dickb
10-08-2008, 05:40 PM
A Nationwide Recovery History Conference with Dick B.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Conference Theme: A New Way Out. Today!
This First Conference
A Challenging New Way Out For Christians Laboring In Recovery Programs
There is a huge audience to whom this challenge is addressed: There are tens of thousands of restive Christians in recovery fellowships, support groups, Christian recovery programs, and other 12 Step Fellowships today. I get phone calls and emails from them every day. Our website has had over four million visitors. The callers and writers are sometimes newcomers who want help from God for their family, their friends, or themselves. More often than not, they are people who have long-term sobriety and recovery. These veterans have become frustrated or intimidated as they have tried—within “the rooms” of various 12 Step Fellowships--to “describe” in their “personal stories,” in their “own words” and from their “own point of view,” the “way” they “established” (or re-established) their “relationship with God” (cp. Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 29)—especially when their personal stories involved the role of Jesus Christ and the Bible in their relationship with God. These “old-timers” also desire very sincerely to help suffering people be healed by the power of God in and within their own groups, and then to move on to prosperous, purposeful, and spiritually wholesome lives. They don’t want to cut and run. They usually have just learned how successful the early A.A. “Christian Fellowship” in Akron, Ohio, was; want to know more about the reasons for that success; and want to know how the principles of pioneer A.A. can fit in their recovery lives and groups today.
These are the opportunities our own recovery history reveals: There is a new way out of the veritable swamp and quicksand of misery being experienced by those who still suffer with life-controlling problems such as alcoholism and drug addiction. And potential Christian “rescuers” within your own fellowship, group, ministry, program, or agency can learn about and share it with those in need. It is not a way out of your group. It is not a way to make existing recovery groups Christian. It is not a way to abandon existing fellowships. It is a way of “fishing” and effectively serving among widely differing pools of entrants and members. A way that will enable you to stand and serve the one, true, living God, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, His son. It is a way of learning our history, understanding how critical the Creator’s role was in the astonishing pioneer A.A. successes, knowing how uniquely successful the disciplined and determined pioneers were, and realizing how you can apply their old-school principles and practices in today’s recovery efforts. It is a way out of many present-day dilemmas, such as: (1) Do I leave A.A. or N.A. because I am criticized for mentioning God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible? (2) Do I leave because a handful of Christian writers have claimed, for example, that “A.A.” is a monolithic, anti-Christian path to destruction? (3) Do I stay and remain silent, failing to give thanks to God in the name of Jesus Christ, failing to grow spiritually, and failing to help others by utilizing the power of the Holy Spirit I received as a child of God? (4) Or do I stay because that is where I initially found sobriety; because I am thankful to God for the opportunity to carry the message to those who still suffer; because the need for my Christian outreach is just as great today as it was in early Akron A.A.’s Christian Fellowship? Stay because the harvest is plentiful, and there are all too few laborers in that field? Stay because there is tremendous value in my joining those who decide to find a new way out today which can help willing, afflicted listeners? This is the old-school way of Christian Endeavor, the YMCA, the Gospel Rescue Missions, the Salvation Army—during the mid-to-late 1800’s and the early-to-mid 1900’s—And it is the way of the early Akron A.A. fellowship. It is a way of telling a suffering soul what God has done for you. Telling how the early A.A. Christian pioneers recovered, were cured, and went on to live their lives. Lives moved by the love of God into solid fellowship with Him and His son, and energized by love and service to others. There is an old evangelistic challenge: The saved should say so. Salvation Army founder General William Booth added this: “The first vital step in saving outcasts consists in making them feel that some decent human being cares enough for them to take an interest in the question whether they are to rise or to sink.” I do not know if you have been that seeming outcast. But I have. When you are licked, you have not just been beaten up by liquor or drugs. You have been beaten up by your own self-destructive behavior, and by the wreckage it has created in your life and the lives of those around you. You have been beaten up by disgrace, shame, guilt, terror, depression, despair, and a blockade in all tunnels out.
Those who have not found a way out, or who still suffer in bewilderment and ignorance of early A.A.’s astonishing successes, need the outreach of those who are well. They need a Christian outreach offering salvation through Jesus Christ because of God’s love, and a solid relationship and fellowship with our Heavenly Father, His son Jesus Christ, and other likeminded believers. This new way out does not lead to flight or fear or other membership elsewhere. It leads to knowledge of where you came from and how real successes and cures were achieved. It leads to putting on the whole armor of God, standing against the wiles of the devil, and believing “if God be for us, who can be against us.” It leads to loving and serving God and His son, and to loving others as we love ourselves.
