Leah Remini from the King of Queens tv show will be interviewed Friday night on 20/20 regarding leaving Scientology after I think it was 30 years (she joined at 8 years old). I read that Leah didn't have a right spirit and acted out at Tom Cruise's wedding to Kathie Holmes so Leah was disciplined with a $300,000 fine. After that I guess Leah had the chip removed from the back of her head and eventually left the cult.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2015 01:03PM by lily rose.

This kind of halo symbolism can carry a lot of interpretations.

It may have started in Iran as a sign of divine approval - that someone was
rightfully a monarch.

[books.google.com]

[www.google.com]

One dared not rebel against, or even question someone whom God had singled out for divine favor.

A big difference from "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." "

I shudder to think of the degree of mental bondage people have been placed under authorities insisting they have a right attitude (in the walk--a right spirit), while they are being used and abused. In the walk, John would specifically promise that even if you think a shepherd is way off the mark, God would honor your obedience...which has proven, of course, to be bogus. The flurry of activity on this forum is evidence of how untrue this statement has been. So next time, and there won't be a next time, the pilot has lost consciousness and the plane is going down ...I'm taking action. I'm now going to restrain myself, and spare everyone from commenting further, lest I start describing scenes from the movie Airplane.



lily rose Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Leah Remini from the King of Queens tv show will
> be interviewed Friday night on 20/20 regarding
> leaving Scientology after I think it was 30 years
> (she joined at 8 years old). I read that Leah
> didn't have a right spirit and acted out at Tom
> Cruise's wedding to Kathie Holmes so Leah was
> disciplined with a $300,000 fine. After that I
> guess Leah had the chip removed from the back of
> her head and eventually left the cult.

changedagain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In the walk, John would specifically
> promise that even if you think a shepherd is way
> off the mark, God would honor your
> obedience...which has proven, of course, to be
> bogus. The flurry of activity on this forum is
> evidence of how untrue this statement has been.
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________

That promise of John was nothing more than a manipulation. I suspect a lot of us who are gone from the LW spent years second guessing ourselves over was I disobedient or did I miss out on something. That's the hold the LW once had over me. The answer I found for myself all these years later is unequivocally "NO."

40yearsin2016 I read Adele's stmt regarding what "Hello" means to her.. an apology to the people she hurt including herself, about seeking closure. Do you have a take on what "from the other side" means?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2015 01:57AM by lily rose.

LampShmamp – Thanks for sharing your viewpoint and journey as well. It’s more than a few who share it and not as unpopular as you may think. (132,000+ hits on this thread and it’s not just the 20 or so that are posting) My son who is 34, and many of his friends who grew up in TLWF, have basically come to the conclusion that there is no God or spiritual side to this life. Naturally, that breaks my heart - especially as I watch the chaos it creates. My two daughters and I on the other hand, have found a valuable spiritual life outside of TLWF.

If you still entertain the possibility that there may be a God, I would suggest that Jesus and religion are not the same thing. Jesus was enough of a threat to religion that they wanted him dead. It can be a lifetime of research unpacking why that was, and why religion has caused so many problems in the world. It certainly didn’t come from loving our enemies. It takes much less effort to toss Jesus and religion in the same trash can and try to ignore them. Personally, I happen to think Jesus is tremendously valuable and worth hanging on to – more so now than ever.

It also seems to me that having a wounded heart (even if another caused it) affects how we perceive the outside world – and God, for that matter. Jesus talked much about eyes that could not see, ears that could not hear, and hearts that had become dull and could not perceive. I don’t think any of us escaped TLWF without a wounded heart. We’re all taking steps to the best of our ability to ensure it doesn’t happen again. I‘m happy you and others have found a path to peace. I trust you will also find your Creator in your journey as well. Thanks again for sharing.

