On 1/11/2017 at 2:44 AM, DontWorryBeHappy said:
Skyrider:
TY again for your intense effort to put together an extremely emotional and insightful "book" for all of us here and the thousands who will eventually read it here. Your thanks to Pawtucket is echoed by every one of us who have been here and the 10s of thousands of people his faithful, dogged work keeping the Spot open and relevant to every stage and iteration of that destructive, fundamentalist "Christian" cult, TWIt.
Sky.....you've been a stalwart truth teller here since WayDale. Your efforts here have not been in vain. The purity of your heart to walk with and serve Jesus Christ has been evident throughout all these years. I am so thankful you got out in time to save your family and your mind and your dignity. And, that you have told your story so wonderfully and kindly here at the greatest internet Cafe we know of.
I bid you and your's Godspeed and.......peace brother.
More Info / Reflections Filling in some details........
Abduction Altered .....I believe the abduction went to Plan B.........during that van ride to Wichita, KS......disgruntle thug-conversation led me to believe that this whole abduction process was originally supposed to take place the night before (after supper with folks). Thus, traveling thru night would have made it easier for them and less conspicuous (hiding the abduction from fellow-travelers). Maybe....I wouldn't have been blind-folded in cargo van.
~~~~~
Separation Gap .........This whole thing could have been diffused with better communication with folks. The damn phone switchboard set-up at Emporia Campus and HQ were (perhaps, at hq ----- still are) ASININE. The whole frickin' gatekeeper-to-cultperson only heightened by parents' concerns that THEY had us enclosed and under their "spell."
~~~~~
HQ-Sexcapade at 1998 Adv Class ...........Maybe, someday....someone will come forward to give more details, but it might be too much exposure to those trying to rebuild. That's the thing about all this.....those who experienced such things and saw the cult's fangs........don't WANT to tell their stories. Too much time was ALREADY lost.......and rebuilding life, career, family, etc is of utmost importance.
~~~~~
TWI's Needs-Basis Doctrine ...............1) An absolute joke, 2) Use/abuse of people, 3) Short-term use of people.....Long-term advantage to twi, 4) Wierwille's temp agency.......No Investment In People, 5) Anti-Family........because of $$$$$, 6) Children were shelved/ignored.......again, $$$$......to have children involved multiple layers of involvement/investment (.....ie. braces, school activities, cars, higher education......hell, having one's OWN family traditions)....but I digress....
~~~~~
HQ-Bureaucracy is a FARCE ...........in late-September of 1998 (a month after we exited).......... I received in the mail another "invite" to attend the November 1998 Advanced Class Special.......................to AGAIN..............be Mrs. Wierwille's escort.
That would have been hilarious, Skyrider, had you (and all those devil spirits that you were possessed by) had the nerve to rock up as Mrs W's escort.
I hope you did something really enjoyable and family fun filled, instead.
~~~~~~~~~~
On 1/12/2017 at 4:19 PM, skyrider said:
......in late-September of 1998 (a month after we exited).......... I received in the mail another "invite" to attend the November 1998 Advanced Class Special.......................to AGAIN..............be Mrs. Wierwille's escort.
~~~~~~~
Yeah, Twinky.........just picture it........"Hi. Mrs. Wierwille, I hope you don't mind if my spirit-friends accompany us today,..... Mr. Necromancer and Ms. Lust...."
Thanks for an awesome online account skyrider. I've been on business travel just got to look at it. Best to your family and best wishes.
~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks again.......for giving me this space to tell my story.
All of the GSC posters, past and present, have my deepest admiration. These postings are helping to chip away at the twi-cult.......the wierwille mystique, the corps indoctrination, the unfathomable fraud, deception and destruction of individuals........and the despicable cult-underpinnings that allow it to hoard away its properties and growing investment accounts. At present, that figure is $64 MILLION.
After exiting this cult in August 1998, we stayed in OKC for nearly another two years while our two sons finished up their school years......respectively, junior high and middle school. During this time, I started working in management.....working long hours to support my family.