This particular new way out begins by stressing several cardinal principles which were adopted by the early A.A. founders. This is:
The way of believing that God is and then diligently seeking Him.
Read Hebrews 11:6 and Matthew 6:33 – both favored in early A.A. studies
The way of becoming a child of God through Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life
Read John 3:3, 6; John 3:16; 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.
The way of recognizing that sobriety and salvation are only the beginning. Read 1 Timothy 2:4. Then the way of coming to a knowledge of the truth and continuing in that word--growing through learning God’s will, doing God’s will, and walking by the spirit of God
Read 1 Timothy 2:15; 3:16-17; Matthew 7:21; James 1:21-22; Romans 8:1-6
The way of walking in fellowship with the Father, His son, and likeminded believers.
Read 1 John 1:3-6; 2:3-6
Now a word or two about 12 Step Fellowships (such as A.A.) as “kindergarten” starting points.
“Spiritual Kindergarten” and Growth through Study
A.A. cofounder Bill W. said:
We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which people are enabled to get over drinking and find the grace to go on living to better effect. [As Bill Sees It (New York, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1967), 95]
Bill W. also said:
He [Dr. Bob] prayed, not only for his own understanding, but for different groups of people who requested him to pray for them. . . . I was always glad to think that I was included in those prayers. . . . And I sort of depended on him to get me into heaven. Bob was far ahead of me in that sort of activity. I was always rushing around talking and organizing and “teaching kindergarten.” [DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, (New York, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous Worlds Services, Inc., 1980), 315]
Bill W. wrote to Sam Shoemaker in a letter dated May 2, 1958:
There is no reason why a group of A.A.’s shouldn’t get together for Bible study; no reason at all why a group of A.A.’s in a church should not associate themselves into a sort of spiritual kindergarten fellowship, into which anyone might be invited. As a matter of fact, I am anxious to see this sort of thing tried. [Dick B., Turning Point: A History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and Successes (San Rafael, CA: Paradise Research Publications, 1997), 678]
An A.A. General Service Conference-approved publication states:
In the Fellowship’s early days, there was no A.A. literature, and the young groups leaned heavily on Bible reading for inspiration and guidance. Meetings usually closed with the Lord’s Prayer because, as A.A. co-founder Bill W. later explained, “it did not put speakers to the task, embarrassing to many, of composing prayers of their own.” [Members of the Clergy ask about Alcoholics Anonymous (New York, NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc, 1992), 14. http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/p-25_membersoftheclergyaskaboutaa1.pdf (accessed 9/25/08)]
A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob wrote:
If you think you are an atheist, an agnostic, a skeptic, or have any other form of intellectual pride which keeps you from accepting what is in this book, I feel sorry for you. If you still think you are strong enough to beat the game alone, that is your affair. But if you really and truly want to quit drinking liquor for good and all, and sincerely feel that you must have some help. . . . Your Heavenly Father will never let you down! [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed. (New York, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 2001), 181]
Moving out of Kindergarten In the Old-School Way of the Founders of Akron A.A.
Getting out of and beyond kindergarten by looking at the real old-school A.A.
First, we need to look at precisely what Frank Amos reported about the early A.A. Christian Fellowship’s program
Read the Amos report in DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, page 131:
How it worked is detailed in When Early AAs Were Cured and Why by Dick B.
Second, we need to learn the precise and seemingly-astonishing, documented success rates in early Mid-western A.A.—success rates that were known and recognized because: (1) the society was small; (2) the members knew each other well; and (3) the people kept rosters with names, addresses, phones, and sobriety information (DR. BOB, 145-46).
For the Akron results, read Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., pp. xx.
Display the rosters we actually have with us.
Read the affirmation about addresses (DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 145-46)
Display the GSO scrap book of cures – Richard K. book.
For the Cleveland results, see DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 261.
For the New York failures, see: (1) Bill had no success at all in his first 6 months (The
Language of the Heart, 198). (2) Very little success in the years after Bill returned to NY (A.A. Comes of Age, 10-11). (3) For three years, no success at all among those who lived with the Wilsons (A.A. Comes of Age, 11).
An Outline of Original A.A. Program Roots
The Specific Contributions by A.A. Cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob
Dr. Bob’s Training as a Youngster in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
The “Great Awakening” of 1875 in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Read Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous, pages 24-32.
