... The 1970s youth were the strength of the twi movement. Basically, ONE GENERATION OF YOUTH......some 15 years (1969 - 1984) of exponential growth were the result of dynamic, unstoppable, believers. ...
I agree.
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Hello Skyrider. Nice to see you again. Yeah, those were the days indeed. I am not sure if we will ever be able to sort it all out. But as good as it was, it could have been better if it had truly been a clean ministry starting at the top with good role models for us impressionable youth.
Truthfully, underneath all the teachng and bible verses was a lot of corruption and hypocrisy in my opinion. It was almost like lawlessness at times. We knew we were "heaven bound" and yet there was a certain freedom and permissiveness that was unspoken. Looking back it seemed to come from the top.
This was appealing to some of us youth. In fact it was downright fun at times. There were a lot of good people and good times but behind the scenes there was also a lot of casual sex, a lot of adultery and promiscuity, a lot of alchoholism, a lot of smoking, a lot of "turn the other cheek and look the other way", and a lot of don't ask, don't tell", not to mention the extreme self-righteousness.
Perfect environment for some of us! What young person wouldn't join! But it had negative effects in the long run as we saw in later years. Don't call yourself a christian group and live that way. That goes for all christian groups and churches, not just TWI. (There were others.) It is a formula for disaster. The hypocrisy sooner or later begins to become clear and does more harm than good.
I would never have wanted my children to have joined such a group, even in its good old days.
Exactly, John and Skyrider, my sentiments exactly. As I look back on my 19 yrs involvement, I recall that the first FEW years, I did 'witness', but after that, I rarely told anyone that I went to 'twig'. In fact, I worked for a trucking company for 18 yrs, and I would guess that I 'witnessed' to about 10 people.
And in the yrs b4 I left (1994), it was embarrassing to even invite someone to a place that the 'teacher on the tape' was spitting and spewing and cussing up a storm about homos, etc. I didnt invite anyone the last several yrs that I was 'in'. Most of my coworkers had no idea what I did on Tues, Thurs, and Sunday!!!!!
Looking back on my early life, I realize that due to moving around with the trucking company, it was nice to be able to attend 'twig' and everyone accepts you. You had 'instant friends' which, of course, was a lie.
Now, I do question most things that I was taught, and certainly question anything that someone tells me about a health remedy, wonderful preacher on tv (yuck, for the most part), great church, etc.
Glad that I am 49 yrs old and a little wiser than when I was 19 and just started going to 'twig'.
It's probably just me.........BUT every time I hear about the "good ole days of twi".....
more often than not, I'm starting to rethink my position....
And, although there seems to be a VARIETY OF REASONS:
........1) the local leadership were awesome
........2) no nazi corps were around then
........3) lots of friends, real good-hearted friends
........4) the music was dynamite, just gripping
........5) veepee had good intentions, lcm was an arse
........6) we had "the word"....no one else did
........7) etc. etc.
NOWADAYS......I really think it all goes back to YOUTH and a single-minded passion to see THE POWER OF GOD IN ACTION.
Younger days, longer nights, commonality, the hippie-commune living era, raging hormones, dancing with the girls, naive thinking, limited exposure, rebelling against parents/culture, spontaneous activity, hanging with a group, living for something bigger than just me, speaking with authority to adults & ministers & all, ambassadors for christ.....
ALL OF THE ABOVE.......and more, added to the grand scheme of things that captivated my heart. IMO, the recipe of excitement and allure of these times can never be reproduced in my lifetime. Oh, the joys of vitality and youth and fearlessness.
It was NOT veepee.
It was NOT piffle.
It was NOT the brc, or hq.
It was NOT sunday service tapes.
Definitely, NOT a farm in cornfield ohio .... the center of the revelations universe.
The 1970s youth were the strength of the twi movement. Basically, ONE GENERATION OF YOUTH......some 15 years (1969 - 1984) of exponential growth were the result of dynamic, unstoppable, believers.
