Twinky

Mike: "Most professors will read a well written and concise letter or text. I have had a lot of luck doing that." Hey, how about doing that here? Making your posts "well written and concise"? That way, maybe we could all benefit. You might not get so many attacks, and everyone else might begin to understand what you're saying.

It may not cause further harm that person, if they've spent decades immersed in it and haven't come to grief so far (= haven't been misled into committing crimes, or harmed themselves physically). It may cause a lot of harm to other people, if the person so immersed insists on foisting this fake material onto unsuspecting victims. Whilst many will have the sense to see it for what it is, there are always those who are more vulnerable for whatever reason, and who may fall for such claptrap. Maybe they won't fall for it as badly as we all did (to a greater or lesser extent), because there isn't the same reinforcing network of "twigs" to support and reinforce the con.

Did your 20 years of deep study of these collaterals lead you to discover where they, or at least the better ones of them, were plagiarised from? Or did that information get "filtered" out? Not sure why something so perfect would need to be re-written, but that's by-the-by (=immaterial, Mike. Don't bother "answering" this point).

What the F does this mean?

I read this thread for its amusement value.

Good one, So_ crates.

From the Wikipedia entry for this man: Mastriano himself has said that he did not grow up in a "strong Christian family", but was led to embrace religion as a teenager by an "on-fire youth pastor" after being invited to a youth group called "The Way".[20] ... He worships at a Mennonite church, likely a Conservative Mennonite Conference church.[20][207] Mastriano has attended events of the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement advocating the restoration of the offices of so-called "prophets and apostles".[208][7] He appears to have some rather strange current beliefs. You're welcome to him. He doesn't seem an outstanding "ambassador for Christ," despite being allegedly evangelical. (Of course, that word has its own special meaning, nothing to do with true evangelism, in the USA.)

Too true. The report doesn't include the smearing of "suppressive persons" (aka those M&A'd) but it would be no surprise if that went on.

This popped into my FB feed today. Might be of interest to some here. You can watch online; a modest fee is payable. John Stott London Lecture 2022 | LICC

Or... In short, you missed all the trouble areas and missed a lot of unique learning experiences. And that's why you can't hear what others say about the real TWI. Did it ever occur to you to study the Bible? In 20 years studying just the gospels or the OT or the epistles, you could really have learned something.

And did they also give you the keys to the city? And did you heal someone of a withered arm brain on the way out?

For a minute or two up at the top of page 20, I thought Mike was developing a real sense of humour.

Goat?

Australian red wines are really good. Better than a lot of French wines. But hey... red wine :)) Champers for breakfast, wow! Caught a plane once, crossed many time zones. Can't think why now, but passengers were offered champagne at some ridiculous hour. Might have been breakfast. Might have been 3 or 4 or 5am. Except that the airline said it was -- an evening meal? Long distance travel can be so confusing!

Using "spirit levels," no doubt. Or are the "optics" bad for that? . . . Ludicrous statement from Mike.

Ah, Nathan, I was thinking of a really rich red of some sort.

Interesting idea, Allan. A grapevine, hopefully. Producing some crackin' good wine.

Thought this bore repeating. Hey! And doesn't just apply to human beings, either. Even animals and birds, domestic and wild, can go way beyond what they have been taught. Only human beings are "smart" enough to willingly allow others to limit themselves.

God gave you a brain and intelligence, so that you could work it out. He also provides a wealth of counsellors to help you "clarify" your ideas. Y'know: iron sharpens iron. Does require holding your own "iron" in the correct manner so that other irons don't in fact blunt it. If you want to understand this more, go visit your local butcher, chef, or similar and see how s/he sharpens knives.

Very long way to go there, Mike. Very, very long way.

Try this for clarifying your idea, Mike. Do what Jesus did. He read, studied in depth, what was available, over many years. He listened earnestly to what his parents told him. Probably listened to Aunt Elizabeth, too (she whom Mary visited in her pregnancy - to find that Elizabeth the barren was herself pregnant with John later known as the Baptist). He listened earnestly to what learned teachers had to say. He respectfully listened to rabbis and other teachers, considered carefully what they said (and did). Learned by rote and by frequent repetition. And he used his considerable intelligence to sort out chaff from wheat; to sort practical error and hypocrisy from simplicity of God's plans for human interactions; to discern distortions and lies from truth. Jesus paid close attention to other people, their words, their wishes, their actions. You'll see that Jesus was astoundingly smart by the age of about 12, following the teaching of rabbis etc in the temple. You'll see a blank period where he was processing what he'd learned, but undoubtedly between 12 and 30 he was continuing to study and ask questions - and listening to the answers. He was learning to listen to, and handle, human beings and their foibles and follies. Yes, Jesus had to be sure, as much as he could - or did he? - that God would raise him from the dead. (That might be a separate topic in its own right.) In any event, don't you recall that only a short period before, he'd prayed and raised Lazarus from the dead? A demonstration, perhaps, of God's willingness to do that for Jesus? If you know you are destined to be a sacrifice, does it matter at all if you "know" you will be raised from the dead? Maybe that's too much of a latter-day construction - or something more "western" in concept. As I said above, Jesus paid close attention to other people, their words, their wishes, their actions. Perhaps if you tried some of the same, you could "clarify your idea" fairly quickly.

Might be better if you were "doing the word" that you learned in the BIBLE. The gospels and the epistles would be a good starting place.

Good post, T-Bone.

He's hurt and badly damaged in this area of his mind, just as we all were. As a kid when it all kicked off, he has some worse maturity issues to tackle than many who post here. To bring this back to the original post - I wonder how the kids of the women who were abused by the temple priests, Eli's sons, felt when/if they discovered the abuse their mums had suffered? Betrayed, hurt, angry? Bewildered and conflicted? Ashamed? How did the cuckolded husbands feel, if they discovered their wives had been abused in this manner? Were they made to feel complicit in some way - say, God would withhold a blessing from them? Maybe excommunication (M&A) was a weapon used against them, too. Old tricks, and well used. We can't possibly know, of course. But I don't think the knowledge of this abuse would have been received with joy by anyone. Possibly there were fights - and we know that Eli's sons were warriors (as were all the men). Lots of potential for threats, and for really messy outcomes.

Read the book and feel your burden lighten with every paragraph. When I first read it, I thought: "These guys must be ex-TWI; they really know what it was like!" No. They just know what cults are like. If you really want "release from your prisons," read this book.