"If someone comes into the ministry, we don't drop them, we stick with them.
We never kick anyone out. They kick themselves out, if they want to go. But they're
always welcome back."
Those of you PERSONALLY kicked out by vpw himself, this is a perfect time to remind us.....
Ooo, pot, meet kettle....
"Sometimes people leave. And you wonder why you ever teach
anybody-people you've poured your whole soul into." "
[ It's not supposed to be about you and what you wonder.
You just TEACH.
But to answer the question,
it's about the people you teach, period. Some stay, and some leave.
Either way, what is of God stays with them. ]
"They hear
something, then they want to go it alone."
[ Yeah, the Evangelical and Reformed Church, I hear that sometimes their
ministers do that, too. ]
"It's still just mainly an ego trip for them because it's how they
look to other men that counts to them. They are not standing
back in utter amazement of God's Word come hell or high water."
[ See my last point.]
"When that happens it just tears my heart out.
But I have that Word so deep in my soul that if nobody else
believes it, I would still stand."
[ It is not about you. ]
Regular Mother Teresa of Calcutta he was.
Except, you know, for the "helping people" part.
Then he decided to set up a leadership program.
"We started the first Way Corps then, the fall of 1969,
especially for that purpose, to prepare leaders. There were
nine of them-some married, some single, younger and older.
They stayed until the spring, and then
I gave them the privilege of leaving.
You see, they never got it together among themselves. They
didn't have that commitment, that discipline."
pg-236.
"They just kept fighting among themselves. But
you know what? They're all standing today, all but one, and
she'll be back. She'll get tired of messing around after a
while. And she'll be back because
there's nowhere else to go
after you have seen the greatness of the Word."
He also says the new improved program is a 2-year program.
=====
Ok, so he wants to set up a leadership training program.
Please note that, until now, we've neither seen any experience
WITH a leadership training program nor facility with training
of any kind. So vpw doesn't know how to set up a
leadership training program, how to set realistic goals for
the program and for the participants, and so on.
How much of a difference does it make?
When I was still in college,
I had such experience, and could have written up a
program that HAD realistic expectations and goals,
and would have had a higher success rate.
What difference DID it make?
According to vpw,
perhaps 6 months into the first program,
EVERYBODY had a problem.
That means the problem is with THE PROGRAM.
You take it apart, examine it, retool it,
and carefully try it in a redesicned form.
Not vpw, though. He took the SAME program
and ran MORE people thru it.
The one thing he's still good at is pumping air
into himself. He's repeated that
"only ministry with the truth" thing again.
And with VPW it was
how he looked to Leonard
How he looked to Fugit
How he looked to MArtindale
how he looked to Geer
HOw he looked to us
How he looked to the BOT
ETC, ETC, ETC
And IF, perish the thought , someone noticed that the emperor had no clothes, it was off with their heads
Because it was not how he actually looked--- he was ready, willing and able to tell everyone exactly HOW he looked ---and Heaven help the dissenter who lacked the same vision
If I were to go out on a limb, here...
I'd say his fixation with pumping up his own image
and making himself look like he never misses,
is tied into the same reasons the program was
not redesigned and retooled after having
been unsufficiently prepared,
and simply rerun as if it hadn't failed during
its trial run.
vpw refused to accept that setting up such a
program required skills he didn't have.
vpw refused to accept that a failure of a
program meant a problem with the program.
vpw refused to look at the structure and
say "there have to be better ways to do this."
All of that was because vpw was supposedly an
expert on everything,
and refused to admit his gaping deficiencies
in setting up and running such a program.
So he blamed the people he "set up".
==================
Amazing what vpw "allows" to happen.
pg-237, we hear
"The Ambassadors is a similar program to develop leaders,
faithful men, people with committment right out on the field."
[Again, a man with no background or training in 'leadership programs'
runs another program. However, this time, he hits upon the key that
makes this work in spite of his inadequacies...]
"It's like Jesus said, 'The harvest truly is plenteous, but the
labourers are few.' Well, we're allowing real labourers to develop. It's beautiful."
[ Bingo.
That was the key.
vpw was not qualified to do ANYTHING to develop leaders.
So, how does this succeed?
He does NOTHING.
People volunteer to serve God for one year, and pay VPW for the privilege.
vpw then tells them,
"ok, the 4 of you go here for a year",
and then does NOTHING, and they either SINK or SWIM
based on their own determination, prayer, and the situations.
Those that grew, grew.
Those that didn't, did not blame the "program" that didn't actually TEACH anything.
It was quite a financial windfall, too.
Like he charged the corps and used them as manual labour and free groundskeeping,
the wows were charged to be wows, which meant a onetime bonus for twi.
Then they were "relocated"-no, they were told where to go, and they were told
to find a way to get there. That's why wows were organized around which ones
had CARS. Cost to the ministry: $0.
They then had to work fulltime and support themselves on the field for the year.
Cost to the ministry: $0.
THEN they ran twigs and pfal classes.
The twigs were expected to have members tithe 10% of their income.
Cost to the ministry: $0.
Benefit? 10%.
The pfal classes were run, adding members and adding grads.
Cost to the ministry?
Loaning the class materials-film, whatever.
Benefit to the ministry?
The price for each student,
plus buying replacement books from time to time....
All for doing NOTHING and "allowing" them to develop.
Heartless, without conscience-but profitable.]
Now comes the AD portion of tonight's show.
"God said He'd teach me His Word like it hadn't been known
since the first century if I would teach it to others. And that's
how I think: How can we teach it to others, make it live?"
Doctor shakes his head, his face cast in seriousness.
"Yes, the day God made me this promise was the greatest day in my
life, that day and the day I received the holy spirit because
they were both centers of reference for my learning truth and
error. You have to have a center of reference outside of yourself
to learn. And no matter who you talk to, you always learn.
Those two encounters with Him are as real to me today as my
talking with you right now."
========
I honestly believe vpw had talked himself into believing his story
by this time-that, in telling it to so many people, he bought into
his own lie.
===============
===============
pg-237.
==========
"But you get tired. The other night I was so tired
I couldn't even find the books of the Bible. When you work so
hard, everyone loves you;"
[ What was he working so hard at when reading the Bible?
According to what he was JUST saying, he was implying the
youngsters were lazy when they wanted to study the Bible
rather than do manual labour. (And wasn't the Bible-studying
why they were there?)
So, when a youngster does it, it's laziness.
When vpw does it, it is hard work that makes you tired.
Nice double-standard.]
" but when you get right down to it, it's
you and God to handle that Word, and you have to make it live
with the renewed mind. That's what's really important. And other
of life's tinsel just doesn't count against the greatness of the
Word of God."
"This is the greatest loving ministry in the world-and the most
lonesome walk. I suppose it's like being an athlete. In football,
there are eleven, in basketball, five; but when you teach, it's
just you and Daddy."
["This is the greatest loving ministry in the world".
Here's ANOTHER one of the "best in the world" claims vpw
made a LOT.
Further, this ministry relied on rules over "loving", even then.
"House of Acts" was a loving ministry.
Also, if any ministry is a "lonesome walk", then the people
in charge are failing to run it correctly. It's supposed to be
a FAMILY thing, that means it's groups, not a "lonesome walk".
A "lonesome walk" is a cowboy or other "tough guy"
who wants to show how tough he is.
It's a uniquely American form of error.
Europeans like the Vikings had sayings like
"bare is the back that has no brother",
and they were considered pretty tough.
So, vpw is exhausted from reading his Bible,
and he's some sort of maverick.
At least, that's what he wants us to believe.
Didn't hw JUST finish complaining about ego
and appearances?]
"Lots of people love you for the Word you teach, but when it comes
right down to it, it's just you. You stand and you walk. You
teach what they can take. And sometimes you know a whole lot more.
Things you could open your heart on, you never do, to those depths
of perception. You go so far. You know the abundance available and
the Father says, 'That's all folks! End of show.' nd it's
something you cannot describe to people. Just you and Father know."
====
Man, I can't hear the sounds of the violin music over the earth
jkboehme - whoa - excellent analysis. Far more articulate than I could put into words.
From my own "researching" of the "Jesus Movement" I learned the main people who started it in California truly did have a "call" from God. You had Chuck Smith, Lonnie Frisbee, Ted Wise, Doop and Heefner - they were the stalwarts - the men called and the men who God choose to reach a generation.
I find it interesting that VP went to California with the express purpose of contacting these men and playing PFAL for them. Smith, Frisbee and Wise had doctrinal differences after a few sessions and left. These men's churches are still thriving and going strong today - the Vineyard, and I forget the name of the other one. I too feel that VP, as a wolf, came in and through charm, personality, false spiritual "heaviness" was able to lure two of the other men to come after him and used them for his gain and to grow TWI. Both of them wised up early on though. But as one who was born again under Heefner's ministry, for him I will always be thankful - what an incredible man he and his wife Sandy were.
I too have found this analysis fascinating. Now that I am older and wiser, it is so easy to see through the BS in the book. It was purposefully written to attract us. I also wonder, how someone like EW, the author, who wrote for prestigious pulblications like the NY Times and others, as a professional journalist, could write such a fluffy PR book. She was not a youngster like we are. Maybe she was paid - who knows.
This has been a very insightful analysis by WW of TWI's early 70's marketing tool, Whitesides' TWLIL.
All that follows is my personal opinions on these matters.
The foregoing analysis of Whitesides' TWLIL, demonstrates the numerous deceptive inconsistencies, haughty exaggerations, slimy half-truths, wanton plagarism, & blatant lies of narcissistic megalomaniacal sociopathic VP Wierwille. In a rare instance of internal consistency, TWI now continues in their time-honored covert strategy of exploitative manipulations of its rank and file members.
VPW & LCM would say that Way Corps leadership in top positions are men & women of a ‘ special mould.’ TWI everywhere sets out to ‘produce’ [indoctrinate] men & women of this so-called special mould. To a large degree, an observer of the TWI cultic scene can see that TWI frequently succeeds in this covert, exploitative endeavor to the detriment of many rank & file adherents. The man or woman [‘Waybot’] molded by TWI, the new 'leader,' is a formidable man indeed. He is cast in the opposite mould to the traditional 'New Man in Christ,' because TWI’s ‘christ’ is a recycled hybridized pagan god, with characteristics of Osirus, Dionysis, Mithra, Adonis, Pan, Hermes, & other demigods.
