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WOW ambassadors - success?


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Well, let me give you some specifics that maybe will help you understand why some folks don't get all warm and fuzzy when asked about W.O.W.

In order to go W.O.W. I sold a small "hobby" farm ( 6 acres), left a lucrative job in a growing company (where I was "the man"), and alienated my family (they basically thought I was nuts and trapped in an abusive cult {they were right}). I've never regained that level of prosperity or had that good of a job since (it was a great job that I should NEVER have walked away from).

While out in Alabama, about midway through the year, the branch leader in a nearby town decided it would be a swell idea to shoot his disobedient W.O.W. family member in the head (which he did). That particular family member would never return home alive and the BL spent the next several years in an Alabama prison. Another W.O.W. had an ailing mother, but - in order to stay true to her holy commitment - she stayed "on the field" while her mother died (this sort of thing happened FREQUENTLY).

Other W.O.W.s can tell of the times they were raped, robbed, assaulted, had nervous breakdowns, etc. Going without meals, or housing, or jobs, or friends and family was the NORM, from what I could tell. Anything else was generally the EXCEPTION.

And all this sacrifice for WHAT? To promote a conman's business, that's what. And to prepetuate a tired mythology.

Sorry, no thanks, it was B.S., and yes, I DID try it TWICE. Gaaaawd...

I hear you loud and clear on this. Me, I had dropped out of Lynchburg College, not the Baptist one, the private college one, with Dean's List credentials, working part time for a physician, had been thinking about medical shool, had references with exceptional worldy known professors, just walked away from it...and the result was living in Nashville, with the first couple of weeks hearing gunfire in the apartment complex parking lot....leap of faith, or spiral toward self-destruction... I recall one moment in Nashville that still comes up in my mind, I was out "witnessing" at the park in Nashville where the Parthenon reproduction building is, I was walking on a road, a one way road for cars, walking mind you, and came up on a Y in the road, specifically a "do not enter sign", and in my confusion, my mental state on the WOW field, I stood there and looked at that sign for what seemed to be minutes...just standing there, staring at it, not really mentally there, attempting to figure out what to do..as in being the outskirts and entry into the town of "insanity"...

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Interesting question. It got me thinking. I have to say I have very fond memories of my first WOW year. I actually was put in a nice family with good people. (I did notice others didn't fare as well.) We had a good time for the most part and the local leadership at the time were nice to us. It was really fun.

Now my second WOW year was a different story. I coord a family with a very mentally unstable man in it, and two other emotionally disturbed people. They were all three very sweet and loving, but they were an incredible amount of responsibility.

I noticed that it was important to our local leadership that our "stats" looked good. Our accomplishments were exagerated. And we were put under unreasonable and unnecessary pressure. We actually did run two classes, no one we witnessed to stayed with it.

But I always go back to my children when I start regretting things. I wouldn't have met my beautiful husband or have the house full of wonderful children that I do now.

BTW-whatever happened to C@rmin and the R*pps*?

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In order to go W.O.W. I sold a small "hobby" farm ( 6 acres), left a lucrative job in a growing company (where I was "the man"), and alienated my family (they basically thought I was nuts and trapped in an abusive cult {they were right}). I've never regained that level of prosperity or had that good of a job since (it was a great job that I should NEVER have walked away from).

So you sold a farm, left a great job, alienated your family to go out WoW. Apparently you figured none of those things were as important as going WoW.

All these things were your decision to make.

At the time it must have felt like the right thing to do, because on paper doing a SWOTT evaluation, it would not have looked right. The guy who left a great job at a local plant to enter the corp with his wife and baby thought it was a great idea as well. I was never convinced, especially after I saw how everyone who wasn't "someone special" lived.

By the time I got involved in the way, I had pretty much discounted my feelings as being trustworthy for making decisions. Even now, every time I make a decision based on how I feel, it pretty much blows up in my face.

Could it be that making decision on the basis of feelings is faulty?

While out in Alabama, about midway through the year, the branch leader in a nearby town decided it would be a swell idea to shoot his disobedient W.O.W. family member in the head (which he did). That particular family member would never return home alive and the BL spent the next several years in an Alabama prison. Another W.O.W. had an ailing mother, but - in order to stay true to her holy commitment - she stayed "on the field" while her mother died (this sort of thing happened FREQUENTLY).

That's the first time I've heard of someone literally having a gun held to their head. I worked for a retail chain that had another store armed robbed. After I saw how that was handled at the corporate level, I resigned.

If HQ did little beyond damage control, that would have been it for me.

