How To Listen To God: Overcoming Addiction Through Practice of Two-Way Prayer [Paperback]

Wally Paton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2000

In this book, the author describes his six years with James Houck a 96 year old member of the Oxford Group. James is the last living link to the spiritual roots of the Twelve Step Movement. Since 1996, James Houch and Wally paton have taken thousands of people through the Four Steps of Surrender, Sharing, Restitution and Guidance to free them from the bondage of obsession and self-destructive behavior by establishing and maintaining a two way communication with the "God who speaks." In addition, they have shown over one hundred thousand people how to practice two-way prayer as described in the simple, four-page pamphlet titled "How To Listen To God".

Editorial Reviews

Review

I am enthralled by this book, the message contained therein. Now realizing God has been trying to share with me. -- Jeri D email Feb 21, 2002

I read a copy I found on a table at Barnes and Noble. I think everyone should read it. -- Jami email August 30, 2003

This book has been a life changing experience. I believe that the message in this book is SO important. -- Deanna Kohlhoff email July 01, 2003

About the Author

Wally Paton is the author of Back to Basics--The Alcoholics Anon-ymous Beginners’ Meetings and How to Listen to God--A Guide for Successful Living Through the Practice of Two-way Prayer. He is the originator of the Back to Basics Beginners’ Meetings, which have grown to more than 2,500 groups, and produced more than 150,000 recoveries since its reintroduction into the Twelve-Step community in 1997. This original 12-Step meeting format was a phenomenal success during the 1940’s and 1950’s, but had become an all but lost piece of history until Wally rediscovered it.

Wally started his 12-Step spiritual journey on October 30,1988. The following year, his sponsor told him, "If you don't know where we came from, you'll never know what a miracle this program truly is." Wally took this challenge to heart and set out to learn all he could about the early days of the Twelve Step Movement.

In the spring of 1993, Wally was in Washington, DC conducting research for his first book, But, for the Grace of God, which dealt with the explosive growth of the Twelve-Step movement in the 1940’s. While sorting through some archival materials, he came across a 20-page pamphlet, published in 1944, which described in detail how one of the local groups was taking newcomers through the Twelve Steps in four one-hour sessions. In his subsequent travels throughout the United States, Wally found many reprints of this pamphlet along with various formats for conducting Beginners’ Meetings. In addition, he interviewed more than one hundred "old-timers" who had recovered in the 1940’s. Many told him the Beginners’ Meetings had saved their lives, and they were disappointed when the meetings were replaced with other formats in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Wally researched the Beginners’ Meetings for two more years. Then in the fall of 1995, Wally’s spiritual advisor challenged him to stop talking about the four one-hour sessions and start doing something about them.

He said, "Wally, if you're ever going to learn how to fly, you have to get out of flight school and climb into the plane." This was a scary proposition for someone who had a phobia about speaking in public. But Wally walked through the fear and started conducting the Beginners’ Meetings.

But, for the first year, Wally "flew the plane" right into the ground. Even though he thought he was being true to the original program, he had inadvertently incorporated some material from the 1970’s into the Beginners’ Meetings, and as a result, he wasn’t seeing the recovery rates that had been achieved by the Twelve Step pioneers.

Then in March of 1996, Wally met James Houck. At the time, James was 90 years old and had been a sober member of the Oxford Group for sixty-one years. Bill W. and Dr. Bob S. also were members of the Oxford Group before they founded Alcoholics Anonymous in 1939. James was the last person alive who had attended Oxford Group meetings with Bill W. and knew, from first hand experience, the spiritual roots and the fundamental principles of the "Big Book" and the original Twelve Step program.

James provided Wally with three missing concepts from the original program that allowed him to successfully "fly the plane." They were: (1) the verbal Fourth Step (moral inventory), (2) the expanded Ninth Step that included forgiveness as well as restitution, and (3) the written Eleventh Step (prayer and meditation). He supplied Wally with a four-page pamphlet, written in 1938 by a person who had attended Oxford Group meetings with Dr. Bob. This pamphlet, titled "How to Listen to God," provided clear, concise directions on how to conduct two-way prayer.

Since that eventful meeting in 1996, Wally and James have been traveling across the United States carrying the message of the Twelve Step pioneers at Back to Basics and How to Listen to God seminars. They have personally taken over 15,000 people through the Twelve Steps and have witnessed countless miracles of recovery al

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Faith With Works Publishing Co. (December 1, 2000)
• ISBN-10: 0965772047
• ISBN-13: 978-0965772044
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #254,375 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars awesome!, June 15, 2004

By 

Tacey A Burton (Martha's Vineyard, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How To Listen To God: Overcoming Addiction Through Practice of Two-Way Prayer (Paperback)

This book has helped me so much, I am able to live a simpler, yet more spiritually filled life. This book shows you how to get closer to God and live a better life in very simple steps. Very clear and right to the point. I wish everyone could read this book. The concepts are easy to grasp, but it takes a sincere effort to make the necessary changes. Well worth the read; it is a reference book for my life now.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to improve your 11th step work, May 24, 2008

By 

Don K. (Alaska) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How To Listen To God: Overcoming Addiction Through Practice of Two-Way Prayer (Paperback)

Step 11 says, "Sought through Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." AA's Basic Text is the primer - for the introductory "principles" course - Pages 86-88 provide helpful information. This book, "How to Listen to God" is for advanced, upper-division 12-step students interested in post-graduate work. It's also a fine tool for newcomers who have been introduced to the Alcoholics Anonymous book or other 12-step programs. Wally P provides a fine piece of work that gives great insights into the principles and practices of the Oxford Group, the people who helped Rowland Hazard, that certain American businessman Dr. Jung describes on p. 27 as practically hopeless, find a way to a vital spiritual experience (the solution for his alcoholism - and his other problems).

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely worth 5 GOLD stars!, May 26, 2008

By 

Subcreator in the South "Barb" (Tennessee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How To Listen To God: Overcoming Addiction Through Practice of Two-Way Prayer (Paperback)

I have read a lot of books on spirituality. I've read a lot of books on how to live the life we're meant to live and the life we desire to live. Many have been insightful, many have been interesting. But few have been so amazingly simple and so amazingly deep at the same time. This is a MUST HAVE book. It is both extremely challenging and wonderfully liberating. This book will give anyone concrete hope and practical steps for getting free of compulsions, addictions, and obsessions. Putting it's principles into action will enrich one's relationships and provide a sense of meaning and purpose to one's life. I wholeheartedly recommend it.