Charity

Hi, I've been to this church a few times in the past and I know how welcoming and accepting they are even if you believe differently about their beliefs. They were involved in community outreach as well. The senior pastor was Ed Kolar, and he retired this past year. Interesting thing though: years ago, he and I talked about the trinity. The discussion mainly focused on the Holy Spirit part. Well I met up with him after he retired, and he no longer believes in the trinity. Without any help from me, he bought the book "One God and One Lord" by Schoenheit, Lynn and a third author. He teaches online on Schoenheit's ministry's website, I think every other Sunday even though some of his beliefs are different (e.g., original sin, sin nature). Kind of blew my mind when I heard this. Anyway, there is a new pastor now - someone who was involved in the church since I first went. I'll get to see how things are now - what has changed and what has remained the same.

Thank you Charity. What you've said spoke to a longing that's been hiding beneath the surface, too afraid to come out. I know this because of how my emotions immediately began to rise and the tears began to fall. You also wrote, "All this comes, Charity, from a simple trust relationship. I have only my God to rely on." I know we are social beings and that the ability to trust is essential in healthy relationships. Knowing this and living this can be two totally different things as it is for me. This is why I need God and Jesus Christ in my life because of the fear I have around both these areas. "I mean, the more I trust God, the more I am able to trust God in and for the future." is another thing you shared. For me, my first step will be to rely both on the love that God always has for us as well as on the love we were rooted and grounded in when we were born again. (Perfect love casts out fear.) My second step is to attend the church I know fits your description above.

I have to strongly disagree with you using words like "sledgehammer, hate, rumor mills and loving anti-idol worship" (not sure what it is but it sounds bad). Posters on GSC are not dealing with rainbows and cupcakes. They are dealing with some pretty dark and nasty sh* t which people have experienced because of their involvement with twi. Why won't you try, Mike, to walk in the shoes of those who post on GSC (many of whom are former corps members) or the shoes of Charlene Edge and Kristen Skedgell? If you did, you would better understand what people say on GSC. Disagreeing with them by saying things like "well, it wasn't so bad where I was" or "I never saw any of those things happen" just doesn't cut it. Sticking one's head in the sand is not a viable excuse for pleading ignorance about twi's behavior when the facts are readily available in Charlene and Kristen's books. If you don't want to understand and accept where we are coming from on GSC, at least do not call it hate. In my opinion, what you are seeing here is righteous anger, concern and pain - not hate. - Righteous anger not only because we know from experience what ungodly things happened in twi (especially those who were in the corps), but also because these things that oppose God continue to be covered up, whitewashed and denied by people who are still promoting twi. - Concern for twi people who have left or are still involved who are struggling with fear, grief, confusion, anger, self-doubt, suicidal thoughts...the list goes on and on. They are fighting for these believers who seriously need the validation, help and support that GSC gives. - Pain can be frustrating and upsetting when the hurt we feel in our own lives or in the lives of others should never have happened in the first place if the leaders had loved as Jesus loved.

The person low enough to use the compliment (not!) that "you're spiritually mature enough to meet the (sexual) needs of the man of God or of a leader" in order to assault or rape someone would be low enough to justify to themselves it was also "good for their marriage."

I've noticed how so much of what you do is in concert with people you know. It shows the value of being with others when you want to demonstrate God's love in serving your community

Looked it up - The first time that name Jesus was ever used was in June of 1632. Jesus, which is the name used by most English-speaking people today, is an English transliteration of a Germanic adaptation, of a Latin transliteration, of a Greek transliteration of an originally Hebrew name, that is simply Yeshua. Biblical research is such fun

I thought of it today when I was reading "The Way Changing" thread but decided to ask my question on this thread. I've had to overcome a strong aversion to saying "Jesus" because of twi, probably because of one of the reasons you give above. I can remember now hearing that Jesus was the humiliated man - mocked, beaten and crucified, and how it fit together with twi's teaching that the gospels were not written to us - they were only for our learning. And since our learning was suppose to come from pfal materials and the epistles, I hardly read the gospels. It all led to the absent Jesus in my life a well as the absent Christ. To know Jesus' life as a man, who can relate to all our pain and suffering because he was a man, to see his relationship with his father, both as a man and as the son of God leads to the conclusion that the gospels are a trove of learning for believers today.

Does anyone remember if we were told in twi that it was wrong to use the stand-alone name, Jesus? If so, what reason was given for this?

Close enough

Beautifully written Twinky. I won't forget what you shared. Thank you.

I just happened to find the funniest thread last night - made me laugh out loud multiple times. It was "1976 corps meetings...fill me in." Here are a couple of quotes: Can some of you straighten out some terminology? Were the MAL packs somehow connected with the live chicken outdoor trips? Or were the live chickens part of the LEAD experience? Or were the LEAD trips done with MAL packs? Or were the live chickens part of the "Work Program?" "The original concept was to strap MAL packs on the chickens in transit to LEAD."

"Ordinary and typical is where life happens." I it!

OldSkool, you're a great champion for newbies like me on GSC. My first couple of thoughts were heavier ones like witnessing and going to a church. I feel Christ wants me to begin with the ordinary, typical person so I can learn not to be a respecter of persons and to just be myself around people. I'm sure he'll lead me into more as we go along. It'll be interesting to do so without all the way baggage you mentioned above. Do have the 4 seasons where you live? Are there places you like to go for a walk?

