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There is no need here to go to the documentation in my titles God and Alcoholism: Our Growing Opportunity in the 21^st Century and Cured: Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts. Suffice it to say that Bill Wilson said the Lord had cured him of his terrible disease. Dr. Bob spoke of Wilson’s being cured and then told his colleagues that he and another [Wilson] had discovered a cure for alcoholism. A.A. Number Three, Bill Dotson, declared that Wilson’s statement that the Lord had cured him had become for him [Dotson] the golden text of A.A. Pioneer Clarence Snyder spoke many times of the cures early AAs had received. The person who drafted one of the proposed covers for the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous (published in 1939) put on the cover that it offered a cure for alcoholism. Extensive remarks of this kind were made by Larry Jewell (who was sponsored by Dr. Bob and Clarence Snyder). Jewell made them in a series of articles he wrote for The Houston Press in 1940. And the words of these old times were echoed by others contemporaneously. The Reverend Dr. Dilworth Lupton, pastor of the First Unitarian Church in Cleveland, wrote of the new cure in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 1939. Morris Markey spoke of the miraculous cure for habitual drunkards in his Liberty Magazine article in 1939. Theodore English wrote in Scribner’s Commentator in January of 1941 that Wilson had developed a cure that had enlisted half the alcoholics encountered by the Houston AA group and cured two-thirds of them. Dr. William Duncan Silkworth (who wrote the Doctor’s Opinion for Alcoholics Anonymous) told one of his alcoholic patients (Charles K.) that the only hope for his cure was through the Great Physician, Jesus Christ. See Norman Vincent Peale, The Positive Power of Jesus Christ (NY: Guideposts, 1980), pp. 59-63. Finally, the AA Grapevine published an article by the famous medical writer Paul de Kruif stating the A.A.’s medicine is God and God alone. This is their discovery. . . [and] that the patients it cures have to nearly die before they can bring themselves to take it.

Yet by 1980–forty-five years after A.A.’s founding–an AA Conference Approved publication stated quite bluntly that, in effect, these sources were mistaken, misleading, and wrong [DR. BOB, supra, p. 136].. Despite this about-face by official A.A. employees, the only bases for such a claim that the founders had misrepresented to, and mislead the facts to the world were two ideas Bill Wilson had inserted in his Big Book four years after A.A.’s founding. And these ideas have persisted through all four editions of A.A.’s basic text. These new ideas were: (1) We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again: ‘Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic’. (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4^th ed., p. 33). (2) We are not cured of alcoholism (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4^th ed., p. 85). The first statement, according to Wilson’s own explicit admission, came from a contemporary therapist named Richard R. Peabody, who died drunk, and therefore proved, said Wilson, that alcoholism was uncurable. The second statement flew in the face of all the evidence we cited above, which demonstrates that alcoholics had been cured, that they had been cured by God, and that the cures were miraculous, astonishing, and the basis for the whole spiritual program of recovery that AAs developed between 1935 and 1938. Details and documentation for each of these points can be found in Dick B., Cured: Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2003); Richard R. Peabody, The Common Sense of Drinking (Atlantic Monthly Press Book, 1933); and Katherine McCarthy, The Emanuel Movement and Richard Peabody (Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Vol. 45, No. 1, 1984).

A Large Dose of Pre-AA miraculous healings by the power of God:

Many have minimized or outright dismissed the miraculous. They have done so in various ways, depending upon the era involved.

For example, Old Testament signs and wonders are often relegated to the myth bin by calling them interpretative, artistic, imaginative, embellished, touched up,filled with discrepancies, or the products of tradition rather than experience. See Bernard W. Anderson, Understanding The Old Testament (NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1957), pp. 43-44, 180-82, 227, 385, 407-09. Other authorities, however, plainly state that signs, wonders, and miracles of Old Testament accounts had as their object the indication of the severity of an illness and the gravity of the prognosis against which to contrast the greatness of the cure and the divine power that effected it. These authorities–and they are numerous generally attribute the healings and miracles to the intervention of God. See New Bible Dictionary, Second Edition (England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1982), pp. 457-65.

