JavaJane

Even though God is not a respector of persons, according to twi there are different categories of people in God's eyes . It goes like this (listed from best to worse according to doctrine, not practice): 1. Household of God, believing believers 2. Other born again Christians 3. Judeans (who don't exist anymore until God resurrects the bloodlines after the gathering together - so it doesn't really count) 4. Everyone else (rank unbelievers) 5. Homosexuals 6. Seed of the Serpent but, according to practice, it goes like this: 1. MOGFODAT or HOGFODAT 2. Emeritus Trustees/Directors 3. Cabinet 4. Rosalie's dog 5. Other Way Corpse 6. Emeritus Way Corpse (sometimes they are WAY further down on the list) 7. Other leadership 8. Way Disciples 9. Way Disciple Alumni 10. Advanced Class Grad men 11. Advanced class grad women 12. All other twi men 13. All other twi women 14. Twi children 15. Successful Protestants 16. Catholics 17. Other religions 18. Mark and Avoid (former twi people) 19. Homosexuals 20. The pope 21. Squirrels

So it doesn't sound like that everyone faced the same kind of pressure that I did... I wonder if it had to do with the local leadership, or maybe the timeframe we were in - maybe with the dwindling Corps numbers there is additional pressure. Maybe there were specific traits they were looking for in people? And it seems like from this thread (I may be totally jumping to conclusions here) that women got more pressure than men? Maybe as fodder for the WC harem of the MOG? Weird...

A complete lack of empathy... And the attitude that anyone who wasn't a part of Zion, the Household of God was basically no better than an animal... And the idea that those who are the winners (victors) must have been backed by God - losers (victims) did something to deserve what they got... A recipe for cruelty. It's a good thing twi never gained any political power.

Reading and remembering how much repetition of the STS was done and then considering how the STS is just a regurgitation of the collaterals I was reminded of a Greek word someone taught a out... PROKOPTO - to drive forward by repeated blows [to the head and brain] as by a hammer [held in the hand of the HOGFODAT] I think I remember that definition correctly.

Remember, God can't talk to you if you are out of fellowship!! And God is spirit and can only speak to spirit... But we can't lose the spirit be size it is incorruptible... And it's not like He just takes it out whenever you sin... But he still can't talk to you if you are out of fellowship. But He can tell you leadership that you are doing things you didn't even know you were doing! God is like a huge Santa Claus according to twi logic... He's making his list and checking it twice and only gives gifts to the nice little boys and girls... And you don't need to talk to him unless you need something.

It didn't take too long after I started using that response that they started thinking I wasn't called to minister... In fact I was probably called to be the pain in the @$$ of the body of Christ. My teaching abilities were suddenly poo-pooed as needing some help. I went from being a great public speaker to having to have special instructions in that category. They were probably afraid the logic was catching.

I remember being told by a couple of WC that I needed to go in because "God had called" me to be a minister. At first I just blew them off, but they just kept coming, so I finally came up with a response that worked. It went something like this: WC: I'm sure God has called you to be a minister for God's people. You should go Corps! Me: That's a spiritual decision, right? WC: yes! Definitely! Me: If God called me to be Way Corps, He would tell me, right? It's a big decision! WC: Yes. Me: Then I will wait until I hear from Him. WC: but... But... Me: Remember in the Advanced class where we are taught that God will give you revelation concerning you before he gives it to someone else? WC: yes, but if you don't listen, He will work in others, like me, your leadership. Me: in that case, if I am not spiritually aware enough to hear from God, I must be out of fellowship and shouldn't go Corps anyway. Well, I need to go pray and study so I can renew my mind. Gotta go! Bless ya! *edited because blew got turned to bless...

I need to let all of you former WC folks (including you, Oldskool) know that I do not hold any one person responsible for what happened to my family - well, maybe a couple (LCM, Rev. Mosquito, cl @pp a few others)... but no one here. Most of the people in twi and in the WC are good people who love God and are doing the best they can. I DO hold TWI and the BOD/BOT responsible - and there's a millstone around somewhere with their names on it. My family is much better without twi, we are all thankful it is in our past and happy with where we are now. ***edited to remove a weird email link from a formed reverend's name... weird.

Amen, and amen, Sir Guess. And amen again.

