In OKC, as we were finishing that third Advanced Class Weekend.......I started receiving several phone calls, so did my wife. Specific details will remain anonymous (at present), because as of this writing.....most all have moved on with lives of their own. To go into "the deep dive of details" would only further hurt those caught in the aftermath of this "minor" tsunami. But.......word was spreading far and wide: martindale was involve in a "sexcapade episode" at hq, during that HQ-Advanced Class nonetheless. The phones were ringing and the whispers increased into conversations and divulging secrets.
I had gone thru one dramatic episode (1981 captivity)......and this next one was unfolding (1998 extrication): The Two Bookends.
Deeply guarded secrets had come to light.......there was a pattern. Martindale was a sexual predator. Days followed with more phone calls. People whom I knew for decades were opening up and revealing personal involvement regarding craig martindale. My wife and I started grappling with this rippling news.....these thrashing waters of emotion against OUR association with twi and those who'd exited twi years ago, and some still in. We were caught in the turbulence. They, too, those still in.....were caught as well. More phone calls. More "lock box" secrets.
By the third or fourth day, my sleep was tormented by the questions.....whether to even believe this was true concerning martindale/twi. WHAT HAPPENED AT HQ? What happened at that advanced class? Sex....adultery, predation? What? Someone was put on a bus and sent back to Colorado. More questions. More confusion. Many of these calls were from people who'd left years ago....were they lying? Why come forward with this information now? Why wasn't this exposed in the '80s? Seductresses leading other corps women to martindale. Corps girls shuttled to Dayton motel, three-somes, and then given money to go shopping. Cabin 12 at camp gunnison. Motor coach encounters and one girl hiding in the closet knowing that donna was just minutes away.
Why hadn't I seen any of this? Why hadn't someone gone public with this?
Compartmentalized: Throughout my corps in-residence training......where cult-indoctrination was sown, planted and fertilized (yeah....farm kid goes corps), each day was slated for compartmental thinking: 1) morning -- classes, 2) afternoon -- work, and 3) evening -- classes. Some quirks of variation, but not that much. Sure, other people everywhere have this grouping too.....but the regimentation was heavy-handed and "spiritually" onerous. We were trained to obey....to have God's approval. And further, when wierwille was on campus, he implanted this secret microchip "lockbox with a mystical key doctrine" to spiritually and sexually abuse at will.
Compartment living was so ingrained into the corps psyche that, to this day, I see "compartments" in most everything. We were indoctrinated to "do the Word"......there was no such things as weekends. No boundaries. The blurring of boundaries between personal and ministry gave them intrusive access to our lives.
And, so it was now. Phone calls of the "advanced class sex scandal" were coming in. But every day needed compartments:
By day --- At the limb, we were filling out reports, answering faxes, and communicating the results of that 3rd adv class weekend. We were on the clock. Paid to be at the desk doing the work of the ministry. Weekly projected schedules needed to be drafted in 30 minute time-slots, reports from other corps in the state faxed us their schedules....then faxed to region. Then, faxed back with questions, markings, underlining.......like a teacher might grade a paper. The 4th weekend was fast approaching and, again, all the coordination of meeting room, setup, delegation, etc.
By night -- My wife and I were getting phone calls from others. Having served at this level of capacity, our reach of involvement extended quite far and wide. A couple of very detailed phone calls went into the depths of this depravity at the highest levels of twi. Undeniable documentable facts and specifics and timelines. The nakedness of its exposure and the parading of evil.....how could I have not seen this?
By midnight -- I stopped going to bed.....I was too restless. I slept on the sofa in the living room night after night....knowing that if I'd go to bed, my tossing and turning would frustrate my wife. The questions and emotional turmoil washed over me, drowning me, suffocating me. The sensation felt like I was throwing a grappling hook out there in the darkness.....struggling for answers to questions floating beyond my reach. And, once I got to that trauma state of turmoil......the hauntings of my past captivity rippled back torturing my soul.
Insert: What is it about water? Quite often human struggle and agony are depicted by water. Metaphorically and realistically, movies and books depict this force of nature that is out of our reach, out of our control. Respectively, these four had rippled, and even now, are rippling into my conscience:
Insert:How Deeply Have We Thought? Distinctions of the cult experience need to be clarified.
Extraction -- To draw out by effect
Extrication -- To disentangle from a net (web)
Extrapolation -- To arrive at conclusions or results
Who has experienced the cult-tentacles and how far have those tentacles reached? Who got drawn in by the octopus and nearly devoured? How fierce was that fight for mere survival? Having survived does that trauma come haunting into the night?
How deeply have I thought this through? In this section alone, The Two Bookends --- it overlaps my own timeline of this thread. When I started this project, I didn't plan to go into my captivity.....I had only thought about the 1989-1998 timeline and zeroing in on the "full-time corps revelation" to explain it in-depth. So now, my "first bookend" doesn't even fall into the timeline I presented. If I hadn't included my captivity, then this section might be something quite different altogether. In the past three weeks, I find myself reaching beyond the thoughts I've held for years.
How much further can or should I ponder? How far does this expanse reach? How deep is the abyss? What stirs the questions of one's very soul between the extremes of the universe? Or, the expanse and polar extremes of human condition: 1) Existence and/or 2) Extinction.
Who am I and why am I here?
Was it this trauma of extremes, captivity and extrication, that haunted, and still haunts, me into the night? At times, I think that I'm still throwing that grappling hook back to the past.....and then, turn to throw it forward to help extricate me from the dark.
Please indulge me this one more insert before moving on:
Example: Movie "The Impossible" --- Spoiler Alert (just in case): Naomi Watts (character) and her son are in dire straits and she is deeply injured with more complications setting in. Nevertheless, she and her son reach out to help another little boy to save him as well. A dramatic outcome is revealed at the end of the movie. IMO......naomi & son were struggling to extricate themselves from the tsunami aftermath, yet still took time to extract this little boy.
Extrication: Here at GSC, some have rhetorically raised the point, "Where are those clergy/corps to help untangle and free others from the cult?" Where are those defining boundaries? Have those who remain in splinter groups been extracted/extricated from wierwille doctrine and/or cult?
Extrapolation: Some drive-bye posters at GSC have thrown their judgments and opinions at us.....with no critical thought of our lives or experiences. They draw their conclusions and results from predetermined sources. The far extreme position: anyone who is posting on this site is possessed.
Insert: Last one, before moving on......I promise.
When I typed those 36 pages (double-spaced....because that's how wierwille wanted it)...........I typed this long paragraph with a subtitle "Caught in a Web." The process of getting out of that deprogramming captivity felt like being so entangled, I could hardly get out. As I sat there with wierwille, little did I understand any of it at all...........I was STILL in the web....even more so. I was looking at the "spider."
