In a few weeks, my cult memoir will be available to purchase on this website. My intention is that my story will offer insights about how and why a person commits to cult.
Today, I thought I’d update this post from August 10, 2015. What do I want to add? More insight on the meaning of the word “cult” and reasons why cults are of public interest.
From the original post: The Camouflage of Cults
Cults have not disappeared and nobody consciously joins one. A person “joins” a group that offers something they need or want, but sometimes the group turns out to be a camouflaged cult. Even groups that offer friendship, love, promises of healing, guarantees of self-improvement, or “the accuracy of God’s Word.”
What does “cult” mean?
I like the following contributions to our understanding of the cult phenomenon:
- From the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) website: “An ideological organization held together by charismatic relationships and demanding total commitment.” This definition of cult is taken from “Cults: Theory and Treatment Issues,” a paper presented by Rutgers University professor Benjamin Zablocki. http://www.icsahome.com/articles/cultspsymanipsociety-langone.
- “A cult is a social system (group, relationship, or family) with an imbalance power structure, a transcendent belief system, and structural and social mechanisms of influence and control.” From Take Back Your Life, by Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias.
- “As much as I encourage a nuanced approach to defining the term cult and understanding the cult phenomenon in general, I think we would all agree that there are groups that do harm. … contributing factors include a group’s location, the nature of its leadership, and at what period in its history are we looking at it. In fact, it has been observed that members of groups can be harmed in different ways, including psychologically, physically, and financially.” From the article, “Cults” and Globalization” Reflections and Questions, by Mike Kropveld, Executive Director of Info-Cult! http://www.icsahome.com/articles/cults-and-globalization-kropveld-it-3-2
Cults are of public interest
If you think cult activity was only a phenomenon in the distant past when we wore bell-bottoms, think again. On the ICSA website, we read: “Research studies suggest that about one percent of the U.S. population (three million persons) have been involved in cultic groups at some time in their lives. We estimate that about 50,000 – 100,000 people enter and leave cultic groups each year. [EACH YEAR!] Similar percentages appear to hold true for Western Europe.”
About a year ago I set up Google alerts to send my Inbox messages with links to news stories published online containing the words “fundamentalism” and “cults.” The stories are endless. I get them every week. I have read hundreds from all over the world.
Recent movies have portrayed abusive cult life, like Holy Hell on CNN and The Path on Hulu.
Today on Amazon.com, I found 139,618 results for “cults”
What features of The Way International make it a cult?
In the post, When Fundamentalism Hooked Me, I wrote about biblical inerrancy, a belief that makes The Way “fundamentalist.” In this post, let’s look at what makes The Way a “cult.”
I was a loyal follower and then a leader in The Way from 1970-1987. What made it a cult was not necessarily its unorthodox Bible beliefs (like four were crucified with Jesus, not two) but its behavior, mainly that of its founder, Victor Paul Wierwille, other of its leaders, and its ever-faithful followers.
When I speak to college students about cults, I choose a few prominent features that apply to The Way. Some are described by Stephen Hassan in his book Combatting Cult Mind Control.
1) A cult leader asserts a “guru claim” of special knowledge not found anywhere else.
The Way was founded in 1942 by Victor Paul Wierwille, its “guru,” who claimed special knowledge this way:
“God told me He would teach me The Word like it had not been known since the first century if I would teach it to others.”
This so-called revelation was published in many Way materials. Wierwille offered Bible classes that he said resulted from that revelation. He taught what he called the “accuracy of the Bible.” That revelation hook held me, as well as thousands of other adoring believers, to the cult for a long time.
Wierwille passed away in 1985, but many loyalists continue to believe and promote his teachings and consider him their “father in The Word,” as we called him. They also passed this warped tradition on to their children who are now grown, married, and have their own children.
2) Control over behavior, emotion, and thoughts.
Wierwille’s control methods included intimidation, manipulation of people and Scripture, the power of suggestion, and indoctrination, often called mind control or brainwashing. This is real. Critical thinking skills atrophy over time, just like a muscle.
For some of us in Wierwille’s Way Corps leadership training program during the 1970s, indoctrination was especially intense. Other believers whose involvement was more casual, like attending a once-a-week home-fellowship meeting in their community, may have had a very different Way experience than mine, unless their local leader copied Wierwille’s style.
Although Wierwille was charismatic and could be gentle and considerate when he wanted to be, I witnessed his dark authoritarian side: a combination of bully, liar, and psychological abuser. Some sociologists and psychologists would say he was a sociopath or psychopath.
3) Sexual abuse, usually of women
Some former female Way followers have testified in private and in print that Victor Paul Wierwille was a sexual predator who used them. A book written by one of Wierwille’s “girls” is a memoir called Losing The Way, by Kristen Skedgell. Other women followers of Wierwille were interviewed by Karl Kahler in his book, The Cult That Snapped: A Journey Into The Way International.
4) Fear tactics
Cults employ heavy-duty peer pressure, intimidation, and fear to keep members in tow and threaten dissenters.
Cults usually shun and discredit those who leave. While involved, I heard numerous tirades against people who left. They were called spiritual traitors and we were not to communicate with them. Some were labeled “deceived by the Devil.”
We were told that if we left The Way we would be turning our backs on God. We would lose God’s protection. The Devil would ruin us.
When I left in 1987, I’d already rejected those terrible assertions. After I left, The Way employed the term “mark and avoid” that meant Way believers had to ignore anyone who’d left. Even family members. This caused untold damage.
Who cares about an old dead cult leader?
The Way’s founder, Victor Paul Wierwille, died in 1985. When a former Way Corps sister of mine learned I was writing my personal story about The Way, she wrote, “Who cares about an old dead cult leader?”
I care about Wierwille because he changed my life—mostly not for the good. Many other people care because he is still considered a “man of God” by followers who have never heard another side of his story, a side that might make them think twice about continuing to adore him and promote his dogmas.
Wasn’t there anything good in your cult experience?
Of course. I met many loving, talented, smart people. I traveled. I learned to speak in public and other skills that benefit me to this day. The greatest gift from my Way experience is my daughter.
But for all those years I gave up my critical thinking skills, my freedom of speech, and my personal goals. And other things, too. Read my book for the whole story …
Is The Way still around?
The original Way organization’s headquarters is still located at the Wierwille family farm outside New Knoxville, Ohio, and continues to operate as a non-profit organization. It is currently run by a board of directors. The official number of their followers is unknown but I hear it is decreasing as the years go by.
About a dozen Way offshoot groups now function around the U.S. and other countries. Many were formed in the 1980s by former Way leaders and continue to this day. Some reveal their former association with Wierwille; others do not.
One offshoot of The Way, called S.O.W.E.R.S., is run by Wierwille’s grandson and namesake, Victor Paul Wierwille.
Why every citizen should care about destructive cults
Cult leaders usually inhibit the exercise of free speech and often influence followers to vote a certain way, ignoring the separation of church and state.
My Book
In a few weeks on this website you can get my book, Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International
Resources
- Combatting Cult Mind Control, by Stephen Hassan
- Cults in Our Midst, by Margaret Thaler Singer
- Take Back Your Life- Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships, by Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias
- The very helpful organization: International Cultic Studies Association
Subscribe to my blog posts to be the first to know when to order Undertow. ETA – in about three weeks.
See you next time!
