Twinky

I work quite a lot with homeless and other very needy people. My heart hurts for what they suffer. It's not a vague "compassion in the abstract." I'm very fortunate to have a supportive group of friends, with some of whom I can be very open and vulnerable. Still - there's something missing. Some passion that used to be there, that isn't. Still fenced in. Doesn't help that some that should be supportive just kick me down. Maybe it is just "getting older." But that should mean more self-assuredness. Which, mostly, I am. Hey! I'm alive and well. And thankful. Emotions are GOOD things. Even Jesus wept.

It's a good thread, and thought provoking. I myself feel significantly more compassionate towards some people and incidents - the homeless on the streets, for example, or (currently) the Ukrainian situation. Much more compassionate. But in regard to issues that touch me personally, family matters or love interest, etc, I feel that there is something missing, something I haven't retrieved, something absent. At some other level, the passion for others at a more intimate level has gone. Too buttoned down. Is that something to do with getting older? Or am I still TWI-stunted in this area? Am I afraid to share what's going on inside? Ah well. Half a bottle of good red wine, and I could be anybody's/ No not really: I just sent The Man home, with barely a goodnight hug. Where's my cat, for a cuddle?

Looks like Cameroon is in deep trouble, but the usual: one faction stands with TWI and the other opposes TWI-theology or practice or both and thinks it's the real thing. There was a split in the UK a couple of decades ago, and also in Norway and other parts of Europe. TWI loved the African nations because "the Word" spread quickly, and many became staunch adherents. Now, it seems, history is catching up and there is this split. A Cameroonian believer has been posting about this, and there is or has been a court case. As usual, it's all about who gets control of the money. Vern Edwards has been over there seeking a solution. Here's some "breaking news" - "The general meeting has ended. The legal La Voie au Cameroon (The Way in Cameroon) has a new leading team. The 12 member board of directors is headed by Mr. André Marie Mba, with Joseph Augustin Mandeng as Secretary. Jean Pierre Moudourou is the president of the executive bureau (national coordinator), assisted by Emmanuel Ndebi Ndjeanti, Albert Lindjeck is the secretary treasurer. All of them are stamped "mark and avoid" by The Way International." I don't know any details, but this group does seem to revere LCM (probably the now-old news of the sex lawsuits hasn't reached there yet) and Schoenheit. If anyone cares to look up this information, I found it on the Facebook pages of "Valiant for Christ," and of "Agapetos Add."

Didn't he plagiarise this one as well? Something to do with installing LCM (a "fair haired youth") as next Prez? The Bridge Builder BY WILL ALLEN DROMGOOLE An old man going a lone highway, Came, at the evening cold and gray, To a chasm vast and deep and wide. Through which was flowing a sullen tide The old man crossed in the twilight dim, The sullen stream had no fear for him; But he turned when safe on the other side And built a bridge to span the tide. “Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near, “You are wasting your strength with building here; Your journey will end with the ending day, You never again will pass this way; You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide, Why build this bridge at evening tide?” The builder lifted his old gray head; “Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said, “There followed after me to-day A youth whose feet must pass this way. This chasm that has been as naught to me To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be; He, too, must cross in the twilight dim; Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!” Source: Father: An Anthology of Verse (EP Dutton & Company, 1931)

Hello, Kblosser. Welcome! Stick around and enjoy time with other escapees There aren't so many people here nowadays, but there are plenty of threads started by people in similar situations to yours. I'm sure you'll find some useful information there.

Are they the "same" institution? Or a copycat with a similar name? Like his claim to have studied at Princeton / Princeton Theological College but it wasn't it was somewhere of a similar name (if indeed he studied there at all!). I don't care to remember the details. I don't care about VPW or his phony credentials or his organisation at all.

LCM didn't just call them "the remnant" - he called them "the faithful remnant." If you use an app like BibleHub, you can put in Faithful and Remnant, and look up the contexts. Think of it this way. A garment, rag, dishcloth, etc. Gets worn, used, employed for its purpose, many times. When finally worn out, what's left is the faithful remnant. That's LCM's idea: what's left "stuck around." Alternatively, IMO, what's left is the bits that didn't pull their weight, but lurked at the edges. The faithful part is the bit that did its job and got worn out, worn away, in the process.

Wow, first car shows 23 mpg, second car shows 28 mpg. This is mileage claimed (with a quick google search) online : Fuel economy: 32-55 mpg combined (29-52 city, 42-69 highway It's priced for a UK car so it might be for UK gallon (bit larger than a US gallon). 23mpg is appalling. Dreadful. Look for something that gives better fuel economy. Especially with fuel prices rocketing up. You can be sure they aren't going to go down at the same rate.

