Welcome to Hidden Cults, the podcast that shines a light into the shadows.

Here we explore the strange, the secretive, and the spiritually seductive.

From fringe religions to doomsday prophets, from communes to corporate empires.

These are the movements that promised meaning and sometimes delivered something far more dangerous.

I'm your host, and in each episode, we uncover the true stories behind the world's most controversial cults, the leaders who led them, the followers who followed, and the echoes they left behind.

If you or someone you care about has been impacted by a cult, you're not alone.

There is help.

Whether you're still inside a cult or trying to process what you've been through, support is out there.

You can find organizations and hotlines in the description of this episode.

You deserve freedom, healing, and a life that's truly your own.

Reach out.

The first step is often the hardest, but it's also the most powerful.

If you'd like to share your story and experiences with a cult, you can email it to me and I will read it on a future Listener Stories episode.

Your anonymity is guaranteed always today's episode, Let's begin in this powerful survivor's story sent in by Terrence.

We hear his first hand account of life inside the Way International, a group that began as a Bible study movement and grew into one of America's most controversial religious organizations.

Born into the group as a third generation member, Terrence recounts life within the fellowship, its strict control over members, and its denial of key Christian doctrines.

He describes the pressure to conform, the emotional toll on families, and the manipulation masked as faith.

After escaping the group not once, but twice, Terrence reflects on the lasting effects of indoctrination, the struggle to rebuild his faith, and the courage it takes to speak out after years of silence.

Hello.

My name is Terrence, and I found your podcast last night.

I am a two x ex member of the Way International and at times I research it and that's how I came across your podcast as you covered this cult.

I listened to the podcast and it is accurate, and I proceeded to listen to your introductory and I definitely want to share my story.

I thank you for covering these groups because it is very important to educate people so that they can stay away and for those who are in it, hopefully they can hear and get out.

Please feel free to share any of the information that I provide you, as I am aware that you stated that you do share such testimonies.

I was born into the Way International.

I was a third generation member.

Before I was born, my grandfather was already remarried and he was married to a woman who introduced him to the cult time.

They were Way coordinators, very deep into it and adamant on bringing the family into it.

My father went as a child and he despised it, but he would tolerate it, which included visiting fellowships just to make my mother happy.

By association to his father and stepmother, he introduced it to my mother and the two of them gave birth to myself and my little brother.

I would say the earliest memory I have of being in the Way would be in second grade.

I remember writing in my journal about my weekend and I wrote that we went to Twig.

I recall receiving my graded journal back from the teacher and she left a notation asking what is Twig.

Of course, I did not understand that this was not normal, because it was all I knew as far as religion goes.

While it is common for children to not want to go to church, whether it be certain days they are not interested or not interested at all.

I really didn't like going because we were pressured to go three times a week.

And while I did live in Columbus, Ohio, which is approximately two hours from the way headquarters, which is located in New knoxvilleh I hated having to go there and I wanted to play outside with my friends, play Sega, Genesis, etc.

Not use the whole day for a one hour service of children's fellowship that I didn't enjoy.

In the year of nineteen ninety nine, my mother left the cult.

My parents were divorced and had been for about five years, and so it was just mom, myself, and my brother.

I was not provided much information as to why we were leaving.

I was about ten or eleven at that time, but I was excited to enjoy three days of not having to go there.

I was aware that it was tiring for my mother as a single mom and having to go three times a week, and she was scared to miss it, as you would be harassed if you did not show up.

It was not a genuine concern, just to make sure everything was okay with you.

It was like, how dare you miss fellowship?

Be here?

No excuses, none unless you get our permission.

They sent Wayers to her job to talk to her about her attendance joining the Way, and it was just too much.

For the most part.

After our departure, we refrain from any type of church or fellowship.

At best.

We may visit a church, but was not interested in finding one.

It was about five or six years later in which I did want to have a relationship with God due to some things I was going through and needed a change in my life.

We ended up finding a church home several months later.

The pastor was very helpful.

He was aware that there was a generational curse of depression in my family, which I still deal with today.

Some of it is due to growing up in the cult, but there are also issues from my upbringing that didn't get addressed and so only just as of recently am I taking care of it.

