I learned long ago to look in a leader person's wake to see who is getting blessed as they pass by.
If I want to know whether a person has a spiritual gift ministry from God or not, I do not go by the nametag. If there are a lot of extremely blessed people in their wake, I take note and suspect a gift ministry is functioning. I never look to Reverend titles any more for any kind of guarantee. ...
I think this is the single most intelligible post I've ever read from Mike.
I think this is the single most intelligible post I've ever read from Mike.
As to the rest of that long post -pfft!
Actually the "extremely blessed" aspect might be an indicator of a more skilled abuser. The love bomb. You don't hook people by face melting at the get go.
But it could be that there are genuine people who truly want to serve God and succeed (despite TWI). I have known some truly awesome Corps, wonderful people. I can't say that I've met any truly awesome Revs, though. Well - not in TWI. Plenty outside TWI.
I'm forgiving Mike the "extremely blessed" terminology. He probably doesn't know a better way to put it. I suspect he means "genuinely helped" or something along that line.
quote: One of the things "they did to him" was give him money to live on. Reportedly, at some point, about $60k/yr.
Another thing "they" did was divorce him.
But if you like what he has to say, then enjoy.
An update. This morning I listened to part of another teaching. It is called 'discerning of spirits 2' and it's 2 hours 10 minutes long. I listened for just under 1 hour. The first teaching I listened to he one time called himself an athlete of the spirit and that was it. This time he spent many minutes talking about it.
There are many activities that could be compared to walking by the spirit, but none of them are emphasized in the bible. The three that come to mind are athlete, soldier, and farmer. Yes, 'we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spirit powers, etc.' IS an athletic reference. The word DOES also refer to soldiers of the Lord (to be a soldier). Both Paul and Jesus equated their walks with God to husbandry. What those three activities have in common is they are ongoing. If you make your living doing any of those, it's non stop. Farmers get up pre dawn and work their butts off. Athletes are constantly training, even in their off season. Soldiers must get more intense training than anybody, but most military activity is preventative. Athletics is routine, but it's entertainment. No matter how big a fan of any sport you are, you can always push the pause button as needed. Farming is the most routine of the three. Everybody has to eat. More people would connect to farmers of the spirit than the other two., but "Farmers of the Spirit" just doesn't have the 'made for TV' veneer that AOS did...I guess.
I agree that it is significant that soldiers kill their opponents but athletes only compete with them, even though soldiers do a lot more than killing. There are perfectly good ways that athletics can be compared to a believer's walk, but LCM just went too far with it. Even real athletes need time off, breaks, etc. They're not in competition 24/7. Athletes of the spirit in TWI WERE! After football and hockey games the players shake hands with and even hug opposing players. The whole analogy is not air tight. Making it 24/7 is what caused the cheerfulness drain, as Mike put it, and the openly judgmental behavior that cropped up in twigs. I was just as guilty of that as anyone; that's what the ministry had become.
LCM still buys into it; loins, heart, and feet - the whole song and dance. He really is easier to be entreated than he was 25 years ago, but I'll probably listen to one more teaching and be done with it.
But it could be that there are genuine people who truly want to serve God and succeed (despite TWI). I have known some truly awesome Corps, wonderful people. I can't say that I've met any truly awesome Revs, though. Well - not in TWI. Plenty outside TWI.
I'm forgiving Mike the "extremely blessed" terminology. He probably doesn't know a better way to put it. I suspect he means "genuinely helped" or something along that line.
quote: One of the things "they did to him" was give him money to live on. Reportedly, at some point, about $60k/yr.
Another thing "they" did was divorce him.
But if you like what he has to say, then enjoy.
An update. This morning I listened to part of another teaching. It is called 'discerning of spirits 2' and it's 2 hours 10 minutes long. I listened for just under 1 hour. The first teaching I listened to he one time called himself an athlete of the spirit and that was it. This time he spent many minutes talking about it.
There are many activities that could be compared to walking by the spirit, but none of them are emphasized in the bible. The three that come to mind are athlete, soldier, and farmer. Yes, 'we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spirit powers, etc.' IS an athletic reference. The word DOES also refer to soldiers of the Lord (to be a soldier). Both Paul and Jesus equated their walks with God to husbandry. What those three activities have in common is they are ongoing. If you make your living doing any of those, it's non stop. Farmers get up pre dawn and work their butts off. Athletes are constantly training, even in their off season. Soldiers must get more intense training than anybody, but most military activity is preventative. Athletics is routine, but it's entertainment. No matter how big a fan of any sport you are, you can always push the pause button as needed. Farming is the most routine of the three. Everybody has to eat. More people would connect to farmers of the spirit than the other two., but "Farmers of the Spirit" just doesn't have the 'made for TV' veneer that AOS did...I guess.
