jkboehme

Per satori001: _______________________________________ Recall from the Cult thread: Douglas Hyde wrote a book which was first published in 1966 entitled, Dedication and Leadership. Hyde had grown up as a Roman Catholic, converted to communism in his idealistic adolescence, and then as a mature man returned to Roman Catholicism. {Oldies, are you reading this very closely?} One central premise of the book is that the Christian churches should use the thought reforming techniques (such as ‘struggle groups’ and the mobilization of peer pressure) of the communists, not to convert Christians to communism, but to “get” [? extort] the maximum productive work [? slave labor] out of Christian believers and workers, who appeared all too smug, complacent, and self-satisfied in Hydes’s opinion [and VPW’s.] Following are some of the totalitarian methods and strategies utilized by VPW/LCM/TWI that Doug Hyde espoused. I will paraphrase Hyde and insert corresponding TWI practices where comparable to totalitarian techniques. 2) The most distinguishing mark of the Communists [TWI rank & file member] is their [manipulated, exploited] idealism, their zeal, commitment/dedication, devotion to their cause and willingness to make phenomenal personal sacrifices [TWI has numerous programs that “assisted” one in “advancing” in learning to be so supposedly “self-less”]. The Communists [TWI] have evolved their “own means” [thought reform, packaged persuasion, struggle groups] by which they are able to “evoke” [pavlovian subliminally conditioned responses; post-hypnotic suggestion; various aspects of social peer pressure] an exceptional degree of [manipulated] commitment/dedication [TWI culttically-induced pseudo-self & pseudo-identiy, essentially Waybots with a bad case of waybrain]. Both Communists and TWI utilize a step by step process. 3) The majority of those persons who join the Communist Party [TWI] are young. The average joining age tends to be between fifteen and twenty-five [see the appendices in the book, Snapping; very similar demographics are noted for TWI followers]. Youth is a period noted to be characterized by a profound degree of idealism. The Communists [TWI] recruit these [college aged] young people by [manipulatively] appealing to their idealism and harnessing [captivating, enslaving] it to their “cause” [greedy, lustful, worldly self-interests of the top TWI leadership] with the end result of a tremendous pro-Communist [pro-TWI] effect [yet unequivocally personally self-defeating for the individual adherent]; it is a most “dynamic” thing. VPW was very fond of the word, “dynamic.” 4) Communism [TWI] becomes the dominant thing in the life of the Communist [TWI]. It is something to which he “gives” [is manipulated into inappropriate dispersal] himself completely. Quite obviously it “meets a need” [TWI uses the same terminology], fills a vacuum at the time when he is first recruited into it. It is a matter of the Communist or TWI preying on a potential recruits’ individual susceptibility and transient vulnerability at that unique point in time. More significant is that Communism [TWI] normally continues to be the dominant force in the life of the Communist [TWI member] for as long as he remains in the “movement” [TWI spoke of the ‘movement’ of God’s rightly divided (TWI-defined and interpreted) ‘Word’ over the World]. 5) The Communists’ [TWI’s] appeal to idealism is direct and audacious. Communists [TWI] says that if you make mean little demands upon people, you will only get a mean little response, which is what you deserve for your lack of a bold appeal; but, if you repetitively make huge demands on people, you will get a heroic response [manipulation by the rejection-then-retreat, perceptual contrast, and commitment-consistency principles, among others]. Communists [TWI] work on the assumption that if you call for large personal sacrifices, people will “respond” [by conditioning and thought reform] to this and, moreover, the relatively smaller required sacrifices will come quite “naturally” [TWI's cultic-induced synthetic pseudo-self in relatively automatic and consistent daily operation].6) Like attracts like. Those who are intrigued or attracted by the commitment/dedication they see within the Communist [TWI] “movement” will themselves be “possessed” of a latent idealism, a capacity for commitment/dedication. This commitment/dedication perpetuates itself, it essentially grows its own legs. It sets the tone and pace of the “movement” as a whole. This being so, the movement can make huge demands upon its adherents, knowing that the “correct [conditioned] response” will come. If the majority of the members, from the top leaders on down, are characterized by their “single-minded” commitment/devotion to the “cause,” and it is quite clear that the majority of genuinely