pjroberge

outandabout It may be in the works already. Too much carnage of people's lives not to be noticed by the authorities...

Gotcha Rosie

TWI lost its tax exempt status because of several factors including operating like a business and not a church and the support of political candidates.Interesting how TWI very vehemently argue that they are a "church." Here's the court document of TWI's appeal to get their tax exempt statues back.Enjoy THE WAY INTERNATIONAL, APPELLANT, v. LIMBACH, TAX COMMR., APPELLEE No. 89-244 Supreme Court of Ohio 50 Ohio St. 3d 76; 552 N.E.2d 908; 1990 Ohio LEXIS 146 January 16, 1990, Submitted April 11, 1990, Decided PRIOR HISTORY: [***1] APPEAL from the Board of Tax Appeals, No. 85-G-539. DISPOSITION: Decision reversed and cause remanded. LexisNexis® Headnotes SYLLABUS: The Way International ("The Way"), appellant, which has headquarters in New Knoxville, Ohio, centers its religious mission on the Bible. It patterns its organization after the early church of the first century, the members of which met in followers' homes. n1 The Way communicates its beliefs principally through its classes and the books and tapes which it sells to its followers. Apparently, the Internal Revenue Service has exempted it under Section 501©(3), Title 26, U.S. Code. n1 Exhibit 4 contains The Way's objectives and beliefs: "I We believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were verbally inspired by God and perfect in the original writing; that they are of supreme, absolute and final authority for faith, life and godliness. "II We believe in one God, the creator of the heavens and earth; in Christ Jesus His son and our savior, whom God raised from the dead; and we believe in the working of the Holy Spirit. "III We believe that the virgin Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit; that God was in Christ, and that Jesus Christ was true man. "IV We believe that man was created in the image of God, spiritually, that he sinned and thereby brought upon himself immediate spiritual death, which is separation from God and also physical death which is the consequence of sin; and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature. "V We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitute for us; and that all who believe that God raised him from the dead are justified and made righteous, born again of the Spirit of God, receiving eternal life on the grounds of his eternal redemption; and thereby are sons of God. "VI We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, his ascension into heaven and his seating at the right hand of God. "VII We believe in the blessed hope of Christ's return, the personal return of our living Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and our gathering together onto him. "VIII We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust. "IX We believe in the receiving of the fullness of the holy spirit, the power from on high, plus the corresponding nine manifestations of the holy spirit, for all born again believers. "X We believe it is available to receive all that God promises us in His Word according to our believing faith. We believe we are free in Christ Jesus to receive all that he accomplished for us by his substitution. "XI We believe the early Church flourished rapidly because they operated within a Root, Trunk, Limb, Branch and Twig setup (descent and in order)." [***2] The Way analogizes its organization to a tree. It calls its followers "leaves." Leaves meet in a follower's home, and The Way calls this group a "twig." The Way names an area with many twigs a "branch" and calls all the branches in a state a "limb." The Way names the combined state organizations a "trunk," and all the national trunks are connected to the "root." The root is The Way International Headquarters in New Knoxville. The basic membership unit, the twig, meets at a twig member's home. The host customarily plays music produced by The Way. The followers listen to a Bible teaching, a Bible research lesson, and more music. They sing a hymn, say some prayers, and collect an offering. Someone announces upcoming events. Usually, the members sing more hymns and then enjoy refreshments. Finally, the members discuss the Bible reading or how they saw the result of God's word in that day's experiences. During the audit period, The Way also conducted Sunday evening services at its Bible Research Center in New Knoxville. n2 These services were similar to the twig meetings. Occasionally it taped these services for distribution to its followers. n2 After the audit period, The Way began to hold its Sunday services in a newly constructed building, the Victor Paul Wierwille Word over the World Auditorium, most of which the commissioner exempted from real estate taxes in 1986. [***3] Furthermore, The Way's founder, Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille, prior to his death in 1985, taped a series of classes, the "Power for Abundant Living," which virtually all followers hear or view. These classes teach the foundational basis of The Way. The Way requests a donation for a member's attendance. The Way ordains ministers, and the ministers conduct weddings, funerals, and "baby dedications," serve holy communion, and pray for the sick. The Way selects a board of trustees, corporate officers, and a cabinet. According