A.A. History Fragment Number Ten
By Dick B.
© 2009 Dick B. All rights reserved
The Remarks and Conclusions of the Rockefeller Group, the Founders, and Dr. Silkworth that led to the formation of The Alcoholic Foundation on August 11, 1938, when Big Book preparation was moving forward with Bill Wilson. In a report on the activities of the Akron Christian Fellowship, John D. Rockefeller, Jr.’s representative Frank Amos said the following:
During December, 1937, Mr. William G. Wilson arranged an appointment with W. B. Richardson at Rockefeller Plaza. Mr. Wilson told briefly the story of how, after many vain attempts to discontinue the use of alcohol, he had achieved what he believed was a permanent cure, through what he termed a religious or spiritual process.
A dinner conference was arranged. And those present were Messrs Scott, Richardson, Chipman, and Amos (the Rockefeller group); two other non-alcoholics, Dr. W.D. Silkworth (Bill Wilson’s physician and chief psychiatrist at Towns Hospital) and Dr. Leonard Strong (Wilson’s brother-in-law), and “the following ex-alcoholics, William G. Wilson, Henry G. Parkhurst, William J. Ruddell, Ned Poynter and Joe Taylor, all of New York and vicinity; Mr. John Henry Fitzhugh Mayo of near Baltimore, Maryland; Dr. Robert H. Smith and J. Paul Stanley of Akron, Ohio.” The conference lasted five hours.
Dr. Silkworth, Psychiatrist at Charles B. Towns Hospital, New York, which is rated as a leading hospital in this country for the treatment of alcoholics, made the statement that he had treated a number of these ex-alcoholics present, some of them several times, and that not one of them, in his opinion, could have been permanently cured by any means known to medical science or to Psychiatry.
He went on to state without reservation that while he could not tell just what it was that these men had which had effected their “cure,” yet he was convinced they were cured and that whatever it was, it had his complete endorsement. He stated that alcoholism is, medically, an incurable disease. These statements from an outstanding Psychiatrist and a leading authority on the treatment of alcoholism, made a very profound impression upon the non-alcoholics present.
A meeting was arranged for Mr. Wilson to talk to a friend of Mr. Amos and within two weeks this friend accepted without reservation the principles of the “cure” by a religious or spiritual approach. Over eight months have elapsed since that time, and there is every evidence that this party is permanently cured, although it is the policy of these ex-alcoholics through their own experience in working with other alcoholics, not to accept any alcoholic as permanently cured until a considerable period of time has elapsed. That period usually ranges from two to three years. The present leaders of the movement, all of them ex-alcoholics, have been teetotalers for periods ranging from two to four years.
Author Dick B. obtained the Frank Amos report quoted above, with the permission of archivist Paul L., during Dick’s two visits to the Stepping Stones Archives at Bedford Hills, New York. For documentation of Dr. Silkworth’s further affirmations that alcoholism was curable by the power of the “Great Physician,” Jesus Christ, see Dale Mitchel, Silkworth: The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks: The Biography of William Duncan Silkworth, M.D. (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2002), pages 44, 47-52, 67-68, 106; Norman Vincent Peale, The Positive Power of Jesus Christ: Life-Changing Adventures in Faith (Pauling, NY: Foundation for Christian Living, 1980), pages 59-63; Dick B., Cured: Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts, 2d ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2006), pages 9-12, 15-18.
Contact Dick B. via email at: dickb@dickb.com. Visit his main website at: www.DickB.com.
Gloria Deo
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
4.26.2009
4.18.2009
Alcoholics Anonymous and Bill Wilson’s Bible Witnessing
A.A. History Fragment Number No. Eight
By Dick B.