Younger days, longer nights......and no one wanted to go to sleep and possibly miss something. My thanks to all you youngbloods that added fun and laughter and excitement to my life.
Those were the days, my friend
We thought they'd never end....
We'd sing and dance
Forever and a day.
Or, however that song goes.
I was with you up till you made the slam in bold. I grew up on a farm in "cornfield" Ohio. So because of that you think your better than me?
Sorry, but I see these kind of remarks all the time on this board. Whenever I see it, it tends to make me want to ignore anything else the poster was saying.
I was with you up till you made the slam in bold. I grew up on a farm in "cornfield" Ohio. So because of that you think your better than me?
Sorry, but I see these kind of remarks all the time on this board. Whenever I see it, it tends to make me want to ignore anything else the poster was saying.
Sorry, I just felt a need to point this out.
Rick
Hey, Rick.........maybe this corps grad should clarify my point.
It's NOT "the farm" per se.......BUT that veepee taught us corps over and over again, that the wierwille property was THE CENTER OF THE SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE IN GOD'S EYES.
It was the only farm where "spiritual food was raised" to feed the world.
Certainly, a slam on farming was not my intent......I have loads of respect for farmers who harvest corn, beans, wheat, cotton, etc.....and my hat is off to those dairy farmers. THAT is alot of work.
Geez Rick, lighten up. I grew up in "Cornfield Kentucky" on a farm and I saw that statement that as non-ofensive. It's easy to see the context.
But really, I have often thought that TWI would have been better off in or near a metropolitan area rather than out in the sticks in those cornfields (like the kind I grew up in.) Just didn't seem like the best place for a Headquarters for anything except maybe John Deere or Caterpillar. Remember this was long before the Internet and email and such. Counter productive to be out there in my opinion. Could have grown even faster and larger I think.
At one time VPW was considering Naples, FL or somewhere around here. He should have went with that gut feeling. The real estate alone would be worth a fortune today! And we would have all had nice tans and would have bought condos which would have skyrocketed.
So back to the topic, the youth of those days really put TWI on the map. Today it appears that the youth are leaving TWI instead of being attracted to it. Maybe its time to close it down and reopen it as something different. To me that would be honest and a wise move.
Good idier, JR. Maybe reopen it as a Dairy Queen... The brown swiss supplying the milk and LCM & company supplying the... well, the QUEENLY side of things.
Skyrider and Coolchef, thank you for your reply's. I understand that many times people make comments like that and do not mean to offend anyone at all, and I honestly think that your comment falls into that category Skyrider. It's just that over the years, there HAVE been many things said about people from farm country that WERE very offensive, but of course, since everyone's cult of choice happened to be in a farming community, it seems to be ok with everyone when those kind of comments are made. Sometimes, I just feel the need to point out that not all country people are fundy &$*#(* types. Again, in retrospectI don't feel that you were trying to slam anyone, it just hit me wrong at the time and I felt compelled to point it out.
Igotout said " Geez Rick, lighten up"
In other words, Get over it? Maybe I should try that line next time someone is talking about how bad they were treated in the Way. Think that would go over well? (Not that I would EVER do that to anyone...just making a point). No dude, I think I will speak my mind when I feel like it regardless of how trivial YOU might think it is.
It's NOT "the farm" per se.......BUT that veepee taught us corps over and over again, that the wierwille property was THE CENTER OF THE SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE IN GOD'S EYES.
It was the only farm where "spiritual food was raised" to feed the world.
I dont remember him taching that at all, let alone over and over; perhaps it was in the 80s...My corps and TWI time ended abruptly at the end of 1979.
I am not sure if we will ever be able to sort it all out. But as good as it was, it could have been better if it had truly been a clean ministry starting at the top with good role models for us impressionable youth.
I'm not so sure. Depends what you mean by "better." Speaking as one who certainly was an impressionable youth, I'm pretty sure I would not have been attracted to a "good role model." If the laxity toward sex drug and rock & roll hadn't been there, if the goal of achieving power, wealth and domination (isn't that part of Word Over the World) wasn't promoted, I don't think nearly as many would have been attracted and it would not have gone anywhere. There were, in my realm other endeavors with "good role models" - some church based, some not, and none of them grew like the way did.
