Watered Garden

I thought it was one of the most most disgusting things I'd ever heard anyone say. But then you get this mental image of a king, wearing a long, red velvet robe trimmed in ermine, wearing a huge glittering crown and carrying a scepter. And behind him, as he pridefully strides down a long aisle of bowing, scraping sycophants, a proud acolyte bears a red velvet, ermine trimmed pillow, upon which rests...The Golden Jock Strap!

Hi, Maya, glad to have you aboard! I post rather sporadically nowadays. I was "in" from 1973 to 1996, when we were unceremoniously dumped. First, let me say the response of your leadership to your account of sexual abuse was horrible and wrong, but typically TWI. You were completely innocent and they had no business treating you that way. I hope you're doing well now and enjoying life. It's heartbreaking to me that so many "way kids" turned completely from a loving God because of their upbringing in this vicious little cult.

We were only "in" the FWC for three months, so I'm not sure how qualified I am to answer this question. But here's what I recall: Rome City campus had farm fields, a dairy barn, a pig barn and chickens. While I was there, chickens were slaughtered and dressed and frozen, potatoes, onions and tomatoes were harvested (I wrote elsewhere about the nightmare salsa making and tomato processing), pigs were slaughtered, dressed and frozen. You would think we ate like kings! Nope, these goodies were for the tables of the anointed ones at NK. We worked four hours and went to classes four hours. I was on the cleaning crew at first, and we would scrub that long open staircase with wonderfully fragrant Murphy's Oil Soap, then polish it with some sort of furniture polish. Often I would labor at this task in the morning, and see the afternoon cleaning crew doing the same thing! The best I can recall, our purpose was to be the lowly and unworthy servants of the powers that be. We provided them with food and someone to yell at. After the first wave of hapless souls were sent to Gunnison for LEAD and many of them failed, including one poor woman who went into a bad bout of asthma and was housed in a hotel because she was so disgusting to the Martindale he couldn't bear the thought of her contaminating the holy ground of Camp Gunnison, we had a corps night hookup to end all hookups. Martindale was screaming and howling about the situation in general and this asthma sufferer in particular. I was in shock; call a doctor for her you damn fool; people die from status asthmaticus! Then, in perfect rage and completely unspeakable fury, The One Man Of God For This Day And For This Time And For This Hour bellows at the top of his voice, referring to the FWC: THERE'S NOT A SINGLE ONE OF YOU THAT IS WORTHY OF THE PRIVILEGE OF CARRYING MY JOCKSTRAP! It was all I could do to not jump to my feet, throw my hands in the air and yell: THANK YOU JESUS! So that's what I saw as the purpose of FWC: Feed the anointed ones, be screamed at by the MOG, be criticized, condemned, run ragged, and oh by the way half starved. WE didn't get to eat any of the goodies! Work your butt off four hours straight, eat a few veggies and a piece of zwieback for lunch. Listen to a boring lecture for four hours, eat a bowl of soup for dinner and a few leftover veggies and zwieback for supper, either go work on a special project or go to another boring class, go to bed at 11:00 and up at 5:00. To make a short story long, one more thing: I don't think VPW or LCM had ever heard of the Emancipation Proclamation. Volunteers my foot! We were slaves, pure and simple.

I would credit this guy with at least publicly repenting and apologizing. But I wouldn't trust him ever. I personally think he should be de-frocked or whatever his denomination does. And no, TWI will never admit such wrongdoing.

Being diagnosed with diabetes put me under suspicion. Having a son with multiple mental/emotional problems who was acting out because he didn't know how else to get help was another. The only solution the men of God of that place and time could come up with was to beat him, to death if necessary. I am still amazed that a so-called Christian organization fails to even attempt to help or even pray for those who are ill, those who are having problems with children or marriage or anything else. I thank God that the standard I try to live up to is that of a loving, compassionate, forgiving, merciful Savior instead of a suspicious, legalistic, hardhearted bunch of nincompoops like TWI. Sadly, there are more than a few organized "churches" that spread similar doctrine, blaming the patient for their illness, recommending torment for a disobedient child, commanding wives to enslave themselves to their husbands. I found one that does not. Thank God for that!