Month after month, I continued to receive phone calls from advanced class grads and a few corps alumni who wanted to know why we were stigmatized with m/a. Several in Canada and Indiana had heard the news and called us as well. The rippling of this injustice helped a lot of people exit this cult.
When we moved back to Indiana.....some of the advanced class grads we knew 8 years earlier were NOW notched up in cult-loyalty and attitude. Even though they hadn't gone corps, they were WARNED by Michael Fort to stay away and/or amped up to confront us. A few years later and Mr. Fort did NOT want to stay the course on cult-payroll........he stepped down from his limb position and got SECULAR WORK.
See the pattern? Here Howard Allen's son-in-law, michael fort, does NOT have the balls to confront it........but slithers away.
We moved back to Indiana in June 2000. It was during this time that martindale was "staring down the barrel of two lawsuits" and trying to salvage his status and petitioned Rosalie Rivenbark to bestow upon him as Head Guy of the Research Department. And, it was ONLY the twi-lawyers that stepped forward to advise against it. Martindale went down in flames two months later [August 2000].........and LOTS of region guys [Lallys, Lich-t, Mosqu3da, Sailor, Panarello, etc.], like rats, started making plans to jump ship. The cult could NOT protect those yes-men........those who had the same "stripes" as martindale/wierwille.
Paul Allen via Waydale broke the cult stranglehold.
Insert: Anyone who was/is on the outskirts of twi.....or simply took a couple of classes......has NO IDEA about this cult. Extricationis 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.
This is why I've so often said that it's not about doctrinal issues, such as 4 crucified or cry of triumph or figures of speech or whatever else we focused on. It was about a crazy lifestyle we lived that sometimes escaped the attention of those fortunate people who only remained involved at a local level.
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.
This is why I've so often said that it's not about doctrinal issues, such as 4 crucified or cry of triumph or figures of speech or whatever else we focused on. It was about a crazy lifestyle we lived that sometimes escaped the attention of those fortunate people only remained involved at a local level.
great points !!!!!!!
i agree - the "distinctive" doctrinal stuff - even Jesus Christ is Not God book were a way of showing TWI was different from the rest...unique...no-one-else-knows-what-we-know-and-we-know-it-all kind of a thing...because we know him who knows it all...vp.
and getting more involved and taking on more responsibility got you further entangled in so many aspects - emotionally, intellectually, socially...I and my cult are one - - yikes !!!!!
It appears, Skyrider, that the moderators (at least one of them) honored your request to delete the weirdly formatted comment that was pretty much unreadable. I'm hoping your subsequent comments included all of what you tried to say in the one with the formatting problem.
It appears, Skyrider, that the moderators (at least one of them) honored your request to delete the weirdly formatted comment that was pretty much unreadable. I'm hoping your subsequent comments included all of what you tried to say in the one with the formatting problem.
Yeah Rocky........I might add a few more comments, but that deleted post was just too long.
But......I gotta add the song that triggered the title of my little cyber-book, Ghost Ryders In The Sky.......
This is why I've so often said that it's not about doctrinal issues, such as 4 crucified or cry of triumph or figures of speech or whatever else we focused on. It was about a crazy lifestyle we lived that sometimes escaped the attention of those fortunate people who only remained involved at a local level.
Waysider.........the Fellow-Laborers program was quite the little indoctrination experience wasn't it? Someday, maybe you should start a thread and give us a point-by-point accounting of it all. It has many of the hallmarks of an isolated cult compound.
NOW.........looking back at my corps experience and thought processes, I see why my mind was jolted the first month of that corps in-residence program in Emporia. It wasn't the classes or the work program........it was the isolation, immersion, indoctrination, demeaning of individual worth, haughty arrogance of spiritual leadership, groupthink loyalty, stripping of self, use/abuse of followers, anal detail to mowing the grass, etc.
