These 12 Steps Are They A Stairway to Heaven?

Principle 4: Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.
“Happy are the pure in heart.” (Matthew 5:8)

Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:40)



WOW! I will never forget that day. The day I gave my heart to the Lord and he completely took away my desire to do drugs! Little did I know what a journey I was about to embark upon. My thankfulness to Jesus for my salvation and dying for me is what keeps me serving Him in this life.

Looking back, that day started not only a journey, but a process of rebuilding a life. Building a new foundation, for a clean and sober life. I had no idea where to start, I was so blessed to have a Christian sponsor to guide me through this process. Thank you Dave for your diligence, teaching me moral excellence. Thank you for the knowledge, the self-control and perseverance you provided, not to mention your brotherly kindness and love. You were truly a Godsend.

Dave is in Heaven now and I think of him often. He taught me a lot as he guided me through the 12 steps.

Before I started my 4th step these are the words he provided me. He assured me that these will help me maintain this new achieved sobriety.

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through.
We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.
No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.
That feeling of uselessness and self pity will disappear.
We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
Self-seeking will slip away.
Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.
We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us—sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.
(Page 83 and 84 from The Big Book) Alcoholics Anonymous

In our liberal world, 12 step programs have “evolved” (pun intended) into something that the secular world can grasp. Mainly that you don’t really need God. You just need a higher power of any kind. “A god of your understanding” “ a doorknob” The only way a doorknob can be a higher power is if your laying on the floor, right? This liberal world has taken something biblical and made it worldly. This explains the 95% relapse rates of non-Christian recovering people. That’s right NINETY FIVE PERCENT of those who try to recover without giving their life to the Lord Jesus Christ end up failing in one year!

The originators of A.A. took these steps right out of the Holy Bible. According to Dr. Bob, they used the Books of Matthew, James and 1st Corinthians.


This in turn has also been looked upon unfairly by Christians too. Mostly out of ignorance. I’ve encountered quite a few Christians who actually tell me that there is one step to recovery< salvation.

First of all let me tell you a new recovering person is no different than any other baby Christian. The need for growth is what keeps them looking toward Christ. It helps their recovery without question

So do we just let them go on their own? Do we tell them, your saved you have your "get out of Hell free card"ok? This is what a one step program would be right? I hear this from Christians a lot! My response to them is open your Bibles and open your minds. These steps are for biblical discipleship and growth, not salvation.

The Twelve Steps are NOT a stairway to heaven! Getting into Heaven IS a one step process of accepting Jesus as your savior. But discipling or mentoring is the next phase.

Look at what The Bible says in what we know as the “Great Commission”

Mat 28:18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Mat 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Mat 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

We recovering people are just those that really just need discipleship. When we get through the first 3 steps and realize how much we need God and his saving power. We need growth and a sponsor/mentor/discipler. These steps are a biblical format for that.When we use the real intended higher power Jesus Christ they work very effectivly for discipleship.

So for my one-step Christian friends I say don't forget about follow up for these baby Christians. We have in our midst a very good program for that and we need not re-invent the wheel.

One more biblical reference that comes from the apostle Peter to his disciples. (notice the steps)


2Pe 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
2Pe 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
2Pe 1:4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
2Pe 1:5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge;
2Pe 1:6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness;
2Pe 1:7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
2Pe 1:8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
2Pe 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;

After all, our goal in recovery is to keep from stumbling. When we fix our eyes upon growing closer to The Lord we will achieve this desire together

With Love

Steve