+ Last updated:
 May 21, 2008

Alcoholics Anonymous History
CURED!
Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts

By Dick B.

Cured presents a new and exciting opportunity to the recovery community. The A.A. pioneers all declared that they were miraculously cured by reliance on the Creator. This title quotes their statements. It specifies all the places in early A.A. literature where the founders and their people claimed they had been cured of alcoholism. It details a program - the Program - of early A.A. that few would recognize today. The specifics were reported to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in 1938 after a thorough investigation by his agent, Frank Amos (later an A.A. Trustee). Where, then, did the false doctrine of "no cure" originate? It certainly was not what the Oldtimers wanted, sought, and attained. Perhaps the idea of "once an alcoholic always an alcoholic" came from a therapist who was himself unsuccessful in those days. We know his book was read by the founders. But Bill Wilson substituted many strange ideas for "recovery" that certainly did not represent the experience of the early Christian Fellowship with its emphasis on the power of the Creator, on Jesus Christ, on the Bible and prayer, on Christian fellowship, and on witnessing to others. Placing his report on clear understandings of "cure" in the Bible, in Bible dictionaries, and in modern dictionaries, Dick B. calls a cure a cure; a miracle a miracle; and alcoholism alcoholism. He shows how the many conflicting and diverse definitions of alcoholism have obfuscated the cure itself. From that point on, the author illustrates what he calls "Newcomer Netting"-the vitally important, life and death emphasis of A.A. He points to the "spins" on A.A. that need to be dispelled and ignored if new people are to learn what the Creator, our Almighty God, can do for them that He also did for the Pioneers. This, he says, does not mean altering the Twelve Steps, repudiating them, or changing their purpose. It means looking at them in terms of their roots, history, and intended objective - a relationship with God. Exciting too is Dick's urging that AAs seek to fill their glass to the "full" instead of the "half empty" container of today. There are medical, religious, economic, moral, fitness, educational, vocational, and special needs that are being kept out of groups instead of being stressed as they were in early A.A. The author again, as he has done before, rejects the "goofy gods," the "nonsense gods of recovery," and points the clear necessity for Divine help that early AAs found they needed and received. For him, this means talking plainly about the Creator, just as early AAs did, and recognizing that "back to basics" really means "back to the Bible" from which A.A. took its basic ideas. With the lessons of the Good Book before them, believing AAs can expect healing, forgiveness, release from all kinds of prisons such as guilt and shame, and real deliverance. The book concludes with the author's own "Table of Tips" representing what he has found will produce the cure that he, the founders, and many before them found in the hand of God.

Paradise Research Publications, Inc.; 182 pp.; 6x9; perfect bound; 2006; $21.95; ISBN 1-885803-96-6.

| GO TO ORDER FORM |

Endorsements

“I believe that Dick B. knows more about the history and roots of A.A. and therefore the revolution that is the 12-Step movement than anyone on the planet. Regarding his latest title Cured!, this is one pepper pot of a book. There is something here to challenge everyone in the great recovery debate; and, if one is not careful, even to ruffle a few feathers. I have a few sacred cows lying feet first in my backyard myself. As someone who has been in the trenches for 11 years now, I can feel Dick’s outrage, and share it myself, as our success rates against addiction continue to spiral downward alarmingly. People are dying from lack of knowledge, and that knowledge of the true power of God is here.   

     “Personally and professionally, I have a deep desire to get and pass on what those first 40 A.A. men had. Dick B. gives us a road map to that power, and we need it desperately. The value of Dick’s work—18 volumes and counting—is priceless. I urge anyone who is involved in dealing with alcoholism and drug addiction either personally or professionally to pick up Cured! Put on your chin strap and read it. I also urge you to read it within the context of that old “sacred” acronym of Alcoholics Anonymous: H.O.W. Let’s get Honest about the roots of A.A. even if they don’t fit what you want to believe. Read this book with an Open mind to the facts—and not just your opinions, or, worse yet, your wishes.

    “To his credit, Dick B. is a master researcher; and he documents meticulously and exhaustively. Finally, be Willing to change beliefs that simply do not stand up to the facts. We need a “power” that is not just greater than ourselves, but greater than our addictions. That one is God through Jesus Christ our Lord. May you find Him now!”

Lee Hummel, M.S.C.C., Delaware
 Christian Therapist at Safe Harbor Christian Counseling Addictions Counselor; Recovered person

“Heartily endorsing Dick’s new book and saying: If you take God out of the recovery picture, you have nothing.”

Jim H., Maryland
A.A. old-timer (sober since 1934)
 Senior Moral Re-Armament board member for many years
Friend of A.A. co-founder, Bill Wilson

Contact:
Dick B.
P.O. Box 837
Kihei, Hawaii
96753-0837
Ph/fax: 808-874-4876
dickb@dickb.com

© 1999.
Paradise Research
Publications, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Trademarks and Disclaimer: ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS®, A.A.®, and Big Book® are registered trademarks of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Dick B.'s web site, Paradise Research Publications, Inc., and Good Book Publishing Company are neither endorsed nor approved by nor associated or affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.