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GSC is an Oasis This place is a pleasant contrast to life's challenges and schedules.......but I need to get to work. If the girls weren't so cute and the drinks so refreshing......I'd stop coming here altogether. Cheers!.........I gotta go.....for now. .

More Background: Let me back up on this one and fill in the blanks: Another girl phoned........who was signed up for foundational way-class. I had personally witnessed to her and signed her up. Now what? I was m/a and she called to ask me what to do. She was conflicted (obviously).... A week later, she came to talk with me face-to-face (she parked her car around the corner, down the street) She, too, was growing paranoid of what to think. She wanted info of class.....but saw wreckage floating around. I was driving on Northwest Expressway around 4pm one day (mid-June) and I had this thought (small, still voice..??).....go to Mardel's Christian Bookstore. I had only been there ONE time, but passed by it often. So, I turned around and.....mostly out of curiosity -- just to see.....once there, parked my car. I stepped inside and said to myself, "Now what?" Again, I had this inner peace and an inner "voice" said....."the bible aisle, someone is searching." Okay, now I'm really interested and thinking to myself....."If this is of God....I will be amazed." In the bookstore aisle was this woman talking to a sales clerk asking about different types of bibles. I watched for about a minute and then, stepped toward her and said that I really liked the king james version rather than some of the other paraphrased versions. We had a 5-6 minute conversation on this....and then, I told her about home fellowships and "blah, blah, blah." Anyways.......the rest of the story is she came to 3-4 fellowships and signed up for the class to check it out. So.....this woman was deeply conflicted six weeks later when I, "the state leader" was blacklisted. She had NO idea of twi-jargon, but had this unique personal involvement with me on that day and I'd seen her nearly every week. We had this "connection" because of that day at Mardel's. Note: Before, during and after twi................I've had a couple dozen of these unique experiences. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing your story here, Skyrider. So many of us can relate to the pain you went through, the turmoil, the confusion and loss. But you are brave. You are a survivor. You are dear to us.

Hmmm. Just indulge me here in a wee bit of fantasy: Wouldn't it be interesting (and oh so sweet!) if LCM could ever be persuaded to attend a "party" somewhere, and all the invitees are people he used, abused, sexually assaulted, maligned, betrayed, slandered and smeared to others, M&A'd, etc.! They could each step up and tell their story. The problem is he hasn't a shred of humility to make the listening worthwhile. I do hope there is a day of reckoning coming for Twinkletoes in Tights..

Sky, so pleased you are finding it helpful to tell your story. You will be facing fears you didn't know you had, paranoia that you did know you had - it all evaporates and you can LAUGH at it all and you revel in your freedom. I know when I found someone to share my story with - with real fear (but why?) - someone with no knowledge of TWI but a strong interest in safeguarding - just telling the story has led to such release and lightness of heart. I thought I was okay until I started talking about it. Only took 20 years to open my mouth... :( I wish you well for the future. You and Mrs Sky and your kids have a wonderful exciting and free future ahead of you.

Don’t Worry, that little violinist has SOME VOICE ! Waysider, thanks for the King Crimson tune – Greg Lake was so talented – I read he passed away this past December. HigherGround 30 – I love Low Rider – and it always evokes a weird WOW memory; I was a non-commissioned security guard (my first job on the WOW field – and first week on the job); security company was shorthanded and sent me to stand guard at a bank one day; needless to say the branch manager at the bank called my supervisor to complain about sending a kid with no firearm to guard his bank lobby…don’t know if it was out of frustration or punishment but the branch manager told me to stand outside and look official…here comes the surreal part…late morning there’s a dude walking across the street with a boom box on his shoulder that’s blaring Low Rider…I remember a momentary tinge of fear and some thought like “this is it! It’s going down right now!” fortunately I was able to regain my composure and maintain the hedge of believing around the bank entrance - oh, and I quit that job after that. Krys, I love to hear variations of tunes – here’s another one

I agree with Twinky. Church in the home seemed to be God's idea in Acts and the Pauline Epistles. The Way may have misused and abused the concept, but I do not think the church in the home was the problem .... but rather the leaders and wanna-bes who attended the churches in the home. Churches in the home are common and a blessing throughout much of the free ... and restricted....nations of the world.

Wicked irony! I love it.

DWBH This is for you (you got me hooked on this tune) hooked on this tune - I hope you don't live to regret it.