What my3cents said! Both of us being from the same area, NYC and its suburbs was hit very hard by the "hippie" revolution and all the pyschedelia that came with it. Much more so than the midwest.
We were rebelling against the "lifestyle" our parents had. In the NY area, dad leaves, takes the train to work, we pick him up at night, comes home, has a drink, reads the paper, mom cooks - great wonderful stuff, except it was so boring, in fact you could tell it was a grind for the fathers who commuted everyday - and it seemed endless and we were doomed to repeat it. The Hippie thing opened a way out, was a form of rebellion against being a "corporation man."
But, those of us in NY and Rye did have an excellent role model - Steve and Sandy Heefner. They were incredible, loving and it really was, their minstry. Those of us back then in Rye in the early days didn't have to deal with VP - except on his occassional visits. It was a movement of Christ in all of us, with the Heefners gently guiding us along.
It was around '71-72 that VP made his power grab, took the money, and drove the Heefners out.
If TWI hadn't have been so "loose" it never would have survived. I went to Sunday school, and stuff for teenagers occassionally at my local church - boring!!!! I rarely went, and these were good people leading us.
God rose up certain people for our generation, for which I am grateful. We stayed too long at VP's party.
If the laxity toward sex drug and rock & roll hadn't been there, if the goal of achieving power, wealth and domination (isn't that part of Word Over the World) wasn't promoted, I don't think nearly as many would have been attracted and it would not have gone anywhere.
I got involved with TWI-1 to learn more about God, come to a knowledge of the truth, and do the will of God.
Those were my sole attractions.
I can see why it would be a big waste of time and money, if folks got involved for other reasons.
I dunno.....the *word* that was once shared....certainly isn`t what the *last limb* of twi is teaching these days is it?
Maybe I am mistaken, but it was my impressions that all of that was old wineskins...replaced with lcm`s newer better revelations...
Skyrider....I remember those days....the feeling of being important and needed in the spiritual battle....being on the front lines striking a blow against darkness for God almighty.....
God loved me...being a part of the roughest toughest spiritual fighting force on the planet....satan trembled and fled when we marched into town.....sigh
Skyrider....I remember those days....the feeling of being important and needed in the spiritual battle....being on the front lines striking a blow against darkness for God almighty.....
God loved me...being a part of the roughest toughest spiritual fighting force on the planet....satan trembled and fled when we marched into town.....sigh
I loved who I thought that we were.
rascal.....I hear you. :)
The foundational class.....namely BG Leonard's work with additions from Stiles, Bullinger, others and marketed to forward vpw's agendas.....in it's infancy, empowered us to walk with God Almighty without compulsion. As youth, we were unified in the bond of spiritual love and grace and truth. The sweet fellowships in my city was far removed from a bureaucratic "headquarters."
Those first few years were tender and caring.....prayers were simple, and powerful.
BUT........in hindsight, it is clear that the founder, vpw, had secret motives of power and lust in his closet-full of agendas. His WOW program was designed to isolate and redirect allegiances. His corps program was hard-core manipulation and indoctrination....to sell-out to wierwille's way. And, money...money...money greased the machinery of evil.
When Wierwille walked away from Jesus Christ......it was night.
I entered the TWI-light zone in 1971. I agree with many comments made about the disillusionment of the Viet-Nam era youth and the general rebellion of our parents' religion guiding us out to "the farm".
But on Lawnguylan, there was a multiplicity of religious and secular cults trying to lure our troubled souls into their folds.
I remember that the Jesus People were witnessing on the boardwalk (the local teenage hangout) before TWI people ever showed up. Some guy carried a big cross on his back and his followers passed out tracts with bad cartoon strips that told us we would burn in eternal hellfire if we didn't believe. I passed that one up.
