The Way. It Was.

[John Lynn]

The Way. It was.By John A. LynnIn the interest of truth, both small “t” (the facts about The Way International) and capital “T” (the Word of God it taught), I am compelled to propose why I think The Way International was (past tense), from a certain perspective, one of the most significant movements in the history of the Christian Church. I do so for the benefit of any graduate of the “Power For Abundant Living” class who still wants to live for the Lord and who may have been unduly discouraged, either by his/her own experience in The Way or by the ensuing barrage of negatives from other ex-Way saints about what was wrong with The Way.Given that I was one of the top ministry leaders from 1967-1987, I speak with experiential knowledge. Furthermore, I have spent the past 21 years continuing to dig into the Word of God along with knowledgeable Christians, and, in the process, re-evaluating everything we were taught. I speak with great thankfulness for the truth I heard in The Way (hereinafter TWI), with no doubt that God led me to it, and then away from it. And though I left with some wounds, I also took with me the resources I had been given that enabled me to be healed from those wounds and help others do likewise.I speak so that you can know “the rest of the story,” as opposed to all the disparaging things that have been said about The Way through the years by the media (much of that false), other Christians (much of that false), and disgruntled former followers (much of that true, some of it false). My purpose is to set forth a much more redemptive view of The Way than what I have thus far read from others with “ex-Way vision.” In some ways, this is a sequel to my March, 1988 letter in which I blew the whistle about what was then going on in TWI. (http://www.swiftlynx.com/beyondTheWayInternational/)Yes, there was more doctrinal error than I ever realized while I was in TWI, and there was corresponding practical error that became more evil than most of us involved ever imagined. Yes, many precious people were terribly abused. Yes, there was dishonesty about Scripture, there was plagiarism, and there was rampant sexual sin, all of which contributed to many people choosing to turn away from God and His Word. And as I realized these things, I did speak out about them, both publicly and privately, from 1987 until about 2000, after which TWI had marginalized itself in Christendom.Perhaps worst of all, a golden opportunity to make known the Word of God, as it had not been known since the first century, was squandered. I will elaborate upon why that is true from a doctrinal standpoint, but when else in the history of the Christian Church has there ever been such a cadre of thousands of young, energetic, enthused, biblically knowledgeable, logistically equipped, organizationally backed, diverse, multi-lingual, mobile, available, and committed-to-“It-is-written” men and women with leadership qualities who were willing to go anywhere and spread the Word? Certainly not often in the past 2000 years. Thank God that many of these students of the Word became teachers themselves, and were thus able to recognize the errors that crept into TWI.The Way. It was. What was it? First and foremost, it was, from about 1955-1987, the only place I know of where anyone could hear the amount of truth of the Word of God that we heard. Why? In large part because God led Victor Paul Wierwille to the work of E.W. Bullinger, whose approach to Scripture was virtually unique. That is what allowed Wierwille, and thus TWI to an even greater degree, thanks to the quality men and women with research ability whom it attracted, to put the Word together like it had not been known since the first century Church.The sad thing was that I, and many others, became too proud of our knowledge, and failed to couple it with enough of a humble, heartfelt desire to obey God and become like Jesus Christ. We became too arrogant toward other Christians, thinking that our study of truth somehow made us more “approved before God” than they. To a degree, we became more like hearers of the Word than doers, and often deceived our selves. BUT, the antidote to that is not to throw out the baby with the bathwater, because without knowledge of truth there can be little practice of it.Why did God have a need for The Way International? Actually, He didn’t. But He did have a need for any group of people who would make known what, or close to what, the Apostle Paul taught once the whole of what we now read in the Church Epistles had been unfolded to him. Why was there such a need? Because true Christian doctrine had all but disappeared from the spectrum of Church history by the 4th century. It was then that the Roman Catholic Church began based upon a bunch of fables mixed with Christian verbiage, established a monolithic ecclesiastical hierarchy, and for more than a thousand years dominated the European religious landscape, killing countless dissenters and for the most part silencing the rest.When Martin Luther came along (1517 was when he nailed his 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenburg), thank God he did recognize justification by faith rather than by works, but what we today refer to as the “Reformation” of the Roman Catholic Church was very limited in scope. Much of the Roman Catholic doctrine was assimilated into Protestantism and is still being passed along as Christian groups continue to split off from one another. In a nutshell, that is why even the independent church in your neighborhood today most probably believes that there is a Trinity, dead people are alive, God is in control of everything that happens, the Four Gospels are written to Christians, water baptism is relevant, and maybe even that the Bible is not absolute truth.I don’t know where else we could have heard the “package” of biblical truth we heard in TWI. Admittedly, most of the major doctrinal components of that package were being taught by some Christians, with varying degrees of accuracy, but none that I know of put together as many into a package as TWI did. Let’s begin with what I mentioned about E.W. Bullinger’s contribution to TWI, which was HUGE, because his basic approach to Scripture is what facilitates one being able to discover its inherent keys and utilize them to derive the Author’s originally intended meaning.TWI taught us to approach the Word with the “It is written” conviction that it is what it says it is, and that it cannot contradict itself. That alone is enough to at least identify error about the Bible, and the keys to the Word’s interpretation we were taught enabled us to understand it, take its truth into our hearts, and apply it on a daily