Even though a person’s original motivation, upon being deceived into joining TWI, may have been altruistic, even though this person retains much of his or her initial youthful idealism and sense of oneness with suffering humanity in the valley of human need, still, because that person has been indoctrinated to adhere to TWI’s contaminated pseudo-spiritual deeds. that person’s life tends to become contaminated with TWI's oppresive mindset. Therefore the mould into which the TWI leader is pressed is one that ultimately debases him or her as a person.
Part of the tragedy of TWI is that it takes good men & women, with good intentions, and exploitatively uses & abuses them for the corrupt cause of fallacious pseudo-spiritual practices. The tragic consequence of these TWI enforced practices is that the idealistic leaders, who join or adhere to TWI, set out to be the saviours of humanity and become instead men’s jailers.
TWI stands condemned, not only for the problems it has caused the societies of the USA and other nations around the world, but also for the phenomenal psychological damages it has caused in the non-consenting, individual TWI adherents themselves.
The WAY “MINISTRY” in actuality is nothing more than a cultic, multi-level marketing- racketeering scam at best with a thin veneer of Hermitically oriented, ‘ white-washed’ & ‘ redefined’ biblical terms. NO genuine, lasting virtue has come about due to the existence of TWI. It did in fact between ~1967 to ~1972 attract some people who had a desire to serve God, but a critical mass of these people had been witnessed to by non-TWI people such as Jimmy Doop, Steve Heefner, & Ted Wise. These movements were later invaded by avaricious power-hungry Wierwille.
Wierwille-TWI essentially stole these people from those simple, grassroots ministries. In significant part due to the presence of Doop, Heefner, Wise & their followers, as well as the exuberance of their unmistakable presence, many of the PFAL classes of this time period generated a great excitement, more so in spite of Wierwille than due to him & to his supposed original “research” (but in actuality it was almost entirely plagiarized).
Certain honest individuals, comprised of the Doop/Heefner/Wise derivatives, as well as many who became involved directly by Wierwille’s PFAL series, were the pure-hearted people in our local areas that created the positive environment that appealed to the transient vulnerabilities of so many of us. Then TWI, primarily via Wierwille & later Martindale, those despicable wolves in sheep’s clothing, surreptitiously ‘ taught & trained’ us by way of various exploitative programs {via VPW's PFAL series, the WOW program, the Fellowlaborers’ program, the Way Corps & College Division programs, LCM's WAP series, TWI-II, & many other scenarios} which were ALL disguised TWI indoctrination.
The proceeds & benefits of these clandestine programs & MLM operations went not to the TWI-claimed beneficiaries, the rank-and-file affiliates of TWI, but rather went to the TWI Board of Trustees & other high level TWI leadership for their own selfish interests. TWI ‘redefined’ & hence contaminated the supposed 'grace of God' as a hook of vulnerability on the front side, only to later bait & switch it to oppressive hyper-legalism replete with TWI-exit phobia on the far side of this despicable victimization.
This oppressive legalism (the supposed ‘teeth’ Wierwille began speaking of around 1967 to 1972) was originally most visible in the Way Corps in the 1970’s, but after the 1989 LCM loyalty demand, & in/after the Fall of 1995, when LCM began his ‘mark & avoid’- enforced extreme obedience demands (among many other abusive & harmful practices), the end result for those of us who in good faith held out to the bitter end, is that we have essentially nothing to show for our TWI servitude except for the psychological & emotional wounds (damages) with which TWI has so disgracefully left us. This does not even begin to account for all of our good-faith financial contributions (tithing & abundant sharing) & our irreversibly lost time (both economic & emotional equivalents implied) stolen from us during our affiliation with The Way International, Inc.
One can now easily determine this cult’s supposed “spiritual” benevolence is not altruistic at all, but is rather strategically rigged cons and scams to make a financial profit off of an unaware one, without one’s informed consent.
Further, if JUSTICE is to be done, exploitation attempts by TWI should be, and must be met with equilibrating RECIPROCAL CONFRONTATION & REPROOF, preferably of the legal remedy variety. One could perceive that it was her or his delightful duty to society to pounce on these cultic degenerate scum with the vengeance of an aggressive legal counterattack.
JKBoehme,
Excellent post!
So, how do you really feel? :ph34r: It's also all too true that TWI does continue to exploit, manipulate and abuse the rank and file. What's sad is that so many have been in for so long that one would hope they would eventually recognize it, but they are most likely so beat down that they can't see their way out or recognize what "normal" is anymore.
That is THE BEST description of TWI's "christ" that I think I've ever seen!
Many leaders also become so accustomed to their god-like status and easy money that they quickly forget about their original motivations. They begin to focus on what they have to do to keep the lifestyle they've grown to expect.
True. There are young people today I know who have gone through the WC program with dreams of redirecting the ship. They are already so oppressed and debased that it's only a matter of time until they sink into the depths of the current pathetic leadership or jump ship because of the futility of their goals. This is the organization that vee pee built, created and promoted. It's operating exactly the same way he intended.
He certainly recognized the qualities he didn't have, but the qualities that were attracting people. He took advantage of the honest and true to exploit them and to expand his base of people to exploit. The quotes here prove that.
And who started that? Where did they learn this selfishness? VPW with all his laziness and greed. Evil communications definitely corrupt good morals and those who couldn't be corrupted wisely left because they recognized the futility of trying to fight it.
Seems pretty easy to summarize a man's life when viewed from an unmerciful, unforgiving, condemnational microscope.
Oldies,
Yes it's easy to judge a man in a thread like this, but this man, VPW claimed to be the MOG, he started a cult that all of us were involved in and most of feel we were dupped out of our money and time given to this cult. Many got hurt because of this. Some gave up college or careeers for this cult. Some ostracized thier friends and families because of TWI. Many are still being hurt because of this organization Wierwille started and some still blindlly follow his erroneous doctrines.
I applaud threads like this that expose the deceit. Maybe someone who still idolizes VPW as the mog will read this thread and stop idolizing him.
I don't know if you just like playing "devils advocate" to "stir the pot" or your just being stuborn. But the facts brought forth in this forum are clear.
And while I admit VPW did teach some accurate Bible, he also taught several erroneous doctrines, some of which have been harmful to his followers. It's been reported many times that he committed adultry, was a drunk, abused people, taught tithing and kept peoples money for himself, slandard people, allowed people to idolize him, was very egotistical.
The verses that come to my mind is I Corinthians 5:9-11 (NIV)
" 9I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. "
Seems pretty easy to summarize a man's life when viewed from an unmerciful, unforgiving, condemnational microscope.
______________
Oh, but OM, I have an electron micoscope that pierces even to the dividing asunder of bs vs. fact. I said that vpw & lcm had done a *miniscule* amount of good which was completely overshadowed by the harm, injury, & hence legal damages that they caused. However, I am remiss for not mentioning that regarding this miniscule amount of good, 98% of it was due to the pure hearts of rank & file twi members & uncontaminated Way Corps, 1.9% was by virtue of Tick the german short-haired pointer, & the mogfot heavies, vpw & lcm, weigh in @ a colossal 0.1% of contaminated 'good.' Thus essentially any significant good that came about was in reality due to those pure-hearted twi rank and file followers IN SPITE of vpw & lcm, not because of them.
Per WW's excellent synopsis re the sources of plagiarism for vpw's pfal:
"In 1953, vpw finds out about BG Leonard, and pushes
his way into BG Leonard's CTC Gifts of the Spirit class,
which Leonard permits. vpw takes this class twice,
bringing several people with him the second time.
vpw then went off for a few months by himself,
then told Leonard that he'd like to run Leonard's
CTC Gifts of the Spirit class locally for his
congregation on a one-time basis.
Seeing the benefit to other Christians,
Leonard agrees.
vpw then runs the first of "his" PFAL classes,
and takes a photograph of that class.
He tells the students that this is "his" class
called PFAL, with NO mention of Leonard's
class from which 100% of the content has
been directly lifted. The students have no
reason to think he's lying.
vpw sends the photograph to Leonard
and said tells Leonard that this is a photo
of the class that took Leonard's class
on a one-time basis that was run locally.
Leonard takes vpw at his word,
and has no idea that vpw continues to
run Leonard's class with vpw's name on
it,
defrauding both Leonard AND the students.
To this day, many students STILL think
this was was vpw's class, even when
evidence is introduced to the contrary.
Later, vpw added the contents of JE Stiles' work
on "Gifts of the Spirit" and Bullinger's work on the
Holy Spirit as well as "How to Enjoy the Bible",
and expanded the class into a class that was the
sum of the 3 men's work-Stiles, Bullinger and
Leonard-rather than just Leonard.
vpw later makes a few offhand comments here and
there that the material in the class is not original,
but its compilation was.
(However, as it was constructed, vpw could have
been sued by copyright holders for Bullinger,
Stiles, and Leonard. Leonard found out but chose
not to prosecute.)"
_________________________________________
I think it would be good to clarify that the works of Leonard, Stiles, & Bullinger were the proximate sources for vpw's plagiarism. As mentioned before, TWI, in a doctrinal-theoretical sense, falls into the "Word of Faith" movement. The quasi-proximate source of this movement can be traced to E.W.Kenyon, the progenitor of the extant 'word of faith' movement.
Kenyon was educated at the Emerson College of Oratory, formerly the Boston Conservatory of Elocution & Dramatic Art, & prior to this it was a component of Boston University, the Monroe School of Oratory, founded in 1872 by Dr. Lewis B. Monroe, a Professor @ BU.
When BU closed the Monroe School after Dr. Monroe's death, it was Charles Wesley Emerson who resurrected the school, hence the Emerson College of Oratory. {Interesting how 'oratory' and 'homiletics' have such a nice alignment & harmony}. Emerson had served as a minister of the Congregationalist, Universalist, & Unitarian denominations. He studied law but did not complete his degree ostensibly due to health reasons. However, to buff his image, he did receive a bogus medical school degree from the Eclectic Medical College of Pennsylvania, which was not a medical school at all, but merely a diploma mill that sold diplomas en masse to all comers.{Smacks of vpw's bogus doctorate from Pike's Peak diploma mill}.
