lily rose Wrote:
> changedagain, plz (hint) put a word in for me:
> Bonzai Pipeline. BTW, I would be the singer Reign
> in your band and I would be fair and just.

'fair and just'--wow, that's something new :)

changedagain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> 'fair and just'--wow, that's something new



I know. Some have likened life in the LW to a gulag, a forced labor camp. I recall William Styron (wrote Sophie's Choice) comment that some asked, "Where was God in the camps?" And Styron countered with, "Where was man?" I like your anger changedagain, keep dissenting!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2016 04:06AM by lily rose.

I think the path to recovery is different for each of us and we should respect the different ways in which we try to get there. For me, the idea of having a voice or having my voice restored is closely linked with getting my agency back. Agency was a term previously used by poliscigrad to describe (I think) self-determination, autonomy, self esteem, and the ability to have a say in important decisions about our lives. For me, all of that was suppressed during my life in the LW and bad decisions were made on my behalf. In expressing in my above post William Styron's comment "Where was man?" I saw that Styron saw that in the camps and in Europe at the time, the Nazi propaganda indoctrination rendered man powerless to speak up. I think it is the same in the LW. But now that some of us have had our voices restored we can do what we can do. We can be just and fair and we can speak out for those who have no voice.

I appreciate that Larry Bobo got his voice back early on after he left the LW and he takes the time to address those still in the LW with what he has learned. I especially appreciate that Larry doesn't devalue the members for having been exploited and believing weird doctrines. I think that is very important in reaching out to those in the LW. Those are my pithy thoughts for 8/13/16.

This evening I received an interesting link which claims the following:

1. Observers became concerned over mind control when it was revealed that Stevens was a master hypnotist. (This has always been my greatest fear; I hope it's not true.) This is not my (Lily's) comment but the sender of the link.

2. Their church was reported as saturated with loud, boisterous shouting and ecstatic utterances, often in tongues, while participants hit one another on the top of the head to open a hole for the Holy Spirit to enter. (Ha Redlands) Lily's comment.

3. Stevens died in 1983 of severe respiratory complications.

[books.google.com]

I recall attempting to draw my older brother into the Walk in the late 70's. I figured if I could just have him read a This Week, he would see the light. After scanning the first page, he handed it back to me with a two-word observation: "it's hypnotic." He always prided himself on being independently-minded (a mortal sin in the fellowship), was gifted intellectually, and could obviously tell there was a mind-numbing quality to the 'Man of God's" teaching. It only took me 20 years to recognize this.

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Thanks for sharing your brother's comment, changedagain. It was the This Weeks that first drew me in and I've described them as captivating, but I think hypnotic is more accurate. I gave a This Week to my parents to read thinking they would understand what I saw, but my Dad was pissed and my Mom seemed really troubled. I've never been really sure if I was taken in by mind control, but I'm beginning to see things differently.

Wow. Is it true that the this weeks were hypnotic? I would get drawn in to a place of peace and tranquility thinking I was in conscious contact with God--through the LW. I also got this feeling from reading the bible. I am not sure about God anymore or much of what I learned. I was a child and how could someone just hijack the lives of others---it really pisses me off.

"This morning I brought a message titled, “Father, I Do Not Want Fulfillment Without You” at Grace Chapel of Honolulu, Hawaii.

We are in a time of repentance to move into a new level with the Lord, seeking His perfect will and His presence."



Oh for Pete's sake can you stop with it already---geeez.

HEADLINE NEWS: Please Quit Trying Please

"Father, I Do Not Want Fulfillment Without You"
August 14, 2016

[www.garyandmarilynhargrave.com]

"We are in a time of repentence (yippee kay yay) to move into a new level (again) with the Lord, seeking His perfect will and His presence (which have not been found in more than a half a century)."

"We can receive salvation and even the Kingdom, but that is no guarantee that the Father's presence will dwell with us (a technical impossibility within ONENESS)."

"We are to be a people with one drive: to be pleasing to Him (no try/just accept; our preexistent state--Prodigal Parable)."

". . . we have to take the initiative . . . to demand that the Spirit of the Father dwells with us (no try/just accept; our preexistent state--Prodigal Parable)."