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Lockstep Loyalty No Matter What


skyrider
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Okay.....in moving past twi, what about other areas? Manipulation and messaging is everywhere, and the polarization is growing. Some become so rigid in their loyalty that it frames ever facet of their lives. Are these people being manipulated by the deep-pockets of billionaires and idealogues?

1) Mainstream media

2) Congress...both sides

3) Hollywood culture

4) College Academia

5) Planned Parenthood

Pick a topic like abortion. We know how twi addressed it....ie 'not life until breath-life.' And, those who followed the recent disclosures of the Philadelphia abortion clinic abuses and horrors.....repulsive. Yet, the lockstep loyalty seems to break along political party lines, NOT morality issues.

Ameria is facing huge debt and deficits.....and political power-brokers and lobbyists are the ultimate lockstep loyalists. Congressmen are closest to the people and SHOULD be voting on behalf of their constituents......NOT white house mandates, NOT lockstep loyalty. I know, I know.....none of this is new. But even some of the long-standing newscasters have commented that this polarization has escalated and is very dangerous.

Those of us who came from the throes of twi should be more capable than most......to see the manipulation, the coercion, and the betrayal of principles. Twi was like a microcosm of corruption....that many organizations and political systems brazenly adhere to.

I agree with you I really, really do..... but, as bad as it is now....remember that we were so polarized at one time...we fought a civil war. We are not there yet. Maybe take another gander with a broader perspective...it may give you some comfort. Possibly. :)

You know....maybe you are a bit of an idealist( that is a compliment)....please hang on to that idealism. We really need voices like that. They seem so silent lately. Not only that, we need people who can cut through the bull.....spot it a mile away and call it out. See, TWI did us a few favors... if only to be able to cry foul at foul!

Speak on brother! Just don't forget to look at some of the good too.

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You know....maybe you are a bit of an idealist( that is a compliment)....please hang on to that idealism. We really need voices like that. They seem so silent lately. Not only that, we need people who can cut through the bull.....spot it a mile away and call it out. See, TWI did us a few favors... if only to be able to cry foul at foul!

Speak on brother! Just don't forget to look at some of the good too.

Is one an idealist for simply holding to principles and standards?

Is one an idealist who despises heavy-handed legalism?

Is one an idealist who is repulsed by hypocrisy?

If so.....count me in.

Silly me, I thought in twi that one could truly walk in the steps of Jesus Christ. No, I didn't really like all those "revelation keys in the adv. class".......just wanted to keep my heart open and live for Him. Despised bureaucracy. Detested the layers of reporting back. Never saw it done that way in scriptures in N.T.

Hold fast to the good....yep. Yet, everything I learned in twi was like, "Do as I say, not as I do." Twi's upper leadership was hypocrisy on a pig.....er, lipstick on a pig. Sure all animals are equal, but some are MORE EQUAL than others.

Enuff said.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The vast majority of people prefer to have their views handed to them. That's why following "the party line" is so prevalent, whether it is political, religious, etc. It's easier to simply to accept a "platform". Most "platforms" do contain some level of truth, but it takes a great deal of work to synthesize a position of one's own.

In today's society, most people are too distracted to do this. Whether it is distractions caused by the stress of everyday life, such as economic pressures; or just the sheer information overload of the news and social medias, msot people are just submerged in what has been called the "information superhighway".

This suits the powers-that-be of any infrastructure to a "T":, from a fellowship, to a local school board to the White House, . Things are much easier for the status quo is no one is questioning things. I suspect sometimes that this "overload" is deliberate. I regard much of the explosion of mass entertainment and "social media" (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) as filling a role sort of like the games in Ancient Rome.

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Cults like TWI have an insidious approach. They prey upon the youth, love bomb them until they can get them in a class to indoctrinate, get them in lockstep loyaly, then steal years from them.

Down the road TWI leaders make such statements as "the ministry owes people nothing, but people owe the ministry everything because of the Word they were taught".

