I love the post-but must make a correction or two.
Remember that term? Didn't vpw say something in piffle about spiritual hitchhikers....going thru life hitchhiking off others' believing?
It's a very apt description.....and wierwille would know. He took a "ride" on B.G. Leonard's growing ministry and enrolled in B.G.'s class, Gifts of the Spirit in March of 1953. Until that time, wierwille was stranded and was going nowhere, fast.
What happened after wierwille "thumbed this ride?"
Well.....
(1) He convinced mrs. and don to take B.G.'s class in June/July of 1953.
(2) Then, wierwille rushed back to Ohio to run B.G.'s class for others....copied B.G.'s format, etc.
(3) Tweaked this class (later renamed pfal) and boasted of God showing him (vp).
(4) Incorporated twi that year.....in 1953. Why THAT year??
(5) B.G. Leonard found out about wierwille's thievery and plagarism....and copyrighted his work therafter.
(6) In later years, wierwille cuts and pastes to his class format....and the revamped pfal class is filmed.
(7) Wierwille hitched "a ride" on the works of Bullinger, Stiles, and others.
Was wierwille a spiritual hitchhiker.....??? :unsure:
Or, did wierwille in fact carjack B.G.'s vehicle...??
Imo, the latter scenario is the apt description. For indeed, a hitchhiker generally is thankful for the generosity of a ride from point A to point B....and goes on his merry way. Whereas, a carjacker grabs what he wants and kicks the owner to the curb.....and drives away with the vehicle.
And, lest we forget......in pfal, "I've got a jack but I ain't gonna help you" comment.
Whereas, wierwille coulda said......"I'm into carjacking so as to help you." Wanna ride??
In the interest of completeness, here's how I described this in the 5.6 version of
my vpw timeline...
"In March, 1953, vpw found out about BG Leonard, and pushed his way into BG Leonard's
CTC Gifts of the Spirit class, which Leonard told him was closed, but permitted him
to enter after vpw arrived. vpw took this class twice, bringing several people with him
the second time. (That second time was July 1953.)
vpw then went off for a few months by himself, then told Leonard that he'd like to run
Leonard's CTC Gifts of the Spirit class locally for his congregation on a one-time basis.
Seeing the benefit to other Christians, Leonard agrees.
vpw then ran the first of "his" Receiving the Holy Spirit Today classes, (October 1953)
and took a photograph of that class. He told the students that this is "his" class
called RtHST, with NO mention of Leonard's class from which 100% of the content
had been directly lifted. The students had no reason to think he's lying. vpw sent
the photograph to Leonard and told Leonard that this is a photo of the class that took
Leonard's class on a one-time basis that was run locally. Leonard took vpw at his word,
and had no idea that vpw continued to run Leonard's class with vpw's name on it,
defrauding both Leonard AND the students. That the classes were interchangeable
in terms of material was the opinion of vpw himself- anyone who had graduated
Leonard's "Gifts of the Spirit" class was considered to be-by vpw- a graduate of
"vpw's" RtHST class.
To this day, many students STILL think this was was vpw's class, even when
evidence is introduced to the contrary. Later, vpw added the contents of JE Stiles' work
on "Gifts of the Spirit" and Bullinger's work on the Holy Spirit as well as
"How to Enjoy the Bible", and expanded the class into a class that was the
sum of the 3 men's work-Stiles, Bullinger and Leonard-rather than just Leonard.
He also renamed the class "Power For Abundant Living", rather than
"Receiving the Holy Spirit Today".
vpw later made a few offhand comments here and there that the material in the class
is not original, but its compilation was.
(However, as it was constructed, vpw could have been sued by copyright holders for
Bullinger, Stiles, and Leonard. Leonard found out but chose not to prosecute.)
It is often noted that the supposed 1942 promise claimed vpw would be taught-by God-
things unknown since the First Century Christians, if vpw would teach others-
yet ALL the material vpw taught was all taken from Leonard/Stiles/Bullinger/Kenyon
and a few others, and thus, it was all KNOWN. Therefore, if a god gave vpw revelation
in 1942, it was a god that lied, since vpw's source for everything was
MAN and NEVER represented information lost since the First Century AD-not even once.
In 1953, vpw also took JE Stiles' "Gifts of the Spirit" book, changed a few words,
and self-published it as the 1st Edition of "Receiving the Holy Spirit Today."
That it was the same year is no coincidence-it was the "original" textbook for
the "original" class. ("Original" in the sense that they were the 1.0 version of
his class, not that they originated at that time.)
Later editions would include incorporation of material from Leonard and Bullinger,
and would include more cosmetic changes in the order of the words and the
specific words used in an attempt to make it look less like Stiles' book.
Among the changes was the deletion of a reference to an anonymous Christian
who "put it together" for vpw (that was Stiles), who was missing by the 4th
edition book, where vpw put it all together himself.
vpw ran "his" PFAL classes continually from 1953 onward, with some success.
Dr E.E. Higgins was one of the students in the October 1953 class. She's known as
the anonymous person who would call vpw at night and ask what God
showed him that day. In 1954, Dr Higgins first introduced vpw to EW
Bullinger's books, and gave him his first copies of the Companion Bible, and
"How to Enjoy the Bible." The contents of both these books later became integral
parts of "vpw's" class.
And yes,
I believe "carjacking" is an apt analogy for what he did to Leonard and Stiles
The "5.6" version of my vpw timeline was dated 2/26/06,
and is the most recent version. It's on page 26.
I wouldn't crosspost it, but I think it's relevant to Skyrider's
original post-asserting vpw carjacked the work of others.
For those people-and they WILL come out of the woodwork-
who are swift to claim that the timeline lacks any sort of
documentation-I direct them to 26 pages of discussion of
same on the thread I linked in this very post.
You'll see the sources for the statements, as well as the
corrections and clarifications as the version #s go up.
So, here's that crosspost.
"Edition 5.6 of my timeline.
I added the Moody reference,
and a detail about the vpw/bgl class.
====
This timeline is mostly from publications OF TWI.
=========
Let's see.
victor paul wierwille was born to a large family of German descent.
(Born December 31, 1916.)
According to locals, Ernst, his father, was an alcoholic with negligible
education, with a bad temper who acted as a bully.This was true in his dealings
with locals AND with his own family.Each child had their own chores.
Little Victor chose to neglect his chores, and would vanish for hours into the woods nearby.
(It has been noted that this running off may have been as much to avoid
an abusive father as it was to avoid doing any work. Or it may be unrelated.)
He claimed that when he was young, he once told a minister that he wanted to be
a man of God like him. Other than this statement, Little Victor showed
no actual involvement in the church, no actual effort or work in the things of the church.
So, this seems to suggest an interest-not in being a man of God- but in being
the man the whole community turned out to see, to have their respect.
As a teenager, young Vic continued to lack any qualities of a man of God. In fact, he went out of his way to earn a reputation going in the opposite direction. He was a bully, a showoff and a braggart.
(He seems to have been taught this at home.) He did all sorts of things for attention. He was quick to start a fight or mouth off at others. He had a quick wit. One of his common ways of showing off was to tear up and down the streets of New Knoxville on his motorcycle, trying to get attention.
His demonstrated talents seemed to be limited to his quick wit and his ability to play a guitar,
which he showed competency in.
Old Man Wierwille was preparing to pass on thefamily farm to young Vic, as was the family
tradition. Young Vic balked at this. He'd had plans to go to college. At first, he considered
a few fields-business and so on- but by this time, he had decided upon the seminary.
(This was before the time he referred to as "believing the Bible as the Word of God".)
Old Man Wierwille was skeptical of this, and said that young Vic, having shown lack
of hard work on simple manual labour on the farm, would never make a good preacher.
Young Vic convinced him he would do better with books than with sweating out in the field.
Young Vic went to school for the ministry.
His community thought it was some kind of joke- everyone knew he lacked the proper character.
(He never overcame that impression with them.)
Victor had the option to study "Bible Languages" or other subjects requiring hard study. He instead chose to study Homiletics, the "softest" option he could have learned. (He never overcame his deficiency in study in Bible languages, church history, etc.-not even to the level of an informed layman as of 2004.)
Victor was married July 2, 1937(Mr was 20, Mrs was 21). According to vpw, he and Mrs W married secretly while he was still in college. No reason for this was ever given.
Victor suggested he played on his college's basketball team, and that after college
he played on the professional team "the Sheboygan Redskins." His claim of each was
phrased ambiguously ("I played basketball all through college" "I was involved in the
Sheboygan Redskins") and the purpose seems to have been so that he was believed
to have said he did both without actually making the claims. Later, he began
making claims that he also "invented the hook shot" at this time.
He graduated with a BA from Lakeland College in 1937. Donald was born in 1940.
Victor graduated Princeton Theological Seminary in 1941, with a Masters in Practical Theology.
He did his "trial sermons" in 1941 in Payne, Ohio for the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
According to his memorial in 1985, he started his first pastorate July 1941,
and was ordained July 29, 1941.
(According to his account in TW:LIL, his first pastorate began in 1944 in Van Wert, Ohio,
and continued until 1957.)
Victor entered his first pastorate and wasted little time becoming a bully and a
control freak AGAIN. He himself claimed he started his job by immediately
doing whatever the elders told him not to do- even though it hampered his ability to do his job
properly. According to him, they confronted him on this, he mouthed off at them, and they just
let him go about his business, and the local church prospered as a direct result of him.
He was known for building a fairly interesting sermon, and getting people involved,
including the youths. (This was STILL before the time when he claimed he believed
the Bible was the Word of God.)
He said the following year, (1942) he slowly became discouraged and was searching.
He was still the man he had been, which is to say he was prideful, arrogant, boastful,
liked attention, and viewed the clergy as a PROFESSION and not a holy calling.
(He could have been just as "called" as an accountant or actuary, say.)
During 1942, he claimed he was ready to give up being a minister.
About a year later (Payne, 1942, August), he met Rosal1nd R1nker. She was a former
missionary to China and Korea. She's remembered as the anonymous person
who asks vpw
"Why don't you search for the greatest of all things in life
which would teach Christians the HOW of a really victorious life?"
This woman fixed a great deal of attention on him, and had a forceful personality.
She spent some time with him alone. It was of this time that he later claimed
he asked forgiveness of God. He also credits her with DOGGING HIM
"on the Bible being the Word of God",
and she "got me STARTED on the right track".
which, until this time, he hadn't believed, not even in all his years of school.
During 1942, he claimed he was ready to give up being a minister in August AND September.
One month later (September 1942), an event happened that he later showed a habit of re-writing.
As Victor told God he was getting ready to quit (again), He claimed that God spoke to him and said
He (God) would teach him (Victor) His Word (God's Word)
like it had not been known since the 1st century,
if he (Victor) would teach it to others.
(This is the famous 1942 promise.)
vpw did not discuss this event with anyone until he told the early corps-according to Mrs W.
Thus, the earliest possible origin-point of this story is 1969,
when the "zero corps" was begun.
Victor of course lacked the education in church history to contextualize this claim-
since it was inaccurate as stated. This implies that this was a made-up story,
or it came from a god lacking knowledge in history.
Victor later added a second part to his story- a snowstorm.
He said that he required PROOF of God, and asked God to let him see it snow.
A moment later, he opened his eyes, and he saw a veritable blizzard out his window.
The later addition to this story suggest that he felt it needed more support
after using the initial story. Victor showed no marked improvement, neither in
character, nor in behaviour, thru the rest of the 1940s (nearly the entire decade after this
supposed promise), which strongly supports the rather direct assertion that he lied thru his teeth.
vpw referred to this as one of the two most significant days of his life.
October 3, 1942, vpw did his first radio broadcast. He continued to do a radio show
under one name or another for several years- Vesper Chimes, aka Chimes Hour Youth
Caravan. Its name changes to Chimes Hour Youth Caravan in 1947.
Rhoda joined its staff in 1947.
(Supposedly, the name "the Way" was in the documentation for this group since 1942.)
In 1948, vpw was issued a "Doctorate" from Pikes Peak Seminary, an organization lacking
accreditation and formal classes (among other things.)
At some point, vpw began claiming that he took EVERY class
Moody Bible School's Correspondence program issued.
According to official records at Moody, vpw never turned in a single class of
their correspondence school. This may mean he took classes and never
finished ANY (which indicates laziness), or that he was lying about taking
any of their classes.
At one point, Rufus Moseley attempted to minister Holy Spirit to vpw, but vpw demonstrated
an inability to receive it. In 1951, he visited missionaries in Honduras.
In 1951, vpw made another claim he was ready to give up on the ministry
(even after, supposedly a direct promise of God about really important stuff
which promptly failed to materialize.)
In November, 1951, vpw attended the Full Gospel Rally, in Tulsa, Oklahoma
(a big Evangelical conference.) He made several claims of this conference.
People at the conference OTHER than vpw supposedly had no difficulty beginning
speaking in tongues. He claimed he faked speaking in tongues in a clever
way, and others were unable to tell. He was further disillusioned about working for God.
He then claimed a miraculous snowstorm blocked him into the city entirely, and
ALL the evidence there NO blizzard whatsoever (and there was a WEALTH of evidence
-at the airports, Amtrak and bus depot, the hotel staff, the attendees,
etc) was concealed by angels. vpw also, apparently, never approached a window,
or they made an illusion at the window.
vpw has referred to this as one of the two most significant days of his life.
(Many people currently feel that vpw completely made up the story that God spoke
to him in 1942, and that his dependence upon this event plus the event at the
Full Gospel Rally to establish his authority were both dressed up with made-up
snowstorms to make them sound more spectacular. The specifics of both
appear to support this position-especially since vpw was fond of increasing
the magnitude of his claims in things as time went on.)
Supposedly, a woman came up to him and told him that she knew a man who can help him-
JE Stiles. He claims God told Stiles to attend the conference with the sole purpose
of ministering the Spirit to vpw. vpw met with Stiles, and made a few chauvinistic
observations to himself, before going off with Stiles.
Stiles worked with him for a few hours nonstop, hammering across to vpw what
the Bible says on speaking in tongues, and working over his doubts one by one.
Finally, vpw was able to speak in tongues.
It was during the 1950s that vpw's behaviour was noted to finally improve,
although he still did not stop including inappropriate words or concepts in his sermons.
In March, 1953, vpw found out about BG Leonard, and pushed his way into BG Leonard's
CTC Gifts of the Spirit class, which Leonard told him was closed, but permitted him
to enter after vpw arrived. vpw took this class twice, bringing several people with him
the second time. (That second time was July 1953.)
vpw then went off for a few months by himself, then told Leonard that he'd like to run
Leonard's CTC Gifts of the Spirit class locally for his congregation on a one-time basis.