I agree that it is significant that soldiers kill their opponents but athletes only compete with them, even though soldiers do a lot more than killing. There are perfectly good ways that athletics can be compared to a believer's walk, but LCM just went too far with it. Even real athletes need time off, breaks, etc. They're not in competition 24/7. Athletes of the spirit in TWI WERE! After football and hockey games the players shake hands with and even hug opposing players. The whole analogy is not air tight. Making it 24/7 is what caused the cheerfulness drain, as Mike put it, and the openly judgmental behavior that cropped up in twigs. I was just as guilty of that as anyone; that's what the ministry had become.
LCM still buys into it; loins, heart, and feet - the whole song and dance. He really is easier to be entreated than he was 25 years ago, but I'll probably listen to one more teaching and be done with it.
But it could be that there are genuine people who truly want to serve God and succeed (despite TWI). I have known some truly awesome Corps, wonderful people. I can't say that I've met any truly awesome Revs, though. Well - not in TWI. Plenty outside TWI.
I'm forgiving Mike the "extremely blessed" terminology. He probably doesn't know a better way to put it. I suspect he means "genuinely helped" or something along that line.
Well, thanks, Twinky. I appreciate it and would love to be able to build on it. I'll go look at the rest of the post could be re-worked to communicate more.
I think you both have a point about the "extremely blessed” thing. I was thinking of time-wise extreme, as in frequency or numbers.
Intense emotional bliss is something I regard as a "pink flag." But being a life long veteran of window cleaning, I never want to rain on anyone's parade. I am not going to question them about it. But super happy people seem to be broadcasting, in addition to enjoying their being happy, seem to be thinking that if they act it out it will last longer.I was extremely blessed my first six or eight months in the ministry, so blessed my smile muscles hurt, but it wore off, as to be expected.
I saw this in the 1970s TWI-1 quite often. The Jesus Freaks of the Sixties were way up there, but I think a lot of that was phony. People burn out on bliss.
I'm noticing some patterns in those most embittered by finding out VPW was no RC saint. I suspect the bitterness is the flip side of being extremely emotionally happy with VPW in their early days.
I saw this swooning for VPW, even from men, in the early days, and the commitment that ensued. At first, I was actually jealous of their commitment to go WoW and to join the Corps. At first, I thought it was a deficiency in me that I was so cautious.
I had been somewhat duped by Timothy Leary, then Cleve Backster, the plant conscious man, but my first reactions to their pitch was swallow it all with commitment. So, when I got to VPW it was "stand back" and observe.
I just recently noticed an analog to what is happening with me now and associating with TWI-4.
In the 1970s there was, for me, a relatively fast progression towards trusting local leadership (none were Corps), but a wait-and-see attitude towards HQ. I could not seeHQ operate, like I did the locals. It wasn't until working a year at HQ that I really got a sense that the whole ministry was right-on. I could see how most workers there really cared for the people we were serving on the field.
I just still had to continue my slow unemotional progression in commitment, even after working at HQ. It was 10 years of getting blessed by PFAL before I decided to go out Wow. How people could do that or the Corps after one or two years of PFAL under their belt I could never get. Now, looking back reckless.
I get this feeling of reckless rush to judgement from Charlene as I read her book. I saw lots of people with that quick, early commitment she had, but not quite as extreme as her account. Even before taking the class she was witnessing and very emotionally committed to joining the Corps, sight-unseen. I see her as an extreme case of the "extremely blessed" with my new, fresh definition of that phrase.
Maybe I should have waited on that to post after I finish the book, and after I find an appropriate thread in which do it. In addition to me not wanting to "pollute" her thread announcing the book, I kinda doubt if she would want to lower her standards down to me. She is obviously channeling her disappointment energy in ways other than food-fights with ASCII text.
*/*/*/*/*
I had so many things happen in my life that prepared me for these years, that I have a sense of duty, but not religious duty, where I must pay the church organization with my loyalty and man-hours and dollars. It is a sense that God blessed me via TWI-1 and that I want to thank God by giving to His people and see them blessed like I was by PFAL.
