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Robinette Byden

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  1. Okay, so I just finished watching the Monday night football game between the Ravens & the Chiefs, and in my professional opinion, assuming the guy can stay healthy & not get into legal type trouble, I'd have to say Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs is the greatest professional quarterback I've ever seen in my life. I can easily foresee that guy getting many, many more Super Bowl championship title rings to add to the one he got this past February.
  2. Wow, I'm not quite sure if I can legitimately compete with someone quoting 'Hamlet', but I'll give it a shot. I'd like to share with all you Bible Scholars, one of my all-time verses of scripture: But if any man (or woman) be ignorant, let him (or her) be ignorant. -- 1 Corinthians 14:38 So I took the liberty to log onto: WhoIs.com , just to see how long GreaseSpotCafe.com has been in existence. August 28, 2000, so this forum has been operating now exactly, 20 years plus one month. Belated Happy Birthday wishes on accomplishing such a fantastic Milestone of longevity as far as Internet forums go these days. Ironically or not, that just happens to be the exact same year that Craig Martindale was Terminated by the Way Ministry -- I can't help but wonder if these two events have any association to each other, but I digress. Now if you re-read all my posts since I started on this particular thread last Friday (9/25), you'll notice -- assuming, of course, you're honest -- that I've said NOTHING slanderous or vulgar, individually or collectively, against anybody here on this forum. As they say in Evangelical Christian circles, I'm just, "offering loving constructive criticisms to my brothers and sisters in Christ." If y'all choose to just thumb your proverbial noses and ignore everything I've stated thus far on this thread, I'm perfectly fine with that. No hard feelings from my end. As I stated on an earlier post, 20 years is an awful long time -- it's like two decades long. I believe that's about the length of a Generation. A lot's changed in the Way Ministry, along with its various splinter groups, heck, a lot's changed in the World since the year 2000. For example, John Lynn is now a Pastor in his Third (3) Ministry just since Victor Paul Wierwille passed away -- Can you believe it? Most successful organizations, like businesses and churches, usually meet every so often to reassess or modify their priorities and objectives to remain competitive in the Here and Now. I'm merely suggesting that perhaps the 20-year plateau might be a good time for the Powers-that-Be of GreaseSpotCafe.com , to get together and reassess their goals and objectives for the next few years going forward. If not, no Biggie, it's no skin off my back. I won't offer any more "loving constructive criticisms" on this forum, I think I've already stated more than my share. Ditto on this one particular thread, enough said from Yours Truly on this subject -- at least for now. Agape
  3. First off, if you're trying to get someone to settle their differences with somebody else, shouldn't you try to get them to confront their demons, face-to-face? The former Way leaders who often get trashed on this forum by people identifying themselves as, "T-Bone", or "Mickey Mouse" probably wouldn't be too inclined to come here on the Internet if all the criticisms are from a one-way street when they have absolutely no clue who you guys are behind your pseudonyms. Has anybody here ever invited Chris Geer or Craig Martindale to come on Grease Spot Cafe to address some long lingering concerns? If not, why not? Those guys might tell you to go BLEEP yourselves, but I don't believe either of them would shoot anybody for just asking. The absolute worst thing that could happen is they'd probably just say "No" to you -- Is that too horrifying of an experience for you guys to imagine? Bottom Line is, I don't think you're handling any counseling opportunities in accordance with Christian or Biblical standards. Also, do some of these folks coming to Grease Spot Cafe to vent their Tales of Woe about the Way Ministry, have any legal grounds to sue them in Civil Court? If so, why not just recommend them to a lawyer who'd handle their case for a nominal fee? Or maybe help establish a GoFundMe account for them? Taunting the Way leaders, or swearing at them on the Internet while hiding behind pseudonyms isn't helping anything, it's just making things worse. If folks are still experiencing nightmares and flashbacks 20+ years after leaving the Way Ministry, they probably ought to seek the help of a Psychiatrist and maybe ask them if they could prescribe some medication for them. Actually, there's no shame in doing something like that if you know you need the help. Besides that, the Way Ministry certainly isn't the first