On a side note, please know there was a time The Way shunned doctors in medicine due to their beliefs.

Prayer and faith alone were to handle it.

So yes, I was left abandoned Regarding health concerns.

I spoke with the pastor regarding my past in the Way as a child.

He shared scripture with me to show me that Jesus is God, which the Way adamantly denies the deity of Jesus Christ.

And he spoke of the importance of baptism as the Way.

The Way also disregards baptism by water, referring to it as only an Old Testament practice, when clearly baptism still occurred post Pentecost.

He warned us that the Way is a cult.

I accepted Jesus is God, and I was baptized.

I began seeing life more spiritually.

I looked forward to attending church on Sundays, etc.

However, things made a turn for the worst.

On a first Sunday in which we were having communion, my father visited to partake, and upon preparing for communion, the pastor was stating that someone's heart is not right, and that he has to advise that if you're not taking communion with the right heart, please do not partake in it.

Of course, I wondered if it were me that he was referring to.

I thought my heart was right.

I know I meant well, and I wanted to partake, and I decided to do so while my father was partaking in it and the pastor to do so.

As it turns out that he was referring to him, and he was denied communion as the pastor stated that God would hold himself accountable for not doing so with the right heart, and he didn't want that to happen to him.

Only later in my life did I learn that there are scriptures referring to not taking communion in vain.

This denial of communion started a rift in the family.

My great grandmother, who was nearly ninety years of age at the time, was very upset.

Originally, she was happy for us, as we had found a seemingly good church, and as I would later learn, she was anti Way, as most old folks were.

They knew just alone that if you deny the Trinity, you are no good.

So she was happy her great grandchildren were out of the way, but she stated that having been in the church for over eighty years, she had never seen this, that someone who wanted to take communion would be denied.

This event led back to my return to the way.

The grandma whom I my grandfather had married years before, I was born, offered to talk about what happened and wanted to answer any biblical questions we may have.

My brother and myself agreed to a meeting, and she brought way members and a pastor to visit us.

I was eighteen years old at this time, and I was blind to the fact that this was a recruiting tactic.

Yes, it's obvious in hindsight, but I was younger and dumber.

This time of confusion, grief, ignorance, and frustration was a time for them to prey upon us.

They discussed that yes, there were issues with the organization, that they are now reformed, that you do not have to attend all three times a week, and that you don't even have to dress up if you don't want to.

They emphasized that this is the Grace administration.

In reality, they had only toned it down because they lost thousands of followers and needed to gain their reputation back.

They do so by hiding their history and unorthodox beliefs the best that they can, while of course keeping the love bombing intact for recruitment purposes.

I knew that they did not believe Jesus as God, and at this time I was a bit in doubt, and so I asked as if I were ignorant about their belief, and asked for their take.

I did feel uncomfortable asking around Grandma because they despised Jesus being God.

The reverend went to John one and read the verse that mentions no man hath seen God at any time, and so his point was obviously that people have seen Jesus, touched him, etc.

And so if he were God, this could not hold true that no man hath seen God.

In my ignorance, that was enough proof for me.

However, this is not the proper interpretation.

No man has seen God the Father.

It's also true that no man has seen the Godhead as a whole.

In this sinful flesh, we can't see God and live.

However, the Sun at times manifests himself ultimately as Jesus, whom man could see as he had a physical human body.

My brother and I agreed to attend fellowship.

We even had an older cousin who previously was not affiliated with religion, who began going with us.

I did notice the changes that they were referring to.

It was not as strict as it once was.

They were big on us taking the class.

My grandfather said that it was his dream for all of his grandkids to take the class.

Well three of five of them did.

I'm thankful the other two did not, as well as anyone else as it's full of heresy.

Manipulation costs money regardless of the amount, it should not be charged to learn the Word, and it just made the Way richer while indoctrinating the student with intense brainwashing consisting of over thirty hours in a couple weeks time to listen to a taped recording of the Word being taught.

You cannot take notes, ask questions, use outside Way material, only their syllabus, etc.

The Way is heavily indoctrinated in the law of believing lie aka Word of Faith, Prosperity Gospel.

The founder of the Way taught that all believing equals in receiving.

Thus, whatever you believe, whatever you confess, will happen.

