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Ghost Ryders In The Sky


skyrider
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INDULGE ME.........one more time....

Johnny cash song.....and imagery....

.....spelled with a "y" it was personal.......hey, it's "my story"  lol

Ghost Ryders In The Sky

  • A mighty herd of red-eyed cows
  • A-plowing thru the ragged skies
  • and up the cloudy draw
  • their brands were still on fire
  • hot breath he could feel
  • .....the riders (cult) are riding hard to catch that herd

These cows are red-eyed (angry, anxious) and plowing ahead (trying to get away)....AWAY

.........they'd been freshly branded (still on fire) .....and herded (contained, controlled)

.........the riders (cult leaders) were "riding hard" to bring them back......to CATCH THAT HERD

.........the riders (cult leaders) felt that these cows were "theirs" (ownership, property)

.........the cows were fiercely trying to GET AWAY

 

############

That song is so vivid with imagery and expanse.  I grew up near ranch country.....and was around angry black angus cows.

So...........THAT is the title of "my book".........Ghost Ryders In The Sky.........and I'm sticking to it.  :biglaugh:

############

An old cowboy stops to rest on a ridge.....when he saw the cows

Here at GSC.......we see the cows (trying to get away)

############

 

title:       Ghost Ryders In The Sky

subtitle:        My Escape from Cult-Hell

 

 

.

 

Edited by skyrider
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The fear of getting away...

My WoW family witnessed to a young man, early 20s, with a wonderful heart to serve.  He was lovely, open, really loved being with us, and could be relied on to help out at the drop of a - telephone.  One call, and this young man was there.  Actually, he liked being with us so much and was so enthusiastic that it was hard to get rid of him.  Salt of the earth type; never had any qualms about him.

He went WoW immediately after our WoW year ended.  A few months later, I heard that he'd run away from his WoW family by climbing through the bathroom window in the middle of the night.  WOTTT?  Climbing through a window?  Middle of the night?

This young man had had an abusive upbringing and was molested by an older adult family male, as a young child.  He found safety and security with us, perhaps for the first time ever.  I suspect he might have spoken about his history with someone when he was WoW, his Family Coordinator or some such, and had had such a grilling about himself that his fragile recently constructed life couldn't handle it.  This was in the era of the homo purges.  No way this young man had those sort of leanings - and he wasn't to blame for what had happened when he was a small child.

I never heard anything of him ever again.

I often wonder how he went on.  I feel somewhat guilty and to blame for "leading him astray" into the clutches of TWI, to be further abused.

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17 hours ago, skyrider said:

Then, Martindale smeared and slashed our reputations on the next Corps Mtg --- via phone lines.

....................AFTER............EVERYTHING we'd done for his family.......mainly ---- Rod, Jo, & Kerry

Hmmm.  Just indulge me here in a wee bit of fantasy:  Wouldn't it be interesting (and oh so sweet!) if LCM could ever be persuaded to attend a "party" somewhere, and all the invitees are people he used, abused, sexually assaulted, maligned, betrayed, slandered and smeared to others, M&A'd, etc.!  They could each step up and tell their story. 

 

The problem is he hasn't a shred of humility to make the listening worthwhile.  I do hope there is a day of reckoning coming for Twinkletoes in Tights..

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I don't believe anyone left twi because they followed me out. I was out about 2 years before the  '98 Advanced Class. I was one of those stalwart  Advanced Class grads whom everyone else depended on. I was involved in this set up or that bookstore. Or coordinate refreshments for this event etc. And also please teach this Sunday and the Sunday after next. It's nice that upper leadership believed in me, but it became too much. I had a full time teaching position in a high school, and a large house that needed continuous upkeep and maintenance.

Many of you may now be thinking "Why did you do it all? Why didn't you tell them to stop adding on???"  Remember on the other thread when Skyrider said his heart was following other music? That was exactly what I felt. I had wind of some wrongdoing in places, but I just kept my head down because I couldn't believe them and tended to my own business. Then, one day, I was caught with three things left to do on my list and no groceries in the house and I didn't know what to do. 