to Exhibit 23, The Way's ten highest paid employees received between $ 9,390 and $ 14,100 in 1975 and between $ 10,925 and $ 15,350 in 1976. It paid Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille, its founder and president, $ 5,200 as a trustee. The Way did not pay the remaining two trustees for their services as trustees. The Way trains ministers in a four-year leadership program called the Way Corps. Way Corps students study advanced Bible reading, Bible research, teaching, and fellowship techniques, often at one of The Way's training sites. Students also learn Orientalisms (Eastern manners and customs), Greek and/or Aramaic, and techniques for coordinating Power for Abundant [***4] Living classes. During at least one of the four years, they relocate elsewhere for practical experience. The Way also employs Word Over the World ("W.O.W.") ambassadors to spread The Way's message throughout the world. These ambassadors obtain a job in the community to which The Way assigns them and tell people what Jesus Christ has done for them. W.O.W. ambassadors undertake one-year assignments. The Way, in addition, stages a "Rock of Ages" festival annually. The Way followers from all over the world gather at this festival for a week of Bible teaching and fellowship. The Way also operated a college and several camps during the audit period. According to its financial statements, The Way experienced increases in revenues from donations, Power for Abundant Living classes, and book and tape sales during the audit period. Of particular interest to this case are the profits that The Way appears to have made from book and tape sales, even though it claims to have attempted to recover only its costs in these sales. In any event, The Way collected sales tax on book and tape sales. On April 2, 1982, the Tax Commissioner, appellee, assessed use tax against The Way on most of its purchases [***5] made during the audit period, 1974 through 1976. In response to The Way's petition for reassessment, the commissioner issued a decision on June 3, 1985, in which she seemingly found that The Way was operating a business. Apparently, she conceded in her order that The Way was a church. On appeal, the Board of Tax Appeals ("BTA") did not address whether The Way operated a business. Relying on its earlier decision in a real estate tax exemption case concerning The Way, the BTA found that The Way was not a church and that its purchases were not eligible for exemption. The BTA affirmed the bulk of the commissioner's order, but reversed certain portions of the order regarding specific claims, including agricultural purchase COUNSEL: Baker & Hostetler, Edward J. Bernert, George H. Boerger, Christopher Swift, Kaufman & Cumberland and James A. Scott, for appellant. Anthony J. Celebrezze, Jr., attorney general, and David G. Lambert, for appellee. JUDGES: Moyer, C.J., Sweeney, Holmes, Douglas, Wright and H. Brown, JJ., concur. Resnick, J., concurs in judgment only. OPINIONBY: PER CURIAM OPINION: [*78] [**910] During the audit period, R.C. 5739.02(B)(12) n3 provided: n3 The commissioner issued a use tax assessment. However, R.C. 5741.02©(2) renders sales tax exemptions applicable to the use tax. [***6] "The [sales] tax does not apply to the following: [*79] "* * * "(12) Sales of tangible personal property to churches and to organizations not for profit operated exclusively for charitable purposes in this state, no part of the net [**911] income of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual and no substantial part of the activities of which consists of carrying on propaganda or otherwise attempting to influence legislation. "* * * "Nothing in this division shall be deemed to exempt sales to any organization for use in the operation or carrying on of a trade or business." 135 Ohio Laws, Part II, 1252, 1254. First, The Way argues that it is a church and that its purchases are entitled to exception. Second, it maintains that the "trade or business" restriction of R.C. 5739.02(B)(12) does not apply to it because the clause applies only to charitable organizations and not to churches. Alternatively, it contends that it does not operate a trade or business. The commissioner argues that The Way is not a church, referring to several features of its operation which, she maintains, distinguish it from a church. Alternatively, the commissioner asserts that The Way, [***7] in selling books and tapes, is a business and that sales to it are taxable. We hold that The Way is a church, that its purchases for use in operating or carrying on a trade or business are taxable, and that, as to the purchases under review, it did not operate or carry on a trade or business. I We observe that "[t]he really religious beliefs are always common to a determined group which makes profession of adhering to them and to practicing rites connected with them * * *. In all history, we do not find a single religion without a Church." Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (C.A. 3, 1915) 43-44, quoted in Malnak v. Yogi (C.A. 3, 1979), 592 F.2d 197, 209, fn. 44 (Adams, J., concurring in judgment). The First Amendment to the United States Constitution grants individuals the right to believe in religion, but R.C. 5739.02(B))12) exempts a church from paying sales tax on its purchases. A church, thus, in general terms, is an assemblage of individuals who express their adherence to a religion. In Maumee Valley Broadcasting Assn. v. Porterfield (1972), 29 Ohio St. 2d 95, 58 O.O. 2d 192, 279 N.E. 2d 863, we exempted the purchases of a non-profit religious [***8] corporation that had the essential attributes of a church, despite its operating a radio facility. We mentioned several facts about the association's operations that indicated that the association had the essential attributes of a church. The association "* * * conduct[ed] religious activities both on its premises and by use of its broadcasting facilities. It render[ed] basic religious services and programs to the general public. It serve[d] missions, engage[d] in child evangelism work, establishe[d] Bible clubs, serve[d] shut-in listeners, gather[ed] food and clothing for distribution through authorized agencies, cooperate[d] in various ways with recognized charitable and health organizations, provide[d] counselling services, and promote[d] educational programs for various bible and religious schools." Id. at 95-96, 58 O.O. 2d at 192, 279 N.E. 2d at 864. The association, moreover, was interdenominational and allowed the community to use its facilities for church services and related programs. Its full-time staff, including two ordained ministers, provided pastoral care, engaged in gospel preaching, conducted worship services, and participated generally in other routine [*80] [***9] church activities. It had been granted tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service and a real property tax exemption by the BTA. The association's lack of a profit motive also impressed us. We eschewed dictionary definitions of "church" and, instead, cited the association's character as support for our holding that it was a church. We believed that this character "must be found in * * * [the association's] motives, its charter, its purposes, its methods, and its operation. * * *" Id. at 98, 58 O.O. 2d at 193, 279 N.E. 2d at 865. We felt that the association had demonstrated that it exhibited the necessary attributes of a church and that the additional operation of a radio station, [**912] which implemented its religious objectives, did not change its underlying foundation. Under the Maumee Valley Broadcasting Assn. criteria, The Way qualifies as a church. It has adherents. It adopts the Bible as the main source of its dogma, it propagates a comprehensive set of religious objectives and beliefs which attempt to answer its adherents' religious concerns, and it conducts services, both at its Bible Research Center and at twig meetings. It employs ministers who preside at [***10] sacramental ceremonies, operates schools to train ministers, and sends forth missionaries to spread its beliefs. Its character, found in its "motives, its charter, its purposes, its methods, and its operation[,]" is that of a church. It is, thus, eligible for the exemption. II We will not explore the statutory analysis advanced by The Way to support its argument that a "church" is not included within the phrase "any organization" as used in R.C. 5739.02(B)(12). That statute imposes a tax on sales to any organization for use in a trade or business. As the commissioner argues, the term "any organization" is inclusive. A church is an organization, and this provision applies. Finally, as to whether The Way's sale of books and tapes is a business, thus rendering purchases for this operation taxable, we quote the definition of "business" contained in R.C. 5739.01(F): "'Business' includes any activity engaged in by any person with the object of gain, benefit, or advantage, either direct or indirect." In Akron Golf Charities, Inc. v. Limbach (1987), 34 Ohio St. 3d 11, 516 N.E. 2d 222, we held that an organization which operated golf tournaments, the proceeds from which it distributed [***11] to local charities, was not a business for the purposes of the sales or use tax. We cited Maumee Valley Broadcasting Assn. v. Porterfield, supra, and required the earlier mentioned review of the organization's motives, charter, purposes, methods, and operation. Id. at 13-14, 516 N.E. 2d at 225. In Akron Golf Charities, we regarded the golf tournament as a means to a charitable end. Similarly, the operation of a radio station in Maumee Valley Broadcasting Assn. was a means to a charitable end. We emphasized that the corporation or its officers had no profit motive and that they did not operate the corporation for material gain. Akron Golf Charities, supra, at 14, 516 N.E. 2d at 225. Here, we hold that The Way advances its religion by selling these disputed materials. Despite receiving more for these items than it paid for them, The Way did not distribute any profit to its trustees, officers, or employees but, instead, paid them modest salaries. The Way accumulated these profits and expanded its operations, [*81] including building a new church facility. Moreover, The Way's prime source of funding came from voluntary contributions. The Way's motive [***12] is to advance its religion, and it employs the books and tapes in a functionally related way to accomplish this. Selling books and tapes to its followers is not a business but is a means to its religious ends. Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the BTA and remand this cause for a decision consistent with this opinion.

