Greetings, subscribers. A book about The Way International was published in 1972, titled, The Way: Living in Love. The book was written by an enthusiastic Way believer, Elena Scott Whiteside, who lived at Way Headquarters for six months while writing her book. During that time, she interviewed many of us who lived at the headquarters then (1972), including The Way’s president, Victor Paul Wierwille (1916 – 1985).
Last year, 2025, The Way republished the book. They call it a reprint.
The most recent President of The Way, Vernon W. Edwards, writes in a Forword for the reprint, “The light editing done in this reprint was more to correct historical facts and improve readability for today’s audience.”
Really? After comparing this reprint with the original 1972 book that I own, I’d say “light editing” is a gross misrepresentation of what they did in one major instance.
A major omission in the reprint
First, what you STILL see in this republished version is me, Charlene, a fanatic nineteen-year-old enthralled with Wierwille and what he called “The Word.” I’d been recruited to The Way at East Carolina University and by the time I’m in the book, I was a member of The Way Corps at Way headquarters in New Knoxville, OH, where the story in Whiteside’s book takes place.
What you DON’T see in this so-called “reprint” is the major scene in the 1972 book showing the dark side of Wierwille, a mean-spirited chauvinist Wierwille saying, “Women never tell the truth.”
That statement, and its equally ugly, yet revealing context, has been omitted in the 2025 reprint.
[Note added: in the original book, see pages 199, 200. In the reprint, see pages 193, 194. Photos of the two versions are in the gallery below. They are also in the Blogspot account listed below.]
By deliberately deleting Wierwille’s incriminating doozie of a lie and its surrounding context that further shows his denigrating attitude towards women, The Way’s current president and his editors changed the book. That is not “light editing.”
I’ve written and published two posts about this on my FREE Blogspot account.
- Photos of TWLIL pages appear in What Did Victor Paul Wierwille Say About Women?
- The Way CHANGES the 1972 story in Whiteside’s book, The Way: Living in Love
In my view, the current Way organization is attempting to whitewash its leader’s damning history. Wierwille was not the wonderful man of God that many people think he was.
In case you missed it, another recent post is: Was Victor Paul Wierwille, Founder of The Way International, a Sexual Predator?
Thanks for reading!
Your writer on the wing,
Charlene
Randy George
Found this very interesting Charlene. Instead of “light editing” they should have said “some light whitewashing”. I pulled out my copy and leafed through it and noticed that I had penciled in some notes throughout the book. I didn’t realize that I have a copy signed by Elena Whiteside! She wrote “To Randy, God bless you richly to live in love forever In Christ, Elena W.O.W.”
Charlene L. Edge
My copy is signed by her, too.
I wonder if TWI asked her permission to change what she wrote!
Stephen Spencer, Ed.D.
Good point. I may be wrong, but probably not.
Stephen Spencer, Ed.D.
Wow, Charlene. You were in this book? Cool. Never knew that. And of course, EVERYONE was enthralled with Wierwille then. Later, it would be me. I have a copy of the original. I read it a long time ago when I was with The Way, but I barely knew you then. I recognized you in pictures, so we had to have crossed paths, especially in my Apprentice year in the Corps, unless you had left by then. I never remembered reading that phrase about women in the book, so it must have gone right by me, like it was some kind of joke.
Perhaps it wasn’t. Thinking back, it’s not so funny after all.
Charlene L. Edge
The section with the damning quotes by VPW about women in the original book begins on page 199.
In the reprint, the section where you can see they deleted that material is on page 193.
Our paths probably crossed back then at ROA, I’d say.
I was in the Corps Aug. 1971 till graduation in Aug. 1973.
Stephen Spencer, Ed.D.
I was in the Corps in the early 1990s, and by then dealing with the 17th to 19th Corps. I left after my Apprentice year due to the extreme legalism, the created pompous indifference by Way Corps to those non-Corps that never existed in the early Corps. (Or at least Corps 1 through 9, which were very helpful and led extremely well.) I went to every ROA from 1980 to 1993 before leaving for good. Craig was teaching all of us to mark and avoid those that had left, I think using a biblical phrase or verse out of spite for those that rejected his leadership. We were so surrounded by hate and suspicion that I could no longer put up with it. He literally marked and avoided the first 10 classes of Corps grads because most had left. That sickened me because I had fond memories of attending their fellowships. The Greats had left.
You were one of them.
Steve