Fellowship

Fellowship among us is a forgotten practice. People grow up never having had experienced it and without it., How Can You Have Fellowship With GOD? For if I know not my brother and sister how can I be whole?
So what do I do? I work on putting my hands out to others and look at taking other peoples hands. A large degree of fellowship I have practiced comes from 12 step programs such as this....

Shoemaker and our Twelve Steps




Make no mistake. Whatever Bill Wilson may have said or implied from time to time, Sam Shoemaker was not the only source of A.A.’s spiritual ideas. Wilson often steered his applause in Sam’s direction in an effort to avoid Roman Catholic and other objections to the Oxford Group from which A.A.’s ideas also came and of which early A.A. was a part. Moreover, Bill never mentioned A.A. specifics from Dr. Bob, Anne Smith, the Bible, Quiet Time, God’s direct guidance or Christian literature that was daily fare in early A.A.



Remember also! Dr. Bob said he did not write the Twelve Steps and had nothing to do with writing them. Those Steps represented Bill’s personal interpretation of the spiritual program that had been in progress since 1935. Dr. Bob emphasized, on more than one occasion, that A.A.’s basic ideas had come from study of the Bible. Dr. Bob studied the Bible. Daily, for three months, Anne Smith read the Bible to Bill and Bob. Bob read the Bible to AAs. He quoted the Bible to AAs. He gave them Bible literature. And he frequently stressed Bible study, stating that the Book of James, 1 Corinthians 13, and Jesus’s sermon on the mount (Matthew 5 to 7) were considered absolutely essential in the early spiritual recovery program. Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob both said that the sermon on the mount contained the underlying philosophy of A.A.



Nonetheless, Sam’s own imprint is on the Steps. Every one of them. His imprint was on the presentation of Oxford Group ideas that Ebby Thacher made to Bill Wilson in Towns Hospital. And we will briefly take a look at just where Shoemaker’s language parallels the language of the Twelve Steps. In fact, our third chapter in "New Light on Alcoholism" provides further details and complete documentation.



Step One: Shoemaker spoke of the gap between man and God which man is powerless to bridge, man having lost the power to deal with sin for himself. As to the unmanageable life, Sam referred to the prayer in the Oxford Group so often described in "Victor’s Story" and quoted by Anne Smith in her journal: "God manage me, because I can’t manage myself."



Step Two: Sam spelled out the need for a power greater than ourselves. He quoted Hebrews 11:6 for the proposition that God is. He declared: God is God, and self is not God; and that man must so believe. Sam urged seeking God first, from Matthew 6:33. He espoused the "experiment of faith" by which man believes that God is; seeks God first in his actions, and then knows God by doing God’s will, and seeing that God provides the needed power. For this idea, Sam frequently cited John 7:17.



Step Three: Sam taught about the crisis of self-surrender, quoting William James’s Varieties of Religious Experience. Sam said it involved being born again; and declared that man must make a decision to renounce sins, accept Jesus Christ as Saviour; and begin Christian life in earnest. Sam illustrated a surrender with language similar to that in A.A.: namely, a "decision to cast my will and my life on God." Many times, Sam said one need only surrender as much of himself as he understands to as much of God as he understands. A clear precursor of A.A.’s "God as we understood Him"–which has unfortunately been misunderstood and has been attributed to other sources.



Step Four: Sam wrote of self-examination to find where one’s life fell short of the Four Absolute Standards of Jesus: honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love. One was to write down exactly where he had "fallen short." There was a "moral obligation" to face these facts, recognize these as blocks to God, and be "ruthlessly, realistically honest."



Step Five: Shoemaker taught of honesty with self and honesty with God, quoted James 5:16 for the importance of confession to others, and stressed the need for detailed sharing of secrets.



Step Six: Though the fact of Bill’s borrowing of this "conviction" step from the Oxford Group 5 C’s seems to have been overlooked, Shoemaker taught often about the need for man’s conviction that he has been miserable, has (by his sins) become estranged from God, and needs to come back to God in honest penitence. Sam urged willingness to ask God exactly where one is failing and then to admit that sin.



Step Seven: Sam clarified this as the "conversion" step of the 5 C’s. It meant a new birth, he said. It meant humility. It meant, for Shoemaker, the assumption upon ourselves of God’s will for us and the opening of ourselves to receiving the "grace of God which alone converts." It meant "drawing near and putting ourselves in position to be converted. . . utter dedication to the will of God." Shoemaker often defined "sin" as that which blocks us from God and from others." So, originally, did Big Book language. And each of the foregoing life-changing steps hangs on early A.A.’s definition of sin and the "removal" process of examining for sin, confessing sin, becoming convicted of sin, and becoming converted through surrendering it. The conversion experience, according to Shoemaker and early A.A. established or enabled rediscovery of a "relationship with God" and initiated the new life that developed from the relationship with God which conversion opened. Since both the Sixth and Seventh Steps were new to A.A. thinking and added something to the original "surrenders" to Jesus Christ, these Steps cannot easily be understood all without seeing them in terms of the complete surrender, the new relationship, the new birth, and giving the sins to God, as Shoemaker saw the process and as Bill attempted to write it into the recovery path.



