Twinky

Personally I detest Marmite. But I thought the smell seemed a little like the smell of some flavors of catbix, so tried it with a worm tablet for Twinkletoes (Twinky) and put it with a small quantity of catbix. It was such a fight trying to ram it down his throat. He ate all the catbix and then ate the worm tablet, last of all. I may have tried with a smear of Marmite on my finger first which he licked off. Anyway now he does not bother with the Marmite, the worm tab just goes in the food bowl and gets eaten last of all, no bribes, no nuthin. It is such a tiny thin smear you will need, Geisha, and only once every 3 months or as often as your tabs require, that it won't do any harm. See if they will eat a smear from your finger or on an ordinary catbiccy. I have recommended this to other people and they have told me they find it helpful. Anyway you have nothing to lose! Would love to see your cats if you can post a photo. I have not had to try Tuxedo and Crypto yet as they are still indoor cats so have no opportunity to get parasites from mice or other prey. Oh joy, the thought of having to dose either of them. I will need a suit of armor.

Now where have I heard it said that sometimes the MoG dies prematurely - because he is "standing in the gap" for his people and has to deflect such a lot of evil from reaching the people. Is something like that touched on in PFAL? Or was it something much later (Adv class?)? Not suicide; just nonsense. And about they eye: it was put about that he had suffered so much during the filming of PFAL, what with the bright lights and all. But in fact I was told by someone "trustworthy" that it was a fish hook that he got in his eye when he was off with the BoT on a ministry planning meeting. The meeting obviously took place in a river where he was washing some sins away or being baptized or something (LOL).

Hey Dooj. Well, you know about some other character that seemed to have read your autobio. What "level" was he, a BC? Glad this thread is giving you a little fresh insight, pi$$y though that may be. 's all about control. Ex10: you may have some really weird stuff in your journals. They'd probably make interesting reading, with hindsight. Sort of their biography, that you wrote as their amanuensis. I still have my journals, too, from in rez. It's embarrassing reading them. Such petty stuff seemed such a big deal. I seemed to spend a lot of time stressing over things that really didn't matter and awaiting deliverance. And that's just what was written down...!

And as regards the "higher powers", the leader is to submit to the church as regards discipline, from the Bible extracts above, isn't that so? So who is the higher power? The church as a whole. Not the man on the pedestal, the claimed mouthpiece for God. Who is the head of the church, the real higher power? What's his name, begins with J, I think...

2 Cor 6:3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; 6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; 9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; 10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. They forgot the stuff highlighted in blue and concentrated far too much on the stuff in red. Where some fault or error has been noted there is this: Standard for ordinary believers: Mt 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Standard for church leaders: 1 Tim 5:19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. 20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. 21 I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality. Not much difference, is there? Confrontation by 2 or 3, then open confrontation in the church. It's a command, to expose sinful church leaders. It should have been "available" that two or three believers should have been able to confront alleged perps and secure some sort of answer. If that didn't work, it should then have been "available" for the sins of the perp to be brought before the whole church. In these sex cases, DWBH and the psych that he mentions on his thread should have been able to confront VPW and LCM about their sexual misconduct. It should have been investigated. If not investigated, it should have been possible for DWBH and others to bring it before the whole church. Should? Yes. Possible? Not on your life. Those leaders did not "submit" themselves in love to other believers. Their idea of submitting was (as LCM once said), to submit to the needs of the whole body by teaching them (at SNS and Corps nights). It still hasn't been brought before the church, ie, the people remaining in TWI. It has never honestly been addressed there. Those in control of the church still control (mostly) the means of making it known to the church. (Happily, they do not control the Internet!) If criminal behavior is dealt with within the church there may be no need to involve civil authorities (but then again, there may be need, think for example of the abuse by MN of children in Alaska). If the church abdicates its responsibilities in the area of dealing with its leaders, it only has itself to blame if people look to the civil authorities for remedy. They haven't acted without partiality when it comes to dealing with the matters brought before them.

