Alcoholics Anonymous History
with
Dick
B.
© 2013 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
This Web site intends to focus readers on accurate,
truthful, comprehensive Alcoholics Anonymous History—particularly as it extends
from the pre-A.A. Christian roots of the 1850’s to the period just after Bill
Wilson published the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous in April 1939.
It will lay out the history in various chunks that can be examined and studied
as time permits and that should prove useful to the recovery
community.
[Draft updated to January 29, 2013, with Dick B. and Ken
B.’s latest titles, articles, videos, and radio show episodes. The final draft
will contain full bibliographic references and publication data, and will be
updated as well.]
Let’s Begin with Alcoholics Anonymous General Service
Conference-Approved Literature
I began my own search for Alcoholics Anonymous history by
reading all the available, accurate, relevant literature published by A.A.
itself. I still get grounded there and recommend looking at A.A. General Service
Conference-approved literature first—instead of speculating on what A.A. is or
isn’t. Once that is done, the reader can fill in the holes, straighten out the
distortions, correct the misrepresentations, eliminate subjective gossip, and
find out what most in the recovery community have simply not heard.
And the recommended books, in the order of the publication,
are:
Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred
Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism, 1st ed.
(New York City, N.Y.: Works Publishing Company, 1939). [Note that this book was
“NOT Conference-approved,” as there was no “Conference” in existence at the time
to “approve” it.]
RHS (New York 2, N. Y.:
The A.A. Grapevine, 1951). This issue of the AA Grapevine is dedicated to
the memory of the Co-Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, DR. BOB (i.e., Robert
Holbrook Smith—“RHS”)
Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men
and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism,
2d ed. (New York City, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc.,
1955)
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age,
1957).
The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical
Sketches: Their Last Major Talks (New York,
NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972, 1975). Item # P-53. This
pamphlet is currently available online from A.A.: http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/p-53_theCo-FoundersofAA.pdf;
accessed 1/30/13.
Alcoholics Anonymous,
3rd ed. (New York City: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.,
1976).
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, (New York, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services,
Inc., 1980).
‘PASS IT ON’: The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A.A.
Message Reached the World (New York, N.Y.:
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984).
The Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine
Writings (New York: The AA Grapevine, Inc.,
1988).
Alcoholics Anonymous,
4th ed. (New York City: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.,
2001).
Experience, Strength and Hope: Stories from the First Three
Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous, (New
York, NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 2003).
Next, Look at Relevant, Reliable Books and Other Literature
about Alcoholics Anonymous History That Can Be Helpful
Piece by piece, manuscript by manuscript, research trip by
research trip, archive by archive, library by library, interview by interview,
Alcoholics Anonymous history—in its full form, and in a form that is
comprehensive, accurate, and able to be used and applied in recovery
today—emerged from and is reported in the following Alcoholics Anonymous History
literature:
Bill W., Alcoholics Anonymous: “The Big Book”: The Original
1939 Edition, with a New Introduction by
Dick B. (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 2011)
AA of Akron Pamphlets, n.d.: Available at Akron Intergroup
Office (revised several times)
A Guide to the Twelve Steps of
Alcoholics Anonymous
A Manual for Alcoholics
Anonymous
Second Reader for Alcoholics
Anonymous
Spiritual Milestones in Alcoholics
Anonymous
Akron A.A.’s: What Others Think of Alcoholics
Anonymous
Central Bulletin, Box
1638, Station C, Cleveland, Ohio (3 Volumes)
Cleveland: A.A. (articles in Houston Press), A.A. in
Cleveland, A.A. Sponsorship
Cleveland Plain Dealer Articles (before edited,
altered, and republished under new name)
[All available Cleveland Intergroup archives materials were
reviewed by Dick B. and Ken B. in 2012, and discussed by Wally P., But for
the Grace of God, 1995], 30-46.
Autobiographies of Bill Wilson:
Bill W., My First 40 Years (Center City, MN:
Hazelden).
Chapter 1 “Bill’s Story,” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th
ed., 2001, 1-16.
The many manuscripts by Bill that Dick B. found, was
permitted to copy, and which are contained in a bound volume in Maui, Hawaii.
All found at Stepping Stones, most of which are discussed at some length in Dick
B., Turning Point: A History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and Successes
(Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, 1997).
Biographies of Bill W.:
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., 2006.
Susan Cheever, My Name is Bill W., 2004.
Tom White, Bill W.: A Different Kind of Hero,
2003.
Francis Hartigan, Bill W., A Biography . . ,
2000.
Matthew Raphael, Bill W. and Mr. Wilson,
2000
Nan Robertson, Getting Better Inside Alcoholics
Anonymous, 1988.
Robert Thomsen, Bill W., 1975
Bill W. (New York: The
AA Grapevine, 1971).
Biographies of Dr. Bob
RHS, 1951.
The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical
Sketches: Their Last Major Talks, Item #
P-53.
“Doctor Bob’s Nightmare,” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th
ed., 171-81.
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 1980.
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B. Christian Recovery
Guide, 3rd ed., 2010.
Dr. Bob of Alcoholics
Anonymous, 2008
Dick B.,
The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics
Anonymous, Newton ed., 1998.
Dr. Bob and His
Library, 3rd ed.,
1998.
“Alcoholics Anonymous and Dr. Bob,” http://mauihistorian.blogspot.com/
“16 Specific Practices Associated with the Original Akron
A.A. "Christian
Fellowship" Program,” http://internationalchristianrecoverycoaliti.blogspot.com
“Get Honest with Yourself, Pray. Alcoholics Anonymous
Advise,” The Tidings, Page 17, Friday, March 26, 1948.
D. J. Defoe, "I Saw Religion Remake a Drunkard" in Your
Faith (September 1939), 84-88. (Your Faith is "a McFadden Publication")--Dr.
Bob is called "Dr. X" in this article.
Biographical on A.A. Number Three, Bill D.
Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery
Guide, 3rd ed., 2010.
“Alcoholics Anonymous Number Three,” Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th ed., 182-192
‘PASS IT ON,’ 356-57.
“Bill Dotson: A.A Number Three’s Recovery by the Power of
God” http://MauiHistorian.Blogspot.com
“Bill Dotson – AA’s Number Three, http://silkworth.net/aahistory/print/bdotson2.html
“Bill Dotson: A.A. Number 3”: http://www.barefootsworld.net/aabilld-aa3.html
Biographical on Rowland Hazard
[Rowland had been told by Dr. Carl Jung that he had the mind
of a chronic alcoholic but could possibly be cured by a conversion. Rowland
returned to America, became associated with the Oxford Group, studied with Rev.
Sam Shoemaker, and became active in Shoemaker’s Calvary Church. Rowland had been
impressed by the simplicity of the early Christian teachings as advocated by the
Oxford Group. Rowland made a decision for Jesus Christ. Rowland and two other
Oxford Group friends (Cebra Graves and Shep Cornell) had decided to witness to
Ebby Thacher and told Ebby many Oxford Group principles and practices. Ebby, an
old drinking friend of Bill Wilson’s who had become a “real alcoholic” recalled
that two of Rowland’s Oxford Group friends one of whom was (an old friend of
Bill Wilson’s and a “real alcoholic”) had told Ebby “things they had gotten out
of the Oxford Group based on the life of Christ, biblical times.” Ebby said: “It
was what I had been taught as a child and what I inwardly believed, but had lain
aside” The men had suggested that Ebby call on God and try prayer. Rowland and
the two others lodged Ebby in Shoemaker’s Calvary Mission. Occasionally, a
religious writer—either disdainful of, or unfamiliar with, A.A. facts and
origins will say erroneously: “Alcoholics Anonymous does not use the words sin
or conversion” See Linda Mercadante, Victims & Sinners, 1996, 70. Or, as she
does on page 91: God does not ask any more than simple acknowledgement of divine
existence.” But our readers should look at A.A.’s Third Step prayer—“May I do
Thy will always” and A.A.’s Seventh Step prayer—“Grant me strength, as I go out
from here, to do your bidding. Amen.” Then spend a moment with Exodus 15:26,
Exodus 20:1-17—the Ten Commandments; Matthew 22:36-40—the two Great
Commandments; and James 2:8-11; and read all of Hebrews 11:6.]
T. Willard Hunter, “IT STARTED RIGHT THERE,”
2006
Bill C. and Jay S., Kitchen Table A.A. Sponsorship Workshop,
Carlsbad, 2007
Jay Stinnett, “Why Our Lives Were Saved,” A.A. Spiritual
History Workshop, Reykjavík, Iceland, March 11, 2007.
‘PASS IT ON,’
1984.
Mel B., Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W.,
1998.
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.
Bill W. My First 40 Years
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age
Dick B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the Green
Mountain Men of Vermont: Vermont Connections to A.A. Personalities and Early
A.A.’s Original Program (Kihei, HI: Paradise
Research Publications, Inc., 2012)
Dick B., The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous,
3rd ed
Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and
A.A.
