penworks

Could you give a timeframe for this era? Many of us left in the late 1980s. Readers of this website, too, who never were in TWI, might like to know what years you're referring to. (Yes, I just ended a sentence with a preposition. Please don't hold that against me.)

Thanks, OldSkool. I would love to have an off-line conversation with you. If you want to, send me a message through my Contact page. Cheers and thank you for adding your presence to this place!

Good point, T-Bone, about connecting the dots. It often depended on the level of a person's involvement. Until I worked in the research department, I could not, or would not, wake up to red flags I'd seen ... they did not appear red until I reflected on them in hindsight. Here's a sneak peak into Undertow, Chapter 1: Hiding in Plain Sight, Cheers.

In honor of human rights day, on my website this morning I posted Chapter One of my new book, Undertow. How is that connected to human rights? Because over time, cult followers often give up their autonomy, their right to make their own choices. For a sneak peak (scroll down on the Home Page) into "Hiding in Plain Sight" visit: http://charleneedge.com/

Glad the book is helping out! I'm very touched to be of service with this story. If you want to, feel free to contact me through the Contact page of my website any time. I promise to reply within 48 hours, if not sooner. Meanwhile, I'm checking in now to say that due to some technical difficulties on my website blog post feature, comments can't be left at the moment. Hope to get the glitch fixed soon. Ciao for now, Penworks

Dear readers of Undertow who've shared their responses here, I am overcome with gratitude. That's my understatement of the century. Thank you for sharing your hearts!

I'm here to tell you that PREORDERS of Undertow can now be made on Amazon and Barnes and Noble websites, but they cannot ship copies of Undertow until Dec. 15th. If you want a copy before Dec. 15th, you can order directly from me on my website and I'll ship it ASAP (sorry, I cannot fill overseas orders). Cheers!

Some of that history is in my book, too.

I suspect she is behind the new marketing effort to make TWI appealing to more people before she "steps down." There are several newish Way websites listed in the right-hand sidebar of the main website. IMO, they are an attempt at showing different "faces" for the organization. Here's one A more modern looking TWI website. The common thread: they hammer away with V.P. Wierwille's insistence that TWI offers followers a way to find "the accuracy of the Word." With no credentials, with no understanding of what everyone OUTSIDE TWI considers as "biblical research," it may be that the next TWI "prez" --without R.R.'s marketing skills that she learned first-hand from VPW, will have his hands full trying to convince outsiders that TWI is what it purports to be.

So happy ya'll have found the story worthwhile. Thank you VERY much for reading it. Cheers to you, brave souls, Charlene

So nice of you to let me know. Happy reading ... even through the tough parts. It does have a happy ending :-) Cheers!

That is VERY interesting. In its heyday, the 1980s, TWI was said to have about 40,000. Karl Kahler's book, The Cult That Snapped: An Insider's Journey Into The Way International, has lots of facts you might be interested in reading. Like this info on numbers, which is included (here's a shameless advertisement ) in my own new book, Undertow: Author Karl Kahler states, “Cult numbers are notoriously hard to pin down, and are often inflated by anti-cult writers more concerned with sounding the alarm than checking the facts. Many writers have claimed The Way had 100,000 members, as if everyone who ever took the class were still a member. Around 1982, when [Craig] Martindale [second president of The Way International] was marching in Ontario and Way leaders were talking to the press, I heard consistently that we were claiming to have 40,000 members.” Karl Kahler, The Cult That Snapped: A Journey into The Way International (Los Gatos, CA: Karl Kahler, 1999), 110. See also: Zay N. Smith, “The Way—40,000 and Still Growing,” Chicago Sun-Times, Aug. 17, 1980. So, it is HIGHLY doubtful that today TWI has 45,000 like they told you. Actually, more like impossible, since thousands left in the days after Geer read his paper.

Hi Out 'n' About. Cheers to you for joining in the conversation and we do welcome you with open minds and open hearts. Thanks for filling us in on current news. People ask me if TWI is still in existence and I say yes, but the number of followers is low now. What would be your estimate, nation-wide or world-wide, of active "members?" Take good care and feel free to ask whatever questions here that you want. By leaving TWI, you can question anything and everything. Yay!

