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The Life is in the Twig


JavaJane
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And the really sick part is that I thought...

I WAS DOING THE WILL OF GOD.

I have said it before and I will say it another 50000 times posting on greasespot... What was I thinking??

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Yep. Amazing the kinds of intrusions they made into people's lives. Who you date, who you marry, who you associate with, what a person reads..

I was out by the time my kids started dating to any degree.. thank God..

worrying about getting their possible future mates through some damn class was the last consideration..

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That's what Jim Do*r did to the Hickory, NC area when he came in 1995 ... which was fine with us ... we just all left and are doing our own church (which is much more Godly AND more fun!) ... he was so legalistic he had a set of rules taped to his refrigerator for his children to follow ... snack times outlined, what you could have to eat when, bedtime, when you could come to fellowship (only when invited), and numerous other things. What a loser!

first let my set one thing straight !, and that is MY coffee is thicker! thats right i ONLY use folgers instant at home and i put french vanilla slim fast in it and thats the best cup of coffee i ever tasted!!! better than 7-11 !!!! better than dennys !!! when i was growing up my dad was (and if he could now would still try to control my life, i am 50 ) a fanatical control freak. talk about a list he had a book. i have met people like this and it seems to me to be a personality thing or they were raised this way. my dad still tries to tell me what to do when i talk to him on the phone,thankfully i live 2000 miles from him. i have had leadership like this before but thank God i think they are all gone. yes i still fellowship with the way or maybe they fellowship with me or something like that. i had a few bosses over the years that were like this at work, i ended up quiting. one things for shure no one and i mean no one tells me when to eat snacks!!!! now i must go drink coffee and eat some hostess ho ho's. no not santa clauses!!

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Yep. Amazing the kinds of intrusions they made into people's lives. Who you date, who you marry, who you associate with, what a person reads..

I was out by the time my kids started dating to any degree.. thank God..

worrying about getting their possible future mates through some damn class was the last consideration..

how about what you drive, clothes you wear, food you eat , lenght of your hair, who your friends are, well you have to show those kinds of people the door cause they gotz some kind of mental thing, my dad is this way and he aint never gone to fellowship and i cant ever remember him ever going to a church. i am 50 years old and my dad still would like to control my life ,thankfully i live 2000 miles from him and dont talk to him much because of this, he even put certain conditions in his will that say i must be living in mississippi to get certain things. well i dont plan on moving back to mississippi, i have lived in la since 1987 and consider this my final home. my dad and some of these former way leaders would get along just fine!! my dad even tried to control who i dated,etc. yes i know what you mean!!!!

Edited by shiftthis
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Thankfully not! For awhile I almost began believing it was all a "misunderstanding", but then I saw the writing on the wall and bailed. There is one thing I can't figure out, though. Maybe I just don't know TWI well enough: to make a long story short, I had joined TWI after meeting a girl and going out with her. He parents and TWI did not consider me to be acceptable for her, so they stepped on her to end it. She complied, but we were still close, or at least that's what she told me. When I signed up for the Foundational class, she decided to take it with me. She got closer to me again, calling me three times a day, we went out after the classes, etc. But the day the class ended, she cut off all contact. The Fellowship and Branch leadership stepped in and told me she was "nothing" but my "sister in Christ". Her mother declared that the had only spoken to me in the first place to bring me to The Word. I would never speak to her outside of fellowship again, and even then, only if I "got there early to help set up the chairs". [Thank you sir, can I have another?]Then the whip came down from the Fellowship and Branch leadership, so after this kind of stuff I jumped ship like the last man on the Titanic.

What I have never been able to understand is, why was it so important for me to attend the Foundational class that she would make that sort of subterfuge and effort? Did someone get brownie points? I point-blank asked her mother this question, and she declared that "the Adversary makes every effort to stop people from hearing The Word", so it was important for her daughter to "shepard" me during the class. I thought this was insane. What difference did it make if I took the class, if they were going to treat me so badly afterwards that I quit TWI? At first, I thought maybe my attendance made the Fellowship look good, but on second thought, my subsequent leaving would have negated this.

Is there anything in TWI that explains this, or is it just a case of trying to apply logic to the illogical?

Hey there, Doc

Listen, don't take this personal, but that scenario was played out thousands and thousands of times in TWI.

Branch leaders, area leaders, etc. were under the gun from higher ups to get the sales figures up graduate more people from PLAF(The Wonder Class). Something similar was done to me. The girl neglected to tell me she was actually engaged to the class instructor. Nice people, huh?

