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Did you go out with a bang, or silently into the night?


JavaJane
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I had a great excuse not to go to fellowship: college.

But obviously, I was thinking of it as an excuse, so you can tell I was a bit dissatisfied with twi. My family members just stopped going one by one because they split up our fellowship (though my sister stopped going long before that) and my dad had financial issues. None of us had any problems from anyone still in but I've found that my mom is still indoctrinated. She and my dad found a church that they like, though.

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Leaving for the last time. Military Wow

It was quiet..and I probably would not have left had the higher ups went ahead and agreed

to have a marriage for Mr OKC and I.

But...nope they said no "Not Approved" he had just taken PFAL and we were not on the same "level"

(what a bunch of crap!!) anyhoo...it's all good been together now 27 years. (3 kids,2 grandkids,4 dogs

and 1 cat!)

Left everything of TWI laying in my room and took my bible and wow pin(which I threw in a lake

20 yrs later! )

I did leave a note to my three wow brothers(who were great guys)and the other twig was great too

but "things were a changing" how DARE someone tell you who you should and shouldn't marry!

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I needed something to occupy my hands, since my head was doing donuts in the parking lot of my mind.

Great line, Sushi... and a very accurate description of what I went through!!

I had been unhappy with twi for some time but unable to express it to anyone because my spouse was a company man, through and through. Then came the meeting where they told us about the first lawsuit... told us Craig had messed up... told us the adversary was using Craig's weakness to attack all of us and what we had built together... told us we didn't need to know the particulars of the lawsuit because it was all lies anyway...

As soon as I could get my hands on a computer away from home I did so, hoping to look up the particulars of the lawsuit. I felt that if this was an attack on me, and all lies, I had a right to know exactly what the charges in the lawsuit were!! I found WayDale. I read all night long... all week long... for weeks and weeks, I read and read... and I knew what I was reading was true. And I felt so gut-punched. I distinctly remember thinking, after that first night, "Everything I thought I knew for the past 20 years was a lie!!!"

[insert Sushi's line here]

I spent a few months trying to figure out what had gone so wrong, and trying to keep my family intact, but eventually I was outed by the WayGB and booted. Personally, I went out with a bang... it pretty much felt like my head exploded. I told off the area coordinator and his wife, lost a part-time job I had with a believer, and broke up my marriage over it. But twi-wise I think it was just a whimper because the BCs worked very hard at making it a non-event. They had already lost so many local ministry folks through each purge (homo-purge, money-purge, time-purge)... they couldn't afford to lose any more, lol. Geez, what a racket.

Edited by TheHighWay
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I have had people (former followers of twi) that I should stand up and tell everyone off in twi so they know where I stand - that this will help those that are still in.

Do any of you think this would help people who are still in, or as TheHighWay has said, would it just become a non-issue?

I personally have no desire to "confront" those still in... It happened to me when some people very close to me got out. They made a HUGE issue of telling me a lot of stuff I was not ready to even hear at the time. All it seemed to do to me was make me MORE convinced that the ADVERSARY was very sneaky and out to get the TRUE HOUSEHOLD of GOD. In a way, it put me even deeper into twi's bondage.

Did anyone else experience anything like this?

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I have had people (former followers of twi) that I should stand up and tell everyone off in twi so they know where I stand - that this will help those that are still in.

Do any of you think this would help people who are still in, or as TheHighWay has said, would it just become a non-issue?

I personally have no desire to "confront" those still in... It happened to me when some people very close to me got out. They made a HUGE issue of telling me a lot of stuff I was not ready to even hear at the time. All it seemed to do to me was make me MORE convinced that the ADVERSARY was very sneaky and out to get the TRUE HOUSEHOLD of GOD. In a way, it put me even deeper into twi's bondage.

Did anyone else experience anything like this?

That's how I felt when people left. It was a bit worse when they were hostile. People leaving and "attacking" us made us feel closer and brought us under the scrutiny ("protection") of the limb coordinators.

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Yah.... making a scene like that, JJ, doesn't do any good. Like kenwas says, it *can* bring them closer together. Better to let anyone you're close to know that you'd like to stay in touch with them and let them ask you questions when/if they feel comfortable doing so.

The internet is pretty user friendly these days and it's easy enough to find out the truth about TWI if someone really wants to. In my opinion, most people still "in" are either on the fence or they have no desire to leave (whether they know the truth or not).

edited to "add" a word - no "changing" a word - no "leaving out" a word

Edited by Belle
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I've found that the best I have been able to do with people who are still in is to talk about issues as THEY bring them up... If I bring up situations that I would categorize as "abusive" that have happened to me without them bringing up something that happened to them first, it is as if I am attacking them personally for what they believe... when really it is not about beliefs, per se... more about the organization.

I have had some success with this. One thing that I have stayed away from unless I have a real opportunity to talk about it is anything involving VP's sexploitation of women. People just CANNOT believe that the MOG would do such a thing.... It is like I am trying to tell them that George W Bush is an alien who built the piramids and now is trying to destroy all of human kind through mind control. They just cannot possibly wrap their minds around it.