Dr. Bob’s family—His father: a teacher and St. Johnsbury Academy examiner, Lawyer, Judge, Banker, Business Executive, Legislator, Prosecutor, St. Johnsbury Village official, Deacon at North Congregational Church, Sunday school teacher there for 30 years, President of the St. Johnsbury YMCA from 1895 to at least 1897 [i.e., while Dr. Bob was attending St. Johnsbury Academy (1894-1898)]; His mother: a school teacher, then a St. Johnsbury Academy Teacher, Sunday school superintendent, church leader, Academy Alumni Association Executive and Academy Historian, Vermont state library commissioner.
In total, there was Bob’s parental religious training and his family’s three times a week church attendance; his Sunday school; church prayer meetings; Christian Endeavor Bible study, prayer meetings, Quiet Hour, and other activity; possible YMCA association; required Academy daily chapel, weekly church and Bible study, Bible courses; and his campus life.
Bill Wilson’s Training as a Youngster in East Dorset, Rutland, and Manchester, Vermont.
The Wilson and Griffith family participation in East Dorset Congregational Church
Grandpa Willie’s Wilson’s conversion experience and cure of alcoholism.
Wilson’s Sunday school attendance.
Church sermons, conversions, revivals, temperance meetings.
Bill’s extensive reading, including Bible, and grandfather Griffith’s Bible reading
Bill’s Burr and Burton Academy daily chapel and Scripture references, required weekly church and Bible study, required four-year Bible study course, and Bill’s Presidency of the YMCA with his girl friend Bertha Bamford’s Presidency of the YWCA, and their daily attendance together at chapel services..
Bill Wilson’s Unique Experiences with Conversion and Cure. First as a Youngster. Then through his discussions with Dr. Silkworth about the “Great Physician” and with, Ebby Thacher about Dr. Carl Jung’s conversion prescription. Then through Rowland Hazard’s, Oxford Group Indoctrination. Then through Bill’s Decision for Christ and conversion at Calvary Rescue Mission altar. Then through Bill’s “hot flash” conversion experience at Towns Hospital. And finally in his long association with Rev. Sam Shoemaker. Thus:
Grandpa Willie’s conversion cure; the Congregationalism among Bill’s parents and his grandparents on both sides; the confession, creed, sermons, and literature at East Dorset Congregational Church; his Sunday school days; his attendance at conversions, revivals, and temperance meetings; and his four-year attendance at Burr and Burton Academy.
Long discussion with Dr. Silkworth—Bill’s hearing that the “Great Physician” could cure Him.
Encounter with Ebby Thacher and Bill’s learning of Ebby’s own conversion and success and Dr. Carl Jung’s conversion prescription
Bill’s decision for Christ and possible/probably new birth at Calvary Rescue Mission (if he had not already become a child of God in East Dorset, Rutland, or Manchester, Vermont).
Bill’s spiritual experience at Towns Hospital where he cried out to God for help and was cured.
Bill’s confirmation of conversion as a cure for alcoholism via Dr. Carl Jung, Dr. William D. Silkworth, and the work of Professor William James and the rescue missions.
Bill’s message on page Big Book, p. 191 that the Lord had cured Him of his “terrible disease.”
The discussions in the Rockefeller offices in the presence of Rockefeller’s people, Dr. Silkworth, Dr. Leonard Strong, New York AAs, Fitz Mayo, Hank Parkhurst, Dr. Bob, and Paul Stanley of Akron, where all were assured by the Frank Amos report that there had been permanent cures. (Read from the Frank Amos Foundation History).
The Akron Beginnings
Russell Firestone’s conversion to Christ and cure of alcoholism in 1931.
The 1933 Oxford Group testimonies in Akron.
The Alcoholic Squad meetings, their Christian fellowship, and their prayer for help.
Bill’s visit to Akron, Bill’s visit as an answer to the prayers, and then Bill's long, initial, six-hour talk with Dr. Bob at Henrietta Seiberling’s home.
Bob’s last drink, the founding of A.A., the hunt for A.A. Number Three, and founding of the first group, Akron No. 1.
What Bob and Bill Brought to the Table at A.A.’s Founding
Bill’s focus: Conversion, abstinence, medical aspects of alcoholism, importance of hospitalization, and working with other drunks.
Bob’s focus: Conversion, Biblical basic ideas, prayer, Quiet Time, Bible study, God’s guidance, hospitalization, reading Christian literature, and fellowship with like-minded believers.
