I was close to Bob the last few years of his life--when we were both members of the South Gate church. I knew the tax burden ($140,000 or so, if I recall) he was under, and the alienation he felt from G & M. I did what I could to not add to the mental/emotional toll it took on him. I was placed for a time over the worship schedule in SG, and always allowed time for him, on weekends, to drive to the desert with his son (JJ) and have some fun. I knew father/son time was extremely important in his life. Anyway, I was appalled by Gary's insensitivity during the Sunday service in which he announced Bob's death--declaring Bob a spiritual failure and chastising those who had been close to Bob for not intervening in his downward spiral. Of course, Gary took no responsibility.
Yuck.

changedagain wrote: “No surprise--the perpetrators often position themselves as victims.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The above has the potential to rival “Breaking Bad.” (My wife and I just finished season 5 on NetFlix)

Paleface posted on 02/22/2014 01:50am: “Where is this all headed?” Good Question.

I know of some good hideouts in the Great Salt Lake Desert Area if necessary.

What happen at Impact? Bob started that company, but at some point, Gary took it over. Was that a hostile takeover? Was Bob forced to hand it over to prove his submission?

I thought the downward spiral began with removing Larry M. from his place along side JRS. I never understood what was taking place during that time frame. Secret/special meetings at the Blix house, interventions with the 3rd generation, and everyone trying to fit in and find their place. Oh well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/2014 02:12AM by jhorning.

Yikes, I forgot about the 3G intervention meetings. Nasty! Kids who knew nothing about true shepherding. Happy days for sure.

Came across this insightful response today:

"If the leaders really are framing Marilyn's illness as a case of transference / witchcraft from people who have left, they are just encouraging another round of false intercession against their enemies. When the sheep get the message they will attach faces and names according to their concepts and they will begin praying against those people. Regardless of whether their "prayers" are answered, that's what they will be basically devoting themselves to -- and for the most part against people who only wished to be left alone.


The group has proven incapable of praying without concepts. With John, he could say we were praying against a spirit but the multitudes pretty much attached names and faces to their prayers. In the same way, when they decided to fast and pray for the will of God in the elections, most of the people were disappointed because their concept was that a Republican would defeat President Obama. That's why Gary had to damage control -- their concepts were completely deflated until he told them that they were really not to worry because they were going to control the nations anyway."

When I stopped going to the church, I thought that the church could no longer have any further destructive affect on my life .
But because I had family members who were in the church - this thinking I had was unrealistic - because the members of my families thinking was being directly affected in greater part, simply because they were members of the church.

When my spouse and I were together and both members of the church ,
When we - my spouse and I privately communicated in a letter to Gary and Marilyn about the wrong that was being done to us and had been done to us , instead of Gary taking steps to correct the wrong to the degree that it was in his power to uprightly correct the situation ( which was why we wrote the letter to G&M ) wanting and demanding of them - that they should do - what was needed to be done to correct the wrong that had been done - that they should take steps to bring relief to us - because we were suffering the things we were suffering - in greater part because of the decisions that other people had made over our lives - by imposing their wills on us - knowing it was against our will . when those decisions were made , and since Gary himself presided over the decisions that had been made - we wrote to him and his wife..

Now what we wrote to G&M - must have felt like a very personal attack on them, to them. There was no finesse, no gracious composure on our part , it was raw, accusative, direct and it was filled with our pain, but it was the truth.

The letter we wrote to them, was raw, accusative and full of our pain - because what we were writing to G&M about - was not the first time that Gary had been directly involved in making decisions with others, by imposing his will and the will of others - over us in life, with all of those directly involved knowing the decisions they were making together was against our wills - which resulted in injuring us and our well being in life.

So when we wrote this letter, we were still is the midst of trying to deal with what had been done 3 years earlier and what we were having to deal with 3 years later was directly related to what had been done 3 years earlier. It just became too much to bear.

After G&M had our letter in their own hands - instead of coming to us and relating to us themselves in person about what we had written to them about - instead an apostolic ministry was sent to meet privately with my spouse and it was highly recommended by that apostolic ministry - to my spouse - that my spouse should divorce me.

My spouse and I were not having any personal problems in our relationship with one another, that were greater than our love for one another. We were on the same page working together, trying to get through the many kinds of difficulties that we were facing and had to face.

I stopped going to the church almost 7 years after we wrote that letter.

