Bill Gothard had been busy building a gnostic empire of legalism for thirty years before Michael and Debi Pearl self-published their first book, “To Train Up a Child,” in 1994.
They are part of what we have been calling the Patriocentric Movement.
As we point out in our 2011 article, “The Cult of ‘Godly’ Womanhood,” by Karen Campbell, Pearl’s book had sold more than 600,000 copies to two generations of parents.
The draw was a belief that the Pearls could guide them in aiding their children’s salvation and sanctification through physical punishment.