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Published on YouTube, May 28, 2019 Maybe the R&R group would be interested in knowing whether there really is something to restore.

While I agree that the things he did were antithetical to God's will (and would push one AWAY from God rather than drawing one CLOSER to God), I'm doubtful he was EVER close to God. His decision to get into preaching was as a career move, not as a calling. His neighbors thought it was ridiculous- he'd earned a reputation as a showoff, a braggart, a bully. His first 2 years as a preacher were punctuated- according to him- with him considering quitting. That's TWICE in the first TWO YEARS. He could deliver a sermon, but it wasn't until the first year of doing so was over that he even considered the idea that the Bible was God's Word. (What was he basing the sermons ON for a year?) He had a history of editing the work of other Christians. The rise of his speaking some things people consider excellent or more can be traced directly to his exposure to the writings of Bullinger, the book by Stiles, and the class of Leonard. In fact, the things he said that were considered noteworthy were all taken directly from those 3 sources. (There were other sources with more minor influences like Kenyon.) He put forth that he was getting all this from God Almighty and that he was going solely to the Bible as his textbook and his workbook, as he said many times. One interesting result of repeating aloud the contents of the works of others was the occasional inability to understand something, and repeating it incorrectly, then changing later and saying something completely different. From Bullinger, he got "all without exception" and "all without distinction", and later "all without exception" and "all with A distinction." His explanations of the differences between other (allos) and other (heteros) were inconsistent for the same reason. According to the pfal class, "anabolepto" means to physically witness- but in the book, "eidon" means to physically witness. For a man who supposedly JUST read the Bible for hundreds of hours a week, he still managed to get confused on who Paul heard say he "almost persuaded to be a Christian." He couldn't remember if it was Felix or Festus. He couldn't pick from either because it was neither- it was AGRIPPA who said it. Why did vpw sound convincing while saying stuff that sounded like it had such good substance? He plagiarized entirely the works of those who taught good substance. His only skill there was in preaching it. vpw could take a speech and make it sound heartfelt and personally meaningful even if he didn't believe it nor understood it. Actors do much the same. Any actor worth the name can take something, and recite it, and emote it fully with no connection to the content. There's one exercise where a couple had a romantic scene- where the dialogue was entirely composed of a supermarket shopping list, recited romantically. I'm hardly a noted actor, and I once emoted a speech where the content was a recipe. It's a skill among actors, and among politicians. Con artists can have it also. vpw sold the whole picture after assembling it- that he was a real man of God. We bought it because he was convincing- and partly because others we trusted bought it before us. So, I don't think vpw HAD a connection with God to be disconnected FROM. I think he was emoting and imitating the connections of valid Christians, and filling in the rest with empty showmanship. He'd pause, then claim he'd gotten revelation on something. He'd hide his sources of information, and insinuate/ suggest they were all by revelation. It was all part of the con.

I burnt up a lot of good music Albums during those UH Days in the late 70's. And a few books. Black smoke heavenwards. Not quite incense. Burnt the wrong books.

There's a new video on TWI's law of believing. The law of believing is an important teaching in TWI. VP Wierwille taught that people cause good or bad results in their lives (wealth or poverty, life or death) by their positive or negative believing. Few recognize that Wierwille taught an atheistic system (even though he believed in God) that he learned from Albert Cliffe, not from the New Testament. Those who accepted Wierwille's teaching struggled with the conclusion that VPW must have caused his own early death by cancer.

Or, for something completely different along these lines, there's a very compelling argument for doing away with bible study altogether in a "shocking" book called The End of Biblical Studies (gasp!) by Hector Avalos, PhD. Prometheus Books. 2007. Just sayin … there is an alternative viewpoint for those interested in questioning the value of continuing to hammer away at biblical texts in hopes of recreating "the original." Even if we did reach that goal, what would we have? A text that still contains contradictions (four different viewpoints in the 4 gospels), violence against "unbelievers," in the Hebrew Bible, condemnation of homosexuals, subjugation of women, etc. Just sayin … let's take a look at bibliolatry and get honest about that. Perhaps this is a topic for the Doctrinal thread. Sigh …

Greasespotters: For those of you who can’t afford more classes and books, or just vomit at the thought, there are a number of folks who do lots of really excellent and academically legitimate work in and with Syriac language textual criticism of New Testament scripture. Bob Wassung in CT comes to mind. Don’t let his affiliation with Jalvis’ TLTF confuse you. Bob has a genuine and impressive background in the study of Syriac. He has published numerous articles and runs an online independent study group for those interested. Our good friend Penworks also knows some of the old Syriac/Aramaic legitimate researchers from the days she worked with them in the Research Team of the mid 1980s. If your interest in Syriac is profound and you desire to seriously study it and understand it linguistically, then, imho, books and classes as recommended by our friend johnj above are an excellent starting point. But, if you just want to understand how Vic, and Walter manipulated the Aramaic Dept. and bullied Bernita Jess and her copse Aramaic assistants in the Research Dept., then you might even be able to find enough right here in the GSC archives to give you all the accurate info you need. Whatever you choose, enjoy!

