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Rough recollections-history and overview of TWI.


WordWolf
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I noticed we don't have any convenient guides to the history

of twi.

I wouldn't mind trying to organize and briefly summarize things

with the right data.

Please help.

Please post your links to lengthier explanations of things,

and periods in time.

Please post your recollections of significant events,

along with the year (years, decade) they happened.

Let's run from the beginning to the present day, any order

you can recollect.

(I'll try to organize the thread, along with poster's names,

unless they don't want mention, on a different thread, in

chronological order, when we're done.)

========================

Ok, history.

Up to 1st century AD.

God does a bunch of stuff.

1st century AD.

Jesus Christ, The Messiah, is born and redeems mankind.

He's sacrificed, resurrected and ascends.

Pentecost arrives, and the gift of holy spirit is poured out

among men. "Born Again" is now an option.

The New Testament is written.

The Christian "church" spreads over the region, despite being

illegal in places and spoken-against in places.

It shows a distinct lack of central organization, standardization

of any kind, organized classes, and indeed, copies of most of

the canon in most places. It also lacked a tithe.

2nd century AD-early 1800s.

Christianity becomes legal and the dominant religion in Europe.

Copies of the canon remain limited, as does knowledge.

The invention of Gutenberg's printing press changes that, and

becomes one impetus for the Protestant Reformation, Luther's

95 Theses, and so on.

Late 1800s to early 1900s.

E.W. Bullinger, and others, write. Their books are later

plagiarized by VPW.

1942.

According to VPW, God told him that He would teach him His Word

like it hasn't been known since the First Century, if he would

teach it to others.

Some time later, VPW began adding that he asked God to confirm

this by letting him see snow-which he did. (Either a vision or

a miracle of snow.) No independent corroboration exists of any

snow or vision, and VPW later showed a willingness to invent

miraculous snowstorms when it suited his purpose.

VPW later went on to form TWI, which had organized classes,

a hierarchy, centralized organization, a mandatory tithe,

and study in the Bible.

==============

Ok, people, what happened when?

When was he canned from that church in Van Wert?

When was his supposed mission trip to India and the keys to

the city, and the healing at Jubbulpore?

When did outreach to the coasts happen? How'd Heefner and Doop

enter and leave the scene?

When did he first take BG Leonard's class, and when did PFAL

start running?

When did the 2nd Corps run, and around when did LCM climb the

ladder? For that matter, when did RFR climb the ladder?

How about the other BOT/BOD members?

Edited by WordWolf
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The Thumbnail view, according to the CoachHoser:

Jesus (whose last name is Christ) is born, says a bunch of things we'll skip because they are now irrelevant, and then is crucified....in the middle of...here comes the important part...FOUR GUYS!

Then Paul & all them wrote down the real gospel, the meaning of which was utterly lost during their lifetime.

And so it remained for all time...

UNTIL...

An Ohio preacher with a fake doctorate took a break from boffing his secretary and saw snow on gas pumps.

AND THUS...

we now have the truth™ as it's not been known since way back when©, all yours for a mere $85 ($20 charge for returned checks)

Now, pleeeeze enter mah coach, sweeeetie.

That should cover the truly relevant points.

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Perhaps it is worthy to note the impact of the sycophant Martindale.

After the cornfield preacher had worked his con to the point of, "blink, blink, nod, nod,we got all the money"...Martindale took the helm and steered the ship directly into the nearest rocks. Because of the mental illness he had developed while receiving the adulations of his stooges, he became delusional and self destructed, taking the heart and guts of Wierwille's life's work down the commode in a New York minute. Today, an old dyke is running the shell game for what's left of this pathetic little cornfield cult that barely makes an asterisk in the history of "Christian abberations".

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WordWolf,

I think what you're trying to do can be a worthwhile,noble endeavor...Although my interest in the history of the way comes and goes,at times I find the general thought progression of the way and it's leaders,from whence it came to what it had become to what it now is rather intriguing..

Perhaps you could get with Pawtucket and start a new category called 'way history'...The category can then be divided into years,or decades or maybe 'eras'...Then if a poster's memory is jogged about something of historical significance about the way,they can post it in the particular time period it occured...

You might want to limit the discussion to clarifying the time and accuracy of the events rather than "such and such leader was a jerkoff" etc. ...

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quote:
Originally posted by simonzelotes:

WordWolf,

I think what you're trying to do can be a worthwhile,noble endeavor...Although my interest in the history of the way comes and goes,at times I find the general thought progression of the way and it's leaders,from whence it came to what it had become to what it now is rather intriguing..

[I'm thinking of the new arrivals and so on. As it currently stands, a relatively-concise guide to twi's history is not available, and someone would need to spend days all over the site and the posts trying to reconstruct what happened, when. We all missed a LOT of behind-the-scenes, and a brief intro would serve as a foundation for filling in the blanks.]

