Watered Garden

When we were briefly in the FWC in 1993, I began to suspect his rantings and ravings were a symptom of insanity, but pushed that thought away and tried to replace it with "he is soooooo spiritual." One 19th WC woman made it to Gunnison to do the LEAD thing, had a couple of bad asthma attacks and refused to go out into the wilderness, thinking, no doubt, she might have a fatal attack while out there. (My son has asthma and acute attacks are scary as heck). You would have thought she had committed high treason from his .... fit. He had someone in charge put her up in a motel room until it was time to hitch hike home, since he didn't want the likes of her contaminating the holy grounds of Gunnison. At the Corps Night hookup while that group was off campus learning to rappel, etc, he had a mother-loving raging rant about them and their spiritual weakness and how prideful and so on and so forth, naming this unfortunate woman and detailing her many loathsome sins and shortcomings in microscopically and obscenely exquisite detail. When they returned the whole group of them had to listen to that Corps Night rage, and I looked in the dining room and she had her head down crying as she listened to what he said about her. Her husband sat next to her, shame-faced at being married to such a loathsome, weak, unspiritual and worthy creature. Oddly enough, they stuck it out and as far as I know are loyal Wayfers to this very day. I am so dumb, my unspiritual mind kept saying "why didn't they take her to the nearest ER like anyone else would do with an acute asthma attack?" I mean, I certainly have no in-depth spiritual perception and awareness, but I do know how to treat someone who is having trouble breathing - "scoop and run" it's called. You can pray on the way to the emergency department. And I guess the big thing about confrontation - I would NEVER let anyone speak about my husband in such a fashion, and I think this woman's husband should have stood up after the tape ended and announced that he was outraged that LCM would speak about his woman, the mother of his children, in such horrible terms. He could have then driven to NK and punched the SOB in his fat ugly nose. But nooooo, if LCM says your spouse is a piece of poo you better agree with it. If he'd talked that way about Mr. Garden, I would have certainly urged Mr. Garden and the Sprout to get the he11 away from there. LCM's behavior was inexcusable. Period.

I didn't much want to go in the first place, but like a truly Christian, submissive little wife I kept my mouth shut and did as I was told. My reasons, except for one, were purely selfish. We lived in a small town in the South, owned a little home with sidewalks and shade trees, I worked part time and we were okay financially. I loved my life there, but convinced myself that Mr. Garden was hearing a higher calling, and didn't VPW teach that "God speaks to the husband; the husband speaks to the wife. The wife speaks to the husband, and the husband goes to God FOR BOTH OF THEM?" The one good reason was that our son, 11 at the time, had raging ADHD and would not obey me and did exactly as he pleased, lied and stole. I didn't think being in the FWC would make this any better. I was right. I think a lot of people who went in the WC gave up a lifestyle they loved to pursue a lifestyle they ultimately hated. Little did they know how they were being used. We were told how wonderful it would be for our son, and later he told us "it was like 'they' were the Nazis and we were the Jews." Poor kid. He said any kid who touched a wall got a beating. I was never told about it. He finally acted out so much (beating up kids, stealing Pop-Tarts, throwing eggs across Adam's Alley, etc. that we were tossed out with nowhere to go. So off to WA we went to learn from a great man and woman of God how to successfully raise our son in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, only to find them twice the child of hell the FWC staff was. However, God took care of us all through that whole 3 years plus. We came out better and stronger in the long run, not because of the FWC but in spite of it.

We have a three year old cocker spaniel, Buckeye, that we've had since she was eight weeks ago. A little over a year ago, we got a 9 year old retired mama dog, no relation, but from the same breeder. We introduced them in the front yard on leashes. Bucks was curious and very alert but not overtly hostile. Nellie slept in a crate for the first six months she was here. She got sick, got well, and got a whole lot more interested. Because she had spent less time being snuggled up with humans than Buckeye, she was not interested in getting up on the sofa or the bed for a little bit, until it got very cold in the house. Then, necessity required her to get under the snuggi with one of us. Now, she still likes to have her quiet time - probably rambunctious little Buckeye reminds her of all those years with puppies. But she is an absolute sweetheart and has made herself part of the pack.

Aren't people who believe their own lies called sociopaths?

So did VPW kill him or just make him wish he was dead?

Martindale's "teachings" were like the ravening rantings of someone whose brain has been truly fried. He was heartless and mean-spirited. I remember very little about my three months of he11 in FWC. I do remember Corps Nights, and the only difference between the Corps Night excoriations and the FLO bitching and complaining was the voice. Him yelling and screaming and the FWC coordinator's high pitched castrato echoing it with particulars concerning us lowly FWC. It was a bad dream wrapped in a nightmare draped in madness.

