skyrider

I've posted this before, but to illustrate this point... In 1980, wierwille was teaching the inresidence corps and staff corps grads in the OSC Building. One of the main focal points of the corps program was the weekly corps meeting, commonly referred to as 'Corps Night.' Generally, these meetings had about one hour and fifteen to thirty minutes of preliminary structure and announcements before the main teacher took the stage. Three hour corps meetings were common. On this night, a 6th corps grad was seated in the third row. For years, he had wanted to work on staff and be near the 'heart of the ministry' and would arrive early at corps meetings to get the closest seat. So, after all the preliminary stuff and martindale rants.....wierwille finally was seated at the teacher's desk. About 20 minutes into wierwille's teaching those literal translations according to usage in Romans.....this 6th corps grad started nodding off. I was seated about seven rows behind him stage left and watched it unfold. Others next to him tried to shake him and keep him awake, but after about 10 minutes.....it happened! Wierwille saw him nodding off and went ballistic! With fiery eyes and a vehemence that I'd never seen in wierwille.....he ripped into the corps grad to shred him. Hundreds of corps witnessed this character assassination. Wierwille kept attacking his commitment, his corps status, his life, he was POSSESSED...... the verbal onslaught continued until martindale stepped in to tag-team this assault. Wierwille fumed and stepped back stage. Now, martindale went after him. "How dare he nod off when 'the man of God' is teaching the greatness of this word of God!" yelled martindale. Ranting and ranting, the onslaught continued......and no one came to his defense. Not one. Nor did I..... Finally, after some 20 minutes or so.....wierwille came back on stage and sorta finished his teaching. Even to this day, nearly 31 years later.....I can vividly see wierwille's rage!! The next day, the corps grad was fired and sent packing. A few weeks passed and he was diagnosed with severe blood sugar complications. With medication and rigid diet, he received the medical attention that he so badly needed. All of this begs the question.......HOW SPIRITUAL WAS WIERWILLE and/or MARTINDALE?

Broken Arrow.......yes, I remember that. Amazing, isn't it? The goal posts kept moving..... Then, wierwile started bringing selective corps grads back to hq.....I specifically remember some of those 4th corps grads back at hq and wierwille publically complaining about their "commitment level." Addition to the list: Bait......spiritual training to go forth and serve others Switch....serve trustees who, in turn, lord over those who 'serve'

So now.....you are going to compare the works of VP to psychiatrists?

T-bone......yeah, every bait had a HOOK in it.

PFAL Bait......Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, the life Switch....stand on "this word" that vpw taught, twi is "the way" Bait......the love of God is the more excellent way Switch....the true essence of the love of God is "in the household" Bait......search the scriptures whether those things are so Switch....don't let anyone talk you out of what you learned in pfal Advanced Class Bait......walk with all nine all the time Switch....follow chain of command in the way tree setup Bait......signs, miracles and wonders are indicators of the power of God Switch....twi classes will back down the forces of darkness Bait......impartation manifestations: healings, cast out spirits, miracles Switch....wierwille: this man is the great power of God [Acts 8:10] WOW Ambassador Bait......go and grow with God, grow spiritually ten years in one year Switch....to really grow, you need to go corps Bait......tell them what God did for you Switch....recruit and sign others up for pfal classes Bait......word over the world, every nation, every city Switch....some cities are so dark, the word will not move there Corps Bait......two years inresidence program to walk spiritually and lead others Switch....a lifetime of twi servitude regardless of abuse, exploitation, predation Bait......the greatest training in the world to walk with God Switch....a mason-like hierarchy where more secrets lie behind every door Bait......corps diploma, associates degree in theology Switch....a worthless piece of paper signifying indoctrination Bait......those who will sit at the feet of the master to serve the Lord Switch....an inner sanctum society where elitism rules over humility Bait and Switch.....Bait and Switch.....the fishing expedition continues.

