AA: Is our Creator just an higher power? Is His son Jesus Christ just an higher power? Or are they Father and Son!

Aloha to you, William, from Maui, Hawaii!

Thank you for your question about whether it is appropriate to "use the phrase Christ is my Higher Power."

There are very simple answers to your question in the Bible, in the Big Book, and in A.A. history.

1. The Bible: The phrase "higher power" in the singular does not occur in the King James Version of the Bible. All you need to do to verify that is to use the Blue Letter Bible available online: www.BlueLetterBible.org. Use "higher power" as your search term. If you put quotes around the phrase "higher power," you will get the following result:

"higher power"

occurs in 0 verses in the KJV (see Primary Results).

["higher power," www.BlueLetterBible.org: http://mcaf.ee/b7cqy; accessed 4/6/13]

There are a number of descriptive words and phrases used of Jesus in the Bible. For example, "Christ" [which is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word "Messiah" and means "anointed (one)"] and "Son of the living God":

He [Jesus] saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

I suggest you consider sticking with the language of Scripture.

2. Alcoholics Anonymous ("the Big Book"). The phrase "Higher Power" occurs two (2) times in pages 1-164 of the fourth edition of the Big Book. You may verify that using the "164 and More" Big Book search tool available online: www.164andmore.com:

His defense must come from a Higher Power. (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 43)

Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstances! (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 100)

As to the occurrence of the phrase "Higher Power" on page 43, it is interesting to note:

1. The letter "h" in the phrase "Higher Power" (as it appears in the fourth edition) was not capitalized in the first printing of the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous. The phrase was written:

. . . higher Power.

2. Taking the page 43 “Higher Power” in context, let’s look at pages 45 and 46 of the fourth edition:

And, it means, of course, that we are going to talk about God [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4^th ed, 45]

We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4^thed., 46]

3. In the paragraph just before the paragraph in which the phrase "Higher Power" occurs on page 43 of the fourth edition, we find the following language:

As to two of you men, whose stories I have heard, there is no doubt in my mind that you were 100% hopeless, apart from divine help. [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 43]

As to the occurrence of the phrase "Higher Power" on page 100, it is interesting to note:

1. In the same paragraph in which the phrase "Higher Power" occurs on page 100, the previous sentence reads:

When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God's hands were better than anything we could have planned. [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 100]

2. In the paragraph immediately preceding the paragraph in which the phrase "Higher Power" occurs on page 100, we find the following two sentences:

Remind the prospect that his recovery is not dependent upon people. It is dependent upon his relationship with God. [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 100]

When it comes to sharing your personal experience (or "personal story"), page 29 of the fourth edition of the Big Book offers a good starting point:

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.

And stick with the facts! Here are some facts about the word "God," capitalized pronouns, and biblical descriptions as they are used of the Creator of the heavens and the earth on pages 1-164 of the fourth edition of the Big Book:

• The word "God" occurs 135 times on pages 1-164. [This figure includes related word-forms, including "God-consciousness" (p. 13), "God's" (pp. 24, 25, etc.), "God-sufficiency" (p. 52), "God-given" (p. 69), and "God-conscious" (p. 85).] If one chooses to omit/disqualify "for God's sake" (p. 24) and "the God of reason" (p. 54), that would leave 133 occurrences of the word “God” which fairly clearly refer to the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

• Capitalized pronouns referring to the Creator of the heavens and the earth (i.e., God) occur 81 times on pages 1-164; i.e., "He," "His," "Him," "Thou," "Thy," and "Thee."

• Biblical descriptions of the Creator of the heavens and the earth (i.e., God), other than the word "God," occur 16 times on pages 1-164--i.e., "Creator," "Maker," "the Father," and "the Father of Light."

(Please see the three attached files about occurrences of the word "God," capitalized pronouns, and biblical descriptions of the Creator of the heavens and the earth in pages 1-164 of the fourth edition of the Big Book for the documentation.) [And to the reader, you may obtain copies of the three files by emailing dickb@dickb.com]

3. Alcoholics Anonymous history. Here is the message A.A. cofounder Bill W. said that Ebby carried to him:

"I've got religion." [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 9]

Bill then stated:

[Ebby] . . . did no ranting. In a matter of fact way he told how two men had appeared in court, persuading the judge to suspend his commitment. They had told him of a simple religious idea and a practical program of action. . . . [T]he result was self-evident. It worked! [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 9]

Bill continued:

. . . [M]y friend sat before me, and he made the point-blank declaration that God had done for him what he could not do for himself. [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 11]

And Bill declared:

Thus was I convinced that God is concerned with us humans when we want Him enough. [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 12]

A.A. Number Three, Bill D. of Akron, had this to say about the message Bill W. carried:

Bill [W.] was at my house talking to my wife and me. We were eating lunch, and I was listening and trying to find out why they had this release that they seemed to have. Bill looked across at my wife and said to her, "Henrietta, the Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of this terrible disease, that I just want to keep talking about it and telling people." [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 191]

A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob had this to say about Bill W. following their first, six-hour meeting on Mother's Day, May 12, 1935, in Akron:

. . . [T]his was a man . . . who had been cured by the very means I had been trying to employ, that is to say the spiritual approach. [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 180]

And what message was Dr. Bob carrying?

“Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!” [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 181]

What message was A.A, Number Three, Bill D., carrying?

"I thought, I think I have the answer. Bill was very, very grateful that he had been released from this terrible thing and he had given God the credit for having done it, and he's so grateful about it he wants to tell other people about it. That sentence, "The Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of this terrible disease, that I just want to keep telling people about it," has been a sort of a golden text for the A.A. program and for me.” [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 181]

There is, of course, much more to be found in A.A. history about the roles played by God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in early A.A.'s astonishing successes. You might look, for example, at page 131 of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers. There you will find a seven-point summary of the original Akron A.A. "Christian fellowship" program by Frank Amos, the agent of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. No "higher Power" or "Higher Power" there. Just God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. As Ebby shared with Bill W. at Towns Hospital in December 1934 shortly after Bill W.'s hospital room had "blazed with indescribably white light" and Bill had sensed the presence of God:

My friend promised when these things were done I would enter upon a new relationship with my Creator; that I would have the elements of a way of living which answered all my problems. Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, were the essential requirements. [Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 14]

Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!

Thank you for writing to Dick B.

In GOD's love,

Dick B.'s son, Ken

For further information, see Dick B., God and Alcoholism: Our Growing Opportunity in the 21st Century. Available right now on Amazon.com.

New Comment on William Bagley 28 - Recovered Christian Alcoholic

New comment on williambagley28 Christian Recovered Alcoholic.

 

[William Bagley has been posting and posting and posting more than several times a day articles he has fashioned, or which were written by Dick B., or which contain Big Book and other Quotes relevant to early  A.A. reliance for help on God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible. Dick B.]

 

Here is a comment just sent to William

 

Fonda Savery commented on About.

in response to williambagley28:

 

I’m a Christian Alcoholic I share the true origins of Alcoholics Anonymous That the Founders of  AA Where using the Bible and the true Power of Jesus Christ to Become Recovered Alcoholics and Document it. Christ is my Higher power, The original “Big Book”–i.e., the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published on April 10, 1939–was 410 [...]

I was able to find good advice from your blog articles.

 

dickb@dickb.com

Free Listing as a Participant in International Christian Recovery Coalition - See details

How to Become, or Update Your Listing as, a “Participant” (free!) in

the International Christian Recovery Coalition

 

http://christianrecoverycoalition.com/ICLC-Participants.shtml

 

Ken B.

 

Aloha! My dad (Dick B.—www.DickB.com) and I are in the process of updating the “Participants” page of the International Christian Recovery Coalition Web site. As you probably know, it is FREE to become a “Participant” in the International Christian Recovery Coalition, and there is no obligation. Our concept is to make it as easy as possible for Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena, and those who want God’s help in overcoming alcoholism and/or addiction, to find those in their city, state, and/or country who could be of help.

 

If you are a Christian leader or worker in the recovery arena, please consider listing yourself, and/or or your Christian group, organization, or church on the “Participants” page. (If you are already listed on the “Participants” page, would you please take a few moments to review your current listing to make sure we have presented accurately as much or as little contact information as you would like to make available to the public?) Here are the key pieces of information to consider listing:

 

Name of individual (and relevant titles):  __________________________________________

 

Name of group, organization, or church:  __________________________________________

 

Mailing address:  ____________________________________________________________

 

Home/Work/Cell phone number(s):  _____________________________________________

 

Email address(es):  ___________________________________________________________

 

Web site URL address:  _______________________________________________________

 

B-R-I-E-F description of group’s Christian recovery focus:  ___________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Thank you!

 

Dick B.’s son, Ken

Email: kcb00799@gmail.com

Cell: 1-808-276-4945

 

Dick B.’s H/O tel.: 1-808-874-4876

Dick B.’s email: DickB@DickB.com

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.” & other resources: www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com

 

 

 

Very Important Quotes from the Spiritual Journal of Dr. Bob's Wife, and From Which She Taught Early AAs

Quotations from the Original Journal kept by Anne R. Smith—“Mother of A.A.,” “A.A. Founder," and Wife of Dr. Bob

 

 

Pioneer A.A.’s Most Ignored, Forgotten, yet Critically Important Resource

 

 Dick B.

© 2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved

 

I said, in the series on Anne Smith, it is virtually impossible today for AAs to see, enjoy, and utilize the original journal that Dr. Bob’s wife assembled and used from 1933 to 1939. We have set out many portions of it in our title Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939, 3rd ed.  See www.dickb.com/annesm.shtml. Those quotes were used to illustrate how much of Anne’s language can still be found in A.A. itself.

 

Here we want to introduce you to some specific segments that illustrate the diversity, practicality, and love that can be found in the comments of this wonderful woman of early A.A.–a non-alcoholic, yet perhaps its most articulate teacher. For it was Bill Wilson himself who said that during his stay at the Smith home in the summer of 1935, it was Anne Smith and Henrietta Seiberling who gave him and Dr. Bob a much needed spiritual infusion. 

