By Dick B. (with
light editing by Ken B.)
© 2015 Anonymous. All rights
reserved
© 2011 Anonymous. All rights reserved]
1926:
The Rowland H. Story—Obfuscated by Belated Haggling about Dates
The
probable date of A.A.’s conception coupled with the events that followed has
now been established as 1926, not 1931. This important story has long been
clouded and mis-reported due to a pointless debate as to whether and when the
New York businessman Rowland H. treated with Dr. Carl Gustav Jung in
Switzerland. As the years passed, many have attested that the eminent Swiss
psychiatrist advised a tortured alcoholic Rowland that he (Jung) could not help
him (Rowland) because Rowland had the mind of a chronic alcoholic and therefore
was “medically” incurable. On the other hand, Jung held out the hope that
Rowland might receive help if he sought and had a “conversion experience.”[1]
The
desired recovery was later achieved when Rowland H. had returned to the United
States, accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.[2]and
become active in Rev. Sam Shoemaker’s Calvary Episcopal Church and in the
Oxford Group in which Shoemaker was a leader. The bottom line? Rowland was
relieved of his alcoholism.[3]
Few, if any, seemed to ask how and why. The just pointed to the Oxford Group
and let it ride.
Until
recently, there was nary an accurate report of the critical facts. Rowland
placed himself in God’s hand through Jesus Christ.
1931:
The Russell Firestone Story: Shelved in Later Disdain for the Oxford Group
The
Akron Alcoholics Anonymous history highlight occurred in 1931 as the public
learned of the seemingly-miraculous cure of Russell Firestone’s drunkenness.
Russell’s victory occurred on a railroad trip to and from Denver. The
passengers were Russell, his father Harvey Firestone, Russell’s friend James
Newton, and the Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr. Then, on the return trip from
Denver to Akron, Rev. Shoemaker took Russell into a train compartment. He led Russell
to accept Jesus Christ as Russell’s Lord and Savior. And the healing of
Russell’s drinking was instant and widely acknowledged.[4]
1933:
Akron’s Firestone Testimonials, Oxford Group Leaders, and the Message of Hope
All too many writers have linked the founding of A.A. with the Oxford Group, claiming that A.A. emerged from this “First Century Christian Fellowship.”[5] But the claim needs to be tempered by the actual events leading to founding of A.A. in Akron in June, 1935.
As
stated in my book, The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, the
Russell Firestone healing in 1931 was triggered in part by the zeal of the
young Oxford Group activist James Draper Newton. Newton brought Russell’s
alcoholism, the Oxford Group’s ideas, and Russell’s acceptance of Jesus Christ
to Akron’s doors. And, after the train trip, Newton and the sober Firestone
went about the world on behalf of the Oxford Group--serving as witnesses to its
life-changing program.[6]
Then,
in January 1933, the Oxford Group “came to town” (Akron) via the huge
testimonial meetings held in pulpits and halls to overflow audiences. The
speakers were Oxford Group Founder Dr. Frank Buchman, Russell Firestone, James
Newton, and other Oxford Group notables.[7]
These widely publicized meetings inspired Dr. Bob’s wife, and later Dr. Bob
himself to go to an Oxford Group meeting in Akron, and then to a series of
Oxford Group Wednesday meetings at the home of T. Henry Williams in Akron.[8]
1934:
The Conglomeration of New York Events that involved Oxford Group people,
Rowland H., Dr. William D. Silkworth, Ebby T., Calvary Mission, and Bill
Wilson’s acceptance of Jesus Christ at the Calvary Mission
Enter
Dr. William D. Silkworth and His Advice to Bill about the “Great Physician.”
The recent biography of Dr. William D. Silkworth adds a vitally-important, and totally-neglected element to the origins, history, and development of early A.A.
Silkworth’s
biographer, Dale Mitchel, goes to great length to stress the advice that Bill
received from the little doctor who loved drunks. This event happened on Bill’s
third visit to Towns Hospital. The account demonstrates two factors: (a) Bill’s
drinking problem had progressed so far and so deeply that Bill was told by
Silky that if he didn’t quit, he would die or go insane. (b) Dr. Silkworth then
told Bill that the Great Physician Jesus Christ could cure him of his
alcoholism.[9]
This
latter piece of advice deeply influenced Wilson on the entire subject of
acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Bill later referred to Silkworth
as a cofounder of A.A.[10]
Silkworth was considered a friend to A.A. friends like Dr. Norman Vincent
Peale, Rev. Samuel Shoemaker, Charles and Colonel Towns, Frank Amos, and Bill’s
brother-in-law Dr. Leonard Strong.[11]
According to Silkworth's biographer, Silkworth
himself was a devout Christian. For years he attended Calvary Christian
Episcopal Church where Rev. Shoemaker was Rector.[12]
Over time, he and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale became very good friends.[13]
From the time he worked with his first alcoholic patient at Bellevue, through
his last speech before his death in 1951, Silkworth believed a spiritual
experience and medical treatment formed the foundation for long-term recovery.
And he spoke frequently about the need for a reliance upon God and a firm
foundation of spiritual strength in order to handle the obsession to drink.[14]
As
stated, Silkworth knew Dr. Normal Vincent Peale and Shoemaker as friends. Peale
wrote a detailed account in The Positive Power of Jesus Christ about a
seemingly hopeless alcoholic named Chuck who had been advised by Silkworth that
he could be cured of alcoholism by the Great Physician Jesus Christ. Chuck
accepted Christ, and he was healed—just as Silkworth had promised could happen
to both Wilson and Chuck.[15]
Bill
was so taken with the Great Physician idea that he mentioned this fact and his
reliance on the Great Physician several times in Bill’s own, later,
autobiography.[16]
Enter
Ebby T.:
After
what may have been a prior call to Bill’s wife Lois, Bill’s old drinking buddy
Ebby Thacher had appeared on the scene—at Bill’s home.[22]
Explaining
his new found sobriety, Ebby said to Bill, “I’ve got religion”—an expression
Bill later used when he wrote his brother in law about his own new birth at
Calvary Mission. Bill asked Ebby: “What kind of religion have you got, Ebby”
Ebby replied, “Oh, I don’t think it has got any brand name. I just fell in with
a group of people, the Oxford Groups. I don’t go along with all their teachings
by any means. But those folks have given me some wonderful ideas:
[1] I learned that I had to admit I was licked.