Tom White, Bill W.: A Different Kind of Hero,
2003.
Biographical on F. Shepard Cornell
Bill W., My First 40 Years
‘PASS IT ON’
Mel B., Ebby
Leslie B. Cole, Rogers Burnham: The Original Man behind
Bill W.
Charles Clapp, The Big Bender, pp. 105-50
Bill Pittman and Dick B., Courage to Change: The
Christian Roots of the Twelve-Step Movement, pp. 135-50.
Dick B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the Green
Mountain Men of Vermont.
Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous,
Newton ed., pp. 5, 19, 28, 142-45, 152, 159, 162, 168-70.
Dick B., The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous,
new rev ed., pp. 128-30.
Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and
A.A., Pittsburgh ed., pp. 333-35.
Helen Smith Shoemaker, I Stand by the Door, p.
177.
John Potter Cuyler, Calvary Church in Action, p.
57.
Lois Remembers, p.
91.
Biographical on Cebra Graves
Bill W., My First 40 Years
‘PASS IT ON’
Mel B., Ebby
Leslie B. Cole, Rogers Burnham: The Original Man behind
Bill W.
Dick B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Green
Mountain Men of Vermont
Biographical on William D. Silkworth, M.D.
[Silkworth’s name itself may not be well known to most AAs.
But they certainly know of the “Doctor’s Opinion” written by Silkworth as an
introduction to their Big Book. And they probably have grasped the fact that
Silkworth established in Bill Wilson’ thinking that alcoholism was a disease—an
allergy of the body kicked into gear by an obsession of the mind. But, as
Silkworth’s biographer observed after he had researched Silkworth’s life and
papers, Silkworth has not been given credit for the role he played in convincing
Bill and others that they could be cured of their alcoholism by the “Great
Physician,” Jesus Christ. And that solution—long since tossed aside before the
Big Book was published--became the foundation of Bill’s conviction that
“conversion” was the answer to alcoholism and that it was manifested by a
“spiritual experience.” “Divine Aid,” Bill was still calling it in his address
at the Shrine Auditorium in 1948 with Dr. Bob on the stage with him as well. The
information about the Great Physician and cure was conveyed to Bill on his third
hospitalization when he was given a virtual death sentence promise if Bill did
not quit drinking immediately. The specifics of Silkworth’s advice on alcoholism
were confirmed by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.]
Dale Mitchel, Silkworth: The Little Doctor Who Loved
Drunks.
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.
The Language of the Heart
Dick B. and Ken B., The Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd
ed., 2010
Bill W., My First 40 Years, 2001
Norman Vincent Peale, The Positive Power of Jesus
Christ
Biographical on Edwin Throckmorton Thacher, “Ebby,” Bill’s
Sponsor
[While Ebby was in Calvary Mission, he went to the altar and
made a decision for Jesus Christ. He then visited Bill as he himself had been
visited by Rowland Hazard, Cebra Graves, and Shep Cornell. Ebby told Bill he had
“found religion,” and that he had tried prayer—something he specifically
recommended to Bill Wilson. Bill specifically concluded that Ebby had been
“reborn.” But taking no chances, Bill went to Shoemaker’s Calvary Church,
listened to Ebby’s testimony, and then decided that if the Great Physician had
helped Ebby, he (Bill) could probably receive the same help. Armed with
Silkworth’s advice and Ebby’s eye-witness testimony, Bill went to Calvary
Mission himself. He went to the altar. He made his own decision for Jesus
Christ. He quickly wrote, “For sure, I had been born again.” And then, still
drunk and still despondent, Bill made his way to Towns Hospital where he decided
to call on the Great Physician and had the experience—which Silkworth called a
conversion experience—and sensed the presence of God in his room. And never
drank again.]
T. Willard Hunter, “IT STARTED RIGHT THERE.”
2006
Bill W., My First 40 Years,
Dale Mitchel, Silkworth: The Little Doctor Who Loved
Drunks.
Mel B. Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W.,
1998
‘PASS IT ON’
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age
Richard M. Dubiel, The Road to Fellowship, 2004,
79-80: “[Rowland Hazard] must have had some sort of influence on early A.A.’s
who knew about him, whether at first or second hand . . . it is clear that
behind Ebby Thatcher [sic], the messenger who brought the message of salvation
to Bill Wilson in the kitchen of Bill’s apartment in November 1934, lay the
figure of Rowland Hazard III, the mysterious messenger behind the
messenger.”
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.
Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery
Guide, 3rd ed. 2010.
Dick B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Green
Mountain Men of Vermont
Biographical on Dr. Bob’s Wife, Anne Ripley Smith
Dick B., Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939, 3rd ed.,
1998
Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous,
2d ed., 1998
Bob Smith and Sue Smith Windows, Children of the
Healer, 1992
Charlotte Hunter, Billye Jones, Joan Zieger, Women
Pioneers in 12 Step Recovery, 1999
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers
RHS
The Language of the Heart
Biography on Bill W.’s Wife, Lois Wilson
Lois Remembers,
1979.
William Borchert, When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois
Wilson Story
Bill W. My First 40 Years
Dick B.., New Light on Alcoholism, Pittsburgh
ed.
Biography on Henrietta Buckler Seiberling
Dick B., Henrietta B. Seiberling: Ohio’s Lady with a
Cause
Charlotte Hunter, Billye Jones, Joan Zieger, Women
Pioneers
Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous,
2d, ed,
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers
Biography of T. Henry and Clarace Williams
Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous,
2d ed.
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers
Biographical on Dr. Frank N.D. Buchman, Founder of the
Oxford Group
Garth Lean, Frank Buchman: A Life, 1985
Frank Buchman, Remaking the World, 1961
H. W. “Bunny” Austin, Frank Buchman as I Knew Him,
1975
Peter Howard,
That Man Frank
Buchman, 1946
The World Rebuilt: The True Story of Frank Buchman. .
. , 1951
Frank Buchman’s Secret, 1961
R.C. Mowat, The Message of Frank Buchman,
n.d.
T. Willard Hunter, World Changing Through Life
Changing, 1977
Alan Thornhill, The Significance of the Life of Frank
Buchman, 1952
Dick B., The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous,
Newton ed.
Biographical on Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr
Dick B.,
New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam
Shoemaker, and A.A., 2d ed.
Good Morning!: Quiet Time, Morning
Watch, Meditation, and Early A.A.
The Oxford Group & Alcoholics
Anonymous
Real 12 Step History
Irving Harris, The Breeze of the Spirit, 1978.
“S.M. S.—Man of God for Our Time,” Faith at Work,
1964.
AJ Russell, For Sinners Only
Norman Vincent Peale, “The Unforgettable Sam Shoemaker,”
Faith at Work, 1964.
Louis W. Pitt, “New Life, New Reality: A Brief Picture of
S.M.S.’s Influence, Faith at Work,
Sherwood S. Day, “Always Ready, S.M.S. as a Friend, Calvary
Evangel, 1950
Helen Smith Shoemaker, I Stand by the Door, 1967
Bill Wilson, “I Stand by the Door,” The A.A. Grapevine,
1967
“Ten of America’s Greatest Preachers,” Newsweek,
“Calvary Mission, “ Pamphlet, NY Calvary Episcopal Church,
n.d.
John Potter Cuyler, Jr., Calvary Church in Action,
1934.
The Language of the Heart
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age
Samuel M Shoemaker, Jr.
So I Stand by the Door and Other Verses, Pittsburgh,
CalvaryRectory.1958
My Life Work and My Will, Pamphlet, 1930
“A First Century Christian Fellowship,” Churchman,
Calvary Church Yesterday and Today, 1936.
Realizing Religion, 1923
“How to Find God,” The Calvary Evangel, 1957.
Get Changed; Get Together; Get Going: A History of the
Pittsburgh Experiment, n.d.
Biographical on Clarence H Snyder
Three Clarence Snyder Sponsee Old-timers and Their Wives,
Comp & ed. by Dick B., Our A.A. Legacy to the Faith Community: A Twelve-Step
Guide For Those Who Want to Believe, 2005
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 1980.
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age
Clarence Snyder,
Going through the Steps, 2d ed., 1985
My Higher Power-The Light Bulb, 1985
A.A. Sponsorship
Mitchell K., How It Worked: The Story of Clarence H Snyder
and the Early Days of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, 1997.
Dick B., That Amazing Grace, 1996.
Biographical on Sister Ignatia
[Though author Mary Darrah endeavors to select an earlier
date for the A.A.-Ignatia connection, it is clear that Ignatia came on the A.A.
scene about mid-August 1935. And her contributions were with Dr. Bob at St.
Thomas Hospital from that point on. Her book makes clear that Father John C.
Ford, S.J. had—like Father Dowling, S.J.—had a real part in editing Bill
Wilson’s Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions and his Alcoholics Anonymous Comes
of Age—both published in the 1950’s]
Mary Darrah, Sister Ignatia, 1992, 13, 25-26,
33-37.
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 1980
Biographical on Father Ed Dowling, S.J.
