A.A. today is not Christian. In 1935, A.A. in Akron called itself a Christian Fellowship. In early A.A. days, there were frequent observations that the A.A. program was First Century Christianity in Action.
If ever there was a detour from helping the drunk who still suffers, it is the path that a handful of anti-AA Christian writers pursue in claiming that A.A. has no Christian roots, A.A.'s founders were not Christians, A.A. presents a path of destruction for Christians, that no Christian should ever enter the rooms of A.A.
The facts provide an entirely different picture.
Early A.A. developed from organizations and people in the 1850's and forward who wanted to help drunks, instead of condemning them or shunning them. These were the Young Men's Christian Association, the Salvation Army, Gospel Rescue Missions, the great evangelists like Dwight Moody and F.B. Meyer, Congregationalism, and the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor. See www.dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml.
Early A.A.'s Cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob were born and raised in Christianity--by their parents, their grandparents, their respective Congregational Churches in St . Johnsbury and East Dorset Vermont, their respective Sunday school teachings, their extensive Bible study as young people, the influences of the YMCA on both Dr. Bob and Bill Wilson, and the Christian regimen at St. Johnsbury Academy (for Dr. Bob) and Burr and Burton Seminary (for Bill W.), and the Daily Chapel they attended (with sermons, reading of Scripture, prayers, and sermons). Perhaps the greatest early Christian influence was The Great Awakening of 1875 in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
See www.dickb.com/realhistory.shtml; www.dickb.com/conversion.sthml; http://mcaf.ee/s50mq.
Early AAs in Akron all believed in God and also came to Him through His son Jesus Christ. See www.dickb.com/AmazGrac.shtml; www.dickb.com/goldentext.shtml; and www.dickb.com/JamesClub.shtml.
The issue today is much like that which faced Jesus and the Apostles in First Century Christianity. They did not refuse to meet with, preach to, or heal people who were unbelievers. They said "Come and see." They said that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. They witnessed--and to Jews and Gentiles alike. It was the opportunity to become a child of God that was presented by the early Christians. Today, there are tens of thousands of Christians in A.A. They are not refusing to meet with, talk to, witness about, and heal people.
That is the A.A. of love and tolerance and love and service. All are admitted, and the primary purpose is to help the alcoholic who still suffers. Christians in A.A. play a large role in that today--as do God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible. See www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml
Friday, March 29, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Dick B. Radio Interview of Christian Recovery Leader Mary B. of Delaware
Dick B.
interviews Christian Recovery worker Mary B. on the March 28, 2013, episode of
the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show on www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com
Dick B.
© 2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved
You May Listen to This Interview and Show Right Now!
______________________________________________________________________________
You
may listen to Dick B. interview Christian recovery worker Mary B. on the March
28, 2013, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show
here:
or here:
Episodes of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show are archived at:
Introduction
Today's guest is Mary B. from Delaware. Her story of deliverance is
miraculous. And this interview grew out the frequency of Mary's approving
comments on my Facebook page. Day after day, she followed my Facebook and other
posts. And then things began to pop. Mary and members of her family indicated
they were extensively studying my materials on A.A. history, the Bible, and the
help God has given and can give to alcoholics and addicts who seek His help.
Mary has a 29-year-old daughter named Natalie, who is a Federal Fire Fighter. But Mary, age 51, faced many a hurdle in A.A. She could not get sober. She had no "true God." She was having difficulties with her husband. She weighed 230 pounds, could not read or write and was dying of heart failure.
Then she cried out to God saying: "Who are you God; and I have no idea what grace means or how to get it." Her life changed forever more. The event is described on page 25 of the Big Book and in Hebrews 2:9; and she thanks God every day for it and teaches others. She believes God put a teacher of God's word in front of her; and it was a pastor. She kept hearing that Christ Jesus could heal her. That was the start. She took Holy Communion and was anointed. Her Heavenly Father taught her to read; she came off all medications and lost all the excess weight. And three years ago she hit her knees and got a woman to take her through the Steps.
Mary is bursting with the desire to help others who are afflicted with or affected by alcoholism. Her family are alive with Christian recovery messages on the Internet. And now she believes, as Bill Wilson did, that Jesus Christ can heal alcoholics.
She'll tell you some of her alcoholism story as she wishes. Then focus on what she has found in the Bible, the Big Book, and A.A. fellowship that can help alcoholics get well with God's power and love. Talk to us, Mary.
