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TWI HQs


polar bear
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I've been thinking recently about the whole concept behind TWI HQs.

It was a farm out in the middle of nowhere. Most of us here spent time there mowing lawns, picking weeds or feeding cattle.

What good did it really do.

Old VP used to say he wanted to teach people how to work. But---------when you really think about it, should this be the purpose of a so called World Outreach location.

Are there not secular programs like--------------- "schools" ----------that teach people fundamental skills of learning and physical activities.

Wouldn't it have been more beneficial for a so called HQs to be located in an area where there were actually people to help.

And isn't it still the same old thing they are promoting.------------------ Nothing has changed.

I think we were duped and VP got a free ride off his family farm which he hoodwinked out of his brothers in the name of God.

What a crock.

Just thinking.

Edited by polar bear
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The FLO program was located in a rural area, also.

(Both the Limb HQ and our apartment housing.)

I don't think they planned it that way, except maybe to get the most real estate for the dollar.

Sounds like a good enough reason to me, really.

I'll tell you this, though.

It kept us really isolated from the outside world.

You needed special permission just to go into town to visit the post office.

We seldom ventured into "the real world" except to go to our secular jobs which were a required part of the program.

You couldn't take just any job. You had to take a job that did not conflict with the program.

We were supposed to use those jobs as a vehicle to witness and promote PFAL.

If the job was not conducive to that, we were supposed to find a job that was. We also went into town to do laundry but always with a car full of other FLO.

No TV's or phones, just a high priced long distance pay phone at the truck stop a 1/2 mile away.

And, as WG mentioned, there was a restaurant a couple miles away you could get to if you had a car.

The best thing about the truck stop(The Wayside Truck Stop) was that you could walk there with someone you trusted and discuss matters of concern without being overheard.

I like to call people who did that----waysiders.

That's my 2 cents

(just another) waysider

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My two in-residence Way Corps years (I was a teenager) were spent in trailer #6 at the Way's headquaters outside of New Knoxville. For awhile, I loved being out in the country...the adventure of learning about farm life, the quiet mornings running down the road memorizing scripture, the inspiring orange sunsets over the corn fields. But that lovely hill-covered area of Ohio only fed into the isolation practices that enabled doctrines to be implanted in my mind more effectively than in a city. We had fewer distractions on "the farm."

Because I was enamored with the Way's doctrines and believed that God wanted me to be there - and I was so very young and inexperienced - I was blind to what was really happening to me. And I'm sure there are other factors, but that's another story.

Isolation from TV news, newspapers, radio, influence of family, friends, etc. was a perfect environment for this indoctrination. The "townies" were only people to be converted, the "locals" were future targets for witnessing nights and objects of criticism for their unbelief and their "negative" opinions about what was going on at HQ.

Isolation is only one thing that helps make mind control techniques effective. For further reading, check out Combatting Cult Mind Control by Stephen Hassan

That's just the beginning of the story...for other stories related to living there, read other posts here at GSC - there are many...

peace,

penworks

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Isolation from TV news, newspapers, radio, influence of family, friends, etc. was a perfect environment for this indoctrination. The "townies" were only people to be converted, the "locals" were future targets for witnessing nights and objects of criticism for their unbelief and their "negative" opinions about what was going on at HQ.

And furthermore.........many days, lunchtime announcements included snippets of *worldly* news AS SEEN through martindale's unique and unparalleled 'understanding' of the devil-spirit realm.

:asdf:

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I guess it all depends on your POV. I think 'isolation' was according to the individual. During my in-residence time, I had access to watch ESPN and CNN after night classes. My family and friends were a collect phone call away and I wrote letters weekly detailing my activities. My work crew frequently went on donut runs to Adolph's and on a couple of occasions went to the local diner for eggs and bacon breakfast when the morning breakfast was not satisfying enough. One late winter night we were out shooting bottle rockets from the ROA gazebo for the hell of it with some interim Corps and Staff. Safety rushed over to investigate the commotion and left saying, 'Aaww, its you guys, again'. When I bunked in the woods during Corps Week-ROA, I drove my car into the woods because I did not want to walk all the way from working late one night. I was awaken by the sound of Motorola radios with Chris Geer and Dr. standing outside my cabin wondering whose parked car it was. I claimed ownership about the time the receptionist revealed it was my car over the radio. Dr. just glared at me as I gave him the lame excuse for parking there. He simply slapped me on the shoulder and with a smile said I can 'fire up that fine German engineering machine and move it or have a front-loader put it in a hole.' I guess from my perspective, you were free to do whatever you wanted within reason and if you were willing to stand up for yourself if challenged. It was a great place to learn from many perspectives and I enjoyed my time there without any regrets.