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Hey, Doc...

It was a pretty twi thing to do... I was told many times to not date outside of the "household" but to bring any men I met to fellowship and try to get them signed up for the class. Mainly I just used fellowship as a way to get rid of guys I didn't want to continue seeing. I think my logic at the time was that if they really "wanted the Word" they would stick around and might even become someone I would want to date at some point - you know, after they "renewed their minds" and all that. <_<

I don't think I really ever realized how I was being used to get people involved. I used to be pretty uncomfortable trying to get these guys to fellowship when I didn't really want to date them at all... especially when the WC in the area had me almost stalking these guys once they signed up for the class.. God forbid they miss a session - or even worse, get through the class and then skip a branch meeting!! I have to say, in a lot of cases I was actually releived when the guy would finally tell me and twi to go to hell and leave him alone! :asdf:

I guess from twi's standpoint, they got some money for the class and then maybe some ABS and free labor from you... :evildenk:

Thanks for your insight, javajane! For a long time I believed that The Girl was sort of a victim, too, and that she had simply been pressured by her domineering mother and TWI. We had talked for three months before going out, and even on our date, she never mentioned TWI. It was only when I met her parents that TWI came up. She even told me that her parents would have "problems" with her dating me. In restrospect, this must have been the "setup".

The flies in the ointment about my view of her as victim were the facts that she never contacted me again, even to say "I'm sorry for what happened", even when I saw her again at a dance club a year later. This is what she would have done is she were the good person I thought she was. And the way she promptly showed up with another guy in tow at fellowship the week after Der Vay Leadership "put me in my place". Safe to say I was scammed. Fool me once....

Best Regards, Doc

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Thanks for your insight, javajane! For a long time I believed that The Girl was sort of a victim, too, and that she had simply been pressured by her domineering mother and TWI. We had talked for three months before going out, and even on our date, she never mentioned TWI. It was only when I met her parents that TWI came up. She even told me that her parents would have "problems" with her dating me. In restrospect, this must have been the "setup".

The flies in the ointment about my view of her as victim were the facts that she never contacted me again, even to say "I'm sorry for what happened", even when I saw her again at a dance club a year later. This is what she would have done is she were the good person I thought she was. And the way she promptly showed up with another guy in tow at fellowship the week after Der Vay Leadership "put me in my place". Safe to say I was scammed. Fool me once....

Best Regards, Doc

In a way, (or because of The Way) she is a victim, too... She just probably didn't see it at the time, and maybe she never will. I was "raised in the Word," and had a pretty fracked up view of reality. I really thought at some level that I was doing the will of God, that I was saving people from the darkness... that somehow I was "special" and better than most people... Why? Because this was the reality I was fed from a child. For those of us who grew up thinking this way - well, suffice it to say, we were victims... and not because we went to fellowship a few times and signed up for a class for whatever reason... No, for us it was how we grew up thinking because our parents taught us from birth.

I always hated hearing that children who were "raised in the Word" had it easier than everyone else because we had so much less to overcome. Man, let me tell you that is the truth ONLY if you stayed in twi world for the rest of your life... Once you get in the real world, it just makes everything a hell of a lot more complicated...

I really feel for all the kids who were raised in it and are still involved, or just starting to get out. They have no clue what life is like... But then again, once they wake up, things get better.

Don't blame her too much, Doc. She was more decieved than you were - you got out.

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In a way, (or because of The Way) she is a victim, too... She just probably didn't see it at the time, and maybe she never will. I was "raised in the Word," and had a pretty fracked up view of reality. I really thought at some level that I was doing the will of God, that I was saving people from the darkness... that somehow I was "special" and better than most people... Why? Because this was the reality I was fed from a child. For those of us who grew up thinking this way - well, suffice it to say, we were victims... and not because we went to fellowship a few times and signed up for a class for whatever reason... No, for us it was how we grew up thinking because our parents taught us from birth.

I always hated hearing that children who were "raised in the Word" had it easier than everyone else because we had so much less to overcome. Man, let me tell you that is the truth ONLY if you stayed in twi world for the rest of your life... Once you get in the real world, it just makes everything a hell of a lot more complicated...

I really feel for all the kids who were raised in it and are still involved, or just starting to get out. They have no clue what life is like... But then again, once they wake up, things get better.

Don't blame her too much, Doc. She was more decieved than you were - you got out.