committed/dedicated, average adherents are “giving” [via guilt and fear manipulation] until it hurts, putting in their money, time, thought, talents, and if necessary, life itself, then this living example of commitment/dedication, and loyalty is “inspiring” to potential adherents, who have never experienced the startling appeal of being totalitarian, deployable [TWI] agents. If one probes into the recruiting tactics of Communism [TWI], almost invariably one will find that it is not the theoretical or doctrinal elements that makes the enticing initial impact, but, the shocking impact made on them by some commited/dedicated Communist [TWI mature member] , which via social manipulation {modeling, peer pressure, etc} predisposes and conditions the recruit to affiliate with a “movement” and to accept bizarre “doctrines” [perhaps esoteric Hermeticism and gnostic dualism] which otherwise most probably would have been totally unacceptable to them via application of their usual critical analysis of a highly emotional, social situation. 7) Commitment/dedication must be met with commitment/dedication. Ideally, it should be backed by a genuine understanding of Communism’s [TWI’s] beliefs]. This is precisely where the significance of VPW/LCM/TWI’s plagiarized, confabulated, iconoclastic, hermetic doctrinal beliefs become of interest to us, because they subserve (under gird, support) the ‘renewed mind’ mental infrastructure of TWI-promoted actions / deeds / behaviors / practices / conduct, these practices being detrimental and damaging to many individuals. 8) What distinguishes the Communist [TWI] “movement” from essentially all others and makes it possible for such a small minority of people to make so great an impact upon our time is the [manipulated, exploited] commitment/dedication of the average individual adherent and the immense and dynamic force this represents when all those individuals collectively make their contribution to the Communist [TWI] “cause.” Without this [manipulated] magnitude of commitment/dedication, the Communists [TWI] would not be prepared to accept the constraining confines of the organizational culture, the discipline, the never ending, bone wearying ‘Marxist education’ [TWI classes, seminars, special advanced classes, etc], the incessant appeals [via guilt and fear motivation] for ever more pro-Communist [pro-TWI] actions and behaviors [on a personal level: renewed mind activities, glossolalia; On an organizational level: the so-called outreach/witnessing of the {TWI-defined} ‘Word,’ attending Household Fellowship meetings many times per week, attending national level TWI meetings such as Advanced Classed, Special Advanced Classes, Word in Business and Profession Conferences, etc]. 9) Commitment/dedication to Communism [TWI] and willingness to experience the ‘awesome privilege’ to ‘sacrificially serve’ must be developed in a person, then drawn out of him. TWI would often teach the “principle” of the Biblical “bond-slave,” koine Greek, doulos/doule. This is supposedly an arrangement where one person (the potentially enslaved) would agree to be the bond-slave of a master, so long as the master would supply all of the potentially enslaved person’s needs & those of his immediate family. It was supposedly a relationship of love and trust! TWI taught us that we were to be bond-slaves to TWI’s top Man of God & correspondingly TWI’s hermetic ‘God’ so that the Man of God & God, now analogously one’s Master, would be in a (? bribed) position to be not only willing, but now able to meet one’s need because of his demonstrated bond-slave commitment/dedication, as evidenced by faithful tithing/abundant sharing of one’s finances, steadfast giving of one’s time and talents, etc}. The Communists [TWI] have had to find “ways and means” of doing this [thought reform, covert packaged persuasion, fraud, misrepresentation, lying, etc.], because after all, the end of a totally Communist [TWI] world justifies any means necessary to accomplish this most noble goal! In the process, Communists [TWI] have discovered that it is good “psychology” to demand much from their people. It is bad psychology and bad politics to demand too little. Communism [TWI] demands one to give his all, all of the time; Communism [TWI] demanded the whole man and got it. This is one of the many paradoxes {hence, ‘dialectical materialism,’ the blending of apparent conceptual opposites} which must face anyone who begins to delve into this aspect of Communism [TWI]. Communism [TWI] we are told, is the great enemy of the individual’s true historical self and self-image. Under Communism [TWI], in practice, the individual’s own true historical personality is to be suppressed [the creation of a new synthetic pseudo-identity, whether Communist-defined or TWI cult-defined]. Philosophically this is assuredly true. But in practice, whilst