skyrider

In the secluded world where men are designated mogs, and unaccountability reigns......this stuff happens.

DogLover.....I don't know how it happened, the reason for the accident. Wierwille was 66 years old at that time. What I do know: In 1983, when wierwille wrecked his twig-hopper in Ontario.....it was hauled back to hq in complete secrecy!! The front fender was bent some and the left side was scraped. A few decals had been knocked off. The guys in Flight Services, especially Jeff, were adept at paint detailing, pin-striping, leather upholstery, instrument panels, touch-up painting, etc. Therefore, the Ambassador One staffers and other insiders were designated to set up a closed-in paint booth in the OSC Warehouse and repaired it and repainted it....and added even more decals for those motorcycle shows. Even to this day, few have ever heard about it. Kinda like a secret society......no one broke silence! No one leaked the information that the twig-hopper had been wrecked. In the aura of wierwille-mogdom, this type of incident would simply diminish wierwille's stature. And, the mystique of wierwille lives on in the splinter groups today.

In contrast to wierwille's famous tirades...... All those corps night meetings, when wierwille started labeling dissenting leaders as cop-outs or "tripped out".... .....yeah, like the 6th corps Region Coordinator in the Great Lakes Area who exited in 1978/79 .....or when John R., Ambassador One pilot, left twi and returned to his home town could it be vpw had short-term epiphanies knowing that he was becoming more ineffective with each passing day, and more irrelevant?

Heck.....you probably could never predict wierwille with 50% accuracy. <_< Heads or tails?

Are these pathologies contagious?......like AIDS or something? Because it seems like Cgeer has a case of these as well.

Rejoice.....again, THAT is a book I should read. Perhaps, it will "connect the dots" of impressions that I observed in Wierwille decades ago.

Ditto

Rejoice......Exactly! Wierwille had been so absorbed in this elitist mindset of self-love that, its seemed as though, he projected himself ON TOP OF THE WORLD.......LOOKING DOWN.

Three MAJOR wierwille-confrontations that I personally witnessed, two of which I detailed on this thread already, ......and the 3rd incident where a 6th corps grad fell asleep right in front of wierwille teaching on Corps Night (which I've posted before)......ALL had the same result. Namely ---- Wierwille was so angry, so visceral, so attack-mode that wierwille HAD TO LEAVE THE SITUATION TO "COOL DOWN." Those were NOT staged. In all my years, I have NEVER SEEN ANYTHING that compares to it. Nothing!! Nothing in human behavior can properly illustrate what I witnessed.....it was like the sudden burst of an alligator on a wildebeest at the river's edge.

For me.....its probably interlaced with a bit of both, but the nuances of trying to figure out this "inside baseball" stuff masks the larger picture. As twinky asked, "...was it in reality very carefully controlled anger, to elict maximum stress and fear in the hearts of watchers".....STRIKES AT THE HEART OF TWI'S MANIPULATION AND DECEPTIVE WAYS. If wierwille, knowingly and purposefully, used "controlled anger" as a weapon to beat more submission into his devoted followers, then his actions were even more detestable than imagined. In my opinion....wierwille's sudden, abrupt and vehement anger was NOT "scripted" or premeditated if the situation arose. That would be giving too much credit. Rather, I tend to think that wierwille held this coveted, narcissist image of himself as THE teacher and anyone who sat at his feet should be eternally grateful. Remember......Bob Richards, the Wheaties spokesman, who came to hq and wierwille gave him a public "slap-down" on his views?

While some might contend that the trajectory of twi is based on pfal.... Many of us would say that it dived downward BECAUSE of contentious, heavy-handed taskmasters. The term "leadership" is, really, unbefitting to what I experienced in wierwille's corps or hq. No surprise that martindale, geer AND rivenbark revel in the wierwille-blueprint of rulership. What you look at, you become! What you mimic, you endorse! Martindale endeavored to take scream-fests to a whole new level in twi. And, let's not forget.......GEER TOOK A GUN TO A CLERGY MEETING AT HQ.

TWI always pinpointed the fruit of the spirit... .....BUT rarily noted the works of the flesh. Where is "teaching the WHOLE word for our spiritual understanding? Why the cherry-picking? Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. WOWSERS......adultery is the first one listed. Looks like a laundry list of twi hierarchy!!

chockfull.....exactly! "A mature genuine Christian leader in a situation like that would have joked about "how did those crickets get radios?" and moved on with compassion and grace." Or,...."Sounds like Jim bumped the volume knob on that two-way gizmo he carried with him....Aw, Jim, it happens to us all.....nobody's perfect, except the last guy that got outta here some 2,000 years ago." The INTENSE ANGER revealed wierwille's character. Why do you think Martindale and Geer were known to be racheted so tight? These two men were the product of years of intensity, anger, and control. And, how did THAT work out?

Another Wierwille Confrontation... While at headquarters my final year of inresidence corps......a nightowl was scheduled in the Way Woods. The night was pleasant and, as we walked past the George Jess memorial, a crackling fire welcomed us with curling flames and warmth. For me, I was thankful to be outdoors and soak in the sounds and smells of nature. As always, the corps coordinator handles the initial stages of corps gatherings before wierwille steps in. This seems to be standard twi protocol, much like a warm-up band takes the stage before the marquee band takes the music and crowd to a whole new level. Anyways, that the way its always done....and probably, will stay. When wierwille enters, he takes his chair and is flanked by the corps coordinator. Another couple of logs are placed on the fire to set the atmosphere, and the crickets chirp in the woods. About an hour into the nightowl, as the serenity of the evening was peaking....none of us could foresee what was about to erupt! In the shadows behind wierwille was his aide, his bodyguard whose two-way radio blurted and screeched in the quiet night air. The "atmosphere" of the whole evening came to an abrupt halt; a meticulously planned nightowl was broken in an instant. Wierwille could NOT contain his anger. He unleashed this tempest and castigated him relentlessly for about five minutes. This bodyguard was the same man wierwille had praised months before by saying, "He stands by my side, because he doesn't take sh!t from no one." So, the irony of this night loomed large as wierwille couldn't help but verbally attack his right-hand man. Why couldn't vpw just cover for the mistake? Or, better yet.....call attention to it as a big ooops! and move on? What made it so awkward was that wierwille was "caught in the headlights" and couldn't adjust to the moment. So, his anger came front and center!! To me, this fury revealed wierwille's character....something he worked a lifetime to hide. The bodyguard? From what I heard from hq-staffers the next day, he packed up and left. Never saw him again.

