WordWolf

The Teacher. vpw used this term for himself, and encouraged others to do so (he used it in pfal, and it appears in the flyleaves of his books.) This, of course, implies he is either of superior caliber to all other teachers, or implies that he is the one and only teacher. Father in the Word. Another term used for vpw. GSC: the GreaseSpot Cafe. Where you're reading this. MOGFODAT: "Man of God For Our Day And Time." A GSC term for the never-to-be-articulated, but always strongly implied, concept that the President of twi was God's spokesman on earth, sort of like a pope. Sometimes simply "MOG"-same connotation, however. Pope: Head of the Roman Catholic Church. Often a target of tirades by vpw or lcm. The irony of their demands for what they insisted popes were not entitled to perpetually escaped them. moglet: a leader in twi who imitated as much as humanly possible about the reigning mog (haircut, hobbies), and went around all but barking out orders to those they considered underlings. charity-work: a concept totally nonexistent in twi. All expenses are to be paid for out-of-pocket by local members, and money, goods and services are very rarely, if ever, to leave the Root locales for any reason. Jesus Christ: the Messiah, whose involvement in things since the day of Pentecost is effectively limited to invoking his name in prayer and verses about him in the Bible. Members are not expected to look towards Christ, they are to look towards the MOGFODAT. (This is rarely, if ever, said aloud, but is implied and expected in varying degrees.)

tithe: twi teaches that God requires a minimum of 10% given to twi. Without 10% minimum, "God won't even spit in your direction." -lcm Was later raised to 15% by lcm. Currently back to 10% I think. ABS: "abundant sharing: money given to twi in excess of the tithe. Plurality giving: subtracting all the money you need to live on right now, and giving all the rest of it to twi. "The Garden of Living Waters". A water fountain and scupture at HQ. vpw and the other dead trustees are buried nearby. the Way Woods. Woods at hq. Some deceased members had their ashes scattered there. Currently access to the site is tightly restricted by twi. "living at a needs level". Often a requirement for staff at twi, and recommended to followers (who are encouraged to plurality give the rest to twi.) Living at a 19th century standard of living, with no frills, no month-to-month savings, and eating on a college-student budget. People living at a needs level are familiar with making mac-and-cheese last, and eating foods like "familia". (Whatever that is.) At this level, pets are forbidden as a needless expense. The bot/bod, of course, is exempt from this level of "committment." "the household"-twi and its followers. According to twi, people who leave their organization walk out from under the protection of God Almighty. "greasespot by midnight".-lcm claimed that people who walked out on twi would be run over by the devil and be a "greasespot by midnight", something like a run-over animal. "cop-out"-anyone who left twi. phone hook-up: a phone/speaker connection to twi's phoneline for the Sunday Night Service. Since the late 90s, followers are generally expected to attend a phone hook-up, have a subscription to the SNS tapes of the same timeframe, listen to the tape once a week during another night, and have a teaching on the same subject during the week. (The current bod seems to think their followers have short attention spans.) spoon: instrument of torture at Root locales. Children are expected to be punished by any adult present by a whack with a wooden spoon, carried by the adults expecting to oversee kids. Children learn to fear that thing like Freddy Kruger or Jason Voorhees. Discipline: unquestioning loyalty even unto painful death. Husbands are supposed to have this for twi, wives to their husbands (even abusive ones), children to their parents (and by extension, adults running a meeting.) Independent thought contrary to orders is punished socially or literally, depending on the people and situation. homo purge: in the 1990's, lcm periodically expressed nearly paralyzing fears that there were spiritual dissidents in twi. He then set out on a witchhunt, and many people left or were forced out with either the label "homo" or "homo sympathizer". debt: a term that has had varied meanings in twi. By sometime in the 1990's, lcm declared that car loans and mortgages were debt, and forbidden. Members were expected to discard all of them in their lives. Members who refused were not in good standing and were restricted from certain functions. According to the current bod, twi has never had a policy on debt one way or the other. "international countries"-places other than the US where someone in twi is, even if it's a layover on a long plane trip. "chorus choir"-the singing chorus at hq. Clips of them can currently be seen on twi's website.