In addition to my lucky break of being a far less emotional science geek (which I hated at the time), and with less letdown when VPW's reputation fell, there are other patterns here that I somehow differed from.
This next pattern was scarce 20 years ago here, but it has steadily built in becoming visible.
I think it is pretty safe to say that a lot of the frequent and more vociferous members here were at one time going ape over the ministry and VPW for the first 10 or 20 years.
I’m less sure of this, but a newly emerging pattern I'm seeing is that many here had some of the most devastating of life's calamitous tragedies happen as they were in high commitment mode and deep into ministry life.
I see a pattern that most of the disappointment with the law of believing stems from not being able to get answers to really intense prayers. Failing to see the power "when it is needed most "is a theme of disappointment that I first heard VPW predict, and then later saw people experience.
My odd life went different. While others around me were getting the normal big blessing of early adulthood, I was the one not getting answers to prayers. A close friend of mine was actually trying to understand my life, and why I was still so gung-ho on PFAL, when I lacked so much that normal people had.He had a great life compared to mine and he marveled at my thankfulness for PFAL.
Then finally his first big challenge arrived and clobbered him.He was suddenly very pi$$ed at God and even said so.“But I was believing !!??!!” was his cry.I was thinking, but said not, well if that was real believing, then why did it stop with the clobbering?Real believing is fearless of defeat, even when it happens.Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego had cultivated genuine believing that flinched not at disaster, like execution by fire.Real believing hangs in there, no matter what.
Many jeer here when I mention genuine believing. There is total rejection of the law of believing, yet whenever I ask about Jesus being wrong about it, all I hear is silence. I never hear “mental ascent” here voluntarily offered by posters with bitter comments on believing.
When I was a cosmic consciousness pursuing hippie, it was a QUEST to achieve believing, even thoughwe did not use that word. It was assumed that genuine believing was hard to achieve. When I hear someone say “I was believing and it didn’t work” they seem to have forgotten all about mental ascent being a GOOD counterfeit of believing.That means it’s easy to mentally ascent and hard to really believe.
I was a loser, in that my mental assent (Yeah I can discipline my mind and get good grades.) did not work.Normal people who used mental ascent got the normal goods of life anyway, while I was always wondering how they did it.Once in the ministry, I figured I must be mentally assenting and the other grads were doing real believing.But then, years later when calamity hit, I could plainly see that their mental ascent was a good counterfeit.
Then in recent months I have seen a lot of the personal stories of people here and really feel for the tragedies they experienced deep into ministry life. The old curse in my life, not making it with mental ascent, turned out to be a blessing, in that I understand the law of believing as Jesus taught it pretty well. I have always known that Jesus’ standard was “believe in the heart with no doubt.”I had to dare to believe to take action and come here.
I think this is the single most intelligible post I've ever read from Mike.
As to the rest of that long post -pfft!
I had an uncle who was an expert at feigning a case of hard-of-hearing when someone paid him a compliment. He's get a confused look on his face and ask timidly, "Could you repeat that, please?" cupping his hand behind his ear. He got me good once with this trick, and I obliged him 2 or 3 more times, until his son threw up his arms with exaggerated outrage, "DAD! You do that ALL the time!!!"
I just wanted to say, I heard you well Twinky, and I am not imitating my uncle.
What did you think of the line before the part you liked in my earlier post about a definition for "ministry?" Here it is:
An earthly ministry ... is a 5-senses extension of a person's gift ministry from God.
Well, thanks, Twinky. I appreciate it and would love to be able to build on it. I'll go look at the rest of the post could be re-worked to communicate more.
I think you both have a point about the "extremely blessed” thing. I was thinking of time-wise extreme, as in frequency or numbers.
Intense emotional bliss is something I regard as a "pink flag." But being a life long veteran of window cleaning, I never want to rain on anyone's parade. I am not going to question them about it. But super happy people seem to be broadcasting, in addition to enjoying their being happy, seem to be thinking that if they act it out it will last longer.I was extremely blessed my first six or eight months in the ministry, so blessed my smile muscles hurt, but it wore off, as to be expected.
I saw this in the 1970s TWI-1 quite often. The Jesus Freaks of the Sixties were way up there, but I think a lot of that was phony. People burn out on bliss.
I'm noticing some patterns in those most embittered by finding out VPW was no RC saint. I suspect the bitterness is the flip side of being extremely emotionally happy with VPW in their early days.
