I was going to start with JR’s article, but upon a cursory view of it, it appears to be the exact same thing he taught several years ago before I left TWI.
So much for having originality, that article sounds to be nothing more but a reprint. Kinda like those long running soap operas that rehash (or remake) something that happened in old episodes.
Of course since they ran out a lot of their best researchers, they'll have to rehash articles by people still in good standing.
AC in HQ now, eh?
Wasn't that in another location previously?
Anyways, I guess they have to do it in HQ as they sold off their other properties.
That post took a lot of effort and I appreciate it. As I was reading it I thought of two things.. 1) How can ANYONE still affiliate themselves with TWI today and 2) How sad it is for these people and their families. I just heard about a couple I've known for years who got M&A'd just two years ago. They had *had* it with TWI and finally left. Their only really close friends had moved away so they weren't really negatively impacted. But still.. what... a ... cult!!!!
The chapter “The Law of Believing” in the blue book has this noteworthy and life-changing wisdom: How you think about the problem with which you are confronted at this very moment will determine the outcome. If you doubt its success, you have, by your own believing, determined its unsuccessful outcome. Apply the positive method of the law of believing to every situation in life, to every problem that comes your way, for ‘if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.’”
Embarking on new frontiers of believing can give us a great sense of accomplishment and enhance the quality of our lives. This helps us to also support others in their believing.
A$$holes!!!!!
That is the most evil piece of doctrinal $h!t to come out of *headquarters*.
Those folks could make cotton candy out of bat dung, and tell you it tasted good.
Ya know, Bliss, I prayed at dinner one night with my now ex, and I asked for something and then said "IF it's Your will." OMG! You would have thought I claimed Satan as lord in my life.
I find it much more logical and correct, according to the "rightly divided" word, to put our trust in God and let him direct our paths as he promises he will.
I bet that was reported up the food chain of command pretty quickly and was a milestone of the breakdown in your believing to bring you to the place you are today, outside of the walls of Zion, beyond the believing protection of the Household of God.
YOU GO, GIRL!
It seemed to me that the Law Of Believing left no room for God to offer you other answers to your situation. Additionally, it was sick to teach it the way they did because what if you were believing for a sick child to be healed? TWI taught that since young children couldn't believe for themselves then it was up to the parents to do it for them. Well, can you imagine the guilt parents would experience when their ill child died? Sure, it was all their fault because they were not believing, right? I can't imagine a more devlish teaching - as dmiller pointed out. On a smaller level, but no less dangerous in its potential outcome, is how a believer could act like a four year old in a toy store with this 'positive believing' theory that TWI taught - I remember thinking that God must get sick of us always asking him for stuff - reminded me of spoiled kids! Some people were so materialistic at times - it was sickening to listen to!
TWI sure had a way of making sure they told God what his Will was, don't cha think?
We are supposed to focus on God and His solution. We make His word top priority
Confessing and believing the word are the keys to appropriating the promises God gives us.
No matter how long it takes for us to rise up to what God makes available we take Him as His word, stay the course and refuse to give up. If we falter, we pick ourselves up, get our attention focused back on the promise and press forward
The scary thing about TWI is how they take perfectly good scriptural concepts and spin them into a frenzy of misleading dogma.
And then we have from the book of Mark
25] And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
[26] And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
[27] When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
[28] For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
[29] And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague
And from that TWI spins to
The woman would have been aware of Jesus’ ministry…had a great need and burning desire to be healed. She also had great mental distress because women with an issue of blood were considered unclean….
She continued to grow worse. Despite her physical weakness she kept pressing forward and doing the best she knew to do. This became her habit, her heart. Without funds, but not believing.
She could have made excuses to not consider that this was her opportunity to be delivered. She was weak and sick but did not make excuses to stay home feeling sorry for herself.
Look at her positive, bold confession. She was believing to receive total deliverance….
Instead of giving way to negative thoughts that would have undermined her believing, she confessed health and wholeness. Her thoughts were on the solution, not her problem. She kept saying to herself, the promise that she would be whole if she but touched his garment.
The gospels do not say the woman was quoting scripture to herself, but they do indicate that she was repeating to herself what she believed God was making available to her….
It has to be true folks because we all know that those steadfast standing members of the Household of GOD do not ever and I mean Never indulge in Private Interpretation..right???
But I have never "operated" believing because it is is just what your mind does when it thinks. It can be happy or sad, positive or negative but it is just doing what a brain does
I remember VERY CLEARLY right after my first child was born.
My baby had something wrong with her and had to go in a "machine".
