VPW fit the classic profile of a serial bully, constantly "moving the goal posts", sabotaging work efforts, taking credit for others work, public humiliation, and so forth. He was by no means a man worthy of adulation or emulation. Just another two-bit bully. Bullying was the only real "skill" he excelled at.
The idea of not wanting to redo the original PFAL series is something that always bothered me, greatly, even back in the 1970's, primarily because of the way it was rationalized..
There was a great deal of hype floating around suggesting it was sooooo perfect it could not be improved upon. I didn't buy into that back then and I certainly find it humorous now.
Another thing that bothered me was that, despite Wierwille's feigned zeal for Word Over The World!, he was not the least bit interested in making it available to anyone unless it turned him a profit. All that mumbo-jumbo about it being perceived as less valuable if it was free was just that...mumbo-jumbo. Having to pay for the class was simply a way to delude yourself into believing you had made a good choice. If the product had been all it was purported to be, it could have been free and no self delusion would have been needed.
The idea of not wanting to redo the original PFAL series is something that always bothered me, greatly, even back in the 1970's, primarily because of the way it was rationalized..
There was a great deal of hype floating around suggesting it was sooooo perfect it could not be improved upon. I didn't buy into that back then and I certainly find it humorous now.
Another thing that bothered me was that, despite Wierwille's feigned zeal for Word Over The World!, he was not the least bit interested in making it available to anyone unless it turned him a profit. All that mumbo-jumbo about it being perceived as less valuable if it was free was just that...mumbo-jumbo. Having to pay for the class was simply a way to delude yourself into believing you had made a good choice. If the product had been all it was purported to be, it could have been free and no self delusion would have been needed.
I remember being at Corps Week where it was announced that the "donation" for the class would now be $100 (or was it $200?). Everyone stood up and clapped. Yeah, that would make it easier to "move the Word." It didn't last long either. Eventually they changed it to $45. That's walking by the spirit, for ya.
Speaking in tongues was the worm at the end of the hook that was PFAL. It was bait.
You promise "power" in the title of the class. You build up to the manifestation of that power. And then, when the time comes, you lead them into a totally phony display of so-called power that can't be verified, allegedly can't be refuted, etc. With everyone in the class performing the same totally non-spiritual action while imagining that everyone else around them is experiencing the real thing, there was an incredible amount of pressure on each person to refrain from spilling the beans. No one, myself included, had the courage to stand up and say, "BUT HE'S NAKED!!!"
Even now, there are many of us who won't admit this is what happened.
The preceding is my opinion. I apologize if anyone is insulted, but I truly believe that is precisely what happened. The only power at work in PFAL was the power of persuasion and groupthink.
Speaking in tongues was the worm at the end of the hook that was PFAL. It was bait.
You promise "power" in the title of the class. You build up to the manifestation of that power. And then, when the time comes, you lead them into a totally phony display of so-called power that can't be verified, allegedly can't be refuted, etc. With everyone in the class performing the same totally non-spiritual action while imagining that everyone else around them is experiencing the real thing, there was an incredible amount of pressure on each person to refrain from spilling the beans. No one, myself included, had the courage to stand up and say, "BUT HE'S NAKED!!!"
Even now, there are many of us who won't admit this is what happened.
The preceding is my opinion. I apologize if anyone is insulted, but I truly believe that is precisely what happened. The only power at work in PFAL was the power of persuasion and groupthink.
Yeah.....and the bait was/is tangled at every twig since.
The repetitiveness of it all, at times, really annoyed me. For a period of time,
as a Limb coordinator.....I would hold meetings or events without the manifestation
prerequisites [hey, look at me and how I manifest]. A couple of times, a self-absorbed
corps grad would question why I skipped them.
I sternly replied...."The Scriptures are the focus, and we don't need to go thru
this religious ritual [twi's format] every time we get together."
Even during my "indoctrination-daze".....I couldn't stomach the ritual
I remember being at Corps Week where it was announced that the "donation" for the class would now be $100 (or was it $200?). Everyone stood up and clapped. Yeah, that would make it easier to "move the Word." It didn't last long either. Eventually they changed it to $45. That's walking by the spirit, for ya.
It was $200. I remember because I wasn't in the Corps yet and I went to the Rock and talked to our area leader who was Corps. He talked about how excited he was that the new price was $200. I thought the Corps was crazy. He went back for his final year I went back and signed no one up for the class. Then I went in residence. They announced they were going to change it to $40 a few months beforehand. Later we all got yelled at via phone hook up for not continuing to sign people at $200, even though we knew the price was going to drop more than one hundred dollars. Someone said VP was afraid that Christ could come back and some people that should have been in the class might have to go to Hell. I'm not sure if that 2nd part is true.
