WordWolf

Ok, here's another one.

"No one can pull the wool over my eyes. Cashmere maybe, but wool, never."

"Cuneiform, which is the oldest form of writing, was invented by the Assyrians.

But I read it as though it was Boustrophedon, you see?"

"I see fine. I also hear pretty good, too. But I didn't understand one word you said."

(BTW, Cuneiform was probably invented by the SUMERIANS-so the quoted statement

is correctly quoted, but factually wrong.)

"Now how did I know it was inhabited? That helicopter pilot told me this place was out of sight man!"

"We MUST be way out! Get a load of these characters!"

"I don't know how we're going to explain to our friends that we spent several years with people

who aren't even in the social register."

"Do you think I began a dozen international corporations by stooping to thievery?"

"Well, of course not."

"Shows how naive you are. How else do you get to the top of the corporate ladder?"

"Why, do you know what it would take? It would take a polyester derivative of an organic hydroxide molecule."

"Watch your language! You're in the presence of a lady!"

"Acidus Salicilicus! (That's aspirin.)"

"Acidus Salicilius, yes! I'll buy you one, I'll buy you a dozen!"

Freebie?

Ok, hang on....

"Electrical banana

Is gonna be a sudden craze,

Electrical banana

Is bound to be the very next phase"

Hm, that's interesting.

What they don't monitor would be if someone were to purchase their own cell phone or internet service. However, since now TWI supplies phones and internet service to even dorm rooms in Founder's Hall, why waste your money buying your own service?!

No, instead they willingly use the supplied offerings only to have their connections monitored. They did it when I was in (I should know, I monitored them), and I doubt things have changed any different.

It is "their' services offered for your personal use, but that only means you agree to how they oversee the 'service'.

Never forget you're dealing with an organization that always finds time to find ways to intrude

and monitor your personal life when they can find a way to do so.

Do you use those standards in the same fashion on ALL books?

After all, a LOT of books from the same timeframe as the New Testament are

considered to be "authoritative" or at least unquestioned,

with far less documentation supporting them, than the New Testament has.

Frankly, my beloved SHAKESPEARE has perhaps the same level of

authoritative support, and that's over a millenium more recent than the

New Testament. Most people never question THAT, and most of those

only question a word or two here or there.

("handsaw", "heron", or "hernshaw"?)

Based on my cautious answers to a number where I felt there were trick questions

(I reject the first half but not the second or vice versa),

my results surprised me slightly.

I came up as both 92% Monarchian and 92% Socinian,

but Monarchian predominated because of the tiebreaker question- which I thought was a

good way to break a tie.

A faithful twi'er would have been 100% Socinian, I think.

The tiebreaker for me was that I care more about how God expresses Himself than

I care about the ubiquitous "Trinity" biting and devouring.

One of the odd things is that my attempts to understand and answer ALL the questions

on both sides of the Trinity debate, apparently, makes my position on the nature of

Christ sound, at least superficially, like the Jehovah's Witness (Watchtower Society)

position. They hold that Jesus was originally an archangel. That's distinctly different

from the twi position, but- now that I think of it- my current thinking places that

closer than the twi "orthodox" position as closer to the truth.

(Not that I think THAT's the answer, either...)

Ok, here's another one.

"No one can pull the wool over my eyes. Cashmere maybe, but wool, never."

"Cuneiform, which is the oldest form of writing, was invented by the Assyrians.

But I read it as though it was Boustrophedon, you see?"

"I see fine. I also hear pretty good, too. But I didn't understand one word you said."

(BTW, Cuneiform was probably invented by the SUMERIANS-so the quoted statement

is correctly quoted, but factually wrong.)

Obviously, E-Sword.net's free program would be one.

Bolshevik......yeah, I knew that but guess it slipped my mind. Seems like a steady spiral downward, closely monitoring the cashflow and investments, until the small circle of emeritus elders stop running the vpw-bookclub.

Reminds me of what one guy said-about using technology to watch movies backwards.

He explained what several were about in reverse, but the one I was reminded of here was

"the Godfather." It becomes the story of a mob family that loses all its money and power and

eventually becomes so poor it has to move back to Italy.

twi keeps shrinking, and shrinking...

Looks like the dull denomination is ruling with a heavy hand (see corps poem) and the corps program is all but dead.

Oh, this little thing?

"What constitutes a school?

Not ancient halls and ivy-mantled towers,

Where dull traditions rule With heavy hand

youth's lightly springing powers.

Not spacious pleasure courts,

And lofty temples of athletic fame,

Where devotees of sports

Mistake a pastime for life's highest aim;

Not fashion, nor renown

Of wealthy patronage and rich estate;

No, none of these can crown

A school with light and make it truly great.

But masters, strong and wise,

Who teach because they love the teacher's task,

And find their richest prize

In eyes that open and in minds that ask."

