A place for discussion about cults and other new age religious movements. But at this point my goal has transitioned to educating the young and vulnerable population of college students by presenting an unknown and challenging thought. Wierwilles ideas on sense knowledge, confession, and healing (among others) he found in E.W. The Way of Life or The Way of Death (self-published, 1987), 106. Kenyon. He never credited his sources, in effect lying to his readers by leading them to believe that he originated his teachings under Gods direct tutelage. The group itself says it is a Christian ministry. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. See the CultFAQ page Types of Cults for information about cults of Christianity or see CARM's The Way International page for more about the group. Most ex-Wayers are confused, not knowing where to turn, whom to trust, or what to believe. Heart-to-heart sharing with those who have . Leonard. uuid:a0e7d6d5-45d0-8c4c-9602-8d6d3c43e9ff The Way, International Profile The Cults podcast on Stitcher has a 2-part special on The Way and River Road Fellowship, which was one of the splinter groups. It endured so long largely because members of The Way (Wayers) viewed Wierwille as their Father in the Word, who heard Gods audible voice and taught Gods Word as it had not been known since the first century.. The reason I created that thread was initial to gain some more insight. A number of people died. Boop. Until then I was personally fighting acceptance because I wasnt able to understand and someone else had not articulated a realistic and plausible answer. (New Knoxville, OH: American Christian Press, 1972), 209, 174, for Wierwilles claim that his book is the most original coverage of the subject, and p. 178 for his claim that God audibly promised to teach him directly and personally. The Way Worship Centre. But in reality, women in the Way were valued primarily for sex and as caretakers. She was born into it and her home was a Twig if my verbiage is correct. Many former Way members are flocking to break-off organizations some of which are led by well-known and respected ex-leaders. Strangely, that means that TWI is responsible for my birth. Many remember current leaders as friends, but at the same time despise them for wrongs they believe they have done or allowed. Except they pretty much worship the bible. Leonards book and course syllabus called The Gifts of the Spirit are still in print. Gross, right? It is fundamentalist due to many non-negotiable beliefs, most notably the inerrancy of the Scriptures, and it is a cult, a high-control group, due to its social . They now favor home fellowships which are self-governing, self-financing and self-propagating. This is a reaction against The Way, which governed home groups, received and dispensed their income, and directed all the propagating efforts (which focused on promoting Wierwilles videotaped Power for Abundant Living class). The Way International has a book value of all assets over $68 million, however believers often pay a facility fee to meet as a State or Branch, or they meet in only "budget" or "free" spaces. They run off anyone who is not currently active in a Way-controlled twig and who doesnt have a Way escort. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light; therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their deeds. That wing of my family joined nearly 30 years ago. People were eager to engage, but I dont think answers were ever very satisfying. To me this is the core of the Way: the planting of the idea that its us against them. Over time that can be very isolating considering that there arent that many people in the ministry. Followers are now tasting the matured fruit of The Way Tree fruit of promiscuity, adultery, plagiarism (a form of lying), authoritarianism, false teaching, unfaithfulness, and lack of self-control. Just as 100 different Mormon groups all revere the Temple Lot in Independence, Missouri, because of founder Joseph Smiths attachment to it, the many Way splinter groups also revere Wierwilles New Knoxville, Ohio family farm and books. The creed and The Way are very much one and the same; The Way is just the religion they follow. Box 18503, Anaheim, CA 92817. 4-5 maybe? Ive started this process in some form and would like to invite you to take a peek at another thread. Despite a pattern of members losing their lives to the insanity of this group, proving negligence/culpability in Court regarding a suicide is very, very difficult. In spite of its name, however, The Way . 