You got that right! They acted very carnally and selfishly using followers to recruit for then without much thought to their safety.
Carnally and selfishly using followers to recruit for them?
What a shameful, pitiful conclusion.
I prefer to view my service as it said in the WOW handbook, about "Who is a WOW Ambassador"?
You as a Way Believer make a one-year out-and-out commitment to give yourself as an Ambassador for God on special assignment to hold forth the integrity and accuracy of God's Word. As a WOW Ambassador you are ready and willing to serve in any area you are needed. Share with others what God did for you and what God will do for them also.
Great schpiel! What cunning camoflage for the snare......an ingenious recruitment tool to lure further unsuspecting innocents in to the trap....to be devoured by the predators.
We were like the decoys that the hunter sets out in the water to lure the unsuspecting ducks into firing range of their weapons....the hunter then crouches behind the bushes unseen with guns drawn......they know that if they were to wait out in the open, the prey would see them and flee to safety.....as it was....all the victims saw was a wholesom happy group enjoying the water...joyously beckoning them to join us in all of the fun ....
The predators managed to convince US to bring the prey that would have otherwise fled .... within grasp :(
the bot and twi leaders made mistakes, they are human.
They won't admit to making any mistakes and year after year of these "mistakes" they never changed one thing. That's selfish, irresponsible and totaly antithetical to how "Godly' leaders should take care of people.
QUOTE(Outin88. @ Nov 2 2005, 05:03 PM) *
You got that right! They acted very carnally and selfishly using followers to recruit for then without much thought to their safety.
Carnally and selfishly using followers to recruit for them?
What a shameful, pitiful conclusion.
Yes, carnally and selfishly used followers to recruit for them. TWIs only objective was to get more people to take the class to get more money. It's the people who went WOW with pure hearts who were doing what they thought God wanted them to do. TWI perverted, abused and took advantage of these good-hearted people.
but you're never gonna get that, OM. I'm really sorry. I think you must be a very lonely, very isolated man with not many loved ones in your life.
It's the people who went WOW with pure hearts who were doing what they thought God wanted them to do.
Which is why the program was a success for many years. As folks went out and shared with others what God did for them, God was able to bless many more others.
Oh ...I`ll agree that the program was a success ....for the PREDATORS!!..... folks went out and shared what God did for them....and then twi was quick to garner the credit....using what GOD did as the bait for the snare.....
They had nadda ....it is why they needed us and our pure hearts to seduce the people into the darkness.
Had they tried to win folks on the bot`s own merrits....honestly discussed their agenda, their expectations, what they would require of a faithfull desciple.... folks wouldda run....
Thats why the wolves HAVE to disguise themselves by wearing sheeps clothing....otherwise the sheep are wary and flee to the shepherd.
Disguised as sheep...the wolves are able to get near enough to the flock to catch and devour the unwary...those of us who couldn`t see past the false fleece that hid the predators.
Jeez...you couldn't call him Craig? They would have loved me. The first time I ever met I called him an egotistical, self-centered @#%$ to his face. In front of a group of Way Corps who were on their interim Fourth Corps year.
I had no idea who this jerk was. I was relatively new in the ministry. I was at the Limb Home in Greeneville, NC (pirate1974, this was back when Doug Emerson was the LC...you should remember that place) and I overheard this twit saying that the biggest problem with the ministry was that people needed to be more like him. I said, "Spoken like a good little, egotistical, self-centered Southern Baptist @#%$." I had left the Baptist church because I could not stomach that attitude and here it was popping up in a ministry that I thought was nothing like the Baptists.
Ah, well...out of the mouth of babaes and all that. Needless to say, he and I had a less than friendly, but not quite adversarial relationship after that. It's one of the major reasons I never went into the Corps. I did not want that jerk, or anyone like him, having that much control over my life.
I had a tough enough time putting up with the rules of the WOW program. I was out WOW in a city that was literally right next to a city where a cousin of mine was getting married that year. They would not let me go because my "committment" was to stay in "my" city. They had let me go visit with her one day on my day off, but 6 months later I couldn't go to her wedding because I had already left the city once to visit her. I should have told the morons I was going witnessing and gone anyway.
Doulos... I'll do you one better. I crossed the county line with another believer one year when I was out WOW, with permission from both the FC and the AC, and STILL got reprimanded when the dumb ....s realized the place they said I could go (an apple orchard that sold cider... oooohh what an evil place) was 4 or 5 miles past the city limits. I ask, they say yes, and I STILL get yelled at. I just stood there and looked at the fool with an expression that said "Amazing! You ARE more stupid than you look!"
Oh yeah, and am I the only one who had a problem with having to get up at the crack of dawn on our DAY OFF?? Man that ....ed me off.
