I remember when we first left "The Walk" in 1985 there was a sense of liberation. My wife and I had the thinking that it was better to live out our earthly lives in freedom and suffer the consequences of hell later on than to endure what we were experiencing in the church week by week.

Speaking only for myself, as the years passed by, I still had a feeling of "missing out" which was deeper than intelligence. I was thinking that all of that "laying on of hands" had somehow put a clamp or lid on my ability to experience the supernatural. It was if I had "checked out but could never leave" sort of thing. I was considering perhaps a retardation or even a curse or a spell. I don't know --- this forum seems to help.

Quote: Corboy posted on August 02, 2013 04:51 PM


"The final stage of cult indoctrination is to accept the leaders as the perfect center of the universe, from which all else derives. The "fully evolved" cult member thus understands all the pain and suffering as resistance to the cult leaders' divinity. The leader is the single point of entry for God and perfection in the otherwise imperfect universe.


I remember JRS saying in a "This Week", ---- "It has to be a lie." If there is a single point of entry for God and perfection in the otherwise imperfect universe, then myself as a run of the mill little person have a destiny to pay someone, obey someone, give myself over to someone, lose my natural born gifts to someone and so on.

I'm not going to do it. It has to be a lie. Working to "get back to the place where I was before" pre-walk kind of time.

Please don't be offended by what I am about to say, but, I'm thinking that several of you are a bit stuck and need professional help. The grip of this cult seems to still have its barbs in you. I got help from several sources. It helped a lot. For some of you, it has been a long time. Perhaps our memories paint a brighter image of what happened back then in the walk, than what was really going on. We were young and had rose-colored glasses on. I understand, you want to "get back to the garden". But maybe there never was a garden. Not like what you think you remember. Nostalgia is a strong drug. : )

I have a personal witness that similar revelation does come independently to various groups who have no connection to each other. I married a woman from the Ukraine that told me how when the Iron Curtain fell (and many of us prayed faithfully through the seventies and eighties that it would fall). That first eastern religion and occult teachings came to the Ukraine, but afterwards Bibles started coming in, then Evangilists. Her own experience was with a Church where several of them, including her, started getting specific revelation of the restoration of the New Testament Church. When I met her I was amazed at the nearly exact revelation her Ukraine church moved in as we did in the "Walk," years ago. God speaks to many people in the earth, it is what they do with that message we are sorting out.

My experience in the "Walk," pointed to one thing: Men can know God, and know His voice, yet it takes eternal seeking of His face, God does not reveal Himself to the spiritually indolent (Laodicia). Some of the testimony here makes me think we are missing the point. Are we suprised men are weak? Are we suprised the flesh can still win the battles, in anyone, no matter their spiritual achievments? The central message of John Stevens was always "That I may follow on to know the Lord." It is good that the Walk disentigrated, because most of us, me included, were just in a movement, we were not seeking God with the desperation many of us had when we first came to God. Few happy and satisfied people fall into salvation. It is the lame the halt and the blind, but what is more is you know you still are. I am not too concerned about what Gary and Marilyn are doing or have done...What have I done? I feel like I have barely even scratched the surface in knowing what I should know.

Think of the restoration leaders in the past, men that were burned at the stake, hunted and persecuted to death, the truth is hard-won, very hard won.

I have been doing a little study of where John Robert Stevens actually got most of the message he taught. The message of the manifest sons of God is not anything that origionated with him. JRS could be classified as a radical Latter Rain adherent, in that he believed and taught the manifest sons of God message. If you trace down all the adherants of that theology, you will find a lot of this shepherding in the various fellowships. It seems to always evolve to the same thing. I don't know that it HAS TO, but it seems to, at least up until now. The belief that spiritual Gifts can be simply imparted to people that don't have very much depth of the word, and by "word," I mean the bible, and to people that have not sought God with all their heart, and gone through a work of the cross, and by "work of the cross," I don't mean standing in a circle and interceding for the leader, and speaking against a the devil, when the devil is no doubt perfectly content with what is going on and is no doubt not "coming against" anybody IN THAT particular fellowship.

If you google Latter Rain and take a look at the various churches that espouse that theology, they ALL deny involvement, though most don't claim the God told them not to get involved. If God did tell John Stevens not to get involved with it, then I am at a loss as to why he did get involved, and to the point that he did.