tithe: twi teaches that God requires a minimum of 10% given to twi. Without 10% minimum, "God won't even spit in your direction." -lcm Was later raised to 15% by lcm. Currently back to 10% I think. ABS: "abundant sharing: money given to twi in excess of the tithe. Plurality giving: subtracting all the money you need to live on right now, and giving all the rest of it to twi. "The Garden of Living Waters". A water fountain and scupture at HQ. vpw and the other dead trustees are buried nearby. the Way Woods. Woods at hq. Some deceased members had their ashes scattered there. Currently access to the site is tightly restricted by twi. "living at a needs level". Often a requirement for staff at twi, and recommended to followers (who are encouraged to plurality give the rest to twi.) Living at a 19th century standard of living, with no frills, no month-to-month savings, and eating on a college-student budget. People living at a needs level are familiar with making mac-and-cheese last, and eating foods like "familia". (Whatever that is.) At this level, pets are forbidden as a needless expense. The bot/bod, of course, is exempt from this level of "committment." "the household"-twi and its followers. According to twi, people who leave their organization walk out from under the protection of God Almighty. "greasespot by midnight".-lcm claimed that people who walked out on twi would be run over by the devil and be a "greasespot by midnight", something like a run-over animal. "cop-out"-anyone who left twi. phone hook-up: a phone/speaker connection to twi's phoneline for the Sunday Night Service. Since the late 90s, followers are generally expected to attend a phone hook-up, have a subscription to the SNS tapes of the same timeframe, listen to the tape once a week during another night, and have a teaching on the same subject during the week. (The current bod seems to think their followers have short attention spans.) spoon: instrument of torture at Root locales. Children are expected to be punished by any adult present by a whack with a wooden spoon, carried by the adults expecting to oversee kids. Children learn to fear that thing like Freddy Kruger or Jason Voorhees. Discipline: unquestioning loyalty even unto painful death. Husbands are supposed to have this for twi, wives to their husbands (even abusive ones), children to their parents (and by extension, adults running a meeting.) Independent thought contrary to orders is punished socially or literally, depending on the people and situation. homo purge: in the 1990's, lcm periodically expressed nearly paralyzing fears that there were spiritual dissidents in twi. He then set out on a witchhunt, and many people left or were forced out with either the label "homo" or "homo sympathizer". debt: a term that has had varied meanings in twi. By sometime in the 1990's, lcm declared that car loans and mortgages were debt, and forbidden. Members were expected to discard all of them in their lives. Members who refused were not in good standing and were restricted from certain functions. According to the current bod, twi has never had a policy on debt one way or the other. "international countries"-places other than the US where someone in twi is, even if it's a layover on a long plane trip. "chorus choir"-the singing chorus at hq. Clips of them can currently be seen on twi's website.

