Linda Z

Shazdancer wrote: Amen to that!

The whole Web site is pretty creppy to me, dooj. I didn't hang around it long because I found so much of it offensive. I still wonder if this guy (and other behind the group) are extwifers. It has that "everyone else is devillish but us feel to it. If they send me any more of their printed junk mail, I'll waste a stamp and tell them sorry, but I have no need for bird cage lining, since I found my bird a new home. exsie, mwah back atcha. And a belated happy b'day!!

Thanks to an old friend who who stayed with me for a while a few years ago, who was one of Michael Rood's followers , I got put on Rood's mailing list. I also started getting literature from other wackadoodle groups from time to time. I just got a newspaper from this group that calls itself "Christian Media." Maybe MR sold his mailing list (not an uncommon practice), or maybe this group is somehow affiliated with his. It has a Web site at www.christianmediaresearch.com The head guy is James Lloyd. Does that ring any bells? The group gives a PO Box number in Jacksonville, Oregon as its address, and I believe Rood's outfit was located in Oregon for a while. Maybe it's an offshoot of an offshot! James Lloyd claims to have the "gift of prophecy," and he proclaims somewhere on his site that a whole list of well-known Christian leaders, including Billy Graham, are false prophets. It has all the melodrama and hyperbole of all the literature I've seen from Rood's group. Has anybody heard of it?

There once was a poster named Bumpy Whose alter ego was Grumpy The mods they stepped in Dumped Grump in the bin Now Bumpy’s more grumpy than Grumpy.

Meanwhile, back in the land of the original topic... From the decree DWBH posted: For those who might be reading this who are still in twi, does this not give you pause, that the judge said she and Ms Bidon "played a role in the events leading up to the encounter between Craig Martindale and Mrs. Allen"? (Personally, I'd bet she had a hand in VPW's sexual activities, too). Perhaps people still in twi think that poor Rosalie Fox Rivenbark was mischaracterized by the judge, that she was being persecuted for her "stand on the Word." Don't believe it. Her maiden name suits her well. Here's an example of how solid her "stand on the Word" was. (I've brought this up before, but maybe there are some new lurkers in our midst who haven't seen it.) When I was receiving my staff evaluation from Ms. Rivenbark, I expressed concern that I was so busy with mandatory meetings and work that I had little time left to even read the Bible, much less study it. Do you know what her answer was? That I didn't need to read the Bible because I was reading ministry materials in my job Ha! How solid a stand did she take on the word when she was lining up women for Criag Martindale's pleasure? Since RFR is the current president of twi, I think she and her alleged stand on the Word deserve more scrutiny. As evidenced by the words of one dedicated innie who strolled through here, declaring that all is just peachy now that twi ran off those baaaaaaaaaaaaad leaders, Rosie's apparently still skilled at putting on a false front of spirituality and graciousness and goodness. Anyone who has known her knows better.

What a great welcome to your life of new-found(ryless) freedom. I gotta hand it to anyone who works in such a dangerous, hot place to put food on the table for his loved ones. You're a hero in my book. Please tell your family we think they rock! And you do, too!

There once was a man named jeast Who didn't reside in the East His job he is quittin' On the porch he'll be sittin' Now that his labors have ceased. Congrats on your retirement, jeast!! I"m sooooooooo jealous. And sorry about my confusion re: your gender.

In honor of jeast’s good humor: jeast is really quite sporting She put up with my laughter and joking She could have been pi$$ed And be heard to insist That I had a nose needing poking (My apologies if jeast is a "he.")

I usually try to restrain myself, but that one was too funny. jeast might well have been punning. Either way, it cracked me up! I mean, didn't we get crapped on enough already??

I really, really hope you mean self-deprecating!!

I pay a lot for my capble TV and Internet access. So why is it that when I'm channel surfing late at night or on weekends during the day, it seems all I can find are infomercials? Falling asleep with the TV on, as I often do, I've been awakened by dildo and vibrator commercials (expensive!), makeup commercials, "get rich on ebay" commercials, "buy cheap real estate and get rich quick" commercials, hair removal commercials, hair transplant commercials, viagra wannabe commercials, commercials by that obnxious guy who tells us we're all sick because we need our colons cleansed and who also sells a financial-advice book...commercials, commercials, commercials. It strikes me as double-dipping. First the cable company gets its high fees from its clients, then it gets advertising dollars on top of those. It reminds me of the commercials in movie theters. Okay, I've already paid $8 for a ticket and $20 for a box of popcorn and a Diet Coke (only a slight exaggeration), and now I have to watch commercials? It doesn't seem right. Why do they get away with it?

Those people are nuts. LEAD was a stroll in the park by comparison.

JL said: I figured you two would come skipping back in here holding hands. :P

RR, I'd have surgery for something like that, too, of course. I remember when you talked about your surgery, and I remember getting misty when you talked about being able to put your own socks on for the first time without your kids' help. I was merely engaging in a bit of hyperbole to emphasize how strongly I feel about not letting anyone come at me with a scalpel for anything unless it's medically necessary or advisable. Plastic surgeons do wonderful things for people who need reconstructive surgery, but I'm not paying someone thousands of dollars to cut me up and try to move my 62-year-old body parts where they used to be when I was 18. :D Speaking of plastic surgery: A middle-aged woman has a heart attack and is taken to the hospital. While on the operating table she has a near-death experience. She sees God and ask if this is it. God says no and explains that she has another 30 years to live. Upon her recovery she decides to stay in the hospital and have a face lift, liposuction, breast augmentation, and tummy tuck. She even has someone come in and color her hair. She figures since she's got another 30 years she might as well make the most of it. She walks out of the hospital after the last operation and is killed by an ambulance speeding up to the hospital. She gets to heaven and complains to God, "I thought you said I had another 30 years!" God replies, "I didn't recognize you."