I saw this swooning for VPW, even from men, in the early days, and the commitment that ensued. At first, I was actually jealous of their commitment to go WoW and to join the Corps. At first, I thought it was a deficiency in me that I was so cautious.
I had been somewhat duped by Timothy Leary, then Cleve Backster, the plant conscious man, but my first reactions to their pitch was swallow it all with commitment. So, when I got to VPW it was "stand back" and observe.
I just recently noticed an analog to what is happening with me now and associating with TWI-4.
In the 1970s there was, for me, a relatively fast progression towards trusting local leadership (none were Corps), but a wait-and-see attitude towards HQ. I could not seeHQ operate, like I did the locals. It wasn't until working a year at HQ that I really got a sense that the whole ministry was right-on. I could see how most workers there really cared for the people we were serving on the field.
I just still had to continue my slow unemotional progression in commitment, even after working at HQ. It was 10 years of getting blessed by PFAL before I decided to go out Wow. How people could do that or the Corps after one or two years of PFAL under their belt I could never get. Now, looking back reckless.
I get this feeling of reckless rush to judgement from Charlene as I read her book. I saw lots of people with that quick, early commitment she had, but not quite as extreme as her account. Even before taking the class she was witnessing and very emotionally committed to joining the Corps, sight-unseen. I see her as an extreme case of the "extremely blessed" with my new, fresh definition of that phrase.
Maybe I should have waited on that to post after I finish the book, and after I find an appropriate thread in which do it. In addition to me not wanting to "pollute" her thread announcing the book, I kinda doubt if she would want to lower her standards down to me. She is obviously channeling her disappointment energy in ways other than food-fights with ASCII text.
*/*/*/*/*
I had so many things happen in my life that prepared me for these years, that I have a sense of duty, but not religious duty, where I must pay the church organization with my loyalty and man-hours and dollars. It is a sense that God blessed me via TWI-1 and that I want to thank God by giving to His people and see them blessed like I was by PFAL.
In addition to my lucky break of being a far less emotional science geek (which I hated at the time), and with less letdown when VPW's reputation fell, there are other patterns here that I somehow differed from.
This next pattern was scarce 20 years ago here, but it has steadily built in becoming visible.
I think it is pretty safe to say that a lot of the frequent and more vociferous members here were at one time going ape over the ministry and VPW for the first 10 or 20 years.
I’m less sure of this, but a newly emerging pattern I'm seeing is that many here had some of the most devastating of life's calamitous tragedies happen as they were in high commitment mode and deep into ministry life.
I see a pattern that most of the disappointment with the law of believing stems from not being able to get answers to really intense prayers. Failing to see the power "when it is needed most "is a theme of disappointment that I first heard VPW predict, and then later saw people experience.
My odd life went different. While others around me were getting the normal big blessing of early adulthood, I was the one not getting answers to prayers. A close friend of mine was actually trying to understand my life, and why I was still so gung-ho on PFAL, when I lacked so much that normal people had.He had a great life compared to mine and he marveled at my thankfulness for PFAL.
Then finally his first big challenge arrived and clobbered him.He was suddenly very pi$$ed at God and even said so.“But I was believing !!??!!” was his cry.I was thinking, but said not, well if that was real believing, then why did it stop with the clobbering?Real believing is fearless of defeat, even when it happens.Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego had cultivated genuine believing that flinched not at disaster, like execution by fire.Real believing hangs in there, no matter what.
Many jeer here when I mention genuine believing. There is total rejection of the law of believing, yet whenever I ask about Jesus being wrong about it, all I hear is silence. I never hear “mental ascent” here voluntarily offered by posters with bitter comments on believing.
When I was a cosmic consciousness pursuing hippie, it was a QUEST to achieve believing, even thoughwe did not use that word. It was assumed that genuine believing was hard to achieve. When I hear someone say “I was believing and it didn’t work” they seem to have forgotten all about mental ascent being a GOOD counterfeit of believing.That means it’s easy to mentally ascent and hard to really believe.
I was a loser, in that my mental assent (Yeah I can discipline my mind and get good grades.) did not work.Normal people who used mental ascent got the normal goods of life anyway, while I was always wondering how they did it.Once in the ministry, I figured I must be mentally assenting and the other grads were doing real believing.But then, years later when calamity hit, I could plainly see that their mental ascent was a good counterfeit.
