I'd love to get into it with you T-Bone, since I have some time to kiill tonight. But I sort of just promised to stop my slight de-rail.
No problem…what is there to discuss anyway? mypost was about myexperiences, my observations, my realizations, my opinions of my12 years in TWI which also included WOW and the way corps training… you are entitled to your opinion of wierwille and PFAL – and so am I. let’s leave it at that.
No problem…what is there to discuss anyway? mypost was about myexperiences, my observations, my realizations, my opinions of my12 years in TWI which also included WOW and the way corps training… you are entitled to your opinion of wierwille and PFAL – and so am I. let’s leave it at that.
Well, yours was long and involved, LOTS to discuss, and it would be a long involved derailing then.
I had some time, but your posts are long and involved, so I may not have enough time as well.
Well, yours was long and involved, LOTS to discuss, and it would be a long involved derailing then.
I had some time, but your posts are long and involved, so I may not have enough time as well.
I still don’t understand.
WHATis there to discuss?
I thought my post was brief and to the point.
You said you had time to kill
but now you don’t
maybe you waste more time saying I-don’t-want-to-derail-the-thread-so-I-won’t-bring-it-up-for-the-umpteenth-time
I find it fascinating how necessary it is for me to refresh my memory. It too gets distorted without refresh. It is totally normal; happens to everyone.
THAT is an I statement.
Initially you implied others were wrong. Even if others WERE wrong, I statements work, insinuations, not as much.
Nevertheless, You could indeed start a new thread to carry on your discussions w/Nathan and T-bone and it would be ON your new topic.
We were strongly encouraged in the PFAL class to spend the next 3 months reading the Epistles of Paul.
I agree with Mike on this one. And that's what I did.
I had all the collaterals, but only read one of them just before the Advanced Class exam. In fact, I think that's the only time I read that book, whichever it was.
There's a lot of info "out there" to suggest that it takes three weeks to build a new habit, and another three months to really consolidate it.
When I was in FellowLaborers, as a group, we focused almost exclusively on Way materials. That's all that was taught in our nightly twigs. The rationale for its exclusivity was that it had been tested and proven to be accurate. However, as individuals, we were supposed to read Ephesians every day. (As if we had time to read ANYTHING) Now, our weekly FL night teaching was hit or miss and could be about anything or nothing or maybe just a scream-fest to highlight our failures.
As for the PFAL class, I seem to remember VPW challenging us to put away all secular materials such as magazines , newspapers, etc., and reading nothing but "The Word." (Filtered, of course, through the lens of what we had just learned in PFAL.) I don't recall him limiting that to the Pauline epistles. But, that was over 50 years ago. Who knows what tricks my memory has played on me? Surely, someone, somewhere, has a transcript of session 12.
Regarding the original post, I have to agree, it was the theatrical nature of the presentation, not the content of the information, that reeled us in and hooked us. As a new grad, you faced this reality every time you witnessed and failed to elicit a response from the listener. That's why we were urged to get people into the class, rather than try to teach them the more convoluted concepts ourselves. Presentation, not content, was largely responsible for our infatuation with the materials.
I think at some point many years ago, here, I made the suggestion that people come back to written PFAL, study nothing but those collaterals for 3 months, and see how it goes.
Yes I did. In the Corpse. For much more than 3 months. I mean how many times can you dissect the camera analogy in first chapter of blue book?
What I learned after dissecting it was that most of the collaterals were thrown together by VP secretary loosely compiled from sermons. Materials there were stolen from contemporaries like Norman Vincent Peale.
Other sections were previews of books to come out later, written by the research team.
I mostly learned that plagiarism is a team sport. And that you can’t excuse it away any more than sexual impropriety.
As for the PFAL class, I seem to remember VPW challenging us to put away all secular materials such as magazines , newspapers, etc., and reading nothing but "The Word." (Filtered, of course, through the lens of what we had just learned in PFAL.) I don't recall him limiting that to the Pauline epistles. But, that was over 50 years ago. Who knows what tricks my memory has played on me? Surely, someone, somewhere, has a transcript of session 12.
Regarding the original post, I have to agree, it was the theatrical nature of the presentation, not the content of the information, that reeled us in and hooked us. As a new grad, you faced this reality every time you witnessed and failed to elicit a response from the listener. That's why we were urged to get people into the class, rather than try to teach them the more convoluted concepts ourselves. Presentation, not content, was largely responsible for our infatuation with the materials.
To the best of my recollection, I think wierwille said something along the lines of that and then stressed we should read the epistles that were addressed to us. Your use of the word “Filtered” is poignant because it brings to mind how wierwille’s closing instructions were interpreted and applied. I think you nailed it in suggesting the PFAL lenswas the filter. I can relate to that in a very real way by one of the first of many incidents where I was corralled into limiting my reading to PFAL material.
I was so excited after the first time I took the class that I kept reading and rereading the entire Bible all the way through and would jot down questions – which I would then present to my Twig coordinator. To be fair – most of my questions were over stuff in the Old Testament and the gospels – not sure if his frequent redirecting me to review PFAL stuff was simply following “the teacher’s” instructions in session 12, or that my questions were way outside the scope of the PFAL material.
Themental filteringpromoted by wierwille was absolutely necessary to affect the cognitive dissonance he wanted his followers to experience. This stuff got me to recall an older article on psychological filters(see below ) – oh, and another interesting tie-in with Skyrider’s initial post about theatrics – there’s a part in the excerpt that gets into attention-grabbing tricks…and it also touches on why we buy something and how we tend to pay attention to info that reinforces our beliefs…which makes me think of the darker angle – being constantly directed to focus on PFAL material to reinforce a certain mindset…anyway here’s the article:
Media Impacts - Unintended Consequences: How Media Can Affect Almost Everything – Psychological filters
Amidst the grayness of this information, occasional messages stand out. Some break the pattern. They defy expectations. They spark curiosity. We pay more attention to these messages. Something about them screams “different, new, or unique”.
Advertisers and advertising agencies spend a huge portion of their time and budgets trying to harness this principle. Messages that break the pattern help gain attention. They also help people remember information longer.
However, dissonant messages do not necessarily hold people’s attention, nor do people automatically find them motivating or believable. If your minister came to Sunday services in a clown suit, people would notice. They would talk about it. Whether they found the minister credible would depend on whether the gimmick reinforced his message that week or was simply what advertisers call a “borrowed-attention device.”...
…Most of us usually pay attention to information that reinforces our beliefs more than we do to information that challenges them. As a result, any individual has, at best, a partial and imperfect picture of external reality.
We also tend to pay more attention to messages that affect us personally than we do to those that do not affect us. When we need a new car, suddenly we see car ads everywhere. We start reading them. We research safety ratings. We actively investigate. Once we have bought a new vehicle, our interest in reading more diminishes. We focus our attention on other things.
