Alcoholics Anonymous

& Why it's So Hard to Quit Addictions

Chapter 1

I had a job in Houston, TX, that I very much enjoyed as a Software Engineer (Software Developer).

I used an excellent tool, the Hewlett Packard 64000 Development System. I read the manuals for that equipment, and other Engineers would come to me, asking how to do what they were trying to do with that equipment.

But when undesirable changes were made at that company, I left.

Best thing seemed to be to go to Silicon Valley (Santa Clara County, CA, and neighboring counties) with all of its technology activity.

In Silicon Valley, one of my employers was Tymshare Corp, but when later acquired by another company the name was changed to British Telecom.

At Tymshare, I was designing a device where I needed the specialized knowledge of another Engineer because of his expertise in one aspect of our system.

In the course of our working together, he mentioned to me that he had had an alcohol problem, and that the organization, Alcoholics Anonymous, had helped him to kick the addiction.

That's just great! I'm glad for every one of their successes.

I also remember seeing just a very short film clip on TV where Actor Dick Van Dyke looked at the camera and said, “I'm Dick Van Dyke, and I'm an alcoholic.”

Why would Van Dyke let himself be filmed saying that?

Because he was cooperating with the program. AA tells you that to solve the problem, first come out of denial.

It's hard to cure someone of alcohol addiction if that person is saying, “I don't have an alcohol problem.”

But saying that I'm an alcoholic is contrary to the teachings of faith teachers like Kenneth E. Hagin, Norvel Hayes, and Charles Capps, who basically teach that we become what we confess.

They teach that you should never confess, “I have cancer,” even if a Doctor has diagnosed the patient as having cancer.

A better thing to confess would be, “God has healed me of cancer.”

This, of course, assumes that you believe in God, and have some faith in His ability and willingness to help you, as the Bible teaches.

People who believe that way are very much on the right track, because there really is a God, and he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to Earth to die for our sins, and to pay for our healings. (1 Pet 2:24)

During his life on Earth, Jesus taught that when our lives on earth are over, we'll either go up to heaven or down to hell.

Hell is a nasty place where their worms don't die, and where the fire is never quenched, where there's crying and gnashing of teeth, Jesus said.

Jesus taught, “You MUST be born again.” (John chapt 3)

Pray this three word prayer: “Jesus, save me!”

The Bible says, “All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Another important scripture passage on the subject of salvation is Romans 10:9,10--

“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you're saved. For with the heart man believes for righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made for salvation.”

Alcoholics Anonymous does teach something about a “higher power,” and asking for his help. Let's not be vague about this. There is a God, and we need his help.

The most important book in the world is the Holy Bible. I grew up with the King James Version of the Bible.

And now there is the “Holy Bible, Hoehn Version,” available as an ebook at Amazon.com and at Barnesandnoble.com.

The audio book, “The New Testament, Hoehn Version,” is available at Audiobooks.com

The ebooks from Amazon work with the Kindle reader devices or with the Kindle app on a computer or IPAD or smart phone. Ebooks from Barnes and Noble work with the Nook reader devices.

It is from the Bible that we know about God the Father, and about his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and about the precious Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, or Comforter, or Spirit of Truth. All four of those names are used in the Bible.

And while Alcoholics Anonymous is helping some people kick alcoholism, I expect that their cure rate is not one hundred percent.

I don't think AA actually comes to grips with the real root of alcoholism, demons.

When I speak of demons here, I'm not talking about some vague concept of some kind of alleged evil influence for people.

Seems like I heard that Abraham Lincoln said something about, “Our better angels.”

I believe Lincoln was one of our most important Presidents, but I don't think he was perfect in his Theology.

To speak of our better angels implies that there are also bad angels.

I heard another expression somewhere about a person who was supposed to be “wrestling with his demons.”

The person who talked like that could very well be someone who doesn't even believe in the Bible kind of demon, but rather in some vague evil force.

Perhaps all that was meant was, “He was wrestling with his problems.”

Chapter 2

But whether we believe in them or not, there are real, actual demons, and there are real, actual angels, and lots of both of the evil demons and of the good angels.

But why would God create evil demons?

He didn't.

God created good angels.

They have bodies, but not physical bodies like people. They are spirit beings, and are right here with us but we normally can't see into the spirit world with our natural eyes. If we could, we would see both angels and demons.