Synopsis of Mary’s Interview Points
It was a blessing for me to hear Mary’s emphasis on the Big Book and the Bible. Also that we could talk so freely about some important Big Book pages that more and more AAs and Christians are learning about and sharing with others.
The first is page 191 of the 4th edition of A.A.’s Big Book—which Mary quotes frequently—where Bill Wilson addresses the wife of A.A. Number Three and says: “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.” And, in the next few lines, A.A. Number Three thanked Bill W. for the credit given God and called Bill’s statement “the Golden Text of A.A.”
Then we turned to page 181 of the 4th edition of the Big Book and the closing line of Dr. Bob’s personal story, where Bob says: “Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!”
And then to page 25 which describes “The Solution” to the alcoholic’s problem. And, in brief, that description says:
There is a solution. . . . The great fact is just this, and
nothing less. That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which
have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and
toward God’s universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute
certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which
is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish for us which we could
never do by ourselves.
And in a sense, Mary’s story revolves around the three quotes above: (1) She was lost, turned to the Lord for help, was released from her alcoholism and obesity and despair, and just wanted and wants to keep talking about it and telling people—a selfless A.A. position that used to be so common among those who recovered. (2) She is very positive that the alcoholic can be helped by the power of God—using the Bible as the teacher about God, the Big Book for instruction in taking the Twelve Steps and cleaning up one’s life, and then helping others as the touchstone which takes the self-centeredness out of the alcoholic’s life. (3) As Bill W. described on page 25 of the Big Book, Mary had a vital religious experience which changed her life and led to the solution of all her problems.
Mary had been suffering from the “Four Horsemen—Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair” of which the Big Book speaks on page 151. But, as the chapter To Wives suggests: She and her husband got “right down to fundamentals. If a repetition is to be prevented, place the problem, along with everything else, in God’s hands” (p. 1 20)
Mary believes her deliverance began 14 years ago when she really said a prayer asking God to help her with her mother. Though she was not yet into the Bible, she kept asking God to help her mom. And she was led to place herself in the hands of a pastor at Shepherd’s Chapel. And she began learning more and more from the Bible. She grasped the idea that people will close their Bibles, give up, and let Satan convince them how bad they are.
But Mary has been working recently with a young lady she sponsors in A.A. The girl kept saying that she herself had nothing to give. Mary pointed her to John 1:1 and filling others with God’s Word. She pointed to the Steps, the Word, and the only God that she had. She pointed to the idea that the sponsee must abandon herself to God, know something, learn more, and expect that He will direct. In fact, she pointed to the many prayers in the Big Book. That God would direct And “freely give” so that another is filled with the Spirit of God.
Of late, Mary was unable to get out, but she turned to the Bible and the Big Book; started helping her husband out of his troubles; and watched her husband come alive on the internet as he studied and passed along A.A. history, materials on the Bible and the Big Book, and the many points available in the Dick B. books and articles. Their URL is Williambagley28.wordpress.com. And others can now be blessed by seeing and learning about their informative works.
For more information, caontact Dick B. at dickb@dickb.com or 808 874 4875
A.A. and Christianity
Alcoholics Anonymous and Christianity
Dick B.
© 2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved
[This Article is an
outline of a major piece on Alcoholics Anonymous and Christianity. It is posted
now because of the number of other writings on the subject of Alcoholics
Anonymous and Christianity and on the subject of Christians in Alcoholics
Anonymous. In the next day or so, citations backing up the statements and
quotes will be appended; and the article will be revised accordingly]
Early Alcoholics Anonymous called itself a “Christian
Fellowship.”
Observers frequently said that early A.A. was “First
Century Christianity” at work.
Bill W. specifically said that Dr. Bob had reminded a
group of AAs, including Bill, that most of them were practicing Christians.
A.A. Cofounder Dr. Bob had a deep and meaningful
Christian upbringing.
A.A. Cofounder Bill W. also had a deep and meaningful
Christian upbringing.
There were a number of Christian organizations and
people who were helping drunks long before A.A. was founded; and these impacted
on the lives of the Cofounders and the ideas adopted by A.A.
Bill W. said that the ideas in the First Step came
from Dr. William D. Silkworth, who was a devoted Christian, a member of Rev.
Sam Shoemaker’s Calvary Church in New York, and was the one who first told Bill
that Jesus Christ, the Great Physician could cure Bill of his alcoholism.
A.A.’s connection with the Oxford Group at the
beginning was mentioned by both Bill W. and Dr. Bob. And the Oxford Group was
called “A First Century Christian Fellowship.”