church group in American history to find leaders sexually exploiting its membership and it probably won't be the last. What about the PTL Club, or Jimmy Swaggart, or Marcus Lamb, or more recently, Jerry Falwell Jr.? Heck, for that matter, what about the Baptist church down the street in your neighborhood? There are stories ALL THE TIME about local Pastors, Priests, Rabbis, etc., sexually exploiting their members -- please don't patronize everybody here by claiming that situation is ONLY unique to the Way Ministry. Lastly -- speaking about Patronizing everybody here on Grease Spot Cafe -- the Way Ministry, even in its "hey day" back in the late 70's thru early 80's was NEVER as big in membership as y'all are claiming it was/is. The Way was NEVER as big as the Unification Church (Moonies), or Hari Krishnas, or Scientology. Nor did it ever have a membership as big as the Mormons, or the Jehovah Witnesses. If I'm wrong, why didn't incidents like, The Passing of the Patriarch, or Craig Martindale's sexual assault lawsuits ever make the National Press? The folks I mentioned in the previous paragraph all made the National Press for their incidents, so why didn't the Way Ministry follow suit? Also, weren't there a handful of people who authored books about the demise of the Way Ministry? If so, how come none of those publications ever made the New York Times Best Seller List, or even, the Amazon Best Seller List? So many questions, so few answers. P.S. In response to Rocky's question: I'm NOT still active in the Way Ministry -- I stopped fellow-shipping with them in '86.
  4. I think I can sum up my views of the main arguments here with this thread in two small paragraphs: 1) Whether you consider "the official turning point of the Way Ministry" 35 years ago (Weirwille's passing), or 20 years ago (Martindale's termination), that's just too long of a time to hold a grudge against somebody. That type of bitterness goes along the same plateau as, the Hatfields vs. the McCoys, or Israel vs. the Arabs. You need a heck a lot more than just changing your name to a pseudonym and spewing out vulgarities over the Internet to ever be delivered from that degree of hatred. 2) Identifying "wolves in sheep's clothing" is really a very small part of what Christianity and the Bible are all about. It certainly doesn't supersede Compassion and Forgiveness. If that's supposed to be the whole objective behind GreaseSpotCafe.com , maybe it's high time some of you 'Old Farts' get your heads together and modify that objective a little bit. Just sayin
  5. Hey T-Bone, let's do the Math here, shall we? Founder and First President of the Way International, Victor Paul Weirwille, Died and was Buried back in 1985 -- THAT'S 35 YEARS AGO! Both John Lynn and Chris Geer were FIRED from The Way within 5 years after that -- THAT'S AT LEAST 30 YEARS AGO! The 2nd President of the Way International, L. Craig Martindale was FIRED from The Way in 2000 -- THAT'S 20 YEARS AGO! Heck, here's an interesting question, out of the current Grease Spot Cafe participants who've made, at least, 100 comments on this Forum thus far, how many (or what percentage) are 59-or-younger? My personal guess would be, less than 5% -- maybe even less than 2% -- of the regulars here would be under the age of 60. If my guess here is accurate, what a total waste of time and life to just trash people from a computer terminal whom you feel messed you over decades, if not quarter centuries, ago! I've heard from several of the longtime participants here on Grease Spot Cafe, that this is NOT a Christian website -- gee, I never would've guessed. If I'm totally off-base here, what church or Christian denomination does Grease Spot Cafe endorse? Why doesn't Grease Spot offer a sub-section or two devoted for personal testimonies of what great and wonderful things God has done in their lives lately? Why doesn't Grease Spot offer a sub-section dedicated for prayer so people can hopefully be delivered or healed from problems effecting them in their lives? T-Bone, how many people would you GUESS-TIMATE in the United States right now who are still "suffering" from their former Way Ministry experience? Hundreds? Dozens? Maybe less than 10? Granted, I'm sure there are a few stories out there of folks who really got BLEEPED (emotionally, spiritually, and sometimes even physically) by Way Ministry leadership. Some people in the USA have had some rough times going through Divorces, but they got over it. Some Holacaust survivors have had a hard time after escaping Nazi Concentration camps, but they got over it. To paraphrase Paul the Apostle, sometimes you just need to "shake off the dust and move on." Just sayin
