No Way

you no longer believe "FOR THIS PURPOSE I WAS SPARED" was the real translation of "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?"

when you can say the words "lucky" and "create" without thinking to yourself "there is no such thing as luck" or "only God can create."

when you can look your ex fellowship friends in the face and know that they weren't really your friends after you stopped attending their fellowships, and really not care because there are true and loving people out there who don't only keep to their own kind.

when you can openly love and accept others for who they are, not just because they are believers.

kind of reminds me of when i needed money to pay my bills and of my ex fellowship pals told me to believe more! yea okay, that really paid my bills!

Jerry carr's got Harbor Light Fellowship... they are based out of New Jersey and encourage Wierwille worship, Geer Classes, and other waybrained behavior.

I don't believe they are on the web but I'm sure someone on here knows where to find them.

hey TWI, if you're reading this, good luck (oh i know you cringed at that one) but i was never in TWI, just in an offshoot. have fun trying to identify me! :)-->

those poor kids, brainwashed and deprived of experience..... i feel bad for those kids teaching in the photos section for when they face reality like i did.

problems are just opportunities to trust god

oh please....

and all of those phrases still make me cringe and i was only involved in an offshoot....

agreed. her family is wonderful. too bad i never met her before i stopped attending fellowships.

i never felt blessed at fellowship. i don't really know what blessed is anyways.

i don't miss my offshoot friend persuading me to go to fellowship 3+x a week because there was so much word to be heard. i also don't miss losing $ in gas/toll expenses to go to these fellowships when i could've been working. i miss the friend i had when they were not talking about the word or fellowship. way people and their offshoot pals feel that the only common ground is the word. they don't seem to realize that no matter how soaked up in the little book they are, that there is a world going on around us, and we are stuck here for probably a good 70-90 years. for me, i'm living life and relearning what i want in life, not what vpw or his 7th corps offshoot leaders want me to have in life. i wish i could save my friend, but at the same time, if they knew i was so against everything now, it would destroy them and it'd be the adversary working in me. go figure. i was brainwashed to believe that their teachings were the only true teachings and i was told to abs, when i had no money. i never got blessed with money back to pay my bills or give to my family back for their care. i also don't think my parents deserve to be called "earthly" parents. they love me no matter what, word or not. they would give up anything for me, so i think they deserve the same from me. most of the fellowship people i know wouldn't give up the offshoot cult for their family. i don't see how me not going to fellowship is me turning on god. if you believe in god, you believe in god. i'm tired of being told things by people and that's why i do agree with what george aar has to say. we aren't family, we kiss each other on the cheek because it's expected. most of the people are bored during the teaching part of fellowship. a lot of people really enjoyed the feeling of being accepted, though most of these people wanted nothing to do with my life outside of fellowship. i don't think vpw is special, i think he was a load of garbage who was the ringleader for a major cult that has put many into depression and hard financial situations because he knew how to make people feel wanted and useful for the time being. once the novelty wore off and people realized how broke they were, they were either out or marked & avoided. i too have met some great people at fellowships, however, none of them are involved with my personal life, and most of them shun the fact that i call people "friends" if they aren't into the word.

this looks to be a pretty good thread and i am just glad to know a lot of others feel the same way.

I supposed Jerry Carr/Steve Zoelezzi's fellowship is a Geerite group. Their group is ex-twi leaders and mostly younger people who never were in twi.

offshoot people thrive on wierwille books. it's what they base all of their teachings on.

seriously, in a span of 2 weeks at different offshoots, we heard teachings on "light" and almost every verse mentioned was taught in each of those teachings. the worst part about them is when the person teaching would say "and quote dr. wierwille" or "a very great man, victor paul wierwille." all opnionated parts of the teaching were in reference to wierwille and all of the bible verses could be found by using the concordance that comes in most bibles. amazingly enough, those teachings were somehow "just what we all needed to hear."

I was in an offshoot for about a year and I still feel confused about my own being. I was so brainwashed and it feels great to work a full time job, have money to spend and pay bills, and be open and honest about my feelings.....however the offshoot taught me how to hold back, so this still lingers on and I'm trying to break free. I will over time. The hardest part is over, and that was getting out!

i was in an offshoot that sounds way similar to hooner's. if you don't mind me asking, what state are you from?

Raf, are you talking about "I saw the light?"

Farther Along....

Tempted and tried we’re oft’ made to wonder

Why it should be thus all the day long;

While there are others living about us,

Never molested, though in the wrong.

Chorus:

Farther along we’ll know all about it.

Farther along we’ll understand why.

Cheer up my brothers, live in the sunshine;

We’ll understand it all by and by.

Faithful to death is our loving saviour,

A few more days labour and wait.

Toils of the road will then be as nothing,

As we walk through that beautiful gate.

When we see Jesus coming in glory;

When He comes from His home in the sky.

Then we shall meet Him in that bright mansion;

We’ll understand it all by and by.

Often I wonder why I must journey

Over a road so rugged and steep;

While there are others living in comfort;

While with the lost I labour and weep.

my true integrity.

my emotions.

my feelings.

my honesty.

my friends.

if you cringe when people say "lucky" or "create"

you might be in a cult

if you drop your education and career advances to abundantly share (while in debt) or drop all of your dreams to live god's word according to the bible in the understanding that only we know..

you might be in a cult.

if you do not work for a whole year and then start to miss fellowship and get wowed out about it....

you might be in a cult

if you are constantly reminded that you have christ in you...

you might be in a cult

if you are constantly reminded to "renew your mind"

you might be in a cult

if you refer to vpw more than god

you might be in a cult

if your idea of a vacation is spending a weekend waking up at 7 am for three hours of teachings, having a petty breakfast, more teachings, having a lunch with no selection and twenty minutes of "thank you father, and i thank you father..." and then again more teachings, then break time to sit in a corner by yourself, then dinner with more "thank you father's" only to break into private group prayer, and to have lights off at 9pm

you might be in a cult

if you believe in devil spirits operating in humans

you might be in a cult...

sounds like you got one of those stealth viruses that people use to steal your info. change all of your passwords immediately, and write to ebay, paypal, & any other place money has been withdrawn from. if you were not the ones who made the purchases your money should be refunded with no questions asked. it might affect your ebay feedback rating as many sellers do not believe that these things occur (what idiots really) but they do and people do steal others accounts to ring up their charges.

i've been "tricked by the devil" because i work 2 nights that there are offshoot fellowships.

while i adore the fact that you are going after the sleezy way international, you are probably best off not sharing much of the business with this board as they seem to ridicule your motives and reasoning for fighting back. i just feel you posting all of the fighting on here is going to hurt you more in the end than help you....just looking out for you. do what you know is right and send those suckers to the poor house.

think about all the churches that call themselves, the church of jesus christ..........then look at the mormons, do you think they go after everyone?

i would love to see the way try to have a copyright symbol after "the" and "way" in the merriam webster dictionary.

they seriously need to get off their high horse and realize that they are a cult and inflict nothing but despair on people.

the catholic network (ewtn) has a show called "the way".....why don't they go after poor little mother angelica for her whole network instead of someone selling a $15,000 domain....