Step Eight: Wilson added this step to the Oxford Group’s "restitution" idea. Bill also incorporated the Shoemaker talk of "willingness" to ask God’s help in removing the blocks, being convicted of the need for restitution, and then being sent "to someone with restoration and apology." Step Nine: Sam said the last stand of self is pride. There can be no talk of humility, he said, until pride licks the dust, and one then acts to make full restoration and restitution for wrongs done. As AAs in Akron did, Sam also quoted from the sermon on the mount those verses enjoining the bringing of a gift to the altar without first being reconciled to one’s brother (Matthew 5:22-24). Restitution was not merely a good deed to be done. It was a command of God from the Bible that wrongs be righted as part of the practicing the principle of love. If one understands Shoemaker, one can understand the absurdity of some present-day AAs’ guilt-ridden suggestions about writing a letter to a dead person or volunteering help for the down-trodden or making a substitutionary gift to some worthy cause. Sam taught that the required amends were not about works. They were about love!



Step Ten: This step concerned daily surrender and the Oxford Group idea of "continuance." Sam taught it was necessary to continue self-examination, confession, conviction, the seeking of God’s help, and the prompt making of amends. This continued action was to follow the new relationship with God and others that resulted from removal of the sin problem in the earlier steps. Step Eleven: Sam wrote eloquently about Quiet Time, Bible study, prayer, and "meditation" (listening for God’s guidance). Sam urged daily contact with God for guidance, forgiveness, strength, and spiritual growth. So does A.A.’s Big Book. Quiet Time was a "must" in early A.A. And Shoemaker defined every aspect of Quiet Time from the necessity for a new birth to a new willingness to study, pray, listen, and read rather than to speak first and lead with the chin. Step Twelve: This step comprehends: (1) A spiritual awakening, the exact meaning of which Shoemaker spelled out in his books and in his talks to AAs. (2) A message about what God has accomplished for us, a phrase which Shoemaker himself used, saying, in several ways: "You have to give Christianity away to keep it."(3) Practicing the new way of living in harmony with God’s will and in love toward others, an idea easily recognized from Sam’s teachings that a spiritual awakening comes from conversion, that the gospel message concerns God’s grace and power, and that the principles to be practiced are defined in the Bible. Accordingly, our Twelfth Step language, without Sam, has become ill-defined and illusory. For A.A. Big Book students know that none of the three 12 Step ideas is set forth or explained in the chapter of the Big Book dealing with the Twelfth Step. To be frank, A.A. left Christianity in the dust. In so doing, AAs lost an understanding of what Sam Shoemaker taught and Dr. Bob emphasized: Conversion, the gospel message, and love and service were defined in the Book of Acts, the Four Absolutes, 1 Corinthians 13, Jesus’ sermon on the mount, the Book of James, and other specific parts of the Bible.



Dick B. is a retired attorney, living in Hawaii and student of the bible. He has more than 15 published titles to his name including Courage to Change The Christian Roots of the Twelve-Step Movement. Send e-mail to: DickB@DickB.com

Walking Thru The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death

For the Lord stay's with me in all my times...I thank GOD to allow me to be a vessel for His Love.
These are trying times not only for myself, but for many...all over town, but our country, as well as the world.
But if we grasp the Lord we shall get thru all thing's. I must not judge for it has been my way. I must clear away pain, sorrow and replace them with joy, happiness and bliss. This is what the Lord wants for us.

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.



He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:


He leadeth me beside the still waters.


He restoreth my soul:


He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.














Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,


I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;


Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.


Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;


Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.














Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,


and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

Freedom

Freedom is the basic nature of God. It is also the basic nature of the human soul.

Without freedom all is lost both physically and spiritually.  How can we be shackled in our quest for spiritual truth and prevail? We must pray, we must inspire and we must be. I am freedom so therefore I am free.

Eagles-New York minute live

Oh God!!!!!

Grief

Grief is a natural emotion. It's that part of you which allows you to say goodbye when you don't want to say goodbye; to express–push out, propel–the sadness within you at the experience of any kind of loss.

Conversations With God Book 3

Even today I grieve for the family members, and friends who have gone on...but by grieving I let go so that both of us can continue our journey's...knowing one day we shall rejoice in each others company. If I truly believe in what I say I believe in then. That there is no death as we are led to believe at least in the way we have been taught.

Anger

Anger is a natural emotion. It is the tool you have which allows you to say, "No thank you." It does not have to be abusive, and it never has to be damaging to another.

Conversations With God Book 3


The concept of anger I grew to know was damaging and abusive I used it as my secret weapon to attack and destroy.

God's Forgiveness

My dear friends...

Ever since I was a little child I knew that we were not supposed to be afraid of God. Yet everything and everyone around me was telling me the opposite (except, bless her, my Mother).

