Sunnyfla

I haven't posted in here for a while, because I see the hurt, the pain, and the anger in so many people in here. Some are very defensive, some are cool and understanding, and some walk in love. I feel that I can't express myself without being attacked in some way or another. Is that what GS is for? Are we sopposed to walk on eggshells because of others who are harboring sore feelings?. And I mean really harboring!! Our lives are so shorts guys. Please, please Live... and live your life to the fullest. Shell, Thank you for starting this post. You said it all and with so much heart and love I know it's going to take some of us a long time to get over what had happened to us, our loved ones and friends. I too was introduced to twi in a total family atmosphere. It was beautiful. I was hurt tremendously! But, there comes a time in our lives when we need to just simply put it behind us and live a life that's worth living. Carrying grudges, and resentments are just going to slow the healing process down. The ones that just got out need time to heal. I know that, but there are some of you that have been out for many, many, years. You should be the ones comforting, loving, and sharing your lives in a positive way to those seeking comfort, love and maybe for some...direction. Isn't that the reason we are really here in GS? Or is it here for us to continually tare down that which we were ALL involved with in one way or another. I know, I know... Not everyone is like that. I've met some wonderful people in here, but there is a large majority that are starting up threads that don't need to be started Sorry, I just have to get this out. I was so BLESSED reading the words that Shell wrote. It truly spoke to my heart . Thanks again Shell

Sorry everyone. I spelled his name wrong It's Bill Volta :)

Oh Man... Thank God those days are over. The manipulation that was done to us That was terrible of Donna to say, and do you know the sad part of it is that she is convinced of what she's saying is true. It makes me sick. The lack of compassion, the lack of Love, the lack of Decency, the Hardness of Heart, the Harshness in the way she talked. I NEVER cared for her.

I agree with you Ex10. We used to share clothes too in our dorm. We had so much fun getting ready for a dance,especially after 2-4 months of grewling training at Gunnison. By the time you thought you couldn't even read another verse, they would announce that we were going to have some fun Then back to the dorms, clothes being tossed from one to another, helping each other with our hair and makeup, then dance , dance, dance.... We had a great time that year! The good times were good. The bad times were really bad Oh well, glad to be here with you all

She graduated with the 19th Corps, but originally in the 18th.

Has anyone seen or heard from him? He's originally from New York. He was in the 21st Corps.

That was so cool what Chris did to "I walk the Line" He's very genuine, and I'm sure we'll be hearing his stuff on the radio in the near future. Now.. Kelly..hmmmm... She picked a good song with Ms. Patsy Cline, who happens to be one of my favorites, but IMO and I'm sorry to say this, but she is so dumb! that doesn't empress me AT ALL. My daughter, who is 8 thinks she's the bomb. In fact she was so upset last night that we didn't let her stay up long enough to watch her favorite singer, which would've been near 10p. First thing this morning... how did Kelly do mom? :) I told her she did great. She'll get to see tonight GO CHRIS!!!

You go girl!

I agree with you brother MO, LET IT GO...LET IT GO...LET IT GO!!!!!! Seriously: The Bible teaches us that "there is no one righteous, not even one.... for ALL have sinned and come short of the Glory of God" (Romans 3:10,23); "In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace" (Ephesians1:7) What about when Peter asked Our Lord Jesus Christ how often we should forgive others who sinned against us. Peter thought seven times would be generous enough. Jesus shocked him by telling him 77 times. In other words, there should be NO limits. Then as most of you know the parable Jesus shared about the king who had the servant. At the end Jesus says... " This is how my Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your HEART" (Matt. 18:35) . Jesus is telling us that we will not be able to experience God's forgiveness of OUR sins in a meaningful way as long as we harbor unforgiveness toward another in our hearts. (Isa. 59:2)

