Leaderboard

God bless u aboundingly abundantly as u read this tremendously tremendous post. With the mighty way corps 46 prevailingly graduating this weekend i was blessed to see this wonderful picture of these 5 tremendous prevailing way corps principles. My question is how many times are they going to revise and rewrite the damned things? Prevail!

With trial and error, wierwille eventually managed to patch together an organization via "The Way Tree." Although Johnnie T. stepped forward to teach this tree-concept in a class that was a prerequisite of the advanced class......'way tree' terminology was being phased out by 1983/84. With a lifespan of 9 or 10 years, how solid was this 'biblical research ministry?' Remember......A Leaf on a Mighty Tree? Chapter and verse, please. Remember......Twigs, Branches, Limbs? Chapter and verse, please. The Way Tree was....An illusion of leadership. The Way Corps was...An illusion of leadership. The Way International is Structured Followship.....do this, do that, sing here, sit there. Everything from signing the registration card is conditioning one to follow their instructions. Every class, every twig, every event.....is a series of repetitive motions. By design. They pawn their services as 'spiritual leadership'......and yet, its cookie-cutter conformity!! The leader above them parrots instructions that the leader above him parrots, etc. etc. Obeying leadership is the Rubicon of twi lore.....the alpha and the omega. Everything depends on it. Everything falls apart without it. You can't question it. You can't analyze it. You must simply accept it.....because it is. Classes, meetings, events.....and the organization marches on. No time for worship services, just the quick manies (manifestations) to 'hear from God' and get to the repetitive teaching, the main event. Activity has replaced accomplishment and few ever seem to notice the rut. Many have marched along this path for so long that they're mesmerized by the sound of the marching.....thinking they've marched across the continent. But hey.....even wierwille was an illusion unto himself. He "wished" he were the man he just knew he could be if he lived up to the scriptures.

That, my friend.............was a 40-year detour cliché.

Something I find interesting about this is remembering what vpw himself said about this. There was a tape set "the Heart of the Way Corps." It was a compilation of 7 teachings addressing the WC from different perspectives. 2 were by vpw addressing them, In one of them, he said that he came up with the 5 principles "in about ten minutes" originally and that they hadn't been changed. Even when I was in, I thought that was an awfully short time to come up with something that fundamental to a program and then have it never change. Furthermore, he also complained about the first principle: "Acquire an in-depth spiritual perception and awareness." He claimed it really should say "Acquire an in-depth spiritual perception and awareness OF THE WORD." He made fun of the idea that this "in-depth spiritual perception and awareness" would be applied to anything else, which I thought at the time was particularly odd. I thought the point was learning stuff to apply it all the time, not just when reading. So, when you encountered life, you'd understand more because you knew more. This becomes particularly odd when you see that vpw said the complete opposite other times! In "vp and me", lcm documented that "Horse Sense is probably the greatest part of Corps Principal 1." Further, he gave supposed examples of this where vpw pointed out things that needed preventative maintenance and so on. That's completely the opposite of what vpw said elsewhere- he was claiming the importance of something he mocked at other times. This would be confusing concerning the average person. Most people are fairly consistent- unless one is possibly comparing them after a span of time, time to change their positions on things. (In this case, the tape and the book covered the same span of a few years, twi after it's big boom began but before vpw was too sick to do stuff.) In the case of vpw, this makes sense because we know he went around and taught different things to different people at the same time. He could teach a CFS class and say that a man wasn't supposed to help himself to a woman and to only do stuff with your spouse (the meaning of "let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband") and turn around a few hours later and tell someone "who was spiritual enough to take it" that God Almighty was fine with sexual adultery and someone "meeting the needs" of some married minister sexually and keep it quiet (his "lockbox" doctrine, very private.) He told the pfal audience that he started over with his Bible as his sole source of information, but turned around and mentioned a few books here and there like Bullinger's Companion Bible (leaving out that his "sole source of information" claim was a complete lie because "his" class was an amalgam of Bullinger, Stiles, Leonard, Kenyon, and a handful of others with virtually NO original content.) So, the idea that vpw would make contradictory claims actually should be no surprise- he did it all the time if you kept track if who he told what. That's a bad sign for someone supposedly honest, but twi has been run like a political entity than a religious entity at the top for a long time.

