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I’m here because I received a similar card in the mail today. The front with “Time to come home?” features a garden with fountains I can’t remember the name of at HQ, and the back says “Home is where the word lives. Come and see it’s a new day at The Way.” Yeah, no thanks. Before we left in ’94 after 10+ years, they said “we had to be strong to hang with the ministry.” No, we had to be strong to LEAVE that manipulative cult, as it was almost our entire social circle, besides the whole “grease spot” brainwashing. Thank GOD we didn’t ditch our friends and family outside The Way as instructed, or we’d have had nobody left when we exited the ministry. Yes, we’re thankful for the Word we learned, but the seemingly overnight 180° turn from “nothing is mandatory, but that nothing is mandatory” to “you WILL go to twig three days each week, you Will attend Sunday night service once a month, you WILL get the magazine and the Sunday night service tapes, you WILL sign up for the advanced class,” etc., etc., made us highly suspicious. The final straw was telling my wife she wasn’t welcome in the ministry anymore as she wasn’t “advancing fast enough,” while I would be allowed to stay. This would have effectively ended our 19-year marriage, so I told them right then and there “nope, we’re out of here” and never looked back. The fact they regarded her advancement in the ministry more important than our “’till death do us part” commitment spoke volumes. Come back to The Way? I wouldn’t urinate on it if it was on fire.

How do they know who to send these postcards to, anyway? If someone's been kicked out, especially out of the WC, who knows where that person might have departed to - and where those individuals might be now, several if not many, years later. Please don't tell me that they have a "research department" to research where ex-Wayfers are now living - by trawling through phone records, previous addresses, any recorded next of kin for ex-Wayfers, and contacting current Wayfers in the last known state. That would be akin to stalking.

I can see from your post how the "flowchart" you had previously shared (and I still agree with) does not convey the incredible interagency between God, the Son and the holy spirit as laid out in the epistles such as Galatians. I began reading Colossians today and I marvel at how God, Christ and the holy spirit worked together to reconcile us back to God and continue to work together to help us live out that reconciliation. For example: Col 1:9b-13 We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power [via holy spirit] according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

https://thewayinternational.com/operating-the-gift-of-holy-spirit/ The following paragraph is from the above article: "These four types of power all come together when we operate our gift of holy spirit. The potential power (dunamis) given to each born-again believer is exercised and put into operation by our freewill decision because we have the authority and right (exousia). God energizes (energeō) the power as we believe and decide to act, resulting in the manifestation of that power (kratos), power with an impact." A verse is given for each Greek word except exousia. Written earlier in the article is, "Next, exousia is the God-given right and privilege to exercise the dunamis." Instead of a verse, they go into the old "driving a car" example. I found this curious, so I did a quick check on Bible Hub for the Greek word, and I didn't see a verse about exousia and the believer having it to "operate the spirit." It showed the following who have/had it: Jesus (both in the gospels and in the epistles), the god of this world, the apostles but only in the context of how they conducted themselves with the church and others but only in the earthly realm. Since the statements above are used to support twi's GP, does anyone know of scriptural backup for this?

Abusers are insidious people. They start by love bombing to get you hooked. Once you're hooked they start attacking your self-esteem. When you've had enough and leave, it can go one of two ways. If they feel they can't get anything else out of you, they'll let you go and give you the silent treatment. However, if they feel they can get more out of you, they shift back to the love bombing phase, promising this time it'll be different. It is different, until they have you hooked again, then the cycle starts anew. Sounds like the ministry is in the remember what it was like love bombing phase.