There was also Guru Maharaji - the 14 year old kid from India who was supposed to be the reincarnation of Krishna. He founded the "Divine Light Mission" and formed ashrams all over the US. I had quite a few friends who got involved with them - but after telling me about their "third eye", I brushed that one off, too.
Trancendental Meditation - with the Maharisha Mahesh Yogi, also made the rounds in our community. I found it interesting, but knew I couldn't sit still long enough to meditate and chant for hours and hours and hours. A bunch of kids in my high school would sit in the common area and chant during their lunch period. Nope- no thanks - no church with you.
There were more whose names I can't remember.
I do remember what impressed me about the people who witnessed to me from TWI....
THE WERE NORMAL!
And.... the guys were REALLY cute, the music was great (Pressed Down, sounding like CSN), and the fellowships didn't last too long. Nothing was demanded of me.... yet. They weren't witnessing PFAL like they did a few years later - they were talking about the bible in plain (King James) English! I could go for that - I was still in high school. I had very few commitments and responsibilities to deal with, so it was easy to wrap myself in TWI's growing sub-culture.
And no one demanded I go to fellowship on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or drive up to Rye for the Sunday Night Teaching, or go to grad night on Thursday (once I took PFAL). I wanted to! It was something to do - it was fun - it was interesting - I wasn't bored like most 16 year olds with nothing to do! I had community - camaradie - likeminded-ness!!!
Like laleo said - it didn't get centralized until 1972 (March, if my memory is correct), when the Heefners "went on sabbatical". That's when all the corruption manifested itself to those in the know. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I was not one of them and my first 8 years in TWI through the Way Corp were all pretty good (except my WOW year, which is another diatribe).
I now know for a fact that much of that corruption existed - and spread like a cancer throughout the young, easily influenced and totally devoted Way Corps in those early years. Not to all - but enough to create monsters like LCM and others I won't mention. Just fill in the blank.
Before my TWI experience started in 1974 I was already looking for something. I had been raised in the Baptist church but had grown disillusioned with it.
In 1972 I went to a meeting which was probably the equivalent of a "public ex" for transcendental meditation. I started going to their meetings...we would meet in someone's house a couple of times a week, meditate together, giggle together at the person who started snoring, and drink herbal tea and talk afterward. In retrospect, I must have been hell-bent on getting involved with a cult because I wanted to go to India to meditate and study with Maharishi so I, too could become more spiritual (for several hundred dollars, of course). I was saved from that fiasco when the local TM leadership changed and they got demanding and legalistic. :blink:
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Galen
I agree.
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coolchef1248 @adelphia.net
sky
wow what an insight to our younger days
i agree with you whole heartidly
amen amen and
AMEN
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igotout
Hello Skyrider. Nice to see you again. Yeah, those were the days indeed. I am not sure if we will ever be able to sort it all out. But as good as it was, it could have been better if it had truly been a clean ministry starting at the top with good role models for us impressionable youth.
Truthfully, underneath all the teachng and bible verses was a lot of corruption and hypocrisy in my opinion. It was almost like lawlessness at times. We knew we were "heaven bound" and yet there was a certain freedom and permissiveness that was unspoken. Looking back it seemed to come from the top.
This was appealing to some of us youth. In fact it was downright fun at times. There were a lot of good people and good times but behind the scenes there was also a lot of casual sex, a lot of adultery and promiscuity, a lot of alchoholism, a lot of smoking, a lot of "turn the other cheek and look the other way", and a lot of don't ask, don't tell", not to mention the extreme self-righteousness.
Perfect environment for some of us! What young person wouldn't join! But it had negative effects in the long run as we saw in later years. Don't call yourself a christian group and live that way. That goes for all christian groups and churches, not just TWI. (There were others.) It is a formula for disaster. The hypocrisy sooner or later begins to become clear and does more harm than good.
I would never have wanted my children to have joined such a group, even in its good old days.