It is a very strong delusion to be indoctrinated in, and so when bad things happen, this means that something went wrong with your faith or you're not abundantly sharing enough.

Abundant sharing was made up by the founder so he could get more money, not only were the classes costly, but he demanded the ten percent.

You owe that to the Way.

But to receive blessings and avoid curses, you must give above the ten percent.

And the more you give, the more blessings you receive.

If things go bad, you're not giving enough.

And because your believing creates reality, also something is wrong with your faith, and so you must correct your believing and give more money.

In essence, if you get sick or laid off from work, it is your fault.

Weir Will, the founder of the Way, blamed the death of a child on the mother because of her fear of losing a child.

He considered cancer, meaning you are possessed with demons.

Yet he died of cancer.

Remember, per his belief, this would mean he was possessed and that he had negative belief healing obtained cancer.

Even if so, how about you use your positive believing and gifts of healing.

You have to cure yourself.

Granted, his cause of death was hidden from members for these reasons.

When you're blinded, questions aren't asked.

It's meant to be listen, believe, and obey.

I remember having some trouble getting a job after high school, and it was during the recession, and my Grandpa had told me that I wasn't believing enough, not trying hard enough, and I just thought that was so unfair when in reality things happen on God's time.

I'm not saying I couldn't go any harder, but due to the all believing equals and receiving the fact I hadn't been hired yet only meant I lacked faith.

If I believed for a job today, then God has to grant it.

Expect a phone call by three pm, believe it, close your eyes and picture it, make it happen, and sew a financial seed to the way.

My brother, my cousin, and I proceeded to take the foundational class.

We enjoyed it and we believe that we were learning the accuracy of God's word.

We spoke to my mother telling her that yes, indeed, it is different, and we tried to get her to come back.

Initially she was reluctant to do so, but eventually she gave it a try.

To this day, to say the least, it pains my heart that she is a faithful member.

Knowing what I know now and no scripture I provide no history of the way their current tactics, the brainwashing, the manipulation, the heresies, their money making schemes such as tithing, abundant sharing, paying hundreds of dollars for classes, et cetera, has currently been enough to snap her out of it.

For my own health sake.

At this current time, we do not speak, as I had to accept that she's actually not a deceived victim, but literally choosing wilful blindness, literally stating that if it all is true, the heresies, the sexual misconduct, et cetera, oh well, I am happy here and too bad about those alleged victims, but I'm glad it didn't happen to me.

I now know that deep down she already knew of these issues, but she's been invested so long.

Really her only friends, they provide the friendship and fund she lacks, and they are dependent on such things to retain a member.

The things I have warned her of for years, she is to stay away from such people.

I am literally considered an agent of Satan attempting to lead people away from the way.

I do not condemn myself about attempting to recruit her, and ultimately it was the way with their deceitful tactics reaching out to us at a vulnerable time.

Vulnerable people, the ignorant and the youth, I would say, are the most susceptible prey to be recruited to occult.

It's usually easier to win the youth for obvious reasons and ignorance in regard to what the Bible teaches, as well as to who what you're dealing with can and will be used against you.

I didn't know the word at this time, and so I easily fell for Jesus is not God heresy arianism.

I did not know the history of the way.

And while people and or organizations can change, it is not the case with this organization.

Nor did it change into a corrupted organization at some point and time, as the founder was a false prophet and his ministry was built upon deceit corruption to create a money making company that led him into power, sex, and a godlike figure, the chosen man of God to be idolized.

This is not special.

This is in line with various cults.

My mother knew of more issues regarding the ways past than I did myself.

Personally, I was too young to know about the sexual misconduct or anything about cults.

Itself.

I was ignorant of the Bible and its many warnings of false teachers, how prevalent they are, and how they are the majority, not only in regard to false teachers, but also that it is many that will be deceived by them.

It's really the dime a dozen, which makes sense, as the path through righteousness is straight and narrow that few find, while the path to destruction is broad and wide that many find.

As Jesus plainly stated, my cousin had a child, and with bringing the newborn into fellowships, the Way reached four generations of my family.

Not too much longer, however, my brother and my cousin left for a splinter cell group.

