Why PFAL sucks

[waysider]

"It's like you're always stuck in second gear."

 

So much of that describes my own experience, it's uncanny. No phone, no TV, no newspaper, no internet and on and on and on. I remember when everyone at my outside job was buzzing about some new TV show called Saturday Night Live. How do you tell people you don't even have a TV and then turn around to pitch them on Power For Abundant Living?

 

Those were the days, though, weren't they, Edith?

 

 

edit: After one of those grueling 5AM to midnight days, the only thing on your mind was the chance of getting another 5 hrs. sleep.

Edited January 31 by waysider

[T-Bone]

124. wierwille challenges the authority of God

 

“…it would be a violation of God’s sovereignty to suppose his creative power was limited by available means or in any way hostage to principles external to it.”  Hugh J. McCann, The God Beyond Time, essay in    Philosophy of Religion An Anthology 7th Edition .

 

What comes to mind is wierwille’s marketing of the law of believing, also known as magical thinking and omnipotence of thought. wierwille was always critical of psychology and would belittle the work of Freud by saying things like “psychiatry was born in a séance”. However, in the academic world it’s been said of   Sigmund Freud :

Freud’s psychoanalysis can contribute a great deal to the elucidation of religious phenomena…The omnipotence of thoughts, a mechanism particularly favored by obsessive-compulsives, was recruited in Totem and Taboo  (1913) to explain    animism  and religion. The omnipotence of thoughts is the unconscious presupposition that the wish is equivalent to the deed and that wishing can effect, independently of any action, changes in one’s environment. Freud believed that in the animistic-magical stage people ascribe omnipotence to themselves, while in the religious stage they transfer it to a deity and yet retain the idea that they can influence that deity through prayer and ritual according to their wishes.

From Sigmund Freud article by   Edwin Ruthven Wallace IV , psychiatrist, neuropsychiatrist, and psychotherapist, pages 474, 475 of   Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology and Counseling, editors David Benner & Peter Hill

[Rocky]

22 minutes ago, T-Bone said:

to explain    animism  and religion. The omnipotence of thoughts is the unconscious presupposition that the wish is equivalent to the deed and that wishing can effect, independently of any action, changes in one’s environment. Freud believed that in the animistic-magical stage people ascribe omnipotence to themselves, while in the religious stage they transfer it to a deity and yet retain the idea that they can influence that deity through prayer and ritual according to their wishes.

WOW!

Pretty sure Wierwille and Martindale taught (advanced class on PFLAP probably) animism. Sounds like ol' Vic was projecting.

[T-Bone]

On 10/19/2022 at 9:36 PM, T-Bone said:

22. in PFAL wierwille asserts the Bible interprets itself. And he is not consistent when he does use the interpretive keys that he plagiarized from Bullinger (as if Bullinger got it all right   ). He ignores context when it suites his twisted interpretation.

 

      A. Disparages commentaries to elevate his explanations of Scripture

      B. Uses proof texting to ignore immediate context, remote context, theological reasoning consistent with the whole Bible on a        given subject.

      C. wierwille assumes what he teaches is "The Word" and has the same authority as the Bible

 

A behind-the-scenes look at how Scripture interprets itself

[T-Bone]

125. espouses a misleading concept of rightly dividing the Word of Truth.

Part 1  taking another look at “rightly dividing”

 

Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.... Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Reason # 125 of why PFAL sucks has a lot to do with how detrimental bad instructions can be to young and naive minds. If you’re reading this thread, I assume you’re a grad and very familiar with the term “rightly dividing”. Rather than deconstructing chapter 10, The Rightly-divided Word in the orange PFAL book, which is nothing more than a commercial for wierwille to sell his own plagiarized and emulsified version of Bullinger’s How to Enjoy the Bible  - I intend to leave a few bread crumbs for those who are very disappointed with wierwille’s teachings.

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

One of the great things about Grease Spot Cafe is all the eye-opening anecdotes, personal experiences, interesting books, and hyperlinks that Grease Spotters share here. It's helpful in so many ways and it often whets folks' appetite to explore these things for themselves.

Escaping the harmful and controlling mind games of The Way International should be driven by something from within you.

And probably the first  of hurdles to overcome is to work on self-respect – a healthy pride and confidence in oneself – which has been deliberately whittled down by The Way International through various means with the end goal of you trusting what the ministry says over anything else – even your own cognitive skills and intuition…

...In the wake of the ministry-wide meltdown after the Patriarch Paper, all kinds of red flags, questions, and doubts popped up in my head! That propelled me to investigate and reevaluate just about everything I learned from the ministry…

It's probably the most difficult part of the journey – the beginning.