[Though Dowling did not meet Bill until the winter of 1940,
he became a friend and sponsor to Bill, and edited Bill Wilson’s Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions]
Robert Fitzgerald, S.J., The Soul of Sponsorship, 1995. See
55-66, 89]
“Pass It On,” 1980, 240-243, 281-282, 354, 371,
387.
Central Bulletin, Volumes I – III, Cleveland Central
Committee, Dec. 1942-Dec. 1945
Nell Wing, Grateful to Have Been There, 1992.
Stewart C., A Reference Guide to the Big Book of Alcoholics
Anonymous, 1986.
Bill Pittman, AA The Way It Began, 1988.
Ernest Kurtz, Not-God, 1979
How to Study, Learn, Teach, and Apply the Historical
Elements Today
Dick B. and Ken B.,
Stick with the Winners! How to Conduct More Effective
12-Step Recover y Meetings Using Conference-Approved Literature: A Dick B. Guide
for Christian Leaders and Workers in the Recovery Arena, 2012
Pioneer Stories in Alcoholics Anonymous: God’s Role in
Recovery Confirmed!, 2012
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed.,
2010
Making Known The Biblical History and Roots of Alcoholics
Anonymous: A Sixteen Year Research, Writing, Publishing, and Fact Dissemination
Project, 3rd ed., 2005
Dick B.
The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the
Bible
The Good Book-Big Book Guidebook, 2006
Cured!: Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts, 2d ed,
2006
The James Club and The Original A.A. Program’s Absolute
Essentials, 4th ed., 2005
Twelve Steps for You: Take the Twelve Steps with the Big
Book, A.A. History, and the Good Book at Your Side, 4th ed.,
2005
God and Alcoholism: Our Growing Opportunity in the 21st
Century, 2002
Why Early A.A. Succeeded: The Good Book in Alcoholics
Anonymous Yesterday and Today (A Bible Study Primer for AAs and other
12-Steppers), 2001
By The Power of God: A Guide to Early A.A. Groups &
Forming Similar Groups Today, 2000
Utilizing Early AA.’s Spiritual Roots for Recovery Today,
2000.
Now to Alcoholics Anonymous History: Item by Item, on the
Origins of A.A.
Dick B.,
Introduction to the Sources and Founding of Alcoholics
Anonymous, 2007
Real Twelve Step Fellowship History: The Old School A.A. You
May Not Know, 2006
Making Known the Biblical History and Roots of Alcoholics
Anonymous, 3rd ed. 2006
The First Nationwide Alcoholics Anonymous History
Conference, 2d ed., 2006.
Turning Point: A History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and
Successes, 1997.
Mel B.
New Wine: The Spiritual Roots of the Twelve Step Miracle,
1991
My Search for Bill W., 2000.
Alcoholics Anonymous History: Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr.
Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and
A.A., 2d ed., 1999.
Bill W., I Stand by the Door, The A.A. Grapevine,
1967.
Charles Taylor Knippel, Samuel M. Shoemaker’s Theological
Influence on William G. Wilson’s Twelve Step Spiritual Program of Recovery,
1987
Helen Smith Shoemaker, I Stand by the Door: The Life of Sam
Shoemaker,1967.
John Potter Cuyler, Jr., Calvary Church in Action,
1934.
W. Irving Harris, The Breeze of the Spirit, 1978.
Samuel M. Shoemaker, Calvary Church Yesterday and Today,
1936,
Samuel M. Shoemaker, Realizing Religion, 1923
Alcoholics Anonymous History: the Oxford Group
Dick B., The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous, Newton
ed., 1998.
Frank N. D. Buchman, Remaking the World, 1961.
Garth Lean,
Frank Buchman: A Life, 1985.
Good God, It Works, 1974.
James D. Newton, Uncommon Friends, 1987.
Henry B. Wright, The Will of God and a Man’s Life Work,
1909.
Howard A. Walter, Soul Surgery, 1928.
Harold Begbie, Life Changers, 1927.
Howard J. Rose, The Quiet Time, 1937.
Cecil Rose, When Man Listens, 1937.
Harry J. Almond, Foundations for Faith, 1980.
Peter Howard, That Man Frank Buchman, 1946.
Robert E. Speer, The Principles of Jesus, 1902.
B. H. Streeter, The God Who Speaks, 1930.
Sherwood Sunderland Day, The Principles of the Group,
n.d.
T. Willard Hunter,
It Started Right There, 2006.
World Changing Through Life-Changing, 1977.
The Layman with a Notebook, What is the Oxford Group?
1933.
Kenneth Belden,
Meeting Moral Re-Armament, 1979.
Beyond the Satellites: Is God Speaking? Are We Listening,
1987.
Alcoholics Anonymous History and the “Temperance Movement”
[Temperance, Abstinence, and the Widespread Concerns of
Society: Bill Wilson had made such a fuss over the “failures” of the
Washingtonian Movement that it can be said that his A.A. took no position on
“liquor” issues. But the Washingtonian Movement was but a speck on the
temperance front. It lasted only a short time. It was dismissed by many as not a
religious movement, and it is fair to say that its emphasis was on “pledges” and
not on healing by God. Nonetheless, the backdrop of Dr. Bob’s and Bill’s boyhood
days was temperance—abstinence from drink—however much people may have disagreed
on what was really involved—religion, morality, social problems. There are
several pieces of literature that may or may not be known by, or of interest to
those who might just dismiss the whole picture by saying, “We don’t want to be
like the Washingtonians. They failed.” But the failure occurred before the major
influences on A.A. background got under way.]
Harry S. Warner, Rev. Francis W. McPeek, and E.M. Jellinek,
“Lecture 19, Philosophy of the Temperance Movement” Alcohol, Science and
Society, As given at the Yale Summer School of Alcohol Studies, 1945, 267-285;
McPeek: “I don’t believe that the temperance movement can be understood in any
sense unless the framework in which it developed is understood, and this
framework is essentially Christian.,” 279.
Rev. Roland H. Bainton, “Lecture 20, The Churches and
Alcohol, Alcohol, Science and Society, 287-298
Rev. Francis W. McPeek, “Lecture 26 – The Role of Religious
Bodies in the Trreatment of Inebriety in the United States, Alcohol, Science and
Society, 1945, 406-411.
Jared C. Lobdell, This Strange Illness: Alcoholism and Bill
W., 2004, 30-38.
William L White, Slaying the Dragon, 1998, 4-14.
Alcoholics Anonymous History: the Co-Founder Dr. Bob’s
Christian Roots and Upbringing in Vermont
Dick B. and Ken B.,
Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in
the Good Book as a Youngster in Vermont, 2008.
Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men of Vermont,
2012
[The Town of St. Johnsbury—Dr. Bob’s birthplace]
Edward Taylor Fairbanks, The Town of St. Johnsbury, Vt; A
Review Of One Hundred Twenty-Five Years to the Anniversary Pageant,
1912
Claire Dunne Johnson, “I See By the Paper,” 1987.
[The People, including the Fairbanks family and the Smith
family]
Albert Nelson Marquis, Who’s Who in New England
Charles G. Ullery, Men of Vermont, 1894.
Hiram Carleton, Geneological and Family History of the State
of Vermont, Vol I.
Lorenzo Sayles Fairbanks, Geneology of the Fairbanks Family…
1897
The “Fairbanks Papers” 1815-1889,.
William H. Jeffrey, Successful Vermonters, 19
[Congregationalism and North Congregational Church of
St.Johnsbury]
John M. Comstock, The Congregational Churches of Vermont and
Their Ministry, 1762-1942. 1942.
John E. Nutting, Becoming the United Church of Christ in
Vermont, 1995
History of North Congregational Church, 2007
Arthur Fairbanks Stone, North Congregational Church, St.
Johnsbury, Vermont, 1825-1942, 1942.
[Young People’s Society of Christian
Endeavor]
Francis E. Clark.
Memoirs of Many Men in Many Lands, An Autobiography,
192
Christian Endeavor in All Lands, 1906
World Wide Endeavor: The Story of the Young People’s Society
of Christian Endeavor and in All Lands, 1895.
Amos R. Wells, Expert Endeavor, A Textbook of Christian
Endeavor Methods and Principles, 1911.
John R. Clements, The Francis E. Clark Year Book: A
Collection of Living Paragraphs From Addresses, Books, and Magazine Articles by
the Founder of the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor,
John Franklin Cowan, New Life in the Old Prayer Meeting,
1906.
[St. Johnsbury Academy]
Arthur Fairbanks et. al. [including Dr. Bob’s mother], An
Historical Sketch of St. Johnsbury Academy 1842-1922
Charles Edward Russell, Bare Hands and Stone Walls,
1933
Richard Beck, A Proud Tradition A Bright Future
Robert Miraldi, The Pen Is Mightier: The Muckraking Life of
Charles Edward Russell, 2003.
