By the Power of God: A Guide to Early A.A. Groups and Forming Similar Groups Today [Paperback]

Dick B. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2000

Here's a very special book for those who want to rely on the power of God for healing and cure of alcoholism and addiction, want to join others of like mind, and also want to gather as a study group that resembles and uses early A.A. principles and practices. This book tells you how the A.A. pioneers got well. It makes many specific suggestions as to how to conduct a study group, what the topics can be, what the leader should do, what the resources can be, and how the group can organize and proceed. It is a very practical guide being used by many groups today. Some operate as A.A. groups. Some as church groups. Some as recovery groups. Some as Big Book, or Bible or Twelve Step study groups--and even all three together. Some fellowships are conducted with the help of a church, a professional, or a garden variety drunk. Some have even called themselves The James Club which was the name the early AAs wanted to give to the A.A. Society at the time the Big Book was being written. They favored study of the Book of James in the Bible. So did Bill Wilson. And Dr. Bob and his wife mentioned it frequently. Here is a guide you can use for yourself, for a meeting, for a group, for a church, or for a recovery program.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Author Dick B. begins with his own tentative and defiant entry into AA and lets us learn as he learned and healed. Then he takes us into the minds and writings of the founders and early stalwarts of AA. Next, he puts together the Source, the history and the Steps to show how inextricably they are entwined. And finally he discusses the desire he sees for groups like the early Pioneer Groups whose meetings were based in a combination of Bible study and AA, and he provides some guidelines to create such groups. Another fine book in his growing list of such achievements.... -- Audrey DeLaMartre, The Phoenix, March, 1999

From the Publisher

This new title the 15th by A.A.'s "unofficial historian" Dick B. answers the growing hunger for information as to how and why today's Twelve Step programs lost God in favor of some nebulous "higher power" or no belief at all. It examines what early A.A. meetings were like, shows how they focused on God for help, discusses the roots of A.A. in the Bible and Christian literature, shows how the Biblical roots fed into the Twelve Steps and A.A. fellowship, and then shows the profit today and the feasibility today for a return by those Aas who desire to do so, and not leave A.A., to organize and conduct A.A. groups were God is welcome, the Bible is studied, and Jesus Christ is not a forbidden name. In short, it makes the case for freedom within today's A.A. to espouse and rely upon the very ideas that made early A.A. so astonishingly successful.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Paradise Research Publications, Inc. (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885803303
• ISBN-13: 978-1885803306
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,571,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm an active, recovered member of Alcoholics Anonymous. I use the pen name Dick B. to conform to A.A. Traditions. I am also a writer, an historian, a Christian, a Bible student, a certified CDAAC, a retired attorney, and A.A. with over 25 years of continuous sobriety. As of October, 2011, I had, for more than 21 years, been researching the roots of early A.A. in the Bible, United Christian Endeavor, the Salvation Army, the Rescue Missions, the Young Men's Christian Association, the evangelists of the 1800's, the life-changing program of the Oxford Group, the teachings of Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Quiet Time, the teachings of Anne Ripley Smith (Dr. Bob's wife), and the roles of William James, Carl Jung, Richard Peabody, New Thought writers, William D. Silkworth, Christian literature and devotionals of the day. And published 42 titles and over 675 articles on all aspects of A.A.'s spiritual history, biblical roots, and astonishing successes in the 1930's and very early 1940's. And why? Because many in the 12 Step Fellowships tire of hearing about a 'higher power' that can be a tree, a radiator, a lightbulb, the group, or Gertrude. And they tire of seeing Biblical expressions in A.A.'s basic text and early literature and yet hearing today's literature stating that A.A. is 'spiritual, but not religious' when outsiders and the courts readily see its religious character and many therefore believe they should be able to learn A.A. Christian roots. And they tire of the fatalism that abounds in recovery writings and talk today. So I decided to find out where A.A. came from, and then pass on to the 100 plus men I have sponsored, the truth about A.A.'s roots. Currently and still today, one history after another appears in print and purports to talk about A.A.'s beginnings. Yet there is little or no mention of the Bible, of God, of Jesus Christ, of Divine healing, of redemptive forgiveness, or of deliverance from the power of darkness. Nonetheless, these unmentioned or little mentioned Christian elements were relied upon by early AAs for their astonishing recoveries. The fact is that they declared they were cured by the power of God and had a documented 75 to 93% success rate among seemingly hopeless, medically incurable, alcoholics who gave the program their best shot. So each of my 42 published titles and innumerable articles cover some aspect, and often more than one, of A.A.'s seven major Biblical and basic roots: (1) The Bible. (2) Quiet Time and the daily devotionals. (3) The teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker, Jr. (4) The life-changing program of the Oxford Group. (5) The details in the spiritual journal kept by Anne Ripley Smith (co-founder DR. Bob's wife) and shared with the pioneers and their families, but unmentioned today. (6) The extensive Christian literature ranging from St. Augustine to Brother Lawrence to Henry Drummond to John Mott to Harry Emerson Fosdick to Glenn Clark to Oswald Chambers, and a host of others. (7) One of the most recent finds has been the roots of Akron A.A. in the United Christian Endeavor Society. If one wants to understand the role, power, and love of God our Creator in A.A. today, that person will not accomplish much in the meetings, nor even in the "something" or "somebody" definitions that are pumped out today as a "power" to seek. Nonetheless, they can find accurate facts in my thoroughly researched and documented work of the past 21 years. For A.A. history abounds with truths from the Bible: how to come to God through His son Jesus Christ, how to be healed, how to comport yourself in accordance with Christian principles, how to pray, and how to receive guidance as one of God's kids. It's all there; and I welcome your comments and the many I receive each day. There's still plenty to learn and pass on. God Bless, Dick B. PS: Many of our latest findings are in The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., 2010 www.dickb.com/Christian-Recov-Guide.shtml. Many are frequently posted on my blog www.mauihistorian.blogspot.com, as well as my facebook and twitter entries