Because YOU have to THINK – not just absorb what someone at Grease Spot Café said.

YOU have to mull it over – examine the matter, analyze it and meditate on the possible actions as well as their outcomes – and then at some point YOU will have to CHOOSE what action to take – and of course deciding  NOT  to think about this stuff anymore but remain comfortable in your little TWI-world is  YOUR  CHOICE  also.

In the 1999 movie   The Matrix   the main character Neo is offered the choice between a red pill and a blue pill by rebel leader Morpheus. There’s only two options and Morpheus explains the stark difference between the effects of each pill. The red pill will enable Neo to learn a potentially unsettling life-changing truth. The blue pill will permit Neo to remain in contented ignorance. The red pill represents an uncertain future…it would free Neo from an enslaving dreamlike control system and allow him to escape into the real world…Grease Spot Cafe is like the red pill  

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

PFAL is such a poor teaching model because it doesn’t encourage students to exercise their cognitive skills – instead “the teacher” (wierwille) through double-talk, Scripture twisting, and logical fallacies leads students down the path of trusting him and following his example. PFAL is a hyped up confidence trick .

In the PFAL book, page 119, wierwille zeros-in on the term “rightly dividing” of II Timothy 2:15, and says it’s the Greek word orthotomounta and states “It’s intricate nuance of meaning is that there is only one way to rightly cut The Word; all other ways are wrong cuttings”. First off, I wouldn’t trust wierwille to define words in the original biblical languages used in the Bible. The man lied about his academic accomplishments. He insisted everyone should refer to him as “Doctor Wierwille” a title he got from a degree mill, Pikes Peak Bible Seminary an unaccredited correspondence school in Manitou Springs, Colorado. The seminary was regarded as a diploma mill by the United States Office of Education. I find that contradictory and pretentious of a man who thumbed his nose at academia and yet wanted his followers to be impressed by pretending to have greater importance, qualifications, and achievements than he actually possessed.

~ ~ ~ ~

 

Let’s look at another translation of II Timothy 2:15 along with a few legitimate knowledgeable sources to get a better understanding of the term “rightly dividing”.

Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth… II Timothy 2:15 Amplified

 

The NIV translates the Greek word ὀρθοτομοῦντα  ( transliteration =  orthotomounta  see 2 Timothy 2:15 Greek Text Analysis on Bible Hub website ) as “correctly handles” – and on page 2181 of  NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible explaining it as interpreting Scripture in a straightforward manner,  NOT in a way that is deceitful and references another pastoral letter:

10  For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. 11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” 13 This saying is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith 14 and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. 16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good… Titus 1: 10 - 16 NIV

On page 2188 of NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible it says considering the fact that the letters to Timothy and Titus are addressing minister or leadership in the church we see that “truth” is a prominent concern in the pastoral epistles. More often Paul uses “truth” to refer to refer to the message about Christ that saves (1 Tim. 2:4; 3:9,15; 4:3,6; 2 Tim. 2:15,25) and leads to godliness ( Titus 1:1).

 

Beginning on page 3 of the PFAL book wierwille explains his intentions. He says one verse changed his life:

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly… John 10:10 KJV 

wierwille goes on to say he looked at the lack of material abundance in the communities and other ministers where he served and compared it to the secular world of non-Christians and their obvious substantial wealth. wierwille reinterpreted the message of Christ as savior, that further leads to a life of godliness. He made it into a gospel of prosperity.

End of Part 1

 

[T-Bone]

125. espouses a misleading concept of rightly dividing the Word of Truth.

Part 2: it’s not amoral linguistics

 

Exploring further the Greek word orthotomounta, on pages 262 and 263 of New Testament Commentary:Exposition of Thessalonians, the Pastorals, and Hebrews authors  William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker affirm the same points as  NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible regarding “rightly handling the word of truth” of II Timothy 2:15, this word of truth is the testimony concerning our Lord II Timothy 1:8 . Orthotomounta is a composite verb – the primary meaning of the main element (the base) of the composite verb is “to cut” – with a prefix “straight” - however the meaning-emphasis may shift, until in the semantic process the literal sense of the base is lost. Thus straight-cutting begins to mean straight-handling or handling aright, faithfully, accurately. It is not so strange that, by an easy shift from the physical to the moral sphere, cutting a straight road or path over the course of time to the exclusively moral use of the term - The righteousness of the blameless makes their paths straight  Proverbs 11:5 NIV . The person who handles the word of truth properly does not change, pervert, mutilate or distort it.

