skyrider

Yes, potato......I had the same thought when the WOW program's success was mentioned. I went WOW twice in the mid-70s. Although I experienced some personal learning both years, there really wasn't anything of significance that I couldn't have learned had I remained in college. On the contrary, I found myself in a position of 1) four strangers learning/squabbling to live together, 2) the awkwardness of two males/ two females adjusting to a plethora of differences, 3) daily discussions and weekly meetings to hammer out bathroom schedules, food shopping, meal preparation, cleaning responsibilities, etc. etc. 4) finances ---- rent money, food money, family fund money ---- ALWAYS MONEY, and 5) witnessing, accountability, followup, classes, etc. IMO......the overwhelming result to most WOWs' experiences would fall under the aspices of basic, low-level living. There was very, VERY, little WOW Department support and encouragement.....in fact, it really didn't seem like I was involved in any program except for the obvious rules and regs. To be fair, I did witness 4 or 5 instantaneous healings and saw the power of God move on a personal level. But, overall..... the "program" was not successful....imo. Through the years, I've talked with many WOW vets who've shared their disgust and disappointments of their WOW year(s). And, my two WOW "sisters" from my first WOW year.....found their husbands on the WOW field.........both marriages ended in divorce, years later. Other stuff, too.......but I don't care to elaborate. In hindsight, I think housing young males and females together was completely irresponsible. And further, some of those WOWs were sent to po-dunk towns in 1980-84 where ill-prepared WOWs dealt with townies who didn't want the way cult trying to indoctrinate their kids. Several groups had a hell-year.....or had to move. Heck, some WOW families lost one or two people.....and spent the rest of the year scrambling to pay rent. The WOW program was a slip-shod operation..........exploiting the youth.

Yeah.......and the "founder" was a lazy, plagiarist with a paper-mill doctorate.

themex, AND...........twi board members have three signatures on THE WAY OF CANADA non-profit papers! I wonder what the Canadian folk would think if they found THAT out???

How important was corps comformity to wierwille's march on mainstream Christianity? Hypothetically, what if there'd NEVER been a corps program.......what would the twi landscape look like today? Imo........wierwille, at 51, began considering and calculating the need for "class instructors." Not teachers, mind you..... but instructors, staying vigilant and faithful to instructing others only. Of course,.......the printed material lauded this corps program as "service and spiritual training," but really IN PRACTICE wierwille was striving to INDOCTRINATE INSTRUCTORS for pfal. Year after year, the corps "training" was steeped in obey-your-leader commands........only side journeys around the time of advanced classes did the emphasis change to the other six manifestations of the spirit. By the late 70's, many corps had MOVED FORWARD.......families, careers, advancements, military assignments, and yet wierwille REMAINED STATIC in his resolve. There was NO room for dynamic change.......NO desire to alter the status quo......and NO consideration for change. Wierwille needed INSTRUCTORS....not leaders. <_<

seaspray.......welcome to GS and welcome "to the other side of twi propaganda." I tend to think that most people realize that one's fervor for his/her religious organization will crystallize opinions and experiences favorable to their affiliation. Obviously, you've stated yours'. Many here at GS, at a point in time, came to a fork in the road........where twi's doctrines and/or abusive leadership diverged from scriptural truths. Clearly, we are admonished in scripture to FORSAKE all appearance of evil........and I witnessed mounting evil in wierwille's actions. On three occasions in my corps training, wierwille vehemently lashed out at an individual ( 3 separate incidents )......wherein verbal abuse and public humiliation the likes of which I'd never seen, nor have seen since. In all truth, wierwille acted possessed. It matters not to me that you, seaspray, hold to your wierwille-allegiance. I completely understand. Heck, I held onto my convictions even years after exiting twi. But slowly and surely, the "man of God" entitlements that accompanied wierwille were dismantled by my continued search of the scriptures. Today, I realize that wierwille plagiarized heavily, drank heavily, smoked heavily, and did far more in that motorcoach than "study bible." Even further, wierwille counselled martindale to "loosen up sexually in order to be stronger spiritually." The stories of his abuse have surfaced. As you know, GS tells the other side of twi. IMO......way corps saw wierwille as is. And now, some 30 years later, I tend to think that many ex-corps have re-evaluated their youthful bliss and allegiance to twi's programs and machinery. Walking around GreaseSpot is like taking a journey underground at Disney World........it's a whole different perspective than the smiling children and fun rides in the sunshine. Here, one sees how the labor force worked, the trash detail, the grinding of machinery, no time to talk and fellowship and the constant observance of keeping things rolling. Peace.