Nothing life threatening but for a first time mom, after 24 hours of labor, and only 12 hours later....
seeing my baby in a box and I couldn't hold her well......you get the picture, I was a mess. Not wailing or screaming, just emotional, I wanted my baby to be alright!
Well, my BC wife decides to call me and tell me to "GET A HOLD OF YOUR MIND" (one day after giving birth)
"What are you going to do when your kids break an arm?" "Control your emotions, it's not a big deal"
WOW
and I thought my ministers would "pray with or for us"? :blink:
FFC – the advanced class used to be at Rome City – at least it was in ’96 when I took it. It was much more affordable and reasonable because we stayed on the campus and the one fee covered meals, lodging and the class.
Now, with it at HQ, people have to stay in local hotels, drive back and forth (and we know how late those nights usually run), pay for rental cars if they don’t drive to the class and pay for all kinds of other things not usually required. It’s less and less affordable for folks and people with “real jobs” can’t afford to take two weeks off work AND still have time to take off for sickness, family vacations, and other TWI functions… I wouldn’t be surprised to see the class either shortened or attendance down to almost nil.
Sudo – Thanks. I also wonder how anyone can still affiliate with TWI. They must be dying of boredom. Maybe they are all so bored that they’ve been in a coma-like state for so long that they can’t even wake up enough to get out?
Chas – :D I’m a bad girl and should be spanked. ;) I laugh to think of all the things that must have been reported up the food chain about me by my very own husband. OMG! The man is such a TWI-bot and after realizing he wasn’t going to be able to keep me under his thumb, wanting to protect his position in “the household” no doubt started ratting on me every chance he got.
TempleLady – It’s so clear now, why couldn’t we see the twisting and the fabrication when we were immersed? My mother said that every time she talked to me when I was heavily involved and married that I was always exhausted. She worried about my health and my mental stability because of how tired I always sounded. I think they kept us so busy and run so ragged that we didn’t have the brain cells awake to catch those things. That’s why I like posting these articles and teachings here. Hopefully, by us pointing out the obvious, we can be expresso to the lurking TWI folks to get their brain cells moving.
Bliss – That is absolutely horrible!! How cold and heartless! :eek: I can hardly imagine how upset you already were and then being yelled at for actually caring about your child??? Talk about “without natural affection” – I think that’s TWI to the n-th degree.
My mother said that every time she talked to me when I was heavily involved and married that I was always exhausted
There's the key--number one technique, in brainwashing, deprogramming, eliciting information, crfeating subservience
Get the person exhausted and keep them that way--exhausted people/bodies revert to primal survival mode--only those things necessary for life are put to the front-- there is no time or energy for sitting and pondering, and analyzing the more esoteric
Especially during the mid ninties, when I was sincerely trying to do everything--LCM's bizarre retemories,, the studying, putting together teachings from Way rags and the Wap class and the tapes. Arg.
I remember at one point we were told to listen to the tapes as a couple, then listen to them separately to 'work' them. This, along with jobs, small children, the 3 fellowships per week--plus one branch meeting, one low level leaders meeting, one hook up a month, one HF meal a month, witnessing night( not on a HF night, but a different night so we could invite people to the regular HF). Advanced class grad study nights....
I knew families that ate nothing but fast food every night, because there was no time to fix anything healthy, plus clean up afterwards. Insane living.
Yes TWI2 was like walking a tight rope at all times. Then after the tight rope, you had hoops to jump through at the end. Then when you jumped through those hoops, they changed the hoops and made them either farther away or higher up for you to jump through.
There is nothing I enjoy more than waking up on Sunday morning, drinking my coffee, surfing the net and thinking that I have the whole day to myself. I worked hard all week and this is my day to take a break from it all and NOT HAVE TO ATTEND STS. And nobody died because we haven't gone I lived within the 250 mile radius so was required to go every Sunday. It became just like the church service that they so blatantly bad mouthed at every turn. Why couldn't they see it. There were certain dress codes for each function. The service was exactly the same Sunday after Sunday after Sunday ad nauseum.
The Singing ladies (church choir) sang before during and after. It took at least 45 minutes of Way BS before you even got to the teaching. The bronze statue of VP out in the hallway, the worship of man........etc etc. and on and on. The chewing and spewing from the stage if someone happened to leave the Way that week. We got to hear about it in the most unflattering light to say the least.
I knew families that ate nothing but fast food every night, because there was no time to fix anything healthy, plus clean up afterwards. Insane living.
