I think that's why most of us still hang around here - to see if others need help.
Not so much the demise of TWI that is slowly killing this board, but Paw hived off the Political forum and as soon as that happened, many others left the board. So obviously people were visiting to get political and considering TWI as an afterthought (not perhaps a bad thing!) rather than dealing with cult recovery and then doing politico stuff as an afterthought.
It seems that out in the wider world, TWI is getting the respect and attention it deserves, which is miniscule if not zero.
It looks like some of the offshoots are doing a better job than the "root", but it's just repackaging. The "studio audiences" in some of their recorded classes are even more paltry than the Sunday services at"HQ", consisting of a few oldsters "keeping the Word alive" and their kids who are not yet out on their own.
In terms of legitimate theological advancement, neither Weirwille not the group he ramrodded produced ANYTHING of substance. TWI is going the way of Cyrus Teed's hollow earth cult, only Wierwille's was a hollow age of grace (license to sin) cult.
Could it be, then, that we survivors who continue to post here - are in fact the ones keeping TWI alive? At least in our own memories! Perhaps this board gives TWI an indirect presence and fame? (= "no publicity is bad publicity")
Could it be, then, that we survivors who continue to post here - are in fact the ones keeping TWI alive? At least in our own memories! Perhaps this board gives TWI an indirect presence and fame? (= "no publicity is bad publicity")
*laughs*
That's an interesting idea.
However, a few people would still be trying to be the sole voices,
and they'd feel free to lie with impunity.
We still have some social discussions, and we still have a few new
discussions that are relevant. (I've had at least 2 new ideas for
threads, but I haven't had time to get them going.)
I'm not keeping anything alive in my thoughts or dreams. There are a few twi folks here and there throughout the country and their reasons for hanging around range from...."I still think that some good folks will come back again" to......whatever....even just bad habit!
Elizabeth Smart has written a book about her healing from the abduction she endured for 9 months when she was 14 years old. I think we similarly had our innocence stolen in twi and similarly we were abducted and raped by twi, spiritually, emotionally, financially, as well as the physical rape that some endured).
I was working frequently in Wendover NV at that time Elizabeth Smart was abducted (you would be amazed at how many LDS people work in the gaming industry).
From an interview in "Breaking Christian News" today with Elizabeth Smart, which I thought had applicability to our moving forward from the hurt and dirt we experienced in twi:
The day after she was reunited with her parents, Elizabeth's mother told her, "This man has taken so much from you…he's taken 9 months of your life from you that you will never get back; the best punishment you could give him is to be happy—to move forward with your life and to do what you want to do. Because, by feeling sorry for yourself and by holding onto what's happened to you, you're allowing him to steal more of your life away, and he doesn't deserve another second."
Also, I keep coming here kinda like Lou Rawls sang, "...I left my heart in San Francisco. . ." I left my heart with so many many people during my twi years, and this is one place I feel comfortable where I can keep in touch with some of those precious loved ones. Also people who had shared twi experiences can relate to laughing a dumb jokes, having a WOW mobile (and not understanding that having a beat up junk heap of a car was not a great "witness of believing"). So many things are laughable now. And also so many things are heartbreaking now, and it's just nice to have a place to go where people kinda "understand where you are coming from" really. . Other people who loved the same folks (Michael Martin, Del Duncan, Howard and Jane Yeremian, Ralph and Joanne Anderson, etc. etc. So many wonderful folks who really did "show us The Way" (of Jesus Christ).
During the very early 1960s, my high school days beatnik daze of motorcycle trips and after hours club Jimbo's Bop City, etc. etc. I also went to Washington DC because we were going to pray the demons out of that place. A few years later, after UC Berserkeley days dayz, I took "The Class" and trusted that this TWI group was going to help clean up the place. Even though I haven't seen the Pentagon cleaned up yet, I still have hope because God is still the miracle working God Who gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life, and I do still love this USA place. :)
I am older than a lot of you guys. I was at the Fillmore watching Grace Slick, and Jerry Garcia and other friends. . . When I got into twi I threw out all my music except Brian Bliss-Bev Strick-etc.
(My audiologist is working to try to get me cochlear implants, so I may hear again. Then I will come back and listen to it.)
This thread was started about 3 months ago. Maybe you weren't sure you needed help then. Maybe you were afraid to ask publically. I understand that.....maybe more than some of the rest who come here.
If that's the case leave me a private topic and I'll answer you in private.
Those who come here, and spend any length of time here reading all the threads and papers I or most of the threads) if they're able to think straight, may need a bit of help to adjust. Some won't. I did need some help. It took somebody who really knew to show me where my brain was tripping up. No brainwashing...just simple loving logic.
