T-Bone

You’re welcome!

Yes ! With all the revealing history on this thread and links I’m hoping a lot of TWI folks (both “old timers” as well as new recruits) give that statement and this history lesson some serious thought - - and maybe some self-examination if applicable. I had this crazy idea as a wannabe cult-comedy writer of a scene late one night - all the board of directors happen to be gathered around the fountain where wierwille is buried - discussing the dwindling number of followers - and even more importantly, less money coming in. Then one of them says - “hey, remember in the Advanced Class, Doctor Wierwille’s teaching about the witch of Endor, where Saul asked the witch to summon the spirit of the prophet Samuel and ask for advice against the Philistines in battle…well…I’ve been thinking…how about we get Rosalie to summon the spirit of Doctor Wierwille and ask him what to do….desperate times call for desperate measures.” Some burst into nervous laughter…some dropped their coffee mugs, hot chocolate or Drambuie…one of them broke into an ecstatic language with a little Latin twist at the end, “Lo Shonta Mecca Lekka High etcetera etcetera etcetera “ one person flicked their cigarette at the speaker, and one person farted, waved their hand dismissively said “phfffft - I’m outta here” and stormed off - and it was night (oh yeah, I mentioned that already…change that to stormed off into deeper oblivion). Another bored director says “hey wait a minute…that’s not a bad idea. What do we have to lose? There’s a fifty fifty chance Doctor Wierwille was wrong about the dead not being alive and Rosalie actually does summon the spirit of Doctor Wierwille…uhm…remember not to stare at his glass eye…now…on the other hand if it’s a devil spirit impersonating Doctor Wierwille then - “ he’s interrupted mid sentence by another leader, uncontrollably shaking while smoking four cigarettes simultaneously “h-h-how will we kn-kn-know if it’s really Doctor Wierwille or a devil spirit?!?!” One executive who was always the most shy and withdrawn blurts out “what’s the matter, Dumba$$ you forgot how to operate discerning of spirits?” Another more prudent executive (who used to be over the risk assessment department at a local wastewater treatment plant - for those times when there was an excessive flow of $hit) says “ an impersonator is gonna slip up somewhere - the spirit will have two good eyes…or maybe the ectoplasm facsimile of a glass eye is on the wrong side…or the lying spirit says ‘that’s right’ instead of ‘dats riiiiiight’. “ The chief financial officer loudly clapped his hands together and says, “Let’s do it !!!! Fifty fifty odds ain’t bad at all. That’s a helluva lot better than what we get at Vegas or the stock market- which by the way , has sucked for us since the pandemic…either way we got nothing to lose. If it’s the real make believe man of god he’ll know what to do…and if it’s a devil spirit impersonating the real make believe man of god - he’ll know what to do…six of one half a dozen of the other…it’s like a lot of things, kids. “

Lots of fuel for laughs in that! Thanks !!!!! This gem sounds like something wierwille said in the Advanced Class: “I am SO glad that in the OT God would take any weirdo, misfit sinner who could believe to get jobs done. You got an elitism spirit suppressing your expectations.” This one is funny if you change the word “people” to “dogs” – then it reads like a promo for a dog-obedience school called PFAL: “ Can you name a class that nearly always ended with every new student able to SIT? I saw MANY such classes. I have noticed that all the splinter groups have failed to do what PFAL did. We had about 1,000 new - - - - - ->dogs learning SIT every month.” PFAL dog-obedience school is killing the competition! Anytime a dog fails to SIT upon command, you can count on a concerned instructor to lovingly reprove the dumb dog: “If that is the way you paid attention to PFAL then that is a likely reason for you not getting the results: you read into the text what the author does not intend.” But a dog reading into the text - ya gotta admit that's still pretty impressive. Do dogs learn to read in PFAL or is that a requirement before they're enrolled in dog-obedience school? Man, a text reading dog! How good is their comprehension? Does one particular breed read better than others? I once knew a girl named Hermione and her dog would SIT for a spell. Yup! She’d pull out the old handy dandy Handbook of Hogwarts’ Spells - mumble some Latin sounding Lo Shonta Mecca Lekka High beeswax and by golly that dog would SIT! Mmmm now that I think of it she had another dog that could bark in five languages. This sounds like a testimonial from Predators Anonymous: “One of the things that helped me was VPW's boldness. He got the job done. I don't see that happening elsewhere; not like the Glory Years.” “I love critical thinking skills. I just don't make an idol of them. I don't depend on reason to be perfect. Do you? “said the big wierwille fan. "what do you think the opposite skill is to critical thinking?” Being the best wierwille fan you can be. Be best! “How does one balance their skill set if critical thinking is lauded to the stars?” Become a juggling astronomer. “You can say "stupidity is the opposite." Would you? But that would not be a skill.” If you practice stupidity long enough, some might consider that a skill. “I know that there is a good, wholesome, useful, profitable opposite to using critical thinking skills, but I bet you do not. Think about it a little.” Are you talking about anesthesiologists? Profitable? He11 yeah - they make good money - of course they pay a lot for malpractice insurance. “When a situation calls for critical thinking, then I am all for them. Most people think there is no time when they are not useful.” I can think of plenty of times when they’re not useful: nap time, sleeping in a PFAL class, when having a nice tall glass of refreshing Kool-Aid from your cult-leader. “Do you think very young children use critical thinking skills as they emerge from infancy. I mean a 1 or 2 year old.” Critical thinking often happens when children have time to practice making choices, plan their time, or create from nothing. A newborn has only a few basic needs – stuff like air, comfortable temperature, nourishment, relieving bodily wastes and of course lots of love, attention, cuddling, and stimulation from the new parents and the environment. It may seem insignificant to some folks – but it appears even an infant learns really quick if they cry Mom or Dad comes running in to check the diaper, see if they’re hungry or what’s wrong. “People over rely on critical thinking skills. In our culture, lately, critical thinking skills are exalted above the logic of the Word, as if they will ever find the truth on their own.” Said the devoted follower in the cult of personality. “Part of the temptation of Eve was that she would have super thinking if she ate the wrong fruit. Smart people are often taken down by the adversary because they already have fallen into the idolatry of worshiping their own brains.” I wonder how you get all that out of Genesis 3 Oh, you must be a PFAL Grad . Golly gee – that explains it. “I suggest that all should seek something in addition to critical thinking skills, though they are very useful in more trivial, mundane matters, than fellow-shipping with God and His Word.” wierwille’s doctrine has at least four insidious elements: his signature intuition, fundamentalism, spiritualism, and Gnosticism. Who could ask for anything more?! ? ! “Just one more advanced thought: have you ever used critical thinking skills to evaluate critical thinking skills ?” Doesn’t everybody? Paul even advised believers to do that - “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith” II Corinthians 13:5 “That is exactly what I was dragging you through above. I am critically thinking about critical thinking skills. BLASPHEMY in academic circles, I know. Worse than plagiarism.” Is there a figure of speech in there somewhere? With great desire I have desired to desire what is about to transpire - giving you more grief for the bull$hit you sire - - of that I will not tire...do you conspire to mire this thread in more gobbledee gook misfire, I will be forced to hire a professional poop-compiler in full hazmat attire. I doubt if you'll find here a bull$hit buyer - and talking to TWI is like you're preaching to the choir. Could the stakes get any higher? yes - if you have no dinner 'round the ol' night owl campfire - your situation is indeed very dire - you should have put those PFAL books in a dryer - then you would have bull$hit jerky, something all wierwille-fans admire.... and drink more Kool-Aid said the crazy-town crier... If perchance you should acquire a new charismatic bull$hit supplier - hopefully they'll make more sense than the one you had prior...One thing to avoid is the wrath of your own ire - when you fling bull$hit it usually will backfire. “Would you forbid me to use critical thinking skills to expose the limitations of critical thinking, or is that coming to close to an idol for comfort.” That’s like announcing “I will now create a rock that I cannot lift”…oh, I’m sorry was that a typos ? Did you mean “coming to close to an idle for comfort?” well…to be honest, I’m not that comfortable around people who are idle and spend most of their lazy-a$$-time doing nothing but blathering nonsense. Thank you for asking. I'm here all week folks.

“that's a yes and no for me. I get that, sort of, in a way” I believe your tentative answer here as well as some of the rest of your post seems to support my point. I said “Having a rigid mindset is far worse than being wrong” because any system – or system of thought - that is unrepairable or unresponsive or inflexible regarding a fault condition, malfunction, sensory input warning, faulty design, system error, faulty programming, faulty data, sabotage, etc., then it would be IMPOSSIBLE to correct the problem. Now depending on the system or system of thought - that could be mission-critical if the failure or disruption in the normal operation may result in a total failure of the mission. Problem 1: In the 1995 docudrama film Apollo 13 dramatizes the aborted 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission, America's fifth crewed MISSION TO THE MOON, which was INTENDED to be the third to land. But an on-board explosion deprives their spacecraft of much of its oxygen supply and electrical power, which forces NASA's flight controllers to abort the Moon landing and REDFINES THE MISSION into one of seeking scientific and mechanical solutions to get the three astronauts home safely. I loved this movie! Oddly enough even though I knew how it would end – it was still a nail-biter of a thriller to get caught up in how they were going to fix the problem. Now what if there was no flexibility in the mission? What if NASA said “sorry, guys but your mission was to land on the moon – looks like you all bought a one-way ticket”. What if the spacecraft design was so inflexible or unadaptable that the crew could not make a vital course correction to head back to earth by manually igniting the Lunar Module's engine? Now a system of thought – our belief system does have some flexibility. Our beliefs help us make sense of the world. From what I’ve read online, some experts think our beliefs are somewhat like a software program always running in the background as we take in information and examine its source – checking for compatibility or conflicts with our existing beliefs. Our beliefs help form and/or modify a mental model for understanding the world, our self and others. Our beliefs tell us who we think we are, mark our place in the world and are essentially an ongoing personal narrative that anchors us to the here and now. No one is perfect – no one knows everything. How mission-critical is it if you have some nonsense in your belief system? What would be the consequences? That depends on the mission and the kind of nonsense. What if there was no way to modify, edit or delete the nonsense portion of your belief system? Problem 2: Who still thinks there is a “law of believing” that “works for saint and sinner alike” (no, I’m not talking about The Force of Star Wars)? What If Joe PFAL-grad decides to throw himself off the Empire State Building because he thinks he can fly like a bird. He believes God would have to change all the laws of the universe not to accommodate his believing. If flying like a bird is mission-critical how bad would the consequences be if he does jump off the building? What is the difference between problem 1 and problem 2? Problem 1 is solved by scientific truth. Problem 2 remains unsolved – because it disregards scientific truth (like the law of gravity) and foolishly substitutes a supposed metaphysical truth (the law of believing); not only is problem 2 unsolved but has a tragic end – Joe is splat on the ground – but fortunately for TWI he subscribed to The Way Magazine and always followed suggestions like the occasional reminder in the magazine “remember The Way in your will”… * don’t forget to view the DVD bonus feature at the end of the post. Well, I no longer subscribe to that law of believing nonsense that wierwille taught in PFAL. I used to think it was true. Fortunately, I am able to modify, edit or delete something in my belief system if it seems to be nonsense. Scientific truth gives us no criteria for metaphysical truth. Therefore, what is needed is another definition of truth for the metaphysical realm. In reading up on philosophy, I lean toward one theory of what truth is – it’s called the correspondence theory of truth “In metaphysics and philosophy of language, the correspondence theory of truth states that the truth or falsity of a statement is determined only by how it relates to the world and whether it accurately describes (i.e., corresponds with) that world. Correspondence theories claim that true beliefs and true statements correspond to the actual state of affairs. This type of theory attempts to posit a relationship between thoughts or statements on one hand, and things or facts on the other.” (def. from Wikipedia). The fundamentalism in wierwille's nonsense doctrine does not correspond to how the real-world works. What seems to work for me in the real-world is loving God and loving my neighbor – and that means treating my neighbor like I would like to be treated. In my humble opinion believing in "the law of believing" is a misplaced faith – I’ve heard it said many times in TWI that “we have to believe in our believing”. I have no problem with the simple faith mentioned in the Bible – a faith that has complete trust in God. And God should be the object of our faith - rather than whatever it is that I’m “believing for” . I think true faith is a trust in God – that He is sovereign and hears our prayers – and answers them as He sees fit – and maybe not always as we expect. Ephesians 3:20 should relieve us of any concerns that God is limited by our believing – for he is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think. = = = = = = = *DVD bonus feature: Medieval Barber Theodoric of York