Combined developments: Qualifying the newcomer by swapping stories, requiring belief in God, “real surrenders” per James 5:16, obedience to God, old fashioned prayer meetings, Bible study, in-house fellowship, 12 Step work at the hospital, and utilization of Oxford Group life-changing ideas of surrender, moral inventory, the Five C’s (confidence, confession, conviction, conversion, and continuance), and the Four Absolutes (honesty, purity, unselfishness, love).
Applying Old School A.A. Today
[Start with A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature]
Reviewing the Frank Amos Seven-Point Summary of Bob’s and Bill’s Original Program
[Read DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 131]
Reviewing the Documented Successes
[Read Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001, pp. xx, and 29]
Standing on What You’ve Studied and Know is Stated in the Big Book Basic Text
The Fourth Edition was published in 2001 and states: “This is A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature.” It consists of 607 pages, and it is still recognized as the basic text of A.A.
“To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book. For them, we hope these pages will prove so convincing that no further authentication will be necessary. We think this account of our experiences will help everyone to better understand the alcoholic.” page xiii
“We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action.” Page 17
“Further on, clear-cut directions are given showing how we recovered. These are followed by forty-two personal experiences. Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God. These give a fair cross section of our membership and a clear-cut idea of what has actually happened in their lives.” p. 29
“What is this but a miracle of healing? . . . . He humbly offered himself to his Maker—then he knew. Even so has God restored us all to our right minds.” p. 57
“But there is One who has all power—that One is God. May you find Him now! . . . . We asked His protection and care with complete abandon. Here are the steps we took . . . ," p 59.
“Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.” Long Form Tradition 3, p. 563.
The Need, a New Out Way Today, and the Frank Amos Model
Choosing To Learn History, Ignore and Reject Secularism, Universalism, Idolatry, Failure
Recognizing Some Cardinal Guides to Recovery
Reaching the newcomer with actual story telling, identification, and the message about God
Common to Salvation Army, Rescue Missions, YMCA, revival meetings, conversions.
Insisting on abstinence, resisting temptation, and medical help at the outset
Qualifying a newcomer as to belief in God [ Read from DR. BOB, 144 ]
Requiring the newcomer to become a child of the living God by a decision for Christ [ Read from Mitchell K., How It Worked, page 48. ].
Emphasizing that Obedience to God’s Word and Will is required of His children. See Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount—“Thy Will Be Done”. . . “He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
Eliminating sinful conduct and rejecting temptation – James 1
Learning to walk in fellowship, obedience, love, and service – 1 John Chapters 1-5
Calling on the Creator and His son for guidance, strength, and help – 1 John 5:14-15
Encouraging a fellowship of people learning and applying the early program techniques
Daily living, breaking bread, praying, meeting with like-minded believers (Acts 2:41-44).
Praying as a group and in Quiet Time. And learning how to pray.
Observing Individual Quiet Time, Bible study, prayer, use of devotionals and reading of helpful Christian literature.
Regular group Bible study – particularly James, the Sermon, and 1 Cor. 13.
Intense effort to help others get straightened out with a message of hope,
salvation, deliverance, and an abundant, prosperous, and healthy life.
Learning and rejecting bad behavior, bad company, negative thinking, and harsh tongue.
Placing social and religious comradeship with like-minded believers as a high target
Attending church, Bible fellowships, retreats, and religious bodies for growth.
Learning how to speak to and hear from our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ
1 Samuel 3:9 (Speak LORD, for thy servant heareth)
Acts 9:6 (Lord, what wilt thou have me to do)
Renewing the mind with the truth and deliverance the Bible offers: See Romans 12:1-2
Casting out the negative prisons of mind and body—fear, resentment, dishonesty, selfishness, idolatry, depression, anxiety, ill health, physical and mental disability, financial insecurity, criticism, etc. See 1 Corinthians 13 and 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 for example
Dealing with life as a conquering and victorious child of God, and not a victim of events.
Opportunities to Review Evidence
1. St. Johnsbury Academy and Burr and Burton Books
2. Rosters
3. Frank Amos Alcoholic Foundation History Report
4. Photos of Homes, Churches, Academies
5. Alteration of Original Manuscript
6. Akron AA Pamphlets
7. GSO Scrap book on cures
8. A.A. literature on “no belief at all.”
[At the Monday Evening San Dimas Conference: Details on How the Akron Program actually worked; where the details can be found in Conference Approved Literature; Importance of salvation, growth in fellowship and walk, The Bible and the Three Absolutely Essential Segments; Forming Big Book/Bible Study Groups Today; How to grow out of kindergarten, work with existing Christian resources; and grow into real Ambassadors for Christ motivated in daily living by obedience to God and a fellowship of love and service with God, His son, and other believers.]
