The Way International
Up to fifty high-ranking members conspired to coerce followers into having sex with the leaders
1942 - present
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The Way International is a Christian organization that has long been shrouded in controversy for its unconventional teachings and practices. Billing itself as a biblical research, teaching, and fellowship ministry, the organization diverges sharply from mainstream Christian beliefs in several key areas. Their heaviest criticisms, though, regard a widespread conspiracy to allow the leaders to abuse their followers.
The Way International was founded in 1942 by Victor Paul Wierwille, an ordained minister who had previously been affiliated with the Evangelical and Reformed Church. Wierwille felt that traditional Christian teachings did not accurately represent the message of the Bible. Armed with a zeal to return to what he believed to be the unadulterated teachings of the New Testament, Wierwille started The Way as an independent biblical research, teaching, and fellowship ministry. As a result, the organization rejected many of the core teachings of Christianity, such as the concept of the trinity.
They also adopted a hierarchical educational structure which many say is used to exercise excessive control over its members. "The Foundational Class on Power for Abundant Living," serves as an entry point into a system that encourages participants to climb a ladder of increasing commitment and involvement, a structure often compared to pyramid schemes. Members who commit to the Way have reported severe sleep deprivation, isolation from families, and other forms of control from church leaders, which have led them to drop out of school, quit taking medicine, or prepare for a prophesized nuclear holocaust.
Some of their worst abuses started to come to light after former members launched lawsuits against the organization. In addition to concerns about psychological manipulation and financial control, former members testified about a widespread coordination of up to fifty leaders to assist in and coverup the sexual abuse of female members at the hands of the presidents and high-ranking leaders. Court documents and media sources reported that girls as young as thirteen are shown pornography and trained in how to provide sexual gratification while being taught that a woman's purpose is to give sexual pleasure to men. Victims revealed how leaders used the guilt of disobeying God and fears of death to coerce them into submission. Meanwhile other trusted leaders told them how privileged they were to be able to satisfy such great men of God.
At it's peak, The Way was considered the second largest cult in America, with up to 40,000 members. While membership declined significantly in the 1990s, the organization still exists today, remaining curiously quiet about their abusive history.
Religion: Christianity
Denomination: Fundamentalism
Founder: Victor Paul Wierwille
Founded: 1942
Location: New Knoxville, Ohio
Size: 40,000 (at peak in 1981)
The Way has been accused of brainwashing followers and using coercive persuasion, causing many to seek the help of deprogrammers to rescue people from the group (source, source)
Up to fifty leaders were sued for their involvement in sexual misconduct, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and defamation of character, among other things (source)
Former members filed a lawsuit alleging the organization threatened that "terrible things would happen to [members] or their families if they failed to follow [The Way] mandates" (source)
The Way reportedly teaches that members will suffer harm or death if they go into debt (source)
After a member died in a car accident, leaders reportedly told members that he died as the result of having debt and lying to the church (source)
Former members and other critics have told stories of "firearms training, sleep deprivation, psychological manipulation and blind allegiance to Wierwille, whom The Way members often compare to Jesus Christ" (source)
Members who were sent out as missionaries were reportedly told to hid their identities and to uncover the vulnerabilities of the people they were proselytizing to (source)
See also the "sexual allegations" section below
Wierwille coerced women into sex by citing Bible passages such as "all things are pure to the pure" (Titus 1:15) and that "nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them" (Mark 7:18; Matthew 15:11) (source)
One member testified that President Victor Paul Wierwille talked her into sex by telling her that "anything is OK as long as my mind is on the Word, as long as I'm 'sold out.'" (source)
Members were pressured to "lie for the sake of the Word" to cover up misconduct by leaders (source)
One leader pressured a woman into sex by telling her that God doesn't care what they do with their bodies, since they are in the "Age of Grace" (source)
Gnostic texts were used to promote an antinomian ideology (source)
A former member testified that he married his wife after the church told him he must either marry her or separate from her to remain in good standing with the church (source)
