My eyes were fixated on the white-gloved hand of the magician.....and mirrors of deception kept me from seeing the magic of manipulation. After all, I mean, who's going to think that a Christian minister would be this brazen to obscure the truth of the scriptures or his testimony of the Lord's workings? And hey.....he smoked and joked and seemed cool to the hippie-youth and everything! And, the girls......seemed strong and assertive and greeted me with a nice kiss and hug every time I showed up. Not that end of the date kiss kinda thing, but right then and there. And, with several girls in attendance.....let the kissing and hugging commence.
Those were the days of magic and bliss. :)/>
(snip)
It was a BRILLIANT piece of misdirection-and of advertising.
In advertising,
you need to understand your target audience. vpw became an expert on the hippie youth counterculture.
He figured out what they wanted and didn't want- then framed his presentations accordingly.
He took youths that felt disenfranchised and told them that they could have power-through believing.
He told them not to trust religious authorities-which they wanted to hear- and that everything
they wanted to do was just cool with God. (Who doesn't want to hear that?)
Later came the various means to extract money from the kids, but initially, they were recruited,
and made into a SALES FORCE and RECRUITMENT ARM,
swelling the twi numbers in a way vpw had not been able to even begin without them to exploit.
And all of it started with a marvelous show that was presented, first when vpw went to the House
of Acts and the groovy Christians around Haight-Ashbury, and continued from there.
Speaking of spies.....I was in Jackson MS having the time of my life (sarc) and I went to the movies with a fellow believer. We were standing around my apartment and he asked me if I ever felt like leaving The Way. I answered honestly that sometimes I did. (who didn't)
Lo and behold the next day the Branch Leader dropped by and said he wanted to see me the next day. After a sleepless night, I went to his house and in his office he proceeded to verbally tear me limb from limb, accusing me of all kinds of things.....eventually I broke down in tears and then he told me how great I was.
i hope this kind of fits in with discussion, but when we were torn to shreads over lack of "putting classes together" and lightbearers and all that, i couldn't understand why wierwille, allen, finnegan, BOT, etc., didn't go out there and show us how it's done
Before the collaterals were bound into book form, they consisted of several individual paper booklets. The one that is now called "The Law of Believing" was, at that time, called "The Magic of Believing". The whole positive/magic thinking craze had been sweeping the nation for several years. I think, perhaps, Wierwille had hopes of hitching his wagon to the positive thinking trend but found the market to be too saturated. Still, I think Jiminy Cricket said it best when he sang, "
, makes no difference who you are, your dreams come true." (Works for saint and sinner alike)
kryssie hugs love. i know, but when i was on the hot seat in those horrible meetings, those were the thoughts i had. we are such FAILURES going to get kicked out. being yelled at forever (sitting on the floor where my legs hurt) being able to fall asleep to someone yelling at me lol it happened so often, but i was thinking why don't these big jerkoffs go out lightbearers!!!!!!!!
waysider i wanted to tell you something but i forgot . it will come to me.
oh sh i t i love that song when you wish upon a star
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WordWolf
It was a BRILLIANT piece of misdirection-and of advertising.
In advertising,
you need to understand your target audience. vpw became an expert on the hippie youth counterculture.
He figured out what they wanted and didn't want- then framed his presentations accordingly.
He took youths that felt disenfranchised and told them that they could have power-through believing.
He told them not to trust religious authorities-which they wanted to hear- and that everything
they wanted to do was just cool with God. (Who doesn't want to hear that?)
Later came the various means to extract money from the kids, but initially, they were recruited,
and made into a SALES FORCE and RECRUITMENT ARM,
swelling the twi numbers in a way vpw had not been able to even begin without them to exploit.
And all of it started with a marvelous show that was presented, first when vpw went to the House
of Acts and the groovy Christians around Haight-Ashbury, and continued from there.
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skyrider
To this day.....I still think ONE of the most deceptive elements in this exploitation
is the DISTANCE FACTOR between timbuckto twig and "international headquarters."
