A Matter of Basic Principles: Bill Gothard and His Cultish Teachings

By Don Veinot, Ron Henzel, Jinger Duggar Vuolo and Joy Veinot

Bill Gothard, his teachings, and his organization, the Institute in Basic Life Principles, have had an impact on segments of the church more far-reaching than the three million he claims have attended his seminars. Are his teachings on authority, grace, and other areas of teaching biblical or cultish? Does he live according to his teachings, whether they are biblical or not? How do his teachings affect his followers and those to whom they pass them on?

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9780974252834

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A Matter of Basic Principles: Bill Gothard and His Cultish Teachings. Book Cover. Umbrella with rain inside

A Matter of Basic Principles

Bill Gothard and His Cultish Teachings

Don Veinot, Joy Vienot,

Ron Henzel

MCOI Publishing

Copyright © 2023 MCOI Publishing, LLC

A Matter of Basic Principles: Bill Gothard and His Cultish Teachings

Updated 20th Anniversary Edition, ©2023

Published by:

MCOI Publishing, LLC

P.O. Box 446

Wonder Lake, IL 60097

Previous edition published by Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc. in 2003 under the title A Matter of Basic Principles: Bill Gothard and the Christian Life.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever or stored in any database or retrieval system without written permission except in the case of brief quotations used in critical articles and reviews. All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version unless otherwise mentioned. Requests for permissions should be addressed to Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc. P.O. Box 446, Wonder Lake, IL 60097-0446.

Cover design by Jenneth Dyck.

ISBN-978-0-9742528-3-4

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

What Leaders Are Saying About This Book

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Preface

Prologue

1/Citizen Kane and a History of Inconsistency

2/The Unconfrontable Bill Gothard

3/The Emerald City

4/IBLP: Institute in Basic Legalistic Practices

5/Character First!

6/A Black and White Gospel for a Color World

7/The Orwellian World of Bill Gothard

8/Alpena Mountain Home

9/The Courtship Game

10/Bill Gothard — Medicine Man

11/Trapped in the Shadow of God’s Anointed

Epilogue — Fear of Flying

Addendum 1

Addendum 2

The Authors

Also by the Authors

Dedication

In Mark 10:13, children were brought directly to our Lord. There was no chain of command or other mediators. The disciples rebuked those who brought them. What was our Lord’s response? Jesus said, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. (Mark 10:14)

With this in mind, we dedicate this volume to the Lord Jesus Christ and the children, families, and churches who have suffered under the bondage of the teachings of Bill Gothard and his Institute in Basic Life Principles.

What Leaders Are Saying About This Book

I became a Christian when I was a teenager. Though that was a long time ago (too long), I can still vividly remember the announcements our church youth leader made regarding Bill Gothard’s Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts, scheduled for our area the following month. He urged everyone to go. He said Gothard had lots of great principles engineered to help young people live more effectively and deal with some of the problems unique to kids our age. It sounded relevant.

For whatever reason, I didn’t go. But lots of my friends did. One of my closer buddies let me look at a Gothard manual the following week, and as I flipped through it, I carefully digested some of the principles and looked up some of the accompanying Bible verses Gothard cited. In some cases, I remember thinking to myself, Where did he get that principle from that Bible verse? As a young Christian, I had no great skill at interpreting Scripture. In fact, at that time I definitely fit into the category of biblically challenged. I didn’t know much. But still, even as a young Christian, I distinctly remember coming across a number of principles where I felt that Gothard was reading something into a particular verse that simply was not there. I wondered at the time if anyone else felt this way, or if perhaps I was just missing something.

Today, some thirty years later, I have the same opinion — only now, my convictions run much deeper. After reading this new book, it is clear that the problems with Gothard’s Bible interpretations go deeper than I ever imagined.