I recall at one time if you wanted to go WOW you had to write a 200 or 300 word essay (something like that - a 2 page deal at least) to be completed along with your WOW application. Whether or not an essay was ever considered in the screening process for one to go out WOW I would say was probably not very likely. There was this big push in TWI (circa 1977) to get 4000+ people to go out WOW. TWI came pretty close to that amount, (just under 4000 in 1977) but really never made it to 4000+ WOW's. The big push to get 4000+ people to go out WOW caused leadership to become less descrete in who should/shouldn't go WOW IMO.
On the other hand I personally know someone who was not allowed to go out WOW a second time. He tried to go out WOW another year (he caused his first WOW family too many problems) so he was told he needed to grow more in the Word before he would be considered for the WOW program again. When he was told this by his twig leader, he immediately ran out of the house screaming up and down the street:LEADERSHIP IS WRONG!!
I think everybody in the neighborhood two blocks away could hear him screaming at the top of his lungs and shouting profanities. I bet all the neighbors were pretty confused just what the heck all the commotion was about. I recall it very well because it was late in the evening and it nearly woke everybody in the neighborhood up. What is even more remarkable is the twig leader was completely astonished there was actually somebody in his twig who was very upset that they weren't allowed to go out WOW, when all the other "twiggies" in his twig didn't even want to consider it or give it a second thought.
Was participation in the WOW or Way Disciple programs genuinely "voluntary" & of "free will?"
What role did covert, manipulative exploitation of twi members have to do with this supposed "voluntary" 'service?'
I say 'covert' because twi appeared to use the DTA C.S.A.P. principles extremely well:
C = the value and delusion of the twi counterfeit 'ministry' was & is increased by the nearness of the likeness to a genuine ministry;
S = the secret of twi's success was the deceptive secrecy of its actions/deeds/behaviors/practices;
A = twi adapted its methods of deception over time; &,
P = twi was & is parasitic of the altruism of the people it exploited.
In my opinion, following are some of the methods, wiles, and strategies of mental manipulation covertly utilized by twi, not only for manipulation of members to 'go WOW,' but also in essentially all of their conduct:
Coercive persuasion that is by design covert, subtle, fluid, & insidious
Thought reform without informed consent
Psychological coercion
Thought struggle
Debility, dependency, & dread
Unfreezing, changing, & refreezing of one's mind
Exploitative mental manipulation
Mind control
Unethical influence via manipulation of normal automatic responding
Manipulation of human responses of consistency, reciprocity, social proof, authority, liking, & scarcity
Inducing cognitive dissonance & then exploiting via manipulation of behavior / information / thought /emotional control
Manipulation of transient vulnerabilities
Manipulation of guilt
Manipulation of exit phobia
Exploitative persuasion
Exploitative manipulation of psychosocial group dynamics
Systematic manipulation of psychological and social influence
Coordinated programs of coercive influence and behavioral control
Naturalistic conversational trance induction via anchoring, indirection, implication, & implantation of "suggestions"
Packaged persuasion
Manipulative calculated persuasion procedures to induce "commitment"
Destruction of the true, historical self-identity & replacing it with a cult-originated pseudo-self & pseudo-identity, "sogwap"
Destabilization of a person's general reality orientation
Covert strategies and techniques to keep recruits & members unaware of the cult's double agenda : terrorism core glazed on the surface with fake love; bait (apparent grace and love) & switch (rule & control by the "teeth" of legalism and fear)
Promoting mind-numbing techniques such as the supposed "renewing of the mind," & confabulated "speaking in tongues"
Exploitative persuasion via "proof through reframing," a counterfeit process of positive reinterpretation to validate twi's conduct
Relaxation-induced anxiety via continual glossolalia ("SIT much in your private prayer life")
Guided imagery
Indirect directives
Personal historical revision under cult pressure
Peer pressure & modeling
Many others too numerous to mention...................................
Carnally and selfishly using followers to recruit for them?
What a shameful, pitiful conclusion.
I stand by my statement.
TWI claimed to send wows to locations and with others by revelation, Do you think that guy who was killed by his wow family "leader" was sent by revelation? I think it was a carnal decision.
Or how about the 10 years spiriual growth they claimed, tell it to the 4 wows that were killed by a drunk driver!
I went wow, and I was blessed to preach the word to people, but I certainly wouldn't say I grew 10 years spiritually. I definately learned some life lessons and matured a bit emotionally and yes some spiritually but not 10 years worth.
And how about the poor wows that had to live on macaroni and cheese to survive, now there's an abundant life! Where was TWI with finacial support? Selfish comes to my mind!