Charles Emerson was a collector of religions, an eclectic in the truest sense of the word. His religioius ideology was a veritable smorgasbord of the numerous sources underlying New Thought Metaphysics: Sumerian-Egyptian-Greek-Roman pagan mythology, Platonism, Neoplatonism, Kaballah, Indian Upanishads & Vedas, Arcane Esoteric Spirituality, Gnosticism, Swedenborgianism, Theosophy, & American Spiritualism (Andrew Jackson Davis, followed by the Fox sisters, & later Arthur Ford), to name only a few influences.
New Thought Metaphysics had its more proximate origins with Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, who was influenced by a traveling Frenchman, Charles Poyen, who was lecturing in New England on the topic of Anton Mesmer's hypnotism (aka, "animal magnetism"). Mesmer's influences derived from the revitalization of the arcana in Europe at the time, the arcana tracing back to ancient pagan mythologies.
Therefore, as disappointing as it is for some to realize, most (? nearly all) of the information in B.G. Leonard's class regarding so-called supernatural 9 maninfestions, has its origins in, well, uh, non-biblical sources, and therefore the same goes for vpw's pfal & lcm's wap. There is nothing new under the sun, just a bit of repackaging, bringing glorious 'new light' to a current generation who is unfamiliar with the ancient arcana.
It is the charismatic, oratorical, homiletic skills of the new pseudo-spiritual entrepreneur, to market his or her counterfeit product, via covert deceptive recruiting, onto the transiently vulnerable & hurting souls who have the misfortune to be around when the mind-bending 'new light' arcana is spewed forth. Nothing like eyes-wide-open trance induction and conversational naturalistic trance induction to 'set you free' from your true historical self and identity, & begin the hellish journey into the non-conscented oppression of a cultic pseudo-self and pseudo-identity, which override and displace your true historical self.
I should state that the arcana, as such, are just the arcana; just call them what they are & not lie about its origins. BUT when a Teutonic Furher Vierville endeavors to conceal the arcana as "...the Word as it has not been know since the First Century..," I have a problem with the the fraud, misrepresentation, & lying. If the jar say its pickles, but there is in actuality mayonaise inside, then what we have is really mayo, & vice versa, afterall, vpw said so in pfal, even our father, who art in fountain, hollow be thy name......
Ever wonder why VPW would often open the Advanced Class teaching of the ‘revelation manifestations,’ especially ‘word of knowledge’ & ‘word of wisdom,’ with the account in Numbers of the ‘copped out’ Prophet, Baalam?
Ever wonder why VPW opened PFAL with “…the thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…?”
I think these are excellent examples of 'Freudian slips' by VPW, in the sense of VPW’s guilty conscience breaking through the bogus teaching to proclaim, as it were,
“I, V. P. Wierwille, am not only a copped out prophetic apostle in our day, time, & hour, but furthermore I am a pseudo-spiritual thief, with the aim of selfishly pleasing myself, even if it means that I steal from you, that I might even have to kill you, or that I may in fact permanently destroy your ability to know, trust, & love ‘God.’” ;)
(from the Christian Research Journal, Fall 1989, Volume 12 Number 2).
George M. Lamsa's books and translations of the Bible have become a fixture in Christian bookstores across the nation. Lamsa published 21 books by the time of his death in 1975. Four of these, plus his version of the Bible, were published by A. J. Holman, a well-known Bible and book publisher. Currently, Spring Arbor distributes them to Christian bookstores nationwide.
For nearly 50 years Lamsa was a popular speaker at conferences and churches, published the periodical Light for All, and spoke on the radio program "Lessons for Living." He also founded the Aramaic Bible Society and Calvary Missionary Church. Many groups and writers quote Lamsa as a Bible scholar.
There are several reasons for Lamsa's popularity. First, his books are engaging and very readable. Second, his comments on the life and customs of Bible times are engrossing to twentieth century Westerners. Third, people are intrigued and awed by Lamsa's claim that he was reared in the same part of the world Jesus lived, thus participating in biblical customs and language, and is hence uniquely able to reveal the Bible's idioms, translate the Bible accurately, and disclose its true meaning.
Lamsa's Christian readers commonly make the following charitable assumptions about his life and work: They believe Lamsa was an evangelical Christian teacher and that he accepted all the major biblical teachings held by the church. They think Lamsa absorbed a culture like that of Bible times which enabled him to accurately interpret Scripture. They further believe he held the Bible in high esteem and that he accurately translated it.
In this article we will closely examine each of these assumptions with a view to gaining a clearer picture of Lamsa's work. This will enable us to better respond to the man and his claims.
LAMSA'S TEACHINGS: BIBLICAL OR CULTIC?
Anyone who closely reads Lamsa's books will notice that he seldom explicitly enunciates his beliefs. In fact, Lamsa stated that he purposely tried to avoid doctrinal, theological, and controversial matters and passages.[1] When he does deal with a controversial topic, he will typically mention some common views without stating his own. For instance, when he addresses Luke's account of angels at Jesus' ascension, he comments that many faiths hold to a belief in personal angels and demons, but he neglects to say that he himself does not.[2]
Lamsa's motives and message are also made difficult to discern by his inconsistency: some of his writings seem evangelical, while others are far removed from the biblical faith. This may be due to an evolution of his thought away from biblical teaching or to adjusting his wording to his audiences' desires.
We gain insight into Lamsa's true message and his approach to interpreting Scripture by reflecting on his upbringing. George Lamsa was born near the Turkish/Iraqi border about 1892 and lived there until about 1915. This area has been overrun by one warring country after another for centuries. Lamsa remembers thousands of his Armenian people being massacred, starved, or forced from their homeland by Moslems; he narrowly escaped death himself. Rival tribes were in constant conflict, highlighting their political, cultural, and religious differences. The history of Lamsa's Eastern church is full of divisions, including such competing groups as the Monophysites, Nestorians, and Jacobians. (This even led to alternate alphabets for their common language.)
These experiences affected Lamsa's message and interpretation of Scripture in several ways. Above all, Lamsa sought a "new world order" in which "the light of the gospel would be shared, racial and class barriers would be eliminated, and national boundaries would be eliminated."[3] Accordingly, Lamsa interprets Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (in his book appropriately titled The Kingdom on Earth) as a commandment for world peace, international understanding, and the overthrow of enslaving governments by meekness and love. Lamsa founded the Christian Mohammedan Society in 1921 to pursue unity by emphasizing common ground. Lamsa's desire to unite nations into a universal state led him to avoid matters of dogma and make many concessions to the beliefs of other faiths, seeking the lowest common denominator among religions.
On Salvation and Non-Christian Religions
Lamsa attempts to unite world religions in part by eliminating the uniqueness of Jesus and His atoning sacrifice on the cross. He follows the lead of the metaphysical (or "mind science") cults by redefining sin as mere error or (at worst) evil, not as moral disobedience to the Creator which deserves punishment from Him. Salvation in Lamsa's view is simply knowing Truth and "understanding the good"[12] -- a view which reduces Jesus from the essential suffering Savior to the dispensable model man. Christ died, Lamsa says in his notes on John 3:16, to show us meekness and the existence of life hereafter, not to atone for our sins.[13] He thus contradicts the central theme of the whole Bible.
Lamsa focuses on man as his own savior rather than viewing Jesus Christ in that roll. Therefore, he extols any prominent person, whether Christian or not, as one who has tapped God's power. Lamsa praised "humble prophets" like Isaiah and Jeremiah and "inspired men" like Marconi and Edison all in the same breath because "they relied on the hidden power, the power of God, the power of their indwelling self....one must be able to contact the spiritual forces, which are the only true power. All power belongs to God and comes from Him."[14]
Lamsa's unbiblical views of sin, salvation, and God -- and his move to a metaphysical interpretation of Scripture -- helpedhim to reconcile differences between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (as well as other religions). He denounces as "ignorant" those teachers who claim the three religions are incompatible and adds: "The adherents of these three great religions believe in one God, the holy prophets, the Scriptures, resurrection, Judgment Day and the Life hereafter. On the other hand, a greater part of the differences between them are due to the doctrines and the teachings of men, and the traditions of the elders."[15]
On the Psychic Realm
Lamsa's views of healing, Satan, demons, and prophecy are closer to the psychic perspective of metaphysical teaching and occultism than a biblical orientation. Jesus, he infers, had no power to heal, but only spoke "a word of comfort"[16] which most sick people never received: "At times out of hundreds of sick persons who were brought to him only a few were healed, those who had faith in him. Others whose bodies were not cured left the place cursing and shouting insults."[17] Lamsa sometimes removes the supernatural elements from Gospel accounts of healing. For instance, he implies that Simon Peter's mother-in-law was not supernaturally healed, but her rising to work allowed her no time to think about her mild fever until it finally left her (Luke 4:38-39). When he does allow that a healing may have occurred, he attributes it to the faith, understanding, or behavior of the person healed rather than to Jesus Christ's inherent power.
Lamsa implicitly denies the objective existence of a personal Devil and demons. "Demons," he says, is a way of referring to insanity, or wrong thoughts, desires, or practices.[18] "Satan," Lamsa suggests, refers to error or opposition in various forms, and cannot be an objective evil power because God is the only power in the universe.[19] Lamsa's translation usually uses the word "insane" instead of "demon" and "opposition" instead of "Satan."
Lamsa spoke of psychic involvement in a speech at the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.), a group which promotes medium Edgar Cayce and the pursuit of psychic phenomena. He encouraged use of the "talents" of Creative (psychic) Power manifesting through men and spotlighted his native Near Eastern people's claim to a "sixth sense": the ability to become aware of God through dreams, visions, intuition, and clairvoyance. He also spoke of their "seventh sense," a state of awareness "higher" than others, with which one can discern between good and evil.[20]
Lamsa's metaphysical theology is man-centered. It is man, he says, who causes his own problems, creates his own healing, creates his world by his own prayer, discloses the unknown by his clairvoyance, and relies on the power of his own indwelling self. In contrast, the Bible emphasizes that relying on self rather than God is foundational to all our problems, and that the way, truth, and life are found only in Jesus Christ.
LAMSA'S CULTURE: BIBLICAL OR NESTORIAN?