I decided to join in with the Womens Bible Fellowship at my church. I figured I needed to get in and meet and fellowship with the women at my church. It starts at 9am-11:30am. The first hour was talking and getting to know one another with food that anyone could bring. I saw the love in these women and how they really love the Word. It was pretty cool to see that! There's about 30 women that go, and not all are from my church. They come from various different churches. We are studying the book of 2 Corinthians. It's a teaching series of The Joy of Living Bible Studies. The Commentary by Anne Walls. It's GREAT!! I'm so glad I'm doing this. I've been truly blesssed to see how Paul addressed the church on certain issues and how he did his best to live the life of Christ. Here's something I wanted to share with you: Leonardo da Vinci had started had started work on a large canvas in his studio. For awhile he worked at it--choosing the subject, planning the perspective, sketching the outline, applying the colors, with his inimitable genious. The suddenlt he ceased, the painting still unfinished, and, summoning one of his students, invited him to complete the work. The student protested that he was unworthy and unable to complete the great painting which his master had begun. But da Vinci silenced him. "Will not what I have done inspire you to do your best "Our Master began two thousand years ago--by what he said, by what he did, and supremely by what he suffered. He illustrated his message and he has left us to finish the picture." Paul had a good grasp on the picture that our Lord Jesus Christ had begun and was determined to do his part in helping to finish it. You know.... I may not be totally correct on everything, but I do know that we need to finish what Jesus started and do it to the best of our knowledge. I've put a lot of what twi taught me behind. it's time to move forward again and do what I've always wanted to do in the first place.... To help finish his picture. SunnyFla.

When I had my children, the foundation class on "believing" came to mind very often. My husband was not in twi. He and his latin family (who are VERY over protectant of their children) with no disrespect to our wonderful latinos. They would FREAK out at any little thing that happened to the kids. Don't go outside without shoes on or you'll cut your feet No bare feet on the tile, or you'll get sick. A little stumble and fall... OH MY GOD!!!They are running after them with full speed to pick them up. Can not spend the night anywhere in fear that they will get raped. Don't trust anyone because everyone is out to get something from you. I can go on and on. Needless to say.. It drove me crazy. I used to tell my husband, " YOUR believing will hurt OUR children....GAWD.. My poor husband and my crazy ways. BUT.. they were a little off the top with their fearful ways and attitudes. They are extremely passionate and wonderful too. I've come to realize that thier BELIEVING has nothing to do with the safety of my kids. I have more to say, but I need to go for now Sunny

I was hopeing that she wasn't implying that. Although, that was my first impression. <_<

Hey Mark and Belle I was at work yesterday, and there's this friend of mine that goes to the Church of Christ. She was raised in that faith. She REALLY wanted me to attend there last Sunday. She even had folks looking out for me. She attends one about 1hour north of me, but there's another one about 10 mins from where I live. I told her that I was going to stick with where I was at and shared with her about our meeting on Sunday. She said that her church would've baptized us there on the spot <_< . She's really nice too and she means well. She then shared the verse Luke21:8 Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not there- fore after them. I wasn't quite sure why she had shown me that particular verse. But, right before she did that, I was telling her IMO about why VPW made such a stink about water baptizm. Why did he do that???? I asked myself on Sunday :unsure: Well,.. Water baptizm wouldn't have been conveniant with the Way fellowships. 1) We didn't have a church to go to that had a built in tank to be emmersed in 2) We couldn't do it in the twig coord. bathtub 3) Couldn't rely on swimming pools, especially if you live in the Northern states. So, why not make water baptizm obsolete, and just teach the importance of S.I.T to make things simpler for the in home fellowships. Now, thats what I came up with while I was RELEARNING about baptizm on Sunday. LOL....... I'm not saying that was VP's intent, but I do know that he had to change a few things doctinally to make himself appear to know more than the average Christain back in his day and time. Thats what cult leaders do, and that's why he convinced us all to follow his ways and not the ways of Jesus Christ! Hmmm.... It could've been his intent, but who knows. :) So, I think my friend was sharing that verse because of what I shared with her and not because I was attending a different church than her :)

Hi Belle, Well, Sunday evening My husband and I went back to the church we were attending. We had made an appt. with the adult councelor to discuss the issue on baptizm. WOW... How did I not see those scriptures? He also had lived in Ohio and new much about twi. But, he wasn't really judgemental about them. Although, he felt sorry about what had happened to me and so many others. My children love it there and we're going to stay and give a good shot. And we will be getting baptized too I'll keep you posted :)

Thanks Whitedove.. I just e-mailed them

Ok. I guess I didn't make myself clear enough. Thank you Mark for your response. I have decided to give the church that I've been attending a chance. Yes, I want a nice place for my husband and children to go to worship, praise, socialize and to be treated with love and respect. Yes, doctinal issues are very important to me, as they were before I was with twi. I just didn't know any better back then. My heart hasn't changed when it comes to knowing and loving God and the integrety of His word. Although, I am more careful than before. I just talked to the adult counselor at my church, and he was aware of twi. He was very loving and understanding of my situation and is looking forward to meeting with my husband and I this Sun to talk about some issues. (((((bliss)))))) Thank you too. Your helping me get through a lot. Talk to you later.