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The Stigma of M/A  Twi uses the "mark/avoid" label as a scare tactic.  I suppose there are many ways to look at this, of course......but it's like someone comes around the corner, perhaps even in your own house and erupts BOO!  It startles you.....and freezes you.  You are caught off guard and......frozen in place. Processing what just happened takes a bit.

We know that twi twists all kinds of scriptures, but this one is used as a weapon. Everyone with THAT label is to be marked with a "black heart" letter....and shunned.  Why?  Well....because they're "possessed."  It hardly takes much more than that to freeze critical thought. Obviously, martindale slapped this "scarlet letter" on us......while, all the time, he was romping from bed to bed committing adultery and/or sexual predation!!  But I digress.....  Once labelled, everyone we'd ever had contact with in twi shunned us.  Heck, not just from the average go-to-twig believer........all the way to the highest ranks, critical thought is short-circuited.  Our corps "friends" and buds, whom we'd been in the trenches with for over two decades....would NOT call to ask, what happened?  Corps nor clergy called.......we were stigmatized.  Martindale gave the order.

The power of that label is very real.  If word is sounded out from hq, then it must be so.  It took years to condition people's minds to this lockstep loyalty......but the word "cop out" or "tripped out" was its father.  Long before "mark/avoid" made its way into the cult lexicon......wierwille used "cop out" with great effect.  BOO!

 

 

DAMAGE CONTROL  Like nearly everything twi, damage control is the rapid response to protect twi's public image.  And, most likely.....from the very days that wierwille set his sights on some woman in his private office as pastor in Paine or at Van Wert church....things had to be covered up.  I always find it amusing to think......after wierwille left the Van Wert church, the church board struck wierwille's name from the clergy registry (to protect their image).  (lol)  Anyways.......damage control, there to protect wierwille and/or his cult-in-the-making. We can easily see that all thru the years, twi's history and image were whitewashed......then, polished with bullsh!t crème up and down the bannisters.  Everything....all of it, everywhere.

My wife and I were simply on the radar that day in August 1998.  We turned in our corps nametags and were walking away.  That could NOT be tolerated. We simply had TOO MUCH influence.....questions would start rippling into waves if the Lallys didn't act fast. I assumed that Tom called Craig less than ten minutes after we pulled away from their doorstep.  And, craig gave the order.  The Lallys went into action. We were the Limb coordinators in martindale's home state.  We had a sterling reputation throughout the state.....AND.....direct access to sway hundreds in Oklahoma, Canada, Indiana* and some on hq-staff.  Our reputations had to be destroyed.  Hemorrhaging could not be allowed to gain strength.

*Note:  We had lived in Indiana after leaving Canada in April 1987.  Our visas expired (another story....lol)

Edited by skyrider
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I was with the La1lys in MS for two years.  Worst two years of my life. So I know what you're talking about when you mention them.  I can't believe how extreme it all was for you when you left.  Why not just let people go? And then later they themselves sneak away.

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6 hours ago, Lanikaigal said:

Hmmm.  Just indulge me here in a wee bit of fantasy:  Wouldn't it be interesting (and oh so sweet!) if LCM could ever be persuaded to attend a "party" somewhere, and all the invitees are people he used, abused, sexually assaulted, maligned, betrayed, slandered and smeared to others, M&A'd, etc.!  They could each step up and tell their story. 

 

The problem is he hasn't a shred of humility to make the listening worthwhile.  I do hope there is a day of reckoning coming for Twinkletoes in Tights..

Wicked irony! I love it.

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More Background:   Let me back up on this one and fill in the blanks: 

Another girl phoned........who was signed up for foundational way-class.  I had personally witnessed to her and signed her up.

  • Now what?  I was m/a and she called to ask me what to do.
  • She was conflicted (obviously)....
  • A week later, she came to talk with me face-to-face (she parked her car around the corner, down the street)
  • She, too, was growing paranoid of what to think.  She wanted info of class.....but saw wreckage floating around.

I was driving on Northwest Expressway around 4pm one day (mid-June) and I had this thought (small, still voice..??).....go to Mardel's Christian Bookstore.  I had only been there ONE time, but passed by it often.  So, I turned around and.....mostly out of curiosity -- just to see.....once there, parked my car.  I stepped inside and said to myself, "Now what?"  Again, I had this inner peace and an inner "voice" said....."the bible aisle, someone is searching."  Okay, now I'm really interested and thinking to myself....."If this is of God....I will be amazed."