Three Weeks: Torrents and Whirlpools Mid-July ------>
By Day: All the reports, faxes, phone calls, prep for meetings, and the 4th advanced class weekend fast approaching, it took everything in my willpower to stay focused on ministry work. Thankfully, the region guy left me alone Monday-Wednesday....I'm sure that he, too, had his hands full in Texas. But when Thursday and Friday drew near......I dreaded throughout the day when he might call. Fridays were the worst, because we had to get those weekly reports from all the corps in the state (in 30-minute slot increments).......I still can't believe we did that......and ours, and fax them to the region. Within 2 hours, he generally would mark them all up with comments or big ??? (marks).....and then, I'd have to try and read between the lines of THAT, before faxing back.
During the day.......it felt like a torrent of water pouring over my head !!
By Night: Talking with my wife and all the issues.......ministry events, the boys, their schooling, the fall semester, neglecting the boys, etc. etc. See, that's the thing about life....it just DOES NOT STOP to let you handle one issue at a time. Nope. It came in waves upon waves.....lapping into the shores of our lives. Decisions. Decisions. Guilt. Shame. Conflict. Anger. Defiance. How dare the region guy keep leaning on us to insert himself into our family/children. With each passing day, I was becoming more defiant to "throw my damn corps nametag at him"......and yell, screw it, I quit. Trying to keep my anger from boiling over was extremely challenging.
More phone calls. I received four or five calls from corps grads in other states who wanted my advice. They, too, had become privy to segments of this "sexcapade" at hq...and conflicted in their decisions. I flat out told most every one, we were in the process of turning in our corps status. We just had to wait and finish this 4th weekend. The conflict of interest raged thru my soul.......what I wanted to do versus what I was expected to do. And, advanced class grads throughout the state were looking forward to the final session. They'd built their expectations for this. They'd paid for it. Babysitters were lined up weeks in advance to pull this off. Some even had relatives in from other states, grandma or aunt to babysit their kids.....while these advanced class grads attended Fri/Sat/Sun sessions.
The promotion and preparation had been coming down the pike for a year. I. Felt. So. Awful. What. Was. I. To. Do? Hell, I was the limb coordinator with the damn bullhorn trying to cheer it on.
Late at night: .....I felt like I was being sucked into a whirlpool. The emotional turbulence was overwhelming me. As I said before, I was sleeping on the sofa....or sitting in the recliner.......for hours. Watching dials click to 1:31am, 2:20am, 3:12am.
okay.....I'm back.....took a shower and grabbed a corona
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth and Final Weekend By Wednesday, as the adv class weekend was but days away.....I did what I've always done, throughout my life, prior to every football, basketball or track meet.......I refused to allow any distractions after Wednesday. I absolutely needed Thursday and Friday to focus......to stay in my lane and run this race. My driving focus was to run THRU the tape......for all those people in our state, ie adv class grads, who'd helped and supported us all those six years. I was running for them! No. One. Else.
Not for martindale, not for twi, not for the region guy.......the only way to stop the conflicts raging in my mind was to RUN THAT DAMN CLASS.
Grandparents and aunts, and sisters were coming into OKC to help babysit advanced class grads' kids. My wife nearly avoided me the whole week. She focused on the boys and kept her distance (from me). She was supportive......but, as always, gave me my space. The weight was all on me!
With all the communication flying back and forth, I wasn't even sure I had all the facts about the hq-incident. And, apparently I didn't (because years later here at GSC) more facts spilled forth that I did not know. So.....once this class was over, then I could decide then.
I shut out the world around me......and ran the class.
Following Week The phone lines were quiet. Everyone in the state was exhausted......most men, back to work......women, work, kids and school prep.
My wife and I, too, were talking about the boys and school. We had worked the whole damn weekend......crap, probably put in our 40+ hour week by then. I had no guilt, NONE, about not being at my desk. My attention was now, front and center, on my family.
Yeah....everything was still swirling, but I just needed a few days to stop.........running.
The Next Week The dreaded call came. Our region coordinators wanted my wife and I to come to Austin for a meeting. At the time, we had made our decision and planned to stay in OKC. Both boys were at a pivotal point in their respective schools, middle and high school. The school fit was perfect for us. I had strong indications that our region leaders had been in contact with martindale......and probably, got wind of our disgruntle remarks from the dozens of phone calls flying back and forth. Perhaps, someone had got confronted in another state and "outed us"......I really wasn't quite sure. Still don't know. But anyways.......a Thursday meeting was just not going to work for us because of the boys, and so, Friday night 7pm in Austin it was.
My wife and I had agreed that we were done. We were turning in our corps nametags......which also meant clergy status. It. Was. Over. We. Were. Done. Being. Corps. We planned to put all our energy in our family and rebuild. I would start looking for employment. We'd lay low, get our ducks in a row......and process the past 5 weeks. It had been such a turbulent, swirl of activity......we needed time and space.
And........the question of WHEN......had arrived !!!!!
If I remember correctly, it was about six and one-half hours drive from OKC to Austin. Would have been nice to do a conference call.....but I knew, this one was face-to-face confrontation! [Hind sight is 20/20-----and I wished I'd never gone there. Arrgh]. Gawd.......it irks me to even think about it, even now. My wife and I had ALL THOSE HOURS traveling and we knew confrontation was coming. But this way, we'd tell them about our priorities, our family, our decision.
In Austin, the "meeting" lasted for almost three hours.....20-25 minutes of class stuff, business, etc.......and then, confrontation. Growing.....Intensifying.....What The Hell Are You Thinking Confrontation? Thankfully, I was sooooo exhausted from weeks of sleepless nights, turmoil, that I didn't throw a punch. Over and over, we told them that we were done being corps. And, of course, that brought on the white-hot confrontation. How can you quit? What?... you want to just sit in twig and let someone else lead you? Accusations. Mocking the stupidity of our quitting. Anything to try to get a rise, a reaction, a sliver to attack and counterpunch.
To put this in writing, I don't really know where all the time went. All the confrontations blurred together. We handed over our corps nametags. Yeah, I believe that's right. We'd brought our corps nametags....it was like a defiant moment of We-Are-Done.
It was near 10pm.......and the region couple offered, with ministry petty cash expense, to pay for our night in a motel. I turned it down. They implored us....it was only "the right thing to do." I said no thanks. We headed out the door and drove away. I looked at my wife, she looked at me.....it was like, "Did THAT just happen? Did we just quit and walk away from decades of corps? No. More. Corps. Assignments?"
