ToadFriend

Just a bit east of Raleigh is the inauspicious town of Lizard Lick, NC ...and also not too far away is Spivey's Corner ... its claim to fame is a yearly hollerin' contest ... I have even seen footage of it on news shows on TV ... if you're interested, you may want to Google "Spivey's Corner, NC" and "Hollerin' Contest" and it should give you the dates.... If a little more culture is what you're into ... drive about 29 miles on NC 54 to Chapel Hill, home of the University of North Carolina, my alma mater. It's beautiful, particularly in the spring when all the trees are in bloom. There is an old NC State/Carolina joke that went something like this: Question: Do you know what the difference is between CULTURE and AGRICULTURE? Answer: 29 miles on Highway 54 (the distance between Chapel Hill and Raleigh, home of NC State, a land grant college known for its agricultural degrees, as well as many OTHER kinds of degrees ... but because of the State/Carolina rivalry, faithful Tarheel fans refer to State as a "cow college.")

This post is the end of ToadFriend's exchanges on GreaseSpot ... about any subject. Farewell to all the decent folks here. Thanks, Pawtucket.

JKBoehme .. Odd, I don't recall that "many of the in-residence Corps" hassled me ... no more than they hassled anyone else ... I'd be interested just to know where you get your info ... I think someone is passing on less than accurate information to you in LOTS of categories. TF

Wayfer Not said: I pray that God reaches in and heals the hurts as only He can. But don't let anyone let you think that the time it takes to heal your heart is too slow. That's between you and Him ONLY. That is certainly true. The important thing to remember is that all the while you are healing, God is still loving you and taking care of you every step along the way.

TO JKBoehme: I do not wish to discuss this online ... except to say that my Corps brothers and sisters (to my knowledge ... you can ask Radar or Al Poole or waterbuffalo if they did) did not call me Toad ... my screen name came from the fact that I have a GOOD FRIEND who has nothing to do with GreaseSpot that has the affectionate nickname "Toad" based on the lovable Mr. Toad from Wind in the Willows and his somewhat erratic driving, which was the case with my friend when we were teenagers .... [personal information removed by the moderator] I humbly request of Pawtucket that he remove my post and yours ... and I will keep further comments to myself. I don't really care enough about the lawsuit/RP/TWI to be a "conflict of interest." I should just be quiet and let God keep the score.

I beg to differ ... but I think there will surely be a monetary settlement by the Peelers. [personal information removed by the moderator] In my opinion, neither the Peelers nor TWI deserve to win. I realize this is not a popular sentiment, but I stand by it. TF

I had not been back long from my disastrous session at LEAD (which had followed four months of he** at Camp Gunnison with TJ) and was at The Way College of Emporia, set to graduate in about 6 weeks from the 13th Corps. We got a call in the middle of the night, a "Red Alert" (which meant only one thing ... we were to report to the Ambassador Room in the top floor of the Campus Center.) Pat Lynn was in charge, since JAL was at HQ. She had been warned several days before that that VPW's death was most likely imminent. She had had the AV guy put together a tape of comforting and uplifting songs, etc. in memory of Dr. Wierwille. It was the most loving and compassionate thing I ever heard of her doing. Except for Food Services, all other work stopped at Emporia for three days. When those days were over, John came back to Emporia ... not long after I went LOA from the 13th Corps and then decided not to go back when I heard that TJ was going to be at Emporia, too. Because of Dr. Wierwille's death and my impending leaving (I knew from my lousy LEAD appraisal that I would be leaving as soon as JAL came back/I was already mostly packed and ended up leaving the very same day I talked with him, though I could have stayed overnight or a day or two), I was mostly in a fog for the days of mourning VPW ... my clearest memory is of sitting by the pond at Emporia pondering the events of those days. It was a difficult time. TF

There is NO WAY I would go back ... that would be like the children of Israel going back into the captivity of Egypt after feeling the freedom of the Promised Land or like former African slaves going back to living in shacks on the plantation.... God has something better in store for his kids ... the roots of The Way Int'l are corrupt because they are NOT founded on God's Word. For those of you still in, you need to get out. Freedom is waiting ... your LIFE as God wants you to live it is waiting. There is biblical freedom as well as emotional, mental, and for some, even physical, freedom outside TWI. TF