The lockstep loyalty no matter what they want is a one way street. They have no such loyalty for members.

I remember talking to one gentleman who most everyone would know who was in TWI. He told me "I gave TWI the best years of my life. Now they've cast me aside." That is the norm, not an exception. Simple statistics show this. What percentage of the people who have gone through TWI's leadership training program, the Way Corps, continue to associate with TWI? If overall numbers are less than 5%, what does that tell you?

twi's leading criminals have also never been above "moving the goalposts" and deceiving people,

either. Posters have commented how they were told- IN WRITING- that once they completed the corps,

they would have the option whether or not to accept assignments from then on, or whether to move

forward in the community of their choice in the life of their choice, using what they learned at their

discretion. (Presumably, running a fellowship, teaching, etc.)

However, once the signed and were on grounds (and isolated from their support network),

they were told they had made a LIFETIME commitment to twi, and now, for the rest of their lives,

they were effectively slaves whom twi could order around for life. twi could tell them to move (and where

to move), twi would require them to stop their lives for 2 weeks a year, at their own expense, and

work both weeks through Corps Week and the ROA, etc, etc.

"Lifetime commitment to serve God" was morphed into "slave to whatever twi's board decided they

should have to do."

twi also clearly expected-and expects- BLIND LOYALTY. One poster asked lcm PERSONALLY about that

back in 1988. When lcm imitated vpw's previous calls for loyalty, this poster phoned lcm and said

it sounded like lcm wanted him to follow lcm BLINDLY. lcm replied to him that THIS WAS ALREADY

WHAT THE POSTER WAS DOING. The poster disagreed, told lcm he could kiss his burro, and hung up the

phone, which pretty much ended their communication.

"When I recieved the Loyalty letter in the mail I immediately called LCM and by some miracle after leaving a message he actually called me back. When I asked if this letter was a call to blindly follow him he said I had been doing this all along. I then told him thats what he thinks he could "kiss my @$$".

I think I was dropped from the rolls of the Way Corps that next morning. "

[Please note the curse censor changed what the poster said lcm could kiss.

I read the initial post and posted accordingly.]

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  • 3 weeks later...

Cults like TWI have an insidious approach. They prey upon the youth, love bomb them until they can get them in a class to indoctrinate, get them in lockstep loyaly, then steal years from them...

...The lockstep loyalty no matter what they want is a one way street. They have no such loyalty for members....

Absolutely right. When I first became involved in TWI it was like a page right out of Ca ult training manual. First I was "love bombed". I was the greatest thing in the world, and everyone was "so glad" that I was there. Then when I took the Foundational class, and they thought I was "hooked", the whip came down. Suddenly I was given "confronted" about all of my deficiencies n front of the entire branch and given an ultimatum: toe the line or get out. They suddenly had no concern for my feelings or at all. They had used the fact that I cared deeply about one of the members of the Fellowship to get me to that stage, and then when it appeared as though I had invested totally TWI, her parents and the Leadership declared that I would have no more contact with her. The next week she showed up with another Prospect in tow. The Fellowship and Branch leaders seemed to be confident that I would still toe the line. I bailed. And never regretted it.

The entire time I was in TWI, I thought, "Man, I need to keep a journal: this is textbook case of indoctrination techniques!" Yet they were incapable of figuring out what to do when someone went off-script. As Mr. Spock would say, "Fascinating"!

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They had used the fact that I cared deeply about one of the members of the Fellowship to get me to that stage, and then when it appeared as though I had invested totally TWI, her parents and the Leadership declared that I would have no more contact with her. The next week she showed up with another Prospect in tow.

The old "date and switch" routine. Fairly standard M.O. for The Way, back in the "good ol' days".

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The old "date and switch" routine. Fairly standard M.O. for The Way, back in the "good ol' days".

"date and switch", that's great! Ha! I'm amazed that they actually expect people to be cool with this and stay around!

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