Dear Lighthouse Trails:
I am writing to inform you a little about myself and how I happened upon your incredible informational site. I am 54 years old, and about 21 years ago, I had an incredible and remarkable life change where, after years of drunkedness, since my teenage years, God allowed me to get into a situation with my employer at the time in which I had to admit to drunkenness and full-blown alcoholism along with driving a company truck while intoxicated and using corporate credit cards very perversely. I was, as a result, suspended without pay, and I willingly sought psychiatric help through a company-suggested Ph.D. therapist.
Since the time I was a child/adolescent, my parents both sought and were forced to attend AA meetings. I also had gotten into some teenage trouble and willingly submitted myself to a rehabilitation clinic/treatment center at the age of 16. This being the case and having relapsed periodically and going back into AA off and on, it was natural for me to go back into AA at the time I was seeing the Ph.D. Only this time, I was very sincere, and my heart was being changed by God so I didn’t just attend AA, I sought out sponsorship with a serious desire to find out if “it works if you work it.” Also (thank you God Almighty), I became a permanent member of the small Baptist church my family and I had been attending. I repented and surrendered to Christ Jesus, and my and wife and I were baptized.
So while going to AA meetings, becoming involved in AA completely while also working steps with a sponsor and eventually sponsoring newcomers myself, I also became involved in my church and attended when the doors were opened.
Looking back now, I can detect and support that I was very much double-minded. I was attending AA religiously. I was going to church on Sundays only and becoming what I see today—a worse Christian. The time in AA and also time spent with newcomers spreading the “Big Book” [AA’s main book] message was over-shadowing my Christian life. I read the Bible some, but I prayed mostly AA prayers and probably only went through the motions of a Christian. In 2012-2013, I began to read God’s Word annually and saw for myself all it said and have done so every year since. I was also, however, continuing to attend AA meetings, and I cycled through AA group leadership positions as well. I found myself questioning the foundations of the program and wondering why I hadn’t quite seen the contrast between Christianity and AA. I felt both messages were mostly aligned but maybe not so much. I didn’t know for sure. But what I did know is every time I spoke of Jesus and a Christian message, it was frowned upon, and I was asked to not speak so much about Jesus and His teachings but to “remember where I was.”
Last year, after much resentment and being offended by AA members’ attempts to silence me, I decided to do some of my own research in AA program. It started with a group member who claimed to be a Christian, suggesting I read a book by Emmet Fox, The Sermon on the Mount. The member made this suggestion after I stated something after a meeting that was in Fox’s book. I had often wondered, why would I read a book that had the same title message delivered by my Lord and Savior in several Gospel accounts? I had read the original author! So, one night, when sleepless, I researched Emmet Fox and what his intentions may have been in writing this book. I had always been told and believed that the AA founders and the authors they read were believers of Christ, even Christian.
Well, this night changed my life because, while researching, I discovered Lighthouse Trails site and John Lanagan’s report, “The Spiritual Truth Behind Alcoholics Anonymous.”* I spent several hours studying and researching for myself the truths of this program. Last September (2024) I attended my last AA function, and as of to date, I am teachings classes at my church, attending anytime the doors are opened, and diving into the Gospel and Scriptures like never before. God is certainly honoring my efforts with ever more discernment and understanding.
I wish to sincerely thank you and your entire site as well as all of the authors who write about the true Word of God and the truth about the deceptions going on in the world in these last days. I look forward to purchasing and studying as many books and booklets from your resources as I can afford in the future and awaiting and preparing for our Lord’s return. I am forever grateful and rejoicing in discovering Lighthouse Trails and can’t wait to see what God has for me while I await him.
Sincerely,
Scott
*LTRP Editor’s Note: The editors at Lighthouse Trails and John Lanagan are in no way minimizing the importance of those with addictive behaviors in getting help. But what we advocate and encourage is Christ-centered help (based on the Word of God). Two places that offer this (and there are others) are:
The Most Excellent Way—http://www.tmewcf.org.
Teen Challenge—http://teenchallengeusa.com.
Related Articles:
Dr. Harry Ironside and The Berean Call ON Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous
The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree – “God Calling” Spiritually Influenced Alcoholics Anonymous
The day I became “sober” was the day I realized AA violated my tenants as a Confirmed Catholic. I am not an Agnostic. And AA a different religion. I have seen a person practice Wicca at the tables. A women with crystals and a pendulum for conjuring her point of discussions.
AA has suggestive language that ropes people into its grasp. By sitting in a “closed meeting”, one agrees they are a member, as it is dictated in their introduction. As a result of separating myself from the AA program, which blasphemes and allows necromancers and witches to conjure spirits through crystals and other means at the tables due to its recklessly all-inclusive doctrine, I only attend Open Meetings. Every point in the pamphlet is spot-on.