waysider

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ0dITCRteM

Big Ben I think I may have been the one who introduced the element of Devil Possession. You are correct, though. (IMO) They knew full well what was going on and did nothing to acknowledge or stop it. (as far as I know.)

OK, I admit. I am wrong to prejudge this group based on my TWI experience. Maybe they are perfectly sincere and well meaning people. I really don't know, one way or the other, based on the information provided. I'll say this, though. For a couple of years, my TWI "job", so to speak, was to find places where we could hold classes, branch meetings, places for the grand poobah to make his heralded entrance, pubic ex.'s and so on. I always appealed to the potential benefactors sense of civic duty. In other words, I presented our efforts as philanthropic and selfless. I didn't realize it at the time, but that was actually fraudulent. Those meetings that I helped coordinate were nothing short of sales presentations. Hence, they were driven by profit not altruism. We frequently ran into problems that had nothing to do with religious bias and lots to do with common sense. (ie: not enough parking, etc.) In addition, there were several communities in Ohio that prohibited door to door and mall witnessing unless an official vendors license was obtained. Does this have any bearing on the group being discussed here? I simply don't know. One thing I do know is that the "first century church" met in homes out of necessity, not choice.

This really has a place on the thread discussing "the real you". (IMHO)

I did not go to Woodstock------I might not go again.

The woods are not a good place for a miniature dog of any sort to go exploring. Of course, the local coyote population might take exception to my admonishment.

Sounds like maybe they were "bad neighbors". (ie: created parking problems, sang loudly at inappropriate times, tried to recruit new members during the season finale of American Idol, etc.) The Way went through quite a bit of this back in the day, when door-to-door was considered a form of solicitation. Go figure, huh? edit: The county officials are probably all "seed boys".

HURT SO BAD

For those who still subscribe to the Advanced Class theology, you may want to think of VPW as the "AC Poster Child". He was an alcoholic, substance abuser, sexual predator, pathological liar, cancer victim (see death certificate) and all around walking, talking example of what he attributed to "devil possession". (as defined in the AC)

Ah, how fondly I reminisce about those study nights when we delved deep into the intricacies of Habakuk and Nehemiah. :blink:

Those would be examples of what I define as "identities". An example of what I would call a "genuine self" would be a person who is a musician at their very core. That person may behave differently in various situations, work at a non-music related job and even abstain from musical expression if their cult so dictates. But, deep inside, they never lose that "genuine self" which is, in the rawest form, a musician. Or, as John Lee Hooker said, "It's in him and it's gotta come out".

I guess that depends on what you're looking for. I've always been a bit partial to the Put-In-Bay area. http://www.putinbay.com/

The Young Rascals

Good topic. Interesting discussion.

I had lots of good times WHILE I was in The Way. I mean, in 18 years, there has to be at least SOME good times. I have to say, though, that I feel this was IN SPITE OF The Way, not because of it.

Literal translation according to current usage: "I hope you don't find out I'm not the man I pretended to be."

Thanks for your kind words, Krys, but I'm no saint by a long stretch.

Good point, brainfixed. "Wish" was on the unwritten taboo word list for TWI believers and yet, there it is, etched in stone.

Do we really know if these are even his words? Chances are, based on his history, he paraphrased something that he heard and thought was clever. I don't believe he was ever any kind of spiritually enlightened guru. He was a common conman who used God as his bait.

live music???? You'd be hard pressed to find one of those these days. Mostly you'll find a place with a dozen different sporting events on T.V. or a DJ "mixin' it up".

First, let me say that Fellow Laborers were bound to these same five principles. With that said, why is it that, during the entire duration of FLO4 (2 years in rez.), VPW never so much as set foot on Limb HQ grounds, much less did he present any sort of formal teaching to us. (ie: instruction in "The Whole Word") Our entire academic curriculum consisted of a Wednesday night, formal butt chewing session, where, frequently, the only "Word" that was ever taught was whatever it took to demonstrate how inferior we all were and remind us of how we were dragging down the whole "ministry".. Other than that, it was re-hashing the collaterals over and over and over again at night twig. "International" was only 2 hours away by car. And, there was an airstrip about 15 minutes away from Limb HQ that could have accommodated Ambassador One, making it a very simple trip in and out. But no VPW. Nope. Never once. And don't even think about suggesting that we could have formed study groups or studied independently. We were usually lucky to even find a couple free hours on Sunday afternoon to catch up on laundry. There was almost no time to even sit and read the Bible for a few minutes, for pleasure, in the typical day. Up at 5am----back in bed, with lights out, at midnight curfew. In between that was work, work, work. 2. Receive training in the whole Word so as to be able to teach others????? I think not.

Ditto on ACTS, which was supposed to be the main thrust of study in Fellow Laborers.

Still Thanks. That's Paul DeLay, one of the greatest harmonica player, singer/songwriter, all around good guys to ever walk the planet Earth. :)

If he was alive, he would want you to THINK it was your fault. That's part of the deception he mastered.