AA Exposed | The Truth Behind Bill Wilson | The Man Behind the AA Cult Allegations

The AA cult controversy. Why are members and ex members speaking out? The dark side of AA is being revealed. Starting with its founder, Bill Wilson. Did he establish a recovery program or a cult? When you look at who he was the answer is obvious.
BOOKS FOR RECOVERY AND REINVENTION

THE SMALL BOOK: HOW I BEAT ALCOHOLISM AND WHY ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS DOESN'T WORK.

THE SHEPHERD AND THE RUNNINGWOLF: A PATH TO FORGIVENESS ON THE PACIFIC CREST TRAIL

REINVENTION OF SELF: HOW TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE AND BEING FOREVER

John Barleycorn taken from Jack London's book John Barleycorn. First published 1913

Transcript

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Recently I had a commenter on one of my videos who still noted the effect that AA had on him as a cult, even though he left it 25 years prior. So why does Alcoholics Anonymous still have this type of effect on people who left the cult? Well, if you would look at the principles upon which Bill Wilson actually established the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, it would make perfect sense. And I'm gonna tell you how Bill Wilson did it. Recently I got a comment whose call sign on YouTube is Landon N7V, who talked about how he left Alcoholics Anonymous 25 years ago, but still has residuals from that cult, especially from the esoteric philosophy in which AA was founded. And he wanted to know if I would delve deeper into that topic. Well yes, Landon, I certainly will. Because a lot of the reason that the members of Alcoholics Anonymous find it difficult to leave is because of the way it was founded. I have long accused the group Alcoholics Anonymous to be nothing more than a cult and Bill Wilson its cult leader. It is an easy half-step to that conclusion with the way the members act, especially the senior members, who claim there are no leaders of the group but then take control exactly as that. If one were to look up the attributes of a cult, he would find they exist in groups like the Moonies and hardline Christian fundamentalist churches. But they also exist in the rooms of AA. These traits are right down the line by the numbers. Every member who has disagreed openly with any AA mantra or left the program has seen this, and every member who remains in AA adamantly denies these attributes, just like cult members would. For the first rule of a cult is its members deny that it is one. Every cult's origin is in its founder. Someone creates an ideology, then finds people in a weakened state to enlist in that ideology. Jim Jones, Joseph Smith, and all the others who created cults did so by gathering those who simply followed. People who are incapable of independent thought and objectivity. When you get enough of those types, sometimes even global religions rise and dominate the world, and sometimes groups like Alcoholics Anonymous are formed. And the initial leaders of these types of cults all hold a common trait. None of them lived in the universe known as reality. To say Bill Wilson wasn't living in reality, that is a vast understatement. I doubt that most AA members are even aware of his background. His program was founded on hardline principles of fundamentalist type Christianity under the influence of the Oxford group established by Frank Bookman and Evangelist type. It seemed that Bill Wilson had a conversion to Christianity under his tutelage. He adopted the principles of Frank Bookman's philosophy, formulated the 12 steps directly from Oxford's five core principles, and in every manner seemed to resemble his claim of being born again, which would be construed to be a born-again Christian. But then later he stated he wasn't a Christian specifically, but yet formed his entire AA philosophy based on these Christian fundamentalist type tenets. He later said he didn't want to be officially converted as it might lead to some alcoholics to not join his newly formed organization if they weren't Christians. So it certainly seems that Wilson was already in the practice of deceiving future members, as he followed the hardline principles of a hardline Christian organization, based his program on Christian tenets, yet claimed he wasn't one. You will hear this claim from members in the rooms today. I'm an atheist and getting along just fine in the meetings. Yes, you may be an atheist or agnostic or a Wiccan, but you are practicing the fundamentalist Christian principles set down by Frank Bookman. This sort of sleight of hand that Wilson performed is very typical of cult leaders. But it goes much further with Wilson. If deep down under the rhetoric he was a more closet Christian, his practices completely defy the tenets of Christianity. Bill Wilson was heavily influenced by theosophical principles, even if not a member of the society. Again, he draws his tenets without claiming membership to the group. These principles in the society believe a great deal in divine wisdom and united brotherhood. These tenets have an underlying tone of Marxist type doctrine. As we have seen in the results of Enforced Marxism, the utopian concept of quote, brotherhood is replaced with authoritarian leaders who are far removed from it. If you go to an AA meeting, you will see these leaders emerge. They are sponsors and initiators in the circle. You will really see their heads rise in a snarl if you offer a different opinion than their constant mantras. Wilson established his Alcoholics Anonymous in this way. On one hand, he states there are brotherhood simply serving each other. But then he removes autonomy of self by enforcing the ideology that only the divine can rescue the alcoholic, and that rescue isn't even permanent but must be granted daily, as long as you follow their tenets. He takes away free thought of the new member and plants 12 steps based on a dogma of authoritative Christian fundamentalism, then claims he isn't promoting Christian fundamentalism. But it's the history of Bill Wilson's other practices that drop him into the abyss of that universe of non-reality. First, he came to his awakening while on psychedelic drugs while under the guise of fanatical Christian