basis.Given that the identity of Jesus Christ is the world’s biggest deal, I would have to say that chief among the wonderful biblical truths we heard in TWI was that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (not God), the Man who mediates between God and men, and that the Trinity is a pagan fable. Some ex-Way saints now say this distinction is not that important, but I assert that God thinks differently, given what He says in His Word (e.g., 2 Cor. 4:3 and 4). Yes, TWI failed to teach us that we can have an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus, but there were not too many other places where we could have heard that Jesus is not the “eternally begotten” Second Person of the Trinity.I’d have to say that the next most important biblical truth we heard in TWI was what we then called the “Mystery,” and, correspondingly, what parts of Scripture are written to Jews, to Gentiles, or to Christians regarding either the past, the present, or the future. For the record, we have since learned that “Sacred Secret” is a more accurate way of rendering the Greek, musterion.Ephesians is the apex of the Church Epistles (the primary curriculum for Christian living), and it clearly shows that the Body of Christ (the “one new man” of Chapter 2, verse 15) is the most unique group of people who have ever lived, chiefly because of the permanence of our salvation and our holy spirit equipping. 1 Corinthians 2:8 chimes in with the monumental (and generally overlooked) truth that had Satan known the Sacred Secret, he would not have crucified Jesus!In terms of biblical error that is practically debilitating to one’s quality of life, I see nothing more important than knowing what Scripture is written to whom, when, and in particular what is written to us as Christians today. The Church’s failure to understand this central truth has led to its trying to live in accordance with directives pertaining to other people at other times. It is only in the Church Epistles that a Christian finds his true identity “in Christ,” as well as his true Hope. Simply put, the Word of God will never fit together without contradiction if one does not understand the “administrations” therein, and in particular this current “administration of the Sacred Secret” (Eph. 3:9).Yes, there are quite a few Christians who have a “Dispensational” view of Scripture, but the vast majority of them fail to grasp that Jesus is not God and that he did not know the Sacred Secret. Most think that parts of the Four Gospels and the book of Revelation speak of the Christian Church, but that is not the case. The Gospels record the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies about Christ’s first coming to the earth to Israel (his suffering), and Revelation records the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies about his second coming to the earth to Israel (his glory).Another major truth we learned in TWI, which is unknown to most Christians, is that of the Giver and the gift, and, correspondingly, that speaking in tongues is available to all Christians because it is a manifestation of holy spirit, not a gift. We also learned the indispensable truth that speaking in tongues is the only absolute proof that one is saved. How many tens of thousands of people did those truths alone set free?TWI also taught us that death is, in fact, the end of life, and that our true Hope for new life in the coming age is to be raised from the dead and meet the Lord Jesus in the air prior to the Tribulation (the “time of Jacob’s trouble” – Jer.30:7). What percentage of Christians do you think know this? Although TWI failed to teach us that Paradise (the new earth), not heaven, will be our everlasting home, thank God we learned that resurrection is much more than an incorporeal “soul” once again getting a body.And TWI pointed us toward an understanding of the figures of speech in the Bible (thanks to Bullinger), of which little is known in theological circles. This included the figurative language in the Old Testament that helped us see that God is not responsible for evil or suffering, nor is He in control of everything that happens.Like I, you may know of some ministries that do teach some of these truths, but I submit that until 1987 there was nowhere other than TWI to find all of them taught as accurately as they were there. That is why The Way International stands out on the spectrum of Church history as an amazingly significant Christian movement.As far as I can see, TWI was also about the most disparate dichotomy of good and evil in the history of Christianity. Like the wheat and the tares growing up together, tremendous truth and egregious evil shared the ministry platform. Many people look back on their TWI experience with nothing but thankfulness, while others rue their free will choice to stay involved as long as they did because of the abuse they suffered. Some have been stymied by self-condemnation due to the abuses they themselves committed. No doubt there are also many who recognize that they heard the Word like they never had, who have allowed the Lord Jesus to heal any wounds they suffered in TWI, and who have since experienced spiritual growth far beyond what they ever imagined back in “the good old days.”I hope you are in that last category, and if you’re not, you can be. Even if people badly abused and disappointed you, you can turn to the Lord Jesus, he who is The Way to wholeness in all categories of heart and life. His love and truth will heal your heart and help you forgive and move forward with him toward the same goal you once had. You have a ministry in the Body of Christ, and he who is the Head longs to help you fulfill that calling. It was neither your heavenly Father nor your Lord who hurt you, nor does whatever happened to you change anything the Word says. God’s promises are still true, and they are yours for the believing.The Way, we were. If you once sat through PFAL, you heard the Word of God taught more accurately than the vast majority of Christians who have ever drawn breath. As a fellow PFAL grad, I identify with you, and have an affinity for you and a desire to encourage you to take advantage of the truth you once heard, if you are not already doing so. Along with me, you will one day stand before our precious Lord Jesus Christ, who will reward you according to how you have lived your life as a Christian. In essence, he will ask each of us something like this: “What did you do with what you knew?”[For a detailed list of biblical subjects I think TWI mishandled, see the following link: http://www.christianeducational.org/25diffTWI.htmIf you would like to discuss with me about what I have written, please contact me at [e-mail]]

