i was isolated and homeschooled through elementary school
one of my first memories was pushing my bike in my neighborhood thinking about whether i was possessed or born of the wrong seed. and thinking about how important it was and how i think about it all the time.
i also remember sitting on the floor at the mandatory monthly phone hookup.
and craig martindale had been going for so long.
his teaching was vile hate speech and spiritual warfare against the "homosexual onslaught"
and i looked at the clock. and i knew teachings were supposed to be 45 minutes. but it had been longer.
and i couldn't get up because all the adults were watching and where would i go.
i told a friend that homosexuality was wrong.
he asked what that means?
and i said i don't know. his mom didn't let him hang out with me anymore.
it's a bit sad though but we didn't stay in twi proper for too many more years.
but that group. in the craig era (the great apostle had died before i could remember). i can't think of anything good i got out of it.
i was isolated and homeschooled through elementary school
one of my first memories was pushing my bike in my neighborhood thinking about whether i was possessed or born of the wrong seed. and thinking about how important it was and how i think about it all the time.
i also remember sitting on the floor at the mandatory monthly phone hookup.
and craig martindale had been going for so long.
his teaching was vile hate speech and spiritual warfare against the "homosexual onslaught"
and i looked at the clock. and i knew teachings were supposed to be 45 minutes. but it had been longer.
and i couldn't get up because all the adults were watching and where would i go.
i told a friend that homosexuality was wrong.
he asked what that means?
and i said i don't know. his mom didn't let him hang out with me anymore.
it's a bit sad though but we didn't stay in twi proper for too many more years.
but that group. in the craig era (the great apostle had died before i could remember). i can't think of anything good i got out of it.
does this resonate with anyone?
"i was isolated and homeschooled through elementary school
one of my first memories was pushing my bike in my neighborhood thinking about whether i was possessed or born of the wrong seed. and thinking about how important it was and how i think about it all the time."
[lcm was obsessed with the subject, eventually. I'm not sure which subject was more his biggest concern- "the wrong seed", or homosexuality. Either way, once he got on a roll, you were in for a long diatribe, with lots of angry yelling, bad language, and not much sense (neither scientific nor Biblical.) ]
"i also remember sitting on the floor at the mandatory monthly phone hookup.
and craig martindale had been going for so long.
his teaching was vile hate speech and spiritual warfare against the "homosexual onslaught"
and i looked at the clock. and i knew teachings were supposed to be 45 minutes. but it had been longer.
and i couldn't get up because all the adults were watching and where would i go."
[Yeah, lcm had a lot of leeway. If he wanted to run long, everyone let him, even if anyone else would be in trouble for doing it. He was allowed a double standard. If the subject was "the wrong seed" or homosexuality, you were in for a long ride.]
"i told a friend that homosexuality was wrong.
he asked what that means?
and i said i don't know. his mom didn't let him hang out with me anymore."
[Yeah, lcm could go on for hours that something was wrong, but never spend even a minute explaining WHY it was wrong or what was wrong with it. (It's not like he knew, after all.) Any competent Bible teacher can at least provide some reasoning. It may be wrong, but it at least exists.]
"it's a bit sad though but we didn't stay in twi proper for too many more years.
but that group. in the craig era (the great apostle had died before i could remember). i can't think of anything good i got out of it."
[80% of twi present took off in 1988-1989, when lcm demanded an oath of loyalty from the staffers, the corps, and so on. One person who knew him contacted him and said it sounded like lcm wanted people to follow him BLINDLY. lcm replied point-blank that it was what they were already doing. He was incorrect. The other guy invited lcm to kiss something, and hung up the phone. Anyone who refused to sweat an oath to follow lcm was kicked out and their reputations smeared. lcm made a blanket accusation about them serving their base appetites rather than serving Christ.
It backfired.