I'm not a fan of any particular kind of constructive theology, T-Bone. Sometimes, when people ask me what faith community I come from, I tell them I'm a Free Range Baptist, I believe in baptism but I don't believe in cages! Technical constructive theology has too many theories of post-modernism, etc., to suit my taste, but I like deriving the meaning of a text from what is written, not from reading alien ideas into what is written. Love, Steve

The Stigma of M/A Twi uses the "mark/avoid" label as a scare tactic. I suppose there are many ways to look at this, of course......but it's like someone comes around the corner, perhaps even in your own house and erupts BOO! It startles you.....and freezes you. You are caught off guard and......frozen in place. Processing what just happened takes a bit. We know that twi twists all kinds of scriptures, but this one is used as a weapon. Everyone with THAT label is to be marked with a "black heart" letter....and shunned. Why? Well....because they're "possessed." It hardly takes much more than that to freeze critical thought. Obviously, martindale slapped this "scarlet letter" on us......while, all the time, he was romping from bed to bed committing adultery and/or sexual predation!! But I digress..... Once labelled, everyone we'd ever had contact with in twi shunned us. Heck, not just from the average go-to-twig believer........all the way to the highest ranks, critical thought is short-circuited. Our corps "friends" and buds, whom we'd been in the trenches with for over two decades....would NOT call to ask, what happened? Corps nor clergy called.......we were stigmatized. Martindale gave the order. The power of that label is very real. If word is sounded out from hq, then it must be so. It took years to condition people's minds to this lockstep loyalty......but the word "cop out" or "tripped out" was its father. Long before "mark/avoid" made its way into the cult lexicon......wierwille used "cop out" with great effect. BOO! DAMAGE CONTROL Like nearly everything twi, damage control is the rapid response to protect twi's public image. And, most likely.....from the very days that wierwille set his sights on some woman in his private office as pastor in Paine or at Van Wert church....things had to be covered up. I always find it amusing to think......after wierwille left the Van Wert church, the church board struck wierwille's name from the clergy registry (to protect their image). (lol) Anyways.......damage control, there to protect wierwille and/or his cult-in-the-making. We can easily see that all thru the years, twi's history and image were whitewashed......then, polished with bullsh!t crème up and down the bannisters. Everything....all of it, everywhere. My wife and I were simply on the radar that day in August 1998. We turned in our corps nametags and were walking away. That could NOT be tolerated. We simply had TOO MUCH influence.....questions would start rippling into waves if the Lallys didn't act fast. I assumed that Tom called Craig less than ten minutes after we pulled away from their doorstep. And, craig gave the order. The Lallys went into action. We were the Limb coordinators in martindale's home state. We had a sterling reputation throughout the state.....AND.....direct access to sway hundreds in Oklahoma, Canada, Indiana* and some on hq-staff. Our reputations had to be destroyed. Hemorrhaging could not be allowed to gain strength. *Note: We had lived in Indiana after leaving Canada in April 1987. Our visas expired (another story....lol)

Hi readers, First, thank you for the outpouring of interest in Undertow. I'm grateful many of you have found it worthwhile. Most of you know now that Undertow is for sale on Amazon (it is also at Barnes and Noble. In Australia, a few people have found it at the Book Depository. Independent booksellers can also get copies directly from the print-on-demand company, Ingram Lightning Source). Rocky suggested folks think about writing reviews of Undertow on Amazon, which is wonderful. BUT a word of caution: I found important advice about how Amazon views the validity of reviews, etc, in this this article. That said, I welcome your responses there or on my website. If you ever want to contact me directly with comments about the book, you can always leave a message on my website Contact page. Cheers!

The fear of getting away... My WoW family witnessed to a young man, early 20s, with a wonderful heart to serve. He was lovely, open, really loved being with us, and could be relied on to help out at the drop of a - telephone. One call, and this young man was there. Actually, he liked being with us so much and was so enthusiastic that it was hard to get rid of him. Salt of the earth type; never had any qualms about him. He went WoW immediately after our WoW year ended. A few months later, I heard that he'd run away from his WoW family by climbing through the bathroom window in the middle of the night. WOTTT? Climbing through a window? Middle of the night? This young man had had an abusive upbringing and was molested by an older adult family male, as a young child. He found safety and security with us, perhaps for the first time ever. I suspect he might have spoken about his history with someone when he was WoW, his Family Coordinator or some such, and had had such a grilling about himself that his fragile recently constructed life couldn't handle it. This was in the era of the homo purges. No way this young man had those sort of leanings - and he wasn't to blame for what had happened when he was a small child. I never heard anything of him ever again. I often wonder how he went on. I feel somewhat guilty and to blame for "leading him astray" into the clutches of TWI, to be further abused.

INDULGE ME.........one more time.... Johnny cash song.....and imagery.... .....spelled with a "y" it was personal.......hey, it's "my story" lol Ghost Ryders In The Sky A mighty herd of red-eyed cows A-plowing thru the ragged skies and up the cloudy draw their brands were still on fire hot breath he could feel .....the riders (cult) are riding hard to catch that herd These cows are red-eyed (angry, anxious) and plowing ahead (trying to get away)....AWAY .........they'd been freshly branded (still on fire) .....and herded (contained, controlled) .........the riders (cult leaders) were "riding hard" to bring them back......to CATCH THAT HERD .........the riders (cult leaders) felt that these cows were "theirs" (ownership, property) .........the cows were fiercely trying to GET AWAY ############ That song is so vivid with imagery and expanse. I grew up near ranch country.....and was around angry black angus cows. So...........THAT is the title of "my book".........Ghost Ryders In The Sky.........and I'm sticking to it. ############ An old cowboy stops to rest on a ridge.....when he saw the cows Here at GSC.......we see the cows (trying to get away) ############ title: Ghost Ryders In The Sky subtitle: My Escape from Cult-Hell .