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I guess it all depends on your POV. I think 'isolation' was according to the individual. During my in-residence time, I had access to watch ESPN and CNN after night classes. My family and friends were a collect phone call away and I wrote letters weekly detailing my activities. My work crew frequently went on donut runs to Adolph's and on a couple of occasions went to the local diner for eggs and bacon breakfast when the morning breakfast was not satisfying enough. One late winter night we were out shooting bottle rockets from the ROA gazebo for the hell of it with some interim Corps and Staff. Safety rushed over to investigate the commotion and left saying, 'Aaww, its you guys, again'. When I bunked in the woods during Corps Week-ROA, I drove my car into the woods because I did not want to walk all the way from working late one night. I was awaken by the sound of Motorola radios with Chris Geer and Dr. standing outside my cabin wondering whose parked car it was. I claimed ownership about the time the receptionist revealed it was my car over the radio. Dr. just glared at me as I gave him the lame excuse for parking there. He simply slapped me on the shoulder and with a smile said I can 'fire up that fine German engineering machine and move it or have a front-loader put it in a hole.' I guess from my perspective, you were free to do whatever you wanted within reason and if you were willing to stand up for yourself if challenged. It was a great place to learn from many perspectives and I enjoyed my time there without any regrets.

This appears to be an extreme departure from the experience that many others had, including myself.

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There's the paradox of TWI, some had it real good, some had it real bad.  

The ones that had it real good, or were somehow above the frey, usually can't understand what the big deal is.  Unless the dark side strikes close to home, I do believe some will never understand.  Many were oblivious to the suffering of others, or chalked it up as a character (or spiritual) fault of the victims.

Protecting the weak was never a TWi strongsuit.

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So-Cal, I really can't imagine this. Which WC were you in ? You certainly didn't have LCM sharing his spiritually enlightening views at lunchtimes as Skyrider says.

My in rez Corps couldn't leave the premises at all (at any time) without permission (which of course no-one dared to ask for) - it would have to be for something very special. Even who you spoke to was quite strictly circumscribed. (I was forever getting yelled at for spending "too much" time with staffers.)

On the other hand you could arrange quite simple pleasures like a surprise birthday party in the woods, with just what was available to hand.

The quiet location at HQ was pleasant (I'm at heart a country girl) but the isolation was shocking. We got very little up to date news about anything. For instance, the Berlin wall was destroyed while I was in rez. You would think that would be a cause for spiritualizing on Corps Night but actually I think it wasn't mentioned or it it was mentioned, just barely. I don't think I learned about it till after I was back out on the field and didn't believe it had happened even then. There were lots of things of, let's say, international significance, that I never knew about until after I got out on the field.

But on the other hand, we were given an evening off (maybe a Saturday?) and LCM mentioned that the Superbowl was on TV and we could watch if we wished. Some of us having no interest in that, or preferring quiet time/catching up time/sleep/laundry didn't go and watch TV. Next day we got a bolloxing because if we had had any real interest in The Word and in LCM as the MoG, we would have watched the Superbowl because it was of interest to him and we would then understand him better. Or some such. True!

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This appears to be an extreme departure from the experience that many others had, including myself.

As they say in real estate, it is 'location, location, locaton...'. In this case, it is time, place and attitude. All of my experiences at HDQ occurred at HDQ to ROA 87 when I voluntarily left to further pursue my professional career and teach God's Word at the local level. During my formative years in learning God's Word, we were taught to give put God first, not man. It was a walk to love, care, respect, listen to and work with others but it did not mean you allow yourself to be abused, ridiculed or used. If you went 'against the rules' be prepared to support your actions if inquired. Sometimes it took stand to back up your position or you simply ignored the criticisms and moved on. Someone once said it was easier to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission. I recall my first-year in-residence at Emporia and I worked in A/V. After a night's session I remained in the control room watching the Atlanta Braves on TBS. They were on a streak of winning the most consecutive games at the start of the season and JAL was commenting about it at all the meals. Joe Torres' Braves had won, I think, eleven in a row and were down by about nine runs in the later innings when I tuned in at 1130am. As it turned out the Braves tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. The game went about 14 innings and they won at 2am. I went to my dorm and simply told the Bless Patrol I met that I was working late doing research. At breakfast a few hours later, JAL mentioned that he tried to watch the game but went to bed before the ninth inning when the Braves were down six runs and reported that the streak ended. I raised my hand and stood up telling everyone the streak was still alive and how the Braves tied the game and won in extra innings. JAL was surprised and thrilled while my sleepy Corps mates tried to calculate time and events. After the meal, JAL saw me on the walkway and casually asked when the game ended as the Corps in the vicinity were thinking the same thing. I told him 2am and commented how exciting the game was. He smiled and told me to have a good morning while others stood there dumbfounded or chuckled. I was prepared to offer an explanation but it was not requested. We were taught the TWI was our ministry and we detemined its direction. However, there are events that are outside your sphere of influence and you have to determine what to do with what God made available to you. Does that ring a bell? Eventually, I chose to ignore a response when my allegiance to men was requested by letter in 89. I will always remember the phrase, "men come and go but the Word of God liveth and abideth forever". Amen to that.

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So-Cal, I really can't imagine this. Which WC were you in ? You certainly didn't have LCM sharing his spiritually enlightening views at lunchtimes as Skyrider says.

