Belle

WELCOME!!! And, we love to party here! That's always appropriate!

Come and go as you please. :) I don't post so much anymore but I do maintain my gum collection under the counter and am thankful that Paw keeps my bar stool dusted.

This place can provide a venue for tremendous healing as you figure out what you need and post whenever you feel like it. Rants are fine, too. You'll most likely find that some of us have had the same rants or can at least relate. Glad you're here!

HA! I was just looking for my EFT manual....

Jerry, so good to "see" you and hear that things are going well for you and yours! :)

I'm with Java. :) Telling me how wrong I am, how controlled (e.g. stoopid) and how TWI is ruining my life just pushes me further into the grasp of TWI.

My parents loved me and never talked about TWI or expressed their concerns to me - though I did find out after I left that they had considered hiring a deprogrammer but were afraid it would backfire (and it very well might have). What they did do was love me and encourage anything non-TWI related that I expressed interest in. They reminded me frequently of good times I had before TWI and the things I did well and did right prior to my involvement with TWI.

My mother sent me a book about girlfriends and it really pierced my heart. I realized I didn't have those kinds of good friends anymore and I certainly didn't have that kind of fun with the "friends" I had in TWI. I couldn't talk to TWI friends about anything and everything like I could my "real friends" I had dropped.

Some people may have nagging doubts about TWI and just need an excuse to leave - others aren't so uncomfortable with things enough to do something about it. Some are too scared to do something about it. Those who have been on staff forever don't see how they can survive in "the real world" and, for them, yah, it would be extremely difficult to adjust to making your own decisions and to get a job with the out dated skills of being on staff.

"A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still" is true. They have to really want to leave and come to that conclusion on their own - nothing you or I can say will change that. That's why so many who were kicked out join up with the offshoots. They didn't want to leave.

Great post, Brainfixed!

Yes, I, too, had to come to a place where I didn't nitpick and strain gnats. I've pretty much come to the place where religion boils down to "love your neighbor as yourself." I don't worry so much about other schtuff. :D Life is much simpler and enjoyable that way!

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~ Plato

This website is devoted to Arno's Vale Cemetary and has before and after pictures of their restoration efforts.

Here is the cemetery's own website. I seriously doubt vee pee had any thing to do with the clean up and restoration of the grave.

There are over 300,000 people buried there, some very famous people buried there and, as Twinky said, some important wildlife, plants.

It does look like a really neat place to visit.

When is this transition supposed to take place? It was to be every 5 years, no? No.... wait, we must have heard that wrong 10 years ago because we know TWIts don't lie.

Lovely counselor..... is that what they call it these days?

I think I can hear Rico Spaghetti sobbing all the way down here.

Remember craiggers taught that it is OKAY to lie to those outside "the household" because the Judean midwives lied to the Egyptians when they were supposed to be killing babies. God BLESSED them FOR LYING!

Lying is just one more way TWI folks stay "in alignment & harmony".

Exodus 1:19-21

And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women [are] not as the Egyptian women; for they [are] lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.

Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.

And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.

Bummer! I will not be home. :(

Y'all have fun!

He couldn't immediately after the lawsuits and, well, now, those double shifts at Home Depot wreak havoc on a guy's schedule.

There's a thread around here about it someplace if you want to see what was already posted. I don't remember much about it as it was the first I had heard of it.

Maybe he's listed in this thread of TWI Urban Legends?

There's a more comprehensive thread but I can't find it. :wacko:

Here's the one I was looking for! Way Myths

Bwahahahaha...... Welcome to the real world, Brian! Good LUCK!

Do a search here for "Moneyhands" and you'll learn all kinds of... ahhhh.... goodness.... that the Moneyhands doled out.

Just goes to show.... you can't always trust what is written..... in aramaic or otherwise.... ;)

Can't get Eric's article to load, but love seeing MStar's!! Wish I had gotten to see it up close and personal when I was there, but got to see YOU, which was awesome! Yay for some publicity for your hard earned and deserved praise!

I may be up there again in a month or so.... will you still be there, MStar?

I *think* I know who you might be referring to and so I, too, heartily add my birthday wishes! :) \m/

But one thing I have come to realize. My worst days outside of the way international have been better than my best days inside that controlling, abusive, cult!

Oh, one more thing. I am beginning to get to the place that I want to get things sorted out with God and Christ. To start pursuing a relationship with them. Sorry TWI, you have not cornered the market like you think you have and you are not the gatekeepers to the true living way, Jesus Christ.

And on that note I have learned to respect other's God given right to believe as the damn well choose and I feel no pressure to try and convince them that my little cornfield cult is the true religion. Blah!

Hence, my signature. ;)

Life is SOOooooo good!

