waysider

I don't recall this one at all. I do, however, remember VPW preaching, at the Advanced Class, from what we now know, thanks to the internet, to be an Oral Roberts sermon known as The Fourth Man. It contains the now famous Red Thread. As was typical of Wierwille, he gave no indication it was not his own work. Here is Here is .

"Heck, I'm sure that I wasn't the ONLY ONE who stood at the roa and wondered WHY WIERWILLE WAS STANDING AT THE MICROPHONE DICTATING ADV CLASS GRADS TO COME FORWARD AND MINISTER HEALING TO OTHERS??? " Count me in as being among the others who wondered. We had been taught that if God wanted you to do something, He would tell you first, not someone else. I wasn't getting any "cookie from the cookie jar", as the saying goes, so I didn't report for duty. When the service was over, I second guessed myself. Had I been wrong to defy the Man of God? What if someone suffered needlessly because I had lingered in the crowd? I carried that guilt and self-doubt for a long, long time until I came to GSC and began to see what really happened.

"And further.....since NO ONE could question wierwille's "spirituality" we had to eat, sleep, and work alongside a corps guy who, supposedly, had some frikken spirits residing in his brain cells. hahahahahaha" ....and speaking of devil spirits: HERE and HERE Soooo----According to the Advanced Class materials, we were either "studying at the feet" of a man possessed of devil spirits -or- he was wrong about this and could have been wrong about a lot of things. Oh, excuse me, did I say "COULD have been wrong"?

What I find more disturbing is the way he was able to successfully fake compassion and empathy.

Lots of missing "puzzle pieces" scattered throughout those threads. Sadly, some of the people on those threads have left the planet, as they say. Time waits for no one. For better or for worse, my life was changed forever, one summer night in 1972 (or was it 1971? I can never get that part straight.) I had some good times. I met some great people. We probably all did to some degree. I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if not for that fateful summer night. I'm sure it would have been different, much, much different.

ROA at the Allen County Fairgrounds----I think that's the one where VPW commanded all Advanced Class grads to the front of the stage for a healing service on closing night. He stood on stage, rambling on and on in his typical pontificating fashion, while the A.C.grads were to pick someone in need of deliverance and minister healing to them. He, himself, did nothing but stand before the microphone and babble. Now, there's some irony for you. Or was Lima the one that was a big bicentennial celebration (1976)? Anyone remember?

I wound up in the spiritual heart of the universe, Well, we do have a river that's been known to catch fire, so that's nice.

He prefaced that particular part of the class by saying "I can't give you a scripture reference, you'll just have to trust me." (paraphrased somewhat) Then, he implied heavily that he had gotten the information by revelation. <_< He also said that "Eve partook of the *fruit*". I know that's bound to get a few "ewwww!" responses but that's what he said. I have no idea what this has to do with Way Corps numbers but it seemed like we were on a roll.

As I said in an earlier post, I thought it was a good article. I had no problem with the contents. It's important, though, to cite sources or at least acknowledge that a piece is the work of someone else. Sorry for the derailment.

Yes, MRAP, that really happened the first year that ROA was at HQ. (not the original ROA weekend event in 1971) There were some pretty teed-off old people. It was certainly a very poor PR move.....and they talked about walking by revelation...

".....about two years earlier at a camp fire in NC vpw stated that the original sin by Adam was masturbation." Finally, I've *met* someone who heard the same teaching I did. I heard it in CF&S in about 1974. There was a bit more added to it, as well, by that time. "In all the hind sight I "believe" that twi wanted folks to fornicate within the fold and marry in order to increase the twi numbers: primarily that it would take both to agree to leave twi (one will always want to stay)or through offspring if both decide to stay." In FellowLaborers, we were not allowed to date outside the program and needed special permission to leave the compound for anything personal. It was never written or stated directly but we were expected to marry Way believers, preferably at the same level of commitment.(ie: advanced class grad, leadership program grad, etc.)

"Was that twi induced, maybe the former but the later was just plain a horney girl, IMHO." We were all young. I'm sure there was a lot of non-TWI initiated physical activity taking place, just like everywhere else in the world. I know for a fact, though, that many instances were TWI sanctioned and approved. When a young lady and her TWI leader fiancé hide their relationship from new recruits and conspire to get them to sign the green card by having the young lady lead the new recruits on romantically until the green card is signed (rinse and repeat), there isn't much doubt about what's going on. It went on a whole lot more than some people care to admit.