Lamsa's claim to be the preeminent authority on the meaning and translation of the Bible rests on his claim that he "was born and reared in a region in the near East which had escaped modernization, a region where the custom, manners and idioms of the ancient Aramaic language are still miraculously preserved to the present day."[27]
Even if it was true that the customs and place of Lamsa's birth matched those of biblical days, it would not automatically follow that he could accurately translate and interpret the Bible. Thousands of people shared Jesus' culture and yet misunderstood Him. Jesus' closest disciples repeatedly asked Him to explain His sayings and parables (Matt. 15:10-18), contradicted Him (Mark 8:31-33), and did the opposite of what He wanted (Luke 20:35-38, 49-51). Many others left Jesus because they found Him hard to understand (John 6:60-68). Lamsa and his followers display great naivete and/or egotism when they claim that Lamsa's Assyrian upbringing enabled him to interpret correctly.
Nonetheless, the question remains: Did George Lamsa's early life match the culture of the Bible? This claim is debunked by two key points which Lamsa never understood: First, Semites (including Jews and Lamsa's own ancestors) have varied greatly in culture. Second, his own Assyrian culture changed over the centuries.
The Bible and other ancient records describe Jews of different cultures. For instance, the Herodians were Roman in culture, educated in Greek, tolerant of all religions, and unfaithful to the Mosaic law. The Sadducees were politically Roman, but religiously temple Jews. The Hellenistic Jews (Acts 6:1) were raised outside Israel, spoke Greek, and were adjusted to life among the heathen. Aramaic-speaking Pharisees were lay leaders of Mosaic practice. The Essenes maintained a detached, communal, disciplined lifestyle while the Zealots sought to kill and overthrow the Romans. The customs and language of these groups differed even though they shared a common heritage, land, and time period.
Lamsa's Assyrian people, in contrast, are descendants of none of these groups and have a different land, racial heritage, religion, customs, time period, language, politics, education, and neighbors.
Asyrians are portrayed in the Bible as a race quite foreign to Jewish religion and customs (e.g., Isa. 28:11). The area of Lamsa's birth is called Armenia, Media, or Persia (Reza Shah changed the name to "Iran" in the 1930s). Armenia is 700 miles from Jerusalem (even though Lamsa calls Jesus his "neighbor"), far removed from Hebrew influence, but affected by Greek culture after Alexander the Great's conquest and 250 years of Greek rule.
While Jesus Christ walked the earth, Lamsa's forefathers were Zoroastrian, a religion which enjoyed royal approval in Persia and honored many ancient Iranian gods, including the popular idol Mithra. They repudiated the Mosaic law and its accompanying moral code and culture. Among the few things Armenia had in common with Israel in Jesus' time were their mutual hatred of Romans and a similar language. They also had a very small number of residents whose ancestors were forced to leave Israel seven centuries earlier in punishment for rejecting God and His prophets. It would therefore be foolish to say that Lamsa's idolatrous Iranian ancestors were a carbon copy of devout Jewish/Israelite culture.
The Evolution of Nestorian Culture
What about Lamsa's Christian heritage? He claims to be both Assyrian and Nestorian. First of all, Nestorian culture did not even bud until the second century when many converts were made in Armenia, and it was not until the fifth century that it flowered as the Nestorian church formed.
Strangely, Lamsa contends that his "biblical" culture survived unchanged from 4000 B.C. to the present.[28] Actually, his and every culture changes with time, locale, and especially contact with other cultures. Lamsa admits that in the last 2,300 years alone his people were overcome by the Greeks, Romans, pagans, Mohammedans, Mongols, Kurds, Russians, Turks, and British. Lamsa says that advancements in philosophy, theology, and other fields were "due to the combined labors of the Nestorians and the Arabs,"[29] that millions of Nestorians were forced t become Muslims,[30] and that European culture was "tearing the natural traditions of the [Eastern] people up by the roots"[31] already two generations before his birth. While some Assyrian customs may be ancient or similar to biblical customs(as several Mideastern cultures are), Assyrian culture is in many important respects different and has changed over the centuries.
There are also many dialects of Aramaic. Dwellers in Jerusalem noticed Peter's Galilean dialect (Matt. 26:73), even though he lived only 60 miles away. These dialects -- both representatives of western Aramaic -- differ even more noticeably from the dialects of eastern Aramaic used at Edessa (home of the Pedangta) and Lamsa's homeland.
Lamsa undoubtedly was an ambassador of Nestorian (not biblical) culture, with its unique alphabet, language, writings, customs, and church tradition. One prominent aspect of this culture is a strong anti-Greek bias which Lamsa manifests often. This bias stems from bitterness towards the largely Greek-speaking council which censured Nestorius.
Lamsa damages his credibility by wrongly asserting that "the Greeks occupied the Holy Land for only seven years, and there were not a half-dozen natives of Palestine who learned enough Greek in that time to carry on a conversation."[32] He also claims that converts outside Palestine only spoke Aramaic, and that most references to "Greek" people were mistranslated and should read "Arameans" or "Syrians."[33] Lamsa asserts that Jesus and His disciples never heard Greek spoken[34] and that no portion of the New Testament was originally written in Greek, but was first translated after Constantine's conversion in A.D. 318.[35] He assumes the Greek translators were deceitful and ignorant, intentionally adding and deleting passages and wrongly translating many parts.[36]
The only documentation Lamsa ever offers is a quotation of Josephus (Antiquities of the Jewsxx.12.1). While Lamsa takes him to mean that few Jews learned Greek, Josephus actually said that he himself lacked the precision and pronunciation in Greek which he desired.
LAMSA: EVANGELICAL SCHOLAR OR CULTIC FIGURE?
Lamsa considered himself to be the man God set aside and inspired for our times, and his followers still view him as such. One even senses in Lamsa's writings an implicit claim that he stands in the line of apostles with Moses, Jesus, Paul, and Mohammed. Lamsa explains his unique calling through editor Tom Alyea: "God had revealed to Lamsa his purpose and how it was to be done. It was a one-man job. In the Bible testimony is given that God spoke to man; however, it is not recorded where he spoke to a committee...Yes, only one man could translate the Bible from Aramaic. God knew it, and Lamsa knew it, and so it was."[49]
Lamsa also attempts to establish scholarly credentials as a means of gaining acceptance. He claims to have been born about 1892, and to have acquired an A.B. degree equivalent in 1907 and a Ph.D. equivalent in theology in 1908 from Archbishop of Canterbury's College, Turkey.[50] He also claims to have graduated from Episcopal Theology Seminary in Virginia[51] and to have studied at the University of Pennsylvania and Dropsie College.
Lamsa, however, appears to have exaggerated his academic credentials. First, he claims to have attained a Ph.D. at age 16, only one year after his A.B.[52] Second, there are no records of his graduation from a seminary, and his own writings suggest that he was never at any school long enough to attain any valid degree.
Lamsa's writing style reflects his exalted view of his own mission and character. He usually writes embellished narratives or discourses, not documenting either blanket assertions or detailed comments. For example, he dismisses his lack of supporting evidence for his theory that the New Testament was originally authored in Aramaic by saying, "What is a fact needs no defense."[53] He assumes that his peculiar habits, culture, superstitions, idioms, and musings all match and illuminate Scripture, resulting in often incorrect or simplistic interpretations. By contrast, scholars in the fields of New Testament studies and Aramaic offer detailed evidence, accept criticisms, and yield much more cautious and informed conclusions.
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penworks
I agree that it is "garbage" insofar that it is propaganda. But I think it does have a certain value: it's a good case study on VPW's sick thinking (and lack thereof) and a red flag about the dangers
A la prochaine
If 'Calling him everynight' wasn't enough..then she visited him every weekend ... wowza That's quite the committed individual to Wierwille. What kind of life did she have? Man oh man...I can hard
WordWolf
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WordWolf
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WordWolf
Ok,
one last "talking-point",
if the good group will indulge me this far.
Based on THIS BOOK/THIS THREAD,
PRIMARILY this book/thread,
and the contents and insights thereof
(with the freedom to supplement
this thread as needed),
how would you summarize vpw the man,
as exposed by the pages of TW:LIL?
How would you summarize his life history,
his perspective, his actions?
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Oakspear
He comes across as lazy.
He comes across as a shameless self-promoter.
He comes across as a pathological liar.
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coolchef1248 @adelphia.net
a loser
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oldiesman
Seems pretty easy to summarize a man's life when viewed from an unmerciful, unforgiving, condemnational microscope.
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Outin88.
Oldies,
Yes it's easy to judge a man in a thread like this, but this man, VPW claimed to be the MOG, he started a cult that all of us were involved in and most of feel we were dupped out of our money and time given to this cult. Many got hurt because of this. Some gave up college or careeers for this cult. Some ostracized thier friends and families because of TWI. Many are still being hurt because of this organization Wierwille started and some still blindlly follow his erroneous doctrines.
I applaud threads like this that expose the deceit. Maybe someone who still idolizes VPW as the mog will read this thread and stop idolizing him.
I don't know if you just like playing "devils advocate" to "stir the pot" or your just being stuborn. But the facts brought forth in this forum are clear.
And while I admit VPW did teach some accurate Bible, he also taught several erroneous doctrines, some of which have been harmful to his followers. It's been reported many times that he committed adultry, was a drunk, abused people, taught tithing and kept peoples money for himself, slandard people, allowed people to idolize him, was very egotistical.
The verses that come to my mind is I Corinthians 5:9-11 (NIV)
" 9I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. "
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jkboehme
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WordWolf
Seems even easier to turn one's eyes away from the evidence and
blame the watchman for waking up the neighborhood,
then rolling over and going back to sleep.
YOU have a copy of "TW:LiL".
YOU can read this in black-and-white on your own.
Feel free to do so,
and announce where the quotes were in error.
I, for one, would LOVE to hear it.
I included the PAGE NUMBERS for easy reference.
As for opinions,
it's not that hard to find people who would get outraged
over a lazy bum sitting on his keister
and complaining at length about HOW the hard-labour (FREE)
workers are working,
and a chain-smoker and alcoholic complaining at
length how nobody else has any "discipline",
and that hypocrisy is JUST off the OBVIOUS stuff.
