Alcoholics Anonymous and The Twelve Steps - Step One

The Twelve Steps and Alcoholics Anonymous – Step One Study

Dick B.

Copyright 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved

Here’s what AA Cofounder Bill Wilson said about Step One

“Our recovery Step One reads thus: ‘We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.’ This simply means that all of us have to hit bottom and hit hard and lastingly. But we can seldom make this sweeping admission of personal hopelessness until we fully realize that alcoholism is a grievous and often fatal malady of the mind and body—an obsession that condemns us to drink joined to a physical allergy that condemns us to madness or death.

“So, then, how did we first learn that alcoholism is such a fearful sickness as this? Who gave us this priceless piece of information on which the effectiveness of Step One of our program so much depends? Well, it came from my own doctor, ‘the little doctor who loved drunks,’ William Duncan Silkworth. More than twenty-five years ago at Towns Hospital, New York, he told Lois [Bill Wilson’s wife] and me what the disease of alcoholism actually is.” The Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings, page 297.

Here’s what Rev. Sam Shoemaker, the man Bill Wilson called a “cofounder of A.A.” said

“The reason so many people in A.A. give thanks that they are alcoholics is that the problem of living, and the failure to meet life successfully, is singled down for them to the problem of alcohol. It is definite and specific. This is exactly what Christianity has taught from the beginning, not only about a problem like alcoholism, but about the whole range of human defeat: that the old clichés like ‘exerting more will power’ are utterly impractical. We are just as powerless by ourselves over temper, or a bad tongue, or a moody disposition, or a habit of lust, or a hard and critical spirit. It is only pride and lack of insight into ourselves that would keep anyone from saying, ‘our lives have become unmanageable.’ This is the first step, not only towards sobriety, but towards self-understanding and the knowledge of life.” Bill Pittman and Dick B., Courage to Change: The Christian Roots of the Twelve-Step Movement, pages 208-09.

In his usual short and pithy language, A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob said

“’The first one will get you.’ According to John R., he kept repeating that.” DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, page 227.

“. . . Dr. Bob advocated that members stay in dry places whenever possible. ‘You don’t ask the Lord not to lead you into temptation, then turn around and walk right into it,’ he said.” DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, page 281.

“Nobody pushed you into that bar. You walked in there, and you ordered that drink, and naturally, you drank it. So don’t tell me you don’t know how you got there.” DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, page 274.

Bill Wilson called Dr. Bob’s Wife “The Mother of A.A.,” and she said

“Surrender is a simple act of will. What do we surrender? Our life. When? At a certain definite moment. How? ‘Oh God, manage me because I cannot manage myself.’” Dick B., Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939, page 21.

“Paul speaks of a wish toward good, but power to carry it out is lacking. A stronger power than his was needed. God provided that power through Christ, so that we could find a new kind of relationship with God. Christ gives the power, we appropriate it. It is not anything that we do ourselves, but it is the appropriation of a power that comes from God that saves us from sin and sets us free.” Dick B., Anne Smith’s Journal, page 22

Early AAs often said

“We admitted that we were licked, that we were powerless over alcohol.” Dick B., Twelve Steps For You: Take the Twelve Steps with the Big Book, A.A. History, and the Good Book at Your Side, page 33; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, page 160.

One Personal Story in the First Edition of the Big Book quoted the Bible and said:

“One morning, after a sleepless night worrying over what I could do to straighten myself out, I went to my room alone—took my Bible in hand and asked Him, the One Power, that I might  open to a good place to read—and I read ‘For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death.’

That was enough for me—I started to understand. Here were the words of Paul, a great teacher. When then if I had slipped? Now, I could understand.

From that day I gave and still give and always will, time every day to read the word of God and let Him do all the caring. Who am I to try to run myself or anyone else?” Alcoholics Anonymous, 1^st ed. 1939, page 347. [See Romans 7:22-25].

dickb@dickb.com; www.dickb.com

Gloria Deo

A.A. and the Twelve Steps: A.A. History

A.A. and the Twelve Steps

A.A. History

By Dick B.

© 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved

Would you like to learn about A.A. its Twelve Steps? Would you like make A.A. history and the roots of A.A. a part of your study? Would you like to know what A.A. “founder” Rev. Samuel Shoemaker said about A.A. and the Twelve Steps? If you would, then Courage to Change by Bill Pittman and Dick B. is the first place to turn. http://www.amazon.com/Courage-To-Change-Christian-Twelve-Step/dp/1568382456. In fact, Courage to Change: The Christian Roots of the Twelve-Step Movement is one of earliest source books for the study of A.A. history, reporting the role of A.A. founder Bill Wilson and of the man Bill Wilson dubbed a “cofounder” of A.A., as a means for understanding A.A. and the Twelve Steps.