:1:
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Conference Theme: A New Way Out. Today!
This First Conference
A Challenging New Way Out For Christians Laboring In Recovery Programs
There is a huge audience to whom this challenge is addressed: There are tens of thousands of restive Christians in recovery fellowships, support groups, Christian recovery programs, and other 12 Step Fellowships today. I get phone calls and emails from them every day. Our website has had over four million visitors. The callers and writers are sometimes newcomers who want help from God for their family, their friends, or themselves. More often than not, they are people who have long-term sobriety and recovery. These veterans have become frustrated or intimidated as they have tried—within “the rooms” of various 12 Step Fellowships--to “describe” in their “personal stories,” in their “own words” and from their “own point of view,” the “way” they “established” (or re-established) their “relationship with God” (cp. Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 29)—especially when their personal stories involved the role of Jesus Christ and the Bible in their relationship with God. These “old-timers” also desire very sincerely to help suffering people be healed by the power of God in and within their own groups, and then to move on to prosperous, purposeful, and spiritually wholesome lives. They don’t want to cut and run. They usually have just learned how successful the early A.A. “Christian Fellowship” in Akron, Ohio, was; want to know more about the reasons for that success; and want to know how the principles of pioneer A.A. can fit in their recovery lives and groups today.
These are the opportunities our own recovery history reveals: There is a new way out of the veritable swamp and quicksand of misery being experienced by those who still suffer with life-controlling problems such as alcoholism and drug addiction. And potential Christian “rescuers” within your own fellowship, group, ministry, program, or agency can learn about and share it with those in need. It is not a way out of your group. It is not a way to make existing recovery groups Christian. It is not a way to abandon existing fellowships. It is a way of “fishing” and effectively serving among widely differing pools of entrants and members. A way that will enable you to stand and serve the one, true, living God, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, His son. It is a way of learning our history, understanding how critical the Creator’s role was in the astonishing pioneer A.A. successes, knowing how uniquely successful the disciplined and determined pioneers were, and realizing how you can apply their old-school principles and practices in today’s recovery efforts. It is a way out of many present-day dilemmas, such as: (1) Do I leave A.A. or N.A. because I am criticized for mentioning God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible? (2) Do I leave because a handful of Christian writers have claimed, for example, that “A.A.” is a monolithic, anti-Christian path to destruction? (3) Do I stay and remain silent, failing to give thanks to God in the name of Jesus Christ, failing to grow spiritually, and failing to help others by utilizing the power of the Holy Spirit I received as a child of God? (4) Or do I stay because that is where I initially found sobriety; because I am thankful to God for the opportunity to carry the message to those who still suffer; because the need for my Christian outreach is just as great today as it was in early Akron A.A.’s Christian Fellowship? Stay because the harvest is plentiful, and there are all too few laborers in that field? Stay because there is tremendous value in my joining those who decide to find a new way out today which can help willing, afflicted listeners? This is the old-school way of Christian Endeavor, the YMCA, the Gospel Rescue Missions, the Salvation Army—during the mid-to-late 1800’s and the early-to-mid 1900’s—And it is the way of the early Akron A.A. fellowship. It is a way of telling a suffering soul what God has done for you. Telling how the early A.A. Christian pioneers recovered, were cured, and went on to live their lives. Lives moved by the love of God into solid fellowship with Him and His son, and energized by love and service to others. There is an old evangelistic challenge: The saved should say so. Salvation Army founder General William Booth added this: “The first vital step in saving outcasts consists in making them feel that some decent human being cares enough for them to take an interest in the question whether they are to rise or to sink.” I do not know if you have been that seeming outcast. But I have. When you are licked, you have not just been beaten up by liquor or drugs. You have been beaten up by your own self-destructive behavior, and by the wreckage it has created in your life and the lives of those around you. You have been beaten up by disgrace, shame, guilt, terror, depression, despair, and a blockade in all tunnels out.
Those who have not found a way out, or who still suffer in bewilderment and ignorance of early A.A.’s astonishing successes, need the outreach of those who are well. They need a Christian outreach offering salvation through Jesus Christ because of God’s love, and a solid relationship and fellowship with our Heavenly Father, His son Jesus Christ, and other likeminded believers. This new way out does not lead to flight or fear or other membership elsewhere. It leads to knowledge of where you came from and how real successes and cures were achieved. It leads to putting on the whole armor of God, standing against the wiles of the devil, and believing “if God be for us, who can be against us.” It leads to loving and serving God and His son, and to loving others as we love ourselves.