 

"GENERAL PRINCIPLES [From page 2 as numbered by GSO]

 

1. A general experience of God is the first essential, the beginning. We can’t give away what we haven’t got. We must have a genuine contact with God in our present experience. Not an experience of the past, but an experience in the present - - - actually genuine.

 

When we have that, witnessing to it is natural, just as we wish to share a beautiful sunset. We must be in such close touch with God that the whole sharing is guided. The person with a genuine experience of God and with no technique will make fewer mistakes than one with lots of technique, and no sense of God. Under guidance, you are almost a spectator of what is happening. Your sharing is not strained, it is not tense.

 

We must clearly see and understand our own experience and carefully articulate it, so as to be ready to know what to say or use parts of it, when the need comes to share with others, in order to help them.

 

Act only on prayer and under guidance. Prayer is real, and prepares the way for people.

 

Share with people - don’t preach, don’t argue. Don’t talk up nor down to people. Talk to them, and share in terms of their own experiences, speak on their level.

 

Proceed with imagination and real faith - expect things to happen. If you EXPECT things to happen, they DO happen. This is based on FAITH IN GOD, not on our own strength. A negative attitude toward ourselves or others cuts off God’s power; it is evidence of lack of faith in His power. If you go into a situation admitting defeat, of course you lose."

 

[Comment: Those who are familiar with A.A.’s Big Book will quickly recognize the large number of ideas in the foregoing half-page of quotes that correspond to language Bill Wilson used in A.A.’s basic text. Thus on pages 18-19 of the Third Edition of A.A.’s Big Book, Bill talks about presenting no "Holier Than Thou" attitude, nor lectures, but rather a sharing of experience. Bill even refers to a Bible expression in saying, "many take up their beds and walk again" See John 5:8: "Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath."). See also, the Big Book’s comments about being "beyond human aid" (p. 24). About "the loving and powerful hand of God" (p. 18). About contact with "that Power, which is God" (p. 46). About "consciousness of the Presence of God" (pp. 51, 63). About "All men of faith have courage. They trust their God. We never apologize for God" (p. 68). About "we ask God what we should do about each specific matter" (p. 69) About "God can remove whatever self-will has blocked you off from Him." And there are many more examples.]

 

"THE FIVE C’S” (From page 4, as numbered by GSO) . . . .

Conviction.

 

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.

 

Conversion.

 

This is the turning to God, the decision, the surrender."

 

"WHAT SURRENDER MEANS” (From page 42, as numbered by GSO)

 

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 held dear, to God to do what he likes with. . ."

 

[Comment: Again, just look at the Big Book Third Edition: "We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon" (p. 59). "3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him." (p. 59)]

 

"(a) What are the conditions of receiving God’s guidance?” (From page 38, as numbered by GSO)

 

We must be in such relationship with God that He can guide us; He will not force Himself on us. The Sons of God are those who are guided by the Spirit of God. If we are wholly surrendered we can absolutely count on guidance. Constant renewal of consecration is necessary. Surrender is not an attitude attained; it is an attitude maintained. The major condition is being absolutely willing and looking for God’s direction in all things. We cannot receive guidance if we hold back an area, an habit, a plan. We must be alert to His direction in Everything; little things, as well as big ones such as career and marriage"

 

[Comment: Anne had her eye on passages in the Good Book that were familiar to our pioneer AAs. See 1 Corinthians 1:17-24; 2:9-16; 3:11, 16; 12:3-13; 2 Timothy 1:14; James 1:5-8; 1 John 2:27, 4:1-6, 13; 5:1-5].

 

"8. LET ALL YOUR READING BE GUIDED” (From page 16, as numbered by GSO)

 

What does God want me to read? A newly surrendered person is like a convalescent after an operation. He needs a carefully balanced diet of nourishing and easily assimilated food. Reading is an essential part of the Christian’s diet. It is important that he read that which can be assimilated and will be nourishing. If you do not know what books to read see someone who is surrendered and who is mature in the Groups. Biographies, or stories of changed lives are very helpful for the young Christian. "Life Changers " by Begbie; "Children of the Second Birth" Shoemaker; "New Lives for Old," Reynolds; "For Sinners Only," Russell; "Twice Born Men," by Begbie, story of the Salvation Army in London Slums; "Twice Born Ministers," Shoemaker; and others.

 

Books like, "He That Cometh," Allen; "Conversion of the Church," Shoemaker; all of E. Stanley Jones’ books are very good. Some have found Fosdick’s little books, "The Meaning of Prayer," and "The Manhood of the Master" helpful. One should by all means read at least one book on the life of Christ a year for a while. More would be better. "The Life of Christ," Stalker; "Jesus of Nazareth," Barton; "The Jesus of History," Glover; "The Man Christ Jesus," Speer, are all good. See your ministers for others if you desire. But get those biographies of the Master which bring out his humanity. An understanding of the Cross and its meaning for life is absolutely essential. The best popular interpretation I know is, "If I be lifted Up," by Shoemaker. It is a group of lenten sermons. Christ ought to be as real to us as our nearest and best friend.