The Academy Student (1897), (1898)
[Young Men’s Christian Association]
Year Book of the Young Men’s Christian Association of North
America, 1896
C. Howard Hopkins, John R. Mott, 1865-1955.
Laurence L. Doggett, History of the Young Men’s Christian
Association
Richard C. Morse, History of the North American Young Men’s
Christian Associations, 1919.
Sherwood Eddy, A Century with Youth, 1884-1944,
1944
[Salvation Army]
[In Lecture 26, cited below, Rev. McPeek states: “Much work
was done in the city missions and particularly by the Salvation Army. . . .
Generally speaking. The Salvationists have capitalized on the same techniques
that have made other reform programs work: (1) Insistence on total abstinence.
(2) reliance upon God. (3) the provision of new friendships among those who
understand. (4) the opportunity to work with those who suffer from the same
difficulty. (5) unruffled patience and consistent faith in the ability of the
individual and the power of God to accomplish the desired ends.”
414-415]
William Booth, In Darkest England and the Way Out,
1890,
Harold Begbie
The Life of General William Booth: The Founder of the
Salvation Army (Vol I and II), NY: MacMillan, 1920.
Twice Born Men, 1909
Rev. Francis W. McPeek, “Lecture 26 - The Role of Relisious
Bodies in the Treatment of Inebriety in the United States,” Alcohol, Science and
Society, 1945, 403-418.
Howard Clinebell, Understanding and Counseling Persons with
Alcohol, Drug, and Behavioral Addictions, 1998, 184-194.
Alcoholics Anonymous History: the Christian Upbringing of
Co-Founder Bill Wilson
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.
Dick B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain
Men
[The conversion that cured Bill Wilson’s grandfather Willie
of alcoholism]
Francis Hartigan, Bill W.: A Biography…, 10-11
Robert Thomsen, Bill W., 14
Bill W., My First 40 Years, 6
Susan Cheever, My Name is Bill, 17.
[The Evangelists]
Allen Folger, Twenty-Five Years as an Evangelist,
1906
Bob Holman, F. B. Meyer: “If I Had a Hundred Lives…,”
2007
Edgar J. Goodspeed, The Wonderful Career of Moody and Sankey
in Great Britain and America, 1876.
Elmer Towns and Douglas Porter, The Ten Greatest Revivals
Ever, 2000
J. Wilbur Chapman, Life and Work of Dwight L. Moody
Mark O. Guldseth, Streams, 1982
[East Dorset Congregational Church]
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed
Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., 7-10, 27-28,
72-73
Susan Cheever, My Name is Bill W., 4, 44
Francis Hartigan, Bill W., 175
Robert Thomsen, Bill W., 15, 30-9. 200
[Bible study-in East Dorset and in a 4 year Bible study
course at Burr and Burton Seminary]
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed.
Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men
Susan Cheever, My Name is Bill, 37-38, 47-48.
Robert Thomsen, Bill W., 30-39, 200.
[Christian Revivals and Conversion Meetings Bill
attended]
Bill Pittman, AA The Way It Began, 79
Francis Hartigan, Bill W., 10-11, 53, 58, 59
Matthew Raphael, Bill W., 77
Susan Cheever, My Name is Bill, 44-45,
Mel B., New Wine, 127-28
Bill W. My First 40 Years
[Gospel Rescue Missions]
D. Samuel Hopkins Hadley, Down in Water Street: A Story of
Sixteen Years Life and Work in Water Street Mission: A Sequel to the Life of
Jerry McAuley, n.d.
J. Wilbur Chapman, S.H. Hadley of Water Street,
1906.
“Pass It On,”
William James. The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1990,
188-9, 146
John Potter Cuyler, Jr., Calvary Church in Action
Howard Clinebell, Understanding and Counseling,
172-193
[Burr and Burton Seminary and the Manchester Congregational
Church]
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide 3rd
ed
Bill W.and Dr. Bob: The Green Moutain Men
Bill W.: My First Forty Years
Frederica Templeton, The Castle in the Pasture: Portrait of
Burr and Burton Academy, 2005,, 25, 42. 44, 56, 67
Mel B., Ebby
Dr. Robert J. Wilson III and Phebe Ann Lewis, The First
Congregational Church, Manchester, Vermont 1784-1984 (Manchester, VT:
Bicentennial Steering Committee, 1984), 88-91, 128. The few A.A. history writers
and Christian critics of A.A. are often quick to assert that Bill Wilson could
not possibly have been a Christian because of his alleged beliefs about Jesus
Christ. The problem is that there is no evidence that they have examined or
understood the Confession of Faith and Church Covenant of both the Manchester
and the East Dorset Congregational Churches which would readily clear up their
misunderstanding should they choose to accept the facts discovered. In fact, one
of the first A.A. history writers made the untenable statement that little is
known about Wilson’s religious background because there is little to know—a
blatant admission that there was lots about Wilson’s Christian upbringing, his
Congregational Churches and chapels, and his Bible studies that such writers
just never investigated and hence don’t know.
[Young Men’s Christian Association-Bill as President, girl
friend as YWCA President, active in both]
Bill W., My First Forty Years, 29
Robert Thomsen, Bill W., 57
Frederica Templeton, The Castle in the Pasture, 78-79,
69
Dick B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain
Men
[Bill’s return to Jesus Christ, the “Great Physician,” in
despair, on the advice that this Great Physician can and does cure alcoholics].
Dick B.,
Turning Point: A History of the Spiritual Roots of
Alcoholics Anonymous, 99-100.
The Conversion of Bill W., 47, 94,
A New Way In: Telling the Truth, 61-66.
Norman Vincent Peale, The Positive Power of Jesus Christ.
1980.
Bill W. My First 40 Years
Dale Mitchel, Silkworth, The Little Doctor Who Loved
Drunks
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 60-63.
Mel B.,
Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W.
New Wine: The Spiritual Roots of the Twelve Step
Miracle
“Lois Remembers: Searcy, Ebby, Bill & Early Days”:
Recorded in Dallas, Texas, June 29, 1973.
T. Willard Hunter, It Started Right There
W. Irving Harris, The Breeze of the Spirit
“Pass It On”
William James, The Varieties of Religious
Experience
[Bill Wilson’s first unsuccessful attempts for six months to
carry a message]
William Borchert, When Love is Not Enough
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 191.
Lois Remembers, 94-95
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 64-65
The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, 9-10,
26.
[Alcoholics Anonymous History – The Fellowship
Begins]
How the First Three AAs Got Sober by simply turning to God
for help.
Bill W.
[As a youngster in Vermont, Bill had repeatedly heard the
story of how his alcoholic grandfather Willie had been converted to God through
Jesus Christ on a mountaintop next to Bill’s village. Willie was saved, said so,
and never touched a drop during the remaining years of his life. And Bill was no
stranger to revivals, conversion meetings, temperance meetings, and salvation
teachings—the latter in his church and Sunday school
(1) Dr. Carl Jung had told Rowland Hazard that he had the
mind of a chronic alcoholic and that a conversion experience might heal him
(2) Rowland Hazard made a decision for Jesus Christ, joined
the Oxford Group, and worked actively with Rev. Sam Shoemaker.
(3) Rowland and two other Oxford Group friends told Bill
Wilson’s long-time drinking friend Ebby Thacher the solution that Jung had
proffered. Rowland taught him about the efficacy of prayer. He informed Ebby of
a number of the Oxford Group’s Christian principals. Then Ebby was lodged in
Calvary Rescue Mission in New York.
(4) Meanwhile, Bill Wilson had made his third visit to Towns
Hospital. Dr. William D. Silkworth, Bill’s psychiatrist, had a long talk.
Silkworth had given Bill a virtual death sentence contingent upon his continuing
to drink. Dr. Silkworth, a devout Christian and a long-time parishioner of Sam
Shoemaker’s Calvary Church, told Bill Wilson that the “Great Physician” Jesus
Christ could cure Bill.
(5) In this same period, Ebby Thacher had made a decision
for Jesus Christ at Calvary Mission, decided to witness to Bill, visited Bill,
and told Bill what had happened at the Mission.
(6) Bill decided to check out Ebby’s story and went to hear
him give testimony at Calvary Church.
(7) Bill decided that since the Great Physician had helped
Ebby recover, he might help Bill.
(8) Bill W. accepted Jesus Christ at Calvary Mission, wrote
in his autobiography that “For sure I had been born again.”
(9) Bill continued to drink, became severely depressed, and
thought, If there be a Great Physician, I had better call on him.
(10) Bill staggered on to Towns Hospital drunk and very
depressed and was hospitalized.
(11) He said to himself, “I’ll do anything, anything at all.
If there be a Great Physician, I’ll call on him.
(12) He cried out, “If there be a God let him show himself.”
(13) He said the effect was, instant, electric. Suddenly my
room blazed with an indescribably white light.
(14) He continued: Then, seen in the mind’s eye, there was a
mountain. I stood upon its summit where a great wind blew. A wind, not of air,
but of spirit. In great, clean strength it blew right through me.
