1. You pay for an "advanced class", drive a thousand miles to get there and end up digging potatoes.
2. You believe paying for a "class" will give you the gifts of the holy spirit.
3. You believe the group you are in has all the answers. You let "men of God" push you around because of it. You get yelled at allot for things you might do for no reason. You are grateful for being corrected.
4. You are living in a house with a bunch of people you barely know, that you assume are on the same page as you, but they are as mean as cat .... and as logical as Willy Wonka.
5. If you don't have enough money for toothpaste or deodorant despite having a job, it is because you "did not believe enough". You believe this.
6. You think you are better than everyone else, despite the fact that your lack of self esteem means you want other people to think for you. God has chosen YOU to believe in THE WAY! End game.
7. You let people tell you where to live, who to marry and how to treat your family. You start treating them like they are already in hell and you have the get out free card.
8. You are buying books from people you are supporting to your determent. You try to get other people to read them. You think everyones spiritual future depends on this. You lose sleep studying.
9. You start editing and correcting your King James Bible. You arrogantly assume you know more than best educated men of that time, because "Doctor" says so. You bet eternity on this.
10. When you are kicked out of the group you believe it is your fault, because in your heart of hearts, at some point you had a glimmer of God given intelligence left, but the so called "Word" never healed the problems that caused you to fall for this abomination in the first place.
Then you know the true definition of "works of the flesh" and the word evil, run like the devil is chasing you (which he is) and start healing.
You sign up for a program that asks you to leave your job and home for a year, bring $600 in travelers checks, get sent to a town you never lived, with people you never met to work 20 hrs a week to pay rent and give 10%. To knock on doors 40 hours a week to play a 36 hour 12 session class several times that year, we did 7 or 8 I can't remember it was 17 years ago.
They call it WOW, and said you'll grow 10 years spiritually in 1. All I got was a serious case of suicidal ideation.
You sit up all night worrying about what may be the last time you ever see your child again because the next day you will meet with her and tell,ask,beg and plead her to leave like you did and why.
You spend very few holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter) together with your family because wierwille sold you on being with the "spiritual household".....and your parents are unbelievers in terms of twi waybrain.
Then, when you get away from the cult, your parents are deceased or aged and feeble....and your "scapebooks of memories" is relatively (no pun intended) bare.
You spend very few holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter) together with your family because wierwille sold you on being with the "spiritual household".....and your parents are unbelievers in terms of twi waybrain.
Then, when you get away from the cult, your parents are deceased or aged and feeble....and your "scapebooks of memories" is relatively (no pun intended) bare.
:(
Boy, how this one resonates with me.
I left my hometown, at the "request" of the Limb Leader, to serve TWI.
That assignment was followed by time in a training program which was followed by yet another assignment, etc..
I regret that decision greatly. All those graduations, births, deaths, birthdays, family reunions, and various other milestones of life went on without me and I can never get them back.
"You (don't) know you are in a screwed up cult when you"---------are oblivious to how your future is being permanently and irreparably altered.
I left my hometown, at the "request" of the Limb Leader, to serve TWI.
That assignment was followed by time in a training program which was followed by yet another assignment, etc..
I regret that decision greatly. All those graduations, births, deaths, birthdays, family reunions, and various other milestones of life went on without me and I can never get them back.
"You (don't) know you are in a screwed up cult when you"---------are oblivious to how your future is being permanently and irreparably altered.
Oh I so agree, the time I have missed! Then in the burns I was talked into burning even pics of events and times we did have. :(
You know you are in screwed up cult when. . . . you do not recognize within yourself a shrinking capacity for mercy, compassion and empathy. But, you consider yourself enlightened.
Or when the only ones who really matter to you are those who think just like you, but you still adamantly claim to oppose idolatry. . . . . not recognizing the worshiping of self in such a practice.
You know you’re in a screwed up cult when you realize their mindset has an aversion to reality.
Toward the middle of 1986, after much stewing & fretting over “Passing of the Patriarch” issues and seeing the way upper leadership managed crisis after crisis - I began having serious doubts about some of TWI’s doctrines – but at this point still did not entertain the idea of it being a cult – guess I hadn’t gone that far spiritually.
It was also a very awkward time for me - this being my practicum year Corps assignment as branch coordinator – and me being honest enough to admit I was not cut out for any type of leadership or managerial role nor was I into pulling off a snow job like some slick politician – so I resigned from the post though I still fellowshipped with Way folks.
It was a small thing but maybe shows a fumbling effort to think outside the box - I bought a commentary on the books of Timothy at an estate sale just around the block – which opened my eyes to a whole other world of thought out there. That got me into going to the library and reading a lot of Bible related stuff. Anything I found interesting & relevant to topics I had targeted - I would either take pages & pages of handwritten notes or photocopy parts of the book.
