Leaderboard

Looking back through the years of twi-involvement, I now see how this cult organization set their snares to entrap me. It is NO SECRET that cults target the youth and twi is no different. Through years of failure, wierwille learned that he was unable to get "church people" [especially church pastors] to join his ministry after taking the pfal class. Even teaching this class live to an audience.... wierwille failed to engage most pfal-attendees in the 1960's toward twi-servitude. Little by little, things began to change with "family camps" and the filming of the 1967 pfal class. Soon thereafter, young "firebrands" emerged to take the reins of outreach. Whether it was the hippie-types playing guitar in the park, like Donnie Fugit.... or the guys in a Way Home at ECU, youth were reaching other youth. Whatever the encounter, you were about to run the gauntlet as they set their I's on you. Introduction -- the entry point of your encounter Involvement -- the beginning baby-steps of attending twig, coffee house setting, or pfal class Isolation -- within weeks, you are subtly being isolated from friends, family, information, past activities Intimidation -- slowly, but surely, your authentic self is being re-formatted to a cult follower Immersion -- introduction of new classes, programs to reinstitute a new trajectory of your life Indoctrination -- most notably found in their programs, Fellow Laborers and Way Corps Training Idolization -- can be found at all levels, but mostly among adv class grads and corps grads Most generally, the first two steps are found at the "twig level." In the early 70's, many of these twig coordinators had a special care and oversight of those in their fellowship. Broadly speaking, it seemed to me like there were hundreds of true shepherds guarding their flocks by night. Dozens upon dozens of GSC-posts give testimony to those early days of twigs and twi-involvement. Depending on how long you stayed in this arrangement, you might have been left with the impression shared by many....Short stay, good memories. For those who were second generation and grew up in this cult environment, this scenario would be significantly altered. Isolation...incrementally, began at the twig level, but there was still plenty of time and freedom to "live and move about to your heart's desire." But it was the programs like Fellow Laborers and, specifically, the Way Corps Program where Isolation increased a hundredfold. What was presented as "a college where the Word of God is taught," was pure bait-and-switch. The overall tactic was nothing short of Manipulation of One's Consent. What we had agreed to was twisted to mean that we were consenting to "a lifetime of twi-servitude." Intimidation tactics began in earnest to quell any of the rabble-rousers. The hierarchy of leaders over leaders created an atmosphere of always needing some leader's permission to do the simplest of tasks. During work assignments, one might need to go to the shop coordinator to check out a screwdriver for fixing shelves, chairs or whatever. Yeah, sign your name on a checkout list to be allowed a screwdriver!?! God have mercy if you didn't return the item and resign your name in the appropriate box. Bullsh!t intimidation. The in-residence classes were straight-up cult Immersion. All classes were taught by in-house "Faculty".... ie, corps peers. Yeah, "in-house".... meaning that the echo chamber was growing louder as "the blind were leading the blind." In my case, we were being taught generally by the 5th, 6th, and 7th way corps. Much of the earlier corps 1-4 were busy with departments, limbs and regions to run. We didn't have any selection of classes or curriculum. Everything was block format. We were simply stationed at a specific campus and instructed to run ..... The Gauntlet of Classes and Indoctrination. With elder corps on both sides, I hoped to make it to "graduation day"... whatever that meant. LOL By the second year in-residence, we were heavily into more Indoctrination. Privy to more meetings and encounters with twi-hierarchy, one could see the machinations involved to keep the railroad running. Some experts tell us that a young man's mind is not fully developed until the age of 25..... and, in my case, I think that's a fitting description. I saw these red flags, but still wasn't fully cognizant of the destructive and evil nature of the beast. I wasn't aware that wierwille, martindale and others were abusing young corps girls in the motor coaches, cabin 12 at Gunnison and on-campus apartments. The indoctrination took all the full spectrum of cult tactics.... physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual abuse. Years ago, a poster named Catcup started a thread entitled.... The Nine Dots of Nonsense. Her opening post summarized very well how the corps program became a box of indoctrination. Is it any wonder that scores of followers reached the point of Idolization of wierwille and his doctrine? Entombed in a world of isolation for decades from the outside world can do that to your mind. What you look at.... you become. Remember that? What you center your whole mind and soul on.... becomes the center of YOUR world. It's a known reality in the psychological realm. All those hyperbolic declarations of "wierwille's greatness" .... all those night owls where we sat cross-legged at those campfires listening to wierwille's bloviating .... all the "bridge-builder" poem reading wherein wierwille equated himself as some great bridge builder who took time to stop and help others to new horizons .... those mind-numbing readings of "A Day with the Wierwilles" ... the life-size bronze statue of wierwille in the auditorium .... and the need to stand with the wierwille family in order that the word will continue to live......SHEEESH. Could I please have back at least three years of my life from such nonsense? The eyes of a cult, any cult, are always looking for new recruits. If there is a new generation of youth rising up at twi, I can only pray that they will be prodded awake by the hundreds of thought-provoking threads here at GSC. .

Of course, you are right in your assessment of my whimsical statement. In those transitional years from my youth to adulthood (and sound judgment).... it has given me a deep understanding of how people are manipulated and exploited. And, like you Rocky, I have given hundreds and hundreds of hours to post here at GSC and help dismantle their authoritarian rule. Brick by brick, we are making headway.