That was an excellent source of inspiration for promos, reviews, and various and sundry redundancy of wierwille’s bull$hit: Here’s a review from one PFAL-fan who was disappointed in “the teacher” not being smarmy enough: “you were so excessively transparent in your tactics, that you failed at achieving a high level of shyster-ness.” = = = = == In a related article review from Shyster Monthly, a promo to whet the appetite of every scammer in the Tri-altered-state-area, page 6: “I'm glad you like my stick-to-it-nesss. I work on it, and am even writing a book (slowly) on the VALID and GOOD techniques for not allowing debate to sway a carefully formed opinion or stance.” = = = = = = On the front inside of the dust jacket used to “protect” the orange PFAL book: “Reason and debate are overrated. Critical thinking skills are overrated. Can you tell me anything that you have ever seen really proved to be true? Most so-called proofs are really just strong persuasion, often merely repeated associations or emotion. Long ago, in science, I noticed that the more sure a proof is, the more trivial and far removed from human life it is. I think it works that way in other areas, like courtrooms. I consider all math proofs to be this kind of trivial. I like them, but don’t expect math kind of surety to ever be anywhere else in life, outside the Word and what is proved by it. Very rarely is something proved beyond a shadow of a doubt. If it is, it is always trivial. I contend that a debate on a significant life topic can never end with a winner. It may LOOK like it ended at times. An apparent winner may be proclaimed by all, even the “loser,” but all could still be wrong. Who is to say the apparent loser did not simply forget an important point? Or a needed fact was just unknown. Later, after everyone goes home, the point may be remembered. THEN who is the winner??? And who will tell the dispersed audience? If that’s not enough to make you PAY ridiculous amounts of any money for bull$hit – I don’t know what is!” (This sentence was not in the original "text") = = = = = Overhead in the admissions office of The Way Corps Training Program, the benefits of sleep -deprivation: “Lots of times, especially here, when I or some other proPFAL person presents a point, there is a pile-on to overwhelm with text. Exhaustion is a great way to get your opponent to forget his line, or necessary points. OR, it can just cause the apparent loser to give up, and think he is wrong. But that would be sad, wouldn’t it?” = == = = Overheard in the office of the defense attorneys for Larry Nassar: “Emotion is another great way to falsely win a debate. I saw a shyster lawyer attempt to do this in a big murder case in Georgia, USA just 2 months ago. I think it was Georgia. It was so egregious that, lawyers everywhere should have disbarred her, or at least proclaimed her way over the line. But they won’t. Luckily, this lawyer failed. I’m surprised no one has talked about her gross immorality, and obfuscation of truth. Emotion can influence the audience of a debate as well as the apparent loser-to-be. Truth can get really buried in a debate. There are lots of reasons I dodge debate here, at times. I admit it. That really bothers many. I care not. I care to get the Word out.” = = = == Letter to the editor of TWI-Offshoots R Us magazine: “I do not care about looking like I am winning a debate, especially with life’s losers. If, after decades, you (rhetorical) are not real keen on learning how to operate all 9 manifestations to bless people, and you KNOW about them, then in my book you are a loser. That should pre-occupy all of our attention, doing all the things Jesus did and greater. Just think of how many TWI souls you can save if you had all 9 all the time going! Why should I waste my time on detailed, exhaustive debate with people who are unthankful for being taught that God is good? That is the most wonderful early impression I got from PFAL from the start, and it continues today.” = = = = = Portion of a leaked internal memo to the editing staff at The American Christian Press suggesting a portion of the book “The Way Living in Love” by Elena S. Whiteside, COPYRIGHT 1972, should be redacted – proposed redaction in bold: …we are especially concerned of exposure to legal jeopardy over Mister Wierwille’s comments that could be interpreted as willful disregard for the laws against plagiarism. The problem paragraphs in the manuscript that Mister Wierwille submitted to us are on page 209 and reads as follows (again note our legal advisors have indicated the portion that should be redacted in bold): “Lots of the stuff I teach is not original. Putting it all together so that it fit – that was the original work. I learned wherever I could, and then worked that with the Scriptures. What was right on with the Scriptures, I kept; but what wasn’t, I dropped. When people give more allegiance to stupid copyright customs that to learning to walk with God, then I have no interest in their infantile outcries. I put my life on the line…in the PFAL video. I called Howard Allen’s office and told…what I was doing and why. Copyright, shmoppiright! You folks’d make me LoL Out Loud, if it weren’t so tragic how much light you are willing to reject, over really stupid positions of who owns what in a spiritual family. Your copyright objections will burn to smithereens in the fire of 1 Corinthians Chapter 3.” Once again, our legal advisors are of the strong opinion that an unattributed copy of someone else's intellectual property may result in the perpetrator being forced to repay profits earned on the work to the original owner as well as costly court battles to clear the perpetrator’s name.

Having a rigid mindset is far worse than being wrong.

Great correlations, Skyrider and it brings more thoughts to mind – that last paragraph is just scintillating ! The first thing my mind went to is the passage: “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!” Matthew 23:15 NLT The entire chapter 23rd chapter of Matthew is an exposé on religious hypocrites. The label of “drill sergeants of groupthink indoctrination” makes me think of my ways corps training. And this is a real weird and out of focus concept I’m still trying to articulate. Way corps program created by the premier hypocrite – wierwille. His first attempt zeros out - which makes me think of an old proverb “Those who can, do; those who can't, teach” which means those who are especially skilled in a certain field will be able to pursue a successful career, while those who are less skilled will end up teaching about it instead. What that may indicate is that the work done in that field is too challenging, or simply the lack of capacity on their part....so wierwille even failed at being a teacher...or did he? Now here’s a quirky concept: what if the way corps training was really a clone factory – with a curriculum designed to turn out the ideal hypocrite – little wierwilles. Not everyone is going to excel at hypocrisy but those who do may aspire to be the corps coordinators and assistants. (Thought of the day to go along with Matthew 23:15 “each one hypocrifry one” – not sure if “hypocrifry” is a real word – but it could be – “I wish you could see it in the original – it’s just oh no…” Hypocrisy – noun - the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense. Hypocrifry – verb - to cook someone’s conscience in a pan, griddle or way corps campus over the blistering heat of constant beratement especially with the use of fat (the natural sleazy, greasy, creepy substance occurring in the body of wierwille’s “doctrine”). * * * * and now a brief intermission * * * Talk amongst yourselves Do the 4-15s note to self: find out how vampires take a self-assessment if they don’t see their own reflection in a mirror Now back to our show… “It seems to ALWAYS be the corps coordinators and assistants ...... who start up Splinter Cults” and the beat goes on – meaning the virus of wierwille’s-hypocrisy-rich-doctrine moves on regardless of whether or not other suckers fall for it. Virus just might be an apt description of wierwille’s-hypocrisy-rich-doctrine. I’m trying to remember wierwille’s advanced class teaching regarding detecting devil spirits – something like “whenever something has life in itself it’s spirit” – or some bull$hit like that…what does it matter…it’s just more bull$hit from the spiritualism-musings-of-an-ancient-hypocrite…anyway, that got me thinking about how viruses replicate – something I remember from reading The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus by Richard Preston explaining how viruses work – they can’t reproduce – so they sneak into other cells and tell them “make more of me”. Sounds like wierwille talking doesn’t it. Did a quick search of how viruses replicate and found this: “Viruses cannot replicate on their own, but rather depend on their host cell’s protein synthesis pathways to reproduce. This typically occurs by the virus inserting its genetic material in host cells, co-opting the proteins to create viral replicates, until the cell bursts from the high volume of new viral particles.” from News-Medical Net Health: viral replication almost sounds like the strategy of a parasite. wierwille was a parasite in every way - not just in plagiarism. Is narcissism parasitic? Looked up the definition of Malignant narcissism – it’s a psychological syndrome comprising an extreme mix of narcissism, antisocial behavior, aggression, and sadism. Grandiose, and always ready to raise hostility levels, the malignant narcissist undermines families and organizations in which they are involved and dehumanizes the people with whom they associate. That def is from Wikipedia – and it had a picture of wierwille next to it – no no – just kidding – but I wish you could see it in the original…ok no more PFAL-flashbacks…but I do think there’s a PTSD for some grads – “it’s like I’m still in the class, man.” Forrest Gump should tell them about Grease Spot Café…

I forgot about Animal Farm ! Great story ! And you got me analyzing what I like to read…stories like Animal Farm and 1984 and really good sci-fI can be appreciated on so many different levels…I probably ought to revisit some of those classics…think I make such a “learning project “ out of non-fiction stuff, I forgot how much fun, relevant and thought provoking allegories, fables, and such can be. Maybe my mind has gotten lazy just looking to be entertained…switching to movies for a minute cuz it touches on the same thing - a big fav of mine and my wife’s too is Being John Malkovich - a comedy about a puppeteer discovering a portal into a famous actor’s mind. It is such a quirky funny story - and always gets me thinking about social dynamics , interpersonal skills, the authentic self. It’s entertaining but really gets you to think afterwards.