(15) The light and the ecstasy subsided. Bill became more
quiet. A great peace stole over him.
(16) Then he became acutely conscious of a presence which
seemed like a “veritable sea of living spirit.”
(17) He thought, “This must be the great reality.” And in
one account, he said to himself: Bill, you are a free man. This is “the God of
the Scriptures.”
(18) He said, “I thanked my God who had given me a glimpse
of His absolute Self.
(19) He said that faith had suddenly appeared—no blind
faith—but faith fortified by the consciousness of the presence of God.
(20) Briefly he stopped doubting God and said “this great
and sudden gift of grace has always been mine.”
(21) He never drank again.
(22) But he did have his “hour of doubt.”
(23) Dr. Silkworth appeared and sat by Bill’s bed. Bill told
Silkworth what had happened. Bill asked: “Doctor, is this real? Am I still
perfectly sane?”
(24) Sikworth assured him that he was sane. He said “You
have had some kind of conversion experience.”
(25) Ebby showed up at the hospital, agreed with Bill that
he and Bill had a release that was a gift, real. He handed Bill a copy of a book
by Professor William James. It was called “The Varieties of Religious
Experience.” Bill he had read it “all day.”
(26) The James book was filled with studies and stories of
the cure of alcoholism at missions such as the one founded by Jerry McAuley at
316 Water Street in 1872, and later (in 1882) at 104 West Thirty-second Street,
known as Cremorne Mission. In 1886, S.H. Hadley took charge of the Water Street
Mission. Hadley had been converted at Jerry McAuley’s Cremorne Mission, and in
the years of service in Water Street not less than seventy-five thousand persons
came to the mission for help. Hadley died in 1906.
(27) Before his discharge from Towns Hospital in December of
1935, Wilson had been inspired to help drunks everywhere.
(28) On his discharge, he raced feverishly to the streets,
the missions, the hospitals, the Bowery, and flea bag hotels. He went with a
Bible under his arm and insisted that drunks give their lives to God.
(29) Bill’s story is briefly told as follows in the Big
Book: “Henrietta, the Lord has been so wonderful to me curing me of this
terrible disease that I just want to keep talking about it and telling people.”
(30) But in his first six months of witnessing, Bill was
unable to get a single person sober.]
Dr. Bob
[Dr. Bob was born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont when the entire
state was still swirling from the effect of “The Great Awakening of 1875 in St.
Johnsbury.”
(1) His parents were married when the
events were taking place. They taught Bob about salvation and the Word of God.
(2) He heard similar sermons and
teachings in the family’s North Congregational Church of St.
Johnsbury.
(3) Temperance was in the
air.
(4) The Young Men’s Christian
Association had been active in bringing about the Great Awakening and was still
very active during Bob’s growing-up period.
(5) The great evangelists—Moody, Sankey,
Moorehouse, Meyer, and Folger--had inspired Vermont with their talk of
salvation, the Bible, and God’s healing power.
(6) The Salvation Army was becoming well
known for its outreach and resulting healing of derelicts and drunks.
(7) So too were the rescue mission
events involving Jerry McAuley, Water Street Mission, and S.H.
Hadley.
(8) The Young People’s Society of
Christian Endeavor, in which Dr. Bob was active, had laid out a program of
confession of Jesus Christ, conversions, Bible study meetings, prayer meetings,
Quiet Hour observances, and reading and speaking on Christian literature. Their
program, though not aimed at drunkards, was certainly focused on bringing young
people back to their churches.
(9) In his early sobriety, Dr. Bob had
turned back to church for himself and Sunday school for his children. And the
program of the early Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship closely resembled the
conversions which were so much a part of Bill’s life, and the principles and
practices of Christian Endeavor.]
[Dr. Bob’s road back to sobriety could—like Bill Wilson’s—be
said to have begun when he was at the bottom of the heap in 1931. I learned
little about him at that time. But I researched and learned a lot about what
happened in Akron in 1931. It revolved around the Firestone family, and Harvey’s
protégé Jim Newton—a young man from Florida. When Jim arrived in Akron, he
befriended Russell Firestone but found that Russell had a serious drinking
problem. Jim tried to help Russell by Oxford Group techniques. But finally, the
family decided to call in Rev. Sam Shoemaker of New York—an Oxford Group leader
of that time. They (Harvey, Russell, Jim and Sam) boarded a train for a Bishop’s
conference in Denver—with Russell well supplied with liquor. But on the trip
back, Sam Shoemaker took Russell into a train compartment and led Russell to a
new birth in Christ. By the time the train arrived back in Akron, Russell was
healed, and his doctor felt it was a miracle. Russell and Jim then began
traveling together and witnessing to others about the Oxford Group’s
life-changing program. By 1933, the family was elated at Russell’s progress.
They invited Dr. Frank Buchman and a retinue of some 30 Oxford Group activists
to come to Akron, speak in the pulpits and public places, and inform the press.
I have personally seen the Akron newspapers of that early 1933 period; and they
are alive with talk of Russell and his “miracle,” of Jesus Christ, of the Bible,
and of Christianity. And a large part of the town turned out to hear Russell,
Jim, Buchman, and others give testimony.]
[The wheels of sobriety began to grind for Dr. Bob. His
friend Henrietta Seiberling and his wife Anne attended the 1933 functions. They
were excited. They persuaded Dr. Bob to join a small Oxford Group. And, though
he continued to drink, Dr. Bob read all the Oxford Group literature he could get
his hands on. He studied the Bible extensively once again. He read it from cover
to cover three times. He prayed. And he enjoyed the people. But he concluded to
Henrietta that he just didn’t want to quit drinking and was a “wanta wanta” guy.
But Henrietta was undeterred. She convened a tiny group, including Bob. They all
engaged in life-changing stories. Dr. Bob joined in and confessed that he was a
“secret drinker.” Henrietta asked him if he wanted to pray for his deliverance.
And Bob joined the group on his knees on the rug at the T. Henry Williams home,
asking God for help. Help did not come at once. But a seemingly miraculous phone
call reached Henrietta from an unknown stranger from New York. It was Bill
Wilson saying that he was an Oxford Grouper, a rum hound from New York, and
needed to talk with a drunk. Henrietta was sure this was an answer to the
prayers and thought of Bill, “This is manna from heaven.” She arranged a visit
at her home between Bob and Bill. It lasted six hours. Bob said he had heard it
all before, but that Bill talked his language—the story of a drunk. Bob said he
picked up on the idea of “service” which was something his religious endeavors
had not gotten through to him.
And, after one last binge, Bob quit forever while Bill
Wilson was living with the Smiths in their home.]
Bill Dotson (A.A. Number Three)
[We have run across very little concerning Bill Dotson,
except as set forth in the biographical information above. However, we know for
sure that: (1) Dotson was an attorney in Akron. (2) Dotson believed in God, went
to church, taught Sunday school, and became a Deacon in the church. (3) His
alcoholism had progressed to the point that he had been strapped to a hospital
bed eight times in the preceding months. (4) And when Dr. Bob inquired of a
nurse whether there was a hospitalized drunk who needed help, she told them she
had a dandy—Bill Dotson. (5) Bill and Bob visited Dotson, told him their
stories, told him he needed to seek God’s help, and that—upon being healed—he
must go out and help others in like situations. (6) Dotson did turn to God for
help and was instantly cured. In fact, he subscribed to Bill Wilson’s statement
on page 191 of the Big Book that “the Lord had cured” him and that he just
wanted to keep talking about it and telling people. He called the statement the
“golden text of A.A.” for him and for others. (7) And, when Bill and Bob had
returned to the hospital, Dotson had been relieved of his drinking problem, He
left the hospital with his wife. The date was July 4, 1935; and Bill Wilson
proclaimed that as the founding date for A.A.’s first group—Akron Number One.
Dotson remained active in A.A. and often led groups with a Bible in his lap,
ready to help someone who needed help.]
The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (Pamphlet
P-53)
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed,,
2010.
“Introductory Foundations for Christian Recovery”
Class
The Original Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship Program Founded
in June, 1935, and the first group—Akron Number One—founded July 4, 1935 when
Bill D. was cured.
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers
Dick B.,
The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous
The Good Book and the Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible
Turning Point: The Spiritual History of Alcoholics
Anonymous
Henrietta B. Seiberling: Ohio’s Lady with a Cause
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 66-72.
The Principles and Practices of the Original Akron A.A.
Pioneers
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide 3rd ed.,
2010
Stick with the Winners!
Pioneer Stories in Alcoholics Anonymous: God’s Role in
Recovery Confirmed
Dick B.,
When Early AAs Were Cured and Why
Real 12 Step Fellowship History
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers
Sue Smith Windows and Robert R. Smith, Children of the
Healer, 1992
The Role of the Bible in Earliest A.A.
The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers
Dick B.,
The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the
Bible
The Good Book-Big Book Guidebook
The James Club and the Original A.A. Program’s Absolute
Essentials
Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939
Why Early A.A. Succeeded (A Bible Study Primer)
Cured: Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts
The First Nationwide Alcoholics Anonymous History
Conference
“Prayer and Meditation” in Earliest A.A.
