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Nato

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Everything posted by Nato

  1. Eh. I know. Not going to make an impact regardless. I just wanted to be banned as quickly as possible. Late-night stupidness I suppose. You're both right of course. You'll get no argument from me there.
  2. http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseact...B8F422F97219245 I know, it's not very intelligent or coherent or helpful, but Jesus I get really ....ed off whenever I read a post on that site. It felt somewhat good to vent though. :) Ha.
  3. Oh yeah, we did that too! That's funny. My WD friend Todd and I once knocked on a door, and this HUGE bodybuilder in a towel answered the door. Like freaking Arnold in his steroid-use days huge. With nothing on but a towel. Awkward. We gave our speil. To our suprise, he wanted to keep talking. He asked us some questions, then told us to come in. Being dutiful little Waybots, we did. I don't remember if he put some clothes on or if he talked to us the whole time with a towel on. We looked around his living room and there were tons of bodybuilder pictures, all in those marble-holder speedos of course. The more we talked, the angrier he got. We started to get scared. A hostile bodybuilder who we suspected to be gay, yelling at us about God. He was clearly angry. He didn't want to hear what us two stupid young kids with all the answers had to stay. He asked us why God let evil happen. I mean he yelled it at us. We were so scared that we blanked on our pat Way answer and said nothing. He eventually let us go. Todd and I looked at each other when we got out, like "what the F just happened????" We recounted our story to our team. "You have to go back." Excuse me? That guy had veins puling on his neck and forehead. "You have to work the Word on that subject until you've made it your own, and then you have to go back and tell him." Ugh. We went back THREE times, and thank Superman he was never home. You see, I think God knew from the foundation of the world that the guy would freaking KILL us if he went back, and therefore he was never home. Yay God.
  4. Bek and I were actually really good friends, through my Grandma, who lived at the Wierwille home. Bek and I used to hand out a lot when I'd go to HQ for the summers. I miss you kid!
  5. OK, I still have more to say. I can't help it. So, after they cancelled the WOW program, they recommended we find believers in another state and move there to move the Word (even without a formal program) I had met Meg and John(?) Kish from Florida. They suggested I go there. I did. It was made pretty clear in a few months that I was expected to go out WOW the following year if they did one again. I was pressured to go and felt like I'd be a big disappointment if I didn't. The details of my year in Florida are crazy. Both happy and abusive and dreadful all at wildly unpredictable intervals. Anyway, the next Rock, they unveiled the Way Disciple Program. I dutifully signed up. I'd like to write about my experiences as a Way Disciple Guinea Pig, but I'm running out of time. It was not a very happy time for me. It was quite stressful almost all the time. There were TONS of the loudest foot chewings you'd ever hear in the Way, plenty of tears, a lot of condemnation, and plenty of confusion. The form referenced at the start of this thread was created (ha ha ha, you can't stop me from using that word) in 95 on our program. I remember all those details sheets. I think our household coordinator filled most of them out, although I remember seeing it. I think she even made more. We did the crazy index cards. And the follow-ups. And the follow-up follow-ups. In person, on the phone. We sure badgered anyone who showed the slightest interest. We did the 2 mile radius crap. Then we did the 2 mile radius crap two months later. Our program was only four months long. But four months in hell is like an eternity. We witnessed to businesses, even presenting them with BS mini-classes on the Word in your business. What do they call those groups "Prosperity Groups." I can't remember. It's basically where your driving force to doing the Word is to get stuff "from God." Oh, and our focus wasn't on the saving and helping people. It was that whole "Confront the Illogic of the World" fervor that Craig whipped up. I guess he concluded that everyone in the world had their chance to believe the Word we spoke already, and they passed, so we were then supposed to confront everything they did. We'd ask leading questions that we knew would only lead to us drilling a person. "Do you believe in the Trinity?" "Is that an angel pin?" "Do you believe that Jesus Christ is God?" "Yeah??? WELL YOU'RE JUST SPAWN OF SATAN THEN, BUDDY! GET THE F#CK OFF YOUR PORCH! GO BACK IN YOUR DAMNED HOUSE OF LIES. Thank you for your time. :)" It sucked. On top of that, we had no class to offer, since they stopped the PFAL class the year before. And I still hated witnessing. I became adpet at figuring out how NOT to witness, and make it look like there were just no "doors of utterance." That was fun. Whenever I got partnered with the other guy and girl my age, I'd just try and make them crack up. I knocked on the door and from inside, someon actually said "I can't come to the door, I'm not dressed." I just replied "That's OK." My friends cracked up. Then I'd go home and get yelled at for having no contacts. A few times I accidentally made some contacts, which was cool. Kept the heat off me for about a week. We all took turns being the golden boy each week it seemed. It was the only way to get through it. I have so many crazy stories from that time. But yeah, it doesn't sound like anything has changed. Other than when I went out, we were a small army. Now it seems they can't even get enough to form a bowling team. I noticed they haven't been teaching that whole Rise and Expansion crap in the last few years. Just the same old "stay tight with the household crap." Wow, I'm so glad we got out when I did. My wife was way disciple Group III. I met here when I joined the Air Force and was stationed in Idaho. She was assigned to Boise. I happy for that at least. She has the same type of stories.