Geisha, mine do that too! Crypto will disappear some place, and Tuxy will mill around and mew a lot and keep looking in the direction where Crypto has hidden. My cat things are kept in a box in the kitchen. One day I came home and Tuxy was looking a little lary and somewhat pleased with herself. She had got into the toy box and found a little cardboard box of catnip, got it open, gnawed through the plastic bag containing the catnip, and gorged herself silly. (I'm told it acts like cannabis, for cats.) I keep the catnip in a cupboard now with the door firmly closed. But if I want a laugh, I sprinkle a little on the carpet and watch'em both go crazy. "Keeping up Appearances" was a very funny program. Glad to hear your cats give you so much pleasure!

The dogs were "running away" = not even towards the officers! A lab is more likely to lick an unexpected visitor to death, than to bit the visitor. Huh. You guys gotta bring your police under control. In the UK police do not routinely carry fire arms. Perhaps that's why they are more civil. Can't afford to pi$$ off crims with guns. But neither can they shoot innocent passers-by and dogs in their own homes.

Well, things are going well with the little critters. Tuxedo now enjoys being fondled. In fact when I have my breakfast, she sits at my feet and starts with a plaintive mew and progresses to quite a loud miaow, if she doesn't get stroked. She is very fond of her neck being rubbed. She tends to wander about and walk off whilst being fondled and then turn back as if to say, why did you stop? She sometimes throws herself at my feet and often purrs loudly. I have one of those wire pet grooming brushes and she seems to love being brushed with that, especially short strong passes which may remind her a little of being licked by her mother. Her coat gleams beautifully. I try to expand her boundaries daily and now she will let me stroke and occasionally groom her underbelly. I may not stroke her front (her pretty white vest) nor may I use two hands but I am cautiously working on that. I may only stroke her in certain locations: the kitchen, lounge or study. I may not touch her on the stairs, landing, windowsill, bathroom or any enclosed location. So I am also working on stroking her when she is sunbathing on the windowsill. Crypto has begun to let me touch her. She may need an incentive/bribe like holding a feather out to her, but sometimes she will allow herself to be touched/stroked without the bribe. Her coat is lovely and thick. Ithought before it was in poor condition - perhaps it was then. I am feeding them a different mix of catbix and maybe that gives something extra. Anyway she feels good. Crypto is still very shy but is so much better it's almost unbelievable. She has the sweetest gentlest face. She loves to sit near me and if I sit to read a book or lie on the couch, she often roosts about 3 feet from me (just out of touching distance). Neither will sit on the couch with me (much less on my knee) but given the progress so far, it'll be a happening thing. They both fly into a panic if they see me coming up the stairs while they are on the landing, or if I go into my study (a small room) and close the door and they are in the room. But they like being in the room with me, if the door is open. I am still not allowing them outside in case they don't come back, but I am more confident about their abilities to cope if they did take off. They are very fast at catching things (balls, bits of string) including flies that unwisely drift into the house. I am not dosing them on Rock Rose or Mimulus any longer and don't use the Feliway either. Time is a great healer, but it's been a hard six months.

This is an interesting thread but has gone so far off topic that it really deserves to be a standalone from say page 14. Moderators?? Geisha, I hear what you say about outsiders looking in at Christians. However can they be expected to make sense of a doctrine that doesn't make sense - to Christians? An Indian man I knew who had converted to Christianity had a strong Christian outreach with Navigators but always, as long as I knew him, had difficulties with the trinity. He now professes to have converted to becoming a Jew, because they believe in one God. Muslim =/= terrorist. Some claiming to be Muslims are terrorists. Some claiming to be Christians are also terrorists. May their God(s) have mercy on them.

