So that's why I string my chair before each meal, suck those deablos spiritus into my vacume cleaner nightly and hum..."Like an Eagle' and "P.F.A.L" while I joyfully do the dishes. My life before TWI was...hurry up and eat so I can go have fun... could careless about dust bunnys and sang out loud "Sunshine of your Love" by Cream. I think I liked my life better before TWI....SOMEONE PLEASE SNAP ME BACK !!!!!!!! :blink: ;)
not a savior to those in need, but rather an oppressive jailer of humankind, not granting hurting people release from their prisons, but rather making sure nobody escapes twi's version of 'hotel california,'
I relate all to well to this. After getting sucked in and altruistically wanting to help people, I became the judge and jury condemning people and pointing out how pathetic their walk for God was because they lacked the head knowledge that I had and the discipline of TWIt involvement. :huh:
I became a totally different person, but the great thing is that once I figured out how to escape from Hotel California, I "snapped" back into the person I was before becoming entrenched with and oppressed by TWI.
Not exactly what JKB started but I have been thinking...
I was talking to someone who mentioned that some twiers changed drastically just by attending ROA one year. I think about other classes/events that people attended and wonder how it affected them.
One thing I have begun to realize is that at some point I turned all of my emotions off with the exception of anger and frustration. I read that that can happen under extreme pressure and tension or traumatic events. Now I am wondering which event(s) could have triggered it and how to turn my "good" emotions back on. I am assuming I truned off my emotions either during a face melting session or just the accumulation of pressure during in rez until being kicked out of corpse.
(((Penguin)))) just give yourself time friend.....you will be going through a whole range of emotions during your recovery process....all of the emotions that we supressed because they were considered 5 senses junk.
Those emotions are part of how God designed us....they are necessary to balance out the harshness of cold cruel logic that was touted as being *best* in twi.
You will experience the anger, the frustration, the sorrow....you will exhult in silliness, exuberant happiness...as you relearn to feel.
Due to the pressure in twi.....I had forgotten what it was to feel peace, to have confidence, a calm hope....I was around people this weekend that exuded these qualities and I remembered a time when I was that way.........I want to be that person again.
I believe that "snapping" is partly due to buying into the image of an exclusive group that "the world" is against. If you can be convinced that no one else has the truth, and everyone else out there hates you because of it, it's a short step to distancing yourself from family and friends, and changing all your habits and interactions.
It's a vicious circle: you make a statement that you believe to be the simple truth, but is incredibly insulting, your family is insulted and gets defensive, you see the defensiveness, perhaps your rudeness is met by some retalitatory rudeness and insults from your family. The cycle continues to escalate until you are purposfully distancing yourself from your loved ones. You think back and remember that you were warned that your family would reject you if they rejected "the Word". You smugly think you've got it all figured out and that Satan is running your family, blissfully unaware that your actions are driving them away; your family is convinced that you are brainwashed, totally clueless that they played a role in the self fullfilling prophecy.
I think I never snapped back..altho, I went thru this questioning of my thought those who left many years ago. I knew first thing is that TWI lied to me about many things, faithful remnant..lala,,,,etc. Working thru issues and questiong my own beliefs were a task unto itself...I was constantly trying to reach for understanding of how I let them lie to me and the ill effects it had on my personal life and those dear to me. I think learning to keep issues seperate one from another was a key for me. I still have a personal walk with God. I have learned that he accepts me therefore I still can love and help others..but there are times when Im so engrossed in myself that it is choking..I am use to not going to thru so much self analysis..blah blah...so I focus on things at hand...trying not to project to much into a place of perfection..that was there downfall..perfection unto them.....I trust we all have gone thru similar things..
Oakie- You have nailed some very important details....I agree wholeheartedly on how we effected people. I myself thought Iwas realy helping people to understand sin and the consequences of wrong and the completed works of CHrist, but after the deluge of wrong doctrine that was poured out over my last fews years while I was in, it was ater I left did I see myself as being selfrighteous.......I think as a whole we are dear people to God and even when we love, its still love.....what else is there??nothing!!! we all need to be loved.....that is what God is all about ..
I did take the class that you are refering that Catchup posted about. It was the crux to very destructive doctrine.
It’s quite obvious that TWI/Wierwille/Martindale did everything in their power to ‘explain away’ the fact that TWI was & is a harmful organization, regardless of the nomenclature utilized to describe TWI: high-demand religious group, alternative religious movement {ARM}, new religious movement {NRM}, totalitarian authoritarian sect, or just plain old cult.
