WordWolf

I'm SO hoping that doesn't happen-especially since they seem mutually exclusive. (Green and Blue didn't even mix- could you imagine someone trying to wield Rage and Hope at the same time?) Ok, let's see...

Steve! is right. George's recollection is right- but not his interpretation of the quotes. So, Steve, please take it.

Unless that one guy was running a series of seminars, or the seminars were being run by a man whose last name is "Senior."

Well, judging from the timing, the reason is obvious in hindsight- many of us were there/then and left at the same time. The short answers were that vpw ran a VERY successful con using the work of other Christians and claiming he had a unique connection to God and that's where all the teachings came from. vpw died in 1985. A few years earlier, vpw decided all by himself to appoint l craig martindale as his successor (a lot of people recommended a lot of other people.) When asked about his decision, he said it was because lcm had always done whatever he said without questioning it. (vpw HIGHLY valued blind obedience, and the 2 men most likely to jump off a cliff at his command were the men he put in charge- lcm at HQ, and chris geer at Gartmore, Scotland.) Shortly after lcm was put in charge, he began messing things up. lcm grew up in twi and only knew what he learned from vpw. So, he lacked experience and broadness of practice that would have been vital in his position. So, with lcm running the bus into the ditch regularly, people saw there were things wrong- and supposedly vpw the perfect selected lcm. Then vpw died and the illusion of The Great And Powerful Oz faded for many people. Furthermore, shortly before he died, vpw visited cg at Gartmore and supposedly condemned all the leadership except for cg. ("The Passing of the Patriarch" is posted on this website- the 40-page letter cg wrote which he claims vpw said to him.) Then lcm went into "a fog" for about 2 years, while his inability to fill the office he was in caught up with him. He later decided (at the end of "the fog years") that what was missing was blind obedience like people had given vpw (at vpw's clever design.) So, when different people tried to reason with him in different ways, he fired them. So, in late 1988 and early 1989, 4/5 of all the twi leadership were fired, including virtually all the "top" ministry people. (With very few exceptions, they turned around and made their OWN organizations which demanded loyalty and insisted THEY had The Truth.) The entire research dept walked off at this time. So, 4/5 of the membership of twi walked off at that time. lcm made that a LOT easier by firing all the staff at the same time, ensuring they were still in contact with each other and able to function as "a ministry" pretty much like they always did- once they replaced any property belonging to twi (cars, houses, equipment.) A lot of people stayed connected- but if your local leaders all decided to bow their knee to the image of lcm (figuratively, he didn't make a statue of HIMSELF) and you did not, then you were isolated where you were, especially if the nearest local fellowships did the same. (Nowadays we have the internet and this would not be as much of an issue.) So, that's probably why they just STOPPED in 1990.

[WordWolf responds in brackets and boldface.]

Welcome to our community! That must have really been a bad day to be a kid- in effect, a reverse-Christmas where a bunch of toys gets TAKEN AWAY instead of GIVEN.

We discussed this before. :) "Epa!!!" That was from The Simpsons Movie. BTW, I hope you're at least aware of the "Blackest Night" storyline. I expected it to be horribly bad, but it seems to work, and it's including some stuff I never thought they'd use again (Xanshi and the big bad secretly behind it.) THIS is how a writer can use his inner fanboy for GOOD and not for evil. If nothing else, you might check your local shops for the shirts and rings. The rings are expected to start coming out in November.

Personally, I thought Crispin Glover as the "friendly" but secretly evil Willy Wonka was somehow more believable than the one played by Depp. If nothing else, his wardrobe really fit a villain more than a "good guy." (Then again, I was quite disappointed in that remake as a whole.)

"The signal is a standard mathematical progression. It does not carry a specific message." "But they want us to know they're there." "Apparently so. Starfleet believes their presence is an attempt to start a dialogue." "A cause for concern. For all we know, they are threatening our border." "Everything in the previous encounters suggests a peaceable race. We have to start from there."

Yes. I agree with all of that. :)

Yes, it's "Unnatural Selection." I'm not sure if this is when she gets a clue about Data. See what happens when Trek ignores its own ban on genetic engineering? :)

Since we've been abandoned, I'll move this along.... "If this hadn't worked, it would have been necessary to beam your energy into empty space-" "-and spread my atoms across the galaxy!" "Yes, I'm sorry, it-" "No, no, don't be sorry. Every time I get into the d* thing I'm convinced that's what's going to happen."

Anchorman Fred Willard Epic Movie (It's almost scary sometimes which movies I remember. This one I can't forget, try as I might. But it had a decent cast.)

"ATTICA! ATTICA!"

Those who have been on the receiving end (or the delivering end, depending on how you define it) of things science would scoff at tend to be among the slowest to be persuaded that modern science has all the answers- because we've seen otherwise. I know science has many, many, MANY answers, but that's far short of a Richard Dawkins-like "science has all the answers to everything except ignorance" position. Not for nothing are there notable scientists who are steadfast Christians....

Spring 1984, vpw decided the corps would be smokeless henceforth. Let's see, this would be after lifelong chain-smoker vpw was diagnosed with cancer, but long before (if ever) public announcements were made that he HAD cancer. (A lot of us heard his cause of death was "he got tired of the fight", which sounds like one way of saying "natural causes.")