Everything about the Emporia campus screamed "cult conformity".........and my gut instinct was to leave. At the time, our monthly spending budget was $20.......and we turned over our budget books to be monitored at the end of each month. Even though we were allowed to go "off-campus" Saturday afternoon........what was there to do with that $5 "extra in your budget" except buy a couple of beers or cigarettes? The constraints of that monthly budget constricted choice and freedom.......it served as more leverage to the cult.
This was all very foreign to me........I had several thousand dollars in my bank account and a car in the parking lot.
Waysider.........the Fellow-Laborers program was quite the little indoctrination experience wasn't it? Someday, maybe you should start a thread and give us a point-by-point accounting of it all. It has many of the hallmarks of an isolated cult compound.
NOW.........looking back at my corps experience and thought processes, I see why my mind was jolted the first month of that corps in-residence program in Emporia. It wasn't the classes or the work program........it was the isolation, immersion, indoctrination, demeaning of individual worth, haughty arrogance of spiritual leadership, groupthink loyalty, stripping of self, use/abuse of followers, anal detail to mowing the grass, etc.
.....and the fire drills at 3am........when corps came out in pajamas and/or robes, hair messed all up and hall monitors taking roll call. Then, if someone wanted to stay in bed or if some girl was in the bathroom fixing her hair......we'd get a 40-minute lecture at breakfast.
.....and after sunday lunch meal.....corps would be given their "brownbag supper-meal" and stand outside along the walkway and exchange one item for another. Oftentimes, some of the girls would not want some of it OR felt sorry for some of the big men......and give them a sandwich or gorp, whatever it was called.
It was the human element that I remember the most about in-residence corps.........not the classes, not the research.
It appears, Skyrider, that the moderators (at least one of them) honored your request to delete the weirdly formatted comment that was pretty much unreadable. I'm hoping your subsequent comments included all of what you tried to say in the one with the formatting problem.
~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Rocky........you were right.
One post that was NOT included from thread Ghost Ryders.....
On 1/8/2017 at 9:57 PM, skyrider said:
THANKS........you're the man, Rocky!
You know.......when all those memories about my parents surface........it cuts me like a knife!
And.................when I have all those memories fighting for my bride......it brings the tears.
And.................when my little boys got hurt...... IT ROYALLY PI$$ED and Pi$$ES me off.
BUT.................I have NO PROBLEM..............talking about THEM, the CULT.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Lallys came into OKC and tried kicking over every stone to find something/anything on us........NOTHING.
Of course, they called the corps in Tulsa, too.........and the corps rolled into OKC for 2-3 hr mtg........
The Lallys, then, held private mtgs with every corps/ac grad in OKC & Tulsa......trying to find dirt on us.
This was eye-to-eye "what can YOU tell us" private-type mtgs.
They wanted SOMETHING/ANYTHING.......to feed the narrative for martindale's slander on us.
That's why..........when lcm did corps mtg......it was "so vague"..........he had NO DIRT.
We were blasted for "turning our backs on God AND the corps commitment." THAT.....was the vague slander!! Gawd.......after I'd put in 24 years in twi and my wife had put in 28 years in twi !!!!!!!!!
The best slander lally/lcm railed on (we later heard)..........we were putting our KIDS above God.
The INSANITY of that statement.
And........corps people swallowed that bile.
And........corps, some who've since called us AND visited us (years later) in Indiana.....are STILL in Twi !!!!!!!!!!!!
And........martindale, at corps mtg (we later heard)......we were "worldly" and being turned over to Satan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANYONE OUT THERE.........lurking..........TWI IS A FvCKING CULT !!!
.....and the fire drills at 3am........when corps came out in pajamas and/or robes, hair messed all up and hall monitors taking roll call. Then, if someone wanted to stay in bed or if some girl was in the bathroom fixing her hair......we'd get a 40-minute lecture at breakfast.
Or moving from one "house" to another on a moment's notice with no advance warning.
Because, ya know, who knows when the Illuminati might sweep in and try to grab us all. We have to maintain a state of preparedness.
