OldSkool

Wow, they upgraded.

I do require a certificate of authenticity that: a) the cups were used by vintage wayfers b) they can be reused by vintage wayfers I accept nothing less.

Keep in mind I will pay a small fortune for used cups from the 77 advanced class.

I am only interested if they are reused and reusable.

Yepp!! I came to realize after leaving TWI, and mentally retracing my own exit path, that without a person's consent the way international has NO AUTHORITY! While I was battling it out with Rosalie and her lapdogs I began to understand there was nothing they could do unless I went along with it. Therefore, I developed the attitude of "do your worst!" To me corpse status, networks of supposed brethren, being "allowed" to serve (a.k.a slave) for the way international was all something I could do without. In fact, those things neither defined me or my relationship with God/Christ. Therefore, nothing they could threaten me with mattered. In hindsight, I didn't need the usurpers trying to dictate my life and relation ships in the first place. They tried to take something that wasn't theirs and supplant themselves in the meantime.

I won't handle beliefs but will reserve myself to single, charismatic leader. Rosalie has gone out of her way to give the impression that there is no single, charismatic leader. All of the supposed delegation with the teaching schedules and other public speaking opportunities that VP and Craig reserved for themselves now give the appearance of a panel of independent teachers all working towards the same thing. This is RosaLIE's sleight of hand to out "Fox" the main component of the cult label. Now Rosalie is about as charismatic as a snail, but let me say once again, she is the single leader and ever at her side is Donna Martindale. All of the authority is still concentrated in one person even though they have a board of directors, officers, cabinet, way tree, etc. Each level is in place to control the next lower level. The higher up the tree you go the more control is exerted over you. All of the public speaking events are TIGHTLY controlled through multiple outlines, script development, critiques and the like and all roads lead to Rosalie. That is why everyone reads their teaching notes word for word. If you stray too far from the program Rosalie will rake you over the coals. I bring this up because one of today's selling points is (to paraphrase) "we used to be considered a cult but are no longer and part of the reason is Rosalie is not the head, charismatic figure." I will concede she is not charismatic. But she is the central figure in the way international. She is just a little slicker than her predecessors.

:blink:

No, according to him, they were all possessed, devil worshipers.

You won't be sorry. Sometimes I wish I had held on to more but in the end I am glad it's gone. If need anything I will buy it from eBay, and the personal notes were an albatross for me. I wish you all the best!!

I should correct this to say: Had my way goggle on for a minute.

I couldn't agree more! And perhaps VPW used this garbage as a building block in his own constructed public persona as the MOGFODAT (Man of God for Our Day and Time.) Pffffttt! x 2

Let me preface by saying I prefer city living but have lived in the country as well (not only in TWI) and I appreciate it's merits. The way international teaches that country living and country people are superior in some way to city living and city people. They go on to tie it into scriptures where Cain built the first city, therefore there is a higher concentration of evil in cities because, to quote the forehead, "people are crawling all over each other." And not to mention they teach that men and women of God in the Bible are usually country folk. Never mind that people in the Old Testament flocked to cities to find protection behind it's walls from wild animals, criminals, invaders and God knows what else. Never mind that Victor Paul Wierwille had to goto Haight Ashbury to hijack young city folk into his cornfield cult in order to get an influx of people. Never mind all of the Church epistles were addressed to fellowships in CITIES! Never mind that in the book of Revelation God promises New Jerusalem, a city whose builder and maker is God. Never mind all the evil that the way international has inflicted on it's victims over the years. Perhaps the way international has been spewing opinionated "hillbilly" drivel once again. I know, silly post, but it's been stuck in my craw since my first foundational class in NYC.

And the irony is they can't really see how insignificant they have become over the last two decades. They have decimated their own numbers and now they have a really hard time getting anyone to participate. They will no doubt exist in one form or another for the foreseeable future but they lack relevance in today's world. Like a depressed, downsized industrial town, they lean on their history (rewritten as it may be) to say they are special in some way or another. Meanwhile they are blind to their current anemic state. I was blind to it as well when I was in just a few years ago. I had believed the propaganda that if we build it they will come. At one point I actually thought I was part of a preparation phase at HQ where we were getting ready for a large influx of people that God had us working hard to receive. Fast forward a few years and a promotion or two up the ladder where I truly saw that there was no influx of anything except hot air from the higher ups to keep the troops motivated. Few new people, lack of participation in the advanced class, working on staff, way disciple, and way corps. All things twi are on life support.

But it was spiritual logic....

You didn't really expect a different answer, did you?

B.b.b.b.b.but...the Old Testament is for our learning.... Thought I would give the pre-programmed answer any good wayfer would spew.

Well if the last 12 years have been any indication, we should expect more of the same. Rosie's attitude is the faithful have always been a remnant and since they are convinced they are right in the center of God's will there is no reason to change. Obviously, to them, they are right and the whole world is wrong. People are just refusing to believe and they will herald forth the truth even if no one believes. After all, they will still get huge rewards from God at the bema. Rosie and the gang are completely and totally out of touch. I speak of leadership. Many of the followers know "the ministry" is shrinking and to them fellowship is like going to Church on Sundays.

Man, that's just corny. What if the movie script had Rocky winning by knockout in the first 90 seconds of the first round but he only wanted to go the distance....anywho....

Yep and Wierwille seems to reference her as someone who played such an important, yet insignificant role in his MOGdom.

Yeppp!!! And the intent of the movies we were allowed was we would parse them for spiritual significance.

I got one for ya. When in-residence we were allowed an approved movie once in a while as the year was winding down. We told our corps coordinator we wanted to watch Training Day. He thought from the title that it was something like Rudy or something to do with training and since we were in-residence it was apropos. When he found out it was a movie about a corrupt cop and was loaded with graphic violence and worse he nearly flipped his bic. But what could he really say, he approved it! Of course from there he highly scrutinized any selection. Which is more absurd. Flipping over Training Day? Or approving movies for a group of adults, many of them middle aged?

Roslaind Rinker (I assume this is the same one can be found here) Rosalind Rinker I think this quote from her is VERY telling considering she knew Victor when he was getting started.

Uhhh.....dirt?

Two things. First, whenever folks like Rev. Leonard are mentioned in present day TWI it is almost always as if God brought these people to Wierwille to teach him the greatness of gawd's word like it had not been known since the first century. Not that Wierwille stumbled on this person, learned from him, stole his material, or whatever. Second. It seems it took Wierwille a couple years to rip off Leonard, get his bearings, and finally get around to change his articles of incorporation to match his new direction. And am I to understand he was still getting paid full time during this time for his pastorate?