To me, this indicates the unmistakable criminality of Wierwille, Martindale, & other top TWI leadership. They knew exactly what they were doing. In fact, TWI’s coordinated programs of covert psycho-social exploitative manipulative persuasion were strategically designed to destabilize & unfreeze a person’s true historical identity & replace it with TWI’s bogus ‘renewed mind,’ aka the TWI cultic pseudo-self & pseudo-identity. This destabilization process was neither haphazard nor accidental, but was purposefully strategically designed to do exactly what it did to most of us, whether by abrupt personality change or a more gradual mental invasion. Read the Jonestown similarities in Seductive Poison, by Deborah Layton.
And, interestingly enough, the manner in which TWI approached this process, is essentially outlined in TWI’s original Dealing with the Adversary class and Martindale’s 1992 release of Defeating the Adversary class.
The secret of TWI’s success in their covert packaged persuasion of us was & is the deceitful secrecy of their interventions.
The value {to Wierwille, Martindale, top leadership} & delusion of TWI’s counterfeit ministry is increased by the nearness of the likeness to a genuine ministry.
TWI is always adapting, in a chameleon-like fashion, to changing legal, political, social, & circumstantial concerns.
TWI is parasitic of the genuine love & pure-heartedness of the people it deceives into joining its ranks.
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 would be examples of Freudian slips, in the sense of VPW’s guilty conscience breaking through the bogus teaching to proclaim, “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.’” :o
Very acute observations, JKB! I think you're onto something there. They taught us how to recognize them for what they are but we didn't see it till we left - or, for some, once we saw it - we left.
Reminds me of this quote:
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
JKB, you said a lot of very insightfull things in your last post, but THIS in particular I think, needs to be matted, framed and hung on the wall around here.
TWI is parasitic of the genuine love & pure-heartedness of the people it deceives into joining its ranks.
So what were the sources for VPW's plagiarism that he so skillfully presented via rhetorical grandiloquence of his trance-inducing homiletics? As WW as pointed out in another thread, obviosly Leonard, Stiles, & Bullinger. As we dig the sources of TWI a bit deeper, we see that VPW's kantian rose-colored glasses were, well, much more so metaphysical than biblical.
The works of Leonard, Stiles, & Bullinger were the proximate sources for vpw's plagiarism. 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 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......
OM, I will leave it to those gsers inclined to habituate the doctrinal forum to enlighten us all on the 'true doctrines of Christianity.' My concerns do not lie in TWI doctrine, but in their unethical actions / practices / deeds / behaviors / conduct.
Please read the following very closely, OM.
Therefore, as disappointing as it is for some ex-twi to realize, the vast majority, if not essentially all, of the information in B.G. Leonard's class regarding the so-called 9 (supernatural) “manifestations” (of holy spirit), has its origins in non-biblical sources, and therefore the same goes for VPW's PFAL & LCM’s WAP.
Of the TWI materials directly unrelated to the “manifestations” per se, essentially all of these TWI teachings are once again seen to be contaminated by TWI’s metaphysical, proclivities and spin: twi’s bizzare hermetic “christ” of hybridized pagan mythological origin; twi’s heavy emphasis on its confabulated version of the “mystery;” TWI’s strange obsession with the Pauline Epistles over all other biblical writings, which epistles are regarded by many academics as being of strong Gnostic character; & others too numerous to mention.
There is nothing new under the sun. VPW / TWI knowingly utilized wholesale metaphysical repackaging of scripture. VPW’s hermetic “new ‘light’” regarding the scripture in general, and the “manifestations” in particular, was & is recycled arcana.
VPW realized the deep intrigue & interest that the Arcane would generate, as it always has, for its ancient roots lie very deep in the subconscious mind of all of humanity. VPW was not searching for power for abundant living, nor was he searching for the supposed long lost truths of the first century. His goal was to become wealthy by whatever means. His objectives were met by marketing the Arcane with a biblical façade. The entire “ministry” was & is a scam, consisting of the exciting bait of western esoteric spirituality, with a subsequent switch to fear-based hyper-legalism. The bait of course had to have a grand illusion of grace and love, in order to facilitate not only the initial recruitment, but also to enhance the hellish downward spiral into mind-bending way-brain. The entrapment of twi members, which was purposefully and strategically designed, employed techniques/practices/deeds/actions/behaviors of unethical packaged persuasion. The “beliefs” were really irrelevant to Wierwille’s purposes, it’s just that the Arcane with a Biblical façade was the easiest for lazy VPW to develop & market.