The healing accounts of the Gospels have also been denied for a variety of reasons. Philip Schaff wrote: The credibility of the Gospels would never have been denied if it were not for the philosophical and dogmatic skepticism which desires to get rid of the supernatural and miraculous at any price. See Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Volume I, 3^rd Revision (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm B. Eerdman’s Publishing Company, 1890), p. 589. Decades later, writers popular in the early A.A. days, were still disputing the miraculous. See Emmet Fox, The Sermon on the Mount (New York: Harper & Row, 1934) and Dilworth Lupton, Religion Says You Can (Boston: The Beacon Press, 1938). Long before these johnnie-come-latelies of the 1930's, however, scholars were citing emphatically: great writers who were by no means biased in favor of orthodoxy [including] Dr. W.E. Channing, leader of American Unitarianism, who said: ‘I know of no histories to be compared with the Gospels in marks of truth, in pregnancy of meaning, in quickening power. . . As to his [Christ’s] biographers, they speak for themselves. Never were more simple and honest ones. Schaff, History of the Christian Church, supra, p. 589.

So, also, despite volumes of testimony to the contrary, writers and various historians have disputed the miracles and healings by the Apostles as recorded in the Book of Acts. They have alleged that the age of miracles in the First Century passed out of the picture, sometimes allegedly because they were merely a stage which God no longer needed, or that they were myth and error. See Adolf Harnack, The Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, Vol I (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1998), pp. 121, 143, 180, 256-57, 268. The disputers have also placed in their disputed box, categorized, minimized, ridiculed, and often rejected endless numbers of Christian healers and healings from Mary Baker Eddy to Lourdes to Benny Hinn and Oral Roberts. But, for the founders of A.A., the proof was in the pudding; and Dr. Bob read extensively about healing by the power of God. In fact, even a brief glance at the Christian healing literature of the 1930's–in A.A.’s founding years–will disclose a myriad of scholarly studies of God’s healing power and healings in the physical, psychological, mental, devil spirit, and other realms. We have included many of these in our bibliography.

already seen, in the Old Testament there was no question, in theory, that Yahweh could heal. In several places remarkable instances were recorded. See Morton T. Kelsey, Psychology, Medicine & Christian Healing. Rev. and exp. ed. (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1966), p. 33. Specific examples include children given to women who were barren (Genesis 18:10, 14; Judges 13:5, 24; 1 Samuel 1:19-20; 2 Kings 4:16-17); the healing of Miriam’s leprosy (Numbers 12:1-15) and Naaman’s leprosy (2 Kings 5:1-14); healing of Jeroboam’s paralyzed hand (1 Kings 13:1-6); raising from the dead by Elijah (1 Kings 17:17-24) and by Elisha (2 Kings 4:1-37); salvation of the Israelites from the later plagues in Egypt (Numbers 21:6-9); and the miracles wrought by Moses (Exodus 7-17). See New Bible Dictionary, supra, pp. 462, 782-83; Kelsey, Psychology, Medicine & Christian Healing, supra, pp. 33-36; In Healing: Pagan And Christian (London: Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1935), George Gordon Dawson opines: The standpoint of the Old Testament, generally, is that good health results from holy living. It is a divine gift and the reward of loving service. Any cure of disease was regarded as a gift from Yahweh, and resulted from forgiveness. The sick person made his peace with Him by repentance, intercession and sacrifice. The right spiritual relationship was restored. The soul was at rest, and the inner life being calm the bodily symptoms disappeared (p. 90). Alan Richardson writes: . . . in the Old Testament the historically decisive event, which became for the Hebrew mind, the symbol and type of all God’s comings in history is the Miracle of the Red Sea. See Alan Richardson, The Miracle Stories of the Gospels (London: SCM Press Ltd, 1941), pp. 3-4.