1987). You were expected to advance through them, and you typically developed bonds with your cohort in the Foundational, Intermediate and Advanced classes. Michael Rood is a self-proclaimed Messianic preacher who was ordained as a Christian minister in The Way International (TWI).. Rood has continued many of the themes and practices which made TWI theologically a cult of Christianity. I'm way-adjacent. Experiences, questions, observations about offshoots who trace their roots to The Way International. Your experience brings so many new things into perspective and reflects the things we noted about her 10yrs when we were younger but never questioned because well how much can a teenager really articulate? We were taught that debt was inherently evil and that it made you a slave to the lender. (The PFAL classes had been open to anyone who paid the $50 fee.) I was a Girl Scout as a kid and all through high school, and I devoted myself to community projects my whole life. How do they suffocate you as a person? This led to Martindales promise that all new Way Corps grads would obtain paid positions, which hadnt been done for over 20 years. 7 Whiteside, 205-9. My splinter group was one of them. https://www.reddit.com/r/BGSU/comments/mlu753/the_way_international_twi/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf. The leader was arrested recently as he had convinced the fellowship members to give him their eldest daughters which he physically and sexually abused for 9+ years until one girl escaped. Sann distributes a free tape, A Ministry in Crisis: An Editorial on The Way International, in which he asserts that The Way became hierarchical in the 1970s, causing a deterioration of the Ministry in many areas. In addition, the account includes several insights into The Way. 0 replies; 812 views; Fredchopin . Soooo, I guess to answer your question about how she was allowed to do non-Christian activities, I think the thing to remember is that the Way picked up steam in the late 70s when a big wave of evangelicalism was sweeping through the US. First, the assumptions and structure of the new groups are like The Way International. Wierwille admits going to Alberta, Canada, twice in the early 1950s to hear Leonard teach on the manifestations and get a copy of his syllabus for his use.8 Leonard still teaches in Brownsville, Texas. Can you imagine? The immediate cause was metastatic melanoma of the liver, which means that the cancer spread from the eye to the liver. I am also former TWI. That exes from his life are all crazy.. Can any recent survivors provide their reflections if its not to much: What are the manipulation tactics used? 5 Christopher C. Geer, The Passing of a Patriarch (Attrincham, Cheshire, U.K.: European Christian Press, n.d.), 34. Wierwilles death certificate lists ocular melanoma, or malignant tumor of the eye, as the underlying cause of death. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. Mac OS X 10.7.5 Quartz PDFContext (New Knoxville, OH: American Christian Press, 1972), x. Splintering and Subjugating.as night follows day, Remembering a woman of courage, who stood up to a monster. All because of "homosexual devil spirit possession" will not be welcome at their festival. For example, Lionel Recio and Steve Lefevers claim that one woman was gang-raped by several Way clergy and that the Corps residence training was sometimes like a bordello with promiscuity, adultery, orgies, and wife-swapping. Scientology front group. 16 Wierwille noted that acquiring young people from the Jesus movement caused the Ways growth (Whiteside, 230-35). They assume that honest, objective biblical research and a fellowship of true believers cannot be found among Christians outside Wierwilles heritage of teaching, so they limit research and fellowship to their own narrow circles. Not even post TWI as a survivor. 9 John Lynn, Overview of Events, two-cassette series, 1987. I just wanted to paint a picture here of the laid back approach to Christian faith that makes the Way appealing to people. Since many WOWs are in the second year of the Way Corps (leadership training) program, it is likely that many homosexuals were also in the Corps. graduates of the PFAL Series (Power For Abundant Living) may find links to fellowship, study, friends, and loved ones, believers and seekers of all congregations or none at all may find wonderful links at this page. There were some other elite leadership groups in the faith (like Way Disciple that you mention) but the three I listed are the ones that most people in fellowships are expected to take. They also feel the need for teaching and fellowship with other believers. The Way International (TWI) has been on cult watchers' radar screens for decades. The Way International was founded in 1942 by Victor Paul Wierwille as a radio program, then was renamed the Chimes Hour Youth Caravan in 1947. Anyways, one summer afternoon on a car ride to grandma's with a Way following family member: the tape deck had one of these Sunday service tapes start playing when they started the car. The other classes were filmed from February through April of 1995 and are currently being used. Yeah Um would you look at the time? Im not educated or enlightened by any metric, but reading that after your personal experience as well as observation grounded and solidified what you were sharing. At that time I had recently come out as bisexual to my mom, which went as well as you'd expect. terrified of seeing/interacting with a marked and avoided person because