I am reasonably sure that many had the (paraphrased) whosoever doesn't hate their mother and father Jesus line thrown at them as justification for ignoring the needs of their families. Jesus spoke that way on the basis that he was pretty darned sure that the Kingdom was coming verysoon. He alienated his town, family, and pretty much everyone who didn't agree with his take on everything. I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time. I struggled with that idea early in my walk, and I certainly don't agree now.

Other W.O.W.s can tell of the times they were raped, robbed, assaulted, had nervous breakdowns, etc. Going without meals, or housing, or jobs, or friends and family was the NORM, from what I could tell. Anything else was generally the EXCEPTION.

Which was largely kept under wraps by even those who personally experienced those things. Don't you think someone with a modicum of common sense would at least try to educate others on the perils of going WoW? Based on my personal experiences, I found many of the higher ups ideas about how the world worked to be lacking in any sense of reality. I could not trust that they would act in my best interest and lived my life accordingly.

Sure I heard about it, but as I was fond of saying, "It is my life we're talking about, not yours."

And all this sacrifice for WHAT? To promote a conman's business, that's what. And to prepetuate a tired mythology.

When did that lightbulb go off? I am not trying to make light of all this, but I am rather amazed at how people have turned against what was believed to be the only right thing to do with one's life at least once if you were involved in the way. IF you believed the only way to "move the Word over the world" was by selling everything and devoting a year to living in a different place, witnessing, and running a so-called bible class, then I think no one could seriously claim they weren't doing what they wanted to do. The whole idea was to rely on God to meet the needs. As I told one of my pastors yesterday, I have rarely had that level of faith, so I didn't consider myself a good candidate for the "opportunity."

Sorry, no thanks, it was B.S., and yes, I DID try it TWICE. Gaaaawd...

Fooled me once; shame on you. Fooled me twice; shame on me.

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I wonder if the sowers "keeds" will be saying the same thing about their little "diversion" twenty, thirty or so years from now..

"what a waste of life"..

all the "counsellors" they seem to have can't see beyond the "logic" of living a life less than "amish" for the lord..

I think both vic and loy chased off anyone old enough, or with enough experience to put a damper on the party..

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for the size of the old organization, isn't it signifcant the small number of "members" over fifty? There was vic, ermal and harry.. and about how many other "elders"? Not many that I can count in my head right at the moment..

and they ALL supported the vicster if he just said thus sayeth da lard.. didn't need any logical explanation or anything.. so you have a group of castrated "elders" who would either support his insanity, or merely turn a blind eye to it.

maybe that's one of the root reasons for the "success" of the wow program, corps, etc..

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and I'd add- at one time, I believe that 99 percent of "ordained clergy" were under thirty.. of those, I'd say 75 percent were under 25.

I'd say all but one or two were not mature enough to realize they were placing trust in an organization who used them as victims and proponents of a fiendish multi-level marketing program which would NEVER benefit them personally, or financially in the long run..

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My husband was one of the wows who got me in the class. Before we married though, I went wow, while he got dropped from the corps for going home to care for his ailing mother.

My wow year was just a year of endurance. My wow sis and I basically bailed out our 'star' wow brothers numerous times since they couldn't keep paying jobs. Both wow bros were mentored by the twig area coordinator(corps) and signed up for apprentice corps, though for at least half of our wow year either one the other or both made no contributions to the household fund. They were the family coord and asst coord, too.

Wow sis and I kept our mouths shut for some weird type of family loyalty to 'move the word' etc. Did I mention that our area coordinator gave us girls the job of doing all the household chores for the guys since we were going to get married and be wives? God and the ministry neede men to stand etc.

We were successful wows--we ran 4 full classes. Mighty few of the new grads stuck around for more than a month or two. One came to the rock with us, met a nice guy and got married, they stayed with TWI a couple more years and we connected again through GSC .

Hubby to be bought new tires and paid for a brake job so I could drive my car to the ROA to get pinned. I did not feel like a big victor!

I gave up my teaching job to go wow, then moved to a state where I had a hard time getting a teaching job, moved again to marry...pretty much ditched the career as not that important compared to TWI/Word over the World. Hubby and I both just shake our heads about it now, since the time and money to get back into college is so hard to come by, but it seemed like a great idea at the time.

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the new organization.. how many on the "board" are "ordained"?

well.. they ordain themselves.. or were "ordained" by the vicster in the old organization.. so we have three to five individuals, who won't be "fuddy duddies" and voice any REAL objections.. the "big man" probably has inherited the vicster's "power of attorney"..

they will crank out "ordained" YOUNG men and women at a phenomenal rate..

too young. Too naive, too immature, to realize- they are placing trust in yet another fiendish multi level marketing program which will not benefit them in the long run.. financially, or intellectually, or professionally, or SPIRITUALLY..