In the bible, Jesus Christ exposes and casts out unclean/devil spirits. Time and time again, the scriptures illustrate his walk of power over the kingdoms of the world. After Pentecost, the scriptures reference other men who did the same. YET.......in all wierwille and twi leadership bravado, I never saw or heard one incident of anyone casting out a devil spirit. Several incidents come to mind while I was on staff.....eight to ten, at least. And, what did I see wierwille do? what did I see martindale do? what did finneg@n do? YELL at the individual, name-calling someone possessed. BUT......No casting out of a spirit. No demonstration of spiritual power. One 6th corps guy who wierwille and martindale yelled at for some 30 minutes and fired from staff the next day........found out weeks later that he had severe blood sugar anemia. Another incident, wierwille yelled at an 8th corps guy in regards to "The Tracker" program that they attended. This 8th corps guy raved and raved, in the BRC (to an audience) how incredibly awesome the guy was and his classes. Wierwille went ballistic with rage!!! Wierwille didn't want to play second fiddle to anyone. Wierwille called this 8th corps guy possessed and within five minutes stomped off stage. I saw many other incidents............ How many were labeled "possessed"......yet? NOTHING. How many times vpw talked big..........yet? NOTHING. And, then.......wierwille dies of cancer......a devil spirit? .

I couldn't agree more. Wierwille's "lock box" teaching was a pre-emptive, deceptive move......and with all I know, now, some 35 years later.....it stinks to high heaven. How many staff or corps girls left twi abused, confused, and distraught by wierwille's predation? Uugh. And, why did wierwille avoid teaching on adultery even in his CFS class? Why did Walter Cumm1ns dismiss JS's adultery paper and cover wierwille's sins? Why did Geer's poop paper avoid this wierwille/adultery issue and put the then-current trustees in the hot seat? Distraction, perhaps? Why were all those who read this adultery paper fired from hq staff? I smell a rat...........the wierwille doctrine. Rom 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. Rom 16:18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

From my observations....not only do these men "buy into the wierwille bs," many have structured offshoots and networks that continue to keep hirelings over the flock. Along with a livelihood, or supplemental supply.......the fleecing continues. When I left twi.....for awhile, I thought that its demise was martindale's fault, a majority of it, for sure. Yet, after a couple of months on Waydale.....it became clear to me that wierwille was a wolf in sheeps' clothing. Everything in his life was soiled with the works of the flesh.........lazy, bully, arrogant, braggart, con artist, plagairist, drunkard, sexual predator, etc,.....the man should have served prison time. Good vs Evil...?? Some good versus "some evil"....?? Are you kidding me?

Indoctrination...... top-down bureaucracy....... pyramid structure....... conformity...... shunning merit-based performance..... strict evaluations..... regulation driven..... favoritism..... What could go wrong? And, when wierwille structured twi, he placed the corps graduates at the top levels of his command center. All twi promotions were based on CONFORMITY TO WIERWILLE DIRECTIVES....from pfal --> WOW --> Corps.....obedience to "jump" was the basis of promotions and positioning it twi's hierarchy. Wierwille declared this when Martindale was president-elect in 1981. From 1970 onward, wierwille was gearing his ministry towards corps leadership. More than any other criteria, the corps program fast-tracked an individual to a leadership position. Not education. Not skill-sets. Not decades of experience. The old guard of hq-staffers were being replaced by corp grads......most notable as the 6th corps grads came upon the scene. Yet, many non-corps in all areas of twi had great ability and skill sets. IMO.....the glaring inconsistencies became apparent after about 6 or 7 years. I contend that many corps were seeing the same things I saw in 1978-80. Corps were busting at the seams.......military experience, medical care professionals, psychiatrists, building professions, tradesmen, performers, singers, artists, writers, cartoonists, etc. Indoctrination and strict conformity was the demise of twi. Happens in other walks of life....click here

Why are there so many references of "sexual" attributes in your posts? Just seems like this is a re-occurring observation in this thread entitled Was vpw a good man? Is there a parallel theme running in all of your posts?