Waking up from twi is a slow process for most people, I think. It was for me.

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V -- e -- r -- y

S -- l -- o -- w -- l -- y

:biglaugh:

You have always sounded like a very rational, logical, sound young lady and, as usual, you're handling the situation perfectly. :)

If it's any consolation, my ex still refuses to believe that vee pee died from cancer and said, "IF, any of those lies about him sexually abusing women were true (which they're not) - that was in the past and is totally irrelevant to The Present Truth". :rolleyes:

I'm going to puke now......

edited for formatting

Edited by Belle
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I’ll never forget the night I left. I was in labor with my first child. June 23, 1987. My now ex and I ran the Limb bookstore and I was on the phone with the Limb Leader arguing about setting up a bookstore at some meeting. We already had one foot out the door. Ralph D. had already been to town, etc and that was just the straw. My ex had wanted to leave for a long time but I was the one holding him back. So the Limb leader is YELLING at me and I’m in LABOR. (Not a good idea). I said “We quit” my ex will bring the bookstore back to you on the weekend. We then moved to another city which we had been thinking of doing anyway – but we really needed to get away! It was hard. That was your whole life – your whole social network – we WERE friends back then in the day.

BELLE – I just read the two part Broadcast that JavaJane mentioned and I was floored.

I got in TWI in 1973 and out in 1987. I looked at Waydale a little bit back then and have been around Greasespot a little. I’ve become much more interested since reading Kristen’s book “Losing the Way”. But OMG I had no idea that the Way was like that. It’s almost like there were two Ways. I guess so because I’ve seen it called TWI 1, and TWI 2, etc. I would think that the paranoia of the Way drove out a whole lot more people than it kept! We weren’t on the Internet in 1973 and we were still the happy hippies “looking for the truth”. But Thank you SO much for that insight and what a journey that must have been for you. You were very courageous and I’m glad you made it out ok on the other end. I should say made it out even better than before.

QUOTE FROM BROADCAST: “International had a whole Department that copied posts from Greasespot and organized them”. My O my

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...It is like I am trying to tell them that George W Bush is an alien who built the piramids and now is trying to destroy all of human kind through mind control.

OMG! So many things are now falling into place!

:biglaugh:

------------------------------------------

Left fairly quietly with a polite letter to the LC resigning as a twig coordinator. If memory serves, he never called or contacted me to follow up or ask why.

It's just as well. I miss many of the folks I knew in the Way, but not the obsessive need to control everything and the BS dogma. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

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Haven't posted in a while. Just browsing today and thought I would add my 2 cents.

In December 1996, the Mrs. left. Simple told the TC that she wasn't going to fellowship anymore due to the amount of control they were trying to have over our life, some issues with some teachings (believe me when I say I don't remember which they were), and our being confronted for not wanting to go on a TWI advance (we took some vacation time together instead).

I left ~ January 1997. Of course, I thought it was my fault that my wife left (I musta messed up somewhere, right?). But I had been seeing the same things too. It just took a while more for me to admit that what I had thought I would be involved with my whole life was wroing. I just called the TC and said I wasn't coming to Twig anymore. They did try to get me to stay. I dunno why. I want to believe that the TC had good intentions, but no way to know if it was that or the plummeting ABS or the fact that someone was leaving who was an AC grad, former Twig leader, etc would give others ideas.

Anyway, that's it. No big fireworks, just left.

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I went out silently into the day, as the long, dark night of TWI fell away into the wonders and warmth of the daylight of reality. :-)

Seriously, I saw how others did it, and saw the downsides of trying to go out without making the TWI leadership mad. I also wanted to avoid saying or doing something that would have me labeled Mark and Avoid, or going through some long drawn out process like most of you did. Since I was living on my own at the time and far from any family and friends in TWI (I had moved for a job), it was quite easy to just stop going to any TWI functions. I did feel a little bad that I was scheduled to teach for about 50% of the next month, but I at least was courteous enough to stop going and stop being in contact with them on a week that I wasn't teaching.

So anyway, I got a few angry phone calls from my aggro HFC to my home and work phones, I think even the limb coordinator might have tried to call me once, and there was a good guy in my fellowship that called me a few months later when I accidentally picked up. By saying a good guy, I mean it, because his heart was in the right place and he probably disobeyed leadership to try to reach out to me. I hope he and his family are out now.

A few months after I left TWI, I moved halfway across the nation and didn't deal with TWI again with the exception of friends and family still in, who I assume the leadership in my former state never talked to about me. That's really strange, in my opinion, because word traveled fast in years before then.