So if Mr. Garden was in FLO then, that LC would have been **rl B****n. The one who caught the drinkers, that is. I remember the fellow to whom I think Waysider refers having been somewhere out of state, then coming back on a weekend when we hapless souls were all harvesting from the garden. I met him coming up the stone steps as I was going down them, on my way to report for squash collection, and he had a paper cup in his hand, holding not coffee or beer. I must have given him an inquiring look, as it was about 10 am or so, and he muttered something about jet lag. I think he had been on the West Coast. Problem is, jet lag mostly kicks in flying east to west, not west to east, or at least that's been my experience. Incidentally, I don't remember a single word of the socalled classes in FLO. I do remember a couple that were tape classes of the advanced series; one was about manners and customs of the Bible, and one was about manners, period. In the first, I amused myself by watching the future Mr. Garden (which I of course did whenever possible anyway). He would start to bend forward, slowly at first, then steadily until he jerked awake just before he fell entirely asleep. The second I watched a fellow fellowlaborer, neither Mr. Garden nor Waysider, do the same thing, accompanied by a thick string of drool that eventually landed on his Bible. It was fairly entertaining. I did like the garden, though, as Mr. Garden was there my first year and very impressed that I knew a radish from a weed. :D Was the horse poop for the garden? I remember mulching with piles of straw that had been out all winter and having mice run down my arm when I picked up a bunch of it. That was a real thrill. Not really.

I do know how you feel, BA. A few years back, we went through a situation with a church plant where the pastor, who seemed to be a stand-up guy, raped a 15 year old girl on the floor of his office. After a couple of days, she managed to gather herself together and go to the cops, he was arrested and plea bargained his way out of rape charges. It was all over the local papers. He got eight years; I though Galatians 5:12 would be more appropriate. Apparently, the association of churches to which this pastor belonged sent a letter to the other pastors in the association stating that "we must do everything we can to help and support our brother during this difficult time." Support him? What about the 15-year-old girl? She was a kid, he was 45 with a wife and two children, and a pastor for Pete's sake. I don't care if she pranced into his office naked as a jay-bird, threw herself down on his desk and said "please!" He just should have run like the very devil was on his heels. This letter was mentioned on-line in a series of comments on the article in the local newspaper. I was outraged! I will never support a church of that particular denomination again. I don't know who got a hold of that letter and published parts of it, but they sure did me a favor. There's nothing new under the sun, and man continues to devise evil. It's hard not to take the evil personally, but I think it's more the human nature to try to have one up on the other fella. Your post made me feel sad.

Perhaps that A.C. stuff about the "Jesus" spirit, one that impersonates The Lord Jesus Christ, whispering false revelation in your ear, kept you from listening and obeying the very real revelation/inspiration/whatever you want to call it that Holy Spirit really was telling you, and listen to the "teacher" instead?

Would someone please define this evil, foul, loathsome "Word of Faith ministry?" What do they teach?

"Broken Arrow" is the official military code for a missing nuclear warhead. I learned that from Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Isaiah 58:11 And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

And of course Waysider remembers the familia we were given every week in gallon bags. This happy mixture contained a number of less savory ingredients mentioned above, specifically steel cut oats and lots of healthful flax seeds and raisins. If someone on the "manna" food crew for a particular week was more inventive (and could get away with it) it might contain almonds, walnuts, cinnamon or even once or twice coconut. My personal suggestion would have been chocolate chips. I don't think carob would have been as good. I am surprised no one thought to include mung bean sprouts in the mix. I seem to remember that at one point raspberry leaf tea was highly recommended for pregnant women, but have no personal experience with that. Looking back, I think if we had been better fed we might have been less disgruntled and actually got more work done in the garden or wherever we were assigned. It's possible to cook and consume healthful, nutritious food that doesn't taste like it was fished out of the compost bin. I do it every day. Why didn't they use real seasonings, like garlic and rosemary, or cumin or anything but kelp or some kind of other weird stuff? To clarify: "Manna" was the name of the food program for Fellow Laborers of Ohio. We were not surprised to learn the translation of the word "manna" is "What Is It?" We asked that twice a day.

So is rape a "spiritual event?" I hadn't thought much CF&S but I must have not paid attention when he said that. How totally weird it sounds now.

Rochelle we know about from the thread "The Lead Accident: What Happened." The others I'm not sure about. I do know there was a girl in WC 7 who went home from Emporia to ho-ho relo and committed suicide by firearm while her parents were out Christmas shopping. I know they blamed LCM. This girl was a WOW in the same WOW branch I was in and I was told of her demise by another friend from Ohio FL who was in the 7th WC. I can't remember her name right now, unfortunately.