While it is true the way was no longer as openly authoritarian and strict as it had been, the two of them found a splinter cell that emphasizes grace more to their liking.

So if I want to get high and live a secular life of wilfulful, unrepentant sin, it's all good due to grace.

Ironically, Weerwill did teach this.

He was known to quote, once you saved, you're going to heaven, and all hell can't stop you.

Essentially, it's a false version of once saved, always saved.

He did not preach repent and believed to be saved, only just confess and believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.

False preachers love this heresy, known as Antinomianism, as it attracts more followers.

It's easier to hear I can have God and nothing about me be changed than a new life comes about.

This is often why don't judge overrides warnings and corrections preaching against sin and the call to be holy.

Certainly we are not perfect, not even close.

We are given grace and imputed the righteousness of God when we receive Jesus, and our works cannot save us.

Good works come from a result of being saved, not towards being good enough.

So it's not a rule list consisting of I need to do this and stop that to remain saved, but to preach things such as as long as you once confess Jesus is raised from the dead, you can became an atheist, you can follow the Satan himself.

It doesn't matter you are eternally saved.

Is heretical to say the least?

Deep down, I always had an issue with this.

It didn't make sense, but I was corrected with it being a matter of God's love and grace being bigger than we can comprehend.

Some would just say, I want to boast in the flesh, adding works to salvation, but it's radical grace.

Willingly live like hell and go to heaven, not follow the way Jesus, yet still be led by him.

I don't believe that's the grace He's giving us to live for the enemy, but saved due to one time saying he was risen from the dead.

I ended up dating someone outside of the way.

She was a Christian believer, but not a committed follower.

I shared with her how Jesus is not God, which I cringe to even quote.

This my ignorance, indulging in blasphemy.

She wasn't certain if that were true or not, but was taught of the Trinity, and so that's what she accepted, which is common if you grow up on something, particularly if your parents believe it and what they teach you, and they say this is what it is, then that's just how it is until unless you find your own way, form your own beliefs as you grow up.

Her uncle was and currently is still the pastor of a church, and we agreed to a meeting with him to discuss the deity of Jesus Christ.

Even at this point, I was still open to Jesus being God.

If that's what the Bible is saying, fine, I will accept that, but I did not believe that's what was being taught.

After the meeting, I was not convinced.

However, she was, and I pressed her on hearing what the Way had to say, not just get one take.

I eventually got her to attend a fellowship and I thought it went great.

Upon asking her what she thought and if she's ready to come back, she went off on a rant, are you crazy?

These people are nuts?

They're way too nice, and the speaking in tongues is the weirdest stuff ever.

I told her that the overly nice is the love of God being shown, and I accepted that the speaking tongues is just something she didn't understand.

She, however, was correct.

I later learned of love bombing and the Way does it to an extreme.

While I am not stating that no one is genuine, it is definitely a lot of bombing practice, as a lot of them are in zombie mode and the live and happiness they display is like a robot barney a bunch of teletubbies.

It really is over the top.

And as far as for the tongues.

Weirwill had his own heretical teaching regarding gifts.

He did a major reshaping on what was taught by Apostle Paul regarding gifts of the spirit.

While it is clearly written that certain believers will receive certain gifts, he made the word say all believers receive all nine manifestations of the Spirit.

Yes, lowercase S, as his Holy Spirit is lowercase when referring to the force, gift of God, capital H and S when referring to the Father, who only he himself is God and is holy and a spirit.

However, the Bible makes no distinction between when Holy Ghost refers to the Father or the Force of God.

Holy Ghost is always reference to the third member of the Godhead.

But these are the tactics you have to pull off if you're going to deny scripture.

I wanted my girlfriend to take the class, so I still pressed her on it.

I was advised by my grandfather to not tell her what they would teach, or that I would run her away.

He told me that he had finally almost gotten his mother to take the class, but he said too much and scared her away.

I eventually got her to agree to take the class.

All is well until I mentioned that the class is videotaped and we will be listening to the word for several days, for several hours, for a couple of weeks.

She again went on a rant.

A videotape that is brainwashing.

You already have to pay two hundred dollars for it.

I am not taking it.

I told my grandfather that she wasn't taking it.

I was just so excited, and he said, I warned you.