[They thought we were going to get a local motel room.]
I drove all the way home.....totally exhausted. Arrived home in OKC at 4:45am.
We fell into bed.
At 7:25am.......the phone rang, a dear advanced class grad called and said, "The La1lys are headed to OKC. I hear you guys are mark & avoid!!"
At 8:00am.......Tom La1ly called and said, "We will be there at the Limb tomorrow at noon (Sunday) to load up limb furniture, files and inventory. Have it all in the garage, we will be bringing other believers to help us. You are not to come out. We don't want you near them. I will bring the limb inventory sheet. You are mark and avoid. Bye."
I had 28 hours.......the interwoven complexities of twi's furniture, files, storage cabinets, bookstore items, meeting items, horns of plenty, all this limb stuff needed to be separated, moved to the garage......and he was bringing a 3-page inventory list. [EXTRICATION......the cult-tentacles were everywhere in the limb home.]
What a mess.........on top of only two and one-half hours of sleep (by driving home, back to OKC)......I worked into the night and slept probably four hours Saturday night. By the next morning, I could hardly see straight.
By Sunday.............around 11am, it was all done.....in the garage.....and we were mark and avoid. No contact with the believers.
Our boys were in shock.......confused and intervals of crying.......as we tried to explain it all. They lost many "friends" that day !!
Thanks Skyrider! Well done. Many, many great points and facts. Hopefully, your "introversion" won't keep you away for too long. It would a bit hard for some of us not to see you around here regularly as you have been since WayDale. Love to you and your's, and...............peace upon you all!
After reading this last, one choice word comes to mind: "motherf*#kers"! The despicable treatment you and your family received -- after decades of faithful service and SACRIFICE -- is so disturbing to me. The Boss will undoubtedly have some choice words for these TWIts when we "stand before him" one day.
After reading this last, one choice word comes to mind: "motherf*#kers"! The despicable treatment you and your family received -- after decades of faithful service and SACRIFICE -- is so disturbing to me. The Boss will undoubtedly have some choice words for these TWIts when we "stand before him" one day.
My thoughts almost exactly. Of course, hindsight is 20/20... my guess is that after decompressing from that final confrontation (and allowing twi to "repossess" your furniture on their schedule) you might have thought a time or two (or a few more) about telling them to f**k off, that they could have their stuff when you got ready to let them come and get it. Just a a thought.
But Skyrider, surely you knew how important it was to take care of and return those horns of plenty and rolls of fax paper! Gotta take care of things, you know, and be a good steward. /sarc/
Never mind the stewardship of one's primary resource - people! Never mind guarding people's hearts, souls, lives. But things...!
Echo LKG's sentiment and Rocky's thought - would have been good to tell 'em to come and pick up when you'd had time to sort through in your own time. But I completely understand the "jump to it" mindset.
I'll tell you for a fact - when CG was ordered to return all the PFAL materials that were in Scotland - he took months if not years about doing that, and only when he'd recorded his own class based on those materials. The stuff, such as did arrive (not everything) didn't come back until 1991.
We, as a family, walked away from the cult.......and breathed fresh air.
Nothing else mattered.
Every time I look at my wife and our two sons.....it was totally worth it.
I walked thru a cult-hell to find my bride.......and married an angel.
And, I dedicate this last chapter to my Dad and Mom.....they walked thru hell with me and for me.
Thanks Dad. Thanks Mom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you Greasespotters !! I have no more words.
You all are truly amazing and I dedicate the title of this "book" to you.
I'm going introvert for awhile......to ponder the depths of the oceans, the reaches of the universe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ghost Ryders In The Sky
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing your story here, Skyrider. So many of us can relate to the pain you went through, the turmoil, the confusion and loss. But you are brave. You are a survivor. You are dear to us.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing your story here, Skyrider. So many of us can relate to the pain you went through, the turmoil, the confusion and loss. But you are brave. You are a survivor. You are dear to us.
It was suggested to me to tie this story together on the same thread.......otherwise, it might get separated. Later, some might not grasp the connection or just think that my story stopped with this confrontation from region leadership. So......here it is [with a few additional inserts].
~~~~~~~~~~
"In Austin, the "meeting" lasted for almost three hours.....20-25 minutes of class stuff, business, etc.......and then, confrontation. Growing.....Intensifying.....What The Hell Are You Thinking Confrontation? Thankfully, I was sooooo exhausted from weeks of sleepless nights, turmoil, that I didn't throw a punch. Over and over, we told them that we were done being corps.Insert:And at this point of heightened confrontation, Tom Lally locked eyes with me and stated sharply that Rev. Martindale wanted me on the President's Cabinet. THAT was the final card in his deck......to get me to change my mind.
I turned it down...........And, of course, that brought on the white-hot confrontation. How can you quit? What?... you want to just sit in twig and let someone else lead you? Accusations. Mocking the stupidity of our quitting. Anything to try to get a rise, a reaction, a sliver to attack and counterpunch."
Notice:Twi-Cult Puppeteers have used this tactic time and again......lure and entice corps leadership to headquarters with an "elevated promotion" and then, chip away at those responsibilities and marginalize their input.....pushing them further and further into irrelevance. In this manner, the cult has two objectives: 1) It removes Limb/Region leadership from field without confrontation and/or disruption and 2) Once removed and at hq, twi-cult is in complete control of "messaging the story of corps or clergyman's ineptness (cough, cough)."
Edit: I had this long post detailing more aspects and tying the two threads together.....but can't get it to post the whole length.
Hopefully.............MODERATORS will step forward and delete it. I've tried.
~~~~~~~~
On 1/8/2017 at 5:45 PM, skyrider said:
YEAH!.......less than 3 years later after our....... 2 hr+ white-hot confrontation (Aug 1998)......
..................MARTINDALE WENT DOWN IN FLAMES....(Aug 2000)
THEN........LA1LYS...........BAILED TWI .......(9 months later --- Jun 2001)
They lied and deceived......the next limb/region replacement guy......
They lied and deceived......the whole branch area in Austin...........
They gave a fake address.........where they were "going to move"...
Believers in area were going to help load/unload moving truck
Tom/Barb called mid-day and told believers .....didn't need their help
They were......twi's Austin Branch Coordinators
They'd stepped down from region/limb....to get job in "secular world"
...........they were deceptively and stealthily.....EXTRICATING (from cult)
....................they took 9 months to think/process/pack......we had 28 hrs.
............................28 hrs. to physically extricate the limb/personal entanglement
THEN.........POOF.........they drove away in the middle of the night.
..........leaving no forwarding address.........NOTHING.