Seeing the benefit to other Christians, Leonard agrees.
vpw then ran the first of "his" Receiving the Holy Spirit Today classes, (October 1953)
and took a photograph of that class. He told the students that this is "his" class
called RtHST, with NO mention of Leonard's class from which 100% of the content
had been directly lifted. The students had no reason to think he's lying. vpw sent
the photograph to Leonard and told Leonard that this is a photo of the class that took
Leonard's class on a one-time basis that was run locally. Leonard took vpw at his word,
and had no idea that vpw continued to run Leonard's class with vpw's name on it,
defrauding both Leonard AND the students. That the classes were interchangeable
in terms of material was the opinion of vpw himself- anyone who had graduated
Leonard's "Gifts of the Spirit" class was considered to be-by vpw- a graduate of
"vpw's" RtHST class.
To this day, many students STILL think this was was vpw's class, even when
evidence is introduced to the contrary. Later, vpw added the contents of JE Stiles' work
on "Gifts of the Spirit" and Bullinger's work on the Holy Spirit as well as
"How to Enjoy the Bible", and expanded the class into a class that was the
sum of the 3 men's work-Stiles, Bullinger and Leonard-rather than just Leonard.
He also renamed the class "Power For Abundant Living", rather than
"Receiving the Holy Spirit Today".
vpw later made a few offhand comments here and there that the material in the class
is not original, but its compilation was.
(However, as it was constructed, vpw could have been sued by copyright holders for
Bullinger, Stiles, and Leonard. Leonard found out but chose not to prosecute.)
It is often noted that the supposed 1942 promise claimed vpw would be taught-by God-
things unknown since the First Century Christians, if vpw would teach others-
yet ALL the material vpw taught was all taken from Leonard/Stiles/Bullinger/Kenyon
and a few others, and thus, it was all KNOWN. Therefore, if a god gave vpw revelation
in 1942, it was a god that lied, since vpw's source for everything was
MAN and NEVER represented information lost since the First Century AD-not even once.
In 1953, vpw also took JE Stiles' "Gifts of the Spirit" book, changed a few words,
and self-published it as the 1st Edition of "Receiving the Holy Spirit Today."
That it was the same year is no coincidence-it was the "original" textbook for
the "original" class. ("Original" in the sense that they were the 1.0 version of
his class, not that they originated at that time.)
Later editions would include incorporation of material from Leonard and Bullinger,
and would include more cosmetic changes in the order of the words and the
specific words used in an attempt to make it look less like Stiles' book.
Among the changes was the deletion of a reference to an anonymous Christian
who "put it together" for vpw (that was Stiles), who was missing by the 4th
edition book, where vpw put it all together himself.
vpw ran "his" PFAL classes continually from 1953 onward, with some success.
Dr E.E. Higgins was one of the students in the October 1953 class. She's known as
the anonymous person who would call vpw at night and ask what God
showed him that day. In 1954, Dr Higgins first introduced vpw to EW
Bullinger's books, and gave him his first copies of the Companion Bible, and
"How to Enjoy the Bible." The contents of both these books later became integral
parts of "vpw's" class.
According to his published memorial, Bishop KC Pillai took PFAL in 1954,
and began teaching a class on"Orientalisms of the Bible".
(Pillai also wrote 3 small books: "Light Through an Eastern Window"
and Volumes I and II of "Orientalisms of the Bible.")
According to the memorial in 1985, 1955 was the year they officially chartered
"the Way".
In 1955, JP was born. 2 months later, VPW left JP with family for the next
year or so, and took his wife and eldest son on a tour of the mission fields in India,
on the Evangelical and Reformed Church's dime.(1955-1957) (Per TW:LIL)
He was irritated that he's reminded he is not officially designated as a spokesman
or investigator of theirs. According to his account in TW:LIL,
he there met Bishop KC Pillai, whom he later invited to teach.
According to the memorial, this tour of the mission fields ran from 1955-1956,
and included stops in Great Britain, Europe, India, and "the Bible lands."
According to the memorial, 1956 was when he wrote
"the Dilemma of Foreign Missions in India."(According to TW:LIL)
In 1957, vpw returned to Van Wert. He cut his ties with the Evangelical and Reformed
Church, and took "his" PFAL class with him.In 1957, he and Harry bought out
their brothers and bought the family farm outright. Rather than take ownership
themselves, they declared it the propertyof "the Way", a church organization
(thus tax-exempt.)(Per TW:LIL, Harry said this was the time they chose the name
"the Way".) Work began on fixing up the farm.
In 1959, he ran a Wisconsin Summer Camp. In 1960, he ran an Indiana Summer Camp.
In 1961, he moved to the farm (refurbishment being sufficient for the move). Bishop Pillai
arrived and taught at the summer school. (Per TW:LIL.)
In 1961, he ran a Miamisburg, Ohio Summer Camp.
In 1962, he moved the summer school to the farm (refurbishment being sufficient
to hold classes there in the new BRC.)
In 1962, Lamsa taught at the summer school.(Lamsa is another unconventional teacher
who claimed special knowledge of the Bible and special status as a man of God.)
In 1963, vpw went to Lima, Ohio and filmed the sessions called "the Teacher".
(Despite this, success STILL had not taken off as vpw wished.)
According to the memorial, 1967 was when "Are the Dead Alive Now?"
(which is adapted from some of Bullinger's books) was published, and PFAL was filmed.
This was the edition of PFAL that incorporated Bullinger's books
(the contents, but not the books themselves) into the curriculum.
In Fall of 1967, vpw first filmed the PFAL class. This was done in a setting
with bright studio lights. (Bright studio lights do not cause cancer.)
vpw claimed that a doctor told him that filming a second day would mean
permanent eye damage, and that he was staring into 8000 watts.
He filmed for 3 complete days, getting sore eyes from the bright lights
(which do not cause cancer.) The figure of 2000 watts seems to be a more
realistic figure for the light level of the filmed class (which is still VERY bright.)
According to TW:LIL, In 1967, vpw read about the Christians at the House of
Acts. vpw went there, impressed them, and convinced them he has extensive,
EXCLUSIVE knowledge they lack. He then turned those he could from unorganized
Christians into a recruitment arm for his class and organization. They agreed
to handle things on the East and West coasts, and many young Christians were
impressed with THEM and join. It's been suggested that one of the reasons he
went there was because he'd heard of the "free-love" movement and wanted to
connect with Christians who would have sex outside of marriage. Thus claim might
sound ridiculous if his accounts of them didn't include little comments about their
displays of affection-and especially since he'd asked one of them-back then and
there-to give him DETAILS on what an orgy was like. He followed up by claiming
that God PERMITTED orgies-but considered monogamy BETTER.
It's also believed that San Francisco is where vpw bought the pornographic materials
he showed the corps, some Advanced Classes and CFS classes-like the movie
of the two women with the dog. (He MENTIONED that video to many Advanced
classes and CFS classes where it was not SHOWN.)
According to the memorial, his trip to Haight-Ashbury/House of Acts was in 1968.
As of 1969, sizeable numbers of young people had flocked to twi from both coasts
as a result.
Once there was sizeable membership in both coasts, vpw pushed out the Christians
from the House of Acts and insisted authority would come FROM hq and tithes
would go TO hq. No exceptions. At that point (1969), vpw made his first attempt
at a Way Corps, which resulted in the famous "Zero Corps".
At some point-presumably early in the way corps history, and possibly as early as 1969,
vpw (according to Mrs W's account) first begins to tell his "snow on the pumps" account
to people, starting with the way corps.
At another point-before the early 1970s-vpw began adding to the "special revelation"
that produced the books and classes (which were really compilations of the work
of other Christians with their names removed) and began speaking of special
revelation about current events. He began to expound on some conspiracy
theories to the corps, and about attempts to take over the United States.
vpw was getting this material from the John Birch Society and the Liberty Lobby.
A few people on-grounds were aware of information coming in from them,
but almost nobody knew those were the direct sources of his supposed
"revelation". As he had done often before, he just claimed to mysteriously
know things and never cited a source-leaving the listeners to guess that there
WAS no conventional source, making this ANOTHER thing God just told him.
These conspiracy theorist organizations and their personal biases fill in the blanks
in some of his odder statements. Their anti-Semitism helps explain his claims
that the current Jews were not descended from the historic Jews (which has been
disproven genetically since), and his recommendations of books like
"the Thirteenth Tribe." Their condemnation of rock and roll and musician/celebrities
explain his claims of all musicians being possessed, and his recommendation of
"the Marxist Minstrels" to the corps (which claimed rock and roll was a communist
plot to take over the United States.) vpw even had David Noebel, who wrote
"the Marxist Minstrels" come and lecture the corps.
In 1971, vpw began his WOW Ambassador program. This program underwent some
changes, but primarily was a one-year committment to get sent out,
support yourself, find housing, and run PFAL classes.
According to his memorial, 1971 was when the Orange Book, "Power for
Abundant Living" was first self-published. It contained mostly material from Leonard's
class and from Bullinger's book "How to Enjoy the Bible".
A number of pamphlets called "Studies in Abundant Living" accompanied the
PFAL class from fairly early on (the filmed class names "Studies in Human
Suffering", later renamed "Job:Victim to Victor".)
In 1971, the first 3 volumes of "Studies in Abundant Living" are published,
compiling the pamphlets into 3 small hardbound books.
In 1974, Emporia College in Emporia, Kansas was bought. It was renamed
"the Way College of Emporia". Despite an absence of accreditation, licensed professors,
and a school "library" composed ENTIRELY of used textbooks donated by way members,
it was put forth as if it is a normal, accredited college.
In 1975, "Jesus Christ is Not God" was published. This was the last book-
not counting Vol 4 of Studies in Abundant Living- that was actually put together by vpw.
In 1976, campuses were purchased in Rome City, Indiana ("the College of Biblical Research")
and Gunnison, Colorado ("the Way Family Ranch-Camp Gunnison").
In 1977, the PFAL '77 was done live at Ball State University. According to the memorial,
in 1977, Howard Allen and Donald Wierwille were installed as Trustees on the
Board of Trustees (replacing "Uncle" Harry Wierwille and Ermal Owens.)
In 1977, Volume 4 of Studies in Abundant Living was published.
In 1978, the land for the LEAD Outdoor Academy was purchased in Tinnie, New Mexico.
In 1979, Advanced Class '79 ran (live, I imagine.)
In 1980, "Jesus Christ Our Passover" was published. This was the first book written by
competent staff and researchers. According to the book itself, it was written
"by Victor Paul Wierwille", with no mention of anyone else. It was a higher-caliber book
than twi normally self-publishes.
In 1982, twi celebrates its "Fortieth Anniversary" since the radio shows that
weren't called "the Way". In 1982, vpw installed LCM as the new president of twi
and vpw becomes "president emeritus".
In 1982, "Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed" was published. It also was written by staff,
and said "by Victor Paul Wierwille" on the cover.
It relied largely on the calculations of another writer as well. This book also saw the
breakthrough of proper crediting, since it actually named the other writer
(Martin) and his book.
In 1984, a live PFAL class was taught at Camp Gunnison, and a manor house was
purchased in Gartmore, Scotland. It was named the Way College of Biblical Research.
(aka Gartmore House, or "the big house" to the villagers of Gartmore.)
vpw spent his life drinking alcoholic beverages and smoking cigarettes and cigars-
tobacco products. Although he usually did it "off-camera", many people knew some
of this. Everyone knew he at least smoked, but he seemed to chain-smoke when
"no one was watching." Furthermore, he had a "coffee cup" next to him for morning
meetings and so on-and often, the contents had nothing to do with coffee. Those who
ever commented on it (who were few enough among those who noticed) were
treated to his comments about us not being "under condemnation" and thus it wasn't
sinful, and therefore had no consequences.
However, there WERE consequences....
By 1984, the long-term exposure to alcohol-which damages internal organs, including
those that act as the body's filtration system and also damages the brain-
and long-term exposure to tobacco-which is a known cancer-causing agent
(unlike studio lights)- resulted in some permanent damage to vpw' body.
He acquired cancer of the eye and liver, and suffered a stroke.
vpw quite vocally-and often- announced that the eye damage was the result
of getting cancer from the studio lights used when filming PFAL- thus saying it was
the result of virtuous activity, and used to give the students a guilty conscience.
Once, when addressing the corps, he was speaking on personal committment to
God. He said "I gave my EYE-what are YOU willing to give?"
Further, in private, vpw was MOST disturbed that he had ANY physical problems,
especially this one. He claimed he'd never been sick or needed an aspirin EVER-
not ONE DAY in his life-before this. Not even in PRIVATE did he ever seem to admit
he'd exposed his body to carcinogens for DECADES. He had surgery that
removed the cancer-stricken eye.
The details of the stroke were COMPLETELY hidden-although there were witnesses-
and the existence of any cancer produced a problem. According to vpw's DOCTRINE,
any Christian should be able to believe sufficiently to burn out a cancer from their
body. vpw had slowly manipulated his personal image to the point that he was
frequently seen as some sort of super-Christian-which is what he wanted. However,
this meant he should have EASILY believed away his cancer.
WORSE, he'd taught in the Advanced class that, since a cancer has a life of its own
(like algae), it must be the result of devil activity. Since vpw was supposedly a
super-Christian, he should have been able to deflect such an assault easily.
However, rather than adjust his image, or correct his doctrine-which had already
hurt many other Christians-he simply hid the cause of his descent into death.
In 1985 the "Word over the World Auditorium" opened at the organizations hq on the farm.
vpw died May 20, 1985 at age 68. According to his death certificate, the cause was
cancer of the liver and of the eye. According to most people in twi at the time,
the cause was UNKNOWN. The most commonly-stated reason was
"he got tired of fighting."
In the last few months of his life, vpw visited Gartmore and spoke privately
with Chr1s Ge*r. He (CG) later claimed that his own paper which he wrote
afterwards-"the Passing of the Patriarch"-was based entirely on private
conversations with vpw. (Some people believe him, some do not.)
That paper-among other things-also claims that vpw would have been
able to "believe himself healthy" if he'd wanted to.
Volume 5 of Studies in Abundant Living was published
posthumously. Its contents were from vpw, it was edited by Chr1$ Ge*r.
This seems to be another imaginative way to talk about VP's failure to give proper written acknowledgement. Yeah, it would have been much better had he referenced these men better, but I think it wouldn't have changed much back then, or even now, if he did.
