Belle

Skyrider, that's a mighty nice thing to say. We all made mistakes, let things happen and saw people get hurt. You're sharing so much with us now, and that really helps. :)--> Most of us were either in the same position or realize that we were all doing the best we could at the time. Now we know better, so we do better. I'm glad you're here. Mr. H - I think you're talking about John R*ynolds. He was Treasurer for a time, but was booted out by the fox when she took over. I think, too, his conscious was getting to him and he was getting very ill from all the stress. I don't know if he is still in, but I imagine (I hope) he will wake up one day. He really seemed to be nice and genuine and it must have been killing him to see all the inside stuff and realize what a hoax the whole thing was. I could be wrong, but I do hope he and his wife wake up and get out. "serving a mad man" yep, that about sums it up. Not serving GOD or God's people.....we served a mad man.

Tumbleweed Kid on the gross negligence and ignorance of TWI regarding the Mark N child molestation lawsuits and TWI's continuing support for him. Your spiritual elite at work for you, innies!

awwwww ex, I think YOU are! :D-->

:D--> :D--> :D--> Glad to bring a smile to your face! :D--> :D--> :D--> You bring one to mine. Ex, LOL! Ya really think so?? I have a hard time getting my spittle to fly very far, though....

Oh, ex! :(--> I can only imagine.... The shock we put our parents through, eh? Geeze, it's amazing they still love and put up with us. Talk about true unconditional love!! WN! I know she still smarts about that one, but she has forgiven me. I told her next time I get married (and I hope I do --- and before I'm too old to have kids) that we're going to elope or get married by the Justice of the Peace and then we're going to have one he11 of a party for all our friends. Blue Jeans, BBQ and Cold Beer! A live band or kick a$$ dj. It will be quite the shindig. :D--> Heck, I'll want all the GSpots that can to attend.....now, gotta find that man who can handle me. ;)-->

Thank YOU, Steve! I've learned a lot reading the replies to this. It's something I struggle with at times, but I do feel like I've got a big jump on some people because I had wanted out long before I got out. So, I kind of lived a double life for a while in order to try to save my marriage. When I realized it was futile and never going to work, it was really just like I had 5,000 tons of pressure lifted off me. Not having family and having family who think you're awful and evil have got to be the most difficult and heart breaking situations. I, too, feel for them. I had to laugh at your wife's "till death do us part" comment! They really should take that out of the vows, or at least change it from "for as long as we both shall live" to "for as long as we both shall submit to the almighty MOG for our day and time."

LLP, you're alright. :)--> I am still praying for you to see TWI for what it really is and I'm glad that you're trying to think logically and not emotionally refusing to see what's so horribly obvious. I'm also glad you post here even if you frustrate the he11 out of me sometimes. ;)--> Tumbleweed, that's priceless and I think I'll add it to the Gems thread of the board. I've read so much recently about all the false prophecies and missed signs that the TWIts have on their record that it just amazes me how they can continue to "cover" themselves to the general TWI population. Maybe they aren't really and that's why it continues to shrink. I hope so anyway. Even the wife of an adulterous husband has to face facts eventually....whether she does something about it or not is a different story. I feel for the TWIts who don't do anything about it.

You don't owe your life to the ministry that taught you the word. Think about how much you already knew before TWI. Think about how much of what they taught you is b.s. or just plain legalism. Do "normal" churches ask you where you are financially? Do they check on your schedules and what you're doing, who you're doing it with and how long before you bring them to church? Do they ask if you paid cash for your house or if you're in debt? Do they care if you financecd a car? No! They're happy that you're taking care of yourself! Do "normal" churches care if your family members go to a different church - or if they go at all? "Normal" healthy organizations and churches lay it out there FOR FREE and let you make up your own mind. They don't even monitor your mind to see if you have. They are there for you IF YOU ASK FOR HELP - not HELPING YOU EVEN IF YOU DON'T WANT HELP. It's a big difference. It's good to make your own decisions. It's good to question authority. It's good to be able to question authority. It's not good in TWI. Think about it. Have you ever had so many rules, regulations and expected behavior and vocabulary restrictions in your whole life?? It's scary,but it is sooooooooo much better outside the pseudo walls of the false zion of TWI. Read the "my story" section of this site. Those are real live stories of deliverance, recovery and the truly more abundant life.

Very interesting WN! Isn't it amazing how now comments like that make the hair on our neck stick out, but before we just kind of dismissed them or considered the people speaking them less than faithful, just bitter or plain wrong? I did, anyway. I wish I had paid more attention to those people, they knew things I needed to know but was too stupid to want to.

Mr H - it was probably, "Well, we finally got him in a place where we don't have to work behind the scenes. Donna and I are taking over control, but you won't notice any changes since we have always been in control." Lesbian Lovers Leading The Way!!