I thought their adversarial ways would rub off on me. A good example of this is John Lynns 12-session class Keys to Victorious Living. The Class is nearly an exact duplicate of Wierwilles Power for Abundant Living class, teaching over two dozen of the same specific doctrines and using the same proof texts Wierwille used (though Lynn corrects some of Wierwilles most glaring misinterpretations). To be honest, it sounds nice on paper in many ways. Lynn summarized this when he assured listeners that many stories would curl your hair.12. In addition, anyone who is well-acquainted with Wierwilles writings and reads Kenyons and Bullingers books is struck by the close parallels, even though one cannot always trace exact word-for-word plagiarism. And we have to consider the times: inspired by peace movements and anti-war efforts. For example we had fellowship in our home 3 days per week and if I were to miss one I might be interrogated about where I was, or told that I'm unequally yoked with "worldly" people, which is how they describe anyone outside the cult. Un apologista cristiano responde a la actuacin satnica de Sam Smith y Kim Petras en los Grammy, Connect with the Christian Research Institute. The book asserts that the president and trustees were untrustworthy and spiritually corrupt, did not listen to God or Wierwille, killed Way ministries by neglect, avoided responsibility, were hypocrites, led selfish lifestyles, and so forth. The Way International, Christian evangelical group founded in 1942 as Vesper Chimes, a radio ministry broadcast from Lima, Ohio, by Victor Paul Wierwille (1916-85). As well as the original post questions. The crowd of 11,000 applauded the changes, hoping that this would help remedy the severe decline and turbulence of the past 10 years. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. 10 These are actual experiences which Wayers, ex-Wayers, and others have shared with me. The group's misogyny was deeply ingrained while also being subtle at times. At one point I got sick with an infectious disease that typically kills you within 48 hours. I think others have covered the most common manipulation tactics the group used. For the most part this conceptualizing of the world as being on Gods side or influenced but the Adversary makes me roll my eyes. CES holds two national meetings per year in Chicago (drawing about 150 people per meeting), publishes Dialogue magazine bi-monthly, circulates periodic newsletters, and distributes tapes. Splintering of the group since 1985 has greatly reduced its active membership, from a peak of about . These people were rarely spoken of again, and if they were it was in hushed tones. . Again - really helpful and it has expanded my perspective as well as empathy much more. That ego had gone to their heads; that the Adversary had gotten to them. nase ahora para acceder a este contenido exclusivo para suscriptores de Journal, http://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/, To the Cancel Culture: We Respectfully Decline When Believers are Told What We May or May Not Say, Polite Refusal is Called For, Christ or Lucretius: Nature and Natures God in the poems of Mary Oliver. This includes Wierwilles plagiarism, approval of adultery, authoritarianism, errors of scholarship and Bible interpretation, and so forth. They are both prevalent in Ohio. It has shrunk in size and, as often is the case in cults when the original leader dies, splintered into various rival movements. Wierwilles stance that the whole Bible was authored in Aramaic, that parts of Scripture have been lost, that many Bible passages in popular translations were deviously inserted by pagans, and his Nestorian-like view of Jesus Christ (which drives a wedge between the human Jesus and the divine Christ) all trace to mystic George Lamsa. 60, Bien Hoa Street, Minh Khai Ward, Phu Ly City, Ha Nam Province,, Minh Khai, Phu Ly (Ha Nam), Vietnam, 400000 - See map. In short, the Way (though it started much earlier) at its highest participation rates was essentially home fellowships with hippies talking about Jesus. Answer. that you have to purchase to participate. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber They have forsaken the right way and gone astray" (2 Peter 2:1-3, 15). Im terribly sorry to hear that feel free to message me privately if it helps. application/pdf Oh my goodness. It is not known if Martindales strong stand against homosexuality is in some way related to widespread reports of rampant adultery and promiscuous sex in The Way, including the highest levels of leadership. Your last sentence though. dagger to the heart ..internal turmoil reconciling her faith with just being a person in the world. European Christian Press (which Geer controls) then published it a few years after Wierwilles death. 2.) 