Broken Arrow

Yes! Self-structured, not "free" time! Geez louise, don't ya know that if we call it "free time" it would connote that the rest of our time was in bondage, and a good Way follower "freely" avails himself to the ministry. I said, FREELY! Now no more questions until after session 12 please!

Yes, but we were all given leather-bound Receiving the Holy Spirit Today books during that time! How benevolent!

Skyrider I'm curious. When did you obtain these very interesting insights you have? Was it after or before you left TWI? Did you leave during one of the great purges, or did you finally personally see something and leave on your own? As for me, I left when it was "safe" to leave when Geer read POP. I went with that offshoot for awhile, then another, then I briefly involved myself in another cult not TWI related, THEN I finally realized not only was it all BS, but that a lot of ME was BS and I had personal issues that led me into cult-like groups. I was the one that needed to change and when I slowly did, I stopped looking for a strong leader to validate me. But I'm rambling. I'm just interested to hear if you were strong enough on your own somehow to see the "man behind the curtain".

Relating to something said earlier in the thread about Wierwille not being confronted with the demonic, er I mean devil spirits, I once heard a story from a 6th Corps guy. The story goes, and I hear from others that were also present that this guy took someone to HQ for a Sunday Night Service. This person had mental issues but the Way believer thought he would be healed or at least helped by hearing "The Word". As Wierwille began teaching, this person stood up and yelled, "I am Jesus Christ!" One version of the story says that Wierwille tried to cast the spirit out and failed, then Walter C. and Howard A. each grabbed an arm and escorted the man out. The other story said that Wierwille did nothing and WC and HA escorted him out. I will say that I personally heard WW relate a story where he said that the devil spirit "just wouldn't leave". It was clear, though, whether he was referring to this particular incident. Where both stories agree is that Wierwille did nothing for the troubled person. So Wierwille was, in fact, confronted by a devil spirit and came up short. That's assuming that the problem with the individual was in fact demonization. I have no problem with someone who believes in the gifts of the Spirit falling short. We're human and often fall short. However he purported himself to be some sort of super spiritual expert who was so wise he was beyond failure or imperfection.

In my Advanced Class, VP credited Oral Roberts. But after playing the sermon he went on and on about how it broke his heart that "Oral Roberts sold out to the Methodists". Whatever that was supposed to mean. I can't remember his exact words but basically Wierwille said he the only one now standing on the Word. He didn't use those words, he was too clever for that.

Well, for my part I must say that I ended up in beautiful Idaho. So that part was great, except that I didn't have any money because I was "moving the Word".

For what it's worth MRAP, it was the Allen County Fairgrounds near Lima, OH. There aren't you enhanced?

I was very moved by your posts, Twinky and Out and About. I certainly hope for the best for both of you.

Well said! I'm afraid it's becoming a lost art though. Really, it doesn't appear that anyone is actually interested in listening nowadays. It seems anymore that people just want to yell out their opinion. There doesn't seem be a desire to find middle ground anymore. Christians are among the worst offenders.

I heard that same teaching about the original sin but it was the revised '75 rendition. I didn't see how VP reached his conclusion but I was told that that was because I didn't have the scope of The Word that VP had.

YOU HAVE CONTRABAND!!! Those songbooks were supposed to be DESTROYED years ago!! You may expect a visit from the Blue Songbook Police anytime now!

I suppose it could be a political topic but I was more focused on people's mindsets. I find it ludicrous that people could be so offended because a "sacred" poem (I don't really believe it's sacred but some do) is recited in a language other than English. Even though the words mean the same thing. So I'm not really discussing the appropriateness of the Pledge of Allegiance itself in this particular thread.

Yeah, they even taught that in "The Way Tree" seminar. They just didn't do it.

I still say, go for it Johniam. Sex sells. You have such great wisdom. There are plenty of hurting people out there who will hang on your every word and make you their guru. I mean, why all this talk?