MLM..........Multi-Level Marketing MLM..........Multi-Level Masquerading Wierwille hid behind the twi structure and faces of the youth movement.....promising all kinds of benefits and spiritual rewards. He bloviated stories and plagairisms and revelations in his classes that have been debunked. The most glaring "truth" is found in his advanced class......cancer is a devil spirit. Wierwille died of cancer.....so, he either was possessed OR his teaching on cancer is rubbish! What else in his advanced class is rubbish? Yet, in the INDOCTRINATIONAL WORLD OF TWI.....other trustees, other top-level leadership covered over the cancerous death of wierwille. Why? Howard Allen had the gall to tell the staff and corps that "wierwille died of a broken heart." Sheeeesh. The lies and perpetuation of lies had no end. Twi's house of cards was built on a foundation of indoctrination. All of those guys, Howard, Don, Craig, Geer, Walter, Towns3nd.......running cover for the drambuie king. Research.......... Teaching.......... Fellowship........

Actually.......twi leaders did say this! Two things come to mind: 1) There was this "father in the word" push in the mid-80s....claiming that wierwille, like the Apostle Paul in the first century, fathered a following of believers. See, as one continues "in the word"......that follower is of wierwille. 2) In Chris Geer's paper, The Passing of a Patriarch......the definition of "patriarch" -- the father and ruler of a family or tribe. When Geer delivered that long, reading at the 1986 Corps Week......was it a eulogy of wierwille's life? Was Geer eulogizing the life of wierwille to the Corps Body present, irrespective of the whole Body of Christ? Were we, indeed, of the "tribe of wierwille?" Twi was a strange, meandering detour from the main highway of christianity. How different my life would be today if I hadn't turned down the intersection of wierwille road and hwy 29. .

Looking back, I see wierwille's marketing of "the more abundant life." After all, who wouldn't want more abundance and eternal life? Have it all.....have it YOUR way. Framed for youth consumption and few boundaries, youth brought their friends to the party. Wierwille always held "the word" at the center of his teaching ministry. Not healing, not community service, not family building, not practical living, not eternal life.....but the constant focus of "working the word." In this spotlight, wierwille was king of research, editor-in-chief, and fiction-writer all in one.. And who defines, clarifies, augments, and teaches "this word".......wierwille. How convenient!

After 10 years, the discussion doors to Greasespot Cafe are about to close. And, it seems fitting that posts/threads on defending Victor Paul Wierwille are coming to the forefront. The truth of the scriptures is timeless: 1Cor 1:12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 1Cor 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I [am] of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Of course, no one seems to come right out and say...."I am of Wierwille.....yet, why not take the high road and proclaim, "I am of Christ"...?? Why is it that many who've left twi live and confess that....while those in twi, or closely associated with twi-lite groups, continue to want to elevate wierwille? Thanks to GS and these discussion forums, I no longer think or say "the First Century Church".....signifying it as ONE ENTITY, ONE LIKE-MINDED GROUP. Yep, another pfal falsehood bites the dust. Another pfal book, The New, Dynamic Church, is riddled with error and based on a false premise. Think about it this way......"Christian" cults have been around for 2,000+ years. Why should we be surprised that twi and/or offshoots keep popping up? Even in the days of Gamaliel [Acts 5:34-39] boastful men like Theudas, Judas of Galilee, and others rose up to draw away men....of which, were later scattered and came to nought. So it is today. .

johniam.....this is a discussion forum and wordwolf, respectfully, refuted your points in a thoughtful manner. Yet, you are making this personal. I do not see ww's post as 'very angry'....nor this 'moral superiority' that you reference. Personal attacks often indicate that one is unable to refute the evidence presented and resorts to attacking the individual. Also, broad generalizations...ie an entire generation....will get you nowhere on this GS site. GS posters have seen that broad brush tactic plenty of times to let it slip by....especially when it denigrates and slanders.

Yeah, the prosperity gospel is more of the same self-indulgence of mankind. The "you-are-righteous-now-no-matter-what-you-do" gospel and lust gospel didn't lag far behind in vpw's twi.

Thanks WW To this day.....there are still wierwille-defenders who are indoctrinated with this ilk. And, some of them haven't been to a twi event in decades.