Local people everywhere knew the leaders who left. They knew a little about lcm, but they knew he was talking nonsense. 4 out of 5 twi'ers at the time left with their local leaders. This led to all the splinter groups. Meanwhile, lcm now had a group more willing to follow him off a cliff than he had before, even if it was a much smaller group. lcm got a LOT crazier. Eventually, the group began to hemorrhage members again as individuals got sick and tired of being sick and tired or miserable all the time, and jumped ship. That doesn't count all the people lcm kicked out whenever he had any doubts about them.
I doubt there was much good in the lcm era at all.
"The great apostle"? Oh, yeah. The plagiarizing rapist. Yeah, he died in 1985. He was an alcoholic and a chain smoker. He died of cancer. According to him, he got the cancer from the bright stage lights used when filming pfal over a 2-week period. In case you don't know, bright studio lights do not cause cancer and are not a risk factor for cancer. Otherwise, you'd hear about performers dying of cancer after spending months working on Broadway, London's West End, Corrientes Avenue, and so on. You hear nothing because it was a lie. The man refused to take responsibility for the consequences of his own actions. He smoked a lot- exposing his lungs and his eyes and skin to carcinogens- for hours a day, every day. He drank a lot- weakening his immune system by drinking lots of alcohol every day, a LOT across a week. He maximized his chances of exposure, whether or not he meant to do so. When he got cancer, he invented a virtuous reason he got it- he got it from the bright lights filming pfal (which is impossible, since people exposed to brighter lights for longer periods do not get cancer.) He went around saying he gave up his eye for God, which is a lie from the pit of vpw's ego. He could be considered "an apostle" because he redefined what it meant to be an apostle until it could be applied to him, then hinted around until some people started to say that about him. He put forth he was "great" for decades. In reality, he was excellent at promoting himself, and was moderately good at plagiarizing. At everything else, he seemed to have been purely mediocre despite his own claims. If anyone should get credit, it should be the teachers he shamelessly ripped off.]
Edgar, that was no environment for a young child. Not even a teenager. You should not have been exposed to any of that. If there'd been anything you needed to know, your parents should have explained it to you gently, in an age-appropriate way.
LCM's rants were legendary - for their vileness, foul language, filthy content, abuse of anyone he didn't like, denigration of those who'd left. As a role model, he was everything NOT to be.
It's not even as if he was accurate in things he said! When you realise how many lies he told - you can feel completely justified in dismissing everything he said. If anything lingers in your mind - check it out yourself against what the Bible says (and doesn't say) and against reputable commentators.
Most sermons are about 20-30 minutes long; any longer and you've lost the attention of your audience. Most university lectures are about an hour, with notes, and require and encourage students to study for themselves and then discuss in tutorials and smaller groups. To go on an egotistical rant for 2 or 3 hours is just that - an egotistical rant. Not teaching, educating, building the hearers up.
I hope you were able to build some happier childhood memories. The children in the Way were most sorely abused.
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Rocky
So sorry you had to go through that Edgar.
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Edgar
thanks
i hadn't thought about that until recently. it doesn't bother me but jeez. not a healthful learning environment for sure
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Nathan_Jr
Is the great apostle "dr." victor wierwille?
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WordWolf
"i was isolated and homeschooled through elementary school
one of my first memories was pushing my bike in my neighborhood thinking about whether i was possessed or born of the wrong seed. and thinking about how important it was and how i think about it all the time."
[lcm was obsessed with the subject, eventually. I'm not sure which subject was more his biggest concern- "the wrong seed", or homosexuality. Either way, once he got on a roll, you were in for a long diatribe, with lots of angry yelling, bad language, and not much sense (neither scientific nor Biblical.) ]
"i also remember sitting on the floor at the mandatory monthly phone hookup.
and craig martindale had been going for so long.
his teaching was vile hate speech and spiritual warfare against the "homosexual onslaught"
and i looked at the clock. and i knew teachings were supposed to be 45 minutes. but it had been longer.
and i couldn't get up because all the adults were watching and where would i go."
[Yeah, lcm had a lot of leeway. If he wanted to run long, everyone let him, even if anyone else would be in trouble for doing it. He was allowed a double standard. If the subject was "the wrong seed" or homosexuality, you were in for a long ride.]