 

Of course the Bible ought to be the main Source Book of all. No day ought to pass without reading in it. Read until some passage comes that "hits" you. Then pause and meditate over its meaning for your life. Begin reading the Bible with the Book of Acts and follow up with the Gospels and then the Epistles of Paul. Let "Revelation" alone for a while. The Psalms ought also be read and the Prophets.

 

[Comment: Early AAs read all these items. I found them in Dr. Bob’s library (See Dick B., Dr. Bob and His Library, 3^rd ed. www.dickb.com.drbob.shtml). I found them in Henrietta Seiberling’s reading (See Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous and The Books Early AAs Read for Spiritual Growth, 7th ed.). I found them in Clarence Snyder’s library as shown to me by his wife Grace in Florida (See Dick B., That Amazing Grace and The Books Early AAs Read, supra). And I found many mentioned in DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers and in early A.A. pamphlets and articles. Anne was the Bible student, the teacher, and the one who conducted the Morning Watch at the Smith home. It is therefore not surprising to see the language on page 87 of the Big Book, 3rd ed.: "There are many helpful books also. Suggestions about these may be obtained from one’s priest, minister, or rabbi. Be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer." And when I see communications from people that say "A.A. is not for Christians only" or Lois Wilson’s remark that "not all drunks are Christians," or hear someone in a meeting talk about excluding all but Conference Approved books from meetings and discussions, I bemoan the lack of knowledge of our own history and of the Big Book itself that exists today. There is no index of forbidden books in Alcoholics Anonymous, and there never was one. Dr. Bob was an avowed Bible student, Christian, and member of Protestant churches. But he read, recommended, circulated, and studied the works of Roman Catholic writers, of Protestant writers, of Confucius, of "new thought" writers like Trine and Fox, and of the Bible itself. He went to Roman Catholic retreats, Bible and tooth brush in hand. And he seems never to have spoken ill of any religion or denomination–an example today’s AAs would do well to observe.]

 

"Barriers to a full surrender.” (From page 18, as numbered by GSO)

 

Is there anything I won’t give up?

 

Is there an apology I won’t make?

 

Is there any defeat in my whole life, I refuse to count as sin?

 

Any person I don’t like to meet?

 

Any restitution I won’t make?

 

Is there any guidance I have had but refused to follow?

 

Is there anything I won’t share? Let my surrender be wholesale.

 

Narrow vision, rigidity, a staleness in your relationship with Christ.

 

Telling a lie.

 

If you are sore in yourself, do you work it off on somebody else.

 

Intellectual doubts arise out of an attitude of mind.

 

You can’t ask forgiveness from someone you don’t believe in.

 

Ideas about self - holding on to my own judgment of things, people, common sense and reason.

 

"You can’t use a fine needle to do rough darning"– Are you willing to take any amount of trouble to win others that Christ has taken to win you?

 

Each confession a fresh humiliation breaks down another barrier. You can get to the place where you have nothing left to defend - that is release. You can go naked to God.

 

[Comment: There are dozens and dozens of similar phrases, guides, observations, challenges, and ideas in Anne’s 64 pages, plus those we still need to find. You can see many discussed in my title, Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939, 3rd ed. You will be surprised, as so many are each day, to see just how much of Anne’s thinking and teaching underlies our fellowship ideas. And do you see any mention of "higher power," or of "acceptance," or of "things happen for a reason," or "there are no coincidences in A.A." Whatever you think of such expressions, they should certainly balanced against an understanding of what some of us now "old school A.A."

 

Let’s learn what we were and how successful we were before we start inventing new gods, nonsense gods, higher powers, new philosophies, and new interpretations of "reality." The Big Book and the chatter in meetings, if not accompanied by our history, could be likened to a conversation with Thomas Jefferson without a knowledge of the Declaration of Independence.]

 

Our Great Opportunity Today

 

What a great and unusual day it could be in Twelve Step Fellowships if we actually saw a copy of Anne Smith’s Journal –mine or hers–on the literature table at a meeting.

 

What a great and unusual day if someone read just one page from the real, the original, the un-edited Anne Smith’s Journal at an A.A. meeting on the 4th week of every month.

 

What a great and unusual day if A. A. World Services started publishing the real history of early A.A. instead of the diverse opinions and conjecture by those who haven’t the resources, the understanding, or even a clue as to where we came from.

 

What an opportunity to change the failing “wisdom of the rooms,” the  psychological treatment ideas, and the secularized “spirituality. And abandoned these in favor of the early "Program" of Akron Number One that Bill and Bob founded in 1935. Doing this by simply reading at a treatment program what that early program was, as exemplified by Anne’s Journal.

 

What a great and unusual day if speakers and International Conventions and other Conferences began talking about something other than their own experience, strength, and hope. These talks may be and often are humorous, inspiring, and attracting. But they seldom deal with the role that God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible played in A.A. and can play today. See www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com.