[2] I learned that I ought to take stock of myself and
confess my defects to another person in confidence.
[3] I learned that I needed to make restitution for the harm
I had done others.
[4] I was told I ought to practice the kind of giving that
has no price tag on it, the giving of yourself to somebody.
[5] Now I know you are going to gag on this, but they taught
me to pray to whatever God I thought there was for the power to carry out these
simple precepts. . . This time I felt completely released of the desire, and I
have not had a drink for months.”[23]
Ebby
also told Bill he had almost been incarcerated for inebriety. Three Oxford
Group men (one of whom was Rowland H.) rescued Ebby from the judge. They
taught him Christian principles and about the efficacy of prayer. They
also indoctrinated Ebby with the Oxford Group’s life-changing principles.
Rowland H. had told Ebby about Dr. Jung’s advice—advice, said Bill,
“consolidated his [Ebby’s] his condition that he would not get over drinking by
himself or by any resource of psychology or psychiatry.”[24]
Ebby also told Bill “finally how he’d tried prayer just as an experiment and
had found to his surprise that it worked.”[25]
He further explained that the Oxford Group men had lodged him [Ebby] in
Shoemaker’s Calvary Mission.[26]
There Ebby accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.[27]
In Shoemaker terms, Ebby had—like Rowland H.—“found God.” He was “saved.” Ebby was (as Bill
observed) born again.[28]
He was healed for a time. And he carried this information to Bill shortly after
Bill had been told by Dr. Silkworth that he [Bill] could be relieved by the
power of Jesus Christ.
Bill’s
Acceptance of Jesus Christ at Calvary Mission about December 8, 1934:
Bill
was so influenced by Silkworth’s advice, and then by Ebby’s acceptance of Jesus
Christ at the altar, that Bill himself went first to Calvary Church to hear
Ebby give his testimony there. Having heard Ebby delivering the message from
the pulpit, Bill concluded that perhaps he could get the same help at Calvary
Mission that Ebby had received through his salvation. Bill decided that perhaps
the Great Physician—of whom Dr. Silkworth had spoken—could help him as well.
Bill therefore went to Calvary Mission. In explicit detail, Bill explained what
he saw, heard, and did at Calvary Mission. He told the entire A.A. Convention
at St. Louis:
There were some hymns and prayers. Then Tex, the leader,
exhorted us. Only Jesus could save, he said. . . . Certain men got up and made
testimonials. Numb as I was I felt interest and excitement rising. Then came
the call [the call to come to the altar, to accept Jesus Christ into one’s life
as Savior, and to be saved]. Some men were starting forward to the rail.
Unaccountably impelled, I started too. . . . I knelt among the shaking
penitents. Maybe then and there for the very first time, I was penitent, too.
Something touched me. I guess it was more than that, I was hit. I felt a wild
impulse to talk. Jumping to my feet, I began. Afterward I could never remember
what I said. I only knew that I was really in earnest and that people seemed to
pay attention. . . . Ebby, who at first been embarrassed to death, told me with
relief that I had done all right and had “given my life to
God.[29]
Though
Bill was unable to recall the details of his surrender at the altar, there is
ample proof that he there accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. For one
thing, Mrs. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr. told me [Dick B.] that she was present
when Bill “made his decision for Jesus Christ.” For another, Bill’s wife Lois
stated in a recorded speech she gave in Dallas, Texas: “And he [her husband
Bill Wilson] went up, and really, in very great sincerity, did hand over his
life to Christ.”[30]
Shoemaker’s assistant minister Rev. W. Irving Harris confirmed the rebirth that
Bill had experienced: “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.”[31]
As
you will see in a moment, Bill himself wrote in his autobiography that he had
been born again; and, then, after getting drunk and despondent once again, Bill
decided he should go to Towns Hospital. He said he believed that the Great
Physician could heal him-just as Ebby had been healed.
Bill
emphatically confirmed this new status. Twice he wrote, “For sure I’d been born
again.[32]
Speaking to his wife of the events at the Mission, Bill told Lois he “had found
the answer.”[33]
Speaking sarcastically about the fact that Bill got drunk after the Mission,
one biographer said: “Salvation did not take hold for a few more besotted
days.”[34]
I [Dick B.] found a manuscript at Stepping Stones Archives. In it, Bill had
written, in language almost identical to that of Ebby’s, after Ebby had told
Bill he “got religion” at the Mission, Bill wrote, “I’ve found religion.”[35]
Bill’s
Last Trip to Towns Hospital, and His Experience Sensing God’s Presence
Bill
apparently stayed drunk for two or three days. These followed his born-again
experience at Calvary Mission. But he kept pondering his own mission
experience. Bill set out drunk and in despair for Towns Hospital. On the way,
he decided he had better call on the Great Physician, of whom Dr. Silkworth had
spoken and to whom Bill had “surrendered” his life.[36]
Remembering that Silkworth had told him that he could be cured by that
Great Physician, Bill twice proclaimed, “I was on my way to be cured.”[37]
Appearing also to have recalled that, at the Mission, he had “found religion”
and “found” Jesus Christ at the altar call, Bill arrived at the hospital. He said
“I waved the bottle and shouted, ‘At last, Doc, I’ve found something!’[38]
At
the hospital, Bill decided to call on the Great Physician. He then cried out to
God for help; and instantly he had the experience in which he sensed the
presence of the “God of the Scriptures.”[39]
(“God of the Scriptures” was the specific language Bill used). Bill never drank
again. These events are virtually unknown to most AAs today. But they were
frequently repeated to early AAs at their request. Bill’s message of cure
by the “Lord” was finally and plainly described on page 191 of the most recent
edition of Alcoholics Anonymous. There, Bill’s exact words to A.A.
Number Three’s wife were: “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.”