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act2
Exactly, John and Skyrider, my sentiments exactly. As I look back on my 19 yrs involvement, I recall that the first FEW years, I did 'witness', but after that, I rarely told anyone that I went to 'twig'. In fact, I worked for a trucking company for 18 yrs, and I would guess that I 'witnessed' to about 10 people.
And in the yrs b4 I left (1994), it was embarrassing to even invite someone to a place that the 'teacher on the tape' was spitting and spewing and cussing up a storm about homos, etc. I didnt invite anyone the last several yrs that I was 'in'. Most of my coworkers had no idea what I did on Tues, Thurs, and Sunday!!!!!
Looking back on my early life, I realize that due to moving around with the trucking company, it was nice to be able to attend 'twig' and everyone accepts you. You had 'instant friends' which, of course, was a lie.
Now, I do question most things that I was taught, and certainly question anything that someone tells me about a health remedy, wonderful preacher on tv (yuck, for the most part), great church, etc.
Glad that I am 49 yrs old and a little wiser than when I was 19 and just started going to 'twig'.
We've come a l o n g way, BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Bluzeman
I was with you up till you made the slam in bold. I grew up on a farm in "cornfield" Ohio. So because of that you think your better than me?
Sorry, but I see these kind of remarks all the time on this board. Whenever I see it, it tends to make me want to ignore anything else the poster was saying.
Sorry, I just felt a need to point this out.
Rick
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coolchef1248 @adelphia.net
rick
imo noone is trying to insult anyone by saying that
hell i grew up in a potato field in maine and still live here!
i think it is just a little humor
or at least hope so
i know it is when i say something like that
peace
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skyrider
Hey, Rick.........maybe this corps grad should clarify my point.
It's NOT "the farm" per se.......BUT that veepee taught us corps over and over again, that the wierwille property was THE CENTER OF THE SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE IN GOD'S EYES.
It was the only farm where "spiritual food was raised" to feed the world.
Certainly, a slam on farming was not my intent......I have loads of respect for farmers who harvest corn, beans, wheat, cotton, etc.....and my hat is off to those dairy farmers. THAT is alot of work.
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igotout
Geez Rick, lighten up. I grew up in "Cornfield Kentucky" on a farm and I saw that statement that as non-ofensive. It's easy to see the context.
But really, I have often thought that TWI would have been better off in or near a metropolitan area rather than out in the sticks in those cornfields (like the kind I grew up in.) Just didn't seem like the best place for a Headquarters for anything except maybe John Deere or Caterpillar. Remember this was long before the Internet and email and such. Counter productive to be out there in my opinion. Could have grown even faster and larger I think.
At one time VPW was considering Naples, FL or somewhere around here. He should have went with that gut feeling. The real estate alone would be worth a fortune today! And we would have all had nice tans and would have bought condos which would have skyrocketed.
So back to the topic, the youth of those days really put TWI on the map. Today it appears that the youth are leaving TWI instead of being attracted to it. Maybe its time to close it down and reopen it as something different. To me that would be honest and a wise move.
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tomtuttle1
Good idier, JR. Maybe reopen it as a Dairy Queen... The brown swiss supplying the milk and LCM & company supplying the... well, the QUEENLY side of things.
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Bluzeman
Skyrider and Coolchef, thank you for your reply's. I understand that many times people make comments like that and do not mean to offend anyone at all, and I honestly think that your comment falls into that category Skyrider. It's just that over the years, there HAVE been many things said about people from farm country that WERE very offensive, but of course, since everyone's cult of choice happened to be in a farming community, it seems to be ok with everyone when those kind of comments are made. Sometimes, I just feel the need to point out that not all country people are fundy &$*#(* types. Again, in retrospectI don't feel that you were trying to slam anyone, it just hit me wrong at the time and I felt compelled to point it out.
Igotout said " Geez Rick, lighten up"
In other words, Get over it? Maybe I should try that line next time someone is talking about how bad they were treated in the Way. Think that would go over well? (Not that I would EVER do that to anyone...just making a point). No dude, I think I will speak my mind when I feel like it regardless of how trivial YOU might think it is.