 

By contrast, you can read the Book of Acts, as Anne suggested, and see plenty of victorious experience, strength, and hope that was based on “effectual, fervent prayer” by righteous people who were children of God, part of the body of Christ, and shared belief in, and reliance upon, the power of God.  These First Century Christians shared this kind of experience: They lived together, prayed together, broke bread together, healed together, and witnessed.  The lame walked. The dead were raised. The sick were healed. And that’s what early A.A. was really about. That is why so many characterized it as “First Century Christianity in action.”

 

Take a moment and look at the 12 times the word "Creator" is used in our Big Book today. If you also learn that the word "God" with a capital "G" is set forth–by description or specific language or explicit reference–over 400 times in today’s Big Book, you might be hesitant about questioning the literature that gave rise to the "Power" (the power of Almighty God, our Creator). The Almighty God—Creator, Maker, Heavenly Father, Father of Lights--Whose kindness, healing, and forgiveness put Alcoholics Anonymous on the map as a viable life-changing society that really had an answer to the alcohol and drug problem from which our founders suffered.

 

For further information, contact  Dick B. at dickb@dickb.com or 808 874 4876. And make a copy of Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939 an integral part of your knowledge of the principles and practices of Alcoholics Anonymous.

 

Gloria Deo

 

"The Unmanageable Life": Where Did That Expression Come From?

The Unmanageable Life

 

The Language You Find in Step One of the A.A. Big Book and in the “abc’s” on Page 60

 

By Dick B.

©  2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved

 

Where Did the Expression Come From?

 

There is a simple answer. It involves three well-known sources of A.A.’s basic ideas:  (1) Anne Ripley Smith—AA cofounder Dr Bob’s wife—known as the “Mother of A.A.” (2) Reverend Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr.—Rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in New York—dubbed by Bill Wilson a “co-founder of A.A.” and the clergyman upon whom Bill W. relied for the ideas of almost all the Twelve Steps. (3) The Oxford Group—also known as “A First Century Christian Fellowship,” with which both Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob were associated before A.A. began, and with which Bill Wilson had close connections as he prepared to write the Big Book.

 

Anne Smith, Dr. Bob’s wife, kept a journal from 1933 to 1939. It contained many pages that spawned A.A. ideas. Anne shared its contents with early AAs and their families each morning at a Quiet Time at the Smith home in Akron. Anne wrote and shared the following as reported in Dick B., Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939: A.A.’s Principles of success, 3rd ed., page 21 www.dickb.com/annesm.shtml:

 

            What do  you do when you pray? O Lord manage me, for I cannot manage myself.

 

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

 

Reverend Samuel Shoemaker’s Assistant Minister W. Irving Harris provided a version from Cavalry Church, known as Charlie’s prayer. He said it was a classic, a simple plea in eight words:

 

God, manage me, ‘cause I can’t manage myself. Irving Harris, The Breeze of the Spirit: Sam Shoemaker and the Story of Faith-at-Work (NY: The Seabury Press, 1978), page 10.

 

In the Oxford Group, this little prayer came from what was called “Victor’s Story.” Dr. Frank Buchman, founder of A First Century Christian Fellowship, also known as the Oxford Group, told how he had converted Victor at a school boys’ camp in the Himalayas. Buchman told Victor: There is only one place—on our knees. The lad prayed—one of those powerful, simple prayers which are so quickly heard by Him Who made the eye and the ear: “”O Lord, manage me, for I cannot manage myself. See A.J. Russell, For Sinners Only (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1932), page 79.

 

Where Can You Find This Language Discussed?

 

All three sources are discussed in my title Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939  at pages 20-22.

 

For further information, contact  Dick B. at dickb@dickb.com, or 808 874 4876. Dick B.’s titles, Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939, New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., and The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous, can be found described, and can be ordered at www.dickb.com/annesm.shtml; www.dickb.com/newlight.shtml; www.dickb.com/Oxford.shtml.

 

Gloria Deo

 

AA History--Christian Recovery Conferences Are in the Works for 2013

AA History--Christian Recovery Conferences are in the works for  2013. Stay tuned, and we will sure keep inquirers posted on times, dates, locations, and formats.

One Christian leader in Alaska--a recpvered physician also--seems willing to organize a real outreach there and to fund our trip.

A Christian pastor and his wife--both recovered and living in Texas--are very serious about a large conference in Ft. Worth and have talked to us extensively about music, speakers, eats, round table talks, personal meetings, and a focus on apply old school A.A. Christian Fellowship principles and practices in recovery groups and work today.

There has also been some talk about a meeting this Spring in the South San Francisco Bay Area--which is alive with Christian recovery outreach. Two different leaders are planning events; and a prison outreach leader may also weigh in.

Just a day or so ago, some of the folks who traveled with us on our team research all over Vermont and also in Cleveland have talked about a Conference on the East Coast or New England. We love the prospect.

As Ken and I have said many times, we will go where we are welcome, can serve and glorify God and His Son Jesus Christ, and are funded in advance as to travel expenses.