Hi Javajane,

I don't think she intended the situation to occur. But at the same time, she knew what was happening was wrong. I could see it in her eyes. What I do hold her accountable for is standing by while they changed history, i.e. claiming that we never dated, never had a relationship outside TWI, and didn't say a word. After the FC, HC, and men of the Household stood and screamed at me for an hour in the parking lot in front of the entire Branch, I was visibly shaken. The FC was literally howling that I was delusional, and we "never had a date". She saw this happen and never said a word, even in private. I would been Ok with it if she had even called and said something like "I can't go against my family and the Way, I'm sorry". I would have bailed and not thought the worse of her. But to stand by and say nothing, well, I wouldn't even do this to my enemies!

Later her mother was ranting about how the only reason The Girl ever spoke with me in the first place was to bring me to 'The Word". I replied with details of some of our dates: dancing, dining, movies, concerts, etc. and said that if this is how people were brought to "The Word", then the Apostles must have been the most Partying Dudes in the Ancient World. No wonder they fell asleep in the Garden!

The Girl actually called me and ordered me to never tell what we had done together because it was her "personal life". Wow. In effect, she was asking me to "cover" for her! She was more than capable of misleading her parents and TWI. One of her best friends was Gay, and she spent a lot more time socializing with her than TWI knew about. I think that part of this was the dichotomy you spoke about with the Real World vs. The Way.

I suspect I was "sacrificed" to appease her parents and TWI. The ironic thing is that about a year and a half later, I believe that she left TWI. Weirdly enough, her best friend in one of the other Branches actually tracked me down. She asked me if I had spoken with The Girl lately. I was so stunned to see anyone from TWI, and from the nature of the question, I just shook my head. Before I could say anything she ran off. In retrospect, I figured that she had bailed and no one knew where she was. But why they believed that she might have spoken with me was something I've never figured out.

The whole thing is just an example of the duplicity that was evidently rampant in TWI, with all the talk of "love" and "fellowship", but actions doing the opposite. My cats have more compassion than that, heh.

One thing I'll say, my Sundays were a lot less stressful after I jumped ship:) On something totally different, I'm glad that I took the Foundational class, because I got to keep the red binder. People who never heard of TWI don't believe me until I show it that book. Their reactions are a real hoot! Zey may hav von der battle, but I got der book! Ha!

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Hey there, Doc

Listen, don't take this personal, but that scenario was played out thousands and thousands of times in TWI.

Branch leaders, area leaders, etc. were under the gun from higher ups to get the sales figures up graduate more people from PLAF(The Wonder Class). Something similar was done to me. The girl neglected to tell me she was actually engaged to the class instructor. Nice people, huh?

Hey, I don't take it personal at all! Thanks for your reply! I know what you mean, once I started looking at some of the Waydale documents still up on other sites and here at GSC, I was astounded. It's been actually sort of a relief to find out it happened to others, too.

That's a riot about the girl being engaged! Man, they sure do take those classes seriously! In fact, I suspected that something was going on between The Girl in my case and the Fellowship Coordinator. The way he flipped out when he found out we had dated was just abnormal, and I realized later it seemed a lot like jealousy. He touched her a bit too intimately for a married man, and she spent a lot of evenings at his house supposedly doing TWI "lesson plans". Yeah, maybe VPW lesson plans, heh.

With people like this, who needs reality TV?

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With people like this, who needs reality TV?

LOL!!! And what a reality show that would be!! Sort of a cross between "The Mole," "Flavor of Love", and "Big Brother."

And you were right about the dichotomy between real life and Way life... so confusing for everyone involved... Maybe it should be Un-Reality TV.

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LOL!!! And what a reality show that would be!! Sort of a cross between "The Mole," "Flavor of Love", and "Big Brother."

And you were right about the dichotomy between real life and Way life... so confusing for everyone involved... Maybe it should be Un-Reality TV.

There could be episodes like:

TWI's version: "How Speaking in Tongues Saved My Job"

Reality: "This guy's a nut: don't fire him until we get the Swat Team here!"

or

TWI: "Bravely Confronting the Adversary"

Reality: "Ambushing a shy, outnumbered member with silly BS."

And you know, I think I figured out why dancing, dating, etc. was called "Bringing People to the Word"! VPW didn't really have a good grasp of Greek. He looked at the wrong manuscript, and got Bacchus mixed up with the New Testament!

