lily rose wrote: "Yea well, presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz and Rick Perry are sometimes referred to as Manchurian Candidates on social media. Cruz and Perry have been linked to the National Apostolic Reformation (NAR) who believe many of the same militant teachings that JRS taught such as taking dominion, Kingdom Now, Joel's army etc." I recall hearing JRS say that the "lea
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A while back I decided to re-read the This Week pamphlet "Continuing in the Apostle's Teaching." I was surprised by how poorly JRS made the case for the Apostolic Ministry. The basic contrast between the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and the anarchy of Protestantism is fine, but the alternative of the Apostolic Ministry as the "right balance" between hierarchy and an
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Moderator, re: article on Foundation for Critical Thinking as a cult-like group. I am quite surprised by that news. I'd want more than this article to conclude that the Foundation for Critical Thinking was actually a cult-like group. I attended perhaps four conferences at Sonoma State University, and on two or three occasions, I presented papers on the application of Paul's critic
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Lily Rose I agree completely that the challenge of "prove it" is one of the main practices of critical thinking. And you are right that higher education has not done well in cultivating that practice.
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Moderator, If we can assume that TLWF leaders and congregants read this blog, and if any one of us is targeted for a defamation lawsuit, what legal and financial resources are available to us (besides our own savings accounts) to defray court costs? Moderator response: See "Please understand that you are personally responsible for all your comments and actions through this messa
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Moderator, Points well taken.
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Moderator, Thank you for the third link. Again, all these excerpts deserve a closer and more careful reading. I tend to think of critical thinking as a set of skills on a spectrum of mastery -- white belt to black belt, if you will. Untutored, I think all of us are white belts in critical thinking, and some might be yellow belts. However, a combination of solid liberal arts education, trai
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Dear Moderator, Thank you for those two links. After skimming them, it seems that they need a closer and more careful reading. The Lifton material is especially interesting. In my own teaching, I emphasize the skills of critical thinking as defined and developed by Richard Paul at his institute of critical thinking and moral critique at Sonoma State University. It seems that the Lifto
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Invisible's story about the sale of Grace Chapel, South Gate, and the prophecies about evangelism say something to me about 1) the nature of the Living Word and Living Word prophecies and 2) our vulnerabilities which led to becoming victims of the Walk's power play. In Isaiah 55:10-11, we read "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without w
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"Gary gets really bothered when you wear a UC Berkely "Cal" hat to a ministries conference." lol... I wonder how he'd react if someone wore a Che Guevara shirt to a ministries conference.
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Lily Rose, I am a university professor, and I can assure your father that not all professors are leftist communists. He would be pleased by most professors at George Mason, Texas A&M, and several other places (including UC Berkeley).
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Lily Rose and Paleface, Yes, agency is intrinsically linked with an exercise of "free will." Paleface related one moment where they began to figure out that the Shepherds were doing something God would presumably not do: namely, cross their will. During the summer of 1994, there were many "words" on having one's own walk with God and not conforming to outward practic
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Lily Rose, What I mean is the sense of steering one's life as one wishes and knowing the boundaries of self which are one's own and not "colonized" by another. When I was in the Walk, I wanted to further my education. And so I submitted this desire to the elders for confirmation. They saw no value in further education, and thought a closer connection to Marilyn would be
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Paleface, Thanks for your kind words, but I wish it were just or mostly my DNA. Our therapist who is an expert in this particular field indicated that my oldest suffers from a personality developmental disorder as opposed to a genetic inheritance. Now, are you saying that Pope Francis wanted to meet Gary?
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Paleface, My oldest child was born in late 1989, and they are a lot like me: a circle in a square world. Their first two or three years seemed perfect. Lots of CLW folks babysat them, and it seemed that they were showered with love from all corners. The weirdness began when they were enrolled in Pre-K and Kindergarten in Centers of Learning. I learned many years afterwards that they experie
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Thank you, Moderator, for your remarks and recommendation. To Changedagain and Paleface, I agree that the introduction of "designated relationships" after JRS died was one of the most intrusive and destructive dynamics I experienced. For me, healthy agency is about reclaiming the boundaries of self, and along with it acknowledging that I do not exist *for* anyone else. I am an
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Changedagain, FCSLC, and Paleface, Thanks for your welcome and for your best wishes for healing. So: here are a few thoughts, in no particular order. It is weird how I did not fit in with any social group before I entered the Walk, and how I didn't fit in with any group (really) when I was in the Walk. I am unsure how to make sense of it all, except that the comraderie which I thou
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Hello all, My time in the Walk happened between 1976 and 1995. For the first 5 years, I was at Coniah/Church of His Kingdom. I moved to the Valley Church with my new bride in 1981, and then John died in 1983 and everything went to living hell. I recall at least one service in Anaheim where John said that if he was taken out of church on a stretcher, then the Living Word was false. Well, hi
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Well... in response to Strange, I think I'll break the ice and see what comes of it. I'm more than happy to correspond in whatever manner it is useful for anyone. Cheer
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After hours of reviewing the postings on this page and FactNet, I'm wondering if there is at least one legal case to be made, especially on behalf of those claiming to be sexually abused. Given the recent scandals of sexual abuse in the Catholic church, and given that the courts have held that statutes of limitations do not apply in those cases (I think), it seems right that justice be soug
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Interesting reading these posts and the ones on factnet. I left CLW in 1995, and the best thing that happened for me was having professional therapy starting in 2002. Through therapy, I was able to unload a great deal of anger. Jon Paul, I'm willing to talk if you want. I understand the atheistic stance, and although I'm straight and married with kids, I know a few gay and lesbi
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