possessed with demons, and He healed many that were sick with diverse diseases, and cast out many demons. . . He had healed many in so much that as many as had plagues pressed upon Him that they might touch Him. See Elwood Worcester, Samuel McComb, Isador H. Coriat, Religion and Medicine (NY: Moffat, Yard & Company, 1908), p. 345; Elwood Worcester and Samuel McComb, The Christian Religion As A Healing Power (NY: Moffat, Yard & Company, 1909), pp. 84-97; G. R. H. Shafto, The Wonders of The Kingdom: A Study of the Miracles of Jesus (NY: George H. Doran Company, 1924), pp. 8-9. Shafto calculated that there are some forty-two of the foregoing indirect references to miraculous action on the part of Jesus in the four Gospels. Kelsey concluded: . . . we find that everywhere Jesus went he functioned as a religious healer. Forty-one distinct instances of physical and mental healing are recorded in the four gospels (there are seventy-two accounts in all, including duplications), but this by no means represents the total. Many of these references summarize the healings of large numbers of people. See Kelsey, Psychology, Medicine & Christian Healing, supra, pp. 42-47. Alan Richardson points out the high proportion of the Gospel tradition that is devoted to the subject of miracle (209 verses out of 666 in the Gospel of Mark). See Richardson, The Miracle Stories, supra, p. 36. There are over 20 specific accounts - some healed at a distance, some with a word, and some with physical contact and means: blindness, deafness; dumbness, leprosy, epilepsy, dropsy, uterine hemorrhage, Peter’s mother-in-law and her fever–possibly malaria, Malcus’ severed ear; the man with withered hand, the woman bent double with a spirit of infirmity, three separate people resurrected from the dead; the man paralyzed for 38 years, demoniacal possession, and so on. Percy Dearmer reports there are forty-one instances of Christ’s works of healing in the Gospels (Body and Soul, below, p. 142-46). Also the miracles of water converted to wine, stilling of a storm, supernatural catch of fish, multiplying food, walking on water, money from a fish, a fig tree dried up. See New Bible Dictionary, supra, pp. 462-63; Leslie D. Weatherhead, Psychology, Religion and Healing (NY: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1951), pp. 29-69; Worcester, McComb, Coriat, Religion and Medicine, supra, pp. 338-68; Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict: historical evidences for the Christian faith (Campus Crusade for Christ, Inc., 1973), pp. 128-31. Luke 7:21-22 state: And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. For a survey of the evidence, see E. R. Micklem, Miracles & The New Psychology: A Study in the Healing Miracles of the New Testament. London: Oxford University Press, 1922.

by the apostles. . .by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people. . . . Stephen, full of grace and power, wrought great wonders and signs. . . [as to Philip in Samaria] many with unclean spirits and many that were palsied and lame. . . [as to Paul and Barnabus] speaking of the signs and wonders God had wrought among the gentiles by them. . . [as to healing activities of Paul on the island of Malta] The rest also who had diseases in the island came and were cured See Weatherhead, Psychology, Religion and Healing, supra, pp. 70-72; Kelsey, Psychology, Medicine And Christian Healing, supra, pp. 83-102.. More specifically, the lame man at the Gate Beautiful, patients cured by the shadow of Peter and handkerchiefs which had touched them; restoration of the sight of Saul by Ananias; Peter’s healing Aenes of palsy; the paralytic healed by Paul at Lystra; the healing of Publius’s father of fever and dysentery by Paul; Dorcas and Eutychus were raised from the dead; multiple healings; and two occasions where demons were cast out. See New Bible Dictionary, supra, pp. 462-64. Harnack summed up with this quotation from Hebrews 2:3-4: How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation: which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? See Harnack, The Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, Vol. I, supra, pp. 250-73. There is a list of the specific miracles in the Acts of the Apostles. See Pearcy Dearmer, Body and Soul: An Enquiry into the Effects of Religion upon Health, with a Description of Christian Works of Healing From the New Testament to the Present Day. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., 1909, pp. 183-91.