There’s a method to my madness - when reading several books at a time – only ONE of them may be a novel – the other books will be non-fiction, history, philosophy, theology, etc. I can’t read TWO novels at the same time – I’d get lost. As it is – full disclosure here – when reading a novel, I sometimes have to make cheat notes on who some peripheral characters are or even draw timelines or look at maps – or I can get lost . Funny story - I got into reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy – I’m following along the action of the story with an atlas but then couldn’t locate Hedeby island in Sweden…had to Google to find out it is a FICTIONAL island featured in novel …but with non-fiction it’s easy for me to switch gears and put down a history book and pick up a philosophy book – maybe my mind is in high school or college mode – going from class to class of different subjects…I was an average student back then – guess I’m making up for it now. I know what you mean about getting lost in visualization with Sci-Fi. I was a technician so I can get really picky on Sci-Fi novels. if I feel the author is trying to impress me with their technical-know-how, gadgetry and complex details of other worlds rather than having a compelling storyline or interesting character arc, I lose interest…anyway, a story like HG Wells’ The Invisible Man is a very interesting story of the inner transformation of the main character - a scientist - who invents an invisibility serum – but he didn’t know how to reverse it. There’s not much to VISUALIZE in a story like that - the dude’s invisible. But that’s one of the first Sci-Fi books I read as a kid that made me try to get inside the character’s head – why was he driven to make the serum? Why didn’t he figure out how to reverse it before he tried it on himself? I was like 10 years old when I read it – but even then, I got one of the big ideas in the book – power corrupts…of course I thought of it in kid’s terms – what would it be like if you could do whatever you want and not get caught? You’d be a corrupt person. ...people read novels or watch movies and TV shows to escape – to get away from the familiar and the drama of real life…I liked Orwell’s 1984 – now that’s a very compelling story. Well, I’ll probably have to reread this stuff on Tao a few times to give a better answer – but anyway, with everything I read I have somewhat of a synthesis approach (which may be something of Tao in that ) trying to combine new info with what I already know; Tao is defined as the absolute principle underlying the universe, and sees opposites as complementary, interconnected, and interdependent…that there is a harmony in the natural order of everything…and after reading Love Wins, I get a deeper sense of what Jesus said about the kingdom of God being at hand…bottom line, I think there’s a lot more going on in and around all the lives that cross my path. Wow ! Thanks for the link to a summary of Sixth Extinction…that got me excited to read the book soon!

Some thoughts out of a zillion theories I have about what really drives a harmful and controlling cult-leader like wierwille…I wanted to chip in my two cents on brainwashing, wierwille’s depravity, and manipulation tactics. brainwashing - with a push toward licentiousness: I’ve always wondered about the hypocrisy of wierwille – I took PFAL in 1974 – in the class he taught “The Word means what it says and says what it means” and what’s the greatest sin a person can commit – breaking the 1st great commandment, not loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and adds the 2nd is like that, to love your neighbor as yourself – he makes the point that on those two commandments hang the law and the prophets – and then he goes on to say if you love God and love your neighbor you don’t go around breaking the commandments anyway…I got more and more involved with TWI, went WOW, helped run classes, helped start a coffeehouse band, helped start Twigs & run Twigs, helped to put on advances, went in the way corps in 1984 – and got to see another side of wierwille – that the general TWI-follower doesn’t get to see. I left TWI in 1986 – wierwille had passed away and then the power-grabs commenced. I never realized something the whole time I was in …from 1974 to 1986 – well, actually sometime after ’86 if you factor in my slow-exit-extricating-myself-from-TWI-mindset-and-joining-Grease-Spot…I never realized there were actually two wierwilles: wierwille one – The Shepherd: The Teacher, respectable, greatly admired, man-of-god-for-this-day-and-time-and-hour…say, that’s a really nice wool suit. wierwille two – Ravenous wolf: unabashed plagiarist, sexual predator, malignant narcissist, money-grubbing-backbiting-cantankerous-hypocritical-mean-spirited megalomaniac – and besides those 9 obvious “manifestations” there was probably a lot of other really bad habits. How can you reconcile the two wierwilles into one person? Ok – cue up the Certs it’s like two mints in one commercial - it’s easy, if you know the secret…brainwashing ! Ah yes – the old indoctrination / acclimatization trick ! Brainwash – to indoctrinate someone so as to effect a radical change in beliefs...Acclimatization – the numerous, gradual long-term responses of a person to changes in their environment… To understand the genius in this brainwashing is to understand how to hide a predator in plain sight...camouflage !!!! a wolf in sheep's clothing..."wait!...what are you talking about? He's the great doctor wierwille - he heard from god - god taught him the word so he could teach it to us"...I think of all those years I was in TWI...there was always a push to review PFAL stuff...get people in the PFAL class...run more PFAL classes...all those years of not stop hype of what wierwille did...what he said about this about that...WWwD What Would wierwille Do...way corps training = eat, sleep, and breathe PFAL. indoctrination is not an overnight process. Usually, a person does not knowingly join a harmful and controlling cult. The road in may best be described as a subliminal acclimatizing process – where a newcomer finds something - or someone attractive in the group and so they make themselves mentally adjust to the prevailing ideas, attitudes, and behavior to fit in. …it’s like a prolonged seductive intoxicating “romance”…a cult luring neophytes to take bigger and bigger sips of the Kool-Aid…using manipulative tactics like love-bombing, the subtle influence of peer pressure and groupthink... You know…if I ever told anyone who is unfamiliar with The Way International about some of the things I’ve heard and seen wierwille say and do – among other things they’d probably say “I thought you said you went to a Christian college to learn about the Bible.” what’s really weird to me now – in 2022 (oh hey, happy new year Grease Spotters! ) reflecting on more recent times of divisiveness, polarization, politicizing of just about anything, some cult-like mindsets, me-too-movement, etc. – I find myself saying “holy $hit…been there, done that.” …anyway…I have this theory to explain how a supposedly Bible-believing “teacher” could practice and promote a sinful and depraved lifestyle…perhaps he did not see the hypocrisy of it and perhaps even had the best of intentions because of some twisted beliefs. Our beliefs help us make sense of the world. Our beliefs help form and/or modify a mental model for understanding the world, our self and others. And our beliefs - along with experience, observations, and reason even attempt to predict the future. Bertrand Russell once said, “believing is the most mental thing we do”. It has also been said that our thoughts, feelings, actions, and reactions, respond not to the world as it actually is (for we never know reality directly) but to the world as we believe it to be. Our beliefs tell us who we think we are, mark our place in the world and are essentially an ongoing personal narrative that “anchors” us to various places, situations, and events across our lifetimes. Can you tell I’ve been reading up on philosophy of religion? …it goes along with my never-ending research project of analyzing wierwille-doctrine… …anyway… it is my contention that wierwille-doctrine has at least four major elements: signature intuition, fundamentalism, spiritualism, and Gnosticism…the awesome-sauce recipe for wierwille’s brand of Kool-Aid. Down the hatch! But to spare you the grief and longsuffering of T-Bone-Blather-Puss , I’ll just zero-in on Gnosticism and how it relates to wierwille’s licentiousness…this still is going to be a long post – sorry. I’ll skip over my resources – but if anyone is interested in where I got this info on Gnosticism, please feel free to private message me and I’ll give you Amazon links to all the books I’ve used – hey instead of sponsoring someone to be brainwashed in the way corps with their wierwille-centric curriculum, over the years I’ve worked on amassing a huge collection of printed books and ebooks that are actually a lot more informative and useful than wierwille’s hodgepodge of twisted theology…and besides - I don’t run a Twig, retired, don’t have to do the 4-Fifteens in the morning – I’ve got a lot of time on my hands…(also, nowadays I purchase more ebooks than printed books cuz Tonto said if I don’t stop buying printed books I’ll either have to build on an addition to the house or go get a job at the library…well… I’m cheap and lazy so yeah Kindle! ) …anyway… Gnosticism is an elusive and often misunderstood term. A simplified definition of it is to say it is mainly about “salvation” or a way to escape the evil and imperfect materialism of this world through a secret and special knowledge - from the Greek word “gnosis” . Gnosticism is not really a definite homogenous religious system – it is so diverse. It is more along the lines of a mental construct - something existing only in the mind. It is an intellectual fabrication made from ideas and not physical components. It is only conceptual, not real. The ancient Gnostics did not know they were “Gnostics” – that is what others began to call them. Among the many groups that are identified as Gnostics, there was usually a big emphasis on esoteric knowledge. Some theologians have said Gnosticism is similar to the New Age Movement. The early church was confronted with this diverse and complex movement - it was a prominent heretical movement early on in the Christian Church, but it was partly of a pre-Christian origin. Some scholars also think the driving force behind Gnosticism is theodicy – which means vindication of God – in other words, Gnostics wanted to exonerate God – attempting to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil, thus resolving the issue of the problem of evil. Gnosticism comprises a loosely associated group of teachers, teachings and sects which professed to offer ‘gnosis’ – saving knowledge or enlightenment that was expressed in various myths to explain the origin of the world, the human soul and the destiny of the soul. Everything originated from a transcendent spiritual power. But then corruption set in, and inferior powers emerged – resulting in the creation of the material world in which the human spirit is now imprisoned. Salvation is sought by cultivating the inner life while neglecting the body and social responsibilities that had nothing to do with the cult. It was seen as a rival to orthodox Christianity, though in fact some Gnostic sects were more closely linked with Judaism or with Iranian religions like Zoroastrianism. Henry Melvill Gwatkin (1844 – 1916) was an English theologian and church historian, said Gnosticism is Christianity perverted by learning and speculation. The intellectual pride of the Gnostics changed the gospel into a philosophy and had a tendency to regard knowledge as superior to faith and that it was something only held by the more enlightened since ordinary Christians did not possess this secret higher doctrine. Also, it was essential to view matter and spirit as distinctly separate – and matter being intrinsically evil and the source from which all evil has arisen. Some scholars note the impact of Gnosticism in the epistles. The esoteric exclusiveness and asceticism of its adherents had a negative effect on Christian freedom and was derogatory to the idea that the Holy Spirit could dwell in our evil human bodies – see the correlation in passages that correct the error of some seeking spiritual deliverance through philosophy and ascetic practices of self-abasement and severity to the body Colossians 2 - and how knowledge puffs up I Corinthians 13 and Paul warning against myths, speculations and vain discussions in I Timothy 1 . In the epistles of John, we find Gnosticism was distinguished by an unethical, loveless intellectualism and repeatedly condemned antinomianism which is a belief which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms. the core of Gnosticism rests on secret knowledge - which is the big hype of the Advanced Class on Power For Abundant Living; matter, the flesh is evil, sinful, imperfect and the Spirit is good, pure, perfect and there is a clear separation between the material world and the spiritual world. In ancient sectarian texts and in the writings of Christian opponents, heresiologists such as Irenaeus refer to a certain kind of knowledge – which involved understanding one’s original divine nature and its fall and entrapment in the inferior realm of matter. A superior knowledge is the key to escape from this material imprisonment through an awakening. We find in Gnosticism a sophisticated treatment of the doctrines of creation, the Fall of man as well as redemption showing obvious signs of Platonic influence. Neander, a Greek philosopher of the 2nd century described Gnosticism as the first notable attempt to introduce existing elements of theoretical knowledge from various cultures. It was an amalgam of tendencies that were speculative and elaborate and partly based on the philosophical creed of Greeks and Romans looking for a safe haven after the gradual decline of their own religions, besides the infusion of philosophies, theosophies, and religions of the East, especially those of Persia and India. Henry Longueville Mansel (1820 – 1871) was an English philosopher and ecclesiastic, summed up the three principal sources of Gnosticism: 1. Platonism – its philosophical form and tendencies. 2. The Dualism of the Persian religion – speculations about the origin of evil and emanations which is an idea in the cosmology - emanation is from the Latin emanare meaning "to flow from" and is the mode by which all things are derived from the first reality, or principle. All things are derived from the first reality or perfect God by steps of degradation to lesser degrees of the first reality or God, and at every step the emanating beings are less pure, less perfect, less divine. 3. Buddhism which had an antagonism between matter and spirit – and the unreality of derived existence – the germ of Docetism which in Gnosticism taught that Christ's body was not human but either a phantasm or of real but celestial substance, and that therefore his sufferings were only apparent. To package it in modern terms – giving it an Advanced-Class-Grad-New-Age-appeal – you could say esoteric consciousness is the key to unlocking a transcendent understanding, self-realization, and a unity with God. Central to many gnostic beliefs is a dualistic view of the universe in which matter was seen as essentially an illusion while spirit is the only true reality…theory and practice of various gnostic groups can span the whole spectrum from asceticism to antinomianism. When I speak of wierwille’s theology having Gnostic strains – I don’t mean to suggest he deliberately and formally adopted Gnosticism. I merely want to point out there are elements in wierwille’s ideology that seem to hearken back to a Gnostic mindset:  There is the tendency to lean heavily on speculation and elaborate theories of how the spiritual world works – especially in PFAL and the Advanced Class…and note the arrogant attitude fueled by thinking one has more of "the rightly-divided Word of God than any other ministry" Practicing situation ethics – being flexible in the application of moral laws according to circumstances - I'm thinking about the goal of the woman Rocky mentioned in his incident. and lastly intellectualism having a higher priority than faith, compassion, and altruism in other words, studying or teaching “The Word” is often thought of as doing “The Word” or is thought of as equivalent to exercising faith, selflessness, and goodwill. In thinking about Gnosticism’s paradigm of disconnecting the material world from the spiritual world, it makes me wonder if that was a factor in wierwille rationalizing his licentious behavior. I recall the many times I’ve heard him teach on the renewed mind and the Christian lifestyle and he often seemed to imply that the spiritual and physical realms had little to do with each other – and he would emphasize we should focus on the spiritual by saying things like “our old man nature is totally corrupt and unsalvageable – but our spiritual nature that we received when we got born again is perfect and needs no improvement”. Nowadays with a mind that is not Kool-Aid drenched, reexamining those kinds of statements he had made – it's obvious to me that wierwille was unmoored from any of the simple moral demands of the Bible. …if anyone is still awake and you got this far – I’m moving on to this is me moving on ... ....I use these emojis to keep my young people awake - yikes ! a PFAL-flashback manipulation via sympathy: about the incident Penworks talked about - I tend to think wierwille was playing the sympathy card to his audience…I think revealing the most personal information may be a strategic move to soften boundaries – like an initial gesture of goodwill. With shifty folks like wierwille, this move seems almost like a scam to set up a commerce in social situations – an interchange of ideas, feelings, etc. between two or more people. The scam artist uses counterfeit currency to trade on the sympathy, respect, loyalty, admiration, etc. of honest folks. And another thing…I could see if it was a one-on-one setting and if the person is being genuine, opening themselves up to you, making themselves vulnerable…showing they trust you enough to confide in you: “you know, I’ve never told anyone this but blah blah blah.” Usually when a person is being really honest and open like that, it’s taking a big risk – what if they will be judged harshly, criticized, or emotionally wounded. I think we’ve all have or had friendships like that…anytime I’ve been on the receiving end of someone unloading a burden, I respect their trust in me and try to sense if they’re wanting feedback or just someone to vent to. But in the group setting you described – I have my doubts about wierwille EVER being open, honest and making himself vulnerable – his narcissistic nature wouldn’t allow it…and I would have felt very uncomfortable as well cuz it’s so inappropriate. = = = = = = = === = = = = = Yeah I can understand why TWI wants Seasoned Ex-Corps Leaders to Come Back…they’re already house-broken…trained to regurgitate only inside the “household”.