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the real tragedy.. they have "renewed their minds" sufficiently to relegate people's life experiences here, as being the imagination of those "few" disgruntled, dissatisfied, "customers" with an ax to grind..

sure, I had "fun" on my wow year.. *sometimes* the food was good.. got away from home, got a little more independant.. but I could have done the same thing in the peace corps..

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<snip>

I noticed that it was important to our local leadership that our "stats" looked good. Our accomplishments were exagerated. And we were put under unreasonable and unnecessary pressure. We actually did run two classes, no one we witnessed to stayed with it.

</snip>

exactly my experience.

George, mchud, Bramble... those are exactly the things I'm talking about.

when we went to RoA to get our pin, those things had already been buried, hidden, spun and forgotten. thousands of potential WOW candidates heard the success stories, which in my experience were at best half-truths. a WOW family who'd run lots of classes was paraded across the stage like victorious heroes. it was a marketing success, but it wasn't real.

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So you sold a farm, left a great job, alienated your family to go out WoW. Apparently you figured none of those things were as important as going WoW.

All these things were your decision to make.

At the time it must have felt like the right thing to do, because on paper doing a SWOTT evaluation, it would not have looked right. The guy who left a great job at a local plant to enter the corp with his wife and baby thought it was a great idea as well. I was never convinced, especially after I saw how everyone who wasn't "someone special" lived.

By the time I got involved in the way, I had pretty much discounted my feelings as being trustworthy for making decisions. Even now, every time I make a decision based on how I feel, it pretty much blows up in my face.

Could it be that making decision on the basis of feelings is faulty?

Uh, gee, ya think? Let me go back in time and give my former self that lesson, 'kay?

When did that lightbulb go off?

After the meltdown of the ministry (under the deft administration of Mr. Forehead) Once I FINALLY realized that WayWorld was no more tapped into God's Will than Elmer Fudd, the dots were pretty simple to connect. Before that? Not so much...

Fooled me once; shame on you. Fooled me twice; shame on me.

Yeah, wow! I can just feel the love! What was going on in my head at the time is still pretty clear to me. I felt I had screwed up my first W.O.W. year, and I still hadn't reached that spiritual nirvana that was promised. In order to succeed, I felt I MUST try again (not at all a unique idea, BTW).

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So you sold a farm, left a great job, alienated your family to go out WoW. Apparently you figured none of those things were as important as going WoW.

All these things were your decision to make.

<snip>

When did that lightbulb go off? I am not trying to make light of all this, but I am rather amazed at how people have turned against what was believed to be the only right thing to do with one's life at least once if you were involved in the way. IF you believed the only way to "move the Word over the world" was by selling everything and devoting a year to living in a different place, witnessing, and running a so-called bible class, then I think no one could seriously claim they weren't doing what they wanted to do. The whole idea was to rely on God to meet the needs. As I told one of my pastors yesterday, I have rarely had that level of faith, so I didn't consider myself a good candidate for the "opportunity."

Fooled me once; shame on you. Fooled me twice; shame on me.

Uh......sure it was his (George's) decision to make.

Why are you "rather amazed" at how people have turned against what was believed at one time? Guess I don't quite follow your train of thought on this one, tzaia.

Youthful decisions don't always pan out. Isn't that why some cultures are very demanding that parents, or grandparents, are involved in decision-making? And..........reflecting on past decisions, or mistakes, helps us to avoid repeating those mistakes and avoid abusive relationships.

Heck......some people exited twi and went to a splinter group for years too. So?

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Uh......sure it was his (George's) decision to make.

Why are you "rather amazed" at how people have turned against what was believed at one time? Guess I don't quite follow your train of thought on this one, tzaia.

Youthful decisions don't always pan out. Isn't that why some cultures are very demanding that parents, or grandparents, are involved in decision-making? And..........reflecting on past decisions, or mistakes, helps us to avoid repeating those mistakes and avoid abusive relationships.

Heck......some people exited twi and went to a splinter group for years too. So?

Because TWI took nothing. TWI didn't make the decision. TWI is not responsible for the outcome.

I consider myself a very slow learner in that area because I spent several more years giving time and money to a splinter group before I got a total clue and walked away (other than posting here which I need to stop doing because it's nothing besides morbid curiosity that keeps me plugged in here).

