So_crates

Here's one at this site. Bet there's more. (Read the blurb) Saint Vic's Christians Should Be Prosperous Sunday Teaching SoCrates

And then there were folk like me who never missed a twig, faithfully gave my 10%--every payday for a year, and still didn't see any change. What did they do in that case? Basically you got the run around. I had the twig leaders wife hand me the Christians should be Prosprus book and told me to read it. I told her I'd already read it. My twig leader essentially told me he had nothing--no ideas, no revelation, the bagel. That's when I stopped ABS. Well, it that and another instance, even corps people couldn't answer. Before I wrote a check for ABS and put it in the horn, I did a fast mental calculation and realized I wouldn't have enough money for food and ABS. Well, God's supposed to take care of us, right? It was Friday, and I was expecting another check, so I figured I'd get it Saturday. I wrote the check for ABS. Saturday, no food. So I didn't eat anything over the weekend. Monday, I went to where the check I was expecting was supposed to originate. They had sent it to an address I lived at 10 years prior. I asked corps people about that one. The answer: You'll have to talk to my husband about that. That's why I'm a hard sell, I've done the program. I know the results. SoCrates

If you step back and look at it, the whole system is predisposed to "blame the victim:" You start with believing which actually means you caused your situation. You go to to the pure all things are pure which actually means all those bad thoughts aren't helping Ultimately you get to devil spirits which you apparently opened the trap door to let in. Of course when it came to the leadership all bets were off. They could think as negatively as they wanted, never considered their believing, and if they had a devil spirit (according to their definition) like cancer or sexual addiction it was covered up. SoCrates

They refered you to a secular counselor? What happened to their stand about worldly wisdom, as Saint Vic put forth in PFAL? SoCrates

As I said, the Way is one of the few businesses I know of where you can treat your clientele like crap and still make a bundle. SoCrates

Another clue: I have pointy SHOES older than you. And I’m not a kid. I’m an elf.

I don't know if they'd need any money. It depends on how badly the lawyer wants a piece of the ministry. There's a legal principle: Respondeat superior (definition). Basically it states that anything anyone does, acting as an agent of a company or organization, the company or organization bears the responsibility. Put simply, anything a twig leader on up does, TWI pays for. SoCrates

Beer and Rice Krispies is better. You've heard of it. Breakfast of ex-champions: snap, crackle and . SoCrates

So let me see if I understand this correctly: God (who created the creek) didn't create it organized enough? SoCrates

Well, at least we're not barking up the wrong tree. SoCrates

Not too hot. Extra chocolate. Shaken, not stirred

So was the infamous horse video included in the mix? SoCrates

I've told this story a couple of times. When I was in TWI2, I ABS for a year, just to see what would happen. You know: how the windows of heaven would open up, what pressed down, shaken together, and running over looked like, how my storehouses would look not being able to contain the blessing, yadda yadda yadda. After a year, the scenery looked pretty much the same. So, I approached the area coordinator and asked him about it. "You need a $20 an hour job," he told me. "Where do you get those?" I asked. He sent me to my twig leader to find out. I approached my twig leader and told him the situation, explaining that the area coordinator sent me to him. My twig leader's answer to where you get a $20 an hour job: He shrugged his shoulders and said: "I don't know." Another method of counciling used: Giving someone the run around. SoCrates

The little elf--like most nuns she's five foot nothing--that keeps thumping the back of my head with a ruler and says "That makes no sense." I've tried to tell her "it makes perfect sense, your not keeping up," but all that usually earns me is a whack with her beads. Sister Clara T. SoCrates

Your learning lesson 10 and we're on lesson 5. If you learn lesson 10 now, what will we have to teach you when we get to lesson 10?:) SoCrates

Both links are from the same source. SoCrates

Nothing at all. For me it was a matter of integrety. Then people get an image in their head of what I am, I act contrary to it (in this case wiccan) and people think I'm being a hypocrite. SoCrates

I don't think he was deluded and I don't think he thought his insights were new. I think he just sold them that way to attract followers. Kind of like they're not used cars anymore, they're pre-owned vehicles. He could say the same thing about the so-called light he brought to this generation: pre-owned by a little old lady that took it to church on Sundays. SoCrates

Don't think that's weird at all. Last fall when I was picking tomatoes off the vine, I was thanking the plant for being kind enough to produce food for me. I'm not wiccan, or an enviormentalist. It just felt like the thing to do. SoCrates

Crowley, didn't he say, Do as thou will, but do no harm? Which, of course, brings up another subject. Crowley was into sexual magick. You think Saint Vic was pulling water from the same well? SoCrates

Or, just to maintain the clever alliteration (definition): weird wired weirwille way wetware (definition). SoCrates

Makes you wonder what's going through the leadership in the offshoots minds: sure we love people taking 10% of our income--and the return on our investment: face-meltings, deceit, micromanaging our lives. Sure..where's the green card? (sarcastic smiley..we really need one) TWI and TWI2 are among the few places where you could treat your customers like crap and still make a killing. SoCrates

This is one of the reasons I cringe when people tell me to have faith. Or another pet peeve: think positive. Usually, both these statements, in their context, mean: let me make a sucker out of you. W.C. Feilds once said: If your in a card game for five minutes and you still haven't figured out who the patsy is--your the patsy. I find the same thing holds true for most of lifes situations: if you don't know who the patsy is, its probably you. SoCrates