Dr. Bob’s wife recommended to early AAs that they read
books on the life of Jesus Christ and that they read the Bible every single
day.
The devotionals that early AAs used in their prayer
and meditation sessions were uniformly Christian.
All AAs in the Akron Number One Group were required to
make a “regular surrender” in which they accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior.
The books that Dr. Bob read and circulated among early
AAs were primarily Christian and numbered in the dozens.
Bill Wilson accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and
Savior at Calvary Rescue Mission in New York and wrote in his autobiography, “For
sure, I’d been born again.”
The family of Dr. Bob—parents and grandparents—were very
active in the North Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury
The family of Bill W.—parents and grandparents—were very
active in the East Dorset Congregational Church in Vermont.
Both Dr. Bob and Bill W. were raised in Congregational
churches and Sunday schools in Vermont--all attended by their parents and
grandparents. They both attended Academies run by Congregationalists and which
required attendance at Daily Chapel with Sermons, Hymns, Prayers, and reading
of Scripture.
The early A.A. program in Akron, Ohio was founded
primarily on Christian principles and practices laid down by the Young People’s
Society of Christian Endeavor, in which
Dr. Bob and his family were active in Vermont.
Bill W.’s “new version” of the program embodied in his
Big Book and 12 Steps four years later was, according to Bill, based primarily
on the teachings of Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., Rector of the Calvary
Episcopal Church in New York, and whom Bill called a “cofounder of A.A.”
Dr. Bob’s wife kept a journal from 1933-1939 from
which she read each morning to AAs and their families; and in it, she spoke
frequently of the Bible, Christian literature, Jesus Christ, God, and the Holy
Spirit.
Both Bill and Bob had extensive involvement with the
Young Men’s Christian Association. Bill as President, and Dr. Bob’s father as
President.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Dick B. Radio Interview of Worship Pastor Don C of Santa Rosa CA
Dick B. interviews Christian Recovery leader Don C. on
the March 27, 2013, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick
B." show on
www/ChristianRecoveryRadio.com
Dick B.
© 2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved
You May Hear This Radio
Interview and Dick B. Show Right Now!
______________________________________________________________________________
You
may listen to Dick B. interview Christian recovery leader Don C. on the March
27, 2013, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show
here:
or here:
Episodes of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show are archived at:
First,
some special points by Don C., “the communicator,” about what else you can see
and hear right now on his own media outlets. I begin with his message:
I am a Throat Cancer survivor, diagnosed and treated
successfully last year. I’m a worship pastor who sings my heart out for Jesus,
so it was a miracle that I survived and that my voice is stronger than it’s
ever been right now.
I’ve written a book titled 12
Steps: NOT For Dummies in which I
point chronic relapsers to how A.A.
Cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob did recovery in the beginning—2 men and a Bible!
See 12StepsNotForDummies.com
I’m worship pastor for Salvation Army’s Lytton Springs Celebrate
Recovery meetings twice a month, too, bringing my rock band “The Message Project”
in to lead worship http://MessageProject.com
I have several websites that are vastly underused: http://iRecovered.net. This is for people’s testimonies; and
people can post them in the forum, and I’ll transfer them to my blog http://RecoveringCommunity.com – a message board that I put together right
before my Throat Cancer adventure last year.
“I Love AA” is another website covering much of the historical material
I have learned from Dick B.’s major website www.dickb.om. See also http://IloveAA.com
Dick B.’s Introduction to the
Christian Recovery Radio interview of Don C.
Our guest today is
Christian recovery leader Don C. from the Santa Rosa, California, area. I'm
quite familiar with this area because my parents had a wonderful home in nearby
Sebastopol where my own family spent many hours as visitors for some 20 years.
And the visits often took us over to Don's territory for flower exhibits,
county fair days, and other outings.
Often, I am able to
recount the personal contacts I have had with our Christian leaders; but Don's
case has been different. Don has done lots of recovery work with alcoholics and
addicts in his area. He has fully supported the mission of the International
Christian Recovery Coalition (www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com) and posted
many of our historical items on his Web sites. He has great Web sites--which he
will tell you about. But we are in Hawaii, Don is in central California, and
Don has had health and other problems which limited our contact until we met
him in Northern California last month.
However, Don C. now
has an important post in the recovery arena. He also drove from Santa Rosa to
the San Jose Area to meet with several Christian recovery leaders, and Ken and
me, to discuss networking, conferences, and disseminating more information
about the role that God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible have played in
recovery from alcoholism and addiction and can play today.