For the benefit of those new arrivals, as well as various lurkers, interested parties, and undocumented immigrants out there, I thought it would be nice to make a thread with some of the terms, acronyms and concepts connected with both twi and the GSC. Feel free to add any terms, but in the interest of keeping this useful, I ask you all, PLEASE PLEASE keep discussion and chatter off the thread if you can. Many thanks. Also, with the exception of, say, trustees, try not to post full names. =============================================== twi: The Way International. An organization supposedly organized for Biblical research, teaching and fellowship. vpw: Victor Paul Wierwille. Founder of twi. Teacher of pfal. Died 1985. Vesper Chimes: the organization preceding twi. 1952(1942?)promise/snowstorm: according to vpw, God promised him that if vpw would teach God's Word like it hadn't been known since the First Century if vpw would teach it to others. According to vpw, he asked God to confirm this by letting him see snow (it was a clear day). According to vpw, he opened his eyes to see a virtual whiteout, unable to see even the gas pumps across the street. pfal: Power For Abundant Living. vpw's classes, required for his organization. Foundational, Intermediate and Advanced levels, the Foundational was often referred to simply as "PFAL". vpw apparently copied almost the entire contents of the class from classes and books by BG Leonard, JE Stiles, EW Kenyon and EW Bullinger. "white book"/RTHST: "Receiving the Holy Spirit Today." The book on Holy Spirit that was a pfal Foundational collateral book. Nearly 100% of its contents were taken (without citation) from Leonard, Stiles and Bullinger. "orange book": "Power For Abundant Living." The main textbook for the Foundational class. Borrows heavily from sources like Bullinger's "How to Enjoy the Bible" and "Companion Bible." "Blue Book": "The Bible Tells Me So." First of four books of "Studies in Abundant Living" that also accompany the Foundational class in one way or another. "Green Book"/TNDC: "The New, Dynamic Church." Book two of four, S.I.A.L. TWW: "The Word's Way". Book 3 of 4, Studies in Abundant Living. GMW: "God's Magnified Word"-Book 4 of 4, Studies in Abundant Living. OMSW: "Order My Steps in Thy Word"-Book 5 of 4, Studies in Abundant Living. Edited and released after vpw's death. SNT: Sunday Night Tapes. Sermons available for purchase or subscription. TOM: Tape of the Month. A slightly more select set of sermons. GWT: Gartmore Weekly Tapes. Same as SNT, but came from Gartmore. WOW: Word Over the World Ambassadors. A one-year program, similar to mission work, elsewhere in the US (usually). WOWs are expected to run pfal classes and attract converts. Way Corps: 4 year program, 1 year WOW, 3 years at a Root locale. Consists of some Bible teaching and considerable micromanagement and busywork. Earlier classes had more freedom, later ones were nearly a prison sentence. Root/Trunk etc. twi uses a tree analogy. The permanent HQ locales were called Root locales (HQ outside New Knoxville, on the former Wierwille family farm, Way College- Emporia, Kansas, Way College of Biblical Research-Rome City, Indiana, Way Family Ranch-Camp Gunnison, Colorado, LEAD outdoor academy.) The Root locales are quietly being sold off, current number of remaining locales may be in flux. The Trunk is the Country level (USA). Regions cover several states. Limbs are states. Territories split up the state. Branches split up the territories. Twigs are the local Bible fellowships which meet in people's homes. (Other than Root locales, almost all events take place in homes.) bot/bod: Board of Trustees/Board of Directors. The people who run the show, supposedly, the only actual "members" twi has. The President effectively holds autocratic power. lcm: Loy Craig Martindale. vpw's successor, a graduate of the early Way Corps and later, Director of same. After vpw's death, this ex-athlete attempted (and failed) to fill his shoes with his own events. wap: Way of Abundance and Power: lcm's cheap ripoff of pfal. By all accounts, it is rambling, disjointed, and lacks the substance the former class had. Includes bizarre doctrines like "original sin was a 3-way with Adam, Eve and the serpent" (something like that.) Way Disciple: lcm's cheap ripoff of the WOW program. AOS: Athletes of the Spirit. lcm's 2-hour dance production attempting to use sports analogies to represent all aspects of the Christian's life. rfr: Rosalie Fox Rivenbark. The woman who replaced lcm when he was forced to step down as President due to sex scandals and lawsuits.

