T-Bone

I heard about a séance back in February where a medium who also runs a Twig in New Knoxville had contacted a certain dearly departed cult-leader. During the séance the TWItch of New Knox – who, incidentally, was marked and avoided by the tabloids, said she heard a disembodied voice say “Lo Shonta my Shonta. If only seven Ukrainians would have taken the class, God would have changed all the international laws recognized by other countries , in a quid pro quo and a do-si-do with the devil in the motorcoach.” Here's a fun fact from Wikipedia - a séance or seance (/ˈseɪ.ɑːns/; French: [seɑ̃s]) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word séance comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French seoir, "to sit". ...In session 12 of PFAL students are told to stand and SIT....Coincidence? I don’t think so. News update: in a related story - the TWItch of New Knox drafted a Twig-resolution to make the King James Version of the Bible as interpreted by The Word-Daddy the only rule for faith and practice. Several protestors stood outside TWItch’s home with signs that read “My Bible My choice”

thanks for the laugh Raf

Speaking of kings – we could get into a subset of the 3 kings – aka the 3 wise men…wierwille would probably fit in better with these 3 wise guys:

I tried Googling “7 men of God” and other variations – didn’t find anything significant. Most of the finds were Christian studies that listed notable men of God in the Bible. Personally, I think that idea (see original post mentioning this idea here > post on Trinity: asset or liability? ) is a typical method used by a lot of conspiracy theorists and those who like to spread misinformation/disinformation/conspiracy theories … one can even make it sound like they’re just echoing what they’ve HEARD from others – even though they might be the ORIGINATOR. That way it lets the originator off the hook since it appears that they did not start it. For example: “I’ve heard from some guy who was in the 2nd corps that VP was a consultant to several governments that had programs studying UFOs. VP’s expertise was in aviator devil spirits.” I just made that up now. I referenced that I HEARD IT FROM a supposedly reputable source – someone who was in the 2nd way corps. It's probably one of the most used misinformation/disinformation tactics out there on social media. The person is NOT saying “in my opinion… ,or “I looked into the issue and found this out…” or “I know for a fact…” it sounds innocent and innocuous to say “hey, I just HEARD that from someone”. the first three rules of working at the Rumor Mill is to 1. obfuscate 2. obfuscate some more 3. review your work and make sure you've obfuscated properly ~ ~ ~ ~ For extra credit Grease Spotters can check out these links: Very Well Mind: why people believe in conspiracies? Psych Central: why do some people believe in conspiracy theories? Psychology Today: why do people believe in conspiracy theories? 10 reasons why people believe in conspiracy theories Psychology Today: Why People Ignore Facts - When it comes to reasoning, identity trumps truth Why do humans ignore facts and embrace myths as truth? Quora: why do people willfully and purposely ignore facts? Quora: Why do so many people ignore facts and stand so strong to their opinion-based views?

That's true - you did not reference wierwille in your 1st or 2nd post...it's not until you got to this point here - where you get into extolling the greatness of shyster-wierwille: which is why I said this: and followed up with this: if you want to counter my arguments - you'll have to do better than that instead of using the typical diehard-wierwille-fan rebuttal.

Great quote, Chockfull !!!! thanks for posting !!!!

How would you like to have more meaning in life ?

Are you gonna take the Moderna shot – or do you want me to fill you full of lead?

That’s the last time I’m playing Uno with you…you cheater!