the Communist [TWI] “movement” is still only as yet on the path to total world Communism [equivalent to TWI’s all encompassing goal of the prevailing of the (TWI-defined) ‘Word’ over the inhabited world], and therefore they must diligently and tirelessly work through a committed/dedicated minority of Communist [TWI] adherents, and “use” [manipulate, exploit] each adherent to the uttermost [TWI spoke in terms of “…one doing one’s utmost for His Highest (i.e., TWI-defined ‘God’ or was it the adoration, veneration, and worship of “THE Man of God,” whether VPW or LCM)], it shows a quite exceptional “concern” [avaricious, organizational self-interest] for “drawing out the potentialities” [terrifying the captivated person into outlandish displays of pro-Communist or pro-TWI feigned bravado] of every individual who comes within its “discipline” [organizational coordinated network of programs of intense, exploitative indoctrination]. The “unfolding and growth” [response to packaged persuasion] of the “personality” [pseudo-personality post thought reform] of the recruit to Communism [TWI] is frequently ‘spectacular,’ for Communism [TWI] sets out to “create” [via thought reform] men of [into] a special mould, a consummately ‘formidable person” [now externally validated via an entity of an unconscionable, external locus of control]. TWI often repeated, “…all ‘learning’ must come from outside of the individual-seeking…” (See the PFAL book and syllabus and the WAP syllabus). Communists [TWI] fully expect and demand of their disciple-adherents to be so fanatically committed/dedicated so as to risk worldly victimization, to be prepared to lose his means of livelihood, to be black-listed by every employer in his particular industry, and to even see his own standard of life and that of his loved ones go down to poverty, illness, and death, if “need” be. To get all of this Nietzchian superhuman sturm and drang, Communists [TWI] know that the adherent must be “inspired” [via thought reform and continuous reinforcement of indoctrination]. Communists [TWI] realize that this “inspiration” must come from outside of the individual, that the onus is on Communism [TWI] to “create” it [confabulate, misrepresent, lie, whatever it takes]. Communists [TWI] are hard-headed and hard-hearted enough to know that it is not sufficient to have an organization of enthusiasts. Sacrifice, commitment/dedication, and zeal are not enough in themselves. These [manipulated] “attributes” are definitely important, but they are only a starting point. These [exploited] “qualities” are what “helps” [via response to his intense, indoctrinating, thought reform] to “make” a person persist as an aggressive, active member; these attributes “ensure” [by coercive persuasion] that when the indoctrinated individual is “made and promoted” into leadership, that he continues to lead for the Communist [TWI] “cause” and not for himself. 10) Individual adherents of the Communist Party [TWI] are “brought to believe” [via a systematic, coordinated program of psychological and social manipulation] that collectively they and others like them can ‘change the world’ in their very lifetime [Communist phrase coined by Karl Marx’s friend and collaborator, Frederick Engels; TWI phrase by VP Wierwille, “…the Way Ministry needs to turn the world upside down, which really means to turn it right-side up, because it was ‘kittywampas’ to start with…;” Communists [TWI] are “convinced” that this is not just a dream for they have techniques [covert packaged persuasion] and a Marxist science [TWI’s ‘sacred science’ of cultic practices with ‘mystical manipulation’] of “change-making” which provides them with the “means” by which this world-changing undertaking [TWI’s ‘Word over the world,’ or ‘The Prevailing ‘Word’ in the Promised Land’] can be accomplished. When a Communist [TWI] manipulative exploiter has succeeded in “making men believe” that ‘change’ is necessary and possible and that they are the ones who can actually achieve it; when the exploiter has “convinced” them that they and the small minority of whom they are a part [an elitist-minded TWI member], can actually “transform” the world in their lifetime, the exploiter has achieved something very considerable indeed [a TWI destructive cult]. 