Then in recent months I have seen a lot of the personal stories of people here and really feel for the tragedies they experienced deep into ministry life. The old curse in my life, not making it with mental ascent, turned out to be a blessing, in that I understand the law of believing as Jesus taught it pretty well. I have always known that Jesus’ standard was “believe in the heart with no doubt.”I had to dare to believe to take action and come here.
Wow Mike can sound like a psycho analyst and a Corps Nazi all at the same time.
The pattern I see here is the exact same pattern when you put a bull in a pasture.
A whole lotta Bullshonta!!!
Mike is like “you know reminiscing back to 10 years ago when I first stuck my head under the bullshonta I thought x,y,z. Glad to see it finally coming to fruition growing mushrooms today”
When was the last time you had coffee or a long phone call with a TWI-4 person?
You seem to be convinced that TWI-4 is the same as the previous administrations. Do you take it on faith, or old TWI-3 or TWI-2 memories, or reports from other people?
As for me, I check these things out myself and face-to-face. There were years with TWI-2 and -3 where this is impossible. They were behind closed doors for fear of the grads, whenever I tried to contact them, which was once every few years. But that started changing a few years ago.
I think the first step for us 'oldies' to get back in wanting to fellowship again in TWI is for them first to walk in love, admit past horrors and mistakes, repent of all the hurts that harmed lives and careers, and ask for forgiveness. If they did that I believe they would receive forgiveness from many. As I recall we've discussed this before here on the spot it's nothing new. But that kind of thing never happens with these large corporations right? It's not only TWI, its most if not all the large churches, all of these large church bodies. Yes and even the RC churches that we all know have had their share of horrific activities. You literally have to sue them to get any relief.
quote: One of the things "they did to him" was give him money to live on. Reportedly, at some point, about $60k/yr.
Another thing "they" did was divorce him.
But if you like what he has to say, then enjoy.
An update. This morning I listened to part of another teaching. It is called 'discerning of spirits 2' and it's 2 hours 10 minutes long. I listened for just under 1 hour. The first teaching I listened to he one time called himself an athlete of the spirit and that was it. This time he spent many minutes talking about it.
There are many activities that could be compared to walking by the spirit, but none of them are emphasized in the bible. The three that come to mind are athlete, soldier, and farmer. Yes, 'we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spirit powers, etc.' IS an athletic reference. The word DOES also refer to soldiers of the Lord (to be a soldier). Both Paul and Jesus equated their walks with God to husbandry. What those three activities have in common is they are ongoing. If you make your living doing any of those, it's non stop. Farmers get up pre dawn and work their butts off. Athletes are constantly training, even in their off season. Soldiers must get more intense training than anybody, but most military activity is preventative. Athletics is routine, but it's entertainment. No matter how big a fan of any sport you are, you can always push the pause button as needed. Farming is the most routine of the three. Everybody has to eat. More people would connect to farmers of the spirit than the other two., but "Farmers of the Spirit" just doesn't have the 'made for TV' veneer that AOS did...I guess.
I agree that it is significant that soldiers kill their opponents but athletes only compete with them, even though soldiers do a lot more than killing. There are perfectly good ways that athletics can be compared to a believer's walk, but LCM just went too far with it. Even real athletes need time off, breaks, etc. They're not in competition 24/7. Athletes of the spirit in TWI WERE! After football and hockey games the players shake hands with and even hug opposing players. The whole analogy is not air tight. Making it 24/7 is what caused the cheerfulness drain, as Mike put it, and the openly judgmental behavior that cropped up in twigs. I was just as guilty of that as anyone; that's what the ministry had become.
LCM still buys into it; loins, heart, and feet - the whole song and dance. He really is easier to be entreated than he was 25 years ago, but I'll probably listen to one more teaching and be done with it.
I think the first step for us 'oldies' to get back in wanting to fellowship again in TWI is for them first to walk in love, admit past horrors and mistakes, repent of all the hurts that harmed lives and careers, and ask for forgiveness. If they did that I believe they would receive forgiveness from many.
The doctrine is twisted. However, I for one would be supportive and would have mass respect for them if they were to hold themselves accountable and do whats right.
The doctrine is twisted. However, I for one would be supportive and would have mass respect for them if they were to hold themselves accountable and do whats right.
Agreed. I believe you see what I do that what's crucial is meekness, walking in love as Jesus did, asking for forgiveness when you screw up. It's even more important than the doctrine.