Great posts WordWolf and Bolshevik ! Got me thinking…uh oh… hence The great unprincipled cult-leader My wife and I watched The Three Faces of Eve (1957) - IMDb last night – it is a 1957 American film noir mystery drama film presented in CinemaScope, based on the book of the same name about the life of Chris Costner Sizemore, which was written by psychiatrists Corbett H. Thigpen and Hervey M. Cleckley, who also helped write the screenplay. Sizemore, also known as Eve White, was a woman they suggested might have dissociative identity disorder (then known as multiple personality disorder). Sizemore's identity was concealed in interviews about this film and was not revealed to the public until 1977. The film was directed by Nunnally Johnson. From: The Three Faces of Eve - Wikipedia The film got me primed to read these posts this morning in a new light, and reframe the problem. The narrative of The Three Faces of Eve unravels a mystery. The film depicts a psychiatrist who attempts to understand and deal with two incomplete and inadequate personalities inside Eve. In one session, a third personality emerges, a relatively stable personality named Jane. The psychiatrist eventually prompts his patient to remember a traumatic event in Eve's childhood. Her grandmother had died when she was six, and according to family custom, relatives were supposed to kiss the dead person at the viewing, making it easier for them to let go. While Eve screams, her mother forces her to kiss the corpse. Apparently, Eve's terror led to the creation of different personalities. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to consider indoctrination into a cult as a low-energy trauma. And by no means do I wish to minimize the compounding of high-energy trauma some experienced from sexual molestation, intense psychological and physical abuse from cult-leaders, parents, etc.. I think human beings are capable of enduring very difficult situations, hardships, unpleasant conditions, etc.…. And something else I’ve observed on Grease Spot Café is that we are resilient too – that we are able to withstand a lot of hellish stuff and if given enough time – which varies for everyone – we can recover…survive…and hopefully thrive. My two-bit amateur psychology theory is that as followers of a harmful and abusive cult develop some coping mechanisms in our psyche…processes that help us manage the stress / trauma and optimistically diminish the intensity of the pain. Sometimes it’s easier to go along with the ritualized behavior – somewhat of a go-with-the-flow attitude - to accept a situation, rather than trying to alter or control it. I’m not suggesting cult-followers develop multiple personalities. For our discussion I’m going with a simple definition: In psychology, the notion of the self refers to a person’s experience as a single, unitary, autonomous being that is separate from others, experienced with continuity through time and place. The experience of the self includes consciousness of one’s physicality as well as one’s inner character and emotional life. From: Self - IResearchNet For extra credit you can check out the following hyperlinks What Is the Self? | Psychology Today The Self | Psychology Today Self Concept - Simply Psychology Self - Wikipedia Self in Jungian psychology - Wikipedia What Is a 'Self'? Here Are All the Possibilities | Live Science ~ ~ ~ ~ One of the reasons I study the Bible is for self-improvement to develop my knowledge / wisdom / character. The Bible isn’t my only resource for that – but so that I’m not going all over the map with the influence / inspiration from other books, films, TV, music, art, and even Grease Spot Café – I’m limiting my reference to mostly the Bible for this discussion. Something the film The Three Faces of Eve did for me in light of these recent posts was get me to re-think a basic Christian concept of self-improvement – the struggle of the unregenerate-self versus the revitalized-self - - the old man versus the new man…For a Christian who gets suckered into a pseudo-Christian cult, there is a ‘third self’ that is put forth as the new man – the ideal you. I believe wierwille / The Way International hijacked the abstract idea of the new man mentioned in the epistles of Paul. By taking advantage of a Christian’s desire to better themselves – in a bait-and-switch ploy, wierwille / TWI presented a submissive and compliant attitude as something to be admired and indicative of Christlike behavior. I think my use of the word ‘hijacked’ is appropriate because it is the unauthorized seizure of a soul’s journey - compelling one toward a different direction or destination – basically using the person for one's own purposes. So, let’s look at the old man and the new man in the Bible…I’ve put certain words and phrases in a red font that are pertinent to our discussion – and we find that in this battle we are not going at it alone – we have the Holy Spirit’s help too! ~ ~ ~ ~ What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. 