Dr. Ron Rhodes

Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries, Author

✽✽✽

The Veinots and Henzel have taken on an important task in responding to Bill Gothard. A Matter of Basic Principles is a much-needed book that should be read by virtually all evangelical pastors — and all supporters of Bill Gothard. Their book is provocative, well-researched, easy to read and understand. Through it all they are fair and demonstrate a genuine concern for the state of the 21st century Church. I recommend A Matter of Basic Principles to anyone who has attended a Gothard seminar, is considering attending one, or just wants to know more about the ministry of Bill Gothard. —

Dr. Robert B. Stewart

Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Theology

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans, LA

✽✽✽

The Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts (now known as the IBLP) began in 1964 under the leadership of Bill Gothard and enjoyed unprecedented expansion during the ’70s. As board members we recognized that God was at work in this ministry. In May 1980 we were shocked to learn of gross immorality that had prevailed for years among the staff under Bill’s supervision as president. Bill failed to share this information with the board nor did he seek their counsel. By the end of that year it became apparent that Bill continued his authoritarian style of leadership, dismissing those on the board as well as staff who disagreed with him. Consequently I found it necessary to resign. As early as 1973 questions were raised about IBYC/IBLP by various individuals such as Dr. Ronald B. Allen, Dr. Earl Radmacher, Wilfred Bockelman and others. In the pages of this volume — which everyone who is involved with IBYC/IBLP should seriously evaluate — the reader will find that repeated attempts have been made to dialogue with Bill Gothard about his lack of submission to authority, his lack of accountability, and his failure to apply biblical principles to his own life. Bill’s teaching on legalism, law, and grace deserves careful examination. The authors are to be commended for their concern in publishing this helpful volume.

Dr. Samuel J. Schultz

Professor Emeritus of Old Testament

Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL

✽✽✽

In the youth culture of the Fundamentalist circles in which I was a teen in the ‘Sixties, carrying around one of the massive notebooks from Bill Gothard’s Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts was an almost sacramental sign that one was a serious Christian. I was fortunate in choosing other signs, not because I had any particular wisdom or foresight then, but simply because I stubbornly resisted anything that everybody was doing. Many of my peers suffered no serious harm from being part of everybody. They had their healthy resistance to the anti-authoritarianism of the age reinforced while sloughing past the details, not noticing the questionable uses of Scripture and unconsciously reinterpreting the basic principles into forms more compatible with the Gospel of Grace than they actually were. After all, that is what Gothard must have meant because he was a Sound Teacher, wasn’t he?

Unfortunately … no. Those who became serious disciples of Gothard set themselves up for struggles and heartaches to the extent that the legalism, folly, and false authoritarianism of the man bore fruit in their lives. Those struggles, ranging from spiritual frustration to spiritual shipwreck, are well documented and their roots well explained by Don and Joy Veinot and Ron Henzel in A Matter of Basic Principles: Bill Gothard and His Cultish Teachings. People impacted by Gothard’s influence and those who minister to them will find no stone unturned in this meticulous analysis. Its research is rigorous, and its anchor is in the Gospel, to which it always keeps coming back. It can help you find your anchor there as well.

Donald T. Williams, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Toccoa Falls College

✽✽✽

This book is needed in many of our Evangelical Christian churches because 1. It’s a challenge to churches and Christians to test those teachers that are in our churches and the Christian community. This doesn’t only apply to Bill Gothard and his Institute of Basic Life Principles (IBLP), but to many other ministries. 2. It’s balanced by going into the positive ends like giving a history of the problems that Christians were facing in their Christian living and in their own faith, how IBLP came into existence, and what attracted Christians to IBLP. 3. It’s a demonstration on how the principles of a Berean are to be carried out in testing what Bill Gothard teaches. When you read about the problems relating to Bill Gothard, the problems are logically expressed by properly applying the Scriptures and using Gothard’s own IBLP teachings. In addition cases are documented which make us question the foundation of IBLP. 4. The book starts off by challenging us as Christians and concludes in the same way. It’s not just about questioning a false teacher; it’s about waking us up. Does it take tragedies like Jonestown, Waco, and events related to doomsday cults to wake us up?