It has been about 33 years since I was first introduced to PFAL, and in all that time, I haven't heard anything from any of Wierwille's sources, independently, apart from twi.
Nothing is stopping them or their ministries/movements from knocking on my door, if they so choose.
In other words, up to this point, I probably wouldn't have known anything about Leonard, Stiles, Kenyon, Bullinger, Daily, Jones, Cliffe, et al., if it weren't for Wierwille's ministry and teachings. Why that is, I don't know. Maybe that was God's plan all along for me.
But I certainly don't consider Wierwille's teachings as carjacking others. Why should I think that way? All others are still free to flourish on their own, if that is what God intended before Wierwille supposedly carjacked. As opposed to that I think Wierwille has honored these men by teaching some of their stuff.
This seems to be another imaginative way to talk about VP's failure to give proper written acknowledgement. Yeah, it would have been much better had he referenced these men better, but I think it wouldn't have changed much back then, or even now, if he did.
Wierwille's the one with an imaginative way.....illustrating spiritual hitchhikers in his teachings
Imo, spiritual hitchhiking would be one who "rides along" on someone's teachings/identity/etc and does very little to establish individual identity. Adding the "spiritual side" to the equation.....one could be said to follow a group (or individual) for selfish reasons.
Carjacking.......is taking ownership from someone else's property and efforts. Yes, imo.....wierwille carjacked B. G. Leonard's class and rushed back to Ohio (in 1953) and ran the whole thing without charts, without a syllabus, without references to Leonard's class. Mrs. Wierwille's book, Born Again to Serve gives explicit details of this.
Oldies states, "Yeah, it would have been much better had he referenced these men better, but I think it wouldn't have changed much back then, or even now, if he did." Well.....I couldn't disagree more!!!!!
Had wierwille taken Leonard's class material back to Ohio and given proper references to this work, it would have TOTALLY CHANGED TWI from the onset and, exponentially now. How:
...1) It would have debunked the wierwille-mog concept from the beginning.
...2) It would have sent a clear message that true ministries are in operation in many places.
...3) It would have derailed the "true household idolatry" that sprouted thru the years.
...4) Possibly, it could have helped humble wierwille everytime he gave heart-felt recognition.
...5) Possibly, it could have derailed the mog worship that was subtly taught in the corps program.
...6) Had wierwille walked uprightly and avoided plagerism, perhaps other deceptions would have ceased.
...7) To lie and deceive....vp opened himself up to a host of adulterous practices, physically & spiritually.
You see Oldies.................it could have CHANGED EVERYTHING IN TWI as we know it.
Oldies, get real. Had VPW given credit where credit was due from the very beginning, TWI could have possibly been successful instead of the permanent mess it is in now.
We all thought he received revelation and researched these concepts on his own. We were led to believe that God showed him these things right from the bible as part of his snowbound promise. We all believed that he thought up and wrote RTHST and other plagiarized works. It was deceptive at best. At worst it was a con-game which was later broken by the power of the Information age.
Thank you, Skyrider, for helping us understand "The Great Carjacking Mystery Revealed".
Oldies, get real. Had VPW given credit where credit was due from the very beginning, TWI could have possibly been successful instead of the permanent mess it is in now.
We all thought he received revelation and researched these concepts on his own. We were led to believe that God showed him these things right from the bible as part of his snowbound promise.
If this is true, why did he tell us in 1972 "lots of the stuff I teach is not original"?
Why did he have printed in the books he "sought enlightenment from men of God scattered across the continent"?
Why did he have some of the books he learned from in the Way Bookstore, for all to read? (with the exception of Leonard & Stiles who he credited verbally)
That doesn't sound like someone not giving credit or trying to hide where he got his information from.
The fact is, he did give credit where credit was due; he just didn't give proper written acknowledgement.
If this is true, why did he tell us in 1972 "lots of the stuff I teach is not original"?
Why did he have printed in the books he "sought enlightenment from men of God scattered across the continent"?
Why did he have some of the books he learned from in the Way Bookstore, for all to read? (with the exception of Leonard & Stiles who he credited verbally)
That doesn't sound like someone not giving credit or trying to hide where he got his information from.
The fact is, he did give credit where credit was due; he just didn't give proper written acknowledgement.
I'm not sure if this is a medically-unsound level of denial,
or a deliberate attempt to deceive the newer posters.
So, I'll give the benefit of the doubt as to intent.
Here's what Oldies creatively refers to as "giving credit where credit was due"...
"The Way:Living in Love", page 209, says the following:
"Lots of the stuff I teach is not original. Putting it all together
so that it fit-that was the original work. I learned wherever I
could, and then I worked that with the Scriptures. What was right
on with the Scriptures, I kept; but what wasn't, I dropped."
That's the entirety of the written credit to the people he got the entirety of
"his" books from.
Now, that's buried in the middle of that book, which was hardly
required reading. What WAS required reading was the Orange Book,
the White Book, and so on.
The Orange Book has NO bibliography. NONE.
And it was a composite from Leonard, Bullinger, Norman Vincent Peale, etc.
The dedication is to his daughter.
Here's the ENTIRE introduction.
=========
""Introduction: the Abundant Life.
Jesus' proclamation as recorded in John 10:10 is the foundational
Scripture for this book.
...I am come that they [believers] might have life, and that
they might have it more abundantly.
This verse literally changed my life. My wife and I began in
the Christian ministry, plodding ahead with the things of God,
but somehow we lacked an abundant life.
Then one time I was especially alerted when I read from the
Word of God that Jesus said He had come to give us life more
abundant. I was startled into awareness. As I looked about me
at communities where I had served and among the ministers with
whom I had worked, the abundant life was frequently not
evident. In contrast to these Christian people, I could see that
the secular world of non-Christians were manifesting a more
abundant life than were members of the Church. Thus I
earnestly began to pursue the question:
'If Jesus Christ came that men and women might have a
MORE ABUNDANT LIFE, then why is it that the Christian
believers do not manifest even an ABUNDANT LIFE?'
I believe most people would be thankful if they ever lived
an abundant life; but The Word says Jesus Christ came that
we might have life not just abundant, but more abundant.
If His Word is not reliable here in John 10:10, how can we
trust it anywhere else? But, on the other hand, if
Jesus told the truth, if He meant what He said and said what
He meant in this declaration, then surely there must be
keys, signposts, to guide us to the understanding and the
receiving of this life which is more than abundant.
This book, POWER FOR ABUNDANT LIVING, is one way of
showing interested people the abundany life which Jesus
Christ lived and which He came to make available to
believers as it is revealed in the Word of God.
This is a book containing Biblical keys. The contents herein
do not teach the Scriptures from Genesis 1:1 to
Revelation 22:21; rather, it is designed to set before the
reader the basic keys in the Word of God so that
Genesis to Revelation will unfold and so that the
abundant life which Jesus Christ came to make available will
become evident to those who want to appropriate
God's abundance to their lives. "
========
That's it.
NOTHING on the authors he did a cut-and-paste from.
Later in the book, he speaks of other Christians.
[pg-119-120.]
=====
"For years I did nothing but read around the Word of God. I
used to read two or three theological works weekly for month
after month and year after year. I knew what Professor
so-and-so said, what Dr so-and-so and the Right Reverend
so-and-so said, but I could not quote you The Word. I had
not read it. One day I finally became so disgusted and tired
of reading around The Word that I hauled over 3000 volumes
of theological works to the city dump. I decided to quit
reading around The Word. Consequently, I have spent
years studying The Word- its integrity, its meaning,
its words.
Why do we study? Because God expects us as workmen to
know what His Word says."
=======
To most people who can read English, this says he's contrasting
the contents of his book with other theological works,
which he STOPPED reading and consequently produced THIS
book as a result.
==========
The White Book is FAR more interesting.
The early editions of it were JE Stiles' book.
With vpw's name on the cover.
COMPLETELY Stiles' book.
What does the White Book's preface say?
Here's the ENTIRE preface.
SEVENTH EDITION.
==========
""When I was serving my first congregation, a Korean
missionary asked me, 'Why don't you search for the
greatest of all things in life which would teach Christian
believers the HOW of a really victorious life?'
This challenge was the beginning of a search which led
me through many, many hours of examining different
English translations, the various critical Greek texts,
and Aramaic 'originals', looking for the source of the
power which was manifested in the early Church.
Finally I realized that the experience referred to as
'receiving the holy spirit' in the Scriptures WAS and IS
actually available to every born-again believer today.
I believed to receive the gift of holy spirit and I, too,
manifested.
Ever since receiving into manifestation the holy spirit,
I have had the desire to put in written form the longings
and fears that were mine regarding the receiving thereof.
I believe that sharing my quest with the believers who are
today seeking to be endued with power from on high may
be instrumental in leading them to the answer of their
hearts' desires.
I knew from the Bible that what God sent at Pentecost was
still available. It had to be, for God does not change. I knew that
the receiving of the power from on high on the day of
Pentecost had meant increased ability for the apostles and
disciples years ago, and that I needed and wanted the same
blessing. I knew that if the Church ever needed the holy
spirit in manifestation it needed it now.
Throughout my academic training in a college, a university,
four seminaries, from the commentaries I studied,
and from my years of questing and research among the
various religious groups claiming adherence to the holy
spirit's availability, there appeared many things
contradictory to the accuracy of the recorded Word of
God. I knew their teachings were sincere, but sincerity
is no guarantee for truth.
The Word of God is truth. I prayed that I might put aside all
that I had heard and thought out myself, and I started anew
with the Bible as my handbook as well as my textbook.
I did not want to omit, deny, or change any passage for,
the Word of God being the will of God, the Scripture must
fit like a hand in a glove.
If you are a Christian believer, I sincerely encourage you to
study this book. Do not allow your past teachings or feelings
to discourage you from going on to receive God's best.
If you need power and ability to face up to the snares of
this live, you may find your answer while reading this book.
It is my prayer that you may be edified, exhorted, and
comforted.
For those searching the Scriptures, desiring to know the
reasons why, how, what or where, I suggest you do a
careful study of the introductions as well as the
appendices in this volume. For those who simply desire
to receive, read chapters 1 though 5 and enjoy God's
great presence and power.
"II Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman
that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth."
To his helpers and colleagues every writer owes a profound
debt. This seventh edition has been read and studies carefully
by men and women of Biblical and spiritual ability.
To all of these I am most grateful."
=========
To the normal reader of English, this ALSO says he ONLY
used the Bible-NOT the works of other Christians...
and while we're at it, these other Christians are in error.
The only people he thanks are his proofreaders-
never the people whose material COMPOSED the book.
=============
Oldiesman said
"That doesn't sound like someone not giving credit or trying to hide where he got his information from."
That does to MOST people.
In fact, this is a veritable smoking-gun of such....
The White Book's 2nd Edition had an important difference in the Preface.
The earlier edition (2nd said this):
"
"The Word of God is truth. I prayed that I might put aside all
I had been taught and start anew with the Bible as my
handbook as well as my textbook. It took me seven years to
find a man of God schooled in the Holy Spirit, a man who knew
the Scripture on the Holy Spirit, and could fit it together so that
I dod not have to omit, deny or change any one passage.
He made the Scripture fit like a hand fits into a glove,
and when you can do that, you can be assured of having
truth."
That man was JE Stiles, the man who PERSONALLY led him into
speaking in tongues, and whose book on the Holy Spirit vpw
copied over and omitted his name.
But even anonymous, this feeble acknowledgement-lacking his
name as if vpw can't remember it-
acknowledged it came from someone else.
"It took me seven years to
find a man of God schooled in the Holy Spirit, a man who knew
the Scripture on the Holy Spirit, and could fit it together so that
I did not have to omit, deny or change any one passage.
He made the Scripture fit like a hand fits into a glove,"
Now, here's the SAME paragraph in the 7th Edition.
"
"The Word of God is truth. I prayed that I might put aside all
that I had heard and thought out myself, and I started anew
with the Bible as my handbook as well as my textbook.
I did not want to omit, deny, or change any passage for,
the Word of God being the will of God, the Scripture must
fit like a hand in a glove."
Again, 2nd edition:
"It took me seven years to
find a man of God schooled in the Holy Spirit, a man who knew
the Scripture on the Holy Spirit, and could fit it together so that
I dod not have to omit, deny or change any one passage.
He made the Scripture fit like a hand fits into a glove, "
7th edition:
"I did not want to omit, deny, or change any passage for,
the Word of God being the will of God, the Scripture must
fit like a hand in a glove."
Does everyone ELSE see the difference?
Honest readers call things like that edit
"attempts to hide where he got the information from"
and "not giving credit" (to say the least.)
Oakspear summed it up as follows:
"Think about when Wierwille does mention other people, often he pays them left-handed compliments, like saying BG Leonard was great on experience, and poor on documentation, or how Stiles is never mentioned again after that passage in TW:LIL.
Does he ever say "So-and-so taught me such-and-such", no, he throws out names, then about the best he can bring himself to say is that he kept what was accurate and threw out the rest. Specific credit and recognition was not ever given. Forget about footnotes, forget about endnotes, forget about a bibliography, he never, ever, mentions what he learned from whom, all he says is "Lots of the stuff I teach is not original. Putting it all together so that it fit -- that was the original work. I learned wherever I could, and then I worked that with the Scriptures. What was right on with the Scriptures, I kept; but what wasn't, I dropped." - a pretty lukewarm recognition of men that he copied from!"
As for credit to BG Leonard, the man from whom 100% of the contents of the first
pfal classes was taken without his permission,
what does vpw say about him?
Again we turn to "The Way:Living in Love".
"TW:LIL, pg-207.
"He loved me, and I learned some stuff from him. He had tremendous believing.
That's why I love the guy."
"The summer of 1953, our whole ministry went up-Dotsie and Donnie and some of the
others from Van Wert. We took his whole trip- really learned a lot about the other
manifestations of the holy spirit. But he worked from personal experiences.
I worked what he taught from the accuracy of the Scriptures. When I came home,
I made up my mind that I was going to tie the whole thing together from Genesis to
Revelation. So I did, and in October, I had the very first 'Power for Abundant Living' class.
At that time, the Foundational Class and Advanced Class were together-the whole thing
in two weeks. But the syllabus today is basically the same. The basic principles from
the Word are the same. The class has filled out. But I knew the greatness of our
age-the age of holy spirit and that every truth must fit in the framework of the
manifestations. I just had to teach it to somebody."
"I taught without a syllabus, but the class was the same.
You could throw the syllabus away now and I could still teach it.
It's a burning reality in my soul."
That's a pretty interesting way to refer to a class that was ENTIRELY Leonard's
material.