If you want to call his father or Uncle Harry a liar,
or deny vpw chain-smoked or drank a lot DAILY,
or that he wasn't always up the guteus maximus
of every person PAYING him to do HARD LABOUR
about how they weren't doing it BETTER,
that's your business.
A lot of it is in black-and-white and RELEASED
by twi,
and we have a LOT of eyewitnesses.
Notice I didn't even address his WORST crimes.
The SMALLER stuff by ITSELF was enough to
call him UNFIT to lead God's people.
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WordWolf
Let's see.
What did vpw AUTHORIZE to be revealed about himself.....
victor paul wierwille was born to a large family of German descent.
Each child had their own chores.
Little Victor chose to neglect his chores, and would vanish
for hours into the woods nearby.
When he was young, he once told a minister
that he wanted to be a man of God like him.
Other than this statement, Little Victor showed
no actual involvement in the church, no actual
effort or work in the things of the church.
So, this seems to suggest an interest-not in being
a man of God- but in being the man the whole
community turned out to see, to have their
respect.
As a teenager, young Vic continued to lack any
qualities of a man of God. In fact, he went out of
his way to earn a reputation going in the opposite
direction. He was a bully, a showoff and a braggart.
He did all sorts of things for attention. He was quick
to start a fight or mouth off at others. He had a
quick wit. One of his common ways of showing off
was to tear up and down the streets of New
Knoxville on his motorcycle, trying to get attention.
His demonstrated talents seemed to be limited
to his quick wit and his ability to play a guitar,
which he showed competency in.
Old Man Wierwille was preparing to pass on the
family farm to young Vic, as was the family
tradition. Young Vic balked at this. He'd had
plans to go to college. At first, he considered
a few fields-business and so on- but by this
time, he had decided upon the seminary.
(This was before the time he referred to
as "believing the Bible as the Word of God".)
Old Man Wierwille was skeptical of this,
and said that young Vic, having shown lack
of hard work on simple manual labour on
the farm, would never make a good preacher.
Young Vic convinced him he would do better
with books than with sweating out in the field.
Young Vic went to school for the ministry.
His community thought it was some kind of joke-
everyone knew he lacked the proper character.
(He never overcame that impression with them.)
Victor had the option to study "Bible Languages"
or other subjects requiring hard study. He instead
chose to study Homiletics, the "softest" option he
could have learned. (He never overcame his
deficiency in study in Bible languages, church
history, etc.-not even to the level of an informed
layman as of 2004.)
Victor entered his first pastorate and wasted little
time becoming a bully and a control freak AGAIN.
He himself claims he started his job by immediately
doing whatever the elders told him not to do-
even though it hampered his ability to do his job
properly. According to him, they confronted him
on this, he mouthed off at them, and they just
let him go about his business, and the local
church prospered as a direct result of him.
He was known for building a fairly interesting
sermon, and getting people involved,
including the youths.
(This was STILL before the time when he
claimed he believed the Bible was the Word
of God.) This was Payne, Ohio in 1942.
He said the following year, he slowly
became discouraged and was searching.
He was still the man he had been, which
is to say he was prideful, arrogant, boastful,
liked attention, and viewed the clergy as a
PROFESSION and not a holy calling.
(He could have been just as "called"
as an accountant or actuary, say.)
During 1942, he claimed he was ready
to give up being a minister.
About a year later (Payne, 1943), he
meets Rosal1nd R1nker.
This woman fixed a great deal of attention
on him, and had a forceful personality.
She spent some time with him alone.
It was of this time that he later claimed
he asked forgiveness of God.
He also credits her with DOGGING HIM
"on the Bible being the Word of God",
and she "got me STARTED on the right track".
which, until this time, he hadn't believed,
not even in all his years of school.
During 1943, he claimed he was ready to give
up being a minister.
It was a few months later that an event happened
that he later showed a habit of re-writing.
He claimed that God spoke to him and said
He (God) would teach him (Victor) His Word (God's Word)
like it had not been known since the 1st century,
if he (Victor) would teach it to others.
(This is the famous 1942 promise, which happened
in 1943.)
Victor of course lacked the education in church history
to contextualize this claim-since it was inaccurate
as stated. This implies that this was a made-up story,
or it came from a god lacking knowledge in history.
Victor later added a second part to his story-
a snowstorm. He said that he required PROOF of
God, and asked God to let him see it snow.
A moment later, he opened his eyes, and he saw
a veritable blizzard out his window.
The later addition to this story suggest that he felt
it needed more support after using the initial story.
Victor showed no marked improvement, neither in
character, nor in behaviour, thru the rest of the
1940s (nearly the entire decade after this
supposed promise), which strongly supports the
rather direct assertion that he lied thru his teeth.
At one point, Rufus Moseley attempts to
minister Holy Spirit to vpw, but vpw demonstrates
an inability to receive it.
In 1951, vpw makes another claim he's ready
to give up on the ministry
(even after, supposedly a direct promise of
God about really important stuff which promptly
failed to materialize.)
In 1951, vpw attends a big Evangelical conference
in Tulsa Oklahoma.
He made several claims of this conference.
People at the conference OTHER than vpw supposedly
had no difficulty beginning speaking in tongues.
He claims he faked speaking in tongues in a clever
way, and others were unable to tell. He is
further disillusioned about working for God.
He then claims a miraculous snowstorm blocked
him into the city entirely, and ALL evidence there
was that there WAS no blizzard (and there was
a WEALTH of evidence-at the airports, Amtrak
and bus depot, the hotel staff, the attendees,
etc) was concealed by angels. vpw also,
apparently, never approached a window,
or they made an illusion at the window.
Supposedly, a woman comes up to him and tells
him that she knows a man who can help him-
JE Stiles. He claims God told Stiles to attend the
conference with the sole purpose of ministering
the Spirit to vpw.
vpw meets with Stiles, and makes a few chauvanistic
observations to himself, before going off with Stiles.
Stiles works with him for hours and hours, hammering
across to vpw what the Bible says on speaking in tongues,
and working over his doubts one by one for hour upon
hour. Finally, vpw was able to speak in tongues.
It was during the 1950s that vpw's behaviour was
noted to finally improve,
although he still did not stop including inappropriate
words or concepts in his sermons.
In 1953, vpw finds out about BG Leonard, and pushes
his way into BG Leonard's CTC Gifts of the Spirit class,
which Leonard permits. vpw takes this class twice,
bringing several people with him the second time.
vpw then went off for a few months by himself,
then told Leonard that he'd like to run Leonard's
CTC Gifts of the Spirit class locally for his
congregation on a one-time basis.
Seeing the benefit to other Christians,
Leonard agrees.
vpw then runs the first of "his" PFAL classes,
and takes a photograph of that class.
He tells the students that this is "his" class
called PFAL, with NO mention of Leonard's
class from which 100% of the content has
been directly lifted. The students have no
reason to think he's lying.
vpw sends the photograph to Leonard
and said tells Leonard that this is a photo
of the class that took Leonard's class
on a one-time basis that was run locally.
Leonard takes vpw at his word,
and has no idea that vpw continues to
run Leonard's class with vpw's name on
it,
defrauding both Leonard AND the students.
To this day, many students STILL think
this was was vpw's class, even when
evidence is introduced to the contrary.
Later, vpw added the contents of JE Stiles' work
on "Gifts of the Spirit" and Bullinger's work on the
Holy Spirit as well as "How to Enjoy the Bible",
and expanded the class into a class that was the
sum of the 3 men's work-Stiles, Bullinger and
Leonard-rather than just Leonard.
vpw later makes a few offhand comments here and
there that the material in the class is not original,
but its compilation was.
(However, as it was constructed, vpw could have
been sued by copyright holders for Bullinger,
Stiles, and Leonard. Leonard found out but chose
not to prosecute.)
Later,
vpw has had some success with PFAL, but not
dramatic success,
when he reads about the Christians at the House of
Acts. vpw goes there, impresses them, and
convinces them he has extensive, EXCLUSIVE knowledge
they lack. He then turns those he can from unorganized
Christians into a recruitment arm for his class and
organization. They agree to handle things on the East
and West coasts, and many young Christians are
impressed with THEM and join.
Once there was sizeable membership in both coasts,
vpw pushed out the Christians from the House of
Acts and insisted authority would come FROM hq
and tithes would go TO hq. No exceptions.
vpw organized a few programs as well-
the WOW program and the Way Corps program.
========
Ok, that's a first draft,
but I'll need to recheck some of the timing for that.
But, what do you think?
Does that sum up the entire book,
approximately?
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Oakspear
WW, you remain the king of summaries
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WordWolf
I took down some notes on all the dates in this book.
So, I'll copy and edit my previous summary...
=========
Let's see.
What did vpw AUTHORIZE to be revealed about himself.....
victor paul wierwille was born to a large family of German descent.
Each child had their own chores.
Little Victor chose to neglect his chores, and would vanish
for hours into the woods nearby.
When he was young, he once told a minister
that he wanted to be a man of God like him.
Other than this statement, Little Victor showed
no actual involvement in the church, no actual
effort or work in the things of the church.
So, this seems to suggest an interest-not in being
a man of God- but in being the man the whole
community turned out to see, to have their
respect.
As a teenager, young Vic continued to lack any
qualities of a man of God. In fact, he went out of
his way to earn a reputation going in the opposite
direction. He was a bully, a showoff and a braggart.
He did all sorts of things for attention. He was quick
to start a fight or mouth off at others. He had a
quick wit. One of his common ways of showing off
was to tear up and down the streets of New
Knoxville on his motorcycle, trying to get attention.
His demonstrated talents seemed to be limited
to his quick wit and his ability to play a guitar,
which he showed competency in.
Old Man Wierwille was preparing to pass on the
family farm to young Vic, as was the family
tradition. Young Vic balked at this. He'd had
plans to go to college. At first, he considered
a few fields-business and so on- but by this
time, he had decided upon the seminary.
(This was before the time he referred to
as "believing the Bible as the Word of God".)
Old Man Wierwille was skeptical of this,
and said that young Vic, having shown lack
of hard work on simple manual labour on
the farm, would never make a good preacher.
Young Vic convinced him he would do better
with books than with sweating out in the field.
Young Vic went to school for the ministry.
