"Dick B. speaks
about the latest on 'old-school' A.A." on the January 6, 2013, episode of
the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show
On
Dick B.
Copyright 2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved
You may hear this Dick B. Radio Interview Now; and later today Dick will
be speaking on Joseph’s Rum Radio Show as well
You may hear
Dick B. speak about the latest on "old-school" A.A. on the January 6,
2013, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show
here:
http://mcaf.ee/wvojf
or here:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/christian-recovery-radio-with-dickb/2013/01/06/dick-b-talks-about-the-latest-on-old-school-aa
Episodes of
the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show are archived at:
Dick B.’s Introduction
to this January 6, 2013 Interview
This
spring, the International Christian Recovery Coalition will continue its educational
efforts to tell the recovery world about the "God is" option that
exists and has always existed in Alcoholics Anonymous and recovery
fellowships--whether they be Christian, 12-Step, or secular. Recovery today
seeks and seems to attract suffering alcoholics and addicts who are at the
mercy of whatever recovery therapy they happen to find, someone recommends, or
courts and counselors require. And today, more often than not, that recovery
effort asks little more than a desire to quit drinking or using, and attendance
at meetings.
The
days of Christian recovery organizations, professionals, and altruistic help
from fellow afflicted souls who look to God for help have been in a diminishing
stance for a couple of decades. At the same time, there has been a revival, an
immense new growth among believers to go back to the highly-successful First
Century "Christianity fellowship" techniques that the Akron A.A.
pioneers adopted and victoriously applied from A.A.'s earliest days in 1935.
Dick
B. and Ken B. have devoted 23 years now to researching and publicizing that
"God is" option that can and will produce recovery and healing from
alcoholism and addiction, if sought. Other options exist in abundance, but
those who are Christians or at least believe in God deserve to know what God
can and will do for them today if and when He is sought.
There
are three major tools Dick and Ken will use in 2013 to illuminate the Divine
help approach. The first is the personal stories of the A.A. pioneers that
occupied the greatest number of pages in the first edition of A.A.'s basic
text. The second involves the summary of the original Christian fellowship
already underlined in much of A.A.'s own Conference-approved literature. The
third is the message that all AAs and recovery work ought to carry.
Highlights of Dick B.’s
Christian Recovery Radio Talk January 6, 2013
This
interview covers material Ken and I will be using in Florida and in California
in February and also later in the spring of 2013. It emphasizes three books we feature in
workshops and meetings.
Let
us walk you through spots of the history of recovery from alcoholism and
addiction with God’s help. Much of the relevant history got sidetracked on a
detour involving the Washingtonians of the 1800’s, the Emanuel Movement of the
early 1900’, and the Oxford Group which began about 1919. However, the proper
focus of history that will be helpful to drunks is the history of God’s help.
Help promised and produced in the reports in the Bible.
Turn
first to First Century Christianity (the acts of the Apostles in the Book of
Acts, and the work of Jesus upon which their deeds were founded). This meant
daily fellowship with God and Jesus Christ and each other, hearing God’s Word,
praying together, breaking bread together, meeting in the homes and temple,
witnessing, converting others to God through Christ, healing them, and enabling
the church to grow daily – in many cases, by the thousands.
In
the 1850’s, the historical focus shifts to Christian people and organizations
following First Century Christian precepts and helping others be healed through
salvation, the word of God, and healing. These were the great evangelists like
Moody, Sankey, Folger, Meyer. They included the Gospel Rescue Missions, the
Young Men’s Christian Association, the Salvation Army, and the Young People’s
Society of Christian Endeavor.
The
lessons were carried into the Christian upbringing in Vermont of Dr. Bob and
Bill W.—as well as Bill W.’s friend Ebby Thacher. They were saturated with
biblical-salvation teaching from their families, Bible study, Congregational
churches, Sunday schools, sermons, hymns, reading of Scripture, prayer, their
St. Johnsbury-Burr and Burton—Norwich Academy high school years with daily
chapel, required Bible study, sermons, prayers, hymns, Scripture reading,
required church attendance, and the special activities of the Young Men’s
Christian Association – of which Dr. Bob’s father was President in St.
Johnsbury, and Bill W. was president at Burr and Burton.
The
first three AAs had no Big Book, Steps, Traditions, drunkalogs, or meetings as
we know them. They believed the answers to their problems were in the Bible.
They emphasized the Book of James, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and 1
Corinthians 13; and, according to Dr. Bob, met daily and got their basic Step
ideas from the Bible efforts and studies from 1935 until Bill’s new Step
program in 1939.
The
first three all—all believers in God, Christians, and Bible students-- got
sober before A.A. by the simple process of renouncing liquor, turning to God
for help, being cured, and then helping others.
The
original fellowship was founded on July 4, 1935 when Bill D. got sober. Their
seven point program is summarized on page 131 of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers; and their sixteen practices
applying the original seven ideas are set forth in Dick B. and Ken B., Stick with the Winners! How to Conduct More
Effective 12-Step Recovery Meeting Using Conference-Approved Literature: A Dick
B. Guide for Christian Leaders and Workers in the Recovery Arena.
The
precise activities of the pioneers are now available in the personal stories
published in Alcoholics Anonymous “The
Big Book” The Original 1939 Edition: Bill W. With a New Introduction by Dick B.
(Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 2011). And the bulk of that edition
is, of course, filled with the personal stories of the pioneers attesting
precisely to the way they applied the early Akron Christian Fellowship program.
And
to enable people to see the essence of the program and the testimonials about
it, we have just published Dick B. and Ken B. Pioneer Stories in Alcoholics Anonymous: God’s Role in Recovery
Confirmed!
These
books are available on Amazon.com in print-on-demand and electronic book form.
In closing, we remind you
that A.A. allows freedom to choose. The message we bring is
That Christians and those who want to believe
in and rely on the power of God can point to the
abc’s of A.A.’s own basic text—paraphrased—(a)
We were alcoholic and could not manage our
own lives. (b) Probably no human power could
have relieved our alcoholism. (c) God could and
would if He were sought. Furthermore, God can
and will and did when the pioneers sought Him.
The solution message in
Wilson’s own Big Book very clearly states “God is.” It also clearly
States the central fact of
the solution—that the Creator has entered into their hearts and lives in a
way that is truly miraculous.
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