healing from these sources: Quadratus of Athens (AD 126 or 127); St. Justin Martyr (the philosopher martyred circa 163, AD 100-163); St. Irenaeus (Bishop of Lyons, A.D. 120-202); Origen of Alexandria (AD 185-253), Tertullian (AD 193-211), St. Hilarion (monk, AD 291-371); St. Parthenius (Bishop of Lampsacus, AD circa 335-355); St. Macarius of Alexandria and four other Monks (AD 375-390); St. Martin (Bishop of Tours, AD circa 395- 397); St. Ambrose of Milan (AD 340-397), St. Chrysostom (AD 347-407), St. Augustine (AD 354-430), St. Jerome (AD 340-420); St. Symeon Stylites (layman, AD 391-460); St. Eugendus, Abbot of a monastery near Geneva, AD 455-517); St. Caesarius (Bishop of Arles, 502-542); St. German (Bishop of Paris, circa AD 555-576); St. Laumer priest near Chartres, AD 548-651); St. Eustace (Abbot of Luxeuil, circa 614-625); St. Riemirus (abbot of a monastery in the diocese of Le Mans, circa 660-699); Sophronius (Patriarch of Jerusalem, AD 640); St. Cuthbert (Bishop of Lindisfarne, AD 635-687), and St. John of Beverley (by Bede AD 721). See Leslie D. Weatherhead, Psychology, Religion, and Healing, supra, pp. 76-84; Worcester, McComb and Coriat, Religion and Medicine, supra. p. 367; Worcester and McComb, The Christian Religion as a Healing Power, supra, p.95. In a monumental treatise based largely on the Book of James as it relates to healing and anointing, F. W. Puller says: I think I have shown that from the time of the Apostles onwards, during the first seven centuries of our era, the custom of praying over sick people and anointing them with holy oil continued without any break. And there seems to me to be good reasons for believing that in many cases the petitions that were offered were granted and that the holy oil was used by God as a channel for conveying health to the sick persons. See F. W. Puller, The Anointing of the Sick in Scripture and Tradition, with some Considerations on the Numbering of the Sacraments (London: Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1904), p. 188; Pearcy Dearmer, Body and Soul, supra. Kelsey points to the important study by Evelyn Frost. which covers the earliest records of the church after the New Testament, from about the years 100 to 250 [Evelyn Frost, Christian Healing: A Consideration of the Place of Spiritual Healing in the Church of To-day in the Light of the Doctrine and Practice of the Ante-Nicene Church (1940)]; and Kelsey says of the Frost study: It shows clearly that the practices of healing described in the New Testament continued without interruption for the next two centuries. Kelsey, Psychology, Medicine And Christian Healing, supra, pp. 103-156.

testimony of individual healers, who, with no psychological technique, but through their communion with Christ by His power, healed the sick: St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153); St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226); St. Thomas of Hereford (1282-1303); St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), Martin Luther (1483-1546), St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552), St. Philip Neri (1515-1595); George Fox (1624-1691); John Wesley (1703-1791); Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe (1794-1849); Father Theobald Matthew (of Ireland, 1790-1856), Dorothea Trudel (from Zurich, 1813-1862); Pastor John Christopher Blumhardt (Lutheran pastor from Stuttgart,1805-1880); and Father John of Cronstadt (of the Orthodox Church of the East, 1829-1908). See Weatherhead, supra, p. 86; Worcester and McComb, Religion and Medicine, supra, p. 367; Dearmer, Body and Soul, supra, p. 278, 338-82. Kelsey, Psychology, Medicine And Christian Healing, supra, pp. 157-188.

Biblical authority for this proposition–a contention contrary to the promises of the Creator: There has come into the healing picture the widely believed, but undocumented, claim that the age of miracles ended because God no longer had use for them. First of all, the Creator’s abilities did not cease; nor did the power that He made available through the accomplishments of Jesus Christ end. That power and the gifts of healing may actually have been little used or undeclared because of church wrangling, but the Bible assurances did not change. Despite an increasing separation between medical healing and religious healing during the first years of the nineteenth century, Pentecostal Christianity and the work of many individuals brought Biblical assurances to the practical fore. The individuals included Glenn Clark, Mary Baker Eddy, A. J. Gordon, Pearcy Dearmer, Agnes Sanford, Starr Daily, John and Ethel Banks, Oral Roberts, Ruth Carter Stapleton, and a number in the Roman Catholic Community. See Kelsey, Psychology, Medicine and Christian Religion, supra, pp. 186-284.