If that's not "the Fantastic Four", it should be!

Hiway29, it's your turn.....

Hm. They say the King James Bible is divine, but the NEW King James (nearly identical, mainly changing "thees" and "thous" and "chooseth"s) is satanic. I certainly couldn't reason with them. Then again, with a grand total of 14 members, they'll just fade away faster than twi, hemorrhaging members the same way.

I just wanted to say that the free antivirus programs that consistently outperform AVG are Avira Antivir and Avast! and you might consider switching to one or the other. (I first heard Avast! recommended here, but it's got an excellent track record. And I was using AVG when I heard of Avast! )

Well, let's move this along. "Desperado" is the second of the 3 movies about "El Mariachi". The movie these quotes are from is "Once Upon a Time in Mexico", the third of the 3 movies, after "El Mariachi" and "Desperado." It's an interesting action movie with a lot of stars in the cast. If you like movies with shooting and stuff, you'll enjoy this one. (There's a bit of cursing and considerable violence, so children need not watch it.)

"I never heard of him." "Who?" "The man you recommended." "The guitar fighter?" "Why? Why would I want that? Why would I want bubblegum?" "See anything you like?" "No." "See you later." "F* you." "Look me in the eyes... and then kill me." "Are you going to be OK?" "I don't know kid, I don't know." "You will be." "Go practice." "Practice playing or shooting?" "What do you think?" "I don't think, I drink." "Any suggestions, Ms. "Why don't we get a room on the 5th floor so we can see the beautiful sunset"? " "I feel its only fair to warn you, that killing me is crossing the line and you will have every single Marine from here to Guantanamo Bay up your keister, mister, so just know that." "Fortunately for you, nothing you did is worth dying for. You have only seen too much. We are going to make sure this does not happen again." "Have you ever seen one of these? Have you ever used one? Don't ever because, they're very very bad. But right now I need you to aim it at the bad guy who's following us, and shoot him in the head." "Matalo?" "Oh yeah. Very matalo." "You want me to shoot the cook?" "No. I'll shoot the cook. My car's parked out back, anyway." "Bullfights. Bull hockey. Do you like this? The bull is stabbed, prodded, beaten. The bull is wounded. The bull is tired before the matador ever steps into the ring. Now, is that victory? Of course it is. Wanna know the secret to winning? Creative sportsmanship. In other words, one has to rig the game." "Is someone following you?" "Well, it's a little difficult for me to tell right now, because I'm kinda having a bad day." "Look out there, its a f*ing coup d'Ètat." "I can't see, f*-mook. I have no eyes." "Who are you guys?" "Sons of Mexico, sir."

"I never heard of him." "Who?" "The man you recommended." "The guitar fighter?" "Why? Why would I want that? Why would I want bubblegum?" "See anything you like?" "No." "See you later." "F* you." "Look me in the eyes... and then kill me." "Are you going to be OK?" "I don't know kid, I don't know." "You will be." "Go practice." "Practice playing or shooting?" "What do you think?" "I don't think, I drink." "Any suggestions, Ms. "Why don't we get a room on the 5th floor so we can see the beautiful sunset"? " "I feel its only fair to warn you, that killing me is crossing the line and you will have every single Marine from here to Guantanamo Bay up your keister, mister, so just know that." "Fortunately for you, nothing you did is worth dying for. You have only seen too much. We are going to make sure this does not happen again." "Have you ever seen one of these? Have you ever used one? Don't ever because, they're very very bad. But right now I need you to aim it at the bad guy who's following us, and shoot him in the head." "Matalo?" "Oh yeah. Very matalo." "You want me to shoot the cook?" "No. I'll shoot the cook. My car's parked out back, anyway." "Bullfights. Bull hockey. Do you like this? The bull is stabbed, prodded, beaten. The bull is wounded. The bull is tired before the matador ever steps into the ring. Now, is that victory? Of course it is. Wanna know the secret to winning? Creative sportsmanship. In other words, one has to rig the game." "Is someone following you?" "Well, it's a little difficult for me to tell right now, because I'm kinda having a bad day."

Hey, hiway29, your turn.....

"I never heard of him." "Who?" "The man you recommended." "Why? Why would I want that? Why would I want bubblegum?" "See anything you like?" "No." "See you later." "F* you." "Look me in the eyes... and then kill me." "Are you going to be OK?" "I don't know kid, I don't know." "You will be." "Go practice." "Practice playing or shooting?" "What do you think?" "I don't think, I drink." "Any suggestions, Ms. "Why don't we get a room on the 5th floor so we can see the beautiful sunset"? " "I feel its only fair to warn you, that killing me is crossing the line and you will have every single Marine from here to Guantanamo Bay up your keister, mister, so just know that." "Fortunately for you, nothing you did is worth dying for. You have only seen too much. We are going to make sure this does not happen again." "Have you ever seen one of these? Have you ever used one? Don't ever because, they're very very bad. But right now I need you to aim it at the bad guy who's following us, and shoot him in the head."