Rocky

Indeed

I also was able to take emergency leave from Lajes Field, Azores when my sister was sick.... 1975.

A friend posted these comments on FB today. Not necessarily about JE Stiles' book, but these comments DO go to the essence of issues raised by rrobs' comments. It seems obvious that the message rrobs has been setting forth is that he's right and we're wrong because we don't necessarily hold to his (pro word) interpretation of what he learned from PFLAP and Wierwille. I'm not sure who Don Petros is or might be, but it's clear that there are a LOT of words that have been posted to GSC over the last 17 years demonstrating that what TWI has been missing all along is a sense of morality. Wierwille's "calling" was that he was right and everyone who disagrees is wrong. But his "rightness" definitely didn't consistently translate into morality or compassion.

Rhema

Where's your fruit? Didn't Jesus say something about being able to tell them by their fruits?

As to lack of self-awareness, that you avoided the salient question in my comment lends credence to that reality. "Did you learn your "pro word" theology from anyone other than veepee?"

What does it really mean to be "pro word?" Did you learn your "pro word" theology from anyone other than veepee? Your use of the expression "pro word" seems to demonstrate a lack of self-awareness.

J Fred was a dear friend. We shared a house in Mesa, AZ for a year (1985-1986) right after his wow year and immediately after he separated from Ellie. Eventually he remarried a sweet lady named Marilyn. The lived in the Phoenix area for a few years then moved to Michigan where Marilyn was from. He was also a heavy smoker who contracted throat cancer. I was sad when I learned he had passed.

He passed away several years ago.

Well, it isn't necessarily good for using as a hammer to beat people up and telling them they are wrong...

Whose word? Even if you were to approach a standard that might be considered speaking God's Word, how would anyone know that's what you're doing? Wherefore by their fruits...? Where's your fruit? [disclaimer: I don't claim to be speaking for God.]

Not my place to disclose DWBH's identity. How can I say you're not speaking for God? That's easy. Your proclamations run counter to the bible. You can't know what's in someone's heart. Where do I get my information? Sunesis... (not the person who used that handle here). and common sense. "... I really don't understand where you are coming from." Clearly.

The way to start is to click the Donate button on the front page of each forum.

Even Satan can recite scriptures, no?

Perhaps a valid longing. But how will you "know" if you find some? How do you know that it always blesses the hearer?

There. You revealed the essence of what's going on with you. You declared that you speak for God. But that's just not true. You don't know what's in DWBH's heart.

Two possible (likely) factors: 1) you don't seem to have grasped the essence of your audience; 2) you aren't clearly communicating your message. I get your frustration. Online message forums are very limited in their ability to communicate nuances that often are a part of nonverbal communication.

Just mistaken.

So, now if you speak it or write it, it's God speaking? Hubris much?

Perhaps rrob is the infrequent wayfer who thinks he can reason some sense into the reprobates at GSC... Hey rrob, nice try but you're spinning your wheels.

As best we could tell, Garth has passed away.

The REV. "We have worked to keep the REV as a literal translation whenever appropriate, like the ASV or King James. It is not a “dynamic equivalent translation,” such as the NIV, although there are times when, to make good sense in English, we had to depart from a strictly literal translation. Our goal is to eventually have an “essentially literal” translation of the Bible that more closely represents biblical truth than any other translation currently on the market, and also one that is written in today’s English." The language they use to describe their translation screams Private Interpretation. "Whenever appropriate" according to whom?

Technically, that's a question for an attorney. Change the "could" to "would" and it becomes subjective and a matter of how severe the public perception becomes.

Good thread to bring back from the abyss... Since 2004, to my knowledge, two books by former TWI insiders have been published: Losing the Way: A Memoir of Spiritual Longing, Manipulation, Abuse and Escape by Kristen Skedgell (2008) " A riveting and finely crafted true story, Losing the Way recounts how the daughter of East Coast intellectuals was recruited into a well-known rightwing Bible cult, The Way International, where she was manipulated, betrayed, and abused, before being rescued by the worldly mother she rejected. Skedgell shows how easily an idealistic young person can be swept away by a spiritual quest and the quiet malevolence lurking beneath the religious exterior of a false leader." and Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International by Charlene Edge (2016) "Charlene Edge’s riveting memoir about the power of words to seduce, betray, and, in her case, eventually save. After a personal tragedy left her bereft, teenaged Charlene rejected faith and family when recruiters drew her into The Way International, a sect led by the charismatic Victor Paul Wierwille. The Way became one of the largest cults in America. Charlene gave it seventeen years of her life. Believing that God led her to Wierwille, she underwent his intensive two-year training program, The Way Corps, designed to produce loyal leaders. When Wierwille warned of a possible government attack, she prepared to live off the grid. She ignored warning signs of Wierwille’s paranoia and abuse—he condemned dissenters as the Devil’s agents, he required followers to watch pornography, he manipulated Corps into keeping his secrets in a “lock box,” he denied the Holocaust, and he surrounded himself with bodyguards. She married a Corps graduate and they served across the United States as Way leaders, funneling money into Wierwille’s bursting coffers and shunning anyone who criticized him. As obedient Way Corps, they raised their child to believe the doctrines of Wierwille, the cult’s designated “father in the Word.” Eventually Charlene was promoted to the inner circle of biblical researchers, where she discovered devastating secrets: Wierwille twisted texts of Scripture to serve his personal agenda, shamelessly plagiarized the work of others, and misrepresented the purpose of his organization. Worst of all, after Wierwille died in 1985, shocking reports surfaced of his secret sex ring. Amid chaos at The Way’s Ohio-based headquarters, Charlene knew she had to escape—for her own survival and her child’s. Reading like a novel, Undertow is not only a brilliant cautionary tale about misplaced faith but also an exposé of the hazards of fundamentalism and the destructive nature of cults. Through her personal story, Charlene Edge shows how a vulnerable person can be seduced into following an authoritarian leader and how difficult it can be to find a way out.