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This is the stuff people who didn't participate in the various in-residence programs don't understand. If you were Joe B. Lever, attending a local twig in Hoopyville, U.S.A., you went home when fellowship was over.Period. Done. Rinse and repeat when it's time for the next fellowship meeting. If you were in one of these programs, you were already home. It was 24 hours a day, no clocking in and clocking out.

It takes a Commune of Enablers..........to build a cult. Nearly every one of these "New Religious Movements," variants of old ones, starts with one common ingredient: Communal Living. Isolated from the general public Own set of systems and standards Incestuous in-breeding of doctrine....and next generation Cauldron of Indoctrination......in communal campfire Only when "patriarch" dies off......does it slowly burn out Everything about wierwille/twi history.....show us how he step-by-step built his commune-concept. Classes were NOT enough.......wierwille taught, basically, 10 classes per year from 1958-1966 (averaging 20-25 students per class = 1,800 - 2,250 grads). What happened to all those people? Well, obviously.......nearly 80% or more never committed themselves to wierwille's movement. The class information was NOT enough to sway a majority........but it did sway a few to join wierwille. Plus, we know that contention arose in the Troy/Piqua area in 1960.......when believers were in major disagreement to move twi's headquarters to the Wierwille Homestead, because they did not trust veepee and harry to keep ministry finances separate from the farm business. The first exodus from wierwille...............1960. Scratching for a foothold, and leverage.....financially, socially and spiritually......wierwille moved back to the 147-acre farm. He needed his brother Harry's financial backing: Enabler #1. And, with Ermal and Dorothy Owens' strong support, wierwille gained Enabler #2 and Enabler #3. Ermal had background experience in construction and practical management; Dorothy was a retired school teacher and played the organ. Howard and Emogene Allen, from Kentucky, were instrumental as well. Working in a lumberyard, Howard was around the building trades......so when it came time to build the BRC, Howard was johnny-pound-the-nails. And, Emogene found her place in the overseeing twi's bookstore. Classes were NOT enough.........so twi ran Summer Camps. Summer Camps were NOT enough........so twi started Way Homes. Way Homes were NOT enough.......so twi started the Way Corps Program. See, you've got to have people ensconced (positioned and "secured") in a situation for a longer duration of time to indoctrinate them. Not just classes, or summer camps, or way homes.......but an isolated program that embodies a set of circumstances and structure to mold thinking processes. It has to embody peers ruling over peers to maximize affect [Lord of the Flies]....not just old farts in authoritarian positions. A corps program.....where elder corps "rule" and groom the younger corps. A program structured as such where area, branch and twig coordinators mentor the "apprentice" corps........and yet, all are in a system of structured selectiveness. Where classes are in-house teachings.....of which, many classes taught by these elder corps. Campus after campus.....with unique variables.....but ALL are communes. The concept of communes has a sordid history. No, I don't pretend to have done a massive study on this......but c'mon, it is SO BLATANTLY OBVIOUS. Communes in 1848.............1848. The Way International was a commune of enablers. Harry...........was his business, and personal life, on the up-and-up? Ermal..........how much spiritual savvy does it take to rubber-stamp a cult leader? Dorothy.......she never figured out the difference between education and indoctrination? Howard.......was wierwille's greatest enablers. What does that tell you? Emogene.....got her little fiefdom in twi's bookstore to wield her contempt over others. Self-appointed authoritative leader ---> ...communal living ---> ...utopian doctrine ---> ...sexual intercourse was spiritual ---> ....it ministers to the young people facing sexual starvation ---> ....and most favored virgin females of the community were reserved for cult leader. Nothing new under the sun................... .

Hi there Goldstar. I happen to know exactly who that so-called Cat Woman was, but decline to name her here. But yes, she starred in that awful "dance" production that LCM was in, titled: Athletes of the Spirit. A totally bogus interpretation of Ephesians 6. So welcome to GSC. There's plenty of TWI history to be found here. If you have questions about years 1970 - 1987, I'd be happy to help. You can check my profile here at GSC for more on that. Cheers, Penworks, a.k.a. Charlene Lamy (Bishop) Edge

Hook him up with Mike and give 'em a thread!

Well, "About the Way" was apt if it was specifically to discuss some connection between twi and Graham (possible, if unlikely.) "In Memoriam" is specifically for memorials, which limits the discussion. "Open" is for any discussion that doesn't fit anywhere else- which is why this thread ended up here.

I'm hearing you RottiGrlll...the feminazis want it both ways, damned if someone does, damned if they don't. here in Australia now they've moved into women hating on women territory, eg: cheerleaders, models etc being hated upon ! But hang on, I thought they were into a woman's freedom of choice...ba humbug.

Well known amongst Billy Grahams followers is that he would never be alone in a room or anywhere else with a female. There was always someone else there to abstain from any appearance of evil or unseemliness...

No politics on GSC.

Happy, healthy New Year Greasespotters!

I think he would have been MORE successful, as it would have shown that he was separating the baby from the bathwater, as it were.

Only the name "Bullinger" was well-known. Kenyon was known to some, and Stiles and Leonard were actively concealed, even to their names and existences. vpw made a doctrine out of contrasting with :"world's wisdom"-but the hypocrite lauded to the skies any "worldly expert" who took pfal. Don't take vpw as an expert on anything but fleecing the public.

Hi, Tom My point wasn't really a reference to intent. Before the internet, a large part of proving someone had stolen your music was being able to show they had been exposed to it at some point. Such is the case with Led Zeppelin using Taurus as a partial framework for Stairway to Heaven. They toured together and shared the same stage. Zep may have even heard Spirit experiment with various paramutations. So, there's the exposure element for you. Same with Eric Carmen. He undoubtably had extensive exposure to Rachmaninoff material. Wierewille clearly had access and exposure to the works he pilfered. They weren't "previously unknown truths" as he led people to believe. This is where intent to deceive enters the picture. Yes, the problem with authenticity of what was once regaled as sacred is certainly a valid area of interest and quite worthy of exploration. I think what we're talking about here, though, is something of a more basic, fundamental nature...Wierwille actively made a deliberate effort to misrepresent his work and conceal that fact in order to facilitate his own, self-centered interests.

There's a guy from Cleveland, Ohio, named Eric Carmen, who had a couple of hits in the 1970's. His family is from a Russian background, his aunt was a violinist for the prestigious Cleveland Orchestra. He started studying classical music even before he entered kindergarten. So, one might surmise he was no stranger to the works of Rachmaninoff. Well, it turns out that All By Myself was partially based on Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2 in C minor/Opus 18. Never Gonna Fall in Love Again was influenced by the second movement of Rachmaninoff's Symphony #2. It was no coincidence. Carmen had probably been exposed to these works hundreds of times. The problem he encountered is that he thought they were in public domain. In fairness to him, I should note he was, at that point, not much more than a local kid, trying to break out on the music scene, not yet versed in the legalities of the music industry. His error was quickly discovered and he reached a royalty agreement with Rachmaninoff's estate. Wierwille's deliberate deception, on the other hand, took decades to come to light. Some still can't accept the reality of it. It's quite a different and darker issue than the Eric Carmen/Rachmaninoff controversy.