Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International

Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International™ is Charlene Edge’s riveting memoir about the power of words to seduce, betray, and, in her case, eventually save. After a personal tragedy left her bereft, teenaged Charlene rejected faith and family when recruiters drew her into The Way International, a sect led by the charismatic Victor Paul Wierwille. The Way became one of the largest cults in America. Charlene gave it seventeen years of her life. Believing that God led her to Wierwille, she underwent his intensive two-year training program, The Way Corps, designed to produce loyal leaders. When Wierwille warned of a possible government attack, she prepared to live off the grid. She ignored warning signs of Wierwille’s paranoia and abuse—he condemned dissenters as the Devil’s agents, he required followers to watch pornography, he manipulated Corps into keeping his secrets in a “lock box,” he denied the Holocaust, and he surrounded himself with bodyguards. She married a Corps graduate and they served across the United States as Way leaders, funneling money into Wierwille’s bursting coffers and shunning anyone who criticized him. As obedient Way Corps, they raised their child to believe the doctrines of Wierwille, the cult’s designated “father in the Word.” Eventually Charlene was promoted to the inner circle of biblical researchers, where she discovered devastating secrets: Wierwille twisted texts of Scripture to serve his personal agenda, shamelessly plagiarized the work of others, and misrepresented the purpose of his organization. Worst of all, after Wierwille died in 1985, shocking reports surfaced of his secret sex ring. Amid chaos at The Way’s Ohio-based headquarters, Charlene knew she had to escape—for her own survival and her child’s. Reading like a novel, Undertow is not only a brilliant cautionary tale about misplaced faith but also an exposé of the hazards of fundamentalism and the destructive nature of cults. Through her personal story, Charlene Edge shows how a vulnerable person can be seduced into following an authoritarian leader and how difficult it can be to find a way out.

"Charlene Edge has written a brilliant and engrossing warning to the future by dissecting the past. ... 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." -Frank Schaeffer, author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back "A magnificently written life story that sheds light on the enticing ways of cult recruitment and indoctrination ... Undertow will sweep you away." -Janja Lalich, PhD, Professor Emerita of Sociology at California State University, Chico. Author of Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults "This thoughtful, beautifully-written memoir is a window into the gradual but compelling pull cults have on unsuspecting and well-meaning people of faith ..." -Todd French, PhD, Assistant Professor of Religion at Rollins College "... Edge's heartfelt and earnest journey will leave you in awe of what the human spirit can conquer when it launches out in the search for truth. Well-written, compelling, and inspiring." -Kristen Skedgell, author of Losing the Way "How could a smart woman join a cult that asked of her everything, and took her all in the process? ... you'll find yourself wanting to reach into the pages to pull the author out of harm's way. ... There is something in this book for anyone who has ever wholeheartedly embraced a questionable theology." -Susan Campbell, author of Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism, and the American Girl "Undertow is a gift to young people and their families who want to understand the inner workings of fundamentalist cults." -Steve Muratore, publisher of award-winning political blog the Arizona Eagletarian "Edge's heartfelt and heartbreaking memoir takes us behind the scenes to reveal how easily a handful of religious charlatans betrayed the trust placed in their hands. ..." -Robert Ruff, Emmy Award-winning television news producer "A fascinating insider's account of day-to-day life inside a cult ... with its endless sacrifices, compromises, and increasingly convoluted doublethink ..." -Arthur Goldwag, author of Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies "Charlene Edge writes with clarity and sensitivity. This memoir on her experiences in The Way International will help readers understand the subtleties and complexities of cultic groups." -Michael D. Langone, PhD, Executive Director of the International Cultic Studies Association "This well-written exposé of life in a Christian fundamentalist cult reads like a novel and portrays, in lucid detail, how the author was seduced into joining the cult. ... she helps us understand how she lived with the founder's fantasies for seventeen years of her life. ... how she got out is as illuminating as how she got in. It is a must read." -Rita Bornstein, PhD, President Emerita of Rollins College, author of Legitimacy in the Academic Presidency: From Entrance to Exit "A tenderly written, intensely personal narrative about being swallowed alive by a cult. Edge's encounters with the abusive Victor Paul Wierwille and her firsthand observation of how The Way's Research Department twisted the Scriptures are enlightening and chilling." -Karl Kahler, author of The Cult That Snapped: A Journey Into The Way International "With balance and grace, Edge gives the reader a compelling portrait of the group's leader and his fraught relationship with his followers that stands as a warning beacon to all those drawn to charismatic prophets and their high-demand communities." -Phillip Charles Lucas, PhD, Professor of Religious Studies at Stetson University, co-editor with Thomas Robbins of New Religious Movements in the Twenty-First Century