(Henry Van Dyke)

I have been told vpw correctly attributed it a number of times.

Me, I never heard the attribution myself.

Any opinions out there? Any thoughts on the NT canon?

I have thoughts on the NT canon.

If one were to go by the tiny bit vpw was able to learn, just about anything could sound

reasonable concerning ancient texts. (Especially if they elevated Aramaic.)

Thus, one is forced (if one actually wants to learn) to go outside twi teachings to

learn anything about the texts.

I'm not exactly an expert on them, but I've learned a lot more than I knew when I

was in twi.

My conclusions are: if there was no divine guiding hand protecting the essential

meaning of the texts, and making sure we received the essence of what was necessary,

then the humans who worked on it did an amazingly-successful job by themselves

in preserving both,

and the discoveries of the last 50 years only underscore that.

I've found that-with the exception of less than a dozen verses across the entire

Bible- that talk of conspiracies, altered texts, and excluded texts all add up to

a new theology that is supported by a "leap of faith", but not the archeological

evidence or any other kind of objective standard.

Of course, that's just MY opinion. You DID ask.

I think we know everything we NEED to know,

but not everything we WANT to know.

I'm sure most of us who sat through PFAL remember how this verse was handled.

VPW taught that your "name" represents everything related to you .

Therefore God magnified the Word(considered it more important) above everything else related to Him.

A modern day translation might be that "nothing is more important than the Word"

The problem with this is that it assumes that people in an ancient culture assigned the same significance to the word "name" as VPW said it has in this time we are currently in.

Maybe they did. Maybe they didn't. I don't personally know. I don't honestly have the skills and know-how to accurately research that question. I think, though, that to do an honest study of that question, one would have to use an array of tools that were not part of the PFAL class.

Remember the "lambano" example?

It went something like:

Lambano---lamballo ----ballo ----ball ----throw--- throw it out ----throw it outward------manifest----SIT!!!

How's that for a scholarly approach to defining a word? <_<

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought that connecting "lambano" to "ball" by

completely changing the word

(hey, even one letter changes "chump" to "champ", "desert" to "dessert", or "descent" to "decent"...)

and thinking the word somehow remains connected.

The truly bizarre thing for me was seeing that BULLINGER pulled that one.

It's in the Greek Lexicon.

The same explanation is used, and it STILL makes no sense.

Does anyone know how successful the famous

"don't visit the GSC online or you'll get possessed"

rap is working on those currently in, lately?

Too late. twi learns they should have concentrated their outreach all on the state of Nevada....

I just stumbled onto this site and thought you guys could satisfy my curiosity about a few things.

How are the "Abundant" classes run now? Who's teaching them? Is Foundational still videos in a home environment and Advanced at HQ?

Does TWI still emphasize outreach, and--if so--how do they do it? Does CES have an outreach program?

Hello!

There's a sticky at the top of this forum titled "Welcome to the Greasespot Cafe."

It's got some advice for new arrivals. I'd recommend it. (Then again, I'm biased.)

There's no universal consensus among posters, but most agree on basics concerning

twi and so on.

The "pfal" classes have not been run for years. lcm declared them an "old wineskin" and

made up his own "wap" class (Way of Abundance and Power) which, by all accounts,

is inferior to pfal in many ways. The wap classes are currently being used.

Foundational, last I heard, was live in areas, since videos would show lcm, and he was

kicked out for GETTING CAUGHT using the staff and corps women as a private harem.

(In twi, getting caught is bad, but if you don't, then it's ok.)

The local Foundational classes are taught by whoever's local. And require a minimum of 3

students, not 6 or 7.

The Advanced class Specials are done twice every other year. They're not done on

grounds, but at a hotel (all costs bourne by the students, all work done by the hotel

staff, the corps, or local believers.)

twi can't really emphasize outreach too hard because even the people in it are too

apathetic to push the programs and stuff.

CES (aka STFI) I can't tell you about, but they have their own subforum.

Someone else will have to tell you about it.

CES/STFI has some fans who post here, so responses will vary widely.

Chula,

I think it says a whole lot that someone like you has to come to THIS site to find out what's really going on at TWI. I mean.. TWI has their own site after all... www.theway.org. But I suppose you went there first thinking they'd have useful information posted, huh?

Well, welcome to the Greasespot Chula!

sudo

True.

I'm used to thinking this is normal for twi, but it's BIZARRE for MOST church groups to not be able

to get simple answers to basic questions like were posed here.

Let's see, to try to answer the questions....

Most of the stories I hear regarding sexual misconduct in TWI directly involve either VPW or LCM. Obviously there were many other leaders involved in that activity.

A few confessed, either that they were some of those who engaged in misconduct,

or were part of the criminal cover-ups.

Some (like the "Moneyhands") have never admitted to their role in cover-ups.

(But we know anyway.)