..........wanting NO PART of a confrontation
COWARDS.
SCUM.
Again, Lallys slithered away..........around June 2001.
........where is that nice pic of the little girl with............the one-finger salute?
AND........just because I'm pi$$ed thinking about all this.........
Quote....from the other thread..
"It was near 10pm.......and the region couple offered, with ministry petty cash expense, to pay for our night in a motel. I turned it down. They implored us....it was only "the right thing to do." I said no thanks. We headed out the door and drove away. I looked at my wife, she looked at me.....it was like, "Did THAT just happen? Did we just quit and walk away from decades of corps? No. More. Corps. Assignments?"
I totally believe that the lallys were trying to lull us into a trap.......(if we'd stayed in Austin motel)
I think as that confrontation ended......[trap---offer motel].......and then, lallys would high-tail into OKC ahead of us
Once in OKC.....they'd start damage control.....i.e. meeting corps/ac grads [before we got back to OKC]
...........................lallys did get into OKC around 11am Sat..........and set up city-wide mtg to blacklist us
................................one ac grad (at mtg) later told us that not ONE person said anything negative about us
........................................NOTHING.....as lallys kept drilling down & down, trying to find "some dirt"
Gawd..........I could write SO MUCH MORE.......but who wants to hear all this blow-by-blow crap?
....................Then, Martindale smeared and slashed our reputations on the next Corps Mtg --- via phone lines.
....................AFTER............EVERYTHING we'd done for his family.......mainly ---- Rod, Jo, & Kerry
Insert: Yeah, EVERYTHING..........There is SO MUCH MORE that I could have written about helping the martindale family, especially Kerry.
The utter sense of BETRAYAL..........by craig martindale, don wierwille and howard allen is a sucker punch that is unfathomable to describe. My wife and I gave 52 YEARS OF OUR LIVES IN THIS CULT and were kicked aside like a couple of mangy dogs. All those years.......HQ, Canada, Indiana, Oklahoma........and NONE of them ever phoned us again. Howard, the Coward, was the same suck-up to martindale that he was to wierwille........same two-faced, lying scum.
DWBH quote: "Among the most egregious assholes who ever walked through TWIt. Barbara was in the 4th corpse. One of the sluts in there like Lombardi, Gustke, Oriard, and Ms. Gray back then. A whole lot of zeal with no morals or real concern for others. Strictly self-centered "ladder climbers". The boy Tom was just a dope on two legs. Just a dope. They were cowards. They left like cowards too. Lying little weasels. Karma is a bitch you two. Sure glad I won't have to answer for what you will at your phony "bema". Losers."
~~~~~~~~~~
On 1/8/2017 at 11:08 PM, skyrider said:
And.......while I'm still pi$$ed right now thinking about it.....
Sunday Noon: Bullet-point sequence
Six cars pulled up on street......Moving truck backed into limb drive-way
I pushed button for garage to open
Tom L. sternly and briskly walked thru garage.....I met him at access door.
He abruptly said, "Don't you come out....I'm coming in."
My wife stood a fair distance away.........the boys were in at side bedroom window.
The more our boys realized what was happening.......they started sobbing deeply.
Four of the adv class parents' kids.......were their constant playmates (swimming, birthday parties, etc.)
-----------------
Six or seven adv class grads wouldn't make any eye-contact.......got to work loading big items
Tom went thru inventory list checking things off.......and was very concerned about limb files
Twi "allowed" us to buy a kitchen hutch and washer/drier
Oh......T0m Mull!ns.......Arkansas Limb Coordinator arrived.....and was now in garage
...........later that day, Lallys and Mull!ns had ANOTHER mtg with corps.
....................Corps couple from Tulsa became NEW limb coordinators. Limb would be run from there.
...........I guess it took 3 power-hitters in my state to try and destroy us. lol
------------------
Bookstore items all needed to be inventoried, storage cabinets, a sofa, folding chairs, etc.
My wife has to get the boys away from the windows.......the building trauma was too much
Lally interrogated me further.........who all had I called since Friday night.......damage control
Probably...........One hour and thirty minutes later...........truck was loaded, they pulled away
--------------------
This deep-sense of betrayal.......was like a lump in my gut.
20 minutes later.......we locked the house and went to hamburger/ice cream store to distance ourselves from it all.
We had caller id.......but all the next week, phone calls came in registering "anonymous"
After the third day.....I picked up the phone to see. Person on other end wouldn't answer.......6-7 seconds, "click."
Was twi checking on me? Toying with me? Pestering me? Would they come late at night and pound on the door?
Again.......during my deprogramming, twi sent 4 guys into my hometown knocking on doors.
What would they do regarding me? This was martindale's home state and it all embarrassed him to deal with it.
I slept in the living room........at least 4-5 nights. Flashbacks.....brutal, gut-wrenching abandonment of former life.
After another few days..........the silence was deafening. No phone calls. Our whole network of people were cut from our life.
In another sense....................all the swirling of activity had stopped.......and THAT felt good. My mind started to process it all.
I was going introvert...........
Less than 3 years later.........Tom & Barbara Lally secretly loaded their truck and drove away late at night.
**When Austin people went to check on them that next day........the apartment was empty, a deceptive ploy.
IMO...............that's why when some drive-by posters come here to GSC and pop off
They have NO IDEA.....the secret, driving, under-belly scum of that cult-organization. NONE.
They extrapolate their opinions and view points from the cult-magazine echo chamber.
There is a HUGE difference between:
Extraction........getting out relatively easy and walking away from a cult.
Extrication.......the grasping, sucking tentacles of the octopus in deep waters.
THAT'S WHY......GSC is so damn important !!!!!
All of you posters are so special.
Your depth of thinking, exposure, and support.......HELPING so many, many people.
I sometimes think that GSC and your/our efforts....has helped at least 10 thousand or more.
Hell........even those who never were in......have expressed thanks.
YOU POSTERS.................ROCK and kick-a$$.
........THANKS.
Insert: Anyone who was/is on the outskirts of twi.....or simply took a couple of classes......has NO IDEA about this cult. Extrication is so intricately interwoven into every fabric of one's heart, soul, emotions, relationships, memories, fiber of being, approval before God......that to get out is an arduous process. Wierwille AND martindale strictly taught that to leave twi........was to leave God.
Sure, it's laughable now......but to those who exit AND those still in.................it is very real.
Edit: More properly stated......"The FEAR of extrication" is so intricately interwoven..........twi-cult indoctrination taught that to turn your back on twi was, to turn away from God.
So......why did I search out Trancenet......then, Waydale.......and stayed the course in GSC..?
What started the driving passion of John Walsh to do what he did?