Regarding the original post, I have to agree, it was the theatrical nature of the presentation, not the content of the information, that reeled us in and hooked us. As a new grad, you faced this reality every time you witnessed and failed to elicit a response from the listener. That's why we were urged to get people into the class, rather than try to teach them the more convoluted concepts ourselves. Presentation, not content, was largely responsible for our infatuation with the materials.
It was the content !
It was the content of the information, which BTW, is still potent and blessing people when they give it a shot.
The way I was "reeled in" was by attending a very enthusiastic, but also very young local fellowship. My first twig leader was 17 years old, while I was 22. Most of the attendees were teenagers in High School who had not yet taken the class. My second twig leader was 21 and only had the class for 6 months. Sunday Night Service tapes were on reel to reel then, and almost no one had a player.
With a zero level of theatrics, I read the PFAL book, and then RHST, and then I learned how to SIT all alone while reading. THEN I took the class 4 months later.
By best friend in High School heard from me of my attending Bible fellowships, and I gave him the Green Book. He read the 2 chapters on SIT and did it himself without ever going to a fellowship or taking the class. He took it a few months later.
It was the content that did it.
We hippies all thought the theatrics were funny.
Leadership was always telling us to stop laughing so much at his corny, Ohio, uncool, theatrics.
The content did it, IN SPITE of the theatrics for me, and a lot of others.
The way international is built on victor paul wierwille, not Jesus Christ. Sure, they mention his name at the end of a prayer and they love to talk about his accomplished works, but otherwise they have nothing to do with him. That's anti-Christ btw. In practice they completely side step Jesus Christ and have no fellowship with him. The Bible clearly states otherwise:
1 John 3:1
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
The content of way international books is a hodge podge of sources that tickled the ears of wierwille and gave him a schtik to sell - classes, books, etc. I don't care that his stolen materials quote bible verses and sound spiritual - wierwille's materials are loaded with lies.
As for Wierwille, the following versus handle his ilk.
2 Timothy 3:1-7
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
But the theatrics of *Christ-in-you, the hope of glory* was not a story, but scriptural truth [Colossians 1:27]. Once again, with immense theatrics....wierwille highlights this truth with repetitive emphasis. Over and over he repeated the phrase....Christ in you, Christ in you, Christ in you, the hope of gloooory!! Animated, on his feet, shaking his fists, overacting in theatrical drama.....wierwille claimed its significance.
Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
YET.... wierwille didn't believe it. Else he would have structured his ministry on Christian truths, not lockstep obedience. Individuals within this ministry would have flourished with personal sovereignty, boundaries, dignity, integrity......rather than denigrated, ,manipulated and exploited.
This histrionic performance was a "hook" that snagged youth into his boat. His theatrics were classic "bait and switch" in every sense of that concept.
Seemingly, wierwille could NOT pull off the same theatrics ten years later......at PFAL '77. The re-filming of his pfal class was a failure. Why the failure? Were the stories and zingers and theatrics THAT IMPORTANT to pfal's success? Or, had the plagiarized material that wierwille once taught repetitiously escaped his grasp?
And, if the importance of *Christ in you* was shout-to-the-Lord glorifying.....why did wierwille rarely teach it nor expound upon it?Well, seems to me that wierwille used theatrics to ensnare a following, but wierwille's malignant narcissism was his wheelhouse. He used every tool in his woodshed to keep people from finding out his true and authentic self. With power and control firmly established, the depths of his narcissistic pathologies came to the fore. His enablers and inner circle kept the mystique growing as Drambuie-wierwille stepped out of the back room for another late-night corps meeting or night owl. But for many staff and corps, this wierwille family heritage was hard to stomach.
The theatrics no longer work.....when one sees behind the curtain.
I think some folks may have missed a key point in Skyrider’s first post. wierwille’s theatrics in PFAL were a bait-and-switch to rope people into his twisted ideology. Since wierwille’s dramatics were just a gimmick to sell his cult-dogma, it’s possible some folks got sucked in by merely reading the PFAL material even before they took the class – as some have mentioned on Grease Spot. I think wierwille’s exciting performance in the PFAL class may have served as an aperitif- a small Kool-Aid tinged drink taken before the main course of indoctrination to stimulate one's appetite for more. After graduation I was encouraged to help get another class of new students together, so I could sit through it again – this time for free - and I would get even more cult-dogma drilled into my head. double whoopee with a twist
As Skyrider and other Grease Spotters have pointed out time and again – wierwille’s pseudo-Christian façade of respectability…credibility…spirituality…authority was not sustainable. And most glaring of all his pretenses was the fact that in his typical teaching topics and in his appalling lifestyle had nothing to do with Christ. In my opinion, seeing the way he treated others makes me wonder if he even believed Christ was in devoted TWI-followers.
vpw's bait-and-switch was sometimes used right in pfal, but other times it was not.
If 100% of all you knew about vpw came straight from pfal tapes/films and the books of that class, you'd be surprised to hear that vpw claimed to have been appointed by God.
In pfal, vpw was specific about the holy spirit field being a field to which he had dedicated his life. Period.
It was a few years after the filmed pfal class that the 1942 Promise was ever spoken to anyone, whether spoken to the early corps or put in print in "the Way-Living in Love." If you focused exclusively on the class, you might be surprised when someone said that vpw made such a claim. (I know because I was surprised, and I felt uncomfortable about it, for reasons that went right back to what vpw taught about revelation.)
But lots of people were taught this- AFTER being taught pfal, and after buying into it.
Second, yes, pfal ended with references to the church epistles- in the actual film. When you sat a class, the staff would advertise reading pfal materials for 3 months or more. Why was there no such advertisement in the pfal film? One, there WERE no pfal materials to study way back when the film was made. There were a few pamphlets, and that was it. LATER, we got "Christians Should Be Prosperous" - and all class coordinators were instructed- by vpw- to make sure that was read early in the class. So, I'm sure someone will insist that this was NOT something vpw pushed. I'm sure someone will suggest that- since it wasn't in the filmed class, that vpw had nothing to do with it. So, it's important to remember what he DID say on the subject.
Over the years, people complained about his practice of "put aside all reading external to pfal for 3 months" thing. Did he take this moment to correct people, and redirect them to read THE EPISTLES for 3 months and chide them for switching to vpw books for 3 months instead?
NO.
He did take the time to address complaints. He didn't say "My detractors confuse the Church Epistles with twi materials." He talked about the complaint of 3 months of only twi materials. He DOUBLED DOWN on it. Rather thah say "It's 3 months of the Church Epistles, read your Bible!", he emphasized that people should do it. Then he got cutesy, "I'll make you a bet. If you put aside all newspapers and magazines for 6 months, when you pick them up again, they'll be just as negative as they were 6 months ago. I will add, however, that they may be MORE negative."