The quote was from Eleonor Roosevelt: “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.” from: Set Quotes.com ~ ~ ~ ~ And you make a great point – “some of these sayings offer good advice or have a ring of truth to them, but in the context of the cult, they are all tools and weapons for manipulation and abuse”. It’s fascinating to think about the 3 pernicious pontificating Ps of vp (also know as the PPPOvp). The PPPOvp are plagiaristic, parasitic, and poisonous. Or PPPOvpAPPAP for short. So wierwille plagiarizes Eleonor Roosevelt’s cool quote. Being true to his parasitic nature, wierwille cashed in on the glory of another person’s idea. But it’s not an exact copy of someone else’s work – wierwille had to adulterate it with his poisonous ideology. In this particular case substituting "God’s Word" ( which any diehard-wierwille-fan knows it really means wierwille’s word ) – instead of discussing some formulated THOUGHT, CONCEPT, OPINION, REASON, THEORY, or BELIEF which ANYONE ( saint and sinner alike ) can have. And I should also say – I even agree with the sentiment in SOME of wierwille’s quotes. But even then – knowing about his consistently bad behavior “backstage” – I'm inclined to think there was nothing noble behind his words – it was just another means of self-justification inside his delusional alternate reality, i.e., cognitive dissonance. For example, I like this one for the HONESTY and GENUINE HUMILITY we SHOULD HAVE in our relationships: If I remember what God forgave me for, I have no trouble forgiving anyone else. (Life Lines) *** BUT *** Thinking about the many times I’ve heard wierwille – an unabashed plagiarist, pathological liar, and sexual predator – say that line from the pulpit in public meetings – I can’t help but hear in my head the expanded literal translation according to the cult-leader’s perpetual abuse: If I, as an unrepentant sexual predator, career-minded pathological liar and a thieving-glory-hound-plagiarist can forgive myself, I have no trouble telling my people that God continues to forgive me all the time. Even as I anticipate the salacious “counseling” session I have planned for the motorcoach right after this cheesy sermon. I wish you could see it in the original…it has a triple X rating.