Churches support their missionaries finacially, why didn't TWI? Even just a little would have been nice.
On a previous post I mentioned one of my wow sisters was sent home, TWI offered nothing finacially to send her home, we had to call her parents and ask them to pay for a plane ticket.
As Belle pointed out TWI used folks who had a heart for God to gain recruits and their money.
But, I do admit that I abstain from the suspicions, backbiting, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, malice, unrelenting finger-pointing condemnations, and so forth.
But, I do admit that I abstain from the suspicions, backbiting, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, malice, unrelenting finger-pointing condemnations, and so forth.
boy are you on the wrong website!!!
This is why after being in TWI and then a few churches after that, I will never ever again become involved in any religion whatsoever again.
To speak of the wrongs committed, of the hurts suffered, of people losing their lives, sanity and perhaps monetary set backs because of any such group, to speak of or mention the ills (and I don't mean talking about Betty Sue and her new horrible hair-doo) is to be labeled as clamour, being angry, being filled with bitterness and rage and so forth.
I view this as a very evil way to control people, to mentally and emotionally beat them into submission and which allows those perpetrators, or those who were at the helm to escape any liabilities that their poor decisions and poor management skills cost in the lives of others. It is a very effective way of controlling people and keeping them in the pews, the fellowship circle especially if you throw in a few fear phobias like going to hell, telling them they will go insane if they leave or the devil will possess them or kill them or their families if they leave. When I was in TWI and I heard the statment that Stalin (was it Stalin?) said that religion was the opiate of the masses, I thought it meant that people, the masses, were being accused of using religion as a crutch to make it through life. I now see what he meant was it was a good way to make people into mewling sheep who would just go along with the mind control being exercised on them.
To me personally, there is nothing loving, honorable, godly or just about making excuses for those who were in charge of other people and handled it soooooooo badly and then NEVER learned from their mistakes to correct the situation and just allowed the same damn thing happen all over again and again.
One person to have died on the WOW field by the hands of another is ONE too much.
One person to have died on the WOW field by being placed in a dangerous situation/city is ONE too much.
For ONE WOW to have gone hungry on the WOW field was ONE too much and I starved, losing 20 lbs the first three months out on my first year. Instead of teaching "Wows pay your vows and all that sheet, they should have taught how to survive the first three months financially untill everyone was pulling in a pay check.
I don't understand how one person can blindly defend an organization that had so many people experience the short end of the stick consistently but that is the INSANITY I have found in many religions and is a main component I have recognized will avoid religious groups at all costs. The MO behind this is that those in charge must remain in charge and the doctrine is lauded over the worth of the individual at all costs; even the cost of someone's life.
Anytime I am not allowed to say something is wrong or sucks or is just blantantly wrong/bad/evil, is the day I take off for the hills cause I will never ever be involved in a group like that AGAIN.
When I left TWI, I knew things were wrong, that is why I left. I went through a period of mourning and guilt as I reviewed what happened to not only me, but to those around me. I tried to contact as many people as I could to apologize and offer assistance. I really really don't understand those who continue to blame the victims, the people who got involved rather than lay the blame where it deserved to go, to the leadership.
This is people's lives we're talking about, I don't get it treating it so blaze'????
But I think it is indicative of TWI (and any other group that tries to cover its collective a$$)
Blame others for faults and failures and never point a finger at the machine sucking the life from others.
Geez, even when LCM and Chr$s G**R were still walking hand in hand, a tape was made in 1987 (where they also talked about who really killed VP) and Ch**s G**r blamed the Way Corps for not getting their acts together, their hearts together and that is why the ministry was still F****ed up.
Hi folks. I had to go away for a few days but I'm back. Hope all had a nice weekend. :)
The Way providing some kind of medical insurance for their WOWs would have been nice. ... Shortly after I arrived in Charlotte NC, I developed a ball-busting hernia which I had little choice but to live with for the remainder of the year, despite all the healing prayers to no avail. ... Other ministries and churches support the work of their missionaries. ... They provide their missionaries with some kind of stipend, as to free them up to pursue their missionary work. But the Way, for the most part, did not.
The WOW program was a fine idea, but it was poorly thought through and implemented.
Danny
Danny I read and thought about your story. There are arguments on both sides.
Yeah, it would have been great if twi offered free medical insurance. Can you imagine? That might have even gotten MORE volunteers! But my best guess is, they thought about it and it was too expensive to maintain. I'm sure they would have done it if it were inexpensive...why not?
TWI promised they would help us out on the field if we requested help. So in that light, once the healing prayers failed, and you were still in pain, you should have gotten some help to try to ease the pain if you asked for it.