This was sparked from the thread on censoring yourself... so before I get too off topic with that one, I thought I'd start a new one. How many of us were pressured to go into the WC? I know I was. Pressured and pressured and pressured. I never went in, though. Too scary for me. Too many reasons not to go in - for one thing, I didn't want to end up one of those poor, single WC women who couldn't find a WC man to marry. And too many people came out looking like a completely different white-bread version of their former selves. I couldn't sacrifice my entire self to that. And then there was the fact my parents had been through HELL in the WC training, and eventually ended up M&A. It tore our family apart - I ended up not speaking to my family for five long years, I had one brother end up homeless at 16, kicked out of the house while my parents tried to get back into the WC program (prior to their being made M&A), another went into the Marines to escape. It was horrible, and I would NEVER put my children through anything like it. I made a vow to myself, my husband, and my unborn children to NEVER make the same mistake I made with my parents and siblings - I WOULD NEVER LET AN ORGANIZATION COME BETWEEN ME AND THEM. The WC led to that split in my family - we are healing, but the scars are still there. But, I want to know if other experienced the same kind of daily pressure to "go CORPS!!" It was everywhere - any time I taught, any conversation I had with WC, any event I attended. In my face, the pressure to go into the WC. Was there a quota or something to be met by local leadership? SEND YOUR SACRIFICAL LAMBS, YOU FIELD CORPS! GET THEM IN! And they all acted like it was the greatest experience of their lives - so much fun cleaning the toilets, running for miles, being exhausted. Yeah, sounds like a friggin blast. And then they would turn around and say, "The Corps isn't for everyone." But they sure thought it was for me... and I saw them pressure a lot of other people.

OldSkool, we are talking about a group who does the same thing at every STS, every class, every fellowship, with NO CHANGES EVER.... DId you really think the WC program would EVOLVE?? (It is a NEW DYNAMIC CHURCH?? REALLY?) And on a side note, have I expressed how very very thankful I am that I never went into the WC??

It's not a diet and exercise program for squirrels, like you might think... Nope. It's Uncle Horndog and a bunch of Staff kids with guns in the woods. Terrifying thought, no?

Wow. That was a great idea to help you get that stuff out of your brain! Amazing. Our WD food was way more tasty, though less healthy - ham sandwiches and nacho cheese Doritos almost every night. Thanks, Gen!!

I will never forget attending an STS while WD... Hearing the LOUD snoring from my WD coordinator (who was apprentice WC) coming from the chair next to me. At least the noise kept me from drifting off. That man slept through every meeting. WD training, fellowship, classes... Maybe that's why he was so hung ho twi.

This: or this or this all good reasons.

The internal twi censor (picture a mini-rosie sitting on your shoulder telling you what to do and what not to do - shudder!) keeps people in bondage to twi, it gets them so messed up that they can't even be honest with themselves even at the thought level. Any time they have a negative thought they stop themselves, repeat a retemory or SIT, and boom! Bad thought gone. I think this is psychological conditioning at it's most base form. May as well have electrodes hooked up to your skull, and every time you have a thought you shock yourself. Not that memorizing verses or praying is a bad thing - it's not... but if you don't allow yourself to have the negative emotions, or the negative thoughts, how can you really know what you are thinking? Let's face it, there are negative things out there. If you just recite a verse at it and put your blinders on, it does not go away - maybe your thoughts do, maybe the uncomfortable feeling goes away for a little while, but the negative is still there. Thinking evil is not the same thing as noticing that something is not right. I was once told that since what you believe is what you receive, I should endeavor to never have any negative thoughts about anyone - because it would cause them to be negative towards me. Now, how does that work? Does my believing override theirs? Do my thoughts control them? Hmmmmmmm......... probably not. (btw, I flicked that mini-HOGFODAT off my shoulder a long time ago - she was so annoying!)

I wanna know, too!

Leafy, you hit the nail on the head. The closer you got to the center the worse it was. I think it was set up so you would get to your level of tolerance incrementally, and the stay at your maximum tolerance level. I just got pushed past mine.

Go, stand, and spew. I know what you mean, OldSkool. You would start off with something that meant something... That might help someone. But by the time it came out at the other end, all you could hear was "PREVAIL!"

I used to hate listening to those shadings. I really mean hate. I developed a severe dislike for saying a lot of words and flowery phrases that mean nothing. I think it was caused by twi corporate teachings and overuse of words like prevail, tremendous, and abundant. Those holday shadings were perfect examples of empty bits of wordy fluff.

I remember that, OldSkool... Didn't R!co make some sot of announcememnt about how he had been contacted by so and so at the organization who congratulated him that they had been taken off the list - sounded like they had been friends for years!! And wasn't the reason given that twi was taken off the list because twi was still around and VP had been dead for a long time, so the qualification of being centered around one charismatic leader wasn't met anymore?? If only they knew that everything is centered around the worship of the collaterals. At least they got the lack of living charismatic leader right. Rosie is about as far from charismatic as you can get.

I'm right there with ya, squirrel. You rock with your undefinable squirrelliness.

After reading all these posts, it is pretty evident that it was all about control. And if they could have you do one of those stupid things they could get you to do another one and another and another... Next thing you know, you were WOW or WD with a bunch of strangers in a strange place, completely isolated, and even easier to control. And then you realized that everything you had was tied up into this organization - all your friends were in, you had alienated the ones who were not in, maybe you had married someone who was part of twi and you were afraid to get out because if you did, you might lose your family, too. And you couldn't even have more than two beers to help you cope.