waysider

Hurt So Bad

That all depends on whether winter drags on and people run out of kindling.

Wow! That's some serious scootie! Just to clarify. Are the recipiants going to pay YOU $5,000 or are you going to pay THEM?

I'm not on FaceBook but I never respond to anything that even vaguely resembles a chain letter. I know a few musicians who use it as a form of networking. It works quite well for that.

Do you know of any groups besides The Way that have "Advances"? Here's a link to the registration form. http://www.kingdomready.us/pdfs/womenadvancereg2009.pdf For the record, I'm not criticizing the organization or event, simply pointing out that it bares a remarkable resemblance to something with which most of us are quite familiar. Are you personally familiar with this group? Do YOU know what they do or don't do? Your level of knee jerk defense seems inordinately high.

When people were thrown out of Fellow Laborers, in the middle of the night, hundreds or even thousands of miles from home, we were not allowed to question why or even discuss it amongst ourselves. We were supposed to act like they never existed. There's a sometimes poster here (I won't mention names) who could tell you first hand what a traumatic experience that is. No "presumed innocent", no trial, just toss them out like yesterday's fish heads. And then they used that to let us know that we could be next.

You make a good point, newlife. These people are actually DOING something for the less fortunate with what they consider to be their calling. Now contrast that to what many people in The Way did with their "ordinations". We thought we were living like the believers in the Book of Acts, when, in reality, we were living a contradiction.

Your post makes no sense. Do you mean there are non-TWI influenced people who also use the word "advance" when they really mean "retreat"?

The Way--Living in Love Page 78 Our Dad said, "you haven't even learned to work well on the farm. You'll never make a good preacher." But VP used to practice by preaching to the trees". Uncle Harry chuckles at his recollection. "He'd go out in the woods for hours. Dad thought he was just loafing, but I knew what was going on. He was preaching to the trees." (The preaching to the trees aspect, by the way, was "borrowed" from an experience that Billy Graham had previously spoken of.) *********************************************************** "I would paddle a canoe across the Hillsborough to a little island where I could address all creatures great and small, from alligators to birds.If they would not stop to listen, there was always a congregation of cypress stumps that could neither slither nor fly away. The loudness of my preaching was in direct proportion to their unresponsiveness, so the trees got my voice at full blast." From: Just As I Am----Billy Graham (This is Billy Graham remembering his early days in the ministry in approximately 1937.)

Oh, man! I saw this one done in concert in a very small venue. That's one concert I'll never forget!

YEP! :)

Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone.

Interesting.

We'll never know for sure. My opinion, though, is that is was a con man at his very core. He obviously didn't believe in the old "reach up in Daddy's cookie jar" thing. It's been shown here that he took information from Liberty Lobby propaganda and led us to believe he got it by revelation. Then, there's the subject of "excellor sessions" in the Intermediate class, and after. He tricked us into actually practicing a "spiritual" sleight of hand game with TIP and prophesy. Ironic, ya know? He used a shell game to keep us from seeing it was us that were hosting the game. I think that secretly, he scoffed at the notion of a spiritual realm and snickered at our innocence.

I don't think we knew we were being duped. Even after all these years, there are still people who can't face that reality. We all do things and say things that, in retrospect, can be seen as hurtful, even damaging. Wierwille made a deliberate and conscious effort to do and say things he knew would victimize his followers. The pattern is very clear in hindsight. His intentions were laced with selfishness, greed and malice. I believe this "element of intent" is one that partly characterizes the vast difference between what VPW did and what we did. Our intent was to help others by promoting these ideas, such as the "law" of believing, misguided as they were. His intention was to help himself. He had to have been cognizant of the damage he was causing. He saw people suffer and die and gave no indication he regretted his culpability. He displayed no apparent remorse when one of his victims took her own life. He made no apparent attempt to repent or change his behavior in spite of it. He just didn't care. If he was, indeed, a victim of abuse, he willingly and consciously succumbed to its effects rather than work to overcome it.

I have moved this here from the "The Way Corps" thread. QUOTE (Watered Garden @ Mar 12 2009, 10:25 AM) * I think most WC were as much victims as anything, of the hype and false promises and lies that lured them into what they thought would be service for God. WG Bolshevik responded: "---but then these victims bring in more victims. Who in turn bring in more victims. Extrapolate back and argue vpw was a victim persuaded by the logic of victims before him . . ." *************************************************** So the question for consideration is: Was VPW a victim? How?------ Why?--------Of Whom?

I'm going to start a new thread off this so this thread stays on track.

Amen, Sistah!

Looking at their web site, I see they have Family Camps, Devotion With Motion, Campfires, and Advances. Nope. No similarities there. :blink:

Me too, Twinky. My comments weren't aimed at you in any way, shape or form. Sorry.

Here's to hoping it's a great one.

Here Come Da Judge!

Hey, TZ Maybe you could hit some of the local jams and do some 145 stuff, ya know? The old 12 bar blues. That's usually good for meeting local musicians. If nothing else, they're usually a lot of fun.

Read the context, WD. It's talking about living, breathing people, not dead cult leaders.