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Seen "Shiny Happy People?"
May 31, 2023 // 303 Comments -
Their Day in Court: Part Three
February 22, 2019 // 167 Comments -
Their Day in Court: Part Two
February 22, 2019 // 0 Comments -
Their Day in Court: Part One
February 22, 2019 // 1 Comment -
Statement from Recovering Grace regarding the lawsuit a ...
March 28, 2018 // 190 Comments -
Rethinking the Nativity
December 25, 2016 // 145 Comments -
Bill Gothard’s Powerless Gospel
March 2, 2016 // 259 Comments -
Plaintiffs Amend Lawsuit Against IBLP, Also Sue Bill Go ...
January 10, 2016 // 1311 Comments -
An ATI Education, Final Chapter: Guilty Silence
January 4, 2016 // 168 Comments -
Introducing our IBYC/IBLP Facebook Recovery Group
December 31, 2015 // 24 Comments
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Plaintiffs Amend Lawsuit Against IBLP, Also Sue Bill Go ...
January 10, 2016 // 1311 Comments -
Charlotte's Story
February 5, 2014 // 610 Comments -
Bill’s Cabin: Uncovering Sin
May 21, 2014 // 477 Comments -
Sacred Grooming, Part Six: A Secretary's Account of Lif ...
January 31, 2014 // 406 Comments -
Trapped in the Shadow of 'God's Anointed': Breaking fre ...
May 5, 2014 // 379 Comments -
Our Response to Bill Gothard’s Statement
April 22, 2014 // 359 Comments -
A Call to Repentance
June 6, 2013 // 353 Comments -
Bill Gothard Issues Public Statement
April 17, 2014 // 341 Comments -
The Agent of Satan
June 4, 2014 // 337 Comments -
Confident Statements Do Not a Solid Argument Make
November 6, 2014 // 330 Comments
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I believe that the moderator over on DG had childr ...
By rob war, April 23, 2025 -
Maybe that's true and you did get exposed to that ...
By Jared Myers, April 23, 2025 -
1. The Mother Tells The Husband. Good, that was ...
By Jared Myers, April 23, 2025 -
I didn't read this book from her. I am not sure if ...
By rob war, April 23, 2025 -
That would be the eleventh anniversary, he resigne ...
By Larne Gabriel, April 22, 2025 -
His Word extends beyond just the 1611 KJV. Not eve ...
By Jared Myers, April 22, 2025 -
In case anyone is interested, Jinger Duggar has wr ...
By kevin, April 22, 2025 -
Just came across this article in a recent Christia ...
By kevin, April 22, 2025 -
"I would also like to point out that extreme patri ...
By Jared Myers, April 8, 2025 -
"as a current atheist.....for the love of all that ...
By Jared Myers, April 8, 2025 -
I know the Shiny Happy People documentary insinuat ...
By Jared Myers, April 8, 2025 -
Those were definitely reinterpretations of those p ...
By Jared Myers, April 8, 2025 -
Gothard and those who define (redefine, actually) ...
By Jared Myers, April 8, 2025 -
Does anyone else remember being told by ATI author ...
By Jared Myers, April 8, 2025 -
"I distinctly remember Bill Gothard telling us at ...
By Jared Myers, April 8, 2025 -
I take care not to lump Gothard's personal theolog ...
By Jared Myers, April 8, 2025 -
I was wondering the same thing. I wish they would ...
By rob war, April 3, 2025 -
I listened to the Daily Podcast for the NY Times t ...
By Kevin W., April 2, 2025
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An ATI Education, Chapter 5: We the People Under Authority

Rejecting your God-given authority doesn’t just affect your personal life. It can destroy a whole nation. I mean, just look at the French Revolution! In Wisdom Booklet 18, Gothard spends several pages discussing the the 18th century French Revolution. He chose as his “chief cause” the fact that many intellectuals of the day had rejected […]
IBYC Scandal in the News — 1980-1982

1. Brief news clip in Eternity regarding IBYC resignations (July-August 1980) 2. The Bill Gothard Tragedy (Plains Baptist Challenger, August 1980) 3. ‘Sexual misconduct’ rocks Chicago-based ministry (The Dallas Morning News, 8/2/80) 4. Bill Gothard Steps Down During Institute Shakeup (Christianity Today, 8/8/80) 5. Evangelicals Feel Strain as Churches Adjust to Marriage Failures (Los […]
The Difference Between Horizontal and Vertical: Fifty Years of Yielding Rights and Not Taking Up Offenses

Rebecca Davis of Here’s the Joy has written about the IBLP Basic Seminar’s teachings on “taking up an offense” and “yielding rights,” the way these concepts have permeated both her own experience and broader American Evangelical culture, and the teachings’ practical effects in culture. Links to and excerpts from Davis’s posts follow below. Taking Up […]
Confident Statements Do Not a Solid Argument Make

A former Advanced Training Institute (ATI) student and Life Focus veteran has tackled both the form and the substance of the IBLP booklet What the Bible Has to Say About “Contemporary Christian” Music: Ten Scriptural Reasons Why the “Rock Beat” is Evil in Any Form at his blog, Throwing Out The Bath Water. “Is there a […]
Heather’s Story

The following is a list of all currently published allegations (that we know of) of Bill Gothard’s behavior. Megan’s Story, published April 3, 2014 (external link) Robin’s Story, published March 10, 2014 Rachel’s Story, published February 17, 2014 Ruth’s Story, published February 12, 2014 Charlotte’s Story, published February 5, 2014 Meg’s Story, published January 20, 2014 […]
Trapped in the Shadow of ‘God’s Anointed’: Breaking free from an Unbiblical Concept

As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you…and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. —The Apostle John — 1 John 2:27 [NASB] You may have heard someone tell you God “anointed” him or her to be your leader. Or, perhaps, someone else pointed to another […]
Twelve Characteristics of Fundamentalist Societies that Shelter Sexual Abuse

How could he have fooled so many people, so thoroughly? How did the abuse go on for so many years, unacknowledged? Whenever a leader at this level is ousted or steps down, questions like these come to mind. In the wake of revelations of sexual harassment and abuse pouring in from survivors of Bill Gothard’s […]
Finding the Words to Say, “No More”

When I was fourteen years old I was diagnosed with a very rare, very aggressive cancer. To be able to start my treatment, we learned, I would need to go to a hospital in a different city. There we met the oncologist responsible for heading up my treatment protocol. He was my future abuser. At […]
A Long Night’s Journey Through the ATI / IBLP System

I grew up in Bill Gothard’s Advanced Training Institute of America (ATIA, later renamed ATI) home school program from 1985 through 2005 — twenty years! I worked at five different Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) training centers run by Bill Gothard and his staff, as well as working at IBLP Headquarters in Oak Brook, […]
When Sexual Harassment at IBLP Headquarters Is Acknowledged

I attended my first Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) Basic Seminar during my junior year of high school. It was interesting, although I couldn’t believe we were watching a video. My parents had been attending these seminars for years. They accepted Jesus at one in 1976. I did my part at the seminar, paying […]