[Davis Crowell]

Hope! It is quite apparent your posts are always well thought through... I'm almost certain you write, you look at it a number of times, you rewrite, you again look at what you wrote, you rewrite...and then you "post".

All of us are capable of the same! We all have thoughts and yes! It is imperative that these thoughts...these words...that which we are attempting to relay to the others here, is "crystal clear" in our minds.

I wholeheartedly believe that each one of us here has no intent to harm another with our words. I want to maintain a clear positive vision/image in my mind of each one of you. Is this a "polly-anna" view. I don't think so!

Todays technology has/is allowing us to connect with others who at one time had kinda like the same vision. Yup! We all have probally connected here with folks who at one time shared this "same vision"... To introduce others to the "good life"...you know the one John Lynn eludes to.

Thanks!

[Frank Abissi]

I've been reading some of this thread, Marilou - Are you typing this for John? are you typing this for yourself? Are you into automatic typing? You really have me confused which you know could result in loss of some of Johns body parts. Besides getting me confused isn't good. BTW, I really like Bob Dylan and have quite a few of his albums in my Nano. I love you and John alot and you are a person yourself whom God has called, I hate to say this but you do not have to ask John before you ask a question. You have a ministry to perform to the church, do it. you don't need permission (Sorry John, hey remember my poster of circum....?)

[Steve Burch]

Marilou, I was commenting on John Lynn's original post, not your comment. Sorry for the confusion.

[Steve Burch]

Yeah well.

Some thoughts after I read this: sincere, subtil (Gen. 3:1 spelling), long.

[Davis Crowell]

Great stuff! Yup, all you guys appear to be back on track. I had a wonderful time on the "party barge" ( a 26 foot pontoon boat, equipped with all the ammenties to make the trip memorable )

I got to drink some music and listen to some great margaritas. OPPS! Maybe I had 1 to many margaritas. Nah! I actually limit myself to 2 drinks, helps me stay focused and not say stupid stuff.

I had a great "chat" with Fred, an 80 year old man, he's kinda lonely and I did my best to "brighten" his day. I think I did! I asked a few questions, he started opening up and every once and awhile I'd ask"what does that look like, what did you mean by that?"

Ok! When John Lynn started this blog, I believe his intent was to...for a lack of a better word, "enlighten" us to a few things from his "perspective." I actually enjoy what he says and Hell!...I agree with quite a bit of it.

I was one of those "rag-tag" young folks who's life was changed by the...I call it... the "Way lite" years,in the early 70's (I bailed in '86 ) I guess alot of crazy stuff happened in those "Way lite" years, but I was not privy to it/them.

