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We who were young in the 1970s and 1980s in TWI know what love bombing is, don't we? We know/knew it as a sales technique for a religious multi-level marketing enterprise. But with the advent of the #MeToo movement, observant scholars and essayists started recognizing it as an insidious scheme to win the loyalty and affection of the object of one's sexual attraction. “Love bombing, unlike real love, is a self-centered, anxious pursuit, with the singular goal of acquiring someone because it boosts the bomber’s ego,” Craig Malkin, clinical psychologist and author of Rethinking Narcissism, told HuffPost. “It’s not about care or compassion or tenderness..."

Lately, here at Greasespot..........we've discussed quite a bit about retirement issues in regards to that Revival and Restoration group. Not only did twi's BOD keep moving the goal posts on what it meant to receive 1) emeritus status versus 2) retired status........rivenbark wanted (requested) to assign them to writing articles or work projects in their retirement years. In effect, she wanted to keep them at her beck and call for more twi-servitude. Martindale, on the other hand, was ousted from office and stripped of his corps/clergy titles........and receives a lifetime $65,000 pension. What gives? What is behind this incredible double standard? Couldn't this 65k-pension more aptly be described as a nondisclosure agreement.........hush-money? I mean, from everything we know and have seen from twi......it wasn't like martindale and twi penned a forward-looking pension plan when he took office in 1982. Hell no. This abrupt "pension agreement" was solidified under the auspices of legal counsel (in August 2000) days before his ousting. What gave martindale leverage of such an agreement? Threats to expose ....Rosalie's background and sexual proclivities? Threats to expose ....Wierwille's plagiarism, predation and debauchery? Threats to expose ....Twi's unethical financial practices and secret holdings? Or, call an impromptu corps meeting.....and tell the corps how they're being exploited? All of the above......... Whatever it was......martindale slithered out of headquarters in the dead of night. All questions regarding L. Craig Martindale were deemed anathema.......no one was allowed to ask. Not staffers. Not corps. Anyone who did ask was immediately confronted. [To find out who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.] So, today.......martindale collects his cult-pension (65K) and social security benefits (15k-17k?) to the tune of say $82,000 per year. Does he get other perks?.........secret credit card, travel perks, access to Camp Gunnison, healthcare plan, etc.?? Not too shabby.......for a guy who was ousted under a cloud of suspicion and sexual predation, eh? ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Open your homes, Open your refrigerators

Thanks. If I may, I'm going to string together some thoughts I've had about that, not new by any means. Retirement may very well have been what caused this latest diaspora. That idea has been in the seeds of the Wheaties many of us were eating when we left years ago. At the core of any issues the Way has is how they view authority and make decisions. "Spiritual" leadership trumps everything else for them - common sense, practical issues, planning, a "multitude of counsel". Nothing spells really spirituality for them like going against the grain. It's in the DNA there. Even though they believe this "world is not my home, I'm just a - passing through", they work 24x7 non stop to earn their rewards. Once they convince someone that 1. their immediate well being depends on them doing what they tell them and 2. their eternal future "rewards" are at stake too....they're pretty much in their pocket. Organizationally, a single person can drive the whole thing into an iceberg and then blame everyone else from their lifeboat as the whole thing sinks. They think that's the right way to work, to run a business like the Way, to manage people, etc. etc. It does take a certain kind of person to embrace being right all the time and the burdens that comes with that. Someone else always has to be wrong, but it's never personal. It's just business. So odds are that at some point any one person is going to be in conflict with the decisions of the organization and will be unable to affect the outcome, let alone change the decision. Everyone in the Way has reveled in how smart they are, how much better they live with the "accuracy and integrity of God's Word" that they and they alone have. Yet they live like weasels fighting over the same garbage can, year after year. It speaks for itself, really.

I just downloaded it too spectrum49. It looks like a good deal of effort into it. I am going to read through it over some time.

Rewards of iniquity.

Love-bombing........to get you to twig. Need to take pfal........before he/she could "date" you. Must be corps.............before he/she would marry you.

Rocky, good article and that book looks interesting too...Your post brought to mind wierwille’s phrase of how we can “love the unloveable “ - which for me now looking back often meant do whatever it takes to get that person to sign up for the class... and if they’re not interested in taking PFAL then drop them like a hot potato....that’s where I draw the line on how much to love the unloveable ha ! “Love the unloveable “ seems like a rather silly naive notion to me now - if someone is truly unloveable then why am I focusing my “affections” on them? To have answered that question honestly back in the day might have been painfully revealing . I guess back then I was so naive and idealistic...and overly simplistic and shallow to think the cure-all for everyone is PFAL...as the pep talks often used to go for motivating us to get someone signed up for the class - - sort of along the lines of “if you really care about someone you want to help them - and there’s nothing better than PFAL that can really help them.” I agree with the article that “love bombing” is a way to manipulate someone - to get them to do what you want, like sign up for the class...it was NOT a genuine unselfish love - but rather self-serving...I could be a real azzhole to my family all day long but boy could I turn on the charm if there was a new person at fellowship! Maybe folks will see me getting them to sign up for the class !....What hypocrisy!

Gosh, Spec. That's a long read. Haven't looked at it yet (it's midnight). Saved for another day's reading.

Just wanted to say always good reading you too DWBH (and Twinky too). Our lives never intersected in the Way - I never actually read you all's long letter (or JS paper or POOP) until much later as we were all shielded from any of that and I had no connections to provide it to me. Any reference I heard of any of that was tainted with whitewash slant. I was kind of overlapping generations here coming in upon your exit. There are others that way with my timeline - coming in as I was exiting. It's like with the Way there are pockets of fantasyland that exist out there - all living in suspended animation in reality. On this site we all intersect in some fashion to tell an extended story that has been hidden as part of history to most Wayfers. Is that the Great Mystery Revealed? Or is that a great mystery revealed? Probably neither. Whatever it is, it's no longer a mystery to me like it was when I was on paint crew whitewashing LOL Best always. chockfull

Testimonials: I’m glad I came back. I really feel like I’m part of a big household now and never want to leave again. It's like being under house arrest, only better ! Lordy Pete (Snowball Pete’s 2nd cousin - twice removed - aka 2 time mark-and-avoid recipient, but is now doing penance on grounds crew at Headquarters)

I was in state outreach in Aurora in '74....PALF,Waukegan '72....South suburbs '82-'84....Visit every summer from Az....Old ROA habit I guess...JJ,we're only about 15 miles apart....

Well it has been a long time. I remember you Bishop and the rest. Will broke my heart for not sticking up to people. But in the end, everything worked out well. I am now married to the best man on earth!

Rocky, I beg to differ, we met. I know you and you know me! Me and my WOW sisters stayed in your way home for a week while we were looking for some place to live. We were the cute 18, 19, and 20 somethings that stayed with you all as you were leaving the way home. Names: Laura, Peyton, Marrianne and Cindy G. Didn't you have someone named Will, in your home? I loved him, but Faith did not approve! I was much to young ya know!