Rick
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Lifted Up
I dont remember him taching that at all, let alone over and over; perhaps it was in the 80s...My corps and TWI time ended abruptly at the end of 1979.
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WordWolf
He was teaching that in the '80s,
and possibly in the later '70s.
I wish I had the phrase exactly.
"The only farm that sows spiritual seed
and" something-something.
I dont feel like digging thru days of tapes
to find it.
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Lifted Up
Oh, I don't doubt you a bit. I'm simply always trying to get more info on the changes that took place after my exit.
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My3Cents
I'm not so sure. Depends what you mean by "better." Speaking as one who certainly was an impressionable youth, I'm pretty sure I would not have been attracted to a "good role model." If the laxity toward sex drug and rock & roll hadn't been there, if the goal of achieving power, wealth and domination (isn't that part of Word Over the World) wasn't promoted, I don't think nearly as many would have been attracted and it would not have gone anywhere. There were, in my realm other endeavors with "good role models" - some church based, some not, and none of them grew like the way did.
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Sunesis
What my3cents said! Both of us being from the same area, NYC and its suburbs was hit very hard by the "hippie" revolution and all the pyschedelia that came with it. Much more so than the midwest.
We were rebelling against the "lifestyle" our parents had. In the NY area, dad leaves, takes the train to work, we pick him up at night, comes home, has a drink, reads the paper, mom cooks - great wonderful stuff, except it was so boring, in fact you could tell it was a grind for the fathers who commuted everyday - and it seemed endless and we were doomed to repeat it. The Hippie thing opened a way out, was a form of rebellion against being a "corporation man."
But, those of us in NY and Rye did have an excellent role model - Steve and Sandy Heefner. They were incredible, loving and it really was, their minstry. Those of us back then in Rye in the early days didn't have to deal with VP - except on his occassional visits. It was a movement of Christ in all of us, with the Heefners gently guiding us along.
It was around '71-72 that VP made his power grab, took the money, and drove the Heefners out.
If TWI hadn't have been so "loose" it never would have survived. I went to Sunday school, and stuff for teenagers occassionally at my local church - boring!!!! I rarely went, and these were good people leading us.
God rose up certain people for our generation, for which I am grateful. We stayed too long at VP's party.
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oldiesman
I got involved with TWI-1 to learn more about God, come to a knowledge of the truth, and do the will of God.
Those were my sole attractions.
I can see why it would be a big waste of time and money, if folks got involved for other reasons.
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GrouchoMarxJr
oldies...As it turned out, the reasons that you got involved ended up being a big waste of time and money also.
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oldiesman
Well I definitely disagree with that assessment! :)
The twi tree may be on its last limb, but the Word that was once shared from our former group is still being spread.
The Word still lives.
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dmiller
Hmmmm.
The Word DOES still live, despite twi.
But then again -- It always has!
:)
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rascal
I dunno.....the *word* that was once shared....certainly isn`t what the *last limb* of twi is teaching these days is it?
Maybe I am mistaken, but it was my impressions that all of that was old wineskins...replaced with lcm`s newer better revelations...
Skyrider....I remember those days....the feeling of being important and needed in the spiritual battle....being on the front lines striking a blow against darkness for God almighty.....
God loved me...being a part of the roughest toughest spiritual fighting force on the planet....satan trembled and fled when we marched into town.....sigh
I loved who I thought that we were.
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skyrider
rascal.....I hear you. :)
The foundational class.....namely BG Leonard's work with additions from Stiles, Bullinger, others and marketed to forward vpw's agendas.....in it's infancy, empowered us to walk with God Almighty without compulsion. As youth, we were unified in the bond of spiritual love and grace and truth. The sweet fellowships in my city was far removed from a bureaucratic "headquarters."
Those first few years were tender and caring.....prayers were simple, and powerful.