Yahweh’s promises in His Word have not changed: See Exodus 15:26: I am the Lord that healeth thee; Psalm 103:3-4: Yahweh our God forgives all our iniquities, heals all our diseases, and redeems our lives from destruction; Matthew 10:8: Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give; Mark 16:19-30: And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover; John 14:12: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. These and many other Bible assurances were the daily diet of many early AAs and particularly Dr. Bob as he frequently used The Runner’s Bible devotional. See the verses and comments in Nora Smith Holm, The Runner’s Bible: Spiritual Guidance for People On The Run (Lakewood, CO: I-Level Acropolis Books, Publisher, 1998), pp. 171-96. Also, J. R. Pridie, The Church’s Ministry of Healing (London: Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1926); C. S. Lewis, Miracles: How God Intervenes in Nature and Human Affairs (NY: Collier Books, 1947); Friedrich Heiler, Prayer: A Study in the History of Psychology and Religion (Oxford: Oneworld, 1932); Jim Wilson, Healing Through The Power of Christ (Cambridge, England: James Clarke & Co., Ltd., 1946); Dawson, Healing: Pagan and Christian, 1935, supra; Philip Inman, Christ in the Modern Hospital (London: Hodder & Stoughton Limited, 1937); G. R. H. Shafto, The Wonders of the Kingdom, 1924, supra.

this kind of language masked the importance of the Creator, the place of Jesus Christ, and the use of the Bible, prayer, and healing. It is quite fair to say that the latter–the Creator, Jesus Christ, Bible, prayer, and healing rather than conversion–marked the mission and program of the missions. See the excellent survey in: Howard Clinebell, Understanding and Counseling Persons with Alcohol, Drug, and Behavioral Addictions. Rev. and Enl. Ed. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1968, pp. 167-194. The following were the three major mission landmarks:

(1) Jerry McCauley’s Water Street Mission was founded in October, 1872 - the outcropping of his own deliverance from alcoholism; and it helped thousands. Meetings were simple. There were no sermons. They opened with singing, a Bible reading, and a message from Jerry. This was followed by testimonies where drunkards spoke of their fall and rebirth. Often, Jerry laid hands on the penitent and encouraged him to pray out loud for himself.

(2) Next came the Gospel Missions - still in existence today with a new name, but better remembered as the International Union of Gospel Missions. In April, 1882, Samuel Hadley overcame his alcoholism with a religious experience and passed the Gospel mission torch to his son, and these events marked the beginning of that approach.

(3) Hadley’s son later was in charge of Calvary Rescue Mission with Shoemaker being an underlying recovery force when Sam became rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in New York in 1925. It was at the Calvary Rescue Mission that Ebby Thacher, Bill Wilson, and thousands of others overcame their alcoholism. The meetings involved hymns, Bible reading, prayers, testimonies, and decisions for Christ. The cry was I’ve got religion. (William L. White. Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America. Bloomington, IL: Chestnut Health Systems/Lighthouse Institute, 1998, pp. 71-74). Reverend Shoemaker uttered a simple description of Calvary’s Mission on November 25, 1932. He said it was where God reclaims men who choose to be reborn. See Dick B. Turning Point: A History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and Successes. Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1997, p. 96.

Minister William Booth. It was first called the Christian Revival Association and rechristened the Salvation Army in 1878. Its vision was that Christian salvation and moral education in a wholesome environment would save the body and soul of the alcoholic. There were so many cures that the Salvation Army served alcoholics for more than a century and was called the largest and most successful rehabilitation program for transient alcoholic men in the United States. Its most striking testimonials were those in Harold Begbie’s Twice Born Men - about rescue in the slums of London. This was a book widely read by A.A. pioneers and recommended by Dr. Bob’s wife Anne. Unfortunately, the Army gave way to professionalization, but its people continued to wrangle over the disease concept. Finally they adopted these two statements about 1940:

William Raws who overcame alcoholism through religious salvation. Up to 39 men at a time reside there, undergoing Bible study, prayer, and counseling. They make a pastoral covenant to continued religious education and are expected to seek continued support through religious recovery groups such as Alcoholics Victorious. More than 17,000 alcoholic men have sought help there since its founding in 1897. (White, Slaying the Dragon, supra, pp. 75-76).

Hickson’s book and extensive healing work were detailed in this as one of the many healing books studied by Dr. Bob. It reports thousands of healings world-wide..

Willitts, Publisher, 1931). This review of Biblical healings and the personal healings by the author was studied by Dr. Bob.