One post that was NOT included from thread Ghost Ryders.....
Skyrider, you said the only thing the Lallys could get on you was putting your children first. The Lallys didn't like children. At a branch meeting Barb said, regarding a new mother, "I don't want her not showing up for things because of that damn baby." And an interim corps woman got pregnant by her WOW brother and they wanted to get married. But NO! That was SO wrong. Getting an abortion and going back in residence was RIGHT!
To be fair......and upfront, I want to add more clarity to this "housing allowance."
I came across some old forms in my files that showed we were given $875 per month to this "housing allowance"........of which, some of it was stripped away as twi continued to purge aspects of "our lifestyle".....ie cable tv, rent insurance, etc.
In following the math, this added $10,500 per year......MINUS the $2,760 pay-cut........$35,340 per year (household income for family of 4).
On 1/5/2017 at 9:50 AM, skyrider said:
The Price We Paid
When the "Emergency Expense Cutting Measures" policy arrived in the mail, my wife and I read it together.
"These necessary measures are a benefit spiritually as well as financially for the entire household."
Every time twi enacts policy mandates, or program objectives, they stand on their podium and laud the spiritual benefits. Where are those elusive "spiritual benefits" going to come from if they claw back 10% of our salary? At the time, I believe our bi-monthly paycheck was $1,150.......$2,300 per month and came to the grand total of $27,600 per year (household income). Sure, there was petty cash reimbursement for gas, food, and motel expense IF those expenditures were "ministry related." The "housing allowance" category remains a grey-area in my mind, but to me.....it was hardly relevant. The limb home was a buzz of weekly activity with my office, meetings, classes etc.....hardly "a home." But still.......$115 from our paycheck, twice a month, was unsettling. I knew we could cut some grocery expense from the budget, but by no means were we splurging or eating steak every week.
The cost-cutting was not the problem for me, it was the principle of the thing.....and what got us to this point!
~~~~~~~~~~
At the limb, it was common for me to work 12-14 hours a day. Most every weekend involved classes, seminars, events, meetings, etc..........and a realistic work week, for me, [7-days] was like 90 hours. Add my wife's work schedule....and it would easily be safe to say.....each of us were paid approximately $6.00 an hour.
As martindale began the 1998 cost-cutting measures.......he started SHAMING corps couples who had two cars.
You don't *really* NEED two cars, do you? You can coordinate with each other and get down to one vehicle, can't you? That would save money......car maintenance, insurance, registration, etc......right? Some of you are just too selfish or lack the spiritual resolve to get honest, get truly committed.
Money, money, money..........anything and everything to keep those precious dollars at hq.....YET, no sensible "investment" to the field corps.
OMG......what a box of confinement that would have been!
All the hundreds of times my wife and I needed two cars to get stuff done.
Having two kids.........school activities, ministry events, grocery shopping, etc.
The frickking trunk/region guys were gutless in standing against martindale's verbal onslaughts.
Lallys, Panarellos, Moneyhands, Licht, Thorpe, Fort, etc.......and then, years later.....many hit the exit door.
~~~~~~~~~
And........it's been the same deal with every splinter group that I've seen......Geer Franchises, CES/STFI, CFF.
Just go to their websites.....and the same generic crap, same gig, same cult-manipulation.
Money, money, money........all centrally located "activity" and an outreach mask. Ppffffffttttttt.
You make interesting points about the ft corps timeline. Twas shortly after they kicked me out, with max ignominy. But if I'd been there, there would have been both me and my fiance to support as ft corps. That would have meant 6 FT corps to, what, 20 committed wayfers. Be kind... 40 wayfers. Unsupportable in so many ways. Get rid of me, my fiance also goes, hey presto, 2/3 the bill goes.
But Sky, you know you had to go about in pairs, 2 x 2, you and your wife together. You know you aren't capable of doing things alone. So why did you need two cars? /sarc/
Maybe they wanted y'all to use those pedal cars that kids play with. That'd save loads on gas, regardless, tires, etc. Hey, good idea!