9 In an April 30, 1996 press release The Way announced it would not hold a Rock of Ages festival in 1996. He added, We have flushed homosexuals and homo fantasizers and sympathizers out of our Way Corps and Staff.2 The Corps coordinator, a Rev. And you mentioned twig earlier. Its not interested in interrogating deep questions of being and it doesnt hold up well to fact based challenges. I did look your friend up on facebook and we have friends in common from the cult (I should probably just start a new FB to rid myself of them), which would lead me to believe it's a splinter group since the two don't typically mix. In that same breathe, her sister/siblings believed she was waking up and coming to her own conclusion about her situation and the life she had created with the expectation that she would removing herself as they did during that similar age period of their lives. I've even attended a wedding at HQ. All of the various groups claim to hold the true legacy of Wierwille's teachings. Wierwille credits Stiles with showing him how to receive and manifest the Holy Spirit by speaking in tongues when they met at a Tulsa rally in 1951.7 He took his teachings on evil spirits, definition of humans as body-soul-spirit (with his peculiar exegesis), laying on of hands, and his descriptions and methods of operating the manifestations (gifts of the Spirit) from B.G. However, it sucked to consider our loved as anything less than brilliant, observant, and aware. OVERVIEW OF THE WAY'S SPLINTER GROUPS. My impression is that BGSU Staff/Administration is unaware that she was a Way member. Although the Way brags that 5,027 people have attended these seminars, that figure actually indicates an average of only about 100 per state. His complaint, however, implies that he realized there were significant errors in PFAL. Many Wayers have accepted these allegations in part because they explain and confirm previous experiences. %PDF-1.7 % This practice is intended to weed out any opponents. The manipulation tactics come from many angles. Lynn retains all the critical Way doctrines of concern to Christians, such as anti-Trinitarianism, ultradispensationalism, soul sleep, and the belief that speaking in tongues is infallible and essential proof that one is saved. The Way International introduced sweeping changes at the annual Rock of Ages gathering last year. Our dear and sweet beloved friend. The foundational class is 36 hours I believe and I can't tell you how many times I took it. So obviously if you're feeling depressed or suicidal you CANNOT tell ANYONE or you will likely be told you're possessed and have to have it cast out of you, at which point you have to pretend to be healed or else it means you're a bad believer and it's your fault you harbor spirits. With the more aggressive and cultic mindset of current Way leadership, followers can expect more years of turbulence and change. By word, character, and example, show them that there is more-than-abundant life outside The Way International.Dr. Take The Diary of Anne Frank for example. That made it harder for me to get a centered view on my life. But if you fall out of line, you risk being shunned by the people most important to you. One response still in print is Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth by H.A. Bill Green, who handles some public relations for The Ways New Knoxville, Ohio headquarters, declined to be interviewed about the classes and related developments. Have others committed suicide? Few know that many able scholars have effectively refuted some of Bullingers ideas. Some retain great respect for Wierwille, while a few joke about him. Moving on: I know a lot of people who grew up in strict religious contexts, but the thing that I always found kind of culty about the Way was how we were always supposed to prioritize people in the ministry to the exclusion of others. While accusing the Christian church at large of being divisive, the new groups (like The Way International) practice division much more stringently than most Christian denominations or churches. He told Corps grads that the Ambassadors had accomplished their mission of getting Gods Word over the world. He called it WOW redefined, but he never explained how reaching only a fraction of a percent of residents of the United States (much less of the world) constitutes completing the mission. J. Juedes, PFO Journal, 1990. I dealt with it as a kid by pretending not to notice the issues in my family and in the cult. I tried explaining to the family member that "reverend" Martindale just advocated for mass murder. She didnt take the class. (Ex-)Wayers would also benefit from Robert A. Moreys Death and the Afterlife (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 1984), Stuart Olyotts The Three Are One (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Co., 1979), and Cal Beisners God in Three Persons (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1985). By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Making you afraid of other people and afraid of having attention withheld are other classic manipulation tactics. They justify ANY abuse by saying it was reproof and you needed it. My eating habits were monitored and I would get made fun of by leadership for things i liked