Thus,
Bill had made his way to Towns Hospital for the last time. There Bill cried out
to God for help. He had his much-described experience, sensing the presence
of “the God of the Scriptures,” and he was cured—never again touching a
drop of liquor.[40]
Bill and his wife Lois, accompanied by Ebby and Ebby’s Oxford Group friend Shep
Cornell, began “constantly” attending Oxford Group meetings in New
York—primarily those led by Rev. Sam Shoemaker.[41]
Bill’s
Futile Efforts to Convert Others Once He Was Discharged from Towns:
Bill’s
immediate cure hastened his release from Towns Hospital for the last time. The
date was December 18, 1934. And at Towns, Bill had concluded that he had a
mission to carry his message to alcoholics all over the world. He became a
fervent message carrier.[42]
He rushed to the streets, to the hospital, to the mission, to fleabag hotels,
to Oxford Group meetings. He had a Bible under his arm. He told drunks to give
their lives to God.[43]
And he even joined a processional from Calvary Church led by Shoemaker in full
vestment. The procession carried a sign “Jesus Christ changes lives.” And Bill
mounted a platform at Madison Square and delivered his testimony.[44]
Bill’s
feverish message-carrying racing and “sharing for witness” produced absolutely
no lasting results. As Dr. Bob’s last major address explained: “He hadn’t
created a single convert, not one. As we express it, no one had jelled.”[45]
Did
Bill spend six hours witnessing to any of these street people, as he later did
with Dr. Bob? Did he tell them about his new birth at Calvary Mission? Did he,
like the Salvation Army and other forbears, offer to lead the penitent drunks
to God through Jesus Christ? Did he explain to them Silkworth’s advice that the
Great Physician could cure them? Did he tell them about his dramatic experience
at Towns Hospital where he actually experienced the presence of the God of the
Scriptures when he called out to God for help?
I
don’t know, but he did ask Dr. Silkworth about the reason for his complete
failure.
A
word or two about what Dr. Bob called the Oxford Group “association” by Bill W.
and Dr. Bob. The important thing to remember about these Oxford Group
associations by Bob (in Akron starting in 1933), and by Bill (in New York
starting in late 1934) is that they did not produce the fruit of sobriety for
either Dr. Bob or Bill W. Beginning in late December 1934 and continuing into the
spring of 1935, Wilson attended Oxford Group meetings and chased drunks trying
to get them sober. But Bill had no success at all.[46]
As to Dr. Bob, he went to Oxford Group meetings in Akron for two-and-a-half
years. But he did not want to get sober, nor did he get sober in any of those
meetings.[47]
Silkworth’s
Advice, Bill’s Change of Strategy, and the Last Link in the Chain
Bill
told the entire St. Louis A.A. Convention: “Just before leaving for Akron, Dr.
Silkworth gave me a great piece of advice. . . .”Look Bill, you’re having
nothing but failure because you are preaching at those alcoholics. You are
talking to them about the Oxford Group precepts of being absolutely honest,
absolutely pure, absolutely unselfish, and absolutely loving. This is a very
big order. No wonder they point their finger to their heads and go out and get
drunk. Why don’t you turn your strategy the other way around. . . . [William
James says] ‘that deflation in depth is the foundation of most spiritual experiences?.
. . [Dr. Carl Jung in Zurich told a certain alcoholic, the one who later helped
sober up your friend Ebby, that his only hope of salvation was a spiritual
experience. . . . No, Bill, you’ve got the cart before the horse. You’ve
got to deflate these people first. So give them the medical business, and give
it to them hard. . . . [Tell them about the allergy and obsession] that
condemns them to go mad or die if they keep on drinking. Coming from another
alcoholic, one alcoholic talking to another, maybe that will crack those tough
egos down. Only then can you begin to try out your other medicine, the
ethical principles you have picked up from the Oxford Group.”
Now
(said Bill to the Convention)—talking with Dr. Bob—I remembered all that Dr.
Silkworth had said. So I went very slowly on the fireworks of religious
experience. I just talked away about my own case until he got a good
identification with me, until he began to say, ‘Yes, that’s me, I’m like that.
. . . In our first conversation I bore down heavily on the medical hopelessness
of Dr. Bob’s case, freely using Dr. Silkworth’s words describing the
alcoholic’s dilemma, the “obsession plus the allergy.” . . . What really did
hit him hard was the medical business, the verdict of inevitable annihilation.
And the fact that I was an alcoholic and knew what I was talking about from
personal experience made the blow a shattering one. . . . You see our talk was
completely a mutual thing. I had quit preaching. I knew that I needed
this alcoholic as much as he needed me. This was it. And this mutual
give and take is at the very heart of the A.A.’s Twelfth Step work today. This
is how to carry the message. The final missing link was located right there in
my first talk with Dr. Bob.”[48]
1935:
Bill was put in touch with Dr. Bob in Akron. The two men clicked, and the
Akron A.A. “Christian fellowship” was founded in June 1935; and its first
group, Akron Number One, was founded on July 4, 1935, when “Alcoholic Anonymous
Number Three” (Akron attorney Bill D.) left Akron City Hospital, never to drink
again for the rest of his life.
The
Akron “Christian fellowship” program founded by Bill W. and Dr. Bob in June of
1935 was Bible-based.[49]
It was not Oxford Group-based.[50]
Right
or wrong, one history writer said that the wife of A.A. old-timer Earl T. (who
got sober about August of 1937) said: “Right after Earl joined, the Oxford
Group threw them out and said they didn’t want them any more.” The wife of Earl
T. was also recorded as saying: “There was no name for the group. It was not
Alcoholics Anonymous; it was nothing. But the Oxford Group . . . helped in
many, many ways: in marital affairs, in finances, anything you could think of.