Agreed. I believe you see what I do that what's crucial is meekness, walking in love as Jesus did, asking for forgiveness when you screw up. It's even more important than the doctrine.
Mike: Ihave all kinds of suggestions for them on this. One is that they sell a nice boxedset of the PFAL on dvd format. They could include a nice hard-bound transcript and sell the whole thing for $200.
I'll bet all the many grads with crumby VHS copies would be happy to get a high quality version ofwhatthey already have.
Nate: Wait. WTF?
After admitting to oodles and oodles of errors in the class, you are recommending repackaging this error laden class and selling it to unsuspecting dupes? With a transcript sothey can pull all their hair out sorting the allegedwheatfrom the obvious chaff? For $200!!!
Mike's suggestion is NOT a joke. It is a deception.
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Twinky
Mike. Get this clear. I hate no-one. I hate ABUSE. Agape thinks no evil? Right. Agape calls evil out!! And I'm calling out the abuse that occurred and likely still occurs. That's not hate
chockfull
Okay reading thru this I find it hard to believe the lack of empathy. Mike is always looking to run down anyone who went thru the Corps as a problem. Actually, I don't find it hard t believe. The w
OldSkool
Correct! But a Christian organization that is all about material abundance is not a Christian orginazation at all because that's not what Christianity is about and its shameful to even attach Christ n
Nathan_Jr
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Twinky
I think this is the single most intelligible post I've ever read from Mike.
As to the rest of that long post -pfft!
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Bolshevik
Actually the "extremely blessed" aspect might be an indicator of a more skilled abuser. The love bomb. You don't hook people by face melting at the get go.
*tosses grenade into lake*
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Twinky
Could be, Bolshe.
But it could be that there are genuine people who truly want to serve God and succeed (despite TWI). I have known some truly awesome Corps, wonderful people. I can't say that I've met any truly awesome Revs, though. Well - not in TWI. Plenty outside TWI.
I'm forgiving Mike the "extremely blessed" terminology. He probably doesn't know a better way to put it. I suspect he means "genuinely helped" or something along that line.
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johniam
quote: One of the things "they did to him" was give him money to live on. Reportedly, at some point, about $60k/yr.
Another thing "they" did was divorce him.
But if you like what he has to say, then enjoy.
An update. This morning I listened to part of another teaching. It is called 'discerning of spirits 2' and it's 2 hours 10 minutes long. I listened for just under 1 hour. The first teaching I listened to he one time called himself an athlete of the spirit and that was it. This time he spent many minutes talking about it.
There are many activities that could be compared to walking by the spirit, but none of them are emphasized in the bible. The three that come to mind are athlete, soldier, and farmer. Yes, 'we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spirit powers, etc.' IS an athletic reference. The word DOES also refer to soldiers of the Lord (to be a soldier). Both Paul and Jesus equated their walks with God to husbandry. What those three activities have in common is they are ongoing. If you make your living doing any of those, it's non stop. Farmers get up pre dawn and work their butts off. Athletes are constantly training, even in their off season. Soldiers must get more intense training than anybody, but most military activity is preventative. Athletics is routine, but it's entertainment. No matter how big a fan of any sport you are, you can always push the pause button as needed. Farming is the most routine of the three. Everybody has to eat. More people would connect to farmers of the spirit than the other two., but "Farmers of the Spirit" just doesn't have the 'made for TV' veneer that AOS did...I guess.
I agree that it is significant that soldiers kill their opponents but athletes only compete with them, even though soldiers do a lot more than killing. There are perfectly good ways that athletics can be compared to a believer's walk, but LCM just went too far with it. Even real athletes need time off, breaks, etc. They're not in competition 24/7. Athletes of the spirit in TWI WERE! After football and hockey games the players shake hands with and even hug opposing players. The whole analogy is not air tight. Making it 24/7 is what caused the cheerfulness drain, as Mike put it, and the openly judgmental behavior that cropped up in twigs. I was just as guilty of that as anyone; that's what the ministry had become.
LCM still buys into it; loins, heart, and feet - the whole song and dance. He really is easier to be entreated than he was 25 years ago, but I'll probably listen to one more teaching and be done with it.
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Bolshevik
He just requested spies for his plan inside TWI.
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Nathan_Jr
Is Loy the 8th THE Man of God?
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waysider
Who was that 8th man? In Genesis he was....
But, seriously (not). It kinda reminds me of a documentary I watched recently called Yeti: The Missing Teenage Years.