Children as young as 13 were taught in detail how to perform fellatio and shown pornography to educate them about sex (source)
Children were taught that the purpose of women is to "sexual pleasure to men... and not just their own husbands" (source)
One class, which was open to minors, reportedly showed a video of a woman attempting to have sex with a dog, to help teach members about sex (source)
Victor Barnard left and started his own group to avoid the sexual misconduct of the cult, but ended up engaging in similar abuse among both adults and minors (source)
Wierwille reportedly prophesied that the United States would "be overrun by communists, or illuminati, or somebody" by 1976, if they didn't "get the Word over the USA" (source)
In 1979, Wierwille repeated a similar prophecy about an upcoming nuclear "holocaust," in which his followers would be targeted, because they were the only ones who could stop the invasion (source, source)
In response to these prophecies, leaders purchased weapons, made plans to destroy documentation and relocate, and stockpiled survival supplies (source, source)
Elite members have paid thousands of dollars to the church for rigorous physical and survival training (source)
Former members sued the organization for negligent and intentional misrepresentation, fraud, deceit, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, alleging that the organization used misrepresentation and undue influence to swindle them out of their money (source)
Wierwille instructed his followers to have regular book burnings, and former members said they were encouraged to burn materials not published by the group (source)
Members have been told to only marry other members (source)
Thousands of members have been sent out as missionaries far away from their home in order to sever family ties (source)
Former presidents Craig Martindale and Victor Paul Wierwille have had "many sexual relationships with female staff and Corps" (source)
Several leaders have conspired with presidents to facilitate the sexual abuse of numerous women (source)
Craig Martindale, a former president of The Way International, admitted to sexual misconduct towards Frances Allen, after the member sued more approximately fifty leaders for a "pattern of corrupt activity" as defined by the Ohio Revised Code "including, but not limited to acts of theft, fraud, coercion, assault and rape," as well as breach of contract, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud in a fiduciary capacity, defamation of character and civil conspiracy (source, source, source)
Former presidents Craig Martindale and Victor Paul Wierwille have had "many sexual relationships with female staff and Corps" (source)
Leaders manipulated women into having sex with the president by telling them how privileged they were to be able to work so close to the "man of God," and that they were helping God (source)
Members are told to "mark and avoid" those who fall out of line with the organizations teachings (source, source)
One person said he would get "marked and avoided" if he bought a car, because it would have required him to go into debt (source)
Threats of excommunication are reportedly used to coerce members into giving away their money (source)
Those who stood up against the sexual abuses by church leaders were "fired and silenced" by the trustees (source)
One former member said that when she tried to leave, she was met with anger from the members she was living with. Then, the local leader came to her house to pressure her into staying until 3am, when she finally agreed. The next morning she snuck out to the bus station, but was met with several more members who tried to convince her to stay. After she boarded the bus and got off to see her family, she was confronted by even more members. (source)
Former leader Craig Martindale had an "inner circle of women" who secretly and obediently provided him with sexual "favors" (source)
Extra-marital sex with other members (namely, the president) is seen as a sign of spiritual maturity (source, source)
Offered a 18 hour sexual education class, attended by girls as young as thirteen, which used porn and other graphic material to teach members in detail how to masturbate and have sex (source)
Other info
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Forbids members from having any debts (source)
Reportedly forbid a member from buying a house, saying that the region had "devil spirits" and was too far from the church (source)
Teaches that the original sin was Eve having lesbian sex with the devil (source)
The Way had its charitable organization designation revoked in 1985 (but later reinstated) for alleged political activity violations (source)
Previously had a firearms training program, which created concerns in among members of Congress (source)
The Washington Post reported in 1981 that The Way, with 40,000 members, was the second largest cult in the United States, behind Scientology (source)
Members used to forage for food from trash cans (source)
Victor Paul Wierwille has been widely accused of plagiarizing his materials (source)
Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International is 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.
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