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Showing content with the highest reputation on 10/08/2021 in Posts

  1. Yes Twinky ! An excellent point of showing the enormous latitude TWI-folks may find in TWI-doctrines / TWI-mindset / TWI-pat phrases and the potential for causing great damage. To elaborate on my post that you referenced: I, T-Bone have said the following in an earlier post : "I understand your perspective on TWI’s narcissistic cult-leaders. My points were to show that the cult of TWI has more than one dysfunctionality trait – and that other maladjusted characteristics can be found in other TWI-doctrines. Just going on TWI’s version of gender bias (unscrupulous, horny AND narcissistic men having an unfair advantage over women) can be found in PFAL – wierwille slipping in a justification for David’s adultery by saying technically all the women of the kingdom belonged to the king. And further on into settings like wierwille’s Christian Family and Sex class or routinely showing a porn video to in-residence way corps all the while soft-pedaling his licentious attitude by saying things like “I’ve so renewed my mind that stuff like this doesn’t bother me” and “anything done in the love of God is okay”. These were all ways for wierwille to lay the groundwork to have (besides other malicious purposes) an advantage over women." People need to bear in mind the multi-purpose use of TWI’s version of gender bias - one motive is so that unscrupulous, horny AND narcissistic male TWI-leaders can have an unfair advantage over women. Take for example, the two seemingly Biblically based but actually insidious and mind-numbing pat phrases that I mentioned in the above quote - they are exact quotes from wierwille – I’ve observed him saying both of them in the context of supposedly teaching what the Bible says about sexual matters in the Christian Family and Sex class and with him showing a porn video to in-residence way corps as a way to supposedly prepare us to handle anything when believers come to us for counseling: Example of how an unscrupulous, horny and narcissistic male TWI-leader might use either of the two stupefying phrases: A woman goes to a TWI-leader for counseling because her husband is not that affectionate anymore and she even admits she has grown cold and doesn’t think she could respond emotionally or physically to her husband anymore. [ I will cut to the chase instead of pointing out why this counseling setup is wrong to begin with] …Now if this happens to be one of those unscrupulous, horny and narcissistic male TWI-leaders that I mentioned earlier – then he just might start leading the conversation down a seductive path – saying stuff like “Maybe at some point we need to get your husband in on this conversation. But right now, I am puzzled why your husband is that way. You know, at Branch and Area meetings I’ve seen how standoffish you both appear to be around each other. You are always so sweet and attractive – if you were my wife I’d be hugging and kissing you like crazy to make sure every guy knows you’re mine.” He laughs a little as if it was an innocent and amusing comment. She blushes and giggles slightly – but he could tell by her body language she is very uptight. “Fortunately” his wife is out of town visiting her parents. He offers her a little wine to make her feel more relaxed. After a couple of hours and a few glasses of wine the conversation has softened her up and crossed many boundaries. She admits she has always found the TWI-leader attractive – even sexy (oops did she really just say that out loud? Maybe it’s the wine talking)… and she hemmed and hawed when she was trying to tell him she was even kind of envious when she watched how he was always sweet and affectionate to all the women at any ministry function. As if feigning a moment of inspiration – he twitches his head slightly, says “well then…” stands up, walks over to her – reaches down and clasps both her hands to pull her up to stand in front of him – face to face. He then hugs her and gives her a soft lingering peck on the cheek. Her face is flushed – her breath catches. “You mean like - that?” he says…She stammers out words that come quickly – as when a lot of people do when they’re nervous – caught off guard and don’t know what to say or do…she admits out loud she’s very uptight…she doesn’t know how to react to that…but he’s as cool as a cucumber – so she stares intently into his eyes…for some reason she recalls the scene from The Jungle Book with Kaa the snake singing the “Trust in me” song…sure…this is okay…he’s being a big brother to me…but then he leans in and gives her a long passionate kiss on the lips…Mayday Mayday !! she’s wondering if she can handle this…relax…don’t freak out…don’t show the man of God you’re a baby…she’s wondering if this situation is wrong…she’s confused…reminds herself this is an ordained clergyman…[Now TWI-fans here comes the windup pitch]: Then the unscrupulous, horny and narcissistic male TWI-leader says: “I’ve so renewed my mind that stuff like this doesn’t bother me” [or he could say] “Anything done in the love of God is okay”. Slick soap opera camera editing shows pages and pages and pages and pages and pages and pages of an AT-A-Glance Weekly/Monthly Planner flying by ( the planner appointment book with the reminder to order your next year's planner at the end of August, it's product number 76-950-05 in The Way Bookstore online catalog - call now operators are standing by ) - and now it's a full blown affair – several months down the road, she announces to the unscrupulous, horny and narcissistic male TWI-leader that she is pregnant. His demeanor becomes stone cold. He tries not to flinch or sound nervous or afraid as he says “I think it’s best you get an abortion. Doctor taught us there’s nothing wrong with that. And you need to think about how any knowledge of this getting out would hurt the immature believers who are not spiritually strong enough in The Word - uhm...they wouldn't understand. But the love of God thinketh no evil - right? You and I are spiritually mature – we can