We've never been to a conference or a seminar or personal meetings where we have not met new leaders, hungry servants, and eager Christian recovery fellowship enthusiasts. We wouldn't go if there weren't that prospect, followed by the continued work to grow the Christian Recovery Movement today that is now represented with participants in all 50 States, in Canada, in the British Isles, and in other countries.

Every meeting has stimulated various resourceful activities and leader-workers. These have included pastors, recovery pastors, physicians, historians, Christian fellowship leaders, treatment program and counseling leaders, and those growing the sober living movement for Christians. Some start fellowships. Some start study groups. Some organize new meetings. Some reach out to prisons, mental hospitals, and treatment facilities. Some have radio and TV outlets. And all have turned up as stalwart workers and supporters.

For further information and suggestions, please contact Dick B. dickb@dickb.com, or 808 874 4876

AA-Faith of Jesus Christ-Bill Wilson's Call for Help

Alcoholics Anonymous History

 

Bill Wilson’s Call on God for Help: Strengthening Faith of Christian AAs in Recovery Today

 

Dick B.

© 2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved.

 

Dr. William Silkworth, Bill W.’s Doctor, Tells Bill Jesus Christ Can Cure Him

 

Dr. William D. Silkworth advised Bill Wilson that Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, could cure Bill of his alcoholism. At the time of Bill Wilson’s third hospitalization in Towns Hospital, Bill had a discussion with his physician, Dr. William D. Silkworth, on the subject of the “Great Physician.” And Silkworth’s biographer Dale Mitchel wrote in Silkworth: The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks:

 

Silkworth has not been given the appropriate credit for his position on a spiritual conversion, particularly as it may relate to true Christian benefits. Several sources,        including Norman Vincent Peale in his book The Positive Power of Jesus Christ, agree that it was Dr. Silkworth who used the term ‘The Great Physician’ to explain the need in recovery for a relationship with Jesus Christ. . . . In the formation of AA, Wilson initially insisted on references to God and Jesus, as well as the Great Physician. . .  . Silkworth challenged the alcoholic with an ultimatum. Once hopeless, the alcoholic would grasp hold of any chance of sobriety. Silkworth, a medical doctor, challenged the alcoholic with a spiritual conversion and a  relationship with God as part of a program of recovery. His approach with Bill Wilson was no different. . . Wilson did often confirm Silkworth as ‘very much a founder of AA.’ . . . . [Bill wrote:] “I was in black despair. And in the midst of this I remembered about this God business. . . and I rose up in bed and said, “If there be a God, let him show himself now! All of a sudden there was a light. . .a blinding white light that filled the whole room. A tremendous wind seemed to be blowing all around me and right through me. I felt as if I were standing on a high mountain top. . . I felt that I stood in the presence of God.” [In Norman Vincent Peale, The Art of Living] The Silkworth copy of this book inscribed by Peale is available at the Silkworth Collection Archives. . .  . In this book in particular he describes the need for surrender (p.105), he uses the term ‘The Great Physician’ (later used by Bill Wilson) as a metaphor for Jesus Christ (pp. 123 -26, and 151), and the details of an act of making amends, the AA Ninth Step, (pp. 128-31), all of which are cornerstones of spiritual living ripe within the Alcoholics Anonymous program and that of Dr. Silkworth.”[1]

 

Bill’s Friend Ebby Thacher Tells Bill About Ebby’s Rebirth at Calvary Mission

 

Ebby Thacher visited his old school friend and companion Bill Wilson shortly after Bill’s third hospitalization at Towns Hospital. Ebby told Bill: that he (Ebby) had been lodging at Calvary Mission, [2] that he had “got religion” [3] that “God had done for him what he could not do for himself.” And [4] that Ebby had there made a decision for Christ.[5]

In a manuscript I found at Stepping Stones, titled, “Bill Wilson’s Original Story,” every line was numbered. The numbers ran from 1 to 1180; and here is how Bill there described Ebby’s approach and Bill’s observation that Ebby had been born again at the Mission:

 

Nevertheless here I was sitting opposite a man who talked about a personal God, who told me how he had found Him, who described to me how I might do the same thing and   who convinced me utterly that something had come into his life which had accomplished a miracle. The man was transformed; there was no denying he had been reborn.” (lines 935-42). [6]

 

Bill Himself Then Goes to the Mission Altar and Writes Later “I was born again.”

 

Bill Wilson shortly set out for Calvary Mission to receive what his friend Ebby had received.[7] Upon his arrival at Calvary Mission, Bill went to the altar just as Ebby had done.[8] And just as Ebby had done, Bill made a decision for Christ.[9] Rev. Sam Shoemaker’s wife was present. She told me very explicitly, on the telephone from her home in Burnside, very that she was present at the Mission when Bill had there “made a decision for Christ.”[10]

 

Lois Wilson Later Tells Audience in Texas that Bill had Handed His Life Over to Christ

 

In a recorded talk at Dallas, Texas, Bill Wilson’s wife Lois Wilson described the events that took place at Bill’s conversion:

 

Well, people got up and went to the altar and gave themselves to Christ. And the leader of the meeting asked if there was anybody that wanted to come up. And Bill started up. . . .  And he went up to the front and really, in very great sincerity, did hand over his life to Christ. [11]