This particular new way out begins by stressing several cardinal principles which were adopted by the early A.A. founders. This is:
The way of believing that God is and then diligently seeking Him.
Read Hebrews 11:6 and Matthew 6:33 – both favored in early A.A. studies
The way of becoming a child of God through Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life
Read John 3:3, 6; John 3:16; 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.
The way of recognizing that sobriety and salvation are only the beginning. Read 1 Timothy 2:4. Then the way of coming to a knowledge of the truth and continuing in that word--growing through learning God’s will, doing God’s will, and walking by the spirit of God
Read 1 Timothy 2:15; 3:16-17; Matthew 7:21; James 1:21-22; Romans 8:1-6
The way of walking in fellowship with the Father, His son, and likeminded believers.
Read 1 John 1:3-6; 2:3-6
Now a word or two about 12 Step Fellowships (such as A.A.) as “kindergarten” starting points.
“Spiritual Kindergarten” and Growth through Study
A.A. cofounder Bill W. said:
We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which people are enabled to get over drinking and find the grace to go on living to better effect. [As Bill Sees It (New York, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1967), 95]
Bill W. also said:
He [Dr. Bob] prayed, not only for his own understanding, but for different groups of people who requested him to pray for them. . . . I was always glad to think that I was included in those prayers. . . . And I sort of depended on him to get me into heaven. Bob was far ahead of me in that sort of activity. I was always rushing around talking and organizing and “teaching kindergarten.” [DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, (New York, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous Worlds Services, Inc., 1980), 315]
Bill W. wrote to Sam Shoemaker in a letter dated May 2, 1958:
There is no reason why a group of A.A.’s shouldn’t get together for Bible study; no reason at all why a group of A.A.’s in a church should not associate themselves into a sort of spiritual kindergarten fellowship, into which anyone might be invited. As a matter of fact, I am anxious to see this sort of thing tried. [Dick B., Turning Point: A History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and Successes (San Rafael, CA: Paradise Research Publications, 1997), 678]
An A.A. General Service Conference-approved publication states:
In the Fellowship’s early days, there was no A.A. literature, and the young groups leaned heavily on Bible reading for inspiration and guidance. Meetings usually closed with the Lord’s Prayer because, as A.A. co-founder Bill W. later explained, “it did not put speakers to the task, embarrassing to many, of composing prayers of their own.” [Members of the Clergy ask about Alcoholics Anonymous (New York, NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc, 1992), 14. http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/p-25_membersoftheclergyaskaboutaa1.pdf (accessed 9/25/08)]
A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob wrote:
If you think you are an atheist, an agnostic, a skeptic, or have any other form of intellectual pride which keeps you from accepting what is in this book, I feel sorry for you. If you still think you are strong enough to beat the game alone, that is your affair. But if you really and truly want to quit drinking liquor for good and all, and sincerely feel that you must have some help. . . . Your Heavenly Father will never let you down! [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed. (New York, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 2001), 181]
Moving out of Kindergarten In the Old-School Way of the Founders of Akron A.A.
Getting out of and beyond kindergarten by looking at the real old-school A.A.
First, we need to look at precisely what Frank Amos reported about the early A.A. Christian Fellowship’s program
Read the Amos report in DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, page 131:
How it worked is detailed in When Early AAs Were Cured and Why by Dick B.
Second, we need to learn the precise and seemingly-astonishing, documented success rates in early Mid-western A.A.—success rates that were known and recognized because: (1) the society was small; (2) the members knew each other well; and (3) the people kept rosters with names, addresses, phones, and sobriety information (DR. BOB, 145-46).
For the Akron results, read Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., pp. xx.
Display the rosters we actually have with us.
Read the affirmation about addresses (DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 145-46)
Display the GSO scrap book of cures – Richard K. book.
For the Cleveland results, see DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 261.
For the New York failures, see: (1) Bill had no success at all in his first 6 months (The
Language of the Heart, 198). (2) Very little success in the years after Bill returned to NY (A.A. Comes of Age, 10-11). (3) For three years, no success at all among those who lived with the Wilsons (A.A. Comes of Age, 11).
An Outline of Original A.A. Program Roots
The Specific Contributions by A.A. Cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob
Dr. Bob’s Training as a Youngster in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
The “Great Awakening” of 1875 in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Read Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous, pages 24-32.
