By the way, have you ever noticed that often when you drive by a county jail, you will notice a sawmill or some such business right beside the jail. I have always wondered if pallet making is a pretty common slave labor enterprise, either using inmates as laborers.

A.D.


My entire Shiloh gig (‘78-’79) was done at the sawmill. Everybody, to my knowledge (350-450 people at any given time), who lived and worked at Shiloh, made $80/mo plus room and board. Somewhere in early ‘79, the state came in and required the sawmill to pay it’s workers minimum wage ($2.00/hr.), so all of a sudden, the sawmill workers were ‘bank’--we made $80/week, when everyone else was making $80/mo. With no overhead to speak of, we had money to burn. Impact had a roller-manufacturing operation somewhere in Washington, IA., whose workers lived at Shiloh, but I am not aware if the state caught up with them.

I had the occasion a couple of summers ago to attend a wedding of an ex-TLW member who had joined an even more caffeinated cult than TLW. This group required giving over everything to the community, wearing a ‘uniform’, and grooming hair and beard (men, of course) in a certain manner for conformity. Everyone lived communally, contributed either in support of the facility, or in a number of outside business endeavors. No one was paid any money, but all needs were met by the group (medical and travel needs were paid for if required), and no one owned any vehicles. For the father of the groom, this was his third cult. Out of the fry-pan and into the fire.

On an additional note, the Pope came out and said that if Catholic churches in the U.S. refused to accept Syrian refugees (this was before the Paris incident), that they should lose their exempt status and pay taxes like any business. Another ballsy statement from a ballsy Pope. (He might have had to change his tune since Paris.)

KBOY I was only at Shiloh three times. I never did the sawmill thing, all I ever did work-wise was a little kitchen duty, so I can't say that I am a real veteran of Shiloh, I was never there in the winter either.

I bet that killed them to have to pay you guys minimum wage. I hope you tithed the rest of it back into the upward flow.

As I recall, it afforded more trips into Iowa City bar-hopping.

Let’s not forget how good it can get to be a LW pastor. A few years ago a pastor bought a fixer-upper house. While drawing a full-time salary from the local church, he was able to work on the house during the week and do the church business on the weekend. That’s a pretty good arrangement, if you ask me. And Saturdays were often spent as a “work day” with a lot of the church members coming over to work on that house. Church members were not required to participate in these work days. But you know how it goes: if you want to stay in good standing with the church “in-crowd", you gotta go to the Saturday work days. Regardless of where they are. That pastor recently sold that house, I hear. Probably made a good profit on it. I guess that is the real “school of profits”. Too bad those resources couldn’t have been spent on someone in real need. But you know the LW. Their motto is: “It’s good to be the king.”

I was just remembering the fans in the sawmill that were run all day with the aim of keeping the flies off the workers. They were 4' diameter with 2' blades. No fan guards. Every now and then, we would notice the fan oscillating wildly and run to turn it off, noticing it had lost a blade. We would find the blade stuck in the wall inches from where someone was working. "The Elders" would praise God for the miracle of saving his "little ones" from harm. Geez.

I think it is of mild interest that back in the day, I would have stepped in front of bullets for JRS et al. (or fan blades). These days, the very notion of why someone would want to belong to a cult is a mystery to me. Funny how the passage of time changes our view of life.

I remain hopeful that after the death of Marilyn, a few will abandon the cool-aid and find their way to a more autonomous way of life.

Just remember--that no matter how much sacrifice the people make feeding the one-way flow...it is never enough. This "God" of TLWF is never satisfied...the people are never given enough. If the leadership of the regime, post-Marilyn, consists roughly of the same few people...which I suspect it will...the exploitation, I mean, the opportunity to serve by providing free labor to God's anointed, will continue.




paleface Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Let’s not forget how good it can get to be a LW
> pastor. A few years ago a pastor bought a
> fixer-upper house. While drawing a full-time
> salary from the local church, he was able to work
> on the house during the week and do the church
> business on the weekend. That’s a pretty good
> arrangement, if you ask me. And Saturdays were
> often spent as a “work day” with a lot of the
> church members coming over to work on that house.
> Church members were not required to participate in
> these work days. But you know how it goes: if
> you want to stay in good standing with the church
> “in-crowd", you gotta go to the Saturday work
> days. Regardless of where they are. That pastor
> recently sold that house, I hear. Probably made a
> good profit on it. I guess that is the real
> “school of profits”. Too bad those resources
> couldn’t have been spent on someone in real
> need. But you know the LW. Their motto is:
> “It’s good to be the king.”

PALEFACE:

You bring up an unfortunate point regarding the culture of TLW when you stated, ‘Too bad those resources couldn’t have been spent on someone in real need.’

Expendable worker-ants have been a paradigm in every culture and religion built on a stratified hierarchy from time immemorial. One would have thought that ‘LOVE GOD/LOVE your Brother’ might have begun to deconstruct that mindset rather than reinforce it, but when one was on a team that was attempting to move the ball far down the field, the injured simply had to sit it out on the sidelines while the rest pushed for the finish line.

I am sure everyone knows of someone, who after years of dedicated service, were simply cast aside after their usefulness was expended, only to be replaced by newer blood. Disappearing into the woodwork was an unfortunate conclusion for those not in the spotlight. In the end, it will be the unsung heroes who carried the day who will actually carry the day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2015 03:14AM by kBOY.

kBOY Wrote:

> I am sure everyone knows of someone, who after
> years of dedicated service, were simply cast aside
> after their usefulness was expended, only to be
> replaced by newer blood. Disappearing into the
> woodwork was an unfortunate conclusion for those
> not in the spotlight.

Yes--the norm, rather than the exception. Again, part of the groundwork that made this a reality, was John's teaching. Do you recall how he often stated that it would be fine for him if other people...to accomplish an objective...had to step on top of him? I eventually envisioned a stampede toward an exit--probably not what he had in mind.

The initial stampede occurred shortly after his passing. A subsequent one may still yet occur. TLW has never been too concerned about the ones that got away, only those still inside the gate.