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Click Here Christian Recovery: December 2004

The Truth about recovery

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

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How to pray

The Scripture states truthfully:



"...The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:16b)



And if you are a righteous man or woman then the last thing you need is someone to tell you how to pray. However, what about the rest of us?



My post: Be Still and Know contains some links to the prayer of inward silence. It is recommended to the sincere searching soul. Also I have one other link which might check out.



www.jesusprayer.org



More on prayer later. You can also check out my other site which will have some additional different postings on prayer.





www.christianrecovery.blogeasy.com









Friday, December 24, 2004

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Christmas and the hock shop

Ive read some nice things people in recovery have written about Christmas: How grateful they are that they are sober and have a life. And thats nice.



For me, Christmas time growing up was fun, and I liked the presents and festive atmosphere. I grew up in a secular home and it was about Santa, Rudolph the Red-nose reindeer,Frosty the Snowman and White Christmas.





It has a bit more meaning to me now. After having lived a life of great sin and suffering Ive realized a few things. First of all, I realize I never made a choice to be a sinner. I was born a slave to sin. Born into a living hell you might say. So were you I might add.





I also realize that the sin nature I was born with is an inheritance from the first man although I doubt I can prove it to you. I know I had that proclivity to judge (play God) from the first time cruelty attacked me with its sting. I didnt have to be taught how to hate: it was my nature.





Ive heard it described different ways. I sometimes use the example of a car manufactured with a defect. If it was made right from the factory it would run right. Well, I never ran right. Christian Theologians probably have a fancy name like the Doctrine of Original Sin or something like that, but thats how I think of it.



A minister friend of mine uses the example of being born in the Hock Shop, and I like that. Born in the hock shop. Trouble is that everybody else is born in the Hock shop too. Except One.



The Virgin Birth of Christ makes sense to me. He is the one born with a differnt Father than us. And he paid the price to redeem us out of the hock shop. And somehow,mysteriously,through belief in him and repentenance of our desire to be God we can be granted a full pardon and be given a new nature. Thats a lot more meaningful to me than Santa, Rudolph, Frost, or even a sober Christmas.



I passed by a Church with a sign outside it yesterday. I nodded my head in agreement as I passed by. It said:





The greatest Christmas Gift came wrapped in a Manager.





©2004 Christianrecovery.blogspot.com











Thursday, December 23, 2004

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The Devil and Alcoholics Anonymous

Bill W.'s letter to Dr. JungSwiss psychologist & psychiatristJan 23, 1961(Mentioned on pages 26 & 27 of the Big Book)



My dear Dr. Jung:



This letter of great appreciation has been very long overdue. May I first introduce myself as Bill W., a co-founder of the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous. Though you have surely heard of us, I doubt if you are aware that a certain conversation you once had with one of your patients, a Mr. Rowland H., back in the early 1930's, did play a critical role in the founding of our Fellowship. Though Rowland H. has long since passed away, the recollections of his remarkable experience while under treatment by you has definitely become part of AA history. Our remembrance of Rowland H.'s statements about his experience with you is as follows: Having exhausted other means of recovery from his alcoholism, it was about 1931 that he became your patient. I believe he remained under your care for perhaps a year. His admiration for you was boundless, and he left you with a feeling of much confidence. To his great consternation, he soon relapsed into intoxication. Certain that you were his "court of last resort," he again returned to your care. Then followed the conversation between you that was to become the first link in the chain of events that led to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. My recollection of his account of that conversation is this: First of all, you frankly told him of his hopelessness, so far as any further medical or psychiatric treatment might be concerned. This candid and humble statement of yours was beyond doubt the first foundation stone upon which our Society has since been built. Coming from you, one he so trusted and admired, the impact upon him was immense. When he then asked you if there was any other hope, you told him that there might be, provided he could become the subject of a spiritual or religious experience - in short, a genuine conversion. You pointed out how such an experience, if brought about, might remotivate him when nothing else could. But you did caution, though, that while such experiences had sometimes brought recovery to alcoholics, they were, nevertheless, comparatively rare. You recommended that he place himself in a religious atmosphere and hope for the best. This I believe was the substance of your advice. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Rowland H. joined the Oxford Groups, an evangelical movement then at the height of its success in Europe, and one with which you are doubtless familiar. You will remember their large emphasis upon the principles of self-survey, confession, restitution, and the giving of oneself in service to others. They strongly stressed meditation and prayer. In these surroundings, Rowland H. did find a conversion experience that released him for the time being from his compulsion to drink. Returning to New York, he became very active with the "O.G." here, then led by an Episcopal clergyman, Dr. Samuel Shoemaker. Dr. Shoemaker had been one of the founders of that movement, and his was a powerful personality that carried immense sincerity and conviction. At this time (1932-34) the Oxford Groups had already sobered a number of alcoholics, and Rowland, feeling that he could especially identify with these sufferers, addressed himself to the help of still others. One of these chanced to be an old schoolmate of mine, Edwin T. ("Ebby"). He had been threatened with commitment to an institution, but Mr. H. and another ex-alcoholic "O.G." member procured his parole and helped to bring about his sobriety. Meanwhile, I had run the course of alcoholism and was threatened with commitment myself. Fortunately I had fallen under the care of a physician - a Dr. William D. Silkworth - who was wonderfully capable of understanding alcoholics. But just as you had given up on Rowland, so had he given me up. It was his theory that alcoholism had two components - an obsession that compelled the sufferer to drink against his will (NOTE THE DRINKING AGAINST THE WILL HERE: Ed.) and interest, and some sort of metabolism difficulty which he then called an allergy. The alcoholic's compulsion guaranteed that the alcoholic's drinking would go on, and the allergy made sure that the sufferer would finally deteriorate, go insane, or die. Though I had been one of the few he had thought it possible to help, he was finally obliged to tell me of my hopelessness; I, too, would have to be locked up. To me, this was a shattering blow. Just as Rowland had been made ready for his conversion experience by you, so had my wonderful friend, Dr. Silkworth, prepared me. Hearing of my plight, my friend Edwin T. came to see me at my home where I was drinking. By then, it was November 1934. I had long marked my friend Edwin for a hopeless case. Yet there he was in a very evident state of "release" which could by no means accounted for by his mere association for a very short time with the Oxford Groups. Yet this obvious state of release, as distinguished from the usual depression, was tremendously convincing. Because he was a kindred sufferer, he could unquestionably communicate with me at great depth. I knew at once I must find an experience like his, or die. Again I returned to Dr. Silkworth's care where I could be once more sobered and so gain a clearer view of my friend's experience of release, and of Rowland H.'s approach to him. Clear once more of alcohol, I found myself terribly depressed. This seemed to be caused by my inability to gain the slightest faith. Edwin T. again visited me and repeated the simple Oxford Groups' formulas. Soon after he left me I became even more depressed. In utter despair I cried out, "If there be a God, will He show Himself." There immediately came to me an illumination of enormous impact and dimension, something which I have since tried to describe in the book "Alcoholics Anonymous" and in "AA Comes of Age", basic texts which I am sending you. My release from the alcohol obsession was immediate. At once I knew I was a free man. Shortly following my experience, my friend Edwin came to the hospital, bringing me a copy of William James' "Varieties of Religious Experience". This book gave me the realization that most conversion experiences, whatever their variety, do have a common denominator of ego collapse at depth. The individual faces an impossible dilemma. In my case the dilemma had been created by my compulsive drinking and the deep feeling of hopelessness had been vastly deepened by my doctor. It was deepened still more by my alcoholic friend when he acquainted me with your verdict of hopelessness respecting Rowland H. In the wake of my spiritual experience there came a vision of a society of alcoholics, each identifying with and transmitting his experience to the next - chain style. If each sufferer were to carry the news of the scientific hopelessness of alcoholism to each new prospect, he might be able to lay every newcomer wide open to a transforming spiritual experience. This concept proved to be the foundation of such success as Alcoholics Anonymous has since achieved. This has made conversion experiences - nearly every variety reported by James - available on an almost wholesale basis. Our sustained recoveries over the last quarter century number about 300,000. In America and through the world there are today 8,000 AA groups. So to you, to Dr. Shoemaker of the Oxford Groups, to William James, and to my own physician, Dr. Silkworth, we of AA owe this tremendous benefaction. As you will now clearly see, This astonishing chain of events actually started long ago in your consulting room, and it was directly founded upon your own humility and deep perception. Very many thoughtful AAs are students of your writings. Because of your conviction that man is something more than intellect, emotion, and two dollars worth of chemicals, you have especially endeared yourself to us. How our Society grew, developed its Traditions for unity, and structured its functioning will be seen in the texts and pamphlet material that I am sending you. You will also be interested to learn that in addition to the "spiritual experience, "many AAs report a great variety of psychic phenomena, the cumulative weight of which is very considerable. Other members have - following their recovery in AA - been much helped by your practitioners. A few have been intrigued by the "I Ching" and your remarkable introduction to that work. Please be certain that your place in the affection, and in the history of the Fellowship, is like no other.