  6. Wow. I would have HATED and FEARED being a Way Disciple at HQ! I grew up in Van Wert, right down the road from HQ, where everyone knew the Way. Since I was raised as a Wayfer (at least my parents were old school, they stopped doing much way before Craig was in charge), in Van Wert, I dealt with a lot of prejudice and harassment. I learned to keep my mouth shut about it pretty quickly. We never had a single new person come to our fellowhship, other than my best friend who came a couple of times. We had a few "cop outs" come back a few times, but they never stuck around. There were a couple of believers from neighboring towns that were directed to our twig. All this was around the time when Craig was pimping his stupid Rise and Expansion book, and driving how there's no expansion without rise. We all felt like failures. But door to door witnessing in Van Wert was always a waste of time. Always. Plus I was always afraid I'd run into someone from school. So I did my best to be sick on witnessing nights. But sometimes it was unavoidable. "I didn't have time to work on a teaching tonight, let's just go out witnessing." F that. We had Wows come to Van Wert in 92-93 I believe. At the time I was really involved with Twig on my own, and really excited about the Word. But still afraid to witness. I was really excited when they came, because my fellowship was SMALL. Me and a man, wife, and their kid. So I thought, AWESOME, more believers. I dropped by their fellowship a few times, only to get in trouble from our branch coordinator for going to the WOW fellowship instead of ours. She gave me some "together with, but disctinctly independent of" crap that the Way is famous for. Then the WOWs told every teenager they met (and they met a LOT, since they worked at Subway) that I was in the Way. Thanks guys. That sucked. I couldn't get upset or say anything, because I knew that was just me being "fearful" and I'd just get reproved. Needless to say, it made my junior year of high school very hard. The WOWs were reassigned to a different city after 6 months, having not run a class or gotten more than two or three people to come. Oh, the reason they sent WOWs to Van Wert. Apparently, Don Wierwille or someone was driving through Van Wert on their way home from Indiana, just before the rock. You have to go through the center of town pretty much. I think you even drive past V.P.s church. Anyway, they got all weepy, and thought "We'll give Van Wert one more chance." Since that's technically where the Way started. "If they don't respond, we're writing it off." The next year, my senior year, my twig coordinators left Van Wert. I felt very lonely for a while. Then I started doing normal teenager stuff and having fun. I was accepted to the School of Visual Arts in NYC. Was all set to go. Then I finally got a car the summer after I graduated. I used it to drive to my friend's twig in nearby Lima. I started to feel bad that I hadn't gone to twig in so long. I felt like I had rejected the Word. I felt bad that my parents were going in to debt so I could go to art school. So, I ditched my art school plans, and decided to go WOW that year. I was all signed up WOW, did my WOW training at the Rock. Had my $500 in traveler's checks. My bags were packed. It was nearing the end of the Rock, when we were to find out where we were going. Then craig dropped the homo bomb and cancelled the program. Thanks. I can't believe I stuck around for 10 more freaking years! Anyway, sorry for the huge post that should probably go in the "My Story" section. Ha. There's more to this story of course, so maybe I should start a thread there. Anyway Abe, I more than feel your pain. I was also a Way Disciple. Group 1. Don't get me started.
