By the time I got involved (early 80s) I think it was already becoming "ill defined"... on purpose. I vaguely remember hearing the specifics about what "word over the world" would mean, but much, much more often I heard it defined as "the truth of the word --- of course being taught via twi --- would be AVAILABLE to every man, woman, and child on the planet". By that definition, you can see how Martindale stretched his little brain to come up with the concept that it WAS over the world, because the classes had been available in most of the major world languages, and into many countries, for a few years at that point. His reasoning was that, if God wanted them to hear the word, it was reachable in a nearby country and God would open the doors for them to find it. People didn't have to come all the way to America to get it.
Now, I'm not in any way defending his rationale. It doesn't even come close to "a twig on every block", which I do distinctly remember being taught... (was it during that Vic class on what a Twig was?... wonder if I still have those old class notes?) Sorry, I digress...
At this point I am not quite sure if I heard it or imagined it but my general belief was that " each and every person would have an opportunity to say yes or no" to the word of wierwille.
I even sat down and did the math one time and figured that if i won a person or two a year and they in turn did the same that the multiplication would work out to cover the earth in way less than a lifetime. It was a long shot but at the time seemed doable. Anything less than each and every person hearing seemed cheap to me at the time----
Glad Ive changed my views on a lot of things since then---but the way they think now with about 3or 4,000 people out of 6 Billion is ludicrous
Ever heard that one? I hold this notion to be completely false, but I've heard many a respectable "believer" make the link between WOW and the return of Jesus Christ for his Saints. They claimed, basically, that when we get the Word over the World, Jesus Christ will appear. As if we had any control over that! Lends some urgency to witnessing, though , doesn't it!
Ever heard that one? I hold this notion to be completely false, but I've heard many a respectable "believer" make the link between WOW and the return of Jesus Christ for his Saints. They claimed, basically, that when we get the Word over the World, Jesus Christ will appear. ...
I do remember something like this, but if memory serves, it wasn't "word of the world", it was "everybody hearing the word", something like that -- and there was a verse of scripture that we used to back that up, but I can't find it right now.
“Word” over the world my as*! The hermetic, plagiarized ‘word of wierwille’ hardly went anywhere. Perhaps 100,000 people even ever took foundational pfal; of those, perhaps 20,000 were ‘active’ at any one time {my estimates}. Don’t have the census info in front of me, but presuming the USA population was ~ 275 million in ~ 1985, then 100,000 / 275,000,000 = 0.0003636 or 3.6 hundredths of 1% of people in the USA ‘had a chance to accept or reject the word of wierwille.’ The percentages globally would of course be even less. If 200,000 people worldwide took the pfal class, presuming a global population of ~ 3,000,000,000 in the Fall of 1995 when martinpuke promoted the ‘present truth’ of this grand lie, the percentage would be even less @ 0.0000666 or 6.7 thousandths of 1%.
As many gs posters have documented, the ‘word of wierwille,’ being of the ‘Word of Faith’ category, derives from E.W. Kenyon whose influences were significantly hermetic in nature, i.e., pagan mythology. The so-called ‘Law of believing,’ ‘believing images of victory,’ ‘prevailing pictures of power,’ twi’s mystery, twi’s hybridized ‘christ,’ & other twi bs too numerous to mention, are all part and parcel of the hermetica, with a little gnosticism, pentecostalism, & fundamentalism thrown in for good measure.
I even sat down and did the math one time and figured that if i won a person or two a year and they in turn did the same that the multiplication would work out to cover the earth in way less than a lifetime. It was a long shot but at the time seemed doable.
The problem with this exponential growth is that it assumes that everyone who hears "the Word" would pass it on to another one or two a year. If I speak the Word to one or two people a year, and they reckon me an idiot, then only about 100 people hear the Word in my lifetime.
In 1975 I heard that the goal of WOW was to hasten the return of Christ. So if we witnessed aggresively and went WOW then we could look forward to The Return. Later, , sometime in the early 80s, I heard that this was no longer true. Like most of the hair-barined teachings of TWI, none of this was ever written down in book or article. It was like in 76 when there was supposed to have been an attempt against the US government. This was not documented yet everyone knew about it. Of course when nothing happened the credit went to VPW for instructing us to pray about it. The thing that makes me angry about these things it that there are VPW defenders who will claim that stuff like thi snever happened (Even though they know it did) and they will always say someting like "well show me any way publication or teaching from that time that says
that". Hell, of course they know that most of those whacky teachings were all verbally related so that there never would be a record of them. They just want to play dumb about it to keep the VPW legacy alive which it is - just not in the glowing light they would like.
I have met less than a dozen people in my entire time out of TWI who have even heard of it much less know what it is. The usual dialog is
ME: I was involved with a cult
HEARER: Which one?
ME: The Way International
HEARER: Huh??
