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Wanna hear something funny? I graduated from the 4th corpse in August,1976. My first "assignment" as a corpse grad was "State WOW Coordinator, MI". There were 20 WOW families sent to 10 different cities in MI, plus a slew of College WOWS at all the big college campuses in the state. Each team of WOWs was led by an Interim sickth corpse person or couple. That year of 1976-77, there was a two-family WOW team with a 6th corpse Coordinator, and there was an entire Way Home of College WOWs in Ann Arbor, coordinated by a 6th corpse couple. Between them they ran 9 classes, with 5 of them being large video classes. Many of those new grads went WOW, but they left 5 solid twigs behind in Ann Arbor, and 2 in Ypsilanti when they left. I highly doubt that what TWIt is sending out now will produce more than 5 grads, if that many. The world has changed. TWIt is so out of touch with reality, and so abjectly tone deaf to the human condition, because they have not changed at all, other than for the worse. Back in 1976, the toxic tentacles of Way-Nash had not reached the twigs and branches with its poison yet. That didn't really happen until 1979-80. So, the genuine experience of authentic Christian revival was seen in many places. Right now, in 2017, TWIt is so spiritually, culturally, and intellectually DEAD, and so completely dysfunctional socially and politically and economically, that all it has to offer is complete and total impotence in every beneficial form of human endeavor. A fitting tribute and legacy to that dead, drunk, sociopathic, paranoid narcissistic, serial rapist and sexual batterer, Nazi, racist, misogynistic, fraud of a subhuman being in his waterlogged crypt beneath the fountain. WD? Yup! Way Death..............peace.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/09/05/book-by-hillary-clintons-pastor-will-be-pulled-from-shelves-due-to-extensive-plagiarism/?utm_term=.f86d5e0e7201 I know twi will never followsuit...but for those who say plagiarism doesnt matter....appareantly it does.

He didn't repent. His apology was perfunctory (hasty and superficial). He regrets getting caught.

" I apologize to those whose work I mistakenly did not attribute." Translation: I was wrong but it's not my fault.

I would credit this guy with at least publicly repenting and apologizing. But I wouldn't trust him ever. I personally think he should be de-frocked or whatever his denomination does. And no, TWI will never admit such wrongdoing.

Being diagnosed with diabetes put me under suspicion. Having a son with multiple mental/emotional problems who was acting out because he didn't know how else to get help was another. The only solution the men of God of that place and time could come up with was to beat him, to death if necessary. I am still amazed that a so-called Christian organization fails to even attempt to help or even pray for those who are ill, those who are having problems with children or marriage or anything else. I thank God that the standard I try to live up to is that of a loving, compassionate, forgiving, merciful Savior instead of a suspicious, legalistic, hardhearted bunch of nincompoops like TWI. Sadly, there are more than a few organized "churches" that spread similar doctrine, blaming the patient for their illness, recommending torment for a disobedient child, commanding wives to enslave themselves to their husbands. I found one that does not. Thank God for that!

Agree or disagree, incisive wit is a "God-given talent"! I miss this kind of intellectual humor. Talk about Red Flags!

What little I DID attend, I liked in spite of the keynote teachings. Really. I liked everything else we did, and the nightly things were all right. Then again, I stayed in an air-conditioned R/V, and don't know what was the appeal of a tent (still don't, to this day.) There was food available of different types, there were things going on of different types, different groups were teaching and entertaining, and a lot of it was off-the-cuff. I also liked people selling their own music tapes and so on. So, other than shopping at the bookstore, and the advantage of an air-conditioned auditorium building, it was an event I enjoyed in spite of the nightly spectacle. The other attendees were fun.

I dunno getting kicked out of TWI is definitely a move that will improve one's life in the long run.

This is dumbfounding. No wonder TWI is a mere shadow of its former self. Looks like THEY are the greasespots. TWI deserves what it gets.

Easy. First, they force you to stop giving them your hard-earned money, and then they condemn you to an eventual death. Of course, after they condemn you to an eventual death, if your heart says to keep sending them your hard-earned money, by all means do so. Who knows, maybe they will have a change of heart, see the error of their decision, and decide to not condemn you to an eventual death. Really, Waysider, you need to start paying attention.. Edited to add: Oh, that reminds me. In the interest of biblical accuracy, I feel compelled to point out something. Do any of y'all remember the Rev Craig Martindale, and how he stated that people would become a grease spot before midnight for daring to leave TWI? Well, Rev Martindale erred in that statement because he didn't allow for the possibility that Christ could return before midnight, thereby making it impossible to become a grease spot because we would all have been gathered together in the clouds. By failing to mention that, the Rev Martindale deleted from the Word of God.