11) The detailed instruction of the new Communist Party [TWI] member does not normally begin immediately after he joins. Quite deliberately, and with good reason, the Party [TWI] sends its new members, whenever ‘possible’ into some form of public activity [manipulation of the commitment-consistency principle] before detailed instruction [TWI’s Advanced Class, College Division and Way Corps training]. For TWI this public activity would be something like the Word Over the World (WOW) program, the Way Disciple program, a Way Home living situation, a FellowLaborers training program, etc. This activity is of course deceptively and strategically designed by the Communists [TWI] to commit the new member publicly to Communism [TWI] {via utilization of the commitment-consistency principle}. This public activity is of profound psychological significance. For this relatively new member, still having to ‘adjust’ his [thought reformed] ‘mind’ to the ‘realization’ that he is now a Communist [sold-out committed TWI member] {all the while realizing that large segments of the general population consider the label of Communist (TWI believer, disciple) to be very negative}, this public display of commitment/dedication is very psychologically [manipulatively, exploitatively] significant indeed. He or she is making a public witness for the ‘cause’ which he is now ‘making his own’ [solidifying the coercively imposed synthetic pseudo-identity which has now largely suppressed the true historical self]. All of this public witnessing activity requires for many people {especially those who are not inclined by natural disposition to be an extrovert, dramatic, persuasive, pushy, etc.} a certain degree of moral courage to overcome the natural tendency of many people to be overly self-conscious, to overcome a social sense of inferiority, etc. As the new member/adherent embarks on his first public witnessing assignment, he usually feels to be such a fool that he is almost resentful of having been commissioned for such outreach work. But before long he begins to ‘understand’ the significance of it all. He receives a lot of low level, hackling-type of verbal abuse from those whom he has disturbed with his public witnessing. The self-conscious new member/adherent is embarrassed at the prospect of becoming the center of a ‘scene.’ But the crowd that begins to gather is a mixed one. He or she now finds himself having to deal with bystanders’ more rational questions than hackling. This rational questioning causes him ‘to draw deeply’ [respond to his intense indoctrination] upon the small resources as he has received in the way of teaching about the Communist Party’s [TWI’s] practices, history, theory, and the supposed integrity [?!] of its leaders. It requires yet another act of moral courage to remain in a war of ideological words for which, he by now realizes, he is not fully equipped. He now realizes that he does not have all of the answers to the questions he is likely to be asked as a practicing Communist [TWI member]. He is conscious now that he knows far less than he thought he did. In all probability he is now dissatisfied with himself. ‘He or she’ [the new cultic pseudo-identity] would dearly have loved to put up a tremendous war of persuasive, winning, ideological words and concepts for his or her new found hermetic & arcane ‘faith,’ taking on and defeating, or converting, all comers. He or she has now learned of his or her own inadequacy as far as in-depth, detailed knowledge of Communism [TWI ideology] is concerned. This realization creates in him or her a [manipulated, exploited] deep feeling to become highly ‘educated’ [further in depth indoctrination] as far as his new faith is concerned [once again, via manipulation of the commitment-consistency principle, plus many others]. He or she is now seeking to make himself or herself more adequate, more worthy of the Communist Party [TWI], better able to ‘serve’ the ‘cause.’ And his new found thirst for knowledge about Communism [TWI ideology], the manipulated sense of urgency he or she feels has grown from manipulated actions and behaviors. Theory and action—those apparent opposites—have now found a [manipulated, counterfeit, illusory, putrid] ‘unity’ in his or her [thought reformed & ‘renewed’] ‘mind’ and in his or her [manipulated] experiences. The stage has now been set [exploitatively manipulated] for the TWI member to ‘desire’ to enter either the College Division or Way Corps so as to acquire this so-called [Gnostic dualism and Hermetic esotericism] “in-depth spiritual perception and awareness.” 15) The Communist Party [TWI] lives by its ‘campaigns’ [as outlined above]. The majority of the new recruits to the Party [TWI] come in via the campaigns which the Party [TWI] ‘organizes’ [via strategic manipulative exploitation]. Campaigning keeps the Party members [TWI disciples] active the whole of the time [so that: they don’t have time to re-evaluate and critically think; they don’t have time to really get involved in anything else]. This is a most strategic and deliberate policy. Communists [TWI] ensure that one campaign follows another almost non-stop. Communists [TWI disciples], if they are worthy of the name at all, are always active [in TWI, to the point of mental if not physical exhaustion, contributing to the development of intra- or post-cultic anxiety, depression, panic, etc.]