There are other, later, A.A. history books by author Dick B. that add to the A.A. and study groups scene. And we will talk about them in a moment.

In Courage to Change, Bill Pittman and Dick B. crafted a simple, A.A.-founder-related presentation of each of the Twelve Steps—covering the Steps one by one. Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker was Rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in New York. His church was in charge of Calvary Mission where A.A. founder Bill Wilson went to the altar and made his decision for Jesus Christ about December 7, 1934. Shoemaker was the chief American lieutenant of the Oxford Group which laid out the biblical principles and the practical program of action that Bill codified in the A.A. Big Book and its Twelve Steps. So much so, that Bill Wilson asked Rev. Shoemaker to write the Twelve Steps, but Shoemaker declined. However, A.A. “founder” Shoemaker did work with Bill Wilson in Shoemaker’s book-lined study at Calvary House as Bill was developing the language of A.A.’s 12 Steps contained in the book Alcoholics Anonymous published April 10, 1939.

Sam Shoemaker was known as “a Bible-Christian.” His 30-plus books, articles, sermons, and efforts at Calvary Church regularly presented key ideas long before A.A. was founded in June 1935 that eventually made their way into A.A. Shoemaker frequently cited a Bible verse that supported a Step idea. In describing what a Step meant and how to take it, Shoemaker would cite a Bible verse and then use the very language for that Step that one can find in both Shoemaker’s words and in the words of Bill Wilson.

In addition to laying out each Step and the correlative language from the Bible and Shoemaker, Pittman and Dick B. also included two vitally-important and useful articles by Shoemaker which were directly related to A.A. and the Twelve Steps. The first was the “Those Twelve Steps as I Understand Them.” The second was “What the Church Can Learn from Alcoholics Anonymous.”

Dick B. went on to write and publish three additional books about A.A. and the Twelve Steps. Each adds more A.A. history specifics to the ideas that Bill Wilson and Rev. Shoemaker formulated in the actual Steps. The first title is Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A. Pittsburgh ed.: www.dickb.com/newlight.shtml. The second title is Dick B., Twelve Steps for You: www.dickb.com/12StepsforYou.shtml. The third is By the Power of God: www.dickb.com/powerofgod.shtml

There are several things a reader can do to enhance his understanding of the Twelve Steps, his knowledge about A.A. and the Twelve Steps, and his ability to “take” the Twelve Steps and take a newcomer through each Step. The first is to look at the 12 suggested Steps as they are spelled out in the Big Book. The second is to look for the specific instructions the Big Book provides for taking each Step (sometimes a bit murky or actually missing in details). The third is to read two A.A. General Service Conference-approved books—Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age by Bill Wilson and The Language of the Heart—where Bill Wilson specifically attributes at least 10 of the 12 Steps to Shoemaker. The fourth is to read Bill Pittman and Dick B., Courage to Change. Finally, to read the three Dick B. books cited above and particularly the explanation of Shoemaker’s part in each Step.

Courage to Change is now available in Kindle format from Amazon.com: http://goo.gl/rItYA.

Good hunting!

DickB@DickB.com;

www.DickB.com/titles.shtml

Gloria Deo

Anne Smith's Journal and A.A.'s Twelve Steps in the Big Book

The Twelve Steps of A.A. and the Journal of Dr. Bob’s Wife

Dick B.

Copyright 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved

Anne Ripley Smith, Wife of Dr. Bob

Key Teachings in “Anne Smith’s Journal”

Sources

The best source of information about Anne Ripley Smith, wife of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Dr. Bob can be found in Dick B. Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939: A.A.’s Principles of Success, 3rd ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1998); ISBN 1-885803-24-9.
And see www.dickb.com/annesm.shtml.

Other helpful materials about Anne can be found in Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous (www.dickb.com/Akron.shtml); The James Club and The Original A.A. Program’s Absolute Essentials (www.dickb.com/JamesClub.shtml); The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous (www.dickb.com/Oxford.shtml); Turning Point: A History of the Spiritual Roots and Successes of A.A. (www.dickb.com/Turning.shtml); and Twelve Steps for You (www.dickb.com/12StepsforYou.shtml).

Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939: Teachings by Dr. Bob’s Wife

This 64 plus pages of written material by Anne Smith was obtained by me from General Service Archives in New York by permission of the Trustees Archives Committee, upon the recommendation of A.A. GSO Archivist Frank Mauser, Nell Wing, and Sue Smith Windows, daughter of Dr. Bob and Anne Smith. Some parts are difficult to read. Some were typed up
by Sue Windows for her mother. Some were duplicate pages. And some have long been missing.

