Twinky

By the way, this isn't HCW's image of a dog soldier. It's just something I found on the net. There's quite a lot about "dog soldiers" on the net. Of course, there was another side to it which wasn't referenced at all by VPW. As usual, he told half the story. Isn't it great that Jesus Christ came to set the captives free. And that would be whether they were captured by enemies without or enemies within. Captured by false ideas, false causes, false leaders. Staked, or tethered, to something less than solid. If we did but know it, we had tethered ourselves to shifting sand and not the "solid rock" that we were so happy to sing songs about.

Do you remember the tethered "dog soldier" image? I think there was even a painting, perhaps by HCW, a former poster here.

Vanity... just before I got thrown out, I got a facemelting from my Country Coord. "You could have been great!" he yelled. Was appealing to my vanity to have become more than a mere Corps grad leading a twig or branch, or some such. Wanted me to become more meek, submissive, to do what I was told, and definitely not speak up if I saw something not right. Knowing what I know now...when he came to visit us on the Wow field, when he wanted special care from me and wanted me to stay the night with him in his motel... and I've later learned that he "ministered" to single women believers back in his town of residence... I'm inclined to think he omitted a word or two. Like, "In bed!" FYI that was never going to happen.

It'll be a great weekend event ... to miss.

Yikes, T-Bone!

Promotes harmony in the home. Special ministering for women.

Here's a hilarious story. Years after I got (very nastily) kicked out of TWI I started attending a twig-type thing, a splinter, in the town where I now live. (I was very damaged; I needed the "comfort" of a twig - yeah, yeah, I know, don't go on at me about it.) The splinter couple had been helpful to me in my recovery. The wife was lovely and compassionate; the so-called Rev husband wanted things done his way, and liked to be "looked up to." He liked me because I was (ex) WC. I was suspicious of him and his egotism. However it was a nice group of people, a dozen inc kids on a good day, albeit most were the (wife's) relatives. He decided to "ordain" his sister in law (nice person, had very little idea about anything non-PFAL and hadn't even read most of the Bible. Mr Egotistical called a huge meeting to ordain Ms SiL and even got a person coming from the US. I went to the meeting but wouldn't go along further with this charade, and refused to sign the card that wished Ms SiL well as a "Rev." At the break half way through, he asked me to leave (or maybe I chose to go) - anyway I left. When I called at his home next day to collect my dishes from the communal meal, he was livid, changing colour as he spat abuse at me, and told me never to darken his door again. I left, laughing my head off. Mr Egotistical got his revenge by sending a foul email abusing me to everyone in his email address book. I mean, every single address. Along with the Sales office for some business he'd once had contact with - the shop down the road, the gas board, the water board, the city council, the irrelevant this, the irrelevant that - his mailing list included a lot of the leaders at CFFM, all his twig and an adjacent one in another city, and so on. And me. And then he blocked me so that I couldn't respond. No specifics in his email, of course, just abuse and allegations about my insubordination. Got his come-uppance when many of those leaders jumped on him, berated him for his attitude, and his own twig turned on him. (I know, because I was copied in on some replies to him.) As for unrelated people or businesses that he'd emailed, they must have thought they were dealing with a right nutter and quite likely refused to deal with him any more, or were very cautious in their dealings. As for his twig members, they just carried on being social with me whenever we bumped into each other. I found the whole thing hilarious and it really sealed for me how ridiculous TWI and its splinters really was. I had also, by this time, been regularly attending a normal church for many months, where the people were kind, loving, and genuinely supportive. And I attended Mr Egotistical's funeral a couple of years later.

I could never understand this Wierwille worship when I first started going to twigs. Nor when I went to another country and one of the people I flatted with was even more of a Wierwille worshipper (and he a non-Way minister's son, too). Thought it was bizarre then, still think it is. Even in rez (90s) I couldn't understand it. But then, the man was dead about the time I "got in the Word" - perhaps that makes a difference? I remember challenging someone in the early days and got short shrift for an answer. I have to say that in the churches I attend, although some people like to be respected as good teachers/preachers, it's not to eclipse JC in any way. And most churchmen/women that I know really don't push themselves at all but manage rather skillfully to refocus conversations onto the needs of the other person, prayer, and turning to Jesus for answers. They seem to see themselves, very humbly, as the compassionate voice of Christ and try to minimise personal info and "look-at-me-ness." [For avoidance of doubt over the "printed word" of the Internet, I mean that last sentence in a very good way.]

What a hilarious thread! I never knew there was a right or wrong way to wear a dove. Only that there was a right and wrong way to wear a (compulsory) nametag. That didn't stop people mocking the nametag wearing method, if they thought they could get away with it. It was practically banishable to wear it in the wrong way. Oh people. Get a life, do something useful. String chairs, or something.

Or to crab claws.

T-Bone, you really crack me up! Oops, that's not "crack" as in what one does with crab claws...!

I never heard that said, only reported at GSC. I can't play the item either. Has a .rm extension which my Win Mediaplayer can't handle.

