Belle

Cindy! I judged a speech contest this week-end and one of the contestants told about Superman's creator being Jewish and that Superman came from the story of Moses and that the X-Men came from the survivors of the Holocaust. I don't know where the information came from, but it should be pretty easy to find it. I had no idea those were the inspirations for those characters. Amazing what you can learn from some of these brillian Jr. High kids. :)-->

Because they are NOT cultured like our dear sweet Bible Belt Deep South Soul Food Eatin' Mint Julep Drinkin' Cuzins. ;)--> Several reasons: There are too many northerners in FL for it to have the really truly rich southern heritage (Remember FL was the #1 winter vacation place for many rich northern families even back in the 1800's). It's also been heavily influenced by the hispanic and Hatian immigrants moreso than any deep southern area. They are also considered way too wild and immoral to fit into any real southern community. The first bonafide XXX movie theater I ever saw or heard about was in FL At least that's the way FL was spoken of when I was growing up. Having lived here for many years I can definitely see the cultural influences have been very diverse and nothing like the deep south I grew up in. That being said, there are pockets of the true south down here. Kissimme hosts one of the biggest rodeos in the US and all the schools in Osceola County close for Rodeo Day every year. I like to go, but just to look at the cowboys. ;)-->

They are persistent little buggers, too! Ever watched them try to get into a "squirrel proof" bird feeder? :D--> I didn't realize they get impatient with their human feeders, too, Mr. H. My front yard has a huge oak tree and it is home to not a few squirrels. My dog fights them every year for the acorns that fall on the ground, but I think the squirrels win.

I saved a bunch of money on my car insurance........

Ah can't stand hearin a fake suthern accent! And it is true, Chas. When I moved to Florida I quickly realized everyong thought I was stupid. I had a little fun with that, though. ;)--> But in the business world I realized I wasn't going to get anywhere with that accent and had to work very hard on my pronunciation. I hardly have any kind of accent at all most people don't believe I'm from the deep south. I really miss it sometimes and I love hearing my family talk about anything when I'm homesick. Get a few mint juleps in me and I start saying some words right. ;)--> This is a funny topic. I never realized it, but yeah, a lot of "foreign" accents in the movies no matter where they're really supposed to be from are British.

Channel surfing this week-end I happened upon a minister talking about lack of knowledge and "my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...." I swear it sounded just like PFAL for the 20 or so minutes I could bear to listen. If TWI really and truly does want people to learn "the word" and to have the knowledge that God would have them have, then why be so secretive? Why charge so much? Why make it so difficult for people to acquire that knowledge? Why limit their research materials, discussions and questions? The same information is bascially free on tv. You aren't going to hear Jesus isn't God and you most likely won't hear that there were 4 crucified with Jesus, but chances are you can hear pretty much everything else on TV or in a church. The churches I visited offer classes for free. You might have to buy a book or a syllabus, but it's reasonably priced and some classes give you the materials for free too. They aren't run like military school and actually encourage class participation and questions from the students. The classes aren't required and no one pesters you about taking any of them. Jesus (and Paul for that matter) didn't require attendance at any place the went. They didn't require classes and they didn't charge people for learning from them. God didn't write a bunch of "collateral" material to help people read His word. I understand needing to have the costs associated with producing classes covered, but hasn't TWI done that a long time ago? If you follow the money trail it's obvious who TWI's real god is.

In some of the less TWI populated areas I wonder if people are just "fading away". They quit attending every fellowship....They conveniently miss all the outreach activities...They start attending just the "big" meetings.....they quit giving $$ to TWI.....then they just kind of disappear....and the the local corps leadership doesn't really care because that's a few less people to micromanage and they already do enough work for TWI for free.....higher up leadership doesn't care because they get paid regardless....

If 1,600 attended the AC special, and we know that's probably about 90% of TWI and most of that 90% will have loyally attended the special, then there are easily only about 2,000 maybe 2,300 adults in TWI. 12 Regions and the largest is 300 or 400. There's no way there are 300 in each region, so how much money are those region coordinators getting paid to oversee 50 people? Wasn't there a time where a branch had to have 50 people in order for the corpse to qualify for full time status?

andreatheflorist posted this on another thread: 23,000? I don't think there were that many even when I got involved in the 90's! They really must not care about the shrinking numbers since they have the booty all secured and are continuing to live rather nice lifestyles for not having to do any work, but what are they leaving behind for their kids? The kids who are involved in TWI and have followed Mom & Dad into the corps training and have no real life job experience. They aren't going to have enough of a ministry left for the kids to enjoy people waiting on them hand and foot, cleaning their houses, moving their tons of cr@p for them and paying for them to do nothing. It's going to be a real rude awakening for them when they have to start working for a living. But I wonder.....the Moonies and the Hare Krishnas are still around.....

The law of believing is still taught exactly as vee pee taught it and "available" questions abound. I cringe every time I hear that word and have all but eliminated it from my vocabulary. "Believe God for answers to that" "I'll be believing with you for deliverance".....are still common answers to "opportunities" in TWI. They don't have to explain how "The Teacher" could have a devil spirit because they still deny that he died of cancer. My ex to this day refuses to believe that vee pee died of cancer. In fact, I think that it is not common knowledge that Dr Don died of cancer. It seems to be kept very hush-hush.