19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6 ~ ~ ~ ~ 4 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Romans 7 ~ ~ ~ ~ 8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. 12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. Romans 8 ~ ~ ~ ~ 12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12 ~ ~ ~ ~ So… summarizing my thoughts – as a Christian and survivor of a pseudo-Christian cult, i looked at 3 alternatives to create a plan for self-improvement. After which I will submit a redefinition of wierwille’s great principle – which I call the great unprincipled cult-leader. 1. the natural self. Our fallen human nature. The unregenerate person. That’s our unredeemed self. That’s us without any of the light and influence of God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Keep doing the same old thing. Enjoy the rut. Nothing like a bad habit to depend on for autopilot 2. the supernatural self. The ideal person – the “new” inner self – it’s new in terms of it didn’t exist until the light and influence of God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit came into your life. There may not be a Stephen-Spielberg-big-Hollywood-production in your life that stands out as when it all began.... thereafter at times we realize we need to get out of a rut…Often a way to break a bad habit is to start a good habit to take its place. 3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So, it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” John 3 Jesus was explaining that we cannot control the work of the Holy Spirit. He works in ways we cannot predict or understand. you’re really the same person but now freed from the control of our fallen nature. There is now a spiritual battle both within and without – inner conflicts from worldly temptations that may still hold their appeal to the typical and personally unique pressures of daily living are unavoidable skirmishes. Philosophers and Diaspora Jewish intellectuals often advocated cultivating the mind, the ‘inner person’ or ‘inner being’, as over the passions of the body. Sometimes they used war imagery to depict this conflict – ‘waging war’, (Romans 7:23) Paul depicts a mind here that has been taken prisoner of war by the members of his body. Our old self, the body of sin (Romans 6:6) are synonymous – and refers to sinful tendencies that are entangled with bodily weaknesses and pleasures. The old self is ‘dead’ – but this is figurative and not literal. Sin retains a foothold in our humanness. Conceptually it’s not that we have two competing natures – the old and the new. It’s like the supernatural self has been revitalized but we are now aware there’s a part of ourselves finds still shackled to an unredeemed physical body; the term ‘flesh’ is equivalent to the physical body, which can be an instrument for holiness (Romans 6: 19; 12:1 ) According to the Bible humankind was created to enjoy a beautiful planet, relationships without friction, and fellowship without distance. But something went wrong – and something is still wrong, and we know it, both within our world and within ourselves. Religions, philosophy, psychology, sociology, politics, and just about everyone else who doesn’t live under a rock is trying to resolve what went wrong. I for one like to check out all the options and viewpoints available instead of limiting myself to one problematic ideology like wierwille’s theology. some ideas and notes are from: MacArthur Study Bibles - Christianbook.com , NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, Hardcover: Craig Keener, John Walton: 9780310431589 - Christianbook.com NIV, Life Application Study Bible, Third Edition, Leathersoft, Brown, Red Letter: Zondervan: 9780310452829: Amazon.com: Books Inside Out: Crabb, Larry: 9781612913124: Amazon.com: Books The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business: Duhigg, Charles: 8601406381322: Amazon.com: Books 3. the adaptive self - the ‘new you’ as specified by the cult-leader. This may be misrepresented as the supernatural self – the ideal self. How the cult-leader says you should think, and act becomes the new standard – which you are expected to adopt…I got into this on another thread - here and here - so you can check those out another time at your convenience...as it is, this post is too damn long As an example of modeling counterfeit Christianity, under the pretext of prepping leaders for counseling wierwille would show the way corps some inappropriate video and then handle any shock and disgust of the students by saying stuff like renew your mind or the love of God doesn’t think evil. ~ ~ ~ ~ …and now for the finale… The great unprincipled cult-leader: The unscrupulous cult-leader who is deluded can only speak to others who are enamored with his greatness. Through indoctrination the unscrupulous cult-leader in effect teaches his or her ‘creation’ in you (the cultic mindset) – which is an alternate standard of how to think and act – and becomes manifested in the senses realm to the degree you become assimilated in the harmful and controlling cult. ...Instead of ending on a positive note I thought I’d end on a sour note Well – that’s all for now, folks