But I can't blame them for my bad choices.

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Well, let me give you some specifics that maybe will help you understand why some folks don't get all warm and fuzzy when asked about W.O.W.

Well, tzaia......guess I read it differently.

George didn't "blame twi" for his choices.............what he SAID was "let me give you some specifics that maybe will help you understand why some folks don't get all warm and fuzzy when asked about WOW.

Sounds different to me, I guess.

<_<

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I think The Way should be considered at least partly responsible for some of the decisions we made, such as the decision to go WOW or Corps etc. They did, after all, provide the information that helped people, in part, to make those decisions. That information was not always forthcoming with the real facts, deceptive, in other words. For example, I went into Fellow Laborers because the program was promoted as a way to study The Book of Acts, in depth, for two years, and then return to our home areas as more capable leaders. It never happened. The academic aspect of Fellow Laborers was abysmal. That has always been one of my biggest disappointments with the program. Yes, it was my decision to go into the program but I based that decision on flawed information they provided.

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Tzaia said....

Which was largely kept under wraps by even those who personally experienced those things. Don't you think someone with a modicum of common sense would at least try to educate others on the perils of going WoW? Based on my personal experiences, I found many of the higher ups ideas about how the world worked to be lacking in any sense of reality. I could not trust that they would act in my best interest and lived my life accordingly.

Yeah...that is why coersion and brainwashing come to mind. What reasonable adult WOULD endure these things and not warn others??

Teachings about *renewed mind*, *never speaking a negative*, *If there was a problem it was because of your lack of believing* YOU failed, not the ministry or the formulas you employed, crimes went unreported a*lest the ministry be blamed* There was a whole slew of teachings designed to keep our mouths shut.

Many of us were fresh out of high school and the class and made the mistake of trusting that these people had our best interests at heart and that the scriptures taught us were Godly instruction, rather than a weapon to be used to ensure complete compliance.

I thought that it was a program of Godly design, that we were sent where God needed us with the people that we needed to be with to achieve optimal growth...to be on the front lines of the spiritual battle...to be a warrior and strike a blow against Satan.

Man was I naieve.

Edited by rascal
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.....and SPEAKING of bad things happening on the wow field (AND in Alabama no less), I believe the same year that George was there and the wow was killed by his fc. A wow was killed in my town while our class was going. Do you think anyone in the ministry heard about THAT outside of Huntsville?

Edited by rascal
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I think The Way should be considered at least partly responsible for some of the decisions we made, such as the decision to go WOW or Corps etc. They did, after all, provide the information that helped people, in part, to make those decisions. That information was not always forthcoming with the real facts, deceptive, in other words. For example, I went into Fellow Laborers because the program was promoted as a way to study The Book of Acts, in depth, for two years, and then return to our home areas as more capable leaders. It never happened. The academic aspect of Fellow Laborers was abysmal. That has always been one of my biggest disappointments with the program. Yes, it was my decision to go into the program but I based that decision on flawed information they provided.

And with FLO there was "an application". And weren't the folks, who approves those applications, supposed to be walking by the spirit of God, er walking and a talking with the most high.....or was there just some rubber stamp involved because we applied. And double ditto for the same with WOW, folks a walking and a talking with the most high, in putting families together. Maybe, we need someone who was involved in making the kind of decisions like these to give us some perspective...EARL B. what do you have to say?

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what amazes me, are the "programs" which find me some kind of heretic or infidel because I simply refuse to bite, the second time.. or merely produce a few legitimate questions..

had I followed a different timeline... I'd be one of those morons demanding unquestioning obedience and loyalty..

no thanks, morons.. I'd rather die starving in the streets..

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Because TWI took nothing. TWI didn't make the decision. TWI is not responsible for the outcome.

friend Tzazia.. could I offer.. if TWI took NOTHING, then they would not be responsible for the outcome..

if they took:

1. MONEY

2. TIME

3. ETC.

they share the "benefit".. why do they not share the consequences? I thought we were supposed to be in some kind of "full sharing" mode or something..

just a thought..

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see.. that's why some of us were "put out" of the *great* household.. they like the benefits of "association".. but not the liabilities. If one is sick.. or mentally troubled.. a "bad witness"..

like it or not, some of my "problems" are part of the millstone they are bearing about their neck- lots of other individuals "problems" as well..

not *all* of my own personal problems.. I imagine some of them are of my own making..

but *who* "broke the salt"?

just a question..

some of us were run out of twig, not because we were "failures".. or an embarrassment.. but because we had the remote possibility that we could become so..

does this make sense?

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