The moderator told me that we could discuss Latter Rain, as long as it is briefly and then to get back on subject. I am not going to say any more about it, other than to encourage all of you to google it, and then to research the prophetic movement, the apostolic restoration movement, the manifest sons of God, Joel's army, shepherding, the whole thing is out there, and it is has been going on since the late 1940s along with and right beside the Living Word Fellowship. It is nothing new.

I don't know how much of it could have been a revelation of God, I DO KNOW the whole thing got perverted, and it got perverted right there in the Living Word Fellowship, ESPECIALLY when JRS died. As I said before, JRS is not the only leader that the followers prayed that he would come back to life, to be the first born into resurrection life. William Branham is one of them.

I still have respect for JRS in a lot of ways. I think he did believe what he taught, unlike a lot of television preachers you see, in my opinion. I don't know what Marilyn believes, I was not around when she was in charge, I just know that when she was with JRS and she was talking on the tapes, I just thought she was an air head new ager and I figured that JRS had just lost his head over a younger woman. I didn't figure enough in the future to think all leadership would cowtail down to her. I guess they had no choice, and that leads me to believe that as John's wife she must have had some legal edge on them, perhaps she owned their churches, I don't know. I guess that will come out some day, exactly how much money and property was in her hands when John Stevens died.

Oh, by the way a very well known televangelist faith healer was mentored by Winston Nunes too. I don't know if I can mention this guy or not, but he is about the best paid dude on television.

Thank you. I believe professional help is definetly helpful, but talking to former members also has an advantage in a kind of trust that goes hand in hand with a collective "being there" which we have in common.

No doubt, I was a child of the 1960's in search of meaning especially in the face of the Vietnam War. I was snagged rather easily by the group here in SLC. I am not trying to return to the glory days of the Walk, but rather to that previous time beforehand where there was a hunger to find meaning and purpose in very chaotic times.

Before I ran into this religious stuff, I thought it was ok to tune in, explore, learn, advance and have some undefined energy experience. Some baggage I picked up in the "Walk" was that I needed walk/biblical/apostolic validation. Over time this type of teaching makes a person paralyzed so to speak. (IMHO)

There are plenty of whacko's out there and a reasonable rational plumbline is good, but I should be entitled to my own whackiness if I so choose. It is a little scary posting on this forum, but kind of fun too.

Hi Paul Trowbridge,

That's it - Following on to know the Lord. The goal was that each one, would come to know the Lord and the voice of the Lord for themselves. I am convinced that - No one else can do this for any one else.

Those things that happened in the past - has served purpose. I like to think about it like this, the kingdom of God is likened to one who casts their net out into the waters and when it is pulled in, the fish are sorted by whether they are edible or non edible. You keep the good and throw away the bad. This is how I apply this today and I may view it in a deeper and new way tomorrow. But for now , the fish in this little story become the things I experienced in the years of my life. Something's I keep, other things I throw away. I only keep the good. I received way more good than bad.

One thing that really helped me put things into perspective, is in looking to God for many of the answers I had, in the Scriptures. I found answers that helped me take the main focus off of what some one else did to me and in finding an answer - that answer usually instead of shinning it's light on some one else - it shined it's light on me. As an example, I read in the Old Testament how devastated David was when his friend became his enemy, one who he had walked with and worshipped the Lord together with ... David had put his trust in and even entrusted himself to his friend - after all they worshipped the Lord together they walked in their youth together in the house of the Lord. Isn't this what many of us did? David ends his Psalm singing to the Lord - with , ..........but I will put my trust in You.

We put our trust in one another and we in some ways entrusted our well being to each other.

And again I found more in this area where I saw in light of the Scriptures, that the Spirit of the Lord was Teaching me what I my self needed to understand. Jeremiah 17:5 Thus says the Lord, Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, And makes flesh His strength, And whose heart turns away from the Lord. Jer. 5:7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord.

John 2:24 But Jesus on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need any one to bear witness concerning man for He Himself knew what was in man.
Also Mark 10:18 & Luke 18 :19
And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

( Now this is a difficult thing to receive because if you receive it,) you realize there is no place to put your trust except in the Lord. The Lord was not condemning men in saying this, He came to save them. He was making known that God alone is good .

God is a perfect Father and He has His way of correcting us and disciplining us. As I realized my own offense, I understood why I had experienced some of the things I experienced. Hebrews 12 : 11& 12 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful ; yet to those who have been trained by it , afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Proverbs 6:23 ............and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.