influence. And he continued this dabble into the synthetics. He was involved in LSD experiments because he believed this method would help lead others to an awakening and recovery as well. But the descent into lunacy only fell faster. Bill W. was a regular and active participant with the occult. This is interesting since his program was based off Christian principles, whether he later called himself a Christian or not. But occult mysticism is strictly forbidden in the Bible. It isn't one book that states this, but many. Deuteronomy, Exodus, Leviticus, Isaiah, Acts, and Revelation all forbid spiritualistic type of practices in these occult activities. Wilson actually had a spook room in his house for regular occult sessions. He participated regularly in seances. He channeled spirits and believed he was guided by these spirits while creating the 12-step program, which was nothing but copied from the Oxford group. So Wilson took a hardline Christian philosophy and cemented it with forbidden practices of spirit channeling. Then he stated he kept his occult life separate from AA and wasn't a Christian as he used the occult in Christianity to formulate his program. Do the AA members even understand what sort of lunatic Bill Wilson actually was? This was your founder of Alcoholics Anonymous AA member. Now the members of the rooms will have several rebuttals. First, they'll state that Wilson was never a Christian convert. On paper, that may be true, as he did state a more vague notion of finding the divine higher power as necessary to remain sober. But what he stated and what his program was based on, those are two different things. His program was based off fundamentalist Christianity, and he was initially indoctrinated to the program with these principles. Then the AA member will state that the practices and meetings today aren't as they were in Bill W.'s time. And here's the crux of the matter, and why so many ex-members of the room state they had to deprogram from the cult of Alcoholics Anonymous. The entire program was founded on the principles of this cult leader: the idea of united brotherhood and continued and ongoing service to the cause, the philosophy that former alcoholics can't trust themselves, only their version of God for all the daily decision-making and turning autonomy over to the divine for continued daily sobriety. That addiction is permanent and can never be beaten, thus keeping one in the cult rooms forever. The shaming practices and fear tactics thrust on those who differ in opinion. The accusations that every differing opinion from AA is your alcoholism talking, your disease talking. These all come from your original cult leader who believed his program was formulated by supernatural causes while on psychedelic drugs. These are the cult tactics to keep a person in the cult. The same are used by the Moonis as well as those spoken fundamentalist churches. I did a previous work comparing the two methods of church cults and AA, and the attributes aren't just similar, but exactly the same. I mentioned the word deprogramming of members who escape from AA. That is the correct word. One doesn't need deprogramming if he simply leaves a non-cult crew. I stayed in the Boy Scouts until I was 18, but if I had left at 16, I wouldn't need to deprogram. If I left a book club, I wouldn't need to deprogram. But in AA, the members who flee do. The effects can last for years, according to those who spent significant time in Alcoholics Anonymous. It is much like leaving the Christian faith, which I did almost a decade ago. I wasn't brought up fundamentalists, but the hardline Catholic school in which I spent my early youth might as well have been. We were indoctrinated to fear hell in the afterlife. You sat on the Christian God's side because of this fear. Even today, even as I know that hell wasn't an original Hebrew concept in the Old Testament and was largely created later, I still have that inkling of unease of what if I am wrong? That is the effect of wash and rinse cycle type of indoctrination. Alcoholics Anonymous does the same. The reason these deprogramming effects last is much the same as in my upbringing an old school mother Catholic. The new member is indoctrinated in his weakest state. He's already afraid. He is terrified of this new world of sobriety in which he is not accustomed. In the rooms that initially get him in this state, fear of death from alcoholism is instilled in his weakened mind. However, the effects of the ghost of Wilson can be negated. If one reinvents his life, he will one day look back on AA for what it is. A half-fanatical Christian, half-occult group of brainwashed members, no different than those who rise up and suddenly speak in tongues on a Sunday service, believing it's the voice of God. It isn't hard to see how this happens if the person was put through the rent cycle, just like the AA member spun during his early days in the rooms. If one becomes physically and emotionally strong through fitness activities and clean diet as well as advances self-forward, that person will no longer be susceptible to the AA rants. He will become one of mental fortitude. Strong people aren't worried about relapse. Being called a dry drunk won't affect your psyche as well as the other insane mantras that come from the cult members who still exist in the rooms. Because you will have the resilience now to know that you aren't. Years into reinvention, you will actually feel sorry for those who still think they need the rooms, the few who are sober for any significant length of time. You will look upon them just like you regard that person speaking gibberish, thinking it is God's voice. You will understand how they became brainwashed. Because the founder, Bill Wilson, he was insane. And his members then and now continued the insanity he established. Now, if you found this content helpful, go ahead and follow along and subscribe. And to check out my memoir of a more normal spiritual reinvention across a 2600 mile trail, check out The Shepherd and the Running Wolf, a path to forgiveness on the Pacific Crest Trail. Link is in the description, usually free on KDP. And remember, keep your contract, be sober at sundown, and I will see you at the next sunrise.