As to specifics on how he got the White Book,
here's what he said...
"TW:LIL, pg-209.
"Somewhere in there I wrote the first holy spirit book. I can't
remember exactly what year.
I'd been working those 385 scriptures and they began to all
fall into place."
"We're having the sixth edition printed now of
that book: Receiving the Holy Spirit Today.
It's a great piece of research."
On that same page, he says
"Lots of the stuff I teach is not original.
Putting it together so that it fit-that was the original work.
I learned wherever I could, and then I worked that with
the Scriptures. What was right on with the Scriptures, I
kept; but what wasn't, I dropped."
So, he deliberately and specifically put forth that he wrote
the White Book in its entirety,
then makes a vague comment that he "put it together so that
it fit"-which is a lie, since he just copied over the previous book.
Why did he lie about that?
I'm sure there are people who would say it was a different reason
than "not giving credit or trying to hide where he got his information from."
I think it should be obvious that he did NOT
"give credit where credit was due".
We know some of what he used from Bullinger.
However,
he NEVER said "Are the Dead Alive Now?" was ripped off
of Bullinger's "The Rich Man and Lazarus:an Intermediate State?"
and other works of EWB.
However, that's where it came from.
BTW, the reference to "working those 385 Scriptures"
means, in plain English,
taking the contents of Bullinger's "The Giver and His Gifts"
(now known as "Word Studies on the Holy Spirit")
and adding it to Stiles' book to make a bigger White Book.
Virtually none of us ever heard him mention that-
and I only knew once I got my copy of EWB's book.
As to giving credit to Bullinger at all,
vpw's exact words were
"TW:LIL,
pg-210.
"She gave me my first copy of Bullinger's
'How to Enjoy the Bible.' She said, when she first
heard me teach, that I taught like he wrote, and I'd never
met the man or even read his stuff."
He flat-out denied any familarity with his writings.
For MOST people, it is crystal-clear what vpw was trying
to do here-and succeeded with completely until the
Another point that I believe has some merit was something Mike said a long time ago, that these books of Vp's were basically "workbooks" for PFAL students, and not designed for the general public.
Books that were designed for the general public, for example, like Jesus Christ is not God, had endnotes and a bibliography.
Yes, it would have been better had he given proper written acknowledgement, even in his "workbooks".
i've known all the stuff in wordwolf's chronology for a long, long time. but seeing it there, all together in one place, makes me sick to my stomach.
but what makes me even sicker is seeing people continue to defend the man.
vpw was a liar and a thief who knowingly deceived us into believing God had taught him the word, through his own research, as it hadn't been known since the first century. HE LIED.
so was it hitchhiking or carjacking? ultimately, it was much worse than a carjacking, because after stealing the car, he claimed ownership and sold it to us! over and over again.
The documentation of this information gives even the most fanatical wierwillite pause for consideration of twi's re-writing of its history and mogship.
find a man of God schooled in the Holy Spirit, a man who knew
the Scripture on the Holy Spirit, and could fit it together so that
I dod not have to omit, deny or change any one passage.
He made the Scripture fit like a hand fits into a glove, "
Reading through WordWolf's post again.......the above quote is very revealing.
"It took"..........vpw knew the starting point of his quest.
"It took ME".....vpw doesn't give any credit to being guided or led by God. No, vpw is self-led..........and he's looking for a mentor.
"seven years".......from 1944-1951......wierwille is searching for a man to lead him.
"a man (JE Stiles) who knew the Scriptures on the Holy Spirit, and could fit it together"..........sounds like wierwille had a glimmer of humility when this 2nd edition was published.
"so that I did not have to omit, deny or change"................ ....in one breath wierwille states that he's been searching for seven years for a man of God, and in the next breath veepee's bravado comes back in full bore and he wants to challenge and tweak these truths that he said "this man could fit the Scriptures together like a hand in a glove."
And, we sometimes wonder why twi is loaded with a double standard....?????????????
Another point that I believe has some merit was something Mike said a long time ago, that these books of Vp's were basically "workbooks" for PFAL students, and not designed for the general public.
Which is an unsupported assertion of Mike's.
vpw was quite florid in his descriptions of the education he received-
his father "paid for the best education money could buy"
and he studied with "the top men in their fields",
but somehow none of them got across to them what was made CRYSTAL CLEAR
by my HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS-
that ALL SOURCES MUST BE CITED AND DOCUMENTED.
In college it was a lot worse.
Supposedly, he made it thru a competent education at the high school,
collegiate, Masters level and Doctorate level,
and yet that didn't surgically implant a habit or knee-jerk reaction
to cite his sources whenever putting pen to paper.
vpw knew what a "textbook" was.
vpw knew what a "workbook" was.
vpw knew the differences between a "textbook", a "workbook" and a "study guide."
Anybody who made it thru college should know the difference.
vpw had all his books (all without exception) written as textbooks-
as in "this is how it is"-
with the exceptions of the syllabus for one class or another
(which were "study guides")
and the Home Studies
(which were "workbooks").
Books that were designed for the general public, for example, like Jesus Christ is not God,
had endnotes and a bibliography.
Flip open the back of JCING, and read me the contents of the bibliography. :)
Yes, it would have been better had he given proper written acknowledgement, even in his "workbooks".
Yes, even workbooks are supposed to include proper attribution,
although it's understandable that ones that accompany
properly-attributed texts may not do so-since they're designed as
accessories to the textbook that DOES do so.
(I'm not kicking that the syllabi and Home Studies do not.)
EVERYTHING ELSE SHOULD HAVE PROPER DOCUMENTATION
NO MATTER WHO THE AUDIENCE WAS.
ALL the classes.
Even the CFS.
We never found out, for example, what hygiene video or whatever
he got the stills of the softcore porn he showed the class,
and-for all the mention of the 2-women-plus-dog-video,
we never were given the name of the video.
(I'm sure because I would never have been able to erase that specific
information from my brain no matter how hard I tried.)
No way, man. We taught all this stuff in twig and witnessed these plagiarized truths to all including door to door witnessing. The spin was that thanks to VPW's revelation directly from God to Gas pumps, we now have this lost Davinci Code.
And Didn't Jerry Jacks arrange to have these books sold door to door way back when?
And it was always a bragging point when someone like Bill Grxxn or other hotshot would boast about how they got Walden Books to put one or more of these books in their bookstore. And many a public library had these books on their shelves thanks to ambitious believers, including Oral Roberts University. They were on display PUBLICLY in the living rooms of every twig fellowship across America as we were instructed. How many of us loaned our books to new people to read?
The damage control would have been a piece of cake, but they were always bad at damage control. Too much pride at stake it seems.
That's a joke, right?? Nobody really takes Mike seriously, do they? That's a joke, too, right? Please tell me that's not a serious statement!
No, it wasn't published over and over again, promoted in fellowships, used in teaching after teaching (still used in teaching after teaching), provided with every foundational class, widely distributed and widely shared with people. It wasn't strongly suggested that we teach people we're "undershepherding" or witnessing to from those books based on whatever the "theme" of the week was.
OMG! Besides that.... why the heck does that even serve as a justification for not giving proper academic credit to the people who actually did the research and work to write the information??
John, you're an intelligent guy so perhaps you can answer this question from a Dummy:
If Dr. Wierwille wanted to portray to us folks that all his teachings were received by revelation, and he researched these concepts on all his own independent from others, why did he say in 1972 "lots of the stuff I teach is not original"?
John, you're an intelligent guy so perhaps you can answer this question from a Dummy:
If Dr. Wierwille wanted to portray to us folks that all his teachings were received by revelation, and he researched these concepts on all his own independent from others, why did he say in 1972 "lots of the stuff I teach is not original"?
I got here ahead of him,
so I'll see if I can beat him to a complete answer.
Here's the short answer:
A) he hedged his bets.
If someone later said "Hey, I found this thing that supposedly originated
with vpw, but someone else taught it first!"
"Well, he did say that none of it was original. THAT part's from there,
but most of the other stuff doesn't resemble its original sources."
He claimed
"I learned wherever I could, and then I worked that with the Scriptures.
What was right on with the Scriptures, I kept; but what wasn't, I dropped."
That was his "out" about sources.
He had his excuse if you ever "caught" him at something-
so long as you didn't catch him at a LOT of it. (Which the GSC has caught.)
The most he claimed was that he learned from other people's work-
and then completely reworked it on his own,
and when it was error, he dropped the error part.
That's not true.
He didn't rework the work of others. In many cases, he word-for-word
cut-and-pasted their material.
And when there was error, he dropped it if he disagreed, and kept it if he
agreed. Bullinger thought the kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God are
2 different things, but they're used interchangeably in Scripture,
so according to Scripture, they are the same.
According to Bullinger, they are different.
When he DID do changes, all bets are off.
The changes often reflected less an understanding of the material,
and more a desire to make cosmetic changes that made the material
LOOK different.
That's why his rephrasings of Leonard became more and more elaborate,
eventually sacrificing accuracy in the interest of making changes.
For example, Leonard's definition 'of word of knowledge' was simple and
accurate. Eventually, vpw changed it until it was error-
he made it REQUIRE the information be "IMPOSSIBLE" to be obtained
by your 5 senses. However, all over the Bible, the revelation WAS something
that the 5 senses COULD have told-but didn't.
So, his claim that he "worked" the material is inadequate, because he
retained any error that looked good, and his changes were primarily
COSMETIC and not substantive.
B)
Now then,
he buried that comment in the middle of TW:LiL, which was NOT
required reading. Did that complete a consistent picture of a man
who learned a lot from others, and simply COMPILED it?
Hardly-the rest of the book paints the OPPOSITE picture.
"TW:LIL, pg-179.
"The Word is buried today. If there's no one around to teach it,
God has to teach it Himself. You see, I am a product of my times.
God knew me before the foundations of the world, just like He knew
you and everyone else. We were all in God's foreknowledge from the
beginnings.
God knew I would believe His Word. And every day I am more and
more deeply convinced of this ministry which teaches people the
accuracy and integrity of God's Word."
pg-190.
"If no one is around to teach you the Word, and you are hungry,
then God has to teach you in the framework of your knowledgeable
experience. For example, if you're an athlete, He'll do it through
athletics. If you're a farmer, He'll teach you through farming."
pg-201.
"You see, learning is a process. You don't learn overnight.
The holy spirit field-that's the field God raised me up for.
There's not a question that cannot be answered biblically.
And there's no one I can't lead into speaking in tongues if they are
Christian and want to do it.
No matter how much knowledge you have of God, God seldom allows you
to teach more than people are able to receive.
Some things God taught me that night in Tulsa, I've never taught-
no one would have been able to receive them."
What's the COMPLETE picture he's trying to convey here?
pg-239.
"You teach what they can take. And sometimes you know a whole lot more.
Things you could open your heart on, you never do, to those depths
of perception. You go so far. You know the abundance available and
the Father says, 'That's all folks! End of show.' And it's
something you cannot describe to people. Just you and Father know."
The COMPLETE picture is that he learned everything from God alone-
except for little bits and pieces he got from other Christians,
which were usable once he strained all the error out of them.
That's completely the OPPOSITE of what happened-
like taking 100% of Leonard's class and immediately switching HIS
name for Leonard's and taking all the credit for all the work.
What did the Orange Book say on the others he learned from?
What did the White Book say on the others he learned from?
Forgot?
Easy to understand-they say NOTHING on them.
Here's what they DO say:
Orange Book, pg-119-120.
""For years I did nothing but read around the Word of God. I
used to read two or three theological works weekly for month
after month and year after year. I knew what Professor
so-and-so said, what Dr so-and-so and the Right Reverend
so-and-so said, but I could not quote you The Word. I had
not read it. One day I finally became so disgusted and tired
of reading around The Word that I hauled over 3000 volumes
of theological works to the city dump. I decided to quit
reading around The Word. Consequently, I have spent
years studying The Word- its integrity, its meaning,
its words."
There he says he discarded the works of other Christians entirely,
and used ONLY the Bible.
What did he say in the White Book?
(preface)
"The Word of God is truth. I prayed that I might put aside all
that I had heard and thought out myself, and I started anew
with the Bible as my handbook as well as my textbook.
I did not want to omit, deny, or change any passage for,
the Word of God being the will of God, the Scripture must
fit like a hand in a glove."
Note, again, that's after he got its entire material from Stiles,
Bullinger, and Leonard (with a smidgen of Lamsa.)
That's also after he initially credited Stiles for the answers-
but left out his name-
then went back and removed all record of Stiles' name from
the White Book.
Forgot all this?
I posted it maybe 24 hours ago on this SAME thread.
Now, I find it a little curious that you've left many paragraphs
which form a coherent whole with NO comments-as if they're
invisible to you,
but perhaps a single sentence -which HAS been explained before-
becomes a near-obsessive focus, which must be addressed and
explained again as if you've never been in discussions on it before.
It's not a surprise, just a little curious.
Perhaps HeGotOut will address the aspects I didn't expound on.
"Difficult verses must be understood in light of the clear verses." This could apply to vee pee, too, no? We have example upon example of places where he blatantly plagarized, stole and otherwise mis-represented himself and this ONE line out of all the books, teachings, classes, etc. ONE LINE, one line that isn't even completely accurate.
Sorry, but I just can't chuck the rest of the evidence based on one extremely vague acknowledgement. I'm sure the courts wouldn't either. ;)
Speaking of which, can TWI be sued for plaigarism since they are still producing and selling these books that are obviously plagarized?
"Difficult verses must be understood in light of the clear verses." This could apply to vee pee, too, no? We have example upon example of places where he blatantly plagarized, stole and otherwise mis-represented himself and this ONE line out of all the books, teachings, classes, etc. ONE LINE, one line that isn't even completely accurate.
Sorry, but I just can't chuck the rest of the evidence based on one extremely vague acknowledgement. I'm sure the courts wouldn't either. ;)
You and the courts see things differently than Oldiesman.
Speaking of which, can TWI be sued for plaigarism since they are still producing and selling these books that are obviously plagarized?
I know the holders of the various copyrights certainly CAN sue, legally.
Difficult verses must be understood in light of the clear verses.
I agree, and he made it clear that lots of the stuff he taught was not original. Not only was that in written form in 1972, from a popular book in the twi bookstore, but he said it to folks for years.
I guess I should cut some slack for folks who just came aboard in the 1990s.. maybe they didn't read it and know VP. But someone whos been around for 20-30 years? Been in the corps?
Also written in the books he "sought enlightenment from men of God scattered across the continent". A person who receives all his stuff from revelation, who researches independently apart from anyone else, doesn't need to do that. He's already enlightened, directly, from God.
