penworks

And quite honestly, many still don't, even those who have left, especially those in offshoots...

Indeed. For those of us looking for answers, not just a fun time with the believers at pot luck dinners and bowling nights, he led us to believe he had the "accuracy" of what the original scriptures said. He was convincing if you didn't stop, slow down, and examine what he said line by line. I know I didn't do that until years later. You are right about the "snow" and the supposed revelation it validated. For me, that revelation was the hook. For others, not so much. Some never believed that revelation. They didn't care much whether VP defined Greek words correctly, they didn't care whether he stole J.E. Stiles Holy Spirit book contents, repackaged it and sold it, claiming the Father had told him what to write. I heard some say "Truth belongs to everyone," so to them such picky claims about plagiarism is just academic jargon. Those people were the ones more interested in having fun at pot luck with loving kind people, they were not concerned about the "accuracy" of what supposedly brought us all together in the first place. When "picky" issues about The Word came up in 1986 before I resigned from the Research Dept., friends on staff that I talked with outside the department (only a few I trusted) said "Oh, the leaders will fix any mistakes, W&alter knows what he's doing. We have so much accuracy what does it matter there's a few puzzling issues. All that heavy research is beyond me anyway. I just want to stick with "the basics"...love people...keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, " etc. Let's face it, if more people had really cared about what the PFAL class said exactly, or where it came from, including myself when I first took it, we would have seen the mistakes that people later publicized, like the list posted here at GSC, "Actual Errors in PFAL." We could have read Bullinger's How to Enjoy the Bible and seen VP copied it. I ask myself how did all this get past me? For the most part, I just trusted VP and got too caught up in promoting the PFAL rather than "studying the PFAL." Trust. Yikes. It comes back to bite us, doesn't it? This is just the tip of the research iceberg for me. Anyhow...In my view, TWI is a hampster wheel that crashed long ago... Cheers, Pen

Ohmygosh she was in the Corps with me. What the heck happened to her?

Is this museum a literal according to usage or a figure of speech?

This is a shocking statement, although I don't doubt it for a variety of reasons. But I am startled into wanting to know whether there is any documentation on it. Pen

I had taken Wierwille's "snow story" as gospel truth, as confirmation of his special revelation, the one about God telling him He would teach him the Word like it had not been known since the first century if he would teach others. My belief in that revelation had created a blind spot, wiping out my ability to acknowledge the facts on the ground about Wierwille's errors. They were not errors. They were revelation.

I can verify these events, although I had been through the re-indoctrination year in 1976-77 with my second corps group after 3 years on the field. (more on this at another time).

These very revealing quotes are from a transcribed tape of VPW, 1973, teaching a small group at headquarters on the topic of his Way Tree structure for the organization: Pg. 6 "...when I wrote the book Receiving the Holy Spirit today, and I isolated myself for a week in the Marsh Hotel in Van Wert, all the talk all over the community was that Doctora and Mrs. Wierwille had split up." Pg. 7 "Now if he [the devil] gets to you, and you begin to doubt my honesty, my veracity, the truth with which we set the Word and the ministry, it [the Word] will never get around the world." Pg. 8 "You see the Adversary sure was after Cephas and Apollos and the rest, but really not after them. They were only stepping stones for him to get the Apostle Paul. That's all they were, stepping stones for the adversary to get to the Apostle Paul. It'd be the same as if the adversary can get through E*rl B8rton, through D88nie F*git, through J**nny T*&nsend, and if the adversary can get to them, then he is very close to touching me. Same trip." Pg. 11 "Denominations are the design of the adversary. That's right. You can't read me one in the book of Acts." Amazing, huh? Cheers! Pen

There are some things Rosie cannot sweep under the rug about the Wierwille years (ending in 1985 when he died) because too many of us know them and are speaking out. Anyonw interested in those years can find plenty about them here. And in books like Karl Kahler's and Kris Skegell's. In the 1970s we used to say, "Don't keep the faith. Spread it." I say, "Don't keep TWI secrets. Tell them."

You know, it's amazing we put up with it, but that we did (I should speak for myself) is an indication of the co-dependant relationship I had with Wierwille. I bought the snow story revelation which essentially made him infallible for all practical purposes and he knew I bought it. BTW - keeping the troops in line is a galaxy away from the publically stated intentions of TWI on their web site like this one, the bold words are my emphasis: "A follower of The Way is filled with and manifests power from on high, holy spirit, and freely avails himself of fellowship meetings for spiritual nurture and growth".

RE: "Way back then.....twigs were short, succinct, and spot-on! " Not to be "negative," but that depended on who was running the fellowship. I also caution against saying they were "spot-on". Spot on with what? I guess I'm picky picky picky... Cheers.

Why are they at polar extremes? Is it that the 1994 and beyond followers naively THINK that the old farm days were somehow better?

Are "things" really that different in S.O.W.E.R.S.? Perhaps they are if you consider they have no research dept. but from their web site VPW the grandson looks as if he's copying the way corps program etc.

Feel free to contact me through this site, too. I'm open to answering questions and you may find my journey helpful. You can read it here on the front page. Affinity for Windows.