There is other stuff that would be funny, especially related to what some others have said, but I won't post more information that could personally identify me, so I can't.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I went out silently into the day, as the long, dark night of TWI fell away into the wonders and warmth of the daylight of reality. :-)

Seriously, I saw how others did it, and saw the downsides of trying to go out without making the TWI leadership mad. I also wanted to avoid saying or doing something that would have me labeled Mark and Avoid, or going through some long drawn out process like most of you did. Since I was living on my own at the time and far from any family and friends in TWI (I had moved for a job), it was quite easy to just stop going to any TWI functions. I did feel a little bad that I was scheduled to teach for about 50% of the next month, but I at least was courteous enough to stop going and stop being in contact with them on a week that I wasn't teaching.

So, tell me Mr P - I never quite figured out what "Mark & Avoid" was as this was not part of TWI 1 or at least not called that. If someone "left" prior to POP I guess it was more or less "assumed" that they were possesed (why else would they leave??) I can remember when friend of mine left the 2nd or 3rd Corp, which was unheard of in those days and I thought that being his friend and hanging out with him would maybe help show him the light, show him the error of his ways (of course, that didn't happen) but I actually got phone calls from the Limb Leader of NY at the time telling me to stay away from him (that didn't happen either) but I thought why wouldn't they want me to help this guy??? I guess that was a form of M&A without the label.

Sorry :offtopic:

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So, tell me Mr P - I never quite figured out what "Mark & Avoid" was as this was not part of TWI 1 or at least not called that. If someone "left" prior to POP I guess it was more or less "assumed" that they were possesed (why else would they leave??) I can remember when friend of mine left the 2nd or 3rd Corp, which was unheard of in those days and I thought that being his friend and hanging out with him would maybe help show him the light, show him the error of his ways (of course, that didn't happen) but I actually got phone calls from the Limb Leader of NY at the time telling me to stay away from him (that didn't happen either) but I thought why wouldn't they want me to help this guy??? I guess that was a form of M&A without the label.

Sorry :offtopic:

KJV Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

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The local BC got tired of me thinking all the time and called one of those drumhead meetings where your TC, assistant TC, wives, etc., sit around while the BC makes accusations and then "fires" you. Since the Countess-to-be and I had just gotten engaged, she and her TC, etc. were there, too. She was given 24 hours to decide whether she would stay with me or with TWI. I left, frightened and confused; Lucy just left mad. :biglaugh:

Of course, later, I had one of those "esprit d'escalier" moments: "Boy, I should have said this and this and THIS!" But, Lucy and I were beyond that.

Was there any impact from our departure? Probably not much. At least one couple missed us, though. The wife said, "I wonder how George and Lucy are doing" in fellowship, at which point another "believer" said "Who gives a f###?" The woman said, "I do!" and left.

We left in 1997. About two years ago, one of my old TC's called, trying to see if I would come back to TWI. Sorry, Dude, but thanks for thinking of me! :rolleyes:

George

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  • 3 months later...

I left quietly, no ado, after the Rock of Ages 1976. Took my new W.O.W. pin and booked. Never heard from anyone about my being absent.

All this 'mark and avoid' stuff from the 1980s is so frightening to me. Talk about corrupted power. The wheels came off TWI after I left. I blame Disco Craig -- what the .... was he thinking???

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Since I pretty much escaped, I have to say that I left into the night, but not silently.

I just left a letter to the Way Corpse roommate saying I don't want to be part of the ministry anymore, then pack my things when he was not home and left without saying a frigging word. I didn't even let them know where I left to (for what? so I get harassed) nor let them talk to me into coming back (if they M&A'd me, I didn't give a s**t either).

I left around the time that the legalistic kangaroo courts of the mid-90's started. I was present in one of those stupid sessions where a friend of mine was being reamed. Inside of me, I thought to myself "you can be next."

I just had enough with all that and other BS's at the time that I just pack up and left. Of course, I did not leave that Way Corpse roommate to foot the bill in regards to the apartment rent. I left my part of the rent in advance for the last 3 months of the lease although I was broke: I just did not want anything to do anymore with TWI, I just wanted to move on to be free.

Now, over 12 years later, I can safely say I did not become a greasespot as Loy Boy wrongly predicted as always.

Edited by FreeFromCults
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So anyway, I got a few angry phone calls from my aggro HFC to my home and work phones, I think even the limb coordinator might have tried to call me once, and there was a good guy in my fellowship that called me a few months later when I accidentally picked up.

Well, I guess there WAS a good side to being booted, then, wasn't there... I didn't have any follow-up phone calls to put up with!!

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After I departed, I received just one phone call...it was from a 6th corps grad who was faculty at Emporia. When he asked me if I thought "Dr." Wierwille was wrong and I said "yes"...that was "it" for me...I was officially put on the "do not pass go, demon infested spiritual cesspool list"...

...I went out out and had a few beers and chuckled to myself.

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I left quietly but my son didn't!

Yeah... but you're not quiet now! That's what matters! Keep on making some noise!

:dance: :dance:

Here it is again! Maybe it's time to bump this up. It seems like there are some newer folks around since July.

Re-read all about it.

Or save some time and start at post 15.

:dance: :dance:

Should we all wave? :anim-smile::wave: :wave: :wave: :wave:

Edited by doojable
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