For some reason your post brought a few TWI-dynamics to remembrance. I think wierwille-ideology had a sneaky way of sabotaging our emotional awareness…I took a little time to look at some related articles online. I think you might find this fascinating insight cool to check out – I’ll have a few excerpts and links below...also many of wierwille’s quotes are perversely counterproductive to the Christian lifestyle! The real trick of TWI’s crippling subversion was the crafty way they embedded a certain set of attitudes in the minds of followers. TWI’s warped ideas of positive believing and the renewed mind in truth had the opposite effect to what was intended – and we brought it upon ourselves! Twisted attitudes we adopted were sapping our energy. That’s what’s really weird about this…it wasn’t by an external force (i.e., wierwille or some other little-Hitler )…it was an invisible saboteur - TWI’s jerry-rigged credo of pat phrases, buzzwords, ministry-cliches and such which became the harsh yet unseen taskmaster…me! I have found the enemy and it’s me! A self-imposed-police-state-of-mind…thinking of just a few one-liners – I bet a lot of Grease Spotters will recognize the following emotionally suffocating mantras, mottos and mucky-muckisms that could only come from the mind of a cult-leader. I think there is a subliminal message in all of wierwille's quotes that conveys the same basic idea: wierwille is the ultimate authority on God or anything else. You’ll also notice in his “word salad” there’s a false humility and how he used biblical or spiritual sounding terms to justify cruel or questionable behavior…it was all a smokescreen for unrepentant sin. He epitomized one who felt nothing nor exhibited shame or remorse…never repentant …never showed an inclination to change…unapologetic. On some I cited the source…some are so pervasive in TWI-culture it might be impossible to note the “first occurrence” . I’m not going to list them all – just some I think prevented my emotions from functioning in a normal and/or healthy way. Emotional awareness is important because our emotions are own internal guidance system that often lets us know what is right and what is wrong for us. Here’s an interesting excerpt about emotional awareness: “Emotional Self-Awareness is the ability to understand your own emotions and their effects on your performance. You know what you are feeling and why—and how it helps or hurts what you are trying to do. You sense how others see you and so align your self-image with a larger reality. You have an accurate sense of your strengths and limitations, which gives you a realistic self-confidence. It also gives you clarity on your values and sense of purpose, so you can be more decisive when you set a course of action. As a leader, you can be candid and authentic, speaking with conviction about your vision. Consider this real-world example: The chief tech officer at an innovation incubator is a bully, but he doesn't know it. He's very good at what he does except when it comes to managing people. He plays favorites. He tells people what to do. He doesn't listen. He freezes people out that he doesn't like. If you confront him with a specific incident, he denies it. He pins the blame on someone else and gets angry with them. Or he tells you that you’re the problem. Last I heard, he was about to be fired.” From: what is emotional self-awareness? Here are just a few more reasons to be emotionally aware: To recognize your moods and reflect on them in order to make better decisions. To understand other people’s emotions and relate to them better. Emotional awareness helps you set limits in order to protect yourself. It helps us get to know ourselves. From: Emotional Awareness: What Is It and Why Do We Need It? I’m not going to make comments to critique each “wierwille-ism” – I’ll leave that up to any Grease Spotters who want to chime in on the cultic-greatness of these pithy duplicitous platitudes that could only come from the mind of wierwille There’s a few things I will say about these wierwille quotes and then I’ll shut up: 1. I can see now reflecting on my own experience how these pretentious biblical sounding “proverbs” trivialized my emotions and subordinated them to wierwille’s word and will (aka “The Word” if you’re a diehard-wierwille-fan). Think of gaslighting: getting you to question your perception of reality, emotions, judgement and intuition. “Gaslighting in a relationship can take on various forms. Rahman says some of the most common types of gaslighting behavior within a relationship are lying about a given circumstance or denying when abuse has occurred. However, it can also involve one partner projecting their own experiences and emotions onto a partner in a way that makes the partner question their own sanity. Another tactic is for the individual to minimize their partner's emotions or experiences so they question what really happened or how they really feel. And finally, gaslighting in a relationship can involve an individual causing social isolation by portraying their partner as "bad" or "crazy" in front of others.” From What Gaslighting Looks Like In a Relationship 2. you’ll notice in a lot of wierwille’s “short promos” he was selling an image that he wanted you to buy into...this was supposedly the real you…the ideal you…the ideal believer...think about the old cigarette commercials - you could look cool and sexy like these models/actors if you smoke this brand. But looking back, I feel it was more along the lines of The Stepford Wives . That’s got to be one of the most tantalizing aspects for anyone who is abusive, exploitative and a predator. I’m inclined to think wierwille had the preconceived idea that the ideal believer should be servile... compliant... submissive... with an almost robot-like ability to suppress emotions, ignore sensory input, and turn off logical subroutines…all the while happily doing the man of God’s bidding (translation: following the cult-leader’s instructions). It’s the dehumanizing effect of malignant narcissism…As you read his statements below in that light you should get a better sense of just how self-serving he was. Think of a wolf with a voracious appetite. 