In the summer months, I'm so busy that I hardly have time (my work is seasonal) - I'm so tired when I get home that I often fall asleep on the couch. I love to read books, but haven't had time to do that in ... too long to remember. Since early spring, I suppose. I listen to the radio all the time, same program on my main radios at home and in my car. Some very interesting stuff and I can do other things as well, whilst listening. If there's something I'd really like to see, I can watch it over the internet on my laptop (how I watched Handmaid's Tale), or invite myself to a friend, or get a friend to record it for me. That rarely happens, though. When I visit my Mum for the weekend, she goes to bed quite early and leaves me with the TV to watch. I browse the vast selection of programs available to watch and frequently can't find anything that interests me. Sometimes, I check through the daily or weekly newspapers, to see what might be on TV, primarily so that I can congratulate myself on not wasting my TV licence fee [which funds the BBC] of about £150 pa on such rubbish. I've never been into "soaps," what passes for "comedy," game shows, reality TV, sports, cop shows, and the like. I hate the constant switching of angles for TV shots, which I can only assume is done to keep up interest because the content is so boring. Since (at least on the BBC) the news items are often the same on radio and TV, I'm not distracted in the content by the flicking between different camera angles. Nature programs, documentaries, and good films are more in my line. On nature programs, too, there are often longer shots of whatever is being shown. I haven't had a TV in ...at least 20 years. More, maybe. Even when I lived in a country where there was no TV licence fee. I could ask you the same question: what's it like, having a TV and having that box in the corner distracting your every moment?

What a surprise. Not. So now they are a new splinter, trying to leach out TWI followers, as well as anybody else who will listen to them. " We have no desire to exclude anyone, including those who still fellowship with The Way International or for that matter, any Christian who feels benefitted by the teachings we are providing. " Subtext: we will carry on teaching same-old same-old - you can join our group, but we won't join yours. Why don't they go join churches? Or move off en bloc to CFFM? They might find they have a "new freedom" but if they continue to (believe and) teach the same stuff, they'll just change the colour of the handcuffs.

Movie adultery...

Spotlight - great movie. Not for the squeamish, though it's not so much about the molestation as the resistance to it being uncovered. Lord of the Rings series - YEAH YEAH YEAH! I was in NZ when parts were being filmed. Went up Mt Ruapehu one blizzardy night and there was the film crew, setting up for the next day's filming. Don't recognize what they shot though. Bits are chopped and changed and interspersed. Love the NZ scenery as the background to so much. Plus, of course, they're great movies, even if they don't exactly follow the books. But you can keep Star Trek.

Here's another woman Actor to consider: Dame Judi Dench. Has been around forever (professional career started 1957) and has played so many roles. She's a pretty awesome female; formidable, one might say.

Beanie: I think women prefer to be called Actors because the description Actress has more frothy connotations. Like wannabe starlet, eye candy, someone not serious. Whereas male Actors are considered genuine working people who are serious about their careers.

I really liked Elisabeth Moss in The Handmaid's Tale. Don't recall seeing her in anything else. I don't have a TV and don't have time to go to the movies (maybe in the darker months??). So anyone I have heard of - I've really heard of.

Interesting that you've all named MALE actors with the exception of Goldie Hawn who's more noted for other work. Can I offer Meryl Streep? She has acted in a variety of roles over a very long period, and her roles've all been different. And "believable." As to the great "glamor" actors of the 40s and 50s, they've gone and their ilk will never return. Much more natural styles now. Better.

Funny, Chocky!! Twitter feed says it all, though, really, doesn't it. Still treating adults like little kids. Still trying to infantilize its followers.

Calling out for Ham:

They have a twitter feed???!! (rolls eyes) Bet they still have a static website with no "contact us" email button.

My roads not taken would have included: significant professional recognition/acknowledgment and a respectable place in a respected profession in society a nice house and decent car a loving husband a load of children instead, I abandoned a potentially lucrative career; have only 10 years ago (blessedly) been able to buy a small house; I run a reliable car from 2003; I have never married; I don't have any children. I fought hard to get to where I was professionally, from a background with no record of tertiary education. First (and almost only of my generation and cousins) to get a degree. My house is tiny but it's fine AND it's mine AND I'm nearly mortgage free. It's a miracle, how that came to pass. I might yet find a husband. I will never have children. Not of my own, anyway. (Past the time for that... maybe if I change my name to Sarah?) Maybe I'll find a husband with his own kids - or even grandkids. And these last two are "the roads not taken" - what was stolen, defrauded, from me by TWI - that I deeply regret. Things could have been very different, without their constant interference. Breaking things up. Ruining lives and futures. What I DO have - is peace of mind. I am free of that organization and its miseries. I am content and thankful with the life I have. That doesn't stop me from wanting a little more. But that's not a "driver" in my life. I will go along the road the Lord has chosen for me and explore with enthusiasm and confidence all opportunities presented to me along that road.