Twinky

No, Leafy, I meant the big stripey one that looks suspiciously like a ... tiger !!! Anyway, back to gardens... Just to show you what a great gardener I am, how timely, how absolutely ready... ... I've only just planted my daffodils and a few tulips. They should have been in the ground in October, latest November. But the weather was wet, cold and generally abysmal. That's my excuse, anyway. Right now, everyone else's daffs are showing 2-4" of leaf. On going to my shed to find the bulbs, what do you know but they have given up on waiting for me and started without me! There are nice little shoots appearing. So I've shoved them in - and some may produce flowers, a little late. They'll do better in the ground than they would in the shed, anyways. And they've certainly had their cold/chill period - well, actually, they're still having it but outdoors now; my fish pond has frozen over again this afternoon and the forecast is for very cold be very cold all this week.

Thanks, yes, there's lots of stuff out there, in booklets and online. Just wondering if people have found them helpful, and not (as prophesied by VPW) that they let you down. If people find them helpful in overcoming or rebutting TWI doctrines. If people found they were enabled to deal with things in their lives, walk closer with God.

Well, it took some of us a looooong time, years, to come to our senses, depending on how long we'd been in and what "level" we had achieved. We have to give him a loooooooooooooong time to come to his senses and then maybe he'll begin to realize, really realize, what he's done. Then, if he tried to go back to TWI (would he?), he'd be on spiritual probation for a further jolly loooooooooong time, supervised by RFR - who is too ambitious and too comfortable to ever give up the Prez-ship. Shedloads of WC did go out and simply start up new fellowships, from scratch, new people they witnessed to. It must be years since LCM "witnessed" to any new person. I reckon he would have tried. Then wondered why nobody wanted to listen to him. Especially if he got into his private interpretation of some of the most basic scriptures that churchy Christians know. Thanks for bringing this thread to Cafe attention again, WW.

Thanks for bringing up that old thread, WW. Interesting.

Thanks, Mark. I know the Buzzard website. I don't think I'd consider the STFI lot, knowing its roots. Yes, there are books out there, some available, some out of print. How to choose from a welter of things that you can't see?

I just found this thread and really have not much to add but thanks, for the very thoughtful posts. The world teaches us "guilt" from an early age. TWI really knew how to push the buttons. VWP (sorry) said it was unethical [was it really "unethical" he used??] to worry about something that you couldn't do anything about. And then he gave us the worry-doubt-fear-unbelief scenario. Maybe guilt fits into unbelief? Dunno, but take him at his word (in this at least) and stop the spiral. If it's unethical to worry about something, it surely must be more unethical to feel guilty about it. I go through periods when I don't bother to read a Bible much. Or at all. Doesn't stop me thinking. Doesn't stop me talking things over with my Dad. It's not a commandment of the Lord to read the bible every day (it was a commandment of TWI). It is a commandment of the Lord to meditate on the scriptures. I have a Bible called "The Passion" by Holman. It seems pretty accurate, is in modern English, is very fresh and many times I think - huh, so that's what KJV was getting at! I can't stand to read KJV but it's what I think, use, if I want to check out a reference. And WG: Hey, God knows you aren't perfect and He loves :wub: you anyway.

Only slightly off topic - Anyone know of any scholarly (well, not too scholarly; something readable) study of the scriptures to support the idea that JCNG? We all read VPW's book, but is there anything else sensible out there? I for one have never believed that JC=G and it was with some astonishment that I came to understand that some people really do believe this. They really do and have prayed for me to receive deeper understanding (LOL).

Mark, give it up. Mike will never change his mind. Stop giving him bigger shovels to dig himself in deeper with.

The fashion show item put me in mind of something from AoS. What the heck do priests want to wear this weird stuff for anyway? In this day and time? Outmoded tradition dating back to medieval times, clerical garb then. And some attempt at Levitical dress. I guess JC just wore what was normal for him. Nothing fancy or special.

Is that your daughter singing? Nice voice!

I've always wondered why different animals ... nah, I can't post that here.

I saw that, TheHighWay and wondered about making up a fake address. You know, logging on as "GreaseSpotCafePatrons" with a hotmail or yahoo address.