I am curious, once the prayers weren't working and you were still in pain, did you ask for help from the higher ups? How far up the way tree did this go? If you asked for financial help, what was the response?
Just also wondering how you finally got the hernia repaired...I assume you had to have an operation? If so, when did you get the operation and who paid for it?
Your story leads me to believe that having medical insurance for us WOWs would have definitely been helpful. Either that, or twi should have helped by paying for an operation for you if the prayers failed. After all, you couldn't get a full time job that would have provided medical insurance, so you were stuck.
Now to twi's side of the argument:
You are a volunteer and are not working for twi. You are an ambassador for Christ and God, the ministry has set up a program to facilitate your ambitions and desires, which were to move the Word over the world to help people and tell others what God did for you. But, you are not working for the ministry per se, so why demand medical insurance from them? The ministry isn't compelling you to do anything.
WOWs are not entitled to medical insurance, as opposed to staffers, who work full time for twi.
What happens if you weren't out WOW and in the course of doing some outreach, you broke you leg. Do you demand medical insurance from twi, or ask for a financial handout?
Last but not least, folks knew before they volunteered that medical insurance wasn't part of the WOW program. So if one needed/wanted medical insurance, one would have had to "count the cost" before going WOW, to see if one could handle living without it, if one got injured.
Yeah with all of the tens of MILLIONS of dollars twi had in the bank at any given time......it was much to expensive to provide medical insurance or support of the wows who were out prosylitizing for them....why they wouldn`t have had money for buses or planes or hangars or harleys ...duh!
I don`t believe for a miniute vp or lcm or the other braniacs who came up with the guidelines of wow EVER had to live under such rediculous constraints....
Good lord what miserly picars....got us out doing their outreach marketing and growth for their ministry and they cannot help us with occasional groceries or medical help.....
Was participation in the WOW or Way Disciple programs genuinely "voluntary" & of "free will?"
What role did covert, manipulative exploitation of twi members have to do with this supposed "voluntary" 'service?'
I say 'covert' because twi appeared to use the DTA C.S.A.P. principles extremely well:
C = the value and delusion of the twi counterfeit 'ministry' was & is increased by the nearness of the likeness to a genuine ministry;
S = the secret of twi's success was the deceptive secrecy of its actions/deeds/behaviors/practices;
A = twi adapted its methods of deception over time; &,
P = twi was & is parasitic of the altruism of the people it exploited.
In my opinion, following are some of the methods, wiles, and strategies of mental manipulation covertly utilized by twi, not only for manipulation of members to 'go WOW,' but also in essentially all of their conduct:
Coercive persuasion that is by design covert, subtle, fluid, & insidious
Thought reform without informed consent
Psychological coercion
Thought struggle
Debility, dependency, & dread
Unfreezing, changing, & refreezing of one's mind
Exploitative mental manipulation
Mind control
Unethical influence via manipulation of normal automatic responding
Manipulation of human responses of consistency, reciprocity, social proof, authority, liking, & scarcity
Inducing cognitive dissonance & then exploiting via manipulation of behavior / information / thought /emotional control
Manipulation of transient vulnerabilities
Manipulation of guilt
Manipulation of exit phobia
Exploitative persuasion
Exploitative manipulation of psychosocial group dynamics
Systematic manipulation of psychological and social influence
Coordinated programs of coercive influence and behavioral control
Naturalistic conversational trance induction via anchoring, indirection, implication, & implantation of "suggestions"
Packaged persuasion
Manipulative calculated persuasion procedures to induce "commitment"
Destruction of the true, historical self-identity & replacing it with a cult-originated pseudo-self & pseudo-identity, "sogwap"
Destabilization of a person's general reality orientation
Covert strategies and techniques to keep recruits & members unaware of the cult's double agenda : terrorism core glazed on the surface with fake love; bait (apparent grace and love) & switch (rule & control by the "teeth" of legalism and fear)
Promoting mind-numbing techniques such as the supposed "renewing of the mind," & confabulated "speaking in tongues"
Exploitative persuasion via "proof through reframing," a counterfeit process of positive reinterpretation to validate twi's conduct
Relaxation-induced anxiety via continual glossolalia ("SIT much in your private prayer life")
Guided imagery
Indirect directives
Personal historical revision under cult pressure
Peer pressure & modeling
Many others too numerous to mention...................................
Jkboehmem, can't you type with larger print, I can't see.
I can sum up your gobbledegook in three words: "Victim Mentality Propaganda".
Or in other words, "Portray the leadership as monsters, while portraying everyone else as helpless victims."
or how about C-R-A-P
relaxation induced anxiety via continued glossalalia? .... please gag me.
