Lighthouse Trails Research Journal
17
Christian Magazines—continued from previous page over any other forms of treatment. The
helpful for the reader of this article to know
a few things about me. I grew up in the
mental-health community. My father was a
psychiatrist, and for a time we lived on the
grounds of a very large mental institution.
I take a back seat to no one when it comes
to having compassion for those suffering
through problems of living, especially the
sin problem of drunkenness. That was
dominant in my family history for genera-
tions. I’ve written books, articles, preached
sermons, and given conference talks on the
antichristian and pseudoscientific aspects
of psychotherapy and so-called Christian
psychology. Much of that material can be
found in the Berean Call’s archives, espe-
cially “Psychology and the Church: Critical
Questions, Crucial Answers,” chapter 13 of
The Seduction of Christianity, and chapter
15 of Occult Invasion.
First, some general observations. Those
issues that AA attempts to remedy are all
sin problems. The word “sin,” however,
is found nowhere in the CT article. AA’s
co-founder Bill Wilson erroneously taught
that “alcoholism” is a disease. Rarely can
an individual be held accountable for
contracting a disease. If the root problem
is sin, and the claimed solution rejects sin
as the problem, then AA has no solution.
Dunnington’s psychologized mindset
has him wanting to see church small
groups function more as therapeutic or
behavioral encounter groups like AA. He
never acknowledges that a small group
study of—and obedience to—the Word
of God has provided the individual with
“all things that pertain unto life and godli-
ness, through the knowledge of him that
hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Peter
1:3). God’s Word, the Manufacturer’s
Handbook, has the only answer to man’s
sin nature and sinful practices.
Dunnington not only appears ignorant of
the sufficiency of Scripture, but he is also
wrong about the effectiveness of AA. There
are no studies supporting AA’s programs
Volume 7—No. 5
Harvard Medical School reported:
Most recovery from alcoholism is
not the result of treatment. Probably
no more than 10 percent of alcohol
abusers are ever treated at all, but
as many as 40 percent recover
spontaneously. 8
One of the leading authorities in this
field, Herbert Fingarette, the author of
Heavy Drinking: The Myth of Alcoholism as
a Disease, writes for the Harvard Medicine
magazine:
This [disease] myth, now widely
advertised and widely accepted, is
neither helpfully compassionate nor
scientifically valid. 9
If AA can make no true claim of being
more effective than the (non-treatment)
spontaneous remission of drunkenness by
alcohol abusers, what of its spiritual input?
That “spirituality” is incorporated in the
12-Step philosophy and is foundational to
everything that AA promotes.
Anyone who takes the time to research
how AA’s 12 Steps began would readily
discover that it came to Bill Wilson and
Bob Smith through the activity of spiritism.
That is “the spiritual power of A.A.”! Dave
Hunt writes in Occult Invasion:
The official AA biography of Wilson
reveals, without embarrassment,
that for years after AA’s founding,
regular séances were still being
held in the Wilsons’ home, and
other psychic activities were being
pursued, including consulting the
Ouija board. 10
The biography itself declares:
[T]here are references to séances and
other psychic events in the letters Bill
wrote to Lois [his wife] during that
first Akron summer with the Smiths
[Bob and Anne], in 1935 . . . Bill
would lie down on the couch. He
would “get” these things [from the
spirit world] . . . every week or so.
Each time, certain people [demons
impersonating the dead] would
“come in . . . long sentences, word
by word would come through. . . .”
[In 1938] as he started to write [the
AA manual], he asked for guidance.
. . . The words began tumbling
out with astonishing speed. He
completed the first draft in about
half an hour. . . . Numbering the new
steps . . . they added up to twelve—a
symbolic number; he thought of the
Twelve Apostles, and soon became
convinced that the Society should
have twelve steps. 11
The Bible condemns the practice of com-
munication with spirit entities calling it
divination. The reason should be obvious.
Those spirit entities are demons, whose
objective it is to turn people away from the
truth of God’s Word. Although Wilson and
Smith were clearly intent upon contacting
the spirit world through divination devices
and techniques for spiritual guidance, the
evidence that what Wilson received is de-
monic is found in the content itself. It only
takes reading the second and third Steps to
recognize how antichristian the methodol-
ogy is. Step 2 and 3 state:
[We] came to believe that a Power
greater than ourselves could restore
us to sanity. Made a decision to turn
our will and our lives over to the
care of God as we understood Him
(emphasis in the original). 12
“A Power greater than ourselves”? Who
or what might that be? The God of the
Bible and Jesus Christ, the Savior (from
sins) of the world? They are never men-
tioned in the 12 Steps, nor is sin! Yet there
are many “Higher Powers” being put forth
Concludes on next page
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019