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i don't know...do they have Drambuie on tap? there seems to be something "spiritual" going on with that hand eyeballing me

Hi DogLover! By no means did I intend to criticize your question, nor would I criticize anyone for honestly questioning anything DPW taught or implied. I simply tried to define the context in which your question is set, i.e. wierwille's advanced class. It is within THAT context that I posted what I did above. I apologize if you took any personal offense at what I posted. I meant no such offense to come from what I wrote. Love and peace to you.

At the age of 66, I am currently working on a masters degree in theological studies at the Anderson University School of Theology. The mission of the school is to form women and men for the ministry of biblical reconciliation. The religious organization behind the SOT was never fundamentalist, though they have a high view of scripture. Students come from various denominational backgrounds and are prepared to serve in whatever denominational structure they feel called to go into. Members of the faculty hold differing opinions on some major issues, but have agreed to disagree, viewing fellowship in Christ as more important than any kind of doctrinal "purity." Several of the younger professors are rising stars in the Society of Biblical Literature. I have been taking classes here since the fall of 2011. I have maybe a year or two to go depending on how my health holds out. When I originally came here, I had to ask myself if I was going to reveal the time I spent with The Way International. Sometimes when people ask my background I give them my smarta$$ answer that I am a Free Range Baptist... I believe in baptism but not in cages... but generally I have been open with people about my involvement with TWI, both in class and in casual discussion. Far from being looked down on for having been involved with a cult, people seem to be fascinated by the perspective that I can offer to the conversation. Right now, I am taking a class called "Spiritual Formation" which is odd because it's supposed to be one of the very first classes a student takes. All my classmates are in their very first semester, and I am in my what... ninth? One of the functions of the Spiritual Formation class is to encourage students to form habits that will help them succeed at the SOT... making budgets, managing time, participating in small prayer groups, telling stories, etc. ... many of the same things I was doing exactly 30 years ago in my first block in residence with the 16th Corps at Emporia. I have to go take care of some unexpected things. This will tie back into cult prevention when I get the chance to continue... Love, Steve

Amen and AMEN! ... for all the reasons you mentioned.

Is it "fairly well known that there were lesbian relationships"? Donna and Rosie, certainly, and the two women living in the basement (one of whom claimed to have been delivered from lesbianism). Others? I don't know. I wasn't aware of any of that whilst I was in rez. Craig spent months on Corps nights yelling about homos. Months! Months venting his "spiritual anger" upon us. And routing or outing males supposedly caught "in flagrante." Whether they really were or not, who knows. One of the men so "outed" had been very keen on me at one time (until that friendship got banned by LCM) and I got no sense that that man was other than interested in women. It was the standard departure slander, to say that a male was homosexual and a female was lesbian; I doubt most of it was true...maybe some were, but so many? If there were so many homos/lesbians, what had happened to CP1 (in-depth spiritual perception and awareness) that either or both of VPW/LCM had let these people get in/these devil spirits infiltrate? (And don't give me that "fog years" junk). Really, LCM was venting his anger and frustration at the way his wife was being stolen from him by Rosie. A bit of a change, the boot on the other foot - when he had stolen so many other men's wives. A taste of his own medicine - and he felt powerless to stop it. Serves him bloody well right.

"What exactly was ever a secret about The Way? Any wrong-doings The Way did, the followers everywhere knew about. At least since before I was born." Being much younger than me, I can understand why it may seem that way to you. (I took the class as an adult in 1972.) Really, though, many of us didn't know much of what was going on behind the scenes. Sure, we would see this leader or that do things that appeared suspicious. Speaking for myself, I thought some of these shenanigans were one-off events. In fact, that's how LCM tried to play it off when he was exposed. I had no idea how widespread the problems were. And, you can't go playing snitch to the leadership just because you have a suspicion. I discussed that in another post, earlier today. (Just the Facts by Dana Fort/post #49) These things were carefully hidden from the rank and file believers in local areas. It took participation in a training program, where you have to stay in character 24/7, for me to even get a glimpse of what was beginning to look fishy to me. And that was just a peek. So, when you say "Any wrong-doings The Way did, the followers everywhere knew about.", I have to strongly disagree with you. Even as these posts appear, there is a remnant of the old-timers and some of their recruits who STILL refuse to accept the reality of it all.