I was thinking they could post those newsletter thingys each state or region does out on their site, but then that would mean people in other areas would see how pathetically small things have become, how embarrassingly small the number of new students are and how absolutely similar all the letters sound. We can't let all our people know everything from soup to nuts.....are you crazy??? We just tell them they do and they believe it. Muwhahahahaha LOL!

ChattyKathy, the pizza thing is MUCH better than the SPAM thing, though, doncha think? ;)--> Frankee, I'm a closet spammer, myself, but I don't use the gelatin stuff, I use mayo and I put the slices in the frying pan after the eggs are done to brown it. (eggs have to be runny by the way) I haven't had it in a long time, though. *shudder* Not since we depleted our Y2K PREPARATION KIT --> Now about that pizza: I like mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and French-fried potatoes.... Sorry....wrong food but good song... How about basil? Can we have fresh basil or basil pesto on the pizza?

Oh, A La - that reminds me of my ex writing letters to people THANKING them for LOVING us enough to spit on us and tell us how awful we are. :(--> He probably did the same thing at HQ when they accused him of the most idiotic things. They have him pretty broken down to the point that I have serious doubts about his ability to ever recover, especially since he's so bitter about me leaving.

My sentiments perzackly, ex! IS it Tom's Birthday???

Yes Indeed! I know it was in our area. We were expected and yelled at to do the same things. We even had extra meetings about it and got to see spittle fly lcm-style. Not only that, we were expected to know things the wc knew that we couldn't possibly know. -->

All I can say is, " " Thanks, y'all! This is really eye opening! And, skyrider, I fifth the "you're a great writer" compliment. Thank you for sharing all of this with us. I, too, know people who quit jobs and sold businesses only to be left out in the cold upon their return from the roa because they "weren't corps material". One lady cried for a month afterward and I felt so bad for her. I just couldn't see how she could continue to support the leaders and the group who, within a month, had destroyed their security and financial support. Lindy, I think those people are like your parents, smart, good-hearted people who have been so beaten down and humiliated that they no longer have the strength or ability to see their true worthiness. They are so oppressed that they think those submarine lights are the sun. It's truly sad. They deserve so much better! Thanks to everyone on this thread! I have learned a great deal. It helps put things in perspective.

OM, they fully supported LCM and even recruited women for him to abuse! The ONLY REASON they ousted him was because some people had the balls to sue. The ONLY REASON they had to do something about it was because they were about to be exposed! It was reported that even after MN was convicted in a court of law and sent to prison (meaning GUILTY AS CHARGED!!![/b]) That they helped pack up his house and continued to support him. It was reported and documented that he had been turned in numerous times to leadership who DID NOTHING ABOUT IT. How much more proof do you need, man? -->

JT, there IS a new class coming and the horny ed being involved is pure speculation on our part. The WC are tired of teaching LCM's b.s. and they are tired of all the time they have to spend running classes in addition to teaching them. It's gotta suck putting all that effort into, what? a whole 3 teenage new students? The field WC are already so broke and so over-worked by TWI in addition to having real jobs that I think they asked for a new class. I'm just wondering where all those "new people" are that LCM said the WC would be uncovering when they went back to work. -->

Yeah, I also had some red flags from the beginning, but it was so cool to feel like I was learning the Bible that I dismissed the practical things. I noticed the unnatural reverence for the WC in the area and was pretty ticked off at them always asking for money for "love offerings". I noticed cliques among the WC and how they acted holier than thou and elite. Instead of being ticked about that I was jealous and wanted in that group. I noticed how some people were constantly working their a$$e$ off on things while others just sat back and did nothing. It was an extremely unfair balance and I felt some people were being taken advantage of. I should have put my foot down when I had 104 degree fever and could barely hold my head up but they insisted I drive to the class because I couldn't miss a session. What good could possibly come from me driving a half an hour to lay in a lazy boy chair away from everyone else in a dark room and sleeping the whole time? --> But I never missed a session! I just wonder how many people I infected that night. I thought those all night prayer sessions were really odd. Never understood that. You'd think we were trying to pray away WWIII with the urgency they spoke of the need for it. All the gatherings that were supposed to be "for fun" seemed forced and no one seemed to really be enjoying themselves. When one set of WC came to our area, the other WC in the area were warning everyone to get their sh1t together and be on our best behavior. I remember thinking, what the he11? Are these people slave drivers and why should I be worried about leadership? When they started dictating how I my wedding would be, what kind of location I would have and how involved my family could be in the wedding....I actually didn't notice. It seemed to be "the right thing" to do. :(--> Breaks my heart to this day. I ruined the one greatest event in a woman's life that her mom looks forward to as much as she does. :(--> Especially a Southern Mama. Hindsight is 20/20 and there were so many things I should have picked up on or acted on. I just pray that if red flags fly in my face in the future about anything I'm quiet and peaceful enough to recognize them and take proper action.