In the bookstore aisle was this woman talking to a sales clerk asking about different types of bibles.  I watched for about a minute and then, stepped toward her and said that I really liked the king james version rather than some of the other paraphrased versions.  We had a 5-6 minute conversation on this....and then, I told her about home fellowships and "blah, blah, blah."  Anyways.......the rest of the story is she came to 3-4 fellowships and signed up for the class to check it out.

So.....this woman was deeply conflicted six weeks later when I, "the state leader" was blacklisted.  She had NO idea of twi-jargon, but had this unique personal involvement with me on that day and I'd seen her nearly every week.  We had this "connection" because of that day at Mardel's.

Note:  Before, during and after twi................I've had a couple dozen of these unique experiences.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

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Paranoia  Through the years, I've seen varying aspects of paranoia regarding the cult and I'm sure most of you have too.  Not to belabor the point.....here are four examples that come to mind.......again, on different points of a continuum:

  • I was sitting with wierwille on his motor coach as we worked thru my 36-pages of captivity report (1981).  Of those three-day afternoon sessions, this happened on the second day.  Back and forth, wierwille asked me questions about this-or-that.....and would scratch thru whole sentences of my report and/or reword them to his liking for those "By The Way" articles for the St. Marys Evening Leader.  On the second afternoon, while we were deep into this......the motor coach doors whisked open and Chris Geer briskly headed toward us at the table.  Wierwille lifted his head and they made eye contact. With intensity of focus and brevity of words.....Geer said, "They're here. On grounds."  Wierwille shot to his feet and the two walked out, got in Geer's car and drove away.  I was the only one who witnessed this....no one else was in the motor coach.  Stunned by it all, I sat there for another two minutes and then left the coach.  Never did figure it out, but it sure got wierwille's attention in a hurry.

~~~~~

  • Outside of OKC, I spent much of my time and effort in Tulsa to help strengthen outreach efforts.  Several corps had come and gone thru the years, but this one night.......I found myself trying to help craig's sister breath thru a multitude of factors that will remain confidential.  It was well past midnight and took nearly three hours to untangle the growing intensity of anxiety and fear. We went for a short walk to help break its momentum. The paranoia was real, coming from several directions and by 3:45am her thinking and heart settled.  During my one-hour drive home to OKC, I pondered the sequence of how something like that could escalate.

~~~~~

  • The advanced class grad who wanted out of twi, after we were m/a ...(mentioned before).  It was surreal to watch paranoia mount its charge.  As I said before, we had two secret meetings....one in the middle of the day, another late at night.  The fear that someone in twi might see her with us was palpable. Her short bursts of speech had a tinge of shortness of breath.  She was deeply conflicted and disturbed.  Trying to process it all, the only thing that made sense to her was space.  She needed time and space.....and moving out of the duplex, away from her roommate, was the first step.  The stigma of m/a that twi had thumped on our chests made no sense.  The convergence of the m/a stigma and Lally's damage control methods ushered in critical thought.  And, paranoia dissipated.

~~~~~

  • In 2002, four years after we'd left the cult.....my family took a four-day trip to Canada.  We wanted to take our growing boys to Niagara Falls and head over to London, Ontario to show my oldest son the city and hospital where he was born.  Also, we had five people that we wanted to visit from years gone by.  On this Saturday morning, we met up with this couple, she had been a godsend to help with all the cult's bookstore functions and her husband was invaluable to me as we handled the financial ledger and accounting.  [In Canada.....we did ALL the financial reports, yearly self-imposed audit, etc......in states, limb work never had to do any of this, it went to hq].  Anyways......a phone call was made, because we thought it'd be nice to see Goldie, a wonderful adv class grad who was on the executive committee during my tenure.  We agreed to meet at a food court in a local mall. When he arrived......the paranoia in his eyes was striking.  He kept glancing over his shoulder to see if any believers might see him there with us.  Here, a 72-year old businessman gripped by cult-fear was a memory I will never forget.