God would have to be pretty stupid to allow such a thing to happen.
I mean, if He knew that there are people who would believe, but kept them out of heaven because of a church's marketing strategy, that would be pretty darned evil.
I see this as evidence that these people didn't really trust God (or have the slightest idea what they were talking about. Or both).
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Allan
My apologies to Raf if he felt challenged by me simply because I stated something that is real to me and some others on this site. It's great, you have your opinion and I have mine. I did not intend t
skyrider
For some 12 years, wierwille struggled with the pathway before him....admittedly, he wanted to bolt from his church pastorate and move into business. Mrs. Wierwille's book, Born Again to Serve, delve
Raf
God would have to be pretty stupid to allow such a thing to happen. I mean, if He knew that there are people who would believe, but kept them out of heaven because of a church's marketing strategy, t
WordWolf
It's interesting to connect the dots on the Leonard class, also.
Mrs W said Leonard really knew his stuff, both from the Bible and in practice,
and taught effectively.
vpw later said (in one of the few mentions EVER of Leonard) that his
knowledge of the Bible was deficient.
vpw pushed his way into one of Leonard's classes. vpw phoned and was told
it was already in progress so he'd have to wait for the next one. vpw
showed up anyway and demanded to be let in. Leonard was a nice guy and
put up with it. Then vpw came back a few months later with new students
and to retake it.
A few months after THAT, vpw asked Leonard for permission to run LEONARD's
class locally on a one-time basis. Leonard agreed, and later received a
photo of the grads of Leonard's class. Meanwhile, vpw told all the students
that it was vpw's class, which he maintained to his grave. He also continued
to teach Leonard's class as often as he could, only later adding things like
Stiles' book and Bullinger's material.
Also, Leonard was about training the ministers so they could help their own
congregations. vpw was about setting things up so that others were
DEPENDENT UPON HIM, putting forth that himself was some great one.
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skyrider
THAT'S WHY.....twi was a counterfeit.
At best, it was a pseudo-business MLM model sprinkled with scriptures and principles.....
and, at worse, it feasted on the lusts of the flesh and basked in idolatry.
The teacher/student relationship was the basis of twi......NOT Christ as lord.
And, therefore.....wierwille maintained authoritarian rule to his grave. It was
a slick counterfeit in the modern-era.....but very similar to Simon the sorcerer.
Wierwille continued to teach that it was about the abundance and power of God, but
in practice he commanded his followers to affix their eyes upon him.
At the far end of the commitment continuum was the corps indoctrination.
After years of jumping thru hoops, corps GRADS found that wierwille kept adding
more hoops. Some sniffed out the dependency, the oppression and bolted. Some
corps grads just slipped away. Under threat of expulsion and public shaming, a
majority of corps grads STAYED in twi for years against their better judgment....
Yet, in all its fanfare and boasting of "all nine all the time" and/or "the five
gift ministries in the church"......it didn't happen. Twi NEVER ADVANCED past
the "three manifestations operated in a twig" over and over and over again.
Note: add a big, fat sarcasm tag to this.....wierwille's twi and these 3 spiritual
toys played with over and over in twig.
In all these years, name me ONE INDIVIDUAL who spiritually rose up thru twi
with a genuine ministry of an apostle, a prophet or an evangelist? Just one.
Even the teachers and pastors were cookie-cutter counterfeit.
When measured against the truth of scripture, twi was a false ministry.
Wierwille's climb to the "summit of spiritual noblesse" ENDED IN A MIGHTY FALL: THUD.
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waysider
VPW fit the classic profile of a serial bully, constantly "moving the goal posts", sabotaging work efforts, taking credit for others work, public humiliation, and so forth. He was by no means a man worthy of adulation or emulation. Just another two-bit bully. Bullying was the only real "skill" he excelled at.
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excathedra
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WordWolf
Naturally, among all the other frauds, the only real drama vpw laid claim
to was a FAKE also.
When looked at coldly by the light of day,
the thing vpw taught bore no resemblance to the thing in the Bible-
except where it was CLAIMED to be so.
However, what we were taught was totally fake-able and able to be produced
by non-Christians trying to fake things.
That's why vpw-the-fraud was able to use it- it was as fraudulent as him!
I am not convinced the real thing isn't possible now.
I am convinced what we experienced and were taught-THAT was fake.
If the real thing is out there, we'll never find it by being convinced
that a fake is the real thing instead.
It's a nice microcosm of the entire twi experience vs God Almighty.
Those who convince themselves this fake is the real deal won't even
TRY to find the real thing.
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skyrider
I whole-heartedly agree.....what we were taught and experienced was fake,
a cheap knock-off of REAL manifestations in REAL LIFE SITUATIONS.
