Belle

That was beautiful, Roy. Even if we're on the right path, we still need help sometimes. I'm glad you have loving sisters there to help you. :)

I was four years old, sitting on Penny, a beautiful copper colored horse, in the middle of a sudden hail storm in the mountains of Colorado. I was oblivious to the hail because I was so excited about going on the horse ride through the gorgeous woods. I did not want to get off the horse because of the hail and was trying to convince my parents and our hosts that it did not hurt and would quit soon so we could go. On that vacation my cousins and I stayed on pallets in the lodge where there were mounted heads of every kind of animal we could imagine on the walls. It was cool and creepy at the same time. We ate fish caught in the river near the property for dinner and I was really grossed out because they cooked them with the heads still on, so they had to cut the head off my fish. Yeppers.... that was the first "clear" memory for me. We were visiting friends for a week up at their beautiful home and lodge in the Colorado mountains. Mama took about four hours of 8mm film of the birch trees, she thought they were the most beautiful trees she'd ever seen... and that's still a family joke brought up from time to time.

2Life, please change that e-mail address to have spaces or the word "at" for @ to avoid spammers from flooding you. :) Edi, I'd also like some info on the glyconutrients and HIGHLY recommend EFT as well as Energy Medicine info from Donna Eden.

LOL! Here's what I grew up on in Mississippi. 2 Lipton Family Size Tea Bags Pot of COLD water 1 Heaping Cup of Sugar 2 Quart Pitcher Put the tea bags into the cold water and bring to JUST BEFORE boiling. Don't let it boil. It'll get kinda foamy on top before it gets to the boiling point. Turn the eye off and let the tea steep for a little while In a 2 quart (that's a half a gallon, right?) pitcher add one heaping cup of sugar, add the warm tea and stir to dissolve the sugar. THEN add whatever water is necessary to fill the rest of the pitcher. For mint tea, add a couple of drops of peppermint extract. Obviously, the amount of sugar can be altered to your taste, this makes traditional syrupy sweet tea.

Does that mean there was no happy finish? :ph34r:

Mystery solved! It's Rhino's fault!

Source of quote Source of quote Ya gotta love ex! :biglaugh:

WordWolf, as usual, has an excellent response to this letter.

Where is your heart of meekness, John? Indeed! Just like this letter, eh? How does that account for the lack of information to those involved with and hurt by your ministry? D@mn that God causing horrible consequences to those who refuse to obey!! D@mn Him!! Are you not afraid of the same consequences? That's what it's really all about, isn't it? God, save the cash cow! First, you gave permission for this to be posted and, from what I understand, asked that it be posted. Second, you've given quite the view of your heart and the hearts of those you've just written this long essay about. First, you have not addressed follow up questions and clarifications of your position. Neither via personal e-mail, phone calls nor on your websites. Gee, John, you sound just like TWI leadership! You learned well, eh? We're watching! We're waiting! When do we get the answers? Pity John can not see to apply these same observations on himself to repent and right the wrongs he has done.

Gee, John, who does that sound like?? Sage advice, John. Maybe you should heed it personally. :)

Can't you just feel the ego? our unique ministry? How, exactly, is it unique? This links to the quote below Where is your conscience now, John? Gee, John, who does that sound like?? That's what it's all about, isn't it, John? Saving the cash cow? Keeping that money rolling in? edited to break into chunks the entire letter can be found without my comments on the link at the top of my post. The rest of the letter follows in my next two posts.

:eusa_clap: Excellent post, Nero! TWI taught me that I was not good enough - I did not abundantly share enough - I did not give enough of my time (although they had practically every waking moment) - I did not submit to my husband enough - I did not study the bible enough - I did not speak in tongues enough - I did not renew my mind enough - I did not witness enough..... Nothing I did was good enough for them or God - and, by golly, I had the proof every time something bad happened to me or my husband. :blink: I hated homosexuals and was extremely intolerant of any "wanna be faker of a christian" who just happened to belong to some other church or religion. I was fully of hate - hate for myself - hate for not being able to be good enough - hate for others who dared dismiss TWI and what we taught - envy disguised as hate for others who seemed to be truly happy when I knew my "niceness" and "happiness" was faked because it was required of me. I'm so much more peaceful and genuinely happy now that I don't have to judge others, sell TWI or try to live up to the impossible standards of God as TWI taught them.