Dr. Jerry Buckner

Adjunct Professor at Gateway Seminary

Host of Contending for the Faith on KFAX AM

Pastor of Tiburon Christian Fellowship in Tiburon, CA

✽✽✽

Growing up in the ’70s, my parents, my sister, and I would have fit the profile of a family who might have been attracted to the popular Gothard seminars. Except for the fact that my dad, although a fundamentalist pastor, noticed some strange teachings that were outside the norms of the fundamentals of Christianity. We never attended the seminars, nor read the books, being spared getting sucked into that unbiblical culture. Years later, I pastored a church near the IBLP headquarters and was surprised when Bill Gothard himself showed up for a few services. He approached me several times, always with an offer a young pastor would normally be tempted to accept, offering money from grants, or to funnel IBLP mission money through our church. But because of my dad’s concerns and warnings, I declined each attempt at what surely would have led to control. To my relief, he stopped attending. Now some 20 years later, his teachings are back in the spotlight because of the Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets docuseries. My prayer is that with this updated edition of the great Veinot / Henzel book, others will be spared like I was. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to understand how Gothard, and his followers went well beyond the fundamentals of Scripture and have caused great harm to the body of Christ.

Jim Scudder, Jr., Senior Pastor

Quentin Road Baptist Church, Lake Zurich, IL

✽✽✽

I have followed the teachings of the Institute of Basic Youth Conflicts (now IBLP) from its inception over 35 years ago. From the beginning I have been deeply concerned about the misuse and distortion of the teachings of God’s Word in their interpretation and application. I have had numerous occasions to voice my concerns in person and by telephone to Bill Gothard, his father, and other of his siblings. I have listened to the complaints of such scriptural abuse from many former administrators and staff of the Institute. I believe that Don and Joy Veinot and Ron Henzel of Midwest Christian Outreach have done the Christian public a tremendous service in their careful analysis and consequent warnings about the teachings that are promulgated by IBLP. The terrible hurt to so many staff and others that became public in the early ’80s need never have happened if there had been the humility to be corrected by numerous pastors and teachers. My prayer is that God will be pleased to use this work to bring the correction that is needed to bring the IBLP teachings into compliance with the apostle Paul’s admonition of 2 Timothy 2:15.

Earl D. Radmacher, Th.D.

Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology and

President Emeritus of Western Seminary, Portland, OR

✽✽✽

Sometimes a book is described as a page-turner, or something I simply could not put down. But I found in my reading of this book that I put it down often. I found I could only read a chapter or two at a time; more would be too much. Feelings of incredulity, sorrow, even tears, and at times anger — such were responses that impeded a fast or leisurely reading of this book. William Gothard has many followers. His organization claims that more than two-and-one-half million people have taken part in one or more of his seminars over a period of more than three decades. This is an amazing statistic! Countless people have made decisions for Christ, have found ways of renewal in their marriages, and have been strengthened in their families through the principles they have learned in week-long seminars, pastors’ conferences, home-school curricula, and a wide variety of published materials coming from the Gothard organization. Well-respected pastors across the nation have encouraged congregations to attend seminars en masse, even by arranging for chartered busses and group discounts. Massive funds have been raised to build retreat centers to further the work of Bill Gothard. Bill Gothard! He is a living Christian institution! So why, one would well ask, why would anyone wish to write a book (much less read a book) that brings a critical eye on such a successful ministry, or on such a revered figure as Bill Gothard? Pastor after pastor has told me over the years something along this line: Well, sure, there are some problems here and there in Gothard’s use of Scripture, in his confusion of his own personal, even quirky, ideas with those that are taught in the Word of God, and in the curious dogmatism with which he presents his idiosyncratic views. But, with all the supporters he has, he must be doing something right. Finally, here is a book-length treatment of the Bill Gothard ministry that I can hold out to such pastors and other devoted Christian persons and say, Oh really? Read this book and see if you still believe that the issues are only some problems here and there. In A Matter of Basic Principles, the authors have sifted through an amazing amount of material, have sorted through many issues, and have presented a powerful indictment of many serious errors in Gothard’s teaching, the alarming level of hypocrisy in his personal behavior, and his decades-long resistance to consider correction and improvement of biblical understanding by people who once really wished to be a help to him. The book is marked by grace, logic, wit, and common sense. It is also focused on Scripture sans twisting. At one point in this book the authors evaluate Gothard’s peculiar teaching on the subject of courtship in this manner: We find Gothard’s courtship teaching to be unbiblical, unfair, unreasonable, unworkable, and ultimately unwise. Other than these few considerations, we have no major problem with it. After reading this book, it is likely that you will conclude this is a proper summary not only of Gothard’s views on courtship, but on a great deal of his entire ministry. The authors have not just dealt with ideas; they have interacted with people. It is in the records of damaged lives that this book is so difficult to read as a page turner. When a person presents distortions of Scripture as though these ideas are the true teaching of Scripture, it is not just that the person has erred. This is not just a goof. These errors impact people’s lives; sometimes the results are horrendous. It is for these reasons that the apostle Paul spoke so strongly against false teachers in the first century. Paul had occasion even to speak directly against Peter when Peter moved slightly from grace. Bill Gothard has not moved slightly; this book demonstrates that he misunderstands grace as much as he confuses the function biblical dietary laws had in ancient Israel with principles for good eating among Christians today. One more note: The writers score strongly in their many witty analogies from film, fiction, television, and other elements of popular culture. This makes a solid book more enjoyable for the teachable person to read. My suspicion is that when Mr. Gothard reads this book, not only will he continue to resist its intended correction in his personal life and public ministry; he is also rarely to get the wonderful jokes in these allusions, as they come from a world (the world in which real people live) in which he has had so very little experience.

