. Other people, basically said that they had no failings to report, and lacked the drama of those who had failed. These people got very little attention. It was obvious, if you wanted to get attention from the group, then you had better have had a failure in the last week - the bigger the better.
While I was waiting for my turn, I noticed that those who reported failings seemed to be almost bragging about their failings. The first would be like, "I got drunk once this week". Then next would be like, "I got drunk, and took a hit of marijuana". The next would be like, "I drank, took drugs, and possibly got my girlfriend pregnant". The next would be like, "I went to a party one night, was so wasted on drugs and alcohol, that I am not sure how many women I slept with". The next would be like, "I went to two of those parties last week, and did worse".
I thought about all of their garden variety sins, that they almost seemed proud to have committed to show how bad they had been, then compared them to the sick and twisted things that I had done before the One Step program changed my life. Then I thought, "Amateurs!".
Finally, it was my turn to speak. I introduced myself, said that I was a grateful believer in Jesus Christ, and that I was not struggling with any addictions. Then I proceeded to tell them about the One Step program, and how I had completely overcome all of my addictions instantly and permanently.
The regulars sat there stunned. Finally, the awkward silence was broken with one of the sin braggers saying, "Get real". There was soon a chorus of similar expressions from most in the circle. Basically, they were saying, "liar". They could not believe what they had just heard.
There was a big difference between my talk and their talks. My talk barely mentioned my past addictions, but made a big deal about what the Father of Truth had done in my life through the One Step program. Their talks barely mentioned what the Father of Truth was doing in their lives, but made a big deal about their addictions.
Later, I told my wife what had happened. She had went to one of the women circles. She said that she had a similar experience.
I went to several more Celebrate Recovery meetings, ended up in new circles with different men, and each time I had the same reaction to the One Step program.
It seemed that the One Step program was in complete conflict with Celebrate Recover. While both agreed on some important things, like the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) being the only hope for not being controlled by addictions, they were polar opposites about exactly what people had to do for the Man of Truth to accomplish this. So, I stopped going to their meetings.
However, this did not get me away from Celebrate Recovery. Our church had tremendous growth. A large part of that growth was from people who had not been attending church, until they came to CR.
Some the CR users began to resent our members that did not attend CR, even though those people were the ones paying the bills to keep Celebrate Recovery going. Soon, many of the CR users were separating themselves from the CR enablers, with CR users sitting in one area of the church and CR enablers sitting in another area. There was a noticeable rift between the CR users and the CR enablers forming. It got to the point of having almost two congregations meeting together in the same building at the same time.
The CR users enjoyed the comradery that they had at their meetings. In fact, their meetings had some great music supplied by their own band, great coffee, and fun events. There was no doubt that they were celebrating.
A few years after CR had started, most of the original CR users were still CR users, instead of becoming part of the CR enablers. In fact, most of them were still struggling with the exact same issues that they had when they started. At best, some of them had made great improvement, but had not completely recovered from their additions and became CR enablers. Some of them were actually worse off than when they started. It seemed to the CR enablers that the CR users were celebrating, but not recovering.
Many of the CR users had become addicted to Celebrate Recovery. They did not want to completely recover and become CR enablers. Their incomplete recovery was their means of remaining in Celebrate Recovery.
Eventually, the CR enablers got tired of paying for the celebrating, without seeing much recovery. It was not that the CR enablers had lost a desire to help people recover from addictions, but that they needed to see people recover from their addictions, and then join them in helping other people recover from their addictions.
Eventually, the number of CR users began outpacing the ability of the CR enablers to keep paying the bills for Celebrate Recovery. The constant growth of CR users outpacing the growth of CR enablers was causing financial hardship for the church. This was simply unsustainable.
The situation was worsened by many of the CR enablers leaving the church eventually. This constant paying to help people recover from their addictions, without seeing people actually recover from their addictions, had burned them out on Celebrate Recovery. They were burned out by this apparently futile effort to help people recover from addictions. They left to find a place where they could see results.