Could it be.... Wierwille framed the issues. With business-like savvy, wierwille envisioned his product, pfal classes, being sold all around the country. The class has a re-occurring imprint, time and time again: people lack knowledge and need to be led. By tweaking biblical truths and Christianity ever-so-slightly......pfal graduates are left with Wierwille as the teacher and he will lead them forward. Remember the exclamation point at the end of pfal: Stand on the Word (pfal) that you were taught, don't allow anyone to talk you out of it, and write THE TEACHER. Anyone who has ever sat in a MLM promo can testify how marketing strategy works. The premise is set and all visuals and testimonies convey how 'life-changing' the product is. No time for delay......act today. And, with immediate counsel and follow-up, the product is re-enforced over and over. Sound familiar? And.....when one distances himself from the constant bombardment of pfal, it becomes clear how it was marketed. Sure there was some low-hanging fruit (truths) in pfal. But rather than keep stretching for the higher fruit, where Christ is lord & mediator between God and man.....the rules and traditions of man (twi) lead to a laboring in vain.

Waysider......very good question to ask. Like many aspects of pfal, I see this as another flaw in wierwille's performance in spiritual matters and a peek behind the curtain. The premise of his "observation" was NOT spiritual in nature.....it was material abundance. Wierwille had blurred the two together in his own mind and blurted it forth while filming his pfal class. Perhaps, he did this intentionally to set the stage for his "law of believing?" A strong possibility, for sure. Along with other stories or acts of plagairism.....wierwille was rarely critiqued and got away with such inconsistencies. After all, who was going to correct or confront the man of God on his error? Clearly, many saw these discrepancies and even urged the remake of his foundational class [in PFAL '77], but that class had more blunders and inconsistencies that the original. So, the teacher-with-the-skinny-tie class had to endure into the 80s. Another sneak peek in pfal of wierwille's theology......"every woman in the kingdom belongs to the king." Isn't it amazing to review the pfal class material backdrop after now seeing how vpw's performance on the twi stage played out before our very eyes? .

Wierwille builds his case in pfal.....destroyed for "lack of knowledge," not rightly-dividing the Word of God, and NOT operating the manifestations of the spirit. Yet, throughout his ministry.....plodding ahead with the things of God, sermon after sermon. Where was the demonstrated power? Where were the healings via the man of God? Where was indisputable revelation to thwart the attacks of the adversary (devil)? In retrospect, the trustees were plodding along and promoting the classes, programs, and machinery of the ministry. And, by the mid-80s.....everything had regressed back to blindly following leadership and plodding in the same rut. Walking with power, walking with "all 9 (manifestations) all the time" was replaced by "The Word is the ministry and the ministry is the Word." In the mid-90s......the terminology was hyped as "the prevailing word." Shell game semantics.

The business acumen of wierwille perceived that "material abundance" and "spiritual abundance" were blood brothers of wealthy parents.

Looking back.....I kinda think I've always been a rebel. When I finished pfal, at the time....it was good enough for a starting point. Some scriptural perspective, some foundational truths,...but I wanted to see if that "christ in me" was distinctively IN ME. At the time, nothing mattered more. When I studied the scriptures, I saw individuals, not the collective, walking with God. Yet, lo and behold.....the collective "twig" became the movement. As months passed, witnessing and undershepherding were coordinated to get a class together. The collective unit was the "one size indoctrinates all" and individual freedoms and pasttimes were frowned upon......even in the "good ole days." Every step along the way.....Advanced Class, WOW, Fellowlaborers, WOW Vets....the collective unit was promoted as the strength of God. All questioning was suppressed or dismissed.....to hold in "abeyance" for later. The way corps indoctrination was the worst. Even after two months inresidence, I was irritated by the CLONING OF THE CORPS. When the Christmas break arrived, I had strong temptations to leave Emporia with all my belongings and not return.....(oh, how different my life would be today). I detested the "one size fits all" indoctrination. I detested the droning and droning of teachings. Even the newer books, like JCOP was gone over chapter after chapter. Didn't they know we could read? One Size Indoctrinates All.......One Over-Sized Ego Indoctrinates All. Seems like everything twi taught in doctrine, they violated in practice. Twi taught that each could walk with God, yet they repeatedly said that leadership was needed to keep the adversary from us. By the mid-80s, twi leadership was more needed than the manifestations! Oh, the subtleties of the twi shell game.