As you know, maybe not, I attend one of these "mega churches" in Chicago ( Willow Creek Community ). I still attend some of these ex-Way group's functions in IL. and Ohio and it's "all good". I don't agree with all they propound, at Willow, but the 7,000 seat auditorium, the speakers they assemble, ( Yup! Hearing a new perspective ) the focus groups they have, it too is all good!

Thanks for listening1

[Davis Crowell]

I'm going boating this afternoon...gonna make margarita's for a few friends, talk about their lives, ( I enjoy listening to people's stories ) tell them about my life...you know get tranparent and build community/fellowship.

At the age of 22 I took the same class you guys did, went WOW, went in the 9th Corps and upon graduating I came to Chicago to tell people about my extraodinary journey. Now I am 56, gotta divorce and I am still on this extraordinary journey.

I learn a great deal each day ( remember I told you I'm a good listener ). I have met many people...not all of um' do I call friends but when I am with someone I force my mind to not be distracted but to focus on that person. We are always so quick to be "fix it" folks. A friend is someone who you can trust with your heart, a person you can tell what is troubling you. That's what/who I need. Guess what! I gotum'...Yup! got people like this.

You guys enjoy all our country has to offer, enjoy the smell of the fresh air and the flowers that are so abundant ( no Hope I am not smoking anything nor do I have a margarita in my system yet )... maybe talk to someone you haven't in a while.

Peace, Love, Dove

[John Richeson]

Aww darn, sorry I missed this recent series of posts here. Haven't been on the site in a few days. Busy with graduations and college preparations. It looks interesting. I'll try to catch up on it some day.

But I just wanted to chime in and say to John Lynn and family, we love you guys and are sorry for your recent loss of yor mom, Jane Lynn. I only wish I had known her. Reading about her life helps me understand you a little more. She seemed like a very good person.

Back to discussions....(which I hope remain civil and thoughtful.)

[Michael Prahm]

I think all questions have to flow from the start of this post by Johnny. The residual context demands this, not I, but isn't there a section where Paul was whipped,beaten, shipwrecked, and so on. Not alot of unity. Phillip baptized the Eunuch, Paul circumcised Timothy, after he had letters stating he did not need to. The half-wit brother of the Lord In Acts 20 to Paul is a testament to something, but I doubt its Unity. As I understand the full gospel, as revealed to the Apostle Paul II Timothy 2:8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel. The realities of the new birth in Christ before God are only contained in the seven Church Epistles. Somehow Johnny has called what I was taught different. This must be the context of this blog. Dr Wierwille's teaching made known the whole gospel, and what a monumental task after twenty centuries of corrupted tradition. I still stand in awe that I was able to hear the man speak live, and count myself fortunate to have had the brief moments with him and others. The miracle of all miracles, the new birth.

God bless you are the best.
Michael H. Prahm

[Wolfgang Schneider]

Hi Marilou (or whatever unnamed person is behind this username)
now I am totally confused as to who is even asking and writing what in your posts, and I feel sort of like a fool for having answered someone who wasn't even asking ... or did I not get what this last post was explaining?

I'll bow out of the exchange for now

Cheers,
Wolfgang

[Wolfgang Schneider]

Hi Marilou,

I don't seem to get what you are trying to say ... could you further clarify?

What do you mean with "run according to the 5 gift ministries working together"? Does "5 gift ministries working together" somehow establish a kind of perfect rule by which no controversies or problems in human relationships can occur?

What do you mean with "not having the pastor running everything"? Isn't "the pastor" one of those gift ministries? the way you worded your question it almost puts the blame for things not going right on "the pastor doing everything", is this what you meant to say?

Are there 5 gift ministries present in today's local groups / churches? what about those groups/churches that only know a pastor and if he didn't do everything just about nothing would be done? how would the group/church know who the gift ministries in their situation are? (in other words, is someone an "apostle" {"prophet", "evangelist", "teacher", "pastor"}, just because he/she stands up and claims to be one, and the rest of the folks must accept that claim as truth?

As we read the NT scriptures, do we learn there that every local church/group had all 5 gift ministries active in their congregation? or were some gift ministries serving independent of local churches/groups? Also, were there no "unity" problems in the early church even during the time while the gift ministries were active ?

These are some questions which came to mind as I was trying pondering your question in trying to answer it ... perhaps you have some more details to these questions so I can better understand the directoin which you have in mind with your questoins.