I agree. He ran the show. As Corps grads, we were to take "his heart" out on the field and run the ministry like he wanted. When we didn't, we heard about it!

Sometimes this book is still for sale at a low discount price on Amazon second-hand book sellers or elsewhere. Since I'm in the book, I have gotten copies because it shows a pretty good "before" snapshot of me, which is in striking contrast with the "new" me today. I even met someone in academia recently who said his parents had a copy of the book in their house. They weren't ever in twi, they were evangelicals of some sort and thought TWLIL was cool. Yikes.

Thank you for bringing out these points. Rebuilding a different life often looks like a demolition site. For awhile you look like a wreck (i should speak for myself) but the old life has to be torn down before a new life can be built. I think one of the worst, unloving things I used to believe while in twi was this: when a person left twi and ran into trouble of one sort or another in their efforts to rebuild their life, we would point fingers and say, "See, the devil is wrecking their life. That's what they get for leaving the household of believers." Then one day I was in that situation. Thankfully, I was able to rebuild. Some others I know have not been able to. For them, I mourn today (this week I heard another awful story of family members turning on each other in times of need because of some stupid vpw doctrine). Yes, "Virginia", there is a good life without twi. You can make it. Inspite of the holidays. Cheers!

Good point. Same reason there were grads from Cornell Univ. and Yale Univ. in my Corps group. No understanding of protestant fundamentalism and a real susceptiblity to VP's charisma. Etc. etc.

Thank you, John, for your story. Amazing. Such a small world...thanks for thinking critically while so many of us were not. The article you wrote on VP's copying J.E. Stiles book was a boon to me when I was given a copy of it in 1986. Cheers!

John, many thanks for the info. You are amazingly diligent about analyzing and exposing TWI. No doubt you've helped many of us here and others we'll never know about. I've always been curious about what motivated you to start researching TWI. If it's not too personal, do you care to tell us?

IMO this is one of the best reference books on the topic of "biblical research" if you are interested in the actual texts. Which some people call The Word. Ehrman is providing info to the public that has been circulated among scholars for years and years. If more people understood the history of the book we call The Bible, we might find a way to appreciate it for what it is, not what we wish it were... Cheers!

I have some documents I'll send you.

Thank you to everyone who has posted here to reveal (again) and summarize VP's underground sex ring so well I can't imagine how anyone can deny it existed. But some do... I was in the second corps 1971-73. The predatory nature of VP was underground to me because some of us were not targeted. We were in the dark about the victims until many years later...yes, we were blind, naive, stupid, distracted, indoctrinated with "the man of god" concept of VP, etc. etc. to realize what was going on around us. You see what you want to see.... I rack my brain on how I missed the red flags though. One guess is that during the Corps I was engaged and spent my extra time with my fiance. It has occurred to me that because my fiance's father was a popular minister in the Northeast who supported VP in the 1970s, VP stayed away from me for fear I might tell. Who knows...Hindsight is 20/20. But the main reason, I think, is that I viewed VP as the man of God, period. That image disallowed any other interpretation of him. Indoctrination for some of us worked too well. BTW - At that time, no autobiographies were required, that came later. Thankfully I was not a victim in my childhood. Granted, some of us had marital problems over the years (as I mentioned in Affinity for Windows) but never did I think any organized web of sex abuse or orgies (good grief), etc. were the cause of anyone's troubles. It wasn't until 1986 - a year after VP was dead, after the PoP was read, and after I resigned from the Research Dept. deciding to leave TWI - that a victim confided in me about the whole ugly, sickening, twisted mess. Then I talked with John S. about his adultry paper and read it just after he got fired at HQ. Then, the next year I learned about Kris Skedgell (author of Losing The Way). Over the years, the more I reflect on my past, the more the puzzle pieces begin to fit together and the red flags come back to haunt me... It's all so utterly sickening. What continues the sickness is the denial of so many former victims who don't see themselves that way. Some even support off-shoot groups that continue worshipping VP. I suspect some will never face the facts...the facts are too hideous, shameful, and painful. I know some women who have spent years and hundreds of dollars on therapy because of these activities. Some killed themselves. What will it take to close down TWI?

I have experienced this same kind of response. Not once has anyone, at least to my face, said I was crazy for what I did. Since I seek to understand the fundamentalist cult experience I had and share what I've learned, people appreciate what I have to say and sometimes ask to sit for hours and talk it over. It's as if I have been in a foreign country they'll never visit and they want to know about my travels and what I learned. Some have family members in cultish or fundamentalist groups and need help understanding them, so sometimes it turns out I'm sort of a translator of experience. Case in point: a friend expressed she could not see how the angry preachers on T.V. attract followers. I told her that it has to do with the world view you already hold. What you see and hear is filtered through that. I tried to explain that what I did was re-interpret the angry preachers in my group (VPW, LCM, etc. etc.) as being "bold in the Lord," although the content of what they said often was hateful. I didn't see it as hateful. I saw it as "speaking the truth." That seemed to help her "get it." Cheers.