Some rumors are that this is in the works. All the lawsuits have to get someone's attention. Can you see Rosie sharing a cell with Martha? Who would be who's B*tch....

The audio file on what Donna and TWI's official position on those that leave is located at: http://www.excultworld.com/misc_articles/brown2.rm Donna's former husband's position on "special friends" is located at: http://www.excultworld.com/pdf-docs/homos071294.pdf

Maybe Donna believes her own drivel about those that leave the "protection" of the non prevailing swamp of TWI become greasespots....

The amount quoted were from TWI's disclosures to the court in their battle with the IRS to get their tax exempt status back. Some more quotes from the case:

According to Exhibit 23, The Way's ten highest paid employees received between $ 9,390 and $ 14,100 in 1975 and between $ 10,925 and $ 15,350 in 1976. It paid Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille, its founder and president, $ 5,200 as a trustee. The Way did not pay the remaining two trustees for their services as trustees.

Perhaps now that JAL has made an appearance he would like to comment on his pet cult Momentus...

Have any momentus grads posted on this thread? Perhaps JAL only responds to his own "kind" of Christian....

The TWI and offshoot cool aid drinkers still do not get it that the cool aid might even have good attributes and taste oh so yummy, but the arsenic in the cool aid is what kills and hurts people...

An interesting definition of what a cult is comes by way of Captain Robert Snow. Captain Snow oversees the Robbery and Homicide division of the Indianapolis, Indiana police department, and has been a policeman for over 38 years. He is also a well-respected author with 7 books on the market. His latest book, "Dangerous Cults" (ISBN # 0-275-98052-9 www.Robertsnow.com) is about cultic groups from a law enforcement perspective. Captain Snow labeled TWI as a cult and TWI's activities are prominently mentioned and discussed in chapters 13 & 14. Captain Snow states: "But far from regular, orthodox religions, religious cults, using my definition, can be fairly easy to spot because, along with being involved in some type of criminal activity, they offer their members a certain ticket to heaven as part of a group especially appointed and chosen by God." (Page 41 bottom paragraph)

In a true ministering situation, if you cast out a demonic entity, only you the minister may know what happened.In TWI, it was an ego stroke to go around and say "that person has this spirit or that" I can assure you that God will rarely give such a big mouthed person any revelation of that type, and certainly only when you are ministering to someone who has asked for help. Your "knowing to protect believers" is a total farce...

For those of you that are curios, here's an older copy of the infamous "Hold Harmless Agreement" circa around 1999 http://www.excultworld.com/momentus/disclaimer.htm

Actually, I believe that spirit posession and infiltration is a whole part of what happens to people. My opinion is from the experience of ministering to a few people who had the Momentus "experience". It was spiritual rape...

Obviously, the momentus training is not Christian by any stretch of the imagination.Trainees were taught against charitable acts such as giving a seat on the lifeboat, and putting yourself ahead of others. "Confessing" your long ago sins to feel better at the expense of someone else's hurt is obviously wrong. That poor wife, to be subjected to the disclosure of such a total betrayal by her husband, and the motivation was not for her benefit, but for the betrayer's. Itis so reprehensible, that it is beyond belief.

This is one of my court exhibits(still available on e-bay) as well as E. Stanley Jone's book The Way and his book Abundant Living written many years before TWI started. Gee, I wonder where VPW got the name for PFAL?

When I first came back to ex-way stuff after doing research on the net, JAL recommended a fellowship run in an ex-corpse couple's appartment by a guy named Mark M. The first weekend we made a trip to a CES event where this guy taught a segment, they did their personal prophecies, and the rest of the dog and pony show. He had conned one of the fellowship members into giving him a rather sizeable amount of money to support "the move of the word" Later we found out he bought drugs and alcohol with the $, and lost his apartment where his wife and children lived. She was reduced (as we heard) to prostitution to care for her kids. He attempted to play the role of LCM and had emergency meetings etc. Having not attended fellowships in over 10 years, my spiritual senses were dull. I accepted all this because JAL recommended this guy and even had him teach at a Ces event. To make a long story short, he attempted to teach the Momentus class to the fellowship because he was a former trainer. Around this time my spiritual perception had finally re-awakened and I saw through the ploys and deception and confronted him with the others in the fellowship. He wqs given the boot and the fellowship met at my place about once a week until a friend who started running Momentus trainings got a few couples involved from the fellowship. Then, the pressure was on to take it big time.I steadfastly refused and countered all the lame rationalizations they threw at me like you don't know until you take it etc. I saw all the couples develop marital problems and the fellowship became divided into Momentus grads and Non-grads. Do you really need to put your hand in the fire to know it hurts if someone else already did so? Of course not! Bottom line, the fruit of these momentus grads was not what I wanted in my life.

I can just see it now. TWI's pit bulls at Wolfram & Hart I mean Hostetler & Baker demand all the revenues generated from the cartoon for the last 30 years for the cartoon's violation of the "sacred words" The Way........On a serious note, the reason it is so important to cancel TWI's trademarks is that all the long-standing churches that have used "The Way" in their name, could be sued for all their church revenues while using TWI's trademark in the church's name. And with TWI's falling revenues, this is not a far fetched scenario..

