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The social need for belonging was an underpinning to twi's growth. The rock of ages could have been a fun, exciting, social gathering ALL DAY LONG with a 90 minute teaching series in the evening. But no......the "ruling lords" had to leverage their control of spirituality from the flag raising to family table teachings to corps promotional meetings. What a crock! By 1981, I loathed the roa-religiosity and brain-numbing gurus. Same ole, same ole,.....year after year. C'mon, people......how many of us went to the rock of ages to see friends, family, and loved ones? Did the fanfare, the twi-infomercials and the bloviating on main stage add to that experience? Not really. Do I remember ANY SPECIFIC TEACHING? Nope. Do I remember certain people and the social stuff? Yep, I sure do.

Indeed. I was definitely ready to leave in 1986. I had just completed a bachelor of science degree in accounting and reading the Book of Acts in that light and then seeing the bullspit that was twi made me intellectually ready. The fact that entire twigs left in the Phoenix area when JALvis, Reahard, Dubofsky, Belt and Pierce published their letter made it safer (socially) for me and plenty of others to leave at that time.

Not sure if this is what you're looking for (and it may also fall under the category of situational irony or something if you think of it in reference to TWI….but anyway here goes ….) often thrown about in teachings by VP and other TWI leaders: The closer the counterfeit is to the genuine the more valuable it is to the adversary. In the world of real money, superior quality counterfeit money can easily deceive the casual eye in an exchange of valuable goods - all to the benefit of the counterfeiter. In the world of moving product – some are fooled in buying a cheap knock off thinking it will last as long or work as well as the genuine brand; the buyer may think they're saving a lot of money but the manufacturer is making a lot of money for as cheap as their crap cost to make. In reference to TWI - the closer the "way tree" and products (classes, books, programs, etc.) mimic genuine Christianity the more valuable they are to "customer retention". Some TWI folks have even been seriously deluded to think TWI is the body of Christ! Think I'm kidding?! I remember a phrase by GeerHead in reference to the mass exodus of corps in the aftermath of the passing of the patriarch epistle – his comment about those who left was something like the fat is being trimmed from the body of Christ. Well, I guess there's another wayism that may hold up (the bank) – if you want a healthy cult you've got to trim the fat. After all you know what they say about staying healthy "diet and plenty of exorcise." Exorcise those evil spirits that hold your "ministry" back! Come out thou foul and fact-filled spirit of thinking. I command that entire herd of demons that's playing tricks with your five senses to go to the Abyss of Abeyance in the Armpits of VP.

Further, the human social need -- to belong -- is extremely deep and powerful. It kept many of us in twi far longer than it took for us to realize VPee was a huckster. Not just Skyrider.

Yep....right you are. Layered into my listing above...9) Groups.....people are a social animal, desire to belong [clubs, movements, causes, secret societies, etc.] are the socio-psychological traits of human nature. Most people, when they stake their allegiance to a college, team, group, etc. tend to seek acceptance or approval of their peers. The longer one stays, the stronger the bonds of camaraderie and conformity. Add the complexities of a girlfriend, spouse, children, your friends, her friends, children's friends, in-laws, twi-employer, having cut ties with past, etc......NOW WHAT?? This is far bigger than a bad business decision or investment. This entails life's most valued "commodities"......love and relationships, to God and mankind. When one awakens and/or finds himself ensnared.....it is gut-wrenching and antagonizing on multiple levels. How many recover from the snare unscathed and intact? How many marriages end in divorce? The intricacies thru this maze are multi-faceted. And yes, that is one of the reasons why many people stayed LONGER THAN THEY WANTED TO. I am one of those people.

I debated on which thread to post this - it was a toss-up between the way corps victim…oppressor thread or this one the subtle thread thread /> ….since my post extrapolates on the continuation of this insidious wormlike thread after graduating from PFAL I thought I'd post it here… I assume most new grads of PFAL took the instructions from VP at face value. Speaking for myself, I equated VP saying "you don't go around breaking the 10 commandments" with walking the Word and all the other renewed mind rhetoric in PFAL. I think I was pretty much the Dudley Do-Right type even up to and including my participation in the way corps program. And I believe most of the people I knew in the corps were the same way. But let's say there's a very ambitious PFAL grad and for some unspoken reason is attracted to the power structure of TWI. As time goes on, let's say they enroll in the way corps program (TWI's version of Police Academy – with a variation – a group of incompetent but good-hearted misfits enter a program that has an incompetent evil-hearted moral misfit for an instructor). How thrilling - to sit at the feet of the "police chief" who will reveal the secrets of the double standard. Maybe that same ambitious corps grad was the type who couldn't wait to get their "badge" (way corps name tag) and the rest of the accoutrements of power. You'd see them on patrol in their precinct – turning on the squad car lights to race thru traffic and busy intersections to get to their favorite donut shop; afterward they'd have no qualms about writing one of the fine upstanding citizens they "serve" a ticket for a minor traffic violation. Power corrupts. The absolute truth about the greatest secret in way-world today is that the Power for Abundant Living class corrupts absolutely.