Twinky

Not sure that I heard that VPW "turned his face to the wall" but you can bet your bottom dollar that if he did/somebody said he did, it's in an effort to magnify VPW. There are two occurrences of this expression in KJV and they both refer to the same event: King Hezekiah had been "sick unto death" and his city was beseiged. Then the prophet Isaiah went to see him and Hezekiah changed his mind and was healed and lived long afterwards. Look at Hezekiah's prayer (bold, italics). Wouldn't be surprised if someone was suggesting this of VPW's life. But (heh heh) God is not fooled, knew VPW hadn't lived like this, and didn't answer the prayer (if indeed it were made). And VPW died. Here is the other record: 2 Kings 20 See the astonishing selfishness at the end of that chapter, where, after some bragging on Hezekiah's part, awful pronouncements are made against Hezekiah's successor, and all Hezekiah says is: "Good is the word of the lord." Didn't care about his successors one bit. Only that he himself got 15 more years of life. Better stop this now before the thread disappears into Doctrinal.

Be wary as a snake, Jeff (see my tag line). John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. Acts 17:11 These [bereans] were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. 1 Thess 5:21 Prove [test, check out] all things; hold fast that which is good. (Readiness of mind alone is not enough to keep you safe. You risk being blown around with every wind of doctrine - false doctrine - which, as you already know, means trouble ahead.)

Apathetic in everything except bringing in the dosh. No outreach. No helping others. No development of compassion, kindness. No looking at the lifestyle of Jesus, or study of the gospels. Lots of study of the epistles, where many many times Paul exhorts fellowships to "be followers of me" - though TWI was somewhat forgetting the next phrase: And so we were to follow our leaders at TWI, follow 'em right off the cliff. But they forgot this, and encouraged us to do likewise: That and the "busy work" to no particular purpose distracted followers from what (who) it's all about. You only have to see the falling numbers at HQ to see how spiritually apathetic they are. Yet for those who genuinely want to reach out, to help others, to be followers of Christ...the harvest is still plenteous.

Who said that? Was it a Wayfer, on Christian radio, at some church you go to? If a Wayfer - probably needs to remove the mote from his own eye.

Ooooh! That's very rude...!

From a current other thread about staff waiting to serve - people within a 250 mile radius are expected to travel to HQ every week. That's, what, at least ten hours driving? With fuel costs, and food costs en route? And do they pay a "mileage allowance" to help those people come? Do they pay for home assistance for those people so that their homes can be "up to scratch" because they don't have time to work on them, themselves? Like painting and decorating and all those other tasks people do at the weekend? Yeah, right. Hoard the money you have extracted from them, and suck out by other means the remainder of the money they have.

"Hoard the word" - yeah, exactly what they do. Only available to special people. Sign in - to a "church" service...? Many unwelcome...? Hoard it. Like a dragon's hoard. Rosalie, you lie like a ... dragon ...? What happened to, freely you have received - freely give...?

That sounds rather nice, Gen-2.

Just a bit of fun, really, but as it says. Just suppose Rosalie were ever to post here (it ain't gonna happen, folks!). What do you suppose her "handle" might be? >Foxy One? >Fauxy One? >Rosa-lie? >Rug (see Old Skool's recent topic Rosalie you lie like a rug)? >SeeMeSmile? >The Enforcer? >The Forcer? Heh heh .

Ah yes. The Cabin in the woods. It was a nice place. Nice "feel" to it. Some happy times there (with friends, not with "official" TWI events).

When was the Chalet Annexe built? And the Way Woods Home? I don't remember either of these buildings. There was a little house in the woods, cure, olde-worlde, just one room up and one down. Not habitable. Used for cutesy-cutesy meetings and a quiet place away from the organized chaos of the main buildings. What was that called?

Most companies have a pension plan for their employees, especially their very senior ones. Their salaries comprise pay, pension contributions, and shares (not that shares in TWI are available, being (cough) non-profit). Old Skool, what do you know about official pension arrangements for the BoD? Do you know if there have been contributions made to a pension scheme for Rosalie or any of the others who have been around since inception? Or high-ups later, like Donna? In other words, do you know if there is a chunk that was ABS'd that has (ostensibly as pay) disappeared into private funding arrangements that doesn't show as "company assets" within that $54million?

All that effort they put into "confronting" - confronting people who already had a heart to love God and people (shakes head). Compared with all the effort they don't put into helping people who have a real need, whether in rez or in the field.

No, it's more that the vile things they said made me doubt my every move. I was a horrible mess when they'd finished screwing me up and then cast me out like waste paper. Taken a lot of time (from me) and patience (from others) to bring me back to something like I used to be.

Ed and Jacqui lived in an apartment, but there were also some staff quarters that were a bit bigger than the in rez Corps facilities. They were on the ground floor, near the door, on the "short arm" of Founders Hall. Not quite sure, it wasn't a place I had much time to visit. Possibly there were similar on the floor above. The Horneys lived on the other "short arm" of Founders Hall, kind of in the middle of the in rez Corps - at least, when I was there.