. Activity in itself serves an important purpose, but it has to be made [by contrivance] as ‘meaningful’ as possible so that more and more non-Communists [non-TWI members] may be deceived into association with the Party [TWI]. VPW & LCM would say that Way Corps leadership in top positions are men & women of a ‘ special mould.’ TWI everywhere sets out to ‘produce’ [indoctrinate] men & women of this so-called special mould. To a large degree, an observer of the TWI cultic scene can see that TWI frequently succeeds in this covert, exploitative endeavor to the detriment of many rank & file adherents. The man or woman [‘Waybot’] molded by TWI, the new 'leader,' is a formidable man indeed. He is cast in the opposite mould to the traditional 'New Man in Christ,' because TWI’s ‘christ’ is a recycled hybridized pagan god, with characteristics of Osirus, Dionysis, Mithra, Adonis, Pan, Hermes, & other demigods. Even though a person’s original motivation, upon being deceived into joining TWI, may have been altruistic, even though this person retains much of his or her initial youthful idealism and sense of oneness with suffering humanity in the valley of human need, still, because that person has been indoctrinated to adhere to TWI’s contaminated pseudo-spiritual deeds, that person’s life tends to become contaminated with TWI's oppresive mindset. Therefore the mould into which the TWI leader is pressed is one that ultimately debases him or her as a person. Part of the tragedy of TWI is that it takes good men & women, with good intentions, and exploitatively uses & abuses them for the corrupt cause of fallacious pseudo-spiritual practices. The tragic consequence of these TWI enforced practices is that the idealistic leaders, who join or adhere to TWI, set out to be the saviours of humanity and become instead men’s jailers. TWI stands condemned, not only for the problems it has caused the societies of the USA and other nations around the world, but also for the phenomenal psychological damages it has caused in the non-consenting, individual TWI members themselves. The WAY “MINISTRY” in actuality is nothing more than a cultic racketeering scam with a thin veneer of Hermitically oriented, ‘white-washed’ & ‘ redefined’ biblical terms. NO genuine, lasting virtue has come about due to the existence of TWI. It did in fact between ~1967 to ~1972 attract some people who had a desire to serve God, but a critical mass of these people had been witnessed to by non-TWI people such as Jimmy Doop, Steve Heefner, Ted Wise, & Lonnie Frisbee. These movements were later invaded by avaricious power-hungry Wierwille. Wierwille-TWI essentially stole these people from those simple, grassroots ministries. In significant part due to the presence of Doop, Heefner, Wise, Frisbee & their followers, as well as the exuberance of their unmistakable presence, many of the PFAL classes of this time period generated a great excitement, more so in spite of Wierwille than due to him & to his supposed original “research” (but in actuality it was almost entirely plagiarized). Certain honest individuals, comprised of the Doop/Heefner/Wise/Frisbee derivatives, as well as many who became involved directly by Wierwille’s PFAL series, were the pure-hearted people in our local areas that created the positive environment that appealed to the transient vulnerabilities of so many of us. Then TWI, primarily via Wierwille & later Martindale, those despicable wolves in sheep’s clothing, surreptitiously ‘ taught & trained’ us by way of various exploitative programs {via VPW's PFAL series, the WOW program, the Fellowlaborers’ program, the Way Corps & College Division programs, LCM's WAP series, TWI-II, & many other scenarios} which were ALL disguised TWI indoctrination. The proceeds & benefits of these clandestine programs & MLM operations went not to the TWI-claimed beneficiaries, the rank-and-file affiliates of TWI, but rather went to the TWI Board of Trustees & other high level TWI leadership for their own selfish interests. TWI ‘redefined’ & hence contaminated the supposed 'grace of God' as a hook of vulnerability on the front side, only to later bait & switch it to oppressive hyper-legalism replete with TWI-exit phobia on the far side of this despicable victimization. This oppressive legalism (the supposed ‘teeth’ Wierwille began speaking of around 1967 to 1972) was originally most visible in the Way Corps in the 1970’s, but after the 1989 LCM loyalty demand, & in/after the Fall of 1995, when LCM began his ‘mark & avoid’- enforced extreme obedience demands (among many other abusive & harmful practices), the end result for those of us who in good faith commitment & dedication held out to the bitter end, is that we have essentially nothing to show for our TWI servitude except for the psychological & emotional wounds (damages) with which TWI has so disgracefully left us.