Here is another wonder thing I found and realized, that I would like to share for all to think about, which I believe will comfort many hearts.

Something that I believe is really important that many have misunderstood and miss applied, about what Christ is speaking, when He told who His mother's, brothers, and sisters are. He was not saying anything against his own mother and brother's when He spoke these things. His own disciples' were sitting around Him in the crowded room and He was telling those who filled the room these things.

And He answered them saying, "Who is My mother and brothers? And He looked round about on them which sat about Him, and said," Behold My mother and brothers! " For who ever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother and My sister and mother." Mark 3: 33- 35

Matthew 12:48- But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, "Who is My mother and who is My brothers?" And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said," Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother."

Now what men have been doing with these Scriptures is they have been using and applying what Christ said , wrongfully to one another - in what He spoke. Qualifying or disqualify others, to themselves and among themselves, as to who they believe are, or are not, HIS own.

These scriptures have been used against those who belong to the Lord, just as they have used the parable of the wheat and the tares to reject and condemn others, so as to exclude others or to put them out from themselves in their own thinking , as being not His own.

Jesus is not making known to them who THEIR mother, brothers and sisters are. but rather He is making known to them, who HIS mother, brothers and sisters are. He alone is the one who He qualifies to Himself, as being His mothers and brothers and sisters.

He is not talking about their relationship with each other, as spiritual mothers, brothers and sisters.

It is about a relationship with Him He is talking about and not the relationship between others. We lift ourselves up too high, when we take a place to qualify for Him or disqualify for Him, who His brother and sister and mother is.

John 13:35 " By this all men will know that you are My disciples', if you have love for one another."

I've been reading with interest the posts presented here. We relate and write according to our experience. The things we have been posting about are not unique to us who used to be part of the Living Word Fellowship. School of Prophets? Shiloh? Apostolic Company? These are not new to the world, only new to our experience. You can find many references that journey back many years concerning these things.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Read the scriptures and you will find warnings about those who bring in false teachings to the church. It was happening during the same time Paul was writing to the churches.We are to hold onto the Head; Read Colossians 1:15-20. How could anyone, after reading those particular scriptures, give themselves over to the false belief that JRS was the Christ? There came a time when each member of "The Walk" had to choose between the truth of the Bible and the doctrine of the living word fellowship.

I also want to say hi to Paul Trowbridge.

JHORNING: "How could anyone, after reading those particular scriptures, give themselves over to the false belief that JRS was the Christ? There came a time when each member of "The Walk" had to choose between the truth of the Bible and the doctrine of the living word fellowship."

That is a good question. I don't know how many thought that, I tend to think that many did. Looking back on my own experience, now that I have passed the 60 mark I see that when I was a young man the Living Word Fellowship fed something in me, it boosted my ego.... I loved getting hands laid on me, the prophesies that I was so special, being told what all I would be, that I had such a shepherds heart, that I this, that I that... That is the biggest hook of any cult, taking immature people and telling them they are special. Instead of teaching them things that challenged them, that helped them realize they needed to repent and grow up, telling them they are already there, and all it took, was the a revelation of John, after all, they had John's spirit.

Self deception is the easiest deception to fall into, and hardest deception to break. And when you have a system like the Walk, where people don't listen to anybody else, where there is nobody to be accountable to, after all, there was nobody else in the world other than the Living Word Fellowship but religious Babylon, it is fertile ground for deception to grow unchecked.

I don't think JRS intended to deceive, I believe he actually thought he was right. I think he knew there were other people out there teaching the same thing though. I don't know how he squared it with himself that the people in the Walk believed that everything he taught came directly from God and nobody else in the world was teaching that stuff. I think there was something in his makeup that he needed approval, he needed to be validated, accepted. Much the same as me. I can understand that.

I don't think he did it for the money, it was a psychological thing with him. As far as his message, that will be sorted out I guess. I believe we are right in the time of the fulfillment, the culmination of the ages. I hope that we all can get a handle on JRS, to me he is one of the prominent characters in the story of my life. But now there is more spiritual growth I want to enter into. I have been studying what happened on Azusa street, before that on Bonnie Brae Street in LA. I believe God is doing something in the Earth today, and I want to be aware of it, not looking back over my shoulder and especially not flawed because of some stupid concept I got from some misfit "apostles" and "prophets" drunk and stoned on beer, weed, and power. There are some things that JRS taught that were true, and some were wrong. But I don' think of him as anywhere near the rip off artist that you can see on television.