We don't wrestle against flesh and blood ... John A. Lynn is flesh and blood. People just have a hard time forgiving those who really, really hurt them ... speaking from experience, my most "hard to forgive" TWIt is Tom Jenkinson, as I have made abundantly clear on other threads ... I am not plagued in dreams and thoughts of his mistreatment of me any more, but that took many years. It was a great deliverance when I COULD go to sleep, knowing that I would not dream that I was trapped at Gunnison again. I know there were others, at least one of whom is still in TWI, that had the same horrible nightmares. What it took for me was realizing how much damage and hurt the NOT forgiving was doing to me, and just realizing that life has its arsewholes. Sadly, lots of those folks became inflated with their own self-importance and harmed a lot of people in the name of God. They will certainly have to answer for that. Don't really know what point I'm making ... just rambling and thinking, I guess. It's important no matter who in TWI "screwed you" (whether literally or only with words and hurtful things) that you don't let it or their memory eat you alive on the inside. We're all too precious to God and to the people who love us on this earth to let that person continue to have power over us. It doesn't excuse them or their actions ... they'll answer to God for that ... but forgiving does give YOU the power to move on to a freer life. TF

To HCW: Well put, my friend .. well put. Refusing to forgive someone does not hurt them ... it hurts the one who refuses to forgive. God most likely had other reasons for telling us to forgive than just that it was the right thing to do ... He knew what not forgiving would do to us. It eats us up on the inside. This may make some folks here mad to hear ... but it is true. The person who most benefits from your forgiving them will most likely be YOU. TF

The last night I ever attended a TWI function was January 10, 1996, and the last conversation I had with the Twig Coordinator's wife (formerly a close friend) was along the lines of: "So you're saying that anything I say to you any more you are going to 'report back" to J*m D*rr (major arse)..." Then she said yes, explaining that I was "suspect" (after ONLY 23.5 years in TWI, mind you) because the husband of the former Twig Area coordinators that had been Marked and Avoided had witnessed to me ... That's when I KNEW it was time to go .... such a betrayal of Godly friendships and confidences ... it was just a witch hunt among the believers ... and that was just the beginning, from what I've heard here. TF

One major difference that can be drawn between David of Old Testament times and more modern (ahem) believers who had the same sin as David is that, once confronted by Nathan, David repented of his sin. Even then, God's retribution/divine justice was that David's son died as a result of David's sin. Sometimes the "accused" like to leave out some of the details of the Old Testament record, don't they?

That song, Freedom Soil, had always been a favorite of mine, but I was thinking in particular of the time it was perhaps most meaningful to me during my Way days. It was a Saturday during my interim year in the 13th Corps, on Staff at HQ. It had snowed rather heavily the day before, but we were scheduled for the historical tour on the Way's tour bus, and though we started out an hour later, we still went ... as we went to Van Wert and all the surrounding areas, parked outside the little church where Dr. Wierwille had been researching the Bible for 12 years in Van Wert and listened to a sermon of his from that time, driving through the Ohio countryside covered in snow with few vehicles out, I could just imagine myself traveling back through time (like with Mr. Peabody in the Wayback Machine for all you Bullwinkle fans) ... our tour was ending as we drove back down State Route 29 with that song going, "...and I intend on building up what others seek to spoil ... but God still bares His mighty hand when men to Him are loyal." I felt a great commitment to God that day, and to the Way Ministry ... which in my thinking were inseparable at the time. It's a very powerful song ... Fast forward to the year 1996 ... I left The Way after 23.5 years on January 11, 1996. It took a while of healing before I got to the place where I STILL think I am "building up what others seek to spoil" and understanding that God is so much bigger than The Way Ministry ... I am thankful for the things I learned in the Way and most of all, thankful for God working however He had to work to bring me to the joys I have today. We do have a lot to be thankful for in this country ... and God STILL bares His mighty arm when men to him are loyal.

Do I think a lesbian is running TWI? Yes, I do.

Another food story from Emporia ... we had stewed dried fruit one morning my first year in-residence in the 13th Corps (11th's final year) and one of my twig buddies had been asked to sit at the head table ... he told me later that JAL (who didn't usually eat breakfast with us, but had come up from his apt. to yell at us about something probably) made sure the microphone was turned off, then turned to Bob Gassman (the head chef) and said, "Don't ever serve this &$*# again!" We never had it again ... TF

A little off-topic here ... I just found the foldout from the Nov/Dec 1976 Way Magazine that described Rock of Ages '76 in this way: "For four delightful days in the August sunshine nearly 12,000 of God's people from every state and 19 countries gathered together for the sweetest fellowship under heaven. This was the Rock of Ages '76." Pictures of Walter Cummins are prominent; LCM is nowhere to be found in the foldout. His time had not yet come ... TF