So, once there WERE pfal books, vpw instituted the practice of having the students told to focus on THOSE for 3 months, even if the films/tapes said to focus on the church epistles.
Thirdly, the final segment of pfal had a bait-and-switch built right into it. Even though vpw liked to read Ephesians 6:10 to crowds and make like he didn't want people to follow him, but rather The Lord, in pfal he did a bait-and-switch.
"Finally, my brethren, I want you to be strong in the Lord.' Strong in the Lord, not strong in what a theologian might say. Not strong in what a Bible teacher may say.
But if that theologian says what the Word says,
if that Bible teacher says what the Word says,
then you've got to be strong in what they say. "
This came at the end of 12 sessions where we are all aware he'd been badmouthing all other teachers and theologians as useless for learning the Word, and putting himself forth as some great one, indeed, as the sole Bible teacher who understood what we needed, who didn't actually plagiarize others, but was the SOLE source of sound teaching.
So, after 12 sessions of selling himself as the SOLE Bible teacher saying what the Word says,
he said that- if you find a Bible teacher who says what the Word says-
then you've got to be strong in what they say.
What does all of that say, once stripped of the jargon?
"God is telling you to be strong in what vpw is teaching."
It's that simple, that's what he was dancing around, INSINUATING, IMPLYING, SUGGESTING,
but never having the guts to say directly, leaving that for other people,
all so he could say "I never said that" if asked.
All of that is as elaborate a set of THEATRICS as I've ever experienced.
Finally, my brethren, I want you to be strong in the Lord.' Strong in the Lord, not strong in what a theologian might say. Not strong in what a Bible teacher may say.
But if that theologian says what the Word says,
if that Bible teacher says what the Word says,
then you've got to be strong in what they say. "
Indeed, victor uses the cunning, deceptive tactics of implication, insinuation, and suggestion. But just in case you missed it, he spells it out explicitly for you in the last session: He, alone, is THE teacher.
"Thisis why, if at any time -- if at any time I can be of help to
you, if I can help you or any of our people can help you, if this is
true, and we can be of service to you, I'd like for you to write to me,
just write: THE TEACHER, New Knoxville, Ohio, 45871. Just write to me.
Anytime it's addressed to "The Teacher," it always comes to me,
personally. You just write to me if we can be any help to you in
understanding it and helping you with the greatness of God's Word or in
He´d been referring to himself as "The Teacher" for something like a decade before pfal, with that first series he'd filmed. He pushed it enough, here and there, that at least some people referred to him primarily as "The Teacher." I'd heard from NY'ers about a visit from him. There was a crowd greeting him. "The Teacher! The Teacher!" I was told "We always called him 'The Teacher'". If you think that wasn't entirely due to the hard work of vpw promoting himself to being called "The Teacher"..... well, I don't know what to tell you.
If 100% of all you knew about vpw came straight from pfal tapes/films and the books of that class, you'd be surprised to hear that vpw claimed to have been appointed by God.
In pfal, vpw was specific about the holy spirit field being a field to which he had dedicated his life. Period.
So, once there WERE pfal books, vpw instituted the practice of having the students told to focus on THOSE for 3 months, even if the films/tapes said to focus on the church epistles.
Addressing these three points out of an excellent post.
The line about the holy spirit field - VPW said he dedicated his life. TWI has gone a few steps further and I can't tell when the upgrade happened but they say vvictor paul wierwille was raised up for the holy spirit field. As if God specifically called and dedicated his ministries to uncover the holy spirit field that has been hid since first century. I kid you not. I was taught this concept during my corps training repeatedly and dang near verbatim.
The idea of "ingesting" nothing but ministry materials is also a key element of the corps training. We weren't allowed to watch/read anything secular unless the corps coordinator approved it and only during "self structure time". Otherwise, we were to study only way minstry publications, or approved publications. By approved publications I mean material related to TWI but contributed by someone that VPW didn't actually steal from outright, such as George Lamsa or KC Pillai. Don't get me wrong. These ideals were still pushed at the FNC level with the class coordinators being instructed to suggest the students put aside all secular material for a period of time and read nothing but "the word" (which basically meant ministry publications) and at the end of that time their minds would be so renewed they wouldnt even recognize themselves.
This garbage is set in stone. The way is a preservatation society that has enshrined wierwille and many of the things he did when he was alive. He is their guiding light and their idol.
This garbage is set in stone. The way is a preservatation society that has enshrined wierwille and many of the things he did when he was alive. He is their guiding light and their idol.
Nothing else matters to this cult except preserving the narrative....ie wierwille was called and destined by God to "teach this word that hadn't been known for centuries." Problem was..... preachers and ministers HAD been teaching these truths.
Twi is a classic example of an authoritarian, thought-control cult. Manipulation of 1) behavior, 2) information, 3) thoughts, and 4) emotions. The only way twi can function is thru deception at every level. Notice how they skewer twi-history and ONLY focus on the 1967 pfal-filming as a seismic shift in the spiritual universe. Why do they AVOID....
Wierwille's beginnings of teaching Leonard's class (1953) in the Van Wert Church basement?
Vpw's staying on church payroll until August 1957.
New Headquarters and Independent Beginning: Thursday, December 19, 1957.
Ten years of vp's driving from city to city to teach pfal classes (1958-1967).
Meager abundant sharing.....until confiscating Heefner's and Doop's independent works (March 1972)
Really, wierwille only had 10 years of exponential growth AFTER cunning deceit and exploits.
Wierwille lost an eye, had cancer.... keeping this cancer secret from the body of believers.
Reminds me of something I recently read about George Orwell's character Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Winston worked in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth where his job was to rewrite historical documents so they matched the constantly changing party line (twi's "present truth"). This involved revising newspaper articles and doctoring photographs -- mostly to remove "unpersons" (mark and avoid people/corps). In manipulating and altering historical realities......in essence, “history had stopped. Nothing existed except an endless present in which the Party (Cult) is always right.”
Power for Abundant Living (1967).Wierwille plagiarized wholesale from B.G. Leonard (stolen class)
PFAL '77.Wierwille attempted to update this class in 1977 (failed)
Way of Abundance and Power Class (1996).Martindale's attempt.A class filled with sport analogies and jockstrap ego.(crash & burn)
WAP Class Update (2004 ?).Three Amigos teach sections.Still has the lingering effects and questions of Craig Martindale's presidency and cover-up.
Power for Abundant Living Today (2022).Shiny and new.Makes it looks like twi is actually doing something rather than just serving refried teachings over and over again.
With each passing decade..... twi has become the "unpersons."
......in essence, “history had stopped. Nothing existed except an endless present in which the Party (Cult) is always right.”
The only way to hold to this cognitive dissonance..... is to stay in an "endless present."
No matter that some 150 way corps exited twi between 2007-2016.
