Welcome to the first of two posts about “biblical research” done by Victor Paul Wierwille and how he derived it from other people without citing them as his sources. This is called plagiarism. This is serious.
In my memoir, Undertow, readers find out how I discovered, while working in The Way’s research department, disturbing evidence on this topic.
Why does Victor Paul Wierwille & “Copying” matter?
Many current and former Way followers either deny, or are unaware of, how Wierwille used others’ publications and made them sound as if they were his own. He not only used them, he sold them and made a lot of money. He convinced us they were “the accuracy of The Word.” That, in my opinion, is reason for outrage. I remember times when Wierwille, when confronted with this issue by outsiders, would say his work was original in that he put together what he learned from others and made the material “accurate.” Really? I finally woke up and called a spade a spade. Have you?
What is plagiarism?
Merriam-Webster tells us the meaning of two forms of this word:
: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own : use (another’s production) without crediting the source
: to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
Eyewitness to Wierwille’s plagiarized source materials
This post and the next one give us a chance to hear from an eyewitness of Wierwille’s “copying.” He is a former high-level Way leader, Ralph Dubofsky.
Introducing Ralph Dubofsky
Ralph Dubofsky and I were both involved with The Way during the 1970’s and 1980’s. He became a top leader in the organization. If you’ve read Undertow, you may remember Ralph appears near the end of the story. After confronting leaders at Way headquarters about corruption, Ralph was held under something like house arrest and then escorted off the property, leaving the ministry he’d devoted himself to for fifteen years. That was in December 1986. I escaped a year later.
By the way, I owe Ralph a big thank you for fact-checking some of the material I used in Undertow. I invited him here to answer three questions. This post covers the first one. The other two questions and Ralph’s answers are in Part 2 of 2 that subscribers will receive tomorrow.
Let’s get started. NOTE: I’ve inserted some explanatory comments in brackets.
Question #1
Would you please tell us a little about where and when you got into The Way, what kind of commitment you made to the group, and your level of leadership in the organization?
Ralph’s backstory
I was a nineteen-year-old hippie musician living in Queens, NY. I had been quite a “wild child” of the 60’s—involved with the SDS and White Panther Party—while at the same time milking every moment of the mid-60’s music scene in Greenwich Village and in other spots around NYC and Long Island. By that time, I had been thrown out of four colleges, arrested at three of them for demonstrations, played in three “money bands” [bands with a record out who made good money touring] and crawled back home to Mom and Pop to regroup. Met some other struggling musicians in Floral Park—three of them—where my folks lived. We were all in different bands, which we left after joining The Way.
Those guys eventually called themselves Pressed Down, Shaken Together and Running Over (PDSTRO). I had lived with two of them for most of 1970 at a hippie commune in Brooklyn. This was prior to my getting involved with The Way. The commune split up in November 1970. Those guys from the commune got involved with The Way in Rye, New York, and Long Island. They challenged me to take the Power for Abundant Living class [Victor Paul Wierwille’s 36-hour Bible class, the basic outreach tool for The Way International] and I did, in January 1971.
I was still banging around the music biz and was in a touring band that was fairly well known on the East Coast, so PDSTRO challenged me to “leave the flesh behind” and “go spiritual,” which meant “get out of the music business and get into God’s music.” I went to Florida to a great gig, and, following an interesting turn of events at The Wreck Bar in Daytona Beach, flew back to NY from Daytona Beach where I’d been playing with my band, grabbed a ride in someone’s two-year-old GTO, and rode out to New Knoxville, Ohio, to attend the first Rock of Ages festival at Way headquarters where Wierwille ran the show. That was August 1971. After that, I came back to Queens and “went spiritual” full tilt! There were miracles, signs, and wonders, and NO Wierwille around. So, we hippie Jesus freaks had the joy of experiencing what we thought was a genuine spiritual revival!
A leader in The Way
I quickly became a full-time staff worker at The Way of Long Island in 1972 and the first Branch Leader in Queens & Brooklyn, NYC. [Branch leaders oversaw several Way home-fellowships, called Twigs, in an area]. That’s when Wierwille did his bi-coastal firings of Way leaders in March of 1972, taking over The Way East and The Way West, separately incorporated parts of The Way. After that, I quit working full-time for The Way but kept running Power for Abundant Living (PFAL) classes. It became obvious that all the positions of Way leadership were going to eventually be open to Way Corps graduates only. [The Way Corps was Wierwille’s intensive leadership training program]. The handwriting was on the wall. So, I got married in July 1973, and my wife and I entered the fourth Way Corps at the end of that month.
That fall, Wierwille organized a new Way Productions music group called Joyful Noise, and I was in it. However, I did not want to take an interim-year Way Corps assignment at Way Headquarters (HQ) working in Way Productions—hated it there at HQ. So, in August 1974, I wound up being assigned by Wierwille to Charlotte, North Carolina, as Western Territory Coordinator—had a very successful year in Way terms—then returned to Way HQ for the last year of Way Corps training.
Upon graduation in August 1976, we went to Detroit, Michigan, as state coordinators for the Word Over the World Ambassador program [volunteer “missionaries”]. In August 1977, we were assigned as Limb Coordinators [state leaders], and in October that year, I was made the Midwest Region coordinator. Three years later, in May 1980, Wierwille made me Trunk Leader, which meant all the U.S. Limb Coordinators reported to me. In 1986, I was asked to oversee The Way Corps at HQ. I left The Way organization on December 14, 1986.
—END of Part 1 of 2—
For Part 2 of 2, click here.
Note to subscribers of Charlene’s blogs: Look for Part 2 of 2 in your email Inbox tomorrow.
Thanks for reading!
Your writer on the wing,
Charlene
Grace Claire
Great posts!! Thanks for posting these posts!!