That used to get me, because I'd had it pounded into me that to disagree with leadership (no matter how psycho they were being) meant you were not being meek. All they had to do was throw that at me and I'd end up apologizing or acknowledging their point of view. (No matter how psycho it was). It's why I understand how some people confess to crimes they didn't commit.

I won't say i am sorry I was involvedin TWI because ... well I found my Darling Hubby who really means the world, the moon, the stars, and the universe to me.. and by meeting him I got my darling daughters... but I should have stayed in business school and finished it.. but then I wouldn't have my hubby and girls... I guess really I shouldn't have gone WOW... no that helped me to grow up and understand that my walk with God was just that... MY walk with God... also was instrumental in me meeting Hubby. Okay what I really wish I had done was drop it all ... the way teachings, when I got out.... I should have realized it was all a pack of lies sooner... i should have listened to my gut instinct right from the begining... but then I really wouldn't have become who I am today... and I am a keen spotter of all things Baloney pucky .... now .. thanks to TWI. SO my biggest regret is the superior attitude I picked up thanks to TWI. I was one of the lucky ones... I wasn't in that long... my life was slightly derailed by TWI, and my relationship with my parents was bent a bit.. but it was not that good to begin with. (alcoholic stepdad who abused the entire family) My WOW year turned out to be probably one of the most life changing years of my life... and was probably one of the happier ones, judging by what I have read of others. I consider myself very lucky. I think what I would most change is the whole "I know it all attitude"... and the not listening to others, and thinking I knew "the only truth".... The years of holding on to that.... I would change that, because that is the one thing that held me back the most.

I would have spent more time dealing with real problems instead of being fearful of imaginary ones... I would have taken better care of my teeth...

so yes, my friend.. there are a hundred things I would have done differently.. but what does one do with the results that count.. children, grandchildren.. there is a lot that I would change, and a lot that that I wouldn't even if I could..

What would I have done differently. There's so much. Where to start. I wouldn't have married my ex on faith I wouldn't have chosen my major at teh university based on faith I wouldn't have wasted a night hitchhiking home from twig 12 miles in the dead of winter I wouldn't have later, when I moved into town, have walked an hour and a half one way to get to twig. I would never have gone WOW I would never have wasted 10 years of my life waiting for someone I loved, believing she was going to show up one day. I would never have put my faith in God to get my car fixed. I wouldn't have wasted another 5 years of my life after I left the ministry trying to figure out what I did wrong. I would have spent less time praying and believing and more time doing. I probablly would have went out to find my fortune in the world, rather than waiting on the Lord and sacrificing my youth, my talents, and everything I could have done. Trust in the Lord. Who would have guessed my life would wind up being a cautionary tale? Enough? There's more. These are just the high points. SoCrates

Currently? 2 of vpw's original goals still apply: A) to charge the participants for more than the cost of expenses, turning a profit B) to supply people to conform to twi and enforce conformity to twi (not that this one was successful with ALL students. but it was A goal and worked SOME of the time) In addition, there's currently a third reason in effect vpw didn't need: C) to help defray the costs of maintaining underutilized grounds And a 4th reason: D) to give the APPEARANCE, the FACADE, of twi actually doing something other than paper-shuffling and financing cushy lifestyles for the top cadre, the Lords Over God's Heritage.

My experiences, being way D 2x, is the enthusiasm is quickly extinguished after a few weeks in the program. Once the extremely tight lifestyle restrictions are realized, and the fatigue, the only excitement left is looking forward to finishing the program.