It's extremely personal when it involves your kid(s).
No, our kid wasn't abducted or killed, but......
The guttural pain.....of seeing our boys cope with cult-backstabbers
The nights of crying......what's wrong? why can't we play with them?
Now........I was going thru the extrication process......for all of us, wife & kids.......and, helping this adv class girl.
Another girl phoned........who was signed up for foundational way-class. I had personally witnessed to her and signed her up.
Now what? I was m/a and she called to ask me what to do.
She was conflicted (obviously)....
A week later, she came to talk with me face-to-face (she parked her car around the corner, down the street)
She, too, was growing paranoid of what to think. She wanted info of class.....but saw wreckage floating around.
More phone calls.............I got another 15-20 phone calls from others. They too were at crossroads.......and bailed.
As things rippled out and out.......down to next generation.......I probably helped 120-150 others exit the cult.
Even now, during Christmas.....we always have a dinner meal with a family that we helped to extricate.
.......The rippling effect of helping others out of this cult......going into a third generation.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Stigma of M/A Twi uses the "mark/avoid" label as a scare tactic. I suppose there are many ways to look at this, of course......but it's like someone comes around the corner, perhaps even in your own house and erupts BOO! It startles you.....and freezes you. You are caught off guard and......frozen in place. Processing what just happened takes a bit.
We know that twi twists all kinds of scriptures, but this one is used as a weapon. Everyone with THAT label is to be marked with a "black heart" letter....and shunned. Why? Well....because they're "possessed." It hardly takes much more than that to freeze critical thought. Obviously, martindale slapped this "scarlet letter" on us......while, all the time, he was romping from bed to bed committing adultery and/or sexual predation!! But I digress..... Once labelled, everyone we'd ever had contact with in twi shunned us. Heck, not just from the average go-to-twig believer........all the way to the highest ranks, critical thought is short-circuited. Our corps "friends" and buds, whom we'd been in the trenches with for over two decades....would NOT call to ask, what happened? Corps nor clergy called.......we were stigmatized. Martindale gave the order.
The power of that label is very real. If word is sounded out from hq, then it must be so. It took years to condition people's minds to this lockstep loyalty......but the word "cop out" or "tripped out" was its father. Long before "mark/avoid" made its way into the cult lexicon......wierwille used "cop out" with great effect. BOO!
~~~~~~~~~~
DAMAGE CONTROLLike nearly everything twi, damage control is the rapid response to protect twi's public image. And, most likely.....from the very days that wierwille set his sights on some woman in his private office as pastor in Paine or at Van Wert church....things had to be covered up. I always find it amusing to think......after wierwille left the Van Wert church, the church board struck wierwille's name from the clergy registry (to protect their image). (lol) Anyways.......damage control, there to protect wierwille and/or his cult-in-the-making. We can easily see that all thru the years, twi's history and image were whitewashed......then, polished with bullsh!t crème up and down the bannisters. Everything....all of it, everywhere.
My wife and I were simply on the radar that day in August 1998. We turned in our corps nametags and were walking away. That could NOT be tolerated. We simply had TOO MUCH influence.....questions would start rippling into waves if the Lallys didn't act fast. I assumed that Tom called Craig less than ten minutes after we pulled away from their doorstep. And, craig gave the order. The Lallys went into action. We were the Limb coordinators in martindale's home state. We had a sterling reputation throughout the state.....AND.....direct access to sway hundreds in Oklahoma, Canada, Indiana* and some on hq-staff. Our reputations had to be destroyed. Hemorrhaging could not be allowed to gain strength.
*Note: We had lived in Indiana after leaving Canada in April 1987. Our visas expired (another story....lol)
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higherground30
Skyrider Thank you very much for sharing these hardhitting personal life stories. Im ready to give my background in the next couple of days in the new member area Oh and btw Happy new year
skyrider
The Pregnancy Policy What kind of board of directors legislates pregnancy policy to their employees? Forget diving into all the details......what gives them the right to insert when a couple s
potato
skyrider, thanks for sharing all of this. 1989 was the year TWI sucked me in, although I'd taken PFAL in 1985. I was advanced class grad twice over by mid-90s, and the later 90s were such a nightmare.
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skyrider
Part VIII
The Two Bookends
In OKC, as we were finishing that third Advanced Class Weekend.......I started receiving several phone calls, so did my wife. Specific details will remain anonymous (at present), because as of this writing.....most all have moved on with lives of their own. To go into "the deep dive of details" would only further hurt those caught in the aftermath of this "minor" tsunami. But.......word was spreading far and wide: martindale was involve in a "sexcapade episode" at hq, during that HQ-Advanced Class nonetheless. The phones were ringing and the whispers increased into conversations and divulging secrets.
I had gone thru one dramatic episode (1981 captivity)......and this next one was unfolding (1998 extrication): The Two Bookends.
Deeply guarded secrets had come to light.......there was a pattern. Martindale was a sexual predator. Days followed with more phone calls. People whom I knew for decades were opening up and revealing personal involvement regarding craig martindale. My wife and I started grappling with this rippling news.....these thrashing waters of emotion against OUR association with twi and those who'd exited twi years ago, and some still in. We were caught in the turbulence. They, too, those still in.....were caught as well. More phone calls. More "lock box" secrets.
By the third or fourth day, my sleep was tormented by the questions.....whether to even believe this was true concerning martindale/twi. WHAT HAPPENED AT HQ? What happened at that advanced class? Sex....adultery, predation? What? Someone was put on a bus and sent back to Colorado. More questions. More confusion. Many of these calls were from people who'd left years ago....were they lying? Why come forward with this information now? Why wasn't this exposed in the '80s? Seductresses leading other corps women to martindale. Corps girls shuttled to Dayton motel, three-somes, and then given money to go shopping. Cabin 12 at camp gunnison. Motor coach encounters and one girl hiding in the closet knowing that donna was just minutes away.
Why hadn't I seen any of this? Why hadn't someone gone public with this?
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skyrider
Compartmentalized: Throughout my corps in-residence training......where cult-indoctrination was sown, planted and fertilized (yeah....farm kid goes corps), each day was slated for compartmental thinking: 1) morning -- classes, 2) afternoon -- work, and 3) evening -- classes. Some quirks of variation, but not that much. Sure, other people everywhere have this grouping too.....but the regimentation was heavy-handed and "spiritually" onerous. We were trained to obey....to have God's approval. And further, when wierwille was on campus, he implanted this secret microchip "lockbox with a mystical key doctrine" to spiritually and sexually abuse at will.