[To my way of thinking, this also explains in part VPW's tendency to be drawn to the Hermetic and Gnostic writings of the spiritually eclectic E.W. Kenyon, from which a significant portion of the underlying TWI doctrinal positions are taken. Also further explaining VPW's proclivity for Arianism and Nestorianism (and therefore the fascination with Turkish LAMSA, and ultimately the publication of Jesus Christ is Not God), in the late 300's CE, an Arian/Nestorian monk of Byzantine eastern Christianity, ULFILAS, evangelized the Teutonic tribes of present day Germany. He taught Arian/Nestorian Christianity to the barbaric Gothic tribes of Germany, who readily accepted this, in part due to the fact that it fit with their Gothic concepts of the pagan godhead.]

________________________________________________________________________________ Also, it a matter of clinging to VPW's plagiarized Hermetic esotericism and Gnostic dualism that is so prevalent in TWI teaching. It is not a matter of there being anything intrinsically 'wrong' about these belief systems, because there are not. The issue is that VPW lied about his sources and tried to present a Biblically veneered esotericism and gnosticism as "the 'Word' as it has not been known since the first century..."

Per jardinero (from the Cognitive Dissonance thread): Cognitive dissonance has been called "the mind controller's best friend" (Levine 2003: 202). Yet, a cursory examination of cognitive dissonance reveals that it is not the dissonance, but how people deal with it, that would be of interest to someone trying to control others when the evidence seems against them.For example, Marian Keech was the leader of a UFO cult in the 1950s. She claimed to get messages from extraterrestrials, known as The Guardians, through automatic writing. Like the Heaven's Gate folks forty years later, Keech and her followers, known as The Seekers or The Brotherhood of the Seven Rays, were waiting to be picked up by flying saucers. In Keech's prophecy, her group of eleven was to be saved just before the earth was to be destroyed by a massive flood on December 21, 1954. When it became evident that there would be no flood and the Guardians weren't stopping by to pick them up, Keech became elated. She said she'd just received a telepathic message from the Guardians saying that her group of believers had spread so much light with their unflagging faith that God had spared the world from the cataclysm (Levine 2003: 206). More important, the Seekers didn't abandon her. Most became more devoted after the failed prophecy. (Only two left the cult when the world didn't end.) "Most disciples not only stayed but, having made that decision, were now even more convinced than before that Keech had been right all along....Being wrong turned them into true believers (ibid.)." Some people will go to bizarre lengths to avoid inconsistency between their cherished beliefs and the facts. But why do people interpret the same evidence in contrary ways? The Seekers would not have waited for the flying saucer if they thought it might not come. So, when it didn't come, one would think that a competent thinker would have seen this as falsifying Keech's claim that it would come. However, the incompetent thinkers were rendered incompetent by their devotion to Keech. Their belief that a flying saucer would pick them up was based on faith, not evidence. Likewise, their belief that the failure of the prophesy shouldn't count against their belief was another act of faith. With this kind of irrational thinking, it may seem pointless to produce evidence to try to persuade people of the error of their ways. Their belief is not based on evidence, but on devotion to a person. That devotion can be so great that even the most despicable behavior by one's prophet can be rationalized. There are many examples of people so devoted to another that they will rationalize or ignore extreme mental and physical abuse by their cult leader (or spouse or boyfriend). If the basis for a person's belief is irrational faith grounded in devotion to a powerful personality, then the only option that person has when confronted with evidence that should undermine her faith would seem to be to continue to be irrational, unless her faith was not that strong to begin with. The interesting question, then, is not about cognitive dissonance but about faith. What was it about Keech that led some people to have faith in her and what was it about those people that made them vulnerable to Keech? And what was different about the two who left the cult? "Research shows that three characteristics are related to persuasiveness: perceived authority, honesty, and likeability" (ibid. 31). Furthermore, if a person is physically attractive, we tend to like that person and the more we like a person the more we tend to trust him or her (ibid. 57). Research also show that "people are perceived as more credible when they make eye contact and speak with confidence, no matter what they have to say" (ibid. 33). According to Robert Levine, "studies have uncovered surprisingly little commonality in the type of personality that joins cults: there's no single cult-prone personality type" (ibid. 144). This fact surprised Levine. When he began his investigation of cults he "shared the common stereotype that most joiners were psychological misfits or religious fanatics" (ibid. 81). What he found instead was that many cult members are attracted to what appears to be a loving community. "One of the ironies of cults is that the craziest groups are often composed of the most caring people (ibid. 83)." Levine says of cult leader Jim Jones that he was "a supersalesman who exerted most every rule of persuasion" (ibid. 213). He had authority, perceived honesty, and likeability. It is likely the same could be said of Marian Keech. It also seems likely that many cult followers have found a surrogate family and a surrogate mother or father or both in the cult leader. It should also be remembered that in most cases people have not arrived at their irrational beliefs overnight. They have come to them over a period of time with gradually escalated commitments (ibid. chapter 7). Nobody would join a cult if the pitch were: "Follow me. Drink this poisoned-but-flavored water and commit suicide." Yet, not everybody in the cult drank the poison and two of Keech's followers quit the cult when the prophecy failed. How were they different from the others? The explanation seems simple: their faith in their leader was weak. According to Festinger, the two who left Keech--Kurt Freund and Arthur Bergen--were lightly committed to begin with (Festinger 1956: 208). ________________________________________________________________________________ ____ Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance goes a long way towards explaining why VPW included a chapter in the Blue Book on "The Synchroized Confession." It also goes a long way in explaining why VPW/TWI chose to use this technique of exploitative mental manipulation in its coordinated programs of psycho-social covert packaged persuasion. As taught in LCM's WAP Advanced Class [and implied in VPW's AC], the synchronized confession is incorporated into 'believing images of victory,' in order to efficaciously operate the HERMETIC ALCHEMICAL 'law of believing.' One needed to operate the 'high octane' manifestation/emanation of [the law of] believing' in order 'to bring to pass the impossible' at one's command, demonstrating the TWI promoted DUALISM of the supremacy of 'holy spirit' manifested power with impact, emulating [rather than worshipping] Jesus via our gnosis of TWI Gnostic 'truths,' as opposed to the Satanically contaminated and manipulated world in which we live. In order for the [TWI-styled] 'Word' to become "living and real," one must: (1) Think (cogitate) the 'Word;' (2) speak the 'Word;' &, (3) ACT on the 'Word.' In the constricting confines of the Wayworld milieu, whether at a local Twig/HF, or in-residence at a 'Root Locale,' or especially on a day-to-day basis in one's 'own' mind [now a manifestation of the synthetic pseudo-self], one's mental state would become progressively uncomfortable & tense unless one moved towards a synchronization of one's cognitions/feelings/confessions/actions. This purposefully induced psychological pain was part of the design of TWI's thought reform program.