Anne began recording her teachings (from the Bible, the Oxford Group, and the Christian literature she read) in her journal in 1933 and continued until 1939 when Wilson’s Big Book was published.

Anne was an ardent Bible student. She had been a school teacher. And she attended the big Oxford Group meeting in Akron in 1933. She and Dr. Bob attended Oxford Group meetings in Akron until the founding of A.A. Group Akron Number One in 1935. At that time, Anne began holding Quiet Time meetings early in the morning at the Smith Home. Alcoholics and their families attended these meetings. Anne began these Quiet Time meetings with prayer, then read the Bible, then led group prayer and seeking God’s guidance, then conducted topical discussion from her journal, and on the Bible, and on subjects in devotionals like the Upper Room.

There is so much material packed into Anne’s Journal that closely resembles the contents of Bill Wilson’s Twelve Steps of 1939 that it is both possible and likely that Anne shared the journal teachings with Bill and Bob in the Smith Home during the summer of 1935. In fact, Dr. Bob’s daughter Sue Smith Windows often wrote about her mother’s journal and said that Bill and Lois picked it up in Akron at the time of Dr. Bob’s death and took it with them.

And, on my visit to Stepping Stones about 20 years ago, I found a binder containing her journal and titled “Annie’s” notes with a copy of Soul Surgery and some Shoemaker sermons stuffed in the back.

Anne’s Teachings on Step Subjects—What She Taught about Steps 1 to 4 subjects.

And notice the frequency of Anne’s mention of Jesus Christ, of phrases that later became easily observed in Bill Wilson’s writings, of Bible verses, and of Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, 7).

Step One: (1) “What do you do when you pray? O Lord manage me, for I cannot manage myself.” (2) “Surrender is an act of will.”

Step Two: (1) “Paul speaks of a wish toward good, but power to carry it out is lacking. A stronger power than his was needed. God provided the power through Christ, so that we could find a new kind of relationship with God. Christ gives us the power, we appropriate it. It is not anything that we do ourselves; but it is the appropriation of a power that comes from God that saves us from sin and sets us free.” (2) “2nd step. To get in right relationship with God.”

Step Three: (1) “Try to bring a person to a decision to “surrender as much of himself as he knows to as much of God as he knows.” Stay with him until he makes a decision and says it aloud.” (2) “Surrender is a complete handing over of our wills to God, a reckless abandon of ourselves, all that we have, all that we think that we are, everything we hold dear, to God to do what he likes with.”

Step Four: (1) “Why are people so afraid to face their deepest problems? Because they think there is no answer. When they learn there is one, they will believe it can work out for them, and they will be really honest about themselves. . . . It is absolutely necessary to face people with the moral test.” (2) “It’s not self-examination but God’s examination.” (3) “Who checks another checks himself. If I have an urge to check because of personal feelings, I am not seeing in light of Christ’s love. Criticism born of my own projection. Something wrong in me. Unless I can crystallize the criticism, I had better look for mote in my eye” [See Matthew 7:1-5] (4) “Basis of an interview. Is a challenge on the four standards. . . . Make a list. Help them to make a list of things. . . . Am I ready to write then down and willing?” (5) “Why I had been absolutely honest but not living.” (6) “Resentments to be faced and set right.” (8) “Restitution to be made.” (9) “Follow Christ’s absolute commandment” [to love] (9) “Emotion—anger, irritability, envy, jealously, hurt feelings, self-pity.” (9) “Fears—of inefficiency, incompetence, failing powers of application and success… of infection, or serious illness…and of your secret self, of discouragement, and public speaking” (10) “Fear and worry are atheism.” (11) “Telling a lie.”

dickb@dickb.com; www.dickb.com



Gloria Deo

12 Step-Big Book Study of Christian Sources: Courage to Changte

A Kindle Way to Study the Real 12 Step Christian roots inexpensively:
Check out "Courage to Change" by Dick B. and Bill Pittman, Hazelden Publisher

"Stick with the Winners" May 18-19 Conference, Westminster, CA

The International Christian Recovery Coalition

Presents

The First 2012 North American Conference

May 18-19, 2012

His Place Church, 14061 Chestnut St., Westminster, CA 92683

Conference Theme:

“Stick with the Winners”

“Living First Century Christianity in Recovery Today;

Rediscovering ‘Old-School’ A.A. in Conference-Approved Literature”

Conference Schedule

Session One: Friday, May 18, 2012

Doors Open:                                                                            6:00 PM

Registration, Music, Displays, Networking                             6:00 to 7:00 PM

Conference Start                                                            7:00 to 7:10 PM

         

Prayer:                           Rev. Ken B.