No matter that very few want to sign on as hq-staff employment.
No matter that another exodus happened in 2017....with corps coordinators & clergy leaving, no less.
No matter that Steve L0ngley, one of twi's foundational class teachers (2004) cut ties with twi.
No matter that twi has backtracked on their "debt policy" they established in 1994.
The cult keeps them from REVIEWING HISTORY.....even within the last 10 years. The followers are thought-conditioned on obedience to their leaders. They are institutionalized by Nurse Ratchet and sedated with their daily dose of medicine pills. Lunchtime announcements keep the daily lecturing of "us versus them" pertinent so that they do not stray into questioning authority. Subtle. Daily. Indoctrination.
If every day one STAYS IN PRESENT CONFORMITY...... then it shuts down ACCUMULATION OF HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES from which to catalogue, analyze and discern truth from error.
Nothing else matters to this cult except preserving the narrative....ie wierwille was called and destined by God to "teach this word that hadn't been known for centuries." Problem was..... preachers and ministers HAD been teaching these truths.
Twi is a classic example of an authoritarian, thought-control cult. Manipulation of 1) behavior, 2) information, 3) thoughts, and 4) emotions. The only way twi can function is thru deception at every level. Notice how they skewer twi-history and ONLY focus on the 1967 pfal-filming as a seismic shift in the spiritual universe. Why do they AVOID....
Wierwille's beginnings of teaching Leonard's class (1953) in the Van Wert Church basement?
Vpw's staying on church payroll until August 1957.
New Headquarters and Independent Beginning: Thursday, December 19, 1957.
Ten years of vp's driving from city to city to teach pfal classes (1958-1967).
Meager abundant sharing.....until confiscating Heefner's and Doop's independent works (March 1972)
Really, wierwille only had 10 years of exponential growth AFTER cunning deceit and exploits.
Wierwille lost an eye, had cancer.... keeping this cancer secret from the body of believers.
Reminds me of something I recently read about George Orwell's character Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Winston worked in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth where his job was to rewrite historical documents so they matched the constantly changing party line (twi's "present truth"). This involved revising newspaper articles and doctoring photographs -- mostly to remove "unpersons" (mark and avoid people/corps). In manipulating and altering historical realities......in essence, “history had stopped. Nothing existed except an endless present in which the Party (Cult) is always right.”
Power for Abundant Living (1967).Wierwille plagiarized wholesale from B.G. Leonard (stolen class)
PFAL '77.Wierwille attempted to update this class in 1977 (failed)
Way of Abundance and Power Class (1996).Martindale's attempt.A class filled with sport analogies and jockstrap ego.(crash & burn)
WAP Class Update (2004 ?).Three Amigos teach sections.Still has the lingering effects and questions of Craig Martindale's presidency and cover-up.
Power for Abundant Living Today (2022).Shiny and new.Makes it looks like twi is actually doing something rather than just serving refried teachings over and over again.
With each passing decade..... twi has become the "unpersons."
Another great analysis, Skyrider! I love how you relate the real history behind TWI’s creative fiction. Nice correlation of TWI’s preserving the wierwille-myths with the story of 1984 (a book I read ages ago in high school).
I’m so thankful to be free of a cult’s control of information. I’m thankful for the internet and cyberplaces like Grease Spot Café. Imagine if we didn’t have this technology. I left in ’86. With no internet back then – I felt like a lone wolf – like there was something wrong with me – I couldn’t see the big picture…it was like existing between two worlds…cult-world and the real world…I was disconnected from both…however with time/effort/Grease Spot Café I feel I have a better sense of the big picture…now I’m in touch with my family and stuff that really matters…and TWI seems like a long time ago in a “galaxy” far, far away
Another great analysis, Skyrider! I love how you relate the real history behind TWI’s creative fiction. Nice correlation of TWI’s preserving the wierwille-myths with the story of 1984 (a book I read ages ago in high school).
I’m so thankful to be free of a cult’s control of information. I’m thankful for the internet and cyberplaces like Grease Spot Café. Imagine if we didn’t have this technology. I left in ’86. With no internet back then – I felt like a lone wolf – like there was something wrong with me – I couldn’t see the big picture…it was like existing between two worlds…cult-world and the real world…I was disconnected from both…however with time/effort/Grease Spot Café I feel I have a better sense of the big picture…now I’m in touch with my family and stuff that really matters…and TWI seems like a long time ago in a “galaxy” far, far away
Desperation has set in. More and more people are going to the internet and seeing twi's ruse.....and leaving this cult. The corps program is dismal. Hundreds of corps and advanced class grads have abandoned them in the past ten years. Very few want to be worker bees at twi's compound. As twi's relevance fades into obscurity, the ONLY THING THAT THEY CAN CONROL IS THE MYTH OF WIERWILLE AND PFAL.
Controlling this "information" is the key to their survival. Nothing else would hasten their collapse faster than losing "the high ground of this narrative."
Yes, pfal was a stolen class from Leonard. They don't care.
Yes, there are flaws throughout pfal. They don't care.
Yes, wierwille was a liar and a thief. They don't care,
GSC has exposed twi in every possible way, from soup to nuts. They cannot shut down this information. They cannot silence their critics. The only thing twi can do is to command (threaten) their followers NOT TO GO ON THE INTERNET. Yeah, that works...LOL. For many, it only heightens they sense of suspicion and concern that twi is hiding something. Yes, they are hiding information.
In the book, Lifton outlines the"Eight Criteria for Thought Reform":
Milieu Control. This involves the control of information and communication both within the environment and, ultimately, within the individual, resulting in a significant degree of isolation from society at large.
Mystical Manipulation. The manipulation of experiences that appears spontaneous but is, in fact, planned and orchestrated by the group or its leaders to demonstrate divine authority, spiritual advancement, or some exceptional talent or insight that sets the leader and/or group apart from humanity, and that allows a reinterpretation of historical events, scripture, and other experiences. Coincidences and happenstance oddities are interpreted as omens or prophecies.
Demand for Purity. The world is viewed as black and white and the members are constantly exhorted to conform to the ideology of the group and strive for perfection. The induction of guilt and/or shame is a powerful control device used here.
Confession. Sins, as defined by the group, are to be confessed either to a personal monitor or publicly to the group. There is no confidentiality; members' "sins," "attitudes," and "faults" are discussed and exploited by the leaders.
Sacred Science. The group's doctrine [PFAL] or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute. Truth is not to be found outside the group. The leader, as the spokesperson for God or all humanity, is likewise above criticism.
Loading the Language. The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand. This jargon consists ofthought-terminating clichés, which serve to alter members' thought processes to conform to the group's way of thinking.
Doctrine over person. Members' personal experiences are subordinated to the sacred science and any contrary experiences must be denied or reinterpreted to fit the ideology of the group.
