Lifted Up

Certainly Kristen Skedgell wrote of this regarding her case. I was never told to keep my assault in the lockbox; I suppose they figured nobody would believe a male survivor. But the term "loosened up" was used about me.

Perhaps the best post on this thread. Short and right to the point!

No argument, But the truth of this sexual activity in the Way is even stronger. Abusers in all walks of life crave power over their victims. As my best survivor friend, who is an entertainer told me, they all read from the same script. And that power is not always physical. Mind control in the Way was rampant. This puts much of the activity into the rape and sexual assault categories. It also explains how I, a male, was sexually assaulted by two corps women. They even used the same words VPW used, that I needed to be loosened up. As you would say, this doesn't make adultery and fornication Godly even if they are done consensually to both parties. But such spiritual pressure does not pass for consent. Such is the fruit of the great "promise". Ask any Way survivor.

Yea, I hear you. They have to push this story in an attempt to lend validity to their teachings. I was from the old days when VPW was still alive and leading he Way. They cant let their teachings stand on their own merit now as they couldn't then either. (I was 8th corps) My personal question is, did the Word as it had not been known since the first century include VPW's teaching to LCM and the corps than the "men of God" had the right to have their sexual needs met in order to further the work of the ministry? Many women were exually assaulted for this purpose, was THAT the reason for God speaking to VPW? And some corps men who did not go along...including this one...were sexually assaulted by equally mind controlled corps women to show us how to claim our "Godly" rights. Was that part of "the promise"? I hope you got out without suffering much trauma.

Ive heard a lot about promoting lies and false rumors lately. But I don't know if anybody got my point. I'll try it another way. Let's assume, for the proverbial sake of argument, that VPW told the truth about what he described. My point was, then why tell the world? If the word God was teaching him to teach others was that great, why does it need embellishing? I actually wanted to speak to those who believe it happened. I would say that even if it did, all VPW did by telling this story was make a Muhammed Ali like claim "I am the greatest" instead of letting his teachings stand for themselves

To me, the premise of this thread has long been irrelevant. I have never worried about the snowstorm since I was woken up a decade and a half ago. Weather reports don't cover everything. In fact, I was out running once at HQ and ran across what seemed to be a very localized snow squall. It started suddenly, was blinding for less than five minutes, then stopped just as suddenly. I'm sure there was no weather station around that would have reported it. But if God told to VPW as VPW said, why use it to boost his own glory instead of just said teaching speak for itself? What does speak for itself to e are all the sexual assaults and associated VPW "doctrine" that laid the foundation for them. That of course includes but is not limited to my own assault. If those are the fruits of God speaking directly to VPW, I wouldnt want any more of them.

Were we Way Corps men as leaders entitled to all the women in the kingdom? If we were, and refused to claim what was ours, maybe that was why some of us had to be "Loosened up". (The exact words used not only by VPW, about LCM, but by my two assaulters about me)..

Waydale then Greasespot kept hammering reality about the Way at me until I was finally ripe for a trigger to stir reality in my mind, and y own memory. Full of resentment from being yanked involuntarily out of the Way, I simply refused to believe the bad things that I was hearing about....namely the sexual assaults then rapes. Finally the trigger came, in the form of "Losing the Way", written by a person I had been with in the Way Corps, even in the same state during my apprentice year. Empathizing with her and many who were subjected to rape and sexual assault, I finally believed them, Kristen's book striking so many bells and raising red flags like crazy in front of my face. All that, and help from a non Way related survivor friend, brught back the memory of my own sexual assault. So though it didn't bear fruit with me right away, Waydale, followed by Greasespot, laid the groundwork for recalling my trauma, for which I have been undergoing therapy since 2017. .

My best survivor friend understood that idea, despite having little knowledge of TWI or any cults. She is a child abuse survivor who helped start a large national group to fight abuse. She suggested to me that a book written specifically for male child abuse survivors might help me heal from my Way sexual assault (at 29). She was right. This was after she helped me fully recall everything and break my silence. Her help sort of culminated my waking up that probably started with Kristen Skedgell's "Losing the Way". Didn't end my healing; still working on that.

Yes, and it was those times, while he was trying to show us his "loving father" self, that I think was supposed to keep us in obedience when we had to endure his not so fatherly wrath.

Yes, but we were to love giving that obedience to our "loving father in the Word".

Thanks for not simply giving your answer, but adding your own reasons. You take the "Edge" off of any doubts I had in saying that!. It took me 38 years to fullly eliminate my blindness and see that, thanks partly to my above mentioned friend. For decades I refused to believe anyone had been sexually assaulted, let alone myself.

Nice to hear your perspectives as one who knew the guy in the corps. And I hope your recovery continues to go well; mine is doing OK, my sexual assault was not my only trauma. Interestingly, the friend who has been most helpful in my recovery has no Way or cult connections, but is a child abuse survivor. But she understands how it goes in a cult; in many ways we were treated as children. I just started a new therapist, there was nothing wrong with my other one, but we agreed it is time for me to explore new avenues.

I think you gave some good reasons why your book is still going strong. One reason is that cult trauma, like any trauma, is lifelong. We old folks are still being affected, and I think others find the book relevant because cults and abusers, no matter how different from each other, use so many common techniques, so today's cult survivors find it relevant. Do you feel that in many ways we were treated as children in the Way? My best survivor friend is not Way or cult related, but a child abuse survivor who helped start a large national group to fight abuse. A few years ago she suggested a book written by Mike Lew for child abuse survivors to help in my recovery from my Way sexual assault, even though she knew it happened to me as an adult. She understood; it's amazing how much she knows. And I have found the relevance myself in my support group interactions with survivors of church and other child abuse.