Finally, the church could no longer bear the financial burden of sponsoring Celebrate Recovery. Many of the pillars of the congregation were gone because they were burned out from being CR enablers. The rift between the CR users and the remaining CR enablers was getting worse. This church was effectively shut down completely, and had to merge with another congregation to survive. So, it was forced to stop sponsoring Celebrate Recovery.
Even though it quit sponsoring Celebrate Recovery, it will still be a while before that church is celebrating its own recovery, from sponsoring Celebrate Recovery.
In order to understand how this could have happened, requires understanding Celebrate Recovery.
Celebrate Recovery was started as a Christian alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous, that covered other addictions as well.
Celebrate Recovery was created by John Baker. He had been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and going through the Twelve Step program, but it just did not feel right to him. This is probably because Alcoholics Anonymous was started by Bill Wilson, a man who consulted with Spirits of Lies (devils aka demons aka unclean spirits aka gods) and the dead (Spirits of Lies impersonating the spirits of dead people) to create the Twelve Step program.
So Baker wanted a Christian alternative that would cover all kinds of addictions besides just alcoholism. So with the support of Rick Warren, he started Celebrate Recovery at Saddleback Church in California.
Baker began by modifying the Twelve Step program created by Alcoholics Anonymous to create a Twelve Step program for Celebrate Recovery that was unmistakably Christian in its wording, if you include the supporting scriptures. The twelve steps of the program (with scriptures) are:
1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. Romans 7:18 NIV
2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Philippians 2:13 NIV
3. We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1 NIV
4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. Lamentations 3:40 NIV
5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. James 5:16a NIV
6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10 NIV
7. We humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 NIV
8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31 NIV
9. We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24 NIV
10. We continue to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 1 Corinthians 10:12
11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us, and power to carry that out.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Colossians 3:16a NIV
12. Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to others and practice these principles in all our affairs.
Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore them gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Galatians 6:1 NIV
The twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are almost word for word the same as the twelve steps of Celebrate Recovery (without the supporting scriptures). There are these differences: 1) The word "alcohol" has been replaced with "addictions and compulsive behaviors" in step one. 2) The implied "We" for steps two through eleven is explicitly included. 3) The phrase "as we understood Him" has been removed from steps three and eleven. 4) The word "alcoholics" is replaced with "others" in step twelve.
So these twelve steps of Celebrate Recovery are essentially the same twelve steps that Wilson got from consulting with Spirit of Lies.
However, the supporting scriptures make it very plain that the higher power involved is the Father of Truth.
Yet, no matter how sincere Baker was in his efforts to "Christianize" the twelve step of Alcoholics Anonymous, it is still the product of consulting with the dead. We are explicitly told to not have anything to do with consulting with Spirits of Lies or the dead (Deuteronomy 18:10-12).
The Twelve Steps of Celebrate Recovery also mention sin in an inconsistent way. The scriptures for steps one, five, seven, and twelve, connect sin to addictions, compulsive behavior, wrongs, shortcomings, and restoration. Yet the scriptures for steps four, six, and ten, do not connect sin to a moral inventory, defects of character, a personal inventory, or being wrong.
The biggest problem is, that the mapping of between these steps and their accompanying scriptures do not clearly define sin, nor distinguish between sin and just being human. They elevate addictions (like say to Celebrate Recovery), compulsive behavior (like tapping on something while thinking), and short comings (like being math challenged) to the level of sins by the mention of sin.
In like manner, they do not specify what to take a moral or personal inventory against, so it can be anything. In like manner, "defects of character" is subjective, and not necessarily sin. For example, some people believe that my insistence on sticking to the truth in all circumstances, is a defect in character. Finally, without a connection to sin, being wrong could include giving a wrong answer to any question.
So, if they mean sin, then they should just modify the twelve steps to say sin, instead of retaining the vague language that a man got from consulting the dead in his basement. Also, they should be including the definition of sin given in the Renewed Covenant (B'rit Chadashah aka The New Testament) - transgression of the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) (1 John 3:4).
Also, this not distinguishing between sin and being human, makes it plain that Celebrate Recovery is treating alcoholism and other sinful addictions as a physical allergy and a mental obsession, like Doctor Silkworth. They are following his lead in ignoring that these things are fundamentally spiritual problems.
