skyrider

chockfull....when I started this thread, I must confess.... ........other meanings to this "re-education" came to mind. Re-education - Click Here......instilling certain beliefs against one's will Re-education camp - Click Here.......ie indoctrination Hope this helps. :)

George.....you're not paying attention. THAT is the "tour version" of the VPW Memorial Museum. You see, twi re-writes their history....... ...."While hundreds and hundreds of corps and clergy deserted him....in the end, Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille ran his course in life, faithful to the end. And, now folks...on this tour, you are entering the Founders' Room of the auditorium where, we have displayed, notable men who were instrumental in (blah, blah, blah)......"

This VPW Memorial Museum is a figure of speech....SYMPERASMA: or, Concluding Summary. In observation of twi's trajectory of decline and irrelevancy....and yet, obsessive/compulsive insistance to inject wierwille adulation into artwork, displays, books, portraits, stories, teachings, and a prominent statue in the Victor Paul Wierwille Prevailing Word Auditorium.... its a concluding summary of twi's endgame.

The plagairism issue has been discussed from "ants to zebras".....but, to me, it speaks volumes of wierwille's character. Personaly, I believe that wierwille knew it was wrong and lied every step of the way to cover his tracks. Sure, he makes a bland statement that his great contribution was "putting it all together." I don't think so. And, whenever wierwille made a slight reference to BG Leonard.....he quickly followed it with a cutting slander. Ummm.....with that deception, couldn't the SAME be said of wierwille? And, that whole thing about staying in a hotel room for three days and writing "Receiving the holy spirit Today" with side-by-side comparisons from Stiles' work......Please? Wierwille played his followers for suckers, but in the end....it smacks of wierwille as a snakeoil salesman. In today's academia, an undergraduate could NOT get away with such plagairism....and yet, wierwille flaunted his "doctorate."

I seriously doubt that twi's hype on vacationing at camp gunnison is catching on. I mean, who really wants to have their family activites REPORTED BACK TO THEIR LIMB COORDINATOR? And.....with the economy struggling, would someone in North Carolina really want to spend that kind of travel money when they're surrounded by vacation adventures all around them?

While you're at Camp Gunnison.....please meditate on the picture above the mantle. Picture above mantle - Click Here.......scroll to bottom of page. All praise to wierwille........hallowed be thy name. .

IMO.....the camp gunnison idea was BONEHEADED from the start. Okay, maybe it has investment value....I understand that. But how many thousands of hours of labor does it take, and new construction, and maintenance going into that place constantly? Albeit, the in-house corps labor is cheap....otherwise, this revamped "sleepy hollow campground" would be a major money pit. Does "a church organization" NEED an isolated, over-the-mountain-pass, campus to train its way corps? Again, what's the strategy in endangering corps to travel snow-packed mountain roads at relocation times? The cynical side of me can only see three possible reasons for buying "Sleepy Hollow" in the first place: 1) The pride of owning real estate on the Gunnison River, 2) Grasping a bit of the Rockies and the nearby elk hunting possibilities, and 3) Having a secluded cabin spot far, far away with corps women stopping by. Heck, twi could have invested more agressively into the Rome City campus and kept the focus closeby. Like I said, others here might be able to better speak about the RC campus.....but associate degrees were accredited thru this Indiana campus, right? And, children and teenagers were becoming the "ebb and flow" of twi's changing landscape. IMO....the Rome City campus was a proper fit, if only it had been organized and properly managed.

Maybe wierwille was (gasp) fighting against the obvious? ......fighting against the "unity of the spirit?" ......fighting to maintain his levers of control? ......fighting to hold his power and legacy? Forget his dog, his pony, his show.... Where's Balaam's a$$ when you need him?