And that is here in Alaska population 650,000 or so. If that haven't managed to reach 650,000 here how on earth can that claim "word over the World"??!?? :blink:
In my opinion, "Word Over the World" was never any more than a slogan, devised by Wierwille to keep us pumped up and keep new members pouring in.
I agree, Martindale had to come up with his own unique stamp on TWI to boost his MOGness.
Interesting that Rosie and the current Board of Directors, although they rarely if ever even mention Martindale's name, still hold to this "revelation" from a man who didn't understand that screwing other guys' wives was wrong.
That's the exact point that really gets on my nerves. That there has never really been a reconsideration of what lcm taught--considering what he was DOING while teaching!
oakie, I was in then..I do remember that statement on SST---my memories says, your right.It was every person whowasseeking The Ministry's God could be reached.
I definitely remember people asking "does this mean the Christ is coming back now" when they announced that the Word was over the world, but I'd never heard that doctrine official taught. Was this ever propounded at an official teaching, or is this another one of the many doctrines that were spread by word of mouth and never officially documented. How convenient those unwritten laws were. They could totally change them or backpeddle them at will.
I know a mechanic named Jim, who replaced my water pump in Gunnison so maany maany years ago. To me, this fixed water pump meant the Word was verily over the World, at least the world of TJ & Co ...
Thank God for Jim. He should have been a trustee...
Our fellowship wrote a bunch of scripture verses down - you know, like "choose life or choose death" and "woe unto the man who does not hearken to the word of God"....those kinds of uplifting things that really get people's attention.....We put them in a bunch of helium balloons and sent them up into the wild blue yonder....THAT'S when the word went over the world.
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TheHighWay
By the time I got involved (early 80s) I think it was already becoming "ill defined"... on purpose. I vaguely remember hearing the specifics about what "word over the world" would mean, but much, much more often I heard it defined as "the truth of the word --- of course being taught via twi --- would be AVAILABLE to every man, woman, and child on the planet". By that definition, you can see how Martindale stretched his little brain to come up with the concept that it WAS over the world, because the classes had been available in most of the major world languages, and into many countries, for a few years at that point. His reasoning was that, if God wanted them to hear the word, it was reachable in a nearby country and God would open the doors for them to find it. People didn't have to come all the way to America to get it.
Now, I'm not in any way defending his rationale. It doesn't even come close to "a twig on every block", which I do distinctly remember being taught... (was it during that Vic class on what a Twig was?... wonder if I still have those old class notes?) Sorry, I digress...
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mstar1
At this point I am not quite sure if I heard it or imagined it but my general belief was that " each and every person would have an opportunity to say yes or no" to the word of wierwille.
I even sat down and did the math one time and figured that if i won a person or two a year and they in turn did the same that the multiplication would work out to cover the earth in way less than a lifetime. It was a long shot but at the time seemed doable. Anything less than each and every person hearing seemed cheap to me at the time----
Glad Ive changed my views on a lot of things since then---but the way they think now with about 3or 4,000 people out of 6 Billion is ludicrous
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motorhead
Word over the World = Jesus is coming back.
Ever heard that one? I hold this notion to be completely false, but I've heard many a respectable "believer" make the link between WOW and the return of Jesus Christ for his Saints. They claimed, basically, that when we get the Word over the World, Jesus Christ will appear. As if we had any control over that! Lends some urgency to witnessing, though , doesn't it!
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oldiesman
A twig fellowship in every town and community.
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oldiesman
I do remember something like this, but if memory serves, it wasn't "word of the world", it was "everybody hearing the word", something like that -- and there was a verse of scripture that we used to back that up, but I can't find it right now.
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excathedra
there's a site called word over the world wide web.... let's ask them
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WordWolf
I heard the one mstar1 heard.
(That everyone would have the chance to hear,
and to accept or reject.)
That vpw taught this is obvious from reading "Lifelines",
where he said that once you've spoken God's Word to
someone and they've rejected it,
you have no reponsibility to try again with that
person until you've spoken it once to everyone
ELSE in the world.
The verse you were thinking of, Oldies,
is II Peter 3:9.
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness;
but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance."
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jkboehme
My opinion of these matters:
“Word” over the world my as*! The hermetic, plagiarized ‘word of wierwille’ hardly went anywhere. Perhaps 100,000 people even ever took foundational pfal; of those, perhaps 20,000 were ‘active’ at any one time {my estimates}. Don’t have the census info in front of me, but presuming the USA population was ~ 275 million in ~ 1985, then 100,000 / 275,000,000 = 0.0003636 or 3.6 hundredths of 1% of people in the USA ‘had a chance to accept or reject the word of wierwille.’ The percentages globally would of course be even less. If 200,000 people worldwide took the pfal class, presuming a global population of ~ 3,000,000,000 in the Fall of 1995 when martinpuke promoted the ‘present truth’ of this grand lie, the percentage would be even less @ 0.0000666 or 6.7 thousandths of 1%.