I would say for may ex-twi, there was no conscious 'turning off of the brain.' For these folks, the 'waybrain' induction process was a matter of non-consented covert packaged persuasion of which they were unaware. They were strategically baited with a hook of apparent grace, then purposefully switched to control via fear and legalism. Their recruitment was a con to a scam 'ministry.' Any significant good that came about was due to the pure hearts & compassion of the rank & file non-insiders, who have pure motives.

Hang in there, mex, hopefully by the end of the thread it will all come together & fit very well (but not like a hand in a glove)!!!

If my dusty memory serves me correctly, Bullinger in his Greek-English lexicon defines agape as unconditional favorable regard, i.e., unconditonal love.

Clay, You are correct. And by the way, thanks for giving me the benefit the (ubiquitous and ambient) doubt swirling around gsc regarding this apparently scary & 'taboo' topic. I have absolutely no intention to hurt or harm. What I am trying to compose in the threads is a distillation of my reading over the past several years after having left TWI. My first concern upon leaving was, "How in the world did VPW beguile, seduce, deceive, & scam me/us so badly that I didn't even realize that the non-consented covert packaged persuasion of thought reform was happening?" The distillation of that reading is in my two threads, Snapping & Cults. My next concern, which has been far more difficult to unravel, was, "Where in the world did VPW find all of this bizzare material, and how did he camoflage it so well that we thought it was purely Biblical?" This thread is the redux of that reading. I am certainly thrilled if this thread is of benefit to anyone here at gsc. I have had a handful of PMs from various gscers who are very thankful for this topic. This thread, due to its depth, may be too painful for some folks to handle. Keep in mind that I have had several years to be weep, become enraged, melancholic, & to slowly digest this disturbing information. Therefore, for those who find it troubling, I might suggest reading it in small amounts, then taking several days or weeks, perhaps along with your own reading, before returning to this thread. I do not mean this is a disparaging way, but this thread is not for the faint of heart. It is for those who want to know that they know that they know [who once thought that they knew that they knew that they knew the 'accuracy & integrity of VPW's Hermetic esoteric 'Christianity'] the sources of VPW's/TWI's fraudulent misrepresentations regarding his source materials, both proximate and remote. Peace

krysisis - My intention in utilizing the term 'altruistic' {as in self-less, non-selfish, a giving heart expecting nothing in return, no strings attached} regarding your pure motives was totally in a complementary & praise-worthy sense. My apologies if I was not clear.

sirguessalot & krysilis: if there is any public humiliation, it goes for all of us ex-twi, in that we were all scammed and conned by the Cornfield Wizard, VPW. As I have written on my other threads {either Cults or Snapping}, when Belle asked a similar question or raised a similar concern, my opinion is that we were not naive, foolish, stupid, etc. However, due to a transient vulnerability in our personal lives for whatever reason, we were temporarily susceptible to being beguiled by the hermetic hodgepodge of VPW. socks: I agree that VPW probably did not dig into these remote sources. He was far too lazy & narcissistic. So VPW took the easy route of plagiarizing E.W. Kenyon, who was strongly influenced by Hermetic esotericism. What I am endeavoring to show are some of the more so remote sources of Hermetic esotericism from which the more proximate sources originated, such as the New Thought Metaphysical movement & the related New England Transcendentalism movement. I am not concerned with the historical background of the mainline denominations. I am concerned about what I feel is one of VPW's most fundamental fraudulent misrepresentations, which is his counterfeit claim that God spoke to him audibly & told him that He would teach VPW the Word as it had not been known since the first century. Therefore, I am attempting to elucidate, for gscers to consider in their own time & in their own way, what I have investigated concerning both the proximate & remote origins of 'Christianized' Hermetic esotericism. For the most part this material is certainly not the core of 'modern [mainline] Christianity' as far as I know. At this stage in this thread, I am starting with the pre-Christian 'pagan' Egyptian mythologies, moving on to the Gnostic movements of the first and second millenia, then moving on to Renaissance Hermetic esotericism, then to New Thought Metaphysics (~ 1830 to present, originating in the USA), then on to the Emerson College of Oratory in Boston which Kenyon attended, then on to VPW. VPW via his teutonic ancestry may have had somewhat of a 'jump' on this Renaissance material since such a large amount of the Hermetic esoteric activity took place in Germany and France, including those authors considered to be among the Rhineland Mystics. I hope I addressed your concern. There are no 'punches' tucked away. You will see as you continue to read the thread the rather obvious parallels to TWI's bizzare theosphy and the history of Hermetic esotericism.

