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Hey, kids! Be the first on your block to slap this gnarly declaration of independence on the back of your vintage Honda. Act now and we'll also throw in an 8 track copy of THIS rad tune. (Call now; operators are standing by.)

That gives me an idea for a bumper sticker: sleepwalkers are living the dream

Yeah, T-Bone......I believe that GSC has lit that pilot light of critical thinking which, in turn, ignites the "fireplace" of one's thought life and soul. How many? I have no idea......but it must be quite significant, because new posters often cite that they had been lurking for years! YEARS. Like someone shuffling around in a cold house, year after year......because s/he doesn't focus on the problem or is unconcerned with altering the situation. Challenge ALL of it..... If twi claims such greatness...............where are all the people? If wierwille was so great......................why all the revisionist history? If research is their wheelhouse...........why is there NO research department? If teaching is their claim to fame.........why do they have to rehash old stuff? If fellowship is their drawing card........why ANOTHER exodus in 2017? Cults keep you sleepwalking thru life........in your drab bathrobe all day long.

Thanks WW.........year after year, cult leaders constrict their messaging in attempts to target, and amass, zealous followers. Clearly, wierwille went thru a growing curve when he left his denominational church pastoring in December 1957. For 10 years, he traveled from city to city to teach "his" classes to church-goers..........struggling to gain momentum and/or notoriety. After filming the skinny-tie class (pfal) in 1967.......twi's summer camps helped harden the lines between "us" and "them." To add to your post......I would say that: A cult survives by.......... Hardening the line between "us" and "them" Hardening the line between "them" and "him" How did wierwille harden the line between "them" and "him?" Well, when he plagiarized from other men......he realized later on that he needed to ERASE THE EVIDENCE of this plagiarism and DISTANCE himself from them. In his folly, wierwille admitted another man had schooled him in all this information.... [noted in the 2nd Edition preface section of Receiving the holy spirit Today]. Who was this man? J.E. Stiles "The Word of God is truth. I prayed that I might put aside all I had been taught and start anew with the Bible as my handbook as well as my textbook. It took me seven years to find a man of God schooled in the Holy Spirit, a man who knew the Scripture on the Holy Spirit, and could fit it together so that I did not have to omit, deny or change any one passage. He made the Scripture fit like a hand fits into a glove, and when you can do that, you can be assured of having truth." ~~~~~~~ Years later......wierwille covered his tracks of plagiarism. Also, in order to herald "the man of God" title.......wierwille could NOT have equals, let alone superiors. J.E. Stiles, the man who schooled wierwille..........had to be erased from being recognized in the 7th Edition preface: "The Word of God is truth. I prayed that I might put aside all that I had heard and thought out myself, and I started anew with the Bible as my handbook as well as my textbook. I did not want to omit, deny, or change any passage for, the Word of God being the will of God, the Scripture must fit like a hand in a glove." .

A cult survives by hardening the line between "us" and "them", and making "them" so repugnant that we're glad we're not "them." That way, even when "us" are badly oppressed, we're still glad that at least we're not "them". For cults, only "us" qualify for salvation. In twi, for decades now, to leave twi is to leave " the household of God" and forfeit rewards, salvation, or both. People who stay in twi are so lulled to sleep that they don't question how wrong that is.

TWI has nothing special there. It's just a "cult trademark" generally to be critical of those not associated with their group - especially if that's some sort of religious group.

Ok, yeah I got you now...it’s been awhile since I read and saw The Hunger Games trilogy. Like The Matrix, Hunger Games has similar themes of what is fake/real, the motivation to survive (evident in all the main characters), rebellion & revolution. TWI and splinters survive by the way they ensnare folks in the virtual world of wierwille’s delusion; unbeknownst to followers they have become captivated by core beliefs that are held like almost absolute truths - and which often function as rules and regulations to control the way things are done and even the way people behave - thus the threat of rebellion is reduced or nonexistent. For example in the foundational class followers are taught the road down to failing God starts with questioning “The Word” (wierwille's manipulative teaching about Genesis 3 ).As one gets more involved with the group, that expands to questioning leadership is the road down to failure - failing God and the ministry. My hope and prayer for folks still involved with these religious fakers is that in reading about the other side of the story here on Grease Spot (that is, the real story ) is that perhaps the pilot light on critical thinking gets rekindled; that is how you can survive a cult!!! (though not always guaranteed, things like rebellion and revolution are sometimes byproducts of critical thinking) ... Speaking of critical thinking, Jesus Christ often challenged the status quo not only of the religious hypocrites but even of his own followers; check out what Jesus said to his followers criticizing others outside their group who were doing work in Jesus’ name in Luke 9: 49, 50 It must be a cult trademark of TWI and splinters to be so critical of anyone not associated with their group.

Above from the original post. We're now four years on. What's happened? What changes at TWI? Is anything substantively different?