His community thought it was some kind of joke-
everyone knew he lacked the proper character.
(He never overcame that impression with them.)
Victor had the option to study "Bible Languages"
or other subjects requiring hard study. He instead
chose to study Homiletics, the "softest" option he
could have learned. (He never overcame his
deficiency in study in Bible languages, church
history, etc.-not even to the level of an informed
layman as of 2004.)
Victor was married in 1937, and entered
Princeton Theological Seminary in 1940, to earn
his Masters in Practical Theology.
He did his "trial sermons" in 1941 in Payne, Ohio
for the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
(His first pastorate began in 1944 in Van Wert, Ohio,
and continued until 1957.)
Victor entered his first pastorate and wasted little
time becoming a bully and a control freak AGAIN.
He himself claims he started his job by immediately
doing whatever the elders told him not to do-
even though it hampered his ability to do his job
properly. According to him, they confronted him
on this, he mouthed off at them, and they just
let him go about his business, and the local
church prospered as a direct result of him.
He was known for building a fairly interesting
sermon, and getting people involved,
including the youths.
(This was STILL before the time when he
claimed he believed the Bible was the Word
of God.)
He said the following year, (1942) he slowly
became discouraged and was searching.
He was still the man he had been, which
is to say he was prideful, arrogant, boastful,
liked attention, and viewed the clergy as a
PROFESSION and not a holy calling.
(He could have been just as "called"
as an accountant or actuary, say.)
During 1942, he claimed he was ready
to give up being a minister.
About a year later (Payne, 1942, August), he
meets Rosal1nd R1nker.
This woman fixed a great deal of attention
on him, and had a forceful personality.
She spent some time with him alone.
It was of this time that he later claimed
he asked forgiveness of God.
He also credits her with DOGGING HIM
"on the Bible being the Word of God",
and she "got me STARTED on the right track".
which, until this time, he hadn't believed,
not even in all his years of school.
During 1942, he claimed he was ready to give
up being a minister in August AND September.
One month later (September 1942), an event happened
that he later showed a habit of re-writing.
As Victor told God he was getting ready to
quit (again),
He claimed that God spoke to him and said
He (God) would teach him (Victor) His Word (God's Word)
like it had not been known since the 1st century,
if he (Victor) would teach it to others.
(This is the famous 1942 promise.)
Victor of course lacked the education in church history
to contextualize this claim-since it was inaccurate
as stated. This implies that this was a made-up story,
or it came from a god lacking knowledge in history.
Victor later added a second part to his story-
a snowstorm. He said that he required PROOF of
God, and asked God to let him see it snow.
A moment later, he opened his eyes, and he saw
a veritable blizzard out his window.
The later addition to this story suggest that he felt
it needed more support after using the initial story.
Victor showed no marked improvement, neither in
character, nor in behaviour, thru the rest of the
1940s (nearly the entire decade after this
supposed promise), which strongly supports the
rather direct assertion that he lied thru his teeth.
In the 1940s, vpw does a radio show- Vesper
Chimes, aka Chimes Hour Youth Caravan.
Rhoda joined its staff in 1947.
At one point, Rufus Moseley attempts to
minister Holy Spirit to vpw, but vpw demonstrates
an inability to receive it.
In 1951, vpw makes another claim he's ready
to give up on the ministry
(even after, supposedly a direct promise of
God about really important stuff which promptly
failed to materialize.)
In November, 1951, vpw attends the Full Gospel
Rally, in Tulsa, Oklahoma (a big Evangelical
conference.)
He made several claims of this conference.
People at the conference OTHER than vpw supposedly
had no difficulty beginning speaking in tongues.
He claims he faked speaking in tongues in a clever
way, and others were unable to tell. He is
further disillusioned about working for God.
He then claims a miraculous snowstorm blocked
him into the city entirely, and ALL evidence there
was that there WAS no blizzard (and there was
a WEALTH of evidence-at the airports, Amtrak
and bus depot, the hotel staff, the attendees,
etc) was concealed by angels. vpw also,
apparently, never approached a window,
or they made an illusion at the window.
Supposedly, a woman comes up to him and tells
him that she knows a man who can help him-
JE Stiles. He claims God told Stiles to attend the
conference with the sole purpose of ministering
the Spirit to vpw.
vpw meets with Stiles, and makes a few chauvanistic
observations to himself, before going off with Stiles.
Stiles works with him for hours and hours, hammering
across to vpw what the Bible says on speaking in tongues,
and working over his doubts one by one for hour upon
hour. Finally, vpw was able to speak in tongues.
It was during the 1950s that vpw's behaviour was
noted to finally improve,
although he still did not stop including inappropriate
words or concepts in his sermons.
In 1953, vpw finds out about BG Leonard, and pushes
his way into BG Leonard's CTC Gifts of the Spirit class,
which Leonard permits. vpw takes this class twice,
bringing several people with him the second time.
vpw then went off for a few months by himself,
then told Leonard that he'd like to run Leonard's
CTC Gifts of the Spirit class locally for his
congregation on a one-time basis.
Seeing the benefit to other Christians,
Leonard agrees.
vpw then runs the first of "his" PFAL classes,
and takes a photograph of that class.
He tells the students that this is "his" class
called PFAL, with NO mention of Leonard's
class from which 100% of the content has
been directly lifted. The students have no
reason to think he's lying.
vpw sends the photograph to Leonard
and said tells Leonard that this is a photo
of the class that took Leonard's class
on a one-time basis that was run locally.
Leonard takes vpw at his word,
and has no idea that vpw continues to
run Leonard's class with vpw's name on
it,
defrauding both Leonard AND the students.
To this day, many students STILL think
this was was vpw's class, even when
evidence is introduced to the contrary.
Later, vpw added the contents of JE Stiles' work
on "Gifts of the Spirit" and Bullinger's work on the
Holy Spirit as well as "How to Enjoy the Bible",
and expanded the class into a class that was the
sum of the 3 men's work-Stiles, Bullinger and
Leonard-rather than just Leonard.
vpw later makes a few offhand comments here and
there that the material in the class is not original,
but its compilation was.
(However, as it was constructed, vpw could have
been sued by copyright holders for Bullinger,
Stiles, and Leonard. Leonard found out but chose
not to prosecute.)
vpw runs "his" PFAL classes continually from 1953
onward, with some success.
From 1955 to 1957, vpw, his wife and oldest son
do a tour of the mission fields in India, on the
Evangelical and Reformed Church's dime.
He is irritated that he's reminded he is not officially
designated as a spokesman or investigator of
theirs. There he meets Bishop KC Pillai, whom he
later invites to teach.
In 1957, vpw returns to Van Wert.
He cuts his ties with the Evangelical and Reformed
Church, and takes "his" PFAL class with him.
In 1957, he and Harry buy out their brothers and
buy the family farm outright. Rather than take
ownership themselves, they declare it the property
of "the Way", a church organization (thus tax-exempt.)
Work begins on fixing up the farm.
In 1959, he runs a Wisconsin Summer Camp.
In 1960, he runs an Indiana Summer Camp.
In 1961, he moves to the farm (refurbishment
being sufficient for the move). Bishop Pillai
arrives and teaches at the summer school.
In 1961, he runs a Miamisburg, Ohio Summer Camp.
In 1962, he moves the summer school to the farm
(refurbishment being sufficient to hold classes there.)
In 1962, Lamsa teaches at the summer school.
(Lamsa is another unconventional teacher who claims
special knowledge of the Bible and special status as
a man of God.)
In 1963, vpw goes to Lima, Ohio and films the
sessions called "the Teacher".
(Despite this, success STILL has not taken off
as vpw wished.)
In 1967,
vpw reads about the Christians at the House of
Acts. vpw goes there, impresses them, and
convinces them he has extensive, EXCLUSIVE knowledge
they lack. He then turns those he can from unorganized
Christians into a recruitment arm for his class and
organization. They agree to handle things on the East
and West coasts, and many young Christians are
impressed with THEM and join.
As of 1969, sizeable numbers of young people had
flocked to twi from both coasts as a result.
Once there was sizeable membership in both coasts,
vpw pushed out the Christians from the House of
Acts and insisted authority would come FROM hq
and tithes would go TO hq. No exceptions.
At that point (1969), vpw made his first attempt
at a Way Corps, which resulted in the famous
"Zero Corps".
vpw also organized a WOW program.
============
Ok, that's better, and corrected the dates.
I STILL need to put something better about Lamsa
(I'm open to suggestions),
and I'm missing the timeframe for
Dr EE Higgins, his "fan" who called and visited
all the time.
Also, I could use some more dates for the
radio show and a few words on "the Teacher"
film.
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jkboehme
Per WW's excellent synopsis re the sources of plagiarism for vpw's pfal:
"In 1953, vpw finds out about BG Leonard, and pushes
his way into BG Leonard's CTC Gifts of the Spirit class,
which Leonard permits. vpw takes this class twice,
bringing several people with him the second time.
vpw then went off for a few months by himself,
then told Leonard that he'd like to run Leonard's
CTC Gifts of the Spirit class locally for his
congregation on a one-time basis.
Seeing the benefit to other Christians,
Leonard agrees.
vpw then runs the first of "his" PFAL classes,
and takes a photograph of that class.
He tells the students that this is "his" class
called PFAL, with NO mention of Leonard's
class from which 100% of the content has
been directly lifted. The students have no
reason to think he's lying.
vpw sends the photograph to Leonard
and said tells Leonard that this is a photo
of the class that took Leonard's class
on a one-time basis that was run locally.
Leonard takes vpw at his word,
and has no idea that vpw continues to
run Leonard's class with vpw's name on
it,
defrauding both Leonard AND the students.
To this day, many students STILL think
this was was vpw's class, even when
evidence is introduced to the contrary.
Later, vpw added the contents of JE Stiles' work
on "Gifts of the Spirit" and Bullinger's work on the
Holy Spirit as well as "How to Enjoy the Bible",
and expanded the class into a class that was the
sum of the 3 men's work-Stiles, Bullinger and
Leonard-rather than just Leonard.
vpw later makes a few offhand comments here and
there that the material in the class is not original,
but its compilation was.