3. After I left TWI and began unpacking the emotional baggage accumulated from 12 years of involvement - I seem to be improving on my sensibility – which is the capacity to appreciate and respond to complex emotional or aesthetic influences…basically having more sensitivity to my feelings and those of others…you’ll notice most of these are from “Life Lines: Quotations of Victor Paul wierwille.” Jampacked “gems” of bloviating micro -sermonettes…According to the preface written by L. Craig Martindale the idea for this book was suggested by wierwille himself, spoken directly to LCM, while flying back on Ambassador One to HQ. he said “Maybe you ought to think about putting a book together, son, made up of short statements I’ve spoken over the years which have blessed people.” I now find the book “very useful” cuz it encapsulates wierwille’s insidious ideology in one nifty little green book. Oh how convenient ! 4. In my opinion, wierwille’s recurring theme of “The Word” as being the solution to all problems smacks of Gnosticism. The emphasis is on learning more and more about “The Word”. Knowledge is the key to salvation. Think about how much wierwille went on and on about the greatness of “The Word” and the power of believing. that inspired a lot of mental masturbation in followers. A charismatic leader who was all fluff and no substance has the power to tickle the ears of the young and the restless (put this in to see if you're still awake...by the sound of the snoring I guess I went over into prophesy ...oh well zzzzzZZZZZZ ZZZzzzzz ) “Mental masturbation brings out a short-lived stimulus of satisfaction, and then it is gone. It is seen as an addition that keeps you from living in reality because you constantly search for the next high of intellectual thoughts and not get anything done. Some have said that there is a lot of failure in life and business because there are many big ideas but minimal action happening because the action part is boring and not stimulating.” From: What is mental masturbation? People will tend to drag their feet. Procrastination is an illusion because it masquerades as activity and is an especially tricky form of self-deception. … In my opinion a lot of what they had us do in our corps training was busy work. It was a lot of “activity”, but it had very little value of itself… it certainly kept our minds preoccupied – less chance of us thinking or questioning or realizing that everyone else including campus-leadership were also busy doing nothing. According to Soren Kierkegaard (who was a Danish philosopher, theologian, and author) procrastination is a failure of the relationship between knowledge and the will. He said procrastination is like sewing without tying a knot at the end of the thread…That is an interesting thought - all the motions of sewing are there but not the practical consequences – because without a knot at the beginning and end of a length of stitching – the thread merely slips through the material but will not stay in place and hold the seam together. In other words, there's a lot of activity but it accomplishes nothing…Procrastination seems like monotony’s close cousin in the way a person repeatedly neglects what they should do. ...anyway here’s a short list of wierwille’s quotes: Feelings come and go Just renew your mind. The love of God thinketh no evil I have no friends when it comes to “The Word”. The more abundant life – our deliverance from the power of Satan in this world – depends upon keeping the established fellowship with God. ( The New, Dynamic Church) Fears have brought nothing but ruin, defeat, and captivity. The moment we are afraid, Satan has already moved in. (God’s Magnified Word) We should always be steadfast on God’s Word for it is that Word and the accuracy of it that makes possible our joy and rejoicing. ( God’s Magnified Word) The decision remains with you whether you are going to walk by the senses or by the revealed Word of God. (PFAL book) Most of us have too much complicated theology and not enough simple believing. (Bible Tells Me So) Believing implies obedience. (Life Lines) You are not healed because the pain is gone, but because the word says so. (Life Lines) Worry is nothing but advanced interest paid on unbelief. (Life Lines) You can’t have a walk of believing in the Word when you continue to have condemnation. (Life Lines) Action cures fear. Nonaction strengthens fear. (Life Lines) Speaking in tongues calms the troubled waters that are boiling inside. (Life Lines) Only Christ in you can take away the consciousness of sin. (Life Lines) Love sees more but is also willing to see less. (Life Lines) Take the barbed wire down around your heart. (Life Lines) When you forget God’s grace, you will be the one to cast the first stone. (Life Lines) We can never afford not to love each other. (Life Lines) You can be dead right but dead wrong because you have no love. (Life Lines) A person needs to be loved the most when he deserves to be loved the least. (Life Lines) If God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth isn’t condemning you, then why are you condemning yourself? (Life Lines) Let your old man really die; don’t just ignore him. (Life Lines) You only get hurt when you allow yourself to be hurt. (Life Lines) It isn’t what you think, it is what the Word says that you should think. (Life Lines) What we’ve got to learn is to never confess a negative. When you have a problem, never tell more people than necessary. (Life Lines) When God forgives, He forgets. (Life Lines) It is just as easy to think good of people as to think evil. (Life Lines) Read and believe the media of the Word instead of seeing, hearing, and believing the media of the world. (Life Lines) Get your mind off your experiences and into the Word. (Life Lines) If you don’t have anything good to say about someone, shut up. It’s so easy to criticize, but we need to stand, fight, and believe for one another, not against each other. (Life Lines) Don’t sacrifice your whole life just because you have a wound in one area. (Life Lines) If I remember what God forgave me for, I have no trouble forgiving anyone else. (Life Lines) Small minds talk about people; average minds talk about events; great minds talk about God’s Word. (Life Lines)