  7. My wife yells at me when I do that. :)
  8. That happened to me once too!
  9. Oh yeah, I remember that one! My buddy and I sometimes sing that at work just to be weird! Here's the lyrics... YMCA CAMP LOOWIT CAMPFIRE SONGS Campfire Song Index Rise and Shine This song was sung in the mornings at the breakfast table whenever the spirit moved somebody! Everyone always clapped their way through this song with a punctuated clap in the middle of the third line of every verse: CHORUS: Rise and shine and give God the glory glory Rise and shine and give God the glory glory Rise and shine and (clap!) give God the glory glory Children of the Lord! The Lord said to Noah there’s gonna be a floody floody Lord said to Noah there’s gonna be a floody floody Get those animals (clap!) our of the muddy muddy Children of the Lord CHORUS So Noah, he built them, he built them a n arky arky Noah, he built them, he built them an arky arky Built it out of (clap!) wood and barky barky Children of the Lord CHORUS The animals, they came by twos by twosie twosies The animals, they came by twos by twosie twosies Elephants and (clap!) kangaroozie roozies Children of the Lord CHORUS It rained and poured for forty dazy dazies Rained and poured for forty dazy dazies Nearly drove those (clap!) animals crazy crazy Children of the Lord CHORUS The sun came out and dried up the landy landy Sun came out and dried up the landy landy Everything was (clap!) fine and dandy dandy Children of the Lord CHORUS
  10. Cowgirl, that's typicaly a children's fellowship song. I used to love those songs and others as a kid, as did many others I'm sure. We'd sing them in regular fellowship meetings occasionally, if there were kids present. In some groups it was still fun even as an adult, but in others it felt stupid. I think a lot of it was the group dynamic. In California, there is a particular jerk who tried (is still trying) to learn the banjo. They let him perform at branch meetings and once at a limb talent show. He was SO horribly bad that it was just funny at times, which made it torture because I had to keep from laughing. That would have been bad. Eventually he even tried to put together a BAND. This guy had NO musical talent, but was the lead singer in the group. He would basically take songs like "She'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she comes" and change the words to "We'll all be gathered together when he comes." And that was the best one. He'd take a poem in a Way Mag and put it to basically the same tune. He only knew one or two banjo tunes. He'd pull it out at normal fellowships too, and I just wouldn't sing. He's the only regular joe believer that I've ever passionately disliked. He also like to beat his believer wife and kids on occasion. A real piece of work.
  11. I hate Mike Martin's voice, at least when he did Way Productions for the Sunday Service. When I was a teenager, I went to a coffee house for teens (back before they stopped doing things for teens) at the OSC building. It was fun. Mike Martin, then in Corp Training I think, played some acoustic guitar for us. Stuff he had written on his own. And it was great. Heartfelt and touching and beautiful. I remembered one of the songs for years.
  12. Yeah, that family class I took right before I got out about 6 months ago. It was definitely the most BORING class I've EVER taken. Ever. Easily. The Coulters have the stage presence of... the curtains that cover the stage. The whole time, I thought I was watching animatronic robots in a Disneyland ride gone horribly wrong. I was kind of shocked at how boring it was. "Dad, where can I touch a girl?" "Anywhere that's not covered by a soccer uniform." Yeah, that's a good rule of thumb. "Dad, can I take OFF her soccer uniform?"
  13. Yeah, we were required by our leadership (at least in my area) to buy the meal package... so we could be in one accord with the likeminded believers and all that crap. They tried to make it sound like a good deal but I remember it came out to be really expensive per meal. What a crock. I think there were a few restaurants in close walking distance that would have been much cheaper.
  14. That's a perfect description of him and his wife. They were long-time friends of my grandma, worked with her on staff for years. Later when she was dying of cancer, Nick kicked her out of their fellowship and hurt her deeply. I can only guess that it was because he was afraid she would die on his watch and he'd be in trouble. They acted sweet and deeply concerned at her funeral though. I truly hope he has trouble sleeping at night. But I doubt it.
  15. Nato

    etanod

    From what I hear, pawtucket won't even SPIT in your direction for anything less. :)
  16. Wow. I don't really even know how I feel about the concept of God anymore. Maybe it's the relatively fresh scab that's left from leaving. I was completely raised on Way doctrine. It was my belief system for 29 years. I've thrown it out wholesale, not interested in separating the baby from the bathwater, because I don't even know if I believe in the baby. Maybe this will change over time. Right now I'm pretty calloused and even angry towards anything Way, and pretty much anything Christain or religous. Now I certainly don't look down on Christains anymore like I did when I was a wayfer, but I don't have much reason to get involved with what they do. But, I do realize now that a lot of churches have a lot more to offer than I knew before, which is good. I have respect for the ones I hear about that do things to help people. I guess right now I have more in common with the hippies or the rastas as far as philosophy goes. I don't have a need for relegion at this point in life. As Jack Johnson says "Love is the answer, at least to most of the questions in my heart."