Don will tell us
about these things. He will also fill us in on his upbringing, family, jobs,
education, and relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. And he will
tell us a bit about his drinking and addiction experiences, as well as the
important recovery work he is doing now. We look forward to hearing lots about
Don C.'s godly efforts in the future.
And now--take it
away, Don
Synopsis of the Christian
Recovery Radio Interview of Don C., RAS
Things have changed
in A.A. and the recovery community in the Santa Rosa, California area. When Don
entered the rooms of A.A., you could not say even the word “Lord.” Today, in
Sonoma County, California, there is a different attitude—based on the
increasingly widespread knowledge that the Bible is the source of the Twelve
Steps.
Don’s book 12 Steps: NOT For Dummies has taken off
like a rocket—not only in Don’s own area, but widely elsewhere. He tells about
early A.A. with its Morning Devotions and Bible studies. He lays out more
spiritual principles that enable the suffering folks to gain a real
understanding of God in connection with the 12 Steps. There was a great need
for such work because recovery with the Bible had virtually stopped in later
A.A. We reviewed with Don the important A.A. Conference-approved resource The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous:
Biographical Sketches: Their Last Major Talks—designated Pamphlet P-53.
There, the words of Dr. Bob spell out the vital importance of the Bible in the
A.A. successes before there were any drunkalogs, Steps, Traditions, or Big
Books. And Don believed it vital to disseminate to alcoholics and addicts
information about the History of A.A. and do it free. Don relied heavily on the
material on Dick B.’s main website www.dickb.com.
Don previously was
Director of Missions and then Program Director of the largest recovery facility
in his area. Then he got his present job with the County of Sonoma—bringing
inmates from the jail into programs.
Ten years sober, Don
changed from a Christian hater demanding “Prove it!” when the Word about Jesus
walking on the water and the parting of the Red Sea were mentioned. Almost
miraculously, when Don was a carpenter and doing carpentry work for a lady, he
was given Josh McDowell’s book More Than
a Carpenter. Seven years after the gift, Don opened the book. Then he
thought, what if the donor asks me if I’ve read it. So he read the book. He
closed the book, and immediately Don felt the presence of Jesus; and Don’s
heart was on fire for the Lord.
Don’s relationship
with Jesus then became “My understanding” And he got to know the Lord.
The future for Don
is bright. He toured the jail with a badge that gave him a “pass.” And this was
with a program called “Starting Point.” He has also interviewed for another job
and is excited that things are popping up all around him to glorify and serve
our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. His wife has been blessed with the
same fire. Now his little daughter has come to love the Lord. When Don is not
at work, he gives praise to the Lord; and, in the case of his daughter, asked
Him to reveal himself to the little girl. And “God let me know.”
With his throat
cancer problem resolved, Don is loaded with blessings that will enable him to
continue in his Christian recovery leadership and work and blast away with the
message of what God can do for the alcoholic and addict when sought.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Jeff M. of Overcomers Outreach, Inc. has radio interview by Dick B.
Dick B. interviews Christian Recovery leader Jeff M.
on the March 26, 2013, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick
B." show
Dick B.
© 2013 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
Hear the Show Right Now if You Wish
_________________________________________________________________
You may listen to Dick B.
interview Christian recovery leader Jeff M. of Overcomers Outreach, Inc., on
the March 26, 2013, episode of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick
B." show here:
or here:
Episodes of the "Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B." show are archived at:
Preliminary Comment by Dick B. about Bridges and Divisions
It is appropriate today to interject this comment on bridges
and divisions because our guest is Executive Director of Overcomers Outreach,
Inc.—a group offering a bridge between “Big Book and Bible” when it comes to
recovery today.
Why should we have Christian recovery churches and organizations
that ban 12 Step, A.A., and non-organization literature? Why should we have
individual Christians and a few among clergy who urge drunks and addicts to
stay away from A.A. and 12 Step fellowships “because none of these are
Christian?” Why should we have A.A. meetings where a bleeding deacon insults a
Christian AA and tries to suppress his sharing because he mentions Jesus or the
Bible? And why should there be a growing consensus in the 12 Step community
that you really don’t have to believe in anything at all to be an AA or to
recover from alcoholism and addiction? Freedom of speech may be invoked as a
reason. But what about love, kindness, gentleness, selflessness, avoiding
unseemly, being not easily provoked, thinking no evil, and rejoicing in the
truth?