Perhaps you could get with Pawtucket and start a new category called 'way history'...The category can then be divided into years,or decades or maybe 'eras'...Then if a poster's memory is jogged about something of historical significance about the way,they can post it in the particular time period it occured...

[We'll see. I think Paw would say it belongs here, and it doesn't need its own forum. Besides, we've discussed the entire history here at one point or another. I just want to try to condense it into a sensible form.]

You might want to limit the discussion to clarifying the time and accuracy of the events rather than "such and such leader was a jerkoff" etc. ...


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From TWI's own memorial brochure, made available at the Rock of Ages, 1985:

  • Dec. 31, 1916 VPW born
  • July 2, 1937 Wierwille marries Dorothea Kipp (ages 20 and 21)
  • BA from Lakeland College
  • 1940 Donald born
  • 1941 Bachelor of Theology from Lakeland; Masters from Princeton Theological; starts first pastorate (July); ordained (July 29)
  • 1942 Karen born; "snow on the gas pumps" (early fall); first radio broadcast (Oct. 3)
  • 1944 second pastorate; Mary Ellen born
  • 1947 Chimes Hour Youth Caravan
  • 1948 Pikes Peak "doctorate
  • 1951 VPW visits missionaries in Honduras; VPW led into tongues by J. E. Stiles
  • 1953 first edition of Receiving the Holy Spirit Today, first PFAL class
  • 1954 Pillai takes PFAL, teaches Orientalisms
  • 1955 JP born (July); ministry becomes The Way, Inc.
  • September-April, 1955-56 Wierwilles (minus JP) travel to Great Britain, Europe, India, and the Bible Lands
  • Dilemma of Foreign Missions in India published
  • 1957 Sara born (July); VPW resigns from denomination

    Hope that gets you started on the early years. The rest later,

    Shaz

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    Okay, now the REST of the story...

  • 1961 The Way, Inc. moves to the Wierwille farm
  • 1962 first summer school in the new BRC
  • 1967 Are the Dead Alive Now? published; PFAL filmed
  • 1968 VPW goes to Haight-Ashbury
  • 1969 first Way Corps
  • 1971 WOW ambassador program begins; the PFAL book and Vols 1-3 are published
  • 1974 Way C of E bought
  • 1975 Jesus Christ is Not God published
  • 1976 Rome City and Gunnison campuses bought
  • 1977 Live PFAL taught at Ball State U.; HEW and HRA installed as new BOT; Vol. 4 published
  • 1978 LEAD property bought
  • 1979 Advanced Class '79
  • 1980 Jesus Christ our Passover published
  • 1982 Fortieth Anniversary celebration; LCM installed as new president; Jesus Christ our Promised Seed published
  • 1984 live PFAL in Gunnison; Gartmore dedicated
  • 1985 WOW Auditorium opens; Vol. 5 published; VPW dies May 20, age 68

    Hope that helps,

    Shaz

  • Edited by shazdancer
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    Right you are, Mike. I added that into the list. Thanks.

    Tom, you're probably right, and this list may be redundant. But I noticed a couple of things just from looking at the dates:

    1.) Wierwille was only 24 years old when he started as a pastor. Then after only one year, he is disillusioned about not being able to help people (according to the pamphlet). He spends one whole summer :rolleyes studying the Bible after Rosalind Rinker's challenge, then sees snow on the gas pumps. Hmm... sounds more like lazy than revelation!

    2.) Mrs. Wierwille had given birth just two months before VPW took her and the older children to India and elsewhere for a year. She should barely have recovered from the birth. They left JP with relatives for the baby's crucial first year of life. Not exactly a sterling example of Christian parenting.

    3.) The 40th Anniversary celebration was not for the 40th year of The Way, nor of PFAL. It was 40 years since the snow on the gas pumps story supposedly happened. (Clarification by Catcup -- TWI counts its anniversary from the first Vesper Chimes Hour radio broadcast, also in 1942, also 11 years before the first PFAL Class. Thanks, Catcup!) Sure makes it sound like TWI was well-established to say it that way, though, huh?

    Regards,

    Shaz

    Edited by shazdancer
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    quote:
    Originally posted by Tom Strange:

    ...there are some threads around here somewhere that speak in pretty much detail about the chronologies of TWI-1 and TWI-2...


    Right.

    If you know where one is or (better yet) can post a link,

    I'd appreciate it.

    I know they're around here somewhere.

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    • 3 weeks later...

    I'm missing a lot of critical information to fill in some

    blanks.

    I know that the East and West Coasts were spearheaded by

    Heefner and Doop,

    and then vpw swooped in and choked the spiritual life out of

    them to centralize control,

    but I could use some accounts, but especially a TIMEFRAME.

    Also, when was pfal $100, $200, and other

    prices?

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    Now ya got me thinking about it. I was WOW in '78-'79, and the price then was $100.00 (I think). I remember it going for higher, but that was when I didn't have to go door to door, asking folks to give hard earned money to an outfit in Ohio, for a dubious class on power for aberant living.

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