Jesus was innocent of what He was accused of - He was with out sin, He was crucified - for speaking the truth and no one could rightly disqualify Him in all that He was speaking and doing , because God was with Him, because God was bearing witness of Him , that Jesus was His Son, with signs wonders and miracles that no man had ever been able to do, Those who were constantly trying to catch Him in a trespass in order to disqualify what He was preaching and teaching, who were not really willing to do God's will themselves, they could not answer Him, because He was speaking the truth in all that He was speaking. Not even the rulers of the world when they examined Him, could find anything in Him that He should be worthy of being put to death.

I believe that love covers a multitude of sins, but that there are some things that are so seriously destructive that they should not be covered over.

When you have communicated with those who have wronged you and they won't listen to you , when you have communicated with the members of the church about those things that have wrongfully been done to you and none of these will acknowledge what is right and when you find that no one is concerned about righteousness. When they love their leaders and the relationship they have with one another more than they love what is right,

I believe their does come a time - when you believe you have done all that you should do - that you should then go your way, leaving them to the desires of their own hearts.

So let me get this right. Your spouse was given a "word" to divorce you? That's a lose-lose situation. If you follow the word, it leads to sin and personal torment and heartbreak. If you rebel against the word, you risk being shunned and isolated from your other family members.

What kind of people would do this to a couple?

paleface Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So let me get this right. Your spouse was given a
> "word" to divorce you? That's a lose-lose
> situation. If you follow the word, it leads to
> sin and personal torment and heartbreak. If you
> rebel against the word, you risk being shunned and
> isolated from your other family members.
>
> What kind of people would do this to a couple?

People devoid of conscience...indifferent to the suffering they cause. I think society refers to them as sociopaths. They make good cult leaders. They apparently have an inside track to understanding the ways of the heavenly father.

Gary and Marilyn are not responsible for all our short comings and woes.

Truly it is not about Gary and Marilyn and yet it is because in this place , we can not tell of the deeds that have been done - deeds that are not of the Lord - and put any one who is in charge of the those deeds that are being done, in a good light , no matter how many good and honorable things a man may have done in his life, no matter how great his accomplishments are, each of us are connected directly to the deeds we do.

I am not against Gary and Marilyn personally, I am against these certain deeds, that are not of the Lord.

Jesus instructed and commanded, in referring to marriage, "Let no man separate what God has joined together. " This is the Word of the Lord.

Some couples report that the same thing was done to them and some who experienced the same thing held fast to one another as husband and wife. Did these hold fast to one another because they heard and knew and obeyed, what the Lord Jesus Christ instructed? Whether or not they held fast to one another and did not allow any one or any thing to come between them, and were spared - having delivered themselves , if they were seeking God and continued to seek God , I believe that if they didn't know and hadn't really heard the Word of the Lord, that they would find the Lord and His Word , and they would be glad! Even those who divorced, should they find the Lord and His Word, these would be comforted and made glad to have found the Lord and to have come to know the truth!

Most knew and loved Dan Statton - How great His zeal was for the Lord, How kind and loving he was to those he was responsible for. Even having the greatest of kindness in him, a man who delighted himself in the Scriptures, he was the one who spoke to my spouse that my spouse should divorce me.

Why did Dan not know the instruction that the Lord Himself gave in the Scriptures to all men? Dan and I spoke together many years later, he was torn, he was a broken man , he was grieving, he was all alone in life, he was in the midst of great sorrow and devastation - having had the ministry separate him and his wife - and he was divorced. He was filled with tears when he told me this. He asked me more than once if I had a provision for my self in life, he cared about where I was at in life, he cared about me personally - that was his apology to me - I had harbored in my heart nothing against Dan - nothing was standing between us in caring about one another - but I could not help him - I could not comfort him or build him up - for I had not yet been comforted by the Comforter . I had not yet found the answers, I was seeking God about. How could there be so great a ruin, so great a devastation in our midst and in the lives of those who loved the Lord? How could God's people do such grievous things to one another?

Dan asked me more than once was I going to go back to the church, I told him no. With a heavy heart Dan told me he was going to go back. Dan would not have asked me if I was going to go back to the church, if he would have heard anything in me that was against the church.

It is not about me and yet it is about me, it is not about us, yet it is about all of us - because the Lord Himself takes personally what we do to one another. He cares for and about each one of us personally , that we should care, about one another.