However, they had never coped with alcoholism. But they did welcome these 13
men (in 1935 and ’37, in Akron, Ohio), and took them into their group where
they stayed for a short time, and then I think the Oxford Group figured they couldn’t
help very much in alcoholism. So they suggested that they get out and form
their own group. Which they did.”[51]
Its
prime Bible emphasis in the Akron Christian Fellowship was on these words which
came from Dr. Bob: “But we were convinced that the answer to our problems was
in the Good Book. To some of us older ones, the parts we found absolutely
essential were the Sermon on the Mount, the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians,
and the Book of James.”[52]
Akron’s
Christian program included qualification of newcomers, hospitalization,
required belief in God, required acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord, required
Bible study, required reading of non-Oxford Group devotionals and Christian
literature, required old fashioned prayer meetings, recommended Christian
fellowship and attendance at a religious service of choice.[53]
But,
as Dr. Bob stated, Akron A.A. had no Twelve Steps, no Twelve Traditions, no Big
Book, no life-changing program, no drunkalogs, and no meetings like the Oxford
Group’s meetings on the East Coast.[54]
Instead, the alcoholic squadron in Akron had regular, daily “Christian
fellowship” meetings and daily attendance at Anne Smith’s Quiet Time where the
Bible was read, prayers were uttered, guidance was sought, and discussion of
items largely from Anne Smith’s journal were regular fare.[55]
Returning
to the important meeting between Bill and Dr. Bob, the following Akron events
preceded it: Bill set out to Akron on a business deal that failed. Just before
Bill arrived, Dr. Bob had been persuaded by the little Oxford Group led by
Henrietta Shoemaker to confess that he was a “secret drinker.” He had read an
immense amount of Oxford Group literature. He had “refreshed [his] memory of
the Good Book” by reading the Bible from cover to cover three times. He had
attended church. But he told Henrietta he was probably just one of the “wanna
wanna” guys. He didn’t want to quit, and he didn’t. But, after he admitted to
the tiny group that he had his drinking problem, he was asked if he would like
to pray for his deliverance. He replied, “Yes.” He dropped to the floor on his
knees with the others present and prayed—prayers that were soon to be answered.[56]
Next
came the seemingly-miraculous phone call from Bill W. to Henrietta Seiberling.
Bill told Henrietta he was a rum hound from New York, was a member of the
Oxford Group, and needed to talk to a drunk. Being an Oxford Group activist
herself, Henrietta readily understood Bill’s “sharing for witness” idea. She
was sure the prayers had been answered. She thought to herself: “This is manna
from heaven.” And she arranged the talk.[57]
The
meeting between Wilson and Dr. Bob was at her home. It lasted six hours. Dr.
Bob remarked in his personal story written at a later time that Bill had been
cured by the very spiritual means he had been using. But Bob believed Wilson
talked his language. And though he said he had heard it all before, he saw that
Bill was demonstrating his own effective witnessing—service aimed at someone
who needed help. And it was this “service” aspect that Dr. Bob felt he had not
been using.[58]
1937:
The Year of Documented Success and of the Wilsons’ Oxford Group Departure.
The
Wilsons were (to use the words of Bill W.’s wife) “kicked out” of the Oxford
Group around August of 1937.[59]
The Oxford Group influence in Akron stemmed, as T. Henry put it, from a
“clandestine lodge”—focused on helping drunks. It did not focus on Oxford Group
founder Frank Buchman’s major effort of and world changing through
life-changing. The Oxford Group movement itself was busy saving a “drunken
world,” as its founder put it.[60]
By
November 1937, the Akron seven-point program was well positioned (as soon after
illuminated by and in the February 1938 Frank Amos report to John D.
Rockefeller, Jr.).[61]
Bill W. and Dr. Bob had “counted noses” and found at least a 50% success rate
among about 40 of the serious fellowship alkies.[62]
1937-1938:
Work Began on the New Oxford-Group Oriented Program Bill Developed.
Bill
had asked permission to write a book telling others about the program. Bill
received permission by a split vote in Akron.[63]
Bill returned to New York and began a flurry of activity on the book. It meant:
(1) Partnering with Henry P. in promoting the book as a cure for
alcoholism.[64]
(2) Forming an ill-fated pseudo corporation to publish the book.[65]
(3) Working with Rev. Sam Shoemaker on Twelve Step and Big Book language.[66]
(4) Preparing many manuscripts—the principal one now lost;[67]
and. (5) Preparing the final printer’s manuscript for publication.
He
attributed the language of at least Steps 2 through 11 to the Oxford Group as
led in America by Rev. Shoemaker. The other two—Steps One and Twelve—Bill
attributed to Dr. Silkworth and Professor William James.[68]
The Seldom Discussed or
Learned Picture of the Founding in Akron and Events Thereafter
One
need only read Dr. Bob’s last major address in Detroit in December 1948—as found
in The Co-Founders of Alcoholics
Anonymous pamphlet—to see a Bible-based program that is very different from
the Oxford-Group based ideas in Bill W.’s Big Book.
The
Akron A.A. “Christian Fellowship” Program:
First,
Dr. Bob pointed out that when he and Bill Wilson led A.A. Number Three to
sobriety, they had no Steps. No Traditions. No drunkalogs. And they had no Big
Book and no meetings as we know them today. Then Dr. Bob pointed out that he
and Bill had spent many hours and much effort until the wee time in the morning
discussing the basic ideas from the Bible that “must have” formed the basis of
the Twelve Steps, as he put it. Dr. Bob also stated that the old-timers
believed the answer to their problems was in the Bible. He said they considered
the Book of James, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians in the Bible
to be “absolutely essential” to the early program.[69]
Here
are the additional factual statements that confirm the importance of the Book
of James, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13:
1. Bill Wilson himself and
others pointed out how the Book of James was their favorite.[70]
2. Both Bill and Bob stated that
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount contained the underlying spiritual philosophy of
A.A.[71]
3. A pamphlet that came out of
Akron in the 1940’s contained a “lead” given by Dr. Bob in Youngstown, Ohio.
Dr. Bob’s words were summarized by A. D. Le Minte of the Youngstown, Ohio Vindicator.