I have plenty of money. A sweet little home, a great job doing what I love with people I love more, great friends and a healthy, loving relationship with my fambly. On top of that, thanks to GSpot, I have lifelong friends I truly love. I could not even begin to list the wonderful "abundant" life blessings I have since leaving TWI and that I'm ....ed I shoulda/woulda had if, perhaps, I had never gotten involved with and sucked into the world of TWI, except for the wonderful folks I've gotten to know here because of it.

Elaine Pagels book "The Origin of Satan" was an eye opening healing balm to my soul when I first left. Thanks, GT! :)

Another six month checkup and the tests came back clean. Yeah ! Dad's doing fine too. 84 years old and he's out riding his motorcycle.

Tommy, this is awesome!!

I am currently taking care of a friend overcoming the devastation chemo and radiation has taken on her body. She's on oxygen and a feeding tube - unable to swallow but a half-teaspoon of water without aspirating - and wondering if this is as good as it gets.

Your story is encouraging and inspiring. :)

I am so happy for you!!

If I remember correctly, and maybe it was isolated or a faulty memory (I hope not, I'm still young!).. But I recall when I first got hooked up with TWI that they said the "love thy neighbor" didn't refer to anyone except those in the "household".. That somehow the "neighbor" part was used to signify they were in the "household"... Anyone else hear that?

Clearly this isn't true since Jesus himself clarifies who thy "neighbor" referred to when he shared the story of the Good Samaritan... Yeah, those lowly Samaritans who you hate.. Those who believe differently.. Go figure. Your neighbors!

Sometimes I just stop and wonder how I was so blind!! DOH!

Yes and I remember quite a few threads about that here at the cafe - or maybe WayDale. It was one of the things I fought tooth and nail shortly before leaving TWI. They perverted all kinds of scripture to mean only "the household" with the only "true" household of God being those who are "rightly dividing the word of truth"..... gee, who could that be?

Now, I don't so much care what other people think about the Bible or God. I figure Jesus boiled everything down to "Love God and Love your neighbor" - neighbor being everyone else and God being God as you see and worship (Allah, Jehovah, Mother Nature, etc.). If you're doing those two things, no problem-o. None of us has a corner market on the truth and not one of us can say without a doubt that we're correct and someone else is wrong. But, that's just my opinion, ymmv.

Hopefully I am doing some damage nowadays to make up for the people I "won to the Word!" Most of those are out now, but a couple are still in, and that makes me sad. I pray that every post I make here helps steer some other God-seeking, good hearted person away from TWI and takes a little more money out of Rosie's pockets.

Yeah, there are some folks I hope to find some day to apologize to for bringing them into the grip of TWI. Lucky for me, most all of them saw through the facade rather quickly and never suffered like we did.

Oakspear and I both pointed out errors in the teachings and were constantly pointing out the hypocrisy and contradictions. We were trouble makers in our areas. They thought I was a headache BEFORE they discovered I was insurgent. Back then there were people who were afraid to talk to me for fear of being labeled a troublemaker with me - others sought me out to hear what I thought, but were too scared to agree with me openly.

Apparently, there was a couple here - Joe and Paula - I think, their names escape me now.... They had great paying jobs and a custom built house with a full on sound room and wiring throughout the house expressly for the purpose of running classes. They gave all that up to move to NC into a tiny townhome they shared with someone else to go on staff full time. I wondered all the time if they kicked themselves for doing that. Now, I just pity them.

$10 Million in a Medical Fund and they won't even help their own people? I guess the way they treated Mrs. Weirwille says it all.

So many people I knew were barely making ends meet. Those who actually had good jobs and/or rich parents were definitely favored in my area.

It saddens and appalls me to read that people on staff are having to take advantage of government programs. I'm glad that my ex had a small savings and a little something in a 401K when he left me to go on staff. At least he is a very healthy person and will not need to experience the crummy healthcare plan.... at least, I hope he won't.

It makes me extremely glad that we never went WOW, WD or on staff when we were married. I have a great job, a nice home, my dream car and the truly "more abundant" life that I thought I would be living while involved with TWI. We were chasing an impossible dream, weren't we?

I once read that people who don't remember their dreams are usually those folks who hit the ground running as soon as the alarm goes off or they wake up. Those of us who hit the snooze a few times or lay in bed for a bit before jumping up to face the day are more likely to remember dreams.

Before and for a couple of years after I left I had some horrific, wild and bizarre dreams about TWI. Now, not so much anymore.

One that kept recurring was me being chased down a dark, narrow alley by TWI folks I knew and being attacked. I would look up and see the Moynihans and my ex laughing as they viciously kicked me while I was down.

I had recurring dreams about trying to find a bathroom or trying to find privacy to go to the bathroom. An interpretation I read about that was that it signified "dumping" thoughts, beliefs and parts of our life.

I, too, kept a dream diary for a while because some of them were so vivid and strange.