Broken Arrow

I can't imagine raising 15 kids in any era, much less the Great Depression. Where did they live? Tell me it wasn't the "Dust Bowl" area.

Okay...now that's just downright funny!

You have forgotten, Waysider. The answer is simple. They're seedboys of course. Remember? All the people you like...spirit of God. Those you don't...seed. You see? It's all soooo simple keeds if you just look at it for what it is without all the gobbledy-gook.

Corps Principle #4 was originally called "Corps Objective #4", and it was, "Practice believing (barf!) to bring material abundance to you and the ministry." (commentary mine in case you hadn't guessed.) Not that I think it was "God-breathed" or anything, but I hadn't heard it was changed. Unbelievable. I guess it doesn't matter. Nobody did it anyway.

You people seem to be forgetting that if you dream you're off the Word! Thas' riiight! And you only need 10 minutes of sleep a night if you speak in tongues!

Right. I heard that one too. Real brave with a goon that's packing. I'm curious Skyrider, is it true he was all air when confronted personally? I don't know how close you got to him. He sure acted like a bad-foot bandalero on stage! (What's a bandalero?)

Okay, I'm going to throw down some thoughts and see what you think. At first these might offend you, but look past it and see if there is some truth here. 1. You wouldn't be causing the split, his wrongdoings are causing the problems. You are just telling the truth and exposing the truth. If you do not share what you know, you are trying to "protect" others. That is not your job. That is called "co-dependent". People are adults, they can take care of themselves and certainly God can take care of them. How many atrocities are hidden and therefore allowed to perpetuate in the name of not wanting to hurt others? How about the people that have yet to be hurt? People are putting their trust in this guy to be pastored spiritually and you have knowledge of that trust being betrayed. Painful? Yes. Your fault, absolutely not! Be forewarned, however, you will be marked as a troublemaker. But you're still right. 2. Is your not wanting to hurt others really about the others, or is about you being afraid to stick your neck out and taking the risk of being rejected? I know that sounds cruel, but it isn't. Frankly, I wouldn't blame you, standing against this will take a lot of bravery. But God will stand with you. We at GSC will stand with you. You might be tempted to fire a reply right back to me. I would suggest you resist that urge and just let this sit with you for a day or so and see what your heart thinks. If you don't think this stuff fits, drop it. You know what's best for you.

I heard that Martindale was kind of a wuss...all bark no bite, cratered like an airless balloon in the face of direct, personal confrontation. Not true, huh?

Herein is yet more proof of man's superior intellect over the animal kingdom.

Good point...no one can throw tomatoes!

I saw Jesus walking downtown just the other day. I was surprised and I said, "Hello Jesus! What brings you downtown?" Jesus said, "I'm looking for an attorney." I said, "An attorney! Why are you looking for an attorney here?" He looked at me kind of surprised and said, "Well, you don't expect me to find one in Heaven do you? (ba-dum bum crash)

That was my situation, mom, stepdad, stepbrothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews. I never thought much about leaving. Maybe part of that was that if I did I was going to have to face them. They would have taken me in, but it would have been something to have dealt with. I still would have had to deal with TWI since they were all twig leaders, children's fellowshipe leaders, etc. I had a bout with cancer, and even that caused some shame because obviously my believing wasn't there. I had a brother-in-law get pretty self-righteous about it. Obviously, according to him, I was full of fear. When I pushed back he looked at me and said, "Are you going to deny that you're full of fear?" The he said he still "loved me" and would "believe" for me. Today he is a recovering alcoholic and just finished his own succesful bout with cancer. He's a little more humble now. I guess I sometimes forget just how young we were at the time.

Never mind. I commented before reading other posts and found mine to be redundant.

I'd forgotten all about that.

I personally knew one person given the responsibility of working on Wierwille's family history, and he was part of a team. Now was that a wise use of Abundant Sharing money or what? Remember them reading A Day with the Wierwille's at Corps week?. They made thousands of us sit for hours in a tent and listen to a time when the Wierwille's all got together as a family and played in the snow at Gunnison. People, some with small kids, drove thousands of miles, spent days on the road, spent hundreds of dollars, sacrificed vacations, quit jobs etc. to sit around on a farm in humid Ohio and hear about VP meeting with his family. (Well, at least there were pictures.) If you were there, do you remember the great concluding statement, the great point of the whole story? Go get your barf bucket and I'll remind you. It was this: "If the Wierwille family does not stand together on The Word, the Word of God will not live in our day and time." Yessir, that was it! Our job as Corps was to take care of the Wierwille family. Not to herald the Word of God, but to take care of a "bless-ed holy family". That was the only way the Word was going to live, at least that was the implication. I was headed into my final year in residence then. I vividly remember walking across that bridge on Wierwille Rd. and being heartbroken. I couldn't believe what I'd just heard. There was no question it was a lie. But I was Corps which meant I believed VP was the Man of God which meant he didn't lie. I know now that I was starting to see that there was a serious flaw in the whole thing. I sort of just put the thing on the back burner. No one talked about it. At least not where I was present. Meanwhile, everyone else's family line was completely irrelevant.

Oh no! Not the "Sonlight Room"! Did they find out I've been using the dorm toilet paper for my own kleenex?

I left under the cover of the Poop Paper and never showed up for my interview. Made my final exit in the great purge of '89 and joined a splinter group. Courageous soul that I was. Yup! really took a mighty stand!

I absolutely agree that it's "over the top craziness" and a normal mother would never even consider this sort of behavior. This particular woman has a very serious problem. IF TWI was really a compassionate organization, they would be all over this themselves. The fact they are even allowing this to happen speaks volumes. But as far as the woman is concerned, there is something deep within crying out that's even cancelling out her maternal instinct to nurture her children. The situation is tragic enough, but what's also tragic is that her involvement with TWI will not resolve anything for her. In fact, it will make it worse. It's not going to give her what she's really looking for. I fear she'll end up worse off unless she wakes up.

Do you think Martindale gets this sort of treatment? That is, Craig Martindale?

It was called "Christian Motivational Techniques".

I was about to say that I believe the hitchhiking was the most dangerous of all. I heard of women getting raped while hitchhiking to LEAD. I also heard a guy was killed while hitchhiking. I guess he tried to run across the freeway to retrieve his wallet and was killed in front of his wife.

I think the song fits. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLWOdREpo-E

I've been thinking a little more about this today. To answer the question "why", I think one has to understand that part of this whole thing for some people is religious addiction. Some get such a good feeling from religious activity that they will sacrifice all including their family to maintain the source of their fix. Just like a pro athlete might throw away an entire career for a hit of crack cocaine, or an alcoholic will spend his money on liquor rather than pay the heat bill to keep his family warm, or a porn addict will visit a web site at work even though he's been warned by his company that he will be terminated if he is caught viewing pornography at work again. Addictions take on a life of their own and don't bend to reason. People abandon loved ones and sometimes jeopardize their own lives just to maintain their fix.

This doesn't have anything to do with new features, but what does it mean when someone makes you their friend, or you make them your friend?

I was in the 11th...you were my "Senior Corps".