There is not a day goes by that I am SO THANKFUL to have walked away from the twit-cult.
Twi is deeply, irreversibly poisoned with wierwille clichés, clap-trap, and chicanery.
People are used and exploited......and discarded at the first sign of dissent.
Going on twi-payroll...........is a financial red hole that is hard to climb out.
What does it say about a "ministry" (cough, cough) when clergy/corps do NOT want to be on staff?
Every aspect of the field staff was monitored.........the cult does NOT trust the corps to lead or serve.
**********************
THEN, we moved back to Indiana in 2000........and, a couple years later, saw SPLINTER GROUPS doing the same crap [badgering people to give up their weekend and work cleaning up the CES camp, sign up for momentus, personal prophecies, nose-spiders.......EGADS!!]
Some of our "friends" were in Geer-group, CFF, CES, Finnygan, and then....Panarell0 splinter.
Was at a wedding reception where "friends" associated with four different groups. Crazy.
Most still held wierwille on this pronounced pedestal......embedded with a pfal-allegiance chip.
Thankfully, I was able to convince two people to NOT sign up for momentus.
No Jason Bournes to be found.......few wanted to talk in-depth to see behind the cult-splinter curtains.
Just seems like this cult stuff is going to be part-n-parcel to the rest of my life. Once you see the telltale signs of cults its inescapable to not recognize it all around........indoctrination, buzzwords, mystique, spirituality-climbing, charismatic leader, deception, etc. etc. etc.
Greasespot Café is a special place........special patrons.
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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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
........this story was a work in progress since the days of Waydale
........I still remember starting that thread Bravehearts Unite! and DWBH, Paul (ex-twi) and I had lots of laughs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ghost Ryders In The Sky
My Escape from Cult-Hell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks and Praise: Pawtucket
(others in no particular order).....DWBH, Rocky, WordWolf, waysider, penworks, krys, Twinky, .......(and many more)
(pictures on the GSC wall)..........Groucho, Catcup, Belle, Oakspear, RottieGrrrl, excathedra,...........(and many more)
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~~~~~~~~~~
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~~~~~~~~~~
T-Bone added this.......
Welcome to a Special Advanced Class...as soon as our ushers have seated the nice young lady they will escort you all to your assigned seats.
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skyrider
~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks again.......for giving me this space to tell my story.
All of the GSC posters, past and present, have my deepest admiration. These postings are helping to chip away at the twi-cult.......the wierwille mystique, the corps indoctrination, the unfathomable fraud, deception and destruction of individuals........and the despicable cult-underpinnings that allow it to hoard away its properties and growing investment accounts. At present, that figure is $64 MILLION.
After exiting this cult in August 1998, we stayed in OKC for nearly another two years while our two sons finished up their school years......respectively, junior high and middle school. During this time, I started working in management.....working long hours to support my family.
Month after month, I continued to receive phone calls from advanced class grads and a few corps alumni who wanted to know why we were stigmatized with m/a. Several in Canada and Indiana had heard the news and called us as well. The rippling of this injustice helped a lot of people exit this cult.
When we moved back to Indiana.....some of the advanced class grads we knew 8 years earlier were NOW notched up in cult-loyalty and attitude. Even though they hadn't gone corps, they were WARNED by Michael Fort to stay away and/or amped up to confront us. A few years later and Mr. Fort did NOT want to stay the course on cult-payroll........he stepped down from his limb position and got SECULAR WORK.
See the pattern?
Here Howard Allen's son-in-law, michael fort, does NOT have the balls to confront it........but slithers away.
We moved back to Indiana in June 2000. It was during this time that martindale was "staring down the barrel of two lawsuits" and trying to salvage his status and petitioned Rosalie Rivenbark to bestow upon him as Head Guy of the Research Department. And, it was ONLY the twi-lawyers that stepped forward to advise against it. Martindale went down in flames two months later [August 2000].........and LOTS of region guys [Lallys, Lich-t, Mosqu3da, Sailor, Panarello, etc.], like rats, started making plans to jump ship. The cult could NOT protect those yes-men........those who had the same "stripes" as martindale/wierwille.