Compartment living was so ingrained into the corps psyche that, to this day, I see "compartments" in most everything. We were indoctrinated to "do the Word"......there was no such things as weekends. No boundaries. The blurring of boundaries between personal and ministry gave them intrusive access to our lives.
And, so it was now. Phone calls of the "advanced class sex scandal" were coming in. But every day needed compartments:
Insert: What is it about water? Quite often human struggle and agony are depicted by water. Metaphorically and realistically, movies and books depict this force of nature that is out of our reach, out of our control. Respectively, these four had rippled, and even now, are rippling into my conscience:
Insert: How Deeply Have We Thought? Distinctions of the cult experience need to be clarified.
Who has experienced the cult-tentacles and how far have those tentacles reached? Who got drawn in by the octopus and nearly devoured? How fierce was that fight for mere survival? Having survived does that trauma come haunting into the night?
How deeply have I thought this through? In this section alone, The Two Bookends --- it overlaps my own timeline of this thread. When I started this project, I didn't plan to go into my captivity.....I had only thought about the 1989-1998 timeline and zeroing in on the "full-time corps revelation" to explain it in-depth. So now, my "first bookend" doesn't even fall into the timeline I presented. If I hadn't included my captivity, then this section might be something quite different altogether. In the past three weeks, I find myself reaching beyond the thoughts I've held for years.
How much further can or should I ponder? How far does this expanse reach? How deep is the abyss? What stirs the questions of one's very soul between the extremes of the universe? Or, the expanse and polar extremes of human condition: 1) Existence and/or 2) Extinction.
Who am I and why am I here?
Was it this trauma of extremes, captivity and extrication, that haunted, and still haunts, me into the night? At times, I think that I'm still throwing that grappling hook back to the past.....and then, turn to throw it forward to help extricate me from the dark.
.
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skyrider
Insert: Diving Deeper: Extraction, Extrication, Extrapolation
Please indulge me this one more insert before moving on:
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skyrider
Insert: Last one, before moving on......I promise.
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krys
ouch....I felt that all the way over here!
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skyrider
Three Weeks: Torrents and Whirlpools Mid-July ------>
By Day: All the reports, faxes, phone calls, prep for meetings, and the 4th advanced class weekend fast approaching, it took everything in my willpower to stay focused on ministry work. Thankfully, the region guy left me alone Monday-Wednesday....I'm sure that he, too, had his hands full in Texas. But when Thursday and Friday drew near......I dreaded throughout the day when he might call. Fridays were the worst, because we had to get those weekly reports from all the corps in the state (in 30-minute slot increments).......I still can't believe we did that......and ours, and fax them to the region. Within 2 hours, he generally would mark them all up with comments or big ??? (marks).....and then, I'd have to try and read between the lines of THAT, before faxing back.
During the day.......it felt like a torrent of water pouring over my head !!
By Night: Talking with my wife and all the issues.......ministry events, the boys, their schooling, the fall semester, neglecting the boys, etc. etc. See, that's the thing about life....it just DOES NOT STOP to let you handle one issue at a time. Nope. It came in waves upon waves.....lapping into the shores of our lives. Decisions. Decisions. Guilt. Shame. Conflict. Anger. Defiance. How dare the region guy keep leaning on us to insert himself into our family/children. With each passing day, I was becoming more defiant to "throw my damn corps nametag at him"......and yell, screw it, I quit. Trying to keep my anger from boiling over was extremely challenging.
More phone calls. I received four or five calls from corps grads in other states who wanted my advice. They, too, had become privy to segments of this "sexcapade" at hq...and conflicted in their decisions. I flat out told most every one, we were in the process of turning in our corps status. We just had to wait and finish this 4th weekend. The conflict of interest raged thru my soul.......what I wanted to do versus what I was expected to do. And, advanced class grads throughout the state were looking forward to the final session. They'd built their expectations for this. They'd paid for it. Babysitters were lined up weeks in advance to pull this off. Some even had relatives in from other states, grandma or aunt to babysit their kids.....while these advanced class grads attended Fri/Sat/Sun sessions.
The promotion and preparation had been coming down the pike for a year. I. Felt. So. Awful. What. Was. I. To. Do? Hell, I was the limb coordinator with the damn bullhorn trying to cheer it on.
Late at night: .....I felt like I was being sucked into a whirlpool. The emotional turbulence was overwhelming me. As I said before, I was sleeping on the sofa....or sitting in the recliner.......for hours. Watching dials click to 1:31am, 2:20am, 3:12am.
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skyrider
okay.....I'm back.....took a shower and grabbed a corona
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth and Final Weekend By Wednesday, as the adv class weekend was but days away.....I did what I've always done, throughout my life, prior to every football, basketball or track meet.......I refused to allow any distractions after Wednesday. I absolutely needed Thursday and Friday to focus......to stay in my lane and run this race. My driving focus was to run THRU the tape......for all those people in our state, ie adv class grads, who'd helped and supported us all those six years. I was running for them! No. One. Else.
Not for martindale, not for twi, not for the region guy.......the only way to stop the conflicts raging in my mind was to RUN THAT DAMN CLASS.
Grandparents and aunts, and sisters were coming into OKC to help babysit advanced class grads' kids. My wife nearly avoided me the whole week. She focused on the boys and kept her distance (from me). She was supportive......but, as always, gave me my space. The weight was all on me!
With all the communication flying back and forth, I wasn't even sure I had all the facts about the hq-incident. And, apparently I didn't (because years later here at GSC) more facts spilled forth that I did not know. So.....once this class was over, then I could decide then.
I shut out the world around me......and ran the class.
Following Week The phone lines were quiet. Everyone in the state was exhausted......most men, back to work......women, work, kids and school prep.
My wife and I, too, were talking about the boys and school. We had worked the whole damn weekend......crap, probably put in our 40+ hour week by then. I had no guilt, NONE, about not being at my desk. My attention was now, front and center, on my family.
Yeah....everything was still swirling, but I just needed a few days to stop.........running.
And......that's what I did.
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skyrider
The Next Week The dreaded call came. Our region coordinators wanted my wife and I to come to Austin for a meeting. At the time, we had made our decision and planned to stay in OKC. Both boys were at a pivotal point in their respective schools, middle and high school. The school fit was perfect for us. I had strong indications that our region leaders had been in contact with martindale......and probably, got wind of our disgruntle remarks from the dozens of phone calls flying back and forth. Perhaps, someone had got confronted in another state and "outed us"......I really wasn't quite sure. Still don't know. But anyways.......a Thursday meeting was just not going to work for us because of the boys, and so, Friday night 7pm in Austin it was.