In hindsight, I understand why they do not want you saying anything about the class, because, yes, it is a brainwashing tactic, and if anyone actually knows the word, they are going to realize it is a cult.

The speaking in tongues is revealed after the thirty plus hours of brainwashing.

You are not informed that you will now be taught how to speak in tongues and will do it.

I've learned how everything is carefully organized.

The tongues is a test to see if the brainwash has been effective.

Again, when you don't know the word, this is going to hurt you.

Yes, speaking in tongues can be and is done today, but not everyone has the gift, and you cannot teach anyone how to speak in tongues in prophecy.

Yet we or will essentially taught you to mumble up gibberish, just make up sounds without thinking of what you're saying.

Now, how you're speaking in tongues, and when you prophecy interpret what you just mumbled.

You just say something God would say, which is disguised as God speaking through you.

Yet it's really just you speaking as God.

And so after you graduate the class, you can now be called upon to speak in tongues, followed by interpret and give a word of prophecy.

This is done at every meeting.

It begins with regular prayer followed by manifestations to hear from our heavenly Father.

They call up on you and you proceed to speak in tongues.

Sadly, on my behalf, it was more myself than her.

I decided we were unequally yoked and we ended the relationship.

It was very hard for me to do so.

I was never the one ending the relationships the very few I had been in, and this was the first girl that really did love me.

While I did cry and that hurt tremendously, I also did look at it as I stood up for God.

While there was excitement learning the word, I was still depressed and I did have a point of contact with my ex's family, and they advised that maybe it wasn't meant for us to be together, but rather that God wanted us to get to know him.

As she originally was not sure of Jesus being God, and I still denied it.

They asked if we could have a discussion and I agreed to it.

They visited and I had my Grandma on the phone for backup.

The family brought a person that was familiar with the way, and he brought things to my attention that I didn't know or did not question.

Where do you get four people were crucified with Christ?

My Bible says two.

You know, we're well plagiarized his material, etc.

None of that mattered, though, and my Grandma told him that the Word is not up for debate.

I left with the same views I came into the meeting with.

However, little did I know that seed was planted.

Upon reading the Word for myself, I began seeing things that seemingly didn't line up with what I was being taught.

In John two, I came across Jesus stating that he himself would raise himself from the dead.

I'm thinking God raised Jesus from the dead.

How come he didn't say God will do so or my father.

I read more scripture and became confused.

I spoke to my coordinator about it, and he let me borrow were Will's Jesus Christ is not God book.

He told me the good thing is that wear Will did not go into the book with the conclusion, but rather studied and came up with the truth.

I read the book, but it did not help.

There are tons of verses that he does not touch on and really just makes excuses to explain the deity of Christ away.

He was big on not private interpretating, yet that's all he did to fit his narrative, and indeed, most of his heresies were stolen.

He stole from a lot of denominations, some not even claiming to be Christians, such as New Age, and he made his own religion out of it.

I wondered if I would know if Jesus is God or not.

I started going outside the Bible looking on the internet purchasing books, I bought a bo look off Amazon entitled Jesus Christ the Son of God or God the Son.

It goes over scriptures and after each chapter asks questions which are intended to lead you to say, no, Jesus is not God.

I later learned that the author is a Jehovah's witness.

The Way has similar views to them, not only in the deity of Christ, but also with a doctrine of soul sleep.

Quite possible that weer Will adopted their heresies, as again he did not have anything new, contrary to his prophetic claim that says God audibly spoke to him and told him that he is going to give him the word to preach that has been lost since the first century.

So only wear Will had the accuracy of the Word, which is the true meaning of why the cult is called The Way.

Again a clever disguise, as they are not going to admit they meant it that way, yet openly believe that only they have the true accuracy of the Word.

Through reading the Word and prayer, it was eventually revealed to me that Jesus is God.

I had to really seek him, which is the point.

Yet one day in prayer, pleading to know if Jesus is God.

I had what I describe as a mini vision of Jesus, and he simply said, I Am Did I really just hear and see?

That could have been the devil in disguise, a false revelation.

Well, only upon the reading of more scripture and getting an understanding of how Jesus is God would confirm the mini vision.