There are, of course, examples of God sending an angel to appear to someone, and give that person a message from God, such as in my book, “George Washington's Vision,” where an angel appeared to Washington, and showed him things to come.

And in my book about Howard Pittman, Pittman said, “When my spirit left my body, I passed through a dimensional barrier.”

He passed into the spirit world. Then an angel took him on a tour of the spirit world, and showed Pittman how demons operate.

In another room of the same hospital where Pittman's lifeless body lay, a conversation was going on between a man and a woman.

But the man and woman couldn't see Pittman's spirit, nor the angel, nor a demon that was there, “stalking the man,” like a tiger would stalk its prey.

From its shape like a frog, Pittman knew that it was one of the sex perversion demons, as the angel had shown him.

People are tempted every day with various temptations from demons.

At one point in the above conversation, Pittman “saw the demon possess the man.”

No, I think Pittman was a little off here in his Theology. What he saw was the demon enter the man through the pores in the man's forehead.

If a human has a demon in him, that's not necessarily the same as being possessed by a demon.

I believe demon possession is significantly stronger, as with the Gadarene Demoniac, out of whom Jesus cast a legion of demons, which then entered a herd of pigs.

But if God didn't create demons, then how did they come to exist?

When God created them, they weren't demons; they were angels.

But then Satan, who originally was called Lucifer, became corrupted by reason of his brightness. Satan said, “I will be like God,” and Satan rebelled against God.

There's a scripture that refers to Satan drawing one third of the stars with his tail.

Evidently, one third of the angels followed Satan. Those angels, then, are fallen angels, having fallen from their original position as good angels. So now, they are the demons.

In John 10:10, Jesus said, “The thief doesn't come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” And that is what demons are trying to do.

Demons are not some vague concept of an evil influence. They are actual created spirit beings that were once good angels, like, for example the angel Gabriel, or the angel Michael in the Bible.

An angel appeared to the parents of Samson before Samson was born.

An angel appeared to the virgin Mary before Jesus was born on earth into a man's body.

Jesus, of course, was present with God the Father at the creation of the world.

Demons go around tempting people to commit sins, and start wars, and cause addictions such as to alcohol, or drugs, or to gambling, or to pornography, or to sex perversion like homosexuality and Lesbianism.

And demons afflict people with physical diseases like cancer, and with mental problems like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, paranoia, phobias, and many other physical and mental and emotional problems.

Kenneth E. Hagin told how God opened his eyes to see into the spirit world in the case of a woman brought to Hagin for healing from cancer.

When God opened Hagin's eyes to see into the spirit world, he saw the demon that was causing the cancer, and Hagin cast the demon out of the woman in Jesus' name.

But don't try casting out demons if you're not a Christian, or something bad could happen to you as with the seven sons of Sceva in Acts chapt 19.

Now some people might think that demons are just a New Testament thing, so they're not buying it.

But no, demons are not just a New Testament thing. The top demon is Satan. Haven't you read in the Old Testament scriptures how Satan stood up to tempt King David to count the people of Israel? (1 Chronicles chapter 21)

And that was the wrong thing to do because God had said that the number of Abraham's seed would be like the number of the grains of sand by the sea, and as the number of the stars in the sky--in other words, UNCOUNTABLE.

So then, trying to count what God said would be uncountable was an act of unbelief, which is the opposite of faith.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us, "Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him."

David's counting of Israel displeased God, and was abominable to David's assistant, Joab.

God brought evil against Israel for David's having done that.

I've been told, too, that the Jews don't believe in hell.

What a pity, because more often than not, people who don't believe in hell, are on the road to hell.

Haven't you read in Ecclesiastes 3:21 about the spirit of man that goes upward, and the spirit of the animals that goes downward? Upward is heaven. Downward is hell.

The Jehovah's Witnesses say that there is no hell. But they'll find out that they were wrong when they arrive in hell. Unfortunately, it will be too late. Once God sends you to hell, you don't get back out.

Jesus said that in hell, their worms don't die. People in hell, in addition to being tormented by the fires of hell, are also tormented by worms.

I suspect that many of the worms of hell are formerly those animals, whose spirits went down to hell when the animal died.

But not all human spirits go up to heaven after this life on earth. Jesus said, "You MUST be born again." (John chapt 3)

And Jesus also said that most people go to hell. From Matt chapt 7--

13 "Enter in at the restricted gate, because wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and there are many that go in there,

14 Because the gate is restricted, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."

We know there's a heaven and a hell because Jesus said so, and Jesus doesn't tell lies.