Dr. Bob’s family—His father: a teacher and St. Johnsbury Academy examiner, Lawyer, Judge, Banker, Business Executive, Legislator, Prosecutor, St. Johnsbury Village official, Deacon at North Congregational Church, Sunday school teacher there for 30 years, President of the St. Johnsbury YMCA from 1895 to at least 1897 [i.e., while Dr. Bob was attending St. Johnsbury Academy (1894-1898)]; His mother: a school teacher, then a St. Johnsbury Academy Teacher, Sunday school superintendent, church leader, Academy Alumni Association Executive and Academy Historian, Vermont state library commissioner.
In total, there was Bob’s parental religious training and his family’s three times a week church attendance; his Sunday school; church prayer meetings; Christian Endeavor Bible study, prayer meetings, Quiet Hour, and other activity; possible YMCA association; required Academy daily chapel, weekly church and Bible study, Bible courses; and his campus life.
Bill Wilson’s Training as a Youngster in East Dorset, Rutland, and Manchester, Vermont.
The Wilson and Griffith family participation in East Dorset Congregational Church
Grandpa Willie’s Wilson’s conversion experience and cure of alcoholism.
Wilson’s Sunday school attendance.
Church sermons, conversions, revivals, temperance meetings.
Bill’s extensive reading, including Bible, and grandfather Griffith’s Bible reading
Bill’s Burr and Burton Academy daily chapel and Scripture references, required weekly church and Bible study, required four-year Bible study course, and Bill’s Presidency of the YMCA with his girl friend Bertha Bamford’s Presidency of the YWCA, and their daily attendance together at chapel services..
Bill Wilson’s Unique Experiences with Conversion and Cure. First as a Youngster. Then through his discussions with Dr. Silkworth about the “Great Physician” and with, Ebby Thacher about Dr. Carl Jung’s conversion prescription. Then through Rowland Hazard’s, Oxford Group Indoctrination. Then through Bill’s Decision for Christ and conversion at Calvary Rescue Mission altar. Then through Bill’s “hot flash” conversion experience at Towns Hospital. And finally in his long association with Rev. Sam Shoemaker. Thus:
Grandpa Willie’s conversion cure; the Congregationalism among Bill’s parents and his grandparents on both sides; the confession, creed, sermons, and literature at East Dorset Congregational Church; his Sunday school days; his attendance at conversions, revivals, and temperance meetings; and his four-year attendance at Burr and Burton Academy.
Long discussion with Dr. Silkworth—Bill’s hearing that the “Great Physician” could cure Him.
Encounter with Ebby Thacher and Bill’s learning of Ebby’s own conversion and success and Dr. Carl Jung’s conversion prescription
Bill’s decision for Christ and possible/probably new birth at Calvary Rescue Mission (if he had not already become a child of God in East Dorset, Rutland, or Manchester, Vermont).
Bill’s spiritual experience at Towns Hospital where he cried out to God for help and was cured.
Bill’s confirmation of conversion as a cure for alcoholism via Dr. Carl Jung, Dr. William D. Silkworth, and the work of Professor William James and the rescue missions.
Bill’s message on page Big Book, p. 191 that the Lord had cured Him of his “terrible disease.”
The discussions in the Rockefeller offices in the presence of Rockefeller’s people, Dr. Silkworth, Dr. Leonard Strong, New York AAs, Fitz Mayo, Hank Parkhurst, Dr. Bob, and Paul Stanley of Akron, where all were assured by the Frank Amos report that there had been permanent cures. (Read from the Frank Amos Foundation History).
The Akron Beginnings
Russell Firestone’s conversion to Christ and cure of alcoholism in 1931.
The 1933 Oxford Group testimonies in Akron.
The Alcoholic Squad meetings, their Christian fellowship, and their prayer for help.
Bill’s visit to Akron, Bill’s visit as an answer to the prayers, and then Bill's long, initial, six-hour talk with Dr. Bob at Henrietta Seiberling’s home.
Bob’s last drink, the founding of A.A., the hunt for A.A. Number Three, and founding of the first group, Akron No. 1.
What Bob and Bill Brought to the Table at A.A.’s Founding
Bill’s focus: Conversion, abstinence, medical aspects of alcoholism, importance of hospitalization, and working with other drunks.
Bob’s focus: Conversion, Biblical basic ideas, prayer, Quiet Time, Bible study, God’s guidance, hospitalization, reading Christian literature, and fellowship with like-minded believers.
Combined developments: Qualifying the newcomer by swapping stories, requiring belief in God, “real surrenders” per James 5:16, obedience to God, old fashioned prayer meetings, Bible study, in-house fellowship, 12 Step work at the hospital, and utilization of Oxford Group life-changing ideas of surrender, moral inventory, the Five C’s (confidence, confession, conviction, conversion, and continuance), and the Four Absolutes (honesty, purity, unselfishness, love).