Dispensing of existence. The group has the prerogative to decide who has the right to exist and who does not. This is usually not literal but means that those in the outside world are not saved, unenlightened, unconscious, and must be converted to the group's ideology. If they do not join the group or are critical of the group, then they must be rejected by the members. Thus, the outside world loses all credibility. In conjunction, should any member leave the group, he or she must be rejected also.[3]
Yes, pfal was a stolen class from Leonard. They don't care.
Yes, there are flaws throughout pfal. They don't care.
Yes, wierwille was a liar and a thief. They don't care,
I always wondered what qualified "proven ministry research" like PFAL - that is above reproach or even further review. I mean proven ministrty reasearch has been edited and sanitized like all way materials. By sanitized they have all but purged Wierwille's ramblings and rants from the record. Whitewas job all the way. Proven ministry research. Maybe that's the buzzwords to keep anyone from looking further to see just how, when, and from whom the materials were stolen. Think your three points here probably quantify proven ministry research...lol....lame attempt at humor here with some underlying truth. Peace!
"... Reminds me of something I recently read about George Orwell's character Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Winston worked in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth where his job was to rewrite historical documents so they matched the constantly changing party line (twi's "present truth").
skyrider, in addition to seeing some distorted histrionics at the beginning of this thread about that 3 month study suggestion, I now see you performing Winston Smith's historical revision duties here in the same thread.
On 9/18/2022 at 9:07 AM, skyrider said:
Wierwille's beginnings of teaching Leonard's class (1953) in the Van Wert Church basement?...
...
PFAL '77.Wierwille attempted to update this class in 1977 (failed)
Item #1
The truths Leonard taught belonged to God, from Whom he got some good revelations. He also had error. VPW's job was to collect these revelations God had given to Leonard and to many others and "put it all together."
There were items in VPW's teachings that were not in Leonard's teachings.
There were items in Leonard's teachings that were NOT in VPW's teachings.
He filtered out Leonard's errors for us. That is the actual history. VPW righteously collected what God told him to collect and teach. I totally reject the ideas you folks nurture here on copyrights and originality and ownership. None of that market stuff or academic stuff belongs in God's family. God gives revelation and He owns it.
*/*/*/*/*/*/*
Item #2
PFAL '77 was originally planned to be the upgraded foundational class. As part of VPW's preparation for teaching PFAL'77 he started auditing the old 1968 film class, FOR THE FIRST TIME two weeks before the class was to begin. In 1968, all he had time for was watching the first half hour, and then he took that trip to meet San Francisco hippies.
Ten years later he finally sees the whole 1968 class. Four days before the start of PFAL'77 he came to the BRC lunchroom. I was there. He said that God had told him that the whole idea to replace the '68 class was not from God and not wise. VPW also said he could never keep up with the pace of that class, and that God had given him some special revelations that should stay in circulation with that original class.
This was on a Wednesday, best I can remember. On that week's SNS tape he mentions some of the things that he said in the BRC basement a few days before. Then PFAL'77 started the next day.
The plan to have PFAL'77 replace the original film class was aborted 4 days before PFAL'77 started. I was there and I have witnesses. There were over a hundred people there when he made this announcement of a change in plans. I posted all this data (and much more) in "A PFAL'77 Story" here 15 years ago. I think I may have posted it twice. One was in the thread "Masters of the Word" which had to be deleted during the "Bandwidth Crisis" some time ago. But it may be in another thread here still. I am not good with search engines.
LATE EDIT :
I just found the larger "PFAL'77 Story" here:
The truths Leonard taught belonged to God, from Whom he got some good revelations. He also had error. VPW's job was to collect these revelations God had given to Leonard and to many others and "put it all together."
There were items in VPW's teachings that were not in Leonard's teachings.
There were items in Leonard's teachings that were NOT in VPW's teachings.
He filtered out Leonard's errors for us. That is the actual history. VPW righteously collected what God told him to collect and teach. I totally reject the ideas you folks nurture here on copyrights and originality and ownership. None of that market stuff or academic stuff belongs in God's family. God gives revelation and He owns it.
Plagiarism is:
a.) Against the law
b.) unethical
You can rationalize it 6 ways to Sunday if it makes you feel good. That won't change reality.
"VPW's job was to collect these revelations God had given to Leonard and to many others and "put it all together."
That's not what Wierwille told us... Something, something, snow on the gas pumps, something, not since the first century, something, etc.
"There were items in VPW's teachings that were not in Leonard's teachings.
There were items in Leonard's teachings that were NOT in VPW's teachings."
This is completely irrelevant. (I'm just sayin'.)
"He filtered out Leonard's errors for us."
That filter must have been broken. There are lots of documented errors scattered through PFAL. One would think God would be a little more careful to fact check His revelations before He gave them.
"Ten years later he finally sees the whole 1968 class."
So, you're telling me that in the years between 1967 and 1977 he never bothered to look at the original taping? Not even to approve the final edit?
Know anybody that has a bridge for sale?
You know what killed that little boy?
His head exploded from trying to squeeze all this irrational nonsense into it.
He scrapped the remake because he realized he couldn't replicate the theatrics of the original.
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WordWolf
vpw's bait-and-switch was sometimes used right in pfal, but other times it was not. If 100% of all you knew about vpw came straight from pfal tapes/films and the books of that class, you'd be sur
OldSkool
The way international is built on victor paul wierwille, not Jesus Christ. Sure, they mention his name at the end of a prayer and they love to talk about his accomplished works, but otherwise they hav
OldSkool
Excellent responese T-Bone. Mike - so you are saying it's ok for people to steal because everything belongs to God. That logic could hold true over anything then if it were to hold true over inte
T-Bone
No problem…what is there to discuss anyway? my post was about my experiences, my observations, my realizations, my opinions of my 12 years in TWI which also included WOW and the way corps training… you are entitled to your opinion of wierwille and PFAL – and so am I. let’s leave it at that.
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Nathan_Jr
Good. Now, I have asked you some questions. Relevant questions. Politely. Care to answer?
Edited by Nathan_JrApple butter, apple butter, and nothing but apple butter! (And waterhead babies)
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Mike
Well, yours was long and involved, LOTS to discuss, and it would be a long involved derailing then.
I had some time, but your posts are long and involved, so I may not have enough time as well.
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T-Bone
I still don’t understand.
WHAT is there to discuss?
I thought my post was brief and to the point.
You said you had time to kill
but now you don’t
maybe you waste more time saying I-don’t-want-to-derail-the-thread-so-I-won’t-bring-it-up-for-the-umpteenth-time
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Rocky
THAT is an I statement.
Initially you implied others were wrong. Even if others WERE wrong, I statements work, insinuations, not as much.
Nevertheless, You could indeed start a new thread to carry on your discussions w/Nathan and T-bone and it would be ON your new topic.