Jesus warned of a day when people would claim to be the Christ. When Living Word Fellowship began claiming the status of Christ in the earth, that is EXACTLY what they did, they claimed to be Christ. Many of the ones that were under John Robert Stevens have adopted the theory that there will be no return of Christ, that Jesus transferred His status of Christ to them.

When people spend tremendous amount of time under a leader that displays himself as the exact representation of Christ, or even allows his followers to do so, when one wakes up and discovers that was a lie, many tend to just throw away the notion that Christ is a reality at all.

What is the difference between someone claiming that they in fact are Jesus Christ come back to earth, than someone claiming that they are Christ in the earth?

What is the difference of claiming that God must give them anything they ask, in other words, Name it and Claim it, Blab it and Grab it, Word of Faith mentality than someone claiming that everything they speak, is the word of God as much as scripture is. In fact, to believe and allow people to believe that to the point that someone follows around with a tape recorder everywhere they go.

We were caught up in the manic dreams of a mad man. But we don't need to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Hello everyone,

I have been intermittently reading this message board for a few years now. I don't think I've reached the point where I'm ready to divulge personal information on a public forum though I do feel compelled to share my gratitude for those have and continue to speak out. I found this forum and others a few years ago by chance when I was searching for an official TLW website.

A few years ago I asked my pastors about the rumors and speculation about TLW on the internet and I got the usual rhetoric about "battle" and was also told that lots of the information was outdated, pertaining only to the church in the 1970's who have are no longer involved in the fellowship. In addition, the argument was made that the there is a small handful of spited people who are trying to make slanderous accusations about the church.

In addition to thanking those of you who actively share information about the church, I am posting this because I want others out there, who may still be in the body, to know that there are many survivors, recovering from the unhealthy and sometimes cruel treatment afforded to certain members of the church. The actions may be different than they were in the past, but horrendous things continue to occur.

I truly believe the majority of the people still in the body are well intentioned and loving persons and I wish them the joy of freedom that I and others have found outside that particular church.

NotElisah Wrote In Part:
-------------------------------------------------------
>>I am posting this because I want others out there, who may
> still be in the body, to know that there are many
> survivors, recovering from the unhealthy and
> sometimes cruel treatment afforded to certain
> members of the church. The actions may be
> different than they were in the past, but
> horrendous things continue to occur.
>
> I truly believe the majority of the people still
> in the body are well intentioned and loving
> persons and I wish them the joy of freedom that I
> and others have found outside that particular
> church.


___________________________________________________________

Well said NotElisah,

I share your feelings about the condition of those with whom TLWF dealt with cruelty and I too think it important to let TLWF know that there are recovering survivors who found joy of freedom.

"40yearsin2016 I read Adele's stmt regarding what "Hello" means to her.. an apology to the people she hurt including herself, about seeking closure. Do you have a take on what "from the other side" means?"

Sure do... if you look closely, the lyric moves between "other side" and "outside", there are lots of dimensions here for me...

other side of time... from my youth to my old(er)age. Other side of the dream that was LWF.

"outside" of the LWF, outside of all the deep relationships that I once had

I hadn't read her comment about closure... Yup that sums it up.

It is amazing how I miss those "deep relationships," I think of them as deep relationships even today, although as soon as I cut away from the one thing we had in common all that just disappeared, I became the Anti-Garilyn suddenly, a hater of all things holy. What we thought was true oneness wasn't even friendship.

In the natural, we did have a lot in common, we were pretty much all the same age when I was in it, nobody was getting sick, naturally, because we were of that age group, we thought that meant that we were specially called by God and breaking into resurection life, it was just we were thirty years old at the most. We would have been friends had we not been caught up in John worship. That changed everything. We naturally liked each other because we were buddies, we smoked and joked and drank together. But then there was John, when I did not bow to Marilyn, then I not only rejected Marilyn but I rejected John, because Marilyn was the natural extension of John, she BECAME John in that she "had his spirit."

I never thought at the time that I would look back and realize that the Living Word Fellowship was the absolute perfection when it comes to cults. It had it all.