Applying Old School A.A. Today
[Start with A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature]
Reviewing the Frank Amos Seven-Point Summary of Bob’s and Bill’s Original Program
[Read DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 131]
Reviewing the Documented Successes
[Read Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001, pp. xx, and 29]
Standing on What You’ve Studied and Know is Stated in the Big Book Basic Text
The Fourth Edition was published in 2001 and states: “This is A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature.” It consists of 607 pages, and it is still recognized as the basic text of A.A.
“To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book. For them, we hope these pages will prove so convincing that no further authentication will be necessary. We think this account of our experiences will help everyone to better understand the alcoholic.” page xiii
“We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action.” Page 17
“Further on, clear-cut directions are given showing how we recovered. These are followed by forty-two personal experiences. Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God. These give a fair cross section of our membership and a clear-cut idea of what has actually happened in their lives.” p. 29
“What is this but a miracle of healing? . . . . He humbly offered himself to his Maker—then he knew. Even so has God restored us all to our right minds.” p. 57
“But there is One who has all power—that One is God. May you find Him now! . . . . We asked His protection and care with complete abandon. Here are the steps we took . . . ," p 59.
“Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.” Long Form Tradition 3, p. 563.
The Need, a New Out Way Today, and the Frank Amos Model
Choosing To Learn History, Ignore and Reject Secularism, Universalism, Idolatry, Failure
Recognizing Some Cardinal Guides to Recovery
Reaching the newcomer with actual story telling, identification, and the message about God
Common to Salvation Army, Rescue Missions, YMCA, revival meetings, conversions.
Insisting on abstinence, resisting temptation, and medical help at the outset
Qualifying a newcomer as to belief in God [ Read from DR. BOB, 144 ]
Requiring the newcomer to become a child of the living God by a decision for Christ [ Read from Mitchell K., How It Worked, page 48. ].
Emphasizing that Obedience to God’s Word and Will is required of His children. See Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount—“Thy Will Be Done”. . . “He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
Eliminating sinful conduct and rejecting temptation – James 1
Learning to walk in fellowship, obedience, love, and service – 1 John Chapters 1-5
Calling on the Creator and His son for guidance, strength, and help – 1 John 5:14-15
Encouraging a fellowship of people learning and applying the early program techniques
Daily living, breaking bread, praying, meeting with like-minded believers (Acts 2:41-44).
Praying as a group and in Quiet Time. And learning how to pray.
Observing Individual Quiet Time, Bible study, prayer, use of devotionals and reading of helpful Christian literature.
Regular group Bible study – particularly James, the Sermon, and 1 Cor. 13.
Intense effort to help others get straightened out with a message of hope,
salvation, deliverance, and an abundant, prosperous, and healthy life.
Learning and rejecting bad behavior, bad company, negative thinking, and harsh tongue.
Placing social and religious comradeship with like-minded believers as a high target
Attending church, Bible fellowships, retreats, and religious bodies for growth.
Learning how to speak to and hear from our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ
1 Samuel 3:9 (Speak LORD, for thy servant heareth)
Acts 9:6 (Lord, what wilt thou have me to do)
Renewing the mind with the truth and deliverance the Bible offers: See Romans 12:1-2
Casting out the negative prisons of mind and body—fear, resentment, dishonesty, selfishness, idolatry, depression, anxiety, ill health, physical and mental disability, financial insecurity, criticism, etc. See 1 Corinthians 13 and 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 for example
Dealing with life as a conquering and victorious child of God, and not a victim of events.
Opportunities to Review Evidence
1. St. Johnsbury Academy and Burr and Burton Books
2. Rosters
3. Frank Amos Alcoholic Foundation History Report
4. Photos of Homes, Churches, Academies
5. Alteration of Original Manuscript
6. Akron AA Pamphlets
7. GSO Scrap book on cures
8. A.A. literature on “no belief at all.”
[At the Monday Evening San Dimas Conference: Details on How the Akron Program actually worked; where the details can be found in Conference Approved Literature; Importance of salvation, growth in fellowship and walk, The Bible and the Three Absolutely Essential Segments; Forming Big Book/Bible Study Groups Today; How to grow out of kindergarten, work with existing Christian resources; and grow into real Ambassadors for Christ motivated in daily living by obedience to God and a fellowship of love and service with God, His son, and other believers.]
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