That's for sure. I would think that they are reminded of their meager and pathetic existence every sunday. From all indications, even with directives from hq to organize busloads to attend their script readings......the place is rarely 1/3 full. And, that includes the hq staff whose presence is mandatory. Hard to even say what that place is anymore..... a biblical wierwille-adulation research....plagairized format teaching....reviewed & scripted fellowship..commune of followers What a perversion on so many levels.

The continual stream of websites, postings, podcasts, and books detail the manipulation, exploitation, coercion, indoctrination and sexual predation within the walls of The Way International. The destruction and suppression of life was and is profound. Undoubtedly, more stories are to follow as a new website is born. How far did the rippling waves of suicide reach after Tom Mitchell took his own life? What about his parents?...siblings?...relatives?...loved ones? Same could be said of Paul and F3rn All3n. How devastating was martindale's sexual predation to their relationship? Their extended families? Others, like excie, who has posted dozens of times of wierwille's predation while she was inresidence corps. Exposing the system, the layers, the inner circle, the mog-idolatry, etc.....has been arduous and painful. But I'm sure that my path of cult recovery doesn't compare to those who were deeply entrenched and profoundly violated. And now, today.... The silence is broken. The isolation is unleashed. The corps program is all but dead. When the Allen lawsuit settled out of court, it was commonly reported that one of twi's settlement agreements was that Waydale would be shut down. Little did they realize that GreaseSpot Cafe, and now ExWayVision, would carry the torch of liberty and individual freedoms....freedom from the religious tyranny of twi. How many more will see with ExWayVison in the months and years to follow? ******************************************************************************************* “Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing [a people] to slavery.” Thomas Jefferson

In re-reading the article Driven to Suicide.....this account details the fast-paced chain of events that converged in 1995 upon staffer Tom Mitchell. Interestingly, four years later, in 1999....another man, Paul Allen, came upon similar crossroads where sexual predation on his wife ruled in martindale's twi. Except, this time, the husband and wife were able to escape Martindale's grip and leave staff together. To juxtapose this situation and Tom Mitchell's.....Paul Allen was Driven to Expose Twi. One man succombed to suicide. The other man outflanked twi in every way. One man's story was silenced by the grave. The other man's story, and website Waydale, went around the world and opened the doors to Greasespot Cafe to this day. And yet, the life of both.....so very precious. Driven to Suicide.........how tragic. Driven to Expose Twi......how triumphant. Probably like many others, I too faced extreme challenges and hard times when we exited twi. My wife and I had reached the point where we refused to accept any more corps assignments, relocations. The time to exit had come. Thankfully, I left with my wife and family intact.....BUT the trustees sent their "attack dogs" (two region men) to our area and door. The message was clear: They wanted to silence and destroy our good reputations. I could have easily succombed to the Driven to Silence category. The next corps meeting, our names were trashed with a plethora of lies "to section off this crime scene for all the corps household to witness." The trustees -- Craig, Don, and Howard -- had instructed the trunk personnel to make phone calls to our previous two areas of service to choke off any lingering support or sympathy. And, even though we knew all trustees on a personal level for years and served alongside them at hq on dozens of occasions, not ONE phone call to inquire about our decision. Not ONE personal conversation to express concern or further dialogue. Although it sounds rather dramatic today.....my world, as I knew it, ended. My 24-year social network of "friends"....GONE. My job and twi-groomed skills.......irrelevant. Our kids' twi-friends were stripped from them. All twi-related phone calls ceased...overnight. Our actions were monitored..........for months. [Others, who lefts months and even years after us (1998)...told us what happened and what region/limb guys instructed them to do.] Some people think that CULT is too strong of language for twi. Not me. If I knew of a better word to describe the twisted world and fabric of twi, I would. So, as the doors to Greasespot Cafe are about to close, I will forever be thankful for Ex-Twi (aka Paul A) and Paw. And yet, not forgotten......I remain somber of the reality that the "Tom Mitchells" of twi impacted us in ways, many unspoken, to a higher road. My heart-felt thanks to all posters who were......DRIVEN TO EXPOSE TWI. .