Nah, I stand by my belief.
Maybe if he said "I received all the stuff I teach from my own independent research". But he didn't say that. He did say he researched independently... but then folks read into that statement and assume that means all his stuff was original. It wasn't. He told us it wasn't. But you know what happens when we assume stuff?
Still waiting to hear back from John. Dummies need enlightenment.
I agree, and he made it clear that lots of the stuff he taught was not original. Not only was that in written form in 1972, from a popular book in the twi bookstore, but he said it to folks for years.
I never saw that written in any form. I never heard vp say any such thing, either.
Gotta do better than that, OM...at least live up to your own standards of 'proof' of something.
Can you site the book, please? Can you also site the times/places he said such things (like specific tape #, specific session of specific class, other official statements he made about this), please?
What you heard from vp is almost always very different from what others heard from vp. Never have I seen you site specifics of what you claim vp said/did/taught (and if you have, please site the thread and provide a link so that I can see it written for myself). It would be nice if you did...so I don't go around thinking that you're just arguing.
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Catcup
A very apt description of the co-opting of Leonard et al's teachings: Carjacking. Very apt.
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T-Bone
Very thoughtful post, Skyrider - I think you nailed it - carjacking!
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GrouchoMarxJr
Yeah...and after his carjacking...he got into drive by shootings.
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WordWolf
I love the post-but must make a correction or two.
In the interest of completeness, here's how I described this in the 5.6 version of
my vpw timeline...
"In March, 1953, vpw found out about BG Leonard, and pushed his way into BG Leonard's
CTC Gifts of the Spirit class, which Leonard told him was closed, but permitted him
to enter after vpw arrived. vpw took this class twice, bringing several people with him
the second time. (That second time was July 1953.)
vpw then went off for a few months by himself, then told Leonard that he'd like to run
Leonard's CTC Gifts of the Spirit class locally for his congregation on a one-time basis.
Seeing the benefit to other Christians, Leonard agrees.
vpw then ran the first of "his" Receiving the Holy Spirit Today classes, (October 1953)
and took a photograph of that class. He told the students that this is "his" class
called RtHST, with NO mention of Leonard's class from which 100% of the content
had been directly lifted. The students had no reason to think he's lying. vpw sent
the photograph to Leonard and told Leonard that this is a photo of the class that took
Leonard's class on a one-time basis that was run locally. Leonard took vpw at his word,
and had no idea that vpw continued to run Leonard's class with vpw's name on it,
defrauding both Leonard AND the students. That the classes were interchangeable
in terms of material was the opinion of vpw himself- anyone who had graduated
Leonard's "Gifts of the Spirit" class was considered to be-by vpw- a graduate of
"vpw's" RtHST class.
To this day, many students STILL think this was was vpw's class, even when
evidence is introduced to the contrary. Later, vpw added the contents of JE Stiles' work
on "Gifts of the Spirit" and Bullinger's work on the Holy Spirit as well as
"How to Enjoy the Bible", and expanded the class into a class that was the
sum of the 3 men's work-Stiles, Bullinger and Leonard-rather than just Leonard.
He also renamed the class "Power For Abundant Living", rather than
"Receiving the Holy Spirit Today".
vpw later made a few offhand comments here and there that the material in the class
is not original, but its compilation was.
(However, as it was constructed, vpw could have been sued by copyright holders for
Bullinger, Stiles, and Leonard. Leonard found out but chose not to prosecute.)
It is often noted that the supposed 1942 promise claimed vpw would be taught-by God-
things unknown since the First Century Christians, if vpw would teach others-
yet ALL the material vpw taught was all taken from Leonard/Stiles/Bullinger/Kenyon
and a few others, and thus, it was all KNOWN. Therefore, if a god gave vpw revelation
in 1942, it was a god that lied, since vpw's source for everything was
MAN and NEVER represented information lost since the First Century AD-not even once.
In 1953, vpw also took JE Stiles' "Gifts of the Spirit" book, changed a few words,
and self-published it as the 1st Edition of "Receiving the Holy Spirit Today."
That it was the same year is no coincidence-it was the "original" textbook for
the "original" class. ("Original" in the sense that they were the 1.0 version of
his class, not that they originated at that time.)
Later editions would include incorporation of material from Leonard and Bullinger,
and would include more cosmetic changes in the order of the words and the
specific words used in an attempt to make it look less like Stiles' book.
Among the changes was the deletion of a reference to an anonymous Christian
who "put it together" for vpw (that was Stiles), who was missing by the 4th
edition book, where vpw put it all together himself.
vpw ran "his" PFAL classes continually from 1953 onward, with some success.
Dr E.E. Higgins was one of the students in the October 1953 class. She's known as
the anonymous person who would call vpw at night and ask what God
showed him that day. In 1954, Dr Higgins first introduced vpw to EW
Bullinger's books, and gave him his first copies of the Companion Bible, and
"How to Enjoy the Bible." The contents of both these books later became integral
parts of "vpw's" class.
And yes,
I believe "carjacking" is an apt analogy for what he did to Leonard and Stiles
(and later, Bullinger and Kenyon.)
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TheHighWay
Wordwolf,
Looks like you've really done your homework...
Do you have a complete timeline of VP, TWI, LCM posted somewhere for all to see?
THW
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WordWolf
I don't have a completed one yet-not one I'd be satisfied with saying
"this is a complete one."
However, the one I've gotten so far is, I'd say, maybe 85% complete
up to 1985. (If not more.)
It developed on the thread "the way:living in wonderland",
where we examined vpw's own claims about himself,
then we finished by looking at some timelines put out by
twi here and there. (Most of the dates were courtesy of
the twi book "the Way:Living in Love" or the biography
twi put out when vpw died.) The thread itself is worth
reading for its own reasons, and you can see the development
of the timeline there from a few dates to a more complete form.
The thread is
http://www.greasespotcafe.com/ipb/index.php?showtopic=7363
The "5.6" version of my vpw timeline was dated 2/26/06,
and is the most recent version. It's on page 26.
I wouldn't crosspost it, but I think it's relevant to Skyrider's
original post-asserting vpw carjacked the work of others.
For those people-and they WILL come out of the woodwork-
who are swift to claim that the timeline lacks any sort of
documentation-I direct them to 26 pages of discussion of
same on the thread I linked in this very post.
You'll see the sources for the statements, as well as the
corrections and clarifications as the version #s go up.
So, here's that crosspost.
"Edition 5.6 of my timeline.
I added the Moody reference,
and a detail about the vpw/bgl class.
====
This timeline is mostly from publications OF TWI.
=========
Let's see.
victor paul wierwille was born to a large family of German descent.
(Born December 31, 1916.)
According to locals, Ernst, his father, was an alcoholic with negligible
education, with a bad temper who acted as a bully.This was true in his dealings
with locals AND with his own family.Each child had their own chores.
Little Victor chose to neglect his chores, and would vanish for hours into the woods nearby.
(It has been noted that this running off may have been as much to avoid
an abusive father as it was to avoid doing any work. Or it may be unrelated.)
He claimed that when he was young, he once told a minister that he wanted to be
a man of God like him. Other than this statement, Little Victor showed
no actual involvement in the church, no actual effort or work in the things of the church.
So, this seems to suggest an interest-not in being a man of God- but in being
the man the whole community turned out to see, to have their respect.
As a teenager, young Vic continued to lack any qualities of a man of God. In fact, he went out of his way to earn a reputation going in the opposite direction. He was a bully, a showoff and a braggart.
(He seems to have been taught this at home.) He did all sorts of things for attention. He was quick to start a fight or mouth off at others. He had a quick wit. One of his common ways of showing off was to tear up and down the streets of New Knoxville on his motorcycle, trying to get attention.
His demonstrated talents seemed to be limited to his quick wit and his ability to play a guitar,
which he showed competency in.
Old Man Wierwille was preparing to pass on thefamily farm to young Vic, as was the family
tradition. Young Vic balked at this. He'd had plans to go to college. At first, he considered
a few fields-business and so on- but by this time, he had decided upon the seminary.
(This was before the time he referred to as "believing the Bible as the Word of God".)
Old Man Wierwille was skeptical of this, and said that young Vic, having shown lack
of hard work on simple manual labour on the farm, would never make a good preacher.
Young Vic convinced him he would do better with books than with sweating out in the field.
Young Vic went to school for the ministry.
His community thought it was some kind of joke- everyone knew he lacked the proper character.
(He never overcame that impression with them.)
Victor had the option to study "Bible Languages" or other subjects requiring hard study. He instead chose to study Homiletics, the "softest" option he could have learned. (He never overcame his deficiency in study in Bible languages, church history, etc.-not even to the level of an informed layman as of 2004.)
Victor was married July 2, 1937(Mr was 20, Mrs was 21). According to vpw, he and Mrs W married secretly while he was still in college. No reason for this was ever given.
Victor suggested he played on his college's basketball team, and that after college
he played on the professional team "the Sheboygan Redskins." His claim of each was
phrased ambiguously ("I played basketball all through college" "I was involved in the
Sheboygan Redskins") and the purpose seems to have been so that he was believed
to have said he did both without actually making the claims. Later, he began
making claims that he also "invented the hook shot" at this time.
He graduated with a BA from Lakeland College in 1937. Donald was born in 1940.
Victor graduated Princeton Theological Seminary in 1941, with a Masters in Practical Theology.
He did his "trial sermons" in 1941 in Payne, Ohio for the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
According to his memorial in 1985, he started his first pastorate July 1941,
and was ordained July 29, 1941.
(According to his account in TW:LIL, his first pastorate began in 1944 in Van Wert, Ohio,
and continued until 1957.)
Victor entered his first pastorate and wasted little time becoming a bully and a
control freak AGAIN. He himself claimed he started his job by immediately
doing whatever the elders told him not to do- even though it hampered his ability to do his job
properly. According to him, they confronted him on this, he mouthed off at them, and they just
let him go about his business, and the local church prospered as a direct result of him.
He was known for building a fairly interesting sermon, and getting people involved,
including the youths. (This was STILL before the time when he claimed he believed
the Bible was the Word of God.)
He said the following year, (1942) he slowly became discouraged and was searching.
He was still the man he had been, which is to say he was prideful, arrogant, boastful,
liked attention, and viewed the clergy as a PROFESSION and not a holy calling.
(He could have been just as "called" as an accountant or actuary, say.)
During 1942, he claimed he was ready to give up being a minister.
About a year later (Payne, 1942, August), he met Rosal1nd R1nker. She was a former
missionary to China and Korea. She's remembered as the anonymous person
who asks vpw
"Why don't you search for the greatest of all things in life
which would teach Christians the HOW of a really victorious life?"
This woman fixed a great deal of attention on him, and had a forceful personality.
She spent some time with him alone. It was of this time that he later claimed
he asked forgiveness of God. He also credits her with DOGGING HIM
"on the Bible being the Word of God",
and she "got me STARTED on the right track".
which, until this time, he hadn't believed, not even in all his years of school.
During 1942, he claimed he was ready to give up being a minister in August AND September.
One month later (September 1942), an event happened that he later showed a habit of re-writing.
As Victor told God he was getting ready to quit (again), He claimed that God spoke to him and said
He (God) would teach him (Victor) His Word (God's Word)
like it had not been known since the 1st century,
if he (Victor) would teach it to others.
(This is the famous 1942 promise.)
vpw did not discuss this event with anyone until he told the early corps-according to Mrs W.
Thus, the earliest possible origin-point of this story is 1969,
when the "zero corps" was begun.
Victor of course lacked the education in church history to contextualize this claim-
since it was inaccurate as stated. This implies that this was a made-up story,
or it came from a god lacking knowledge in history.
Victor later added a second part to his story- a snowstorm.
He said that he required PROOF of God, and asked God to let him see it snow.
A moment later, he opened his eyes, and he saw a veritable blizzard out his window.
The later addition to this story suggest that he felt it needed more support
after using the initial story. Victor showed no marked improvement, neither in
character, nor in behaviour, thru the rest of the 1940s (nearly the entire decade after this
supposed promise), which strongly supports the rather direct assertion that he lied thru his teeth.
vpw referred to this as one of the two most significant days of his life.
October 3, 1942, vpw did his first radio broadcast. He continued to do a radio show
under one name or another for several years- Vesper Chimes, aka Chimes Hour Youth
Caravan. Its name changes to Chimes Hour Youth Caravan in 1947.
Rhoda joined its staff in 1947.
(Supposedly, the name "the Way" was in the documentation for this group since 1942.)
In 1948, vpw was issued a "Doctorate" from Pikes Peak Seminary, an organization lacking
accreditation and formal classes (among other things.)
At some point, vpw began claiming that he took EVERY class
Moody Bible School's Correspondence program issued.
According to official records at Moody, vpw never turned in a single class of
their correspondence school. This may mean he took classes and never
finished ANY (which indicates laziness), or that he was lying about taking
any of their classes.
At one point, Rufus Moseley attempted to minister Holy Spirit to vpw, but vpw demonstrated
an inability to receive it. In 1951, he visited missionaries in Honduras.
In 1951, vpw made another claim he was ready to give up on the ministry
(even after, supposedly a direct promise of God about really important stuff
which promptly failed to materialize.)
In November, 1951, vpw attended the Full Gospel Rally, in Tulsa, Oklahoma
(a big Evangelical conference.) He made several claims of this conference.
People at the conference OTHER than vpw supposedly had no difficulty beginning
speaking in tongues. He claimed he faked speaking in tongues in a clever
way, and others were unable to tell. He was further disillusioned about working for God.
He then claimed a miraculous snowstorm blocked him into the city entirely, and
ALL the evidence there NO blizzard whatsoever (and there was a WEALTH of evidence
-at the airports, Amtrak and bus depot, the hotel staff, the attendees,
etc) was concealed by angels. vpw also, apparently, never approached a window,
or they made an illusion at the window.
vpw has referred to this as one of the two most significant days of his life.
(Many people currently feel that vpw completely made up the story that God spoke
to him in 1942, and that his dependence upon this event plus the event at the
Full Gospel Rally to establish his authority were both dressed up with made-up
snowstorms to make them sound more spectacular. The specifics of both
appear to support this position-especially since vpw was fond of increasing
the magnitude of his claims in things as time went on.)
Supposedly, a woman came up to him and told him that she knew a man who can help him-
JE Stiles. He claims God told Stiles to attend the conference with the sole purpose
of ministering the Spirit to vpw. vpw met with Stiles, and made a few chauvinistic
observations to himself, before going off with Stiles.