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers
Dick B., Good Morning!: Quiet Time, Morning Watch,
Meditation, and Early A.A.
Howard Rose, The Quiet Time
Donald Carruthers, How to Find Reality in Your Morning
Devotions, Penn State College, n.d.
Nora Smith Holm, The Runner’s Bible
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
Henry Drummond: The Greatest Thing in the World
E. Stanley Jones, Victorious Living
Mary W. Tileston, Daily Strength for Daily Needs
The Upper Room
The “Real Surrender” to Jesus Christ in Early A.A.
Dick B.,
The Golden Text of A.A.
A New Way In
When Early AAs Were Cured and Why
That Amazing Grace
A New Way Out: New Path, Familiar Road Signs, Our Creator’s
Guidance
Mitchell K., How It Worked
Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery
Guide
[The Akron Formula for Christian Fellowship Recovery]
[Bible based, Christ-centered, bringing the Creator’s Power
and Cures Back into Focus. And we believe the following are the ingredients
common to most all successful Christian efforts to bring deliverance to
alcoholics:
1. The choice of abstinence.
2. The choice of avoiding temptation.
3. The choice of entrusting one’s life to the care,
direction, and strength of the Creator.
4. The choice of establishing a relationship with Him
through Jesus Christ.
5. The choice of obeying His commandments and eliminating
sinful conduct—putting off the “old man.”
6. The choice of growing in knowledge and fellowship with
Him, His son, and His children through Bible study, prayer, religious
fellowship, worship, and witness—putting on the “new man.”
7. The choice of passing along to others with love and
service the message that will enable those others to help and be helped in the
same manner.]
Dick B., A New Way Out, 63-64.
The Daily Meetings, Family Emphasis, and Close Contacts
Among Members—Resemblance to First Century Christianity
[A.A. History – A.A. and First Century Christianity. There
were multiple “First Century Christianity” at Work in A.A. Quotes Among The
Rockefeller People Who Investigated. Five of the Rockefeller people involved
with the Frank Amos report commented as follows on the First Century
Christianity nature of the Akron A.A.:
Frank Amos: As stated, Rockefeller’s investigator Frank Amos
had observed that the meetings of Akron people had, in many respects, taken on
the form of the meetings described in the Gospels of the early Christians during
the first century (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, pp. 135-36)
Albert Scott: In December, 1936. a meeting was held in John
D. Rockefeller’s private board room. Bill W., Dr. Bob, Dr. Silkworth, Dr.
Leonard Strong, and some alcoholics from New York and Akron met with
Rockefeller’s associates Willard Richardson, A. Leroy Chapman, Frank Amos, and
Albert Scott. The meeting was chaired by Albert Scott, chairman of the board of
trustees of New York’s Riverside Church. Each alcoholic was enjoined to tell his
own personal story, after which, the chairman Albert Scott exclaimed, “Why, this
is first-century Christianity. What can we do to help?” (Alcoholics Anonymous
Comes of Age, p. 148)
Nelson Rockefeller: In February of 1940, John D.
Rockefeller, Jr. had arranged a dinner for Bill and the AAs. John D. had
intended to attend, but was too ill to do so and sent his son Nelson Rockefeller
to host the dinner. As Bill’s wife Lois Wilson records in her memoirs, “When
Nelson finally got up to talk, there was a great deal of expectancy. He told how
impressed his father [John D., Jr..] was with this unique movement, which
resembled early Christianity.” (Lois Remembers, pp. 128-29)
Willard Richardson and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., himself:
What they’d been hearing, he [Albert Scott] said, was like first century
Christianity, where one person carried the word to the next. . . . Willard
Richardson was in charge of all John D. Jr.’s philanthropies. . . Willard
Richardson added his approval to the report and immediately passed it on to Mr.
[John D.] Rockefeller. . . Rockefeller was impressed. He saw the parallel with
early Christianity and along with this he spotted a combination of medicine and
religion that appealed to all his charitable inclinations (Robert Thomsen, Bill
W., pp. 274-75).
The best comparative material showing what the Apostolic
Christians did can be found in Acts 2:41-47:
“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and
the same day there were added [unto them] about three thousand souls.
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and
fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs
were done by the apostles.
And all that believed were together, and had all things
common;
And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all
[men], as every man had need.
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple,
and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and
singleness of heart,
Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the
Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Not surprisingly, Dr. Bob, co-founder of A.A. frequently
called the early A.A. Akron program a "Christian Fellowship"
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers
Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide,
3rd ed., 2010.
The Counting of Noses in November, 1937 that proved God had
shown the founders how to succeed
[DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers also comments on the
November 1937 meeting between Bill W. and Dr. Bob which led to the decision that
a book about their cure for alcoholism would be needed.
In November of that year [i.e., 1937], Bill Wilson went on a
business trip that enabled him to make a stopover in Akron. . . .
Bill's writings record the day he sat in the living room
with Doc, counting recoveries. "A hard core of very grim, last-gasp cases had by
then been sober a couple of years," he said. "All told, we figured that upwards
of 40 alcoholics were staying bone dry
Up to then, prospects had come to the founders from other
cities. Now, the question was whether every alcoholic had to come to Akron or
New York to get sober. Was it possible to reach distant alcoholics? Was it
possible for the Fellowship to grow "rapidly and soundly"?
This was when Bill began to think . . . of writing a book of
experiences that would carry the message of recovery to other cities and other
countries.
Let us now look at this vitally-significant, November 1937
meeting in more detail.
In an October 1945 article in the A.A. Grapevine titled "The
Book Is Born," Bill referred to his meeting with Dr. Bob in Akron in November
1937 as follows:
By the fall of 1937 we could count what looked like forty
recovered members. One of us had been sober three years, another two and a half,
and a fair number had a year or more behind them. As all of us had been hopeless
cases, this amount of time elapsed began to be significant. The realization that
we had "found something" began to take hold of us. No longer were we a dubious
experiment. Alcoholics could stay sober. Great numbers, perhaps! While some of
us had always clung to this possibility, the dream now had real substance. If
forty alcoholics could recover, why not four hundred, four thousand — even forty
thousand. RHS: Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous: Our Beloved DR. BOB (NY: A.A.
Grapevine, Inc., 1951), 8.
The article from which this quote is taken also occurs in
The Language of the Heart and is titled "Dr. Bob: A Tribute." This quote appears
on page 359 of that article.
In the quote above, Bill spoke of having counted "what
looked like forty recovered members." He also speculated about possible, much
larger numbers of alcoholics—"even forty thousand"—recovering.
Bill W. spoke more clearly and at greater length about his
November 1937 meeting with Dr. Bob in Akron in his tribute to Dr. Bob in the
special memorial issue of The A.A. Grapevine in January 1951 titled
"RHS":
Meanwhile a small group had taken shape in New York. The
Akron meeting at T. Henry's home began to have a few Cleveland visitors. At this
juncture I spent a week visiting Dr. Bob. We commenced to count noses. Out of
hundreds of alcoholics, how many had stuck? How many were sober? And for how
long? In that fall of 1937 Bob and I counted forty cases who had significant dry
time — maybe sixty years for the whole lot of them! Our eyes glistened. Enough
time had elapsed on enough cases to spell out something quite new, perhaps
something great indeed. . . . A beacon had been lighted. God had shown
alcoholics how it might be passed from hand to hand. Never shall I forget that
great and humbling hour of realization, shared with Dr. Bob.
But the new realization faced us with a great problem, a
momentous decision. It had taken nearly three years to effect forty recoveries.
The United States alone probably had a million alcoholics. How were we to get
the story to them?
Here again, Bill declares that he and Dr. Bob "counted forty
cases who had significant dry time" and refers to "forty recoveries." And note
that Bill credited God with having shown them "how it might be passed from hand
to hand." RHS: Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous: Our Beloved DR. BOB (NY: A.A.
Grapevine, Inc., 1951), 8. The article from which this quote is taken also
occurs in The Language of the Heart and is titled "Dr. Bob: A Tribute." This
quote appears on page 359 of that article.
Bill wrote about his November 1937 meeting with Dr. Bob in
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age:
. . . [T]his trip [in the fall of 1937] gave me a much
needed chance to visit Dr. Bob in Akron. It was on a November day in that year
[of 1937] when Dr. Bob and I sat in his living room, counting the noses of our
recoveries. There had been failures galore, but now we could see some startling
successes too. A hard core of very grim, last-gasp cases had by then been sober
a couple of years, an unheard-of development. There were twenty or more such
people. All told we figured that upwards of forty alcoholics were staying bone
dry.
. . . [A] benign chain reaction, one alcoholic carrying the
good news to the next, had started outward from Dr. Bob and me. Conceivably it
could one day circle the whole world. What a tremendous thing that realization
was! At last we were sure. . . . We actually wept for joy, and Bob and Anne and
I bowed our heads in silent prayer. Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 76. See
also: Debra Jay, No More Letting Go: The Spirituality of Taking Action Against
Alcoholism and Drug Addiction (New York, NY: Bantam Books, 2006),
287-88.