exie.......I feel your pain, really I do. Yet, I just happen to believe that GreaseSpot Cafe serves a heaping plate of recovery for all who come thru these forums and sit a spell. Dessert is served when one finds another friend. Our mission is to provide information that tells the other side of the story about The Way International and its trustees. Our hope is that GreaseSpot Cafe serves as a place where those who have been impacted by The Way can make connections with people and information which will support their particular process of recovery.

Jim....one more thing. Twi's caste system was a bunch of bullpookie......some of us corps, me included, never thought of you as a "lowly AC grad." Wierwille/twi engages in class-status warfare to push numbers and strife. I know who you are and......personally, always enjoyed your insight. ..edit typos

Dude? ......are your feathers ruffled? Read the following scriptures and tell me that THIS equates to wierwille's vehement, vein-popping, yellfest that many saw in those "good ole wierwille days?" Mar 8:32 And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. Mar 8:33 But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. Mar 8:34 ¶ And when he had called the people [unto him] with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Jim.....thanks for verifying this incident. Wierwille-defenders like to turn the tables on whoever brings solid testimony of wierwille's wrath and character. Just like wierwille's wrecked twig-hopper......it gets covered up. No, we didn't discuss this, no one wanted to even whisper what happened. It went down the memory hole and was "forgotten." For reasons like this.....I chose not to visit the corps-only website where many seem to fawn over selected memories and feel-good experiences. Guess I'm just not wired that way.

OldSkool.....yeah, "layers of control" Stuff like this always reminds me of martindale's teaching the significance of the CROCODILE in Babylonian symbolism and culture. The over-lapping scales provided for an IMPENETRABLE protection from its enemies. The layers of armour garnered respect and fear from this formidable creature.

johniam......apples and oranges. The Living Victoriously Class was open to faithful followers and international students and a major event leading up to the 40th Anniversary of TWI, Martindale as next prez, and wierwille stepping down. Lunchtimes......at headquarters were/are totally micro-managed. Lunchtimes......at corps locations, manipulative & heavy-handed.

Jim.......so true. In 1980, in the BRC.....a group of six were seated up front to share about their experiences and learning at "The Tracker" seminar where Tom Brown Jr. taught skills of tracking and survival. Remember, from 1976-1981, twi and, specifically, the corps program was heavily engaged in a sub-theme of "mobile abundant living" [MAL-packs] in a subversion of an American overthrow. Thus, some corps and others went to learn from the man who was "the master of tracking" - Tom Brown Jr. During this BRC gathering, wierwille was seated near the front on the side. All six members had come prepared to share their learning experience to those of us, 90-120 people, in an evening gathering. Going down the line, each shared about ten minutes and how learning is exciting and all. BUT.....this nice, pleasant evening was just about to take a jaded turn as the fourth person shared his experience. He was 8th corps and had a deep enthusiasm for all-things nature, had built a small cabin years before, and an ego to match. Not sure if he spoke longer than his slotted time frame, but superlatives were attached to Tom Brown's skills and teaching. Tom Brown was the master, the man in the spotlight, the man to teach anyone about life and living!! Well.....wiewille couldn't stand it any longer. With fire in his eyes, he jumped up and unloaded with vehement, frothing-at-the-mouth anger! This 8th corps guy was "POSSESSED," he thundered with a vengence. For a moment, I actually thought wierwille was going to throw a punch and deck the guy. He was that furious. He railed and railed. I found myself in a whirlwind of thoughts, "What the he!! is going on here? Is this guy really possessed? Are we going to see devil spirits cast out? Oh, my!" Wierwille thundered onward....there seemed to be no end. Finally, the fury stopped as wierwille headed for the backroom of the BRC. The silence in the room was deafening as Johnnie T. came forward to tag-team the meltdown. Another ten minutes of justifying wierwille's fury and Johnnie dismissed us. As I walked back to my unit, I wondered why wierwille didn't cast out any spirits.....IF this guy was indeed possessed. My respect for wierwille had, once again, diminished in my eyes. Amazingly, the head-to-head confrontation did NOT crush this 8th corps guy nor his testimony....in my opinion. And perhaps, that is why the confrontation lasted so long. WIERWILLE COULD NOT STAND ANOTHER MAN, TOM BROWN, LAUDED AS A GREAT MAN AND TEACHER.

johniam.......Jesus confronted SATAN, not Peter. You actually said it yourself.......but seem to twist it around. I can't possibly take your post as credible when you twist the scriptures and distort their meanings. If this helps you sleep at night and "protect your idolized image of wierwille," go ahead....its your life. I always find it ironic how you, johniam, come to wierwille's defense......having not been an eye witness to these things that posters give testimony to. Wierwille's fiery confrontations and early clergy letters were not open for the general public to see. Is that a surprise? .

Anyone?

Are you saying that twi leadership all act familiar?

Say it ain't so? 2Kings 21:6 And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke [him] to anger.