Gratefully yours,

William G. W.Co-founder Alcoholics Anonymous





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Reply by Dr. Jung to Bill W.Jan. 30, 1961

Mr. William G. WilsonAlcoholics AnonymousBox 459 Grand Central StationNew York, 17, N.Y.





Dear Mr. Wilson



Your letter has been very welcome indeed.I had no news from Roland H. anymore and often wondered what has been his fate. Our conversation which he has adequately reported to you had an aspect of which he did not know. The reason that I could not tell him everything was that those days I had to be exceedingly careful of what I said. I had found out that I misunderstood in every possible way. Thus I was very careful when I talked to Roland H. But what I really thought about, was the result of many experiences with men of his kind.His craving for alcohol was the equivalent on a low level of the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness, expressed in mediaeval language: the union with God. 1)How could one formulate such an insight in a language that is not misunderstood in our days?The only right and legitimate way to such an experience is, that it happens to you in reality and it can only happen to you when you walk on a path, which leads you to higher understanding. You might be led to that goal by an act of grace or through a personal and honest contact with friends, or though a higher education of the mind beyond the confines of mere rationalism. I see from your letter that Roland H. has chosen the second way, which was, under the circumstances, obviously the best one.I am strongly convinced that the evil principle prevailing in this world, lends the unrecognized spiritual need into perdition, if it is not counteracted either by a real religious insight or by the protective wall of human community. An ordinary man, not protected by an action from above and isolated in society cannot resist the power or evil, which is called very aptly the Devil. But the use of such words arouse so many mistakes that one can only keep aloof from them as much as possible.These are the reasons why I could not give a full and sufficient explanation to Roland H. but I am risking it with you because I conclude from your very decent and honest letter, that you have acquired a point of view above the misleading platitudes, one usually hears about alcoholism.You see, Alcohol in Latin is "spiritus" and you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison. The helpful formula therefore is: spiritus contra spiritum.



Thanking you again for your kind letter



I remain yours sincerely





Carl Jung





1)"As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." ( Psalm 42,1)



***********************************************************************************Then,of course, there is Bill Wilsons oblique reference to the devil in his story in the Big Book:



“If there was a Devil,he seemed the Boss Universal, and he certainly had me.”





Over the years I have heard some interesting things in Alcoholics Anonymous. One time I heard a man describe his experience on an airplane after years of sobriety. He said as he sat in the plane the stewardess came down the aisle with drinks in her hand. All of a sudden he was seized with a raging, irresistible impule and craving to drink. He said he called out to God and after a few moments the craving passed. His conclusion was “ I think Im possessed”. Anecdotal for sure, but what other evidence could you expect if we are dealing with an invisible, unmeasureable spirit?



He who has ears to hear,let him hear.



Saturday, December 18, 2004

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Letter from a Catholic Priest

I received the following letter from the late Dr. Malachai Martin,Jesuit Catholic Priest and exorcist shortly before his death. I am reposting it for you. Malachai's book, "Hostage to the Devil" is recommended reading for those who want to know more.