Charlene..... Wonderful piece, as usual, from your blog. In response to your invitation for input, I submit the following for your consideration along with that of The Greasespot community. As you, I too am interested in opinions, comments, snide remarks about what I post. Thank you all for the same. Identity theft in terms of "how did vic affect my identity formation"? Very interesting question. It requires intense self-reflection and introspection, neither highly objective when dealing with such fundamentally crucial issues of being human. The process of identity formation is a lifelong process. It has been studied, analyzed, digitalized, and described often, by various scientific, sociologic, and psychiatric disciplines. One well-known Behavioral Psycholgist has described a lifelong process of Human Developmental Stages by identifying 8 different stages spanning a typical human lifespan of 76-80 years in the populations of "developed" nations. The critical stage we're specifically addressing here is called "Identity Formation", and the thesis identifies the typical age range or time period of this stage as taking place during the ages of 20-32. If one looks back at the common experience many of those of us involved deeply with vic's way, it is not surprising that many of us devoted those years of critical identity formation to activities like fellowship, WOW, and most deadly, the way corpse "training". Here in the Uniied States, the average person between the ages of 20-32 is doing what? Attending and graduating from college or trade school, leaving home and striking out on their own, developing a sexual , social, and intellectual identity, experience profound relationships with males and females inside and outside the nuclear family. Decisions like career/profession, marriage or not, children or not, more education or different education or not, travel.......all those things, kind of bubble, bubble, toil and trouble around for 10-12 years and badda-bing, there we are approaching middle age before we even know it.......LOL! Now, throw all that onto the "WOW field" or into "The Way Corps", under the totaltalitarian control of a paranoid narcissistic sociopath, serial sexual abuser and rapist, alcoholic Nazi, and ask yourself, "might that have had any influence on any of those identity formation activities and choices we made during that critical stage of human development? What was the answer? Obvious I suppose. It was for me. That is why the process of actually disentangling oneself from a cult, (talk about quantum entanglement!), can be very difficult, because it is an identity crisis. Who am I? Why am I here? What am I "supposed" to DO? The cult and it's totalitarian leader answered every one of those questions over and over and over again for us. Vic reproduced his perverted, pathological brand of christianity in as many as he could hoodwink and manipulate it into. He was skilled at selecting the hundreds of victims of his serial rapist lifestyle. His "teachings" were all designed to reproduce the pathological Aryan behavior and thinking that governed vic and therefore governed the way. That is what governed the indoctrination and success of the "training". It is also what governed and influenced the "volunteers" and the life-choices they made during that stage of identity formation. The developmental stage immediately prior to identity formation is Adolescence. Age ranged described as typically age 12-20. The "art" of vic's sociopathic skills, and really those of all totalist systems, is to maintain the follower in the psychoemotional stage of adolescence in order to gain complete control over the entire stage of identity formation. A kind if "forced" or "imposed" adolescence so to speak. Look at the amount of influence such totalist control can bring to bear upon a human being stuck in adolescence for 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 years?!! One soon discovers that one's entire identity has been formed by group think and acceptance of the perverted, pathological lifestyle of a drunken Nazi. Now THAT can be disturbing! But, more disturbing is the difficulty many cult refugees face in summoning up the personal and/moral courage required for identity re-formation. It can be a daunting task, and many often find themselves unable to honestly deal with it. It can and often does become dysfunctional. So, that's my input Charlene and fellow Greasespotters. Whaddya think?

The 70's and early 80's were the bread and butter years for twi...after 1987 people left in droves... In terms of numbers, it stands to reason that most of the greasespotters would come from those years. There's no doubt that the GSC has been very instrumental in exposing this filthy little cult for what it is...