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

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

Tag Archives: grace

A Call for Discernment

4 March 2014, 06:00

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Recovering Grace in many ways is a result of the efforts of other Christian leaders who throughout the 80’s and 90’s tried to warn of the dangers inherent in the teachings of Bill Gothard, the Advanced Training Institute, and the Institute in Basic Life Principles. Although many people involved with Gothardism did not listen, some of us […]

Silencing the Lambs: Twisting Matthew 18

3 March 2014, 06:00

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A Response to Rediscovering a Forgotten Truth The day was Valentine’s Day 1976. Bill Gothard and his brother, Steve, had some surprising confessions to make to the staff of IBYC: they had “defrauded” staff secretaries. In the months prior to this, some of the young ladies had sought out the help of other staff members […]

Defrauding: What does it mean?

27 February 2014, 06:00

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In February 1976, Bill Gothard confessed to the poorly-defined offense of “having ‘defrauded’ staff secretaries.” In a July 1980 meeting of the Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts (IBYC) board, it was confirmed that Bill Gothard was responsible for the “physical and emotional defrauding of several of his personal secretaries.” In February 1981, Bill once again […]

Silencing the Lambs: Taking Up Offenses

22 February 2014, 06:00

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Not taking up an offense As the destructive patterns of Bill Gothard’s alleged indiscretions continue to be told, our comment threads have been hit steadily with various forms of the same question: “Why haven’t these stories been told sooner? If people witnessed these behaviors, why didn’t they speak out?” One oft-quoted—but fallacious—teaching within the Advanced Training […]

Marcus’s Story: Touching the Invisible Electric Fence

17 February 2014, 08:00

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I was invited to work at the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) headquarters during the summer of 1992. I said goodbye to my family in Knoxville, Tennessee, where we had traveled to attend the yearly Advanced Training Institute (ATI) annual conference, and climbed aboard one of the many vans transporting IBLP staff back to Oak […]

A Pastor’s Confession

13 January 2014, 06:00

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I was the pastor of an ATI church. There. It’s out. I said it. So much within me is shouting, “No! No!” But it’s the truth. Somehow the church I served became an ATI (Advanced Training Institute-influenced) church. It was never my plan or desire, but I was naïve. I thought I could invite Gothard […]

Where Healing Begins

9 January 2014, 06:00

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This is where the healing begins This is where the healing starts When you come to where you’re broken within The light meets the dark, the light meets the dark Sparks will fly as grace collides with the dark inside of us So please don’t fight this coming light ~Tenth Avenue North “Healing Begins” I […]

2013 Year in Review

6 January 2014, 06:00

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Dear Recovering Grace Reader, We hope and pray that you have had a blessed holiday season. As we move into 2014, we’d like to take this opportunity to share with you how God is continuing to use our website to help others, as well as to look back at our top 10 posts of 2013. […]

Good Counsel?

23 December 2013, 06:00

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The first time I attended an All Day Ministers’ Seminar as an ATI (Advanced Training Institute) student, a kind lady approached me. “Are you an ATI student?” she asked. “Yes, I am,” I responded. “What do you think of this passage of Scripture?” A perfect stranger was asking me for counsel on biblical topics just […]

What Grace Means to Me

16 December 2013, 06:00

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One of the things Jesus has been so faithful to show me throughout my journey of healing from ATI is the beauty of grace. Grace is something I never fully understood until recently. Although I had heard people talk about grace, my understanding of what it really meant ended at knowing that I was saved […]