OM, perhaps you are not your own (true historical self), just maybe you were bought with a price, you were forged with the non-consented mental manipulation of a homiletics’ master. Determine what need the Arcane fills in your life, & you might discover an explanation for your irrational devotion to the Hierophantic Hermes of our time, your ‘father’ in the metaphysical ‘Word,’ Herr Vierville.
(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.
Actually I have no interest in attacking TWI doctrine. My interest there is in regards to exposing Wierwilles plagiarism, fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, stealing, & lying. Threfore, I traced in history the proximate & remote, even ancient, sources of his plagiarism.
My real interest is in seeing justice served on TWI / BOT / BOD / & top leadership for their unethical & probably illegal actions / practices / behaviors / deeds / conduct of exploitative manipulation, much of which lies in the realm of TWI's strategic coordinated programs of psycho-social packaged persuasion, designed by TWI to covertly induce 'waybrain.' Congratulations, OM, you have experienced an excellent take on TWI's efforts, in that some 15-20 years after having departed from TWI, you still would appear to be irrationally devoted to it, even though you have witnessed postings here @ gs for about 4-5 years. What gives, OM?
If all your theories about twi paganism, trances and brainwashing were true, it would be impossible for folks to "eat the fish, and spit out the bones" like so many have done.
You seem to leave no room for the possibility that twi taught godly truths that one may enjoy and build on, without being held captive to the twi organization.
I don't even buy your theory that folks are entrapped there, even today. Folks have free will.
I don't even buy your theory that folks are entrapped there, even today. Folks have free will.
Folks may still "officially" have free will, but most I have encountered have fully swallowed twi bull.... that "they are the only true household of God", that "If you leave God's protection and blessings will be off of your life" and that "there is nothing else out there." Most innies I have seen are paralyzed by fear and belief of the above doctrines. Many are unhappy but don't believe they can really do anything about it. Others continue to keep themselves "in the dark" and in denial of how dead twi is.
I think that the *eating the fish n spitting out the bones* is just a euphanism for being unable to come to grips with the enormous doctrinal and practical errors in twi....or the inability to grasp the true nature of the false prophets who decieved us with this doctrine.
It can also be an excuse for some who are unable to accept their role in the damage that they inflicted....an inability to admit that they were wrong....and thus are able to remain comfortably cocooned in the false doctrine....making it unnecessary to undergo the hard work required to begin the path of healing.
Folks may still "officially" have free will, but most I have encountered have fully swallowed twi bull.... that "they are the only true household of God", that "If you leave God's protection and blessings will be off of your life" and that "there is nothing else out there." ...
Penguin,
What you describe may not be much different than Roman Catholics, and other religions.
And so I prefer to let folks decide for themselves what religion they wish to participate in, without condemnation.
I prefer not to paint most in twi with a broad brush, that they are unhappy, paralyzed, full of fear, want to get out, can't get out, yada yada yada...
Don't you realize this is insulting to people?
Let folks choose what church they want, and then let them live with the blessings/consequences of their own choosing.
I prefer not to paint most in twi with a broad brush, that they are unhappy, paralyzed, full of fear, want to get out, can't get out, yada yada yada...
Precisely because YOU never experienced this and because YOU weren't involved during the past ten years AND because you are without compassion and understanding of victims and unable to admit any serious abuse by TWI does NOT MEAN that it didn't happen.
I can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt that AT LEAST 50% of the people in my area felt the way that Penguin describes. I know - I talked to many of them. They contacted me after I left to tell me that they admired my ability to stand up for myself and to "do something about it" even though they couldn't. They're trapped. I KNOW HOW THAT IS - AND IT'S ALL TOO REAL!! I lived it for over five years.
Don't paint if you don't want to but it doesn't change the fact that Penguin is correct.
In my best Forrest Gump voice.... "And that's all I've got to say about that."
As Way believers we been teach to do our best for the Highest, full of holy spirit -- but we still humans, and when we get in do not know and do not understand the presure the devil is going to put on us. The most near headquarters you are more presure. The more commited more presure, if you get afraid you paid. The is really bad. John 10:10. And the arena is in your mind.