For me, it was a huge step to learn that it's not being said that Jesus is the Father again, as I had stated earlier, this is what the Bible talked.

Then fine, God is bigger than what I can comprehend.

It wasn't about if I could receive it or not.

But I truly believe that there was a distinction in the persons of the Father and the Son, not that Jesus was praying to himself.

What I found to be cool is upon studying more I learned about the I Am that Jesus is the great I Am, which is the name that God revealed to Moses.

I put two and two together that it was not just Jesus saying to me, yes, I am God, but he was using the I Am name.

Again.

I was not familiar with the I am name, which would make sense that I wasn't as I was taught to deny the deity of Jesus Christ, and the way isn't going to teach anything that may even hint that he is God.

Still, I was so heavily indoctrinated.

There was something in the back of my mind to make sure this is correct.

While I now knew that, yes, the Bible does teach Jesus as God, I was still looking at is it interpreted correctly?

Is we're will aright?

But we're will was a liar.

It's one thing to deny Jesus as God, but to deny that's what scripture teaches.

When you do nothing but alter the verses is a different story.

The denial I'm referring to is not a babe in Christ who is genuinely ignorant and doesn't understand what it means that Jesus is the son of God.

But a so called prophet who knows the scriptures and twists them and teaches the world these lies and has been corrected by the Church is a different story.

He made the Bible teach Jesus is not God.

There's a verse that states that all things were created by Him and for him.

The Way will have you cross out by him.

It's very deceitful because they do use the King James version or NIV no Way Bible.

A lot of cults have their own Bible and essentially WEE Will did, but Way members don't use that Bible and many unaware of it.

I decided I was leaving.

I remember a WAY member calling me and she stated that I'm going to enjoy the next class.

I told her I don't follow the Way any longer and explained that I now believe Jesus is God.

She offered to interpret the verses that were causing me to stumble.

I emailed them to her and she had an excuse for every verse.

I affirmed I do not agree, and she told me to go ahead and continue in your idolatry.

The grandma didn't know I was leaving, and on my way to work one day, she called and asked for me to speak in tongues for someone.

I told her I do not believe in that anymore and shared that Jesus was God, much to her frustration.

Sometime in the future, I took a ride with her and she mentioned Jesus not being God.

I told her, I still believe it.

You still believe that, Terrence.

He's not God.

He's the son of God, your big brother.

He's a man.

You know what, If he's God, then you create a frog right now.

Her point was that Jesus, while yes, is the son of God, their own interpretation of the title, was just a perfect man and in just being a man, if he could create, then I too could as well.

I explained to her.

I am not the Alpha and the Omega.

I am not the I am the Lord, the Son of God.

I am not eternal, not the creator, and so no, I cannot create a frog.

I am embarked on my own journey.

I needed to see what I believe.

I had to start all over for my own self, including with the Bible.

I thought it would be easy to find a church, not understanding that we are in a great time of deception, the apostate times that God is referring to.

I thought pretty much that I just find a Trinitarian church, and that would be only to learn how many doctrines and heresies are out there.

Literally every doctrine is up for debate, including if Jesus has already returned.

I had ended up attending a church that teaches what I learned is called preterism.

I also briefly attended an SDA church.

I had to learn such things are we required to keep the Sabbath, etc.

The way was no longer credible for the most part.

In these years, I have just studied the word for myself, and I know it was difficult for me to get out, even when I was open minded to correction, opposed to whatever you say.

I'm going to walk away knowing I'm right.

But I did believe it would be easy to get my family out.

I thought it would just be a matter of looking at these scriptures.

I learned that they won't teach.

However, they were stuck in their ways.

I think the teaching of the tongues and the denial of water baptism is the most annoying topics in dealing with them, because you have to a heavily edited scripture to make it say all can speak in tongues and flat out makeup that you can teach it and it pertains to baptism.

They'll just ignore the apostles baptizing new converts.

We're will used, you will be baptized with the Holy Ghost to put an end to baptism via water.

Yet there are two different baptisms.

John's baptism ended, but the new baptism via water is the baptism of Jesus after one accepts the gospel.

This is why Jesus said baptize them in the name of the Father Son the Holy Ghost.

Weir Will did not adhere to it, and so the commandment is ignored.