I don't know about the bumper stickers at SNS but I do know that it happened at The Rock, much to the dismay of some older folks who I had invited, in hopes of signing them up for PFAL.

Yes, I understand that this is your opinion. Unfortunately, opinions don't change reality. If for no other reason, common courtesy requires proper credit be given where it is due. It's not that hard in this age of google. You obviously had a source because you copied it word for word. I've seen this same attitude expressed, time and time again with people who excuse Wierwille's plagiarism. Knowing who the author is or where it originated is not, as you say, superfluous. None of us would even be on this board if Wierwille had not done this very thing. (On a much larger and adversely consequential scale,of course)

Get Off My Lawn! Just kidding. As we age, we become increasingly distanced from the culture of the younger generation. Some of the differences are real, some are a matter of perception. My own peeve is how people have become increasingly inconsiderate of others. You see it on the highway, the shopping venues, air travel and the list goes on. Some of it is very real and some of it is just my perception. Maybe people have always been rude and I just didn't notice it that much. You can't let it drag you down. You have find a balance that allows you to treat people with the same respect you would expect of them and, yet, don't be so naiive as to think that everyone will follow suit. The internet certainly brings the immediacy of the issue to the forefront, without a doubt. Keep your chin up ....and tell your kids to keep their scooters off my lawn. .

I'm not a copyright lawyer. Generally speaking, though, when you produce a work, it is copyrighted at the time of its creation. The certification process is a formality, set in place for the copyright owner's legal purposes. HERE is a link to the New Zealand copyright law in case you're interested. What you did here was to copy and paste an entire newspaper article, giving no indication this was not your work. Frankly, if you had just said "I read this somewhere, its not my work." or something to that effect, it would have been fine with me. (Not legal, but O.K. with me.) The way you posted it would lead one to believe this is your own work. I'm not saying that was your intent, just that it leaves the reader with that impression. This sort of thing is a sore spot for the ex-Way community. As you know, V.P. Wierwille plagiarized the vast majority of the published materials that bear his name, in some cases entire chapters and even entire "books". He passed them off as original work and led the readers to believe he had been inspired by God. (Lots of documentation here for those who seek it.) This is a far cry from the relatively benign act of simply posting a short newspaper article. It's an explanation, though, of why it hits a nerve here on GSC. HERE is a link to the fair use guide for posting at GSC. edit: My problem wasn't with the contents of the article. My problem was with the way it was posted, presented. Also, I concede that the subtitle of the thread does give some indication the article may not be the work of the poster. Why not give authorship credit where credit is due then?

The Way threw down a gauntlet..... Meet the challenge and there will be spiritual enlightenment waiting for you at the finish line. Take all the classes, do the home studies, volunteer your labor and time for a chance to take the Advanced Class, the very pinnacle of instruction on manifesting "the other six" and living the more abundant life. But, as you reflect on your completion of the much heralded Advanced Class, you realize you are no more "spiritually enlightened" than you were at that very first twig meeting. It's not really a gauntlet, it's a goalpost that keeps moving farther and farther away from the starting point. And, it's depressing, very, very depressing, to realize you can never really reach that finish line they promised, at least not by following their instructions.

If you're going to quote a copyrighted article in its entirety, then yes, you need to credit your source.

The author is Louise Thompson. HERE is the article. Along with other reasons, we cite sources to give due credit to the deserving party. Nice article, by the way.

I'm not too good at doing searches but I did find THIS one. There are others if I remember correctly.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. In the original text there are 2 more words at the end that have been lost in the translation processes. It should literally read: I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made....sorta, kinda. See how easy it is to understand now? You don't even have to do the Dispensation Tap Dance or Whozit Written To Polka.

He did walk on water, though, every winter when the pond froze.

Kind of like people who know what it was like at Woodstock because they saw the movie.

Another aspect to be considered is whether VPW/TWI's influence affected not just you but someone close to you, such as a family member or close friend, in such a way that the effects tricked down. Families were divided. Friendships were cast to the wayside. You don't have to have been an active part of The Way to have been affected.