handle stuff like this. Remember doing anything in the love of God is okay.” Let’s take a break from that steamy romance novel to consider another aspect – as Bolshevik mentioned earlier “The actions of the leaders were spread into the behavior of the sheep, right?” In a harmful and controlling cult there is sort of a trickledown effect with insidious ideologies – where ideas and behavior gradually, by remote or indirect influences - flow from the upper unscrupulous, horny and narcissistic male TWI-leadership down to the lower ranks. Realistically, not everyone is receptive to such unprincipled thoughts and behavior – but those who are – or may already have similar predilections and just need some “mentoring” tend to be very ambitious – to rise in the ranks and have access to the perks – the desirable “extras” that come with a position or status. It’s a red letter day when you get to the point in your “walk with God” that you can easily use the same pat phrases “ambi-flextrously” (that’s a new word I just invented and refers to unscrupulous, horny and narcissistic male TWI-leaders saying the same thing to get them in or out of trouble. For example, part of his seductive rap is “anything done in the love of God is okay” and that gets him laid…She gets pregnant – he recommends she get an abortion and to alleviate any qualms she might have about getting an abortion he says “anything done in the love of God is okay”). Two sides of the same wooden nickel. These aspiring unscrupulous and horny dudes usually learn by seeing examples. The “best” teachers are those that practice what they preach – even in a narcissistic and multi-dysfunctional harmful and controlling cult like TWI. The more involved I got in TWI and moved up in status – going in the way corps - the privier I became to see exactly how the unscrupulous, horny and narcissistic male TWI-leaders modeled living “The Word”. It was all hypocrisy on the order of Matthew 23 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+23&version=NIV . To understand how TWI-followers get to the point of being unaware of wierwille’s licentious nature is to understand how a sexual predator can be hidden in plain sight. It is by masking his true nature in the guise of a man of God, a teacher of the Bible. ... I bet if you showed a video of some of those times to anyone - ANYONE - who was not so indoctrinated with wierwille's twisted ideology - after they recovered from that shocking presentation (which could take a while) they might say something like "so who is this joker and what qualifies him to teach the Bible and act so authoritatively ? So even though I've witnessed him doing and saying some inappropriate stuff innumerable times - it never registered in my head that wierwille was a sexual predator - even the night he showed us the porn video and then worked on guilting us into feeling bad if we were not mature enough to handle it. They say love is blind. I had such an enormous respect and admiration for wierwille - probably bordering on idolatry - that I paid no attention to any of his shortcomings nor ever realized anything about him was amiss. Such is the blinding condition of a cultic-mindset. And it wasn't just wierwille...there were other unscrupulous, horny and narcissistic male TWI-leaders - like LCM. I remember one corps night Craig was on a rant about something - - maybe it was about not having regrets in your walk with God...he talked about living your life without fear of failure...if you love God everything is going to be okay...trust in God's providence...he won't let you totally screw up your life or anyone else's ( wow ! how's that for a humdinger of a lie!?!? have no fear our beloved cult-leader says we don't have to feel responsible for our negligence or acts of abuse to others) ...anyway... he starts talking about abortion...and I guess it was to alleviate the guilt and shame of any women who have already had an abortion - or maybe it was also a type of preemptive manipulation to some woman in particular who was being pressured to have an abortion - Craig says something like "what's in the past is past. It's not like you killed the next Apostle Paul." ... ... ... ... ...Grease Spotters, I don't care if you're pro-life or pro-choice - that was just an awfully cold, callous, flippant, and demeaning thing for Craig to say. As God, Jesus Christ and my wife are witness I can speak with a clear conscience – I have never sought after, indulged in nor found appealing the hidden licentious lifestyle of these unscrupulous, horny and narcissistic male TWI-leaders. and I’m not the holier-than-thou type and I wasn’t the only honest and decent way corps person. There were hundreds if not thousands of good folks like me who truly loved God, served fellow believers the best we could and probably made life in a harmful and controlling cult somewhat tolerable. When I was in TWI for 12 years, I was never aware of that stuff. And it’s sobering to think about how treacherous a cult can be when you consider all the other people in positions of power and authority of the group besides the cult-leader who know what goes on and yet are complicit. And I should say something about ignorant facilitators like me – unaware of all the deceit, abuses of power, and illicit behavior. I was such a naively enthusiastic flunky who constantly talked about how great it was "to serve God and His ministry" – which now I’ve come to realize - that was just the Kool-Aid talking. * * * * * * * * * * Hey Grease Spotters and moderators – sorry for all the tangents and off-topic stuff…feel free to report any of my posts – and moderators feel free to delete any of them. I don’t know if it’s a certain topic…the time of day…or that I’ve finished binge-watching Friends – but somedays it’s like a bulging can of worms in my head – that I know is a sure sign of botulism, but I open it anyway…I post about it…feels ugly and awkward to write about …I know reading this stuff is kinda like watching someone puke…anyway …I feel better now…Thanks for putting up with me.
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