~~~~~

Edited by skyrider
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Depths of Understanding  About the time, I think that I understand something.....I find that I really didn't understand it at all or that more understanding would be gained over the next ridge.  This could not be more apparent to me than the process of writing this book.  I am not the same person I was on December 15th.....when I began this journey.  I'm exploring caverns and crevices that I told myself not to venture.  Memories of anguish that haunted my soul....I forbade to trespass.  I cordoned off those areas of my life for years.  Nor did I want others to see them either.

All those years in a cult and I'm still breaking free from the corral. And now, in less than one month, I have changed even more.  My perceptions are different.  My thinking is different. What is beyond the next ridge?  What lies beyond the horizon?

This catharsis journey has changed my life. What differing perceptions are gained throughout the day as the sunlight brightens our understanding and then, leaves us with deep-red hues of splendor. Or, what a difference a few years make.......after exiting a cult. The stark contrast of understanding this journey could not be more apparent than where I was some 35 years ago.  As I sat there in wanda's home typing my report, I titled it.....Kidnapped: Ten Days of Hell.  It took me years to extricate myself from that cult. What a chasm I have crossed.........I didn't understand it at all.

Edited by skyrider
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GSC is an Oasis  This place is a pleasant contrast to life's challenges and schedules.......but I need to get to work.

  • If the girls weren't so cute and the drinks so refreshing......I'd stop coming here altogether.
  • Cheers!.........I gotta go.....for now.

 

.

Edited by skyrider
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Sky, so pleased you are finding it helpful to tell your story.  You will be facing fears you didn't know you had, paranoia that you did know you had - it all evaporates and you can LAUGH at it all and you revel in your freedom. 

I know when I found someone to share my story with - with real fear (but why?) - someone with no knowledge of TWI but a strong interest in safeguarding - just telling the story has led to such release and lightness of heart.  I thought I was okay until I started talking about it.  Only took 20 years to open my mouth... :(

I wish you well for the future.  You and Mrs Sky and your kids have a wonderful exciting and free future ahead of you.

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........this story was a work in progress since the days of Waydale

........I still remember starting that thread Bravehearts Unite! and DWBH, Paul (ex-twi) and I had lots of laughs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Ghost Ryders In The Sky

My Escape from Cult-Hell

 

  • Part I     We Thought We Were Free
  • Part II    BOOM:  Everything Changed
  • Part III   1997: Fury Unleashed
  • Part IV   1998:  The Money Iceberg
  •                      The First Bookend
  • Part V     The Music Played On
  • Part VI    The Price We Paid
  • Part VII   Sprinting Thru The Finish
  • Part VIII  The Two Bookends
  • Part IX    Fresh Air77

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks and Praise:   Pawtucket

(others in no particular order).....DWBH, Rocky, WordWolf, waysider, penworks, krys, Twinky, .......(and many more)

(pictures on the GSC wall)..........Groucho, Catcup, Belle, Oakspear, RottieGrrrl, excathedra,...........(and many more)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.

 

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Skyrider

I feel rather angry and bitter as to the way you were treated.Others like yourself were only trying to do good and the way you and your family were treated near the end pees me off, but that's "the way international" way of doing things

You are a great inspiration and to know we both shared similar experiences even though I wasn't leadership,makes me more solidified to make sure twi doesn't hurt anyone else.Noone likes bullies 

Hopefully others can read  your story and hopefully save themselves from this devious cult which hierarchy has alot to answer for

I'm glad you and family are free and living life, good to hear you got to spend time with your parents as well I'm playing catch up as I too also missed alot.Time does sure heal my friend

 

 

 

 

 

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Skyrider:

TY again for your intense effort to put together an extremely emotional and insightful "book" for all of us here and the thousands who will eventually read it here. Your thanks to Pawtucket is echoed by every one of us who have been here and the 10s of thousands of people his faithful, dogged work keeping the Spot open and relevant to every stage and iteration of that destructive, fundamentalist "Christian" cult, TWIt.

Sky.....you've been a stalwart truth teller here since WayDale. Your efforts here have not been in vain. The purity of your heart to walk with and serve Jesus Christ has been evident throughout all these years. I am so thankful you got out in time to save your family and your mind and your dignity. And, that you have told your story so wonderfully and kindly here at the greatest internet Cafe we know of. 

I bid you and your's Godspeed and.......peace brother.

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More Info / Reflections      Filling in some details........

