II Peter 2:1, "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you..."

Victor Paul Weirwille was a disgruntled minister in the United Church of Christ in Van Wert, Ohio in 1942 when he claimed to hear an audible voice from God.

"I was praying. And I told Father outright that he could have the whole thing, unless there were real genuine answers that I wouldn't ever have to back up on.

"And that's when he spoke to me audibly, just like I'm talking to you now. He said he would teach me the Word as it had not been known since the first century if I would teach it to others. "(Footnote #1)

Obviously, here he is claiming a special revelation beyond the Scriptures. Revelation 22:18 says, "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues. .. " At this time, Mr. Weirwille started to research the Bible and also began to pick and choose doctrines from many different influences, some cultic, some charismatic and some traditional. From this experience, Mr. Weirwille put together the Way International Biblical Research Institute. He stayed pastor of the church in Van Wert until 1957 when he left under questionable circumstances.

On October 30, 1977, Mr. Weirwille put a plaque on the door of the United Church of Christ in New Knoxville, Ohio stating "Jesus Christ never was God, never is and never will be." This blasphemous statement seems to be a play on Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." This is one of his chief oppositions to Biblical Christianity, the denial of the Triune God with Jesus Christ being God the Son.

I John 2:22, "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?"

I John 5:7, "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one."

Victor Weirwille, "Anybody who says Jesus is God is not gonna stand approved before God on that statement, I guarantee ya."(Footnote #2)

Victor Weirwille, "When my life is over I think my greatest contribution may prove to be the knowledge and teaching that Jesus Christ is not God."(Footnote #3)

The chief breakdown in Mr. Weirwille's doctrine is his misuse and downplay of the expression "born again." As with many groups on the scene today, the Way members claim to be born again or saved. Their terminology with this expression is so cleverly subtile in its similarity to Bible salvation that one must be very careful in dealing with them.

The difference with them is that they nurture a head belief type confessional without true conversion and this is very dangerous as it blinds one who has made such a profession from the true experience because they claim that they are saved.

Here is how one becomes saved in the Way International. First, one must pay one hundred dollars to the local headquarters to be able to see a series of videotapes of Mr. Weirwille. Ephesians 2:8,9, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." You attend fifteen three hour tape sessions where you are not allowed to question what you see. During one of the later tape sessions, Mr. Weirwille reads Romans 10:9,10, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth..." At this time, people watching the tapes make their profession.

And that is all it is, a profession. There is not talk of sin, the need for repentance and why man is lost without Jesus Christ. That is also why, at this time, there is no changed life. II Corinthians 5:17, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away." They confess with their mouth, but do not believe in their heart.

Seeing Mr. Weirwille is negligent in this essential doctrine, it is easy to see why the rest of his teaching is non-scriptural. I Corinthians 2:14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

Water baptism has no part or practice in the Way International. One reason for this is that Mr. Weirwille believes that the original church was a failure. He says that water baptism was for Israel. Here is the verse he uses to back this up. Acts 1:5, "For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." Of course he also believes that the Gospels were part of the Old Testament and the Pauline Epistles are the only books of doctrine applicable to this age. Now we know that Acts 1:5 is talking about the day of Pentecost and not some individual experience. We also know that the Gospels are an essential element to the New Testament. Jesus said that the ministry of John the Baptist was the beginning of the New Testament. Matthew 11:13, "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John." We also know the original church was not a failure. Jesus said (Matthew 16:18), "...upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Book of Acts Christianity, which Mr. Weirwille claims to promote, clearly demonstrates water immersion baptism after salvation.

Using I Corinthians 12:13, "By one Spirit, are we all baptized into one body" as his basis, he concludes that people are baptized by the Holy Spirit when they are saved and receive the Holy Spirit. Mr. Weirwille believes that man has no spirit at all until he is saved, only soul and body. Of course, this is false. Romans 8:16, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." I Corinthians 2:11, "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." These two verses point out that man has a separate spirit all along.