Yeah......wierwille's contention about "people not listening" EXPOSED wierwille's stubbornness to change! There were plenty who had concerns about twi's static positioning. Bo R#@hard was one of those men. He was advocating for more organization and flow-chart communication. The problem with wierwille's "homegrown approach"....was that he sided with the martindale/geer/towns#nd adulation rather than the organizational/practical leadership skill sets of r#@hard/don wierwille/art pol!ng who dealt with project and educational management. Lest we forget......the 1982 Feb/Mar/Apr failed episode of the first "international corps campus" in London, Ontario. The city was in an uproar hearing that twi was desiring to acquire an historical mansion for its campus property. Ch@rlie and Tr@cy Pr#st0n were up there.....and then, Martindale went up and led a protest thru the streets. Another "black eye" for twi as they tried to get the cart before the horse.

That 5th corps back inrez thing.....does ring true. Wasn't it Ch@rles H#nry R!xx, 5th Corps, who had the infamous bullride experience at Gunnison that wierwille played over and over.....and laughed about it? Someone videotaped this in-rez rodeo stuff.....and after charles finished his ride, the bull swung around and flipped him up and over the bull's backside.

Linda.....I think you are absolutely right. I did say 1980-81....meaning thereabouts, so I might have missed it by half a year. Not to shabby...with a 24-year tenure in twi, living in 7 states, overseeing twig/branch/ area/limb assignments and the roller coaster ride of a lifetime.

From my corps and staff experiences, I have long held the view that TWI was folding upon itself around 1980-81. As I've stated many times, corps and clergy were starting to slip out the "back door" by 1978-80 and few noticed as the next "soldier" filled the ranks. After PFAL '77, the consensus I heard was that wierwille's teachings and performance did not surpass the 1967 version....in fact, it had some doctrinal errors in it. Nothing major....just slip-ups. I would certainly agree with you that there was a major lack of any coherent wide vision. I mean, really....."word over the world" was losing steam and lended itself to generic jibberish. For a short period, there was some backroom talk about de-centralizing twi and strengthening everything at the Region level, but from what I surmised....wierwille wasn't keen on that direction. And, in 1979 twi property was in major transformation as Way Builders attacked the roa grounds to add underground piping and wiring, then black-topping the spokes and access lanes, built the octagonal gazebo etc. etc. Thus, the roa festival was the "high level mark" of coherent vision for yearly gatherings. And yet, wierwille's visions of Camp Gunnison were all over the place. One evening, while inresidence at Gunnison.....wierwille soared his "vision" for what he aspired to see happen. He envisioned an elaborate restaurant with a wrap-around porch on the hill near the water tower. Believers from around the country would come there to vacation, to white-water raft on the Gunnison River, to fish, and of course to hear evening teaching of God's Word. Our senior believers could buy in to a "sunset retirement cabin" and live there for the rest of their lives....but when they died, the cabin would then belong to twi. Of course, there would be horseback riding where corps would oversee the safety of the riders, the visitors. Wierwille envisioned people coming in droves and opening their wallets like it would be one of the "vacation jewels of believers everywhere." Perhaps, that night......it was just the drambuie talking. Same deal with the LEAD program....it was all over the map. Before twi settled on the Tinnie, NM location......considerations were given to California, Colorado, South Dakota. I don't know, maybe it was just me....but I couldn't help but think, "Why all the drama and fuss over a place to climb some rocks? Didn't I come into the corps program to learn scripture and help others?" Not to mention what came years later....when wierwille wanted ALL corps coordinators to go thru the LEAD experience themselves and prove their salt! And, what happened? Major uproar as internal conflict set in. Not wise. Too much time. Maybe dangerous. In the final outcome of it all.....as I remember, corps coordinators TOOK A BUS. No hitch-hiking for the "spiritual heavies"....no sireeee! So, yeah....I could probably cite another 30 examples of twi unraveling by 1980-82. Anyone who points to martindale as the fall guy just didn't have their eyes open, or weren't privy to these things. And, for those who might ask...."Well skyrider, why didn't you exit then?" Well, with all its shortcomings, I tended to believe that twi would MOVE BEYOND WIERWILLE.....and research work like Jesus Christ Our Passover and Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed gave me hope. So I stayed. Thankfully, I was single at the time, because I'm not sure that I would have handled the Rome City campus experience all that well. I deeply disagreed with the RC campus mandate that ANY ADULT could reprove [swat with spoon] another corps persons' child in the hallways or wherever. Really? Twi sanctioned repeated and consistent spoon-swatting a child for "disobedience." Thank God I never had "my child" in that situation. I DO NOT BELIEVE IT TAKES A VILLAGE OF IDIOTS TO RAISE MY CHILD.......clear enough? Enuff said. As the years have passed, my positions have strengthened....but some 32 years ago, I lived in a dichotomy world. Some things in twi I liked......several things in twi I despised. Perhaps, again, my independent and rural upbringing could have factored in with this standpoint. And, I've often stated that twi NEVER figured out the child/teenager paradigm. Parents are solely responsible for their child upbringing. Period. Twi was encroaching boundaries when they violated the parent/child trust. No way would I want wierwille's sex class teaching my teenager. No way would I want rome city campus corps repeatedly confronting my child while I was in some class somewhere. The indoctrination was taking on new levels!! In conclusion, I could add plenty more to "wierwille's incoherent vision of twi"........but, to me, twi was TOTALLY INADEQUATELY EQUIPPED at Emporia campus with 320 first-year inrez corps plus 130 second-year corps. Others can speak about the Rome City campus more than me, as I never was re-located there. Thank God. But at Emporia....the numbers swelled so much that married couples were SHARING A ROOM with another married couple. Yes, that's right. With bunkbeds, the one married couple had to undress/dress (in the community bathroom??) before getting into the upper bunk while a married couple slept below. Crazy stuff!!!! Again, thankfully I was single. But I firmly held the viewpoint that twi was fixated on numbers and THE MONEY ROLLING IN.....rather than have a clear-cut limitation on yearly corps enrollment. If little ole me could see this stuff back in 1979-80..........why couldn't wierwille? <_<

