Charlene Lamy Edge Speaks about The Way International

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...

Greetings, readers! It’s November and we’re celebrating another  Undertow  birthday. Eight years ago this month, New Wings Press, LLC published my memoir that you probably know about —   Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International. What you may  not  know, is that not long after its publication, just before I gave a free presentation at Rollins College about my cult story, a local newspaper reporter interviewed me about the book. His article was published March 8, 2018. Here you go! Winter Park resident Charlene Edge escaped a fundamentalist cult | West Orange Times & Observer (orangeobserver.com) Undertow  is available in paperback and ebook at major booksellers. Indie bookstores and libraries can order it for you, too. Thanks for reading!

What Seems Fraudulent About Victor Paul Wierwille and The Way International? by Charlene Edge In my view, based on my 17 years of experience in The Way and on research I’ve done since, The Way International is highly suspect, even fraudulent, in my opinion. Among many reasons, two are: 1) V. P. Wierwille claimed God told him He would teach him The Word like it had not been known since the first century if he would teach it to others. "The Word” is a phrase Wierwille usually employed to refer to the Bible. This claim is made by Wierwille himself and recorded in the book by Elena Scott Whiteside,  The Way: Living in Love.  American Christian Press. 1972. If by the term "the Word" Wierwille meant the Bible (the cannon as seen in the KJV), there is a BIG problem: the New Testament, the contents of half the Bible, was not established until AFTER the first century.  It evolved between 250-300 A. D. 2) The second reason The Way is highly suspect, even fraudulent...

Interview with Charlene Lamy Edge Greetings, readers. Today's post offers links to a two-part print interview about my experiences in The Way International (1970 - 1987). Escaping Fundamentalism: An Interview with Charlene L. Edge (Part I) | American Studies Blog (asjournal.org) Escaping Fundamentalism: An Interview with Charlene L. Edge (Part II) | American Studies Blog (asjournal.org) Find my memoir about 17 years in The Way International at major booksellers and indie bookstores. Libraries can order it upon request!  Amazon  Barnes & Noble and many eBook vendors like Kobo . I blog at my website: https://charleneedge.com

Former Religious Right Leader Endorses Undertow by Charlene L. Edge Greetings, readers. I'm honored that my cult memoir is endorsed by Frank Schaeffer. If you have a copy of my memoir, Undertow , you'll see his blurb on the front cover and a longer version of it inside. In brief, Frank Schaeffer is a New York Times bestselling author, an artist, and, among other things, the son of Francis and Edith Schaeffer, Christian evangelicals, who in the 1960s, helped found what's known as the Religious Right. Keep reading to learn more. But first, the endorsement. Frank Schaeffer Endorses Undertow “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 cu...

Greetings, readers. The following is a version of a post I once published on my website https://charleneedge.com. The same is true of most posts I've included here on my Blogspot account.  Protestant Fundamentalism and scholars who say useful things about it By Charlene L. Edge I'm thinking again about Protestant Fundamentalism and how it hooks believers. How does it do that? With the hook I call "certainty."  Over the years, I've looked into how fundamentalists get hooked on certainty and found scholars who have something helpful to say about it. By the way, there are many kinds of fundamentalism. Most religions have a fundamentalist branch within their system that demands a literal interpretation of and obedience to its doctrines, and engages in black and white thinking. I mainly address Christian fundamentalism because I spent so long in that land of lost perspectives. When I left The Way International, a Christian fundamentalist group, I tore down the curtain ...