My wife and I had agreed that we were done. We were turning in our corps nametags......which also meant clergy status. It. Was. Over. We. Were. Done. Being. Corps. We planned to put all our energy in our family and rebuild. I would start looking for employment. We'd lay low, get our ducks in a row......and process the past 5 weeks. It had been such a turbulent, swirl of activity......we needed time and space.
If I remember correctly, it was about six and one-half hours drive from OKC to Austin. Would have been nice to do a conference call.....but I knew, this one was face-to-face confrontation! [Hind sight is 20/20-----and I wished I'd never gone there. Arrgh]. Gawd.......it irks me to even think about it, even now. My wife and I had ALL THOSE HOURS traveling and we knew confrontation was coming. But this way, we'd tell them about our priorities, our family, our decision.
In Austin, the "meeting" lasted for almost three hours.....20-25 minutes of class stuff, business, etc.......and then, confrontation. Growing.....Intensifying.....What The Hell Are You Thinking Confrontation? Thankfully, I was sooooo exhausted from weeks of sleepless nights, turmoil, that I didn't throw a punch. Over and over, we told them that we were done being corps. And, of course, that brought on the white-hot confrontation. How can you quit? What?... you want to just sit in twig and let someone else lead you? Accusations. Mocking the stupidity of our quitting. Anything to try to get a rise, a reaction, a sliver to attack and counterpunch.
To put this in writing, I don't really know where all the time went. All the confrontations blurred together. We handed over our corps nametags. Yeah, I believe that's right. We'd brought our corps nametags....it was like a defiant moment of We-Are-Done.
It was near 10pm.......and the region couple offered, with ministry petty cash expense, to pay for our night in a motel. I turned it down. They implored us....it was only "the right thing to do." I said no thanks. We headed out the door and drove away. I looked at my wife, she looked at me.....it was like, "Did THAT just happen? Did we just quit and walk away from decades of corps? No. More. Corps. Assignments?"
[They thought we were going to get a local motel room.]
I drove all the way home.....totally exhausted. Arrived home in OKC at 4:45am.
We fell into bed.
At 7:25am.......the phone rang, a dear advanced class grad called and said, "The La1lys are headed to OKC. I hear you guys are mark & avoid!!"
At 8:00am.......Tom La1ly called and said, "We will be there at the Limb tomorrow at noon (Sunday) to load up limb furniture, files and inventory. Have it all in the garage, we will be bringing other believers to help us. You are not to come out. We don't want you near them. I will bring the limb inventory sheet. You are mark and avoid. Bye."
I had 28 hours.......the interwoven complexities of twi's furniture, files, storage cabinets, bookstore items, meeting items, horns of plenty, all this limb stuff needed to be separated, moved to the garage......and he was bringing a 3-page inventory list. [EXTRICATION......the cult-tentacles were everywhere in the limb home.]
What a mess.........on top of only two and one-half hours of sleep (by driving home, back to OKC)......I worked into the night and slept probably four hours Saturday night. By the next morning, I could hardly see straight.
By Sunday.............around 11am, it was all done.....in the garage.....and we were mark and avoid. No contact with the believers.
Our boys were in shock.......confused and intervals of crying.......as we tried to explain it all. They lost many "friends" that day !!
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JayDee
I'm sorry. This makes me terribly sad. Your family's pain must have been almost unbearable.
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skyrider
Part IX
FreshAir77
We, as a family, walked away from the cult.......and breathed fresh air.
Nothing else mattered.
Every time I look at my wife and our two sons.....it was totally worth it.
I walked thru a cult-hell to find my bride.......and married an angel.
And, I dedicate this last chapter to my Dad and Mom.....they walked thru hell with me and for me.
Thanks Dad. Thanks Mom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you Greasespotters !! I have no more words.
You all are truly amazing and I dedicate the title of this "book" to you.
I'm going introvert for awhile......to ponder the depths of the oceans, the reaches of the universe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ghost Ryders In The Sky
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.
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DontWorryBeHappy
Thanks Skyrider! Well done. Many, many great points and facts. Hopefully, your "introversion" won't keep you away for too long. It would a bit hard for some of us not to see you around here regularly as you have been since WayDale. Love to you and your's, and...............peace upon you all!
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Lanikaigal
After reading this last, one choice word comes to mind: "motherf*#kers"! The despicable treatment you and your family received -- after decades of faithful service and SACRIFICE -- is so disturbing to me. The Boss will undoubtedly have some choice words for these TWIts when we "stand before him" one day.
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Rocky
My thoughts almost exactly. Of course, hindsight is 20/20... my guess is that after decompressing from that final confrontation (and allowing twi to "repossess" your furniture on their schedule) you might have thought a time or two (or a few more) about telling them to f**k off, that they could have their stuff when you got ready to let them come and get it. Just a a thought.
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Twinky
But Skyrider, surely you knew how important it was to take care of and return those horns of plenty and rolls of fax paper! Gotta take care of things, you know, and be a good steward. /sarc/
Never mind the stewardship of one's primary resource - people! Never mind guarding people's hearts, souls, lives. But things...!
Echo LKG's sentiment and Rocky's thought - would have been good to tell 'em to come and pick up when you'd had time to sort through in your own time. But I completely understand the "jump to it" mindset.
I'll tell you for a fact - when CG was ordered to return all the PFAL materials that were in Scotland - he took months if not years about doing that, and only when he'd recorded his own class based on those materials. The stuff, such as did arrive (not everything) didn't come back until 1991.
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higherground30
Go Skyrider!!!
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penworks
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing your story here, Skyrider. So many of us can relate to the pain you went through, the turmoil, the confusion and loss. But you are brave. You are a survivor. You are dear to us.
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skyrider
My Story Continues......on another thread: Ghost Ryders In The Sky
~~~~~~~~
It was suggested to me to tie this story together on the same thread.......otherwise, it might get separated. Later, some might not grasp the connection or just think that my story stopped with this confrontation from region leadership. So......here it is [with a few additional inserts].
~~~~~~~~~~
"In Austin, the "meeting" lasted for almost three hours.....20-25 minutes of class stuff, business, etc.......and then, confrontation. Growing.....Intensifying.....What The Hell Are You Thinking Confrontation? Thankfully, I was sooooo exhausted from weeks of sleepless nights, turmoil, that I didn't throw a punch. Over and over, we told them that we were done being corps. Insert: And at this point of heightened confrontation, Tom Lally locked eyes with me and stated sharply that Rev. Martindale wanted me on the President's Cabinet. THAT was the final card in his deck......to get me to change my mind.
I turned it down........... And, of course, that brought on the white-hot confrontation. How can you quit? What?... you want to just sit in twig and let someone else lead you? Accusations. Mocking the stupidity of our quitting. Anything to try to get a rise, a reaction, a sliver to attack and counterpunch."