That reminds me - my Mom told me about a big fight she had with Dad - and how Dad said something like "ha, you're stuck with me"...to which Mom replied "till death do us part, after that you're on your own."

T-Bone said on March 27, 2018: “Hey Mike, i was wondering if you had a chance yet to read Penworks’ Undertow book” = = = = = = = = Mike replied on March 27, 2018 “I have it and am slowly reading it. My first objection, though, is how she objected to the idea that "the Bible interprets itself." I find that objection very dim witted, even when pumped up with detail like with the posters that attacked it 15 years ago here. It slowed down my reading, but I still intend to finish it. That interpretation issue lowered my expectations and the book's priority in my schedule. In a nutshell: Imagine how quirky it is for God to issue His Word to communicate to us, but then He FAILS to put cues, keys, and signposts in there to guide sincere seekers. That sounds like a bad way to get a message out. It's like Him saying "I want you to know something but I will not help you understand it." The phrase "The Bible interprets itself" is an extreme abbreviation of a complex idea. She did not do that justice IMO. The criticism this idea got here 15 years ago I thought was similarly lacking. My impression was that she was leading uninformed readers into thinking God is supposed to be mysterious, an old Catholic idea. Maybe her book will get better later. If you can recommend a spot to skip ahead to I would appreciate seeing what you feel is an section important to me.” = = = = = = = Mike, that is a really lame response…a miserably weak attempt to shoot down Penwork’s great exposé on the innerworkings of TWI Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International . You should be ashamed of yourself for saying “My first objection, though, is how she objected to the idea that "the Bible interprets itself." I find that objection very dim witted.” I’ll tell you what’s dim witted – when an incompetent plagiarist like wierwille screws up the work of someone else. He “borrowed” so much from Bullinger – but not like Bullinger was correct on everything (Bullinger’s dispensationalism and the supposedly 4 others crucified with Jesus are definitely mangled doctrines) – however I think Bullinger was correct on the keys to the interpretation of Scripture. In his book “How to Enjoy the Bible” covering II Peter 1:20, 21 Bullinger says in regard to the phrase “of any private interpretation”, is that the little word “of” is genitive of origin – and is simply saying Scripture wasn’t CONCEIVED by anyone’s imagination or personal interpretation. Bullinger goes on from there to cover some basic hermeneutics – which is the study of the methodological principles of interpretation of the Bible. I believe Bullinger got that part right. In PFAL however, wierwille muddied up II Peter 1:20, 21 and said The Bible should not be privately interpretated – in other words, it’s a no-no to have or offer a personal interpretation or opinion……there is to be no “I think it means this”. wierwille goes on to say that if no private interpretation is allowed then there is either no possible interpretation or the Bible must interpret itself. If you’ve ever studied logical fallacies, then it shouldn’t surprise you that wierwille’s premise offers PFAL students a false dilemma - also referred to as false dichotomy – it is an informal fallacy based on a premise that erroneously limits what options are available – basically wierwille was saying either the Bible interprets itself - or - there is no interpretation possible. Mike, do you realize how laughable and absurd wierwille’s “the Bible interprets itself” really is? Just pause for a moment and think about what an affront that is to logic, linguistics, historians, sociologists, anthropologists, and philosophers – not to mention Bible scholars, translators and textual researchers. We’re talking about a compilation of 66 different books written by 40 different authors over the course of an approximately 1500-year period, using basically 3 different languages, spanning a variety of cultural, political, and geographical settings. What ramps up the ridiculousness of wierwille’s “teachings” and renders him totally incredulous is the fact that in live teachings or even speaking extemporaneously he often failed to adhere to the very interpretive keys that he promoted in PFAL - I KNOW that for a fact – I have witnessed numerous times where he just seemed to pull an answer out of his a$$. And there often was the coup de grace to thwart anyone’s cognitive skills when wierwille would proclaim “Father showed me this.” That has nothing to do with keys to the interpretation of Scripture – that’s just wierwille’s signature intuition. Signature intuition refers to what wierwille felt was true regardless of what a passage might really mean; though incompetent with the biblical languages and having a penchant for plagiarism and logical fallacies he was always able to cobble together something he was proud of; signature intuition is wierwille's unique sixth sense of nonsense to divine Scripture so it always suited his lifestyle - and the devil be damned! It seemed to me wierwille was usually flying by the seat of his pants – using his own initiative and “spiritual perceptions” . I think he lacked the discipline, wisdom, experience and honesty of a seasoned researcher and so relied more on intuition to pull off his man-of-god-teacher-act…usually if the teaching wasn’t being recorded or if it was a setting like the Advanced Class wierwille was prone to go off-script anyway…then the floodgates were opened – the last restraint was removed that was holding back an outpouring of powerful and “substantial” bull$hit. Mike, I am surprised at how you so casually shoehorn some extra bull$hit into wierwille’s absurd claim when you said: “The phrase "The Bible interprets itself" is an extreme abbreviation of a complex idea. She did not do that justice IMO. The criticism this idea got here 15 years ago I thought was similarly lacking. My impression was that she was leading uninformed readers into thinking God is supposed to be mysterious, an old Catholic idea.” What pray tell, is so complex about saying “the Bible interprets itself”? That’s like saying “this car practically sells itself”. I can just picture a 1964 Dodge on the street corner saying “Please buy me, I only had one owner a little old lady from Pasadena.” And why is your go-to villain always the Catholics? What’s wrong with God being mysterious? I think you’ve misidentified the real perpetrator - - it was wierwille - NOT Penworks – who was misleading uninformed Bible-readers how to think about God. In wierwille’s theology God would have to change all the laws of the universe not to accommodate your believing. Yup dat’s riiiight – I remember that mysterious-Star-Wars-The-Force gem from PFAL. Mike, do you know what all your statements tell me – even this one “If you can recommend a spot to skip ahead to I would appreciate seeing what you feel is an section important to me.” They all actually reveal a lot about you. You prefer to ignore or avoid anything that disparages wierwille. You mindlessly defend him and PFAL even if wierwille / PFAL is wrong. You exhibit a conspiracy- theory-mindset based on your bias and ignorance. You seem to be impatient and lazy and seem to gravitate toward information that is chewed-up and partially processed and fed to you – like a momma bird of prey might feed their young. And lastly you seem to be comfortable with the idea of a god YOU can manage – perhaps the same idea of a god that wierwille believed in – a god that he could handle – a god that didn’t mind all the women he sexually molested – a god that didn’t mind his unabashed plagiarism – a god that was proud of his anti-Trinity campaigns. Ok – let’s move on from your half-a$$ed review of the book “Undertow” - probably too cerebral for you anyway…how about another book that might be more to your liking – since it shows how wierwille lived “The Word” , taught “The Word” , ministered to and under-shepherded others: the book is Losing the Way: A Memoir of Spiritual Longing, Manipulation, Abuse, and Escape . If you’d like me to recommend a spot that you can skip ahead to, that I feel is a section that SHOULD be important to you - then go directly to pages 117 to 120. It’s the part where Kristen – working in housekeeping relates an incident when she placed a welcome letter on wierwille’s pillow in the Coachman Suite at Rome City – the note said she would “do anything to make his time more blessed here”. The following night, after the evening teaching, wierwille called Kristen to his suite. He has a glass of Drambuie in one hand and a cigarette in the other – he sits very relaxed – he had taken off his suit coat and tie, the top button of his white shirt was undone, and his shoes were kicked off. He asks her to sit on the bed and they exchange some polite small talk. He then asks her if she really meant what she said in the little welcome note. “Of course” she says. Then wierwille says “Well, there is one thing you can do for me. I’d like you to take off your clothes. I’d like to show you how to really make love to a man. You know what I’m talking about. You’re of age. Don’t you want me to show you how to have intercourse? How to make love to a man of God!” In the book Kristen says “This is tantamount to a father soliciting sex from his daughter. The betrayal is unthinkable.” Trying to delay or avert wierwille’s advances, Kristen tried asking him how such an act is consistent with The Word. wierwille explains that all things are pure to the pure…it’s a matter of keeping our minds renewed and centered on God…a man of God needs many women to satisfy his overwhelming needs. There is nothing titillating when Kristen describes wierwille sexually molesting her. It’s like reading a police report of a daughter being raped by her own father…the first time I read this part my heart ached in sympathy for Kristen and there was utter revulsion over wierwille’s betrayal…after wierwille molested her, he says to her “It’s the lockbox, honey. You have to keep this in the lockbox of your soul. Many of God’s people wouldn’t understand what we’ve just done.” After you read Kristen’s book “Losing The Way”, feel free to come back to Grease Spot and discuss anything that was too cerebral for you. Besides myself, I’m sure there’s other Grease Spotters here who have been through way corps training and can easily explain the tale of two wierwilles to you – there’s the one who taught the PFAL class - and then there’s the one who lived the life of a predator’s dream…it’s good to be the king.