Heck, even wierwille's speaking in tongues SOUNDED PATHETICALLY REPETITIVE....and rehearsed.
And, all that baloney about practice sessions seemed more like window-dressing for twig/class
promo than to get out there and demonstrate the power of God.
Where is the application of the other SIX MANIFESTATIONS in twi? Zilch, nada, nil.
Even at the trustee level, who amongst them ever gave witness to power in manifestation?
As has been discussed many times, even vpee's examples were generic and lame.
But what about.....Harry? Ermal? Don? Wanda? Howard? Emogene? Craig? Donna?
See? The ruling class of trustees/emeritus was one big, pompous hoax.
THAT'S WHY.....the indentured servants [corps] have abandoned the manor. :anim-smile:/>
.
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WordWolf
"U shan ta ma la ka si to la shon ta."
That "sentence" showed up all the time, not just in pfal.
And it's been trotted out by partisans as proof vpw was a "real Christian" and not just
a fraud from the beginning. vpw passed the standard that he made up for being a real
Christian..big surprise...but he didn't do very well at it even so...
It's like his "tongue" was exactly one sentence long.
The practice sessions were all flesh-and-blood practice for something that was supposedly
completely spiritual. It's obvious in hindsight, but it fooled us all despite being
inconsistent.
When it came to revelation and power, vpw could cite examples from Scripture or cite
examples from other people (or claim those stories were his own a la Gilderoy Lockhart),
but never actually DEMONSTRATE them. That's why he didn't understand deeper levels and
his explanations made no sense.
"Phenomena" was his catch-all term for whatever wasn't guaranteed- and nobody noticed
that's exactly what it was. (I didn't even think that was wrong, to have a catch-all
term, but you'd think it was quoted straight out of the Bible.)
He claimed that "phenomena" for non-Christians REQUIRED spirit upon someone and couldn't
be physical (that was passed on by others, too). So, the "writing on the wall" wasn't
actual writing on an actual wall. The far simpler explanation was that the writing,
devoid of context, was MISUNDERSTOOD because the lettering looked like 1 language
when it was another. However, anything vpw didn't understand was "supernatural".
Charlatan voodoo doctors using sleight-of-hand were claimed to be "supernatural"
as well since vpw lacked the wit to understand what they were doing.
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skyrider
And this ADDS more credibility to my first post on this thread......wierwille was MORE THRILLED
with the class-based model of Leonard's class than the actual scriptures themselves!!
Wierwille hijacked all of it.....class registration, class format, length of sessions, class graduation,
class picture, and Maggie Muggins. Had to grab little Maggie, too? Yep.
But then.....it seems to me that wierwille COULD NOT accept or manifest with unreserved conviction
holy spirit within....[ie speaking in tongues in all its full-throated beauty]. Wierwille had a canned,
rehearsed and repetitive *U shanta.* Ole Vic had gone to Calgary, Alberta twice to "buy the farm"
and he didn't know the first thing about plowing.
.
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waysider
The "law of believing' and the "manifestations": The link-up that ties the satellites to the mother ship, all these decades later.
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skyrider
Remember when vpee would speak in tongues to show everyone? Every time
he demonstrated it, he'd jolt his arm/hand motion for emphasis.
Gawd.....even back then, I thought it looked contrived.
And now, some 40 years later....I can't name ONE INDIVIDUAL
who's come up thru the ranks of twi and recognized with a gift ministry.
Not one.
Just like wierwille conning his way thru plagiarized works of others,
Geer attempted to live off his "Poop Thesis" and franchise his classes.
SEE THE PATTERN? Wierwille was a hustler who feigned to believe the Scriptures
and the men following in vp's wake are doing the same.....except with a provided
list of gullibles.....er, followers.
There's a reason why we're instructed to KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUIT.
Words have a great capacity to deceive, but fruit reveals a healthy tree.
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Allan
I think even the tongues may be suspect as 'malaka'is a greek curse meaning wanker !!
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excathedra
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ahhhhhhh ha hahahahah haaaaaaaaaaaaa ah ahhaaaaaaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha haha hah ah haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
GIANT SNORT EMOTICON GOES HERE
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ahhhhhhh ha hahahahah haaaaaaaaaaaaa ah ahhaaaaaaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha haha hah ah haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
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Allan
sounds like that made your day exie !!
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excathedra
mwah
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skyrider
Did anyone ever notice that wierwille did NOT want to re-do or update the intermediate class
and assigned it over to E@rl B-urton instead?
Think about it.....this "holy spirit field" was, supposedly, veepee's claim to fame
to this (cough, cough) power-filled ministry and wierwille didn't want to go before
the camera to teach its **intricacies.**
In a nutshell: 1)wierwille's speaking in tongues was repetitive and contrived.
