Twinky

Very good for you, Volchic. It was far more important for you to spend time with your dad, than with your "fellowship" coordinator. I'm sure that helped you through the next 14 years of control freakishness.

The banned books section! Love it .

Some people clearly have too much time on their hands. I translated my Corps notes, not transcribed. Translated them straight into the woodburner.

One thing I saw in this that I haven't heard before - "gambling in Las Vegas" - and big betting implied. What's that all about?

Welcome, Chris. Hope you'll stick around.# There's a thread here under Connecting, specifically for finding friends. It's called Friend Tracker. You might want to post on that too. The name Heather Christian sounds slightly familiar. What Corps was she in? I might be thinking of a different Heather, though.

Hi Janet, and welcome to the Cafe. Thanks for your sponsorship to others unknown. God will respect your heart in providing for the needs of others. And if those people respect God (rather than TWI) he'll bless and teach them.

Bump.

5 weeks, and I don't care about accom costs. Staying with friends, when we're not in a tent or in the bush, maybe in a hut someplace.

Welcome, Volchic. Well escaped! Welcome to Real Life. Glad posts here have helped you. Maybe you won't suffer quite so much from the withdrawal problems that some here have had. Very hard when all your formative years have likely been very constricted. As WW says, we'd be interested in your more up to date perspectives, and info on what's (not) happening nowadays.

BREXIT!!!!!!! Political infighting! If it all gets too much, I shall slope off back to NZ! (Actually, am going there tomorrow)

Martindale was keen that we weren't "soldiers," because the battle was won when Christ rose from the dead, taking captivity captive. He was very keen that we are "athletes of the spirit" and claimed that much of the imagery was actually athletic in its terminology. However, it is difficult to reconcile Eph 6 with athletic necessaries. Helmets, belts, shields and swords are not standard athletic gear except in games that are really modified war-games (sword-play or fencing, for example). But then there's Heb 12 which exhorts us which clearly isn't a warlike expression, as soldiers shouldn't be running races or anywhere except perhaps charging towards the enemy. And 2 Tim 4 is a bit of both I would prefer to view athletic or war-like terminology and references more as appeals to different groups of people, to try to catch their interest in a place they already understand. To a marathon runner, you might explain the gospel in terms of preparation for a long and gruelling race; the Christian life isn't a one-off quick sprint. To a soldier, you'd explain in terms of preparedness for assault, and discuss battle tactics; we do face difficulties and opposition. To a parent, you'd explain in terms of tenderness for your children. To an agriculturalist, you talk in terms of seed growth. To an artist, you might explain the gospel in terms of light and perspective. You get the idea! I wouldn't get hung up on it, Allan. These are all just figures of speech designed to catch the eye and imagination. What is more important is the attitude of heart. Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, whether we are soldiers, sailors, runners, fishermen, farmers or whatever. 1 Cor 16 (and similar found elsewhere)

Hi Mamouda. Welcome to the café. Yep, you'll be shocked at some of the "behind the scenes" things you discover here. Be prepared to be horrified. Geer was an arrogant prig and what you say is no surprise. There's a thread about him in Way in Europe or some such forum. He "established" Gartmore, caused a rift among the trustees that ripped TWI in half, and lurked in Gartmore plotting more of the same. I think he is now back in Maine or some such. Gartmore was sold years ago. There are threads on that, here; enter "Gartmore" in the search box and you will find some relevant threads. Sexual abuse was rampant and you will find many first and second hand reports here. There were court cases about Martindale and that's what got him thrown out, but Wierwille was never brought to justice. You talk about your "country coordinator" - which country were/are you in? (PM me if you don't want to say publicly) Anyway, we are way off topic here! Have fun browsing.

Surprised there weren't special "executive" toilets for the trustees' wives. Should have gone out and peed in the woods.

Pardon my scepticism, but I think I'd want to know what his doctors/hospital thought, and whether a death certificate was issued; or at least some other corroboration. Some people are kept in medically induced comas for quite long periods, to aid their healing; and some might enter a "vegetative state" or "persistent vegetative state," where they're unresponsive to all stimuli. Either coma or PVS patients might be on ventilators or other equipment to maintain their breathing and circulation.

Welcome, RW. Be aware that most posters here are long since gone from TWI, many in the 1980. Things haven't changed too much, though. I left mid-1990 I suppose (the date is not etched in my memory). Wordwolf refers to VPW, LCM and RFR. These are the three previous leaders of TWI, namely, WP Wierwille (founder and chief cult leader), died 1985; LC Martindale (leader 1985 till late 1990s, when his sexual misbehaviour with many cult women came to light); and Rosalie Rivenbark (a rumoured lesbian, who is, was, or appeared to be cohabiting with the former wife of LCM). The current leader is JY de Lisle, but RFR has her hand so far up his back (if not other parts) that he is virtually a puppet mouthpiece for her and she still runs the show.

I think my time with TWI has enabled me to reach depths of empathy, understanding and compassion that are far more than I had before. I don't think that this means of learning that is what God would have had in mind, but He's enabled me to make some lemonade from the lemons. My time with TWI and the years afterwards wasted my professional qualifications, but even so, I've managed to turn those into things for good to help others. The time that was wasted was in the prison of years of self-condemnation after TWI had M&A'd me: my fault, through absorbing poor teaching. A waste? Only if you don't use your experience to grow and to help others. I'm sure this author is a tremendous example to others of succeeding against the odds, and of refusal to compromise on what she needed, on her pursuit of her reasonable ambitions. And I'm sure that many with a non-cultic background will shake their heads and not understand.

Definitely much slower than it used to be here in the Café.

Yep, right on, and some are still living in the Open forum.

Now Thomas is on the hunt for anybody still here. Helllloooooo????

Nice medley, GSG, but cheating!! That's lots of great songs and tunes!

Listening to some of these as I'm making truffles to give away tomorrow.

Sang "O Night Divine" as part of the Christmas choir I sing with in a broadcast to the local hospital radio service (and via internet, worldwide). Nice rendition on the video, though (IMO) it might have benefited from not having the shepherds and wise men wandering about. Thanks for posting.

That was very nice, Rocky. Very enjoyable.

Funky!

Nice, DWBH.