[quote=""DCHindley""]I don't know if any of the old fogies here remember Dr Victor Paul Wierwille and The Way. Back somewhere around 1976 I attended a Twig house bible study out of curiosity (mainly because this nice looking girl with whom I shared a class at the local Community College had lured me into going).
The various folks there described to me with great enthusiasm some of the super literalist teachings of the leader of the organization, and how he knew all about the Bible in its original languages.
VPW had earned a Masters of Theology degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and claimed to have received a Doctorate in Theology from the non-accredited correspondence school Pikes Peak Bible College. He was an ordained minister in the Evangelical and Reformed Church (now the United Church of Christ) from 1941 until resigning as a minister in 1957 two years after incorporating his own organization, The Way Inc, in 1955.
Apparently he had a bit of an ego and tended to exaggerate. Several things he used to say he had done could never be independently verified. For instance, he once claimed to have hauled "3,000 volumes of theological books to the city dump" when he abandoned formal theology for the bible alone. Perhaps the dump in the city of Van Wert, where he lived at the time, will become NW Ohio's version of Oxyrhynchus Egypt about two thousand years from then. However, despite this kind of thing, he attracted thousands of fanatical followers.
Individual "Leaves" (members) tithed 10% of their income to the organization. Members were also expected to take a series of 6 or so special film or cassette courses which cost like $100-$200 each to attend. At this point a little warning flag popped up.
One kid there at the meeting kept repeating how the course "just blew me away!" I think I met him once or twice again as the head groundskeeper in charge of their
missile solos, I mean dormitories for missionaries in training, at their super secret international headquarters in New Knoxville OH in the late 1990s (I was there for business, I swear).
VPM was especially keen on "Estrangelo" Aramaic (a branch of Syriac) as the original tongue of the first Christians (George Lamsa finished his translation of the Syriac bible at VPM's home before going on to become Stephan Huller's sensei). VPM, then, was able to read Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. He also spoke in tongues, so perhaps he could claim he was conversant in many unknown languages as well (he did not make such a claim, AFAIK).
The girl proved to be a little too strange for me (Wednesday Adams with tight clothes), so I moved on, although when I met new president Rosalie F. Rivenbark in 2000 or 2001 (again, on business) I did notice that she also bore a resemblance to Wednesday Adams, except in a woman's "Power Suit." For a brief moment the impossible thought came to me ... Could she be that girl? Naaaaw!
This is related in all seriousness :melodramatic: to show that anyone can put on airs and attract followers.
Toto;7481654 wrote:
... Pastor Melissa Scott appears to be completely self taught ...
[/QUOTE]
Agreed.
You read her bio and its obvious her motives are cash, but compared to most apologetic teachings, she is fun to watch. Ive seen about 15 minutes total time of her shows on a few different occasions. It was about all I could take. She does know Greek and is a expert at reeling the cash in from simpletons.
makes me think im in the wrong business
and single.