The Book of Truth never speaks about addictions and compulsive behaviors. It speaks about sin (1 John 5:17).
Those who have compulsive behaviors like pornography, sex outside of marriage, transgender behavior, homosexuality, obsession with money, and getting drunk, will be kept out of the kingdom of the Father of Truth by their sin (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Those who are addicted to sex outside of marriage, pornography, drugs, hatred, violence, alcohol, and going to parties to do these things, will have no part in the kingdom of the Father of Truth (Galatians 5:19-21). Those who remain addicted to these things will not enter His kingdom, even if they call themselves followers of the Man of Truth (Ephesians 5:5).
The Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him) are to have nothing to do with violence, getting drunk, or sexual immorality, and are to give no place in their lives for falling back into these things (Romans 13:12-14). They are not to even so much as eat with someone who calls themselves a follower of the Man of Truth, but continues to be addicted to sexual sin, money, or alcohol (1 Corinthians 5:11).
The Children of Truth should be ashamed that they ever sinned against the Father of Truth (Romans 6:20-21). They should be ashamed to even speak about these sinful acts (Ephesians 5:11-12).
All of this is quite contrary to a group of people meeting each week to tell each other about how they are followers of the Man of Truth, and then bragging about how much they sinned! They should not be celebrating recovery. They should be mourning that they sinned!
What if instead of being addicted to alcohol, one of them was addicted to killing children? Would they be celebrating that the addict killed only one child this week instead of four? Yet, this is no different than celebrating that someone got drunk only once instead of four times.
They should be mourning, that those who have continued in sin might be taken out of their midst (1 Corinthians 5:1-2). They should be mourning over their failure in sinning against the Father of Truth at all, instead of celebrating that they sinned against Him less than before (James 4:8-10).
They should be willing to hand over the one who continues in sin, including getting drunk, to the Father of Lies to suffer physical harm, that they might stop committing the sin, so they can enter the kingdom of the Father of Truth (1 Corinthians 5:3-5).
Anyone who tells people that they can remain in some addiction that the Book of Truth calls sin, without suffering the wrath of the Father of Truth is a deceiver (Ephesians 5:6-7).
The Man of Truth was born into this world to save people from their sins, not just the penalty of their sins (Matthew 1:21). The Man of Truth died, was buried, and was resurrected, so people could be free from their sins, not just the penalty of their sins (Romans 6:4-7). The Father of Truth gave the Man of Truth, so people could be free from their sins, not just the penalty of their sins (Romans 6:21-23).
The Man of Truth commands that people sin no more after being healed by him (John 5:14). He commands that those he has delivered from the penalty of sin to sin no more (John 8:9-11).
The Man of Truth says that people must repent to enter his kingdom (Matthew 4:17). He came to call sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13).
The Children of Truth therefore are to preach repentance, not recovery (Luke 24:47). The Father of Truth has granted repentance unto life, not recovery that takes a lifetime (Acts 11:18). There is no recovery without repentance (2 Timothy 2:25-26).
In Heaven, it is Celebrate Repentance, not Celebrate Recovery (Luke 15:7). The Angels of Truth are part of Celebrate Repentance (Luke 15:10).
So, it is completely against the message of the Book of Truth (The Bible) to teach that people are to slowly recover from sin, step by step, celebrating each step along the way. Celebrate Recovery is contrary to one of the foundational teachings of the Man of Truth - immediate and permanent repentance from sin, which leads to death, through faith in the Father of Truth (Hebrews 6:1).
Those who come into the House of Truth are to abandon sin completely, not to be in continual recovery from sin (Romans 6:1-2). They are not to repent of their repentance from sin (2 Corinthians 7:10).
The Father of Truth does not want you to perish, so He has been holding off judgment to give you time to repent, and come into the House of Truth (2 Peter 3:9).
The Father of Truth says that now is the time for repentance (Acts 17:30). Today is the day, to come into the House of Truth and be saved (2 Corinthians 6:2).
So come into the House of Truth, by surrendering control of your life to the Man of Truth, because you believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9).
Come into the House of Truth!
Labels: Addictions, Celebrate Recovery, Repentance
posted by The House Of Truth @ June 14, 2018
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