© 2009 Dick B. All rights reserved
The Bill Wilson that many do not know became an “evangelist” almost immediately after he was discharged from Towns Hospital, having had a spiritual experience. For example, Lois Wilson’s biographer wrote:
The doctor [Dr. Silkworth] always allowed Bill to share his God-experience with some patients, hoping somehow it might help. . . . Dr. Shoemaker [the Episcopal rector at Calvary Church] encouraged Bill to spread the message of change and spiritual recovery to others like himself. Bill took the preacher at his word. With Lois’s full support, he was soon walking through the gutters of the Bowery, into the nut ward at Bellevue Hospital, down the slimy corridors of fleabag hotels, and into the detox unit at Towns with a Bible under his arm. He was promising sobriety to every drunk he could corner, if they, like he, would only turn their lives over to God. [See William G. Borchert, The Lois Wilson Story: When Love Is Not Enough: A Biography of the Cofounder of Al-Anon (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2005), 170.]
In fact, Rev. Sam Shoemaker wrote to Bill on January 22, 1935, commending Bill for his witnessing to Frederick E. Breithut who became known as the “chemistry professor.” Shoemaker wrote:
I hope you realize the guided-ness of your having known Jim Williams previously, as I understood you did, in business. His wife, Margaret, is fulltime in the Group and he has held out for a long while. You may be just the person that cracks the shell and brings him over. He drinks a lot and is desperately unhappy and inferior and needs what you have got for him. I am grateful for what you did for Breithut. [See Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., new rev. ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1999), 531.]
And in a 1935 issue of Shoemaker’s parish newsletter, The Calvary Evangel, there was the announcement “that Frederick E. Breithut was confirmed on March 24, 1935, as a member of Calvary Episcopal Church, having previously been sponsored at a baptism on March 14, 1935, by William G. Wilson as his godfather, with Reverend Samuel Shoemaker performing the baptism.” [See Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism, 558]
The October 1929 issue of The Calvary Evangel contains a photograph of Sam Shoemaker and his staff in full vestment preceded by a member of the church who is carrying a cross. The photograph caption states, “On our way to rejoicing to Madison Square.” One church member in the 1928 photo was carrying a sign which stated, “Jesus Christ changes lives.” Other sign urged onlookers to “Come with us to Calvary Church.” L. Parks Shipley, Sr., a long-time Oxford Group activist, specifically recalled to me marching to such events in the 1930’s where the march would be followed by public witnessing at a park from a “soapbox.” Shipley said he believed Bill Wilson was among the “rejoicers” at one or more of these events during Wilson’s involvement with the Oxford Group. [See Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism, 556.]
Bill Wilson’s enthusiastic witnessing with the Bible and to the power of Jesus Christ bears a distinct relationship to what Dr. William D. Silkworth told Bill Wilson during his third visit as a patient to Towns Hospital prior to Bill’s getting sober. Dr. Silkworth’s biographer states that Bill had a discussion with Dr. Silkworth on the subject of the “Great Physician.” And then Bill reached the conclusion, “Yes, if there was any Great Physician that could cure the alcohol sickness, I’d better find him now, at once.” [See Dale Mitchel, Silkworth: The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks: The Biography of William Duncan Silkworth, M.D. (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2002), 44.] Silkworth’s biographer stated, “that it was Dr. Silkworth who used the term ‘The Great Physician’ to explain the need in recovery for a relationship with Jesus Christ.” Author Mitchel states further:
In the formation of AA, Wilson initially insisted on references to God and Jesus, as well as the Great Physician. [See Mitchel, Silkworth, 50.]
Wilson’s fervor as to the power of Jesus Christ is evidenced by his statement on page 191 of Alcoholics Anonymous (4th ed., 2001): “The Lord has cured me of this terrible disease and I just want to keep talking about it and telling people.”
dickb@dickb.com; http://dickb.com
Gloria Deo
By Dick B.
© 2009 Dick B. All rights reserved
The Bill Wilson that many do not know became an “evangelist” almost immediately after he was discharged from Towns Hospital, having had a spiritual experience. For example, Lois Wilson’s biographer wrote:
The doctor [Dr. Silkworth] always allowed Bill to share his God-experience with some patients, hoping somehow it might help. . . . Dr. Shoemaker [the Episcopal rector at Calvary Church] encouraged Bill to spread the message of change and spiritual recovery to others like himself. Bill took the preacher at his word. With Lois’s full support, he was soon walking through the gutters of the Bowery, into the nut ward at Bellevue Hospital, down the slimy corridors of fleabag hotels, and into the detox unit at Towns with a Bible under his arm. He was promising sobriety to every drunk he could corner, if they, like he, would only turn their lives over to God. [See William G. Borchert, The Lois Wilson Story: When Love Is Not Enough: A Biography of the Cofounder of Al-Anon (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2005), 170.]