Groucho said: From what I saw of Emporia, that was a step up. At least you were doing real work and not just moving piles of rocks back and forth.

To my knowledge, twi never revealed PoP to the fellowships/followers at all. I don't even think it was revealed (officially by twi, at least) to the staff. As hiway29 says, news of it spread pretty quickly in some areas, although in others it was apparently kept hush-hush. It was first read to the Corps on Corps night, either at the end of March or the beginning of April '86 (I forget the exact date, but I know it was one of those times because it was the first Corps hook-up I went to a week or two after quitting my job at HQ). Then Geer came back in August to read it again to the entire Corps at Corps Week. I skipped out and went to a friend's house, having no desire to sit through it again. I remember coming back to the ROA grounds after Geer finished to see everyone walking around looking stunned. Someone who was clergy could probably fill in the blanks, but to the best of my memory, Craig had been to Gartmore to see Geer, who either read PoP to him or confronted him regarding its content. Geer's story was that he had to come here and read it to the Corps because Craig had come back to the US and had been talking about it (I think Geer said it originally was supposed to be "lock box," only revealed to the BOT.)

I agree with MisterPMosh and OK City. No one is knocking me out or cutting me ever again unless it's to treat a life-threatening condition. There are risks of anesthesia, not to mention the risks of the surgery itself. Not worth it, IMO.

Here's the source of the article: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article....RTICLE_ID=53028 To get a broader perspective on the e-zine where the article appeared, check out: http://wnd.com/ Here's what Snopes has to say: http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/hitnail.asp

Happiest of b'days, kiddo! Enjoy it in every way!

Darn it. I wrote an answer to DWBH and poof, it's gone. I must not have hit "reply" after I read the preview. I'll try to remember what I said. DWBH, thanks for the clarification. I was reading what you said as more universal/general than you apparently meant it. And Sunesis and The Highway, thanks to you, too. Being on staff was a real eye opener for me. I was oblivious regarding the scandalous stuff, but I was painfully aware of the legalism and the poor choices VPW often made when putting people in charge of departments and events. Some of the meanest, most legalistic, most arrogant people I had to deal with were ordained clergy, so unless there's a gift ministry of Big Mean DumbA$$, something was wrong somewhere. One thing good came out of being at HQ though, besides the many great people I got to work with and came to know: It made leaving twi all the easier when I decided to bail. Quitting my job there has to be the best decision I've ever made in my life. I'll never forget the immense relief I felt driving away from there, knowing I was out from under the leagalism and the mandadory meetings and the other BS. It was as if I was breathing fresh air for the first time in a long time...and I'm still breathing!

Hahahahahahahahahahaha Socks. Nice to see ya...missed you!

Thanks, RR, and I always appreciate yours, too. In fact, I appreciate hearing all sorts of opinions and views. It's much more interesting than the old forced "likemindedness," isn't it?

Well, if Rumrunner's gonna chime in with Groucho, I'm going to have to chime in with Sunesis. (Where's that chiming-in emoticon when I need it?) Maybe we could get a coed tag-team mud-wrestling match started! I would bet that one of the most frequently repeated phrases on GS is "This is not a Christian Web site." If I had a few dollars for every time someone reminds us of that fact, I'd be sitting in a lounge chair on my favorite Lake Erie island sipping iced tea instead of sitting here writing this, because I could quit my job. My mental response when I see those words again (and again) is "And?" It's also not an athiest site or a Republican site or a women's site or an African-American site or Caucasian site or a straight people's site or a gay people's site or a Catholic site or a Geerite site or....you get the picture. Unless someone is jamming Christianity and/or the Bible down someone else's throat, why the need for that old worn-out reminder? Sunesis is a smart woman. As she's stated, she knows this isn't a Christian Web site. She wasn't questioning George's right to be an atheist or criticizing him for that. She wasn't trying to beat him over the head with her Bullinger's. She was simply questioning his smug-sounding tone--that "give up your stupid superstitious beliefs and be brilliant like me" tone. I have no other beef with George. I think he's funny and smart. I realize that he has to maintain his position as resident curmudgeon, and he does a damn good job of that. But, like Sunesis, I would like it better if he didn't state/infer/imply that anyone who is still a Christian is an idiot. I have never butted into a thread on "Why I'm an atheist" or into any similar threads trying to disparage the people posting there who are atheists or agnostics or whatever, and to my knowledge neither has Sunesis. Why would we? I figure people can be and believe/not believe whatever they want. I'm certainly not their judge, and I really don't care. Getting the same respect in return would be nice, but then so would winning the lottery. Edited to fix a dyslexic lapse.

Glad to hear you're back to hopping! Nice to see you.

DWBH, I know how opportunistic VPW was and saw him use people's prominence and wealth and influence to his and twi's advantage often. I totally get what you're saying. Here's the thing, though. My parents were neither wealthy nor influential. Dad was a regular, great guy (still is at age 88). He was a cabinet maker by trade, and Mom was a housewife. I can't think of a single thing VPW had to gain by being nice to them or to me or to my son or to the rest of the family. If it was money....hahahahaaha. He didn't get that. If it was just another few butts to sit in these uncomfortable chairs at the ROA, well, he did get that. I'm not among the VP apologists around here. I have no problem recognizing (and detesting) the evil thiings he did to some people. However, I respectfully disagree if you're saying he never did a single act of kindness without the expectation of getting something out of it. I love you and I respect you immensely. But since Greasespot is a place where all opinions are welcomed, I guess I'm allowed mine. :) I certainly recognize that I could be wrong. But I figure the One who's really keeping score never misses a trick.