So - - here I am! And I'm with Groucho and the resr.
I wish this forum had a like button anyways...TWI is stuck in their time warp themselves...nothings changed...same music, same format, same location, same quips and one liners...most young people after seeing and hearing churches like Hillsong, C3, etc draw the only conclusion possible...BORING
For a number of years, this was the website to come to for cult recovery from the Way International...for many reasons it has ebbed and diminished in recent years...probably because TWI has ebbed and diminished greatly...however...if there are still any folks who need help...if you are still involved with twi or are having a hard time since you left twi...I am still willing to help you. Just let me know...I am willing to talk with you, pray with you, explain things to you...whatever you need. Twi is an insidious cult that harms people greatly...but there are solutions to the problems you face if you are still being effected by this cult...leave me a message if you want and I will be glad to talk to you and help you. Life after twi is GREAT!
I'm here for that purpose, too. And to shed light on any issues I witnessed during my time in TWI and things I've learned since.
It's boring. What can I say? I've been going on and off to different fellowships around the country for over a year now. I've visited friends and their fellowships. I am startled by how hungry the people who GO to TWI fellowships are....hungry and dead....like zombies sitting at a table and starving. In fact, I think a Zombie with vocal ability could add more movement and interest to teaching a Sunday teaching service.
Seriously...it just feels like the religious devil spirits that gutted The Way Ministry left it used and throttled, like someone after a stroke.
If the Word is Quick and Powerful...where is that in the STS? There is no "juice". If TWI were a car battery, it would need a serious jumpstart.
The rhetoric is the same, the vocal intonations of a STS are enough to put you to sleep and the "word" is bland and unsatisfactory.
I went back to TWI because I didn't like the boring structure of a regular church and I thought I could change TWI from the inside. (Silly old bear) Change it by being a part of it. A rebirth through love.
But at every turn, in quiet conversations, people confess how they've "stood" through betrayal after betrayal, all without justice or a request for their forgiveness.
Perhaps some people are tied to TWI because they were taught (as I was) that if I left TWI, I would "circle the drain" spiritually.
Weren't so many of us conditioned to believe that we would be stripped of God's mercy, favor, glory and abundance if we abandoned TWI?
But it's not true!!! That is a LIE. God is BIGGER than one organization. He is bigger than the little box TWI wants to put Him into.
And if you are hungering and thirsting, YOU...SHALL....BE FILLED.
It's not like God is saying...oh well, Theresa or Sara or Jim....if you are not apart of TWI then you won't be blessed because that is the only organization holy enough for me to dwell in...Right?!?! God KNOWS your need, and how to meet it. He doesn't need just one organization and neither do you.
Plus if you take a good look at what is coming out of HQ, you will see that what is taught engenders so little deliverance that TWI is just like almost any other church anyway.......except without the entertainment.
Primarily because there is no love. No Love. Pharisees....they had the "truth" too. But no love.
Well said, sad but true...it died years ago and the even sadder thing is a relative of mine is only now sitting down to write a book to the trustees detailing what is wrong with 'the' ministry..like he's only just noticed ??!! Be a long read is all I can say lol
I went back to TWI because I didn't like the boring structure of a regular church and I thought I could change TWI from the inside. (Silly old bear) Change it by being a part of it. A rebirth through love.
But at every turn, in quiet conversations, people confess how they've "stood" through betrayal after betrayal, all without justice or a request for their forgiveness.
Perhaps some people are tied to TWI because they were taught (as I was) that if I left TWI, I would "circle the drain" spiritually.
Weren't so many of us conditioned to believe that we would be stripped of God's mercy, favor, glory and abundance if we abandoned TWI?
It wasn't until I realized I needed to change my idea of what "God" was that I could see past the ridiculous fear that motivated me to stay in TWI. Then I could leave it. Seems to me that TWI created a god that fit VPW's ideas. Not the other way around. Perhaps that is true for lots of churches, too. You say you were bored by the "structure of a regular church," so that makes me wonder what the value of such structures really is. Seems like the value is emotional support, but I've yet to feel comfy in a church either, so all I can say is good luck in your quest...
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waysider
You're a good man, Charlie Brown Groucho.
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Twinky
I think that's why most of us still hang around here - to see if others need help.
Not so much the demise of TWI that is slowly killing this board, but Paw hived off the Political forum and as soon as that happened, many others left the board. So obviously people were visiting to get political and considering TWI as an afterthought (not perhaps a bad thing!) rather than dealing with cult recovery and then doing politico stuff as an afterthought.
