Twinky

It is GOOD to give, of an open and generous heart. Because you want to. It is NOT GOOD to give, of obligation or worse, fear that God will ignore you. The tithe is rooted in Mosaic law. If you find a Levite to give to, maybe you could reconsider tithing. Your church minister is not a Levite. Might want supporting financially, but that does make him/her a Levite. The instruction to the new churches, as beaten out in Acts 15, contains this: Where does it say, these new believers must tithe? Right alongside where it says the men must be circumcised? Oh, no, wrong - they decided that wasn't necessary.

Somebody wanna send me their finished copy?

You got away. You got a life. Definitely a happy ending, or rather, a happy continuing. The ending isn't for many years yet!

They still have that table of occult books? I heard about that; if there was one at my Adv class I've forgotten about it. Well, to tell the truth, I've forgotten a lot of Way stuff but just occasionally somebody says something and it freaks me out. There was a great teaching in church last Sunday on ch.4 of Philippians but the rector started talking about "fellowship" and my mind went off attempting to zoom back to TWI garbage and I spent much of the time wrestling with my mind ("Mind, come back here!" - sound familiar?) instead of paying attention to the rector, even though what he was saying was nothing like anything I'd heard in TWI. I will have to re-listen to the sermon, which is conveniently placed on the abbey's website on Mondays.

Welcome, Out'n'About. Enjoy your time at the Cafe. Do share what you can, safely, about what TWI is up to now. Most people here have been out for decades, but for those more recent escapees, what you can share will be interesting, perhaps useful. Don't be afraid of them. That fear is their only power over you. God still loves YOU and won't bully you or disregard you. Welcome to life in its joyful abundance - outside the walls of cultdom.

Thanks for all you've done here to help people !!

OldSkool - long time, no see. Where have you been hiding?

T-Bone, you crack me up!

Yarghhhh! 14 Craigs???????? I loved the "Return to Garbage" button too!

Remotely.. D 500 O 0 C 100 T no meaning R no meaning I 1 N no meaning A no meaning L 50 Look! 651 events in Doctrinal!

Nice to see you again, Zshot. Been a long time.

Nobody's missing anything. Sounds like the state is in trouble, Waywise. Do your best to take care of your friend's heart and wellbeing.

If you're one of twins, would it be Event Half? Or maybe Event Two? Maybe what happened to your dad after twins would be event two (or maybe three)

Not in the church congregations to which I now belong. One sets out to be a "lifeboat and a hospital" to get out and rescue hurt people. Its parent church has a lot of people who have belonged to other abusive churches. I wept for the first six months' services when I started attending there, as the pain and hurt were washed away. At the other church I attend, I've never had any concerns. Big differences are that there are very robust processes involved to deal with abusive, harmful or difficult situations. Dealing with issues is of great concern. Leadership can be approached at all times. Leadership will deal (if necessary) with disputes that may cause division in the church. Sexual impropriety is dealt with as soon as it is known about. NOBODY ever gets yelled at or publicly disgraced or slandered. Now I think of it - yes, I have deliverance. The church minister (of a large congregation) said something that seemed to me inappropriate. I sought a meeting with him (a "confrontation" TWI might call it) and we talked about it. It was handled nicely and lovingly on both sides. And strength was built and nobody was torn down. The thought of someething like that happening at TWI is so unlikely as to be - well, laughable hardly touches it..

Geshem, welcome. Nice to hear from a current "innie." You may find, as you read in these forums, that many here were impressed by young leaders who genuinely had a heart for God and God's people. They, and others, ministered healing, taught well, lived well, and had a great lifestyle of living and loving Godliness. That's what kept TWI afloat. Unfortunately, when one enters the Way Corps - that's when it all starts going very badly wrong. Where the legalism really starts to bite. And where the young leaders' Godliness, spirituality , individuality and enthusiasm gets crushed out. Many have had good intentions. Many hearts were broken by the harshness of WC life. Those in the know at the top were corrupt from the beginning. They taught that to their inner circle. Not all were abused and not all were in the inner circle to be corrupted so badly. Some who did learn of the inner workings tried to change things from within. So far, none has achieved this. I am sorry to say that some of those younger leaders who stuck around - are no longer young and are no longer great examples of Godliness. Rather, they exemplify debauched leadership in the style of the sons of Eli (1 Sam 2:22 in particular). Take care of your heart, if you decide to stay. Be wise as a serpent, and do not believe all you see or hear.