 

Reverend W. Irving Harris of Calvary Church Confirms Bill’s Second Birth

 

The Rev. W. Irving Harris was Dr. Shoemaker’s Assistant Minister. Harris and his wife Julia lived in Calvary House where Shoemaker lived, and knew Bill Wilson quite well. Rev. Harris typed a memorandum which his wife Julia gave to me, which said of the Mission Conversion:

 

. . . it was at a meeting at Calvary Mission that Bill himself was moved to declare that he had decided to launch out as a follower of Jesus Christ.[12]

 

Bill W. Then Wrote of His Surrender to Jesus Christ at the Mission Altar

 

Then, it was Bill Wilson himself who began to describe his own conversion to Christ at the Calvary Mission altar. First, while drunk, Bill wrote a letter to his brother-in-law Dr. Leonard Strong, using the same description that Ebby had used regarding his own conversion. Bill said, “I’ve got religion.”[13]

 

Of far greater importance are the remarks that I found twice in Bill’s manuscripts at Stepping Stones and which are now recorded in his own autobiography published by Hazelden. Bill wrote:

 

For sure I’d been born again.[14]

 

Even Bill’s wife Lois, having seemingly become resentful of Bill’s victory, wrote: “Although my joy and faith in his rebirth continued, I missed our companionship. We were seldom alone now.” [15]

 

From Bill’s New Birth at the Mission to His Healing at Towns Hospital

 

But the decision at the altar did not, at first, produce sobriety. Bill had not yet had quite enough to drink. After his conversion, he wandered drunk in despair and dark depression to Towns Hospital one more time. He was, he said, still pondering “that mission experience.”[16]

 

Concluding he could no longer defeat alcoholism on his own and still remembering Dr. Silkworth’s assurance that Jesus Christ the Great Physician could cure him, Bill thought:

 

Yes, if there was any great physician that could cure the alcohol sickness, I’d better seek him now, at once. I’d better find what my friend [Ebby] had found.[17]

 

Bill arrived at Towns Hospital for his last visit as a patient. For Bill, “The terrifying darkness had become complete.” Then he thought, “But what of the Great Physician? For a brief moment, I suppose, the last trace of my obstinacy was crushed out as the abyss yawned. I remember saying to myself,

 

I’ll do anything, anything at all. If there be a Great Physician, I’ll call on him.[18]

 

And here are a few of Bill’s comments about what happened when he “made the call” and had his ensuing “blazing indescribably white light experience”—an experience that changed his life forever. An experience that dominated the early A.A. thinking about the importance of Jesus Christ. And an experience that may give strength to the faith of Christians in A.A. today:

 

Then, with neither faith, nor hope, I cried out, ‘If there be a God, let him show himself.’ The effect was instant, electric. Suddenly my room blazed with an indescribably white light. I was seized with an ecstasy beyond description. I have no words for this. Every joy I had known was pale by comparison. The light, the ecstasy, I was conscious of nothing else. Then, seen in the mind’s eye, there was a mountain. I stood upon its summit where a great wind blew. A wind, not of air, but of spirit. In great, clean strength it blew right through me.[19]

 

And then the great thought burst upon me: ‘Bill, you are a free man! This is the God of the Scriptures.’ And then I was filled with a consciousness of a presence. A great peace fell over me, and I was with this I don’t know how long. But then the dark side put in an appearance, and it said to me, ‘Perhaps, Bill, you are hallucinating.You better call in the doctor.’ So the doctor came, and haltingly I told him of the experience. Then came great words for Alcoholics Anonymous. The little man had listened, looking at me so benignly with those blue eyes of his, and at length he said to me, ‘Bill you are not crazy. I have read about this sort of thing in books but I have never seen it first hand. . . .’ So I hung on, and then I knew there was a God and I knew there was grace. And through it all I have continued to feel, and if I may presume to say it, that I do know these things.’” [20]

 

A.A.’s official biography of Bill Wilson summarized the results of Bill’s white light experience:

 

Bill Wilson had just had his 39th birthday, and he still had half his life ahead of him. He always said that after that experience, he never again doubted the existence of God. He never took another drink. [21]

 

Reborn and Healed, Bill Feverishly Witnessed to Others About the Lord’s Curing Him

 

Not only had he quit drinking for good, but he set about feverishly witnessing to anyone who would listen. Dr. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., to whose church the Calvary Mission belonged, encouraged Bill to spread the message of change and spiritual recovery to others like himself. Lois Wilson’s biographer William G. Borchert reports the events as follows:

 

Bill took the preacher [Reverend Shoemaker] at his word. With Lois’s full support, he was soon walking through the gutters of the Bowery, into the nut ward at Bellevue Hospital, down the slimy corridors of fleabag hotels, and into the detox unit at Towns with a Bible under his arm.  He was promising sobriety to every drunk he could corner if they, like he, would only turn their lives over to God. [22]

 

Yet, as Dr. Bob put it,

 

Time went by, and he [Bill Wilson] had not created a single convert, not one. As we express it, no one had jelled. He worked tirelessly with no thought of saving his own strength or time, but nothing seemed to register. [23]

 

Then Came the Founding Visit in Akron Between Bill with His Message and Bob with Listening to the Concept of Service to Others

 

The message was carried to Dr. Bob and was simmered to its essence by three months of Bible study and discussion by Bill and Bob in the summer of 1935. [24] The simple Original program, founded in Akron on June 10, 1935, developed by the Akron Christian Fellowship—the Akron Number One Group--and incorporating the basic ideas taken from the study of the Good Book, achieved astonishing success by November of 1937.

