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Many of us have heard the stories of wierwille's childhood and how he hid in the woods to avoid farm work.........but Dotsie gives us earlier information as well: Mrs. W's book, page 7 ---- "Victor Paul was born to Ernst and Emma Wierwille on December 31, 1916, in the same farmhouse his forefathers had built. He was born the last of seven children: Ella Maria (born in July 1896, lived only two months and twenty-seven days), Lydia (1897), Otto (1900), Sevilla (1904), Harry Ernst (1907), Reuben (1912), and Victor (1916). Although Victor appeared to be a healthy newborn, his mother noticed after a short time that he was not developing as he should. Emma prayed for her baby, as her manner was. The doctor couldn't seem to find a cause for Victor's problem; in those days people just called it "short growth." Ernst and Emma , in seeking help for their baby, called the revered minister of their church, the Reverend L. H. Kunst, to come and water baptize him. This was the best thing they knew to do, and they acted accordingly." Also, there are stories of Lydia, the older sister, needing to "tutor" young victor thru his homework. Victor was a *needy* child........and all this pampering and attention looks like it had long-term effects on his psyche, psychological and social development. And, music was another way for young victor to gravitate to the center of attention.........page 10, "By age thirteen Victor regularly listened to a music radio program over station WLW in Cincinnati, featuring a singer named Bradley Kincaid. At that time Victor's father bought him a twenty-dollar guitar, and Victor began teaching himself to play the guitar so that he could sing and play the country-western songs of his musical hero, 'Bradley Kincaid had the greatest influence in my learning music,' Victor occasionally remarked." "After teaching himself to strum and sing, Victor was frequently invited to perform at box socials. Box socials were social events for the families whose children were attending various one-room schoolhouses. At these occasions there would be a program of entertainment, and then the food boxes were auctioned and sold to the highest bidders. The boxes were attractively decorated, and food was put in them by young girls of datable age. With no one supposedly knowing who packed the individual boxes, the young men would bid and buy them and then have the pleasure of eating the contents with the girls who had prepared them." .......and young victor confessed that one reason he enjoyed church choir was that he could "quit his farm work early on Wednesdays." (p. 11) ......."Since Victor didn't like to ride the bus to high school, he rode into town in bad weather with the neighbor boy in his horse and buggy, and in nice weather he rode his bicycle. During his sophomore year, Victor and Reuben were given a motorcycle to share by their father, and thus began Victor's lifelong romance with motorcycles. As a high schooler, Victor became quite versatile and even did trick riding, such as standing on the motorcycle seat while sailing through town." (p. 16) [Emphasis added] ~~~~~~~~~~ Connecting the dots............wierwille was always pursuing ways to get attention, to showboat, and be in the spotlight. Since he was academically challenged and lazy, so many doors were closed to him in the business and professional sectors.......so he had to look elsewhere. Thus, he spearheaded his efforts into a seminary whereby he could grasp the attention of a "captive audience" and the adulation that he craved. The seeds of his narcissistic personality disorder were growing. ........after seminary, preaching in a rural church wasn't enough. ........embarking on his own to teach b.g.'s class, wasn't enough. ........teaching class after class to church people, wasn't enough. ........filming the pfal class in 1967 was STILL not enough. ........power-grabbing Heefner/Doop movements and young firebrands, was the start. ........young firebrands begat more young firebrands, THAT started the fire ablaze. ........wierwille claimed the spotlight, but HE WAS NEVER THE TRUE SPOTLIGHT. ........the youth, and the zeal of life, were.

Whether in pretence or in truth it’s debatable as to how much of what wierwille taught was even about Christ

Twinky.......I totally agree with you on that aspect. In the wider Christian world, vpw was nonexistent. He plagiarized other men's work and cherry-picked scripture to twist and plant a hybrid crop of wierwille-doctrinesque theology. In terms of large-scale, wierwille wasn't even a pimple on a flea on an elephant. But..........as you so elaborated above, the damage this cult did to one's heart, soul and mindset was extensive. Ten years in a daze......confusion, hurt, broken, anguish.....is a swath of life that you should have not entered. THAT is why I believe in the mission of Greasespot Café: to tell the other side of the story. This site may not be a Christian-site......but there is sure a lot of compassion and healing going on. What is the worth of a soul? We know from scripture the answer to that. How many hundreds, thousands even, have come to GSC to glean what they needed to be delivered from burdens, wounds or a broken heart? As WordWolf notes often.........the fact that scores and scores of people have left GSC is great! They've moved on. They are the success stories. This site continues to sound and expound a warning shot to those who were sucked into the vortex of a cult, or might be. Our purpose is clear. Our results are profound. I like being a part of this G-team. God Bless you, Twinky.........I find your life's story compelling and marvel at your incredible ministry of service to others. You are a gem. Your deep compassion and fortitude to "hit the streets" to minister to others is remarkably inspiring. You are truly one of God's treasured servants.