Cheranne, have you used any of these little booklets? If so, what have you learned or seen that's helped you? Other Cafe patrons: If you've used this type of booklet but no longer do so, is that because:- It "let you down"? It was not helpful? Or is it just that you are on some other sort of study program/regime/timetable? Or do you prefer to just "do your own thing" when it comes to reading the Bible rather than follow a loosely-structured booklet? A link to the online version for the day, for those who may be interested. One further click will give you the continuing content of the Bible section; click on Main Point for the thought they'd like you to consider for your own life. http://www.scriptureunion.org.uk/2981.id

Secretive, huh? Absolutely no idea of who it is or where they are based. Whoever it is - learned well. And at least they are open in their beliefs and idol-worship of VPW. Now, the integrity of the Word might be at stake, but the integrity of their website is lacking. From the Statement of Beliefs: Two sentences, three errors. Suggesting to me: sloppy workmanship.

Some of you may recall from PFAL that VPW said that these daily bible reading booklets "would always leave you short" or "would let you down just when you really needed help". We weren't told not to read them, but they (along with mainstream churches) were looked down on, and we were discouraged from having anything to do with them. It's easy to see why: it might distract from what was taught in PFAL, and it would give us a source of reference outside TWI so that TWI's control over us could not become a stranglehold. Over several recent months, I have been given the up-to-date bible study booklet - mine's called Daily Bread (from Scripture Union), but there are lots of others. The current readings (for two weeks) are a study of Nehemiah, and the integrity of the life of a leader. Other studies for this quarter include: Journeying with God; Looking back to get ahead; Judgment and mercy. In my bible I have a page that I tore out from the reading for 9 August last looking at Luke 13:10-17 which really hit me in the heart. I wonder if any of you read from these little booklets, and if you find them helpful? They may take you to bible passages that you wouldn't otherwise think to read. They may develop a line of thinking that is new for you. If so, is there anything you would particularly care to share? And before this thread is derailed right from the start, can I just say, it's not not not not NOT about the actual words used by VPW but it's about whether the booklets have helped you see something new, different, or helpful to you.

Mike, I have to say that I admire your dogged persistence on this thread. Can't say I admire your dogged head-in-the-s*** thinking, but you certainly are convinced that you know that you know that you know.

DO NOT POST THESE VIDEOS WITHOUT A HEALTH WARNING!!!!! Just when I thought I had got that danged song out of my head, there Cheranne goes, reminding me to renew my mind. Grrrr, girl!

Hey, I just found this ancient thread. Which is strange because I was just posting on some other thread about RFR owning property. Here is a fresh link to the website mentioned above - the link indicated doesn't work. http://gismaps.cravencounty.com/maps/map_c...04%20%20%20-002 So it's 288 acres valued then at just under £100K of forest but seems to have no building improvements. And it's jointly owned (in a previous name for RFR) with Virginia Fox - a sister?? Our poster is not a happy person about RFR...

Sorry, RR, musta missed that. Got lost under a drift of copyright complaints.

I wonder how much they give away, to help the people in their fellowship/area/branch or whatever these things are called now? I wonder how much they put, financially, into their own community? I wonder... They might be good guys. But the article reads like a commercial. And not for their"secular" businesses.

Well someone might idolize LCM, as you put it, but the individual auditors concerned would still have professional standards that they would have to adhere to. And a large firm of auditors, even if only well-known in Ohio, would still want to protect its reputation.

She might like a link to the Cafe so's she can check some of the stories/info herself. Especially about the lawsuits - documented on the front page. Very verifiable information.

Wow, I just looked in on this thread after washing my hands of it; felt like I needed some humor. No change here, since my last look. The same old plagiarism arguments... Arguments about copyrights... Hey, nobody mentioned a BIBLIOGRAPHY, which reputable works of research almost always include in addition to the footnotes/copyright info. (Just giving this merry-go-round another twiddle...) Lest we forget- this thread is about what we now believe about VPW's snowstorm story. As far as I know, snowflakes are neither copyrightable nor patentable.

1. She had it built, specially for her? With the use of TWI staff/WC? This results in the outreach of God's Word - how, exactly? 2. She has "land" in SC? As well as a house in NK? Hmm, so she has abundance, that she doesn't use? Examples from the 1st century church: Joses, a Levite had land and put it at the feet of the apostles (NOT so that they could build themselves houses); "as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." (Acts 4:34-37). TWI so emphasized the "lands" (plural) part. 3. Good for her, obviously doesn't feel the need to share her surplus. Money not where her mouth is. 4. Ditto. 5. Not applicable. 6. Examples speak louder than words. Do as I say, not as I do. Ah wait, it was the immediate two predecessors who said it. Dunno what Rosie says. Have things changed so much?

Great cat pix, Leafy. The big stripey ones might be a bit of a handful