Ham

Rumor mill was about right.. even Jim Morrison was supposedly going for the gusto, but somehow the debil got to him first..

Sweet Pea- would you consider "adopting" a forty-some year old college student? I'm housebroken, fairly well mannered, humorous, and sanitary, at least most of the time. Besides, think of the tax benefits.

Doesn't bother me too much George, the world needs all kinds you know.. I think I returned to some of my old character- just kind of ludicrous at times..

I don't know about other folk here, but I found myself even praying for the Pope a couple times today.. I'm definitely not Catholic, and NEVER would have done that when I was in TWI..

I like Rascal's idea..

Doctrinally speaking, not too many. I think a lot of it was OK, just skewed way off center as far as practical issues are concerned. I still tend to think that believing works, believing God- but I don't try to tell Him what to do so much anymore. I still can't buy into the trinity- but I believe there is quite a bit more to Jesus Christ than we were led to believe.. I don't think he is quite as "absent" as we were taught. But the "manifestations"- I still SIT- but all the others, I think a lot of the teaching schooled us in such a manner to pretend we had the revelation from the almighty on everything. Don't agree with it. I still think God can talk to me if He wants to without me having to sort through umteen different keys to figure out if I really got it right or not- and I quit acting like I'm some jackass with all the answers like I used to. I am more comfortable with the concept that some things, I do not know, and maybe never will- even if I think I "need" to know it..

The former "beloved" limb guy here probably thought George Washington was among the first of PFAL graduates..

What question? Heh heh.. This is starting to look like the * survey..

My dad was funny about it, evil, but funny, heh heh. Once he "got us", no matter how ingenious we were, he'd see a prank coming from us a mile away and just laugh. By the next April the first, we had forgotten, and he got us again..

Says a lot more than you can ever imagine..

One good thing might come of it if they win though. The money would go to far better use, in my opinion. First it would help support our hard working folks in the legal system. I used to think evil of lawyers, but not after seeing how they really earn their living by dealing with numbnuts like TWI. Any use the Peelers could envision for it's use would have to be far better than it's present apparent designation for the retirement of a few scoundrels in that overglorified dang hole. Maybe they could take a real vacation somewhere, have some real fun with it. I wouldn't care if they blew it all in a week and a half and had some fun doing it.

I agree on one point- "TWI" was a waste of time, effort, and commitment. There were some blessings- at the local fellowship level. My opinion- the love and effort of God-loving men and women were used as bait in an ingenious centrally controlled trap. How many people did we "put on a good show" for that went further into the belly of the monster? Can't begin to count. Sure, they were "blessed", got some results- but many paid dearly. Got stuck in the same trap- spending the next twenty years to get back to what it was like in our little fellowship. "The life of the ministry is in the twig"- even ole doc knew that. I think more accurately, "the recruitment program of the ministry is in the twig". Love em like there's no tomorrow, then throw them to the wolves.. in sheeps clothing. Most folks did not even know what hit them- me included. I listed the efforts I put forward to try to get back to the good old feeling of years gone by.. never happened. I ignored problems for over twenty years, thinking somehow that taking enough classes, studying enough stuff, and somehow "believing" just right would fix everything. Never worked, "they" provided just barely enough lousy feed to keep me coming back. Any more, any "blessings" I have to offer are not for sale. There are people I have prayed for, and they will never know about it- results or not. They are FREE. No stinking group is gonna use it for bait.

Rascal, same here too. I think if you were a likely candidate for "da class" they'd "love" you like there's no tomorrow. "Good horsie, we luvs you, just hold still while we get out the saddle and stuff..." I spent the next twenty some years trying to get back to the "good old days"- I now see them largely as a fabrication. The good old days never really existed. They were invented for someone else's convenience. I tried to "fix" things too. I remember praying for folks and doing the best I could for them when leadership labelled their problems as a result of lack of believing, and treated them like grade A crap. I remember treating people like grade A crap at times, too- and was convinced it was the godly way to handle things, God forgive me. Oh yes.. I was at that ROA, if it's the same one you're thinking about- old Loy saying how they just can't believe to protect us because WE were so "screwed up". OUR believing, ha. Maybe God just trying to "clean out" that friggin mess, who knows.. heh heh. It was camping tents vs. hurricane force winds- maybe the Lord saying, "I'd a get a hoppin out of the stinkhole if I was you, kiddies".. heh heh. Funny- that little "problem" was too big to ignore..

Heh heh.. pretty funny. I'm suprised Paw didn't try pulling something like that on us. Must just be a nice guy..

well.. who knows. Maybe he's just waiting for his schedule to clear a little..

Second only to Groundhog Day, I think one of my dad's favorite "holidays" was April the first. Seems he was always successful getting us to look out the window, looking for the supposed cow in the back yard, or similar fun nonsense. I think I inherited this odd trait. Even several years ago, April just happened to occur on Saturday. I somehow convinced the kids that it was time to pack up their stuff, and run as fast as they could before they missed the school bus. I don't think they have forgiven me, to this day.. Any other "holiday" memories out there?