Notice: Twi-Cult Puppeteers have used this tactic time and again......lure and entice corps leadership to headquarters with an "elevated promotion" and then, chip away at those responsibilities and marginalize their input.....pushing them further and further into irrelevance. In this manner, the cult has two objectives: 1) It removes Limb/Region leadership from field without confrontation and/or disruption and 2) Once removed and at hq, twi-cult is in complete control of "messaging the story of corps or clergyman's ineptness (cough, cough)."
Edit: I had this long post detailing more aspects and tying the two threads together.....but can't get it to post the whole length.
Hopefully.............MODERATORS will step forward and delete it. I've tried.
~~~~~~~~
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skyrider
~~~~~~~~~~
Insert: Yeah, EVERYTHING..........There is SO MUCH MORE that I could have written about helping the martindale family, especially Kerry.
The utter sense of BETRAYAL..........by craig martindale, don wierwille and howard allen is a sucker punch that is unfathomable to describe. My wife and I gave 52 YEARS OF OUR LIVES IN THIS CULT and were kicked aside like a couple of mangy dogs. All those years.......HQ, Canada, Indiana, Oklahoma........and NONE of them ever phoned us again. Howard, the Coward, was the same suck-up to martindale that he was to wierwille........same two-faced, lying scum.
Keep your cult, Howard. You deserve each other.
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skyrider
DWBH quote: "Among the most egregious assholes who ever walked through TWIt. Barbara was in the 4th corpse. One of the sluts in there like Lombardi, Gustke, Oriard, and Ms. Gray back then. A whole lot of zeal with no morals or real concern for others. Strictly self-centered "ladder climbers". The boy Tom was just a dope on two legs. Just a dope. They were cowards. They left like cowards too. Lying little weasels. Karma is a bitch you two. Sure glad I won't have to answer for what you will at your phony "bema". Losers."
~~~~~~~~~~
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skyrider
~~~~~~~~~~
SO YEAH........BOTH.......lallys AND martindale slithered away UNDER THE COVER OF DARKNESS.
BOTH.......Tom & Craig........vicious bastards......if you weren't in lockstep loyalty !!!
~~~~~~~~~~
And yeah.......I spelled it with a "y"
..........it WAS personal to me
Ghost Ryders...... = .....Martindale, Lally........and the haunting, cattle-driver Wierwille
~~~~~~~~~~
The Saga continues................................
Now.....we were looking at "a clean slate".......WHAT NOW?
Got that?........this ac grad was SO SCARED and PARANOID she wanted us to help her thru this without any twi-confrontation.
OMG.........The lengths to which the twi-cult DRIVES people to see DEVIL SPIRITS in everything.
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skyrider
~~~~~~~~~~
IMO...............that's why when some drive-by posters come here to GSC and pop off
There is a HUGE difference between:
THAT'S WHY......GSC is so damn important !!!!!
YOU POSTERS.................ROCK and kick-a$$.
........THANKS.
Insert: Anyone who was/is on the outskirts of twi.....or simply took a couple of classes......has NO IDEA about this cult. Extrication is so intricately interwoven into every fabric of one's heart, soul, emotions, relationships, memories, fiber of being, approval before God......that to get out is an arduous process. Wierwille AND martindale strictly taught that to leave twi........was to leave God.
Sure, it's laughable now......but to those who exit AND those still in.................it is very real.
Edit: More properly stated......"The FEAR of extrication" is so intricately interwoven..........twi-cult indoctrination taught that to turn your back on twi was, to turn away from God.
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~~~~~~~~~~
So......why did I search out Trancenet......then, Waydale.......and stayed the course in GSC..?
Now........I was going thru the extrication process......for all of us, wife & kids.......and, helping this adv class girl.
Another girl phoned........who was signed up for foundational way-class. I had personally witnessed to her and signed her up.
More phone calls.............I got another 15-20 phone calls from others. They too were at crossroads.......and bailed.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Stigma of M/A Twi uses the "mark/avoid" label as a scare tactic. I suppose there are many ways to look at this, of course......but it's like someone comes around the corner, perhaps even in your own house and erupts BOO! It startles you.....and freezes you. You are caught off guard and......frozen in place. Processing what just happened takes a bit.
We know that twi twists all kinds of scriptures, but this one is used as a weapon. Everyone with THAT label is to be marked with a "black heart" letter....and shunned. Why? Well....because they're "possessed." It hardly takes much more than that to freeze critical thought. Obviously, martindale slapped this "scarlet letter" on us......while, all the time, he was romping from bed to bed committing adultery and/or sexual predation!! But I digress..... Once labelled, everyone we'd ever had contact with in twi shunned us. Heck, not just from the average go-to-twig believer........all the way to the highest ranks, critical thought is short-circuited. Our corps "friends" and buds, whom we'd been in the trenches with for over two decades....would NOT call to ask, what happened? Corps nor clergy called.......we were stigmatized. Martindale gave the order.
The power of that label is very real. If word is sounded out from hq, then it must be so. It took years to condition people's minds to this lockstep loyalty......but the word "cop out" or "tripped out" was its father. Long before "mark/avoid" made its way into the cult lexicon......wierwille used "cop out" with great effect. BOO!
~~~~~~~~~~
DAMAGE CONTROL Like nearly everything twi, damage control is the rapid response to protect twi's public image. And, most likely.....from the very days that wierwille set his sights on some woman in his private office as pastor in Paine or at Van Wert church....things had to be covered up. I always find it amusing to think......after wierwille left the Van Wert church, the church board struck wierwille's name from the clergy registry (to protect their image). (lol) Anyways.......damage control, there to protect wierwille and/or his cult-in-the-making. We can easily see that all thru the years, twi's history and image were whitewashed......then, polished with bullsh!t crème up and down the bannisters. Everything....all of it, everywhere.
My wife and I were simply on the radar that day in August 1998. We turned in our corps nametags and were walking away. That could NOT be tolerated. We simply had TOO MUCH influence.....questions would start rippling into waves if the Lallys didn't act fast. I assumed that Tom called Craig less than ten minutes after we pulled away from their doorstep. And, craig gave the order. The Lallys went into action. We were the Limb coordinators in martindale's home state. We had a sterling reputation throughout the state.....AND.....direct access to sway hundreds in Oklahoma, Canada, Indiana* and some on hq-staff. Our reputations had to be destroyed. Hemorrhaging could not be allowed to gain strength.
*Note: We had lived in Indiana after leaving Canada in April 1987. Our visas expired (another story....lol)
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