First of all, thank you for the compliment. Sometimes I think I do have a brain cell or two floating around. Now, as to the above: The one word I don't see in this second missive is the word that should be underlined, all caps, bolded and in about 20 font or so: REPENTANCE! These guys, at least some of them, were the haughtiest, more superior, unloving, unhelpful, uncaring, hardhearted people I've ever heard of. And they think they are going to move forward? Come to my door, ladies and gentlemen, and I will tell you how I moved forward: 1. I quit believing the words of D**id M*l*ner: "If you are separated from the Household of The Way, whether of your own volition or whether we men of God get together and decide you are no longer worth of the privilege of fellowshipping with us, AT THAT VERY MOMENT (all caps mine) the spirit within you dies, and shortly thereafter your physical body shall die also, BECAUSE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO EXIST OUTSIDE THE HOUSEHOLD OF HOLINESS!" 2. I started reading the Bible without filtering it through anything I had learned from TWI. 3. I started praying and asking God to help me. 4. I forgave myself for having diabetes. (This was a long project as some churches also taught God smites people with sickness and disease). When I get a letter from Moneyhands, Fort, the above mentioned branch leader, or anyone else, I'll think they might possibly be sincere. But I would still avoid them like the plague! 5. I found, after many years, a church I really like that teaches fairly and honestly. 6. I started enumerating the wrongs done me by various people. I figuratively held them up to the light and said, "I forgive you. I forgive you for telling me I was ignorant. I forgive you for telling me to harm my son. I forgive you for being a stupid, idiotic, uncaring jerk." It's a hard thing to do. I want to see myself hugging these people in my mind and heart, even if I never see them again on this earth. Sometimes, though I'd like to see myself beating the daylights out of them. That's not right; forgive; God forgave me, I forgive them, God forgave me, I forgive them. 7. This should be #1, really: Forgive yourself for ever believing them, for letting them jerk you around, interfere with your money, your marriage, your children, your irretrievable time. Remember God loves you so much! He gave everything for you! If God sees you as lovable and worthy of His Son's death and resurrence, who the &*E(W dares say otherwise?

You bring tears to my eyes. I'm certainly not perfect, and our son still struggles, but by God's wonderful grace we are all making it. I worry and pray for her now grown-up children; three boys one girl. I hope they are doing well. I think one is a pretty well recognized artist.

Whatever makes you happy! Costco sold packages of dried seaweed, rice paper thing, as a snack. It was popular with some of the Asian members. I liked it but most Westerners thought it was awful, especially because it was green, and as Americans, we must consume salt, sugar and fat in large amounts to keep our generous figures!

TWI knew about as much about counseling as I know about nuclear physics. You say you have a troubled, rebellious, disobedient child who's been diagnosed with ADHD? There is no such thing as ADHD. BEAT THE HELL OUT OF YOUR DEVIL SPIRIT POSSESSED CHILD AND HE WILL LISTEN-REMEMBER-OBEY! You've been diagnosed with a serious disorder and you're scared? Well, where's your believing? It was either your lack of believing or devil spirit influence/possession that screwed you up. I watched someone who I considered to be the most exceedingly great and mighty woman of God who had ever lived beat the crap out of her little daughter, aged about 3, because she spit out the steamed spinach this woman was feeding her. Then she beat her some more to get her to say "Thank you, Mommy, for providing me this healthful and nutritious meal." That was when I realized this cruel, sadistic, legalistic zeeatch knew nothing about raising children. I wish I'd taken that damned spoon away from her and shoved it down her throat.

Waysider! Knock it off or I'll flatulate on you! Seriously, I still get millet occasionally. Think of it as a bland carrier for more important stuff like cheese, garlic, onion, etc. How about powdered kelp? My mother made wilted lettuce when I was a kid. I hated it then and I hate it now. I do sautee greens occasionally, kale to be exact. However, I fry bacon first, then sautee onions and garlic in the bacon fat, then add the kale until slightly wilted, stirring to be sure it gets coated with bacon grease, and then crumble the bacon on top. Not a familia treat, but it beats wilted lettuce, which I wouldn't feed to a hog.

Maybe he thought, "It's good to be king!" LOL. the incident I referred to in replying to Waysider: We fellowlaborers were sent to RC on at least one occasion to help with the garden while the WC was doing something more important. I remember this incident because I had just gotten engaged and met some guy who knew Mr. Garden and we chatted for a while. I also remember the food was miserable, two pieces of burnt toast and water for breakfast. This always puzzled me because we were surrounded by gorgeous gardens and there was a huge kitchen. There was also a chicken coop with chickens and chickens lay eggs, which are good for breakfast. The incident I had originally referred to: We were sent somewhere to do something over the weekend, probably what Waysider said. The top room of this building had been a ballroom with a restroom complete with shower at one end. There were about, I dunno, 20-30 of us who had been conscripted, er, volunteered for this assignment. We were all placed into this one room, with cots set up and linens, but no privacy. Our evening meal, after driving several hours, consisted of one measly hamburger and a handful of salad greens. To give him credit, our limb leader had a hissy fit and had a couple of guys collect money from all of us, whatever we could spare. I believe he chipped in a few bucks himself, and then sent them out to forage. This was a small town and it was late, so they were gone awhile and finally returned with pizza and pop. We gorged, took turns showering, and fell onto our hard little cots for a few hours sleep before we were put to work again. Maybe I'm mixing these up. There's been a lot of water under the bridge since those glorious days of yesteryear.