Why! How does any of this disruptive behavior help the
alcoholic or addict who still suffers? How does any of this square with
well-documented history that early A.A. was a Christian Fellowship that held
prayer meetings, studied the Bible, read Christian literature, and urged belief
in God and coming to Him through Jesus? And
succeeded! How does any of this fit with the much publicized A.A. ideas of “Unity”
and “Service;” “Love and Tolerance;” and “Love and Service?” And how can one
take these positions when some of the greatest charitable institutions like the
American Red Cross disaster workers, Salvation Army relief volunteers, Army
nurses, and the United Way impose no litmus test as to whom they can serve and
help—regardless of the religious convictions of victims?
Introduction of Speaker
Our
guest today is Jeff M., Executive Director of Overcomers Outreach, Inc.--a
Christian Twelve Step Bridge Group with headquarters in Whittier, California.
These are very exciting days for us at Christian Recovery Radio because--in
addition to the many Christian recovery leaders and workers that we have
interviewed up to this point--we are being deluged with new faces, new
energies, and new growth in the International Christian Recovery Coalition.
This includes the role of God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in recovery
in all 50 states and in other countries. But our connection with Overcomers
Outreach, Inc., is seasoned and long-standing. We're delighted to have Jeff
here today.
Bob
Bartosch and his wife Pauline organized Overcomers Outreach as a Christian
recovery bridge group. They published a guidebook; they worked tirelessly to
help alcoholics, addicts, and those with other life-controlling problems seek,
find, and receive God's help. And I (Dick B.) was privileged to speak at one of
their large conferences in Southern California. And then Bob passed away.
However, Pauline was determined to keep the embers glowing.
In
October 2008, she introduced Jeff to Ken and me at our conference in Pasadena,
CA. Pauline reported that they had Jeff as a great, new director. And since
then, we've seen nothing but vibrant service that glorifies God among the
addicted and those affected by addiction.
Jeff
will tell us about his upbringing, family, education, religious background,
Twelve Step work, and activities in moving Overcomers Outreach back into a
center place in the arena of the Christian Recovery Movement. Also a bit about
his addiction experience. We hope to hear about the many new events and
outreach efforts that are characterizing Overcomers Outreach today--including
their new guidebook.
Take
it away, Jeff
Synopsis of Jeff M.’s Interview by Dick B.
Jeff’s life began with a split family with three children—mother
and father divorced. And Jeff decided his role was to make what he could of
himself. He reflected: Your only relationship with God was to meet Him when you
died!
Jeff attended Maritime Academy and spent 25 years on ships,
oil tankers and tug boats. He thought his family were OK with his drinking. But
he didn’t notice that their drinking was different from his. His next activity
was crack. But by July 4, 2002, he realized he was alone in a small garage
apartment. He was hopeless. He seized a bottle of cheap vodka. But he then
cried out: “If you’re real now, God, I need your help now!” And his phone rang.
It was Jeff’s estranged dad who wanted to help. He got Jeff into rehab and 12
Step recovery. But they were talking about a “power greater than yourself”
which could be a tree or some “cosmic force.” But he had also connected with a
church after rehab. He remembered how he had cried out to God for help. And, said Jeff, the Gospel made sense to him
for the first time, when the pastor told him to “open your heart and say “yes”
to Jesus Christ.” Jeff decided he then could work with the 12 Steps.
Jeff was laid off as a store manager. He had friends in
different 12 Step programs. And he started reading the Bible. His sponsor said
it was OK to go to church and to read the Bible. The sponsor noted that the 12
Steps once emerged from the Bible. And he told Jeff, “Try.” Then Jeff attended
an Overcomers Outreach, Inc. meeting where there was discussion of the 12 Steps
and the Bible. And members talked about the Holy Bible. Again, his sponsor
said: “By all means, go!”
The Overcomers meeting enabled Jeff to build a support network; to see a little worship, prayer,
reading of Scripture, and how it could be applied in this day. Members talked
about God with other believers. After being laid off, Jeff attending an
Overcomers meeting in San Luis Obispo where he met Pauline Bartosch and some of
the Board members. They suggested he take on the job of Executive Director of
Overcomers. He prayed, talked to his pastor, and then accepted.
Jeff became a great supporter of the recovery arena and
International Christian Recovery Coalition. He felt that the divisions between
AAs, churches, and atheists need not be. They should get over their
differences; and build together. Jeff became a deacon in his church but began
working mainly in the A.A. scene, and with homeless. He found many AAs with 10,
18, 20 years who were hungry for something else. They wanted to hear the
Gospel. Some listened, and some walked away. But Jeff subscribed to the
biblical phrase that his workers could plant and water, but it was God who
would give the increase. There were to be no objections to talking about Jesus.