TheHighWay – Amazing how HUGE the world is and how smart, loving and kind those people we pre-judged are, isn’t it? I feel as though I’ve learned more in the past year than I did the whole time I was involved with TWI. I’m sorry you had the same kind of husband I did. It totally sucks to feel like you’re not good enough constantly. Even when I shared that it felt futile to try to do things as perfectly as he did and wanted me to do, he couldn’t understand why I was upset since I obviously wasn’t doing things perfectly. Silly, me. I thought I was doing some things up to his standards. It just makes quit trying when I get that much support from my own husband. --> Ain’t it great to just be? I can be myself and, while there are things I want to improve in my life, I don’t feel like I’m less of a person or less worthy of love because I’m not perfect. Bob – Steve Hassan rocks, doesn’t he? His book has been a big help to me. I only wish I had been able to use it fully to help my ex see how to think for himself. I think his “authentic self” is so suppressed that he doesn’t really know who that is anymore. It’s a lot easier and less stressful to be ourselves and not try to be someone else. excathedra – Bless your heart! I wonder about people as young as you were and jumping from one bad situation to another. My heart goes out to you! I hope (and it seems to be) that you have grown to trust your own instincts and to guard those personal boundaries while feeling free to think and act the way you feel without reservation. JT I think Bob is right about people either too scared to step out without the net of control that TWI taught them to depend on. That’s why the “offshoots” are so popular, imo. People didn’t like certain aspects of TWI, but they didn’t want to or know how to go about thinking for themselves and making their own decisions. It’s just too easy to stay with what’s familiar as opposed to leaving for what’s right. waterbuffalo Your regular, obnoxious self contributes a lot to this site. I’m glad you’re here. ;)--> Valerie Sucks, don’t it. :(--> I’m glad you always fought them. I suppose I did in a way, but not enough to have gotten out before much damage was done. I think that stubborn attitude of ours possibly helps the recovery go faster in some ways. house :D--> Thanks! Life is so much sweeter, isn’t it? I thank God everyday for my true loving family and friends. I know I would still be in and wondering why I was so unhappy if it hadn’t been for them (and therapy :)--> ). johnuare TWI did help us get over some bad habits, but at what price? Would we have grown out of that without them and with less pain, I wonder? We were obviously looking for an excuse to get away from it, seems as though there are better ways to do that. I wish I had found one of those instead. I much prefer the kind ‘trinity devil spirits’ to whatever the TWIts offer, too. ;)--> Wayfer Not! – HUGE changes doesn’t begin to describe it, does it? Seems like such a monumental understatement. :D--> I’m frequently forgetful, too. I wonder if that’s a side effect….hmmmm…. I would much rather be a forgetful, loving person than a meticulous a$$hole like I used to be, too! It’s so nice to do things for people and to help people with no ulterior motive and with no concerns about getting reproved for not “being especially good to the effen household”! I’ve done more genuine from the heart things for more people in the past year than probably my whole time as a TWIt. And it was all because I wanted to not because I had to or felt obligated to. Steve LOL! :D--> Isn’t it great to be able to laugh about those things and isn’t it even greater that our families feel free to point those things out to us now? I relish the fact that my family again feels like they don’t have to tiptoe around me worried about how I will react to things anymore. I love, too, that they never gave up hope or love for me. Vickles I think that’s something we all probably will have to deal with our whole lives. It was a major portion of our life and it was 150% of our life when we were in it. That’s not easy to just forget completely. But thank God it’s over and we have more power and love to handle it when it does crop up.

Rejoice, the last class had a whopping 5 graduates. I wonder how long they will last.

Maybe I'm being too simplistic, but I'm not gay and therefore, it doesn't really matter to me whether God thinks it's wrong or not. What matters to me is that I'm a sinner just like everyone else and I'm saved, just like a lot of other people and, frankly, it's none of my business what/how/if/when others sin and it certainly isn't my place to judge them. I'm just glad God forgives us. :)-->

LOL! Raf, I'm still trying to figure out what's wrong with Pizza Hut.... I LOVE their BBQ pizza - must be the red neck in me. :D--> Thin and crispy anything from Pizza Hut is better than Dominos or Papa Johns, IMO. The best of the best, though, is Boboli with your own toppings made at home. Frankee, we have something like that here and it IS good pizza. They even sell cookie dough at the one here. :D-->

Man, I feel left out! :(--> I very seldom get a PT.

FRANKEE, DON'T GO THERE!!! We've only just met you! It's a dangerous in there, I tell ya - real dangerous! There's sharks and donkes and elephants, oh my!