Accountability for their actions.......past and present. 1) Financial accountability......open financial records for all to see. 2) Lawsuit disclosures............stop the secrecy/spin cycle. 3) Plagiarism in pfal...............show honest research history of Leonard, Stiles, Bullinger and others. 4) Open doors of dialogue.......abuse counsel / retribution for abusive leadership / send "lcm-wannabes" packing 5) Remove mystique of MOG status past and present........stop idolizing wierwille and his "statues." 6) A credible research department..........not in-house doctrines of "nine all the time." 7) Remove old guard.............remove tier levels of seniority at hq 8) Live and apply book of Acts......cut hq staff by 2/3......roll up sleeves......travel & assist.......stop the hypocrisy. This list should freak them out.

Thanks........the archives contain lots of good discussion towards this summation. When I went into the corps program after two years of WOW service, I was highly anticipating this much-heralded spiritual training for those who wanted to serve God. Yeah, "For those who want to be their best for His Highest" was the clarion call reverberating at the time. My expectations were high! The first two months of corps training were filled with.......Dale Carnegie principles and salesmanship, PFAL rehash teachings and discussion groups, memory peg concepts, learning all the names of corps, 4-hour work details, dorm room regulations, branch responsibilities and daily twig roll call. Three days a week, we were to be in our seats by 5:20 am.....ten minutes ahead of the teaching start time of 5:30 am. Some evenings, the 7:30 pm teaching was NOT the last meeting of the day. Meetings followed meetings.......and the droning went on and on. By the end of those two months, I had succombed to a mind frame of regimentation...... for indeed, wierwille was stressing discipline to "walk by the spirit." This lockstep mentality was the standing m.o. ......reinforced by videos of Patton and MacArthur with suggested reading. The message was clear: follow orders and jump when wierwille says "jump." The corps program was, supposedly a facsimile of a "spiritual" marine corps. In this intense environment, soon following the chain of command, following orders, eclipsed the twi-propaganda wherein it was "for His Highest." I sometimes refer to this indoctrination as "information-overload"........they had us on our heels and were barking more and more orders. Of course, the question is always asked....."Well, why did you stay?" Simply put..... in the middle of a stream, one doesn't jump horses. I really thought that, once graduated....this "discipline" would open my understanding to more spiritual insight. Little did I realize at this youthful moment........that wierwille had NO intentions of letting the corps go "serve His Highest." On the contrary, wierwille was striving to build an elitist force that snapped a salute at his command. The Slow March to Corps Conformity......built an SS force......which later became, The Slow March to Cult Conformity. This "march" led us AWAY from God and AWAY from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This "march" led us AWAY from the simple truths and AWAY from the manifestations. This "march" led us to the death camps of innocence and trust.

Time and chance happen to us all as noted in Ecclesiastes. For wierwille and his pfal class, the window of opportunity had arrived in 1968. With his marketing class "in the can".......the counterculture movement in full swing.......the Jesus Movement making waves and airwaves across the country.......the distrust for government and official authorities........the young generation breaking from the church.........wierwille, at 51, was primed and ready with his message. Drugs, sex and rock-n-roll accompanied the mix. The counterculture revolution was on the move........pushing the doors "of the establishment" and beyond. Back in Ohio, wierwille took notice............and makes a trip to Haight-Ashbury to witness it firsthand. Tapping the sources of early Jesus-movement leaders, wierwille saw this opportune time and soon thereafter, the first make-shift "rock of ages" took place. And, the theme wierwille launched....."Addicted to the ministry of the saints." Under the flag of "like-mindedness" and "non-conformity to the things of this world"..........in ten years, wierwille had started The Slow March to Corps Conformity. By manipulation and exploitation, wierwille had subtly built "an infantry of crack troops" that would march to his orders, his research, his agendas. The briefcase-totting corps were his elite men and women.......wierwille's pride and joy. Corps need to marry corps, he ordered. The pyramid structure of twi was wierwille's supreme strategy......with good friend, Ermal, and brother Harry cowering to wierwille's whims and demands. No accountability was the playground where wierwille thrived. He had no equals......and even scriptural admonitions on "Thou shalt not commit adultery" wierwille referenced these occurrences as "spiritual adultery." Wierwille's "research" was twisted to his liking. Wierwille was a "grandfather-figure"......a smooth operator. Twi became a cult of personality under his rule and his entourage of aides, bodyguards, adulating yes-men fanned the flames of conformity as well. Martindale never had this subtle approach. His demands for respect never materialized.......especially with Cgeer standing in the wings, full-ready to usurp this authority at the pinnacle moment. In the end, wierwille failed. His "work" never survived one generation. His mantle-bound successor, martindale, followed wierwille's orders to "loosen-up sexually" to reach higher spiritual maturity............in 1998..........SPLLLAAAAT. Wierwille never saw it coming.....................THE INTERNET. Wierwille never could conceive....................HIS SEXUAL PREDATION EXPOSED. Wierwille's legacy will go down.....................IN THE HALLS OF CULTDOM. Wierwille's pomp as "twi president"...............IS OVERSHADOWED AS PREDATOR.