My impression is the "derail" is just about right on target though. "I had a wonderful time, believing "fixed" my problems, therefore, there are no problems". "You may have been raped or worse, but remember, you had to have gotten a little bit of good out of it". It seems way to easy to dismiss or ignore the abuse and crap if it didn't happen to you. Seems to illustrate the point perfectly. I remember even in the "good old days" being told that so and so "just had an axe to grind" or some such nonsense. Just ignore them, they're nuts. That it wasn't "the word" anyway, and that was what we were supposed to keep in the forefront of our thinking. People with legitimate complaints often were quietly swept aside. That was in TWI-1. Ah, the "glory days".. I saw the limb guy give some "counsel" to a lady that had a guy in "twig" that wouldn't keep his hands off her. "What's the big problem? Why are you still so hung up on this sex thing? Maybe you oughta go get laid and lighten up"- I personally witnessed this in TWI-1- the good old days. This was said in practically a public setting. I would say he took ignoring crap in the guise of believing almost to its ultimate limit. All this reminiscence just makes me wanna drop everything and just RUN back to "da good ole days". Ptooie.

Perhaps good, but we found them to be the exception. The previous limb guy at least acted nice, but my impresstion would stab you in the back if given half a chance. The one before did his level best to get anything female in bed besides his wife. The one before laughed about people giving so much money.. The one before.. and before.. and before.. but it eventually went back to Ralph D., and he was indeed a saint.

And it was from: corps. The best, the greatest, the most highly qualified.. AFTER Loy apparently "weeded out" the "bad cookies". Believing fixes anything I guess. The bone in question was one of such a nature that the doc said, if you continue to use it, it may NEVER heal. Guess who's house did not get cleaned and slaved over? And they were FURIOUS.

This happened.

"If you act nice, we'll LET you come back" heh heh heh.

"But the food was good" heh heh.

I remember meetings.. it's almost like it was all a bad dream, heh heh. Loy would scream at us on the tape, and the "leader" would take up and scream for an hour and a half more just because we "made" poor old Loy HAVE to scream.. I wonder if anybody else remembers anything like this, heh heh.

"Anybody that stayed around the thing for twenty some years must have seen some good"... The key point, I think, is SOME. You train a dumb animal by giving him SOME good. One key is keep him hungry enough to give you his undivided attention. Boy, did it work.. Why I hung around that dang-hole for twenty some years trying to get a few crumbs eludes me. Like I said, I don't claim to be smart. But that's OK- most other people aren't either. Didn't wake up one morning and say, "gee. I'd sure like to waste over twenty years of my adult life in a *** **** stinking cult". Crumbs, crumbs.. "crummy" might be more accurate.. what did I hang around for? Old Loys crumbs- "new light"- good grief. He even took credit for solving "the riddle of the spinx". How "magnanimous" of him. Cripe, I read that stuff in Witness of the Stars years before he unearthed this "treasure". Weakly rehashing of old worn out smelling to the highest of heavens of materials. Shoulda been buried long ago. I hung around to hear old doc teach "four crucified" for the fiftieth and sixtieth time. I hung around to listen to a "leader" who's claim to fame was being able to eat three times a day, and avoid mixing his bread and vegetables- would offer pearls of wisdom from "the word" - "I brush my teeth so that the bacteria cannot attack them" with a stupid smile on his face.. and I am NOT making this up. This was the limb guy.. now may be in charge of a whole region. He did one thing for me though, I started asking myself a few serious questions. Like, "who in their right mind would trust their life to this guy?" "Cancer is a devil spirit". Worked that one over enough already. And yes, I saw sick people get AVOIDED. "Debt is SIN". whoo boy. "Gotta give us 15+ percent" Arrrgh. Requirement to show up regularly to Sunday night services. "We scream and abuse the HELL out of you because we really care"- gads, the bastards should have screamed at themselves. And this did not originate with Loy. Ole doc got on this "tough love accountability" thing. "Just renew (make to blindly obey regardless of all logic, common sense, and besides what the word says to begin with anyway) your mind". "Trust me, that'll fix EVERYTHING". Not spoken, but absolutely IMPLIED. Three hour "loving" reproof sessions because we had given to the point that we had nothing left to give. And the bastards wanted more.. Arcane protocol that was only known about in the days of Methuselah. Arm not healing fast enough as they think it should? YOU ARE NOT BELIEVING. Forget, or IGNORE what the real doctor in the situation is saying. Doc says don't move it for six weeks? Well, we know better.. besides, we have a house we need you to clean for us. All this is the tip of the iceberg. Some stuff I'll probably never talk about. If somebody missed this stuff, their head must be firmly planted.. in the sand. I'll be kind. Or it was a real miracle. If you think this is just gossip- I just don't know what more to say. Yep- makes me feel REALLY dumb. What was I thinking? I can tell you. "Things got to be getting better- it was good, once, I remember what it was like". I could put up with it, I was the "positive" believer. They had the damn saddle GLUED on me. I honestly could not make myself think people could be that cold, that evil. Thought "believing" would fix it.. make it all go away. My God, I would've been better off watching Three Stooges reruns eighteen hours a day. I'm not screaming though- I'm laughing my foot off. Just one of those "funny" days..