If you weren't 'working for the ministry' and they weren't 'compelling' you to do anything, then the wow 'guidelines' would have been suggestions not rules. You could only work part time. You could not leave the town. You were expected to witness 8 hours a day, and be at every meeting and event, and do anything else they decided to have you do. There were no optional choices.
Noone expected the way to provide medical insurance anyway. Since most of us were young and inexperienced, we never had much need for medical assistance , and those that did were branded with the scarlet (or way green) letter, as not believing, weak, possessed.
They would have done it if it were less expensive??!!!!???? Please-I know you know better than that!
Ever try going to a'higher up' when you were sick? That's a real 'blessing'. After being grilled about one's un belief, the 'leader' often as not would use that as a reason to dissect all your faults and spiritual problems, with a word of warning about how you're screwing up the wow family . If you were real lucky, he'd throw you a 'healing' then expect you to shut up about it from then on.
oh YEAH....I forgot that we were only valuable to twi as long as we were producing......problems requiring medical care??? Sorry.... We don`t need anyone not able to turn a profit for us.....go on back to your unbeliever families since your believing wasn`t good enough to keep you healthy....
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oldiesman
What a shameful, pitiful conclusion.
I prefer to view my service as it said in the WOW handbook, about "Who is a WOW Ambassador"?
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rascal
Great schpiel! What cunning camoflage for the snare......an ingenious recruitment tool to lure further unsuspecting innocents in to the trap....to be devoured by the predators.
We were like the decoys that the hunter sets out in the water to lure the unsuspecting ducks into firing range of their weapons....the hunter then crouches behind the bushes unseen with guns drawn......they know that if they were to wait out in the open, the prey would see them and flee to safety.....as it was....all the victims saw was a wholesom happy group enjoying the water...joyously beckoning them to join us in all of the fun ....
The predators managed to convince US to bring the prey that would have otherwise fled .... within grasp :(
Pure genious........ or evil :unsure:
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oldiesman
I am so, so thankful I don't think like you.
Thanks for the new smileys Paw.
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rascal
I ummm THINK that your comma might have been misplaced....here let me help you....
I am so so thankfull that I don`t think, like you :P
Sorry I am just goofin
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Belle
Yes, carnally and selfishly used followers to recruit for them. TWIs only objective was to get more people to take the class to get more money. It's the people who went WOW with pure hearts who were doing what they thought God wanted them to do. TWI perverted, abused and took advantage of these good-hearted people.
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oldiesman
Are you God, the Searcher of all hearts?
Goodness gracious, I hope not.
I'm not.Your thoughts are erroneous. :)
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oldiesman
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rascal
Oh ...I`ll agree that the program was a success ....for the PREDATORS!!..... folks went out and shared what God did for them....and then twi was quick to garner the credit....using what GOD did as the bait for the snare.....
They had nadda ....it is why they needed us and our pure hearts to seduce the people into the darkness.
Had they tried to win folks on the bot`s own merrits....honestly discussed their agenda, their expectations, what they would require of a faithfull desciple.... folks wouldda run....
Thats why the wolves HAVE to disguise themselves by wearing sheeps clothing....otherwise the sheep are wary and flee to the shepherd.
Disguised as sheep...the wolves are able to get near enough to the flock to catch and devour the unwary...those of us who couldn`t see past the false fleece that hid the predators.
They dined well on the innocent.
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Belle
This is from ye old archives and seems to fit....
Sorry, I don't know the author.....
Jeez...you couldn't call him Craig? They would have loved me. The first time I ever met I called him an egotistical, self-centered @#%$ to his face. In front of a group of Way Corps who were on their interim Fourth Corps year.
I had no idea who this jerk was. I was relatively new in the ministry. I was at the Limb Home in Greeneville, NC (pirate1974, this was back when Doug Emerson was the LC...you should remember that place) and I overheard this twit saying that the biggest problem with the ministry was that people needed to be more like him. I said, "Spoken like a good little, egotistical, self-centered Southern Baptist @#%$." I had left the Baptist church because I could not stomach that attitude and here it was popping up in a ministry that I thought was nothing like the Baptists.
Ah, well...out of the mouth of babaes and all that. Needless to say, he and I had a less than friendly, but not quite adversarial relationship after that. It's one of the major reasons I never went into the Corps. I did not want that jerk, or anyone like him, having that much control over my life.
I had a tough enough time putting up with the rules of the WOW program. I was out WOW in a city that was literally right next to a city where a cousin of mine was getting married that year. They would not let me go because my "committment" was to stay in "my" city. They had let me go visit with her one day on my day off, but 6 months later I couldn't go to her wedding because I had already left the city once to visit her. I should have told the morons I was going witnessing and gone anyway.