[Dr. Bob said:] “Members of Alcoholics Anonymous begin the day with a prayer
for strength and a short period of Bible reading. They find the basic messages
they need in the Sermon on the Mount, in Corinthians and the Book of James.”[72]
4. In an interview, an Akron old-timer
Duke P. said this about the Akron King School A.A. meeting: “No one read from
the Big Book. Once in a while, the Chairperson would read something from a
Bible if the passage related directly to his story.” Duke remembers the
Chairperson reading from the Book of James and Dr. Bob reading Corinthians
1:13.[73]
It
takes only a moment to see that these Bible specific ideas were neither
mentioned nor incorporated by Bill Wilson in his Big Book and Twelve Steps. The
early A.A. program was succinctly summarized by Frank Amos in the seven points
summarized in DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers. See page 131. That summary
clearly states that the Akron program did not embody the Oxford Group program.
Moreover, there is no significant evidence that the early AAs embraced the
Oxford Group’s twenty-eight life-changing ideas.[74]
The
Akron program embodied many special techniques peculiar to the Akron alcoholic
squadron and its Christian Fellowship. Qualification of a newcomer was
required, and no alcoholic was admitted until he made clear he wanted to
abstain from drink permanently. Drunks were hospitalized. The Bible was read to
them in the hospital. All were required to declare their belief in God. All were
required to accept Jesus as Lord in a special ceremony resembling that in James
5:16. All were required to study the Bible and participate in old fashioned
prayer meetings. All were required to observe Quiet Time. All were given
Christian literature and devotionals to read and use. All fellowshipped
together in much the same way as the Apostles as described in the Book of Acts.
And these practices caused many to agree with Albert Scott who chaired a
meeting on behalf of Rockefeller and declared: “Why this is first century
Christianity. What can we do to help?”[75]
And all were required to go out and help other drunks get well. Many tried to
conform to the “Four Absolutes” of the Oxford Group—standards developed long
before there was an Oxford Group. But almost all the Bible-study, prayer
meetings, reading of Christian literature, Quiet Time observances, and
acceptance of Jesus Christ could be traced to several origins that existed
during Dr. Bob’s youth and were practiced long before there was either an A.A.
or an Oxford Group.[76]
They
can be traced to the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor—founded in
1881. They can be traced to the Young Men’s Christian Association, the Salvation
Army, and Gospel Rescue Missions founded in the mid-1800’s. They can be traced
to the famed evangelists of the later 1800’s who were widely at work and widely
known at the time Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob were youngsters. These included
Dwight Moody, Ira Sankey, F. B. Meyer, and Allen Folger. And even the Four
Absolutes were the product of Dr. Robert E. Speer and his book The
Principles of Jesus. Those Four “Standards,” as they were often called,
were taught and expanded by Professor Henry B. Wright at the beginning of the
next century –again before either A.A. or the Oxford Group existed.[77]
The Principles of Jesus was published in 1902 before A.A. and the Oxford
Group existed.[78]
Wright’s book, The Will of God and a Man’s Lifework was published in
1909--again before either A.A. or the Oxford Group existed.[79]
The
early A.A. practices were defined and then tested by November of 1937. At that
time, Dr. Bob and Bill met at Bob’s home in Akron. They “counted noses” of
those real alcoholics who had gone to any lengths as the program required.
There were about 40. 20 had never had a drink. This electrified the founders.
And they said so.[80]
The
Rockefeller leaders convened a meeting in their offices in New York. Present
were Dr. Bob and Akronites; Bill Wilson and New Yorkers; Bill’s brother-in-law;
Dr. William Silkworth; and four Rockefeller representatives. They listened to
the stories of the alcoholics. They had read the Amos reports. And they saw the
handwritten memo by Dr. Bob on his office stationary detailing the names and
sobriety achievements of members up to that date. These showed about a
seventy-five percent success rate. And Dr. Silkworth then pointed out that he
knew the program, had treated several, and that—in his opinion—all were
permanently cured.[81]
In
the first decade of A.A.’s existence, articles and columns appeared in
magazines and newspapers across America. Today those materials are available in
a scrap book on sale at A.A.’s New York headquarters. They tell of dozens of
alcoholics who claimed cure by the power of God.[82]
And each of the first three AAs had declared that they had been cured.[83]
In fact, one proposed dust jacket for the Big Book of 1939 was green. It was
simple. It depicted an alcoholic and a bottle. The proposed subtitle for the
book found on the dust jacket was: “Their Pathway to a Cure.”[84]
In
the period before he completed the Big Book, Bill claimed that the program had
been Oxford Group in nature and involved six “word-of-mouth” ideas.
However,
the Oxford Group never had any “Steps.” Not one. Not six. Not Twelve.[85]
And Bill said “Though these principles were advocated according to the whim or
liking of each of us, and though in Akron and Cleveland they still stuck to the
O.G. absolutes of honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love, this was the gist
of our message.”[86]
There was much disagreement about the nature of these six ideas. More
important, he penned at least three different versions of the six ideas, as he
recalled them. One talked about God. One talked about God as we understood Him.
And one talked about “whatever God you thought there was.” These variations
have seldom, if ever, been made known to the A.A. fellowship in any organized
way.
Next,
on the face of it, Bill certainly fashioned a far different recovery program
for his proposed Big Book than the Akron “Christian fellowship” program he and
Dr. Bob had begun developing and testing over the summer of 1935. Frank Amos,
an agent of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., succinctly summarized the Akron program
as it looked in late February 1938 on page 131 of A.A.’s own DR.BOB and the
Good Oldtimers. Ultimately, Bill claimed his “new version of the program,
now the ‘Twelve Steps,’” derived from Professor William James (long dead), from
Dr. William D. Silkworth, and primarily from the Oxford Group teachings of Rev.
