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Eyewitnesses:twi from 1953-1966..your stories?


WordWolf
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Hello.

I'm asking for anyone who's here who was actually IN twi

or exposed to them regularly (neighbor,

worked nearby)

for the earliest years.

If we can hear from people from before 1953,

that's fantastic.

However, I'm arbitrarily setting my target for what

I consider the earliest I could reasonably expect people.

So,

I'll provide a mini-chronology of events from that

timeframe to help you fix in your memory whether

or not you were there.

If you were,

please share ANY and ALL observations,

no matter how insignificant you think they are.

They may prove invaluable to the rest of us.

This was twi: the early years.

1953-1966.

By all accounts, this starts with the first events

that might draw people,

and ends just before the membership explosions

which began 1967 or 1968 with the hijacking

of the hippies. (Depending on the source-

TW:LiL says 1968, the 1985 memorial said 1967.)

So,

here's a few things that happened in that

timeframe:

1953: BG Leonard's CTC class;

first "PFAL" classes taught.

1953: JE Stiles' "Gifts of the Spirit",

first edition of "Receiving the Holy Spirit Today"

constructed from Stiles' book.

[somewhere in this timeframe]

Bishop KC Pillai takes PFAL,

and teaches Orientalisms

1955-1956 or 1957. vpw does his world tour:

India (supposedly also Great Britain, Europe,

and "the Bible lands".)

1957: vpw quits the Evangelical and Reformed

Church officially (or is forced to leave.)

1957: the farm is bought, work begins on it.

1959-1961: summer camps other than at the farm.

1961: vpw moves to the farm and conducts

operations from there (at the BRC).

1962: Lamsa teaches at the farm's summer school.

1963: vpw films "the Teacher"

===========

1967: "Are the Dead Alive Now?"

is constructed from Bullinger's books;

PFAL is filmed

(We're stopping in 1966, not 1967,

so this comes right AFTER what we're

discussing.

===============

So,

we want everything and anything that happened

from 1953's PFAL origin to just before

PFAL is filmed and ADAN is self-published.

Please note:

if you feel you can't post in your name,

but wish to share,

you can send me a pm and I can

write up the contents (and change the

writing style to my own to preserve your

anonymity.)

So,

are ANY of those people here at all?

ANYONE?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Jimmy Doop gives us some information from this time period in his most recent publication, When the Hippies Found Jesus: Ears to Hear: A True Story of the Sixties.

Edited by jkboehme
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Jimmy Doop gives us some information from this time period in his most recent publication, When the Hippies Found Jesus: Ears to Hear: A True Story of the Sixties.

Has this book been published? And if so, where can I order a copy?

BTW WW, David Anderson would be familiar with much of this timeframe, he doesn't post very often but you might try emailing him. Just a thought.

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  • 7 months later...
  • 10 years later...
On ‎12‎/‎18‎/‎2005 at 0:55 PM, Outin88. said:

Has this book been published? And if so, where can I order a copy?

BTW WW, David Anderson would be familiar with much of this timeframe, he doesn't post very often but you might try emailing him. Just a thought.

So, is Doop's book available to the public?

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  • 5 months later...

My parents were involved in TWI during this time period. My father passed away when I was young but I do recall conversations with my mother about this era of TWI when I got older. She has dementia now so she remembers none of the details, but I will share what I remember from the conversations.

My mother took VPW's PFAL class live during the late 1950's(57-59) in Dayton, OH or somewhere in that vicinity. She really believed VPW had taught the most accurate word of God since the 1st century. Little did she know that much of the content was taken from other authors such as Leonard, Stiles, etc. She eventually talked my father into taking the class. They were members of the Baptist church at the time and taught a Sunday school class there. At some point they began teaching things in Sunday school that they learned from VPW which prompted a confrontation from the Baptist church minister. They decided they would not "compromise" so they left the Baptist church and began following VPW exclusively. I remember hearing about the Sunday teachings being held in the building that was adjacent to Weirwille Rd.(BRC??) They met Bishop Pillai there during that time and my oldest brother attended the 1st summer school that was held in NK. It was a very different culture back in those days. Much easier to conceal things. Back then they really believed VPW had special info. Wow, I just realized this thread was started in 2005.

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6 hours ago, Infoabsorption said:

My parents were involved in TWI during this time period. My father passed away when I was young but I do recall conversations with my mother about this era of TWI when I got older. She has dementia now so she remembers none of the details, but I will share what I remember from the conversations.

