Only the obedient may get to Heaven. The 12 Step Program for Protestants begins by recognizing that the only souls in Heaven are those blessed to be among “You are My friends if you obey My commands.”
- We began by seeing that we were powerless over our vanity. Vanity had led us to commit and approve of our own sins and those of others.
- We realized that God would straighten out our lives if we believed in Him meaningfully enough to obey Him. We know that God is God and men are merely men.
- We turned our will and our lives over to the guidance that God provided when He Decreed:
“. . I say unto you thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven. . .” We do not deny The Only Church Jesus Founded for the teachings of men. - Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and found that we preferred our own desires and opinions more than obeying God.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs by confessing our sins to a Catholic priest. They are the only people on earth whom God gave the power: “Those whose sins you forgive on earth are forgiven in Heaven.”
- We did what was necessary to have God give us Absolution through priests ordained in living link with His First Catholic Bishops, the Apostles.
- We humbly asked Him to remove the hurtful vanities that keep us from obeying Him.
- We remember the people we have hurt, and strive to make amends.
- We asked God to help us say “I’m sorry”.
- We continue to strive for greater obedience. When we fail, we admit it, confess it, and receive Absolution from His priests.
- We pray to improve our conscious contact with God as He revealed Himself. We ask Him for guidance and for the power to obey His Guidance.
- Having moved our soul into greater alignment with His Teaching, we carry His message to others who suffer from the excessive fondness of their personal opinions.
That is The 12 Step Program for Protestants.