Introduction:                  Pastor Joe Furey

Conference Overview:    Rev. Ken B.

Focus One:                                                                    7:10 to 7:55 PM

Dick B., Executive Director of the International Christian Recovery Coalition and author of more than 40 titles on A.A. history, A.A.’s Christian predecessors, and applying early A.A. principles in modern Christian Recovery efforts—together with his son and coauthor, Ken B.--will present key passages from A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature and other authoritative resources showing that the original Akron A.A. “Christian fellowship”—from the summer of 1935 until at least April 10, 1939, when the Big Book was published—was amazingly successful in helping “seemingly-hopeless,” “medically-incurable” alcoholics recover primarily because the group, in many ways, was “living” the Book of Acts.

Break:         Visit Display Tables & and Network                   7:55 to 8:10 PM

Focus Two:                                                                    8:10 to 8:55 PM

Dick B. and Ken B., along with volunteer leaders, will elaborate on points made during Part One; and Dick B. and Ken B. will receive and respond to godly questions and suggestions from the audience through the use of an “Ask-It” basket. This is a real opportunity for leaders to share how they are implementing their Christian Recovery Movement programs right now!

[Depending on the size of the audience attending, we may well use the same technique recently employed in Northern California at the workshops, question and answer, and round-table participation by leaders and others attending]

Wrap-Up and Closing Prayer:          Rev. Ken B.                             8:55 to 9:00 PM

Session Two: Saturday, May 19, 2012

Doors Open:                                                                            9:00 AM

Final Registration, Music, Displays, Networking          9:00 AM to 9:30 AM

Conference Start                                                            9:30 AM to 10:00 AM

         

Prayer:                                     Rev. Ken B.

Introduction by Host Church:           Pastor Joe Furey

Conference Overview:             Rev. Ken B.

Purposes of the Conference: To enable participants: (1) to hear speakers on how to apply “old-school” A.A. principles and practices today; (2) to get acquainted with Conference-approved literature, “old-school” resources, and a training plan; (3) to partake in refreshments and lunch; (4) to share with a panel of speakers by presenting godly “Ask-It” basket questions and suggestions; and (5) to hear the comments of Christian leaders and workers who are “in the trenches” of Christian Recovery efforts today.

First Speaker:       (To Be Announced)

                                                                                                10:00 to 10:50 AM

Break:                  View displays and networking                             10:50 to 11:10 PM

Second Speaker – Russell Spatz, attorney,

Alive Again, Miami, Florida                       11:10 to noon

Lunch:        (Eat on premises), view displays, network          Noon to 1:00 PM

Third Speakers:    Dick B. & Ken B.                                       1:00 to 2:10 PM

                            

International Christian Recovery Coalition plan for training

meetings, a Guide, and Videos presenting the application of

“old-school” A.A. and First Century Christianity principles and

practices in modern Christian Recovery efforts

Break:                  View displays and network                        2:10 to 2:30 PM

Fourth Speaker:   Gary Martin, Christian Recovery efforts

at Mariners Church, Irvine, California                 2:30 to 3:05 PM

                             Roger McDiarmid, Christian Recovery

efforts in Southern California                     3:05 to 3:40 PM

Break:                   View displays and network                        3:40 to 4:00 PM

Panel Discussion:                                                                    4:00 to 5:15 PM

                             Dick B., Ken B., Russell Spatz,

Gary Martin, Roger McDiarmid

                             Godly audience questions and comments via “Ask-It” basket

Break:                   View displays and network:                       5:15 to 5:30 PM

Final Speakers:    Dick B. and Ken B.                                    5:30 to 5:55 PM

International Christian Recovery Coalition Plans,

Challenges, and Announcements

Closing Prayer:    Rev. Ken B.                                                          5:55 to 6:00 PM

Conference Registration:                 $25.00 donation

To register for the conference, or for more information, please contact: 

               

Ken B.:       Email:  kcb00799@gmail.com

Cell:     (808) 276-4945

Important Additional Announcements

·        Throughout the Conference Trip period from May 14 to May 21, Dick B. and Ken B. will be in Orange County, California. They will be staying at a private home for some of the period and at the Marriott Costa Mesa Hotel.

·        They highly value personal meetings, contacts, and discussions with individuals and groups throughout the May 14 to 21 period. These may include: (1) Meetings and or meals with individual leaders and others at places we will be staying. (2) Visiting churches, groups, fellowships, and offices in the area. (3) Conducting review of, and displaying the new “Stick with the Winners” Guide, accompanying exhibits, and accompanying film clips – to stimulate organization and establishment of Classes and/or special study meetings for AAs, NAs, Al-anons, and other support or 12 Step fellowships, and Christian recovery-related programs, fellowships, meetings, classes, and pastoral and chaplain settings.

