I'm not sure this has gotten through, but the Scripture is Luke 12:31.

So Rick and Lorena conceived of the idea back in '84?


latimes:
"Lorena told me about the first time Rick put together the pickup. She recalled 31 years of friends who come out to show the Holbrooks their new babies or to deliver the news of neighbors who had passed throughout the year.

She talked of the traditions that their little idea sparked, and how each of us might spread that spark by being decent to each other."

Wasn't Lorena about 2 years old in 1984?

paleface Wrote:
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> Wasn't Lorena about 2 years old in 1984?

Which makes it even more remarkable she helped come up with the idea for the truck.

I think all of old codger walkites should line up on the streets this year when the Christmas truck drives by and start screaming " WE JUST CURSE THIS CHRISTMAS SPIRT, WE REBUKE SANTA CLAUS WE CAST RUDOLPH INTO THE PIT!!!!!!!!"

As this forum has continually demonstrated, spinning and re-spinning falsehoods is part of the modus operandi of TLW, and keeps the people on the right side of the curtain believing in the wizard. The old mantra ‘without a vision, the people (leave)’ makes it all the more necessary to keep them focused on the carrot and not on who dangles it, nor where they are being led.

(The Xmas truck has between one and a million lights.)

As long as it was not John's first wife that came up with the idea for the Christmas truck, I am fine with it. I'm pretty flexible these days!


kBOY Wrote:
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> As this forum has continually demonstrated,
> spinning and re-spinning falsehoods is part of the
> modus operandi of TLW, and keeps the people on the
> right side of the curtain believing in the wizard.
> The old mantra ‘without a vision, the people
> (leave)’ makes it all the more necessary to keep
> them focused on the carrot and not on who dangles
> it, nor where they are being led.
>
> (The Xmas truck has between one and a million
> lights.)

In reading Lorena's quote, to be fair, she didn't say she helped create the Christmas truck. The musicians were sitting around, getting drunk, thinking about JRS, and went out. No planning, no thinking of anything in ministering to the neighborhood. In fact, they just said they were from That Studio and never mentioned The Living Word. It stayed that way. Just a bunch of "friends" doing a "thing." And it grew as the neighborhoods contacted That Studio. Then it went commercial, as all things Christmas tends to do when people are about glory to themselves. There are those who participate that have a heart of the season and genuinely care about the people who are starry eyed with the glitz as part of their celebration. But make no mistake: this has never been about the community. Eventually the route was made to accommodate celebrities like Denzel Washington. The truck would stay in front of his house upwards to 15 minutes. No was allowed to talk to him except who Rick said could. Then they started doing community Christmas parades in Sherman Oaks and Burbank. They always contacted the news to come film and do a bit. It made it a staple. Lorena's involvement probably started as an elf or a dancer. I was involved behind the scenes for years. But after a couple of years, I was told if I walked next to the truck, I wasn't allowed to talk to the people -- only designated people were allowed so the same thing was being said. Heavily controlled media spectacle! When folks in Shiloh wanted to do the same thing, Rick shut it down.

Could someone help me with inline quotes? Even if I hit reply to a post, it still comes as a stand alone. I hate to respond without context.

I have to say that was not my experience. Jesus' name was brought up constantly around me. I read my Bible and memorized a lot of it and could quote it verbatim. I checked context always. I knew the Scriptures verbatim. When almost the whole church switched NAS version, I stuck with KJV. Perhaps in some of the churches, they didn't really know the Scriptures. But yes, many of the "sheep" (those who followed blindly) didn't study or question or think for themselves. It gauled me.

rakingman8464 Wrote:
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> yes, I was in the walk from 1972 until 1976, I was
> very much in the thick of it and sold out with
> much zeal. But then I realized that they or we
> hardly ever brought up the name of Jesus.