Why would you ask me that?

OK!!! I've tried a few churches. There's always something that turns me away because of the doctrinal junk twi has taught me. I've definately come a long way, being out for more than 13 yrs, but it's so hard to find something that fits.... Help!!!!!

Anyone from Dan and Leigh Church's twig around?

Hi Keith Just wondering.. Were you in the 21st Corps?

I agree with you Rascal I had taken pfal in 1983. I was 19, married, and very excited to move the Word. It was great for 2 years. Then the calamity, legalism and the controlling started. Well... I thought, (being so young in the Word) that that was the way it was supposed to be. I felt constantly pressured to speak to everything that moved, and to drag them to fellowship. And God forbid!!! you even mention the word PRESSURE. Then a huge quilt trip would be placed on you that if you feel pressure then you REALLY don't want to move God's Word. It got real crazy in our area in Southern Calif. When vp died, it was a mystery to everyone and we were not to ask questions or talk about it. Everything was really being pushed on us to take all the classes, go WOW, go Corps. Then I went to my 1st ROA in 86, and everything was really wierd and in secret. Something had happened and there was great sadness and turmoil everywhere. My TC couldn't stop crying!. She wouldn't tell me why, so the whole time was nothing like everyone talked about. It was horrible and all I wanted was to go home. The truth was told to me shortly after that and also about the split and the rumers of LCM and VP's lascivious ways. We were basically told that it was all lies of the Devil. Later that year I was divorced, then moved out of the area and was in hiatus for about a year. Then I returned to a new area in Reno Nv. The believers were loving, but VERY VERY strong and legalistic. this was in 88. I ended up going WOW that year. I was only 1/2 hour away from HQ. So we were at all the SNS there. Everything seemed to be good, but then I found out what was really going on there when I went into the Corps. in 90. What a mess... But , I thank God that I got out before the 90's really hit.

I never had a problem trusting God. It was the people who were representing him I didn't trust. While I was in twi, I was always told that churches had NO integrity and sincerity, so that was really instilled in my mind when I left. I knew that God was always with me and that He would direct me to the right place, but I had to trust those who were dishing out the Word and that they were sincere and had integrity. It's been 14 yrs. and I still have some walls up when it comes to trust. I still see a lot of religous people that only show their Christ-like character if they know you are a Christain too, if they don't know.... then they treat you like garbage. THAT"S what really ticks me off and makes me doubt the sinerity and integrity of the hearts of people who claim to live by the Word of God...... :unsure: Oh how I miss those good friends who really spoke to me from the heart and whos intentions were of nothing else but good. Anyway.. that's my issue and i'm working on it daily and hope to see things in a different light some day :)

OM, Being at those meetings took me back to 1983, where everyone was so sweet and loving, which was great, BUT... the sweetness wore off and in came the legalistic, harsh, hard, and pressing. Although, the offshoots may not present themselves in those ways, but, they run thier fellowships the same way twi does,and it just gave me a wierd and funky feeling. "That way of thinking?" you asked me to explain was that.... They are the only ones that hold the TRUTH of God's Word. Because of that.. it has taken me many years to be able to accept any other teachings from churches, pastor etc.. that tried to help me get my Way Brain healed. I hope I'm not complicating this too much. OM, I truly missed the household of God that used to be so wonderful and that's why I went to the offshoots, but realized that they too teach the same stuff, use the same song books, have pfal type classes(but call them by different names). I hope I answered your question

OM, After being out for about 7years, I went to a few meetings from other offshoots. One in Weston Fla, near where I live, A Vince Finnigan ministry and the other was with John Shroyer CFF. They both were almost exactly like twi. Same beliefs but not all the hype and legalism. They still teach from VPW's doctrine, but are very against Martindale. Very layed back and super nice. They are basically newly generated twi's. I hope I'm not offending anyone, but I was not going to get sucked up in that way of thinking again. It's been 13 years now and my family and I go to a non- denom. church. For some reason I feel safe there, but still have my quard up at times.

Not happy about ANY TD. They still haven't picked up any debris from our neighborhood and it looks like it won't happen for awhile.....Oh well, if anything comes our way it's off to Orlando again :P