·         Please contact us either before or during the May 14-21 period to arrange to arrange a personal meeting. Please contact Dick B. by email at DickB@DickB.com until May 12, or Ken B. by email at kcb00799@gmail.com or on his cell phone at (808) 276-4945 before or during May 14-21.

Sponsors of These Meetings and Conferences

·       Hazelden: Treating Addiction, Transforming Lives, Center City, MN

·       Episcopal Diocese of Texas Recovery Committee, Rev. Bill Wigmore, Chair, Austin, TX

·       Rock Recovery Ministries, ABC Sober Living, Soledad House, David Powers, San Diego, CA

·       New Hope Ministry, Golden Hills Community Church, Brentwood, CA: Matt Pierce, Recovery Pastor; David Sadler Group Leader

·       Good Book-Big Book Group, Cornerstone Fellowship—Livermore Campus, CA

·       Good Book Publishing Company, Maui, HI

·       His Place Church, Joe Furey, Pastor, Westminster, CA

·       Wally Lowe, Businessman, Christian Recovery Resource Center, Vero Beach, FL

·       Richard Skolnik, Addiction Counselor Assistant, Christian Recovery Resource Center, NY

·       Bob J., Believer, Philanthropist, Maui, HI

·       Rick S., Believer, Businessman, San Jose, CA

·       Rob W., Entrepreneur, UT

·       Robert Turner, M.D., Medical University of South Carolina

·       Sean L., Recovered believer, Seattle, WA

·       Dale Marsh, Serenity Pastor, Oroville Church of the Nazarene; International Christian Recovery Coalition Speakers Bureau, Oroville, CA

·       Roger McDiarmid, Salesman, International Christian Recovery Coalition Speakers Bureau, Huntington Beach, CA

·       Jeff and Debra Jay, Love First: A Family’s Guide to Intervention, Grosse Point, MI

[More expected to be added by Conference Time]

Announcing the New Stick with the Winners! Guide

Dick B. and Ken B., Stick with the Winners!: How to Conduct More Effective 12-Step Recovery Meetings Using Conference-Approved Literature: A Dick B. Guide for Christian Leaders and Workers in the Recovery Arena (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2012)

[This new book is available at www.DickB.com right now for $9.95]

By the time the May conference arrives, we expect to have: (1) published this book in Print-On-Demand form; (2) completed a series of about ten videos relating to the topics in the book; and (3) made available the resource exhibits that form a training package relating to this book. Already, this book—in spiral-bound form—has been presented to a number of Christian recovery leaders and workers participating in the International Christian Recovery Coalition in several parts of the United States and Canada. In addition, it will enhance recovery efforts already underway at Oroville Church of the Nazarene in Oroville, CA; at New Life Spirit Recovery, Inc., in Huntington Beach, CA; in the Good Book-Big Book Group at Cornerstone Fellowship—Livermore Campus in Livermore, CA; at New Hope Ministry, Golden Hills Community Church in Brentwood, CA; and at several other locations.

This book will be the center piece for discussion, examination, and training at the First 2012 North American Conference of the International Christian Recovery Coalition, and at other meeting places in Orange County, California.

Gloria Deo

Dick B. - Christian in A.A. - The Story

Alcoholics Anonymous History
Alcoholics Anonymous History and Its Christian Roots

Dick B.
© 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved.

I am one of the tens of thousands (probably hundreds of thousands) of Christians who deeply appreciate the recovery from alcoholism and addiction that Alcoholics Anonymous made possible in our lives. Many of us have been criticized for mentioning Jesus Christ and the Bible in our talks at meetings. But most of us know that God is our sufficiency. We ask Him in the name of Jesus Christ to deliver us. And we recover. So did Bill Wilson as he is quoted on page 191 of the latest edition of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Many of us who are Christians involved in A.A. do believe in God, the accomplishments of His Son Jesus Christ, and the truth about both that is found in the Bible. Many of us, as Christian members of Alcoholics Anonymous, had no idea whatsoever that early A.A. was a Christian fellowship, that its members believed in God, surrendered to Jesus Christ, and studied the Bible on a daily basis. Many of us had no idea whatsoever that the early, Christian-oriented A.A. claimed an overall 75% success rate among the “seemingly-hopeless,” “medically-incurable,” “last gasp case” alcoholics who thoroughly followed the pioneer A.A. program. And many of us never learned that the Original Akron program is summarized rather well in on page 131 of the A.A. General Service Conference-approved book, DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers.