2) As "The Teacher".....he didn't want to teach the intermediate class.
3) At roa, he stayed at microphone and directed others to "minister healing."
4) Where were the OTHER SIX MANIFESTATIONS in vpee's life and ministry?
5) Wierwille went to his grave wishing he'd lived differently.
THIS was wierwille's true legacy......not the polished version.
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waysider
The idea of not wanting to redo the original PFAL series is something that always bothered me, greatly, even back in the 1970's, primarily because of the way it was rationalized..
There was a great deal of hype floating around suggesting it was sooooo perfect it could not be improved upon. I didn't buy into that back then and I certainly find it humorous now.
Another thing that bothered me was that, despite Wierwille's feigned zeal for Word Over The World!, he was not the least bit interested in making it available to anyone unless it turned him a profit. All that mumbo-jumbo about it being perceived as less valuable if it was free was just that...mumbo-jumbo. Having to pay for the class was simply a way to delude yourself into believing you had made a good choice. If the product had been all it was purported to be, it could have been free and no self delusion would have been needed.
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Broken Arrow
He was turning things over to "the keeds".
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outandabout
I remember being at Corps Week where it was announced that the "donation" for the class would now be $100 (or was it $200?). Everyone stood up and clapped. Yeah, that would make it easier to "move the Word." It didn't last long either. Eventually they changed it to $45. That's walking by the spirit, for ya.
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WordWolf
It was profitable, too.
The US public wasn't stupid enough to pay $200 for it that year-
as the WOWs discovered-
but all the other prices made a tidy ptofit.
Even at $40, the cost of the mandatory materials was a LOT less than that.
twi provided tapes, and all other expenses were borne locally.
Then many people stayed and paid 10% of their salary, and bought lots
of stuff from twi, all priced retail. That's a tidy profit for a
non-profit organization that pays no tax and handles all stages of
production in-house.
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skyrider
The Cult Circle Completed
...Person goes to roa and spends money --twi pockets $$
...Signs to go WOW and solicits donations --No money out of twi's pocket
...Gets enough money for WOW down payment --Other believers sponsor recruitment
...Witnesses and signs others up for pfal --Free sales force for twi
...Class is run in someone's home --Free operating costs for twi
...Class grads buy twi materials/books --Again, free advertising promotion
...Some grads bring their friends to twig --Bonus monies to twi's coffers
...WOWs return to roa with a few new recruits --Tithes and money spent at roa
...Next wave of WOWs anxiously awaits their turn to "serve God" --cha-ching, cha-ching
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Raf
Speaking in tongues was the worm at the end of the hook that was PFAL. It was bait.
You promise "power" in the title of the class. You build up to the manifestation of that power. And then, when the time comes, you lead them into a totally phony display of so-called power that can't be verified, allegedly can't be refuted, etc. With everyone in the class performing the same totally non-spiritual action while imagining that everyone else around them is experiencing the real thing, there was an incredible amount of pressure on each person to refrain from spilling the beans. No one, myself included, had the courage to stand up and say, "BUT HE'S NAKED!!!"
Even now, there are many of us who won't admit this is what happened.
The preceding is my opinion. I apologize if anyone is insulted, but I truly believe that is precisely what happened. The only power at work in PFAL was the power of persuasion and groupthink.
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skyrider
Yeah.....and the bait was/is tangled at every twig since.
The repetitiveness of it all, at times, really annoyed me. For a period of time,
as a Limb coordinator.....I would hold meetings or events without the manifestation
prerequisites [hey, look at me and how I manifest]. A couple of times, a self-absorbed
corps grad would question why I skipped them.
I sternly replied...."The Scriptures are the focus, and we don't need to go thru
this religious ritual [twi's format] every time we get together."
Even during my "indoctrination-daze".....I couldn't stomach the ritual
or façade of twi-spirituality.
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Broken Arrow
It was $200. I remember because I wasn't in the Corps yet and I went to the Rock and talked to our area leader who was Corps. He talked about how excited he was that the new price was $200. I thought the Corps was crazy. He went back for his final year I went back and signed no one up for the class. Then I went in residence. They announced they were going to change it to $40 a few months beforehand. Later we all got yelled at via phone hook up for not continuing to sign people at $200, even though we knew the price was going to drop more than one hundred dollars. Someone said VP was afraid that Christ could come back and some people that should have been in the class might have to go to Hell. I'm not sure if that 2nd part is true.
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Raf
God would have to be pretty stupid to allow such a thing to happen.
I mean, if He knew that there are people who would believe, but kept them out of heaven because of a church's marketing strategy, that would be pretty darned evil.
I see this as evidence that these people didn't really trust God (or have the slightest idea what they were talking about. Or both).
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