(However, as it was constructed, vpw could have
been sued by copyright holders for Bullinger,
Stiles, and Leonard. Leonard found out but chose
not to prosecute.)"
_________________________________________
I think it would be good to clarify that the works of Leonard, Stiles, & Bullinger were the proximate sources for vpw's plagiarism. As mentioned before, TWI, in a doctrinal-theoretical sense, falls into the "Word of Faith" movement. The quasi-proximate source of this movement can be traced to E.W.Kenyon, the progenitor of the extant 'word of faith' movement.
Kenyon was educated at the Emerson College of Oratory, formerly the Boston Conservatory of Elocution & Dramatic Art, & prior to this it was a component of Boston University, the Monroe School of Oratory, founded in 1872 by Dr. Lewis B. Monroe, a Professor @ BU.
When BU closed the Monroe School after Dr. Monroe's death, it was Charles Wesley Emerson who resurrected the school, hence the Emerson College of Oratory. {Interesting how 'oratory' and 'homiletics' have such a nice alignment & harmony}. Emerson had served as a minister of the Congregationalist, Universalist, & Unitarian denominations. He studied law but did not complete his degree ostensibly due to health reasons. However, to buff his image, he did receive a bogus medical school degree from the Eclectic Medical College of Pennsylvania, which was not a medical school at all, but merely a diploma mill that sold diplomas en masse to all comers.{Smacks of vpw's bogus doctorate from Pike's Peak diploma mill}.
Charles Emerson was a collector of religions, an eclectic in the truest sense of the word. His religioius ideology was a veritable smorgasbord of the numerous sources underlying New Thought Metaphysics: Sumerian-Egyptian-Greek-Roman pagan mythology, Platonism, Neoplatonism, Kaballah, Indian Upanishads & Vedas, Arcane Esoteric Spirituality, Gnosticism, Swedenborgianism, Theosophy, & American Spiritualism (Andrew Jackson Davis, followed by the Fox sisters, & later Arthur Ford), to name only a few influences.
New Thought Metaphysics had its more proximate origins with Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, who was influenced by a traveling Frenchman, Charles Poyen, who was lecturing in New England on the topic of Anton Mesmer's hypnotism (aka, "animal magnetism"). Mesmer's influences derived from the revitalization of the arcana in Europe at the time, the arcana tracing back to ancient pagan mythologies.
Therefore, as disappointing as it is for some to realize, most (? nearly all) of the information in B.G. Leonard's class regarding so-called supernatural 9 maninfestions, has its origins in, well, uh, non-biblical sources, and therefore the same goes for vpw's pfal & lcm's wap. There is nothing new under the sun, just a bit of repackaging, bringing glorious 'new light' to a current generation who is unfamiliar with the ancient arcana.
It is the charismatic, oratorical, homiletic skills of the new pseudo-spiritual entrepreneur, to market his or her counterfeit product, via covert deceptive recruiting, onto the transiently vulnerable & hurting souls who have the misfortune to be around when the mind-bending 'new light' arcana is spewed forth. Nothing like eyes-wide-open trance induction and conversational naturalistic trance induction to 'set you free' from your true historical self and identity, & begin the hellish journey into the non-conscented oppression of a cultic pseudo-self and pseudo-identity, which override and displace your true historical self.
I should state that the arcana, as such, are just the arcana; just call them what they are & not lie about its origins. BUT when a Teutonic Furher Vierville endeavors to conceal the arcana as "...the Word as it has not been know since the First Century..," I have a problem with the the fraud, misrepresentation, & lying. If the jar say its pickles, but there is in actuality mayonaise inside, then what we have is really mayo, & vice versa, afterall, vpw said so in pfal, even our father, who art in fountain, hollow be thy name......
<_>
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oldiesman
Jkboehme,
So then PFAL and other classes and teachings taught in twi were basically nothing more than repackaged paganism?
Ok, please reveal what are the true doctrines of Christianity?
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rascal
I will agree with you Oldies, we certainly saw a lot of paganism repackaged and disguised as christian in twi.
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WordWolf
Since you skipped over 2 drafts of my summary, Oldies,
and homed in on jkboehme's post after,
I take it that you find my summary (except as corrected
in the timetable in the second draft)
to be correct as written.
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oldiesman
It would be incorrect to assume that just because I may not comment on someone elses opinions means I am in agreement with them.
Nice try though. :D
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WordWolf
Since you skipped over 2 drafts of my summary, Oldies,
and homed in on jkboehme's post after,
and did an EVASIVE MANEUVER when I pointed this
out,
I take it that you find my summary (except as corrected
in the timetable in the second draft)
unassailable as written.
That's good.
It shows me I don't have to go thru many more
drafts from here.
:D
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jkboehme
Ever wonder why VPW would often open the Advanced Class teaching of the ‘revelation manifestations,’ especially ‘word of knowledge’ & ‘word of wisdom,’ with the account in Numbers of the ‘copped out’ Prophet, Baalam?
Ever wonder why VPW opened PFAL with “…the thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…?”
I think these are excellent examples of 'Freudian slips' by VPW, in the sense of VPW’s guilty conscience breaking through the bogus teaching to proclaim, as it were,
“I, V. P. Wierwille, am not only a copped out prophetic apostle in our day, time, & hour, but furthermore I am a pseudo-spiritual thief, with the aim of selfishly pleasing myself, even if it means that I steal from you, that I might even have to kill you, or that I may in fact permanently destroy your ability to know, trust, & love ‘God.’” ;)
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oldiesman
Jkboehme,
How do you know what is on/in another man's conscience?
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jkboehme
Once burned, twice shy.
Hinsight is 20/20.
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rascal
I know I know! Scriptures tell us precisely how to know what is on/in another mans mind :)
Too darn bad that we didn`t learn to identify a man of the flesh BEFORE we fell victim to their ploys.
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jkboehme
Don't forget VPW's plagiarism of Lamsa either:
George M. Lamsa: Christian Scholar or Cultic Torchbearer?"
(from the Christian Research Journal, Fall 1989, Volume 12 Number 2).
George M. Lamsa's books and translations of the Bible have become a fixture in Christian bookstores across the nation. Lamsa published 21 books by the time of his death in 1975. Four of these, plus his version of the Bible, were published by A. J. Holman, a well-known Bible and book publisher. Currently, Spring Arbor distributes them to Christian bookstores nationwide.
For nearly 50 years Lamsa was a popular speaker at conferences and churches, published the periodical Light for All, and spoke on the radio program "Lessons for Living." He also founded the Aramaic Bible Society and Calvary Missionary Church. Many groups and writers quote Lamsa as a Bible scholar.
There are several reasons for Lamsa's popularity. First, his books are engaging and very readable. Second, his comments on the life and customs of Bible times are engrossing to twentieth century Westerners. Third, people are intrigued and awed by Lamsa's claim that he was reared in the same part of the world Jesus lived, thus participating in biblical customs and language, and is hence uniquely able to reveal the Bible's idioms, translate the Bible accurately, and disclose its true meaning.
Lamsa's Christian readers commonly make the following charitable assumptions about his life and work: They believe Lamsa was an evangelical Christian teacher and that he accepted all the major biblical teachings held by the church. They think Lamsa absorbed a culture like that of Bible times which enabled him to accurately interpret Scripture. They further believe he held the Bible in high esteem and that he accurately translated it.
In this article we will closely examine each of these assumptions with a view to gaining a clearer picture of Lamsa's work. This will enable us to better respond to the man and his claims.
LAMSA'S TEACHINGS: BIBLICAL OR CULTIC?
Anyone who closely reads Lamsa's books will notice that he seldom explicitly enunciates his beliefs. In fact, Lamsa stated that he purposely tried to avoid doctrinal, theological, and controversial matters and passages.[1] When he does deal with a controversial topic, he will typically mention some common views without stating his own. For instance, when he addresses Luke's account of angels at Jesus' ascension, he comments that many faiths hold to a belief in personal angels and demons, but he neglects to say that he himself does not.[2]Lamsa's motives and message are also made difficult to discern by his inconsistency: some of his writings seem evangelical, while others are far removed from the biblical faith. This may be due to an evolution of his thought away from biblical teaching or to adjusting his wording to his audiences' desires.
We gain insight into Lamsa's true message and his approach to interpreting Scripture by reflecting on his upbringing. George Lamsa was born near the Turkish/Iraqi border about 1892 and lived there until about 1915. This area has been overrun by one warring country after another for centuries. Lamsa remembers thousands of his Armenian people being massacred, starved, or forced from their homeland by Moslems; he narrowly escaped death himself. Rival tribes were in constant conflict, highlighting their political, cultural, and religious differences. The history of Lamsa's Eastern church is full of divisions, including such competing groups as the Monophysites, Nestorians, and Jacobians. (This even led to alternate alphabets for their common language.)
These experiences affected Lamsa's message and interpretation of Scripture in several ways. Above all, Lamsa sought a "new world order" in which "the light of the gospel would be shared, racial and class barriers would be eliminated, and national boundaries would be eliminated."[3] Accordingly, Lamsa interprets Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (in his book appropriately titled The Kingdom on Earth) as a commandment for world peace, international understanding, and the overthrow of enslaving governments by meekness and love. Lamsa founded the Christian Mohammedan Society in 1921 to pursue unity by emphasizing common ground. Lamsa's desire to unite nations into a universal state led him to avoid matters of dogma and make many concessions to the beliefs of other faiths, seeking the lowest common denominator among religions.
Lamsa attempts to unite world religions in part by eliminating the uniqueness of Jesus and His atoning sacrifice on the cross. He follows the lead of the metaphysical (or "mind science") cults by redefining sin as mere error or (at worst) evil, not as moral disobedience to the Creator which deserves punishment from Him. Salvation in Lamsa's view is simply knowing Truth and "understanding the good"[12] -- a view which reduces Jesus from the essential suffering Savior to the dispensable model man. Christ died, Lamsa says in his notes on John 3:16, to show us meekness and the existence of life hereafter, not to atone for our sins.[13] He thus contradicts the central theme of the whole Bible.