(((((Nero))))) People who have spent a great deal of time in TWI (or any controlling group, for that matter), have a very difficult time learning to think for themselves. They have turned all their personal power over to the leaders in the group and have allowed them to make all their decisions for them. Your mother is very vulnerable right now and it has most likely been years since she felt like a whole, intelligent, loveable and deserving person. She has been deferring to your father and TWI leadership for so long that she's not sure how to handle things on her own. She needs a good dose of self-esteem and, as much as possible, to be reminded of who she was and how she was before she turned her life over to others. She does not need that greene jerk or anyone else from TWI to get through this, but you already know that... :) How to help her see it? I don't know but I do know reminding her of all the things she has done and continues to do well and how much you love and support her is a good start. My mama, when we kiddos lamented about others being "better" than us, or when we would put someone on a pedestal who certainly didn't deserve to be there - she would say, "Their farts stink, too." Just to remind us that everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time - everyone stinks up the john and nobody is any better than we are. She also used to say, "If you want sympathy you can find it between sh1+ and syphilis in the dictionary," but I don't think that pearl of wisdom is relevant here. I know you have a lot on your plate, but a great book that helped me get over "way brain" and start thinking for myself (in addition to some really good, professional therapy ) is Steve Hassan's Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves. This book was invaluable to me and it helped me with how to relate to others trapped in way brain. If your library does not have it, ask them to get it for you via inter library loan. Your brothers are most likely looking for the same thing. They have needs that they can not articulate or put their finger on and TWI always taught that that was a spiritual need and that TWI was the only place to get those needs met, so they are naturally looking for a TWI substitute, when spiritual answers may be the least of what they really long for. It could be a belonging - feeling like they fit in somewhere - learning who they really are and what they really are about. Dunno how old they are, but what helped me was checking out www.meetup.com and looking at all the groups meeting in my area - I picked a few I was interested in and signed up. There is every kind of interest under the sun out there and it's a relatively safe, free and easy way to check something out to see if it really is something you might be interested in. I've been to everything from writer's meetups to hiking clubs and bellydance meetings to Wicca meetings through www.meetup.com. Sometimes we really just need to find out who we are independent of a church or organized religion. You're a wonderful person, Nero! I'm definitely praying for you and your family.

Yikes! That's in my back yard! Those poor kids - there are TWIt kids who also attend UCF. I wonder if they've ever witnessed to each other. Maybe I should go anti-witnessing on campus... I'm glad he realized how manipulated he was becoming and got out of the group before being totally beaten down and submissive to their every whim and doctrine. Good news, I guess, but still bad "witness", if you will, for Hendrix's group if that behavior and treatment is not in line with their mission and doctrine since his name is attached to them.

http://leahfear.com/

Beautiful scene but I have no idea what movie it's from. At first I thought it was Yentl, but that's not it.

Bah! That's no rant.... you want to see a rant? Let me pull up a few posts for you. Yes, TWI perverted God - He starts out as this all loving, generous, protecting, caring daddy who has this huge cookie jar when one first gets involved with TWI, then he becomes a spitting, judging, bully by the time TWI gets through with him. No wonder so many of us decide that's no god to believe in and that we'd rather take our chances without him. Nothing wrong with taking a break - reassessing things - and coming to your own conclusions about what you're peaceful and comfortable with. I think a lot of people believe in God sheerly for the fact that they are afraid NOT to believe in him. I mean, who wants to take a chance on not believing and ending up in hell? Kind of like being nice to the kid with the kick ball just because he'll take it home with him if you don't play by his rules. People who do believe in the God of the Bible have a real hard time with people doubting it - sometimes I think it's because they, too, doubt it but are afraid to admit it. Others are so AFRAID of God that they are scared for how bad you will be punished for not believing.... either way it doesn't really instill confidence in that God, does it? Others, really just can't imagine not believing in God. You're right, that would be a good thread. :) (((((Rascal))))) I love you and am so proud of you!!!

(((((Nero)))))

Wow! You do all that for us? :huh: I'm impressed! And glad! It's cool knowing folks who know how to do such neat things and share their talents. :) Thank you! Regarding the lack of activity.... We cycle through lulls in activity here at the Cafe and I think this is another lull, and probably will be so until after the holidays now. I know for me, I'm swamped at work with budget forecasting, pricing, profitability analysis, etc.... this is the time of year when I really earn my salary. It just crimps my social life for a bit. Please don't give up on us.

Someone did contact him privately, personally via e-mail (Actually, many more than one person has). John did not only avoid answering the questions asked of him, but also he tried to intimidate the person into silence. The only problem is, he got the person's name wrong and violated several confidences in the process. He may have broken the law regarding client confidentiality as well.

Thanks so much! Where do y'all get these movie clips? Or is that top secret?

I dunno if "blessed" is the word I would use, but the acting and presentation of the lesson is perfect. Pity they don't actually live or practice any of it. -_-

Mmmmm..... I love a nice cup of tea! We went to this place in San Fran and experienced a full blown tea tasting and lesson in tea. I bought this infusion cup and some of this jasmine tea which I enjoy every afternoon. It's like being in the midst of a jasmine garden... the smell and taste are out of this world! (it's also pretty cool how the jasmine blossom and tea leaves unravel in the hot water) You're right, the process is as relaxing and enjoyable as actually drinking the tea. :) I consider it a mini-respite from the day.