Principle #1 Induce and magnify egocentric cognitive dissonance into a full-blown psychoses.

Telling lies is like fighting a hydra. I mean, we're always working to grow in our understanding of God's Word. Pentagon points down in this photo . . . *makes notes*

Got it...that's 2 cents for #2...I hope you don't need a receipt - we're all out of toilet paper.

Way, great post. There are a lot of different view points on GSC, which keeps it interesting, in MHO. It seems to me that these various views were never tolerated in TWI; we were expected to agree with VPW, or leave. And if you left, sometimes your character was maligned. I have to admit, I come here to learn. And to laugh!!

JJ, hello. My name is Grace; I don't think we know each other. There are many reasons why people come to the GSC. I come because I want to hear the truth about TWI. But I also come because many of the people here are bright, Godly people. Some of the people here are fascinating; some here don't know Jack. But it is an interesting website for people to express themselves. But IMO, people here can spot a Bullsheeter immediately, and they don't tolerate a lot of Bullsheet. Just my two cents.

T-Bone, I just wanted to add my 2 cents to your comment: To That Dead Old Turd.

Just wanted to add a comment – I think Grease Spot is multi-purposed. One aspect of which is to serve as a warning to others. A few years ago I found the picture shown below and really took a liking to it. For me it has a two-fold meaning. In one way, it represents the mistake of me being gullible and following a charismatic leader of a cult. Group-think as opposed to using one’s own critical thinking skills leads to disastrous results – sucking down one’s time, resources, energy, etc. in the whirlpool of a sinking ship. Usually a smart person learns from their mistakes…I did and abandoned the S.S. Gullible. In another way it represents the “vessel” of TWI. I was in TWI for twelve years. Thinking back on where my head was at just before I left – it was a huge breakthrough to realize TWI was NOT the body of Christ. It was NOT God’s ministry. It was a cruel, legalistic, exploiting, and life-dominating organization with some sick and deranged predators at the helm. Going through the way corps leadership training program afforded me a small glimpse of the twisted doctrine and practice that runs this ship. Hence, another realization: the similarities of the Spanish Inquisition and the modern-day-monarchs-of-madness going at it after the Passing of a Patriarch edict (leadership vying for power after the supposed last will and testament of the deceased founding cult leader vpw - for some, one's opinion of Passing of a Patriarch was almost like a litmus test to show where you were at spiritually) ...eventually offshoots happen - variations of the original cult - that's why I'm not interested in checking out other ministries or following any particular person.). ....I abandoned the S.S. TWI-tanic in 1986. Waysider had a good suggestion of exploring more of Grease Spot – perhaps you’ll get a better understanding of why people have responded the way they did. I wish you the best love and peace T-Bone

In a thread he started today, Skyrider wrote: So no, jimjack, proselytizing for other cults is NOT the purpose of GSC.

Hence the reason so many fell in a ditch.... Matt 15:14

Wierwille never trained people to be real leaders. He trained people to be "yes-men", and to browbeat others into becoming "yes-men". That's why it all fell apart after Wierwille died. According to Petty Officer 3&2, the training manual the Navy was using when I first began to assume the responsibilities of leadership, the three requirements for a good leader were these, in order of priority: 1. Good moral character, 2. Leading by personal example and 3. Administrative ability. TWI leadership training failed in the first two priorities because Wierwille failed in the first two priorities. In the aftermath of The Passing of A Patriarch, I realized Martindale didn't have the leadership skills necessary to lead a bunch of lemmings over a cliff! Love, Steve