For the benefit of those new arrivals, as well as various lurkers, interested parties, and undocumented immigrants out there, I thought it would be nice to make a thread with some of the terms, acronyms and concepts connected with both twi and the GSC. Feel free to add any terms, but in the interest of keeping this useful, I ask you all, PLEASE PLEASE keep discussion and chatter off the thread if you can. Many thanks. Also, with the exception of, say, trustees, try not to post full names. =============================================== twi: The Way International. An organization supposedly organized for Biblical research, teaching and fellowship. vpw: Victor Paul Wierwille. Founder of twi. Teacher of pfal. Died 1985. Vesper Chimes: the organization preceding twi. 1952(1942?)promise/snowstorm: according to vpw, God promised him that if vpw would teach God's Word like it hadn't been known since the First Century if vpw would teach it to others. According to vpw, he asked God to confirm this by letting him see snow (it was a clear day). According to vpw, he opened his eyes to see a virtual whiteout, unable to see even the gas pumps across the street. pfal: Power For Abundant Living. vpw's classes, required for his organization. Foundational, Intermediate and Advanced levels, the Foundational was often referred to simply as "PFAL". vpw apparently copied almost the entire contents of the class from classes and books by BG Leonard, JE Stiles, EW Kenyon and EW Bullinger. "white book"/RTHST: "Receiving the Holy Spirit Today." The book on Holy Spirit that was a pfal Foundational collateral book. Nearly 100% of its contents were taken (without citation) from Leonard, Stiles and Bullinger. "orange book": "Power For Abundant Living." The main textbook for the Foundational class. Borrows heavily from sources like Bullinger's "How to Enjoy the Bible" and "Companion Bible." "Blue Book": "The Bible Tells Me So." First of four books of "Studies in Abundant Living" that also accompany the Foundational class in one way or another. "Green Book"/TNDC: "The New, Dynamic Church." Book two of four, S.I.A.L. TWW: "The Word's Way". Book 3 of 4, Studies in Abundant Living. GMW: "God's Magnified Word"-Book 4 of 4, Studies in Abundant Living. OMSW: "Order My Steps in Thy Word"-Book 5 of 4, Studies in Abundant Living. Edited and released after vpw's death. SNT: Sunday Night Tapes. Sermons available for purchase or subscription. TOM: Tape of the Month. A slightly more select set of sermons. GWT: Gartmore Weekly Tapes. Same as SNT, but came from Gartmore. WOW: Word Over the World Ambassadors. A one-year program, similar to mission work, elsewhere in the US (usually). WOWs are expected to run pfal classes and attract converts. Way Corps: 4 year program, 1 year WOW, 3 years at a Root locale. Consists of some Bible teaching and considerable micromanagement and busywork. Earlier classes had more freedom, later ones were nearly a prison sentence. Root/Trunk etc. twi uses a tree analogy. The permanent HQ locales were called Root locales (HQ outside New Knoxville, on the former Wierwille family farm, Way College- Emporia, Kansas, Way College of Biblical Research-Rome City, Indiana, Way Family Ranch-Camp Gunnison, Colorado, LEAD outdoor academy.) The Root locales are quietly being sold off, current number of remaining locales may be in flux. The Trunk is the Country level (USA). Regions cover several states. Limbs are states. Territories split up the state. Branches split up the territories. Twigs are the local Bible fellowships which meet in people's homes. (Other than Root locales, almost all events take place in homes.) bot/bod: Board of Trustees/Board of Directors. The people who run the show, supposedly, the only actual "members" twi has. The President effectively holds autocratic power. lcm: Loy Craig Martindale. vpw's successor, a graduate of the early Way Corps and later, Director of same. After vpw's death, this ex-athlete attempted (and failed) to fill his shoes with his own events. wap: Way of Abundance and Power: lcm's cheap ripoff of pfal. By all accounts, it is rambling, disjointed, and lacks the substance the former class had. Includes bizarre doctrines like "original sin was a 3-way with Adam, Eve and the serpent" (something like that.) Way Disciple: lcm's cheap ripoff of the WOW program. AOS: Athletes of the Spirit. lcm's 2-hour dance production attempting to use sports analogies to represent all aspects of the Christian's life. rfr: Rosalie Fox Rivenbark. The woman who replaced lcm when he was forced to step down as President due to sex scandals and lawsuits.

