Bill W. & Dr. Bob together at The
Shrine Auditorium in March 1948: "The Tidings" article 03 26 48.PDF
[sent by Hermine Lees of The Tidings staff to Ken B.]
Subject: The Tidings article 03 26
48.PDF [sent by Hermine Lees of The Tidings to Ken B.]
[Note to readers: If you would like a
copy of this vitally important historical record of Bob and Bill in Los Angeles
where they were talking of Divine Aid, prayer, cultivating the habit of prayer,
and studying the Bible, see for yourself. Contact dickb@dickb.com; and we will see that you get
a pdf sent to you]
Aloha to you, Christian leaders and
workers in the recovery arena!!
Dick B. (www.DickB.com) has quoted
from and referred to a copy of an article from The Tidings he received several
years back which discussed an event held in the Shrine Auditorium in Los
Angeles at which Bill W. and Dr. Bob spoke together. Here is some background
information about this important article in which Bill W. and Dr. Bob note the
role of the Creator of the heavens and the earth (and--in Dr. Bob's case--of
the Bible) in early A.A.'s astonishing successes.
Because the last number in the year
date (i.e., the "8" in "1948") was difficult to read in the
copy given to Dick B., he cited the article as being from page 17 of the
Friday, March 26, 1943, issue of The Tidings. Because the staff of The Tidings
had been unable to locate such an article with the date of March 26, 1943, they
reported to a least one person--in addition to reporting to me this month
(i.e., March 2008)--that they didn't have such an article.
After considerable personal research,
I came to the conclusion that there was probably a simple "typo"
involved in which the "8" in "1948" had been mistaken for a
"3" (as in "1943"). When I contacted The Tidings and
suggested that the date might actually be Friday, March 26, 1948, Hermine Lees,
a Staff Writer at The Tidings, was able to confirm to me almost immediately
that there was such an article. At my request, she faxed the article to me. I
have attached a scanned copy of her fax to me ("The Tidings article 03 26 48.pdf"). She told me in an email
message that she had felt that she needed to retype the two paragraphs in the
first column of the copy of the article she faxed to me, and I hand-wrote her
comments at the bottom of the document she faxed to me. And I drew a line
around what Hermine typed so that it would be clear that that portion of text
was separate from the photocopy of the article she sent me. Please also note
that the copy sent to me by Hermine Lees does not include the ads and other
information surrounding the original article about Alcoholics Anonymous.
I am also including a scanned copy of
the original article which Dick B. had used in his various discussions of the
appearance of Bill W. and Dr. Bob at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
And, speaking of the roles played by
God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in early A.A.'s astonishing successes
with "seemingly-hopeless," "medically-incurable" alcoholics
who thoroughly followed the path of the pioneer AAs, please see our
just-released titled, Pioneer Stories in Alcoholics Anonymous: God's Role in
Recovery Confirmed! by Dick B. and Ken B. (2012), now available in paperback
and eBook formats from Amazon.com:
Paperback: http://mcaf.ee/mzqor
eBook (Kindle): http://mcaf.ee/yex8u
[This book will be available in other eBook formats any day now from
www.SmashWords.com]
Pioneer Stories in Alcoholics
Anonymous quotes many examples of A.A. pioneers sharing about God, His Son
Jesus Christ, the Bible, and Christianity in the "Personal Stories"
section of the first edition of the Big Book (1939). Those pioneers were
testifying to the tremendous effectiveness of the "old program" which
John D. Rockefeller's agent, Frank Amos, summarized in seven points--not six,
not 12!--on page 131 of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers. Those 29
testimonies--26 of which were not included in the fourth edition of the Big
Book (2001)--are not talking about what Bill Wilson called "the new
version of the program, now the 'Twelve Steps'" (Alcoholics Anonymous
Comes of Age, 162) which he wrote in the first 11 chapters of the first
edition. Bill's "new version of the program" didn't exist yet! No,
here is what Mitchell K., the biographer of Clarence S, the founder of A.A. in
Cleveland, states:
"Two years after the publication
of the [Big] book [on April 10, 1939], Clarence made a survey of all of the
members in Cleveland. He concluded that, by keeping most of the 'old program,'
including the Four Absolutes and the Bible, ninety-three percent of those
surveyed had maintained uninterrupted sobriety." (Mitchell K., How It
Worked: The Story of Clarence H. Snyder and the Early Days of Alcoholics
Anonymous in Cleveland, 108; bolding added. See also DR. BOB and the Good
Oldtimers, 261.)
Would you like to see a 93% success
rate among "medically-incurable" alcoholics (and addicts)--with no
relapses among them!--in your A.A. meeting and/or Christian recovery meeting
today? Please check out the resources mentioned in this article.
One more thing: Whatever you do,
please have a large stack of The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous:
Biographical Sketches: Their Last Major Talks (Item #
P-53--http://aa.org/lang/en/catalog.cfm?category=4&product=70) available at
all of the A.A. meetings and Christian Recovery meetings you attend and/or
supervise, and give them to everyone who comes to those meetings. Consider
highlighting key pages in Dr. Bob's and Bill's talks in that pamphlet about the
"Good Book," our "Heavenly Father," and "the
Master." And perhaps include a business card and/or write your name and
phone number in the back of the pamphlet. Atheists and agnostics have become
children of God reading this pamphlet! (Want to know more about this pamphlet?
Please ask me!)
In GOD's love,
Dick B.'s son, Ken
Dick B.'s main Web site:
www.DickB.com
Dick B., Executive Director
The International Christian Recovery
Coalition: www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com
"Christian Recovery Radio with
Dick B.," "Russell S. Talks," and other Christian Recovery
resources: www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com
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