Pagan Warrior.

In the late 1970's I recall watching the first ever Star Wars film in the U.K. city of Birmingham. There was a very long queue outside the former Gaumont cinema and it was as they say standing standing room only. I recall thinking that is was an excellent film, but never in my wildest dreams could I ever have imagined that it would grow into what it is today. Everything about the film was different, certainly not like your regular science fiction film. Recently I was at Summer fete and I saw a stall selling second-hand items, and my eyes homed in on a Star Wars Return of the Jedi chess set. I bought it for one UK pound. When I got back home I was amazed to find that it was unopened and the pieces were in new and perfect condition. We checked it's value and was astonished as to how much it was worth. Our son came in and saw what we had bought and as he is both an extremely good chess player and avid Star Wars fan his eyes lit up. Yes you've guessed it , he ended up having the chess set. People will still be watching Star Wars films in a hundred years time, and as we have seen before yesterday's science fiction has become today's science fact, and today's science fiction may become tomorrow's science fact.

WordWolf, first of all I must thank you for the way you thoroughly read and analyse my comments, and this I may say makes it all worthwhile. I have read some of your other comments and found them interesting and I will be giving you future feedback. My observations of the Way International were some years back, but what really interested me were the actions of Robert Wilkinson. Although I myself am not a religious person, I do feel that at the back of my mind that there may be a time when we could be accountable for our actions, and my personal on spiritual matters is that you speak to and treat others the same way in which you want be spoken to and treated yourself. If I evaluate or categorize The Way International I see them as a typical deep south Bible Belt community who say and teach things which suit them, and after a while they become so indoctrinated with their misguided beliefs they are trapped into not knowing anything different. At the end of the day it's all about free will, and when an ism or organisation like The Way International tries to take that away from an individual, then the alarm bells should start ringing.

WordWolf basically I would like to say that my comments are those of an observer to record things and events as they were, not to be one-sided or vindictive. I will be reading the contributions of others. The Way International G.B. had a hugely American influence, and in the late 1970's early 1980's had a very large following in the U.K. The Way International was never going to be accepted by the accepted circle of christian denominations, and there were many reasons for this. All churches have a collection policy but they would never ever emotionally blackmail anyone to hand over money. The truth is in any religion you do not have to pay to receive spiritual salvation, and you are free to come and go without any pressure. Other churches and religious gatherings do not encourage their followers to alienate themselves from society. The observations which I have recorded here hardly scraped the surface.

Not just him, but a lot of former members will have a lot to answer to.

Like all sects and cults The Way International as it was known then were always preoccupied with money. As far as their P.F.A.L class was concerned what the members never revealed was that they had to get a minimum of class takers for their personal furtherance, and that was to join what was called the Way Corps which was based in the States. The sad thing was that certain of the members were vulnerable and were bereft of any free thinking or minds of their own, in other words they were totally brainwashed with twisted Bible scriptures. The Way members were so manipulative that they would convince their followers that if they wanted to leave the organisation they were being influenced by the devil. The truth is that this organisation was devoid of all reality, and the members would believe their own doctrines which were way off the path.

Robert Wilkinson or the Reverend Robert Wilkinson as he was known then was based in the Macclesfield/Manchester area of the UK. He was a very highly intelligent person who was good with words. During the early 1980's he was driving a Ford Granada Coupe which at the time was a very expensive car. Wilkinson was head of The Way International UK. This organisation taught a class which was named Power For Abundant Living. This class was a series of taped lectures which were presented by The Way's founder. The groups members were encouraged to take this class, and were guaranteed many benefits which would be bestowed upon them. Not all of the members who took the class saw it through to the end, the class cost £50.00 to take and was a lot of money in those days, and there were follow on classes which would also cost money. Member of this group were not allowed to question the doctrines, if they did they were told that hey were being influenced by the devil. The way's members were very manipulative, they would love-bomb their new recruits with kindness and affection, and if any of them were not able to take the class they were told that they were not allowed to have any more contact with them, so they would be cold shouldered and rejected. The way the organisation changed manipulated and twisted the Biblical scriptures was very clever, in fact so clever the groups members could convincingly prove that black was white. It could take volumes to explain more things about this group, and there are many former members who give testimonies.