Wow. Amazing how that pattern repeats so closely. Even down to the percentages. It's almost enough to make you believe there were devils involved in the evil actions of one, then went over and worked with the other. If one were to be so bold as to suggest that, I mean. "Dogmatic and abrasive." Yeah, that was our own little Angel Face, that was.....

I'm not the best one to ask, but here's the impression I got..... A) Starting time to early 80's...lots of people joined, more than left. B) early 80's to late 80's....vpw hands over organization to lcm, and a number of things happen, some of them due to a lack of confidence in that incompetent holding the reins. Membership, at its peak around 1979, begins to drop in areas, mostly from old-timers and higher-ups. Most members stick around. C) 1989-1990. Tired of the past few years, lcm draws a line in the sand and demands allegiance. 80% of the group leaves that year, with more to follow over the next year. D) 1990's. lcm's increasingly draconian policies kick some people out, and disgust some others so they leave. lcm's classes, inferior to vpw's classes, are unable to interest new people. Many more leave, very few join. E) 2000's. lcm was fired due to lawsuits. The internet has crippled twi's ability to draw new members without them knowing all the scandals. twi is largely trying to find ways to draw new members, but it's composed almost entirely of people 40 and older, with their children leaving twi at the first opportunity. They can't relate to young folk, and older folk can see they have nothing to offer. So, membership rolls continue to trickle downward. So, those still in are probably long-timers...10 years or more, some for most of their natural lives. They're still losing members faster than they can replace them.

I've never gotten to ask anyone this one, and I didn't know which organization pushed this idea until now. So, I'm curious what their answer was/is. What unit of measurement did they use to calculate the pyramids-their own, or the one in effect in Egypt at the time the pyramids were built? If the old one, how do they know they have the correct scale and units? If their own, why the HECK would the Egyptians use a scale nonexistent at the time they built them? Did they ever answer that one?

Oakspear posted: Hmm. I never heard of a church where displays of anger are considered acceptable behaviour. You haven't heard the tenth part of that little subject. BTW, hello. :)--> Uncle Hairy posted: That was funny. :D--> Funny from here, but typical from there. People leaving were given a smear campaign to make a lawyer wince. You want to see some scary stuff, check out the links on the main page. Someone blamed a person's death by plane crash on their family's exit from the organization.

I think someone said once that this was why lcm started coming up with meaningless statements like "go until you hear glass break". He was trying to "spontaneously" come up with things worth quoting so they could be overheard and written down. No easy task when you have little of substance to say in the first place.

It was 1989. The communications and scuttlebut from hq were looking problematic. I remained optimistic that things would improve-I believed, and said, that the other higher-ups would confer, and lcm would get his act together. (Paraphrasing.) The next communique was "all the leadership in your state has been fired for being evil". Well, having gotten to know some of these people, I knew that wasn't true, and convinced me it was time to prepare an exit. I wasn't sure who I'd end up with, but the mass firings made that part easier, since all NY state's leaders left as an organized unit, and most of the state's wayfers went with them. Seeing the only viable choice as one or the other, I went with the state (vf) and who they went with at the time (cg). Looking back, I still think, at the time, it was the right decision.

It means they will be accountable to God for abusing His people, at a time He has appointed, in a fashion He has determined. Being born again is NOT a free pass to abuse God's people, murder, etc. We can discuss the specifics in the DOCTRINAL forum, since that is a DOCTRINAL matter, and not an issue germane to this topic, which is specifically about false prophets, and, as you added, whether or not specific leaders qualify as such. Sounds like, yes, we seem to agree they qualify, and we all agree on this.

*Saruman-like voice* Welcome, Hope, we've been waiting for you to come around. We've reserved a seat for you. Here's your coffee, pocket protector and laptop. Feel free to join in any of the chess matches or Dungeons and Dragons games currently underway....