*******************************************************************



Dear xxx:



Yes as I mentioned on Art Bell (a late night Radio Talk Show),possession can occur as a result of drug or alcohol addiction.It opens a doorway into the soul. The will becomes extremely weak due to its desire for a drink or drug. This weakness and compulsion for addictive chemicals allows evil spirits an avenue by which they may enter a person. This process may begin subtly ,even gradually.As the disease of alcoholism (although I disagree with Malachi’s description of alcoholism as a disease I am accurately transcribing the letter) and addiction progresses, so too does the evil spirit strengthen its its foothold in the unfortunates soul.



Malachai Martin

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©2004 Christianrecovery.blogspot.com

Sunday, December 12, 2004

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Be Still and Know

Step 11: Sought through Prayer and Meditation





The eleventh step of Alcoholics Anonymous suggest prayer and meditation. We will talk about prayer another time but the topic today is meditation. The step in its entirety reads:



“Sought through Prayer and Meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood him ,praying only for the knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry it out”





The seeker is advised to practice meditation in the step but there is not a whole lot of direction as to how to meditate. Transcendental meditation? Should we practice OM to ourselves repeatedly? Or perhaps a positive affirmation over and over. Is that meditation? Admitedly there is a lot of confusion on these subjects in both Alcoholics Anonymous and the other Anonymous programs. Narcotics Anonymous says in its basic text,” A basic premise of meditation is that it is difficult but,if not impossible to obtain conscious contact unless the mind is still” However, there is not a lot of specific direction as to how to accomplish this. Alcoholics Anonymous also give very little specific direction. The Big Book says the following, “ There are many helpful books also. Suggestions about these may be obtained from one’s priest, minister, or rabbi. Be quick to see where religious people are right.Make use of what they offer. God bless you if you have a priest, minister,or rabbi who can give you some good direction in this regard. If you don’t, then the purpose of this posting is to offer you some direction you can make use of if you will.



One of the reasons the author has been able to stay off drugs/alcohol for so long is that early on he made use of the practice of meditation and was fortunate enough to have someone to give him some specific direction. The purpose of meditation is to know the Truth, and to let the Spirit of Truth pain you into repentance. The reason why things like Transcendental Meditation are harmful is that the noises just help you do in a more sophisticated way what you have been doing all your life with drugs or alcohol: running from the Truth.



In the early years of Alcoholics Anonyous (when it had a much higher success rate) meditation played a much more important part in the program than it does now. Dick B. of Hawaii has written a fairly extensive well-researched book on the importance of meditation in early AA. The title of his work is: Good Morning, Quiet Time, Morning Watch . Meditation, and Early AA. Here is a quote from AA conference approved literature which makes the point succintly( Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers,P. 15):



The AA members of that time did not consider meetings necessary to maintain sobriety. They were simply “desireable”. Morning devotion and “quiet time” however, were musts.



That is quite a difference from modern AA where one is advised that you have to attend meetings or you will get drunk. Perhaps AA has substituted addiction to meetings and the comfort of friendships in place of the Spiritual Awakening in the steps? Maybe this is also part of the reason (along with deleting all mention of Jesus Christ from the modern literature ) why modern AA has less of a success rate than early AA.



I hasten to add that I am not critical of AA principles or even the steps. I am however critical of what modern AA has become.



Back to meditation. Even Scripture does not give specific instruction on how to meditate. We have evidence however that scripture once contained such instructions:



My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart [shall be] of understanding.

Psalms 49:3

My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD

Psalms 104:34

O how love I thy law! It [is] my meditation all of my day.

Psalms 119:97

I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies [are] my meditation.