Happy Thanksgiving, GreaseSpotters. First, thank you to those who've ordered my book already. The books have shipped! This holiday is especially bittersweet for me, as it is for many whose loved ones are not here to share it. I feel like many of you are my extended family. We shared a unique sub-culture in TWI that bonded us. I am grateful for you. I want you to know that you have touched my life and enriched it. You have exhibited courage in your posts that honestly portray your experiences in TWI and the perspectives on them you have now. You continue to engage people, get them to think critically, and motivate them to look beyond the surface propaganda coming from closed-system groups like TWI that twist Scripture to suit their objectives, like teaching "believing equals receiving," which puts blame on people if they do not get answers to their prayers and keeps people feeling that if they just took one more Bible class at TWI they would be more spiritual, more able to know God, more successful in life. Mmm ... for many of us, that narrow view just doesn't work. If religious tolerance is going to prevail in this country - or anywhere - let it begin with us. If free speech, freedom of religion, and all the other freedoms we enjoy are to continue, let us not be afraid to speak the truth in love. On a personal note: Today, this holiday is happy and sad for me. It is a prominent feature of my life’s story. In 1968, when I was sixteen years old, on the day before Thanksgiving, after battling ovarian cancer, my mother died. She loved God, in her own Catholic way. She was dedicated to her family. She was kind. She was brave. Her untimely death set me on a path to find “the truth” that changed my life forever. Today, I honor her life and thank her for the inspiration she instilled in me to never give up. Hold your families close today. Cheers, Charlene

Just a reminder. The Special Offer to order my book, Undertow, is only for US residents. Shipping overseas is cost prohibitive. For instance, it costs about $35 to ship to Australia! In about a month, I'm told that Undertow will be available through online vendors like Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and other vendors around the world. The book printing company that is printing and distributing my book, has world-wide channels for distribution. So, sorry I can't accommodate overseas folks! Thanks for your interest in reading my story.

Okay, it's working! You can place orders from either the Home page or the Book page. About an hour ago, as it turned out, we received the first shipment of copies of Undertow now waiting to jump in Priority Mail boxes and ride in the car to the Post Office. Thanks for your interest and support, Penworks

If you want to order Undertow today as I announced, please wait. The link to PayPal is not yet working. But it will be! I'll let you know. Penworks

Welcome to GSC, Lanikaigal. Hope you find some good, helpful, and insightful info around here. Maybe some of it will be upsetting, but this community has some "other side of the TWI story" stories to offer here. And much love, insofar as love can be given and felt online. Goodwill is our intention here. And truth telling. Cheers to your post-TWI life. Penworks

To answer Rocky's question, yes, on Tuesday, Nov. 22nd, my website will have a PayPal link for placing orders for Undertow. The website designer is making this happen as soon as she can that day, so if you don't see it at 8:00 am or something, please be patient. It will be there by the end of the day. Just to remind ya'll: From Nov. 22 until Dec. 22 customers in the USA can order Undertow at my website and receive a signed copy in the mail. Transactions will be secured on my website through PayPal. Undertow is $24.95 plus tax and shipping. There are 31 photographs included (you'll get to see all the fascinating ways I wore my hair from age 6 to 35. And those gigantic glasses I wore in the 1980s. No extra charge for that entertainment.) The e-book version is scheduled for early 2017. Later, all customers, including overseas residents, can find Undertow at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other vendors’ websites and can order it from brick and mortar bookstores, too. (FYI -The print-on-demand company printing and distributing my book says the time it takes for books to become available at Amazon, etc., varies from one retailer to another.) If you have any questions, the fastest way to get an answer from me nowadays is to use the Contact page on my website. I will do my best to answer within 24 hours. Thanks for your support, folks. I hope you enjoy the story! Yours, Penworks