Exciting isn't quite the word, either. All my in rez Corps nights were spent, y'know, in the third row back with a real close view of him. And all the rehearsals for SNS straight after breakfast on Sunday morning (then a quick dash for some more of the same, in the BRC). And I had a few personal interviews (face meltings) from him. Worst, though, was when he would look at me with this look of deep and profound sorrow and disappointment. Like he'd done everything possible for me and still I couldn't/wouldn't learn. Once he said to me, "I just don't know why God just keeps on giving people so many [chances/opportunities]" - can't remember the exact word there - but it was in the nature of I'd f'd up again and here was he, the great LCM, being sooo patient with me (presumably because God hadn't yet given LCM the "revelation" to kick me out). Sheer manipulation. There were strangled entries in my journal about that. Oh shoot. 11 Dec of my 2nd yr in rez. I just found some journal entries. Did I really think this stuff? There was a meeting with 2 very high-ups J and Y, at which a junior V was called as witness against me; then another interview with another high-up A; then at 5pm a grilling from LCM and also present were J, A, 4 branch coords, and my in rez twig coord S. It was my "last chance". What I'd said got V, BL, Donna, BH and Howard Allen all involved, not to mention all these people hauling me over the carpet in about 4 different interviews. It appeared only S spoke up for me. Apparently I wasn't good at working in a team, and I was a professional brawler and striker. Y said: "You hear what's said and immediately start to think of your own way of doing it." Definitely not meek. I must now ring all my SPs and request they pray for me. I recorded that this was an "incredible display of longsuffering, grace, patience and love." It was "my own stupidity" if I failed after this. I recognized that ability is a liability and that to seek recognition of ability is to think carnally. Sheer manipulation. I think this stemmed from an unguarded comment to V, who was a couple of corps earlier than me, that I'd felt "stifled." Please don't think I'm stupid...I'm qualified in a high-level profession, am very practical in advice given to my clients, am proficient in my ability with outsiders, can think things through in very useful ways, and get on with a whole bunch of people from very different backgrounds. Or at least I was all these things till I went in rez.

Old Skool - do NOT post pix like that without a warning first! Irresistable ... wasn't quite the word that came to mind.

So - does Donna live in one room that she shares with 3 other people, or was that a privilege just reserved for the in rez corps? Single staff I think got one of those rooms for themselves. But Old Skool, you say: an apartment. I have a vague memory of some small flat-lets on the corners of the building that might have had two rooms, for staff couples. Maybe even (gasp) their own private bathrooms? But don't they have some sort of communal kitchen area with some other flat-lets? So are you saying that Donna has one of these flat-lets to herself? Is that because she's so spay-shal or because there simply aren't enough staff that need them and perhaps everyone now inc in rez WC can have their own room? Did in rez WC still share, Old Skool? Even though there must have been lots of space in Founders Hall for in rez WC not to be crammed together?

There was a rather large guy in my Corps. When he went home for "ho ho relo" they asked where the other half of him was. There were some very fat people on staff when I was in rez.

In odd moments, I sometimes find myself wondering what would happen if I found myself in NK (passing through as a tourist, say) and decided to attend one of the "church" services ... or even just go through the grounds (do they still have that sign up saying Everyone Welcome at The Way"? ...if I said I'd bumped into someone in (say) Dayton who'd told me about this great place to visit where I could hear the Bible taught, and I wanted to hear. I doubt there'd be anybody there who would recognize me (we've all got older, maybe grayer, maybe fatter or thinner). I wonder how long it would be before I was ejected? Not that I'd ever waste my hard-earned money passing through NK to find out.

C'mon, guys, be fair. You can't say that TWI rent out the land, and then accuse TWI of letting it fall waste. Surely it would be the farmers they had rented it out to who had let it run to waste? And in any event, if you spool up or down or sideways from the first aerial shot of TWI, you will see all of the neighboring fields are in exactly the same condition as those around TWI, and they are nowhere near Wayland. Soul searcher touches on this when he asks about the time of year the photo was taken. But since nobody's welcome at The Way And the land doesn't get used for festivals Nor for anything to do with the congregation/membership/plebs It would surely be better to dispose of the land by outright sale to the local farmers? Dispose of their surplus? Like they did at Emporia camps, Indiana campus, and other places. Surplus houses and land were sold - the proceeds distributed. Let's face it - they made enough of us sell houses and bring them the proceeds of sale, or a share thereof. Only fair that they should do the same. Unlikely they would ever distribute back to us, who put the money there in the first place, but methinks most of us would be happy if they just gave it to a genuinely Christian charity that really did help people. Or even any other organization that genuinely helps people. Ain't gonna happen, though.

TWI might have said, "Promotes more harmony in the home," BUT in a subtle bait-and-switch, this is what it became: Doncha see, it's in the Bible that there should not be more harmony in the home.

Oh. Mea culpa. But I still can't get into the article, heh heh. Funny, George, and thanks Dmiller.

It's not your money, it's God's money, doncha know? Therefore, as God's representatives, they have a right to ask. Yeah, right.

Oh I meant to add under the first part, When I was a trainee in a high-powered job that involved presenting argument to seriously important people, the suggestion was given to me that I should imagine those important people as being seated on a toilet rather than a comfy seat. And the same for anyone else who is being pompous. The image is so laughable that nervousness can dissipate. Tell me one person who doesn't sit on a toilet several times a week - greatest or least!! Can you imagine, for example, LCM or VPW sitting on a toilet with their trousers round their ankles, whilst pontificating in PFAL or during LCM's wonderful Advanced Class, or what have you? Would they have sounded quite so authoritative then? (Sorry if that gives you a horrible mind-picture. )