More allegations against Institute in Basic Life Principles, Gothard

Regarding Jim’s comment, it strikes me that the urge to put a lot of non-Biblical rules on believers dates back to well before Christ. What were the Pharisees except for early Basic Seminar attendees, really? So even if every single allegation against Gothard turns out to be 100% true (or even worse than advertised), some fool out there is going to dig up those IBLP booklets and recycle them in the same way that Gothard recycled a lot of his ideas from previous sources.

And to step on a soapbox I stand on regularly (sorry), this is what happens when people circle the wagons around a leader instead of throwing a flag at un-Biblical behavior. Known problems with IBLP date back to the 1980s, but people still kept coming around and welcoming Bill Gothard as a leader.

For a bewildering look at how some people think, consider this statement from Gothard:

In an affidavit attached to the amended lawsuit, Gothard states that he has attempted to contact all the women “in accordance with Matthew 18:15–17,” and that he is ready to return to active ministry because he has “fulfilled as far as possible [the] instruction” of Matthew 5:23–24, which guided his earlier resignation. He also states:

Here is the article: http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2016/january/more-women-sue-bill-gothard-iblp-alleging-sexual-abuse.html

He has already returned to “active ministry.” He’s written 6 or 7 books, he has a new program - has access to all of the ATI e-mail addresses. I spoke with him on the phone a while back and he told me about the program that he was heading up. I asked him if he thought it was acceptable to return to ministry so soon. He said he had done everything that needed to be done. I told him that there were still women he had harmed who hadn’t heard from him and he said he was unaware of that and that they should contact him.

He greatly minimized his sin and involvement with women, acted like it was grandfatherly touches, and kept changing the subject to what the Lord is doing in his life now. He went on and on about Rhema - - how he realized that during those days, he wasn’t meditating on God’s Word before he went to bed and that’s how sin got in his life. So now, he’s meditating when he goes to bed and wakes up. And of course he has materials to sell about this new discovery.

His behavior is grandiose, arrogant, and it’s really hard to get a word in edgewise because it’s all about him and his so-called ministry. Is anyone holding him accountable? Of course not.

In my experience and observations with this issue, abusers do this constantly. They orchestrate a repentance, flying though a checklist so that they can be absolved of their past misconduct. They are good at repenting. They say all the right things. People want to give them the benefit of the doubt and that is where the train goes off the rails because in real life, almost always there is a cycle of repentance right back into abuse. It goes on and on.

Proverbs 10:19 (oops, not 10:9) comes to mind for the abusive person who embodies the old proverb “If you can’t blind them with brilliance, you can baffle them with…..[nonsense] ” They will slip up with something they say or do and will give you the rope to hang them, figuratively speaking. Per Jim’s comment, you can build off Gothard’s weird definition of grace, the lack of sound finances (JA, there’s some accountability from the donors), or even a strange view of Matthew 18.

Side note is that as the ECFA is accrediting IBLP despite a business model that has horrendous cash flow issues (how do you spend $17 million taking care of only $70 million in assets?), I’m going to have to suggest that the ECFA accreditation model needs a bit of work.

Look carefully and (rhetorically) hold on for dear life. We do not need to be flummoxed by the sweet talker, be it a poltician, Bill Gothard, whoever.

Recovering Grace is a website which discusses the teachings of Gothard and also has published personal testimonies of approximately 40 victims of Gothard/IBLP. On the Recovering Grace Facebook page, they posted the following. I am glad they have a robust anti-SLAPP law in the state of Illinois.

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Dear friends, we wanted to share with you the following letter that was forwarded to Recovering Grace by the law firm representing the plaintiffs suing Bill Gothard and IBLP. While every story that we have ever published was with the knowledge that we might one day have to defend our decisions in a court of law, it is nonetheless disturbing to see these threats in print. Your continued prayers are appreciated.

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Counsel — It is unfortunate that Plaintiffs’ attorneys feel the need to circulate these pleadings to the press. Just remember this once the Court rules on the pending motions to disqualify.

Also, demand is hereby made upon any and all of your clients that have posted false and defamatory statements on the Recovering Grace website to immediately remove them.

Those persons can anticipate a counter-claim or cross-claim against them, in conjunction with the principals behind that website, for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress seeking actual and punitive damages in an amount in excess of $1,000,000 (with such an award after expenses be payable to an appropriate not for profit organization) along with such other injunctive and equitable relief the Court deems just.

Every day those postings remain in the public domain undoubtedly will enhance the damages recovery.

Glenn Gaffney
([email protected])
Gaffney & Gaffney PC
1771 Bloomingdale Rd.
Glendale Heights, Il 60139

defense is attempting to play hardball. It is pitching fast and inside.

Why do I keep clicking on the stories about _________ (Gothard, Clinton, Driscoll, Richards, etc) hoping to read that they have admitted fault resigned completely, exited public life and the ______(IBLP, Clinton Foundation, MDM, Planned Parenthood etc.) has shut down, their followers having seen the light of their folly and abandoned them.

Why oh why?

been under the impression Mr. Gothard attended a Bible Church. At least in the 77-81 time frame, one of the points of the late B.M. Cedarholm’s opposition to Gothard and his ministry was Gothard wasn’t a member of a Baptist church.