  17. I've had a lot of friends tell me some strories of their "ministry" weddings, all of which involve control. Do any of you have any good ones? Recently, a young engaged couple we're friends with still, went to their limb & fellowship coordinators. They'd been living together for 6 months, and their wedding date was only a few months away. They still attended fellowship. The groom-to-be has ex-corp parents that are still sanding. The gal's parents don't consider themselves NOT "standing" but they refuse to go to any functions held by the limb coordinators. Both kids though attended fellowship fairly regularly though. They lived together, but kept it on the down-low. The limb coordinators knew about it, but really didn't say much (apparently as part of the so-called "kinder, gentler, ministry"). So, the couple approached them and asked what they needed to do to have a ministry wedding. They, not suprsisingly, said that they needed to stop living together. The kicker... The girl needed to move out. Even though it's HER apartment. The guy moved in with HER. Then, the limb coordinator's syrupy-sweet wife, turns stone-cold and turns to the guy... "You need to seriously consider finding a woman that is going to do the Word." Like he was perfect and was living beneath his station. The two were crushed, and didn't speak about it for a couple of days. I've heard now that se is apartment searching. How sad. I wish all of my friends would just wake up. The Way is BS. These were leaders that I've heard referred to even on hear, as good people. I don't see the love at all. I've heard plenty more stories about "believers" not being allowed to have certain maids of honor or best men because their friend wasn't a part of the Way. And more where they control absolutely ever detail about the BS wedding ceremony and festivities. HQ actually told my mom how they were going to do my grandmother's funeral service, and wouldn't let them have any say in the arrangements. My mom hadn't been going to fellowship for years, but had always thought of it as her ministry. I backed them up because I was a faithful wayfer, and thought that they had to be right.
  18. I lived with Jon for about a year, and I looked up to him like a cool big brother. I guess the only problems we ever had were typical wayfer stuff. I hope he's doing well now!
  19. Eagle, I used to live in that area (well, Wheaton actually, but not too far) from 2000-2002. When did you get out? We might know each other. I knew them from fellowship coordinator meetings.
  20. Unless he's gotten out in the last 4 months, he's still involved. He asked me if I was going to be at the most recent AC Special. I didn't get the feeling that anyone was really getting on him about the work he was doing. He talked very openly about his work with me. Of course, your average person has little idea or interest in what a letterer does. Most assumed he just drew the things. I don't think he discussed it much other than friends. He worked on Preacher, about as "off the Word" as something can get. He actually told me I should read it while we were smoking during a break at some WIB or AC Special in Dallas. He actually lent some biblical knowledge to the writer for one their crazier story ideas. Clem's never been one though to shun the world outside the Way. I know he has lots of friends all over the country that couldn't care less about all this stuff.
  21. Actually, he likes a lot of the Vertigo stuff he works on. Vertigo is a mature line, meant for readers 18 and older. It's rated-r stuff mostly, like Sopranos on HBO or something like that. The writing on most books is excellent. The only reason I'd think he be embarrased is maybe describing the books to most Wayfers, as religous as they can be. But every time I talked to him, he was happy about his work. But yeah, having to describe the book "Preacher" to the average Wayer would probablly lend to some awkward moments. It would be considered blasphemous to most Chrisitians, but the writing was top-notch. Seriously though, pick up an issue or trade paperback of 100 Bullets. Better to start at the beginning. It's a conspiracy theory of epic proportions.
  22. Oh, by the way, you can find Clem's work in many comics. My favorite is "100 Bullets" by DC/Vertigo. That book is so awesome. Clem has his own comic lettering business and he letters for many Vertigo books and occasionally some by Dark Horse. He also teaches art at a college and wrote an amazing life drawing book called "The Art of Figure Drawing." You can find it in Borders or on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158180204...5Fencoding=UTF8
  23. I'm actually a friend of Clem's. As a young artist, he was my hero when I was growing up in the Way. I lived in Van Wert, and he had a studio in St. Mary's at the time. I used to visit his studio. I wanted to be a comic book artist so I picked his brain every chance I could. He's a great guy. We occasionally still e-mail, but I don't know if he know's I'm no longer in. I never brought it up. As far as I know he's still involved. Clem's awesome.
  24. Ha! When I was a teen, I wanted to be on Devine Design. Everyone kept complimenting and bragging about my artwork, that I felt like I'd be a celebrity. Back to topic... 1 drink for "Let's all stand and sing..." 2 drinks when the speaker uses a made-up personal "analogy" (which is really an anecdote) to open their teaching. 1 more drink for each additional time the go back to the anecdote during their teaching.
  25. Hi loafing. I don't know if it was that large of a purge. How many do you guys think got the boot? Was it like 10%? I'm sure LCM thought that those 10% were so wicked that they would take out everyone they were in contact with.
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