Some good-hearted twig or branch coordinator is out there serving others.....helping,
giving, teaching, living, praying to the best of his ability. What do those people see?
They see a dedicated servant "of the Lord".....one who is a dedicated representative.
At hq......the bureaucratic pyramid of legalism and control is mandating the messaging.
Many of the staff live in tightly-quartered dorm rooms that are monitored by snitches
and loyalists galore. The upper tier staff have homes off-grounds that are patrolled by
twi's safety guys who drive around on 24/7 security watch.
Unlike a local church.....where one sees their senior pastor involved in community efforts,
hospital visits, local issues, and upfront presence, wierwille and his ilk set up a system
that was hidden from public accountability. Plus, this *mystique factor of the mog* was
systematically heralded by an echelon of yes-men and the cult is mesmerized by projections
of what they presume him to be.
The mystique is broken when reality hits YOUR front door. Whether that's confrontation,
or dissent, or twi stepping over the line and butting into your personal family issues.....
you take a stand or you cower and fall back in line.
Like a subliminal picture within a picture......ONCE YOU SEE the hidden snarling wolf
in that nice woodland landscape picture, you NEVER see that picture the same again.
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outandabout
Speaking of spies.....I was in Jackson MS having the time of my life (sarc) and I went to the movies with a fellow believer. We were standing around my apartment and he asked me if I ever felt like leaving The Way. I answered honestly that sometimes I did. (who didn't)
Lo and behold the next day the Branch Leader dropped by and said he wanted to see me the next day. After a sleepless night, I went to his house and in his office he proceeded to verbally tear me limb from limb, accusing me of all kinds of things.....eventually I broke down in tears and then he told me how great I was.
Never forgot it.
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skyrider
Later......"the Word" is used as this nebulous, generic, murky buzz-speak
of embracing the [selective] scriptures and standing for them.
Later, veepee states..."The Word is the ministry and the ministry is the Word."
Really??? So now, twi is synonymous with spiritual standing and state.
The whole ministry.....collectively-speaking. Actions? Morals? Intent? Heart?
VPW's statement was SO WRONG on so many levels that contradict scripture.
The Magic of Believing......became *the magic of believing what you were told.*
And, with THAT.......one is akin to his fellow "believer" in North Korea.
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excathedra
:( outie
--
i hope this kind of fits in with discussion, but when we were torn to shreads over lack of "putting classes together" and lightbearers and all that, i couldn't understand why wierwille, allen, finnegan, BOT, etc., didn't go out there and show us how it's done
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krys
have you figured it out now, excathy? Sure you have......they sent you....because they didn't even know where to begin.
I'm glad I finally understand this, but it would have been helpful to have some understanding of it before!
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waysider
Before the collaterals were bound into book form, they consisted of several individual paper booklets. The one that is now called "The Law of Believing" was, at that time, called "The Magic of Believing". The whole positive/magic thinking craze had been sweeping the nation for several years. I think, perhaps, Wierwille had hopes of hitching his wagon to the positive thinking trend but found the market to be too saturated. Still, I think Jiminy Cricket said it best when he sang, "
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excathedra
kryssie hugs love. i know, but when i was on the hot seat in those horrible meetings, those were the thoughts i had. we are such FAILURES going to get kicked out. being yelled at forever (sitting on the floor where my legs hurt) being able to fall asleep to someone yelling at me lol it happened so often, but i was thinking why don't these big jerkoffs go out lightbearers!!!!!!!!
waysider i wanted to tell you something but i forgot . it will come to me.
oh sh i t i love that song when you wish upon a star
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WordWolf
Even fictional characters nowadays know this "believing" isn't any sort of "law".
(Nor is it "magickal.")
http://imgur.com/apSst6C
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Rocky
Have you ever read any of John Grisham's novels?
I spent about six months in Mississippi as a (very) young adult, but really didn't get much exposure to MS culture.
I think I'd hate it there.
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outandabout
Actually, MS isn't all that bad but it was the a-holes I had to be with.
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