In Ephesians 4:4,5, we find the terms one body, and also one baptism. Obviously, one baptism is water baptism and one body is the local New Testament Church. Colossians 1:18, "And he is the head of the body, the church."

The word church is a sore point in Mr. Weirwille's vocabulary. It is used over one hundred times in the New Testament, but he ignores it. His organization is based around a tree, trunks, branches, twigs and leaves being different size categories of his structure. A twig is the small group of believers and a leaf is a single believer. Branches and trunks are composed of twigs, being the base network. Tell me, can you find this organization in the book of Acts?

By far, the most important items in the New Testament to Mr. Weirwille are the spiritual gifts, but basically tongues and healing. "And you have no proof of God's resurrection till you speak in tongues. "(Footnote #4)

Mr. Weirwille instructs his followers how to speak in tongues on one of his videotapes. It is the grand finale of his basic message to beginners. It is the essence of salvation, in his eyes, to speak in tongues. The members of a twig have their tongues at the finish of their meeting. The person in charge will call on a person to speak in tongues, then interpret. This person will utter a bunch of strange syllables, then produce a sentence that is similar to a verse of the Bible.

Chapter 12 of the book of 1st Corinthians clearly teaches that not all people in the church were to speak in tongues. I Corinthians 12:5, "Now there are diversities of gifts..." So, if tongues speaking, as it was done in the Bible, were on the scene today, not everyone would be expected to do it, because not everyone in the Corinthian church had the gift, though it was a coveted gift. Mr. Weirwille teaches that the ability to speak in tongues is a fruit of the Spirit, proof of salvation. "The speaking in tongues was the external manifestation of the receiving of the gift of holy spirit. "(Footnote #5)

Pentecost type tongues, where the early believers had the miraculous gift of speaking in a foreign tongue instantly has no place in the Way International.

Another emphasis is miraculous healing. Their techniques of doing this are identical to many of the so-called faith healers on the scene today. They tell the person they are going to heal that their faith is the thing that will heal them and then they pray on them and command God to heal the person on the basis of that person's faith. When they fail, they claim the person did not believe enough.

These people do not have the gift of healing the New Testament Christians had. Mark 16:18, "They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." The early New Testament Christians miraculously healed people and also raised dead folks. Acts 9:40, "...and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up." I don't believe Mr. Weirwille has ever attempted this.

Is the Way International to be taken lightly? By all means, the answer is no. Because of their active missionary program, they have seen an annual growth of three thousand new converts, bringing their current national membership to fifty thousand, up from just a thousand members in 1968. We have seen that, according to the Word of God, the Way International is a collection of erroneous doctrines. Mr. Weirwille is probably not out just to make money even though his members send fifteen percent of their incomes to his headquarters. But he is as sincerely deceived as his members are.

How does one deal with a member of this group? Can they be won to Christ? This is a particularly difficult matter. When dealing with deception, we definitely are dealing with spiritual wickedness in high places. These members are drilled in their verses and what they mean to them. You can show a Way member a verse that contradicts what they believe, and they will not see it. Their doctrines are full of holes to the learned believer, but to one of them, their minds are blinded to the truth. The babe in Christ should avoid these people as they should all other cults who love to prey on new converts in Christ. But prayer, diligence, and the power of God can see a Way member saved like they can anyone else.

1. Elena S. Whiteside, The Way: Living in Love, 2d ed. (New Knoxville, Ohio: American Christian, 1974), p. 178.

2. Transcript of a recorded interview of Victor Paul Weirwille by Art Toalston in Mr. Weirwille's office at the Way headquarters, New Knoxville, Ohio, February 1976, p. 32.

3. Hal Miller, "The Way Followers March On New Knoxville Church," St. Mary's (Ohio) Evening Leader, October 17, 1977.

4. Transcript of Toalston's Interview, p. 36.

5. Victor Paul Weirwille, Jesus Christ is not God (New Knoxville, Ohio. American Christian, 1975), p. 131.