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Let's get started! But, I handle all the money!!

I think he was an a--hole for trying to tell them how to play their music. I think he wanted to control WP; I think he should of left them alone to do what they knew best, which was to play music.

Here ya go, OS.

On page 67 of Mrs. Wierwille's book: "On July 5, 1948, our family of five began a trip in our new 1948 Chevrolet, given to us by the Wierwille family, to Manitou Springs, Colorado. Rev. Wierwille had been taking correspondence work with Pikes Peak Bible Seminary and Burton College and writing his doctoral dissertation on "Peter the Preacher." By being in attendance at the seminary in Colorado, he was completing his requirements for a Doctor of Theology degree. Students there came from India and China as well as various parts of the United States. Along with taking course work, Rev. Wierwille also taught two classes: 'Radio Preaching Techniques' and 'Peter the Preacher.' On Wednesday, July 28, 1948, he was awarded the Doctor of Theology degree by Pikes Peak Seminary in a ceremony at the Community Congregational Church in Manitou Springs. Immediately after his graduation, the five of us left for Minnesota for the Camp Farthest Out at Lake Koronis. It was a tremendous and exceptional summer to have our young family experience both occasions." Insert picture: Dr. Wierwille on the right at Pikes Peak Seminary. Dr. Stuart Hydanus, who later taught at one of our camps, is on the left. And Dr. Ellis Lininger, the president of the seminary and an educator whom Dr. Wierwille highly revered, is second from the left. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1948 Commencement Brochure: Pikes Peak Bible Seminary and Burton College SUMMER SESSION JULY, 1948 COMMENCEMENT WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1948 Community Congregational Church Manitou Springs, Colorado The Rev. H. Ellis Lininger, E.D., LL. D. President The Rev. Lewis C. Miller, Ps,D., S.T.D. Dean ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Note: In 1948, Pikes Peak Seminary and Burton College utilized the nearby Community Congregational Church for graduation ceremony........whereas, by 1963, the graduation ceremonies was held at the First Southern Baptist Church auditorium. Further Noted: After wierwille got his "doctorate degree" in 1948, the wierwille family THEN headed off to take part in Camps Farthest Out in Minnesota.....[wierwille had attended this camp by Glenn Clark in the summer of 1945, also].....which led to wierwille's version TFI, "Total Fitness Institute" in California with John Summerv!lle and later, L.E.A.D. --- Leadership Education Adventure Direction.

People will ALWAYS be exiting twi..........ALWAYS. IT'S A CULT. I still think there's a lot to be said about.......TWI's Corporate Secret Notice the pattern.......region guy ---> limb guy ---> branch guy ---> secular work and exit cult. For those who want to dig for answers and connect the dots........GSC is here.

If so, it probably stemmed from something LCM was into or working on. Who's thoughts on the matter, by the way, were subsequently challenged by mrs. vpw during one of the research fellowship meetings some number of years later. She was right. He was wrong. It was plainly evidently. But it was never acknowledged, nothing ever came of it, the whole thing was quietly swept under the rug... and things continued on as if nothing happened. But, don't mistakenly think that "everyone" in TWI (especially some of those in the research dept) were all in perfect alignment and harmony when it came to what was being taught in the ministry about crowns and rewards.

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. ~~~~~~~~~~ Paranoia Through the years, I've seen varying aspects of paranoia regarding the cult and I'm sure most of you have too. Not to belabor the point.....here are four examples that come to mind.......again, on different points of a continuum: I was sitting with wierwille on his motor coach as we worked thru my 36-pages of captivity report (1981). Of those three-day afternoon sessions, this happened on the second day. Back and forth, wierwille asked me questions about this-or-that.....and would scratch thru whole sentences of my report and/or reword them to his liking for those "By The Way" articles for the St. Marys Evening Leader. On the second afternoon, while we were deep into this......the motor coach doors whisked open and Chris Geer briskly headed toward us at the table. Wierwille lifted his head and they made eye contact. With intensity of focus and brevity of words.....Geer said, "They're here. On grounds." Wierwille shot to his feet and the two walked out, got in Geer's car and drove away. I was the only one who witnessed this....no one else was in the motor coach. Stunned by it all, I sat there for another two minutes and then left the coach. Never did figure it out, but it sure got wierwille's attention in a hurry. ~~~~~ Outside of OKC, I spent much of my time and effort in Tulsa to help strengthen outreach efforts. Several corps had come and gone thru the years, but this one night.......I found myself trying to help craig's sister breath thru a multitude of factors that will remain confidential. It was well past midnight and took nearly three hours to untangle the growing intensity of anxiety and fear. We went for a short walk to help break its momentum. The paranoia was real, coming from several directions and by 3:45am her thinking and heart settled. During my one-hour drive home to OKC, I pondered the sequence of how something like that could escalate. ~~~~~ The advanced class grad who wanted out of twi, after we were m/a ...(mentioned before). It was surreal to watch paranoia mount its charge. As I said before, we had two secret meetings....one in the middle of the day, another late at night. The fear that someone in twi might see her with us was palpable. Her short bursts of speech had a tinge of shortness of breath. She was deeply conflicted and disturbed. Trying to process it all, the only thing that made sense to her was space. She needed time and space.....and moving out of the duplex, away from her roommate, was the first step. The stigma of m/a that twi had thumped on our chests made no sense. The convergence of the m/a stigma and Lally's damage control methods ushered in critical thought. And, paranoia dissipated. ~~~~~ In 2002, four years after we'd left the cult.....my family took a four-day trip to Canada. We wanted to take our growing boys to Niagara Falls and head over to London, Ontario to show my oldest son the city and hospital where he was born. Also, we had five people that we wanted to visit from years gone by. On this Saturday morning, we met up with this couple, she had been a godsend to help with all the cult's bookstore functions and her husband was invaluable to me as we handled the financial ledger and accounting. [In Canada.....we did ALL the financial reports, yearly self-imposed audit, etc......in states, limb work never had to do any of this, it went to hq]. Anyways......a phone call was made, because we thought it'd be nice to see Goldie, a wonderful adv class grad who was on the executive committee during my tenure. We agreed to meet at a food court in a local mall. When he arrived......the paranoia in his eyes was striking. He kept glancing over his shoulder to see if any believers might see him there with us. Here, a 72-year old businessman gripped by cult-fear was a memory I will never forget. ~~~~~~~~~~ Depths of Understanding About the time, I think that I understand something.....I find that I really didn't understand it at all or that more understanding would be gained over the next ridge. This could not be more apparent to me than the process of writing this book. I am not the same person I was on December 15th.....when I began this journey. I'm exploring caverns and crevices that I told myself not to venture. Memories of anguish that haunted my soul....I forbade to trespass. I cordoned off those areas of my life for years. Nor did I want others to see them either. All those years in a cult and I'm still breaking free from the corral. And now, in less than one month, I have changed even more. My perceptions are different. My thinking is different. What is beyond the next ridge? What lies beyond the horizon? This catharsis journey has changed my life. What differing perceptions are gained throughout the day as the sunlight brightens our understanding and then, leaves us with deep-red hues of splendor. Insert: The sunlight of one's youth does NOT "brighten one's understanding".......but rather, it is the deep-red hues of splendor of REFLECTION [and wisdom of experience.....ie, hindshight] that give that rich glow of meaningful understanding. Or, what a difference the years make.......after exiting a cult. The stark contrast of understanding this journey could not be more apparent than where I was some 35 years ago. What a chasm I had/have crossed......... ~~~~~~~~~~ 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.

I go with Paul's sentiments ... if the dead be not raised, let's eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Thankfully, there is eternal life.