Mike said on Monday at 02:39 PM : “When you folks get desperate you change the topic to an attack on me with guesses and speculations. I hope you know this is apparent to all readers, including the ones you (plural) are supposing to "minster" to. And speaking of those that are supposedly ministered to by all the whistleblowers here, I wonder if you ever thought through what those people do AFTER being so warned about the evils of one institution. Without the accurate Word, they go and get ripped off by some other entity. Duh! When are you folks going to offer God's Word to people? How many are you undershepherding right now? Time is a wasting, and you all will be held accountable for all the speculations and guessing you do. Get a life! Teach one person the Word, if you are still able.” = == = = = == = = T-Bone: Hey Mike, would you please clarify your above post – so I know exactly what you mean. Did you mean I should offer God’s Word – teach one person the Word – under-shepherd someone - - exactly the way wierwille did? In case you missed it or chose to ignore it, I’ll re-post part of what I said earlier on this thread on Sunday January 2nd 2022 at 12:54 AM: “…Recently I was rereading Kristen Skedgell’s memoir Losing the Way: A Memoir of Spiritual Longing, Manipulation, Abuse, and Escape it got me thinking about this thread – TWI trying to revive the glory days – and comments from someone who still talks it up on how great wierwille and the PFAL class were/are. I try to take the person at face value and guess they’ve mastered how to ignore / hide disappointment. Going on what he said elsewhere I know he was never in the way corps. If he is being genuine in his posts - perhaps some folks are just happy thinking wierwille and PFAL are the greatest thing since rightly divided bread. I mean do they still really believe God talked to wierwille and taught him “The Word” so he could teach it to others. That’s the wierwille we all started out knowing about. But for those of us who went into the way corps – we got to see another side of him – the real side of him…this is like a tale of two wierwilles… In her memoir Kristen relates an incident that happened at the way corps training campus in Rome City. It was during her block assignment in housekeeping. One of her responsibilities included the Coachman Suite – she would be attentive to caring for wierwille’s needs whenever he would visit the campus. Being excited about “the man of God” coming to visit, Kristen wrote a welcome letter and placed it on his pillow saying she would “do anything to make his time more blessed here”. The following night, after the evening teaching wierwille called Kristen to his suite. He has a glass of Drambuie in one hand and a cigarette in the other – he sits very relaxed – he had taken off his suit coat and tie, the top button of his white shirt was undone, and his shoes were kicked off. He asks her to sit on the bed and they exchange some polite small talk. He then asks her if she really meant what she said in the little welcome note. “Of course” she says. Then wierwille says “Well, there is one thing you can do for me. I’d like you to take off your clothes. I’d like to show you how to really make love to a man. You know what I’m talking about. You’re of age. Don’t you want me to show you how to have intercourse? How to make love to a man of God!” In the book Kristen says “This is tantamount to a father soliciting sex from his daughter. The betrayal is unthinkable.” Trying to delay or avert wierwille’s advances, Kristen tried asking him how such an act is consistent with The Word. He explains that all things are pure to the pure…it’s a matter of keeping our minds renewed and centered on God…a man of God needs many women to satisfy his overwhelming needs. There is nothing titillating when Kristen describes wierwille sexually molesting her. It’s like reading a police report of a daughter being raped by her own father. It is horrifying to read and I have no words to express my uncomfortable feelings over it…a part of me aches in sympathy for Kristen and then there’s utter revulsion over wierwille’s betrayal…afterwards he says to her “It’s the lockbox, honey. You have to keep this in the lockbox of your soul. Many of God’s people wouldn’t understand what we’ve just done.” = = == == So, Mike, should I offer God’s Word – teach one person the Word – under-shepherd someone - - exactly the way wierwille did with Kristen – and who knows how many other women? When you said “get a life” did you mean pursue a predatory life - just like wierwille did?

Great thread, Skyrider !!!! I love the detail and chronology…each post is going into an offline file I have of TWI history…I keep changing the file name. First I called it the Annals of TWI History …then it was the Anals of TWI History …then the Anals of Misery …Gatekeepers of the Backdoor Boogaloo…naw - what’s a gate doing on the backdoor anyway…maybe change gatekeepers to brown-nosers...maybe just go with the star of the show…sphincter paul wierwille… hmmmm needs a title in front of it…the reverend rectum sphincter paul wierwille…too long…how about doctor dung-hole wierwille…maybe something warm and fuzzy …let’s try it out – I’ll take the part of the master of ceremonies at A Weekend in the Turd: “And now ladies and gentlemen here he is, our beloved father in the turd…” The excessive admiration many of us had for wierwille may have been due in part to our naivete and that timeless truth - love is blind. when we truly love…admire someone it makes us unable to see their faults. Naivete is a big deal…just theorizing here…seems to me the older…more seasoned…wiser Christians of his congregation/early following had enough sense to split as his delusional-plagiaristic-money-grubbing-malignant-narcissism ramped up – so he aims for the young and naïve – predators (human or animal) usually go for the easy targets. But beyond whatever reasons we may have had to hold wierwille in such high regard – there is another more alarming explanation for wierwille being held in such high esteem – wierwille required …more like demanded… excessive admiration from followers. He was so hung up on his stupid degree-mill title – if anyone ever slipped and called him “mister” or by his first name “victor” or “vic” in public – they’d usually hear about it from one of the hounds-of-hype gatekeepers if not the-grandmaster-of-hype-coming-out-the-wazoo himself. That is something common in harmful and controlling cult-leaders – they require excessive admiration. I’ve shared the following info before - excerpts from a Joe Navarro article - a former FBI Counterintelligence Agent and the author of “What Every Body is Saying” (a great read by the way). He wrote an August 2012 Psychology Today article titled “Dangerous Cult Leaders: Clues to what makes for a pathological cult leader”. He said the two questions he gets asked most frequently by students of criminology and psychology are: How do you know when a cult leader is bad, evil or toxic ? and when is a cult leader pathological or a danger to others? Navarro said those are valid questions in view of the historical record of suffering and hurt caused by various cult leaders around the world: “From my studies of cults and cult leaders during my time in the FBI, I learned early on that there are some things to look for that, at a minimum, say "caution, this individual is dangerous, and in all likelihood will cause harm to others. Having studied at length the life, teachings, and behaviors of Jim Jones (Jonestown Guyana), David Koresh (Branch Davidians), Stewart Traill (The Church of Bible Understanding), Charles Manson, Shoko Asahara (Aum Shinrikyo), Joseph Di Mambro (The Order of the Solar Temple a.k.a. Ordre du Temple Solaire), Marshall Heff Applewhit (Heaven’s Gate), Bhagwan Rajneesh (Rajneesh Movement), and Warren Jeffs (polygamist leader), I can say that what stands out about these individuals is that they were or are all pathologically narcissistic. They all have or had an over-abundant belief that they were special, that they and they alone had the answers to problems, and that they had to be revered. They demanded perfect loyalty from followers, they overvalued themselves and devalued those around them, they were intolerant of criticism, and above all they did not like being questioned or challenged. And yet, in spite of these less than charming traits, they had no trouble attracting those who were willing to overlook these features…” These personality traits stand out as the first warning to those who would associate with them, but there are many others. Here is a collection of traits of cult leaders that give us hints as to their psychopathology. This list is not all-inclusive nor is it the final word on the subject; it is merely my personal collection based on studies and interviews that I conducted in my previous career.” You can read the entire article here > Psychology Today: Dangerous Cult Leaders and make sure you look over the whole list of personality traits…the first time I looked over the list I had an unsettling realization that most of them are a spot-on reflection of wierwille. All you big-wierwille-fans (you know who you are) take note! All this ugly deplorable stuff about wierwille and the gatekeepers is not just some imaginary or exaggerated details from the mouths of bitter-quitters and cop outs. It all correlates with the unbiased, objective, professional opinion of qualified people like Navarro who study harmful and controlling cults.

