Charlene Lamy Edge Speaks about The Way International

The following was originally published on my blog at https://charleneedge.com. May 21, 2021 Greetings, especially to those of you interested in cults and their downsides. Today, I'm happy to republish the following E-Newsletter, "Deception, Dependency, and Dread in the Conversion Process" with permission of the author, Michael D. Langone, who holds a PhD in counseling psychology and is executive director of International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA), which provides information, education, and help to those adversely affected by or interested in cultic and other “high-control” groups and relationships. Besides that, I happen to know him personally for the kind, intelligent, and dedicated counselor he is and have worked with him at ICSA conferences. In my opinion, Langone's article well describes aspects of cult ensnarement that many of us, after exiting the cave of a high-control group, look back and recognize from the tunnel of darkness in which we'd been tr...

Greetings, readers! I hope you're all doing well. It's November already and one thing I celebrate in November is a birthday. Not my birthday but my first book's. Undertow is nine years old this month. I think many of you have read it, so thank you very much. If you haven't, I invite you to do that! It reads like a mystery and has a happy ending. Today I'm sending a little insider info to you on the book's progress in the world. This is relevant because I created this blog 10 years ago specifically to let subscribers (to my personal blog) like you know I was working on what became Undertow. Over the years, I also wrote a lot of blog posts about cults and fundamentalism which many folks tell me are helpful. In November 2016, we launched the book and sold it from my website for one month before it was available online at Amazon , Barnes & Noble , etc. It was a VERY exciting time. Actually, it still is an exciting time for the book. Read on... Undertow fun fact...

This post was first published on 9/21/2025 on my personal blog at https://charleneedge.com. Greetings, readers! I hope this finds you doing well. I’m okay, but these days I’m flashing back to many alarming times I experienced in a cult. This time of year, I tend to reflect on the last stages of writing and publishing my cult memoir,   Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International ,   which came out in November 2016. Today, I’m sharing the first few statements from the Preface in  Undertow  (at the end of this post, after some initial thoughts). These statements put a chill in my heart, striking me to the core even after all these years since the damaging events happened that I describe in my book. In my memoir, you meet and hear from an authoritarian,  Victor Paul Wierwille (1916-1985), founder of The Way International™ (1916-1985). The Way is the fundamentalist Bible cult I was in for 17 years (1970-1987), and it’s  ...

The following was first published on my website's blog on  8/15/2025. Greetings. Today I must share this IMPORTANT NEWS:  If you come across a Spanish translation of any part of my memoir, Undertow , or of my other book, From the Porch to the Page , or any of my blog posts, I want you to know I have NOT authorized it. You may know that I am not only the author but I am also the publisher of both of my books. I own New Wings Press, LLC which published them. As the publisher, I've not given permission for anyone to generate any translations of my work into Spanish, or into any other language. And I do not plan to do so. Translating, which involves reproducing, an author's published work without permission from the publisher is a big NO-NO. As a reminder, here's the rule which appears in my books: “No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information stor...

I say yes. First, let's consider this definition from  Christian nationalism | Definition, History, United States, & Facts | Britannica : "Christian nationalism ,  ideology  that seeks to create or maintain a legal fusion of Christian  religion  with a nation’s character. Advocates of Christian  nationalism  consider their view of  Christianity  to be an  integral  part of their  country’s  identity and want the government to promote—or even enforce—the religion’s position within it."      I was a leader and biblical researcher in The Way International for 17 years before I escaped in 1987. In my experience with The Way, it was clear Victor Paul Wierwille, its founder, believed the U.S.A. was created to be a Christian nation and Wierwille's bible-based-ministry's goal was to bring this country back to God's Word (which was, in actuality, Wierwille's mostly-stolen bible teachings and personal opinion...