I’d go to a photocopy place cuz it was cheaper than the library for the amount of stuff I was copying. One book I had stumbled upon was “The Kingdom of the Cults” by Walter Martin. One day I happened to run into one of the WOWs outside the photocopy place – he wanted to talk to me about “something heavy on his heart”. He followed me in – and while I was copying pages out of the “Cults” book he was unloading his troubles – mostly a concern over wanting to quit his current job and the arguing he’s been having with his WOW coordinator over this.
The whole time I’m trying to hide the cover of “the Kingdom of the Cults” book from him – but he was more concerned with unloading than paying attention to what I was doing anyway. I kept up my side of the conversation, wanting to be the ever-helpful Corps leader but also to distract his attention from the book – not wanting to fry his brain with something I myself was getting squeamish over.
What still stands out the most in my memory in a very poignant way are two bits of conversation while I was in the middle of photocopying a section on the psychological structure of cults and how among other things they are characterized by a close-mindedness, institutional dogmatism and intolerance. I asked him why he wanted to quit his job and his response was “I can’t think the Word there”.
What still stands out the most in my memory in a very poignant way are two bits of conversation while I was in the middle of photocopying a section on the psychological structure of cults and how among other things they are characterized by a close-mindedness, institutional dogmatism and intolerance. I asked him why he wanted to quit his job and his response was "I can't think the Word there".
I read that book shortly before I left TWI and was intrigued by the irony of what I bolded above. All structures (religious or otherwise) have a degree of those qualities. At the time, I found Walter Martin's book to be just as intolerant, close-minded, and dogmatic.
My issue with TWI was and is the lack of balance and the inability to achieve balance in such a system without a fairly significant level of persecution.
I read that book shortly before I left TWI and was intrigued by the irony of what I bolded above. All structures (religious or otherwise) have a degree of those qualities. At the time, I found Walter Martin's book to be just as intolerant, close-minded, and dogmatic.. .
maybe that's the difference between a normal cult and a screwed up cult.
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OldSkool
You know you are in a cult when you tirelessly endeavor to convince yourself you are not in a cult.
Tzaia
...can't or won't or feel uncomfortable when you are in a "normal" conversation with people.
Ham
Maybe.. if you watch eyes roll up at the mention of "merry Christmas"..
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kizka
1. You pay for an "advanced class", drive a thousand miles to get there and end up digging potatoes.
2. You believe paying for a "class" will give you the gifts of the holy spirit.
3. You believe the group you are in has all the answers. You let "men of God" push you around because of it. You get yelled at allot for things you might do for no reason. You are grateful for being corrected.
4. You are living in a house with a bunch of people you barely know, that you assume are on the same page as you, but they are as mean as cat .... and as logical as Willy Wonka.
5. If you don't have enough money for toothpaste or deodorant despite having a job, it is because you "did not believe enough". You believe this.
6. You think you are better than everyone else, despite the fact that your lack of self esteem means you want other people to think for you. God has chosen YOU to believe in THE WAY! End game.
7. You let people tell you where to live, who to marry and how to treat your family. You start treating them like they are already in hell and you have the get out free card.
8. You are buying books from people you are supporting to your determent. You try to get other people to read them. You think everyones spiritual future depends on this. You lose sleep studying.
9. You start editing and correcting your King James Bible. You arrogantly assume you know more than best educated men of that time, because "Doctor" says so. You bet eternity on this.
10. When you are kicked out of the group you believe it is your fault, because in your heart of hearts, at some point you had a glimmer of God given intelligence left, but the so called "Word" never healed the problems that caused you to fall for this abomination in the first place.
Then you know the true definition of "works of the flesh" and the word evil, run like the devil is chasing you (which he is) and start healing.
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Seth R.
You sign up for a program that asks you to leave your job and home for a year, bring $600 in travelers checks, get sent to a town you never lived, with people you never met to work 20 hrs a week to pay rent and give 10%. To knock on doors 40 hours a week to play a 36 hour 12 session class several times that year, we did 7 or 8 I can't remember it was 17 years ago.
They call it WOW, and said you'll grow 10 years spiritually in 1. All I got was a serious case of suicidal ideation.
Seth
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ChasUFarley
You're on a viral video popin' and lockin' in a suit and tie and STILL don't understand that you looked like an @$$ doing it.
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grand-daughter
You sit up all night worrying about what may be the last time you ever see your child again because the next day you will meet with her and tell,ask,beg and plead her to leave like you did and why.
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Nottawayfer
You receive a beautiful angel Christmas ornament from your favorite aunt, but you throw it away because the angel carries devil spirits.
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skyrider
You spend very few holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter) together with your family because wierwille sold you on being with the "spiritual household".....and your parents are unbelievers in terms of twi waybrain.