Doulos... I'll do you one better. I crossed the county line with another believer one year when I was out WOW, with permission from both the FC and the AC, and STILL got reprimanded when the dumb ....s realized the place they said I could go (an apple orchard that sold cider... oooohh what an evil place) was 4 or 5 miles past the city limits. I ask, they say yes, and I STILL get yelled at. I just stood there and looked at the fool with an expression that said "Amazing! You ARE more stupid than you look!"
Oh yeah, and am I the only one who had a problem with having to get up at the crack of dawn on our DAY OFF?? Man that ....ed me off.
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What The Hey
I recall at one time if you wanted to go WOW you had to write a 200 or 300 word essay (something like that - a 2 page deal at least) to be completed along with your WOW application. Whether or not an essay was ever considered in the screening process for one to go out WOW I would say was probably not very likely. There was this big push in TWI (circa 1977) to get 4000+ people to go out WOW. TWI came pretty close to that amount, (just under 4000 in 1977) but really never made it to 4000+ WOW's. The big push to get 4000+ people to go out WOW caused leadership to become less descrete in who should/shouldn't go WOW IMO.
On the other hand I personally know someone who was not allowed to go out WOW a second time. He tried to go out WOW another year (he caused his first WOW family too many problems) so he was told he needed to grow more in the Word before he would be considered for the WOW program again. When he was told this by his twig leader, he immediately ran out of the house screaming up and down the street:LEADERSHIP IS WRONG!!
I think everybody in the neighborhood two blocks away could hear him screaming at the top of his lungs and shouting profanities. I bet all the neighbors were pretty confused just what the heck all the commotion was about. I recall it very well because it was late in the evening and it nearly woke everybody in the neighborhood up. What is even more remarkable is the twig leader was completely astonished there was actually somebody in his twig who was very upset that they weren't allowed to go out WOW, when all the other "twiggies" in his twig didn't even want to consider it or give it a second thought.
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Thomas Loy Bumgarner
To paraphrase Elmer Fudd,"Shhh, be vewy,vewy quiet. I'm huntin WOWS, hehehe! oh , that wascally wosie wienvenbawk"..
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jkboehme
Was participation in the WOW or Way Disciple programs genuinely "voluntary" & of "free will?"
What role did covert, manipulative exploitation of twi members have to do with this supposed "voluntary" 'service?'
I say 'covert' because twi appeared to use the DTA C.S.A.P. principles extremely well:
C = the value and delusion of the twi counterfeit 'ministry' was & is increased by the nearness of the likeness to a genuine ministry;
S = the secret of twi's success was the deceptive secrecy of its actions/deeds/behaviors/practices;
A = twi adapted its methods of deception over time; &,
P = twi was & is parasitic of the altruism of the people it exploited.
In my opinion, following are some of the methods, wiles, and strategies of mental manipulation covertly utilized by twi, not only for manipulation of members to 'go WOW,' but also in essentially all of their conduct:
Coercive persuasion that is by design covert, subtle, fluid, & insidious
Thought reform without informed consent
Psychological coercion
Thought struggle
Debility, dependency, & dread
Unfreezing, changing, & refreezing of one's mind
Exploitative mental manipulation
Mind control
Unethical influence via manipulation of normal automatic responding
Manipulation of human responses of consistency, reciprocity, social proof, authority, liking, & scarcity
Inducing cognitive dissonance & then exploiting via manipulation of behavior / information / thought /emotional control
Manipulation of transient vulnerabilities
Manipulation of guilt
Manipulation of exit phobia
Exploitative persuasion
Exploitative manipulation of psychosocial group dynamics
Systematic manipulation of psychological and social influence
Coordinated programs of coercive influence and behavioral control
Naturalistic conversational trance induction via anchoring, indirection, implication, & implantation of "suggestions"
Packaged persuasion
Manipulative calculated persuasion procedures to induce "commitment"
Destruction of the true, historical self-identity & replacing it with a cult-originated pseudo-self & pseudo-identity, "sogwap"
Destabilization of a person's general reality orientation
Covert strategies and techniques to keep recruits & members unaware of the cult's double agenda : terrorism core glazed on the surface with fake love; bait (apparent grace and love) & switch (rule & control by the "teeth" of legalism and fear)
Promoting mind-numbing techniques such as the supposed "renewing of the mind," & confabulated "speaking in tongues"
Exploitative persuasion via "proof through reframing," a counterfeit process of positive reinterpretation to validate twi's conduct
Relaxation-induced anxiety via continual glossolalia ("SIT much in your private prayer life")
Guided imagery
Indirect directives
Personal historical revision under cult pressure
Peer pressure & modeling
Many others too numerous to mention...................................