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WordWolf
I imagine that a few people out of hundreds were just posting to be political,
but if it were more, then the successor political board would be pretty busy.
But ex-twi boards of every kind all have dwindled, as did any twi boards.
For the few who wanted to applaud twi, there was only so much to say before
it was obvious there were only about a dozen posts to rehash, and everything
was a variation of that.
As for the GSC, it has existed to warn others about twi, and to help others
survive twi. It has succeeded in both. Others don't fall for twi's deception
and traps- partly because of the GSC, partly for several other reasons.
As for survival and recovery, well, duh. Most people who have posted on the
GSC post-twi have recovered and gone on with their lives. So, they have
families, they have kids, they have churches, they have outside interests
which are relevant to their present. That leaves them with less time to
post here. I wish a few of them would post more, but in general, I say it's
great because they are all twi success stories.
Ok, a few ex-posters are not because twi is still in them even if they are not in twi,
and a few ex-posters were here because they wanted to argue, or troll the
board, or say how terrible we are to warn people about twi or for ever being
Christians or any other pet cause they have to attack people (including, I
imagine, political ones.) However, ALL messageboards have that. All groups
eventually have someone there who has no real reason to be THERE other than
"You haven't kicked me out." All messageboards have to deal with contentionm
rudeness and flamewars. Since almost every poster who ever did that has moved
on as well, there's an absence of flamewars as well. Some people can consider
that for a bad thing-I do not. I think important things get lost among those.
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Steve Lortz
waysider is right, Groucho... you are a good man!
It seems that out in the wider world, TWI is getting the respect and attention it deserves, which is miniscule if not zero.
It looks like some of the offshoots are doing a better job than the "root", but it's just repackaging. The "studio audiences" in some of their recorded classes are even more paltry than the Sunday services at"HQ", consisting of a few oldsters "keeping the Word alive" and their kids who are not yet out on their own.
In terms of legitimate theological advancement, neither Weirwille not the group he ramrodded produced ANYTHING of substance. TWI is going the way of Cyrus Teed's hollow earth cult, only Wierwille's was a hollow age of grace (license to sin) cult.
Love,
Steve
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Twinky
Could it be, then, that we survivors who continue to post here - are in fact the ones keeping TWI alive? At least in our own memories! Perhaps this board gives TWI an indirect presence and fame? (= "no publicity is bad publicity")
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WordWolf
*laughs*
That's an interesting idea.
However, a few people would still be trying to be the sole voices,
and they'd feel free to lie with impunity.
We still have some social discussions, and we still have a few new
discussions that are relevant. (I've had at least 2 new ideas for
threads, but I haven't had time to get them going.)
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krys
I'm not keeping anything alive in my thoughts or dreams. There are a few twi folks here and there throughout the country and their reasons for hanging around range from...."I still think that some good folks will come back again" to......whatever....even just bad habit!
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Kit Sober
Moving on. . . . update:
Elizabeth Smart has written a book about her healing from the abduction she endured for 9 months when she was 14 years old. I think we similarly had our innocence stolen in twi and similarly we were abducted and raped by twi, spiritually, emotionally, financially, as well as the physical rape that some endured).
I was working frequently in Wendover NV at that time Elizabeth Smart was abducted (you would be amazed at how many LDS people work in the gaming industry).
From an interview in "Breaking Christian News" today with Elizabeth Smart, which I thought had applicability to our moving forward from the hurt and dirt we experienced in twi:
Also, I keep coming here kinda like Lou Rawls sang, "...I left my heart in San Francisco. . ." I left my heart with so many many people during my twi years, and this is one place I feel comfortable where I can keep in touch with some of those precious loved ones. Also people who had shared twi experiences can relate to laughing a dumb jokes, having a WOW mobile (and not understanding that having a beat up junk heap of a car was not a great "witness of believing"). So many things are laughable now. And also so many things are heartbreaking now, and it's just nice to have a place to go where people kinda "understand where you are coming from" really. . Other people who loved the same folks (Michael Martin, Del Duncan, Howard and Jane Yeremian, Ralph and Joanne Anderson, etc. etc. So many wonderful folks who really did "show us The Way" (of Jesus Christ).
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Ham
it was a dream, or vision, that only others could regard as sold.
The Dream still lives within me..
even if it is or were a false dream, or false vision.
Tell me that it isn't so..
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Ham
Heh.. as screwed up as it is.. it is a beautiful life..
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Ham
Kit, I hope you remember this music, before losing a lot of your hearing..