Then, when you get away from the cult, your parents are deceased or aged and feeble....and your "scapebooks of memories" is relatively (no pun intended) bare.
:(
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waysider
Boy, how this one resonates with me.
I left my hometown, at the "request" of the Limb Leader, to serve TWI.
That assignment was followed by time in a training program which was followed by yet another assignment, etc..
I regret that decision greatly. All those graduations, births, deaths, birthdays, family reunions, and various other milestones of life went on without me and I can never get them back.
"You (don't) know you are in a screwed up cult when you"---------are oblivious to how your future is being permanently and irreparably altered.
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grand-daughter
Oh I so agree, the time I have missed! Then in the burns I was talked into burning even pics of events and times we did have. :(
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geisha779
You know you are in screwed up cult when. . . . you do not recognize within yourself a shrinking capacity for mercy, compassion and empathy. But, you consider yourself enlightened.
Or when the only ones who really matter to you are those who think just like you, but you still adamantly claim to oppose idolatry. . . . . not recognizing the worshiping of self in such a practice.
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T-Bone
You know you’re in a screwed up cult when you realize their mindset has an aversion to reality.
Toward the middle of 1986, after much stewing & fretting over “Passing of the Patriarch” issues and seeing the way upper leadership managed crisis after crisis - I began having serious doubts about some of TWI’s doctrines – but at this point still did not entertain the idea of it being a cult – guess I hadn’t gone that far spiritually.
It was also a very awkward time for me - this being my practicum year Corps assignment as branch coordinator – and me being honest enough to admit I was not cut out for any type of leadership or managerial role nor was I into pulling off a snow job like some slick politician – so I resigned from the post though I still fellowshipped with Way folks.
It was a small thing but maybe shows a fumbling effort to think outside the box - I bought a commentary on the books of Timothy at an estate sale just around the block – which opened my eyes to a whole other world of thought out there. That got me into going to the library and reading a lot of Bible related stuff. Anything I found interesting & relevant to topics I had targeted - I would either take pages & pages of handwritten notes or photocopy parts of the book.
I’d go to a photocopy place cuz it was cheaper than the library for the amount of stuff I was copying. One book I had stumbled upon was “The Kingdom of the Cults” by Walter Martin. One day I happened to run into one of the WOWs outside the photocopy place – he wanted to talk to me about “something heavy on his heart”. He followed me in – and while I was copying pages out of the “Cults” book he was unloading his troubles – mostly a concern over wanting to quit his current job and the arguing he’s been having with his WOW coordinator over this.
The whole time I’m trying to hide the cover of “the Kingdom of the Cults” book from him – but he was more concerned with unloading than paying attention to what I was doing anyway. I kept up my side of the conversation, wanting to be the ever-helpful Corps leader but also to distract his attention from the book – not wanting to fry his brain with something I myself was getting squeamish over.
What still stands out the most in my memory in a very poignant way are two bits of conversation while I was in the middle of photocopying a section on the psychological structure of cults and how among other things they are characterized by a close-mindedness, institutional dogmatism and intolerance. I asked him why he wanted to quit his job and his response was “I can’t think the Word there”.
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Tzaia
I read that book shortly before I left TWI and was intrigued by the irony of what I bolded above. All structures (religious or otherwise) have a degree of those qualities. At the time, I found Walter Martin's book to be just as intolerant, close-minded, and dogmatic.
My issue with TWI was and is the lack of balance and the inability to achieve balance in such a system without a fairly significant level of persecution.
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T-Bone
maybe that's the difference between a normal cult and a screwed up cult.
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waysider
Yeah but we were the BEST cult.
Isn't that what VP always told us?
"Gawd Bless, Yer the best!"
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TheHeckler
When you slander an organization on a forum for 30+ years or search and destroy all interest for said organization for the rest of your life.
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waysider
Slander is spoken-----libel is written.
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dmiller
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TheHeckler
How long have you been devoted to TWI terrorism?
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waysider
Do you walk to school or carry your lunch?
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TheHeckler
That long huh?
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Ham
I'd still like to know. What is it exactly that the way, as an organization, DOES? Seems pretty simple and all..
"well.. we.. ahem. well.. we.. ahem. well...."
I honestly think that is the best response I should expect..
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waysider
Ah, come on , Ham
They work The Word!
Where ya been?
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TheHeckler
I answered the same question, equip t with just as much sarcasm, just a moment ago somewhere else. Do a search for TheHeckler to find it quickly.
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chockfull
I was devoted to the terrorism in TWI for over 20 yrs. Now I am free. How long have you been devoted to being happily brainwashed?
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TheHeckler
Chockfull first time we've spoken, right? 20 years! Have you ever been married?
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