12th otherwise known as the Dirty Dozen, a nickname Mrs. Wierwille was not fond of because they were criminals. As I mentioned in another post, we were taught that our Corps training was what you made of it. You chose the curriculm since the program did not occupy your time 24-7. That was part of the training. What did you do with your time when it was not scheduled for you? Isn't that we are teaching our own children? From what I am reading that format changed in later years. Concerning the lunchtime speeches, did you listen to everything your heard? Did you believe lock, stock and barrel everything you heard? We were taught to use our minds and evaluate everything against what we knew from God's Word, even our own experiences. During my time there, meals were a social event and the lectures were few and far between since at HDQ there were children present and you could not extend the meals too much w/o major meltdowns and revolts by the little ones.

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There's the paradox of TWI, some had it real good, some had it real bad.  

The ones that had it real good, or were somehow above the frey, usually can't understand what the big deal is.  Unless the dark side strikes close to home, I do believe some will never understand.  Many were oblivious to the suffering of others, or chalked it up as a character (or spiritual) fault of the victims.

Protecting the weak was never a TWi strongsuit.

I disagree since helping people was the reason most of us became involved with God. Granted, some were better than others. It took a certain honesty to recognize that not everyone was suited for WOW, Corps, Staff, etc, and it was difficult to help someone who was beginning to realize it. Again, these were just programs and positions to help people better themselves to learn and teach God's Word or help others achieve it and not an end to themselves. There was no 'dark' or 'light' side. The ministry was comprised of people with all their faults and failures endeavoring to better themselves through Christ. I think the original focus was to teach others how to walk with God on their own and not be solely dependent on others. Regarding the 'protection' comment. There was a concerted effort to protect people from the leadership problems that were revealed in '86 but others disagreed since they were also part of the problem and chose to introduce their perceived grievances in a more public arena. One thing lead to another and here we are today.

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Do I need to paste my post(#4 )or can I just direct your attention to it?

Yeah, we had unstructured time-----from midnight to 5am.

(And a little bit on the weekend for doing laundry, etc.)

Doing laundry with a member of the opposite sex(instead of a car full of other FLO) was about as close to a "date" as you could hope to get most of the time.

In regard to curriculum------------- it was almost nonexistent.

There were maybe two TV's in the whole program and they were NOT for public usage. They were personal property.

It wouldn't have mattered anyway because there was rarely a time you could have just sat and watched a ball game even if you wanted to.

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Do I need to paste my post(#4 )or can I just direct your attention to it?

Yeah, we had unstructured time-----from midnight to 5am.

(And a little bit on the weekend for doing laundry, etc.)

Doing laundry with a member of the opposite sex(instead of a car full of other FLO) was about as close to a "date" as you could hope to get most of the time.

In regard to curriculum------------- it was almost nonexistent.

There were maybe two TV's in the whole program and they were NOT for public usage. They were personal property.

It wouldn't have mattered anyway because there was rarely a time you could have just sat and watched a ball game even if you wanted to.

Again. We were present at the same location at a different time and era.

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Socal1, if you understand it was a different time and era, why do you still defend the "rightness" of the program?  It doesn't matter what you conceptualized it to be, or what was publically promoted, it doesn't matter that you had good experiences or were able to "win" in situations or circumstances.  What matters is that the organization and the programs were corrupt from the inside out and from the top down.  

In reality, they weren't a vehicle to "know" God, they in fact led to a worship of man away from God and Jesus Christ, away from a true walk individually with the Father to some sort of cookie cutter formulaic systamatizing of error as an imitation of life with the Father.  Some people's lives were irrevocably changed, snuffed out, gone, dead, ended abruptly due to the WC program, perhaps if that had happened to someone close to you or in your family, perhaps you might better understand what others are saying here, have you ever tried putting yourself in other's shoes?

Often, the argument of others not being suited for staff work or as part of the WC or not being able to "cut it" is largely a misconception usually combined with a certain air of smugness.  Granted, it puts the injured party into a tidy little box of being politely, unsuited or weak, not spiritual, messed up, it being their fault, possibly "possessed" but as we've seen here, many of these people were indeed competent spiritual people, they just didn't fit the mold of the outgoing charismatic JAL type leader that was so often projected as the tupos of what a christian leader should be.  Often, we have found out later that many were cast out and disparaged due to their non adherence to keep issues in the "lockbox" after being victimized by those in TWI.

After POP in '86 it was all covered up again, people continued to be really hurt. TWi top leadership 

en mass started committing a jihad against its own belivers, starting with those associated with the WC, and then filtering down to the individual believer.

Not a pretty picture, nothing worth defending...

Edited by but now I see
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After POP in '86 it was all covered up again, people continued to be really hurt. TWi top leadership 

en mass started committing a jihad against its own belivers, starting with those associated with the WC, and then filtering down to the individual believer.

Not a pretty picture, nothing worth defending...

This was the time and place I was referring to. Total agreement with you.

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WS. I guess I have to add place. Am not familiar with FLO in your area. The time is in the vicinity. Do not understand what 'tour' refers to.

Fellow Laborers was a two year, in-rez. program in Ohio.

The term "tour of duty" was used with a bit of tongue in cheek.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Fellow Laborers was a two year, in-rez. program in Ohio.

The term "tour of duty" was used with a bit of tongue in cheek.

I was involved with a similar program in CA during 1971-1973. It was not a in-rez format but we met daily and performed ministry tasks between school and jobs.

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