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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.

Tag Archives: bill-gothard

An ATI Education: Introduction

12 October 2015, 06:00

Sara Jones

34

If a woman doesn’t cry out when she’s raped, God holds her equally guilty with her attacker. This biblical mandate is familiar to every student and parent who went through Bill Gothard’s Wisdom Booklet #36. Reading it as a bald statement like that, it’s hard to believe that a thinking Christian would admit to believing […]

Recovering Grace in the Media

17 September 2015, 21:12

Moderator

31

In the past two weeks, two major investigative reports were released in the media, both of which were focused on aspects of Bill Gothard and the IBLP and ATI organizations. Both of these reports utilized Recovering Grace spokespersons as sources. We found both of these articles to be exceptionally well-written, and their content to be much deeper […]

Stolen Dreams

24 August 2015, 07:14

Sara Jones

46

Through IBLP and his “homeschool” program (the Advanced Training Institute), Bill Gothard stifled hundreds of dreams in the name of godly living. As the first wave of apprenticeship students reached teenager-hood beginning in the 1990s, all of us naturally needed to explore and develop our own gifts. But as we sat through Gothard’s sessions in […]

Church Celebrities Who are Above Criticism: Bill Gothard

1 July 2015, 06:00

Moderator

145

“He deprives the trusted ones of speech And takes away the discernment of the elders.” (Job 12:20) In a post put up a couple weeks ago, I recounted how, in the late sixties, my dad, Joe Bayly publicly criticized Bob Jones University. He did so in his monthly column in ETERNITY Magazine. It was also […]

Failure to Repent: Tell It to the Church

27 June 2015, 21:27

Moderator

256

June 24, 2015 Rev. William Gothard [mailing address redacted] Dear Bill, With much prayer and consultation, as called for in Proverb 12:15, we are informing you in writing and as a follow up to our May 29 conference call that it is necessary to take our involvement in seeking your repentance to the next level, […]

Of Music and Football

26 June 2015, 06:00

Moderator

19

“So you’re Caleb,” my high school guidance counselor said as she handed me the results of my Pre-ACT test. “You did really well.” I didn’t just have the best scores in my class, I was among the best in the nation. She told me I could write my own ticket, if I would apply myself, […]

The Characteristics of a Sexual Groomer

23 June 2015, 07:54

Moderator

54

When I think back over my life, and what happened to me when I was 20, when I met Bill Gothard, I think of this quote from the character of Rosa Dartle in David Copperfield. With my good, acute memory that never allows me to forget, I can put myself back in that room, that […]

Bill Gothard’s New Website

3 June 2015, 10:42

Moderator

230

Late last night, Bill Gothard’s personal website, billgothard.com, launched a complete redesign with new content. Included in this new content was a statement by Bill Gothard in which he attempts to address some of the issues that we have raised on our site over the past four years. Additionally, there is an entire page dedicated to personal testimonies […]

The Brilliance of Bill Gothard

29 April 2015, 06:00

Moderator

129

Bill Gothard created a cult, and he did a fine job of it. He didn’t create a commune that physically isolated his followers from the rest of the world. He didn’t lead weird sessions with chanting and candles. He didn’t even come up with strange names for his teachings. He conducted his cult in the […]

The Shame of Beauty

16 April 2015, 06:00

Moderator

142

Before I was born my parents started following the teaching of Bill Gothard and IBLP, and when I was 5, they joined ATI (Advanced Training Institute), the homeschool program that Gothard developed for the families of his Basic and Advanced Seminars. Gothard emphasized “principles” which simply meant there were many different rules that dictated specific activities in my […]