waysider

Some people lack the desire to try.

For the benefit of anyone reading this who is not a former student of PFAL: in each session of the Foundational Class there is a group of focus questions called, appropriately, "Listening With A Purpose". There are usually about 5 or 6 per session, if my memory serves me correctly, and they are listed in the syllabus on the corresponding page for each session. There is only one "correct" answer for each question. (An important point to remember as preparation takes place for entrance into the Advanced Class.) The Class Instructor, who is not actually an instructor, but, rather, a presenter of the materials, supplies the officially approved answer to each question as a summary of each particular session. The very first "Listening With A Purpose" for session #1 reads as follows: 1.)What is the greatest secret in the world today? The official answer is "The Bible is the revealed word and will of God."

And, thus, by the process of deductive reasoning, you accept the law of believing, as set forth in PFAL, to be God-breathed. Hey! That was easy!

I just want to live until I've got to die. I know I ain't perfect, but God knows I try. I think I'm an alright guy. I think I'm alright.

That is correct. In addition, without the Hayflick Limit, our cells would continue to grow unchecked, causing a condition known as...(wait for it)...cancer.

I'm pretty sure it was in session 5 or 7. Here's a quick question: Is there supposed to be a comma between "forever" and "rule"? Without the comma, it would simply imply that their days on Earth would be under the devil's rule. That doesn't exactly sound like earth shattering news. With the comma, It implies they would never physically die, contradicting the Hayflick Limit, which would be scientifically impossible.

Soooo...He used ONE verse from the Amplified Bible, HALF a chapter from the New English Bible and required PFAL '77 students to get some version from the 1800's that has a name so unremarkable you can't remember what it's called or where you store it. Yep, the guy was a bona fide Bible scholar, a genuine research technician if ever I've met one.

Would you say the same of Jeffrey Dahmer?

CAUTION! Earworm approaching

This is literally the stated premise of one of the foundational class sessions. (Please don't ask me to dig out my syllabus to give a reference, I just ate breakfast.)

Hold on to all your questions They will be answered at the last session.

Do I really need to study nothing but the Church Epistles for 3 months to understand your beliefs? You've been carrying on about them for the better part of 20 years. There's no "hidden message" in PFAL or VPW's teachings. No deeply profound truths. It's sophomoric drivel, at best. If you really thought you had found some sort of cryptic, mystic meaning, why would you choose to keep its meaning hidden? PFAL is a run-of-the mill Bible class, not too unlike, in essence, the thousands that came before it and thousands that have followed. We weren't messengers of a noble cause. We were a bunch of kids who got sucked into a religious cult. The only thing I see "missing" is a willingness to accept reality.

Are you trying to tell me the "snow on the gas pumps" story wasn't true? I'm starting to think it may have all been an illusion delusion.

This is not how copyrights works. Your work is copyrighted as soon as it is created and "fixed in a tangible medium". You then have an option to register your copyright to secure legal protections. (U.S. law) Thus, PFAL was copyrighted, though not registered as such. This explains why you didn't see a notice of registration.

Vic-o'-lantern

Step 1. Accept that PFAL is not divine revelation. Step 2. Refer to Step 1.

If I recall correctly, there are posters who have met him in person.

Orlando, you say? Just imagine how great it would be if they could get their believing up to sign Mickey and the gang up for PFAL. Your next twig leader could be Goofy. Or was that your last twig leader? I'm so confused.

Can someone please tell me what great truth I was supposed to find hidden in all that drivel?

Was it E. Stanley Jones or another one whose name escapes me at the moment? Fear is sand in the machinery of life....E. Stanley Jones

Plagiarism is: a.) Against the law b.) unethical You can rationalize it 6 ways to Sunday if it makes you feel good. That won't change reality. "VPW's job was to collect these revelations God had given to Leonard and to many others and "put it all together." That's not what Wierwille told us... Something, something, snow on the gas pumps, something, not since the first century, something, etc. "There were items in VPW's teachings that were not in Leonard's teachings. There were items in Leonard's teachings that were NOT in VPW's teachings." This is completely irrelevant. (I'm just sayin'.) "He filtered out Leonard's errors for us." That filter must have been broken. There are lots of documented errors scattered through PFAL. One would think God would be a little more careful to fact check His revelations before He gave them. "Ten years later he finally sees the whole 1968 class." So, you're telling me that in the years between 1967 and 1977 he never bothered to look at the original taping? Not even to approve the final edit? Know anybody that has a bridge for sale? You know what killed that little boy? His head exploded from trying to squeeze all this irrational nonsense into it. He scrapped the remake because he realized he couldn't replicate the theatrics of the original.

But, where will I get my Moon Pies?

When I was in FellowLaborers, as a group, we focused almost exclusively on Way materials. That's all that was taught in our nightly twigs. The rationale for its exclusivity was that it had been tested and proven to be accurate. However, as individuals, we were supposed to read Ephesians every day. (As if we had time to read ANYTHING) Now, our weekly FL night teaching was hit or miss and could be about anything or nothing or maybe just a scream-fest to highlight our failures. As for the PFAL class, I seem to remember VPW challenging us to put away all secular materials such as magazines , newspapers, etc., and reading nothing but "The Word." (Filtered, of course, through the lens of what we had just learned in PFAL.) I don't recall him limiting that to the Pauline epistles. But, that was over 50 years ago. Who knows what tricks my memory has played on me? Surely, someone, somewhere, has a transcript of session 12. Regarding the original post, I have to agree, it was the theatrical nature of the presentation, not the content of the information, that reeled us in and hooked us. As a new grad, you faced this reality every time you witnessed and failed to elicit a response from the listener. That's why we were urged to get people into the class, rather than try to teach them the more convoluted concepts ourselves. Presentation, not content, was largely responsible for our infatuation with the materials.

They don't call you WordWolf for nothin'.