Stiles worked with him for a few hours nonstop, hammering across to vpw what
the Bible says on speaking in tongues, and working over his doubts one by one.
Finally, vpw was able to speak in tongues.
It was during the 1950s that vpw's behaviour was noted to finally improve,
although he still did not stop including inappropriate words or concepts in his sermons.
In March, 1953, vpw found out about BG Leonard, and pushed his way into BG Leonard's
CTC Gifts of the Spirit class, which Leonard told him was closed, but permitted him
to enter after vpw arrived. vpw took this class twice, bringing several people with him
the second time. (That second time was July 1953.)
vpw then went off for a few months by himself, then told Leonard that he'd like to run
Leonard's CTC Gifts of the Spirit class locally for his congregation on a one-time basis.
Seeing the benefit to other Christians, Leonard agrees.
vpw then ran the first of "his" Receiving the Holy Spirit Today classes, (October 1953)
and took a photograph of that class. He told the students that this is "his" class
called RtHST, with NO mention of Leonard's class from which 100% of the content
had been directly lifted. The students had no reason to think he's lying. vpw sent
the photograph to Leonard and told Leonard that this is a photo of the class that took
Leonard's class on a one-time basis that was run locally. Leonard took vpw at his word,
and had no idea that vpw continued to run Leonard's class with vpw's name on it,
defrauding both Leonard AND the students. That the classes were interchangeable
in terms of material was the opinion of vpw himself- anyone who had graduated
Leonard's "Gifts of the Spirit" class was considered to be-by vpw- a graduate of
"vpw's" RtHST class.
To this day, many students STILL think this was was vpw's class, even when
evidence is introduced to the contrary. Later, vpw added the contents of JE Stiles' work
on "Gifts of the Spirit" and Bullinger's work on the Holy Spirit as well as
"How to Enjoy the Bible", and expanded the class into a class that was the
sum of the 3 men's work-Stiles, Bullinger and Leonard-rather than just Leonard.
He also renamed the class "Power For Abundant Living", rather than
"Receiving the Holy Spirit Today".
vpw later made a few offhand comments here and there that the material in the class
is not original, but its compilation was.
(However, as it was constructed, vpw could have been sued by copyright holders for
Bullinger, Stiles, and Leonard. Leonard found out but chose not to prosecute.)
It is often noted that the supposed 1942 promise claimed vpw would be taught-by God-
things unknown since the First Century Christians, if vpw would teach others-
yet ALL the material vpw taught was all taken from Leonard/Stiles/Bullinger/Kenyon
and a few others, and thus, it was all KNOWN. Therefore, if a god gave vpw revelation
in 1942, it was a god that lied, since vpw's source for everything was
MAN and NEVER represented information lost since the First Century AD-not even once.
In 1953, vpw also took JE Stiles' "Gifts of the Spirit" book, changed a few words,
and self-published it as the 1st Edition of "Receiving the Holy Spirit Today."
That it was the same year is no coincidence-it was the "original" textbook for
the "original" class. ("Original" in the sense that they were the 1.0 version of
his class, not that they originated at that time.)
Later editions would include incorporation of material from Leonard and Bullinger,
and would include more cosmetic changes in the order of the words and the
specific words used in an attempt to make it look less like Stiles' book.
Among the changes was the deletion of a reference to an anonymous Christian
who "put it together" for vpw (that was Stiles), who was missing by the 4th
edition book, where vpw put it all together himself.
vpw ran "his" PFAL classes continually from 1953 onward, with some success.
Dr E.E. Higgins was one of the students in the October 1953 class. She's known as
the anonymous person who would call vpw at night and ask what God
showed him that day. In 1954, Dr Higgins first introduced vpw to EW
Bullinger's books, and gave him his first copies of the Companion Bible, and
"How to Enjoy the Bible." The contents of both these books later became integral
parts of "vpw's" class.
According to his published memorial, Bishop KC Pillai took PFAL in 1954,
and began teaching a class on"Orientalisms of the Bible".
(Pillai also wrote 3 small books: "Light Through an Eastern Window"
and Volumes I and II of "Orientalisms of the Bible.")
According to the memorial in 1985, 1955 was the year they officially chartered
"the Way".
In 1955, JP was born. 2 months later, VPW left JP with family for the next
year or so, and took his wife and eldest son on a tour of the mission fields in India,
on the Evangelical and Reformed Church's dime.(1955-1957) (Per TW:LIL)
He was irritated that he's reminded he is not officially designated as a spokesman
or investigator of theirs. According to his account in TW:LIL,
he there met Bishop KC Pillai, whom he later invited to teach.
According to the memorial, this tour of the mission fields ran from 1955-1956,
and included stops in Great Britain, Europe, India, and "the Bible lands."
According to the memorial, 1956 was when he wrote
"the Dilemma of Foreign Missions in India."(According to TW:LIL)
In 1957, vpw returned to Van Wert. He cut his ties with the Evangelical and Reformed
Church, and took "his" PFAL class with him.In 1957, he and Harry bought out
their brothers and bought the family farm outright. Rather than take ownership
themselves, they declared it the propertyof "the Way", a church organization
(thus tax-exempt.)(Per TW:LIL, Harry said this was the time they chose the name
"the Way".) Work began on fixing up the farm.
In 1959, he ran a Wisconsin Summer Camp. In 1960, he ran an Indiana Summer Camp.
In 1961, he moved to the farm (refurbishment being sufficient for the move). Bishop Pillai
arrived and taught at the summer school. (Per TW:LIL.)
In 1961, he ran a Miamisburg, Ohio Summer Camp.
In 1962, he moved the summer school to the farm (refurbishment being sufficient
to hold classes there in the new BRC.)
In 1962, Lamsa taught at the summer school.(Lamsa is another unconventional teacher
who claimed special knowledge of the Bible and special status as a man of God.)
In 1963, vpw went to Lima, Ohio and filmed the sessions called "the Teacher".
(Despite this, success STILL had not taken off as vpw wished.)
According to the memorial, 1967 was when "Are the Dead Alive Now?"
(which is adapted from some of Bullinger's books) was published, and PFAL was filmed.
This was the edition of PFAL that incorporated Bullinger's books
(the contents, but not the books themselves) into the curriculum.
In Fall of 1967, vpw first filmed the PFAL class. This was done in a setting
with bright studio lights. (Bright studio lights do not cause cancer.)
vpw claimed that a doctor told him that filming a second day would mean
permanent eye damage, and that he was staring into 8000 watts.
He filmed for 3 complete days, getting sore eyes from the bright lights
(which do not cause cancer.) The figure of 2000 watts seems to be a more
realistic figure for the light level of the filmed class (which is still VERY bright.)
According to TW:LIL, In 1967, vpw read about the Christians at the House of
Acts. vpw went there, impressed them, and convinced them he has extensive,
EXCLUSIVE knowledge they lack. He then turned those he could from unorganized
Christians into a recruitment arm for his class and organization. They agreed
to handle things on the East and West coasts, and many young Christians were
impressed with THEM and join. It's been suggested that one of the reasons he
went there was because he'd heard of the "free-love" movement and wanted to
connect with Christians who would have sex outside of marriage. Thus claim might
sound ridiculous if his accounts of them didn't include little comments about their
displays of affection-and especially since he'd asked one of them-back then and
there-to give him DETAILS on what an orgy was like. He followed up by claiming
that God PERMITTED orgies-but considered monogamy BETTER.
It's also believed that San Francisco is where vpw bought the pornographic materials
he showed the corps, some Advanced Classes and CFS classes-like the movie
of the two women with the dog. (He MENTIONED that video to many Advanced
classes and CFS classes where it was not SHOWN.)
According to the memorial, his trip to Haight-Ashbury/House of Acts was in 1968.
As of 1969, sizeable numbers of young people had flocked to twi from both coasts
as a result.
Once there was sizeable membership in both coasts, vpw pushed out the Christians
from the House of Acts and insisted authority would come FROM hq and tithes
would go TO hq. No exceptions. At that point (1969), vpw made his first attempt
at a Way Corps, which resulted in the famous "Zero Corps".
At some point-presumably early in the way corps history, and possibly as early as 1969,
vpw (according to Mrs W's account) first begins to tell his "snow on the pumps" account
to people, starting with the way corps.
At another point-before the early 1970s-vpw began adding to the "special revelation"
that produced the books and classes (which were really compilations of the work
of other Christians with their names removed) and began speaking of special
revelation about current events. He began to expound on some conspiracy
theories to the corps, and about attempts to take over the United States.
vpw was getting this material from the John Birch Society and the Liberty Lobby.
A few people on-grounds were aware of information coming in from them,
but almost nobody knew those were the direct sources of his supposed
"revelation". As he had done often before, he just claimed to mysteriously
know things and never cited a source-leaving the listeners to guess that there
WAS no conventional source, making this ANOTHER thing God just told him.
These conspiracy theorist organizations and their personal biases fill in the blanks
in some of his odder statements. Their anti-Semitism helps explain his claims
that the current Jews were not descended from the historic Jews (which has been
disproven genetically since), and his recommendations of books like
"the Thirteenth Tribe." Their condemnation of rock and roll and musician/celebrities
explain his claims of all musicians being possessed, and his recommendation of
"the Marxist Minstrels" to the corps (which claimed rock and roll was a communist
plot to take over the United States.) vpw even had David Noebel, who wrote
"the Marxist Minstrels" come and lecture the corps.
In 1971, vpw began his WOW Ambassador program. This program underwent some
changes, but primarily was a one-year committment to get sent out,
support yourself, find housing, and run PFAL classes.
According to his memorial, 1971 was when the Orange Book, "Power for
Abundant Living" was first self-published. It contained mostly material from Leonard's
class and from Bullinger's book "How to Enjoy the Bible".
A number of pamphlets called "Studies in Abundant Living" accompanied the
PFAL class from fairly early on (the filmed class names "Studies in Human
Suffering", later renamed "Job:Victim to Victor".)
In 1971, the first 3 volumes of "Studies in Abundant Living" are published,
compiling the pamphlets into 3 small hardbound books.
In 1974, Emporia College in Emporia, Kansas was bought. It was renamed
"the Way College of Emporia". Despite an absence of accreditation, licensed professors,
and a school "library" composed ENTIRELY of used textbooks donated by way members,
it was put forth as if it is a normal, accredited college.
In 1975, "Jesus Christ is Not God" was published. This was the last book-
not counting Vol 4 of Studies in Abundant Living- that was actually put together by vpw.
In 1976, campuses were purchased in Rome City, Indiana ("the College of Biblical Research")
and Gunnison, Colorado ("the Way Family Ranch-Camp Gunnison").
In 1977, the PFAL '77 was done live at Ball State University. According to the memorial,
in 1977, Howard Allen and Donald Wierwille were installed as Trustees on the
Board of Trustees (replacing "Uncle" Harry Wierwille and Ermal Owens.)
In 1977, Volume 4 of Studies in Abundant Living was published.
In 1978, the land for the LEAD Outdoor Academy was purchased in Tinnie, New Mexico.
In 1979, Advanced Class '79 ran (live, I imagine.)
In 1980, "Jesus Christ Our Passover" was published. This was the first book written by
competent staff and researchers. According to the book itself, it was written
"by Victor Paul Wierwille", with no mention of anyone else. It was a higher-caliber book
than twi normally self-publishes.
In 1982, twi celebrates its "Fortieth Anniversary" since the radio shows that
weren't called "the Way". In 1982, vpw installed LCM as the new president of twi
and vpw becomes "president emeritus".
In 1982, "Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed" was published. It also was written by staff,
and said "by Victor Paul Wierwille" on the cover.
It relied largely on the calculations of another writer as well. This book also saw the
breakthrough of proper crediting, since it actually named the other writer
(Martin) and his book.
In 1984, a live PFAL class was taught at Camp Gunnison, and a manor house was
purchased in Gartmore, Scotland. It was named the Way College of Biblical Research.
(aka Gartmore House, or "the big house" to the villagers of Gartmore.)
vpw spent his life drinking alcoholic beverages and smoking cigarettes and cigars-
tobacco products. Although he usually did it "off-camera", many people knew some
of this. Everyone knew he at least smoked, but he seemed to chain-smoke when
"no one was watching." Furthermore, he had a "coffee cup" next to him for morning
meetings and so on-and often, the contents had nothing to do with coffee. Those who
ever commented on it (who were few enough among those who noticed) were
treated to his comments about us not being "under condemnation" and thus it wasn't
sinful, and therefore had no consequences.
However, there WERE consequences....
By 1984, the long-term exposure to alcohol-which damages internal organs, including
those that act as the body's filtration system and also damages the brain-
and long-term exposure to tobacco-which is a known cancer-causing agent
(unlike studio lights)- resulted in some permanent damage to vpw' body.
He acquired cancer of the eye and liver, and suffered a stroke.
vpw quite vocally-and often- announced that the eye damage was the result
of getting cancer from the studio lights used when filming PFAL- thus saying it was
the result of virtuous activity, and used to give the students a guilty conscience.
Once, when addressing the corps, he was speaking on personal committment to
God. He said "I gave my EYE-what are YOU willing to give?"
Further, in private, vpw was MOST disturbed that he had ANY physical problems,
especially this one. He claimed he'd never been sick or needed an aspirin EVER-
not ONE DAY in his life-before this. Not even in PRIVATE did he ever seem to admit
he'd exposed his body to carcinogens for DECADES. He had surgery that
removed the cancer-stricken eye.
The details of the stroke were COMPLETELY hidden-although there were witnesses-
and the existence of any cancer produced a problem. According to vpw's DOCTRINE,
any Christian should be able to believe sufficiently to burn out a cancer from their
body. vpw had slowly manipulated his personal image to the point that he was
frequently seen as some sort of super-Christian-which is what he wanted. However,
this meant he should have EASILY believed away his cancer.
WORSE, he'd taught in the Advanced class that, since a cancer has a life of its own
(like algae), it must be the result of devil activity. Since vpw was supposedly a
super-Christian, he should have been able to deflect such an assault easily.
However, rather than adjust his image, or correct his doctrine-which had already
hurt many other Christians-he simply hid the cause of his descent into death.
In 1985 the "Word over the World Auditorium" opened at the organizations hq on the farm.
vpw died May 20, 1985 at age 68. According to his death certificate, the cause was
cancer of the liver and of the eye. According to most people in twi at the time,
the cause was UNKNOWN. The most commonly-stated reason was
"he got tired of fighting."
In the last few months of his life, vpw visited Gartmore and spoke privately
with Chr1s Ge*r. He (CG) later claimed that his own paper which he wrote
afterwards-"the Passing of the Patriarch"-was based entirely on private
conversations with vpw. (Some people believe him, some do not.)