With as many women as are alleged to be abused, it would have been very difficult to keep a lid on things. I just assume those in the know, knew.

plus people like Peter W who left before this was all in place.)

Donna Martindale had to have known Craig was engaged in that behavior. Did she just not care?

Eyewitnesses reported that she had said, before meeting lcm, that she was going to marry

a guy influential in twi.

lcm's own "vp and me" reported that-when lcm thought about marrying Donna

(read his account-it's cold, clinical, and he didn't really know her that well,

TO HEAR HIM TELL IT), vpw went off to tell her

A) lcm was thinking about marrying her

B) lcm was going to be a top dog in twi.

Eyewitnesses AFTER said Donna said she selected lcm because he was going to

be up there in rank.

Does one really need to be a detective to follow the arrows?

For her, other things were secondary considerations.

Political marriages often turn a blind eye to infidelity- among the unbelievers.

Among Christians, this is shocking, but remember twi was more about cold

business than about Christianity- when the inner circle was involved.

Were top leadership women approaching men or was it mostly just Men of God on the prowl? Was Donna, or any higher-ups, hopping in bed with a bunch of guys?

I know of the rumors concerning her lesbianity. If that is true, I wonder how she felt about Craig ranting, screaming, cursing, and spitting about how homosexuals and lesbians are possessed.

(Craig) "I've been looking all over for Donna, have you seen her???"

(Obedient Corp Submissive) :D "God bless you man of God, why you're looking spiritual today. As a matter of fact, I just saw Donna and the Fox trotting off into the Way woods.

(Craig) <_< (he thinks to himself) "Hmmm, that should give me just enough time for a quickie before Donna comes back".

.....meanwhile in the Way Woods....

(The Fox) :wub: "So what did you want to talk about Donna?"

(Donna) "I'm sick of Criag, he always thinks he's right!"

(The Fox) :wub: "Can I do anything to make you feel better? Wanna see something?"....

THE END

These are the people we served and obeyed.

About top women being unfaithful, there have been a few accounts- but none that I've read

involved rape. (Doesn't mean there weren't any-just that I haven't read them and they're

not as common if they exist.)

As to lcm and his knee-jerk TERROR of homosexuality,

perhaps part of it is due to his jock-athlete mentality.

Perhaps it's due to a family member of his, who IS reported to be gay.

(Who was never involved in twi and has not invited himself into these discussions.)

Perhaps it's due to some inner fear that HE had some homosexual thoughts-

although there's no evidence for that other than the tendency for some men

with homosexual thoughts to viciously attack and demonize homosexuals.

Perhaps it's because he felt at least partially emasculated that he was the top guy in twi,

and in his own mind equal to the US President (like vpw put around about himself when he

had the same office lcm now held),

and yet he was unable to assert his masculinity sufficiently to overcome any

lesbian acts in his OWN marriage.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

All are possibilities, some more likely, some less.

Take your pick.

I'd say if there's 2000 ADULTS, that's the highest they can be now.

(And I'm fairly confident they're below 2000 adults.)

I'd believe 3000 people including all minors.

However, minors who get older LEAVE.

And they aren't bringing in any significant numbers of new people.

Although they've chased off all but the most dedicated Kool-Aid drinkers, mostly.

So the numbers are low, and have no means of rising,

and the group hasn't risen as high as "zero population growth" since the late 80s.

That means they've lost members pretty consistently until they plateaued down

around their current numbers.

"Maverick"?

Well, NOW I would have gotten it, but I already disqualified myself earlier.

(maybe I misunderstand)

I'm not a muscian myself, but I don't think putting down the people on stage is appropriate. Reason being there's probably a lot of untapped talent on that stage. It's not the people on stage who are reasponsible for the music (well, most are not). I bet under different circumstances they could be a lot more inspiring. (i.e. in a different church) twi has talent for suppressing talent and "creativity" (gasp! he said "create"! )

But still. . .

:)

On the one hand, the talent pool is incredibly shallow.

On the other hand, those who CAN be found must work under draconian conditions and incredible amounts

of micromanagement by people with no background in media or entertainment whatsoever.

Is there ANY chance any REAL entertainment could survive such a killing field?

I'm confident I haven't seen this one.

In fact, upon bowing out, I can say with confidence that I honestly do not recall

even hearing that this was filming, filmed, playing, on DVD, or on cable,

nor have I ever seen even a billboard.

Frankly, I'd dismiss this as an urban legend if you weren't asserting you've actually

SEEN it.

Looks like we need some more help here....

It's Raf's turn. If, however, there are any lurkers out there who would like to post one, do it now.

George

Lurkers who haven't taken a turn recently,

this is a gift-wrapped opportunity.

Jump in there with an episode, from the original series, NextGen, DS9,

or even Voyager or Enterprise.

(But not the cartoon.)

Let's see some new faces here!

"Dragnet"?

Wait, "the Beverly Hillbillies"???????