Per catcup (from the thread, Has TWI-II really changed):

Per tomtuttle1 (from the Suicide in the way thread):

In my opinion, this is nothing more than a despicable, strategic cultic [thought reform] re-triggering attempt. I know ex-twi who left twi for 2 to 5 years, only to be triggered to return to twi's vomit due to apparent 'out of the blue' contact from an innie who was a close friend or at least had some connection to the person. Re-triggering often works for ex-cult members who have not been sufficiently exit-counseled by a certified mental health professional, such as a psychologist, counseling social worker, or psychiatrist. These unfortunate folks have a large amount of 'waybrain' of which they are not aware; for the bedazzling voice of TWI, via its anchors, pacing, & leading, has laid down many implicit 'memories' that can be revived to the detriment of the hearer, especially if once again they find themselves in a situation of transiently increased vulnerability. Beware!

Per diazbro (form the Splinter groups thread): [Excerpted from JAL's letter: Whenever I've posted on GSC, I've put my email and phone # so that anyone who really cares about me can contact me for more info. It seems to me that the majority of those who post on GSC need to "get a life," that is, get over their TWI bitterness and victimstance and spread the Word. Happy New Year! In Christ's love, John]

LIKEWISE, regarding the one-sided info you get from MT regarding RP........

Per GrouchoMarxJr (from the Geer & POP thread):

Per My3Cents (from the thread, Chris Geer & the POP meeting...): QUOTE(shazdancer @ Dec 14 2005, 10:02 AM) So I guess my question is, What was the BOT doing to CG that pi**ed him off so much that he initiated the POP letter so long after VPW's death? Maybe I answered my own question. Reading over the "What's Chr** doing now" thread, it seems like there was a lot of wrangling over the making of a new foundational class. Perhaps CG was po'ed that he wasn't allowed to keep the money he was raking in on PFAL. I'm speculating here, but I'm thinking that his march on Headquarters was designed to get the BOT to loosen the purse strings, and let more money stay in Gartmore. (And remember how much of the POP was devoted to how hard they were working on the Gartmore property?) So instead of saying, "Give me more money," Chris told them in the POP how they were all off the Word (meaning FINANCIALLY off), and how VPW loved what CG was doing, and would have supported his efforts more, except the mean BOT wouldn't listen to him anymore._______________________________________

Per catcup (from the Peeler lawsuit thread):

Peeler vs. TWI et al is now before the TN Appelate Court in Knoxville. The Peelers' co-attorneys, Lawrence Levy & Mike Anderson, will attempt to place perspective on TWI's attempt to sling the mud of irrelevant First Amendment issues [TWI's beliefs] on the wall. TWI's beliefs are NOT the issue in the litigation; it is the CONDUCT, actions, behaviors, practices, etc that are the legal issues. Hopefully the decision of this Appelate court will be to remand the case back to TN State Circuit Court in Chattanooga, where Judge Marie Williams is to preside over the jury trial. If remanded, the jury trial date in Chattanooga could possibly be scheduled between July & September 2006. jkb

Per catcup (from the Peeler lawsuit thread):

Does anyone know if Steve Axtel, USN (?retired) is in or out of twi? He's the one who wrote & used to sing @ WIBP etc., "The Band of Gold."

Hi wb, SP signs her posts as 'ToadFriend.' Also, while in the Corps (?13th), for whatever reason, many on the in-res Corps had an obvious tendency to hassle SP. Why? I don't know for sure, I wasn't there. Per SP, "...my screen name came from the fact that I have a GOOD FRIEND who has nothing to do with GreaseSpot that has the affectionate nickname "Toad" based on the lovable Mr. Toad from Wind in the Willows..." This was news to me. Therefore I presumed 'Toad' or some similar appelative was her Corps nickname. SP & wb, I am certainly sorry for any offence. jkb

Per catcup (from the Suicide in the way thread):

Per catcup (from the Suicide in the way thread):

Belle, Just in case Lt. Col SG does know something regarding TWI & either/or weapons or IRS investigations, do you know if he is currently still in TWI? jkb