The "By the Way" articles are the ones printed in the local newspaper that were later printed in a book that Word Wolf mentions ... I was just looking at them and the dates on the ones I have are mostly past the 1980 mark ... I have read the one about Mon** P**to several times before (perhaps not in this book?), but it doesn't seem to be in here ... in my book we have the 4/27/81 article called "Deprogramming: Spiritual Gang Rape," 5/13/81-5/21/81 "The Attempted Deprogramming of L**yd Biop," (that is in his own words, for the most part;" 1/14/82 "D**g Wi**on's Deprogramming - A Kidnapping," "Deprogramming and Kansas Guardianship Bill" on 2/27/81, 2/25/82 the 98th article, and article #101 on 2/28/82. (which mentions Ted Patrick specifically) ... it relates that Ted Patrick was issued a Permanent Injunction and his "employees, associates, or agents" against not only Mon** P**to but the entire "class" known as the followers of The Way International. They could no longer do any "aiding, assisting, or abetting" in deprogramming or kidnapping. The basis for the plaintiff's and the class' protection was that their rights under the 1st, 9th, and 14th Amendments to the Constitution had been violated, etc. How a deprogramming is done, as well at ethical concerns, etc. is covered in articles 163 through 172 ... it was a big concern at that time in the Way's history. Even though the P**to one is not in here, I recall having read it in several different installments (not in one article) several times over the years I was in TWI ... I am thinking it might have been in one of the early articles (before the ones published in this volume) ... It took several days to cover it, as I recall ... not just one article. TF

Yes, it was .. they live in Raleigh now ... I still have the "By the Way" articles that chronicle his imprisonment by the deprogrammers.

Yes, Watered Garden ... that was exactly it ... Dr. Wierwille did it at the end of Advanced Class '73 at HQ ... it was on the same field that ROA 1971 was held on ... rather freaked me out (I was only 18) ... but I did have enough sense to let my "jack in the pulpit" drop through my fingers onto the ground ... I was "spiritually aware" (HA!) enough to realize it was probably something hot ... TF

I was thinking that "Freedom Soil" was by someone other than Brian Bliss ... wasn't it by Dean Ellenwood? It's one of my favorite songs, too...TF

I remember that they had all us College WOWs and Advanced Class grads memorize a certain spiel about the country, then they sent us out in pairs in the city where Joyful Noise was going to play to go door-to-door, and take battery-operated tape recorders and a tape with us and ask people if they would let us play the tape for them ... it talked about the US, patriotism, and of course, the Joyful Noise concert. I LOVED the Joyful Noise concert ... of course, I loved ALL the Joyful Noise stuff. And yes, I felt like an important part of history ... that my efforts were helping keep the country together in the same way that the country's forefathers had made a difference. That wasn't by happenstance, either ... the Way's leaders carefully planned out what they had to to ... and to be honest, I don't think they were faking or using it as an excuse to get people witnessing ... I think they honestly believed that stuff ... in the summer of 1975, I had been a Word Over North Carolina Ambassador, coordinating two families in Shelby, North Carolina. When the "leader" of the other family came back, he told me all sorts of things that had been shared with them at the Advanced Class (I could "handle it," he assumed, since I had taken the AC in 1973 at HQ.) The things had to do with Rockefeller, the Illuminati, international bankers, the Council on Foreign Relations, etc....it seemed to be like one jumbled mess when he described it ... but that's when he told me about the book, NONE DARE CALL IT CONSPIRACY. For the next year or two, some people in NC were seen carrying that book around with them with their Bible. We were convinced we were making a difference. Did we? Who knows? It didn't HURT anyone to get them excited about their country ... especially after all Nixon's resignation had done to discourage patriotism ... remember, he resigned in 1974 and that was probably one of the main precipitating events of all this stuff ... and Saigon fell in 1975, signaling the end of the Vietnam War as the only war America had ever lost. Patriotism and love of country were at an all-time low....

Yes, let's do, WB! I went with a friend from the 11th Corps some years ago when he was at Memories Theatre and we had a great time! I think I can survive the otherwise touristy feel of Gatlinburg for ole Lou! (his theatre is on the outskirts of Gatlinburg, as you head out toward Pigeon Forge on the right) TF

I knew Mel Raines when I was in college in Chapel Hill. He was in our Twig; he lived outside the town in a mobile home ... great guy. I later ran into him at his home when I was in the 13th Corps ... just to show how much of a blur those witnessing weekends in the Corps were, I can't remember if his home was in the Denver area of Colorado or the Oklahoma City area of Oklahoma ... but I think it was one of the two ... try the Yahoo People Search for him in Colorado and Oklahoma and see what you find ... TF

Try doing a People Search off yahoo for the state of Ohio. He lives in Middletown, Ohio. It gives his address and phone number.

That's Ron Shuping. (spelling) Steve and Ann Bolick live in either Michigan or Minnesota ... one of those cold northern "M" states is all I remember. Both their families still live in Morganton. Cathy Luciana Johnson lives in Wake Forest, NC. Sadly, her husband, Rick, died suddenly and unexpectedly recently. Bill and Ginny (Kirk) Fletcher live in Fletcher, NC (last I knew). Ellie Ray and Vickie Allen live in Creedmoor/Butner area of NC outside Raleigh, last I heard, near Vickie's family.