Waysider, I remember having the mother of all migraines that weekend and getting no help at all. There was not so much as an aspirin tablet available. I remember either that or another weekend having LCM command me to "find some of your Fellow Laborers and sweep these steps." It was on the tip of my tongue to say "why don't you find some of your corps and have them do it" but I didn't. Were there two occasions we were subleased to these people at Rome City? I remember our 2nd year we all had to sleep on cots in one big room, there was very little food and J. Mi$ne sent a couple of guys out to buy pizza. That was a fubar weekend in my opinion.

I "got in the Way" when I worked for a surgeon who was involved. He was fairly balanced about healing, believing that God could also heal via medicine, surgery and the like. Some folks, though, including I'm pretty sure LCM, taught that sickness was indicative of sin and lack of believing. In the weeks after we returned from ROA 1994 where I had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I was subjected to hammering inquisitions, including one from C*** Z***, M.D., who had been a friend of ours from way back. He called me long distance and subjected me to an inquisition regarding my diagnosis, not to offer advice or compassion, but to make sure he had the right name on the list of people who had been hospitalized during the ROA 1994 for whatever reason. I'm pretty sure in retrospect it was a dang list of those whom the leadership in the area needed to watch for potential marking out and avoiding due to their lack of believing. The good doctor should have known better; this is an autoimmune disorder, likely brought on by stress and bad diet at Rome City! Wish I could have proved that, I'd have sued their pants off! Oddly enough, the concept that sickness is secondary to sin is not exclusive to TWI. I've attended two churches, one a Grace Brethren and one an Acts 29 church plant based on the teachings of a certain pastor who is now headquartered in Arizona, which teach that if you're have a chronic disease it's because you are a chronic sinner. Nothing like casting the first stone, eh?

Grace VC, we were dismissed from FWC because our son, aged 10 1/2 and adopted by us at age 8, simply refused to behave. We probably shouldn't have been there in the first place. We weren't allowed to spend much time with him and he wasn't allowed to take his Ritalin. I don't worry about it too much any more; he's a wonderful man and I love him dearly. He wouldn't let them break him!

Some Catholic people consider this location to be a shrine to Mary: Here's another link. http://www.divinemysteries.info/our-lady-of-america-rome-city-indiana-usa-1956-1958/

https://www.google.com/search?q=Rome+City,+Indiana&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:CTBhVo_1feFqaIjimjry-KHy5HhDgEGFzoAxmt-cL8zIu8VgSYs2vUPI7eJFatFtUNYAK9as5a9EoMGuTk9Fo8KPU3ioSCaaOvL4ofLkeEbk2mCgExDnoKhIJEOAQYXOgDGYRJMSAca-KXmkqEgm35wvzMi7xWBG982J21tlC9yoSCRJiza9Q8jt4EQpzm4ZyRjUZKhIJkVq0W1Q1gAoRVAwsUli4o6YqEgn1qzlr0SgwaxENCOybMVjWZyoSCZOT0Wjwo9TeEciGI-ZXQErz&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjztt2ezsXVAhVj54MKHRObAaIQ9C8IHw&biw=939&bih=569&dpr=1.09 Here are some links to pictures. All the big brick buildings are Rome City campus buildings. So is the dairy barn.

Grace Valerie Claire, The site once known as The Way College of Biblical Research, Indiana Campus, was indeed the locale of the Family Way Corps training center. Before that, it was a health spa for a chapter of nuns of the Roman Catholic church, sisters of Our Lady of Charity and Mercy, I believe. It was a beautiful campus, with a dairy barn, big gardens for the slaves to work in, dormitories, and a large chapel which still contained stained glass windows that were too precious to be removed in spite of their Catholic themes. There was also a little hill which had formerly contained little alcoves depicting the Stations of the Cross, which VPW had removed to expel what he said were the accompanying devil spirits. The TWI kept beef cows, pigs, and chickens as well as gardens. Every few weeks some slave would be sent to the post office to retrieve a few hundred baby chicks and six weeks after that names would be called off for a special assignment of slaughtering the chickens. Thank God we got kicked out FWC before my name came up; I would have become an instant vegetarian. It was called "family" but your children were taken away from you and raised by staff. Each adult, staff or corps, was required to carry a wooden spoon to smite any erring child. The staff's childrens were exempt and some of them pretty much raised hell whenever they felt like it. W&&ne Cla** occasionally had to retrieve his eldest from the hands of the local constabulary as I recall. Mr. Garden and I arrived early to enroll our son in school and were volunteers in the canning room for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately we knew more about safe food preparation and canning than the staff zeeatch in charge, so there were a few conflicts. Also, when we made salsa, we were strictly forbidden to include onions, as LCM hated onions. Nor were we allowed to put garlic in the salsa, because he also abhorred garlic! What the heck, does he just want tomato sauce? I suggested we make him a personal batch and label it "El Presidente Especial Blend" but OHHELLNO! If that was the president's preference we needed to renew our minds to his godly thoughts on salsa recipes! In spite of the largesse of foods and veggies, we ate meagerly. Most of the good stuff went to NK for pleasurable consumption by the MOG and his minions. Sad. More later. Love ya. I'm making a short story long, but you had to ask LOL!