Dr. Ronald B. Allen

Professor of Biblical Exposition

Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, TX

Acknowledgements

This work really has been a team effort, and we want to thank those who have so greatly encouraged and assisted us each step of the way: The former IBLP staff members and alumni who were willing to share their stories and pray for us; the group which included pastors, former and current IBLP staff and alumni who read through each chapter as we went along to suggest corrections and clarifications as well as to point out if we were getting mean-spirited and help us to refocus. We also want to thank Rev. G. Richard Fisher, Dr. Harry Adams, Dr. Norman Geisler, Dr. Earl Radmacher, and Dr. Ronald B. Allen for their assistance in assuring doctrinal integrity and supplementary information. We want to extend our deepest appreciation to Mr. Robin Phillips for his research and participation in writing the chapter on courtship. He made invaluable contributions to this subject. We thank the editors Paul Carden, Corkey McGehee, and David Penny for their diligence, patience and professionalism.

We also want to thank our families for their sacrifice of our time to this project as well as for their love, prayers, and encouragement.

We thank all of the above for keeping us accountable through this process. And finally, we thank our Lord and Savior who delivered us from the bondage of sin and the bondage of legalism.

Foreword

You know, it’s hard to pick up a book that’s critiquing your entire religious upbringing. It wasn’t any different for me when I came across a copy of A Matter of Basic Principles shortly after getting married in 2016. I had heard of this book when I was younger, but just assumed it was another attack on a godly man’s ministry. As is typical in settings where abusive spiritual leaders are in control, I was taught to be skeptical of anyone who would critique the ministry. Growing up under the teaching of Bill Gothard and his Institute in Bible Life Principles, it was all I knew. In fact, from the time I was ten and into my early twenties, I heavily promoted Gothard’s principles on my families’ reality TV show 19 Kids and Counting and in a New York Times bestselling book I co-wrote with my sisters called Growing Up Duggar. I really thought Gothard had unlocked the key to success and happiness in life. But for some reason, I was afraid. I was afraid of an angry God who was waiting to smite me the moment I knowingly or unknowingly violated any of Gothard’s principles. And that fear was paralyzing. So, when I came across Ron, Don, and Joy’s book, I started to read. What I discovered surprised me. It was not a malicious attack against a godly man’s ministry, but a balanced and loving correction of a false teacher who had deceived thousands of people, including me. I realized that Ron, Don, and Joy were motivated by love not only for Bill Gothard, who they knew and cared for personally, but a love for me and all the people that had become entrapped by his teaching. They wanted us to experience the liberating freedom of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, a freedom that Gothard had buried under his own principles and man-made rules. As I read, I was reminded of those beautiful words of Jesus, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:31-32).

This book is unlike any other I’ve ever read. It is serious yet gracious, theological yet easy to understand. The truth that it reveals is comforting to the weary soul. I am so glad I discovered it early in my journey of disentangling truth from error. If you have experienced the false teaching of Bill Gothard, or any other spiritually abusive leader, I pray that this book will guide you to find true freedom and joy in Jesus.