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The revival of interest in this book deserves an additional review, November 14, 2006

By 

John Albert Hill Jr. "Bible student in recovery" (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: By the Power of God: A Guide to Early A.A. Groups and Forming Similar Groups Today (Paperback)

Two reviewers have already praised both the purpose and content of Dick's book on the power of God and how groups can once again tap into that power despite A.A.'s ever-increasing drift toward idolatry, nameless spirituality, and absurd names for a deity. When this book was first written, it was used to encourage and help people get started studying healing by divine means, and studying it within the 12 Step Fellowship ranks--just as the early AAs did. Since that time, more and more books have been coming out with specific references to the importance of reliance on God, Bible study and prayer--within the fellowships themselves. This book turns us back to the close of Dick's initial research on A.A.'s Biblical roots and history and his decision to write materials on how to use the history in one's own program, in groups and meetings, in study fellowships, and in teachings. Its value grows as the interest in help from God is beginning to resurface in recovery. Note how many treatment programs are now incorporating "Christian Track" segments. And if they add A.A.'s own Christian history to these Christian Tracks, they can produce winning results with Dick's book as one of their guides.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What Gems of Truth I Gleaned from this Insightful Book!, October 12, 2005

By 

Aimee Thor "Aimee Thor" (Xenia, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: By the Power of God: A Guide to Early A.A. Groups and Forming Similar Groups Today (Paperback)

The grief implicit in alcoholism and other addictions is treated gently in this look at how God/Christianity influenced the A.A. Groups of the past, and continues to do so today. This is an honest, clear-headed, and carefully researched book well worth reading. I loved this book from page one!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Study of Early AA and Christian Influences, October 28, 2004

By 

L. G. Parkhurst "lgpjr" (Edmond, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: By the Power of God: A Guide to Early A.A. Groups and Forming Similar Groups Today (Paperback)

Dick B. has performed a great service in writing this guide to early A.A. Groups and conducting similar groups today. He puts in print what many of us have recognised as the biblical and Christian roots in the 12 Steps and the Serenity Prayer. He shows how the early meetings were conducted and gives guidance for conducting similar meetings today; such as Serenity Groups.

Of special note is the MUST emphasis that early AA members placed on maintaining a daily Quiet Time. When I wrote Prayer Steps to Serenity The Twelve Steps Journey: New Serenity Prayer Edition [Paperback], I very consciously took the same approach of early AA by writing daily devotions and prayers that encourage readers to keep on praying and take time to Listen To God. As I wrote in Prayer Steps to Serenity The Twelve Steps Journey: New Serenity Prayer Edition [Paperback], "During your Quiet Time...pray for God's guidance and power to help you that day and in the coming days. Write your own devotional on the Step, and perhaps share it in your next group meeting or with your friends." Dick indicates that Anne Smith, Dr. Bob's wife, did this in her Journal, which she shared with others in AA meetings.

Dick B. emphasizes that those in early AA recovered from alcoholism and other addictions by the power of God. So can we, no matter what our addiction or compulsion. Dick's book, _By the Power of God_, gives us many good reasons to read good devotional books and spend time in prayer! Thanks, Dick, for a great job and for all the other AA books that you have written too! I am highly recommending your book to everyone!

L.G. Parkhurst, Jr.
Author: Prayer Steps to Serenity The Twelve Steps Journey: New Serenity Prayer Edition [Paperback]