Rather than hijack another thread, I thought about this ....
When you live in NY and having a bethelite in your congregation is commonplace - Bethel, the GB, COs, etc. don't have that same "mysticism" or "it factor" that they have in other parts of the country. I grew up with these people, knew many of them and guess what - they're just people!
Now regarding 1975 and other great prophesies of our time - I think the closer you are to the fire, the warmer it is! That's why there could be such a difference in perception regarding October 1, 1975 across the board. The fire's center is in NY, by the time it reaches out to Cali, Florida, Wyoming, etc., the local brothers don't "feel" the warmth or the urgency as much. They were much more capable of being objective and skeptical than those in NY. I've been in Florida for almost 20 years, and I definitely noticed this difference as soon as I moved here.