And then get in trouble for always having sick kids. :huh:
So many times I felt sorry for those with little kids and then I was jealous of them because those kids were always a good excuse for NOT doing something.
I remember talking so several moms once and they all shared how they would get a call after meeting after meeting to scold them for the behavior of a child. Nevermind the fact that so many "children's fellowships" were cancelled and hardly ever scheduled - nevermind the fact that the meetings were just as long and boring for the adults - nevermind the fact that the leadership doing all the yelling had no children and had only been married a year or two - or had no kids living at home anymore..... <_< They all admitted to apologizing as soon as they could get a word in edgewise so that, hopefully, the yelling would stop and they could get back to their child before said child started making any noise the leadersh1t might overhear.
Once all my kids were catching a cold, but both my hubby and I were scheduled to teach (10 min teachings) at HF so neither of us could stay home with them.
Since I wouldn't be able to wipe noses etc( kids were little then) I gave them all a decongestent, which made them all sleepy. They all sat like little zombies in fellowship that day(Sunday fellowship) and fell asleep on the car ride home. Not their normal lively selves at all.
We got all Kinds of compliments on their behavior that day. Such a sick ministry.
Ours was a limb that quit doing childrens fellowships--those adults who taught it NEEDED to hear the rehashed Way Mag teaching out of the LC's mouth. And kids can be spanked, ya know, to sit through all that crap.
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FreeFromCults
So much for having originality, that article sounds to be nothing more but a reprint. Kinda like those long running soap operas that rehash (or remake) something that happened in old episodes.
Of course since they ran out a lot of their best researchers, they'll have to rehash articles by people still in good standing.
AC in HQ now, eh?
Wasn't that in another location previously?
Anyways, I guess they have to do it in HQ as they sold off their other properties.
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Sudo
Belle,
That post took a lot of effort and I appreciate it. As I was reading it I thought of two things.. 1) How can ANYONE still affiliate themselves with TWI today and 2) How sad it is for these people and their families. I just heard about a couple I've known for years who got M&A'd just two years ago. They had *had* it with TWI and finally left. Their only really close friends had moved away so they weren't really negatively impacted. But still.. what... a ... cult!!!!
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dmiller
A$$holes!!!!!
That is the most evil piece of doctrinal $h!t to come out of *headquarters*.
Those folks could make cotton candy out of bat dung, and tell you it tasted good.
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bliss
Not ONE ounce of HUMILITY in that article.
Not ONE ounce of MEEKNESS......
This is exactly why I started the thread on "believing".
My friend musta read this article right before she "witnessed" to the gal.
Trust in the LORD (not me) with all YOUR heart
And lean NOT onto YOUR OWN understanding
In ALL YOUR WAYS Aknowledge (who?) HIM
and HE WILL direct your path.
They forget the simple verses that clarify who directs our path.
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Belle
Thanks, y'all!
Ya know, Bliss, I prayed at dinner one night with my now ex, and I asked for something and then said "IF it's Your will." OMG! You would have thought I claimed Satan as lord in my life.
I find it much more logical and correct, according to the "rightly divided" word, to put our trust in God and let him direct our paths as he promises he will.
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ChasUFarley
Oh, Belle - YOU DIDN'T?!
I bet that was reported up the food chain of command pretty quickly and was a milestone of the breakdown in your believing to bring you to the place you are today, outside of the walls of Zion, beyond the believing protection of the Household of God.
YOU GO, GIRL!
It seemed to me that the Law Of Believing left no room for God to offer you other answers to your situation. Additionally, it was sick to teach it the way they did because what if you were believing for a sick child to be healed? TWI taught that since young children couldn't believe for themselves then it was up to the parents to do it for them. Well, can you imagine the guilt parents would experience when their ill child died? Sure, it was all their fault because they were not believing, right? I can't imagine a more devlish teaching - as dmiller pointed out. On a smaller level, but no less dangerous in its potential outcome, is how a believer could act like a four year old in a toy store with this 'positive believing' theory that TWI taught - I remember thinking that God must get sick of us always asking him for stuff - reminded me of spoiled kids! Some people were so materialistic at times - it was sickening to listen to!
TWI sure had a way of making sure they told God what his Will was, don't cha think?
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FreeFromCults
That's not just sick, that is really f**ed up. Them leaders**t are really F**ed up anyways.
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templelady
The scary thing about TWI is how they take perfectly good scriptural concepts and spin them into a frenzy of misleading dogma.
And then we have from the book of Mark
25] And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
[26] And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
[27] When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
[28] For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
[29] And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague
And from that TWI spins to
The woman would have been aware of Jesus’ ministry…had a great need and burning desire to be healed. She also had great mental distress because women with an issue of blood were considered unclean….
