Junior Corps Surviver

Thanks for the replies. Growing up in this cult really did a number on me. I was afraid to ask questions and instead of thinkign that was not OK, I thought I was being decieved by Satan and it was him who was putting the questions in my mind. Think about being 9 years old and thinkign Satan himself is weaponizing your thoughts as a way to attack the Way. It's soul crushing. I just wanted the devil to leave me alone. In reality the devil had no interest in me at all. ugh

Even as a kid this bothered me. Most Chritians take Genessi 1 as a linear account. Not TWI. If I remember correctly, the fall of lucifer comes up much later in The Bible. Does anyone remember what logic or scripture was used to justify claiming that Lucifer's fall happenes between Genesis verse 1 and verse 2? Also worrisome to me back then was that they taught us, correctly, that the serpent added a word, changed a word, removed a word to change what God meant. Then TWI does the same thing saying that Genesis 1:2 "should" read "and THEN the earth was without form and void". Where did this entire theory come from? These types of things bothered me then but I didn't dare ask. Now here I am 40 years later still pestered by these thoughts. I often come back to "how did anyone fall for this?"

He came to dinner at our house once. It was such a big deal and yes he got an envelope full of cash and Dambuie. He also did thtree things that would have put the rest of us in the reproof line; he drank and smoke at the dinner table, he had hus elbows on the table and was swearing his head off in front of my 5 year old wow sister, f bomb after f bomb. And we all smiled and thanked God for the privilage.

Forgive me if this has already been discussed but i was talking to a friend from Junior Corps and she reminded me that I had said that this motorcycle was the frist time I thought TWi was being shady. It was either at The Rock or Corps Week. They had us all "give" (no pressure or anything lol) so we could buy a "surprise" gift of a motorcycle for VPW with a side car for his wife. I remember feeling ressured and lied to. How on earth was this going to be a surprise? With all the money we give, we have to give more so he can have a fancy bike? i brought it up at a Junior Corps meeting and was yelled at and sent to bed. Loudly being reproved for being right is a terrible way to raise a child.

That's what I figured. Especially in light of some of my peers who had to go get things "taken care of".

This post got me thinking about something that's baffled me for decades. I often think about TWi when Chritians are so strongly pro-life. Other than The Way, are there any fundamentalist groups who are openly pro choice? This is not a post meant to debate abortion.

I was a WOW in Dorchester in 1980 and then a WOW vet in Fall River in 81. I was a kid but am in touch with some of the adults from that time in my life.

They had a young adult rock? They're making it seem like this is the reboot.

I worked at a WOW Burger tent with Stevie Kay and a recent conversation had me look her up and we had a really nice conversation. But she doesn't seem to want to talk about it and I don't blame her. As for "is it different now?". Probably not enough to make it right. They cling to VPW in an L. Ron Hubbard retro history way. The entire thing is the house the foolish man built upon the sand. It was rotten for so long that being 'different now' is moot. The reason people don't leave is mostly fear based and that's not a good thing. They should make sure there's a bucket of condoms at the Young Adult Rock.

I did a bit of a deep dive into these young people and many of them are the sons and daughters of old Way people. 3rd generation lifers, not new people. Word Wolf makes sense with his comment. I just want a Wow Burger.

We used to get beer and Jack Daniels from a guy who worked Bless Patrol. What a blessing.

and they used old photos in the ad as if any of those people are still standing with them. Did they forget that The Rock was a sex a thon and that's why they cancelled it? Ad is on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2pwIHkLABY/?fbclid=IwAR1-Il2YocWkNCA9wpIJOOMO3A4bs-aXtjbNve1_vEffmrHxv6mTraao27Q

The amount of adulatory that was going on is mind numbing. I have spoken to many friend's who's parents were involved in it. But what I saw first hand in residence was our teen slumber parties. Games of truth or dare that went too far. Which teens will do if they're unsupervised but that's the problem. We WERE supervised.

I am told by folks who are “in” that they have "not taken an anti vaxx stance". They’ve always been..., uh, pro choice. Your abundant sharing paid for some of those choices.

Former Jr. Corps member Steven Perez of Family Corps 9 shared a photo album of his recent visit to the Indiana Campus in Rome City. Good stuff both photos and captions. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=dtension&set=a.10161220720074418

I always felt like it was high pressure sales with quotas. Even in the 70's. Our hearts might have been in the right place but we would be in "trouble", especially as a WOW (twice) if we weren't constantly running classes. Hence the homeless, addicts and others who were there for the food and kisses. But that was my experience.