Paul Allen via Waydale broke the cult stranglehold.
Waydale/GSC.........one story at a time.
.
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waysider
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is why I've so often said that it's not about doctrinal issues, such as 4 crucified or cry of triumph or figures of speech or whatever else we focused on. It was about a crazy lifestyle we lived that sometimes escaped the attention of those fortunate people who only remained involved at a local level.
Edited by waysidermissing a word.
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T-Bone
great points !!!!!!!
i agree - the "distinctive" doctrinal stuff - even Jesus Christ is Not God book were a way of showing TWI was different from the rest...unique...no-one-else-knows-what-we-know-and-we-know-it-all kind of a thing...because we know him who knows it all...vp.
and getting more involved and taking on more responsibility got you further entangled in so many aspects - emotionally, intellectually, socially...I and my cult are one - - yikes !!!!!
Edited by T-Boneplaying beat the server clock
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Rocky
It appears, Skyrider, that the moderators (at least one of them) honored your request to delete the weirdly formatted comment that was pretty much unreadable. I'm hoping your subsequent comments included all of what you tried to say in the one with the formatting problem.
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skyrider
Yeah Rocky........I might add a few more comments, but that deleted post was just too long.
But......I gotta add the song that triggered the title of my little cyber-book, Ghost Ryders In The Sky.......
~~~~~~~~~
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skyrider
Waysider.........the Fellow-Laborers program was quite the little indoctrination experience wasn't it? Someday, maybe you should start a thread and give us a point-by-point accounting of it all. It has many of the hallmarks of an isolated cult compound.
NOW.........looking back at my corps experience and thought processes, I see why my mind was jolted the first month of that corps in-residence program in Emporia. It wasn't the classes or the work program........it was the isolation, immersion, indoctrination, demeaning of individual worth, haughty arrogance of spiritual leadership, groupthink loyalty, stripping of self, use/abuse of followers, anal detail to mowing the grass, etc.
Everything about the Emporia campus screamed "cult conformity".........and my gut instinct was to leave. At the time, our monthly spending budget was $20.......and we turned over our budget books to be monitored at the end of each month. Even though we were allowed to go "off-campus" Saturday afternoon........what was there to do with that $5 "extra in your budget" except buy a couple of beers or cigarettes? The constraints of that monthly budget constricted choice and freedom.......it served as more leverage to the cult.
This was all very foreign to me........I had several thousand dollars in my bank account and a car in the parking lot.
.
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Rocky
and sleep deprivation...
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skyrider
.....and the fire drills at 3am........when corps came out in pajamas and/or robes, hair messed all up and hall monitors taking roll call. Then, if someone wanted to stay in bed or if some girl was in the bathroom fixing her hair......we'd get a 40-minute lecture at breakfast.
.....and after sunday lunch meal.....corps would be given their "brownbag supper-meal" and stand outside along the walkway and exchange one item for another. Oftentimes, some of the girls would not want some of it OR felt sorry for some of the big men......and give them a sandwich or gorp, whatever it was called.
It was the human element that I remember the most about in-residence corps.........not the classes, not the research.
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skyrider
~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Rocky........you were right.
One post that was NOT included from thread Ghost Ryders.....
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skyrider
The Concluding Summation of my personal experience with The Way International.......is summed up in five words.
TWI IS A FvCKING CULT !!!
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waysider
Or moving from one "house" to another on a moment's notice with no advance warning.
Because, ya know, who knows when the Illuminati might sweep in and try to grab us all. We have to maintain a state of preparedness.
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T-Bone
yes i remember living under that constant threat....i remember it like it was yesterday....
the lights would go out...
the shriek of a woman's voice "somebody just grabbed me!"
then the voice of vp's motor coach driver "musta been that darn Illuminati again"
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skyrider
Yeah.....if it wasn't the Illuminati......you might get grabbed by deprogrammers.