She continued to grow worse. Despite her physical weakness she kept pressing forward and doing the best she knew to do. This became her habit, her heart. Without funds, but not believing.
She could have made excuses to not consider that this was her opportunity to be delivered. She was weak and sick but did not make excuses to stay home feeling sorry for herself.
Look at her positive, bold confession. She was believing to receive total deliverance….
Instead of giving way to negative thoughts that would have undermined her believing, she confessed health and wholeness. Her thoughts were on the solution, not her problem. She kept saying to herself, the promise that she would be whole if she but touched his garment.
The gospels do not say the woman was quoting scripture to herself, but they do indicate that she was repeating to herself what she believed God was making available to her….
It has to be true folks because we all know that those steadfast standing members of the Household of GOD do not ever and I mean Never indulge in Private Interpretation..right???
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Belle
So much for just reading what was written in the scriptures, eh, TempleLady?
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doojable
so JR was operating believing without knowing it...
WTF?
How does this fit with his idea of being focused and getting needs and wants parallel (dont' even get me started on that - the terminology alone sux)
Sounds like he was trying to show he was some great believing guru - because he was able to get focused without even trying..
I knew him way back when too - I think he married just to get a better position in the ministry - or at least that's what I thought at the time...
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templelady
Operating Believing
I operate my vacuum cleaner
My toothbrush
my electric razor
my toaster
and a host of other appliances
But I have never "operated" believing because it is is just what your mind does when it thinks. It can be happy or sad, positive or negative but it is just doing what a brain does
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WordWolf
Well, you ALMOST got to their point.
You operate APPLIANCES.
You switch them on and off. They are cold, lifeless tools.
That's how your MIND is supposed to be- a cold, lifeless tool.
That way, when terrible news arrives, you
"renew your mind", and throw the switch that separates
sorrow from your existence. Now you can function
again, just like an appliance. So, we'll see you on-time
at the next meeting, then...
Life, in and of itself, is NOT permitted by twi.
Life has inconveniences, life is messy, life does not
conform to clockwork. twi doesn't like anything
that can't be told what to do, when to do it, and how
to do it. So, they legislate life right out of the picture.
That reminds me-
if you are a twi'er, and the news that a friend died
made you very sad and filled you with remorse,
(especially now), many leaders will chide you for
inept control over your emotions.
Contrast that to the shortest verse in the Bible....
"Jesus wept."
That was Jesus' response when he heard his
friend Lazarus had died.
Good thing Jesus was not in twi- but it's not
like they miss him anyway.....
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bliss
Yes, weeping.
Why was that so frowned upon?
I remember VERY CLEARLY right after my first child was born.
My baby had something wrong with her and had to go in a "machine".
Nothing life threatening but for a first time mom, after 24 hours of labor, and only 12 hours later....
seeing my baby in a box and I couldn't hold her well......you get the picture, I was a mess. Not wailing or screaming, just emotional, I wanted my baby to be alright!
Well, my BC wife decides to call me and tell me to "GET A HOLD OF YOUR MIND" (one day after giving birth)
"What are you going to do when your kids break an arm?" "Control your emotions, it's not a big deal"
WOW
and I thought my ministers would "pray with or for us"? :blink:
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Belle
FFC – the advanced class used to be at Rome City – at least it was in ’96 when I took it. It was much more affordable and reasonable because we stayed on the campus and the one fee covered meals, lodging and the class.
Now, with it at HQ, people have to stay in local hotels, drive back and forth (and we know how late those nights usually run), pay for rental cars if they don’t drive to the class and pay for all kinds of other things not usually required. It’s less and less affordable for folks and people with “real jobs” can’t afford to take two weeks off work AND still have time to take off for sickness, family vacations, and other TWI functions… I wouldn’t be surprised to see the class either shortened or attendance down to almost nil.
Sudo – Thanks. I also wonder how anyone can still affiliate with TWI. They must be dying of boredom. Maybe they are all so bored that they’ve been in a coma-like state for so long that they can’t even wake up enough to get out?
Chas – :D I’m a bad girl and should be spanked. ;) I laugh to think of all the things that must have been reported up the food chain about me by my very own husband. OMG! The man is such a TWI-bot and after realizing he wasn’t going to be able to keep me under his thumb, wanting to protect his position in “the household” no doubt started ratting on me every chance he got.
