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Thankyou for posting Randy ! I think the horrible part is knowing now that not just the kids but the waiters, waitresses, the people that set up the room, the chefs, really all the behind and in front scenes people with great hearts could at any time be 'reamed', yelled and screamed at, reproved heavily for any minor misdemeanour such as, oh I don't know, perhaps missing their cue to come over to a table for something.....by any of those stepford smile women there. Quite devilish actually

Well, the last time I checked, I was a woman who joined the Navy!! I love this poster!! Anyhow, to add my few pennies, I think VBW was a sick man!! A few years ago, a woman posted here at the Cafe, and she described in detail how she had been sexually abused, by a top leader in TWI. OMG!!! IIRC, I think the man who abused her was VPW!!! I know she made me cry when she described in detail how this man( VPW?) had raped her!! I know some people here at the Spot may live in a different than mine, but the way she described her experience was heartbreaking. If she was making this up, shame on her; but I think it really happened to the poor woman!!! I had, a hard, hard time reading about her experience. It was so sad; she broke my heart! How could any man do that to a woman??!! If a man did that to a young girl/ woman today, his azz would be in prison!! And this was just one woman describing her experience with a powerful TWI leader. It made me realize that several many, many people were abused by people in TWI; so many people who just wanted to love God, and help people were victimized by the leaders. I know that someday God will deal with all the evil people in, and out of TWI, but I was furious that so many people were so hurt!

Bapsy I didn't attend Hindu or Buddhist gatherings or ceremonies, it is just that with a less elitist attitude I found myself more readily exchanging ideas with people of different religions. Previously those conversations had been limited because people pick up on a closed-minded attitude, one that I didn't even realize I had while in TWI. For example, one of my Buddhist friends and I have ongoing conversations about God and Jesus, and the nature of Buddhism, which he says is just learning about yourself through observation. It's cool to learn his perspective, and share mine. Maybe i pick up something from the exchange too, like about being self-aware and observing, while not accepting his overall framework or perspective of the religion as my own. Now maybe people will look at this like "what's the difference?". I would say the difference is people being more open and willing to exchange with me. When I was TWI door-to-door, or accosting people in malls, or in planned outreach events I never felt that way. There was always pressure from somewhere to go for a hard sell environment. People were a byproduct of my self-serving goal of furthering putting together a class according to planned times we needed to make our goals. Oh, but people will say it wasn't your self-serving goal you were moving the word over the world. Here's the key: God moves His Word over the world through His Ways which are higher than ours. Not through the motivated efforts of deluded followers hard selling a boring and ludicrous class offered by a gang of controlling psychopaths. If I was successful at selling the class to people then I was drawing them in to a lifetime of control like I had experienced. That is a little more of the perspective and discovery I have gone through post TWI. I'm sure all religious groups have an element of outreach and selling the idea of membership into their group, but honestly, the churches I've been drawn to lately are not like that. They are more about rescue and genuine service.

Hello everyone, I am a "Newbie" here at the GSC. I was in TWI from 1978-1988. George, I think you are right; a lot of the Way kids were jerked around a lot. As for me, 1984 was an important year for me; I decided that I was going to take AC 1985, and after I finished I was going to join the Navy. I took the AC in Rome City, IN in the summer of 1985. OMG!! I expected to learn a lot of "hot Bible." Instead, I damn near froze to death in RC. For some reason, the AC was on full-blast all the time. I guess we either had to sweat or freeze for the two weeks we were there; I can!t remember the reason. It was so cold; I wore my coat, and a blanket to keep warm. Well, I kept warm; I slept thru most of the class. When I was awake, I heard a lot of s--t. What a huge disappointment for me; I spent a lot of time and money on hearing a lot of right-wing nonsense. I couldn't wait to get back to Albany, and get warm. I realized when I finished the AC, that it was time for me to join the Navy. For those of you who have never been in the military, it was a huge shock for me to go from college, to boot camp. I hated it, and could not wait to leave!! I spent the next five years in the Navy, and got out in 1990. As much as I hated the Navy, I know that it was of God for me to join. Every month, I get disability money. When I get sick, I go to the VA Hospital, I know a lot of people wanted be to go Corps but I knew that was not what God wanted for me; He wanted me to join the Navy. I know a lot of the people who worked for TWI for decades, were kicked out when it was time for them to retire. What an ungodly thing to do to godly people. I had some good times in TWI, in the 80's, but I think my Naval Experience was a lot better for me than going Corps would have been.

Wow!! WW, excellent job in breaking this down, and explaining it. If I may, I would like to add my two cents; forgive me for sounding petty. To this day, it ticks me off that a football player who never went WOW got a WOW pin. I had a very tough time on the WOW field, and went thru hell to finish the year. Yet this man who never went WOW, received a special ceremony where he got a pin he did not deserve. When I first read about this in a Way Mag, I was ticked. TWI made a big deal about giving him this pin, simply because he made big, big bucks playing football. I noticed that when Tony Collins failed his drug tests, TWI never said a thing about it. In TWI, some people were given special treatment if they had money and fame. If you were a peon like me, you got nothing. Forgive me again for being petty, but this behavior really ticked me off.

Thanks.......some of the footage really bless me.........ask my wife to marry me on grounds.....at the fountains........I had lots of good memories........some of the best.......had fun at Gunny too !