.............or the threat of a red-dawn gov't overthrow.....so triple-check your mal-pack.
.............or if you don't stay in constant "fellowship"........debbil spurts will jump you.
Your ONLY safety is in the arms of the cult.......rock-a-bye-bye-baby.
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outandabout
Skyrider, you said the only thing the Lallys could get on you was putting your children first. The Lallys didn't like children. At a branch meeting Barb said, regarding a new mother, "I don't want her not showing up for things because of that damn baby." And an interim corps woman got pregnant by her WOW brother and they wanted to get married. But NO! That was SO wrong. Getting an abortion and going back in residence was RIGHT!
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skyrider
To be fair......and upfront, I want to add more clarity to this "housing allowance."
I came across some old forms in my files that showed we were given $875 per month to this "housing allowance"........of which, some of it was stripped away as twi continued to purge aspects of "our lifestyle".....ie cable tv, rent insurance, etc.
In following the math, this added $10,500 per year......MINUS the $2,760 pay-cut........$35,340 per year (household income for family of 4).
~~~~~~~~~~
At the limb, it was common for me to work 12-14 hours a day. Most every weekend involved classes, seminars, events, meetings, etc..........and a realistic work week, for me, [7-days] was like 90 hours. Add my wife's work schedule....and it would easily be safe to say.....each of us were paid approximately $6.00 an hour.
1998 minimum wage = $5.15
So.......when others wonder about the use/abuse of corps and staffers........exploitation and expendable are at the top of the list.
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skyrider
Oh man.........just remembered another thing.
As martindale began the 1998 cost-cutting measures.......he started SHAMING corps couples who had two cars.
You don't *really* NEED two cars, do you? You can coordinate with each other and get down to one vehicle, can't you? That would save money......car maintenance, insurance, registration, etc......right? Some of you are just too selfish or lack the spiritual resolve to get honest, get truly committed.
Money, money, money..........anything and everything to keep those precious dollars at hq.....YET, no sensible "investment" to the field corps.
OMG......what a box of confinement that would have been!
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And........it's been the same deal with every splinter group that I've seen......Geer Franchises, CES/STFI, CFF.
Just go to their websites.....and the same generic crap, same gig, same cult-manipulation.
Money, money, money........all centrally located "activity" and an outreach mask. Ppffffffttttttt.
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Twinky
You make interesting points about the ft corps timeline. Twas shortly after they kicked me out, with max ignominy. But if I'd been there, there would have been both me and my fiance to support as ft corps. That would have meant 6 FT corps to, what, 20 committed wayfers. Be kind... 40 wayfers. Unsupportable in so many ways. Get rid of me, my fiance also goes, hey presto, 2/3 the bill goes.
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Twinky
But Sky, you know you had to go about in pairs, 2 x 2, you and your wife together. You know you aren't capable of doing things alone. So why did you need two cars? /sarc/
Maybe they wanted y'all to use those pedal cars that kids play with. That'd save loads on gas, regardless, tires, etc. Hey, good idea!
What a load of bullocks.
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skyrider
Four Months Ago.......I Started This Thread
There is not a day goes by that I am SO THANKFUL to have walked away from the twit-cult.
Twi is deeply, irreversibly poisoned with wierwille clichés, clap-trap, and chicanery.
**********************
THEN, we moved back to Indiana in 2000........and, a couple years later, saw SPLINTER GROUPS doing the same crap [badgering people to give up their weekend and work cleaning up the CES camp, sign up for momentus, personal prophecies, nose-spiders.......EGADS!!]
Just seems like this cult stuff is going to be part-n-parcel to the rest of my life. Once you see the telltale signs of cults its inescapable to not recognize it all around........indoctrination, buzzwords, mystique, spirituality-climbing, charismatic leader, deception, etc. etc. etc.
Greasespot Café is a special place........special patrons.
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