How could so many of us have been unaware of these facts?

The answer, in part, is that, as the First Edition of A.A.’s Big Book manuscript was being written and edited in 1938 and early 1939, many additions, omissions, and changes were made to the highly-successful Akron Christian program Bill W. and Dr. Bob began developing in the summer of 1935. For example, as Bill W. stated on pages 166-67 of the A.A. General Service Conference-approved book, Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age:

We [Bill W., Hank P., Ruth Hock, and John Henry Fitzhugh M.] were still arguing about the Twelve Steps. 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. Praying to God on one's knees was still a big affront to Henry. He argued, he begged, he threatened. He quoted Jimmy [B.—i.e., Jim Burwell] to back him up. . . . Though at first I would have none of it, we finally began to talk about the possibility of compromise. . . . In Step Two we decided to describe God as a "Power greater than ourselves." In Steps Three and Eleven we inserted the words "God as we understood Him." From Step Seven we deleted the expression "on our knees." . . . Such were the final concessions to those of little or no faith; this was the great contribution of our atheists and agnostics. [Emphasis added]

Bill W.’s wife Lois spoke about another major change on page 113 of her autobiography, Lois Remembers:

Finally it was agreed that the book should present a universal spiritual program, not a specific religious one, since all drunks were not Christian.

Such major manuscript changes from the Original Akron A.A. “Christian Fellowship” program obscured the simple solution the A.A. pioneers in Akron discovered; specifically, that a cure for alcoholism was available through reliance on Almighty God, coming to Him through His Son Jesus Christ, and reading and studying the Bible—along with the other principles and practices of the early days. [For the Frank Amos summary of the Original Akron A.A. “Program,” and the other principles and practices of the Akron fellowship, see: Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Manual (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2009), 44-46, 49.]

The Lesson Learned from the First Three AAs

Early AAs knew one another. They visited one another. They had address books with the phone numbers (if a given member had a phone) and addresses of the other members. And they kept rosters which showed the sobriety dates and sobriety history of the members.

The 75% overall success rate early A.A. claimed was remarkable because it was attained by what Bill W. called the “seemingly-hopeless,” “medically-incurable,” “last gasp” cases who gave their all to God and received the blessed healing and deliverance that followed.

Bill W. and Dr. Bob did indeed state that there were “failures galore.” But there weren’t failures galore among the real hardcore members who turned to God and gave the program everything they had.

A very important part of the historical record is how the first three AAs got sober in late 1934 and in 1935. For, as they made clear, when they got sober:

There was no Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous was published in April 1939);

There were no Twelve Steps;

There were no Twelve Traditions;

There were no “drunkalogs”; and

There were no “meetings to make”—at least of the kinds normally seen in today’s A.A.

The Creator of the heavens and the earth was there. See, for example, Alcoholics Anonymous, 4^th ed.:

“my Creator” (page 13)

“My Creator” (76)

“our Creator” (pages 25, 68, 72, 75, 83)

“a living Creator” (page 28);

“his Creator” (page 56, 80, 158)

“their loving and All Powerful Creator” (page 161)

The “Great Physician,” Jesus Christ, was there. See, for example: Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.: More on the Creator’s Role in Early A.A. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2006), 59ff.

The Bible (which Dr. Bob often called the “Good Book”) was there. See, for example, page 13 of the A.A. General Service Conference-approved pamphlet, The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (Item # P-53; available for reading online at http://aa.org/pdf/products/p-53_theco-foundersofAA.pdf; accessed 8/5/09):

At that point, our stories didn’t amount to anything to speak of. When we started in on Bill D., we had no Twelve Steps, either; we had no Traditions.

But we were convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book. To some of us older ones, the parts that we found absolutely essential were the Sermon on the Mount, the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, and the Book of James.

A.A. Number One, Bill W., learned from Dr. Silkworth that Jesus Christ could cure him. Bill learned from his old drinking friend Ebby Thacher that Ebby had been to the altar at Calvary Mission in New York and been reborn, causing Ebby to tell Bill that God had done for him (Ebby) what Ebby could not do for himself. Bill then went to the altar at Calvary Rescue Mission, made a decision for Christ, wrote that he had been born again for sure, and then decided to seek the help of the “Great Physician,” Jesus Christ. At Towns Hospital, Bill cried out for help, had a dramatic spiritual blazing “indescribably white light” experience, perceived that he had been in the presence of the “God of the Scriptures” (as Bill wrote on page 284 of The Language of the Heart), and never drank again. Bill proclaimed he never again doubted the existence of God. And his message became: “The Lord has cured me of this terrible disease, and I just want to keep talking about it and telling people.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4^th ed., 191) No Big Book. No Twelve Steps. No Twelve Traditions. No drunkalogs. No meetings. Just the power and love of God that Bill had sought and relied upon.

