waysider

They might not add them now, but I'm certain they did in the 70's. I think this is one of those book "fudging" techniques that limb leaders did to impress HQ. Also, I believe the limb leaders then passed these assignments onto branch leaders as a way of having the branch leaders prove themselves worthy of acceptance into the WC.(Limb leader endorsement was a requirement of WC acceptance, if I remember correctly.)

When I took the AC, a current subscription to Way Mag was one of the requirements. It all seems so transparent in retrospect.

That's an old trick. They used to do that back in the 70's. They used to give us lists of inactive grads and tell us to get as many as we could to sit through the current class so the facility would look filled and impress the new students.

Thanks for that additional information, Twinky. All you have to do is substitute a few key terms, and the parallels become obvious.

This stuff is like an invasive weed. Simply leaving the group, physically, does little to deal with the tangle mess of deep rooted beliefs

"Cults attract intelligent, idealistic, ambitious people who are led to believe they are working for a greater good." --------Jim Bergin Here's an interesting clip. It's a bit lengthy but worth watching (IMO) CULT RECOVERY 101

That's great news! Congratulations! (Where's my cigar?)

Currently, there is another thread that concerns itself with Twi's current numbers. In my opinion, this is simply another part of The Way that continues to exist even though it's peripheral in nature and its numbers aren't counted in the tally.

In FLO, it only had one meaning. The "other kind" would get you bounced out in a heartbeat. (Welcoming in debuhl spurts and all that kinda naughty stuff. Just couldn't have that going on.)

Just thought that was worthy of repeating.

Even tougher getting life insurance.

This is good stuff, Cheranne. Thanks for posting it

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The impression I got, all those years ago, was that these guys weren't bullies, they were hired thugs.

WOW! I gave that W.C. book and about a dozen others to a former poster here for free! Just as well. I'm not interested in making money off that stuff. (Not that it's wrong to do so---It's just not my bag.)

Of course not. That's because you weren't (dead wood). How twisted was this organization that it could get us to think that non productive members were something other than human beings and needed to be "pruned"? And, this was back in the early 1970's. You know------------- "the good old days".

A long time ago, I worked pretty closely with this guy named Tom who seemed a pretty decent sort. He really knew his trade. I asked him how he knew so much about it and he explained that he had grown up in the business. We worked well together. One day, we stopped after work for a couple beers and small talk. During the course of the conversation, I asked him where he went to high school. Well, I thought he was making some kind of joke when he casually offered the name of an all girls school. Then, he explained that he had been born a girl but was now a man. Even had an estranged teenage son who didn't know about the change and still sent him Mothers Day cards. At the time, I was still in The Way. So, what changed for me? Suddenly, due to all the teachings on devil spirits and such, I was now obligated to be very cautious about any information I shared with him because telling him anything was like telling something to devil spirits. And, I felt like I was really "missing it" spiritually because it took me so unawares. Shame, really. He is a genuinely nice person who deserved better treatment from me. I ran into him some years later and we jabbered for a bit about the old place of employment. Clearly, he hadn't been put off by my sudden aloofness all those years ago. I'm both ashamed and thankful at the same time for that.

I think we called them "deadwood". Gotta prune the deadwood from time to time to make room for new growth..

Congratulations! You are the new Weed Coordinator!

I wonder if the guy who shared P.T. Barnum's final hours ever got this kind of adulation.

Current AC requirement

What do you want him to do? Are you hoping, dreaming or praying he will pay you back? Well, my friends, the ball is in your court. All you need to do is simply follow the advise posted on his web site. "What do you want? What are your hopes or dreams; what are you praying for? Believing is the key to receiving your answers."

"Some people who were in "The Way" deny that it was/is a cult." If you just stayed in your own little local area and went to twig when you felt like it, took classes when they hit your fancy and lived your life by your own dictates, it probably wasn't very obvious to you what you were really involved in.

OK Maybe I'm remembering this thing wrong. Maybe it was just The Word Over The World Auditorium. I'm not sure. I do know, though, that they were very adamant it was never, ever to be abbreviated or referred to using acronyms.

Make no mistake. VPW had armed thugs that he dispatched to threaten trouble makers. Corporate meetings were held with firearms openly displayed to intimidate any non-compliant attendees. I believe that qualifies them, at the very least, as a POTENTIALLY violent organization.