Personally, I hope you DID download that software firewall as a last-barrier of defense against a program that somehow made it thru your security and is now trying to phone home with your data. Other than that, making sure your programs are updated frequently, and you should be as safe as it's possible to be. Actually, to REALLY be as safe as humanly possible, switch O/S away from Windows, and switch from IE to Firefox or Opera or Mozilla, but your system sounds more secure than MINE, and I'm a paranoid.

That was actually my first guess. Triangles = Trinity, so they're verboten. Then again, they're also used as symbols for some other stuff lcm used to scream about, so they MUST be bad. Of course, RAINBOWS are ALSO symbols that have been used for stuff lcm used to scream about, but lcm couldn't condemn them because he used them in his AOS production. Hmmm.... The guy danced around in tights, and wore rainbow insignia. If you just saw those clips, what would have been your FIRST guess as to what they meant?

I'm more patient than ALL of you. (Also, less a movie person than ANY of you.) I'm waiting for the extended diamond special edition release of the TRILOGY, then buying them all in one shot. :D-->

This was too good a line to let slip by us, ckeer, so I made it stand out.

Let's see... He claimed to receive direct revelation on doctrine, but photocopied it from others (sometimes making mistakes the originals lacked), and make predictions of the future from time to time that did NOT come to pass. That's what all those conspiracy theories led to-predictions of the fall of western civilization, and takeovers of the US by secret societies. He spoke of things that were to come to pass, and held himself simultaneously as THE Teacher, The One and Only man speaking on behalf of God Almighty. Therefore, prophecies which did not come to pass. When a prophet speaks of things that do NOT come to pass, they are a FALSE prophet, they did NOT receive it from God, they spoke it PRESUMPTUOUSLY, and, under the Mosaic Law, earned the Death Penalty. Further, he used the women who wanted to worship God for his base lusts. By these evil dealings, he caused the Lord's people to transgress. After all, if one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him, but if a man sins against the LORD, who shall entreat for Him? (I Samuel 2.) Like Hophni and Phineas before him, who were sons of Belial and knew not the Lord, he used the office of a servant of God for sexual satisfaction at the expense of God's people, and personal gain and luxuries at the expense of God's people. I'm not saying he himself was a son of Belial, but he sure acted in the same FASHION as one, didn't he? If he wasn't, he did a fair imitation of one. Therefore, vpw was a false prophet who caused God's people to stumble. Part of the time. Sometimes he was kind to animals and small children. Then again, John Wayne Gacy served as a clown and did children's parties some of the time, when he wasn't killing people. I hear Jeffrey Dahmer could have a kindly demeanor most of the time-he only ate people part of the time as a sort-of hobby. Evil communications corrupt good manners.

Periodically, I'm surprised "America's Funniest Home Videos" is still around. Once in a great while I'll catch a few minutes by accident. I can usually catch an animal being clever without anyone getting hurt. As for "the Swan", my main comment is an objection to the name. The original fable was about "the Ugly Duckling", a bird that thought that it was wrong for looking different, but actually was a SWAN, not a duckling, and was fine just the way she was. Does the show do the same thing? No. It starts with the premise these women are NOT fine the way they are, and proceeds to make changes with surgery. I don't watch so-called "reality tv" anyway.

I'm thinking this probably was also in the "By The Way" series of paid articles vpw wrote that were published in local papers, and also compiled for sale by twi.

"Your abundant sharing in action." Various lawsuits for damages from people they damaged, and nuisance suits by twi for people they don't like.

I can top that.... How many were told this by a splinter group AFTER LEAVING TWI? And, yes, it was obvious even then that I was being told "re-read" instead of "re-search". No, thanks, I'd rather "sit around reading the Bible" instead.

Here I thought you bought the domain name and simply redirected it to your homepage........

Of course it does. No surprise to most of us, it's also JUST like what vpw said to do when training hunting dogs AND CHILDREN.

http://www.bullyonline.org/related/abuse.htm#Reporting_abuse Why people sometimes don't speak up.