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Outin88.
I stand by my statement.
TWI claimed to send wows to locations and with others by revelation, Do you think that guy who was killed by his wow family "leader" was sent by revelation? I think it was a carnal decision.
Or how about the 10 years spiriual growth they claimed, tell it to the 4 wows that were killed by a drunk driver!
I went wow, and I was blessed to preach the word to people, but I certainly wouldn't say I grew 10 years spiritually. I definately learned some life lessons and matured a bit emotionally and yes some spiritually but not 10 years worth.
And how about the poor wows that had to live on macaroni and cheese to survive, now there's an abundant life! Where was TWI with finacial support? Selfish comes to my mind!
Churches support their missionaries finacially, why didn't TWI? Even just a little would have been nice.
On a previous post I mentioned one of my wow sisters was sent home, TWI offered nothing finacially to send her home, we had to call her parents and ask them to pay for a plane ticket.
As Belle pointed out TWI used folks who had a heart for God to gain recruits and their money.
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TheInvisibleDan
Halliburton!
:blink:
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WordWolf
And yet, this is the conclusion that fits the FACTS.
The followers were USED.
Ignoring this or mislabelling it doesn't change this.
Gee, I'd PREFER to view it that way too-
but it was a polite fiction at best,
and a lie from the pit of hq at worst.
The FACTS keep interfering with my ability to view it
the way they advertised it.
The same is true of their paid commercial.
Just because Bradshaw read it on the air didn't make THAT true, either...
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ljn698
from om
But, I do admit that I abstain from the suspicions, backbiting, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, malice, unrelenting finger-pointing condemnations, and so forth.
boy are you on the wrong website!!!
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Samurai
This is why after being in TWI and then a few churches after that, I will never ever again become involved in any religion whatsoever again.
To speak of the wrongs committed, of the hurts suffered, of people losing their lives, sanity and perhaps monetary set backs because of any such group, to speak of or mention the ills (and I don't mean talking about Betty Sue and her new horrible hair-doo) is to be labeled as clamour, being angry, being filled with bitterness and rage and so forth.
I view this as a very evil way to control people, to mentally and emotionally beat them into submission and which allows those perpetrators, or those who were at the helm to escape any liabilities that their poor decisions and poor management skills cost in the lives of others. It is a very effective way of controlling people and keeping them in the pews, the fellowship circle especially if you throw in a few fear phobias like going to hell, telling them they will go insane if they leave or the devil will possess them or kill them or their families if they leave. When I was in TWI and I heard the statment that Stalin (was it Stalin?) said that religion was the opiate of the masses, I thought it meant that people, the masses, were being accused of using religion as a crutch to make it through life. I now see what he meant was it was a good way to make people into mewling sheep who would just go along with the mind control being exercised on them.
To me personally, there is nothing loving, honorable, godly or just about making excuses for those who were in charge of other people and handled it soooooooo badly and then NEVER learned from their mistakes to correct the situation and just allowed the same damn thing happen all over again and again.
One person to have died on the WOW field by the hands of another is ONE too much.
One person to have died on the WOW field by being placed in a dangerous situation/city is ONE too much.
For ONE WOW to have gone hungry on the WOW field was ONE too much and I starved, losing 20 lbs the first three months out on my first year. Instead of teaching "Wows pay your vows and all that sheet, they should have taught how to survive the first three months financially untill everyone was pulling in a pay check.
I don't understand how one person can blindly defend an organization that had so many people experience the short end of the stick consistently but that is the INSANITY I have found in many religions and is a main component I have recognized will avoid religious groups at all costs. The MO behind this is that those in charge must remain in charge and the doctrine is lauded over the worth of the individual at all costs; even the cost of someone's life.
Anytime I am not allowed to say something is wrong or sucks or is just blantantly wrong/bad/evil, is the day I take off for the hills cause I will never ever be involved in a group like that AGAIN.
When I left TWI, I knew things were wrong, that is why I left. I went through a period of mourning and guilt as I reviewed what happened to not only me, but to those around me. I tried to contact as many people as I could to apologize and offer assistance. I really really don't understand those who continue to blame the victims, the people who got involved rather than lay the blame where it deserved to go, to the leadership.
This is people's lives we're talking about, I don't get it treating it so blaze'????
But I think it is indicative of TWI (and any other group that tries to cover its collective a$$)
Blame others for faults and failures and never point a finger at the machine sucking the life from others.
Geez, even when LCM and Chr$s G**R were still walking hand in hand, a tape was made in 1987 (where they also talked about who really killed VP) and Ch**s G**r blamed the Way Corps for not getting their acts together, their hearts together and that is why the ministry was still F****ed up.