DWBH wrote: "I’ve never really investigated how the thing was received by the biblical research and textual criticism folks at the academic and university levels. I wonder if anyone outside TWIt or the splinters and offshoots even uses it?? Anyone know?" I recall that the Society of Biblical Literature knew the concordance was published in 1985 because some of the guys on the research team had been attending SBL meetings and talking about it to SBL members over the years. I do not know how it was actually received by those academics, or whether it is used by anyone today, including anyone at TWI HQ or in offshoots. Wish I could be more helpful.

Charlene’s post made me think of how vic finagled the finances for his “Aramaic Interlinear and Concordance”. Most of the financing came from “designated gifts” from Bud Reahard, Bo’s father. These gifts were “above and beyond” Bud’s “regular ABS”, according to what Bo told me. Bud was the International Operations Mgr. for Eli Lily Corp at the time. The Reahard family had been involved with Eli Lily from it’s founding, as Bud’s father was there at the beginning. Bo told me that the total of the “designated gifts” Bud gave for the Aramaic Interlinear project came to $140,000. Bud’s giving was genuine. He very much believed in the project because Bo was so invested in it and spoke about it to his father often. But I don’t think Bud ever knew that all the giving yielded a product that was largely bent to wierwille’s “Word” rather than to what the “research” and all those man-hours put into it actually found. That’s where the “research” rubber always hit the road for Walter. Whatever wierwille WANTED “The Word” to say, it was Walter and the team’s job to “find him a text” to prove it. That’s the ethical dilemma Charlene so aptly describes in her book. It’s what produced that unbearable cognitive dissonance that so many team members faced. i have no idea what Bo’s opinion of the the thing is today. He doesn’t talk to me anymore because I have confronted him publicly on his FB page regarding his current rabid dominionist “Christian” views, and the radical right-wing political views it produces, as evidenced by the almost daily long-winded “prayers” he posts on political issues in the same King James English “thus saith the Lord” huff’n’puff and blow your house down wierwille condescending style that the offshoots and splinters love so much. Makes them feel like they’re right back in the BRC! LOL! i’ve never really investigated how the thing was received by the biblical research and textual criticism folks at the academic and university levels. I wonder if anyone outside TWIt or the splinters and offshoots even uses it?? Anyone know?

The thing is, while some of the people who were leaders in twi at some point are still alive, this can be necessary because some of them are spreading lies. A generation later, this becomes a lesser problem but still exists. This "vpw said" business carries weight if people think vpw was an exceptional Christian rather than the lying, lukewarm dirtbag he actually was. A few people are still teaching their kids this, but this problem self-corrects over time, with the numbers of adherents to the vpw delusion decreasing exponentially. Worldwide, now, the numbers are tiny, and they drop further every decade, and eventually will just be a handful of adults scattered around the USA who were taught that vpw was some Superman and to shun other Christians. Either they'll die out completely, or they'll discover the truth and drift away from vpw apologetics. I mean, we've had vpw apologists here before. Some have died due to old age, and at least one joined a mainstream religion that vpw used to badmouth. The process has been going on for decades, and will continue. I don't know if there will ever be a time with ZERO wierwillists, but it's not ridiculous to imagine it will be down to less than one living-room full before I pass away from old age. BTW, beginning thinkers don't need JJ to recommend something weighty and logical. They need something simple and clear. They need years to work up to "scholarly."

No doubt JJ never thought he'd still be making these videos contra'ing VPW, after all these years. As well as showing the copies of the books plagiarised by VPW, it might have been useful if JJ had recommended one or two deeper (but not too deep) theological tomes by reputable writers, since he mentions that VPW's writings are not only plagiarised, but shallow, sloppy, subbed, stolen, etc. Too many ex-Wayfers have no idea where to start looking, if they want more info, or want to study or think for themselves, and find it difficult to accept, let alone analyse, the content of non-Way materials. Anyway, well done John, for sticking with it all these years.