It’s simple Johnny – you just call your boss and tell him you’re tired of this $hit.

But what if it’s my Twig Coordinator ?

If you don’t stop picking your nose in class, I swear to all that’s holy I’ll - -

Doctor: Mister Putter, I think you’re suffering from ingrammaria. Patient: That’s ridiculous I've never heard of such a

TV dinners

I’ve dealt with long term water storage treatments: Aquamira Water Treatment the label claims it will make 60 gallons of treated water safe to drink for up to 5 years as long as the container stays sealed so no additional contamination can get in.

Or you could "old-school it"…and I mean really "old-school it"…just look at the origin of water on earth …remember the number one investigative rule: follow the money water…anyway, if that’s too primeval (Prime evil – take that Amazon ) just reverse the direction of the arrows in this little gizmo and you’re making water like a champ!

Are you thinking of Babylon Mystery Religion by Ralph Woodrow ?

Bolshevik – I like that picture! That’s the spirit! Rules…schmules…there ain’t no rules here…just don’t get political or QAnon-esque. My formula is I look for unusual pictures then I try to come up with the story behind the picture…Feel free to do what you want…I just start these things to amuse myself and I get tickled when someone else participates. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Nervous before my job interview… no one wanted to talk about the elephant on the couch

Hi Modcat5 / Raf, no harm done. ,matter of fact I didn't think you were arguing with me - I took it as useful feedback that what I said could be misconstrued...I wish I could be as articulate as you when it comes to talking about Bible stuff - in case you don't realize it I used the latter part of your comments as a springboard for other stuff I wanted to share anyway. love & peace! T-Bone

Welcome to Grease Spot, Tiredgirl ! There’s a lot of folks here that can relate to that, myself included. I was in TWI for 12 years – and at my corps assignment when in ’86 all the craziness of the Patriarch paper aftermath frustrated the hell out of me. Since then, my wife and I got back into our careers. One of my hobbies is unraveling the toxic doctrines of that pseudo-Christian organization. I joined Grease Spot Café in 2006. Great bunch of folks here with a wide variety of belief systems. It’s not as busy here as it used to be. I think it’s really challenging to maintain healthy relationships in TWI – just because of the demands of the ministry…the more involved you get – the more you’re guilted into believing the ministry’s agenda is the most important thing…I married my WOW sister and we’ve been together now 46 years. I don’t dispense words of wisdom for couples – I ain’t got none. But I will say this since we left TWI in ’86 we don’t fight over me putting the ministry first. We have “normal couple” fights. Like the other day…we’re both retired and she was getting on my nerves and I was getting on hers…we realized our individual “me” time was out of sync. I was wanting to read a book with headphones on and she wanted to talk about our upcoming fence replacement project. The contractor starts tomorrow…it’s a lot easier to straighten out little things like that than worrying about how to pay a bill cuz we came up short – we used to faithfully abundantly share 15% of our income…geez we were such suckers. Please stick around – check out other threads in About the Way, open, doctrinal or whatever hits your fancy. The search feature at the top right of this web page is pretty useful too. Of course you can yak more here with other Grease Spotters – share whatever you feel comfortable sharing…and be smart about – remember the Internet is watching. Ooooooooohhhh that’s really scary.

Good afternoon Mr. Bolshevik, nice and pun-derful Ok – now watch…nothing up my sleeve…my Ouija board is offline…shooting from the hip: 1. The person read the thread about bad tap water and is now thinking of living off the grid 2. Is that a peach in your pool? Better wash off the chlorine before you eat it. 3. Consider using the L-shaped movement of the hooded-Knight to block the peachy pawn. 4. Deleted scene from Innerspace movie: Dennis Quaid exits the miniaturized submersible pod, walks across the hernia repair membrane to retrieve the Kosher candy ball left by the surgeon. The music director wanted Aerosmith's Walk This Way as the soundtrack 5. Storyboard circa 1979/80 for pitching Pac-Man to game developers.

Maybe so – I’m not a sociologist – but…I thought "revisionist history" refers to conscious, intentional misstatements about things in the past, whether distant or recent. I’m certainly no expert on the ancient cultures portrayed in the Bible…it’s my understanding they were – perhaps I made a poor choice of words. Maybe “Patriarchy” – would be better…Patriarchy is a social system in which men hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property. Some patriarchal societies are also patrilineal, meaning that property and title are inherited by the male lineage. From Wikipedia – patriarchy I think Galatians 3:28 speaks to the believer’s spiritual identity – my take is that gender, ethnicity, one’s station in life has no bearing.

Yeah…that’s a heavy question…don’t know…as I said earlier - I subscribe to the limited inspiration theory of how the Bible was written. God inspired the thoughts of the biblical writers, but not necessarily the words they chose…in the Bible, God is referenced as a “He”. Did God indicate to them that He wanted to be referred to as a “he”? Was it an assumption on the part of the writers living in a male-dominated culture? ...don't know...