A.A. Number Two, Dr. Bob S., prayed for deliverance on the rug at the home of T. Henry Williams in Akron. Miraculously, help showed up in the visit of the total stranger, Bill W., to Akron. Henrietta Seiberling declared Bill’s visit to be “Manna from Heaven.” Bill soon moved in with Dr. Bob and his wife, studied the Bible with them, and nursed Dr. Bob back from one, brief and last binge. Dr. Bob never drank again. He and Bill decided they needed a drunk to help. And Dr. Bob  told the nurse at City Hospital that he and Bill had found a cure for alcoholism. No Big Book. No Twelve Steps. No Twelve Traditions. No drunkalogs. No meetings. Just the power and love of God that Dr. Bob had sought and relied upon. Dr. Bob closed his story in the Big Book with these words:

Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!

Bill W. and Dr. Bob did seek out a drunk to help. They found A.A. Number Three, the hospitalized Akron attorney Bill D., a Christian. After Bill D. heard what Bill W. and Dr. Bob had to share, Bill D. decided to entrust his life to God’s care. Shortly, when Bill W. and Dr. Bob returned to the hospital, Bill D. told them what had happened. Bill D. then left the hospital a free man and never drank again. No Big Book. No Twelve Steps. No Twelve Traditions. No drunkalogs. No meetings. Just the power and love of God that Bill D. had sought and relied upon. Bill D. found himself echoing Bill W.’s statement on page 191 of the Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous:

The Lord has cured me of this terrible disease, and I just want to keep talking about it and telling people.

Bill D. called Bill W.’s statement the “golden text of A.A.” for him and for others.

Three men! The first three AAs. All healed by the power of God—never to drink again!

What they did is scarcely known by AAs and recovery workers today. I know, for I have spoken and written about it in front of audiences all over the United States and in Canada—in person, in books, in articles, in emails, in phone calls, and on radio and television. Yet that is the message they seem hungry to hear.

These first three AAs recovered and said they were cured by the power of God. And other “seemingly-hopeless,” “medically-incurable,” “last gasp case” alcoholics who thoroughly followed the early Akron A.A. “Christian Fellowship” program path were able to recover by the power of God. But what I especially want you, the reader, to take away from this discussion is that what was done in 1935 and the next three years can be done and is being done today.

Benefitting Today from the “Lessons Learned” by A.A.’s Pioneers

I’m a proponent of A.A. I recovered immediately when I entered the rooms of A.A. in 1986 and have never relapsed since. I credit the support I received in A.A., the work I did in learning the program of recovery in the Steps and helping others to take those Steps, and the complete dedication I had to the A.A. way. But I have never for one moment doubted that God must ultimately receive the credit—just as He received the credit from the mouths of the first three AAs—Bill W., Dr. Bob S., and Bill D. I believed and still believe that once a person has become a child of the living God through Jesus Christ, he can diligently seek God’s help, ask for it in the name of Jesus Christ, and be healed—whether involved in the A.A. program or not. And the challenge then becomes one of maintaining fellowship with God, His Son Jesus Christ, and other believers, and heeding the warning about temptation in Chapter One of the Book of James.

When a Christian in A.A. is buffeted with intemperate remarks from others about his mention of, or belief in the Creator of the heavens and the earth, His Son Jesus Christ, the Bible, his faith, or his church, he needs to stand solid on the real recovery factor that is available in A.A. today, just as it was available in the Christian Fellowship founded in Akron in 1935.

A.A. was founded on statements such as this: God could and would if He were sought. He can. He will. He does. And He is available to every drunk or addict who wants to seek and obey Him. That was proved in 1935. It is being proved today among those Christians in recovery who choose to avail themselves of His help. His help is available in prisons, mental hospitals, A.A., other Twelve Step Fellowships, homeless shelters, treatment programs, and counseling offices.

The problem with naysayers is that they cherry pick stories, irrelevant associations, and certainly sins and shortcomings which, they say, prove that, if any suffering alcoholics stray into A.A., they are disobeying God and most surely on the way to destruction. If that were true, then the teachings of Jesus and the other New Testament books would be of no importance. But they are. Anyone who reads the first six chapters of the Book of Acts, and then the story of Paul’s conversion, will have no problem with the need to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In fact, a look at Romans 10:9 will provide the starting place—followed by ample statements that obedience to God’s commandments and asking in accordance with His Word, are a necessary part of receiving the promises in 1 John 5:14 -15.