At 1980 Corps Week......wierwille blamed the way corps for NOT stopping the rain. If the great "man of god" couldn't stop the rain with his mighty believing, then why did he even think that the peon corps could do it? sarc/

LOL.......talk about the bottom of the bowl. One corps mtg.....martindale shared in-length about stepping out of the shower and how he dried off thoroughly even drying between each toe. What spiritual depth and insight.....blech. And, wierwille....spent time teaching the significance why the toilet paper should unroll over the top rather than under the roll. I mean, you just had to be there!

1970's......in the mid-70s, a twig leader was recognized. A majority of twigs were being led by non-corps leaders. If you didn't like the twig you attended, then you simply attended another one to your liking. No problem. Simplicity. 1980's......the use of the word "twig" was being phased out. More and more corps grads were being assigned to oversee a branch, known to be the most challenging of all assignments -- to oversee 7-14 fellowships, run your own, and work full-time elsewhere. Many cities, like Dayton, would have 10-12 home fellowships....and branch coordinators would regularly meet with Limb leaders. 1990's......after fog years, 85% of twi fellowships dispersed. When corps went full-time in '95, twi started directing outlying families and small fellowships to move to limb cities. Yeah, those were the directives coming out of hq. The life and activity of the ministry is at the limb level, near your full-time corps. 2000's......with martindale's ouster, and more exiting corps....twi was rattled. HQ was the remnant of the faithful and corps were assigned to teach WAP classes live. Grads were directed to, again, sit thru the class. To fill more rows in the auditorium twi mandated that nearby limbs/branches to schedule sunday service attendance. Wierwille's heavy-handed legalism had come home to roost. Rosalie Fox Rivenbark was now guarding the henhouse.

Twi ran off the talent in dozens of skilled labor professions. Twi ran off good staffers in the '70s as corps upped the ranks. Twi ran off corps grads by treating them like property slaves. Twi is shredding any decency it has left....which ain't much. But hey.....all sorts of places are memorialized. amityvillehorror.com - click here ....."The timeliness of the theme was one of the only things that allowed Amityville Horror to become so successful in that most astonishing year for horror (from late 1978 to late 1979) — the year that included the releases of Halloween, Alien, Dawn of the Dead and Phantasm — rather than going the way of its other contemporaries, Nightwing and Prophecy." .....The timeliness of pfal was one of the only things that spurred wierwille's twi to any small recognition of notoriety at all. Other than that, twi would have been just another cornfield cult of personality. .