Exactly ! “behind the curtain” is quite a mind picture and goes along well with the idea of actors on a stage. The word hypocrite comes from the Greek word hypokrites and refers to an actor or a stage player. I’ve read one definition that said the word literally translates as “an interpreter from underneath” which reflects that ancient Greek actors wore masks and the actor spoke from underneath that mask. That should put a little more oomph into the next time you read Matthew 23 But I don’t think Jesus was condemning the role of religious leaders - he was condemning the people in those positions who assumed the role of a religious leader as an actor’s part in a play - putting on a show - and when the show was over they would go back to their deplorable lifestyle. We are social creatures. Social creatures interact highly with one another to the point of having a recognizable and distinct group – and in briefly thinking about the development of most civilizations from my school days (fyi – I still enjoy reading stuff about the history of countries, ideas, religions, philosophy, technology) I’m aware that the initial big group usually develops subgroups – subcultures. Christianity like any other organized religious group will have some type of organizational structure - so the same idea - the big picture is All Christians - then you can get into subgroups, different denominations, differences in doctrine, etc.... I would imagine most folks in any particular Christian group usually assume they conduct the daily “business” of their group after some ideals from the New Testament. On a bigger scale with mega-churches and televangelists there’s going to be more layers of administrative and technical duties – more “curtains” if you will – that remain invisible behind the main “production” that are in place to support and facilitate the music, entertainment and preaching / teaching on the main stage. There should be as much transparency as possible – no opaque curtain – no actors who put on masks and play to the audience in a manner that will get the strongest approval. There should be no hidden agenda by those on stage or backstage. What you see should be what you get – what’s on the outside label of ingredients should reflect EXACTLY the contents of the “package” on the shelf. In my previous post I got into what happens backstage – wierwille and his predatory behavior. Usually I can count on a certain big-wierwille-PFAL-fan to counterargue anytime I mention the gory-details-of-the-wierwille-PFAL-glory-days - the aforementioned big-wierwille-PFAL-fan will usually attempt to minimize wierwille’s bad behavior by emphasizing the good-and-greatness-of-PFAL by far outweighs any bad things he had done…the whole dynamic of this makes for some good food for thought to any TWI-followers who check out Grease Spot…this is so exciting!!!!! In this post I’m getting into what happened onstage – this post is dedicated to all the men and women who wierwille never had an “opportunity “ to actually fvck but he certainly virtually fvcked…yup - he fvcked up a lot of followers intellectually, emotionally, financially, socially, doctrinally, career wise, family wise and in every other way possible. ok where was I ? oh onstage in front of everyone – and by pushing this metaphor to the T-Bone-superlative, “onstage” refers to anything wierwille has said or done openly – like filming the PFAL class, other classes, PFAL books, Way Mags, Sunday Night Teaching tapes, RoA, etc. – and by flaunting my superpowers of run-on sentences and metaphors mix-‘em-ups I’ve calibrated the parameters of my toxicity-targeting-system to aim at one particular night in Wichita, Kansas – I think it was called either Weekend in The Word or Heartbeat Festival…anyway wierwille is on stage blathering about how great his ministry is in teaching about the one true God – and then (let me insert a spacer here to have the next line sit there like a big fat turd in all it’s glory-gory-details) wierwille launches into his typical anti-Trinity rant saying that in order for a person to really believe in the Trinity they have to be possessed by a devil spirit. And to add flavorful toppings to this particular turd – wierwille would often proclaim in the Advanced Class that it’s religious leaders born again of the seed of the serpent who are promulgating the lie of the Trinity. hey- I wonder why TWI’s website does not put great “truths” like that stuff on it…that would be some exciting $hit instead of the namby pamby way they soften up their statement of beliefs - of course that might jeopardize sales of his books …can you imagine if they had ads for his book “Jesus Christ is not God” with slogans like “to really believe in the Trinity a person has to be possessed by a devil spirit “. I was raised Roman Catholic, but I had never heard of the Trinity being such a galvanizing issue until I got in TWI. On a practical basis I never really understood what the big deal was in wierwille’s anti-Trinity rants. If Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior – that should be the end of it - aren’t we all on the same team, then? But looking back I now think wierwille's anti-Trinity "campaigns" were a gimmick to distinguish himself from mainstream Christianity. wierwille’s fearmongering sounds like a playbook from one of the characters in the Harry Potter movies. Psychologists say gaslighting is a form of manipulation that occurs in abusive relationships – where a bully…an abuser…a cult-leader tries to get you to question your judgements and reality. Think about the practical aspects of wierwille’s anti-Trinity rants that would involve real situations and events and how you would interact with another person who may not have exactly the same concept of Jesus Christ as you do. Do you think it’s okay what wierwille said? Does that sound like something Jesus Christ would endorse? We in TWI prided ourselves on being non-denominational and usually when I was “witnessing” and came across a Christian and we got into theology - I felt I was superior because I knew his denomination believed in the Trinity…what an egotistical-wierwille-flunky I was – please forgive me , Lord Jesus! Didn’t Jesus say in John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." This blacklisting of Christians who accept the Trinity doesn’t seem to be a very loving thing to do. and maybe don't be so doctrinally critical of other Christian groups - remember this in Luke 9: 46- 50 “An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.” John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”

Yes ! Recently I was rereading Kristen Skedgell’s memoir Losing the Way: A Memoir of Spiritual Longing, Manipulation, Abuse,and Escape it got me thinking about this thread – TWI trying to revive the glory days – and comments from someone who still talks it up on how great wierwille and the PFAL class were/are. I try to take the person at face value and guess they’ve mastered how to ignore / hide disappointment. Going on what he said elsewhere I know he was never in the way corps. If he is being genuine in his posts - perhaps some folks are just happy thinking wierwille and PFAL are the greatest thing since rightly divided bread. I mean do they still really believe God talked to wierwille and taught him “The Word” so he could teach it to others. That’s the wierwille we all started out knowing about. But for those of us who went into the way corps – we got to see another side of him – the real side of him…this is like a tale of two wierwilles… In her memoir Kristen relates an incident that happened at the way corps training campus in Rome City. It was during her block assignment in housekeeping. One of her responsibilities included the Coachman Suite – she would be attentive to caring for wierwille’s needs whenever he would visit the campus. Being excited about “the man of God” coming to visit, Kristen wrote a welcome letter and place it on his pillow saying she would “do anything to make his time more blessed here”. The following night, after the evening teaching wierwille called Kristen to his suite. He has a glass of Drambuie in one hand and a cigarette in the other – he sits very relaxed – he had taken off his suit coat and tie, the top button of his white shirt was undone, and his shoes were kicked off. He asks her to sit on the bed and they exchange some polite small talk. He then asks her if she really meant what she said in the little welcome note. “Of course” she says. Then wierwille says “Well, there is one thing you can do for me. I’d like you to take off your clothes. I’d like to show you how to really make love to a man. You know what I’m talking about. You’re of age. Don’t you want me to show you how to have intercourse? How to make love to a man of God!” In the book Kristen says “This is tantamount to a father soliciting sex from his daughter. The betrayal is unthinkable.” Trying to delay or avert wierwille’s advances, Kristen tried asking him how such an act is consistent with The Word. He explains that all things are pure to the pure…it’s a matter of keeping our minds renewed and centered on God…a man of God needs many women to satisfy his overwhelming needs. There is nothing titillating when Kristen describes wierwille sexually molesting her. It’s like reading a police report of a daughter being raped by her own father. It is horrifying to read and I have no words to express my uncomfortable feelings over it…a part of me aches in sympathy for Kristen and then there’s utter revulsion over wierwille’s betrayal…afterwards he says to her “It’s the lockbox, honey. You have to keep this in the lockbox of your soul. Many of God’s people wouldn’t understand what we’ve just done.” Kristen’s story is not unique…how many hundreds – if not thousands of women suffered from this sexual predator. To show my appreciation for someone’s nostalgia posts of wierwille / PFAL I like to use them as a springboard for unveiling stuff about the real wierwille – unabashed plagiarist, megalomaniac, malignant narcissist, mean-spirited, hypocritical, delusional, money-grubbing, pontificating phony, sexual predator. Disappointment means you’ve exercised enough critical thinking to realize a product, service or person did not live up to what was expected. But I think betrayal is worse. Betrayal means you’ve invested so much of yourself into the relationship – you totally trusted the other person – someone you really admired - had great respect for their accomplishments and their status in the ministry – someone you confided in – someone you looked to for providing biblical counsel and being an example of how to live the Christian lifestyle - – and you never expected to be cheated by them…so callously exploited. Betrayal is the sense of being deeply hurt by the intentional actions of a person you really trusted…yup let’s get back to those glory - I mean gory days ! For all you TWI-glory-days-revivalists-suckers-gluttons-for-punishment - beware ! wierwille may be dead but he is not gone. His ghost still haunts the whited sepulcher known as The Way International…late at night you can hear him shuffling about with Drambuie in one hand and a cigarette in the other, cackling as he spouts one-liners from PFAL “…technically all the women in the kingdom belong to the king…millions now smoking…the law of believing works for saint and sinner alike…ask the pendant – yes, no, yes, no…”

thanks for sharing your story, damurf ! very inspiring for this New Year's Day.

Mike: One of the lucky skills I picked up from my very Catholic father was dodging inevitable corruptions that large institutions are prone to. He always sought out the rare RC deep thinkers, and learned to avoid the dark spots, like nuns and big-wig clergy. T-Bone: Can you please clarify – was “my very Catholic father” referring to your Dad or to a Catholic priest? Or was your Dad a Catholic priest? Uhm…I think that’s against the rules – unless they’ve changed. Did you hear something about that? As far as how to avoid getting dark spots – I’d probably go with something like Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Oil. Mike: Large institutions are like marble cake, and as TWI grew it had plenty of dark spots. I was pretty successful (like my dad) in avoiding them, but my luck started running out in the mid-80s. T-Bone: Maybe life is like a box of marble cakes…uhm so I have to ask. Were you and your Catholic Priest/Dad running from the law? Or were you and your Catholic Priest/Dad in a gub’mint witness protection program? = = = = = = Mike: My most consistent theme in my posting here is that from PFAL there were many pure things put into written form. At that time we only absorbed a fraction of the material, and since that time we forgot a lot of what we did absorb. T-Bone: I disagree – the most consistent theme in your posting has always been “defend wierwille and PFAL”…But I do agree somewhat with the latter part of your statement – at that time (when I “learned” how to put the kibosh on my cognitive skills) I only absorbed a fraction of the hogwash because I fell asleep at wierwille’s incessant blathering, and since that time I forgot a lot of what I did absorb – and thank God for a long and drawn out miracle !!!! = = = = = = = = = Mike: I would suggest that people who suffered from the wrong slices of the marble cake take a second, fresh look at the many pure PFAL things put into written form. A fresh look would mean dissociating oneself from the social darkness they experienced in the past. Understandably, this is not so easy for some people. T-Bone: You seem to be having a tough time disassociating yourself from the theological nonsense and darkness of wierwille and PFAL…how long have you been coming to Grease Spot – and you STILL think wierwille and PFAL are peachy keen? …I suggest you take a second, fresh look at the false…empty claims of wierwille – they’re on the back of the PFAL green sign-up card. “Enables you to separate truth from error” – oh really? How come wierwille couldn’t do it? He led everyone to believe that PFAL was the fruit of his own hard work and due diligence. Where is the truth in that? wierwille did Not cite sources and did NOT give credit where credit is due – how is that not an error? = = = = = = = Mike: I NEVER GET POSITIVE INSPIRATION BY LOOKING AT MY TROUBLED PAST, or by looking at all those who offended me, or by looking at all those whom I offended. T-Bone: I believe part of self-examination should be looking at our troubled past – even if it was only 30 minutes ago…as far as dealing with offenses – by me or others – it’s good to look for ways to connect – rather than ways to avoid connection…now that could be inspiring don’t you think? = = = = = = = = = = Mike: I do get positive inspiration from looking solely at the teaching we got in PFAL (not the people) and how it still opens up God’s Word to us better than any of the splinter groups or the Big Stump. T-Bone: In many ways I think PFAL actually screws up God’s Word – and you’re probably right – wierwille / PFAL screwed us better than any of the splinter groups or the big dump of a rump.