  6. That's a beautiful response, T-Bone, in Theory, but in ACTUAL PRACTICE, it absolutely stinks! Was Paul the Apostle a Disciple of Jesus Christ, or just simply a "Spiritual Trouble-shooter"? How many of the Regular Participants here on Grease Spot Cafe have been out of the Way Ministry for a couple Decades and not even attempted to become active again in another Church? How do you possibly fulfill the need for Worship and Fellowship in your spiritual lives by just alienating yourselves for a quarter century OR EVEN LONGER by not giving God a chance to work with you to help others via participating in another Church? Granted, sometimes Christian leaders need to be publicly called out, such as former Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. -- the guy wasn't obviously fit to be running a Christian college at this point in his life. Nor am I suggesting John Lynn or his TLTF ministry is the answer to all your prayers. But just simply laying back and publicly criticizing somebody like Lynn, or Chris Geer, or Craig Martindale OR, how about trashing somebody who's been dead and buried for about a half century like Victor Paul Weirwille or Howard Allen -- please explain to me how engaging in that type of crap week after week, year after year edifies someone's spiritual life? Yeah, identifying "wolves in sheep's clothing" might be part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ but let's get REAL, it's a very small part. It certainly doesn't supersede the constant commitment of Forgiveness and Patience it takes to be a part of a regular Church Worship and Fellowship routine. Personally, I wasn't actively involved in any Church when I left the Way Ministry. As we all know, The Way has its own quirks and distinctions to make being part of another Church really tough to fit in unless you're willing to compromise quite a bit on your beliefs about the Bible. But I couldn't just sit on the proverbial sidelines anymore to simply twiddle my thumbs and do absolutely nothing. I want to be doing something in my life that's part of God's Will while I'm still living and breathing. Sorry if that offends some people here on this Forum. Hey, you take care, T-Bone, I sure hope this helps to clear some things up. Peace out.
  7. In all due respect to your response, WordWolf, I don't believe I was active with The Way during this "MOMENTUS incident", maybe if I had, I wouldn't give John Lynn the time of day right now. I can't help but think of somebody like Pastor Jim Bakker, who back in the 80's had a multi-million dollar world-wide ministry called the PTL Club and then served several years in Prison on Fraud charges. Today, Bakker remarried, has a church service in Branson MO, and managed to get a weekday, half hour show on Daystar TV. Not too shabby, but it's clearly a mere shell of the Ministry Bakker had 35-40 years ago. On one hand, I respect the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who literally got exploited by Bakker via contributing tons of money to his ministry while he and then wife, Tammy Faye Bakker were living like grossly spoiled billionaires, to either go worship elsewhere or just plain not do anything at all for God anymore. I definitely get it. On the flip-side, I'm eternally grateful that God Almighty gives Second Chances to people. If Jim Bakker is still ripping people off and messing them over spiritually, I'm sure God will make him pay for that on Judgement Day. Ditto with King David having an affair with a married woman and still continuing as Israel's spiritual leader. Ditto with Paul the Apostle representing God after murdering numerous Christians. Just for the record, I'm not a "member" to either John's TLTF, or Bakker's Branson MO church, nor have I given even a penny to either of their ministries. If either or both are con artists ripping people off or destroying folks spiritually, I'm sure God Almighty will deal with them come Judgement Day. Call me naive or gullible if you will, but I just respect these two guys or anybody else who strives to make an effort to do God's Will. Will there be some back-sliding here and there? Probably, but give them some credit for persistence and determination. I hope, WordWolf, this clears some stuff up a little bit. Peace out.
  8. I was surfing the web this morning & touched bases with the same forum that interviewed John for the initial posting on this thread. I came up with the attached little nugget. In all due respect to this guy, he's now in his late 70's, apparently still touring the country and preaching on things like: COVID-19, the violent riots and looting in major U.S. cities (a.k.a. Peaceful Protests), 'The End Times', the Trinity, and, oh yeah, the Bible. How many ex-Wayfers are even remotely still doing something similar to this, Biblical speaking? Not trying to push John's latest gig down anybody's throat, but it's something I can still respect. Just sayin. https://onebaddecisionawayfromhomelessness.wordpress.com/2020/09/26/50-year-pastor-plans-to-visit-nashua-nh-10-17-20-promoting-his-ministry-discussing-the-end-times/
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