WordWolf...
Since this question was raised, I'd like to address it.
I've given this a lot of thought over the years, and here's the conclusions I've
drawn..... [Note from Raf... conclusions you've drawn? Yeah, right.]
It's fairly easy to illustrate that there is something fundamentally wrong with plagiarism.
Suppose, for argument's sake, that you saw a book on E-bay. The title is "The Ability to
Live Abundantly", and the author goes by the pen-name WordWolf. In reading the excerpts,
you see that its opening prominently quotes John 10:10. It follows this with
"This verse literally changed my life. In my years in the Christian ministry, I've never
manifested an abundant life. It seemed unbelievers were manifesting a more abundant life than
Christians. Yet Jesus Christ said he came that we might have life and that we might have it
more it more abundantly. Why are Christians failing to manifest even an abundant life?"
The remainder of the book lays out keys for how to understand the Bible. There's a chapter on
how to receive anything from God, including an anecdote about "fire-engine-red" curtains.
Another chapter is called "The Battle of the Senses."
You would easily recognize that "my" book was little more than a retyping of the Orange Book.
If I were to take that book, slap a new title on it, change a few words around so that the
quotes are not exact, could I really call myself an author (especially if I fail to give
Wierwille credit for his work?) Could I, in good conscience, sell my book and take the
profits?
Victor Paul Wierwille was a serial plagiarist. He took the research of other men and passed it
off as his own. He took their words and put his name on them.
What should Wierwille have done? To be truthful, he should have cited Kenyon and Bullinger and
anyone else he used as a source in compiling his teachings, classes and books. Wierwille joked
that he had forgotten more about the subject of "holy spirit" than some of his critics would
ever know. Apparently, one of the things Wierwille forgot was to give credit where credit
is due.
Wierwille implies books like Recieving the Holy Spirit Today, Power For Abundant Living,
and Are the Dead Alive Now? were strictly the result of his personal research into the Bible.
It was not. He claimed to throw away all his other texts and use the Bible as his only
textbook and guide. This was dishonest. This was demonstrably false. It was a lie.
Plagiarism is LYING.
It is lying about the amount of work you put into your written project.
When the plagiarist claims to be a uniquely-qualified man of God, the lie becomes magnified.
Why? Because a minister is, by definition, in a position of TRUST in the church community.
No one expects a minister to be superhuman, but it is NOT unreasonable to expect honesty and
integrity. It is not unreasonable, when you read an article that says "by WordWolf" to
expect that WordWolf wrote it. It is not unreasonable, when you read a book that says
"by Victor Paul Wierwille" to expect that Victor Paul Wierwille wrote it.
Victor Paul Wierwille used other people's work to prop up his own "research ability,"
his own wisdom and understanding of God's Word. He used other people's work to exalt himself
as The Teacher, The Man of God, Our Father in The Word. He did so knowing that the words
"by Victor Paul Wierwille" were a lie.
Plagiarism reflects on the character of the plagiarist. The plagiarist is a liar, a thief, an
arrogant, lazy, self-important person who dismisses the hard work of other people and
disrespects the intelligence of his readers-by presuming the readers will never learn of
the infraction.
Plagiarism hurts people. It hurts people by stealing from them. It hurts people by
misrepresenting the accomplishments of the plagiarist. The Bible teaches that love does not
"puff itself up". But what is plagiarism if it's not pretending to do something you did
not do?
We don't accept it from high school students. We don't accept it from college students.
We don't accept it from news reporters, columnists, nor authors. We don't accept it from
historians and researchers. Those are "the world's" professions.
How can we accept a lower standard of integrity from men who profess to stand for God?
And, one last question:
Don't you get bugged when you see someone plagiarizing-attempting to pass off someone else's
work as their own? Doesn't that dishonesty bother you?
Does it bother you? Does it gnaw at your insides?
