waysider

----Robert "Zimmie" Zimmerman

John These questions are all completely irrelevant to the subject being discussed so there is no point in discussing them at the moment. The simple fact being stressed here is that VPW took John 10:10 out of context, misinterpreted it and misrepresented its meaning for the furtherance of his own agendas, which were dishonest, at best. You say you have been reading GSC for 10 years. And you still don't underatand the seriousness of plagiarism? Regarding the exposition of organized religion: TWI, itself, was/is an organized religion. Have you not figured that out yet?

Suppose you were to find out that what we called "speaking in tongues" was really glossolalia, something that has been practiced by Christians and non_Christians alike for thousands of years....even pre-dating the time of Christ. Maybe all those so-called benefits of S.I.T. are really for something they were doing in the first century that is not the same as glossolalia. Then what? Suppose speaking in tongues really IS perfect prayer..... but what you've been doing isn't really "speaking in tongues" ? Then what?

So.... You justify the shenanigans by saying it led to your ability to speak in tongues. Suppose you were to find out that everything you learned about speaking in tongues was wrong. Then what do you have? ...besides a hollow feeling in the pit of your stomach.

You are sooooo close. It's actually titled Without You and was recorded by Harry Nilsson. The artist is not required on this thread....and since the idea is to provide something easily remembered, which you did, even though you had the title wrong----You are up!

Please forgive my bluntness. That's an absolute crock. No one is trying to tell you God's power is a scam. Don't even bother to put it on the back-burner; just take that mess off the stove completely. Are you seriously telling me that you are not bothered, knowing women were raped, people committed suicide, people died for lack of appropriate medical care, babies were aborted, families were torn apart because of The Way? The intellectual property of people like Stiles, Bullinger, Leonard and others was stolen and used to promote a blatant lie (that it hadn't been known for 2,000 years)? No problem. Just as long as you, John, can speak in tongues. Who cares how it was marketed? Hey! Who cares how crack cocaine is marketed? It makes people happy.

No, I can't forget this evening or your face as you were leaving but I guess that's just the way the story goes.

------The Coasters

John First No one here suggested that God wants people to be poor or sick-----that's a moot point. Second Whether you realize it or not, The Way was organized as a multi-level-marketing entity. Money, as a general rule, only traveled in one direction-----to HQ. This may help explain why they are currently sitting on assets worth approximstely 55 million dollars.

Wierwille, on more than one occasion, in addressing small Corps groups,stated that he fondled his teenaged daughter, in a sexual manner, to teach her about sexuality. (I'm being purposefully vague about what he specifically described.) There are posters here, on Greasespot, who were personally present. I don't know if he actually did what he claimed. What I do know is that he made the claims.

Here again we see the carrot on a stick. It was used to coerce people into abundantly sharing money and volunteering their labors. In reality, it isn't much different than "buying favors from God", is it? edit: I seem to remember hearing the story of the woman who lost the coin being used as a vehicle for this one, as well.

Yes, it was frequently taught in twigs and branches that "least" meant material things and "much" meant spiritual things. It was used in a number of ways. One way was that if you weren't faithful enough to ABS (least) you couldn't be counted on to be faithful with spiritual (much) things. Another way it was used was to say that if you didn't pay attention to minute details (material things),such as when setting up a class, God would not entrust you with revelation (spiritual things).

Was it Toppie?

HERE

And in doing so, he acknowledged it was an MLM.

Wierwille said he lacked the abundance he saw unbelievers manifesting. Did these unbelievers have "the rightly divided word"? Did they "speak in tongues much"? Did they operate "all 9, all the time"? Maybe he should have followed the example of the unbelievers and gotten a real, honest-to-goodness job.

I'm not talking about using money, am I? I'm talking about using people.

So often I have heard people say of Wierwille, "He taught me the greatness of The Word." Like what? So much of what he "taught" was bogus, plagiarized or just plain faulty research, that it's almost laughable----except it's really not funny.

I think if you will allow yourself to look at this honestly, you will see that it was really a form of bait and switch. First, he reeled suckers into the class with the lure of an abundance that he CLEARLY portrayed as being material in nature. Then, he switched the definition when people started to question his promises.

So what was this "abundance" he saw "unbelievers" manifesting that he, himself, wanted?

You know, it just occurred to me that Wierwille might have been subconsciously using this to rationalize the time he sexually abused his own daughter. (Or, at least, claimed that he did.)