Yes,.........thanks to Paw for all of his years of labor. And, while we are passing out the thanks........I just want to thank again Paul All-en for his strength of will and integrity of heart to take THIS FIGHT HEAD-ON..... the point of the spear to strike at the underbelly of the beast, The Way International and its deceptive practices and hiding the sexual predators in its midst. LOOK AT WHAT'S CHANGED..........in these past 21 years!! LOTS MORE..........have found the exit doors! ................[Early quote from this thread] "When Pa-ul All-en found out that Craig Martindale was using his "spiritual authority" to have sex with Paul's wife......he demanded a face-to-face confrontation at Craig's office in the Corps Chalet and that Rosalie, then vice-prez, and John Reynolds, then sec-treasurer, be there. This took place late in the evening.....like 10:30 or 11pm. Reynolds tried to berate Paul and talk him out of it......but Paul was livid. So.....the face-to-face meeting happened. Martindale was seated at his desk, Reynolds and Rivenbark were there.....and John Linder, security patrol man, stool alongside the wall brandishing his glock 9mm handgun. Paul All-en demanded martindale's RESIGNATION.......Feb 1999. Martindale balked and tried to bribe Paul with a job promotion if they could resolve this adultery [sex predation] quietly. NO WAY, NO HOW. Paul was having none of it.......Reynolds and Rivenbark sided with Craig and wanted to sweep in under the carpet. As things escalated.......Craig ordered Linder to give Paul (and his wife, Fern) the bum's rush: to escort Paul to his dorm room in founder's hall, pack his things and get him and ferne off grounds within hours [in the cover of darkness]. By noon meal next day, martindale fabricated the story and told staffers that the allens were "possessed" etc. etc. [same drill used time and time again.] Within three weeks......Paul, a computer website guru, had Waydale up and running. The sole mission of the website, the forerunner of GSC was two-fold: To seek and destroy 1) The Way International and 2) Craig Martindale....... hence Waydale. Reynolds and Rivenbark were the sleaze that continued to cover for martindale.....until the lawyers got involved and strongly recommended that martindale be ousted for legal/insurance liabilities. So, the "man-in-tights-from-spirits-in-the-athlete" fame who had been salted and oiled by dikter wierwille himself slithered to Toledo, Ohio to a twi-owned house......trying to take him off-grid from one and all. No forwarding address. No phone listing. No one need ask questions....its NONE of your business [to hell it isn't !!]. See, that's the essence of all those dirty, little secrets at twi: You, little peon, have NO RIGHT TO QUESTION THEM. They can lie to you face, intimidate you into submission.......but when they utterly screw up, Reynolds and Rivenbark use every weapon in their arsenal to keep THEIR secrets. And......Reynolds and Rivenbark have been JYDL's mentors........."

I'm working through one of these Bible in a Year online scripture readings. On the subject of leadership, lately this item was the study for the day. (Compare and contrast with pseudo leadership.)

Good post, Annio. Hang in there - God is True and does deliver us from all manner of abuse. You loved that chapter because it was probably written by some odly man whose work was ripped off by VPW. Shame on those who victimise and re-victimise and re-re-victimise, and erode all the Godly strength with which we are endowed. All the pseudo teaching at first appears to bring strength or comfort, but it's then used to undermine and sap. Jesus Christ is the way, The Truth, and the life. And if you don't teach Jesus Christ, you aren't teaching The Truth.

This letter from "Way Corps ministers" is so lame that it borders on pathetic. "The future of our ministry is in peril." ...................really? just now you guys figured this out? "Way Corps ministers" that have been indoctrinated for 40 years have little chance of "revival and restoration"........unless outside sources point the way out of the woods. This whole letter is generic mumbo-jumbo........like a Geer-redux (1986). Numbers and symptoms are pointed out, but the root of these problems escape them. Why are corps dropping away? Why are class numbers so anemic? Why is the whole thing so dead? Greasespot Café has been addressing these issues for 17 years........deception, intimidation, indoctrination, exploitation, pharisaic-rule, no accountability, cult behavior, double-standards, arrogant hypocrisy at top levels, liars, abusers, enablers, etc. And, we didn't just spotlight rivenbark's leadership and micromanagement.......here at GSC, we pulled back the curtains to expose wierwille and his pyramid-scheme, in all its treachery. The systematizing of error has taken root for decades. To simply confront rivenbark's tenure, character, and age is abysmal in its approach. Yeah......unless Bob Moynihan, Gary Frederick, Michael Fort, Paul Brooks and others just want to "move the deck chairs around on the titanic"......they need to get serious and roll up their sleeves. The place is a MESS. They need OUTSIDE CONSULTATION AND SUPPORT to even begin the process. NONE of them, it appears, have the wherewithal to break the institutionalization of twi's cult and get back to solid ground of Christian living and revival. Unless their little Q&A accommodates input from GSC-posters, the blind will continue to fall in the ditch.