Sounds like the Coulters are calling on cultees to stay in the cult...!!! Same spewth as wierwille.......corps marry corps, twi-followers marry twi-followers. Guess that even in a "kinder, gentler organization" one still has to push for CONTROL........more subtle control, of course. <_<

Wouldn't up-close photos of different shaped penises.......front view, side view, white penis, black penis, different types of penises......be X rated even in today's standards? And...........especially to 16 year olds? [.....wasn't that a requirement? ] And...........from a country preacher who was not qualified in this area?

Yeah........ludicrous, isn't it? And, if "little booklets" preceded the final draft, picture this..... Ephesians chapter 1 (of sorts).........is circulated near Ephesus, 57 A.D. Ephesians chapter 4 (of sorts).........is circulated in Ephesus, 58 A.D. Ephesians chapter 2 (of sorts).........is added to completed work, 59 A.D. Ephesians chapter 5 (of sorts).........was taught, and comprised, at a couples' advance in 58 A.D. Ephesians chapter 6 (of sorts).........worked on while in prison, 59 A.D. Ephesians chapter 3 (of sorts).........surfaces from a late-night teaching, and added 59 A.D. Compiled and edited by Luke and others.......Paul releases "this new publication" for Ephesus and beyond.

.....it's new(er) Lots of good football on right now!

Well.............. In the interest of "factual record"..........you, WD, were incorrect. It had been two classes ago from pfal. <_<

lcm's version?...... "Principles of a Believer's Family".........or close to that. It was taped at Gunnison when lcm & donna were sharing things with the corps. Soon after, it was promoted as the "new" CFS class............but really pathetic. An audio class. I had the misfortune of being the "class instructor" a couple of times..........worst class in twi. I was embarrassed to even charge a class fee ($30) for this dribble. Uuugh

Well............ 1) TWI turned down the volume of lcm's rants. 2) TWI softened the confrontation (17 minutes into session #1) of who Jesus Christ was. 3) TWI eliminated the "original sin" of the lesbian/eve encounter. 4) TWI, obviously, got rid of lcm-memorabilia, lcm-vp comparisons, lcm-boasting. 5) TWI kept the same name, WAP, to facilitate a smoother transition. 6) TWI was not forthcoming to its followers on all the changes and editing. But, yes................it's essentially the same class. And yet, I suppose one could make an arguement that LCM's class was "really the same information" as Wierwille's PFAL Class.........but I'll refrain.

I really don't care to get into a pi$$ing contest here..... Just wanted to add: 1996 ------ Martindale taught The Way of Abundance and Power class 2005 (?) --- This new(er) class kept the same name, but had differences. Most notably.........three teachers: 1) John Rupp taught the first two sessions, 2) Steve Longley taught sessions 3-6 and 3) David Chavoustie taught sessions 7-12. Carry on.

Maybe the corps class syllabus included it .....(edited in to "shine it up").. IMO.....the Christian Family and Sex Class should have been about: 1) Scriptural truths on the Christian Family Strong examples of family strength in scripture. Garnering truths from Focus on Family in the book of Acts 2) Planned Parenthood......Family Nurturing......Child Rearing Adultery.......scripture back-up / cultural thinking and acceptance / adultery is sin Promiscuity / Boundaries / Abstinence 3) Sex Education from a Christian perspective The High Road -- God's Design: Procreation and Pleasure The Low Road -- The Devil's Playground: Unsatiated Lust, Abuse, Rape, Incest 4) The Unique Relationship of Marriage Husband's Role: Love the wife like Christ loved the church Wife's Role: To honor and respect husband Communication and Agreement on sex issues IMO..........wierwille's class was laced with a misogynist agenda and an intro to "soft porn." No, it wasn't porn.....but an intro into a twisted, lust-driven, mindset of "the man gets what he wants." Didn't wierwille look straight into the camera and say??......"There are more germs on a man's nose than his penis." Implication: Go ahead and suck that penis......it's not going to "hurt" you. Even in my early 20's........I wondered why wierwille was talking about GERMS on a PENIS in this CFS class.

Thanks WW...........ANOTHER DESCRIPTIVE THREAD buried in the dungeons of thread-dom. One of the best posts in that whole thread......Dot's.

Yeah......."The Word is the ministry and the ministry is the Word." One of wierwille's quotable one-liners.........and twi's propaganda. In spite of thousands of hours of teachings, meetings, corps indoctrination..............I never swallowed this bait. The re-hashing of pfal was one of the deadening aspects of corps "training."