Sam Shoemaker. He did not mention the Bible. He did not mention the Akron
program and its seven points. He did not mention Bible studies, conversions to
God through His Son Jesus Christ, Quiet Times, belief in God, acceptance of
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the Akron “Christian fellowship,” or even
Richard Peabody—a lay therapist who died drunk but whose language about no cure
for alcoholism was borrowed by Bill and interjected into instructions for one
of the Steps.[87]
Even
though Bill omitted such much from the original Akron program, we now know that
Bill said about his Twelve Steps: “All this time I had refused to budge on
these steps. I would not change a word of the original draft, in which you will
remember, I had consistently used the word “God,” and in one place the
expression “on our knees” was used. Praying to God on one’s knees was still a
big affront to Henry [P.]” (emphasis added).[88]
But Bill had jettisoned many pages containing biblical and Christian materials.[89]
The Great Compromise with the
Atheists in April 1939
The
Book That Started It All,
together with Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age, dramatically show all elements of the Great
Compromise. The Book That Started It All contains
high resolution scans of the “original” printer’s manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous.[90]
These scans show hundreds of hand-written changes that were made to the
otherwise-typewritten document known as “the Multilith Edition” and “the
Original Manuscript.” In Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, Bill had
written at page 169:
Nothing now remained except to prepare the printer’s copy of
the book. We selected one of the mimeographs, and in Henry’s clear handwriting
all the corrections were transferred to it. There were few large changes but
the small ones were very numerous. The copy was hardly legible and we wondered
if the printer would take it, heavily marked up as it was.
What
Transpired Before the Compromise:
Bill
had hardly emphasized the activities that preceded the changes.
Bill’s
Word-Of-Mouth “Six” Steps:
First
of all, Bill had written about his so-called word-of-mouth program. He said:
“Since Ebby’s visit to me in the fall of 1934 we had gradually evolved what we
called “the word-of-mouth program.” (But we have seen no mention of this by Dr.
Bob or the Akron people.) Bill went on: “Most of the basic ideas had come from
the Oxford Groups, William James, and Dr. Silkworth. Though subject to
considerable variation, it all boiled down into a pretty consistent procedure
which comprised six steps.” It is very clear from A.A.’s own “Pass It On”
and from the writings of Oxford Group employee, writer, and activist T. Willard
Hunter that the Oxford Group had no steps at all. Not Twelve. Not six. Not one![91]
Lois
Wilson’s Summary:
However,
Bill’s wife—who perhaps had the clearest mind in the Wilson family—did plainly
claim that there were six “Oxford Group precepts.” She said they were in
substance: (1) surrender your life to God. (2) take a moral inventory. (3)
confess your sins to God and another human being. (4) Make restitution. (5)
give of yourself to others with no demand for return. (6) pray to God for help
to carry out these principles. She added mention of the four “Absolutes” –
“moral standards by which every thought and action should be tested.”[92]
In a
moment’s time, a reader can see from Lois’s comments that her version of the
“six” precepts very much resemble the starting point for Bill’s Twelve Steps.
They unequivocally mention God. They mention a moral inventory. They mention
confession of sins to God. They mention restitution and working with others.
And they specifically mention prayer to God!
Anne
Smith’s Summary:
It
is remarkable how closely Lois Wilson’s understanding of the six Oxford Group
precepts resemble almost identical language and approach as expressed by Dr.
Bob’s wife in her journal she shared with alcoholics and their families. I have
devoted a whole chapter in Anne Smith’s Journal to the Twelve Steps—one by
one—and what Anne had to say that resembled each of those Big Book Steps.[93]
In
brief, you can see that Dr. Bob’s wife Anne covered Lois’s enumerated six ideas
with:
1. “Surrender is a simple act of
will. What do we surrender? Our life. When? At a certain definite moment. How? O
God, manage me because I can’t manage myself.” (page 20, italics added).
2. “Test your thoughts. It is
possible to receive suggestions from your subconscious mind. Check your
thoughts by the four standards of Christ. . . . Make the moral test, 4
Standards.” (p.32).
3. “Sharing in relationship to
the Gospel: 1. Matthew 3:6 Sins Confessed. . . . I must share to be honest with
God, myself & others.” (pp. 38-39).
4. “Any restitution I won’t
make. . . Resentments to be faced and set right. . . Restitution to be made.”
(p. 48).
5. “Start the person on a new
life with simple, concrete and definite suggestions, regarding Bible study,
prayer, overcoming temptation and service to others.” (p.78).
6. “Claim from God humility,
patience, courage, faith and love. . . . The strength of a man’s decision is
his willingness to be held to it. Stretched as God wants me to be
stretched—consistent living, discipline, no letting down, no retiring age, a
life spent in action. The proportion—thinking and living for other people.” (p.
78).
Back
now to Bill’s renditions of his so-called six “word of mouth” ideas.
The problem is that Bill had many ways of phrasing them. He said there was no common agreement on their content. And they do not, in any significant way, resemble the seven points of the Akron program or the 16 practices of the Akron pioneers. But here are several versions, as Bill expressed them, of his alleged six ideas.
1. Bill listed one version in Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age writing. He mentioned a moral inventory “of our
defects or sins.” His sixth idea said: “We prayed to whatever God we
thought there was.” He then says, on page 160: “This was the substance of
what, by the fall of 1938, we were telling newcomers.” 1938! But there
are two other versions written by Bill himself.
2. In July of 1953, Bill wrote an
A.A. Grapevine article now embodied in The Language of the Heart.
There he spoke of what he claimed was “the gist of our message to incoming
alcoholics up to 1939, when our present Twelve Steps were put to paper.” 1939!
And these “six” ideas were much different in language and intent. Bill made no
mention of a “moral inventory of sins.” He changed “we were licked” to “we were
powerless over alcohol.” Most important, he changed the language “We prayed to
whatever God we thought there was” to “We prayed to God to help us to do
these things.”[94]
This language is quite consistent with Bill’s claim that when he wrote the
manuscript of the Big Book, he had always used the unqualified word “God.”
3. In New York, Bill’s former
secretary and A.A.’s first archivist Nell Wing handed me a handwritten memo in
Bill’s own hand. Bill had told Nell that he had written a memo on the six
“steps.” The hand-written memo said, “For Ed.” It was signed, “Ever, Bill W.”
It was dated “Apr/1953.” And it was titled, “Original A.A. Steps.” And I have
set it out in full in my New Light on Alcoholism title on pages 551 and
552. Bill used the word “hopeless” instead of “licked” or “powerless.” He wrote
“honest with self” instead of “moral inventory.” He wrote “honest with another”
instead of mentioning one’s self and God or confession of “sins.” He wrote
“Made amends” instead of restitution. He wrote helped others without demand.