Tzaia: Well, there was a line of elder Corps women. Examined one right after the other. Not much privacy. Dr R was assisted in this task by someone else, a nurse who was also in the Corps; I'd never met her before. It was very cramped in the little room in Founders Hall where this took place. So yes - there were witnesses. Pander (noun): a person who procures for another the means of gratifying his or her base passions. (vt) to act as a pander. I reckon (now I know of LCM's habits) that she was checking us out for LCM. We had to submit to a gynae/pap exam BEFORE ENTERING THE CORPS and our own doctors had to sign to say we were in good health in this regard, which form was submitted with the Corps application form. My doc was appalled at the request and simply asked if I'd had a smear test recently and took my word for it.

Thanks, DWBH, I thought that might be the case. May as well have issued the in rez corps with megaphones, or perhaps added a megaphone to the "What to Bring" list (LOL). WB, glad you got yours back. Any intereresting information could well have been copied or noted, however. Did anyone else get theirs back? If so, when - when you graduated, or as part of teh 10-year pack?

I can hardly remember this class (thank God) but certainly parts of it would have been far more appropriately taught (that's if it needed to be taught at all) by Dr Rawlins, as a gynaecologist. I have a recollection of some talk about a dog and a woman but in what I saw that had been excluded and it was, "I once saw a video of a dog and a woman, the dog wasn't interested, had more sense than the woman." Perhaps it had been remade. I do remember a lengthy consideration of the Song of Solomon and the various figures of speech for sex acts, positions, and names for parts of the body associated with the activity. The very name of the class is deceptive. Nothing about Christian Family - it was all about sex (not even "Christian sex" if there is such a thing, LOL!). In rez, Dr Rawlins did teach us something about the raising of children and breastfeeding and some stuff about kids. All that did seem to make sense at the time; whether it still would ... I dunno. Her teaching was followed by a gynaecological examination of the elder Corps women. Then, it seemed a little odd. Now, it seems like pandering.

EyesOpen: very wise to be guarded in what you wrote. See my note below. Waysider: "red herring" occurred to me, too. Haven't heard this about the CF&S questionnaire before. Ex10: I don't doubt that there could be some legitimate reason, like your autobio in college. Knowing what you have been rescued from and knowing who you are is important. But with the underbelly of TWI as now exposed, I just wonder if it had a double significance, as so much stuff to do with TWI did. My girlfriend who is now a Methodist minister trained for 3 years and had to write various essays and consider a lot of personal/emotional stuff in depth and discuss it with mentors, to see that she was suited to the ministry, but it wasn't an out-and-out expose of her life in an "autobiography" way. WW: that's horrible about Dot. Maybe she will add something on this thread. It would be ideal to use as "dog returning to vomit" ammunition, when someone was kicked out M&A, to say that they had never fully renewed their minds to the Word in the area(s) they had disclosed. My younger Corps had to prepare these autobios. Some of the Corps were a bit sensitive or guarded about some things in their past. I believe one or two had been told that they had not considered deeply enough and were told to write more detail (ie, more self-disclosure). But of course I don't know how much (or little) they had written before being prodded to write more.

Just thinking about the autobiographies, “From Birth to the Corps” which documents were required writing by in rez Corps – which task, thank goodness, wasn’t inflicted upon my Corps by the lovely Loy. The idea was, I understand, that the writers saw how God had guided and directed their life since birth; or was it, how God had helped and delivered them to this point? On several other threads, I’ve seen the suggestion that these autobiographies were used by VPW and his cronies in selecting sex victims, the victims themselves having revealed their weaknesses and areas in which they were particularly vulnerable. It’s easy to see how the information so revealed could be used as a weapon to “press the buttons” for a female who had suffered a dysfunctional or abusive family life and thereby facilitating her initiation as sexual plaything/religious prostitute. In effect, walking around with a sign over her head saying VICTIM. Male Corps would also have had to write these autobiogs. Any ideas as to their purpose? Selection of likeminded males to share/participate in the abuse – a future inner circle masquerading as “clergy”? Or to select men who could be palmed off with the abused women in a match made in…the motorcoach? Or to see that the WC comprised a sufficient number of “yes men” or dullards who would not cotton on to or object if they found out? Maybe the autobiographies could have been used to spot any person who could have been smart enough to "make trouble" had the activities of the "inner circule" become more widely known? To get rid of them early or demoralize them or humiliate them so that they could not cause trouble? Who got to read the autobiographies – officially and unofficially? DWBH, Catcup, what did you see of this? How particularly unfair. I know others who did write these things – I think my younger Corps may have had to - and the authors worked hard and suffered emotionally and dragged out all sorts of stressful stuff that they had dealt with hitherto. Only, perhaps, to have it used against them later. If someone revealed some deviant or criminal behavior in their autobiography, did that come back later and, as it were, “bite” them by being used as a weapon against them in their later years in the Corps?