Edited by waysiderspelling
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Nathan_Jr
A documentary, no less!
Someone needs to find that prescient music coordinator,
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Mike
Well, thanks, Twinky. I appreciate it and would love to be able to build on it. I'll go look at the rest of the post could be re-worked to communicate more.
I think you both have a point about the "extremely blessed” thing. I was thinking of time-wise extreme, as in frequency or numbers.
Intense emotional bliss is something I regard as a "pink flag." But being a life long veteran of window cleaning, I never want to rain on anyone's parade. I am not going to question them about it. But super happy people seem to be broadcasting, in addition to enjoying their being happy, seem to be thinking that if they act it out it will last longer. I was extremely blessed my first six or eight months in the ministry, so blessed my smile muscles hurt, but it wore off, as to be expected.
I saw this in the 1970s TWI-1 quite often. The Jesus Freaks of the Sixties were way up there, but I think a lot of that was phony. People burn out on bliss.
I'm noticing some patterns in those most embittered by finding out VPW was no RC saint. I suspect the bitterness is the flip side of being extremely emotionally happy with VPW in their early days.
I saw this swooning for VPW, even from men, in the early days, and the commitment that ensued. At first, I was actually jealous of their commitment to go WoW and to join the Corps. At first, I thought it was a deficiency in me that I was so cautious.
I had been somewhat duped by Timothy Leary, then Cleve Backster, the plant conscious man, but my first reactions to their pitch was swallow it all with commitment. So, when I got to VPW it was "stand back" and observe.
I just recently noticed an analog to what is happening with me now and associating with TWI-4.
In the 1970s there was, for me, a relatively fast progression towards trusting local leadership (none were Corps), but a wait-and-see attitude towards HQ. I could not see HQ operate, like I did the locals. It wasn't until working a year at HQ that I really got a sense that the whole ministry was right-on. I could see how most workers there really cared for the people we were serving on the field.
I just still had to continue my slow unemotional progression in commitment, even after working at HQ. It was 10 years of getting blessed by PFAL before I decided to go out Wow. How people could do that or the Corps after one or two years of PFAL under their belt I could never get. Now, looking back reckless.
I get this feeling of reckless rush to judgement from Charlene as I read her book. I saw lots of people with that quick, early commitment she had, but not quite as extreme as her account. Even before taking the class she was witnessing and very emotionally committed to joining the Corps, sight-unseen. I see her as an extreme case of the "extremely blessed" with my new, fresh definition of that phrase.
Maybe I should have waited on that to post after I finish the book, and after I find an appropriate thread in which do it. In addition to me not wanting to "pollute" her thread announcing the book, I kinda doubt if she would want to lower her standards down to me. She is obviously channeling her disappointment energy in ways other than food-fights with ASCII text.
*/*/*/*/*
I had so many things happen in my life that prepared me for these years, that I have a sense of duty, but not religious duty, where I must pay the church organization with my loyalty and man-hours and dollars. It is a sense that God blessed me via TWI-1 and that I want to thank God by giving to His people and see them blessed like I was by PFAL.
In addition to my lucky break of being a far less emotional science geek (which I hated at the time), and with less letdown when VPW's reputation fell, there are other patterns here that I somehow differed from.
This next pattern was scarce 20 years ago here, but it has steadily built in becoming visible.
I think it is pretty safe to say that a lot of the frequent and more vociferous members here were at one time going ape over the ministry and VPW for the first 10 or 20 years.
I’m less sure of this, but a newly emerging pattern I'm seeing is that many here had some of the most devastating of life's calamitous tragedies happen as they were in high commitment mode and deep into ministry life.
I see a pattern that most of the disappointment with the law of believing stems from not being able to get answers to really intense prayers. Failing to see the power "when it is needed most "is a theme of disappointment that I first heard VPW predict, and then later saw people experience.
My odd life went different. While others around me were getting the normal big blessing of early adulthood, I was the one not getting answers to prayers. A close friend of mine was actually trying to understand my life, and why I was still so gung-ho on PFAL, when I lacked so much that normal people had. He had a great life compared to mine and he marveled at my thankfulness for PFAL.
Then finally his first big challenge arrived and clobbered him. He was suddenly very pi$$ed at God and even said so. “But I was believing !!??!!” was his cry. I was thinking, but said not, well if that was real believing, then why did it stop with the clobbering? Real believing is fearless of defeat, even when it happens. Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego had cultivated genuine believing that flinched not at disaster, like execution by fire. Real believing hangs in there, no matter what.