That paper-among other things-also claims that vpw would have been
able to "believe himself healthy" if he'd wanted to.
Volume 5 of Studies in Abundant Living was published
posthumously. Its contents were from vpw, it was edited by Chr1$ Ge*r.
=========
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oldiesman
This seems to be another imaginative way to talk about VP's failure to give proper written acknowledgement. Yeah, it would have been much better had he referenced these men better, but I think it wouldn't have changed much back then, or even now, if he did.
It has been about 33 years since I was first introduced to PFAL, and in all that time, I haven't heard anything from any of Wierwille's sources, independently, apart from twi.
Nothing is stopping them or their ministries/movements from knocking on my door, if they so choose.
In other words, up to this point, I probably wouldn't have known anything about Leonard, Stiles, Kenyon, Bullinger, Daily, Jones, Cliffe, et al., if it weren't for Wierwille's ministry and teachings. Why that is, I don't know. Maybe that was God's plan all along for me.
But I certainly don't consider Wierwille's teachings as carjacking others. Why should I think that way? All others are still free to flourish on their own, if that is what God intended before Wierwille supposedly carjacked. As opposed to that I think Wierwille has honored these men by teaching some of their stuff.
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skyrider
Wierwille's the one with an imaginative way.....illustrating spiritual hitchhikers in his teachings
Imo, spiritual hitchhiking would be one who "rides along" on someone's teachings/identity/etc and does very little to establish individual identity. Adding the "spiritual side" to the equation.....one could be said to follow a group (or individual) for selfish reasons.
Carjacking.......is taking ownership from someone else's property and efforts. Yes, imo.....wierwille carjacked B. G. Leonard's class and rushed back to Ohio (in 1953) and ran the whole thing without charts, without a syllabus, without references to Leonard's class. Mrs. Wierwille's book, Born Again to Serve gives explicit details of this.
Oldies states, "Yeah, it would have been much better had he referenced these men better, but I think it wouldn't have changed much back then, or even now, if he did." Well.....I couldn't disagree more!!!!!
Had wierwille taken Leonard's class material back to Ohio and given proper references to this work, it would have TOTALLY CHANGED TWI from the onset and, exponentially now. How:
...1) It would have debunked the wierwille-mog concept from the beginning.
...2) It would have sent a clear message that true ministries are in operation in many places.
...3) It would have derailed the "true household idolatry" that sprouted thru the years.
...4) Possibly, it could have helped humble wierwille everytime he gave heart-felt recognition.
...5) Possibly, it could have derailed the mog worship that was subtly taught in the corps program.
...6) Had wierwille walked uprightly and avoided plagerism, perhaps other deceptions would have ceased.
...7) To lie and deceive....vp opened himself up to a host of adulterous practices, physically & spiritually.
You see Oldies.................it could have CHANGED EVERYTHING IN TWI as we know it.
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igotout
Oldies, get real. Had VPW given credit where credit was due from the very beginning, TWI could have possibly been successful instead of the permanent mess it is in now.
We all thought he received revelation and researched these concepts on his own. We were led to believe that God showed him these things right from the bible as part of his snowbound promise. We all believed that he thought up and wrote RTHST and other plagiarized works. It was deceptive at best. At worst it was a con-game which was later broken by the power of the Information age.
Thank you, Skyrider, for helping us understand "The Great Carjacking Mystery Revealed".
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oldiesman
If this is true, why did he tell us in 1972 "lots of the stuff I teach is not original"?
Why did he have printed in the books he "sought enlightenment from men of God scattered across the continent"?
Why did he have some of the books he learned from in the Way Bookstore, for all to read? (with the exception of Leonard & Stiles who he credited verbally)
That doesn't sound like someone not giving credit or trying to hide where he got his information from.
The fact is, he did give credit where credit was due; he just didn't give proper written acknowledgement.
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WordWolf
I'm not sure if this is a medically-unsound level of denial,
or a deliberate attempt to deceive the newer posters.
So, I'll give the benefit of the doubt as to intent.
Here's what Oldies creatively refers to as "giving credit where credit was due"...
"The Way:Living in Love", page 209, says the following:
"Lots of the stuff I teach is not original. Putting it all together
so that it fit-that was the original work. I learned wherever I
could, and then I worked that with the Scriptures. What was right
on with the Scriptures, I kept; but what wasn't, I dropped."
That's the entirety of the written credit to the people he got the entirety of
"his" books from.
Now, that's buried in the middle of that book, which was hardly
required reading. What WAS required reading was the Orange Book,
the White Book, and so on.
The Orange Book has NO bibliography. NONE.
And it was a composite from Leonard, Bullinger, Norman Vincent Peale, etc.
The dedication is to his daughter.
Here's the ENTIRE introduction.
=========
""Introduction: the Abundant Life.
Jesus' proclamation as recorded in John 10:10 is the foundational
Scripture for this book.
...I am come that they [believers] might have life, and that
they might have it more abundantly.
This verse literally changed my life. My wife and I began in
the Christian ministry, plodding ahead with the things of God,
but somehow we lacked an abundant life.
Then one time I was especially alerted when I read from the
Word of God that Jesus said He had come to give us life more
abundant. I was startled into awareness. As I looked about me
at communities where I had served and among the ministers with
whom I had worked, the abundant life was frequently not
evident. In contrast to these Christian people, I could see that
the secular world of non-Christians were manifesting a more
abundant life than were members of the Church. Thus I
earnestly began to pursue the question:
'If Jesus Christ came that men and women might have a
MORE ABUNDANT LIFE, then why is it that the Christian
believers do not manifest even an ABUNDANT LIFE?'
I believe most people would be thankful if they ever lived
an abundant life; but The Word says Jesus Christ came that
we might have life not just abundant, but more abundant.
If His Word is not reliable here in John 10:10, how can we
trust it anywhere else? But, on the other hand, if
Jesus told the truth, if He meant what He said and said what
He meant in this declaration, then surely there must be
keys, signposts, to guide us to the understanding and the
receiving of this life which is more than abundant.
This book, POWER FOR ABUNDANT LIVING, is one way of
showing interested people the abundany life which Jesus
Christ lived and which He came to make available to
believers as it is revealed in the Word of God.
This is a book containing Biblical keys. The contents herein
do not teach the Scriptures from Genesis 1:1 to
Revelation 22:21; rather, it is designed to set before the
reader the basic keys in the Word of God so that
Genesis to Revelation will unfold and so that the
abundant life which Jesus Christ came to make available will
become evident to those who want to appropriate
God's abundance to their lives. "
========
That's it.
NOTHING on the authors he did a cut-and-paste from.
Later in the book, he speaks of other Christians.
[pg-119-120.]
=====
"For years I did nothing but read around the Word of God. I
used to read two or three theological works weekly for month
after month and year after year. I knew what Professor
so-and-so said, what Dr so-and-so and the Right Reverend
so-and-so said, but I could not quote you The Word. I had
not read it. One day I finally became so disgusted and tired
of reading around The Word that I hauled over 3000 volumes
of theological works to the city dump. I decided to quit
reading around The Word. Consequently, I have spent
years studying The Word- its integrity, its meaning,
its words.
Why do we study? Because God expects us as workmen to
know what His Word says."
=======
To most people who can read English, this says he's contrasting
the contents of his book with other theological works,
which he STOPPED reading and consequently produced THIS
book as a result.
==========
The White Book is FAR more interesting.
The early editions of it were JE Stiles' book.
With vpw's name on the cover.
COMPLETELY Stiles' book.
What does the White Book's preface say?
Here's the ENTIRE preface.
SEVENTH EDITION.
==========
""When I was serving my first congregation, a Korean
missionary asked me, 'Why don't you search for the
greatest of all things in life which would teach Christian
believers the HOW of a really victorious life?'
This challenge was the beginning of a search which led
me through many, many hours of examining different
English translations, the various critical Greek texts,
and Aramaic 'originals', looking for the source of the
power which was manifested in the early Church.
Finally I realized that the experience referred to as
'receiving the holy spirit' in the Scriptures WAS and IS
actually available to every born-again believer today.
I believed to receive the gift of holy spirit and I, too,
manifested.
Ever since receiving into manifestation the holy spirit,
I have had the desire to put in written form the longings
and fears that were mine regarding the receiving thereof.
I believe that sharing my quest with the believers who are
today seeking to be endued with power from on high may
be instrumental in leading them to the answer of their
hearts' desires.
I knew from the Bible that what God sent at Pentecost was
still available. It had to be, for God does not change. I knew that
the receiving of the power from on high on the day of
Pentecost had meant increased ability for the apostles and
disciples years ago, and that I needed and wanted the same
blessing. I knew that if the Church ever needed the holy
spirit in manifestation it needed it now.
Throughout my academic training in a college, a university,
four seminaries, from the commentaries I studied,
and from my years of questing and research among the
various religious groups claiming adherence to the holy
spirit's availability, there appeared many things
contradictory to the accuracy of the recorded Word of
God. I knew their teachings were sincere, but sincerity
is no guarantee for truth.
The Word of God is truth. I prayed that I might put aside all
that I had heard and thought out myself, and I started anew
with the Bible as my handbook as well as my textbook.
I did not want to omit, deny, or change any passage for,
the Word of God being the will of God, the Scripture must
fit like a hand in a glove.
If you are a Christian believer, I sincerely encourage you to
study this book. Do not allow your past teachings or feelings
to discourage you from going on to receive God's best.
If you need power and ability to face up to the snares of
this live, you may find your answer while reading this book.
It is my prayer that you may be edified, exhorted, and
comforted.
For those searching the Scriptures, desiring to know the
reasons why, how, what or where, I suggest you do a
careful study of the introductions as well as the
appendices in this volume. For those who simply desire
to receive, read chapters 1 though 5 and enjoy God's
great presence and power.
"II Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman
that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth."
To his helpers and colleagues every writer owes a profound
debt. This seventh edition has been read and studies carefully
by men and women of Biblical and spiritual ability.
To all of these I am most grateful."
=========
To the normal reader of English, this ALSO says he ONLY
used the Bible-NOT the works of other Christians...
and while we're at it, these other Christians are in error.
The only people he thanks are his proofreaders-
never the people whose material COMPOSED the book.
=============
Oldiesman said
"That doesn't sound like someone not giving credit or trying to hide where he got his information from."
That does to MOST people.
In fact, this is a veritable smoking-gun of such....
The White Book's 2nd Edition had an important difference in the Preface.
The earlier edition (2nd said this):
"
"The Word of God is truth. I prayed that I might put aside all
I had been taught and start anew with the Bible as my
handbook as well as my textbook. It took me seven years to
find a man of God schooled in the Holy Spirit, a man who knew
the Scripture on the Holy Spirit, and could fit it together so that
I dod not have to omit, deny or change any one passage.
He made the Scripture fit like a hand fits into a glove,
and when you can do that, you can be assured of having
truth."
That man was JE Stiles, the man who PERSONALLY led him into
speaking in tongues, and whose book on the Holy Spirit vpw
copied over and omitted his name.
But even anonymous, this feeble acknowledgement-lacking his
name as if vpw can't remember it-
acknowledged it came from someone else.
"It took me seven years to
find a man of God schooled in the Holy Spirit, a man who knew
the Scripture on the Holy Spirit, and could fit it together so that
I did not have to omit, deny or change any one passage.
He made the Scripture fit like a hand fits into a glove,"
Now, here's the SAME paragraph in the 7th Edition.
"
"The Word of God is truth. I prayed that I might put aside all
that I had heard and thought out myself, and I started anew
with the Bible as my handbook as well as my textbook.
I did not want to omit, deny, or change any passage for,
the Word of God being the will of God, the Scripture must
fit like a hand in a glove."
Again, 2nd edition:
"It took me seven years to
find a man of God schooled in the Holy Spirit, a man who knew
the Scripture on the Holy Spirit, and could fit it together so that
I dod not have to omit, deny or change any one passage.
He made the Scripture fit like a hand fits into a glove, "
7th edition:
"I did not want to omit, deny, or change any passage for,
the Word of God being the will of God, the Scripture must
fit like a hand in a glove."
Does everyone ELSE see the difference?
Honest readers call things like that edit
"attempts to hide where he got the information from"
and "not giving credit" (to say the least.)
Oakspear summed it up as follows:
"Think about when Wierwille does mention other people, often he pays them left-handed compliments, like saying BG Leonard was great on experience, and poor on documentation, or how Stiles is never mentioned again after that passage in TW:LIL.
Does he ever say "So-and-so taught me such-and-such", no, he throws out names, then about the best he can bring himself to say is that he kept what was accurate and threw out the rest. Specific credit and recognition was not ever given. Forget about footnotes, forget about endnotes, forget about a bibliography, he never, ever, mentions what he learned from whom, all he says is "Lots of the stuff I teach is not original. Putting it all together so that it fit -- that was the original work. I learned wherever I could, and then I worked that with the Scriptures. What was right on with the Scriptures, I kept; but what wasn't, I dropped." - a pretty lukewarm recognition of men that he copied from!"
As for credit to BG Leonard, the man from whom 100% of the contents of the first
pfal classes was taken without his permission,
what does vpw say about him?
Again we turn to "The Way:Living in Love".
"TW:LIL, pg-207.
"He loved me, and I learned some stuff from him. He had tremendous believing.
That's why I love the guy."
"The summer of 1953, our whole ministry went up-Dotsie and Donnie and some of the
others from Van Wert. We took his whole trip- really learned a lot about the other
manifestations of the holy spirit. But he worked from personal experiences.
I worked what he taught from the accuracy of the Scriptures. When I came home,
I made up my mind that I was going to tie the whole thing together from Genesis to
Revelation. So I did, and in October, I had the very first 'Power for Abundant Living' class.
At that time, the Foundational Class and Advanced Class were together-the whole thing
in two weeks. But the syllabus today is basically the same. The basic principles from
the Word are the same. The class has filled out. But I knew the greatness of our
age-the age of holy spirit and that every truth must fit in the framework of the
manifestations. I just had to teach it to somebody."
"I taught without a syllabus, but the class was the same.
You could throw the syllabus away now and I could still teach it.
It's a burning reality in my soul."
That's a pretty interesting way to refer to a class that was ENTIRELY Leonard's
material.
As to specifics on how he got the White Book,
here's what he said...
"TW:LIL, pg-209.
"Somewhere in there I wrote the first holy spirit book. I can't
remember exactly what year.
I'd been working those 385 scriptures and they began to all
fall into place."