Haven't looked in on this thread for a while, and then Isaw that Pawtucket had posted that long and excellent response from John Juedes. John, thanks for your response. It really puts a different perspective on things. Not even a drop in 7 oceans... They closed the doors of our minds so completely that even if JC himself had appeared we wouldn't have recognized him. Paw, thanks for finding this and posting it. JJ's perspective is always enlightening. Somewhat off topic, and because I reviewed posts from way back, I found this: How many times did I get, "You're too emotional!" yelled at me? Always by a male in some sort of "superior" leadership posiition. Usually because I was excited about the forthcoming event we were all preparing for (especially in rez). If I'm happy, I show it. Is that wrong? I always thought that God gave us emotions so that we could be happy, enjoy things, etc. He didn't have to; He could have made us incapable of emotion. Robots. Machines. But Rascal's post and the response of others to it has shown me that was just yet another form of bullying women -just like so much other abuse - not specific to me at all except that I am female. Thanks, another step along the road to recovery. :D (thought I'd give you some emotion, orat least emoticons. Because I CAN!) End "off topic."

I don't recall much teaching about martyrs. It wasn't something that got taught in the Martindale years. LCM was more interested in devil spirits/genuine spiritual suspicion (!). As with VPW, what other Christians (at any time) did or suffered really didn't matter. The things Wordwolf says are familiar. I have heard both views. Thre are probably also other constructions - depending on what other churches teach. Geisha makes a good point, about the sufferings endured by Christian churches in some other countries. They stand firm despite the certain knowledge of persecution. The little churches (usually in someone's home) are growing. That means people must be witnessing, holding forth the gospel convincingly enough that people WANT to know more despite the likelihood of persecution. Think of China, India, many Muslim countries. People are imprisoned, beaten, killed. And we in the "more advanced" societies of the west...are afraid to mention the gospel to the next door neighbour, in case they just don't like it.

Wonderful, Chas! Hope you all have a really special time. Good for all of you. Do let us know how it goes!!

Heck, anyone who's born again is "possessed." They are a possession, purchased with a great price. But what TWI meant was that our actions were controlled by DS. Possession in the sense of control, not ownership. Control of thinking patterns...anybody think their thinking patterns were controlled while they were in TWI? (Anybody NOT think that, LOL!) There might be some DS that cause people or things to do bizarre actions. Showy stuff. But the cleverer forms of possession would be subtle errors of doctrine in the mind. Not blatant "sideshows." The father of lies has his henchmen foster subtle lies and keeps knocking people off doctrine - actually this is even covered in PFAL, but as means of keeping a hold on us. The rampant abuse in TWI in sexual, physical and emotional terms is all an outcome of DS control of those at the top. I don't think I got the names to my face but probably after I'd been M&A'd. I just got face meltings for thinking carnally when I did something sensible instead of something bizarre. I know plenty who were said to be possessed and I looked at them and usually thought how very sensible they were. Though perhaps not obedient to what they'd been instructed to do, which instruction wasn't always sensible. (edited because somehow ended up as a double post)

Beautiful. Lots to be thankful for.

Obstructing traffic? Resisting arrest? Looks to me like the cyclist was taking evasive action to avoid the police officer's own obstruction of traffic. Thank goodness for mobile phones to record such incidents. If it ever goes to court, I hope whoever hears the case against the cyclist will give him some significant compensation payable by the Police Department. D'ya reckon the police officer thought the cyclist's name was Rodney King?