Here again, we see Bill commenting about the "upwards of
forty alcoholics" who "were staying bone dry," while speaking almost in the same
breath about how "it could one day circle the whole world."
The A.A. General Service Conference-approved book "Pass It
On" also discusses this November 1937 meeting.
“Later in 1937, Bill . . . did visit Bob and Anne in Akron.
It was on this visit that the two men conducted a "formal" review of their work
of the past two years.
What they came to realize as a result of that review was
astounding: Bill may have been stretching things when he declared that at least
20 cases had been sober a couple of years; but by counting everybody who seemed
to have found sobriety in New York and Akron, they concluded that more than 40
alcoholics were staying dry as a result of the program! "Pass It On": The Story
of Bill Wilson and How the A.A. Message Reached the World (New York, NY:
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984), 177-78.
Bill W. also spoke briefly about this meeting with Dr.
Bob—without mentioning numbers of recoveries—in his May 1955 article in the A.A.
Grapevine titled "How AA's World Services Grew, Part 1," in The Language of the
Heartt, See also: Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous,
224-25.
Bill W.'s wife Lois remarked on the 40 in her memoirs:
The business depression returned in 1937, and toward the end
of the year Quaw and Foley had to let Bill go. He went to Detroit and Cleveland
looking for new job ideas and, of course, stopped off at Akron on the
way
He and Bob assessed the current status of the movement. They
were surprised to find that, although many of those they had worked with had
fallen by the way, forty members enjoyed an average of two years' solid
sobriety. This was flabbergasting, awe-inspiring. They really had hit on a
program for helping alcoholics. Now they saw it could develop into something
tremendous—if it was not diluted or garbled by word of mouth. Lois Remembers:
Memoirs of the Co-founder of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-founder of Alcoholics
Anonymous (New York: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., 1987),
107.
Here are some key comments about this important tally of
successes by other writers. And we believe that all these comments should
be taken as a whole, compounded, and absorbed. For a few cynical A.A. writers
have said that talking about this November “nose counting” and the forty sober
alcoholics is somehow frivolous worship of a non-existent golden age of A.A. In
fact, however, A.A. with its inadequate funding, unknown founders, and somewhat
tawdry group of alcoholic organizers were hardly capable of producing a “golden
age.” But what they did produce was an astonishing record in the face of
repeated declarations that medical cure of alcoholics was an impossibility, that
there was little hope of anything but death or insanity for the addicted
sufferer, and that repeaters were so commonplace they weren’t worth the effort
to help them—except for such benign people as Dr. Silkworth, the Salvation Army,
the Rescue Missions, the evangelists, and the concerns of the YMCA. In other
words, Bill and Bob embarked almost alone on a seemingly hopeless and impossible
task and, between 1935 and late 1937 they had turned hopelessness into hope,
medical incurability into cure, and death and insanity into manageable
proportions. How?
By giving their lives to God! That’s how. And in many cases,
it took little but a dedication to quitting forever, a devoted surrender to God,
and an unpaid service to those who still suffered.
That was not a golden age. It was a case of some thirty or
forty miracles. And it caught attention.
In November [of 1937] Bill had to make a trip to the Midwest
in connection with the brokerage job he was trying to nail down. Although
nothing came of his efforts concerning the job—another depression had hit the
country in the fall of '37—the trip gave him an opportunity to visit Dr. Bob in
Akron. Bill had been sober almost three years, Bob two and a half, and this,
they figured, should be ample time for them to see where they were and even make
some sort of informal progress report.
There had been failures galore. Literally hundreds of drunks
had been approached by their two groups and some had sobered up for a brief
period but then slipped away. They were both conscious of their failures as they
settled down in Bob's living room and began comparing notes. But as the
afternoon wore on and they continued going over lists, counting noses, they
found themselves facing a staggering fact. In all, in Ohio and in New York, they
knew forty alcoholics who were sober and were staying sober, and of this number
at least twenty had been completely dry for more than a year. Moreover, every
single one of them had been diagnosed a hopeless case.
As they sat, each with a paper in hand, checking and
rechecking the score, a strange thing happened; they both fell silent. This was
more than a game they were playing, more than a little casual bookkeeping to be
used for a report. There were forty names representing forty men whose lives had
been changed, who actually were alive tonight because of what had started in
this very room. The chain reaction they had dreamed about—one alcoholic carrying
the word to another—was a reality. It had moved onward, outward from them.
Robert Thomsen, Bill W. (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), 266-67.
Although Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith had communicated
through dozens of letters, sitting down together again after almost two years
turned out to be an astonishing experience. Whey they compared notes in person,
they realized that they had actually found something that doctors and laymen had
been searching for as long as anyone could remember: a way to help alcoholics
get sober that actually worked. Between them they counted forty men who hadn't
had a drink in more than a year Susan Cheever, My Name Is Bill: Bill Wilson:
His Life and the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Washington
Square Press, 2004), 147.
In November [of 1937], Bill . . . was able to spend some
time in Akron. . . .
. . . He and the Smiths decided to take an inventory. Among
those they had tried to help, the failures were endless, and many of those who
seemed sincerely willing to try their approach were struggling. When they were
done counting, though, they realized that between Akron and New York there were
now forty alcoholics staying sober, and half of them had not had a drink for
more than a year. Francis Hartigan, Bill W.: A Biography of Alcoholics
Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson (NY: St. Martins Press, 2000),
101.]
The Documented 75% Success Rate in the Akron A.A. Program
Richard K., Early A.A.—Separating Fact from Fiction: How
Revisionists Have Led Our History Astray, 2003
Richard K. New Freedom: Reclaiming Alcoholics Anonymous,
2005
The one-page list in the hand of Dr. Bob—now in the
Rockefeller Archives
Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide,
3rd 2010
Bill Wilson’s Preparation for a New, Oxford Group-Oriented
Program
The Preparation of the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous
[This story begins with what Bill Wilson had learned from
his extensive contacts with the Oxford Group, its meetings, its house parties,
its teams, and Oxford Group leaders and activists such as Dr. Frank N.D.
Buchman, Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Irving Harris and his wife, Rowland Hazard,
Shep Cornell, Cebra Graves, Garrett Stearly, Cleve Hicks, Victor Kitchen, Garth
Lean, and others. He learned Oxford Group ideas from Shoemaker, Rowland Hazard,
Ebby Thacher, and attendance at their meetings. Bill is mentioned personally in
some of the Shoemaker personal journals we have seen. He was given a major post
in bringing the president of the League of Nations to America. Bill left the
Oxford Group in August of 1937, but he soon returned to become a personal friend
and collaborator with Sam Shoemaker. Bill had gone to Akron to obtain permission
to write a book, and he received it—by a bare majority of those voting.
According to Bill, Shoemaker, and Irving Harris, Bill began working with
Shoemaker on the contents of the book. They were closeted in Shoemaker’s
book-lined study at Calvary House. Bill showed Shoemaker the first manuscript of
the book. And he actually asked Shoemaker to write the Twelve Steps though
Shoemaker declined. This charts the Big Book connections. And part of the
preparations for the book were the so-called six word-of-mouth ideas Bill
claimed were being used before the Big Book. Bill said there was no agreement on
the contents of the six, and their contents certainly differed.
Here are the various ways Bill’s alleged six “steps” were
phrased, for example, as to God
1, “We prayed to God.” See Dick B., The Akron Genesis of
Alcoholics Anonymous, 256-257; The Language of the Heart, 200; William White,
Slaying the Dragon, 132.
2. “We prayed to whatever God we thought there was.” Dick
B., The Akron Genesis, 256; “Pass It On,” 197; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of
Age. 160; Jared Lobdell, This Strange Illness, 242.
3. “We prayed to God as you understand him.” Jared Lobdell,
This Strange Illness, 242; Dick B., Turning Point, 100.
4. Bill Wilson also said his “six steps” came from the
Oxford Group; and Lois Wilson contended that the Oxford Group said: “Surrender
your life to God.” Lois Remembers, 92; Dick B., The Akron Genesis, 257.
But, acting on the research and opinion of Oxford Group
activist T. Willard Hunter, A.A.’s own publication “Pass It On” concluded the
Oxford Group had no such six steps or any steps at all.“ Pass It On,” 206,
Footnote
5. From some source or for some reason undocumented and
seemingly false, the purported author of a Big Book personal story titled, “8.
HE SOLD HIMSELF SHORT,” (almost certainly Earl Treat of Chicago) was quoted with
reference to six steps plus several other ideas attributed to Dr. Bob as saying:
“Dependence and guidance from a Higher Power.” The story was added to the 1956
edition of Alcoholics Anonymous several years after Dr. Bob’s death. And it is
my opinion, based on extensive research of and writing about Dr. Bob that the
language on page 263 is language easily attributable to Bill Wilson but not
typical of the way Dr. Bob spoke of God as “Heavenly Father” and “God” and not
as some higher power. Examples of the questionable words are: 1. “Complete
deflation.” 2. “Dependence and guidance from a Higher Power.” Dr. Bob had
apparently asked a newcomer if he believed in “God”—not “a god”—God!
