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Articles about how Bill Gothard mishandles the Bible to support his legalistic viewpoint.

Personal testimonies of finding true freedom through God's matchless grace.

Living and thriving through the grace of God.

Stories and accounts of the destruction caused by the teachings of Bill Gothard.

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It’s All In Your Head!

4 February 2013, 06:04

HelenE

Bill Gothard teaches many things that are erroneous. Even dedicated followers admit the need to pick and choose. This story outlines only a few of them in relation to what I experienced starting in 1992. Bill’s teaching on mental illness is that it is caused by irresponsibility or a character deficiency. I disagree. I was […]

Words that Wound

31 January 2013, 06:00

Cyndi

Most of us have been there. You venture outside your pain and tell someone you have been spiritually abused. You test the waters, saying, “I’ve been hurt.” Sadly, others, especially those who profess Christ, can utter words that cut deep, invalidate your experience, and leave you like the traveler on the side of the road, […]

How to Identify Religious Brainwashing ~ Part One

21 January 2013, 06:00

Stephen Smith

Aki Ray, a former child-soldier in Cambodia, is now one of the world’s foremost mine-clearing experts. He walks through the jungle looking for landmines and then defuses them one by one. He’s alive because he knows what to look for in the weeds. Can you identify the subtle signs of mind control? I couldn’t. That’s […]

Parents in a Potemkin Village: Six Weeks in the Moscow Training Center

14 January 2013, 06:00

Diana Hall

A panoramic view of the Moscow Training Center assembled from four snapshots taken in Fall 1995

We entered the Advanced Training Institute (ATI) homeschool program when I was fifteen, and not much about my life changed. Our family attended functions here and there and added the Wisdom Booklets to our home school curriculum, but the more unique ATI teachings did not have much effect on us. Before we joined ATI we […]

The Promise of a Thousand Anecdotes

7 January 2013, 06:00

Moderator

Objects in anecdotes may be less glorious than they appear.

A recurring question in the comments sections of Recovering Grace and for former ATI (Advanced Training Institute) students who share their stories elsewhere, is how and why loving parents would stay in such a program. Two explanations have been explored on this site, and I’d like to posit and explore a third. The first explanation: […]

Transformation

22 October 2012, 06:00

Moderator

After ten years in the Advanced Training Institute (ATI) and a number of experiences participating in various programs (Counseling Seminar, Sound Foundations, EXCEL, and a handful of Children’s Institutes), there came a moment when it became crystal clear to me that, within the spiritual and social confines of the Advanced Training Institute, I would never […]

Rethinking Grace

15 October 2012, 06:00

Carolynn

106

As I’ve discussed with my parents various teachings I learned through the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) and through the homeschooling curriculum published by the Advanced Training Institute of America (ATIA), I’ve frequently heard from them, “We never taught you that!” They are sometimes defensive and sometimes horrified at the concepts I absorbed as […]

The Ravages of Guilt

8 October 2012, 06:00

Moderator

“If you say anything, I will tie up your family, just like I tie you up. Then I will make you sit there and watch as I kill each one of them in front of you. Will I kill you? No! You I will leave alive, so that you can spend every day of your […]

Recovering from the Most Subtle of Lies

27 September 2012, 06:00

Moderator

Over the last few weeks, I’ve felt compelled to write down my experience with the Advanced Training Institute (ATI) and the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP). I think this desire comes from the fact that I want to show that the effects of Gothardism are not always as drastic as one may be led […]

The Raising of a Christian Narcissist

17 September 2012, 06:00

Moderator

My family joined the Advanced Training Institute (ATI) in the early ’90s, shortly after attending a Basic Seminar, at the invitation of a family which has in recent history become a household name. I was in my early elementary years at the time. I didn’t really understand why we were making so many abrupt changes […]