Grace M. C., I wish to this day I had smacked that guy in the mouth for saying that we should "take him up into the North Cascades so far no one can hear his screams, and take turns hitting him with a 2x4 until he realizes that if he ever disobeys again, he will be taken back to that place and he will die there!" This piece of offal also told us that he would drag his 3-year-old daughter, the youngest of their four children, down the driveway and kick her into the street before he would ever allow her or one of his children to come between him and his loyalty to "The Ministry." I wonder if his three sons and his daughter are involved with TWI? I doubt it. Oh, hey! Since you're retired military, I heard a man say this on TV last night, and I thought it was cool. This person works closely with veterans and he uses the term "PTS" instead of "PTSD." He said it's because the word "disorder" is a label that would make potential employers look at the hiree differently. I thought it was cool, and would also work with others who have, for example, ADH (D). Anyway, thanks for all your posts!

How sweet! Thank you!

I worked in a cancer hospital for several years as secretary to a wonderful radiation oncologist. At The James Cancer Hospital they state that cancer is actually over 600 diseases! There are many different causes, and most of them we don't know exactly. For someone like GVC to get hit with cancer while doing the right things as we know them, no drugs, booze or cigarettes (or anything else that can be smoked) is a terrible shock. The doctor I worked for is a survivor herself, and said she suspects that there's a strong genetic component in a tendency toward having some kind of malignancy pop up in the body. In any event, I met some wonderful people who were not only survivors, but warriors in the battle against cancers of any kind. Early in my working there, I realized if I were still "in" I would have been strictly forbidden to take this job. And I got blessed to be a blessing so many times working there. To make a short story long, this whole business of cancer being caused by devil spirit possession, is in my opinion a bunch of horse?$hit. I greatly appreciate DWBH's post too; a great explanation. It is tragic the people who have been hurt by TWI's nonsensical approach to sickness and disease, not only cancer, but also any health problems.

We were in FC20 for three months. I was absolutely horrified at the way children were treated and while I was ordered to carry the spoon I never used it. I don't recall even mentioning to a child they shouldn't do something except for once. This was the child of W.C****, who was bouncing on the trampoline unattended. This is NEVER good idea for a small child, and I gently mentioned she might want to wait until an older person was available to supervise. I was loftily and arrogantly informed of her identity as a child of the leader and that she could do exactly as she pleased. Fine, I thought, break your damn neck. And I got out of there quickly. The way children were treated there and "on the field" makes my skin crawl to this day. In fact, when I ran across WayDale and saw a headline about lawsuits, I was sure someone's child had been beaten to death. Not to totally derail, but although there were threats and suggestions, and for a while after we left I was terrified every time the doorbell rang, I don't know personally of any adult beatings.

I'm not even going to bother listening/watching to the R&R presentations you all are talking about. I remember when we got the boot writing a four-page letter explaining our situation to the Reverend Mr. Fort. We felt we had been unfairly treated by D*&e M1ln$r, the branch coordinator, and wished to clarify what we saw as his sarcastic, legalistic, unreasonable attitude. The Most Exceedingly Great and Mighty Man of God the Reverend Mr. Fort wrote a snide, snarky sarcastic little note on the last page of our letter and sent it back. Something like "Amazing that you take four pages to explain what D.M. could explain clearly in four sentences in a phone call. Don't bother trying to come back." I did figure out where D.M. learned his nasty, sarcastic ways, though. The Moneyhands as you call them were limb leaders in a state we lived in. They were, to my humble observation, very very very very superior to us mere peasants. The Mrs. did offer to administer some kind of a personality test to me, which I declined. "Don't you want to know how you think?" she asked me. "I believe I'm supposed to think the Word of God." I replied. I don't have a terribly good impression of her brand of psychology. Didn't trust her then or now. I don't remember meeting any of the other people on the list. Sad, though, to think they are setting themselves up to delude, degrade, and destroy even more hapless souls than they already have. Not a single one of them is worth a penny of my money or a second of my time.

In all honesty, I hadn't thought about this guy until I caught a snippit of John Walsh's special on "The Hunt." I tried hard to watch it, but then the camera showed a shot of his "House of the Healing Presence" and I had to turn it off.

Galatians 5:12 for him!

All of the above is pretty darn true. Here's my take: "The Devil can quote Scripture for his purpose. An evil soul producing holy witness is like a villain with a smiling cheek, a goodly apple rotten at the heart." Shakespeare, William: "The Merchant of Venice," Act 1 Scene 3.