Good points, Twinky ! And to add to your comment “if I were that interested, I'd try to source my review reading from the original books” I’d also recommend reading / thinking / questioning – to escape wierwille’s suffocating and manipulative convoluted theological box…below are 3 very interesting books for those who believe the Bible is a lot more relevant than the fearmongering and gaslighting tactics that wierwille managed to wring out of the fundamentalism interpretation of the Bible: Making Sense of the Bible by Adam Hamilton Understanding the Bible by John A. Buehrens Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism by John Shelby Spong I think wierwille liked the polarizing effect of fundamentalism – it was another way of fostering an us-versus-them mentality. It’s we true believers versus those unbelievers – you know, those people who don’t think like wierwille…As much as I hate to admit it - as a cult-leader wierwille was a real smarty, fundamentalism was another ingenious way for him to tighten up the ranks and promote unity in the cult. Fundamentalism is a strict, literal interpretation of the Bible. According to Alister McGrath (an Anglican priest, Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford, theologian, intellectual historian, scientist, Christian apologist, and public intellectual) fundamentalism began in the late 19th and early 20th century within American Protestant circles - to defend the "fundamentals of belief" against the corrosive effects of liberalism within the very ranks of Protestantism. Its outset has remained a counter-culture movement, using central doctrinal affirmations as a means of defining cultural boundaries. Certain major doctrines like the absolute literal authority of Scripture and the second coming of Christ - his premillennial return, became barriers to alienate secular culture and give fundamentalists a sense of identity and purpose. A siege mentality (a defensive or paranoid attitude based on the belief that others are hostile toward one) became characteristic of the movement. Another interesting thing McGrath got into was how fundamentalism can be distinguished from evangelicalism by three general ideas: 1. Biblically, fundamentalism is totally hostile to the notion of biblical criticism in any form and is committed to a literal interpretation of Scripture. Evangelicalism however accepts the principle of sensible and trustworthy biblical criticism and recognizes the diversity of literary forms within Scripture. 2. Theologically, fundamentalism is narrowly committed to a set of doctrines – some of which evangelicalism regards as peripheral or even utterly irrelevant such as dispensationalism. 3. Sociologically, fundamentalism is a reactionary counter-cultural movement, with a tight criteria of membership. Evangelicalism is a cultural movement focused on relevance and has a loose basis for self-definition. The element of irrationalism often associated with fundamentalism is lacking in evangelicalism which has produced significant writings in areas of the philosophy of religion and apologetics... My notes are from “Christian Theology: An Introduction” Second Edition by Alister E. McGrath c. 1994, 1997, Blackwell Publishers, pages 122 to 124.

There’s a fascinating and thought-provoking book on this subject - appropriately titled Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived by Rob Bell Here’s a brief description from Amazon: “in Love Wins, bestselling author, international teacher, and speaker Rob Bell addresses one of the most controversial issues of faith—hell and the afterlife—arguing, would a loving God send people to eternal torment forever? With searing insight, Bell puts hell on trial with a hopeful message—eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts right now. And ultimately, Love Wins.”

"The corps "training" targeted the youth in multiple ways..........we were a CAPTIVE audience." speaking of targeting systems, don't forget every way corps applicant had to submit a from-birth-to-the-way-corps-paper

topoftheworld posted May 18, 2007: “You know you're in a cult when........ You eagerly join their leadership training program, thinking it's to learn to be God's best by training with God's best, only to find yourself working menial jobs, falling asleep in mind-numbing classes, and eating food you wouldn't fed your dogs. You actually look forward to piling on every piece of clothing you have to stand on the freeway in the freezing cold with your thumb out to hitchhike to another location that you must be to in a certain amount of time or face the wrath of leadership. You find yourself abducted on the way to one of these blessed locations and having unspeakable things done to you, only to refuse to file a police report because you have to get to where you are going or face the wrath of leadership. You return from this experience, only to be told by leadership that you have failed due to lack of believing, and they will decide whether or not to kick you out. You then spend the next year and a half on pins and needles, never receiving counseling for the experience but instead feeling like God's worst among God's best. You finally near the end of this training experience, only to be told two months before graduation that you are truly worthless and have no business being there, causing you to run away in shame and leaving all your belongings and "friends" behind. You then spend the next twenty years surviving and attempting to build a life (albeit one outside the protection of the household) all the while knowing you're a worthless piece of crap as a human being-they said so, so it must be true). You make no close friends and build no lasting relationships-after all, who would want to be involved with damaged goods and a worthless piece of crap? You then discover Greasespot Cafe, and discover it was all a lie-and now you don't know anymore who you are. Yes-the joys of being in a cult.” from: topoftheworld's original post = = = = = = Someone recently quoted topoftheworld’s post on another thread and I kept thinking about it all week – I missed it when it was first posted in 2007 . This one sentence really got to me: “You find yourself abducted on the way to one of these blessed locations and having unspeakable things done to you, only to refuse to file a police report because you have to get to where you are going or face the wrath of leadership.” You know you’re in a cult when leadership is viewed as a law unto themselves…cult-leaders certainly behave that way, acting as totally independent of the laws of the land…Something is out of whack when cult-leaders get demand more respect and fear than the long arm of the law (the broad, far-reaching power and influence of the police and legal system).

As always a very incisive, concise and to the point post, Skyrider ! I wish you would put that entire post in your About Me profile. Anytime you and folks like WordWolf provide a clear and comprehensive narrative of TWI stuff I copy and paste it in a Word doc – I’m kinda proud of my collection - I have detailed files ! but seriously – it would be helpful to some Grease Spot newcomers who may be overwhelmed with the superabundance of information scattered on various threads…folks could go directly to your profile and get a good summary right off the bat. …anyway…some things your post got me thinking about: Skyrider: “The strongholds of twi's prison are constantly praised and enforced by 1) Twi's MOG-doctrine and 2) the pfal class. In twi-mythology, wierwille was "the man of God" (to the whole world) who was called to teach the word like it hadn't been known since the first century. Secondly, the pfal class contained the essence of "the Word" that students were to stand on and never allow anyone to talk them out of it. Both elements, like rebar and concrete......keep twi's foundation "solid." No twi-imprisonment would be possible without the way corps.......like guards and walls, to keep the inmates from escaping into nearby communities, jobs/careers and family. Wierwille devised the corps program knowing that his (stolen) pfal class was not enough to keep people involved.....enforcers would be needed to keep them marching forward.” The more I come to Grease Spot, the more I realize the essence of a harmful and controlling cult-leader like wierwille was not so much in what he taught as in what he DID….and it makes “good criminal sense” that wierwille couldn’t have done it alone with just the PFAL class – he needed clueless facilitators (the way corps) to make the job of being a harmful and controlling cult-leader a whole lot easier. Joe Navarro, a former FBI Counterintelligence Agent and the author of “What Every Body is Saying” wrote an August 2012 Psychology Today article titled “Dangerous Cult Leaders: Clues to what makes for a pathological cult leader”. He said the two questions he gets asked most frequently by students of criminology and psychology are: How do you know when a cult leader is bad, evil or toxic? and when is a cult leader pathological or a danger to others? Navarro said those are valid questions in view of the historical record of suffering and hurt caused by various cult leaders around the world – Navarro said: “They all have or had an over-abundant belief that they were special, that they and they alone had the answers to problems, and that they had to be revered. They demanded perfect loyalty from followers, they overvalued themselves and devalued those around them, they were intolerant of criticism, and above all they did not like being questioned or challenged. And yet, in spite of these less than charming traits, they had no trouble attracting those who were willing to overlook these features… …These personality traits stand out as the first warning to those who would associate with them, but there are many others. Here is a collection of traits of cult leaders that give us hints as to their psychopathology. This list is not all-inclusive nor is it the final word on the subject; it is merely my personal collection based on studies and interviews that I conducted in my previous career… If you know of a cult leader who has many of these traits there is a high probability that they are hurting those around them emotionally, psychologically, physically, spiritually, or financially. And of course this does not take into account the hurt that their loved ones will also experience… …Here are the typical traits of the pathological cult leader (from Dangerous Personalities) that you should watch for: 1. He has a grandiose idea of who he is and what he can achieve. 2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, or brilliance. 3. Demands blind, unquestioned obedience. 4. Requires excessive admiration from followers and outsiders. 5. Has a sense of entitlement—expecting to be treated as special at all times. 6. Is exploitative of others by asking for their money or that of relatives, putting others at financial risk. 7. Is arrogant and haughty in his behavior or attitude. I have quoted only the first seven traits – Navarro’s article lists fifty traits (that’s 50 – a big five O) you can read the entire article here - Psychology Today article about dangerous cult-leaders . When I read the article and looked over the list of 50 typical traits of a pathological cult leader – it’s sad and unsettling to realize that most of them are a spot-on reflection of wierwille. I believe the real shocking and treacherous aspect of pseudo-Christian groups like The Way International is how their trap is already primed for unsuspecting victims who are much more likely to be attracted to traditional belief systems like Christianity – something many people are familiar with – compared to something like Scientology. That’s why I said earlier to understand the power of harmful and controlling pseudo-Christian cults we should look more at their methods than their seemingly innocuous statements of belief. The trick is to see how these harmful and controlling cult-leaders put their “theories” into practice – by twisting Scripture…misinterpreting Scripture…misapplying Scripture to facilitate…to justify…to excuse their bad behavior and exploit others… ...on another thread someone said he had no desire to go into the way corps program because of the attitudes fostered in it. And this person who still thinks very highly of wierwille said creating the way corps program was a mistake on wierwille’s part. I agree. But that wasn't the only mistake he made. Lots of other mistakes are to his "credit" - like PFAL, Christian Family and Sex, The Advanced Class, the WOW program, The Way College program - University of Life, starting his own ministry The Way International, plagiarizing like it was going out of style, sexually molesting women, creating the concept of lockbox to keep the mouths of victims shut, demonizing any who opposed him or tried to expose his immoral behavior...etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...of course – it depends on your viewpoint - To quote wierwille from the small book “Lifelines” containing many of his revealing statements: “nothing happens without leadership”. True that ! If you’re into developing a harmful and controlling cult – creating the way corps program was sheer genius! I don’t recall many places in the Gospels where Jesus corrected the teachings of the religious leaders – it seemed like he did more to call into question their bad behavior. But the account in Matthew 23 NIV is fascinating to think about: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” Jesus did not challenge their observance of the fine points of the law – but he did oppose their negligence of the weightier matters – the moral principles underlying all the laws. It makes me think of wierwille in PFAL, being such a stickler for “the accuracy and integrity of The Word…that it means what it says and says what it means…” but that was merely the labeling on the package of very processed food…students of PFAL who eventually went on to go in the way corps program were privy to the double standard that wierwille established – and perhaps many way corps like myself probably didn’t even see it as a double standard – how wierwille appeared to be so prim and proper, folks assuming he had very traditional, morally conservative beliefs and behavior that was portrayed in PFAL and in open meetings to the general public – like the Rock of Ages. And yet faster than Clark Kent changing into Superman, was wierwille in closed gatherings with just the way corps; wierwille played it fast and loose doing whatever he wanted in a careless, irresponsible thoughtless, deceitful, and immoral manner. Look up on the stage! It's a turd! It's insane! It’s a drunkard slouched in an easy chair sipping on Drambuie and chain-smoking Kool menthols! It’s a dirty old man showing porn videos and telling dirty jokes! “No – renew your minds, kids – it’s just our father in The Word being himself”. I think one of the best ways to teach others is to show them how something is done. Some may think fondly of wierwille as “the teacher” from PFAL. But that was just acting in front of the camera. Wierwille’s forte was teaching the way corps how to be hypocrites. I believe he was the expert. He didn’t just rely on pontificating about anything , spewing out pious platitudes, and boring teachings about “the greatness of God’s Word” – no sirree Bob! He showed us (adults and teens !)– by example – that it was possible to remain as cool as a cucumber while you’re up in front of a bunch of Family Way Corps trainees showing them a disgusting perverted porn video. Most of us were shocked, unnerved and flustered by wierwille’s flagrant disregard for anyone’s feelings, social mores or the inappropriateness of what he did. And to add insult to injury, after the video was over – wierwille sat there all smug in a comfortable chair drinking his Drambuie, looks over the stunned audience and casually says, “I’ve so renewed my mind that stuff like this doesn’t bother me.” ...wierwille used “renew your mind” like a trump card to cause feelings of guilt in those who were offended by his behavior – like we are the ones with a problem and are being unchristian-like…that was freakin’ amazing ladies and gentlemen! It was like a tenth manifestation or something. Here was “the teacher” of PFAL who was all “rah rah it’s the Word, the Word and nothing but the Word…it means what it says and says what it means” in the PFAL class, now being all “I can do any fvcking thing I want and tough $hit if you don’t like it.” I don’t think I’ve ever had a better teacher on how to be a hypocrite than wierwille, all praise be to $hitty idols and whatnot. Like I said before – with harmful and controlling cult-leaders, it’s more about their methods than their publicly stated mission. In Matthew 23 ESV Jesus confronted the duplicity of the religious leaders. 1.Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2. “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, 3. so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6. and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7. and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others…15. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. Most of Matthew 23 resonates with me on so many different levels. Corresponding to verse 2 of the religious leaders sitting on Moses’ seat was wierwille, among the way corps he was considered the highest – and really the ONLY authority to instruct believers in The Word…and yet wierwille did not practice what he preached. Anything he did do in public that appeared to be Christian-like was a show to be seen by others… they love the place of honor… and being called rabbi by others…wierwille always demanded to be called “Doctor” – though it was just a title he got from a degree-granting mill – what’s that? any institution that offers qualifications which are not accredited nor based on proper academic assessment see this link Pikes Peak Bible Seminary . (also see above traits of a pathological cult-leader). So besides being a patchwork plagiarist, he was a preeminent poser… For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves…and like the scribes and Pharisees, wierwille’s activity was squarely aimed at converting others to his twisted ideology – behold the way corps program – the wierwille-clone factory.