So if you're "more spiritual than any of us" it's okay to lie?

Especially in this country, where we have SO MUCH STUFF, so little real spiritual values, denial is all. Remember "Fame?" "I'm gonna live forever", were the first words of the theme song. No, you're not. Perhaps the Victorian era over-romanticized death, but we simply deny it exists. Youth and beauty are everything. Those top models are younger and younger, thinner and thinner, year by year. It's important to realize that we live in corruptible flesh. We get old, we get tired, we get chronic and acute diseases. Yet somebody the corruptible shall be made incorruptible and someday the mortal shall put on immortality. I believe this life is a sort of boot camp for the next. If dying equals failure or weakness, then we are all weak and all have failed. But if Christ indeed is the first fruits of the dead, then we have something to look forward to that not even condemnation from TWI or our own denial can take away!

I doubt it. Needless to say, we haven't been in touch for years. They are still "in."

I don't know how relevant this is, but when we were kicked out of the FWC and went to the Left Coast, we were filled with embarrassment, grief, regret and very upset. The little WC princess we knew from way back when told us "the minute you walked out of (the FWC leader's) office you should have renewed your mind to the situation. You should never have given it another thought but set your faces forward and never given the FWC one more thought." HUH? We gave up a life we loved, great jobs, a really cute house in a lovely little Southern town, sold stuff, put other stuff in storage, to go do this training to become great man/woman of God, and we are supposed to never think about it again? What was SHE thinking? Of course her husband was the mini-MOG who told us a few months later to take our son up in the mountains and beat him with a 2 x 4. Nice couple. Really great examples of the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. One evening we came to their home for fellowship and there was a vase of flowers on their table. I asked whose birthday it was and was told to sit down and be quiet; we would all be told later. Turned out the woman's father had died and the BL had sent her the flowers. She was completely serene, smiling sweetly, perfectly calm. She did not go to the funeral because all her siblings would be there and they had left the Household of Holiness. She did not wish to associate with them. They sent flowers. She blew off condolences; daddy was dead but more importantly, she had renewed her mind and wished to think of him no more. What a sterling example of faithfulness to The Household of Holiness. Lazarus died; Jesus wept. I guess she thought she was better than Him.

No, seriously, I had sarcoidosis and was healed of it.

I think it centered around healing and other miracles. When LCM took over there wasn't much healing or other miracle stuff happening so they quit publishing it. Did miracles and healings really happen? Well, one happened to me.

That looks like it is from the early 1980s or late 1970s, judging by the way they dress etc. I don't think anyone pays that much attention to TWI any more.

I do believe in a supreme and omnipotent God. I also believe He has given man freedom to choose. Sometimes we make stupid choices. Of course God knows the future, because He is God after all. But I don't think God does hateful and mean things to people. That's Satan's job and he is real good at it, unfortunately.

"To Adam He said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." Genesis 3:17-19 I think we tend to read over this and not think too much detail about it. Someday I would love to do a major study on The Curse. From what little I know, this was more than to kick them out of Eden. It was more than a tougher time bearing children. Cursed is the ground which was the source of their food. Adam's sin was so great that it affected everything, the soil beneath our feet, the air we breathe. Over a few thousand years, things have continued to deteriorate, including not only the earth, which supplies our food, but also as a result, our physical bodies. I used to work in a cancer hospital; many cancers are genetically traceable; they are written into genetic structure. Also when we go to a doctor and they want our family history? Heart disease, diabetes, cancer? I think it is part of the curse that has gotten into our very genes; we are sown with death. So to say God is "testing us" or "smiting us" or "blessing us" with sickness and disease is BS. Let me put it another way: My son can be an ornery little cuss. We taught him to be a hard worker, be the husband of one wife, provide for his family. We taught him to always tell the truth, to take care of what he has, be a good steward and save his money. He does none of these things. Yet, we still love him. He's still welcome in our home. While we don't let him sit around and sponge off us, if he or one of his has a genuine need we will do what we can to help. So if God is a God Who hates, who kills, who hurts, I'm a better parent than He is? I don't think so, I think God is the best of the best! However, there's a bright side to all of this: JESUS CHRIST PAID THE PRICE FOR OUR SIN AND WHOEVER CLAIMS HIM AS LORD AND SAVIOR IS FREE INDEED!

Confusing because it's used as an excuse perhaps? For example, I have a friend who has cancer, bad. So people say to her "everything happens for a reason." They don't know what else to say. They don't really know why she has this diagnosis; did God get PO'd at her and smite her? Is He testing her? Is she possessed like TWI teaches? Maybe He's blessing her with an important lesson to be learned? Sometimes the reason things happen is that shyte happens.