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jkboehme
In another thread {Wierwille, Jonestown, & "cults"} I mentioned how VPW & LCM, in ~ December 1978, endeavored to 'explain away' the existence of cults, & insisted that twi itself just coul
lilbit
So that's why I string my chair before each meal, suck those deablos spiritus into my vacume cleaner nightly and hum..."Like an Eagle' and "P.F.A.L" while I joyfully do the dishes. My life before TWI was...hurry up and eat so I can go have fun... could careless about dust bunnys and sang out loud "Sunshine of your Love" by Cream. I think I liked my life better before TWI....SOMEONE PLEASE SNAP ME BACK !!!!!!!! :blink: ;)
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Belle
I relate all to well to this. After getting sucked in and altruistically wanting to help people, I became the judge and jury condemning people and pointing out how pathetic their walk for God was because they lacked the head knowledge that I had and the discipline of TWIt involvement. :huh:
I became a totally different person, but the great thing is that once I figured out how to escape from Hotel California, I "snapped" back into the person I was before becoming entrenched with and oppressed by TWI.
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coolchef1248 @adelphia.net
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justloafing
The new Cream cd and dvr is good.
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penguin
Not exactly what JKB started but I have been thinking...
I was talking to someone who mentioned that some twiers changed drastically just by attending ROA one year. I think about other classes/events that people attended and wonder how it affected them.
One thing I have begun to realize is that at some point I turned all of my emotions off with the exception of anger and frustration. I read that that can happen under extreme pressure and tension or traumatic events. Now I am wondering which event(s) could have triggered it and how to turn my "good" emotions back on. I am assuming I truned off my emotions either during a face melting session or just the accumulation of pressure during in rez until being kicked out of corpse.
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rascal
(((Penguin)))) just give yourself time friend.....you will be going through a whole range of emotions during your recovery process....all of the emotions that we supressed because they were considered 5 senses junk.
Those emotions are part of how God designed us....they are necessary to balance out the harshness of cold cruel logic that was touted as being *best* in twi.
You will experience the anger, the frustration, the sorrow....you will exhult in silliness, exuberant happiness...as you relearn to feel.
Due to the pressure in twi.....I had forgotten what it was to feel peace, to have confidence, a calm hope....I was around people this weekend that exuded these qualities and I remembered a time when I was that way.........I want to be that person again.
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Oakspear
I believe that "snapping" is partly due to buying into the image of an exclusive group that "the world" is against. If you can be convinced that no one else has the truth, and everyone else out there hates you because of it, it's a short step to distancing yourself from family and friends, and changing all your habits and interactions.
It's a vicious circle: you make a statement that you believe to be the simple truth, but is incredibly insulting, your family is insulted and gets defensive, you see the defensiveness, perhaps your rudeness is met by some retalitatory rudeness and insults from your family. The cycle continues to escalate until you are purposfully distancing yourself from your loved ones. You think back and remember that you were warned that your family would reject you if they rejected "the Word". You smugly think you've got it all figured out and that Satan is running your family, blissfully unaware that your actions are driving them away; your family is convinced that you are brainwashed, totally clueless that they played a role in the self fullfilling prophecy.
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likeaneagle
I think I never snapped back..altho, I went thru this questioning of my thought those who left many years ago. I knew first thing is that TWI lied to me about many things, faithful remnant..lala,,,,etc. Working thru issues and questiong my own beliefs were a task unto itself...I was constantly trying to reach for understanding of how I let them lie to me and the ill effects it had on my personal life and those dear to me. I think learning to keep issues seperate one from another was a key for me. I still have a personal walk with God. I have learned that he accepts me therefore I still can love and help others..but there are times when Im so engrossed in myself that it is choking..I am use to not going to thru so much self analysis..blah blah...so I focus on things at hand...trying not to project to much into a place of perfection..that was there downfall..perfection unto them.....I trust we all have gone thru similar things..
Oakie- You have nailed some very important details....I agree wholeheartedly on how we effected people. I myself thought Iwas realy helping people to understand sin and the consequences of wrong and the completed works of CHrist, but after the deluge of wrong doctrine that was poured out over my last fews years while I was in, it was ater I left did I see myself as being selfrighteous.......I think as a whole we are dear people to God and even when we love, its still love.....what else is there??nothing!!! we all need to be loved.....that is what God is all about ..
I did take the class that you are refering that Catchup posted about. It was the crux to very destructive doctrine.
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jkboehme
Redux of Snapping, TWI, & Jonestown
All that follows is my opinions on these matters.
It’s quite obvious that TWI/Wierwille/Martindale did everything in their power to ‘explain away’ the fact that TWI was & is a harmful organization, regardless of the nomenclature utilized to describe TWI: high-demand religious group, alternative religious movement {ARM}, new religious movement {NRM}, totalitarian authoritarian sect, or just plain old cult.