or how much I ate. Eventually, all you have is them and all you know is that they love you and that's why they're abusing you, because they've convinced you you're terrible and you deserve the abuse because it's helping you get closer in your relationship with God. Splinter Cults are WORSE..not better. I was left on the bathroom floor for a week because "there's nothing we can do if you're not believing God to heal you." Because of the work of splinter groups, in recent years The Way has been marked by heightened paranoia, attention to security, and bitterness. At the time, Schoenheit was on The Ways research team. 1 John P. Juedes and Douglas V. Morton, The Integrity and Accuracy of The Ways Word (St. Louis: Personal Freedom Outreach, 1980), 43-48. I'm pretty sure that "The Word" has quite a bit to say about murder. Because they had women on the Board of Directors and allowed women to lead fellowships, they could espouse their views as progressive. Another splinter group By Fredchopin, September 3, 2021. At the time Martindale saw the suspension of WOW as the response to an attack by evil devil spirits, but by the summer of 1995 he recast the suspension as a Way victory. Pacific West Fellowship,13 headed by Steve Sann (who also was once a Limb and Region Coordinator), seems to be the second most aggressive splinter group. Wierwille always told them that they could only go as far as they had been taught, and the new groups demonstrate this principle by organizing themselves in the same ways, and on the same assumptions, which Wierwille used in building The Way Tree. John Lynn claims that Wierwille and at least four other trustees had sex with literally hundreds of women, many of whom Lynn and other ex-leaders have counseled personally.9 They also claim the Trustees fired long-time researcher John Schonheit for writing a brief paper summarizing the Bibles teaching against adultery. This is a big hurdle, because V.P. My Mom got heavily involved in the ministry straight out the gates - going WOW (their outreach program) shortly after taking the PFAL class in the early 80s and then we went Family Corp right after that. Just after Wierwilles death, Geer published The Passing of a Patriarch, which is a rambling account of Geers final conversations with Wierwille shortly before his death. Please keep in touch. When I was talking to my mom about climate change she just waved me off with Gods not going to let it get that bad! Oh. 2013-08-01T19:56:36Z Meli Vinpearl Phu Ly. The largest group seems to be Christian Educational Services, Inc. (CES), which incorporated this fall in Indianapolis. Some say that the Way International is a cult. Unlike the WOWs, the Disciples program is open only to Advanced Class graduates, and therefore probably consists mainly of members of the Way Corps. The Corp program was insane and I could write a huge thread just about that experience. Este artculo es una exclusiva en lnea de Christian Research Journal. For example, Geer describes Wierwille as one who was very hard to live with, often lashing out at those closest to him and hurting them.5 It includes a reproduction of handwritten notes in which the three trustees admit that the accusations against them are true. The Rock had been held annually for 25 years, and had been used to teach, recruit participants for Way ministries, and send out Way Ambassadors. I think some of the main differences between the 80's and now is the infrastructure. One of the many difficult things about digesting this for us is that her personality and character did not reflect this at all. As a result, many Wayers view Geer as being the true spiritual heir to Wierwille. Not only is it about reading the Bible and having a personal relationship with God, but there are various levels of classes that you take to be better scholars. And if the world thought you were a good homosexual it was because you had an agenda to legitimize your perversion (the way Jewish people use the Holocaust to legitimize their ungodly faith). I was told by a leader that having an understanding of the Word as it is supposed to be understood helps you form opinions. When Wierwille wrote, he commonly used these mens writings and copied them, idea by idea and often word by word. There was a Corp program called LEAD where participants had to hitchhike from Indiana/Ohio to New Mexico in a short period of time with very little money (less than $20 if I remember correctly) to go mountain climbing. I told them never to bring up The Way in my presence again. My father also advised the members of our fellowship to beat their children. One Scripture passage (2 Cor. When I arrived back home my entire bedroom and all my belongings had been searched for anything ungodly. I once broke a bone and had to secretly crawl to my car to go to the hospital. Sale of assets, reduction of overhead, smaller Corps classes, large numbers of defections (which left more staff openings), staff purges, and the sale of the The Way College of Emporia, Kansas, campus helped make this possible.