If you wanted to be in the “in-crowd” at TLWF, you had to hate dogs. It was the apostolic thing to do. I recall hearing that dogs were soulish and cats were carriers of witchcraft.

I think the only thing safe as a pet were tropical fish. I seem to recall hearing that fish had no auras.

CLOUDWATCHER:

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Happy to contribute.

Speaking of nature, how ironic is it that we inflated our own importance as 'divinely inspired' humans--who happened to engage in many destructive behaviors--but then downgraded just about every other life form as not worthy of our attention--that whole ruling and reigning thing.

Not only are humans poor caretakers of the planet, but decidedly it's most destructive creatures. Couple that with some misguided ideologies that direct the subjugation of not only other species but entire indigenous populations, and you have a recipe for a world of suffering--all in the name of God.

I have had as many significant relationships with other creatures as I ever had with humans in the fellowship, especially with regards to unconditional love, a concept entirely foreign to TLW. There is no denying we live in a predator/prey environment on every level, but no species can better ravage the landscape than our own misguided brothers and sisters.

Time to go feed the cat and walk the dog . . .

puddington Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you wanted to be in the “in-crowd” at TLWF, you
> had to hate dogs. It was the apostolic thing to
> do. I recall hearing that dogs were soulish and
> cats were carriers of witchcraft.

With this inhumane attitude toward animals. it's no wonder "the sheep" were and are routinely beaten by TLWF 'ministries.' What a sick, pathetic cult.

p.s. didn't know about fish not having auras. Not sure what to make of this info, but I will put it on a shelf somewhere until I need it.

puddington Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you wanted to be in the “in-crowd” at TLWF, you
> had to hate dogs. It was the apostolic thing to
> do. I recall hearing that dogs were soulish and
> cats were carriers of witchcraft.
>
> I think the only thing safe as a pet were tropical
> fish. I seem to recall hearing that fish had no
> auras.


AH HA! So this is why we NEVER owned a cat or dog my entire childhood.
I learn more and more every day.
We never celebrated Christmas or any Pagan holidays.
What happened to seeing Auroras, laying on of hands, intercessions, and the more gnostic or mystical aspects of TLW, no one speaks of those things much.

'A Soulish Dog, a Cat that Practices Witchcraft and a Fish with No Aura-
My Time in a Religious Cult'
1467 pages

(granted, a bit lengthy. I'll see if I can make it more concise)

TMASON:

Sorry to hear about your pet-less upbringing. There is a good reason why they say dogs are a man's best friend. The TLW leadership would have learned much about unconditional love had they submitted themselves to (pick your favorite canine).

With regards to the other issues you raised (auras, intercession, etc.), the obvious lack of any fulfillment from all the blood-curdling prophesying, interceding, and outright insanity that the 70's and early 80's witnessed, there were successive expectation downgrades over many decades during the G&M era. With no door-opener apostle breaking into resurrection life (death rudely interrupted), no kingdom floating down out of the sky, no thousand prophets marching through the land, no recognition of Shiloh being the center of the universe--you get the idea--TLW slowly devolved into nothing more than a local community church trying desperately to forget it's sordid past.

Things may have opened up for the G-man down in Brazil, but it is painfully obvious that the fellowship in the states still languishes in obscurity. With the G-man's drive for individual recognition, you will probably see more time spent pursuing the open doors down south and the subsequent effort to distance himself from any abuse fallout that will hound his heels until his end of days.

Merry Christmas. Lab or retriever?

kBOY Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CLOUDWATCHER:
>
> Thanks for the vote of confidence. Happy to
> contribute.
>
> Speaking of nature, how ironic is it that we
> inflated our own importance as 'divinely inspired'
> humans--who happened to engage in many destructive
> behaviors--but then downgraded just about every
> other life form as not worthy of our
> attention--that whole ruling and reigning thing.
>
> Not only are humans poor caretakers of the planet,
> but decidedly it's most destructive creatures.
> Couple that with some misguided ideologies that
> direct the subjugation of not only other species
> but entire indigenous populations, and you have a
> recipe for a world of suffering--all in the name
> of God.
>
> I have had as many significant relationships with
> other creatures as I ever had with humans in the
> fellowship, especially with regards to
> unconditional love, a concept entirely foreign to
> TLW. There is no denying we live in a
> predator/prey environment on every level, but no
> species can better ravage the landscape than our
> own misguided brothers and sisters.
>
> Time to go feed the cat and walk the dog . . .


I was thinking about getting a serpent myself.

CLOUDWATCHER:

Most serpents have greater integrity in their being than the upper echelon of TLW have ever demonstrated to the little people where the buzzword has always been, "the Kingdom is relationships".

P.S. Always loved those little green rosy boas.

R E D E M P T I O N


Destructive relationships will always be taking into account reasons for leaving versus reasons for staying. Every expat of TLW has done this accounting at some time, and having reached critical mass, decided to divest themselves entirely.

I do not think we were aware at the time how deep the doctrinal tentacles had burrowed into our mindset. From that foundation we essentially forfeited some clarity in our vision and were able to overlook (deny) many of the abuses going on around us. The 'carrot' was always 'the Word'.

As much as love should be foundational to a doctrine where 'the Kingdom is relationships', we seemed to have been mesmerized by 'the Word' just enough to be oblivious to relationships that were very unloving.

There is no denying that we were a little intoxicated with the idea of 'ruling and reigning over a new world', and that also contributed to our blindness. This all adds up to the realization that we forfeited our freedom to choose by relinquishing it to another, and in many cases, to one who did not necessarily have our best interests in mind.

So be it.

We are now left to pick up the pieces of our lives, forgive ourselves for having taken a misstep, and begin to enjoy the fruits of our own redemption and walk out into a real 'new day'.

kBOY:

You should not imply blame regarding the victims, but rather place the blame on the predator.

Deception and manipulation is inherently involved in the any destructive cults's recruitment and retention of members.

Rather than being "intoxicated" their feelings are being managed and whatever "misstep" occurs it is under undue influence and through manipulation.

Leaders of destructive cults don't want genuine awareness, but rather deliberately keep secrets and want the people they manipulate to be unaware of their deception.

The process of coercive persuasion and thought reform produces a state of seemingly being mesmerized. But this is the planned and a deliberate and desired byproduct of the leader's intense indoctrination process.

The database of the Cult Education Institute has a wealth of information about how this is done step by step.

See [www.culteducation.com]

This is an examination of the thought reform process used by destructive cults written by psychiatrist and Harvard Medical School professor Robert Jay Lifton.

See [www.culteducation.com]

This is a paper written by sociologist and UC Berkeley Professor Richard Ofshe on the topic of coercive persuasion.

See [www.culteducation.com]

This is chart from the book "Cults in Our Midst" written by clinical psychologist Margaret Singer who counseled more than a thousand former cult members. She contrasts the differences between various levels of persuasion including thought reform, commonly used by cults.

It's important to review such information when sorting out a cult experience. It's a very meaningful part of the recovery process.

See [www.culteducation.com]

The Cult Education Institute database has a subsection devoted to recovery issues.