I can totally relate to being alone and feeling isolated once you leave. I have a great neighborhood with wonderful neighbors but for as close as we all are, they aren't like "girlfriends" if that makes any sense. We help each other a lot and I'm so glad to have their friendship. They also stay in touch with my ex, which I'm really glad for since he doesn't have any other friends outside of TWI and he hasn't spoken with his family since Moneyhands told him that his father was possessed or entertaining major devil spirits. The neighbors know about the cult and we talk and make jokes about it. I joke around with people at work about it and have even used it as an excuse to get out of going to church or some other cult-like function with people. I'm not ashamed of it and have found that there are quite a few people with lots of questions or experiences with controlling religions and they feel comfortable talking to me and asking me questions about it. The hardest part is not having any "girlfriends". I've picked back up with a few very long time girlfriends, but they all live far away. I had wanted to go to a movie one week-end and didn't go because I didn't want to go alone. A co-worker said, "Don't you have anyone you can just call to go with?" and I had to honestly respond that, "no, I don't" I don't have any close friends like that, haven't since getting married and following TWI's logic of not being unequally yoked and not wasting time on people who "don't want the word". It can get very lonely and I could easily get depressed about it, but when I get choked up I just think back through how much better life is since getting out. I wouldn't trade that for anything. I'll make friends again and I'll appreciate them so much more having been through TWI. :)-->

Absolutely not! I have a special place for you stay, Mr. Eastwood.

Backatcha! :)-->

:o--> I don't really have to think about that one. :o-->

Cool Beans, Chas! :D--> I love it when that happens!!

Where the H E 1 1 have you been?? I saw the promo for that. I'm very interested in what it will really be about. Most of the time those things are about some really extreme group that's so obviously messed up that it's not relevant to anything wayfers experience. :(--> I wish they would do something on your "normal seeming" cults like TWI. I had fun thinking about what it would be like if I got my ex on Dr. Phil to talk about our marriage and TWI. LOL! :D-->

I'd LOVE to meet up! :D--> Do you need a place to stay? I have a guest bedroom. I'll PT you my 411.

Welcome, Just Found Out!!! :D--> :D--> :D--> You grew up in TWI, eh? That had to be really rough. Glad to have you here and I look forward to reading more of you. :)--> Sky, I think some "innies" are in denial. I know my ex is. He still thinks it's God's greatest gift to man and that because he's part of it his **** don't stink. He used to say that even Paul was left standing without a household despite all the people he got born again. Just pass the kool-aid. I think some "innies" are too lazy to leave. I don't mean it bad, I just don't know how else to say it......it's easier to just "go with the flow" and continue jumping through the hoops than it is to quit. You'd have to make new friends; find a new church; find something to do 3 days a week; find a new purpose..... Others see it shrinking and are all too aware that things got really bad in the craig years and have been hoping against hope that things would get better. While things don't seem as bad as it was, things don't seem to be much better either. Just vanilla void religion. Those people may be waiting on an excuse to leave and wish they had used craig's exposure to leave. Then there's the ones who see it and want out but don't want TWI to break up their family. There are still people fighting this battle and TWI is still breaking up families. My ordeal wasn't even a year ago. And, of course, there are the freeloading five star generals like the Moneyhands who are enjoying a kind of life they never would have been able to afford if they hadn't been bilking God's lambs.

TWIt = Black Ops? Hmmmm...... I think if Arvin Sloane was in cahoots with vee pee that instead of hunting them down, they would be hiding Rambali artifacts so no one could find out that they had copied them. ;)-->

How many Regions are there?

ROFLMAO!! :D--> You sure paint quite the picture, Oak. :D--> They can't possibly grow: - They have nothing "new" even the "new" classes are rehashed versions of the previous plagarized and b.s. classes. - The best they could come up with regarding new books is "The Prevailing Version" of the old books. - They have no appeal whatsoever to the younger generation. - Most churches now teach the same things TWI teaches that are correct and the churches teach it better, with more resources, better schedules and they go beyond TWI. That, and they....gasp.....allow questions. - Most churches have enough members so that the same people aren't always having to do the work. - Most churches have a building so you don't have to waste time scrounging around for some halfway decent free place to have a meeting. - Most churches don't have websites warning people to stay away from them. :)--> I wonder if they will sell Gunnison or try to convince people to move up there to help take care of it as the number of people willing to go into the corps continues to decline. How many people does it take to keep up the place? How much does it cost to keep it running? Will they sell off more of HQ? They already have a staggering staff to "believer" ratio. Will they "strongly suggest" that people start closing in the ranks and move to the "root" locations? In 10 years where will they be?

I remember thinking the cafeteria at Rome City smelled like a nursing home.

Yeppers! Since getting "out" I see more and more how Matthew 22:36-40 really does sum things up. If we're doing those 2 things then everything else falls into place. Not to mention that it's a whole lot simpler than trying to jump through TWIt hoops. I'm still working on loving myself and being patient with my recovery is a good start.

They need the set up crew to fill the audience and usually they are the same ones passing the horn o' plentitude up and down the isles. TWI is shrinking and will continue to shrink until they are considered "just another cult". They've sure come a long way from being featured in a Time (or was it "People") magazine to some group most people have never even heard of.

So where are Stanleys #2 and #3? And how much longer till I get to show him around my stomping grounds? :D-->