Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens
Date: May 03, 2018 08:19PM
That's true but it is also important to be considerate to the woman and her son. If it were me, I wouldn't want it blasted out in public that my father is actually my church pastor.
It would be very beneficial to a lot of people if he did come forward, but demanding he does almost doesn't seem right. This church has a sad history of demonizing women as it is. She would certainly be called a 'jezebel' and likely a number of other derogatory terms. I disagree with that entirely. I view any woman JRS slept with out of wedlock as a victim. He was their spiritual mentor and a father figure. JRS cultivated a loyalty and devotion in his followers that gave him real authority, influence, and pressure over their lives. If he wanted someone to pick up and move, they moved. Drop a college course, they did. Marry someone, it was done. To take that trust and devotion and use it for one's own sexual pleasure is absolute exploitation.
In a way, this extends to Marilyn.
Even if Marilyn went on to exploit congregants herself, she began as his secretary. I've seen a lot of theories about how she used her job as secretary to slither up and manipulate JRS. That's complete bullshit to me. JRS has a personal responsibility not to sleep with his secretary, simple as that. This isn't original sin--it's a rich CEO sleeping with someone he has a whole lot of power over.
Finally, as with any CEO, if JRS had an affair with his secretary-- which we know to be true--it's very unlikely it stopped there.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2018 08:25PM by GSchaeff.