"i told a friend that homosexuality was wrong.
he asked what that means?
and i said i don't know. his mom didn't let him hang out with me anymore."
[Yeah, lcm could go on for hours that something was wrong, but never spend even a minute explaining WHY it was wrong or what was wrong with it. (It's not like he knew, after all.) Any competent Bible teacher can at least provide some reasoning. It may be wrong, but it at least exists.]
"it's a bit sad though but we didn't stay in twi proper for too many more years.
but that group. in the craig era (the great apostle had died before i could remember). i can't think of anything good i got out of it."
[80% of twi present took off in 1988-1989, when lcm demanded an oath of loyalty from the staffers, the corps, and so on. One person who knew him contacted him and said it sounded like lcm wanted people to follow him BLINDLY. lcm replied point-blank that it was what they were already doing. He was incorrect. The other guy invited lcm to kiss something, and hung up the phone. Anyone who refused to sweat an oath to follow lcm was kicked out and their reputations smeared. lcm made a blanket accusation about them serving their base appetites rather than serving Christ.
It backfired.
Local people everywhere knew the leaders who left. They knew a little about lcm, but they knew he was talking nonsense. 4 out of 5 twi'ers at the time left with their local leaders. This led to all the splinter groups. Meanwhile, lcm now had a group more willing to follow him off a cliff than he had before, even if it was a much smaller group. lcm got a LOT crazier. Eventually, the group began to hemorrhage members again as individuals got sick and tired of being sick and tired or miserable all the time, and jumped ship. That doesn't count all the people lcm kicked out whenever he had any doubts about them.
I doubt there was much good in the lcm era at all.
"The great apostle"? Oh, yeah. The plagiarizing rapist. Yeah, he died in 1985. He was an alcoholic and a chain smoker. He died of cancer. According to him, he got the cancer from the bright stage lights used when filming pfal over a 2-week period. In case you don't know, bright studio lights do not cause cancer and are not a risk factor for cancer. Otherwise, you'd hear about performers dying of cancer after spending months working on Broadway, London's West End, Corrientes Avenue, and so on. You hear nothing because it was a lie. The man refused to take responsibility for the consequences of his own actions. He smoked a lot- exposing his lungs and his eyes and skin to carcinogens- for hours a day, every day. He drank a lot- weakening his immune system by drinking lots of alcohol every day, a LOT across a week. He maximized his chances of exposure, whether or not he meant to do so. When he got cancer, he invented a virtuous reason he got it- he got it from the bright lights filming pfal (which is impossible, since people exposed to brighter lights for longer periods do not get cancer.) He went around saying he gave up his eye for God, which is a lie from the pit of vpw's ego. He could be considered "an apostle" because he redefined what it meant to be an apostle until it could be applied to him, then hinted around until some people started to say that about him. He put forth he was "great" for decades. In reality, he was excellent at promoting himself, and was moderately good at plagiarizing. At everything else, he seemed to have been purely mediocre despite his own claims. If anyone should get credit, it should be the teachers he shamelessly ripped off.]
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Twinky
Edgar, that was no environment for a young child. Not even a teenager. You should not have been exposed to any of that. If there'd been anything you needed to know, your parents should have explained it to you gently, in an age-appropriate way.
LCM's rants were legendary - for their vileness, foul language, filthy content, abuse of anyone he didn't like, denigration of those who'd left. As a role model, he was everything NOT to be.
It's not even as if he was accurate in things he said! When you realise how many lies he told - you can feel completely justified in dismissing everything he said. If anything lingers in your mind - check it out yourself against what the Bible says (and doesn't say) and against reputable commentators.
Most sermons are about 20-30 minutes long; any longer and you've lost the attention of your audience. Most university lectures are about an hour, with notes, and require and encourage students to study for themselves and then discuss in tutorials and smaller groups. To go on an egotistical rant for 2 or 3 hours is just that - an egotistical rant. Not teaching, educating, building the hearers up.
I hope you were able to build some happier childhood memories. The children in the Way were most sorely abused.
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