BUT........in hindsight, it is clear that the founder, vpw, had secret motives of power and lust in his closet-full of agendas. His WOW program was designed to isolate and redirect allegiances. His corps program was hard-core manipulation and indoctrination....to sell-out to wierwille's way. And, money...money...money greased the machinery of evil.
When Wierwille walked away from Jesus Christ......it was night.
Wierwille's name is forever soiled.
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ex70sHouston
Ok I'm one of those oldies who remember the love, fellowship' music' and great feelings. We felt we were leading the world back to God.
What happened to a lot of us is that we grew up.
Some where along the line I decided that VP was not exatly like a hand in a glove.
This / that was me. I regret some of what I did and said to others.
TWI was a wake up exerience for me and don't regret it.
For all of us outees you may be surprised if you ask around how many of us there are around. I met a couple that got out years after I did.
Love it or leave it we all did TWI for our own reasons.
One thing is right. God Bless Ya'll.
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Hope R.
I entered the TWI-light zone in 1971. I agree with many comments made about the disillusionment of the Viet-Nam era youth and the general rebellion of our parents' religion guiding us out to "the farm".
But on Lawnguylan, there was a multiplicity of religious and secular cults trying to lure our troubled souls into their folds.
I remember that the Jesus People were witnessing on the boardwalk (the local teenage hangout) before TWI people ever showed up. Some guy carried a big cross on his back and his followers passed out tracts with bad cartoon strips that told us we would burn in eternal hellfire if we didn't believe. I passed that one up.
There was also Guru Maharaji - the 14 year old kid from India who was supposed to be the reincarnation of Krishna. He founded the "Divine Light Mission" and formed ashrams all over the US. I had quite a few friends who got involved with them - but after telling me about their "third eye", I brushed that one off, too.
Trancendental Meditation - with the Maharisha Mahesh Yogi, also made the rounds in our community. I found it interesting, but knew I couldn't sit still long enough to meditate and chant for hours and hours and hours. A bunch of kids in my high school would sit in the common area and chant during their lunch period. Nope- no thanks - no church with you.
There were more whose names I can't remember.
I do remember what impressed me about the people who witnessed to me from TWI....
THE WERE NORMAL!
And.... the guys were REALLY cute, the music was great (Pressed Down, sounding like CSN), and the fellowships didn't last too long. Nothing was demanded of me.... yet. They weren't witnessing PFAL like they did a few years later - they were talking about the bible in plain (King James) English! I could go for that - I was still in high school. I had very few commitments and responsibilities to deal with, so it was easy to wrap myself in TWI's growing sub-culture.
And no one demanded I go to fellowship on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or drive up to Rye for the Sunday Night Teaching, or go to grad night on Thursday (once I took PFAL). I wanted to! It was something to do - it was fun - it was interesting - I wasn't bored like most 16 year olds with nothing to do! I had community - camaradie - likeminded-ness!!!
Like laleo said - it didn't get centralized until 1972 (March, if my memory is correct), when the Heefners "went on sabbatical". That's when all the corruption manifested itself to those in the know. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I was not one of them and my first 8 years in TWI through the Way Corp were all pretty good (except my WOW year, which is another diatribe).
I now know for a fact that much of that corruption existed - and spread like a cancer throughout the young, easily influenced and totally devoted Way Corps in those early years. Not to all - but enough to create monsters like LCM and others I won't mention. Just fill in the blank.
Good to see you Skyrider.....
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tonto
Before my TWI experience started in 1974 I was already looking for something. I had been raised in the Baptist church but had grown disillusioned with it.
In 1972 I went to a meeting which was probably the equivalent of a "public ex" for transcendental meditation. I started going to their meetings...we would meet in someone's house a couple of times a week, meditate together, giggle together at the person who started snoring, and drink herbal tea and talk afterward. In retrospect, I must have been hell-bent on getting involved with a cult because I wanted to go to India to meditate and study with Maharishi so I, too could become more spiritual (for several hundred dollars, of course). I was saved from that fiasco when the local TM leadership changed and they got demanding and legalistic. :blink:
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