Charlene Lamy Edge Speaks about The Way International

  Greetings, readers! We're still celebrating ten years of Undertow's story in the world. Today, I send a million thanks to all the good, thoughtful, and intelligent people who read the manuscript back in 2016 and made time to craft their responses to the story. I'm honored by the careful attention they gave it, and for the instructive insights they shared. And I'm grateful to them because they took a risk: they stuck out their necks to help me promote this disturbing story of cult deception and abuse. If you care about my story and the sorts of people who found it worthwhile enough to blurb it, read on. But first... What I tell people about Undertow I wrote this book to educate, inspire, and heal others. Undertow is the only memoir by a former Way leader who was also a biblical researcher trained by The Way’s founder himself, Victor Paul Wierwille (1916-1985). I was committed to Wierwille's fundamentalist cult for seventeen years (1970-1987). Why do I say The Wa...

THe following Endorsements are found in the front pages of the book, Undertow . Praise for Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International “In  Undertow,  Charlene Edge has written a brilliant and engrossing warning to the future by dissecting the past. There are really two books here: one is on a cult called The Way (one of the largest fundamentalist cults in America with about 40,000 followers [in its heyday]). The second book is an examination of the dynamics of all personality, religious, and political cults. By looking (from a heart-wrenching insider’s point of view) at a misuse of power in one specific group, Edge has written a book that unpacks a far greater truth. What she exposes to bright liberating daylight is just how our political and religious worlds actually function based on the mesmerizing enticement of belonging to an in-group. This is a brilliantly written and timely warning against falling into the tr...

One of my favorite humorists, Oscar Wilde, quoted a popular adage that I absolutely love:  "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."  At one of my presentations about cults I used that adage to convey this: Anyone who does not stand for good values, such as respectful discussion, empathy, and transparent leadership, just might find themselves falling for a cult. Feel free to share the following info with anyone who is worried about a loved one (or themselves!) in danger of falling for a controlling organization making promises that sound too good to be true. A word of caution Be wary about spending boatloads of time and energy trying to talk someone out of their involvement in a group that you see as manipulative and deceptive--but remain open to talk about it if they want to.  Remember this wise saying from Mark Twain: "It's easier to fool a man than to convince him he has been fooled. Note: The following is from a presentation I gave to...

What are reliable sources on the subject of cults? This post offers a list of sources I respect on this topic. I encourage you to share this post. Links on the book titles take you to Goodreads.com where you can find descriptions of each book.  In the case of the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA), the link takes you to their website. This list of sources was compiled by Charlene L. Edge, author of Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International. Robert Jay Lifton, PhD Losing Reality: On Cults, Cultism, and The Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry by Robert Jay Lifton. The New Press. 2019. Pg. 4, 5. [Chapter 7: Trump, is very timely]. "I have insisted upon retaining the word “cult” for groups that meet three criteria: First, a shift in worship from broad spiritual ideas to the person of a charismatic guru; second, the active pursuit of a thought reform-like process that frequently stresses some kind of merger with the guru...