People are willingly following the reasoning of sexual predators? The Word taking the place of the Absent Christ is a switcharoo. VPW wanted attention deflected, to him. The Word represents an object. Christ represents a person. There are people in relationships who can't remember the other person when not physically present. Think about how baffling that could be. I know there's people not in the room with me now, I haven't forgotten, and I know haven't forgotten me. I have a picture on my desk, but won't forget them if the picture is not there. I'm just picturing VPW handing this "the word takes the place of the absent christ" idea over to his followers like he's handing out flowers, "Here, this will remind you of me when I'm at work", (in case you're tempted to think of someone else). (deadbeat dads are created by the stroke of a pen, not by character)

Father in "the Word” = deadbeat dad Dead father in “the Word” = ghost dad Creepy parallels PFAL = ‘Bible’ class taught by a sexual predator Ghost Dad = 1990 film starring a sexual predator

Raf, You have questioned both Jesus Christ’s authority (Quote: He is also absent in his authority.) and his present lordship (Quote: Jesus IS present in his lordship, directing the affairs of the church in Acts. But what about NOW?) I say that just because we can’t go to him in person to resolve a dispute or because two churches disagree on a point of doctrine does not mean Jesus’ authority is absent or puts in doubt His lordship NOW. This is not just my opinion, it is what the Bible says. You spoke of the Bible in the following ways: · Seriously. The scriptures teach what they teach, whether I accept it as gospel or reject it as fantasy. · I believe the Bible teaches what it teaches. · I think one can look at the Bible fairly and come to a conclusion about what it teaches, even without believing it. · It's only the Word that can resolve disputes · Someone has to be wrong! Who judges? It has to be something outside the populace. The Word? Hypothetically, yeah. · If it serves no other purpose shouldn't the Bible define Christianity? So what does the Bible teach about the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Every Epistle Paul wrote to the church has the same salutation of “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” except for two where Paul switches things up a bit. Colossians 1:2 “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” and 1 Thess 1:1 “To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.” Jesus is as much Lord now as he was in the book of Acts. The word “Lord” means master and a master has authority which is what the Bible teaches. Ephesians 1:20-23 …he (God) raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. The head controls the body whether it’s a human body or the body of Christ. Jesus Christ is the head of his body NOW. The word “Lord” also means a person exercising absolute ownership rights which is what the Bible teaches. Romans 14:8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. It’s decided. It’s settled. There is no doubt about it no matter how many disputes and disagreements there are among believers and among churches? Do you a scripture that says Christ is absent or that the Bible takes the place of the absent Christ?

If Jesus had a cat in a box it be both present and not present. This paradox is commonly known as Jesus's Cat.

That's because you can see how history progresses. To someone looking to exonerate those who set the stage, history is something that happened all at once, with nothing leading to it.

"TWI circa 1971-1982 was vastly different, and free of the Corps elitism that took over when Craig took over in 1982. Oddly, there is much testimony here from Ralph D about this good phase of unsupervised witnessing of Jesus AND the class that happened on Long Island. " You can't get the differences because you refuse to look at them. twi circa 1971 was vpw reeling in all the House of Acts Jesus People, and sending them out on the road. People saw legit Christians- the Jesus People- and were told (by naive Jesus People who didn't MEAN to lie but were genuinely mistaken) that there was a connection between what people saw and twi, vpw, pfal. There was not. The twi growth all stems from THOSE people. What was vpw's "contribution" to this? Mostly the labels of twi, pfal, himself, and the Corps elitism he slowly dropped on them. The Corps elitism didn't suddenly arrive in 1982. vpw set it up, inflicted it on lcm, and inflicted it on Jesus People and on people they recruited. twi circa 1982 was the result of twi 1971-1981, and THAT was the result of what vpw had made it. Anyone who can't see that isn't looking. History doesn't drop out of the sky, it happens every day.

" I think this is a side-effect of all the building and maintaining an anti-idol, that eclipses objective and accurately detailed essays on the history of TWI. Few here even try to emulate the objective standards that still exist in professional journalism. I often try to UN-BLUR the differences." Mike, I think you're the only one you're successfully conning that you have anything in common with professional journalists. Your standards are anything BUT objective, and you're rather PROUD you have one standard for vpw and one standard for everyone else. That's NOT objective. Also, making up terms just to hang them on people who disagree with you isn't journalism.

It's like a fish extolling the virtues of the line because of how delicious the BAIT was. False dilemna. Nobody expected that. Nobody expects it now. Nobody complains vpw wasn't perfect. We complain he was a plagiarizing rapist whose "ministry" was built on genuine Christians upon whose work a fraud propped himself. HE was a fake, and that's not what we wanted, nor what we were told at the time. For those of us able to distinguish the bait from the hook, the appeal of "come back to pfal" just isn't going to snag us. If there were any "great truths", it wasn't because vpw was legit, it was because vpw needed the legit to bait the hook. My God is not that small that I have to fall for that con to receive truths or blessings. In an absolute sense, sin is sin. From the view on the ground, it's very insulting to compare the types of sin you might encounter here- flashes of anger, moments of bad judgement, seeking God through false idols presented as preachers- and serial rapists using God's Word as their cover, and God's People as their merchandise. If I ever sin at the level the plagiarizing rapist did, may the villagers hang me or burn me at the stake before I make as many victims as he did.