Karl Kahler

Hey Raf, sup! Long time, huh?

Courage to you, BlueCord. Leaving is not easy, especially with the deep social and family ties that The Way can wrap around you, not to mention the suggestions they may have planted in your head that if you leave The Way, God is "forced" to remove his hand of protection from you and you are fair game for the Adversary. That is pure manipulation and brainwashing, but it's powerful stuff. You ask me, the freedom on the other side is worth whatever it takes to break out of The Way's bondage.

Ex, I always call him V.D. Wierwille, but yes, we're talking about the same person.

Somehow I missed this thread previously! Good points all around. Victor and Stephanie Barnard and I were in the 14th Corps, not the 12th (as well as his prominent followers Ken and Amy Pacanowski and at least two other followers that I know of). Stephanie was an assistant to V.D. Wierwille the year he died, our interim year, 1985. We graduated in the summer of '86, which is when Victor and Stephanie married. I've heard one theory that Stephanie was not too perturbed by her husband's philandering because she knew how V.D. Wierwille lived his life. One of Barnard's "Maidens" was a young woman from Brazil who had to go home when her visa expired around 2008. Barnard, enforcing his rule that Maidens had to travel in pairs at all times (a very effective way of keeping them from thinking for themselves, or blabbing to others), sent a series of Maidens to Brazil to be with the Brazilian girl for six months at a time. After about 18 months, and around the time River Road Fellowship blew up in MN and relocated to WA, Barnard flew down to Brazil as well, and may have spent up to six months there before rejoining his flock in Washington. I have no idea how many followers he or his Maidens were able to win down there, but it would be a natural place for him to hide. However, my understanding is that the police are pretty sure he is in the U.S., and probably in Washington, where he has a much larger network of worshipful followers to help him hide. Here are the top people closest to Barnard that I know of: Mark and Jean Frontczak are in Bellingham, Washington. Mark allowed Victor to ordain him (wtf?), so it's Rev. Frontczak now. He used to be a big wheel in Bless Patrol at HQ, so presumably he would know a thing or two about security, and possibly about hiding someone from the police. I believe their daughter is one of the Maidens. Mark was one of the people who most vehemently resisted any effort within the group to bring Victor's sins to light or to confront him on his adultery with married women in the group. There is also a group of seven young women in Bellingham called Auriga's Band, named after a constellation. These women, who are in an all-girl band, are described as just like the Maidens, in the full service of Victor "Christ in the flesh" Barnard. Pam and Randy Roark are in Spokane. I put her name first because she is said to be extraordinarily close to Barnard, almost certainly one of his "conquests." But Randy was another person Victor ordained. Pam and Randy used to be in the Family Corps and were Branch coordinators in the Twin Cities. TWO of their daughters are Maidens — even though Pam should know what a lech Barnard is, and what service to him entails. I'm told that Randy was bothered by Victor's closeness to Pam (as was Victor's wife Stephanie), and that Victor once said they might have to deliver Randy to Satan. Pam Roark was probably the primary person who organized the Maidens, planned their day, scheduled their cooking and cleaning and sewing duties, as well as their time to attend Victor. If anyone is an accessory to Victor's crimes, Pam Roark would be my chief suspect. Craig Elmblad is another person Victor ordained who is Spokane. He was never in the Corps but was a younger brother of Judy Bedard, who was an assistant Corps coordinator when we were in the 14th Corps. When Minnesota police went to Washington looking for Victor and knocked on his last known address, Elmblad answered the door and said he had no idea where Victor was. A fourth person ordained by Victor was Ken Pacanowski, who was married to Amy, both of the 14th Corps, now back in Pennsylvania. He was one of the first people to confront Victor on his adultery, and he has since left the group, though his confrontation appears to have been rather namby-pamby, and he thought it was wrong to go to the authorities about Barnard's alleged crimes. I don't know what kind of resources the cops have to investigate this case, but I believe if they had a court order and the time and staff to tap the phones of just two or three of the above-mentioned people, it would lead them straight to Barnard before too long. Cheers to all, Karl

Tragically, Ex, Lindsay Tornambe's younger sister took her place as a "Maiden" and is still in the group.