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Twinky
I agree with Mike on this one. And that's what I did.
I had all the collaterals, but only read one of them just before the Advanced Class exam. In fact, I think that's the only time I read that book, whichever it was.
There's a lot of info "out there" to suggest that it takes three weeks to build a new habit, and another three months to really consolidate it.
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waysider
When I was in FellowLaborers, as a group, we focused almost exclusively on Way materials. That's all that was taught in our nightly twigs. The rationale for its exclusivity was that it had been tested and proven to be accurate. However, as individuals, we were supposed to read Ephesians every day. (As if we had time to read ANYTHING) Now, our weekly FL night teaching was hit or miss and could be about anything or nothing or maybe just a scream-fest to highlight our failures.
As for the PFAL class, I seem to remember VPW challenging us to put away all secular materials such as magazines , newspapers, etc., and reading nothing but "The Word." (Filtered, of course, through the lens of what we had just learned in PFAL.) I don't recall him limiting that to the Pauline epistles. But, that was over 50 years ago. Who knows what tricks my memory has played on me? Surely, someone, somewhere, has a transcript of session 12.
Regarding the original post, I have to agree, it was the theatrical nature of the presentation, not the content of the information, that reeled us in and hooked us. As a new grad, you faced this reality every time you witnessed and failed to elicit a response from the listener. That's why we were urged to get people into the class, rather than try to teach them the more convoluted concepts ourselves. Presentation, not content, was largely responsible for our infatuation with the materials.
Edited by waysiderwrong word
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chockfull
Yes I did. In the Corpse. For much more than 3 months. I mean how many times can you dissect the camera analogy in first chapter of blue book?
What I learned after dissecting it was that most of the collaterals were thrown together by VP secretary loosely compiled from sermons. Materials there were stolen from contemporaries like Norman Vincent Peale.
Other sections were previews of books to come out later, written by the research team.
I mostly learned that plagiarism is a team sport. And that you can’t excuse it away any more than sexual impropriety.
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T-Bone
To the best of my recollection, I think wierwille said something along the lines of that and then stressed we should read the epistles that were addressed to us. Your use of the word “Filtered” is poignant because it brings to mind how wierwille’s closing instructions were interpreted and applied. I think you nailed it in suggesting the PFAL lens was the filter. I can relate to that in a very real way by one of the first of many incidents where I was corralled into limiting my reading to PFAL material.
I was so excited after the first time I took the class that I kept reading and rereading the entire Bible all the way through and would jot down questions – which I would then present to my Twig coordinator. To be fair
– most of my questions were over stuff in the Old Testament and the gospels – not sure if his frequent redirecting me to review PFAL stuff was simply following “the teacher’s” instructions in session 12, or that my questions were way outside the scope of the PFAL material. 
The mental filtering promoted by wierwille was absolutely necessary to affect the cognitive dissonance he wanted his followers to experience. This stuff got me to recall an older article on psychological filters (see below ) – oh, and another interesting tie-in with Skyrider’s initial post about theatrics – there’s a part in the excerpt that gets into attention-grabbing tricks…and it also touches on why we buy something and how we tend to pay attention to info that reinforces our beliefs…which makes me think of the darker angle – being constantly directed to focus on PFAL material to reinforce a certain mindset…anyway here’s the article:
Media Impacts - Unintended Consequences: How Media Can Affect Almost Everything – Psychological filters
Amidst the grayness of this information, occasional messages stand out. Some break the pattern. They defy expectations. They spark curiosity. We pay more attention to these messages. Something about them screams “different, new, or unique”.
Advertisers and advertising agencies spend a huge portion of their time and budgets trying to harness this principle. Messages that break the pattern help gain attention. They also help people remember information longer.
However, dissonant messages do not necessarily hold people’s attention, nor do people automatically find them motivating or believable. If your minister came to Sunday services in a clown suit, people would notice. They would talk about it. Whether they found the minister credible would depend on whether the gimmick reinforced his message that week or was simply what advertisers call a “borrowed-attention device.”...
…Most of us usually pay attention to information that reinforces our beliefs more than we do to information that challenges them. As a result, any individual has, at best, a partial and imperfect picture of external reality.
We also tend to pay more attention to messages that affect us personally than we do to those that do not affect us. When we need a new car, suddenly we see car ads everywhere. We start reading them. We research safety ratings. We actively investigate. Once we have bought a new vehicle, our interest in reading more diminishes. We focus our attention on other things.
From: observations: psychological filters
End of excerpts
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Mike
It was the content !
It was the content of the information, which BTW, is still potent and blessing people when they give it a shot.
Edited by MikeThe way I was "reeled in" was by attending a very enthusiastic, but also very young local fellowship. My first twig leader was 17 years old, while I was 22. Most of the attendees were teenagers in High School who had not yet taken the class. My second twig leader was 21 and only had the class for 6 months. Sunday Night Service tapes were on reel to reel then, and almost no one had a player.
With a zero level of theatrics, I read the PFAL book, and then RHST, and then I learned how to SIT all alone while reading. THEN I took the class 4 months later.
By best friend in High School heard from me of my attending Bible fellowships, and I gave him the Green Book. He read the 2 chapters on SIT and did it himself without ever going to a fellowship or taking the class. He took it a few months later.
It was the content that did it.
We hippies all thought the theatrics were funny.
Leadership was always telling us to stop laughing so much at his corny, Ohio, uncool, theatrics.
The content did it, IN SPITE of the theatrics for me, and a lot of others.
It was the content.
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OldSkool
The way international is built on victor paul wierwille, not Jesus Christ. Sure, they mention his name at the end of a prayer and they love to talk about his accomplished works, but otherwise they have nothing to do with him. That's anti-Christ btw. In practice they completely side step Jesus Christ and have no fellowship with him. The Bible clearly states otherwise:
1 John 3:1
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
The content of way international books is a hodge podge of sources that tickled the ears of wierwille and gave him a schtik to sell - classes, books, etc. I don't care that his stolen materials quote bible verses and sound spiritual - wierwille's materials are loaded with lies.
As for Wierwille, the following versus handle his ilk.
2 Timothy 3:1-7
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
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T-Bone
I think some folks may have missed a key point in Skyrider’s first post. wierwille’s theatrics in PFAL were a bait-and-switch to rope people into his twisted ideology. Since wierwille’s dramatics were just a gimmick to sell his cult-dogma, it’s possible some folks got sucked in by merely reading the PFAL material even before they took the class – as some have mentioned on Grease Spot. I think wierwille’s exciting performance in the PFAL class may have served as an aperitif - a small Kool-Aid tinged drink taken before the main course of indoctrination to stimulate one's appetite for more. After graduation I was encouraged to help get another class of new students together, so I could sit through it again – this time for free
- and I would get even more cult-dogma drilled into my head. double whoopee with a twist 
As Skyrider and other Grease Spotters have pointed out time and again – wierwille’s pseudo-Christian façade of respectability…credibility…spirituality…authority was not sustainable. And most glaring of all his pretenses was the fact that in his typical teaching topics and in his appalling lifestyle had nothing to do with Christ. In my opinion, seeing the way he treated others makes me wonder if he even believed Christ was in devoted TWI-followers.