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Kit Sober
During the very early 1960s, my high school days beatnik daze of motorcycle trips and after hours club Jimbo's Bop City, etc. etc. I also went to Washington DC because we were going to pray the demons out of that place. A few years later, after UC Berserkeley days dayz, I took "The Class" and trusted that this TWI group was going to help clean up the place. Even though I haven't seen the Pentagon cleaned up yet, I still have hope because God is still the miracle working God Who gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life, and I do still love this USA place. :)
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Ham
deleted, double post
:)
Me too.
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Kit Sober
I am older than a lot of you guys. I was at the Fillmore watching Grace Slick, and Jerry Garcia and other friends. . . When I got into twi I threw out all my music except Brian Bliss-Bev Strick-etc.
(My audiologist is working to try to get me cochlear implants, so I may hear again. Then I will come back and listen to it.)
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krys
This thread was started about 3 months ago. Maybe you weren't sure you needed help then. Maybe you were afraid to ask publically. I understand that.....maybe more than some of the rest who come here.
If that's the case leave me a private topic and I'll answer you in private.
Those who come here, and spend any length of time here reading all the threads and papers I or most of the threads) if they're able to think straight, may need a bit of help to adjust. Some won't. I did need some help. It took somebody who really knew to show me where my brain was tripping up. No brainwashing...just simple loving logic.
So - - here I am! And I'm with Groucho and the resr.
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Allan
I wish this forum had a like button
anyways...TWI is stuck in their time warp themselves...nothings changed...same music, same format, same location, same quips and one liners...most young people after seeing and hearing churches like Hillsong, C3, etc draw the only conclusion possible...BORING
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outandabout
Like their BORING website.
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Allan
forgot about that, with their etchy sketch pics lol
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penworks
I'm here for that purpose, too. And to shed light on any issues I witnessed during my time in TWI and things I've learned since.
Cheers,
Charlene
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Thin Lizzy
It's boring. What can I say? I've been going on and off to different fellowships around the country for over a year now. I've visited friends and their fellowships. I am startled by how hungry the people who GO to TWI fellowships are....hungry and dead....like zombies sitting at a table and starving. In fact, I think a Zombie with vocal ability could add more movement and interest to teaching a Sunday teaching service.
Seriously...it just feels like the religious devil spirits that gutted The Way Ministry left it used and throttled, like someone after a stroke.
If the Word is Quick and Powerful...where is that in the STS? There is no "juice". If TWI were a car battery, it would need a serious jumpstart.
The rhetoric is the same, the vocal intonations of a STS are enough to put you to sleep and the "word" is bland and unsatisfactory.
I went back to TWI because I didn't like the boring structure of a regular church and I thought I could change TWI from the inside. (Silly old bear) Change it by being a part of it. A rebirth through love.
But at every turn, in quiet conversations, people confess how they've "stood" through betrayal after betrayal, all without justice or a request for their forgiveness.
Perhaps some people are tied to TWI because they were taught (as I was) that if I left TWI, I would "circle the drain" spiritually.
Weren't so many of us conditioned to believe that we would be stripped of God's mercy, favor, glory and abundance if we abandoned TWI?
But it's not true!!! That is a LIE. God is BIGGER than one organization. He is bigger than the little box TWI wants to put Him into.
And if you are hungering and thirsting, YOU...SHALL....BE FILLED.
It's not like God is saying...oh well, Theresa or Sara or Jim....if you are not apart of TWI then you won't be blessed because that is the only organization holy enough for me to dwell in...Right?!?! God KNOWS your need, and how to meet it. He doesn't need just one organization and neither do you.
Plus if you take a good look at what is coming out of HQ, you will see that what is taught engenders so little deliverance that TWI is just like almost any other church anyway.......except without the entertainment.
Primarily because there is no love. No Love. Pharisees....they had the "truth" too. But no love.
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Allan
Well said, sad but true...it died years ago and the even sadder thing is a relative of mine is only now sitting down to write a book to the trustees detailing what is wrong with 'the' ministry..like he's only just noticed ??!! Be a long read is all I can say lol
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penworks
It wasn't until I realized I needed to change my idea of what "God" was that I could see past the ridiculous fear that motivated me to stay in TWI. Then I could leave it. Seems to me that TWI created a god that fit VPW's ideas. Not the other way around. Perhaps that is true for lots of churches, too. You say you were bored by the "structure of a regular church," so that makes me wonder what the value of such structures really is. Seems like the value is emotional support, but I've yet to feel comfy in a church either, so all I can say is good luck in your quest...
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