First, it is helpful to present facts of doctrinal, organizational, and personal error in Way leaders. Ancient Aliens and the Bible: What the Popular Television Series Says about Extraterrestrials in Scripture, Famous for Jesus: A Review of Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church by Katelyn Beaty (Brazos Press, 2022), Famosos por Jess: Resea de Celebridades por Jess: Cmo los personajes, las plataformas y los beneficios estn perjudicando a la Iglesia por Katelyn Beaty (Brazos Press, 2022). Im going to say something rude here: my experience of adults in the Way is that they arent exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. I know this is a bit long, but I hope it gives you some insight into what it's like to be inside this group. How about a little more candor, Vince? Incidentally, only Geers group has published a book by Wierwille since his death. My eating habits were monitored and I would get made fun of by leadership for things i liked or how much I ate. TWI's splinter groups, formed at TWI's implosion in the late 1980's, are bigger than . For example, Vince Finnegan formed a new splinter group primarily from the block of Wayers he led in New . At one point I got sick with an infectious disease that typically kills you within 48 hours. Offshoots - Splinter Groups : How Many Are There? The teachings are framed such as we are athletes of the Spirit and we are always honing our research skills to better know God. 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. 12 Lynn, Overview of Events. A place for discussion about cults and other new age religious movements. terrified of seeing/interacting with a marked and avoided person because I thought their adversarial ways would rub off on me. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Este artculo es una exclusiva en lnea de Christian Research Journal. Please keep in touch. For the most part this conceptualizing of the world as being on Gods side or influenced but the Adversary makes me roll my eyes. The Advanced Class was first presented in the fall of 1995. Nonetheless, hundreds of Way refugees are resisting the new groups pleas to join up. Second, the doctrine of the splinter groups is nearly a carbon copy of Way doctrine. As a result, many Wayers view Geer as being the true spiritual heir to Wierwille. Accusations have disturbed many people and strained or broken numerous friendships. Way security personnel try to intimidate outsiders by dressing as police officers complete with utility belt, holster, CB-style microphone clipped to a shoulder, metal badge with the word patrolman prominently stamped on it, and white vehicles with a seal painted on the door and emergency lights on top. This practice is intended to weed out any opponents. But they are open to friendships and the Bible, and are reevaluating many teachings and practices. The Way is marketed as a biblical research, teaching, and fellowship ministry. An Open Letter to You Who Are Disillusioned with The Way Ministry, J. Juedes PFO Journal. Its not interested in interrogating deep questions of being and it doesnt hold up well to fact based challenges. Este artculo es una exclusiva en lnea de Christian Research Journal. Nevertheless, The Ways situation has improved. I think others have covered the most common manipulation tactics the group used. All of the various groups claim to hold the true legacy of Wierwille's teachings. The largest group seems to be Christian Educational Services, Inc. (CES), which incorporated this fall in Indianapolis. My mom thought God helped her get a good parking space once (Im not kidding). I think youre absolutely right in that educating others will help with the grieving process. Her recent suicide however was as a member in leadership. Wierwille was always more effective at turning people away from the church of Jesus Christ than he was at turning people toward the Bible or The Way International. 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." Juedes is a Lutheran paster who has written extensively on the Way. Scientology front group. Sometime after reading that I came across Religion Trauma Syndrome (RTS) and learned about repressive cognitive dissonance. Myself and others are looking to cope and find closure or understanding from a recent loss/death due to suicide. Your reply was a lot to unpack, digest, snd accept. 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. endstream endobj 3 0 obj <> endobj 2 0 obj <> endobj 61 0 obj <>/ExtGState<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/TrimBox[0.0 0.0 612.0 792.0]/Type/Page>> endobj 21 0 obj <> endobj 25 0 obj <> endobj 29 0 obj <> endobj 30 0 obj <>stream The false apostles disguises are being pulled from their faces, and the virgins who were led astray are returning to the one true Jesus, Spirit, and gospel, and the church of Jesus Christ. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Explain teachings carefully, and give them time alone to read the Bible in a newer version (such as the New International Version or New American Standard) which has clearer wording and lacks Wierwilles marginal notes and deletions marked in their old King James Versions. Geers book also claims that Geer alone is spiritually able to reform The Way Ministry. Boop. The Way International is a shell of what it was during the lifetime of Victor Paul Wierwille. Again - really helpful and it has expanded my perspective as well as empathy much more. But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. Off-shoot of The Way (formerly Christian Educational Services) 6.3k posts. 8 Ibid., 67, 68. Ancient Aliens and the Bible: What the Popular Television Series Says about Extraterrestrials in Scripture, Famous for Jesus: A Review of Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church by Katelyn Beaty (Brazos Press, 2022), Famosos por Jess: Resea de Celebridades por Jess: Cmo los personajes, las plataformas y los beneficios estn perjudicando a la Iglesia por Katelyn Beaty (Brazos Press, 2022). Experiences, questions, observations about offshoots who trace their roots to The Way International, Off-shoot of The Way (formerly Christian Educational Services), Accused sex predator Victor Barnard a victim's story. The immediate cause was metastatic melanoma of the liver, which means that the cancer spread from the eye to the liver. They are both prevalent in Ohio. 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. 2013-08-01T19:56:36Z Someone previous mentioned and shared something that we really needed to hear and hit home profoundly, she expressed that (paraphrasing) she was struggling to reconcile with her faith and being a person in the world. And I am glad you are with us. I went to a couple fellowship meetings shortly after they took the "foundational class" and wouldn't shut up about it. that you have to purchase to participate. (St. Louis: Personal Freedom Outreach, 1987), 50 pp. 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. The Way International introduced sweeping changes at the annual Rock of Ages gathering last year. The apostle Paul warned of deceivers when he told the Ephesians, I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them (Acts 20:29-30). See John P. Juedes, Looking at Lamsa, Personal Freedom Outreach Newsletter (Jan.-Mar. 5 Lamsa considered himself an apostle and believed in clairvoyance and universalism. Boy howdy that was an ear-full. Press J to jump to the feed. Oh! Maybe it will help to read what I experienced. She probably could have just gone and not told anyone because its not like anyone checked your bank account, but her guilt consumed her and a couple days before, she called our fellowship coordinator over and confessed to him that she had debt. This thread is like a walk down memory lane - Sunday Service tapes, the Rock of Ages, Athletes of the Spirit, all the lingo others have quoted, and Martindale's violent tirades against homosexuality in the mid 90s bring me right back. Most still feel hurt from being betrayed by The Way, are suspicious of any new organizations, and hesitate to connect themselves with any Christian church. And unjustified bullshit. The Way sent out 138 Disciples to 15 cities during the Rock of Ages 1995 conference, far below a peak of 3,100 WOW Ambassadors it claimed to have sent in 1982. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. I thought of myself as a good person, but Id grown up to believe that you couldnt be both good and a homosexual. Word The group's misogyny was deeply ingrained while also being subtle at times. When he first presented it verbally to gatherings of Way leadership (at which, John Lynn reports, he carried a large-caliber pistol for self-protection), it caused tremendous turbulence, and its content was kept out of general circulation. Martindale openly and vulgarly expressed his contempt for the splinter groups during his Rock of Ages 95 sermons. Could John Lynn be the undisputed king of Offshoot ministries? 9 In an April 30, 1996 press release The Way announced it would not hold a Rock of Ages festival in 1996. Hahahaha. 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). 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. I'd recently read a secular book and they also blamed that. It was founded by Victor Paul Wierwille in 1942 as a radio program, subsequently becoming The Chimes Hour Youth Caravan in 1947, and The Way, Inc., in 1955. Any time I needed to see a doctor (I've had chronic health issues) I had to do it in secret and lie about where I was going, and have the bills sent to fake addresses so no one would find out. TWI's was (and still is in a smaller capacity) an actual institution with employees, an unaccredited college, and evangelist programs that relocate people and had actual methods for indoctrination. This is a big hurdle, because V.P. Heads up on Another Splinter off the Way International Tree. An alarming statement from her the week prior to committing suicide and a recent appearance/presence on social media a few months prior is also what has really shaken everyone. This is to say, you can be you with all your quirks and eccentricities because we are all unique people and can come to have unique relationships with God through his Word. 