No prohibitions. No restrictions on literature read. The group has now published
Overcomers Outreach-A Bridge to Recovery
(3rd ed.) which can be obtained online from www.overcomersoutreach.org.
For more information, contact dickb@dickb.com or 808 874 4876
Monday, March 25, 2013
Response from AA Historian Dick B. to Kelly Clark AA Play Review
Response to Kelly
Clark article from A.A. Historian and Author Dick B.
The shorter the critique of Kelly’s article, the better. The
reason is that this man falls far short of being qualified to talk about A.A. history,
about the A.A. cofounders, or about the supposed monolithic body of Christians—in
and out of A.A. Hence the best advice for his readers is to disregard the
misspelling of names, the erroneous characterizations of the cofounders, and
the predisposition to tout a play in which he apparently had a financial stake.
The answer? Kelly fails to mention that the ideas of the cofounders were
generated from the 1850’s onward by Christian people and organizations who
wanted to help alcoholics and not condemn them. These were the YMCA; Salvation
Army; Gospel Rescue Missions; Congregationalists; great evangelists like Moody,
Meyer, and Clark; and United Christian Endeavor Society. Kelly seems totally
unaware that both cofounders were born and raised by Christian families, in
Congregational churches and Sunday schools, were avid Bible students, attended
daily chapel (with sermons, reading of Scripture, hymns, and prayers), and were
much involved with the YMCA, the evangelists, Christian Endeavor, and
Congregationalism. Bill Wilson, for example, took a four-year Bible study
course at Burr and Burton Seminary in Manchester Vermont. All three of the
first AAs were believers in God, Christians, and Bible students. All turned to
God for help and were cured and said so. And all were told to go out and help
someone. Moreover, Kelly seems to have ignored the fact that Dr. William D.
Silkworth told Bill that Jesus Christ could cure him; that Bill’s friend Ebby
Thacher had been to Calvary Mission, been born again, and was sober; and that
Bill did likewise and then within a matter of days, decided to call on Christ,
went to Towns Hospital, cried out to God for help, and sensed God’s presence in
his room. He declared: “Bill, you are a free man. This is the God of the
Scriptures.” Bill never drank again. Later, Bill wrote in his Big Book: “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.” Dr. Bob wrote in the Big
Book: “Your Heavenly Father will never let you down.” In those early A.A. days,
there were no such things as “spiritual experiences,” “spiritual awakenings,”
or “awareness.” There was the power and love of God at work. In fact, very
shortly, early A.A. adopted the principles and practices of the First Century
Christians as depicted in the Book of Acts. And the Big Book’s statement “There
is a Solution” defined that solution as the Creator’s entering into their
hearts in a way that is truly miraculous; and that He restored the believers to sanity. There is plenty of
documentation of all this in my recent titles: www.dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtm; www.dickb.com/conversion; http://mcaf.ee/s50mq; and http://mcaf.ee/gj7iw. And a modicum of study by
Kelly would help him realize the gaping holes in his knowledge of A.A. History
and of the early A.A.’s Christian Fellowship successes. Moreover, his memory of
the Big Book may be jogged by recalling Bill’s statement: “We have no monopoly
on God.” People have been getting sober without God or without A.A. for years
and years. But the end result for most, by the 1930’s was that they wound up in
a seemingly hopeless, medically incurable, last gasp state where God could and
did help them when He was sought.
AA History Conference Planned for Fort Worth Texas
Many in Texas have asked Ken and me to come to Texas and help arrange and speak at an Alcoholics Anonymous History and Christian Recovery Conference in Fort Worth Texas in the next few months. Today we received an invitation from a wonderful pastor and his wife who are also in the program with very substantial sobriety. We put on a conference for two years in a row in Mill Valley, California in early 1990's. The archivist from GSO, Dr. Bob's son, films of Bill and of Bob, the author of Pass It On, and Oxford Group activist T. Willard Hunter were there; and the second year, 800 people were blessed with the effort.
If you are enthused about bringing this activity to the Lone Star State, please contact me at dickb@dickb.com; and let us know if you would attend and also if you would be willing to help.
dickb@dickb.com 808 874 4876
If you are enthused about bringing this activity to the Lone Star State, please contact me at dickb@dickb.com; and let us know if you would attend and also if you would be willing to help.
dickb@dickb.com 808 874 4876
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