Garth, I suffered a shedload of abuse in TWI, in no small part because I liked to use my God-given brain and my God-given ability to think. And if I ventured into critical thinking or even remotely considering that another way to do something might be better or more efficient or less mind-numbing, I got such a load of BS and spiteful accusations of "thinking carnally" and "using my five senses". I had more than my fair share of personal face-meltings from LCM. Thank you, I WILL NOT put up with the same abuse from you. Feel free to apologise. I simply meant, as it seems (at least right now) that we are unable to get to the other side of the galaxy (let alone the universe) in our lifetimes, if God wants us to know he will tell us. No way we can find out that by our five senses. And frankly, I don't know if we need to know. Plenty of things to get right on this planet before we find another to wreak havoc upon. I'm not anti-exploration and have a very inquisitive nature. I am grateful for the inquisitiveness of others that has brought so many advances in our society in the material beenfits we enjoy, eg, in medicine and things to stuff into our houses. Many things are a spin-off from space programs (eg, Teflon!).

Dmiller said: For sure there aren’t many references to Angels in the NT but then there aren’t generally in the Bible. Here are some references in Acts and subsequently there are lots of references in Revelation, which are obviously a little different, and clearly angels are very busy then whereas our role is not mentioned! But hey, Peter and Philip among others received visits and assistance from angels. Are Peter and Philip more deserving, that they get special treatment? We were taught that the power of God as shown in Acts is still available. So why not the supporting cast as well? What Wierwille taught on this is rubbish. Angels were around and still are around. Maybe their job description has changed a little in respect of those born again; maybe not. Those references in Rev 2 and 3 suggest in fact that angels have a very specific responsibility to care for the "church" to which they are assigned. (Was the angel assigned to TWI doing a good job? LOL) There are probably a whole lot more incidents where angels have helped believers and unbelievers alike but simply not been recognised. Ac 5:19 - But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Ac 8:26 - And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. Ac 10:3 - He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. Ac 10:7 - And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually; Ac 10:22 - And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. Ac 11:13 - And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; Ac 12:7 - And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. Ac 12:8 - And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. Ac 12:9 - And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. Ac 12:10 - When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him. Ac 12:11 - And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. Ac 27:23 - For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Ga 1:8 - But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Re 1:1 - The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Re 2:1 - Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; Re 2:8 - And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; Re 2:12 - And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; Re 2:18 - And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; Re 3:1 - And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Re 3:7 - And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; Re 3:14 - And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; Re 22:8 - And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Re 22:16 - I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And of course, this one, which “doesn’t apply to us”: Heb 13:2 - Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Wierwille based his view of angels on this verse: Heb 1:14 - Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? As "shall be" is in the future, he reasoned, once we are the heirs of salvation the future in that respect has been attained. But we haven't fully attained salvation and infact "the gift of holy spirit" is itself expressed to be only a token or an earnest. In fact, legally an "heir" is the one who will inherit something in the future - not the one who already has it. (But I didn't check the Greek word on this, maybe heirs is just an approximate translation.) And the context of Heb 14 is not so much concerned with *us* as with the Lord Jesus Christ. (edited to add the Heb 1:14 reference, which I couldn't remember the reference for, originally)

Geisha: You're forgiven! Have a beer!! Tom: yes, I have wondered about the "carbon-based" idea too. Life as we know it is carbon-based. But that's the unique blend of materials available on our planet. Maybe there are planets out there that have a different sort of structure altogether and have a life form based on plutoyaddayaddaplong or something, some element we may not even know about yet. Maybe life on earth was "created" as the first carbon-based life forms? And life forms on planet Zog were created based on plutoyaddayaddaplong? Sunesis: star gazing certainly is fascinating. And we can't even see a tiny fraction of what's out there. Lovely to lie outside with a pair of binoculars looking at the stars, though. Unless one's fortunate enough to have a telescope somewhere indoors. Well, God knows what he's put together, where and how. If he wants us to know, he can tell us. Perhaps he hasn't told us because he doesn't want us to get out there and start destroying or dominating it, like too much life on this planet. But that's a whole nother issue.