And lastly :



BE STILL AND KNOW (Psalm 46:10)





Mystical Judaism has a long history of meditation in the practice of Tefilin.Tefilin are small square black leather boxes, containing quotations from the Bible, which are placed on the forehead and the arm during the weekday morning prayers. Some of the earliest examples of Hebrew writing to survive are fragments from Tefillin. Tefillin were found in the Qumran caves dating from about the 1st cent. BCE. Jesus mentions tefilin in the New Testament. I am not suggesting that Seekers or believing Christians take up the Hebrew practice. I am suggesting that Scripture mentions the practice.

For the sincere seeker I point you towards a small booklet written in the early 18th Century: A Guide to True Peace. It is a little book written to nourish the spiritual life. Evidently it succeeded in its purpose, for it passed though at least twelve editions and reprintings from 1813 to 1877. Compiled anonymously by two Quakers, William Backhouse and James Janson, from the writings of three great mystics of a century earlier, Fénelon, Guyon, and Molinos, it was widely used as a devotional book by members of the Society of Friends.

A Guide to True Peace is available free (thanks to Terry) at :

http://home.comcast.net/~terryoregon/page5.htm

And may God Bless you in your journey













Wednesday, December 08, 2004

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What NOt to do if you have a loved one abusing alcohol/drugs

What NOT to do if you have a loved one abusing alcohol/drugs?





The subject comes up because I was doing some counseling today at a local church and I saw something Ive seen before all too often.



A lady in her 80`’s has a son living in Arizona and she and her husband have been sending him money for his hotel room/food on a consistent basis.She has reports and good reason to believe her 52 year old son is on drugs.She sends him money for 2 reasons. 1) She is afraid he will be thrown out on the street with no place to stay and nothing to eat and 2) She is afraid he will come back from Arizona and do physical harm to her and her 85 year husband if they don’t send him money.



This type of thing is all to common. I have a friend whose mother enabled his brother for years with a place to stay and money. She even bought him a motor home to stay in when her husband wouldn’t let him stay with her.And no matter how many times my friend told her that her “love” was hurting she kept on doing it. He never got better as a result; she just enabled him to keep on doing his thing.



My own parents allowed me to stay at home rent free for years knowing I was using drugs.And I used to regularly steal money from my moms purse to get high and my mom said and did nothing. She wanted to keep “peace” in the family. She even rationalized her weakness by saying to herself I was just getting my “inheritance”Finally, my Dad drew a line in the sand and kicked me out.Ultimately, I ended up in Jail but that was a good thing.



All to often people (especially mothers) feel they are doing their loved ones a favor by helping them out financially in their addiction. Help like this is really hurting and sometimes its very difficult to get people to see this.



It is the suffering of their lifestyle which causes the alcoholic/addict to scratch his wooden head and want something different. In a real sense their suffering is a blessing and the worst thing you can do is take that suffering away.



Not everyone has it in them to recover. Not everyone has suffered enough. Its even true that drawing a line in the sand can make things worse. But nevertheless it is the right thing to do. If you have a loved one using drugs or abusing alcohol living with you and you are allowing it or supporting them financially, its something you really need to stop. Draw a line in the sand and let them suffer. No matter what happens you’ve done the right thing by putting your foot down. Let the chips fall where they may.



Maybe this sounds simplistic to you but believe me that there are people out there that need some advice like this.







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D.A.R.E.

D.A.R.E.





I thought I would share a little about my thoughts about D.A.R.E. or any drug education programs for that matter. I went to school in the 50’s and 60’s and I cant remember getting any drug information until I was in High School. By that time I was already on drugs so it didn’t do any good,although I suspect nothing would have helped given the conditions of my home. Later in College I had some drug education also but it was definitely too late then. I remember they passed around drugs encased in plastic containers so the students could see what they looked liked. I already knew what they looked like and my thoughts at that time were how could I steal the drugs out of the containers when nobody was looking.



Don’t get me wrong, Im not against drug education and I think it should happen as early as possible. In fact 15 years ago or so I contacted the D.A.R.E. program and volunteered to help them. I thought that since I had been on drugs 14 years and had been clean the same amount of time I could be helpful in educating the kids about the dangers of drugs. D.A.R.E. (in Los Angeles) rejected my help at that time saying they didn’t let anybody who had ever been on drugs help. Although Im not opposed to drug education , I have always doubted its efficacy based on my personal experience.