In fact, Rev. Sam Shoemaker wrote to Bill on January 22, 1935, commending Bill for his witnessing to Frederick E. Breithut who became known as the “chemistry professor.” Shoemaker wrote:
I hope you realize the guided-ness of your having known Jim Williams previously, as I understood you did, in business. His wife, Margaret, is fulltime in the Group and he has held out for a long while. You may be just the person that cracks the shell and brings him over. He drinks a lot and is desperately unhappy and inferior and needs what you have got for him. I am grateful for what you did for Breithut. [See Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., new rev. ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1999), 531.]
And in a 1935 issue of Shoemaker’s parish newsletter, The Calvary Evangel, there was the announcement “that Frederick E. Breithut was confirmed on March 24, 1935, as a member of Calvary Episcopal Church, having previously been sponsored at a baptism on March 14, 1935, by William G. Wilson as his godfather, with Reverend Samuel Shoemaker performing the baptism.” [See Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism, 558]
The October 1929 issue of The Calvary Evangel contains a photograph of Sam Shoemaker and his staff in full vestment preceded by a member of the church who is carrying a cross. The photograph caption states, “On our way to rejoicing to Madison Square.” One church member in the 1928 photo was carrying a sign which stated, “Jesus Christ changes lives.” Other sign urged onlookers to “Come with us to Calvary Church.” L. Parks Shipley, Sr., a long-time Oxford Group activist, specifically recalled to me marching to such events in the 1930’s where the march would be followed by public witnessing at a park from a “soapbox.” Shipley said he believed Bill Wilson was among the “rejoicers” at one or more of these events during Wilson’s involvement with the Oxford Group. [See Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism, 556.]
Bill Wilson’s enthusiastic witnessing with the Bible and to the power of Jesus Christ bears a distinct relationship to what Dr. William D. Silkworth told Bill Wilson during his third visit as a patient to Towns Hospital prior to Bill’s getting sober. Dr. Silkworth’s biographer states that Bill had a discussion with Dr. Silkworth on the subject of the “Great Physician.” And then Bill reached the conclusion, “Yes, if there was any Great Physician that could cure the alcohol sickness, I’d better find him now, at once.” [See Dale Mitchel, Silkworth: The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks: The Biography of William Duncan Silkworth, M.D. (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2002), 44.] Silkworth’s biographer stated, “that it was Dr. Silkworth who used the term ‘The Great Physician’ to explain the need in recovery for a relationship with Jesus Christ.” Author Mitchel states further:
In the formation of AA, Wilson initially insisted on references to God and Jesus, as well as the Great Physician. [See Mitchel, Silkworth, 50.]
Wilson’s fervor as to the power of Jesus Christ is evidenced by his statement on page 191 of Alcoholics Anonymous (4th ed., 2001): “The Lord has cured me of this terrible disease and I just want to keep talking about it and telling people.”
dickb@dickb.com; http://dickb.com
Gloria Deo
4.11.2009
Alcoholics Anonymous and the Lord Jesus Christ
A.A. History Fragment No. Four
Dick B.