Great thread, this. Thanks for starting it. Wonderful to have some positive stories. It could be that the person or people who just show up at a time of need or come and offer help are themselves just inspired by God to go and offer help. Just normal human beings like all of us, who just happen to be “there” at the right time. Like Philip in the Book of Acts. Others definitely could be non-human intervention. I also went off the road in a very bad storm. It had turned into real monsoon-like conditions. The weather had delayed me and I was going to be late. I was meeting a friend in a little town half-way between our respective cities (which are 800 km apart). I swung around a gentle corner at a road junction - too fast, and the road was very wet and I oversteered. Into the ditch and into a fence post. It was still raining hard, and it was quite late at night and in the middle of nowhere. I was concerned that the friend would be concerned about me being late and I had no means of contact (pre cell phone). I had scarcely seen a car all night (this being a remote unpopulated area). I had no idea where the nearest house was, much less a phone box or a town, to call for help. But within just a few minutes on this road - where there was hardly any traffic - two men in a sturdy vehicle pulled up, saw the problem, laughed kindly at me, hitched my car to their vehicle, and towed me out of the steep ditch. And then just drove away. Oh, and the rain eased off at the same time. The only damage to my car was a very slight dent on the radiator grille, which was so unnoticeable that I immediately forgot about it. The wooden fence post was sheered off at the base but still hanging on its wires and functional as a fence. I was not delayed on my journey by more than a few minutes. I was hugely aware that the incident could have been so very much more serious and drove carefully and more slowly after that. Angels? I didn’t think so at the time. I took them for local farmers who were perhaps on their way home from the pub or something. I never took them for other than human beings. But the whole event seemed completely miraculous to me: that I was uninjured, my car undamaged, and these men with the perfect vehicle and the perfect equipment arrived at the perfect time to haul my car out. I still think they were just men – but who knows? Another much more recent incident. Another country. A friend (another exWayfer) was coming to visit for the weekend. He caught the train and I went to meet him at the local station. But he was engrossed in conversation with someone on the train ("witnessing") and although he could see me banging on the window, didn’t recognise me in time and the train departed the station, he still on the train. I didn’t know what to do. He might have been able to catch another train back from the next station – if there was a “next train” at that hour of the night. I mused what to do and then decided to head for the next station anyway. It’s about 10 miles away. By this time the train had a good head start. The journey by car to the next station is along narrow country lanes, very dark, very winding, and I didn’t know where the station was, exactly. I put my foot down and soon reached the town and the station was clearly marked. As I got there, a train was just about to depart for where I had just come from. Was my friend on it, going back? I ran the length of the train to see but it drew away. I dawdled round the tiny station and crossed the bridge to the other platform, wondering what to do now. I decided to go back to my car. As I crossed the bridge back… a train drew in on the other platform. It was the train that had just left where my friend should have got off. My name was called. My friend had got off the train and was calling to me. I don’t know how he did this as he wouldn’t have been expecting me at the next station. How did this happen? I know I drove very fast (ignoring speed limits), and there was no other traffic on the road in either direction. And the train’s route is somewhat longer than the road route. But still… it was weird. And the car journey took much less time than it should have done. My friend is convinced my car was “angel propelled”. Maybe he is right. Or maybe it was all just happy coincidence. We had a really good weekend together. He is still laughing about my angel-propelled car. He says he has had angel intervention on his behalf on a couple of occasions and the tales he tells echo those on this thread, sudden intervention by a stranger from nowhere at a time of need, and then the stranger is nowhere to be found.

Well now, that's a good question. Let's keep it low: not the sort of life that can think enough to build a space ship to look at us - but high enough that it can think. Find its own food/power source. Reproduce in some way.