Imagine that, it was the Corps fault.
It wasn't the Corps fault.
It was not the individual Wow's fault.
It wasn't the twiggers fault either.
A fish stinks at the head.
Period.
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jardinero
Well said, Samurai.
J.
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bliss
Oldies, victims go through enough finger pointin and guilt to last a lifetime.........
This is where they can call a spade an ugly spade................
Everyone already knows "the positives" ....that is why they went WOW or Corps to begin with....
as well as many had some "good" experiences. But in hindsight, it was a bad program, and many people got hurt, and the ministry did NOT CARE!!!
They need to show the negatives.....that is what this site is all about.....
If people want the "sunny side of TWI" than they can go on their site, and sit and snore, I mean, read.
:(
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oldiesman
Hi folks. I had to go away for a few days but I'm back. Hope all had a nice weekend. :)
Danny I read and thought about your story. There are arguments on both sides.Yeah, it would have been great if twi offered free medical insurance. Can you imagine? That might have even gotten MORE volunteers! But my best guess is, they thought about it and it was too expensive to maintain. I'm sure they would have done it if it were inexpensive...why not?
TWI promised they would help us out on the field if we requested help. So in that light, once the healing prayers failed, and you were still in pain, you should have gotten some help to try to ease the pain if you asked for it.
I am curious, once the prayers weren't working and you were still in pain, did you ask for help from the higher ups? How far up the way tree did this go? If you asked for financial help, what was the response?
Just also wondering how you finally got the hernia repaired...I assume you had to have an operation? If so, when did you get the operation and who paid for it?
Your story leads me to believe that having medical insurance for us WOWs would have definitely been helpful. Either that, or twi should have helped by paying for an operation for you if the prayers failed. After all, you couldn't get a full time job that would have provided medical insurance, so you were stuck.
Now to twi's side of the argument:
You are a volunteer and are not working for twi. You are an ambassador for Christ and God, the ministry has set up a program to facilitate your ambitions and desires, which were to move the Word over the world to help people and tell others what God did for you. But, you are not working for the ministry per se, so why demand medical insurance from them? The ministry isn't compelling you to do anything.
WOWs are not entitled to medical insurance, as opposed to staffers, who work full time for twi.
What happens if you weren't out WOW and in the course of doing some outreach, you broke you leg. Do you demand medical insurance from twi, or ask for a financial handout?
Last but not least, folks knew before they volunteered that medical insurance wasn't part of the WOW program. So if one needed/wanted medical insurance, one would have had to "count the cost" before going WOW, to see if one could handle living without it, if one got injured.
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rascal
Yeah with all of the tens of MILLIONS of dollars twi had in the bank at any given time......it was much to expensive to provide medical insurance or support of the wows who were out prosylitizing for them....why they wouldn`t have had money for buses or planes or hangars or harleys ...duh!
I don`t believe for a miniute vp or lcm or the other braniacs who came up with the guidelines of wow EVER had to live under such rediculous constraints....
Good lord what miserly picars....got us out doing their outreach marketing and growth for their ministry and they cannot help us with occasional groceries or medical help.....
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oldiesman
I can sum up your gobbledegook in three words: "Victim Mentality Propaganda".
Or in other words, "Portray the leadership as monsters, while portraying everyone else as helpless victims."
or how about C-R-A-P
relaxation induced anxiety via continued glossalalia? .... please gag me.
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hiway29
If you weren't 'working for the ministry' and they weren't 'compelling' you to do anything, then the wow 'guidelines' would have been suggestions not rules. You could only work part time. You could not leave the town. You were expected to witness 8 hours a day, and be at every meeting and event, and do anything else they decided to have you do. There were no optional choices.
Noone expected the way to provide medical insurance anyway. Since most of us were young and inexperienced, we never had much need for medical assistance , and those that did were branded with the scarlet (or way green) letter, as not believing, weak, possessed.
They would have done it if it were less expensive??!!!!???? Please-I know you know better than that!
Ever try going to a'higher up' when you were sick? That's a real 'blessing'. After being grilled about one's un belief, the 'leader' often as not would use that as a reason to dissect all your faults and spiritual problems, with a word of warning about how you're screwing up the wow family . If you were real lucky, he'd throw you a 'healing' then expect you to shut up about it from then on.
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rascal
oh YEAH....I forgot that we were only valuable to twi as long as we were producing......problems requiring medical care??? Sorry.... We don`t need anyone not able to turn a profit for us.....go on back to your unbeliever families since your believing wasn`t good enough to keep you healthy....
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Guess ya used too many big words jkbohme :P
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