Biography
He was raised in and later ordained by the Evangelical and Reformed Church (a predecessor of the United Church of Christ) in 1941, and he officially left that church in 1957. Wierwille graduated from Mission House College with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees. He then studied at The University of Chicago Divinity School and received a Master of Theology in practical theology from Princeton Theological Seminary. Wierwille later studied at Pikes Peak Bible Seminary and Burton College, a non-accredited institution, and received a doctorate in theology.
In October 1942 he started the precursor to The Way International, Vesper Chimes, which was a radio show broadcast from Lima, Ohio, incorporating in 1947 as The Chimes Hour Youth Caravan. He incorporated as The Way Incorporated in 1955, maintaining that this was the name that early Christians used for themselves basing his assertion on several uses of "the way" or "this way" in Acts of the Apostles. Later the official name became The Way International.
Wierwille authored several books which are printed by The Way International's American Christian Press publishing organization. One book was Jesus Christ is Not God, in which he addressed his belief that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God and Messiah but not a persona of the Christian God or a pre-existent being. Wierwille wrote three other works which focused on Jesus Christ and the concept of the Holy Spirit: Jesus Christ Our Passover, Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed, and Receiving the Holy Spirit Today. Other major works include Power for Abundant Living, Christians Should Be Prosperous, Are the Dead Alive Now? and his Studies in Abundant Living five-volume series.
Wierwille, became associated in 1957 with Aramaic Bible scholar George M. Lamsa who finished his translation work for the The Holy Bible from Ancient Eastern Manuscripts (Lamsa Bible) in Wierwille's home. Lamsa and Wierwille together produced the first American Aramaic grammar in 1960 for the study of Biblical manuscripts with the ancient Estrangelo letters. Believing the original New Testament was written in Aramaic, he was a supporter of George Lamsa's translation of the Bible, and used it frequently.
On February 2, 1961, he moved The Way International headquarters to New Knoxville, Ohio on approximately 147 acres of family farm land.
After graduating from B.G. Leonard's Gifts of the Spirit class in Calgary, Alberta, Wierwille began teaching a similar class that he initially called Receiving the Holy Spirit Today but soon changed to Power for Abundant Living (PFAL). Eventually he expanded it into a teaching series, including a foundational, intermediate and advanced class. Wierwille was the President of The Way International from its incorporation until he retired from leadership in October, 1982; passing the presidency to L. Craig Martindale. He died on May 20, 1985 of hepatocellular carcinoma and melanoma.
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