His cult was never about leading people to Jesus.

It was about serving him.

All money goes to the Way so that he could fly in private jets, publish more Way material.

They don't feed the poor, no community service, etc.

They prefer a low profile to avoid exposure.

While they are an international cult that's been around for decades, they're commonly unheard of as they'd prefer, and with the Internet can be hard for them to hide who they really are.

But they're very subtle.

Even their statement of faith on their site is carefully worded to make one think that they believe in the Father Son and Holy Ghost.

The Way has traumatized me, and to still have family in it hurts.

I've taken a leave of absence from work.

I'm written off as crazy.

I am now taking therapy.

I proceeded to learn of the history that they hide, such as the sexual misconduct.

My mother says she left in nineteen ninety nine because our fellowship leader was too strict.

However, it is very possible this is not the whole story.

As a dedicated member, she cannot incriminate them.

In nineteen ninety nine it began coming out that there were allegations taking place and to not believe them all of the sex rings taking place.

It's possible mother knew this and needed to get out, opposed to just one bad fellowship coordinator.

In two thousand, the president of the Way was fired as he was found guilty of the sexual misconduct.

His name is l.

Crage Martindale and he was Wherwill's hand pick successor.

He, however, was unable to be as subtle as wear Will and was openly authoritarian.

Some wolves aren't good with disguising in sheep's clothing.

Thousands left in the eighties and splinter cells were formed to try to get back to Weirwill's word.

We were told that the Way changed, but were never told of these issues.

Over the years, I have used social media to warn people of deception and deceivers the way, especially the class inadvertently taught me to study.

Don't just believe everything you see and hear, make sure if you can, you know it's true for yourself.

I never intended to follow man, never intended to just believe all that was preached.

But it was like they really knew what they were talking about and made a lot of sense.

And I now realized that tests were put into place to see who's really indoctrinated, such as teaching speaking in tongues or the four men crucified next to Christ instead of two.

I consider myself an orthodox Christian Christian in the sense of believer and follower of Jess follower of Jesus, not America's Christianity, the Catholic churches, but rather what I believe the Bible teaches, the Apostles, Creed, etc.

I thank God for getting me out of that place twice.

It's mind blowing that I was in it twice, one with no choice as a child, but the second as a naive young adult teenager.

Eventually, one day, Lord willing, I will again have some relationship with my mother, as she is my mom, the grandma.

I am good on.

She lives to recruit people to the way and still has tried to bring me back.

Sometimes they cause me anxiety, anger and sadness, sometime to the point of heavy breathing and shaking, as they are a trigger for me having been in it, learning what I was in and what has happened to other people.

Thousands of lives and relationships ruined.

Some people never recover, they give up on God, and some have even committed suicide.

My heart goes out to them.

I'm the crazy one, but the true craziness is to believe their nonsense.

I am very empathy athetic.

I get it.

Satan comes as an angel of light, as will his ministers of unrighteousness be transformed, appearing as servants of Christ.

It is very subtle.

It's one of the top things I'm most thankful for that God delivered me from.

It's not easy to get out, even when people want to do so.

It's tough, and even after getting out, you have to deal with trauma and consequences for betrayal that no one really understands unless you have been through it.

That's why on the outside, when you hear or experience their strange doctrines, their practices and their history, and you are telling a follower about it and they can't receive it.

It's testament to how deeply programmed you can get, and those classes they have you pay for and take are indeed a great way to brainwash people.

It's all strategic.

Over thirty hours of listening to rambling, no note taking, non asking questions, etc.

Now I'm left with many questions, but I'm thankful that I know now to ask them and to study for myself to see if it be true.

Thank you Terrence so much for taking the time to write and for sharing your story with such honesty.

I can only imagine how difficult parts of that journey have been, and I truly appreciate you trusting me in the podcast with something so personal.

Your experiences shed light on what life inside the Way International was really like and how deep the impact can be even years later.

Stories like yours are incredibly important for others to hear, not only for those still inside, but also for people who might not understand how controlling groups operate.

Hearing from someone who lived it brings clarity and compassion that research alone can't provide.

Thank you for your courage and for reaching out I wish you continued healing and peace as you move forward.