 

On page 1170 of Theological Dictionary of the New Testament: Abridged in One Volume, Geoffrey Bromiley says of orthotomounta occurs in the Greek Bible only at Proverbs 3:6  ,  Proverbs 11:5 where it means make paths straight, to build a road, to lay down a way, and of course in II Timothy 2:15 . Bromiley says the real meaning seems to be that Timothy should speak the word of truth in his conduct – he will present the word legitimately – confirming it in his life.

The motifs of a journey, a path and of walking are quite common in the Bible and usually refer to the big picture of life  – how we handle the mundane, careers, personal life, relationships…how we navigate through life…do we use a moral compass?

 

On page 627 of The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament author Craig S. Keener says of II Timothy 2:15, to the images of soldier, athlete and farmer II Timothy 2: 3 - 6 , Paul also adds worker – perhaps thinking of his own background as a skilled artisan – his emphasis here is on an accurate representation of the gospel of Jesus Christ in contrast to the empty words of those who depart from the truth II Timothy 2:14 & ff

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

 

You might think I’m splitting hairs and that it’s just a nuance of difference in the way that wierwille handled the Bible. Not really. In PFAL, wierwille makes it out to be merely an exercise in linguistics devoid of any moral implications.

And to add to the confusion wierwille was incompetent with the biblical languages. As I pointed out in Part 1, wierwille let envy of the non-Christian world tinge his interpretation of John 10:10. Read the context of  John 10 NIV it is the Good Shepherd – Jesus Christ talking about how he takes care of the flock. To think of Jesus Christ as your ticket to health and wealth is to change, pervert, mutilate, and distort his purpose in coming to Earth.  

 

Maybe it’s time to reevaluate the teachings of PFAL.

On another thread    Power For Abundant Living Today , I asked if the new class taught the same dubious stuff that was in the old PFAL class of 1967:

 4 crucified

The Bible interprets itself

To whom the Bible is written

The 7 administrations

The law of believing

The law of giving and receiving

does that little boy still get killed by the fear in the heart of his mother?

Receive, retain, release

“For this purpose, was I spared”

The day Jesus Christ died

Who is The Word in John 1:1

The Bible is mathematically exact and scientifically precise

Humankind were originally body, soul, and spirit

People can get born again of the wrong seed

The way to get back to the original God-breathed Word is by comparing translations and versions

As long as one loves God and neighbor they can do as they full well please

Technically all the women in the kingdom belong to the king

Each believer can operate all 9 manifestations

To receive anything from God you must know the 5 things

you can’t go beyond what you’re taught

God can only speak to what He is which is spirit

God can only give what He is which is spirit

There’s only one way to rightly divide the Word - all other ways are wrong

Do you still have to hold all questions until the last session?

Do they specifically mention - by name - where wierwille got most of his material from?

Does the new class refer to the 1942 promise made to wierwille?

Does the new class mention wierwille’s trip to India and healing a local man’s arm?

Does the class still cover the mechanics of speech to teach how to speak in tongues?

Does the class still claim speaking in tongues can’t be counterfeited?

[Twinky]

On 1/31/2023 at 6:24 AM, T-Bone said:

Unless you’ve been through the way corps program – you have no idea of what utter despair, hopelessness and fear of expulsion can do to your psyche – even willing to compromise convictions and give up any freedoms in order to stay in good graces with top leadership and enjoy the comfort of the elite social system of the way corps.  

Ain't that the truth!

 

Most of you here were under VPW's control.

I suffered under LCM.  Now that really was hell.  Walking on eggshells all the time and never sure when his outrage would burst out (mind you, he learned some of that from the master manipulator himself).  I was wrecked when they kicked me out.  Am still not "whole" now, just doing the best possible with my disjointed self.  

Those poor fools that are still participating in the corps program - who think themselves spiritual elites, and that we who are no longer around are losers, grease spots, spat on by God - can't help but feel a bit sorry for them.  They still have all the despair, hopelessness, fear, and compromise to come.  Hey, here's the Cafe.  We'll catch you if we can  .

[Twinky]

On 1/31/2023 at 12:24 PM, waysider said:

After one of those grueling 5AM to midnight days, the only thing on your mind was the chance of getting another 5 hrs. sleep.

And then, when you collapse from exhaustion or have a fit of the weepies, you get hauled in by the corps coord and asked if you're spiritually up to it, or are you too weak to hack God's work.