  • Abduction Altered  .....I believe the abduction went to Plan B.........during that van ride to Wichita, KS......disgruntle thug-conversation led me to believe that this whole abduction process was originally supposed to take place the night before (after supper with folks).  Thus, traveling thru night would have made it easier for them and less conspicuous (hiding the abduction from fellow-travelers).  Maybe....I wouldn't have been blind-folded in cargo van.

~~~~~

  • Separation Gap  .........This whole thing could have been diffused with better communication with folks.  The damn phone switchboard set-up at Emporia Campus and HQ were (perhaps, at hq ----- still are) ASININE.  The whole frickin' gatekeeper-to-cultperson only heightened by parents' concerns that THEY had us enclosed and under their "spell."

~~~~~

  • HQ-Sexcapade at 1998 Adv Class ...........Maybe, someday....someone will come forward to give more details, but it might be too much exposure to those trying to rebuild.  That's the thing about all this.....those who experienced such things and saw the cult's fangs........don't WANT to tell their stories.  Too much time was ALREADY lost.......and rebuilding life, career, family, etc is of utmost importance.

~~~~~

  • TWI's Needs-Basis Doctrine  ...............1) An absolute joke, 2) Use/abuse of people, 3) Short-term use of people.....Long-term advantage to twi, 4) Wierwille's temp agency.......No Investment In People, 5) Anti-Family........because of $$$$$, 6) Children were shelved/ignored.......again, $$$$......to have children involved multiple layers of involvement/investment (.....ie. braces, school activities, cars, higher education......hell, having one's OWN family traditions)....but I digress....

~~~~~

  • HQ-Bureaucracy is a FARCE  ...........in late-September of 1998  (a month after we exited).......... I received in the mail another "invite" to attend the November 1998 Advanced Class Special.......................to AGAIN..............be Mrs. Wierwille's escort.

~~~~~

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That would have been hilarious, Skyrider, had you (and all those devil spirits that you were possessed by) had the nerve to rock up as Mrs W's escort.

I hope you did something really enjoyable and family fun filled, instead.

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......in late-September of 1998  (a month after we exited).......... I received in the mail another "invite" to attend the November 1998 Advanced Class Special.......................to AGAIN..............be Mrs. Wierwille's escort.

~~~~~~~

3 hours ago, Twinky said:

That would have been hilarious, Skyrider, had you (and all those devil spirits that you were possessed by) had the nerve to rock up as Mrs W's escort.

Yeah, Twinky.........just picture it........"Hi. Mrs. Wierwille, I hope you don't mind if my spirit-friends accompany us today,..... Mr. Necromancer and Ms. Lust...."

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Hey, you forgot their special friends, Homo, Debtbuilder, Bitterness, and Corrosive Evil.  Weren't you going to take them too?

Wouldn't they enjoy meeting up with their old buddies Lying, Deceit, Greed and Arrogance? :evildenk:

 

(just funning around, not saying you have or ever had any such companions!!) :spy:

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14 hours ago, skyrider said:

......in late-September of 1998  (a month after we exited).......... I received in the mail another "invite" to attend the November 1998 Advanced Class Special.......................to AGAIN..............be Mrs. Wierwille's escort.

~~~~~~~

Yeah, Twinky.........just picture it........"Hi. Mrs. Wierwille, I hope you don't mind if my spirit-friends accompany us today,..... Mr. Necromancer and Ms. Lust...."

 

13 hours ago, Twinky said:

Hey, you forgot their special friends, Homo, Debtbuilder, Bitterness, and Corrosive Evil.  Weren't you going to take them too?

Wouldn't they enjoy meeting up with their old buddies Lying, Deceit, Greed and Arrogance? :evildenk:

 

(just funning around, not saying you have or ever had any such companions!!) :spy:

 

Welcome to a Special Advanced Class...as soon as our ushers have seated the nice young lady they will escort you all to your assigned seats.

cracking-the-demon-o-the-exorcist-1973-5

 

Edited by T-Bone
forgot to include all the devil spirits
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  • 6 months later...
3 hours ago, skyrider said:

Glen Campbell ..............   RIP

 

 

 

tough fight he had with Alzheimers...thanks for posting that video Skyrider.

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