Yes, absolutely. It is a diseased organization that instead of being able to genuinely help people pulls them in to a twisted little social circle that is sick. When Proverbs talks of those that wink with their eyes, scrape with their feet, and point with their fingers, it is talking about regimes such as this and the Way Corps. There are little private hidden messages communicated all the time to confront so and so, to take this action, to put together a report on this person. The level of control that is exerted over people is ridiculous. And the Way Corps are the enforcers. Now I basically functioned by teaching scriptures and allowing people to apply it in their lives as they saw fit by free will choice. However, I was an anomaly. Most set up little dictatorships, where they would present a smiling happy front to those above them and abuse those below them. The mind games that are played at the top levels to keep people under their control, threaten them, keep them functioning "likeminded" is astounding when you start to hear stories. When you think about it, what are the Way Corps trained to do? Obey. Follow without questioning. Carry out directives. To teach is all secondary. To "serve" means to carry out the bidding of those winking with the eyes, and communicating behind the scenes. You see that is why they must keep people away from this web site and people like us at all costs. When people start learning the truth about what happens behind the Wizard of Oz's curtains, they lose respect for the organization, and leave. They stop sending money in. So they hide all of that behind the scenes. They cover over their evil acts with silence and will not speak of it. Just like a murderer many times murders to cover up their evil actions to keep the victim from telling their evil acts to authorities or the public, so these monsters use slander, libel, and blackball people, using tactics to get the "household" to shun people. They trade on their little titles, and use movement up and down the ladder to punish people and to reward the most fanatical leaders. Those that are most fanatical will do the most extreme things and are used to do the top leaders' dirty work so they can keep their hands clean and stay out of lawsuits.

...I think that the vast number of way followers led lives like gypsies...I'm talking about the rank and file "twig attenders" who were talked into going wow...thousands of people took on the lifestyle of a gypsie...and then the corps and all the moving around... People gave up promising careers because of this farce... ...transients...gypsies, "would you like fries with that sir?"...no stability...no debt... no planting roots...no life... The twi lifestyle is a dead end street...it's all about them and nothing about you.

These few posts alone should be enough to make any intellegent, thinking, caring, half-spiritual participant in Way Ministries sit down, pray and begin the difficult process of finding the exit door. Re: TWI attitudes and behaviors surrounding loss ... As I said before, it's HERE that TWI shows it's inadequacy as a servant ministry of God. It's like an ultraviolet light in a lab revealing someting the unaided eye may not be able to see. Don't wait for your loved one's death. Or your own (for YOUR loved one's sake!) Get to a place where you (they) will have the resources, the strength, the comfort, the fellowship, the competent pastoral care you (they) deserve. And even if you feel you (they) don't deserve better - hey, grace happens, thank God! Don't refuse grace - it's a sin.

And I thought my nightmare was bad-- I guess it shows too things 1) someone somewhere has it worse than you 2) TWI is a bottomless pit of depravity

Some eight years ago, a woman in my branch unexpectedly died of heart complications and her husband asked me to do the memorial service. In my preparations for this memorial service, I received a phone call from Bob Moneyhand's secretary concerning this deceased woman's brother who was listed as mark/avoid in Florida.....and this brother had all intentions of attending this memorial service. Moneyhands had all but told this guy that he was NOT welcome to attend.....but told him that he'd have to phone me and get my permission. Well.......I TOTALLY DISAGREED WITH MONEYHANDS ASSESSMENT OF THE SITUATION, and when I talked with this brother I gave him my gracious condolences and welcomed his arrival with open arms. He traveled thru the night by bus and a couple of guys in the branch picked him up at the bus station and housed him. We treated him as an equal, a brother in Christ. The day of the memorial service, I made sure that the immediate family....including this brother....were comforted and supported throughout the day. After the service and all, I specifically invited him over to our house for the evening! At this invitation, he openly wept. He could not believe that we were treating him with such love. He reminded me that he was mark/avoid by Bob Moneyhands.......but I refuted it by saying that, on THIS day, it did not have any bearing on my actions. He needed to be comforted and uplifted. The hardness of twi leadership in a memorial service setting was just ANOTHER RED FLAG that hurried my departure from twi. And, from what I heard about the treatment to the Wierwille family at the time of Don's death.......it was standard operating procedure by then. God Almighty will deal with these injustices in due time.

TWI shows its spiritual bankruptcy exactly here. It was while standing outside the borrowed church after a TWI memorial service that I realized on a deep level that TWI was an inadequate body for my Christan life with God. Rigid, know-it-all, doctrinaire systems like TWI's cannot flex and bend with life's deeper more difficult issues (mental illness is another one). You get a tremendous sense of well-being on a superficial level - but how many Wayites survive tragedies with their 'positive believing' intact? I saw very few - though I did see victims shook to their very core (beneath the veneer). Life hands out tragedies - you can 'believe' to avoid them in an organization that can't handle them. Or you can accept them as mostly unavoidable and develop real, meaningful, genuinely spiritual, mature and lasting ways to righteously cope with them by God's help.