Another favourite of mine from the group War

Here ya go! btw, h/t to Lanikaigal.

Think it might have started as an accidental by-product, but rapidly became a means of working. Like the accidental discovery of Pyrex, for example. Quickly became desirable in its own right. Like the opportunity to "soften boundaries" and crack the door ajar, ready for abusers. My church meets in home groups, about a dozen or so people. I have been in several housegroups. Most meet in the home. And NONE of them have indulged in over-intimate hugs, kisses, touching, backrubs or like physical contact. A chaste kiss on the cheek, a handshake, a quick hug if you know someone quite well but without close body contact ... that's as far as it goes. I cannot imagine the TWI-style close contact greeting going on in any housegroup I have attended.

Just in one of those moods, ya know? " Sliding mystifiedOn the wine of the tideStared pale-eyedAs his veil fell aside.Sad paper courtesanThey found him just a man."

For DMiller.....think this boy has a future??

One of my all time favourite songs Enjoy

Wow, I love that Don’t Worry ! I dig Adam’s voice/accent and having just the acoustic bass (with a little percussion on the bass body too). I really enjoyed that. Here’s another version by Morgan James – hope you enjoy it

Hello Grace- Thank you for the kind words and sharing your perspective. I feel the pain second-hand as I watch my parents struggle, but know the reality of those who did labor in vain for the cause suffer more. I hope you find the process of writing as helpful in recover as I have. I don't post much anymore (or log on as much) due to an anger spiral that seems to kick up when I start going in too deep, but it feels good to get it out. And bourbon. Happy Hunting- CD

Hi CD!! Wow, where did you learn to write like that??!! In MHO, you are a true Wordsmith!! I too am new to posting at the GSC, but so much of you said, in your post is sadly true. Since coming to the GSC, I have learned about the great number of longtime staff members that TWI has let go!!! OMG!!! These people probably had some idea that that if they worked for TWI in their Salad Days. they would be taken care of, in their Golden Years. Instead, far too many found out during the eleventh hour, that TWI cruelly threw them away out, like a used diaper. Every time I read this, I get seriously p----- off!!! Many of these people have no retirement plans, no pensions, no savings, no SS; nothing!!! TWI made promises to these people to take care of them when they entered their Senior Years, and now, TWI is defaulting on their promises when these staffers need them the most!!! How ungodly. and inhumane can one organization be! Yes, I am sure the people on the top rungs of TWI, have made plans concerning THEIR retirement. What concerns me is how the rank-and- file will live when they leave TWI's payroll. I am almost old enough to retire, and I have options. Many of TWI's former staff, lack options. TWI is sitting on piles of ABS; they are far from being bankrupt, yet the leaders will not share the wealth with most of the former staff members. How evil, and uncaring TWI is!!

thank you for the fresh insight BlueCord.

Since I left staff in 2015, maybe I can help with some of these questions. 1) This is about accurate. There are a few visitors from other cities/states, but most of the time it's just the staff folks in attendance. The big crowds are for special occasions like Pentecost, the Anniversary, Resurrection Sunday, etc. 2) Former VP Tom Mullins was able to get a retirement policy put into place that states that you can't work on staff full time after 68 years of age. You can still work part time (and then volunteer as much as you'd like). As for who is replacing these folks, from what I've seen it's the newly graduated Corps. Whether they have any experience or not, they're just thrown into the spot. 4) Concerning rocking the base, it doesn't happen. I've seen people canned just for mentioning that they thought things weren't handled the proper way. RFR is on a massive power trip. If you don't agree with her you're gone. 5) They do try to get young people involved, but they don't listen to any ideas to grow. It's like they are trying to get the younger generations to become mindless automatons to carry on with the ministry exactly as it has been going. They squash any attempts at change. 7) This really strikes a cord with me, because they have the money to purchase cars or equipment that they "need", but they sure as hell don't want to pay anybody over time. They have sign up sheets for "Volunteer work" in other departments in order to make sure the work gets done. I don't know where the money is going, but I have an idea that it stays among the higher ranking "members".

an excellent addition to the Greasespot! Welcome! I am liking your attitude so far. It has been awhile since we have had mucik in the way of recently involved people here. I think Longhunter was the last one, and most of us know very little about the status of TWI at this point. It will be wonderful as you have the time, to update us on things like how many people are now regularly active in TWI in the USA? Worldwide? What is there in international outreach? Where? Did Rosalie and Donna ever get married? (just joking) Seriously, welcome to GSC, pull up a bar stool and do not feel you can only drink the coffee. I understand a liquor license has been applied for.

*Dons leotard and begins extremely-awkward and uncomfortable interpretive-welcome-dance*