And then he used the phrase “Prayed to God as you understand Him.”
4. And then there is a highly
suspect list of an alleged “six steps” attributed to Dr. Bob. The list uses
language far more resembling Bill’s Step language than any language of Dr.
Bob’s. It is contained in a personal story of Earl T. of Chicago. It appears in
the Second Edition of the Big Book (published in 1955) at page 292—some years
after Dr. Bob’s death. And it uses the following ideas, all typical of Bill
Wilson language. Here it is:
1. “Complete deflation.”[95]
2. Dependence and guidance from
a Higher Power.”
3. “Moral Inventory.”
4. “Confession.”
5. “Restitution.”
6. “Continued work with other
alcoholics.”
We
have concluded from Dr. Bob’s handwritten roster lodged in the Rockefeller
Archives that Earl T. got sober in July or August of 1937.
One
lady, who moderated her own posts on the Internet and excluded those she didn’t
like, posted two interviews in 2002 that purported to be of Earl T.’s wife. His
wife made no mention of the language or practice of any steps because there
were none. And the Oxford Group had none. The wife said Dr. Bob took her
husband “through the steps in one afternoon.” She mentions none of the language
whatever about the “steps” and no language resembling that inserted in the Big
Book in 1955. She said that Earl had a small group; and that he was a nervous
wreck, not knowing what they could do or talk about. Earl finally said “Well we
better pattern ourselves after the Oxford Group.” The wife said
And they had used the Bible. Of course a lot of these people
had not read a Bible forever. But we got down the old Bible and brushed it
off, and when they came, they picked out a chapter and it was read. Then they
discussed it. That was the first meeting. . . . The next thing they decided
upon was a quiet time. . . . He was also to offer a prayer, ask for
guidance, and at night when he came home, to review what had happened to
him, and also to offer a prayer of thankfulness”[96]
An earlier post quoted the wife: “There was no Big Book yet and no
literature except various religious pamphlets. The meeting lasted an hour
and closed with the Lord’s Prayer.[97]
The Compromise Changes Apparent in the Printer’s Manuscript:
The Compromise Changes Apparent in the Printer’s Manuscript:
They
show the attempts to delete the word “God.” They show the insertion of “as we
understood Him” in italics after the word “God.” They show that the idea of
“choose your own conception” of “a” god was a last minute handwritten insertion
that had never been attributed to Ebby in the many manuscripts I found at
Stepping Stones or even in the working manuscript in April.
In
his belated history of early A.A., Bill explained the compromise with the
atheists in very specific terms. He pointed out that four people only—Bill
Wilson, his partner Henry Parkhurst, his Christian “southern friend” John Henry
Fitzhugh M., and the office secretary Ruth Hock—had agreed to the changes to
placate the atheists. They deleted the word “God” from Step Two. The changed
the word “God” in Step Three to “God as we understood Him.” They deleted the
word “on our knees.” And they substituted “God as we understood Him” for “God”
in Step Eleven. Bill hailed these changes as a great contribution for the
atheists and agnostics. Bill asserted that “God” was still there, but in terms
that anyone could understand.
The
compromise, he said, was the result of vigorous pleas, threats, and arguments
from his partner Henry P.[98]
And Bill’s wife Lois said there had been an agreement on a “universal” program
since not all drunks were Christians.[99]
[1] “Pass It
On,” (NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984), 381-386.
And though the debate may still be lingering, date and fact of the visit have
largely been resolved by the article: Amy Colwell Bluhm, "Verification of
C. G. Jung's Analysis of Rowland Hazard and the History of Alcoholics
Anonymous," in History of Psychology, 2006, Vol. 9, No. 4, 313-24.
[2] Jay
Stinnett, “AA Spiritual History Workshop,” March 11, 2007, Reykjavik, Iceland,
slide 52; http://silkworth.net/aahistory/history_workshops/AA_Spiritual_History_Workshop.pdf;
accessed 12/25/11.
[3] Dick B., New
Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., Pittsburgh ed., Index
page 610, See www.dickb.com/newlight.shtml.
[5] See Serenity:
A Companion for Twelve Step Recovery (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers,
1990), 15-21; Recovery Devotional Bible: New International Version
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993), x, xiii-xiv
[7] 'PASS IT ON,' (NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984), 141; Dick B., The
Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 17-51.
[9] Dale
Mitchel, Silkworth The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks: The Biography of
William Duncan Silkworth, M.D. (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2002), 43-47,
49-51, 225.
[15] Norman
Vincent Peale, The Positive Power of Jesus Christ (Carmel, NY:
Guideposts, n.d.), 59-62.
[16] Bill W., My
First 40 Years (Center City, MN, Hazelden), 139, 145; Silkworth, 44,
47, 49, 50, 51.
[19] Dick B. and
Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed. (Kihei,
HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2010), 39.
[27] T. Willard
Hunter, “IT STARTED RIGHT THERE,” Rev ed., (Claremont, CA: Ives
Community Office, 2006), 6. Dick B. found a manuscript at Stepping Stones
Archives, titled “Bill Wilson’s Original Story.” In lines 935 to 942 of that
manuscript, Bill wrote: “Nevertheless here I was sitting opposite a man [Ebby
Thacher] 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. [italics added].
See Dick B., Turning Point: A History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and
Successes (San Rafael, CA: Paradise Research Publications, 1997), 99-100;
and Dick B. and Ken B. The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd
ed., 39.
[30] Dick B., The
Conversion of Bill W.: More on the Creator’s Role in Early A.A. (Kihei, HI:
Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2006), 61.
[32] Dick B., The
Conversion of Bill W., 62, 110; Turning Point, 94-98; Bill W., My
First 40 Years, 147
[33] Matthew
Raphael, Bill W. and Mr. Wilson: The Legend and Life of A.A.’s Cofounder
(____ University of Washington Press, 2000), 78.