Sure, in marketing sex sells. I doubt that in your fast-food scenario,however, you had the girls flirt specifically with, or go out with people to bring them in as customer. But your assertion that sex and sex appeal as good marketing is well taken. It just shows that the mentality of TWI and you is to market supposed biblical teaching as a product, for the sole purpose of driving sales. If you think that's okay, then you were in good company in TWI. Personally, it's not the way I would prefer to represent God. In the Bible, He is all about bringing people to repentance and having a relationship with them. He is also all about building moral character. Promoting a ministry with an appeal to one's lusts sort of goes against all of that, but that's just my opinion. You go ahead and promote your religion, ideals or whatever anyway you wish.

Do non-profits even deduct for Social Security? If so, do they have to pay in 7.5% like private companies do?

Actually I did hear top leaders encourage using this "technique". They didn't refer to it as "date and switch", and they didn't refer to it as "whoring for Jesus". We were just told to "use what we had" and that was in reference to sex appeal and attractiveness. It wasn't instruction to go out and sexually seduce people but it was encouragement to be attractive with a view to attracting others in. There was no formal training or anything or anything like that.

Yeah, I remember that guy who came into Cleveland and the area supposedly doubled within some phenomenal amount of time. He was held up as an example of what could happen if you just had the believing. It was later that I heard in a leader's meeting that all he did was double the amount of "twigs". Some amazing growth guru, eh? Soon after he went back to where he came from.

Probably came into the Corps with those traits. I can guarantee you it wasn't imparted to him/her.

There aren't very many people left to even have a mass exodus.

Well, you ARE as long as you're wearing your name tag.

AWLL=A Whole Lot Less

Jeez MRAP! You expect me to actually have a point? Man, you have high standards. I don't think it's a horrible affront to the United State or anyone else to have the Pledge of Allegiance recited in a language besides English. If people of another ethnicity living in the U.S. are showing allegiance to the U.S. in whatever language I think it's a good thing. I've had emails come to my personal inbox saying things like we have to act NOW because folks are reciting the Pledge in Spanish, as if that's a sign of the country being overrun. In my opinion such thinking belies a bigotry that exists in a lot of people and I think that's very very sad. So I'm still at a bit of a loss as to why some people get so "jacked up" about what language someone recites the Pledge in. Having said that, I think you and others make a good point when you say the principal mishandled the situation. It was fairly easy to foresee that doing this would cause a stir and, right or wrong, some people would be offended. I had not thought of that. I also think Twinky makes a good point when she mentions that actions are more important than words. Could it be that we make too big of a deal about the Pledge in the first place? I don't think so but then again I was born and raised in the U.S. Nevertheless, to have love and respect for one's nation is a good thing as long as those things stay within bounds.

BTW, unless there was some clandestine training going on that I didn't know about, the "gun training" we did at Emporia was anything but military training. You went to somebody's farm where they had hay bales lined up. An instructor would hand you a shotgun. In my case it was a 12-gauge. You pointed the barrel in the direction of the hay bale and pulled the trigger. You got to do that 3 times, then you went back to the campus. Hardly military training. Before that you spent several hours in the classroom listening to someone drone on about gun safety. Stuff like, if you're walking through a pasture and you come to a fence, don't throw your over your gun because it might discharge. Or, if you're walking next to another hunter, don't walk with your gun carelessly aimed at him. Walk with the barrel down and pay attention. I'm not defending it and I have no idea what it had to do with leadership training, but I don't want to insult people that were actually in the military with saying the Corps received that type of training. If we were attacked, we were supposed to run, actually. Oh yeah, we were supposed have supplies at the ready and our car gas tanks no lower than half. I've concluded that that was a scare tactic to keep engender and "us vs. them" mindset. Karl Kahler in his book, The Cult that snapped, referred to some type of military exercises that took place, but those were supposedly with people that were former military. I never saw any of that but then again it would have been kept from me if that did in fact happen.