Geez, louise............how long are you going to take with such dribble? Searching for a rule......searching for the word...... searching for the one thing that "Dr" wouldn't have to flip-flop on. Reminds me of Cgeer in 1986..........when he alluded to this, and that, claiming "the ministry was OFF the word" and gave strong implications that ONLY HE could lead others to Dr's "last will and testament" truths. Sheeeeesh. Here's what I've found in the last eight years. Yes, wierwille was searching in the mid-40's......looking for something to bolster his enthusiasm, his identity, his arrogance, and a self-serving drive to a higher pedestal. In attending retreats and seminars and such (perhaps, to just get away from ohio and the mundane church atmosphere)......wierwille found stiles and was led into speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues helped wierwille fan the flames of his enthusiasm for a while.......but he NEEDED more. When wierwille's oldest daughter, mary, got very sick, (according to Mrs. W's book).....wiewille phoned BG Leonard, and Leonard prayed with them and for mary's deliverance. Mary quickly recovered from this illness...........and wierwille's interests were pricked to learn more about BG Leonard and his ministry. In February 1953, wierwille attended BG's class Gifts of the Spirit.....then, he and mrs. and don attended the next one with two carloads of wierwille-followers in June 1953.......THEN wierwille rushed back to ohio and ran HIS OWN CLASS in October 1953 using all of BG's materials. The grads of BG's class in Calgary......were considered GRADS of the "wierwille" October class and did not have to pay an attendance fee. Everything in Mrs. W's book account, points to the fact that wierwille's life CHANGED from that point forward. Now.......wierwille had a class to peddle. Now......wierwille had the gifts/manifestations to "fit the word together." Now..... wierwille had a "class-based ministry" and direction. Now.......wierwille could pin-point all marketing and promotion to the ONE THING that had electrified him........B.G. LEONARD'S CLASS. THIS............is the "sole rule of faith and practice" that wierwille found. THIS............is why wierwille adamantly stated, "Every truth must fit in the framework of the manifestations." THIS............is why wierwille heavily plagiarized from JE Stiles when writing Receiving the holy spirit Today THIS............explains why wierwille's "research" was adolescent and contained few sources. THIS............is the legacy that wierwille left to his devout followers. THIS............is the truth behind the myth. THIS.............STOLEN CLASS was wierwille's foundation for the rest of his life.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED From the snowstorm thread.............. Mike believes that PFAL = God-breathed Word. How many others are "true" followers?

To cut to the chase........here is what I wanted to discuss. Wierwille NEEDED "a divine promise" to snugly cloak himself as "the man of God." Perhaps, he sensed, in 1969 or 1970, some rivalry on the horizon from the likes of Hefnxr or Doop (or others) and wanted to solidify his infallible position. Or, he wanted to squelch anyone from taking "his" pfal class and teaching it as their own. Whatever the reason.......wierwille felt like he NEEDED to unveil "the snowstorm incident" to the young corps some 28 YEARS after the so-called incident and clarifying it for Elen@ Whites1des' in-house promo book. The Myth and The Man grew substantially thru the 70's.......crystallizing TWI's Mission Statement: PFAL = The Word. The corps program fueled this growing mission as the suck-ups, corps coordinators, sought the approval of wierwille.....of which, one in Indianapolis STILL SEEKS to this day. Corps grads became the newly-trained pfal "instructors." The alpha male structure in twi had taken root. PFAL and "The Word" were synonymous. Remember......we have NO FRIENDS when it comes to the word, nor do we "waste our time" on anyone who doesn't want to take pfal.

Yes.......the premise of this thread is PFAL = The Word. But more to the point.......it was TWI's Mission Statement at it's corporate offices that fueled this manufacturing. At present, you have stated very little to prove to me that it was/is false. <_<

Of course it was "god-breathed".......wierwille was THE MAN OF GOD speaking NEW LIGHT. PFAL was the modern-day "epistle" ......the foundational "revelation" that God intended since the first century church. Wierwille was "led by holy spirit" to bring these keys to unlock the secrets of the more abundant life. HOW DARE YOU QUESTION THAT PFAL WAS NOT GOD-BREATHED???

Take the class..........the droning went on for years! Creeping in, ever-so-subtly........PFAL became synonymous with "the Word" for many, and later a majority. The pfal class became like a modern-day arc of the covenant, containing pfal wierwille-breathed words. Seemingly, respect and awe was directed to a man......THE "man of God." By the early 80's, the corps were being taught that wierwille was "our father in the word".....citing references that were associated with the apostle Paul. The all-out push for America Awakes in 1976 was spotlighted on pushing the class, taking the class. It was the sole "product" of twi's marketing campaign....."It's the class, the class, and nothing but the class." The first two months of my corps indoctrination were pfal-rehash "teachings." It was one of those uuugh moments when surely there is more to "corps training" than selling the classes, the books, the wierwille brand??? Sadly......NO. In my skepticism, I held out thinking that "there is a light at the end of this tunnel, right?" Nope. In the end, my skepticm won out..............They were who I thought they were.