Jinger Duggar Vuolo

Author of the New York Times bestseller,

Becoming Free Indeed: My Journey of Disentangling Faith from Fear

Preface

In the early days of being asked to look into the teachings of Bill Gothard and IBLP, we had not intended to write a book. However, the deeper we looked, the more we wrote about, corresponded, and spoke with Bill Gothard the more concerned we became. We initially hoped to help correct his false and, in some cases, harmful teachings and as it turns out lack of accountability.

Along the way, God brought former IBLP staff into our path who were able to share information about previous attempts to correct his teaching as well as address accusations of sexually inappropriate behavior by Gothard and his brother Steve Gothard.

We were introduced to the late Dr. Earl Radmacher, then President of Western Seminary who spent several years attempting to correct the false teaching and bring about repentance for sexually inappropriate behavior.[1] He was not alone in this endeavor.

Former Professor of Hebrew at Western Seminary, Dr. Ronald B. Allen, Th.D.,[2] drafted and sent out, Issues of Concern — Bill Gothard and the Bible: A Report on May 30, 1984.[3] This was largely met with silence by the church at large. Dr. Rachmacher volunteered to turn over his research and materials to aid in our research and understanding. He also introduced us to more former staff.

Since Bill Gothard was a public figure whose teachings had a wide influence, and since others of higher stature than us had worked hard over the years to biblically confront him, we concluded early in our investigation that the time was long overdue to tell it to the church (Matthew 18:17). Six years of writing journal articles, punctuated by meetings with Gothard in various settings, at times one on one, other times with witnesses, in writing and by phone under the watchful eye of our pastors, Board of Directors, Board of Advisors and the Board of EMNR,[4] was our way of obeying that Scripture.

Our articles led to requests for the information we had collected to be published as a book. In the process of assembling it, in addition to receiving input from the above-mentioned individuals, the late Dr. Samuel J. Schultz, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, and former Board Member of IBYC at the time of the 1980 sex scandal, reviewed, confirmed the details and endorsed this book.

After it was published, the now-late Steve Gothard called. He had fully repented, was married and under accountability. He and his wife spent a weekend reading the book out loud to one another and he called to express his thanks for the gracious spirit in which it was written and affirm that the account of the events surrounding his leaving and Bill’s resignation were accurate.

We had not planned on the book being in circulation for this long but in light of a recent surge in demand it seems appropriate to slightly update it and put it back in print. In light of that, as Dr. Radmacher did for us, we are passing the reins to the first graduates of ATI.[5]  With their website,[6] they have been instrumental in helping others who have suffered spiritual abuse under the teachings of Bill Gothard. In the process of attempting to confront him and help those who were recovering, several young women shared their stories on the Recovering Grace website. Once connected, the women jointly filed a sexual harassment lawsuit[7] against Bill Gothard and IBLP. This action resulted in Gothard’s second resignation from IBLP for sexually inappropriate behavior. We are honored to let the co-founder of Recovering Grace, Dr. John Cornish, introduce himself and the ministry.

✽✽✽

My name is John Cornish, and I am a pastor and professional musician living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I am also one of the co-founders of Recovering Grace (www.recoveringgrace.org), an online organization devoted to helping people whose lives have been impacted by the teachings of Bill Gothard, IBLP, and ATI, as well as all victims of abuse in spiritual environments.

My family joined ATI in the mid-1980s when I was five or six. My parents were young Christians at the time, so when certain influential people in their church came along and shared with them this amazing program that promised to help their kids grow up to be godly young men and women, they embraced it. I vividly remember the joining process as my parents went off to the ATI orientation conference and left my brother and me to stay with another ATI family. I recall that the family had a lot of rules that I didn’t understand, and that I frequently got in trouble. When my parents returned, I noticed significant changes. Many of the rules that the other family had implemented became rules in our house, rules that remained in effect for many years.

I remember that within ATI, Gothard was regarded as a sort of demigod. I recall attending the annual conferences where he received 10-minute standing ovations. The attendees hung onto every word he uttered, eagerly accepting it as gospel truth. As a result of Gothard’s teachings, I began to perceive God as someone who existed solely to judge me for my failures. I believed I had to live my life in just the right way to ensure that He wouldn’t take His hand of blessing from me. I learned to obey my mom and dad not because they loved me but out of the fear that God would shorten my life if I disobeyed. And that was the norm in ATI. Gothard was a master of controlling people’s minds through fear-inducing anecdotes and distorting Scriptures to suit his own agenda.