Hi ya'll. The sample copy arrived today in a box that I waited to open until my daughter, who lives nearby, could come over. We examined it together, looked at the old photos that are placed in certain sections of the book, and had a good cry together. She is my biggest comfort and support in this project. She was only 12 years old when we left TWI HQ in 1987 and now she's 41 years old. Sure took me long enough to write this book! Funny how a pile of pages covered in words and a few pictures can make a person break down in tears ... of gratitude. After the book is out, I'll be happy to answer any questions that pop up, if I can, but understand that there may be some personal matters in the story that have to stay ... personal. I can tell you this. That it's very timely that this book is coming out just before Thanksgiving. In 1968, on the day before Thanksgiving, my mother died of ovarian cancer. Her death, I believe, was the trigger that sent me off on a search for answers to the big questions in life. Two years later, I took PFAL, dropped out of college, and the rest of the story is in the book. Cheers, Penworks

Greetings Grease-Spotters and visitors to this website, I’m happy to announce that on November 22 the Special Offer starts on my website for ordering my book, Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International. Before I say more, I want to thank Michael Duffy for providing this online community where we can share our stories. Also, a big thank you to everyone who has posted helpful, informative information over the years and keeps doing so. I wanted this community to know that from Nov. 22 until Dec. 22 customers in the USA can order Undertow at my website and receive a signed copy in the mail. Transactions will be secured on my website through PayPal. Undertow is $24.95 plus tax and shipping. There are 31 photographs included. The e-book version is scheduled for early 2017. Later, all customers, including overseas residents, can find Undertow at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other vendors’ websites and can order it from brick and mortar bookstores, too. (FYI -The print-on-demand company printing and distributing my book says the time it takes for books to become available at Amazon, etc., varies from one retailer to another.) Maybe you suffer or you have a friend or family member who suffers from confusion or emotional abuse after leaving a high-control group, religious or otherwise. Perhaps you are a mental health counselor seeking to help people who have left such a group. Whether you are a professor of New Religious Movements or are a parent, student, clergyman, or simply a person curious about the inner workings of such groups, you can find insights in Undertow. My book may only pull back the curtains on one person's seventeen-year experience as a leader and biblical researcher in The Way, but the story's themes of idealism, commitment, disillusionment, and survival are universal. It offers hope. I'm grateful to share my story and thank everyone who has helped me bring it into the world. Read more here Cheers, Penworks

http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/philosophy/history/learning_from_history.html I witnessed 17 years of history at TWI (1970-1987). I would encourage anyone who is still involved to reconsider what you are doing.

Good morning. Thought I'd share a bit from my recent website post, "Good People I Met At The Way" "Greetings, subscribers and other readers who stumble across this website. By now, you have probably noticed I have a book in the making. It’s my very personal story of seventeen years in The Way International, a biblical research, teaching, and fellowship ministry that became one of the largest fundamentalist cults in America in its heyday of the 80s. I met many good people at The Way and you’ll meet some of them in my book soon. ... I’ve written many posts about cults and fundamentalism. Today, I just want to make some points clear for those of you who have never come in contact with any Way people before. ... Most Way folks had good intentions about helping people, many desired to serve God in every way, and others sought a godly cause to live for. However, I now consider even the most sincere of Way followers (then and now) as misguided, deceived, and in some cases … gulp … brainwashed. Myself included. Thankfully, with help from many folks, I’ve learned to sort the good from the bad over the years, and am still doing it. My book, Undertow, tells a lot of my story. But the sorting and learning will never be over, even after Undertow is published, which will be soon after the elections next week. In my book, Undertow, you will meet many good people I knew at The Way. Some who have left are still my friends. Some share stories and information at GreaseSpot Café, an online community founded by Michael Duffy that has helped many people recover. * Read the entire text of the post here: The Good People I Met At The Way I think all of us here at GSC owe Michael Duffy a debt of gratitude for his steadfast courage in making this site available so people can access stories and information about The Way that is not available anywhere else. In a democracy, people deserve to have facts from as many sides of an issue, cults included, as they can find before making any decisions about how to proceed in their lives. Cheers to Michael and all of you grease spotters for taking a stand against the propaganda of The Way and mustering the courage to speak out! You inspire me!

Similar situations arose with other books, meaning the real authors and worker bees never got credit for their work. You can read about the behind-the-scenes story of publishing the Aramaic concordance in my upcoming book, Undertow. I was on the team of people who worked with Bernita J*ss on that project.

I'm thankful this episode of Barnard's arrest and conviction is over! Justice seems to have been served, but, like everyone else here, my heart goes out to the victims and families and other injured folks involved. Peace