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WordWolf
vpw's bait-and-switch was sometimes used right in pfal, but other times it was not.
If 100% of all you knew about vpw came straight from pfal tapes/films and the books of that class, you'd be surprised to hear that vpw claimed to have been appointed by God.
In pfal, vpw was specific about the holy spirit field being a field to which he had dedicated his life. Period.
It was a few years after the filmed pfal class that the 1942 Promise was ever spoken to anyone, whether spoken to the early corps or put in print in "the Way-Living in Love." If you focused exclusively on the class, you might be surprised when someone said that vpw made such a claim. (I know because I was surprised, and I felt uncomfortable about it, for reasons that went right back to what vpw taught about revelation.)
But lots of people were taught this- AFTER being taught pfal, and after buying into it.
Second, yes, pfal ended with references to the church epistles- in the actual film. When you sat a class, the staff would advertise reading pfal materials for 3 months or more. Why was there no such advertisement in the pfal film? One, there WERE no pfal materials to study way back when the film was made. There were a few pamphlets, and that was it. LATER, we got "Christians Should Be Prosperous" - and all class coordinators were instructed- by vpw- to make sure that was read early in the class. So, I'm sure someone will insist that this was NOT something vpw pushed. I'm sure someone will suggest that- since it wasn't in the filmed class, that vpw had nothing to do with it. So, it's important to remember what he DID say on the subject.
Over the years, people complained about his practice of "put aside all reading external to pfal for 3 months" thing. Did he take this moment to correct people, and redirect them to read THE EPISTLES for 3 months and chide them for switching to vpw books for 3 months instead?
NO.
He did take the time to address complaints. He didn't say "My detractors confuse the Church Epistles with twi materials." He talked about the complaint of 3 months of only twi materials. He DOUBLED DOWN on it. Rather thah say "It's 3 months of the Church Epistles, read your Bible!", he emphasized that people should do it. Then he got cutesy, "I'll make you a bet. If you put aside all newspapers and magazines for 6 months, when you pick them up again, they'll be just as negative as they were 6 months ago. I will add, however, that they may be MORE negative."
So, once there WERE pfal books, vpw instituted the practice of having the students told to focus on THOSE for 3 months, even if the films/tapes said to focus on the church epistles.
Thirdly, the final segment of pfal had a bait-and-switch built right into it. Even though vpw liked to read Ephesians 6:10 to crowds and make like he didn't want people to follow him, but rather The Lord, in pfal he did a bait-and-switch.
"Finally, my brethren, I want you to be strong in the Lord.' Strong in the Lord, not strong in what a theologian might say. Not strong in what a Bible teacher may say.
But if that theologian says what the Word says,
if that Bible teacher says what the Word says,
then you've got to be strong in what they say. "
This came at the end of 12 sessions where we are all aware he'd been badmouthing all other teachers and theologians as useless for learning the Word, and putting himself forth as some great one, indeed, as the sole Bible teacher who understood what we needed, who didn't actually plagiarize others, but was the SOLE source of sound teaching.
So, after 12 sessions of selling himself as the SOLE Bible teacher saying what the Word says,
he said that- if you find a Bible teacher who says what the Word says-
then you've got to be strong in what they say.
What does all of that say, once stripped of the jargon?
"God is telling you to be strong in what vpw is teaching."
It's that simple, that's what he was dancing around, INSINUATING, IMPLYING, SUGGESTING,
but never having the guts to say directly, leaving that for other people,
all so he could say "I never said that" if asked.
All of that is as elaborate a set of THEATRICS as I've ever experienced.
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Nathan_Jr
Indeed, victor uses the cunning, deceptive tactics of implication, insinuation, and suggestion. But just in case you missed it, he spells it out explicitly for you in the last session: He, alone, is THE teacher.
"This is why, if at any time -- if at any time I can be of help to
you, if I can help you or any of our people can help you, if this is
true, and we can be of service to you, I'd like for you to write to me,
just write: THE TEACHER, New Knoxville, Ohio, 45871. Just write to me.
Anytime it's addressed to "The Teacher," it always comes to me,
personally. You just write to me if we can be any help to you in
understanding it and helping you with the greatness of God's Word or in
any other way, whereby we can help you."
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WordWolf
He´d been referring to himself as "The Teacher" for something like a decade before pfal, with that first series he'd filmed. He pushed it enough, here and there, that at least some people referred to him primarily as "The Teacher." I'd heard from NY'ers about a visit from him. There was a crowd greeting him. "The Teacher! The Teacher!" I was told "We always called him 'The Teacher'". If you think that wasn't entirely due to the hard work of vpw promoting himself to being called "The Teacher"..... well, I don't know what to tell you.
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OldSkool
Addressing these three points out of an excellent post.
The line about the holy spirit field - VPW said he dedicated his life. TWI has gone a few steps further and I can't tell when the upgrade happened but they say vvictor paul wierwille was raised up for the holy spirit field. As if God specifically called and dedicated his ministries to uncover the holy spirit field that has been hid since first century. I kid you not. I was taught this concept during my corps training repeatedly and dang near verbatim.
The idea of "ingesting" nothing but ministry materials is also a key element of the corps training. We weren't allowed to watch/read anything secular unless the corps coordinator approved it and only during "self structure time". Otherwise, we were to study only way minstry publications, or approved publications. By approved publications I mean material related to TWI but contributed by someone that VPW didn't actually steal from outright, such as George Lamsa or KC Pillai. Don't get me wrong. These ideals were still pushed at the FNC level with the class coordinators being instructed to suggest the students put aside all secular material for a period of time and read nothing but "the word" (which basically meant ministry publications) and at the end of that time their minds would be so renewed they wouldnt even recognize themselves.
This garbage is set in stone. The way is a preservatation society that has enshrined wierwille and many of the things he did when he was alive. He is their guiding light and their idol.
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skyrider
Nothing else matters to this cult except preserving the narrative....ie wierwille was called and destined by God to "teach this word that hadn't been known for centuries." Problem was..... preachers and ministers HAD been teaching these truths.
Twi is a classic example of an authoritarian, thought-control cult. Manipulation of 1) behavior, 2) information, 3) thoughts, and 4) emotions. The only way twi can function is thru deception at every level. Notice how they skewer twi-history and ONLY focus on the 1967 pfal-filming as a seismic shift in the spiritual universe. Why do they AVOID....