© 2009 Dick B. All rights reserved
In 1934, just before he entered Towns Hospital for the last time as a patient, Alcoholics Anonymous Founder Bill Wilson went to the altar at Calvary Rescue Mission in New York. And, in the words of his wife Lois Wilson, “And he went up, and really, in very great sincerity, did hand over his life to Christ.” (“Lois Remembers: Searcy, Ebby, Bill & Early Days.” Recorded in Dallas, Texas, June 29 1973, Moore, OK: Sooner Cassette, Side One). In the earliest Akron A.A. days, Bill Wilson stated: “Henrietta [Dotson, wife of A.A. Number Three], the Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of this terrible disease that I just want to keep talking about it and telling people.” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 191. On pages 216-217 of Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed., a Cleveland A.A. newcomer asked Bill Wilson what it was “that worked so many wonders” and said, “hanging over the mantel was a picture of Gethsemane and Bill pointed to it and said, ‘There it is’.” The picture was a painting of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-39). In the pioneer A.A. Akron Fellowship, every member was required to accept Jesus Christ as his personal lord and saviour. This has been personally verified to me by the wife and writings of Clarence H. Snyder; the recorded remarks of oldtimer J. D. Holmes, and my telephone conversations with oldtimers Ed Andy and Larry Bauer. For many of the specific details about early Alcoholics Anonymous and the Lord Jesus Christ, see Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.: More on the Creator’s Role in Early A.A. http://dickb.com/conversion.shtml, and Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the Good Book as a Youngster in Vermont
http://dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml
Dick B.
© 2009 Dick B. All rights reserved
In 1934, just before he entered Towns Hospital for the last time as a patient, Alcoholics Anonymous Founder Bill Wilson went to the altar at Calvary Rescue Mission in New York. And, in the words of his wife Lois Wilson, “And he went up, and really, in very great sincerity, did hand over his life to Christ.” (“Lois Remembers: Searcy, Ebby, Bill & Early Days.” Recorded in Dallas, Texas, June 29 1973, Moore, OK: Sooner Cassette, Side One). In the earliest Akron A.A. days, Bill Wilson stated: “Henrietta [Dotson, wife of A.A. Number Three], the Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of this terrible disease that I just want to keep talking about it and telling people.” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 191. On pages 216-217 of Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed., a Cleveland A.A. newcomer asked Bill Wilson what it was “that worked so many wonders” and said, “hanging over the mantel was a picture of Gethsemane and Bill pointed to it and said, ‘There it is’.” The picture was a painting of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-39). In the pioneer A.A. Akron Fellowship, every member was required to accept Jesus Christ as his personal lord and saviour. This has been personally verified to me by the wife and writings of Clarence H. Snyder; the recorded remarks of oldtimer J. D. Holmes, and my telephone conversations with oldtimers Ed Andy and Larry Bauer. For many of the specific details about early Alcoholics Anonymous and the Lord Jesus Christ, see Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.: More on the Creator’s Role in Early A.A. http://dickb.com/conversion.shtml, and Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the Good Book as a Youngster in Vermont
http://dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml
4.08.2009
Alcoholics Anonymous and the Creator Yahweh
A.A. History Fragment No. Three
Dick B.
© 2009 Dick B. All rights reserved
In A.A.’s basic text, Alcoholics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder referred to Yahweh’s title as “Creator” twelve times. 4th ed., 13, 25, 28, 56, 68, 72, 75, 76, 80, 83, 158, 161. Bill spoke frequently about establishing a relationship with the Creator and even addressed his suggested Seventh Step prayer to “My Creator.” King James Version biblical references to Yahweh, the Creator can be found in Genesis 1:1; Ecclesiastes 12:1; Isaiah 43:15; Romans 1:24; and 1 Peter 4:19. For further study of the subject, see Dick B., Turning Point: A History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and Successes, 157-159.
http://dickb.com/Turning.shml
Dick B.
© 2009 Dick B. All rights reserved
In A.A.’s basic text, Alcoholics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder referred to Yahweh’s title as “Creator” twelve times. 4th ed., 13, 25, 28, 56, 68, 72, 75, 76, 80, 83, 158, 161. Bill spoke frequently about establishing a relationship with the Creator and even addressed his suggested Seventh Step prayer to “My Creator.” King James Version biblical references to Yahweh, the Creator can be found in Genesis 1:1; Ecclesiastes 12:1; Isaiah 43:15; Romans 1:24; and 1 Peter 4:19. For further study of the subject, see Dick B., Turning Point: A History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and Successes, 157-159.
http://dickb.com/Turning.shml
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