Changedagain - I heard John say the Sodom "nice day" thing from the Sunday morning pulpit in the Valley.

There was a lovely rose garden next to the driveway at his house on Kling. He said he stood there that morning looking at beautiful roses the size of cabbages and he thought about what a nice day it was. Then he thought, well yeah, it was a nice day in Sodom & Gomorrah before the fire fell."

I have always had that in my head when I comment on a nice day. TERRIBLE. Too bad John didn't have therapy because if he had gotten sober and got some help with his rotten conditioning, maybe we all wouldn't have been tormented with the haunting words of a man who was having morning-after guilts with his hangover and who was conditioned to think negatively about himself.

I had a professor in law school like that. He was such an asshole and would cozy up to the pretty Jewish girls and even give them hints on exams. But to everyone else, he was a mean prick. I used to do an imitation of him in the restroom during breaks -- it was that nerdy guy on Welcome Back Kotter who waved his skinny arms and said Mr. Kottar Mr. Kottar. I was sure this Professor had been a lonely, homely nerd in school and was now making up for it by torturing law students.

JRS was a homely kid and not good looking as an adult. He must have lived in awe that he could attract women at all, especially beautiful women. But his oppressions wreaked havoc on all of us. Just as the areas of his life that were sincere and Godly blessed a lot of us for a while.

Onion wrote:
I have always had that in my head when I comment on a nice day. TERRIBLE. Too bad John didn't have therapy because if he had gotten sober and got some help with his rotten conditioning, maybe we all wouldn't have been tormented with the haunting words of a man who was having morning-after guilts with his hangover and who was conditioned to think negatively about himself.

so true

Fortunately for me, I was far enough away from the center that I rarely received direct unkindness or worse. Most questions were answered without sarcasm or criticism. But I have heard and believe of the rottenness to the core of the leaders.

O N I O N

Once again, a revealing glimpse of a side of JRS hardly anyone knew.

As was mentioned previously, the calls for intercession we all survived during the JRS era, that were spun as someone suffering 'Satanic assault', now look more like JRS trying to survive being overwhelmed with his own unresolved guilt.

Deflecting problems onto other sources (be the human or 'spiritual') seemed to be the soup-de-jour we were all fed for decades.

Just one more sad chapter in an anthology of deception and abuse.

Banjo wrote,
Fortunately for me, I was far enough away from the center that I rarely received direct unkindness or worse. Most questions were answered without sarcasm or criticism.

Hi Banjo,
I'm generally sympathetic (bad word, sorry) to criticism and/or sarcasm if directed toward bullies--not toward those who are busting their ass to serve leadership & and often are living in survival mode.
Yes,you were fortunate to be far away from the center.
Good to hear from you.
.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2020 12:13AM by changedagain.

Posted by: changedagain ()
Date: January 10, 2020 08:58PM

Onion wrote:
I have always had that in my head when I comment on a nice day. TERRIBLE. Too bad John didn't have therapy because if he had gotten sober and got some help with his rotten conditioning, maybe we all wouldn't have been tormented with the haunting words of a man who was having morning-after guilts with his hangover and who was conditioned to think negatively about himself.

Changedagain wrote:

so true

Thinking back on the JRS that I was acquainted with, I cannot, in my wildest imagination, visualize him submitting himself to receive counseling, therapy or substance abuse intervention. Neither can I imagine him following through with any prescribed program. Sadly, the man was a law unto himself, and always had to be in charge.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2020 12:27AM by Reepicheep.

Welcome, Banjo.

Reep - My comment about John didn't mean I thought he would willingly get help in any of the areas I mentioned. It was more wishful thinking.

Therapy of any kind was generally frowned on by TLWF. Gary once did a whole message from the pulpit about how bad anti-depressants were. In that area, TLWF and Scientology were twins at job 1 being cult protection along with membership harming.

Onion wrote:
Gary once did a whole message from the pulpit about how bad anti-depressants were.
I think some people were taking them to see if it would help them cope with the "living word."

C H A N G E D

The proverbial 'Christian guilt' was on steroids in TLW, especially following the passing of JRS, which of course, we HAD to be responsible for.

All the decades that followed, we were also responsible for holding back the 'new day', which was just another rehash of yesterday, akin to a nightmare scenario of Groundhog Day, without the humor.

While we muddled along under the burden of guilt, the 'upward flow' continued to 'party hard'.