Good lord. Is your "gas" only $5/gallon? To answer the question about "extra cash" - right now, people are buying food. Or electricity. Or maybe "gas" for their cars. Nothing stretches to buying all of these. Rapidly increasing prices for everything here is leading to "heat or eat" for some people. I could talk about budgeting ability, debt management, etc, but the fact is that prices for everything have risen hugely and rapidly. A full tank of fuel in my car now costs at least twice as much as it did at the beginning of the year. Electricity and gas also have doubled. This has knock-on effects on all needful things delivered to shops and supermarkets, etc. State benefits (unemployment, sickness, etc, and old age state pensions haven't increased and were already very tight for managing on. Just about enough, until something goes wrong. Like the car needing repairs, the children needing new school uniforms, the fridge packing up. So what I'm doing with some of my spare cash is buying extra tinned and dry food to put into Foodbanks, for distribution to needy people.

I too ran classes; some people SIT, some didn't. Some of those I led into SIT on later occasions - and sometimes, before taking the class. They saw something in our WoW family and wanted it. Wanted what they saw - not wanting the class. I loved the people in our twig, the ones we'd introduced. And I hated what became of them once they got to know others of the believers, and the abuse that happened to at least two of them, who'd been awesome helpers to our WoW family. I felt that their precious lives, that had been so damaged but that the Lord had repaired, had been smashed around even more badly.

That's somewhat how it's done at my Anglican church, well, at the parent church. Baptising tank in the middle, where everyone can see, usually covered. Full immersion. Usually people prepare a speech or vignette about their lives and saying why they want to be baptised. Many report feeling different afterwards - that something special but indefinable happened as they emerged from the water. There were baptisms this Easter and one woman, a Christian and church attender for years, felt compelled of the holy spirit (as she put it) to go forward to get baptised. Completely unplanned, so she'd be in wet clothes for the rest of the service. Always there is applause and cheering as people emerge from the water. Often (obviously when it's a planned occasion) well wishers present gifts to the baptised person. None of this is expected, required, demanded, or in any way forced. Just celebrated, when it happens.

Good points, Charlene. I note the "Dahlia Lama" and wonder if your computer is out to sabotage your efforts?

This seems to have turned into a discussion on RoA - which is currently cancelled by the current TWI leadership (no doubt because the number of people attending wouldn't cover more than a small back yard. The massive fields that TWI has would be obviously vacant, not as in some previous years. I don't know if the current trustees, BoD or whatever they call themselves will reinstate RoA in some form. Hard to see how they could do that without completely embarrassing themselves. They'd have to hide away all pictures of previous RoA. Would scarcely bring in enough people to pay for the hire of the big marquee.

Belonging? I was so "unattached" after TWI that I felt like a real drifter. So lost and unable to make decisions, even of what to eat. Living in a country not where born, with few people I knew, family elsewhere and I'd broken ties (one of my family, not parent, is particularly horrible - just is), rejected by all my TWI "family." Eventually, I found a much-needed sense of belonging by getting naturalised in the country in which I was living. We all need to "belong" somewhere. In our community, our family, our church, our "group" of whatever we enjoy doing. We don't have to be likeminded, but we do have links in common. I volunteer with a group that works with homeless people. Even the homeless folk have their own community, in which they "belong," and sometimes that's why they find it hard to leave and resume "normal" lives. Few friends/contacts outside that community. The ones who don't seem to have a community, the "loners" who don't seem to belong anywhere - those are ones to watch out for. They can become increasingly dysfunctional and that can lead to increasingly antisocial behaviour. We all need to belong somewhere.

Not to mention that everyone had to sit on the floor in the BRC "at the feet of the MoG." Plenty of chairs available, but not allowed to use those. Many people acquired backrests to make the floor-sitting a little more comfortable.

I frequently wondered that. Never got an answer beyond: If you can make more sounds, then God can give you more "words" to say. Yeah, noticed a lot of that pre-Pentecost and thereafter. Even that Paul. Said he SIT more than other people. Must have had lots of practice sessions. Hmph, Not! Doesn't even take into account that you might already know and even be fluent in several languages very different from your mother tongue.