Also, Leslie D. Weatherhead, Religion, Psychology and Healing, supra. Though Weatherhead’s materials are heavy with writing on psychological, spiritualism, and psychic methods, Dr. Weatherhead was Minister of the City Temple in London and wrote exhaustively on the place of healing in the modern church. Highlighting the merits of Christian Science, he nonetheless rejects it, as he does the importance of healings at Lourdes. He then mentions the work of The Guild of Health, started in 1905 to arouse the Church of England and others to a fresh recognition of the place of health of mind and body in the Christian message. Next comes his discussion of The Guild of St. Raphael, formed in 1915, to push the Anglican Church and unite within the Catholic Church those who hold the faith that Our Lord wills to work in and through His Church for the health of her members in spirit, mind, and body. Holy Unction, The Laying on of Hands, and intercessory prayer are utilized. Next, the Emmanuel Movement in America and the role of Worcester, Mc Comb, and Coriat. Next, Milton Abbey, opened in 1937 with Rev. John Maillard, an Anglican Clergyman as first warden–Maillard’s book, Healing in the Name of Jesus, having just been published. Weatherhead next discusses The Divine Healing Mission, closely linked with the work of James Moore Hickson. He mentions The Friend’s Spiritual Healing Fellowship (Quaker), The Methodist Society for Medical and Pastoral Practice, founded in 1946, The Churches’ Council of Healing started in 1944 under the impetus of Archbishop Temple. Independently of the foregoing discussion of missions and individuals, Weatherhead analyzes the practice of intercession and The Laying on of Hands. And see the discussion of Weatherhead’s materials in Dick B. Dr. Bob and His Library 3^rd ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1998), pp 78-79. There are many studies of the importance of the charismata, liturgies, anointing, sacraments, unction, incubation, shrines, demonology, exorcism, and the laying on of hands as part of Christian healing and Christian history. See Reverend F. W. Puller, Anointing of the Sick: In Scripture and Tradition, With Some Considerations on the Numbering of the Sacraments, supra; Dearmer, Body and Soul, supra, pp. 287 et. seq.; Evelyn Frost, Christian Healing: A Consideration of the Place of Spiritual Healing in the Church of To-day in the Light of The Doctrine and Practice of the Ante-Nicene Church, London: A. R. Mobray & Co. Limited, 1940; William Temple, Christus Veritas An Essay (London: Macmillan & Co Ltd, 1954); Dawson, Healing: Pagan and Christian, supra; Pridie, The Church’s Ministry of Healing, supra

circulated by Dr. Bob among A.A. Pioneers and their families. See Dick B. Dr. Bob and His Library, supra, pp. 35-40, 83-85. In the early A.A. of Akron, there was circulation and study of a large number of prayer and healing books including those by Glenn Clark, Starr Daily, Lewis L. Dunnington, Mary Baker Eddy, Charles and Cora Filmore, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Emmet Fox, Gerald Heard, E. Stanley Jones, Frank Laubach, Charles Laymon, Rufus Mosely, William Parker, F. L. Rawson, Samuel M. Shoemaker, B. H. Streeter, L. W. Grensted, Howard Rose, Cecil Rose, St. Augustine, Brother Lawrence, Mary Tileston, Oswald Chambers, T. R. Glover, E. Herman, Donald Carruthers, and Nora Smith Holm with her Runner’s Bible. See Dick B., The Books Early AAs Read for Spiritual Growth, 7^th ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1998). As our bibliography at the close of this books shows, and also as the foregoing citations as to healings make clear, the period of Dr. Bob’s study of prayer and healing was one of widespread scholarly discourse on this very same subject. It does not seem surprising, therefore, that Dr. Bob observed prayer time at least three times a day; that he studied and quoted Scripture with great frequency; and that he was asked to and did in fact pray for others. As he himself expressed as to his beliefs: Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!

victories over alcoholism through the power of God by well-known Oxford Group writers and leaders–most contemporaries of friends of Bill Wilson’s. These include Rowland Hazard, F. Shepard Cornell, Victor C. Kitchen, Ebby Thacher, James Houck, Charles Clapp, Jr., William Griffith Wilson, and even Russell Firestone for a time. Both Dr. Frank N. D. Buchman (founder of the Oxford Group) and Rev. Samuel Shoemaker (its most prolific writer) helped sober up many drunks through the power of God. Their classic phrase was: Sin is the problem. Jesus Christ is the cure. The result is a miracle. See Dick B. Cured!, supra, pp. 18, 30-31.

Again, for the documentation, see Dick B. Cured! Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2003).

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