Check out National Business Review and about halfway down their page is an album of photos. One of the photos has some video footage attached showing the railway line and SH1. National Business Review You can also try this Facebook link: NBR Album

It's now been upgraded to a 7.8 magnitude (from 7.5) which means it has THREE TIMES as much energy as the lower magnitude quake. As well as the huge initial two simultaneous quakes, there have been aftershocks (some themselves very big) every minute or so. Also, the following couple of days saw heavy rain and very high winds, so damaged roofs and other structures got torn away. The main road SH1 and only railway line run along a tiny rim of land squished between the sea and the mountains, occasionally through little tunnels because there wasn't even a rim of land. Well now of course there is nothing, the train track has been pushed out to sea (still intact!) and the huge slips cover rail and road. What's left of the road... some parts have drops of several feet, or the road surface has a severe bend near right-angled in the middle of it. There are many photos online. I will try to find a link. The town of Kaikoura is cut off, but some ships have made it to the area with food and water supplies, and helicopters are flying out the tourists and the elderly, injured or frightened.

Country has been rocked by several earthquakes of very high magnitude, including the initial TWO that were milliseconds apart - about 50km apart, one was a sideways shift and the other a vertical shift. Many severe aftershocks. Some buildings collapsed, many landslips preventing rescues. So far, only two confirmed fatalities, one being a heart attack. Please pray for these frightening shocks to settle down and for rescuers and those checking existing buildings and rebuilding the infrastructure, water supplies, etc This will give latest news: NZ Stuff

Grace, I don't think she has "little protection" - I know the opposite is true. Key phrase is " very little obvious protection detail." We keep things a bit lower key here in the UK.

What a total load of bullocks. How much more inventive can TWI be, in belittling people? Most everyone you meet has a debt - a mortgage - that they are working to pay off. It's cheaper than renting, often. (Even though my mortgage is quite a lot of money, it would be nearly twice as much to rent a similar place - and I couldn't rent anywhere remotely habitable for what I pay in mortgage... a grotty bedsit, maybe?) (Actually, I couldn't even afford to rent a place!!) Debt has risks, true, but there are risks in not having debts. Much better to help people think about their money in a proper manner, learn to budget properly, and work out the best way to borrow if there is really no other way. My church hosts a Christians Against Poverty debt centre to help people in debt. Helps them manage finances, gives them a compassionate hand up when they're crushed by debt, sets up debt plans and even bankruptcy (so as to give a fresh start). Isn't that a better way to encourage people with debt - rather than beat them over the head with Bible verses? And the gentle compassionate approach - guess what! - leads some people to choose to become very thankful Christians.

T-Bone, you really do crack me up!!

I daren't even begin to imagine how nuts this page would have been over the last few months if there'd still been a Political forum. Or how even nutsier it would be after tomorrow - whichever candidate wins - neither of whom appears to have much merit. But that's another story, and not one for here.

KEEP YOUR BLOODY HANDS OFF ME and KEEP THAT YUCKY-LOOKING THING ZIPPED WHERE IT BELONGS. Or maybe - Go do something interesting to yourself with that Zimmer frame. Or maybe - You seem very lonely, sitting there in the corner of the retirement home. Nobody comes to talk to you and you never have visitors. How very sad for you.

Perhaps a bunch of local ex-Wayfers should show up at his installation. Just to add congratulations from the Cafe, y'understand.

Shout it loud, Allan!