I don't think the tree is still thriving. I think what people are seeing is the fungus that is growing on the dead tree's carcas.....

Exerpts from Bill Barton's story about his Momentus training: Part 1 http://www.excultworld.com/momentus/Barton.htm "after you get in the class, it starts off with a manipulative introductory session in which you're plunged into darkness and treated to loud, swelling (and, ultimately, nearly deafening) music that seems designed to assault your senses and play with your emotions." "much of the music played during the training, at deafening volumes, to assail our senses and, with the lack of sleep and constant harassment we experienced, put us in a state of extreme susceptibility - -or what many would describe as a state of altered consciousness.) Then comes a dramatic reading from some introductory material, interspersed with a few almost unrecognizable verses from the Message, a bible version that I personally find nearly impossible to reconcile with any other version of Scripture I've ever studied. Having taken enough psychology and theater courses in college, I quickly recognized (to my surprise, at that point) that the purpose of this opening was probably to unsettle us emotionally" "After this opening, the trainers ran us through the "ground rules" for the training (one of its holdovers from est and Lifespring) and required us to sign an agreement to abide by these rules. We were also required to sign a "hold harmless" agreement, asserting that we'd been "adequately informed" of what the training consisted of and that no matter what happened to us in (or as a result of) the training -- including death -- we'd hold the trainers and the sponsors harmless." "one girl we know who served on the training crew for a later Momentus told us how the trainers issued vomit bags to the crew -- because they expected some people taking the training to become violently ill during some of the exercises" "Much like how many cultic brainwashers operate (and some deprogrammers who use similar methods), the trainers spent the first two days tearing us down through verbal abuse and exercises with no real point other than to get us to take our focus off of God and the Lord Jesus and put it onto ourselves.We were required to make commitments to what we wanted to "cause" in others " "The first two days of the training ended with the "Lifeboat" exercise, in which we were forced to condemn our brothers and sisters to "life or death." Who "lived" and who "died" depended on who we voted into the lifeboat after a New Age-like visualization session in which we were on a cruise ship that suddenly started sinking. The lesson that the exercise actually taught was that only those who live the kind of life the world values -- the loud, aggressive, pushy, hey-listen- to- me- and-forget- about-you types of personalities, who attract lots of attention to themselves (as some had in the training thus far)--would end up in the lifeboat and be saved. Those exhibiting such traits as meekness, humility, self-denial -- in short, any traits that failed to bring lots of attention to themselves (including those the Word of God exhorts us to exhibit) -- ended up in the water, "dead." We then had to give our "epitaphs" from our watery graves about how worthless we were. " "We were required early on to choose a buddy to "watch over" during the training. If anyone left, we were told, their buddy had to leave, too. This turned out to be an outright lie, as several people did leave the training and yet their buddies were always allowed to stay--but not before being subjected to serious condemnation and verbal abuse for not somehow forcing their buddies to stay through the entire training. I could not have allowed that to happen to my buddy -- or to anyone else -- if I could prevent it. So I stayed." "Because a few people didn't complete the first night's homework assignment as thoroughly as required--writing only a page and a half instead of two pages, for example -- the trainer, in what appeared to be a fit of anger, said that he was ending the training. The only way he'd let us complete it, he asserted, was if we all got together and pressured [or "persuaded," as he mischaracterized it] those who hadn't done the homework as required to agree to finish it during that day. " "Of course, by this point, we did as he required, and the training continued. I later learned from the girl who served on the training crew for the next Momentus in Indianapolis, however, that this charade was all part of the "script" for the training. The trainer for that class did the same thing, but after he returned to the room, some of the trainees still hadn't agreed to finish their homework--so he had to leave the room again to "give them more time." "The training would have continued regardless -- this was apparently just another exercise to get the group in on helping the trainers control others in the training through peer pressure." "We continued with the training, thinking the worst was over. But more was to come, though the pressure was subtler, the manipulation less obvious. On these days, we grouped in circles in the darkness to "confess our sins" to the trainers as they ran down a litany of sins, to which we were to raise our hands if guilty, while weeping and wailing in the darkness."

To the Momentus grads on this thread: Why don't we start with posting how you feel about your Momentus experience, specifically the lifeboat exercise for starters?

From one of the articles on Ex-Cultworld about the group:

I must state for the record that when JAL stayed with me in 1999 he recommended I take momentus. This is not 10-15 years ago.....

Thanks Kit