Many jeer here when I mention genuine believing. There is total rejection of the law of believing, yet whenever I ask about Jesus being wrong about it, all I hear is silence. I never hear “mental ascent” here voluntarily offered by posters with bitter comments on believing.
When I was a cosmic consciousness pursuing hippie, it was a QUEST to achieve believing, even though we did not use that word. It was assumed that genuine believing was hard to achieve. When I hear someone say “I was believing and it didn’t work” they seem to have forgotten all about mental ascent being a GOOD counterfeit of believing. That means it’s easy to mentally ascent and hard to really believe.
I was a loser, in that my mental assent (Yeah I can discipline my mind and get good grades.) did not work. Normal people who used mental ascent got the normal goods of life anyway, while I was always wondering how they did it. Once in the ministry, I figured I must be mentally assenting and the other grads were doing real believing. But then, years later when calamity hit, I could plainly see that their mental ascent was a good counterfeit.
Then in recent months I have seen a lot of the personal stories of people here and really feel for the tragedies they experienced deep into ministry life. The old curse in my life, not making it with mental ascent, turned out to be a blessing, in that I understand the law of believing as Jesus taught it pretty well. I have always known that Jesus’ standard was “believe in the heart with no doubt.” I had to dare to believe to take action and come here.
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Mike
I had an uncle who was an expert at feigning a case of hard-of-hearing when someone paid him a compliment. He's get a confused look on his face and ask timidly, "Could you repeat that, please?" cupping his hand behind his ear. He got me good once with this trick, and I obliged him 2 or 3 more times, until his son threw up his arms with exaggerated outrage, "DAD! You do that ALL the time!!!"
I just wanted to say, I heard you well Twinky, and I am not imitating my uncle.
What did you think of the line before the part you liked in my earlier post about a definition for "ministry?" Here it is:
An earthly ministry ... is a 5-senses extension of a person's gift ministry from God.
I removed the joke in the middle.
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chockfull
Wow Mike can sound like a psycho analyst and a Corps Nazi all at the same time.
The pattern I see here is the exact same pattern when you put a bull in a pasture.
A whole lotta Bullshonta!!!
Mike is like “you know reminiscing back to 10 years ago when I first stuck my head under the bullshonta I thought x,y,z. Glad to see it finally coming to fruition growing mushrooms today”
Just gotta beeeeeeee leive
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oldiesman
I think the first step for us 'oldies' to get back in wanting to fellowship again in TWI is for them first to walk in love, admit past horrors and mistakes, repent of all the hurts that harmed lives and careers, and ask for forgiveness. If they did that I believe they would receive forgiveness from many. As I recall we've discussed this before here on the spot it's nothing new. But that kind of thing never happens with these large corporations right? It's not only TWI, its most if not all the large churches, all of these large church bodies. Yes and even the RC churches that we all know have had their share of horrific activities. You literally have to sue them to get any relief.
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oldiesman
Thx for update, pls share again.
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OldSkool
The doctrine is twisted. However, I for one would be supportive and would have mass respect for them if they were to hold themselves accountable and do whats right.
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oldiesman
Agreed. I believe you see what I do that what's crucial is meekness, walking in love as Jesus did, asking for forgiveness when you screw up. It's even more important than the doctrine.
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OldSkool
Yes! Couldnt agree more...love is the greates!
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Nathan_Jr
@Mike
Mike: I have all kinds of suggestions for them on this. One is that they sell a nice boxed set of the PFAL on dvd format. They could include a nice hard-bound transcript and sell the whole thing for $200.
I'll bet all the many grads with crumby VHS copies would be happy to get a high quality version of what they already have.
Nate: Wait. WTF?
After admitting to oodles and oodles of errors in the class, you are recommending repackaging this error laden class and selling it to unsuspecting dupes? With a transcript so they can pull all their hair out sorting the alleged wheat from the obvious chaff? For $200!!!
Mike's suggestion is NOT a joke. It is a deception.
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Nathan_Jr
A habit pattern?
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Bolshevik
When a Wayfer says "walk" they don't mean "walk"
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OldSkool
Well not unless you can walk in tongues.
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Nathan_Jr
Chiquita banana
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OldSkool
Yo yo shamalamadingdong?
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OldSkool
Im working on a song for twig.
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