To me, this indicates the unmistakable criminality of Wierwille, Martindale, & other top TWI leadership. They knew exactly what they were doing. In fact, TWI’s coordinated programs of covert psycho-social exploitative manipulative persuasion were strategically designed to destabilize & unfreeze a person’s true historical identity & replace it with TWI’s bogus ‘renewed mind,’ aka the TWI cultic pseudo-self & pseudo-identity. This destabilization process was neither haphazard nor accidental, but was purposefully strategically designed to do exactly what it did to most of us, whether by abrupt personality change or a more gradual mental invasion. Read the Jonestown similarities in Seductive Poison, by Deborah Layton.
And, interestingly enough, the manner in which TWI approached this process, is essentially outlined in TWI’s original Dealing with the Adversary class and Martindale’s 1992 release of Defeating the Adversary class.
The secret of TWI’s success in their covert packaged persuasion of us was & is the deceitful secrecy of their interventions.
The value {to Wierwille, Martindale, top leadership} & delusion of TWI’s counterfeit ministry is increased by the nearness of the likeness to a genuine ministry.
TWI is always adapting, in a chameleon-like fashion, to changing legal, political, social, & circumstantial concerns.
TWI is parasitic of the genuine love & pure-heartedness of the people it deceives into joining its ranks.
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 would be examples of Freudian slips, in the sense of VPW’s guilty conscience breaking through the bogus teaching to proclaim, “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.’” :o
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Belle
Very acute observations, JKB! I think you're onto something there. They taught us how to recognize them for what they are but we didn't see it till we left - or, for some, once we saw it - we left.
Reminds me of this quote:
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Mohandas Gandhi
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rascal
JKB, you said a lot of very insightfull things in your last post, but THIS in particular I think, needs to be matted, framed and hung on the wall around here.
TWI is parasitic of the genuine love & pure-heartedness of the people it deceives into joining its ranks.
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jkboehme
So what were the sources for VPW's plagiarism that he so skillfully presented via rhetorical grandiloquence of his trance-inducing homiletics? As WW as pointed out in another thread, obviosly Leonard, Stiles, & Bullinger. As we dig the sources of TWI a bit deeper, we see that VPW's kantian rose-colored glasses were, well, much more so metaphysical than biblical.
The works of Leonard, Stiles, & Bullinger were the proximate sources for vpw's plagiarism. 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 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......
:o
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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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jkboehme
OM, I will leave it to those gsers inclined to habituate the doctrinal forum to enlighten us all on the 'true doctrines of Christianity.' My concerns do not lie in TWI doctrine, but in their unethical actions / practices / deeds / behaviors / conduct.
Please read the following very closely, OM.
Therefore, as disappointing as it is for some ex-twi to realize, the vast majority, if not essentially all, of the information in B.G. Leonard's class regarding the so-called 9 (supernatural) “manifestations” (of holy spirit), has its origins in non-biblical sources, and therefore the same goes for VPW's PFAL & LCM’s WAP.
Of the TWI materials directly unrelated to the “manifestations” per se, essentially all of these TWI teachings are once again seen to be contaminated by TWI’s metaphysical, proclivities and spin: twi’s bizzare hermetic “christ” of hybridized pagan mythological origin; twi’s heavy emphasis on its confabulated version of the “mystery;” TWI’s strange obsession with the Pauline Epistles over all other biblical writings, which epistles are regarded by many academics as being of strong Gnostic character; & others too numerous to mention.
There is nothing new under the sun. VPW / TWI knowingly utilized wholesale metaphysical repackaging of scripture. VPW’s hermetic “new ‘light’” regarding the scripture in general, and the “manifestations” in particular, was & is recycled arcana.
VPW realized the deep intrigue & interest that the Arcane would generate, as it always has, for its ancient roots lie very deep in the subconscious mind of all of humanity. VPW was not searching for power for abundant living, nor was he searching for the supposed long lost truths of the first century. His goal was to become wealthy by whatever means. His objectives were met by marketing the Arcane with a biblical façade. The entire “ministry” was & is a scam, consisting of the exciting bait of western esoteric spirituality, with a subsequent switch to fear-based hyper-legalism. The bait of course had to have a grand illusion of grace and love, in order to facilitate not only the initial recruitment, but also to enhance the hellish downward spiral into mind-bending way-brain. The entrapment of twi members, which was purposefully and strategically designed, employed techniques/practices/deeds/actions/behaviors of unethical packaged persuasion. The “beliefs” were really irrelevant to Wierwille’s purposes, it’s just that the Arcane with a Biblical façade was the easiest for lazy VPW to develop & market.