Manifestation = obviousness. manifestation φανέρωσις (phanerōsis) Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular Strong's Greek 5321: A manifestation, disclosure. From phaneroo; exhibition, i.e. expression, a bestowment. Cognate: 5321 phanérōsis – a manifestation, a "coming to light." See 5319 (phaneroō). Amplified version: 7But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit [the spiritual illumination and the enabling of the Holy Spirit] for the common good. 8To one is given through the [Holy] Spirit [the power to speak] the message of wisdom, and to another [the power to express] the word of knowledge and understanding according to the same Spirit; 9to another [wonder-working] faith [is given] by the same [Holy] Spirit, and to another the [extraordinary] gifts of healings by the one Spirit; 10and to another the working of [a]miracles, and to another prophecy [foretelling the future, speaking a new message from God to the people], and to another discernment of spirits [the ability to distinguish sound, godly doctrine from the deceptive doctrine of man-made religions and cults], to another various kinds of [unknown] tongues, and to another interpretation of tongues. 11All these things [the gifts, the achievements, the abilities, the empowering] are brought about by one and the same [Holy] Spirit, distributing to each one individually just as He chooses. (I underlined the "familiar" bits.) Now hang on a bit. What's this about the expressing of words of Wisdom, etc? Step back a bit further. Verse 7 states these obviousnesses are "for the common good" (same in several versions). That's the common good of your friends, neighbours, colleagues, city; everyone, everywhere. It's not limited to a fellowship or church setting. So why do we suppose these manifestations operate only in private or in a TWI-setting? Take a look at other people, outside of Wayfer groupthink. You may well find that there are some people who seem extraordinarily wise, whose words offer comfort, guidance, etc - who always seem to know just the right thing to say. It's their background, training, thinking patterns, all of that - and something else. God has seeded, or salted, his people through all walks of life. Let's face it - we all need someone wise to turn to. Same with every other manifestation. Even "gifts of healings" whether or not they believe in God, Jesus or that the earth is flat. Soothing words of wisdom can operate just as well in conjunction with gifts of healings - see the rise of "talking therapies" these days, where we talk with trained counsellors, psychologists, etc or just mentors, to help us through difficult times. TWI picked on the noisy stuff because it was an attempt to distinguish themselves. They forgot what might be more significant - being wise, having vision for the future [prophecy], discernment [getting a handle on the motives of others] etc. This thread relates to TWI's newest class. Do you think they'll manage to remember that there are other people out there upon whom God's blessings fall, believers and unbelievers alike? D'ya think they'll understand that "common good" relates to everyone - and not "common with distinction" meaning only Wayfers?

Good to see that the Mary figure is obeying covid mask safety.

And teaching leeching ministry.

Was that meant to be sarcastic? He didn't have a "research ministry." He had a deceiving ministry. Now, who would that be from? The father of lies, perhaps.

Thank you, Nathan.

"Consulted" could just be a gloss on "read a few books that they wrote" [and that he subsequently plagiarised]. "Worked with" could mean he laid out the chairs for their meetings . Or chopped wood or washed the dishes. I doubt he "chopped Word" and discussed theological issues with anybody. Y'know. Like his association with the baseball lot. Giving you to understand that he'd been a hotshot player, when he probably only sat on the bleachers. He doesn't mention the people he really poached his classes from, nor Bullinger (dead before VPW born) whose works he also plagiarised.

Now that is a very good point. And it puts the face-meltings and slanderous remarks that were so commonplace in TWI in perspective. If VPW can "face-melt" and pour scorn upon Jesus in this way - hey! those of us that suffered face-meltings for from him (or in my case from his protege Craig) are in very good company! I heard many such slanderous remarks about "cop outs" and other perceived transgressors, usually well after they'd been ejected. I used to wonder how such evil people could possibly have hidden in our midst - I knew some of the slandered people well and found the allegations hard to even begin to fathom. And over a decade after M&A-ing me, I was told about slanderous comments that had been made about me at the time. Absolutely no basis in reality. They were so slanderous they were hysterically funny, as anyone who actually knew me would know. (At least, I hope so! Unless they were wearing PFAL-coloured glasses.) Perhaps we should see such face-meltings as a badge of honour?! Jesus, now. Had plenty of unprovoked and vile attacks, both slanderously and physically, in the time he walked on the earth. His ministry disparaged at every turn. Others apparently using his name in vain. No doubt Vic's insults would just have elicited a shrug from him: not important enough to bother about. Jesus would have swatted away the fly that was VPW and just gone along on his way.

Except that he wasn't a "bastard" since his parents were legally married at the time. It was after she was betrothed but before she was married that she became pregnant. It's highly likely that the time between betrothal and marriage was only a very short time - though long enough for Mary to realise. And for the angel to have words with Joseph. If you read your OT, if a man had sexual relations with a woman before marriage, they were compelled to be married, because he'd sullied her honour. It was considered rape. But there is absolutely no inference that the child so conceived would be subject to any abuse, penalties, exclusion, etc. In fact, it was all about protecting that child and its mother. Lots about this (and other sexual relationships) in Numbers and Leviticus, but right now I don't have time to look it up. You can have a rummage around in BibleHub to find the references if you want.