this thread started out with "A couple of questions about VPW"...and here's a couple of questions vpw would suggest: ask not what your cult-leader can do for you. ask what you can do for your cult-leader.

That’s some great points ! One of wierwille’s insidious mind-numbing tactics was encouraging followers to engage in “mental busy work” – an activity that keeps the brain cells preoccupied but has little value in itself. wierwille stressed followers merely absorb information without scrutinizing it. It was not only a diversion meant to take up “think-time” to thwart thoughtful analysis but also through repetition served to indoctrinate followers under the guise of “studying and reviewing the PFAL material”. Bolshevik: “only The Class could explain The Class. Lack of understanding meant retake The Class” – true that! What’s faster than a speeding bullet more powerful than a locomotive - more complicated than a wheel within a wheel? It is “the tyranny of PFAL” – perhaps it’s more like “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. That is from a line used by Winston Churchill to describe the intentions and interests of Russia in 1939. Churchill’s line has come to mean that which is so dense and secretive as to be totally indecipherable or impossible to foretell – to denote a person, a fact, a situation, etc., that is too difficult to make sense of. PFAL is like that - it is rife with logical fallacies, patchwork plagiarism, wierwille’s signature intuition, fundamentalism, spiritualism, and Gnosticism. So basically, the frame of thought behind PFAL is really wierwille’s own twisted ideology and narcissism. It is so dense with erroneous reasoning, inconsistencies, false assumptions, and pat answers that it falls way short of being a systematic and practical approach to anything. Though it is never stated outright in any literature of The Way International, the words of wierwille are considered by loyal followers to be on par with Scripture – in other words, whatever wierwille says about a passage has approximately equal authority as Scripture itself. I remember at PFAL ’77 – a live re-filming of the “original” PFAL class of 1967 – one of the master of ceremonies, a TWI-ordained clergyman came on stage to answer the question many of us were wondering “would this new PFAL 77 class replace the old 1967 PFAL class as THE introductory class when joining TWI?”. But the clergyman shot down that idea by simply stating “did the Apostle Paul need to re-write the book of Ephesians?” The switcheroo happens surreptitiously before the uncritical mind. The absolute authority of The Bible is usurped in a stealthy manner – under cover of the assumption by all, that wierwille was good at “rightly dividing The Word” AND per the mythology of wierwille being guided by God Himself (see my earlier post referencing Elena S. Whiteside’s authorized book on TWI – “The Way Living in Love” - click here …hey good news - you can still buy it on Amazon - The Way: Living in Love on Amazon …that’s assuming your “needs and wants are parallel”. Grads of the class were encouraged to “make it their own” – but God forbid you deviated or contradicted anything wierwille taught. Thus, what grads thought and taught was merely parroting…regurgitating what wierwille said. This mechanical repetition was falsely assumed to be “thinking / living / doing / teaching / moving The Word”. Waysider: “It's spiritual. You just need to S.I.T. more and believe harder” – true that too! One of wierwille’s methods of sidestepping any real issues folks had with the ministry’s extraordinary claims was to teach that we should not go by our five senses or worldly logic – that it was part of the spiritual battle... When I first got involved with TWI, being young and naïve I bought into all that – TWI’s ideas provided a means to rationalize away logic and reality…I think “successful” con artists have a real knack for embedding the process of self-deception into devoted followers. Johnj: “It seems TWI is trying to revive the “gory glory years.” Which means they will have to revive the lies. Any diehard wierwille-fan knows that…which also makes me wonder how good or great something is if you have to lie and generate a bunch of hype about it. You know, wierwille was a pathological liar – maybe that’s one of the intangible assets he bequeathed to TWI. I found an interesting article on Psychology Today: 6 Reasons People Lie When They Don’t Need To - understanding the motivations of pathological liars. Posted January 23, 2017 David J. Ley Ph.D. “People may lie because they believe the lie is critically important, even though it may seem inconsequential. Other reasons for lying include trying to control a situation or to avoid disappointing someone. Most people usually tell the truth, and it may be helpful to try to understand the motivations behind why someone lies. 1. The lie does matter ... to them. The number one reason people lie when it just doesn’t matter is because they actually do think it matters. While everyone around them thinks it’s an inconsequential issue, the liar believes it is critically important. They may be putting undeserved emphasis or pressure on themselves, or on the issue, but you won’t know unless you ask something like, “It seems like this issue is really important to you — why?” 2. Telling the truth feels like giving up control. Often, people tell lies because they are trying to control a situation and exert influence toward getting the decisions or reactions they want. The truth can be “inconvenient” because it might not conform to their narrative. 3. They don’t want to disappoint you. It may not feel like it to you, but people who tell lie after lie are often worried about losing the respect of those around them. They want you to like them, be impressed, and value them. And they’re worried that the truth might lead you to reject or shame them. 4. Lies snowball. I remember a cartoon my kids watched years ago about how lies grow. We tell a little bitty lie, but then to cover that lie, we have to tell another one, then another, and another — each gets bigger and bigger. Finally, we’re arguing about the color of the sky, because to admit anything creates the potential of the entire house of cards tumbling. If a chronic liar admits to any single lie, they feel like they’re admitting to being a liar, and then you’ll have reason to distrust them. 5. It’s not a lie to them. When we are under pressure, our thinking about the big picture can be challenged. Our memory of things is actually quite unreliable: Multiple studies demonstrate that our memories are influenced by many things, that they change over time, and that they are essentially reconstructed each time we think about them. Often, repetitive liars feel so much pressure in the moment that their memory becomes simply unreliable. When they say something, it’s often because they genuinely believe, at that moment, that it is the truth. Their memory has been overwhelmed by stress, current events, and their desire to find a way to make this situation work. Sometimes, this can become so severe that the person almost seems to have created a complete alternate world in their head, one that conforms to their moment-by-moment beliefs and needs. 6. They want it to be true. Finally, the liar might want their lie to be true so badly that their desire and needs again overwhelm their instinct to tell the truth. “Be the change you want to see in the world,” Gandhi never actually said. But sometimes, liars hope that they can make something come true by saying it over and over, and by believing it as hard as they can. In today’s environment of “alternative facts,” it’s hard not to see this as somewhat justified.” From: Psychology Today: 6 reasons people lie when they don’t have to Johnj: “It seems TWI is trying to revive the “gory glory years.” It plans to revive “the Rock” as “Young Adult Rock” Aug 12-14, 2022. They call it a “Christian music festival” for Foundational class grads ages 18-35. A few days after it, TWI plans to send out Way “Ambassadors.” The “Ambassadors of The Way Outreach Program” will replace both the original WOW and the Way Disciples outreach program, which sends an anemic 4 teams (approx.) per term/ year. They will serve Aug 21 to June 4, 2023. That’s a 9.5 month term vs. the 6 month disciple and 12 month WOW terms. They hope to have Ambassadors in 12 countries in which there are active Way Corps. How many people will they actually get?” I was a WOW in Washington DC 1975-76 - if memory serves me well, we were a branch of 28 WOWs …yeah those were the “glory days” alright. We may have had a greater number of WOWs – but the results of our outreach were anemic…classes were small made up of students from several Twigs – even outside of the DC area…Of course, the upcoming Ambassadors of The Way training will probably go heavy on not looking at numbers but at the spiritual impact of their outreach…oh yeah, I remember wierwille telling us because of our stand on the WOW field we prevented the Illuminati-wrong-seed-boys-one-world-government-commies-Marxist-Minstrels-spiritual-whatnots-and-devilish-odds-and-ends from taking over the country ! whew you’re welcome.