I grew up in the Catholic Church, and that will give a 7-year-old something to think about, I can tell you. Each night I would recite a prayer that I was taught, that filled my heart with fear:

Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

I was trained to go to Confession every Saturday---and not to miss under any circumstances...because if I missed, I might die with a sin on my soul, and then I might not be able to get into heaven...

This is not something that a 9-year-old should be worrying about, but there you have it. And Old Habits are hard to break. It isn't only 9-year-olds who worry about dying with sins on their soul and not being able to "get into heaven."

This week, a heartbreaking letter came to me, and I want to share it with you now, along with my answer...so that we can put to rest forever the question of whether and how God is going to "get" us if we are "sinners."

Here's the letter...

Dear Neale...My Father gave me your book after he was done reading it, this is when your book Conversations with God, first came out. My dad began a spiritual journey after that he read everything from Allen Richards to Valentin and Essene. I was just giving you examples of my Dad's journey.

My father died 4 yrs ago and left me all his books, I have not read them only your first book. im 45 in 1992 i was diagnosed with cancer. In `93 I went through radiation treatments every day for six weeks in my upper chest area. i found out later that i was pregnant. i was also a drinker (i have been sober now for 9 yrs). i am catholic and i had an abortion. i read your book but i remember praying in that room as i was disrobing. i felt like i had to leave but i was a stupid drunk and i cannot to this day forgive myself. i dont go to church but i pray to God and Jesus and Angels for forgiveness to this day.

If we are just souls that keep moving, am I not going to ever see Heaven? I love you. Thank you for writing to me. God bless Us All!

My dear friend...If you are Catholic then you must remember the story of Jesus turning to the Thief on the cross beside him. "On this very day, you shall be with me in Heaven."

My dearest child, Conversations with God makes it very clear that God does not judge, condemn, and "punish" us for anything. Every soul returns to God in Perfect Form, which is what it always has been. Your very prayer to God to forgive you is a statement of your Soul's deepest feeling, truth, and desire. God would not ignore this because of something that occurred in your life.

It is important to remember that there are no victims and no villains in the world, and that all of us are doing the best we can in every moment. I believe it was the poet Maya Angelou who said, "When we know better, we do better." That is profoundly true.

The Soul of the one you chose not to birth took part in this co-creation with you. No one creates alone. The term "alone" has no meaning in Ultimate Reality. You can do nothing alone, but only in concert with other Aspects of Divinity that we call "Souls." The Soul of the one you chose not to birth chose that with you. Why? We cannot know. But...we can offer a possible insight. Perhaps that Little Soul chose to co-create with you the Perfect Opportunity to Learn Self-Forgiveness.

God loves you in fullness and in wholeness, just the way you are. God says only, "Thank you" to you, for undertaking this difficult and challenging journey into physical form in order that God Himself may experience the wonder and the glory of Her Divinity, through you.

It is not an easy task to demonstrate and expand Divinity's Expression when in physical form, and God understands that there have been and will continue to be times when human beings forget Who They Are and think, say, and do things that may not be their highest concepts of Divinity.

All the collective Souls in heaven and all the Angels in all the realms come here now to tell you:

"The journey of self realization is the most challenging of all the experiences that any Being may encounter. We are grateful to you for taking this journey, through which All Of Us are allowed to evolve and expand our very Selves, becoming greater and greater versions of Divinity because of the remembrances we receive through you. Your willingness to engage in this journey and to suffer the anguish, the frustration, and the searing pain of what you will call 'failure' is a gift to all of Life and to all of Us which is incalculable and treasured always."

You are forgiven. You are more than forgiven. You are blameless, cherished and loved beyond measure. You are held in a place and in a way in which forgiveness itself is not even necessary, for you have done nothing "wrong," but only the very best that you could do in the circumstance and condition in which you made your choices and decisions.

With regard to yourself and to others, "Judge not, and neither condemn." You will be with God in heaven....even as you are with God in heaven right now, during your journey upon the earth. For God has never left you, and never will, and this earth is a magnificent part of the Kingdom of God.

I send you my biggest love....Neale.

= = = = = = = = = = =

That's the reply I sent to this wonderful lady. I hope it has served you to read it. For more about God's requirements and the punishment for not fulfilling them, be sure to read What God Wants, a wonderful little book of answers that will thrill the soul.

And I will see you here next week!






Love and Hugs,
Neale.

We Show Our True Color Again!!!!

Reading Yesterday's USA Today and there is an article that shows a mass exodous of hispanic peoples...Not only have they seen school enrollment shrink but there economy is down as well...Longtime hispanic buisnessmen who counted on the hispanic trade are shutting their doors as well...So what we have in the aftermath is an exodous of people and business and money...So if the braintrust behind the New Law there thought this thru which I am sure they did not...we should see a marked improvement in their unemployment numbers for June...But you we are not going to see that because those jobs were not counted in the employment index any way. There were no jobs taken from Americans and it's zeal to take all people from oppression once again the government is the bad guy...Sad America we were once the beacon of light now we are many times the dark tunnel.

Santana - Put Your Lights On [TheWraith]

Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight

Santana & Clapton - Jingo