Dick B.: PO Box 837, Kihei, HI 96753-0837; (808) 874-4876; Email: DickB@DickB.com;

www.DickB.com

Gloria Deo

The Twelve Steps of A.A. and Myths about Them

The Christian Origins of A.A. & Myths About Them The Christian Origins of A.A. And The Myths That Disparage the Facts Dick B. © 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved Nothing could be more clearly and specifically documented--as we now complete 23 years of research, investigation, study, and visits to A.A. historical locations and archives--than this simple statement: Alcoholics Anonymous had its origins in Christianity. Even more clear, its basic ideas came from the A.A. Pioneers study and efforts in the Bible. So stated its co-founder Dr. Robert Smith in the Alcoholics Anonymous Conference-approved pamphlet (P-53) In fact, the early A.A. Christian Fellowship was very much shaped by and developed from such well-known Christian organizations of the 1850's and later as the Vermont Congregational Churches, Young People's Christian Endeavor Society, Evangelists and revivalists (such as Dwight L. Moody, F. B. Meyer, Ira Sankey, Allen Folger, K.A. Burnell, John Gough, H.M. Moore, Henry Moorhouse), the YMCA lay workers of that period, the rescue missions, and the Salvation Army. For reasons not much understood, A.A., its historians, and its non-AA commentators have steered clear of this history—usually even omitted it. But see www.dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml and www.dickb.com/conversion.shtml The Alcoholics Anonymous Christian roots begin as described. But they had a specific impact and involvement in training when it came to A.A.'s two co-founders-to-be, Robert H. Smith and William G. Wilson. These young men of Vermont were born and raised by practicing Christian families. They attended Congregational Churches and Sunday Schools. They were much involved in the YMCA. At theirAcademies (St. Johnsbury and Burr and Burton), each co-founder-to-be attended required daily chapel, weekly church services and Bible studies. Dr. Bob was active in Christian Endeavor founded in 1881, and Bill Wilson not only studied Bible with his grandfather Griffith and friend Mark Whalon, but took a four year Bible study course at Burr and Burton Academy. And we have examined the Sunday school teachings and church sermons and literature at the Congregational Churches (North Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury and East Dorset Congregational Church of East Dorset) where Bill and Bob were raised and attended. From that research effort and our resultant findings, it is clear that salvation and the Word of God were paramount in the teachings. Later, of course, Bill Wilson went to the altar at Calvary Rescue Mission in New York and made a decision for Jesus Christ--just as his sponsor Ebby Thacher had done, and just as his psychiatrist William D. Silkworth had recommended, in telling Bill that Jesus Christ could cure him of his alcoholism. See The Conversion of Bill W. www.dickb.com/conversion.shtml But two or three insignificant Christian writers of today persistently publish material such as the following on their websites. And here is an example of their claims and misrepresentations: A typical anti-AA piece of nonsense that disturbs Christian AAs and historians is the following statement by two authors: "The authors suggest that AA did not originate in Christianity since it has never required members to believe in Christ crucified." Misleading and erroneous on its face! Indicative of the lack of research or study by the writers!  The statement ignores the well documented origins of A.A. in the rescue missions, Young Men’s Christian Association, Christian evangelists, Salvation Army, and United Christian Endeavor Society. Also the "requirement" in early A.A. that one accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior--just as both co-founders had done. Are these gross fabrications worthy of comment and repudiation? The answer is "yes." And the reasons are that there is an abundance of anti-AA writing today ranging from the charges of atheists, the objections of humanists, the New Age proponents, the resentments of founders of a couple of large organizations like Celebrate Recovery, and the A.A.-hostile websites of Orange and several others. Only God knows who and who is not a Christian--certainly not this diverse, minority of naysayers who cannot and do not document their charges leveled seemingly at anyone and everyone who sets foot in an A.A. room and timidly peeps up that he or she is a Christian, a follower of Jesus, a believer in God, or a student of the Bible. The Bible lays down some basic principles for salvation and the new birth such as those found in John 3:16, John 14:6, Acts 4:12, and Romans 10:9. In fact, the Book of Acts is filled with accounts of how people became born again of the spirit of God upon hearing and believing the words spoken by the Apostles Paul, Peter, James, and John. For a good study of the real facts about A.A.'s Christian origins, see Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide," 3rd ed., 2010 (www.dickb.com/Christian-Recover-Guide.shtml); and our class "Introductory Foundations for Christian Recovery" (www.dickb.com/IFCR-Class.shtml). www.dickb.com