As many gs posters have documented, the ‘word of wierwille,’ being of the ‘Word of Faith’ category, derives from E.W. Kenyon whose influences were significantly hermetic in nature, i.e., pagan mythology. The so-called ‘Law of believing,’ ‘believing images of victory,’ ‘prevailing pictures of power,’ twi’s mystery, twi’s hybridized ‘christ,’ & other twi bs too numerous to mention, are all part and parcel of the hermetica, with a little gnosticism, pentecostalism, & fundamentalism thrown in for good measure.
What a bunch of crap-ola!!! :o :blink: :(
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oldiesman
Nah that wasn't the verse.
It was a verse that suggested that once everyone heard the word, then the Lord would return or something like that. I wish I could remember it.
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excathedra
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. Matt. 24:14 ?
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oldiesman
That's it, thank you Excathedra. :)
Gee you are more brainwashed than me. :o
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GeorgeStGeorge
The problem with this exponential growth is that it assumes that everyone who hears "the Word" would pass it on to another one or two a year. If I speak the Word to one or two people a year, and they reckon me an idiot, then only about 100 people hear the Word in my lifetime.
George
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diazbro
In 1975 I heard that the goal of WOW was to hasten the return of Christ. So if we witnessed aggresively and went WOW then we could look forward to The Return. Later, , sometime in the early 80s, I heard that this was no longer true. Like most of the hair-barined teachings of TWI, none of this was ever written down in book or article. It was like in 76 when there was supposed to have been an attempt against the US government. This was not documented yet everyone knew about it. Of course when nothing happened the credit went to VPW for instructing us to pray about it. The thing that makes me angry about these things it that there are VPW defenders who will claim that stuff like thi snever happened (Even though they know it did) and they will always say someting like "well show me any way publication or teaching from that time that says
that". Hell, of course they know that most of those whacky teachings were all verbally related so that there never would be a record of them. They just want to play dumb about it to keep the VPW legacy alive which it is - just not in the glowing light they would like.
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templelady
I have met less than a dozen people in my entire time out of TWI who have even heard of it much less know what it is. The usual dialog is
ME: I was involved with a cult
HEARER: Which one?
ME: The Way International
HEARER: Huh??
And that is here in Alaska population 650,000 or so. If that haven't managed to reach 650,000 here how on earth can that claim "word over the World"??!?? :blink:
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WordWolf
See,
you're thinking it had to MAKE SENSE.
It was not ABOUT "making sense".
It was about CRAIG.
lcm wanted a big announcement on "his watch",
which vpw never had.
Being lcm, this was what he could think of.
It gave him the excuse to cancel the ROA,
which was on his agenda to cancel anyway.
Now he could cancel it and claim a flimsy pretext,
as opposed to just cancelling it.
As we all know,
lcm claiming a flimsy pretext resulted in
SOME people believing in him.
I mean,
even with 20/20 hindsight showing he
steered twi straight for the sun,
some people STILL think it was a godly
request for him to DEMAND blind obedience.
So,
if BLIND OBEDIENCE on a flimsy pretext works,
then certainly cancelling the ROA on one
would work BETTER.
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Oakspear
In my opinion, "Word Over the World" was never any more than a slogan, devised by Wierwille to keep us pumped up and keep new members pouring in.
I agree, Martindale had to come up with his own unique stamp on TWI to boost his MOGness.
Interesting that Rosie and the current Board of Directors, although they rarely if ever even mention Martindale's name, still hold to this "revelation" from a man who didn't understand that screwing other guys' wives was wrong.
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penguin
That's the exact point that really gets on my nerves. That there has never really been a reconsideration of what lcm taught--considering what he was DOING while teaching!
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tomtuttle1
Funny, I thought Word over the World would happen when all the women in the kingdom belonged to the king ...
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likeaneagle
oakie, I was in then..I do remember that statement on SST---my memories says, your right.It was every person whowasseeking The Ministry's God could be reached.
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Jim
Word over the World was when everyone either drove or fixed a WOWmobile.
Truly "paradise on earth" for car mechanics....
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Nato
I definitely remember people asking "does this mean the Christ is coming back now" when they announced that the Word was over the world, but I'd never heard that doctrine official taught. Was this ever propounded at an official teaching, or is this another one of the many doctrines that were spread by word of mouth and never officially documented. How convenient those unwritten laws were. They could totally change them or backpeddle them at will.
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tomtuttle1
I know a mechanic named Jim, who replaced my water pump in Gunnison so maany maany years ago. To me, this fixed water pump meant the Word was verily over the World, at least the world of TJ & Co ...
Thank God for Jim. He should have been a trustee...
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Belle
Our fellowship wrote a bunch of scripture verses down - you know, like "choose life or choose death" and "woe unto the man who does not hearken to the word of God"....those kinds of uplifting things that really get people's attention.....We put them in a bunch of helium balloons and sent them up into the wild blue yonder....THAT'S when the word went over the world.
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LornaDoone
Very good Belle.
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