Ah. by 88 I was gone. The revelation must have changed.

480 adults? That is unbelievable. Imagine thinking that this is the only real/best? I mean, come on. It's so good and accurate that it's a secret? lol I am also surprised, but shouldn't be, that they peaked at 48,000. I was once told that the rock of A had 100,000 people. It's a trip to continue to find out that your childhood was even more of a lie than I thought. Thanks for the reply.

I mean like really witness. We went door to door all the time. We stopped people in parking lots, supermarket and malls. We went to churches and tried to convert people. We left flyers on cars and bulletin boards. This was a touch way to grow up like when you knock on the door of a school mate or a teacher. Awkward. Between that and taking furniture from the trash, growling up way was a real damper on school/social life. Nothing like branding the new kid as the town weirdo. I have been wondering if they still recruit this hard anymore. We were aggressive, argumentative and could be quite rude. We also invited the town's addicts and drunks into our homes and would be surprised when the horn of plenty grew legs or when my wow sisters would get assaulted. Lots to process here. Sorry if I am rambling.

Did it even exist on VHS? I have a beta copy but am not parting with it. God told me Beta is the way to go ;)

We had to drop whatever we were doing and stand and clap when they walked in the room. That alone is insane. Stop eating, quit doing your home work, stop sitting...Craig is here YAY!

Another re boot? Seems there's one every few years. Meet the new cult, same as the old cult.

LOL yes I did mean adulterous. Autocorrect strikes again. I was out WOW when I walked into a certain Reverend fooling round with a 19 year old woman. I told my friend and he had seen them too. The Rev's wife was upstairs and Rev was in his office with his secretary, a new PFAL grad, "working on a teaching". I then found out from the child of this leader that this had been going on for a while. I sat on that information for a while. A few weeks later, that leader took the teen fellowship out for ice cream "his treat". He had me go to his office and grab some of the ABS to pay for the ice cream. I was taken aback when he told me to "grab a few hundred dollars". There were like 5 of us. We didn't need that much money for ice cream. When I went to get the money, the horn of plenty was not where he said it would be so I looked around and opened his desk and found marijuana and polaroid's of the secretary, nude. After taking us out, he made a stop at Radio Shack and used the money to buy a car stereo. I couldn't deal with it anymore. Shortly after LCM came to the region for a meeting and my friend and I asked if we could speak to him. He said "yes". We told him what I just told you and he said "who the F do you think you are? You think God doesn't tell me what's going on? You think I don't know my calling? I don't see a 'reverend' in front of your name you fat little f***ot." He was an inch from my face screaming at the top of his lungs. I was terrified. Then he told my mother, who gave me a beating and told her we are lucky he is letting us stay in the corps. I was 16. That was the beginning of the end for me. That summer was the Passing of a Patriarch. That was my last Rock. My mother was mad at me for months because I quit going to twig. Then was the truth started to trickle out she came around and we volunteered to DFAC. She herself was a victim of sexual assault by VPW, yet she thought I was making it up. How's that for brainwashed?

Exactly what I started to figure out when I decided to leave. "wait a minute...we are paying to work AND getting reproved by very angry leaders who cheat on their wives. WHAT THE..." You should have been there when a friend and I went to Craig to let him know we had "discovered" an adulatory and theft problem among some leaders. I thought he was going to punch me.

Allan you are right about how much pressure she was under. We almost didn't go and that was being framed as a spiritual failure on her part and I was even spoken to about not having believing "big enough" to carry the weight my mother carries to take care of me. I really believed that if we didn't make it, I would have been to blame. I was proud of her but I was also relieved. I was afraid that I was screwing things up for her, which of course is ridiculous. I was 11. The only thing that bothers me at this point is the run around I got about it. If God wanted her to steal my money, why was she hiding it? I know exactly why. One lie causes another and she was lying about having spiritual partners and "earning" the money on her own and "coming up with it". It's funny (not haha) that she knew she was lying about getting into a Christian college. Twinky, you're right about the fees. Not only did we grow our own food, not only was the property paid for, but we were required to work for free. She paid money for the privilege of working her rear end off on a farm.