"We're having the sixth edition printed now of
that book: Receiving the Holy Spirit Today.
It's a great piece of research."
On that same page, he says
"Lots of the stuff I teach is not original.
Putting it together so that it fit-that was the original work.
I learned wherever I could, and then I worked that with
the Scriptures. What was right on with the Scriptures, I
kept; but what wasn't, I dropped."
So, he deliberately and specifically put forth that he wrote
the White Book in its entirety,
then makes a vague comment that he "put it together so that
it fit"-which is a lie, since he just copied over the previous book.
Why did he lie about that?
I'm sure there are people who would say it was a different reason
than "not giving credit or trying to hide where he got his information from."
I think it should be obvious that he did NOT
"give credit where credit was due".
We know some of what he used from Bullinger.
However,
he NEVER said "Are the Dead Alive Now?" was ripped off
of Bullinger's "The Rich Man and Lazarus:an Intermediate State?"
and other works of EWB.
However, that's where it came from.
BTW, the reference to "working those 385 Scriptures"
means, in plain English,
taking the contents of Bullinger's "The Giver and His Gifts"
(now known as "Word Studies on the Holy Spirit")
and adding it to Stiles' book to make a bigger White Book.
Virtually none of us ever heard him mention that-
and I only knew once I got my copy of EWB's book.
As to giving credit to Bullinger at all,
vpw's exact words were
"TW:LIL,
pg-210.
"She gave me my first copy of Bullinger's
'How to Enjoy the Bible.' She said, when she first
heard me teach, that I taught like he wrote, and I'd never
met the man or even read his stuff."
He flat-out denied any familarity with his writings.
For MOST people, it is crystal-clear what vpw was trying
to do here-and succeeded with completely until the
Information Age arrived.
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oldiesman
Another point that I believe has some merit was something Mike said a long time ago, that these books of Vp's were basically "workbooks" for PFAL students, and not designed for the general public.
Books that were designed for the general public, for example, like Jesus Christ is not God, had endnotes and a bibliography.
Yes, it would have been better had he given proper written acknowledgement, even in his "workbooks".
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sprawled out
i've known all the stuff in wordwolf's chronology for a long, long time. but seeing it there, all together in one place, makes me sick to my stomach.
but what makes me even sicker is seeing people continue to defend the man.
vpw was a liar and a thief who knowingly deceived us into believing God had taught him the word, through his own research, as it hadn't been known since the first century. HE LIED.
so was it hitchhiking or carjacking? ultimately, it was much worse than a carjacking, because after stealing the car, he claimed ownership and sold it to us! over and over again.
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skyrider
BRILLIANT POST, WordWolf............thanks.
The documentation of this information gives even the most fanatical wierwillite pause for consideration of twi's re-writing of its history and mogship.
:)
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skyrider
Reading through WordWolf's post again.......the above quote is very revealing.
"It took"..........vpw knew the starting point of his quest.
"It took ME".....vpw doesn't give any credit to being guided or led by God. No, vpw is self-led..........and he's looking for a mentor.
"seven years".......from 1944-1951......wierwille is searching for a man to lead him.
"a man (JE Stiles) who knew the Scriptures on the Holy Spirit, and could fit it together"..........sounds like wierwille had a glimmer of humility when this 2nd edition was published.
"so that I did not have to omit, deny or change"................
....in one breath wierwille states that he's been searching for seven years for a man of God, and in the next breath veepee's bravado comes back in full bore and he wants to challenge and tweak these truths that he said "this man could fit the Scriptures together like a hand in a glove."
And, we sometimes wonder why twi is loaded with a double standard....?????????????
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WordWolf
Which is an unsupported assertion of Mike's.
vpw was quite florid in his descriptions of the education he received-
his father "paid for the best education money could buy"
and he studied with "the top men in their fields",
but somehow none of them got across to them what was made CRYSTAL CLEAR
by my HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS-
that ALL SOURCES MUST BE CITED AND DOCUMENTED.
In college it was a lot worse.
Supposedly, he made it thru a competent education at the high school,
collegiate, Masters level and Doctorate level,
and yet that didn't surgically implant a habit or knee-jerk reaction
to cite his sources whenever putting pen to paper.
vpw knew what a "textbook" was.
vpw knew what a "workbook" was.
vpw knew the differences between a "textbook", a "workbook" and a "study guide."
Anybody who made it thru college should know the difference.
vpw had all his books (all without exception) written as textbooks-
as in "this is how it is"-
with the exceptions of the syllabus for one class or another
(which were "study guides")
and the Home Studies
(which were "workbooks").
Flip open the back of JCING, and read me the contents of the bibliography. :)Yes, even workbooks are supposed to include proper attribution,
although it's understandable that ones that accompany
properly-attributed texts may not do so-since they're designed as
accessories to the textbook that DOES do so.
(I'm not kicking that the syllabi and Home Studies do not.)
EVERYTHING ELSE SHOULD HAVE PROPER DOCUMENTATION
NO MATTER WHO THE AUDIENCE WAS.
ALL the classes.
Even the CFS.
We never found out, for example, what hygiene video or whatever
he got the stills of the softcore porn he showed the class,
and-for all the mention of the 2-women-plus-dog-video,
we never were given the name of the video.
(I'm sure because I would never have been able to erase that specific
information from my brain no matter how hard I tried.)
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igotout
You nailed it Wordwolf.
Dummy, Oldies.
Not for the general public indeed......
No way, man. We taught all this stuff in twig and witnessed these plagiarized truths to all including door to door witnessing. The spin was that thanks to VPW's revelation directly from God to Gas pumps, we now have this lost Davinci Code.
And Didn't Jerry Jacks arrange to have these books sold door to door way back when?
And it was always a bragging point when someone like Bill Grxxn or other hotshot would boast about how they got Walden Books to put one or more of these books in their bookstore. And many a public library had these books on their shelves thanks to ambitious believers, including Oral Roberts University. They were on display PUBLICLY in the living rooms of every twig fellowship across America as we were instructed. How many of us loaned our books to new people to read?
The damage control would have been a piece of cake, but they were always bad at damage control. Too much pride at stake it seems.
Oh, and btw, Mike is nutty.
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Belle
CAN'T...... STOP......LAUGHING.......
Trying........ to...... breathe........
OMG!!! ROFLMFAOPIMP!!!! :lol: :lol:
Not intended for the general public??? :huh:
That's a joke, right?? Nobody really takes Mike seriously, do they? That's a joke, too, right? Please tell me that's not a serious statement!
No, it wasn't published over and over again, promoted in fellowships, used in teaching after teaching (still used in teaching after teaching), provided with every foundational class, widely distributed and widely shared with people. It wasn't strongly suggested that we teach people we're "undershepherding" or witnessing to from those books based on whatever the "theme" of the week was.
OMG! Besides that.... why the heck does that even serve as a justification for not giving proper academic credit to the people who actually did the research and work to write the information??
Can someone explain that to me?
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oldiesman
John, you're an intelligent guy so perhaps you can answer this question from a Dummy:
If Dr. Wierwille wanted to portray to us folks that all his teachings were received by revelation, and he researched these concepts on all his own independent from others, why did he say in 1972 "lots of the stuff I teach is not original"?
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WordWolf
I got here ahead of him,
so I'll see if I can beat him to a complete answer.
Here's the short answer:
A) he hedged his bets.
If someone later said "Hey, I found this thing that supposedly originated
with vpw, but someone else taught it first!"
"Well, he did say that none of it was original. THAT part's from there,
but most of the other stuff doesn't resemble its original sources."
He claimed
"I learned wherever I could, and then I worked that with the Scriptures.
What was right on with the Scriptures, I kept; but what wasn't, I dropped."
That was his "out" about sources.
He had his excuse if you ever "caught" him at something-
so long as you didn't catch him at a LOT of it. (Which the GSC has caught.)
The most he claimed was that he learned from other people's work-
and then completely reworked it on his own,
and when it was error, he dropped the error part.
That's not true.
He didn't rework the work of others. In many cases, he word-for-word
cut-and-pasted their material.
And when there was error, he dropped it if he disagreed, and kept it if he
agreed. Bullinger thought the kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God are
2 different things, but they're used interchangeably in Scripture,
so according to Scripture, they are the same.
According to Bullinger, they are different.
When he DID do changes, all bets are off.
The changes often reflected less an understanding of the material,
and more a desire to make cosmetic changes that made the material
LOOK different.
That's why his rephrasings of Leonard became more and more elaborate,
eventually sacrificing accuracy in the interest of making changes.
For example, Leonard's definition 'of word of knowledge' was simple and
accurate. Eventually, vpw changed it until it was error-
he made it REQUIRE the information be "IMPOSSIBLE" to be obtained
by your 5 senses. However, all over the Bible, the revelation WAS something
that the 5 senses COULD have told-but didn't.
So, his claim that he "worked" the material is inadequate, because he
retained any error that looked good, and his changes were primarily
COSMETIC and not substantive.
B)
Now then,
he buried that comment in the middle of TW:LiL, which was NOT
required reading. Did that complete a consistent picture of a man
who learned a lot from others, and simply COMPILED it?
Hardly-the rest of the book paints the OPPOSITE picture.
"TW:LIL, pg-179.
"The Word is buried today. If there's no one around to teach it,
God has to teach it Himself. You see, I am a product of my times.
God knew me before the foundations of the world, just like He knew
you and everyone else. We were all in God's foreknowledge from the
beginnings.
God knew I would believe His Word. And every day I am more and
more deeply convinced of this ministry which teaches people the
accuracy and integrity of God's Word."
pg-190.
"If no one is around to teach you the Word, and you are hungry,
then God has to teach you in the framework of your knowledgeable
experience. For example, if you're an athlete, He'll do it through
athletics. If you're a farmer, He'll teach you through farming."
pg-201.
"You see, learning is a process. You don't learn overnight.
The holy spirit field-that's the field God raised me up for.
There's not a question that cannot be answered biblically.
And there's no one I can't lead into speaking in tongues if they are
Christian and want to do it.
No matter how much knowledge you have of God, God seldom allows you
to teach more than people are able to receive.
Some things God taught me that night in Tulsa, I've never taught-
no one would have been able to receive them."
What's the COMPLETE picture he's trying to convey here?
pg-239.
"You teach what they can take. And sometimes you know a whole lot more.
Things you could open your heart on, you never do, to those depths
of perception. You go so far. You know the abundance available and
the Father says, 'That's all folks! End of show.' And it's
something you cannot describe to people. Just you and Father know."
The COMPLETE picture is that he learned everything from God alone-
except for little bits and pieces he got from other Christians,
which were usable once he strained all the error out of them.
That's completely the OPPOSITE of what happened-
like taking 100% of Leonard's class and immediately switching HIS
name for Leonard's and taking all the credit for all the work.
What did the Orange Book say on the others he learned from?
What did the White Book say on the others he learned from?
Forgot?
Easy to understand-they say NOTHING on them.
Here's what they DO say:
Orange Book, pg-119-120.
""For years I did nothing but read around the Word of God. I
used to read two or three theological works weekly for month
after month and year after year. I knew what Professor
so-and-so said, what Dr so-and-so and the Right Reverend
so-and-so said, but I could not quote you The Word. I had
not read it. One day I finally became so disgusted and tired
of reading around The Word that I hauled over 3000 volumes
of theological works to the city dump. I decided to quit
reading around The Word. Consequently, I have spent
years studying The Word- its integrity, its meaning,
its words."
There he says he discarded the works of other Christians entirely,
and used ONLY the Bible.
What did he say in the White Book?
(preface)
"The Word of God is truth. I prayed that I might put aside all
that I had heard and thought out myself, and I started anew
with the Bible as my handbook as well as my textbook.
I did not want to omit, deny, or change any passage for,
the Word of God being the will of God, the Scripture must
fit like a hand in a glove."
Note, again, that's after he got its entire material from Stiles,
Bullinger, and Leonard (with a smidgen of Lamsa.)
That's also after he initially credited Stiles for the answers-
but left out his name-
then went back and removed all record of Stiles' name from
the White Book.
Forgot all this?
I posted it maybe 24 hours ago on this SAME thread.
Now, I find it a little curious that you've left many paragraphs
which form a coherent whole with NO comments-as if they're
invisible to you,
but perhaps a single sentence -which HAS been explained before-
becomes a near-obsessive focus, which must be addressed and
explained again as if you've never been in discussions on it before.
It's not a surprise, just a little curious.
Perhaps HeGotOut will address the aspects I didn't expound on.
[Edited to add the letter B).]
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Belle
Well, it seems awfully simple to me:
"Difficult verses must be understood in light of the clear verses." This could apply to vee pee, too, no? We have example upon example of places where he blatantly plagarized, stole and otherwise mis-represented himself and this ONE line out of all the books, teachings, classes, etc. ONE LINE, one line that isn't even completely accurate.
Sorry, but I just can't chuck the rest of the evidence based on one extremely vague acknowledgement. I'm sure the courts wouldn't either. ;)
Speaking of which, can TWI be sued for plaigarism since they are still producing and selling these books that are obviously plagarized?
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WordWolf
You and the courts see things differently than Oldiesman.
I know the holders of the various copyrights certainly CAN sue, legally.
As to anyone else, I have no idea.
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oldiesman
I agree, and he made it clear that lots of the stuff he taught was not original. Not only was that in written form in 1972, from a popular book in the twi bookstore, but he said it to folks for years.
I guess I should cut some slack for folks who just came aboard in the 1990s.. maybe they didn't read it and know VP. But someone whos been around for 20-30 years? Been in the corps?
Also written in the books he "sought enlightenment from men of God scattered across the continent". A person who receives all his stuff from revelation, who researches independently apart from anyone else, doesn't need to do that. He's already enlightened, directly, from God.
Nah, I stand by my belief.
Maybe if he said "I received all the stuff I teach from my own independent research". But he didn't say that. He did say he researched independently... but then folks read into that statement and assume that means all his stuff was original. It wasn't. He told us it wasn't. But you know what happens when we assume stuff?
Still waiting to hear back from John. Dummies need enlightenment.
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CoolWaters
I never saw that written in any form. I never heard vp say any such thing, either.
Gotta do better than that, OM...at least live up to your own standards of 'proof' of something.
Can you site the book, please? Can you also site the times/places he said such things (like specific tape #, specific session of specific class, other official statements he made about this), please?
What you heard from vp is almost always very different from what others heard from vp. Never have I seen you site specifics of what you claim vp said/did/taught (and if you have, please site the thread and provide a link so that I can see it written for myself). It would be nice if you did...so I don't go around thinking that you're just arguing.
TYVM.
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