Jesus taught that we will all go to one of the two possible destinations: heaven or hell.

There has been a false teaching about a place called purgatory, but that teaching is not supported by the Bible. We're either going to heaven or hell.

To go to heaven, you must be born again, Jesus said. (John chapt 3)

In hell, there's crying and gnashing of teeth, where their worms don't die, and where the fire is never quenched, Jesus said. If you'll give heed to Jesus, you can avoid hell. But scorners and scoffers of Jesus will probably have to learn the hard way.

If people really knew what hell is like, and that they're in danger of going there, the would make it their number one priority to get born again so they won't go to hell.

Jesus has also told us, "Don't be afraid of man, who after he has killed, has nothing else that he can do, but rather fear God, who after he has killed, can throw you into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him."

If you believe there's no hell, then apparently you believe Jesus is a liar, because Jesus says there's a fiery hell.

But Jesus is not a liar and those who think he is a liar are making a very serious mistake. A fatal mistake, quite possibly.

The Bible says that God the Father used his Son Jesus to make the worlds. God the Father and Jesus created everything.

The planets and the stars follow their set paths. Who set those paths? Jesus.

Astronomers have their huge telescopes. There's one of them at the Griffith Park Observatory in Los Angeles, California.

Astronomers also have their computers to keep track of the stars. Not all of the stars. That would be impossible, except for Jesus, who put those stars in position, and calls them all by their names.

But before we had such an abundance of computers, Astronomers were already calculating the positions of the stars with their mathematical formulas.

We had formulas before we got personal computers.

Beside formulas for the positions of the stars, Engineers use Physics formulas in designing skyscraper buildings.

During the Manhattan Project in World War 2, that produced the A bomb, many calculations needed to be done. Calculating machines were borrowed from all over for the Scientists to use in the calculations.

That was before electronic calculators. Those old calculators were mechanical machines that would crank out the numbers using gears and levers and a keyboard and wheels with numbers to show the result.

They also had a couple of the early IBM computers.

Jesus can do all those calculations in his head. It's what you do when creating a universe.

The A bomb arose from Albert Einstein's discovery “E equals M C squared.” (The energy is the mass, multiplied by the square of the speed of light.)

Einstein was a very smart guy.

But who is the smarter, Einstein, or Jesus?

It's Jesus, by far.

It was Jesus who gave Einstein his insights into Physics and Science.

Einstein was a gifted Physicist, and who gave him his gifts? Jesus.

Unfortunately, I don't think Einstein made it to heaven.

Norvel Hayes told how his daughter (when she was a teenager, I guess) had been running with the wrong crowd.

Hayes' speaking to her about it wasn't curing the problem.

So Hayes prayed that God would do something to shake her up. And God did.

God sent a very large angel into her room. She came home to find him sitting there and just looking at her. It really shook her up. After a while, the angel stood up and started walking out of the room.

The angel exited the room through the doorway, only he was taller than the doorway.

So did he stoop over to go through the doorway? No, he just walked straight ahead, and his head passed through the wall above the doorway.

Don't try this at home!

If humans try to walk through walls, they'll get hurt.

But angels, being spirit beings, can walk through walls, just as Jesus came into a room where the disciples were, the doors being shut, after Jesus had risen from the dead. (John 20:26)

___James chapter 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.

2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,

3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.

7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,

10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.

11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.

18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.

21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,

24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

___James chapter 2

1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,

3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"

4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

6 But you have despised the poor. Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?

7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?

8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,

9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill." Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.

12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.

13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.

14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works? Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,

16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?

17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."

19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?

23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."

24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

___James chapter 3

1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.

2 For in many things we offend all. If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.

4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.

5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. See how great a matter a little fire kindles!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,

8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.

10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be.

11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?

12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries? Or a vine, figs? So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.

13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.

___James chapter 4

1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?

2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.

3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.

4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"

6 But he gives more grace. So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.

11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers. He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?

13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"

14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."

16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

___James chapter 5

1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.

3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You've heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.

5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.

6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.

7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.

8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.

9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.

10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

11 See, we count them happy that endure. You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.

13 Is anyone among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is anyone merry? Let him sing psalms.

14 Is anyone sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.

16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.

17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,

20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.