Reminds me of something I recently read about George Orwell's character Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Winston worked in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth where his job was to rewrite historical documents so they matched the constantly changing party line (twi's "present truth"). This involved revising newspaper articles and doctoring photographs -- mostly to remove "unpersons" (mark and avoid people/corps). In manipulating and altering historical realities......in essence, “history had stopped. Nothing existed except an endless present in which the Party (Cult) is always right.”
Another thing, twi avoids any mention of all other attempts of these foundational classes.....Another pfal class full of dead men's bones
With each passing decade..... twi has become the "unpersons."
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skyrider
The only way to hold to this cognitive dissonance..... is to stay in an "endless present."
The cult keeps them from REVIEWING HISTORY.....even within the last 10 years. The followers are thought-conditioned on obedience to their leaders. They are institutionalized by Nurse Ratchet and sedated with their daily dose of medicine pills. Lunchtime announcements keep the daily lecturing of "us versus them" pertinent so that they do not stray into questioning authority. Subtle. Daily. Indoctrination.
If every day one STAYS IN PRESENT CONFORMITY...... then it shuts down ACCUMULATION OF HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES from which to catalogue, analyze and discern truth from error.
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T-Bone
Another great analysis, Skyrider! I love how you relate the real history behind TWI’s creative fiction. Nice correlation of TWI’s preserving the wierwille-myths with the story of 1984 (a book I read ages ago in high school).
I’m so thankful to be free of a cult’s control of information. I’m thankful for the internet and cyberplaces like Grease Spot Café. Imagine if we didn’t have this technology. I left in ’86. With no internet back then – I felt like a lone wolf – like there was something wrong with me – I couldn’t see the big picture…it was like existing between two worlds…cult-world and the real world…I was disconnected from both…however with time/effort/Grease Spot Café I feel I have a better sense of the big picture…now I’m in touch with my family and stuff that really matters…and TWI seems like a long time ago in a “galaxy” far, far away
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skyrider
Desperation has set in. More and more people are going to the internet and seeing twi's ruse.....and leaving this cult. The corps program is dismal. Hundreds of corps and advanced class grads have abandoned them in the past ten years. Very few want to be worker bees at twi's compound. As twi's relevance fades into obscurity, the ONLY THING THAT THEY CAN CONROL IS THE MYTH OF WIERWILLE AND PFAL.
Controlling this "information" is the key to their survival. Nothing else would hasten their collapse faster than losing "the high ground of this narrative."
GSC has exposed twi in every possible way, from soup to nuts. They cannot shut down this information. They cannot silence their critics. The only thing twi can do is to command (threaten) their followers NOT TO GO ON THE INTERNET. Yeah, that works...LOL. For many, it only heightens they sense of suspicion and concern that twi is hiding something. Yes, they are hiding information.
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
In the book, Lifton outlines the "Eight Criteria for Thought Reform":
Edited by skyriderhighlighting for emphasis
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OldSkool
I always wondered what qualified "proven ministry research" like PFAL - that is above reproach or even further review. I mean proven ministrty reasearch has been edited and sanitized like all way materials. By sanitized they have all but purged Wierwille's ramblings and rants from the record. Whitewas job all the way. Proven ministry research. Maybe that's the buzzwords to keep anyone from looking further to see just how, when, and from whom the materials were stolen. Think your three points here probably quantify proven ministry research...lol....lame attempt at humor here with some underlying truth. Peace!
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Nathan_Jr
Like waterhead babies. Like Jesus's bastard bar mitzvah. Like four crucified.... and hundreds more.
You just can't make this up... oh, wait...
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Mike
skyrider, in addition to seeing some distorted histrionics at the beginning of this thread about that 3 month study suggestion, I now see you performing Winston Smith's historical revision duties here in the same thread.
Item #1
The truths Leonard taught belonged to God, from Whom he got some good revelations. He also had error. VPW's job was to collect these revelations God had given to Leonard and to many others and "put it all together."
There were items in VPW's teachings that were not in Leonard's teachings.
There were items in Leonard's teachings that were NOT in VPW's teachings.
He filtered out Leonard's errors for us. That is the actual history. VPW righteously collected what God told him to collect and teach. I totally reject the ideas you folks nurture here on copyrights and originality and ownership. None of that market stuff or academic stuff belongs in God's family. God gives revelation and He owns it.
*/*/*/*/*/*/*
Item #2
PFAL '77 was originally planned to be the upgraded foundational class. As part of VPW's preparation for teaching PFAL'77 he started auditing the old 1968 film class, FOR THE FIRST TIME two weeks before the class was to begin. In 1968, all he had time for was watching the first half hour, and then he took that trip to meet San Francisco hippies.
Ten years later he finally sees the whole 1968 class. Four days before the start of PFAL'77 he came to the BRC lunchroom. I was there. He said that God had told him that the whole idea to replace the '68 class was not from God and not wise. VPW also said he could never keep up with the pace of that class, and that God had given him some special revelations that should stay in circulation with that original class.
This was on a Wednesday, best I can remember. On that week's SNS tape he mentions some of the things that he said in the BRC basement a few days before. Then PFAL'77 started the next day.
The plan to have PFAL'77 replace the original film class was aborted 4 days before PFAL'77 started. I was there and I have witnesses. There were over a hundred people there when he made this announcement of a change in plans. I posted all this data (and much more) in "A PFAL'77 Story" here 15 years ago. I think I may have posted it twice. One was in the thread "Masters of the Word" which had to be deleted during the "Bandwidth Crisis" some time ago. But it may be in another thread here still. I am not good with search engines.
LATE EDIT :
I just found the larger "PFAL'77 Story" here:
https://www.greasespotcafe.com/ipb/topic/24553-the-wierwille-legacy-who-will-write-the-book/page/2/#comment-586383
Edited by MikeLink to comment
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waysider
Plagiarism is:
a.) Against the law
b.) unethical
You can rationalize it 6 ways to Sunday if it makes you feel good. That won't change reality.
"VPW's job was to collect these revelations God had given to Leonard and to many others and "put it all together."
That's not what Wierwille told us... Something, something, snow on the gas pumps, something, not since the first century, something, etc.
"There were items in VPW's teachings that were not in Leonard's teachings.
There were items in Leonard's teachings that were NOT in VPW's teachings."
This is completely irrelevant. (I'm just sayin'.)
"He filtered out Leonard's errors for us."
That filter must have been broken. There are lots of documented errors scattered through PFAL. One would think God would be a little more careful to fact check His revelations before He gave them.
"Ten years later he finally sees the whole 1968 class."
So, you're telling me that in the years between 1967 and 1977 he never bothered to look at the original taping? Not even to approve the final edit?
Know anybody that has a bridge for sale?
You know what killed that little boy?
His head exploded from trying to squeeze all this irrational nonsense into it.
He scrapped the remake because he realized he couldn't replicate the theatrics of the original.
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