One time doing a radio show about the drug problem I mentioned to a psychiatrist/educator at some facility that I didn’t think education would work. He was shocked and aghast. He said ,”Well, if education isn’t going to work then I don’t know what will”



D.A.R.E. has been around quite a while now;long enough to be studied. Here are some facts:



1)The Arizona State Auditor said to drop D.A.R.E. after an Arizona study showed its not cost effective.



2)Police Chief Robert Olson of the Minneapolis Police Department has said that several studies have questioned the effectiveness of the D.A.R.E. program. “If your just using the single component, the fifth grade component, it doesn’t make a hill of difference”



3) An independent report released in 1998 found Houston's $3.7 million-a-year DARE program "only marginally successful" in steering youngsters from substance abuse.

The study, by University of Houston social sciences professor Bruce Gay, suggests the Drug Abuse Resistance Education curriculum in local schools may not be working.

"There is very little compelling evidence to suggest that the primary goal of the DARE program is being reached at a statistically significant level," Gay concludes.



4) The most damaging study was conducted by researchers at the University of Kentucky and released in 1999. It tracked 1,002 sixth-graders who were divided into two groups: those who had taken the 17-week DARE class and those who had received basic drug education as part of their normal studies.Researchers followed the students until they reached age 20, when they were again polled on attitudes about drugs, actual drug use and self-esteem. The study showed that DARE was no more effective than basic drug education in any of the three categories. "In no case did the DARE group have a more successful outcome than the comparison group," researchers wrote.



*******************************************************

Look, Im not trying to knock D.A.R.E.. I think there are many sincere Police Officers trying their best to help. Im just trying to make the point that maybe education isn’t the answer at all. If a child comes from a home where there is abuse and no love, do you really think that a few hours of education over a period of weeks are going to undo the consequences of those traumas?



The belief that education is the answer to the drug problem is,in my opinion, a lie. What we need are good parents. Parents who love their children, set a good example, and don’t abuse them either physically or emotionally. But I find very few voices saying that this epidemic of drug abuse is caused by bad parents.



So what can a parent do?Well, let me give you an example. If there was an Opium Den that had a really good program of education would you send your children there? Of course not.





Drug use is rampant in todays public schools. That’s a well known fact. I have often read stories of Police Departments sending young undercover police officers into schools to make busts. I would politely suggest that sending your child to public school in many areas is little different than sending them to an opium den.





I would say the best course of action to protect children is to take them out of public school altogether. I don’t know of any study of drug use by kids that have been home schooled, but I suspect if there was such a study you wouldn’t find much drug use. Alternatively, a good Christian School that doesn’t tolerate drug use might be an option (If you can find one).



Come to think of it. Maybe all this values neutral education and Godless education in the public schools has contributed to the problem also.



If you are a gardener and your trying to grow a flower, you protect it from the weeds until it grows strong enough to live on its own.So get your kids out of public school where the weeds can destroy them, and don’t be a weed yourself.













































































Saturday, December 04, 2004

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FAQ: Where can I go for help?

Ok. If Alcholholics Anonymous,Narcotics Anonymous have become corrupted, and if drug treatment professionals are the blind leaders of the blind, then where can a person who wants and needs help get it?



That is a good question.





There are a few organizations that I know that can be recommended. And probably there are some others that I dont know about.



If you live in the greater Los Angeles area, I would suggest that you check out :



www.bondinfo.org



They have weekly meetings in Los Angeles and even have a BOND home for boys. This is one of the few organizations that I personally know that has the understanding to help people with problems of addiction. It is a non-denominational Christian organization. Its founder, Jesse Petersen, is becoming fairly well-known due to his frequent apperances on Fox news. It helps people of all colors although Jesse himself is black.





If you live in some other part of the country, then perhaps the best thing to do is send me an e-mail. I can make some recommendations to the sincere person wanting help, but its probably best to do this on an individual basis.

















 

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