The Power which flowed in and changed Bill and Bob and the first more than 100 men and women of AA in such a profound way was the Power of Jesus Christ.

Did you know that Bill and Bob and the first more than 100 members of Alcoholics Anonymous considered calling their alcohol recovery fellowship "The James Club", rather than "Alcoholics Anonymous"? The reason AA was almost named "The James Club" is because the early members of AA found much of their guidance and direction, God's instructions, in fact, in the book of James found in the New Testament of the Bible. Almost every step is found in that book, along with other instructions and information that early AA found valuable to faciliating the profound change in their personalities. Scripture is what set the first members of AA free. There was no Big Book in 1935. Bill didn't publish it until 1939, so what did the first AA members use as their basic text? They used the Bible, of course. They focused primarily on the book of James, 1 Corinthians, the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount. The Truth that is God's Word set those people free. No door knob or rainbow or some imagined "Higher Power" ever set anyone free. It was - and is - only by the power of the Most High God, Jesus Christ, God the Father and His Holy Spirit who set the captives free. Hence the 78-93% success rate at the time the Big Book was published. The truth is that AA today is a shadow of her former self, and has been riding on the back of AA's early success for decades now, while intentionally watering down the program and demanding the removal of the reference to which all 12 Steps were gleaned: the Bible. Bill and Bob found the Steps in the Bible, yet AA doesn't want a Bible in the room? It's no wonder the success rate is only 1-3% today. The Power which flowed into the first more than 100 men and women of AA did not come as a result of faithfully following the Bible's instructions. The Power which flowed in and changed Bill and Bob and the first more than 100 men and women of AA in such a profound way was the Power of Jesus Christ. That is the truth about AA's wild success when AA first began.