OM, perhaps you are not your own (true historical self), just maybe you were bought with a price, you were forged with the non-consented mental manipulation of a homiletics’ master. Determine what need the Arcane fills in your life, & you might discover an explanation for your irrational devotion to the Hierophantic Hermes of our time, your ‘father’ in the metaphysical ‘Word,’ Herr Vierville.
:blink:
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jkboehme
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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bliss
Ahhhhh, the Matrix, good movie.
Not sure if I can handle it in real life....oh wait, what is real? Life?
Is this snapping?
I need time for this to digest. But, time is a luxery I rarely have.
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oldiesman
Jkboehme,
Your concerns do not lie in twi doctrine, yet you attack it as repackaged paganism?
Whatever.
Thanks for your deep insight on what true Christianity is.
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jkboehme
Most excellent question, OM.
Actually I have no interest in attacking TWI doctrine. My interest there is in regards to exposing Wierwilles plagiarism, fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, stealing, & lying. Threfore, I traced in history the proximate & remote, even ancient, sources of his plagiarism.
My real interest is in seeing justice served on TWI / BOT / BOD / & top leadership for their unethical & probably illegal actions / practices / behaviors / deeds / conduct of exploitative manipulation, much of which lies in the realm of TWI's strategic coordinated programs of psycho-social packaged persuasion, designed by TWI to covertly induce 'waybrain.' Congratulations, OM, you have experienced an excellent take on TWI's efforts, in that some 15-20 years after having departed from TWI, you still would appear to be irrationally devoted to it, even though you have witnessed postings here @ gs for about 4-5 years. What gives, OM?
:)
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oldiesman
Jkboehme,
If all your theories about twi paganism, trances and brainwashing were true, it would be impossible for folks to "eat the fish, and spit out the bones" like so many have done.
You seem to leave no room for the possibility that twi taught godly truths that one may enjoy and build on, without being held captive to the twi organization.
I don't even buy your theory that folks are entrapped there, even today. Folks have free will.
You insult people.
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penguin
Oldies,
Folks may still "officially" have free will, but most I have encountered have fully swallowed twi bull.... that "they are the only true household of God", that "If you leave God's protection and blessings will be off of your life" and that "there is nothing else out there." Most innies I have seen are paralyzed by fear and belief of the above doctrines. Many are unhappy but don't believe they can really do anything about it. Others continue to keep themselves "in the dark" and in denial of how dead twi is.
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rascal
I think that the *eating the fish n spitting out the bones* is just a euphanism for being unable to come to grips with the enormous doctrinal and practical errors in twi....or the inability to grasp the true nature of the false prophets who decieved us with this doctrine.
It can also be an excuse for some who are unable to accept their role in the damage that they inflicted....an inability to admit that they were wrong....and thus are able to remain comfortably cocooned in the false doctrine....making it unnecessary to undergo the hard work required to begin the path of healing.
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oldiesman
Penguin,
What you describe may not be much different than Roman Catholics, and other religions.
And so I prefer to let folks decide for themselves what religion they wish to participate in, without condemnation.
I prefer not to paint most in twi with a broad brush, that they are unhappy, paralyzed, full of fear, want to get out, can't get out, yada yada yada...
Don't you realize this is insulting to people?
Let folks choose what church they want, and then let them live with the blessings/consequences of their own choosing.
;)
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Belle
OM you sound like a broken record:
Precisely because YOU never experienced this and because YOU weren't involved during the past ten years AND because you are without compassion and understanding of victims and unable to admit any serious abuse by TWI does NOT MEAN that it didn't happen.
I can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt that AT LEAST 50% of the people in my area felt the way that Penguin describes. I know - I talked to many of them. They contacted me after I left to tell me that they admired my ability to stand up for myself and to "do something about it" even though they couldn't. They're trapped. I KNOW HOW THAT IS - AND IT'S ALL TOO REAL!! I lived it for over five years.
Don't paint if you don't want to but it doesn't change the fact that Penguin is correct.
In my best Forrest Gump voice.... "And that's all I've got to say about that."
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themex
As Way believers we been teach to do our best for the Highest, full of holy spirit -- but we still humans, and when we get in do not know and do not understand the presure the devil is going to put on us. The most near headquarters you are more presure. The more commited more presure, if you get afraid you paid. The
is really bad. John 10:10. And the arena is in your mind.
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