Leaderboard

Good thread to bring back from the abyss... Since 2004, to my knowledge, two books by former TWI insiders have been published: Losing the Way: A Memoir of Spiritual Longing, Manipulation, Abuse and Escape by Kristen Skedgell (2008) " A riveting and finely crafted true story, Losing the Way recounts how the daughter of East Coast intellectuals was recruited into a well-known rightwing Bible cult, The Way International, where she was manipulated, betrayed, and abused, before being rescued by the worldly mother she rejected. Skedgell shows how easily an idealistic young person can be swept away by a spiritual quest and the quiet malevolence lurking beneath the religious exterior of a false leader." and Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International by Charlene Edge (2016) "Charlene Edge’s riveting memoir about the power of words to seduce, betray, and, in her case, eventually save. After a personal tragedy left her bereft, teenaged Charlene rejected faith and family when recruiters drew her into The Way International, a sect led by the charismatic Victor Paul Wierwille. The Way became one of the largest cults in America. Charlene gave it seventeen years of her life. Believing that God led her to Wierwille, she underwent his intensive two-year training program, The Way Corps, designed to produce loyal leaders. When Wierwille warned of a possible government attack, she prepared to live off the grid. She ignored warning signs of Wierwille’s paranoia and abuse—he condemned dissenters as the Devil’s agents, he required followers to watch pornography, he manipulated Corps into keeping his secrets in a “lock box,” he denied the Holocaust, and he surrounded himself with bodyguards. She married a Corps graduate and they served across the United States as Way leaders, funneling money into Wierwille’s bursting coffers and shunning anyone who criticized him. As obedient Way Corps, they raised their child to believe the doctrines of Wierwille, the cult’s designated “father in the Word.” Eventually Charlene was promoted to the inner circle of biblical researchers, where she discovered devastating secrets: Wierwille twisted texts of Scripture to serve his personal agenda, shamelessly plagiarized the work of others, and misrepresented the purpose of his organization. Worst of all, after Wierwille died in 1985, shocking reports surfaced of his secret sex ring. Amid chaos at The Way’s Ohio-based headquarters, Charlene knew she had to escape—for her own survival and her child’s. Reading like a novel, Undertow is not only a brilliant cautionary tale about misplaced faith but also an exposé of the hazards of fundamentalism and the destructive nature of cults. Through her personal story, Charlene Edge shows how a vulnerable person can be seduced into following an authoritarian leader and how difficult it can be to find a way out.

Perhaps a more objective definition of "legit" would be helpful. I have no doubt that Mr. Schoenheit is sincere and well meaning. But whether or not anyone should believe his teachings on the Bible is an entirely different matter. Further, I don't think niceness matters. All Bible teachers, and for that matter, all public speakers, put on a show. They have to get an audience's attention in order to sell their ideas.

Links to local and national news coverage, including video from Fox9 and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Photo essay... Star Tribune article with video Two Childhood Rape Survivors Just Ended a Cult Leader’s Terrifying Reign (nymag.com) Minnesota Cult Leader Victor Barnard Sentenced to 30 Years (nymag.com) Excerpts from survivors' (Jess and Lindsay) statements included in a couple of the linked articles. It might be important to remember and reflect on the fact that Barnard didn't come up with his scheme completely out of the blue. His "father in the word" sowed the seeds, and so did LCM. And current prez Rosalie R, as noted in documents from legal proceedings related to Martindale's misadventures was fully aware of the sexual abuse at TWI's top levels of leadership at least as far back as the early 1990s.

Yes Victor was quite a character. I knew him years ago and he was always manipulative and thinking about him now he always had the "creep factor" of a predator! So sorry for Lindsay and the trauma she endured for being under the rule of that psychopath, she is brave for what she is doing!!

In a nutshell, this is the gnawing question that NEEDS ANSWERING.... The scriptures give multiple examples, parables, similes, teachings, etc. regarding true shepherds vs. hirelings, he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ [Acts 15:26], etc. etc...... The question: How can twi and board of directors claim that they are anywhere near godliness, uprightness, or double-honor "ministering" when all they do is pontificate their re-hashed script from hundreds/thousands of miles away for profit and adulation and leisure? Twi DNA is Pharisee DNA. [Matthew 15] Twi DNA is woefully evil. [Jeremiah 23] The unsuspecting are caught in a snare and need to be set free. Guilt, shame and spiritual bullying needs to STOP. THOSE ON THE FIELD: "You pay for the classes, books, events, magazines, tapes, love-offerings, gifts, etc..... and STILL send in your 15% for this "oversight and care." "Yet, you have got to 1)do your job, 2)do the outreach, 3)care for others, 4)teach, preach and run classes, 5)shoulder much responsibility.....AND, 6)PAY OVERLORDS FOR THE PRIVILEGE."

Public humiliation. (or fear of it) It's powerful and it's effective.

I apologize for ever being part of an organization that sanctioned this sort of behavior.

SkyRider.......the folks here at the GSC have exposed quite a bit of the soft, infected underbelly of twit. We know a lot about who the lifelong losers who took twit for themselves along with 64 million $ are. The spot has helped to knock them down to where they are now. They'll be a around as long as the money holds out to keep Gunnison and hellquarters alive and paid for. Or until they all just die off. We know much about who did what. Vic did control all the info and communication from hq while he was healthy. There was no recourse. The propaganda machine has been in place since Van Wert. But, the Internet did open the floodgates and the river is still at flood stage. As secure and rich as Rosie and her lover Donna think they are, they live a wretched existence in guilt, shame, and revisionist denial. They can have it all. I'd never trade places with any of those lowlife criminals.