Thanks for that, Ex. It's good to know that some people out there know what I'm talking about (and know much better than I). I vaguely remember Carmen Tornambe because he was in the 12th Corps and in residence with the 14th Corps (and was a man with a woman's name). He left Barnard's group, and talked to investigators, but his wife, Peggy, left him and stayed with Barnard. Their daughter, Lindsay, told me that Peggy didn't want to hear anything she had to say about Barnard's lechery, saying she was still standing with Victor no matter what. Lindsay doesn't speak to her mother anymore. Lindsay also doesn't speak to her father, because she says he's still in denial about what happened to her — and wants people to feel sorry for him because he lost his whole family. Well, boo-hoo. If Carmen Tornambe thinks he's the victim here, I can only pity his cluelessness.

The most disturbing story I’ve ever reported will be published Sunday in the St. Paul Pioneer Press and was just posted online here: http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_25783953/victor-barnard-called-girls-brides-christ-and-he It’s the story of a remarkable woman who endured nine years of sexual abuse, starting when she was just 13, by a cult leader and Corps grad named Victor Barnard who recruited a harem of 10 young “Maidens” to be “sacrificed to God” and “married to Christ.” What that meant, according to a criminal complaint filed in Minnesota last month, was that he would use them repeatedly for sex — for years — because he was “Christ in the flesh.” He’s a wanted man today, believed to be hiding in Washington state. I actually knew the guy 30 years ago when we were both in the 14th Corps, and I believe The Way is where he learned his sick tactics.

For those who are interested, I've talked to some knowledgeable ex-insiders from River Road Fellowship, and I hope to publish something soon. Stay tuned. If and when it happens, I will post a new thread.

Hello gang! Long time no play. I was in the 14th Corps with Victor Barnard and his wife Stephanie Sarro, and as one of you noted I was interviewed by Fox 9 News in the Twin Cities, as well as the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio. I'm an editor at the San Jose Mercury News and I'm interested in writing something about this myself. If anyone has contact info for Jeff Sjolander or anyone else who was involved in River Road, I would welcome your email at kkahler@mercurynews.com. Thanks!

I think what he meant was, "Don't you dare question anything I say, or this whole fraud could collapse like a house of cards!" What amazes me is how Wierwille elevated the worship of the Word above the worship of God or a relationship with Jesus Christ. "It's the Word, the Word, and nothing but the Word!" Here he played to his strength, such as it was - the "right dividing" of the Word that he plagiarized from so many others and enshrined in PFAL. I suspect he personally had no relationship with God, and he diminished the importance of Christ except to use his name as a magical incantation at the end of every prayer, or to rant about "Christ in me" (which is more about "me" than about "Christ"). The only angle VPW had was "the Word." He taught us to worship a book!

Yes, David, I wrote to that shyster on Amazon and asked why he was charging $139 used for a book I sell for $25 new. He never wrote back. Glad to hear it's still there, meaning nobody has bought it yet! It's not THAT good! :)

Good to hear from you again, Sudo! I'll see you in hell. = )

Yes, Groucho, my witty old pal: You say goodbye, I say hello. I enjoyed this place for a long time, but I got to the point where I couldn't keep up - and where everything I was posting was starting to sound the same. But I assumed it would always be here, and was a bit shocked to learn that it was closing. I guess we'll all meet in GreaseSpot Heaven someday. There is a GreaseSpot Heaven, right?

Yes, Bramble, Kindle is one of the formats at Smashwords. I don't know about opting out and uploading it to Amazon myself. I am waiting for the Smash folks to review it to make sure it meets their formatting standards, at which time they will put it on a premium distribution list so that it reaches all major retailers. Thanks all for your interest and kind words. I'm looking forward to Charlene's book!

Hi Groucho! (And Shellon, and Kit, and other friends old and new.) The Way was so corrupt on so many levels. The sexual abuse of trusting women by predatory leaders was perhaps the worst of it. But we were all used in so many ways - hoodwinked by a slick sales package and brainwashed by the coordinated peer pressure that was Way culture. The Way erased our personalities and gave us new ones. It told us how to think, speak and act, applying carrots and sticks to make us conform. It turned us against our parents. It talked us into going WOW instead of going to college. It required us to send rich people an absolute minimum of 10% of our income, no matter how poor we were with the crap jobs we were able to get with our non-educations. The Way made us dedicate our lives to going out and finding new, innocent people to recruit and brainwash, using the same tactics that worked so well on us. It invaded our privacy, treating grown men and women like children, supervising our finances, our romances, our life decisions. It coerced us to marry or divorce, to have children or have abortions. It told us where to live, how to live and who to live with. My anger is long gone, let alone my "bitterness," but I'll never fully get over the years that were stolen from me. I hope we can all be "ambassadors" now of a different kind, living examples of the fruits of freedom and implacable enemies of religious predators who seek to control the lives of others.