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. I mention these because these are classic isolating manipulation tactics. This led to Martindales promise that all new Way Corps grads would obtain paid positions, which hadnt been done for over 20 years. This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 44, number 2 (2021). Cules son las creencias bsicas del budismo? Geer believes Wierwille actually caused his body to die: There were two points when I felt that he might change his mind and decide to go on living.I am fully convinced that he believed to stop the functions of his body.8 He seems to believe that Wierwille chose to commit suicide, using his spiritual weapon of believing, rather than to continue fighting the spiritual decline of the trustees. Experiences, questions, observations about offshoots who trace their roots to The Way International. The crowd of 11,000 applauded the changes, hoping that this would help remedy the severe decline and turbulence of the past 10 years. Unless you have endless funds to fight in Court for an extended period of time, I fear that battle would only add to the pain you have already experienced. James K. Walker Current Way affiliates are more than welcome to utilize . He also hopes to produce more printed materials, provide a network of fellowships, and serve as a traveling teacher. At first I was told how loved and adored I was but quickly that facade died and it was clear I was not loved. nase ahora para acceder a este contenido exclusivo para suscriptores de 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. Spirit and Truth Fellowship International, Out of the Way: The Offshoots Latest Topics. 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. mediacodec bufferinfo size avocado mattress reviews; rpx regal premium experience 2d vs 2d hair 504 drug test; 500mg test before and after reddit appleton rummage sales 2022; opala schedule Atheism. The foundational class is 36 hours I believe and I can't tell you how many times I took it. Somewhere in the 90s someone in charge of such decisions recognized that it was probably a good idea to stop calling it twig because it sounds weird to newcomers. I figured out I was gay in college, and having grown up in a household that called people faggots, fudge-packers, rump-riders and played count the queers when we went to amusement parks, I knew this wasnt going to fly. One response still in print is Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth by H.A. Youve saved me an extensive amount of grieving. Not that a college degree is by any means the only metric of intelligence, but there arent a lot of college degrees in the faith. I'm still dealing with a lot of the trauma. But if you fall out of line, you risk being shunned by the people most important to you. Ironside, which addresses aspects of ultradispensationalism.15 It is often perplexing to Wayers, though, that teachers Wierwille respected such as Bullinger, Kenyon, and Stiles staunchly held primary orthodox beliefs which Wierwille rejected, including Trinitarianism. We both are still active in the remnants of one of the many splinter groups and have become the inheritors of a fellowship in limbo. My parents are still standing, as they say. Have others committed suicide? The termination of the WOW Ambassador program led to the start of the Disciples of The Way Outreach program. In opposition, John Schoenheit produced a paper that confronted this error and biblically explained that adultery is a sin. Geer is damaging to The Way because of his previous close ties to Wierwille. (The PFAL classes had been open to anyone who paid the $50 fee.) And to answer your question, yes, people do commit suicide after being in the cult. Leonard. 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. "Christian Educational Services"-- The nature, strengths and weaknesses of the largest of the Way split-off groups, led by John Lynn. I was told by a leader that having an understanding of the Word as it is supposed to be understood helps you form opinions. 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. 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). This present controversy is serving to alert pure believers that Wierwille and his successors are false apostles after all. 14 Letter by Steve Sann, Pacific West Fellowship, 2 March 1988. Sann, on the other hand, considers people like Lynn to have gone too far in rejecting valid teachings. I'm way-adjacent. Youre not going to have to perform penance. The Way International fellowships are located throughout the United States, as well as over 30 countries. I was lucky enough to leave in high school when I was about 16. 