Why would anyone join a cult: Scene Five

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To read Scene One, click here.

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Why would anyone join a cult?
Scene Five

Fellowship meetings with The Way were tender and welcoming. They didn't involve the frenzied, spirit-filled confusion of some of the Charismatic gatherings. At Way Fellowships, which were called Twigs, I witnessed what I had read in sections of Acts and the Pauline epistles - "all things common," "decent and in order," "fruit of the spirit," "greet one another with a holy kiss."

Even though all Way believers speak in tongues, The Way is not Charismatic. At Twig, believers didn't speak in tongues all together out loud, like in the Charismatic gatherings. Instead, the Twig leader called on a believer to speak in tongues and interpret or to bring forth a word of prophecy. Always, the same person who spoke in tongues would then interpret that tongue. No one sang in tongues. No one laughed or danced or got slain in the spirit. No one raised holy hands nor prayed the spirit into the meeting.

At first, this made me feel uneasy; I was used to the spirit moving freely and spontaneously. How could a leader control the move of the spirit? But I brought to mind the questioning I'd had about how Charismatic, spirit-filled meetings operated. I Corinthians 14 states that if one speaks aloud in tongues that one should pray to interpret. That if the whole Church speaks in tongues together out loud, unbelievers would call us mad. That all things are to be done decently and in order. Charismatic meetings didn't follow those rules, but Twigs did.

Way believers, using Greek in the scripture, explained to me that the nine "gifts" of the spirit are not "gifts," but rather "manifestations" of the one gift, holy spirit, and that it was God's will for every believer to manifest all nine manifestations. The devil had twisted this truth, thus thwarting the power of God in a Christian's life.

Friends from my small prayer group at Montreat warned me that The Way was a cult. Phillip even accompanied me once to a Twig Fellowship. I thought he would see for himself the love of God that I saw, and the accuracy of the scriptures. But he saw deception and false doctrines; The Way was a messenger of Satan.

I considered my friends' warnings and read about The Way in the most authoritative book on cults at the time, The Kingdom of the Cults, written by Walter Martin. Martin mentioned Way missionaries being so poor they had to eat out of trashcans. I asked about that at Twig and was told the accusation was a lie from Satan, just like religious leaders in the time of Jesus had lied about him. The adversary is the "father of lies" and the "accuser of the brethren;" his aim always being "to steal, kill, and destroy," attacking the "accuracy of the Word." Even in the Book of Acts believers were accused of being a cult, the "sect of the Nazarene."

But Martin's main criticism was The Way's veer from mainstream Christian doctrine, especially the doctrine of the Trinity which teaches that Jesus is God and is deemed the cornerstone of Christianity. Until shortly after starting college, I never realized Christians believed that Jesus is literally God. Upon that discovery, I was stunned. People actually believe that a man can be God!?! Up until then, I thought the Trinity was more figurative than literal. When I voiced this to Scott, one of my prayer-group friends, his only explanation was, "You'll understand it later as you grow in Christ."

All this led me to read The Way's book Jesus Christ is Not God written by The Way's first president and founder, Victor Paul Wierwille. It was the first Way book I read, even before taking The Way's Power for Abundant Living class. Everything Wierwille shared in the book was backed by scripture. He explained the Greek words and the context. He included the history of the Trinity and its roots in Pagan religions. He shared his personal story of how he came to see that the doctrine of the Trinity was idolatry. What Wierwille wrote made sense to me and elevated Jesus even more in my heart.

I loved Jesus; he was my personal lord and savior. He obeyed the Father and gave the ultimate sacrifice. He was raised from the dead by God and was seated at God's right hand. But he wasn't God. He was the Son of God, not "God the Son." This I believed with all my heart.

Therefore, the main thrust of The Way being a cult because it was non-trinitarian didn't concern me, much.

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Click here for Final Scene: Six.