the rise and fall of the ATI/IBLP Cult | a deep dive part 1

feel free to drop any questions in the comments for part 2

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[keriskorki]

My older sister was abused by Bill Gothard since she worked for him at his HQ when she was underage. He is a terrible man. My family was wrapped up in that cult for far too long.

[indi]

I grew up around a lot of people from this cult in Texas. We weren’t allowed to join any homeschool clubs in the area because they ran them all, and they wouldn’t let you join if you didn’t sign the “declarations of faith” or use their coursework. It was very intense.
Also, my dad was a salesmen in a women’s shoe store during the 90s in The Dallas area, and had many ATI/IBLP women customers. He said they always bought the most outlandish/sexy shoes because it was the only way they could express themselves.

[jewelduckworth]

My aunt was in a religious cult but it wasn't one well known. She refused to believe it was a cult and would cut family off if they bad different beliefs or told her she was in a cult. My grandmother finally gave her a book that was titled to the sense of "how to tell if you are in a cult"

My aunt read it out of respect for my grandmother and came to the realization that she was definitely in a cult. She finally left and has done so much research on cults. I told her a while back I had been studying cults and she said "yeah me too and it's crazy how most of the cults I've read about was EXACTLY like that church I was in! I can't believe I didn't know!"

They had to cover from head to toe, long sleeves, long skirts, hair fixed, etc. Not allowed to watch TV, her kids weren't allowed to have toys so she sold, trashed, or donated them all, they weren't allowed to visit us because we left the church and was considered "of the devil" for it, despite us still being in a church, just one with different beliefs, and the Bible was drilled into my cousins heads constantly to the point that years later they can still quote most of it and they each have stopped reading it for years. They were homeschooled to keep them out of the world.. the cult was terrible...And it was only getting worse.

Though the cult wasn't well known like many, we personally have named it "weaverism" since that was the name of the pastor of the church. His actions finally caught up with him and now he has moved to another country. My aunt recalls all the hypocrisy of it all.

Remember how I said TVs weren't allowed? The pastor booked a hotel room to watch a football game and said it was ok because it was a "monitor"

So my aunt and uncle bought a HUGE tv. When we went for a visit my uncle pointed to the tv and said "look at my monitor! I figured if the pastor could watch the game on a monitor then I can. So this is what I call my monitor. I don't care what they say." and laughed... That's how I knew they were getting out.

[givemespacedog]

I grew up in this cult also in Texas. I didn’t really realize it until last year. I’ve finally started trying to deconstruct some of the more specific aspects of what they taught me (homeschooled oc). This was a really great video, thank you for making it!!

[karashea]

I’m just a few minutes into it, and I’m saddened (but understand) that you automatically had no confidence in yourself that you could produce an accurate film.
BUT YOU DID! I’m so looking forward to watching. Congratulations!!

[angelicaarroyo]

My first therapist told me my life events were depressing to hear and I didn’t understand how. He told me it was my normal but it wasn’t supposed to be my normal. I was 16 at that time too.

[courtlymayhem]

I have been so grateful lately that my parents took one look at this group and said ABSOLUTELY NOT.

As a rarity, reading these comments I realize how blessed I was to have access to friend groups and homeschool groups that did not jive with IBLP and were careful to filter out potential cult people who tried to infiltrate.

[yeehawtomahawk]

The "rule" about abuse, particularly sexual abuse, is especially scary to learn about given what Josh Duggar has done

[AngiDas]

This was really thorough and I will be waiting to watch the next parts. Thank you for sharing your story with the world.

[goread]

Craziest part of all of this is that you are concerned your video and personal perspective is not good enough / thorough enough / accurate enough etc etc. It’s a sad example of how cults function by eroding their members self esteem, self confidence and belief in their ability to make good decisions for themselves. Trust your own judgement you are more than good enough 🙌🏻

[hannah-]

Thank you for sharing your story. it is so wild hearing about this now. My family was not iblp but very christian. When I was VERY young, we had a pastor who I guess had attended Bill Gothard seminars. I don't remember all the details well because I was like 8... but I remember my mother saying that name "Bill Gothard", saying these teachings were horrible and elitist, and something about an "umbrella of authority" that gave pastors special privilege over others. I remember this pastor was only with us for 6 months before resigning, he had been misusing church funds or something for his personal benefit as i recall.

The pastor we had before that, specifically there had been a scandal where someone at church had abused a young girl, and the church split in half because the pastor believed we should forgive the abuser and not go to the police... one half took his side, and my parents and other deacons said no way (and that is why he departed from the pastor role 😅 most of the church actually left with him.) I don't remember that he was into Bill Gothard or not, but after what you said about that teaching of sexual abuse within the seminars, that shocked me, it sounded SO familiar... If i'm putting the pieces together correcrly, then I am shocked how much harm the ati/iblp cult was able to do even outside of itself. We were just some random nondenominational church in Maine, yet at least 1 of our pastors had been hypnotized by this cult's teachings, and caused so much heartbreak and broke down so much community

[valid_sound_and_furious]

This is a more historical look at this organization than I've seen before, and I'll be watching with interest for part two. A request from a viewer, though -- slightly greater attention to volume consistency would be grand! Some parts I had to crank to the volume to hear what was being said and then I got my ears blown out when the volume came back up unexpectedly.

[jamiejenrette]

I found you on tiktok! Thank you so much for sharing your story. Your energy and personality is so light hearted and kind—I’m happy you haven’t let your upbringing rob you of that! Looking forward to part 2

[seroquelchamber]

i was raised used the ATI principals and going to the Hinsdale, IL institute for basic life principals homeschool groups and meet i cant watch this now or i will ruin my day, but thank you for i recently got in touch with other survivors so im finally ready to watch things like this. but.... later today....

[mybjj]

This was very well done. Thank you for sharing your story.
We’ve been surrounded by several IBLP families for years and have seen first hand the things you are describing. Little by little it’s getting exposed and thanks for being a part of helping expose this cult

[funnyhunny]

I’m really sorry you grew up in this, I’m proud of how far you’ve come in life and the strength and courage you have to talk about it. Thank you for sharing your story. Sending you so much love ❤️

[michelles]

8:22 I was molested by my own biological father when I was 4. Me acquiring good character has nothing to do with my history of SA. To say this is evil. Disgusting. If anything, the event fills me with anger. Any purifying it did was that of instilling fire to hold people accountable for their heinous acts on others.

[DisturbedYoyo]

Yay for sharing part 1! Go you! So glad you went against the "perfection" headloop and put it out! 👏🏼 thank you, i haven't heard of this cult before

[elainaf]

This was so thorough and so interesting. I’m so grateful you posted this. It will helps others learn and heal from similar experiences. Can’t wait for pt 2 and 3.

[TheEpicPlace]

This was very educational and helpful. I was more vision forum but we were involved a lot in ATI stuff. I always found the whole thing confusing and foggy while in it and felt I shouldn’t ask questions so it’s cool to hear it laid out