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. Rev. Some still in The Way are ignorant of the controversy, while others refuse to listen to the charges, deny them, or rationalize how Wierwille could have done such things without guilt. I just wanted to paint a picture here of the laid back approach to Christian faith that makes the Way appealing to people. Martindale seems determined to remake The Way and close ranks, which may result in an increasingly cultic mindset. CES includes many past Way celebrities and clergy such as John and Pat Lynn, Ralph Dubofsky, Robert Belt, Sue Pierce, Tom Reahard, and John Schonheit. TWI splinter group leader John Lynn wrote a letter in 2008 defending and praising "the old" Way International, proof that the old Way Arrogance lives on as well. Like Wierwille, Bergs teachings became the ultimate authority, and when he committed adultery, he reinterpreted the Bible in order to defend his sinful practice. We ourselves have two articles in our website concerning that movement. 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. 13 Address: Pacific West Fellowship, P.O. Nonetheless, many ex-Wayers desire publications, traveling teachers, regional meetings, and a network of fellowships similar to those they had in The Way. His complaint, however, implies that he realized there were significant errors in PFAL. 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. Can you imagine? One CES leader, with a touch of irony, attempted to distance CES from The Way by explaining that CES would do "Christian study," not "biblical research" (A Way term). J. Juedes, PFO Journal, 1990. TWI now is less than a tenth of what it was in the early 1980s, but TWI was far less than a tenth of what its . The Way International introduced sweeping changes at the annual Rock of Ages gathering last year. I dont know if this is still true, but a weird criteria at the time was that you had to be debt free to participate. Although the group emphasizes that it does not have members, it keeps very detailed records of its class graduates and donors, which are used as criteria to determine peoples status with the group and their access to some of its functions. Ultimately we would also like to provide and seek justice on her behalf. Wierwille exercised very little discernment in learning from others, readily accepting teachings from itinerant mystics, Christian Scientists, and spiritists. Technically, the group has only three members the trustees who control all aspects of The Way International, Inc. . 5 Christopher C. Geer, The Passing of a Patriarch (Attrincham, Cheshire, U.K.: European Christian Press, n.d.), 34. John P. Juedes is the pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Highland, California, and has written extensively on The Way International. Also there are no mental health issues, only devil spirits influencing or possessing your mind. After all, it is their friends who have left and made accusations of severe error against The Way leadership. No. . We believe and speculate it was attributed because of the known cult The Way International. I would lovingly suggest that your time might be more effectively spent honoring your friend's memory by educating others about the harm that cults cause and working with a counselor to process the grief of losing your friend twice - first to a cult and then to suicide. Followers 0. 17 Rick Lessing, An Analysis and Critique of the Theology of The Way International: An Evangelical Christian Response to Victor Paul Wierwilles Concept of the Trinity (unpublished paper, 1986), makes a case that Wierwille misunderstood Trinitarianism as (alternately) Sabellianism and polytheism, and that when Trinitarianism is properly explained, it is clearly biblically valid and coherent. 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. Jun 10, 2009. Thank you thank you for replying and contributing to the thread. Its current headquarters are in New Knoxville, Ohio; estimates of its membership range from 3,000 to 20,000. The group says that it will hold classes and smaller conferences instead, including a weeklong gathering of 2,000 at The Ways auditorium in New Knoxville, July 20-27. 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. The crowd of 11,000 applauded the changes, hoping that this would help remedy the severe decline and turbulence of the past 10 years. One of the many difficult things about digesting this for us is that her personality and character did not reflect this at all. 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. It has shrunk in size and, as often is the case in cults when the original leader dies, splintered into various rival movements. Can any recent survivors provide their reflections if its not to much: What are the manipulation tactics used?