On my walk today, I was talking to Christ about what he wants me to do as a member of his body. After a few ideas went through my mind, I felt I knew what his answer was. It was to simply begin to love my fellow human beings. I have always been shy and preferred to be as invisible around people as possible. I often tell certain people that I would be happy living as a hermit. Other than my children, I have had little to no contact with my brothers and their families. I have had no desire to make or be with friends. So this is how I believe Christ wants to work with me. Just to begin acknowledging people when I'm out and about, to smile, and at times even talk with them. I know I can do this by being in fellowship with Christ and I want to do this because he's put it on my heart.

With regard to the seed of the woman in Genesis, what about vp's teaching that the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary, and the power of the Most High overshadowing her meant God had literally created a sperm (a perfect seed) in Mary which together with her egg, was the conception of Jesus? According to this teaching, it was this perfect seed that made Jesus the son of God? If, however, the seed of the woman was a symbol for the word of God, then God simply spoke the word and Mary became pregnant (like when God said "Let there by light" and there was light). I never took the seed in 1 Peter 1:23 to be a literal seed but as the receiving of holy spirit which gave us everlasting life and made God our Father and us his children. So while the use of the word "seed" in "corruptible seed" does refer to the literal seed involved in our first birth and is not everlasting, being born of incorruptible (seed), meaning the new birth of receiving of holy spirit, is everlasting. This incorruptible (seed), being the symbol for the word of God, is expanded upon in Romans 10:13,14 where the declaring of, hearing of, and believing in the message of Christ (the Word) leads to the calling on the name of the Lord which results in our salvation (receiving holy spirit) and finally ends with receiving an incorruptible body (1 Cor 15:53 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.) Please let me know if there are any problems with the above.

No thanks, I've wondered before what some of these combined letters meant, the latest being POV. I figured it out by noticing how it was used in another post. Last night, I had to ask Rocky what FB meant! Nathan replied with the answer. There are other times when I had to look up words - such was the case with "pitiable." The difference in meaning compared to "pitiful" was illuminating! Here's to increasing brain power . I agree on your assessment of twi being contemptibly poor or small. After reading the above posts about the serpent's seed and reading up to the POP chapter in Undertow, declaring twi as a Biblical research ministry is extremely pitiable. It's to the nth degree.

Hi Twinky, I used this emoji, not because of the rolling eyes, but because of the smile which is the only stand-alone smiley face I can see. I did not mean I was annoyed or bored by your picture.

Got it - Facebook. No mention of twi so that's a good sign. They look happy and his pictures are beautiful.

Thanks.

Thank you very much Rocky. What does FB stand for?

Yeah, I was being an extremely, over-the-top and out-in-left-field optimist when I began the post. By the end of my second last sentence, I saw the writing on wall, "Why bother?". I was being facetious when I wrote, "Having said that, maybe they should let a qualified non-member who specializes in cults do the teaching and facilitate the discussion." Good news - T-Bone brought the tread back on topic

Is this your way of saying "when pigs fly?"

Here's a posible idea: Why doesn't twi add a full and accurate teaching about cults on their website. This would be required viewing followed by an honest discussion involving the twig leader and all twig members, especially for new people before they take the pfal class. If the newer version of twi, a) truly is new and has nothing to hide, b) wants to show it has learned from the past so as not to repeat it, c) and believes cults are dangerous then, it would be a caring and helpful thing to do, in my opinion. The key here would be the words "full, accurate and honest." Having said that, maybe they should let a qualified non-member who specializes in cults do the teaching and facilitate the discussion. .

Here are 3 quotes concerning the past. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." "Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it." and "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." It may be that the new leaders are aware of a least one of these quotes and say they do not wish to repeat twi's history. However, I'd like to amend the middle quote to say, "Those who don't know history are destined to be duped." This is for all the new people who are getting involved in the "new" twi who have no knowledge of what happened in the old twi. God forbid they should ever be "swept up" by all the "promises" laid out on a green card or by the "love bombing" like so many people were during the 70's and 80's. This should never happen again and if the new twi isn't going to reveal it, then it's just another reason why GSC is so important. "huge pileup of issues" - imo, "going slow and working on the easy topics first" is the last thing they should do. To prevent history from repeating itself, they need to move quickly to reveal past "sexual sins" first before they publicly declare what the word says about adultery and sex before marriage. They can use John Schoenheit's paper on adultery if they are still "unsure" about these matters. "Going slow" implies that they want to rake in as much money as soon as possible before any . "important issues" - who decides what issues are important? Will what caused the traumas, suicides and "messed-up brains experienced by past "members" be at the top of their list of important issues? What would Luke from Acts have done today if he had to deal with what went on in twi? I hardly think he would continue to proudly show a picture of vp along with a glowing review of his life as the "founding father" on his website like twi does. https://www.theway.org/about-us/about-the-founder/ "We are thinking that non-official, non-payrolled TWI "members" will have to do it." Would that happen to include you Mike?

Thanks, I loved my job and the age group I was teaching (6-8 year olds).