waysider

That makes waterboarding sound like a nice alternative.

I can't say it was the first hit but a variation of that happened to me, also. I got on-line, looking for a replacement of my PFAL book and stumbled into this place. Probably the best "wrong turn" I ever took.

Definitely a classic!

I don't mind when discussions go off-topic. These are discussions. That's how discussions work. They go in and out of focus. What grinds my gears, though, is when people DELIBERATELY drive them off-topic. Usually, it's to stop people from saying anything critical of VPW (praise be his name.) or The Way. Oh, and welcome to our little corner of insanity. Bwaahaha!

"TWI tended to oversimplify certain things especially when it came to matters of the mind. One of my favorite Sunday Night Teaching Tapes used to be Carnal versus Spiritual – on it vp puts forth an amazing claim - countries without Christ do not invent – and he basically threw critical and creative thinking out the window suggesting inventions or any advancement of science came by revelation to a believer. (i am pleased to report that I have since kissed that stupidity goodbye a long time ago)." I don't recall that specific teaching. However, I do recall hearing that inventions and major advancements/developments can only come from the spirit realm. (Might have been in the A.C.... Too long ago to remember where, exactly) I'm continually amazed at how naive and gullible I must have been.

Maybe it didn't. :o

It wasn't "advanced" and it wasn't a "class". It was just 2 weeks of isolated indoctrination. (and W.O.W. Burgers )

Who knows what they really have? We only know what they are willing to admit to.

Here's the situation as I see it. One school of thought says that God can't give special gifts to individuals because it would show favoritism, violating His "no respecter of persons" rule. Another school of thought says it doesn't violate the rules because the gifts aren't given to the individual but, rather, to the church, as it is the church on a whole that potentially benefits. Defining them individually becomes a moot point when we become aware that confirming their very existence is prerequisite. So, in essence, we must first show that the concept of gift ministries is valid and based on a correct understanding of related scripture.

....and by "help" do you mean suck? Then, yeah, it helped.

To a degree, you do have to give weight to the speaker as well as what is spoken. That's how credibility works. It's why VPW's credibility on the holy spirit field (specifically devil spirits) went out the window when it was revealed that he himself died of cancer which, in the Advanced Class, he said was caused by devil possession.

Maybe Doug was kidding. I don't know. What I do know is that I heard people who weren't kidding spew that kind of nonsense more times than i care to admit. In fact, if you spend enough time on facebook you'll find people who are STILL spewing similar things.

Where is Rodney King when we really need him? ("Can't we all just get along?") Oh, yeah, he died......

"Then all hell broke loose, the 1973 Middle East war, we were constantly on alert and consistently called to General Quarters with the Soviets; the class never ran (Doug told me that the devil probably started that war just to stop the class)." That right there. That's how absolutely fricking deluded we were. Some unseen power from a netherworld started a military conflict of world wide concern to obscure a plagiarized bible class that now sits in mothballs......and we wonder why people think we must have been crazy.

I don't know about monotony but drudgery surely took its toll.

"Still, my question stands, waysider says it's electrical activety in the brain, I can buy that, honestly, but - If so, how was I able to be totally awake and be able to hear and think things that happened nearly a minute in the future, I had to keep my mouth shut" There is speculation that it may be related to epilepsy. "ain't had an episode in 30 years but you never know." That's good.

No, it's not spiritual. It's caused by electrical activity in your brain. Or, did you mean ?

I just got rid of over 100 lbs of Way books this week: to the recycle, not 2nd hand books or Goodwill; I did not think it appropriate to put that information out to the public. :eusa_clap: :eusa_clap: :eusa_clap:

HERE VP, Harry and, I think Ermal. (Not sure on the third one) Dorothy got kicked to the curb...tossed off the property. Nice, eh?

"Was there ever the thought to pass it back to the beleivers, the needy, etc.? Did you or were you told that it was like hiding Solomon's treasure - I could see that." Were you paying attention during PFAL when the lesson of Ananias and Sapphira was taught? It's no coincidence that it was part of our indoctrination. "Guess, you folks were just hiding the slush fund and gas money for the sexmobiles." That's pretty low. Should we level the same accusations against you for funding Way Corps students? (sponsorship)

Chronologically, this ties in pretty much with the mimeo plate destruction incident I posted about. I wouldn't be surprised to find the two incidents are connected. I'm not sure just how, but it would be a strange coincidence if not.

So, who were these key people? What were the circumstances and consequences of their deaths?

It sounds like a variation of this: .........../..... cognitive dissonance .......././. "Marian Keech (real name: Dorothy Martin) was the leader of a UFO cult in the 1950s. She claimed to get messages from extraterrestrials, known as The Guardians, through automatic writing. Like the Heaven's Gate folks forty years later, Keech and her followers, known as The Seekers or The Brotherhood of the Seven Rays, were waiting to be picked up by flying saucers. In Keech's prophecy, her group of eleven was to be saved just before the earth was to be destroyed by a massive flood on December 21, 1954. When it became evident that there would be no flood and the Guardians weren't stopping by to pick them up, Keech became elated. She said she'd just received a telepathic message from the Guardians saying that her group of believers had spread so much light with their unflagging faith that God had spared the world from the cataclysm (Levine 2003: 206). More important, the Seekers didn't abandon her. Most became more devoted after the failed prophecy. (Only two left the cult when the world didn't end.) "Most disciples not only stayed but, having made that decision, were now even more convinced than before that Keech had been right all along....Being wrong turned them into true believers (ibid.)." Some people will go to bizarre lengths to avoid inconsistency between their cherished beliefs and the facts. But why do people interpret the same evidence in contrary ways?" SOURCE