6. In The Language of the Heart, in an article dated
July, 1953, Bill makes the following comments about his six word-of-mouth ideas:
“. . . our growing groups at Akron, New York, and Cleveland evolved the
so-called word-of-mouth program of our pioneering time. As we commenced to form
a Society separate from the Oxford Group, we began to state our principles
something like this. . . . Though these principles were advocated according to
the whim or liking of each of us, and though in Akron and Cleveland they still
stuck by the O.G. absolutes of honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love, this
was the gist of our message to incoming alcoholics up to 1939. . .,” 200.
To see some of the inconsistencies in Bill’s statements and
dates, consider these points: (a) Bill and Lois left the Oxford Group in August
of 1937. (b) In 1938, Frank Amos summarized the Akron program in seven
points—practically none of which paralleled Bill’s six. DR. BOB and the Good
Oldtimers, 131. (c) Clarence Snyder did not found the Cleveland groups until May
of 1939, after the Big Book’s April publishing date. (d) In his two major
speeches in 1948. Dr. Bob spoke about prayer and reading the Bible. He spoke
favorably about the Four Absolutes. He said nothing that indicated he had
departed from his adherence to the seven points summarized by Frank Amos in
1938
o For example, in referring to God, Bill spoke of praying to
God, praying to God as you understood Him, and praying to whatever God you think
there is. In one recital of the six points attributed without documentation to
Dr Bob (a recital that I believe Bill himself wrote) the writer of the story
uses and speaks typical Bill Wilson language—higher power, deflation in depth,
and other ideas that I have not seen in usage in any other materials attributed
to Bob and his Akron ideas.
o The first phase of Big Book preparation itself took the
form of two chapters that Bill wrote in reverse order to those in the first two
chapters of the Big Book. “Pass It On,’ 193. He then began sending the chapters,
one by one, to Dr. Bob in Akron for approval. And the approval was forthcoming.
Details are set forth in Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous,
233-239;
o At some point, the materials were assembled into what has
been called the “multi-lith.” This was sent out to somewhere between 200 and 400
people for their comments.”Pass It On,” 200.Then they consolidated all comments
on one multi-lith which can be seen in The Book That Started It All: The
Original Working Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous (Center City, MN: Hazelden,
2010.
· Other important changes occurred along the way, at times and
by persons I have been unable to identify though much effort has been expended
in that direction. So I will simply list several of the changes made before and
perhaps during the handling of the Working Manuscript. These were: (1) A large
amount of material containing Christian and biblical material had been discarded
over the objections of John Henry Fitzhugh Mayo. It had apparently contained
material “learned from the missions and the churches that had helped AAs.” The
discard was verified in a conversation between Ruth Hock, the typist and
secretary and Bill Pittman, director of historical information at Hazelden. (2)
We know that at least 400 pages of manuscript material was cut by an editor, but
no one who described the incident—even though hired by A.A. General Services to
write “Pass It On”—could confirm anything but the truthfulness of the 400 page
discard. But not what the pages contained or who discarded them. “Pass It On,”
204. (3) Tom Uzzell of New York University edited the manuscript, and I have
been unable to locate any information about him at NYU or concerning the changes
he made. “Pass It On,” 204. (4) Substantial changes were made in the Working
Manuscript itself. They were hand-written, and the authors have not yet been
identified. However, it was then that Steps Two, Three, and Eleven were changed
to eliminate the word “God.” And the changes were made in a compromise designed
to appease atheists and agnostics. “Pass It On,” 199. Bill described the
contending forces. He said: “Fitz wanted a powerfully religious book. Henry and
Jimmy wanted none of it. They wanted a psychological book. . .” Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age, 17. Bill said, “All this time I had refused to budge on
these steps. I would not change a word of the original draft, in which, you will
remember, I had consistently used the word “God,” and in one place the
expression “on our knees” was used. The changes from “God” to “Power greater
than ourselves” and to “God as we understood Him. Such were the final
concessions to those of little or no faith; this was the great contribution of
our atheists and agnostics.” Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 166-167. “Fitz
thought that the book ought to be Christian in the doctrinal sense of the word
and that it should say so. He was in favor of using Biblical terms and
expressions to make this clear. . . Paul K. was even more emphatic. Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age, 162.
· But
Lois Wilson described those change those changes as follows: “The pros and cons
were mostly about the tone of the book. Some wanted it slanted more toward the
Christian religion—others, less. Many alcoholics were agnostics or atheists.
Then there were those of the Jewish faith and, around the world, of other
religions. Shouldn’t the book be written so that it would appeal to them?
Finally it was agreed that the book should present a universal spiritual
program, not a specific one, since all drunks were not Christian.” Lois
Remembers, 113.
It is more than fair to say that the end result of the 1939
Big Book project was far far different from the program summarized as the Akron
program by Frank Amos. Thus Bill finally made the following admissions in The
Language of the Heart, pp. 297-298:
So, then, how did we first learn that alcoholism is such a
fearful sickness as this? Who gave us this priceless information on which the
effectiveness of our program so much depends? Well, it came from my own doctor,
“the ;little doctor who loved drunks,” William D. Silkworth. More than
twenty-five years ago at Towns Hospital, New York, he told Lois and me what the
disease of alcoholism actually is
Of course, we have since found that these awful conditions
of mind and body invariably bring on the third phase of our malady. This is the
sickness of the spirit; a sickness for which there must be a spiritual remedy.
We AAs recognize this in the first five words of Step Twelve of the recovery
program . . . Here we declare the necessity for that all important spiritual
awakening. Who,then, first told us about the utter necessity for such an
awakening, for an experience that not only expels the alcohol obsession, but
which also makes effective and truly real the practice of spiritual principles
“in all our affairs”? Well, this life-giving idea came to us AA through William
James, the father of modern psychology. It came through his famous book
Varieties of Religious Experience. . . William James also heavily emphasized the
need for hitting bottom/ Thus did he reinforce AA’s Step One and so did he
supply us with the spiritual essence of Step Twelve.
Where did the early AAs find the material for the remaining
ten Steps? Where did we learn about moral inventory, amends for harms done,
turning wills and lives over to God? Where did we learn about meditation and
prayer and all the rest of it? The spiritual substance of our remaining ten
Steps came straight from Dr. Bob’s and my own earlier association with the
Oxford Groups, as they were then led in America by that Episcopal rector, Dr.
Samuel M. Shoemaker.
Learning the difference between this twelve step program
which Bill said emanated from Sam Shoemaker and Dr. Bob’s statement that the
basic ideas came from their study and effort in the Bible. And the summarized
heart of that program is found in the Frank Amos report in DR BOB and the Good
Oldtimers, 131:
Following his visit to Akron in
February 1938, Frank Amos, John D. Rockefeller, Jr.'s agent, summarized the
original Akron A.A. “Program” in seven points. Here are those points, as quoted
in Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers:
· An alcoholic must realize that he is an alcoholic,
incurable from a medical viewpoint, and that he must never drink anything with
alcohol in it.
· He must surrender himself absolutely to God, realizing
that in himself there is no hope.
· Not only must he want to stop drinking permanently, he
must remove from his life other sins such as hatred, adultery, and others which
frequently accompany alcoholism. Unless he will do this absolutely, Smith and
his associates refuse to work with him
· He must have devotions every morning—a “quiet time” of
prayer and some reading from the Bible and other religious literature. Unless
this is faithfully followed, there is grave danger of backsliding
· He must be willing to help other alcoholics get
straightened out. This throws up a protective barrier and strengthens his own
willpower and convictions.
· It is important, but not vital, that he meet frequently
with other reformed alcoholics and form both a social and a religious
comradeship.
· Important, but not vital, that he attend some religious
service at least once weekly.
And we believe that if you master the original program,
study the Big Book, look at our history, and then take the Twelve Steps, it is
possible to get the best results from the Alcoholics Anonymous fellowship—just
as Clarence Snyder did when he brought those elements to Cleveland and soon
measured a 93% success rate there. As a matter of fact, International Christian
Recovery Coalition grows each day, has now participants in 50 states and in
other countries—dedicated to friendship. By that, they mean: 1. Tell people the
role that God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible truly played in the recovery
scene. 2. Show them from their own Conference-approved literature today exactly
how and why the door is wide open to those who want to benefit from and serve in
the A.A. and/or 12 Step program that made them so welcome in their early days.
3. Be friendly with those in the fellowship who do or don’t believe in God, the
Bible, Jesus Christ, or anything; help them with basic facts from history and
official literature; and stand confidently on their right to pursue their own
beliefs in complete accord with A.A.’s history, Steps, and
Traditions.
Gloria
Deo