During my late teens, I spent approximately two years of my life at ATI training centers in Oklahoma City and Indianapolis. I served with a branch of IBLP called Character First! Education, which developed and taught character education curriculum in public schools. The rules and legalism within Gothard’s training centers were oppressive. The strongest reprimand I received there was for engaging in excessive friendly conversation with a female friend, which was evidence of not having a courtship spirit. However, I witnessed several others being sent home or assigned additional workloads for not adhering to the rules perfectly. I still recall with horror a young man being compelled to confess his pornography use to the entire training center population, and I also remember a time when the entire group of students was nearly denied a field trip due to failing an unexpected pop quiz on the book of Jonah.

I was 18 or 19 years old when I truly started questioning everything I had been taught. Something about my experiences at the training centers didn’t feel right, and I was beginning to realize that many of Gothard’s teachings didn’t align with what I read in the Bible. Around that time, my family received a copy of A Matter of Basic Principles. Intrigued, I began reading it, and the content I encountered profoundly changed my life. I had never come across such a clear exposition of the flaws in Bill Gothard’s teachings, and the revelations about what occurred behind the scenes in IBLP were incredibly enlightening. While my journey toward spiritual freedom had already begun prior to reading the book, it was through the book that God confirmed to me that I was on the right path.

And so, I moved on from Gothardism. As far as I was concerned, it was a thing of the past, and my future lay ahead. However, ten or so years later, in the spring of 2011, I viewed a special 20/20 report on ABC that discussed the culture of abuse in Independent Fundamental Baptist churches. Much of what was addressed reminded me of my experiences in ATI. The following day, I wrote and published a blog post titled My Childhood in the ATI/IFB World, in which I publicly revealed for the first time my childhood experiences, the theological errors I observed in Gothard’s teachings, and my journey of disentanglement. Initially, I anticipated only a few people reading the post, but within days it garnered thousands of views and my inbox was flooded with dozens of emails. One of those emails invited me to join a private Facebook group called ATI Student Survivors, and within that group, I discovered for the first time that there were thousands of other adults who, like me, had spent years grappling with the impact of Bill Gothard’s teachings on their lives.

One consistent topic of discussion in this group revolved around finding ways to assist those who were still ensnared in Bill Gothard’s teachings, individuals questioning his principles and seeking answers, as well as those who had left Gothardism but were still in the process of recovering and disentangling themselves spiritually. From these discussions, the idea for a website emerged. In July 2011, Recovering Grace was launched with the purpose of shedding light on the destructive consequences of Bill Gothard’s teachings and the organizations he established. Our aim was to provide understanding, hope, and healing to generations of former followers.

At the time of our launch, our primary focus was on publishing theological articles and personal narratives written by various writers who possessed a unique insider’s view of these teachings and their impacts. However, in 2012, we started receiving reports of alleged misconduct by Bill Gothard, which included accusations of unwelcome physical contact, misconduct during private counseling sessions, and failure to report instances of abuse involving minors. In order to alert and caution others, we made the decision to publicly share narratives from several individuals who claimed to have personally experienced these behaviors and were willing to speak out about their experiences.

Over the next few years, we also engaged in a series of private dialogues with Bill Gothard and other influential individuals within IBLP. In June 2013, we published an open letter directed to Gothard, urging him to repent. Subsequently, in February 2014, we publicly called for his resignation from Christian ministry. Alongside this call, we presented a series of articles that meticulously documented a 40-year pattern of moral misconduct, abuse of spiritual authority, and mishandling of Scripture by Bill Gothard.

On Thursday, February 27, 2014, the IBLP board of directors placed Gothard on administrative leave while they initiated a review of the allegations against him. In June 2014, the IBLP board released a statement affirming, Mr. Gothard has acted in an inappropriate manner, and the Board realizes the seriousness of his lack of discretion and failure to follow Christ’s example of being blameless and above reproach. They further stated, At this time the Board unanimously agrees that Mr. Gothard is not permitted to serve in any counseling, leadership, or Board role within the IBLP ministry.