My mother took VPW's PFAL class live during the late 1950's(57-59) in Dayton, OH or somewhere in that vicinity. She really believed VPW had taught the most accurate word of God since the 1st century. Little did she know that much of the content was taken from other authors such as Leonard, Stiles, etc. She eventually talked my father into taking the class. They were members of the Baptist church at the time and taught a Sunday school class there. At some point they began teaching things in Sunday school that they learned from VPW which prompted a confrontation from the Baptist church minister. They decided they would not "compromise" so they left the Baptist church and began following VPW exclusively. I remember hearing about the Sunday teachings being held in the building that was adjacent to Weirwille Rd.(BRC??) They met Bishop Pillai there during that time and my oldest brother attended the 1st summer school that was held in NK. It was a very different culture back in those days. Much easier to conceal things. Back then they really believed VPW had special info. Wow, I just realized this thread was started in 2005.

...and waited until now to get new information, for which I appreciate your reply.[

The internet age sure makes it easy to learn all sorts of things, doesn't it?/b]

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I'm not an eyewitness of those years, but I have some info about that time. First, I was in the second Way Corps (1971 - 1973) with a woman whose parents lived in Troy, OH and who raised her and her sister during the 1950s and 1960s to follow VPW's teachings, although they'd discontinued going to headquarters and supporting VPW. I met her father once, and he said they didn't like VP's arrogance, but stayed faithful to The Word (VP's buzz word for his teachings). She went in the Corps because she got hooked on VP's so-called revelation. She stayed in the Corps despite her parents' not liking VPW, and she's still in TWI today.

Last year in Orlando, I met a woman from Van Wert, OH. We have a mutual friend who introduced me to her after she learned about my book Undertow. She met me and we talked a couple of hours while she told me stories, including that she had dated Don Wierwille in high school! She showed me her high school year book with her photo in it and Don's photo in it. He was their class president. She remembers her mother saying something was "odd about Wierwille," but she didn't have enough curiosity to find out more. Maybe her mother did, but her mother didn't share more details with her.

I have an old Way Magazine from July/Sept.1969. On the cover is a young couple holding hands, walking through a field with a wooded yard in the background. The words, "The Walk of Youth" are below the photo with an arrow pointing right, as if hinting we should open the magazine.

That is the title of an article by VPW called, "The Word speaks to the "Now" generation. The Walk of Youth." A key phrase is, "Become an example of the believers" and the article expounds on I Timothy 4:12.

As an example, the second article is called, "The Walk of Youth on College Campus," which is about The Way Home down the street from East Carolina University. This is where I was recruited in 1970. The article is a patchwork of little essays by these people: John T. and Mary Somerville (Mary is VPW's second eldest daughter) who were the Way Home "directors" at that time. Later "directors" would be John and Pat Ly*n, who were there when I took PFAL. Other essays are from people who lived in the house and other students who fellowshipped at the house on a regular basis.

The next article is by Pete* J. Wad*. I think there are some posts here on GSC that he wrote. He is in Australia now and runs his own Christian group.

Walter J. Cum*ins wrote the next article. It's titled, "Walter Cum*ins discusses the walk in darkness," which is about the two gods and how to be born of either seed, etc.

The issue has an ad for the 1969 Summer Youth Advance and for a Way family camp in Minnesota.

Bernita Jes* has an article about the Oriental Backgroun in the book of Ecclesiastes, and there is a Children's Corner with Audrey Hamilt*n encouraging kids to learn the Word at The Way.

The News from Headquarters section includes a new phone number for HQ 419.753.2523. A report on a Pentecost Truth Rally in Columbus with 300 people. Then the Board of Directors met. 480 new PFAL grads were recorded from the previous year. A Renewed Mind camp was held at HQ and a West Coast Women's Advance was held near San Francisco. 29 women came, including Mrs. VPW. I see some familiar faces in the photo of young women who soon afterward entered the First and Second Corps.

There are letters of thankfulness near the end, a Bulletin Board with dates of classes and advances, and an Our Times editorial by VPW. Here are a few quotes from it:

Opening, "In our day, the denominationally organized bodies are in a position of ecclesiastical desperation. They manifest an acculturated church marked by a conformity of unbelief and bureaucracy. ..." He goes on to bash churches in ways many of us have heard before.

At the end, there's an ad for Sunday Evening Fellowship, offering, "Here positive and accurate teaching of The Word by Dr. Wierwille and other teachers. Enjoy bright singing and good fellowship with like-minded believers. Everyone welcome to these non-denominational services."

Yikes! I'll refrain from editorial comments of my own on this material. I suspect you already know my opinions, anyway. I'm at http://charleneedge.com

Cheers.

 

 

Edited by penworks
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