 

Bill Wilson’s important but little noticed message, incorporating his view of the importance of Jesus Christ, is recorded in two places in A.A.’s subsequent literature.

 

On page 191 of the latest edition of A.A.’s Big Book, Bill is quoted as saying:

 

The Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of this terrible disease that I just want to keep talking about it and telling people. [25]

 

And, in earlier A.A. years Bill continued to express to others the conviction that Jesus Christ provided the power needed to release those still in need of help. One account begins with a visit by Dr. Bob’s sponsee, Clarence H. Snyder, with a Cleveland man:

 

[Said this Cleveland man:] “One evening I had gone out after dinner to take on a couple of double-headers and stayed a little later than usual, and when I came home Clarence [Snyder] was sitting on the davenport with Bill W. [Bill Wilson]. I do not recollect the specific conversation that went on but I believe I did challenge Bill to tell me something about A.A., and I do recall one another thing: I wanted to know what it was that worked so many wonders, and hanging over the mantel was a picture of Gethsemane and Bill pointed to it and said, “There it is,” which didn’t make much sense to me.”[26]

 

And this specific reference to the picture of Jesus Christ was “it.” For those in early A.A. who thoroughly followed the path that began with belief in God and surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the path was a path to success. Bill’s message for those who wanted to hear it was that the Lord had cured him. Dr. Bob confirmed Bill’s message with the last line of Bob’s own personal story when he said, “Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!” [27]

 

For further details, see Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., www.dickb.com/conversion.shtml

And/or contact Dick at 808 874 4876 or dickb@dickb.com

 

Gloria Deo

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[1] Dale Mitchel, Silkworth The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks: The Biography of William Duncan Silkworth, M.D. (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2002), 33-34, 44-52, 63, 65, 78, 96, 100=01, 106-09,  121-22, 151, 159-61, 193-99, 225.

 

[2] Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age: A Brief History of A.A. (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1957),  58-9; Bill Wilson: Bill W. My First 40 Years: An Autobiography By the Co-Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2000),  132.

 

[3] Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 58.

 

[4] Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed. (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 2001), 11.

 

[5] T. Willard Hunter, “It Started Right There”: Behind the Twelve Steps and the Self-help Movement, Rev. ed. (Claremont, California: Ives Community Office, 2006), 6.

 

[6] Dick B., Turning Point: A History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and Successes (San Rafael, CA: Paradise Research Publications, 1997). Note: This and other such manuscripts will shortly be published in Dick B.’s latest book with the working title, The Early Manuscripts and Papers I Was Allowed to See and Copy at Stepping Stones Archives in 1991.

 

[7] Bill W., My First 40 Years 135-37.,

 

[8] Bill W., My First 40 Years, 137.

 

[9] Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.: More on the Creator’s Role in Early A.A. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2006), 92-94.

 

[10] Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., 94.

 

[11] This quote was discovered by A.A. historian Richard K., who listened to the Lois Wilson recording, wrote down the “Christ” remark, and provided the information to me. See Dick B., When Early AAs Were Cured and Why, 3rd ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2006), 11.

 

[12] Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., Pittsburgh ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1999), 533.

 

[13] Dick B., When Early AAs Were Cured and Why, 12.

 

[14] Bill W. My First 40 Years, 147; See Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., 110, reporting the two places (pp. 130 and 103) of the  manuscript titled “Wilson, W. G. Wilson Recollections,” dated September 1, 1954, that I personally inspected and was permitted to copy of Stepping Stones Archives in 1991.

 

[15] Lois Remembers, 98.

 

[16] Bill W. My First 40 Years, 138.

 

[17] Bill W. My First 40 Years, 139.

 

[18] Bill W., My First 40 Years, 145.

 

[19] Bill W., My First 40 Years, 145-46.

 

[20] The Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings (New York: The AA Grapevine, Inc., 1988), 284.

 

[21] “Pass It On,” 121.

 

[22] William G. Borchert, The Lois Wilson Story When Love is Not Enough: A Biography of the Cofounder of Al-Anon  (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2005), 170.

 

[23] The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their Last Major Talks [Pamphlet P-53] (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972, 1976), 10.

 

[24] The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, 13-14

 

[25] Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 191

 

[26] This account was included in the third edition of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1976), 216-17. It has now been removed from the subsequent edition. The picture to which Bill W. pointed was a well-known depiction of “a place called Gethsemane” where Jesus had gone to prayer and “saith unto his disciples, sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. . .  . And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

 

[27] Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 181.