In 2015, several former ATI students filed a lawsuit that soon encompassed IBLP, Bill Gothard, and specific former IBLP staffers. Some of the plaintiffs had published parts of their stories through Recovering Grace; some were known to us but had chosen not to publish, and others were previously unknown to us. Towards the end of February 2018, despite the validity of their case, the plaintiffs’ attorneys advised them to discontinue the lawsuit. The primary reason was that even if they were to succeed in court, the emotional toll of the following months or years on their personal lives would be significant. Additionally, the attorneys had been working on a contingency basis, and it was becoming evident that due to mounting statute of limitations concerns, the possibility of a countersuit from Gothard, and the limited potential for monetary damages to cover legal expenses, continuing with the lawsuit would present significant challenges. After a few weeks of heart-wrenching consideration, the plaintiffs decided to drop the case.[8]

As of 2023, Recovering Grace perseveres in its mission to shed light on all forms of spiritual abuse and provide resources for individuals endeavoring to maintain their faith amidst the challenging process of spiritual deconstruction and reconstruction. Our future plans encompass the development of additional resources for survivors of spiritual abuse and for local churches seeking to support them, as well as continuous support for those seeking to break free from Gothardism.

I would be remiss if I didn’t express my wholehearted gratitude to Don, Joy and Ron for writing this book, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone in search of the truth regarding Bill Gothard’s teachings. If you know someone trapped in the legalism of IBLP, offering them this book could be a crucial step towards helping them find true freedom. If you are someone who is still grappling with the question of whether Bill Gothard’s teachings are true or not, I also strongly encourage you to read the book. The truth it holds has the potential to transform your life, much as it did for mine.

Dr. John Cornish

Recovering Grace

Prologue

The Birth of a Movement

Where does one begin analyzing a movement such as Bill Gothard’s IBLP?[9] According to the Institute, there are more than 2.5 million alumni.[10] In addition to the Basic Seminar, there are the Advanced Seminar, Pastor’s Seminars, home-schooling curriculum, Medical Institute of America, a correspondence law school, and the Character First! curriculum for cities, towns, schools, and even nations. Bill Gothard has managed to create a cradle-to-grave system for his followers. It would seem reasonable to start with the beginning of the ministry, but that wouldn’t really tell the whole story. After all, movements don’t start in a vacuum; they spring forth from the soil in which they were planted. The same is true with IBLP. To examine the soil that germinated this particular seed, we need to look back a few hundred years.

How Secular Humanism Took Over America

Dr. Norman L. Geisler has an excellent message titled, How Secular Humanism Took Over America.[11] In it he chronicles the birth of our nation and certain events which have led us to today’s culture. An element that Dr. Geisler does not address in this message, which is pertinent to our study, is: Where was the church through all of this? With his permission, I will use his outline and add in the other side of the equation to establish the setting in which IBLP was born and developed by Bill Gothard.

In 1776, the United States of America’s Declaration of Independence was ratified and signed. In the second paragraph, it reads, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. With these important 35 words, America’s birth certificate affirmed that we are all created beings, which assumes a Creator and acknowledges that the rights we have come from Him.

It should come as no surprise that reasoning and faith were intimately woven together in the lives of America’s founding fathers. Traditionally, Christians have been the great thinkers, artists, musicians, poets, scientists, etc. down through history, and the influence of this tradition was felt in the late 1700s as well. Intellectual and spiritual pursuits went hand in hand. Public and private prayer were as important as public and private debate.

The Age of Reason

But this doesn’t mean that the United States of America was necessarily founded as a Christian nation. Christianity had a strong influence among the founders, even though some of them were deists who denied the miracles of Scripture. While they believed that God created everything that exists, and that we would ultimately stand before him to account for our actions, a few early Americans went so far as to speak out against the Bible (e.g., Thomas Paine’s book The Age of Reason). The new government secured and protected freedom of worship partially because of the oppressiveness of the European state church system, but also because voices were already being raised questioning whether Christianity was the only true faith.

Despite the propaganda of recent mythmakers, the period extending from the American Revolution to the beginning of the 19th century was, in reality, a period of steep decline for the church in both North America and Europe. Church attendance was at an all-time low, and many churches that survived were in the process of abandoning their commitment to the