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really? i wonder if thats what hapened when they told us that everyone in lexington copped out at the same time?

It's gotta be close to it Nick! I know for a fact that they told all of the believers in Lexington to move to another branch. I think almost everyone did except one couple who were faithfully involved with twi for YEARS. They had claimed Lexington was cold and the word wasn't moving there because classes hadn't ran for a while--I think for maybe 3 years before some WOWs came in 1990. Things got a little more warm after that for a few years.

They did the same thing to St Louis Mo. Everyone was supposed to move too. I think many went to either Kansas City and some to Louisville. (J*ff Sh*w was one who moved from St Louis to Louisville.)

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One thing I'll say, my Sundays were a lot less stressful after I jumped ship:) On something totally different, I'm glad that I took the Foundational class, because I got to keep the red binder. People who never heard of TWI don't believe me until I show it that book. Their reactions are a real hoot! Zey may hav von der battle, but I got der book! Ha!

The binder's red now? :o Back when I took the Foundational Class, it was white with green print.

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I got mine back in 2000, so they may have changed.... Mine is red and white, and is a 1995 edition.

Stained red with the blood of all the people they stomped on...

I remember they said they changed it to red because red symbolized COMMITMENT.

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The binder's red now? :o Back when I took the Foundational Class, it was white with green print.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the red binder is for the syllabus of LCM's The Way of Abundance and Power class. The white-with-green-print binder was for VPW's Power for Abundant Living class.

:offtopic:

hampshire73, your screen name triggers good memories for me. In 1973, I spent the summer in New Hampshire as a dishwasher.........

in an all-girls summer camp.

It was an interesting and happy summer.

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They probably have hundreds of thousands of those red binders in the osc.. breathlessly waiting in anticipation of the world beating a path to loy's new version of insanity..

gotta do SOMETHING with them all..

:biglaugh:

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Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the red binder is for the syllabus of LCM's The Way of Abundance and Power class. The white-with-green-print binder was for VPW's Power for Abundant Living class.

I can confirm - the entire series (foundational, intermediate, advanced) of The Way of Abundance and Power are now in red binders with white letters.

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I can confirm - the entire series (foundational, intermediate, advanced) of The Way of Abundance and Power are now in red binders with white letters.

That's Incredible! RED like the :evildenk:

That's VERY symbolic and subliminal, obviously created my an evil mastermind down in the dungeons of TWI

OMG! What will they think of next? :biglaugh:

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That's Incredible! RED like the :evildenk:

That's VERY symbolic and subliminal, obviously created my an evil mastermind down in the dungeons of TWI

OMG! What will they think of next? :biglaugh:

RED binders for the Way Disciples, too!!! I think you're on to something, Grumpy!

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Perhaps they found their inspiration here:

Norman Wexler Biography (1926-1999)

Born August 6, 1926, in New Bedford, MA; raised in Detroit, MI; died after aheart attack, August 23, 1999, in Washington, DC; son of Harry and Sophia (Brisson) Wexler; children: Erica, Merin. Career: Writer. Cleveland Playhouse, Cleveland, OH, playwright-in-residence, 1970. Also worked in advertising. Member: Writers Guild of America West. Awards, Honors: Academy Award nomination, best writing, story and screenplay based on factual material or material not previously published or produced, 1970, for Joe;National Endowment for the Arts grant, 1970; Cleveland Playhouse Award, c. 1970, for Red's My Color, What's Yours? A Play without Love; Writers Guild of America Award, best drama adapted from another medium, AcademyAward nomination, best writing, screenplay based on material from another medium, and Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination, best motion picture, all with Waldo Salt, all 1973, for Serpico; Image Award, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, c. 1975, for Mandingo; Writers Guildof America Award, best drama, 1978, for Saturday Night Fever; National Science Foundation grant.

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RED binders for the Way Disciples, too!!! I think you're on to something, Grumpy!

...something else, "binders"...did you not in fact mean "BLINDERS"?? :evilshades:

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Stained red with the blood of all the people they stomped on...

I remember they said they changed it to red because red symbolized COMMITMENT.

More like commitment to the Nut House! I remember sitting in class and nearly biting my knuckles off thinking "do all these people really buy this junk?" I mean, Pangaea breaking apart in the blink of an eye.... And at one class they were talking about how "The Thirteenth Tribe" 'proved' that the modern Jewish people are not the descendants of the Old Testament tribes of Israel. I owned a copy of the book, and it said nothing of the sort. I was amazed!

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