The pride of man desires to project his "greatness" to the world, to name buildings and streets after him. At the Emporia campus......Wierwille Library, Uncle Harry Hall, Ermal Owens Hall, Allen Gymnasium, etc. At hq, many of the access roads near the units are named after wierwille's siblings, trustee members, etc... and then, there's the George Jess mural near the entrance of the OSC Building. The doors are now open for the VPW Memorial Museum.....the sunday service is just part of the tour. .

Some 22,000 advanced class graduates deserted him.........yet, wierwille stood faithful to the end. Some 3,000 way corps grads walked away from the mog.......yet, wierwille stood faithful to the end. Some 525 clergy no longer stood with this apostle.........yet, wierwille stood faithful to the end. Those closest to him know that Dr. Wierwille died from a "broken heart." <_<

Hotel California........you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.

TWI found a new version of the Re-Education Camp at HQ to replace the wierwille model* *All active corps grads are REQUIRED to participate in weekly corps phone hook-ups. This practice started in 1989 as a "come-if-you-like" during those turbulent fog-years and became a requirement around 1992. Therefore......one is NEVER really a corps graduate of twi's program. He is always in training, always an apprentice student of their indoctrination. The minute this corps grad REFUSES to attend these corps meetings....he is dropped from active corps. At least, this was twi policy.....perhaps its changed in the past few years. So, in essence..."active corps" means DO what twi says, when they say to do it! You only stay a corps graduate as long as you OBEY THE RULES OF CONSISTENT INDOCTRINATION.

Ever notice the transition stages in twi?.... 1970's......The life of the ministry is in the twig. 1980's......The life of the ministry is in the branch. 1990's......The life of the ministry is at the limb. 2000's......The life of the ministry is at hq. At the request of hq, busloads of visitors were traveling to the sunday teachings to fill more rows in the auditorium. "Come and see" had replaced the 1970's outreach of "Go and Tell." Twi is guarding the victor paul wierwille copyrights via a small oligarchy of central power. And, even though two of the wierwille offspring are mounting a charge that CFF is the true, rightful gatekeeper of "The Word".......TWI has a vicegrip on the property, the wierwille farmhouse and now the VPW Auditorium. In terms of wierwille preservation, does it really matter who's teaching scripture anymore?

Those of us out of the loop didn't get the memo. The VPW Memorial Museum is OPEN for business. :B)

Does anyone remember the fanfare and build-up to the 1979 Advanced Class in Athens, Ohio? Prior to this live advanced class, twi organized a "Carry the Torch" run event from Rome City, Indiana campus to Athens, Ohio..... symbolically representing "carrying the light of God's Word from Rome to Athens" to start the competition. Volunteer runners, many corps of course, ran a section of the course as prescribed by twi. The route went thru wierwille's two towns where he was the pastorate.....Paine, OH and Van Wert, OH. I remember some of this, because I ran through the streets of Van Wert along with about 40 other runners. Wierwille wanted to make a statement of his followers' support and the ministry he had built. Now looking back.....was the 1979 Advanced Class about students' learning OR was it ABOUT WIERWILLE? Everywhere you look......twi centered on WIERWILLE.

Twi's "Fine Arts and Historical Center" in Sidney, OH was our first glimpse of this.....but perhaps, it was ahead of its time and too obvious. But today, twi can full-throttle ahead as their assets and investments have increased considerably. ********* Plenty of websites from which to glean and plagairize ideas, too. Tweak & Adapt - Click Here Splinter Group Leaders Welcome - Click Here .

$50/hr per person.....to hang out in wierwille's club house $200 per picture -- a life-size wierwille cutout with his arm around you