[40] Bill W., My
First 40 Years: An Autobiography by the Cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous
(Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2000), 115-155; Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the
co-founder of Al-anon and Wife of the Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous
(NY: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, 1979), 91-94;
[46] William G.
Borchert, The Lois Wilson Story: When Love Is Not Enough (Center
City, MN: Hazelden, 2005), 168-173; Bill W., My First 40 Years, 161;
The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches: Their
Last Major Talks (NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972,
1975), 10: “Time went by, and he had not created a single convert, not one. As
we express it, no one had jelled. He worked tirelessly, without no thought of
saving his own strength or time, but nothing seemed to register.”
[47] The
Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, 11-12: “Now the interesting part of
all this is not the sordid details, but the situation we two fellows were in.
We had both been associated with the Oxford Group, Bill in New York
for five months, and I in Akron for two and a half years. Bill had
acquired their idea of service. I had not, but I had done an immense amount of
reading they had recommended. I had refreshed my memory of the Good Book, and I
had had excellent training in that as a youngster. They told me I should go to
their meetings regularly, and I did, every week. They said I should affiliate
myself with some church, and we did that. They also said I should cultivate the
habit of prayer, and I did that—at least, to a considerable extent for me. But
I got tight every night, and I mean that. It wasn’t once in a while—it was
practically every night.”
[50] DR. BOB
and Alcoholics Anonymous, 131; Garth Lean, Frank Buchman a Life (London,
Constable, 1985) 152: “[James] Newton quotes the agreement worked out in those
years with the Oxford Group in Akron. ‘You look after drunken men. We’ll try to
look after a drunken world,’ Williams had said to Wilson and Smith, who became
world-famous as ‘Bill W. and Dr. Bob of AA’.”
[51]
http://health.groups. yahoo.com/group/AAHistoryLovers/message/161, pages.1.and
7. There is a word of caution about the accuracy of these conclusions of
Katie Treat. She was a member of the alcoholic groups. But, at best, her
purported statements do not explain the fact that the Akron “regular” meeting
at T. Henry’s home occurred only once a week. The Christian Fellowship meetings
of AAs in Dr. Bob’s home and elsewhere occurred daily. And the record is not
very clear in A.A. publications or elsewhere as to why Akron AAs split from the
Oxford Group folks. Nor does Katie Treat talk about the fact that often AAs met
in one room at the Williams home while Oxford Group people met in another.
[53] Dick B. and
Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed. (Kihei,
HI: Paradise Research Publication, Inc., 2010), 57-68.
[64] See a
complete replica of the Big Book Prospectus titled Alcoholics Anonymous. http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-prospectus.html, and also The 100 Men Corporation Prospectus at http://aamo.info/aa/history/100men/.
[66] Dick B., New
Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., Pittsburgh ed. (Kihei,
HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc.). 146-172, 340-345, 361-371, 374,
383-384, 389, 531-552, 555-559.
[67] “Pass It
On,” p. 198: “The very first draft or the Twelve Steps, as Bill wrote
then that night, has been lost;” p. 202: “Final editing of the book was done by
Tom Uzzell. . . . Uzzell cut the book by at least a third (some say half—from
800 to 400 pages). . .;” See also Dick B., Turning Point, which lists
the many manuscripts found at Stepping Stones and elsewhere, pp. 10-33,
99-104, 425-428, 455, 652.
[71] Dick B., Dr.
Bob and His Library: A Major A.A. Spiritual Source, 3rd ed.
(Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1998, 9.
[72] Wally P., But
for the Grace Of God . . . How Intergroups & Central Offices Carried the
Message of Alcoholics Anonymous in the 1 940’s (Wheeling, WV: The Bishop of
Books, 1995), 43-45.
[74] Dick B., The
Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous: A Design for Living That Worked.
Newton ed., www.dickb.com/Oxford.shtml.
[75] Dick B., Twelve
Steps for You: Take the Twelve Steps with the Big Book, A.A. History, and the
Good Book at Your Side, 4th ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research
Publications, Inc., 2005), 1.
[77] Dick B., Dr.
Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the Bible as a Youngster
in Vermont. www.dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml; The
Conversion of Bill W.: www.dickb.com/conversion.shtml.
[78] Robert E.
Speer, The Principles of Jesus Applied to Some Questions of Today. (NY:
Fleming H. Revell, 1902).
[79] Henry Burt
Wright, The Will of God and a Man’s Lifework (NY: The Young Men’s
Christian Association Press, 1909).
[81] Dick B.,
“Alcoholics Anonymous and Dr. Silkworth’s Affirmation of Their ‘Cure’ for
Alcoholism,” http://improveourconsciouscontact.blogspot.com/2009/04/aa-history-fragment-number-ten.html;
accessed 12/28/11.
[82] Richard K.,
So You Think Drunks Can’t Be Cured? Press Releases by Witnesses to the Cure ([Haverhill,
Mass.]: Golden Text Publishing Company, 2003).
[84] Mitchell
K., How It Worked : The Story of Clarence H. Snyder and the Early Days of
Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio (Washingtonville, NY: AA Big Book
Study Group, 1997), 133.
[87] The Book
That Started It All: The Original Working Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous
(Center City, Minn.: Hazelden, 2010).
[89] In a phone
conversation I had with Bill Pittman, Director of Historical Information at
Hazelden, Bill told me that Ruth Hock (the secretary who had typed all the
manuscripts for Bill) said that many pages containing Christian and biblical
materials were thrown out.
[90] The Book
That Started It All: The Original Working Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous
(Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2010).
[93] Dick B., Anne
Smith’s Journal 1933-1939: A.A.’s Principles of Success, 3rd ed.
(Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1998), 19-79.
[95] Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age, 64: “deflation at depth,” 68: “deflation at great
depth;” Bill W., My First 40 Years, 154: “Ego deflation at great depth
was the key to the riddle.” William L. White, Slaying the Dragon: The
History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America (Bloomington, IL:
Chestnut Health Systems/Lighthouse Institute, 1998), 144: “deflation at depth
experience of surrender.” Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery
Guide, 3rd ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publication, Inc.,
2010),
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