TempleLady – It’s so clear now, why couldn’t we see the twisting and the fabrication when we were immersed? My mother said that every time she talked to me when I was heavily involved and married that I was always exhausted. She worried about my health and my mental stability because of how tired I always sounded. I think they kept us so busy and run so ragged that we didn’t have the brain cells awake to catch those things. That’s why I like posting these articles and teachings here. Hopefully, by us pointing out the obvious, we can be expresso to the lurking TWI folks to get their brain cells moving.
Bliss – That is absolutely horrible!! How cold and heartless! :eek: I can hardly imagine how upset you already were and then being yelled at for actually caring about your child??? Talk about “without natural affection” – I think that’s TWI to the n-th degree.
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themex
Sweet:
"I’m a bad girl and should be spanked" I think that you are wonderful, but if you realy want that some one spank you I volunteer.
WW I thought that you were froze ?
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templelady
There's the key--number one technique, in brainwashing, deprogramming, eliciting information, crfeating subservience
Get the person exhausted and keep them that way--exhausted people/bodies revert to primal survival mode--only those things necessary for life are put to the front-- there is no time or energy for sitting and pondering, and analyzing the more esoteric
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Bramble
Always exhausted--yes!
Especially during the mid ninties, when I was sincerely trying to do everything--LCM's bizarre retemories,, the studying, putting together teachings from Way rags and the Wap class and the tapes. Arg.
I remember at one point we were told to listen to the tapes as a couple, then listen to them separately to 'work' them. This, along with jobs, small children, the 3 fellowships per week--plus one branch meeting, one low level leaders meeting, one hook up a month, one HF meal a month, witnessing night( not on a HF night, but a different night so we could invite people to the regular HF). Advanced class grad study nights....
I knew families that ate nothing but fast food every night, because there was no time to fix anything healthy, plus clean up afterwards. Insane living.
*shudder*
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outofdafog
Yes TWI2 was like walking a tight rope at all times. Then after the tight rope, you had hoops to jump through at the end. Then when you jumped through those hoops, they changed the hoops and made them either farther away or higher up for you to jump through.
There is nothing I enjoy more than waking up on Sunday morning, drinking my coffee, surfing the net and thinking that I have the whole day to myself. I worked hard all week and this is my day to take a break from it all and NOT HAVE TO ATTEND STS. And nobody died because we haven't gone I lived within the 250 mile radius so was required to go every Sunday. It became just like the church service that they so blatantly bad mouthed at every turn. Why couldn't they see it. There were certain dress codes for each function. The service was exactly the same Sunday after Sunday after Sunday ad nauseum.
The Singing ladies (church choir) sang before during and after. It took at least 45 minutes of Way BS before you even got to the teaching. The bronze statue of VP out in the hallway, the worship of man........etc etc. and on and on. The chewing and spewing from the stage if someone happened to leave the Way that week. We got to hear about it in the most unflattering light to say the least.
God it is great to be FREE..................
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Belle
And then get in trouble for always having sick kids. :huh:
So many times I felt sorry for those with little kids and then I was jealous of them because those kids were always a good excuse for NOT doing something.
I remember talking so several moms once and they all shared how they would get a call after meeting after meeting to scold them for the behavior of a child. Nevermind the fact that so many "children's fellowships" were cancelled and hardly ever scheduled - nevermind the fact that the meetings were just as long and boring for the adults - nevermind the fact that the leadership doing all the yelling had no children and had only been married a year or two - or had no kids living at home anymore..... <_< They all admitted to apologizing as soon as they could get a word in edgewise so that, hopefully, the yelling would stop and they could get back to their child before said child started making any noise the leadersh1t might overhear.
"How to" ministry?? - NOT!!
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Bramble
Once all my kids were catching a cold, but both my hubby and I were scheduled to teach (10 min teachings) at HF so neither of us could stay home with them.
Since I wouldn't be able to wipe noses etc( kids were little then) I gave them all a decongestent, which made them all sleepy. They all sat like little zombies in fellowship that day(Sunday fellowship) and fell asleep on the car ride home. Not their normal lively selves at all.
We got all Kinds of compliments on their behavior that day. Such a sick ministry.
Ours was a limb that quit doing childrens fellowships--those adults who taught it NEEDED to hear the rehashed Way Mag teaching out of the LC's mouth. And kids can be spanked, ya know, to sit through all that crap.
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Bramble
Had to add-- I had a playdate once with a child from one of the fast food families. I fixed a kiddie snack--orange slices.
The kid--four years old--had never eaten an orange slice. Didn't know how to eat it( it had peel)
Alrighty then.
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