Lamsa focuses on man as his own savior rather than viewing Jesus Christ in that roll. Therefore, he extols any prominent person, whether Christian or not, as one who has tapped God's power. Lamsa praised "humble prophets" like Isaiah and Jeremiah and "inspired men" like Marconi and Edison all in the same breath because "they relied on the hidden power, the power of God, the power of their indwelling self....one must be able to contact the spiritual forces, which are the only true power. All power belongs to God and comes from Him."[14]
Lamsa's unbiblical views of sin, salvation, and God -- and his move to a metaphysical interpretation of Scripture -- helpedhim to reconcile differences between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (as well as other religions). He denounces as "ignorant" those teachers who claim the three religions are incompatible and adds: "The adherents of these three great religions believe in one God, the holy prophets, the Scriptures, resurrection, Judgment Day and the Life hereafter. On the other hand, a greater part of the differences between them are due to the doctrines and the teachings of men, and the traditions of the elders."[15]
Lamsa's views of healing, Satan, demons, and prophecy are closer to the psychic perspective of metaphysical teaching and occultism than a biblical orientation. Jesus, he infers, had no power to heal, but only spoke "a word of comfort"[16] which most sick people never received: "At times out of hundreds of sick persons who were brought to him only a few were healed, those who had faith in him. Others whose bodies were not cured left the place cursing and shouting insults."[17] Lamsa sometimes removes the supernatural elements from Gospel accounts of healing. For instance, he implies that Simon Peter's mother-in-law was not supernaturally healed, but her rising to work allowed her no time to think about her mild fever until it finally left her (Luke 4:38-39). When he does allow that a healing may have occurred, he attributes it to the faith, understanding, or behavior of the person healed rather than to Jesus Christ's inherent power.
Lamsa implicitly denies the objective existence of a personal Devil and demons. "Demons," he says, is a way of referring to insanity, or wrong thoughts, desires, or practices.[18] "Satan," Lamsa suggests, refers to error or opposition in various forms, and cannot be an objective evil power because God is the only power in the universe.[19] Lamsa's translation usually uses the word "insane" instead of "demon" and "opposition" instead of "Satan."
Lamsa spoke of psychic involvement in a speech at the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.), a group which promotes medium Edgar Cayce and the pursuit of psychic phenomena. He encouraged use of the "talents" of Creative (psychic) Power manifesting through men and spotlighted his native Near Eastern people's claim to a "sixth sense": the ability to become aware of God through dreams, visions, intuition, and clairvoyance. He also spoke of their "seventh sense," a state of awareness "higher" than others, with which one can discern between good and evil.[20]
Lamsa's metaphysical theology is man-centered. It is man, he says, who causes his own problems, creates his own healing, creates his world by his own prayer, discloses the unknown by his clairvoyance, and relies on the power of his own indwelling self. In contrast, the Bible emphasizes that relying on self rather than God is foundational to all our problems, and that the way, truth, and life are found only in Jesus Christ.
LAMSA'S CULTURE: BIBLICAL OR NESTORIAN?
Lamsa's claim to be the preeminent authority on the meaning and translation of the Bible rests on his claim that he "was born and reared in a region in the near East which had escaped modernization, a region where the custom, manners and idioms of the ancient Aramaic language are still miraculously preserved to the present day."[27]Even if it was true that the customs and place of Lamsa's birth matched those of biblical days, it would not automatically follow that he could accurately translate and interpret the Bible. Thousands of people shared Jesus' culture and yet misunderstood Him. Jesus' closest disciples repeatedly asked Him to explain His sayings and parables (Matt. 15:10-18), contradicted Him (Mark 8:31-33), and did the opposite of what He wanted (Luke 20:35-38, 49-51). Many others left Jesus because they found Him hard to understand (John 6:60-68). Lamsa and his followers display great naivete and/or egotism when they claim that Lamsa's Assyrian upbringing enabled him to interpret correctly.
Nonetheless, the question remains: Did George Lamsa's early life match the culture of the Bible? This claim is debunked by two key points which Lamsa never understood: First, Semites (including Jews and Lamsa's own ancestors) have varied greatly in culture. Second, his own Assyrian culture changed over the centuries.
The Bible and other ancient records describe Jews of different cultures. For instance, the Herodians were Roman in culture, educated in Greek, tolerant of all religions, and unfaithful to the Mosaic law. The Sadducees were politically Roman, but religiously temple Jews. The Hellenistic Jews (Acts 6:1) were raised outside Israel, spoke Greek, and were adjusted to life among the heathen. Aramaic-speaking Pharisees were lay leaders of Mosaic practice. The Essenes maintained a detached, communal, disciplined lifestyle while the Zealots sought to kill and overthrow the Romans. The customs and language of these groups differed even though they shared a common heritage, land, and time period.
Lamsa's Assyrian people, in contrast, are descendants of none of these groups and have a different land, racial heritage, religion, customs, time period, language, politics, education, and neighbors.
Asyrians are portrayed in the Bible as a race quite foreign to Jewish religion and customs (e.g., Isa. 28:11). The area of Lamsa's birth is called Armenia, Media, or Persia (Reza Shah changed the name to "Iran" in the 1930s). Armenia is 700 miles from Jerusalem (even though Lamsa calls Jesus his "neighbor"), far removed from Hebrew influence, but affected by Greek culture after Alexander the Great's conquest and 250 years of Greek rule.
While Jesus Christ walked the earth, Lamsa's forefathers were Zoroastrian, a religion which enjoyed royal approval in Persia and honored many ancient Iranian gods, including the popular idol Mithra. They repudiated the Mosaic law and its accompanying moral code and culture. Among the few things Armenia had in common with Israel in Jesus' time were their mutual hatred of Romans and a similar language. They also had a very small number of residents whose ancestors were forced to leave Israel seven centuries earlier in punishment for rejecting God and His prophets. It would therefore be foolish to say that Lamsa's idolatrous Iranian ancestors were a carbon copy of devout Jewish/Israelite culture.
The Evolution of Nestorian Culture
What about Lamsa's Christian heritage? He claims to be both Assyrian and Nestorian. First of all, Nestorian culture did not even bud until the second century when many converts were made in Armenia, and it was not until the fifth century that it flowered as the Nestorian church formed.Strangely, Lamsa contends that his "biblical" culture survived unchanged from 4000 B.C. to the present.[28] Actually, his and every culture changes with time, locale, and especially contact with other cultures. Lamsa admits that in the last 2,300 years alone his people were overcome by the Greeks, Romans, pagans, Mohammedans, Mongols, Kurds, Russians, Turks, and British. Lamsa says that advancements in philosophy, theology, and other fields were "due to the combined labors of the Nestorians and the Arabs,"[29] that millions of Nestorians were forced t become Muslims,[30] and that European culture was "tearing the natural traditions of the [Eastern] people up by the roots"[31] already two generations before his birth. While some Assyrian customs may be ancient or similar to biblical customs(as several Mideastern cultures are), Assyrian culture is in many important respects different and has changed over the centuries.
There are also many dialects of Aramaic. Dwellers in Jerusalem noticed Peter's Galilean dialect (Matt. 26:73), even though he lived only 60 miles away. These dialects -- both representatives of western Aramaic -- differ even more noticeably from the dialects of eastern Aramaic used at Edessa (home of the Pedangta) and Lamsa's homeland.
Lamsa undoubtedly was an ambassador of Nestorian (not biblical) culture, with its unique alphabet, language, writings, customs, and church tradition. One prominent aspect of this culture is a strong anti-Greek bias which Lamsa manifests often. This bias stems from bitterness towards the largely Greek-speaking council which censured Nestorius.
Lamsa damages his credibility by wrongly asserting that "the Greeks occupied the Holy Land for only seven years, and there were not a half-dozen natives of Palestine who learned enough Greek in that time to carry on a conversation."[32] He also claims that converts outside Palestine only spoke Aramaic, and that most references to "Greek" people were mistranslated and should read "Arameans" or "Syrians."[33] Lamsa asserts that Jesus and His disciples never heard Greek spoken[34] and that no portion of the New Testament was originally written in Greek, but was first translated after Constantine's conversion in A.D. 318.[35] He assumes the Greek translators were deceitful and ignorant, intentionally adding and deleting passages and wrongly translating many parts.[36]
The only documentation Lamsa ever offers is a quotation of Josephus (Antiquities of the Jewsxx.12.1). While Lamsa takes him to mean that few Jews learned Greek, Josephus actually said that he himself lacked the precision and pronunciation in Greek which he desired.
LAMSA: EVANGELICAL SCHOLAR OR CULTIC FIGURE?
Lamsa considered himself to be the man God set aside and inspired for our times, and his followers still view him as such. One even senses in Lamsa's writings an implicit claim that he stands in the line of apostles with Moses, Jesus, Paul, and Mohammed. Lamsa explains his unique calling through editor Tom Alyea: "God had revealed to Lamsa his purpose and how it was to be done. It was a one-man job. In the Bible testimony is given that God spoke to man; however, it is not recorded where he spoke to a committee...Yes, only one man could translate the Bible from Aramaic. God knew it, and Lamsa knew it, and so it was."[49]Lamsa also attempts to establish scholarly credentials as a means of gaining acceptance. He claims to have been born about 1892, and to have acquired an A.B. degree equivalent in 1907 and a Ph.D. equivalent in theology in 1908 from Archbishop of Canterbury's College, Turkey.[50] He also claims to have graduated from Episcopal Theology Seminary in Virginia[51] and to have studied at the University of Pennsylvania and Dropsie College.
Lamsa, however, appears to have exaggerated his academic credentials. First, he claims to have attained a Ph.D. at age 16, only one year after his A.B.[52] Second, there are no records of his graduation from a seminary, and his own writings suggest that he was never at any school long enough to attain any valid degree.
Lamsa's writing style reflects his exalted view of his own mission and character. He usually writes embellished narratives or discourses, not documenting either blanket assertions or detailed comments. For example, he dismisses his lack of supporting evidence for his theory that the New Testament was originally authored in Aramaic by saying, "What is a fact needs no defense."[53] He assumes that his peculiar habits, culture, superstitions, idioms, and musings all match and illuminate Scripture, resulting in often incorrect or simplistic interpretations. By contrast, scholars in the fields of New Testament studies and Aramaic offer detailed evidence, accept criticisms, and yield much more cautious and informed conclusions.
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oldiesman
Jkboehme,
What words/sentences did VP plagiarize from Lamsa?
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