Some may find this interesting. In scouring the internet for TLWF source material, I came across the Wikipedia "talk" section of the TLWF page. I didn't realize that most Wikipedia pages have viewable tabs at the top. Wikipedia is largely an open-forum, and in the "talk" section tab, users can argue about what should be included in the article and "edits" others have made. Apparently some members/ex members have tried to delete portions of both the TLWF page and the edit section, but the wiki community is pretty faithful about preserving both the page and the conversations in the "talk" section. Reading through it I found some amusing back and forths such as:
"lsrbarton" attempting to distance TLWF from the Christmas truck ... hilarious.
"Jeremiah Mountain" arguing that it should not be called "the walk" because "nobody calls it that anymore."
"Anthony Pettit" pointing out that Gary employed the services of Christian marketer Phil Cooke to whitewash some of TLWF's more radical teachings and bring their website mission statements more in line with other pentecostal movements. This one was most interesting, I'll paste it below.
From [
en.wikipedia.org]:
"Their latest inspiration is Christian marketer Phil Cooke who tries to help churches become more marketable in the Internet age. Their current web site offers a sanitized history of the Living Word Fellowship, leaving out the divorce that led to the marriage of Gary & Marilyn Hargrave and other divorces and remarriages among the leadership (sometimes multiple, as in the case with Marilyn's son and others)that led to their current status. In general, it attempts to portray the fellowship as believing most of what other Christian fellowships believe, but going deeper into Kingdom truths. They do not reference some of their fellowship's other beliefs, such as how the Kingdom of God was ushered in on December 12, 1979, seven years after John Stevens allegedly was transported into the future. Or their belief that John Stevens' death brought about the final judgment of Satan. They have also taught that their present-day apostles are exempt from Paul's requirement of having seen Jesus Christ, if they can claim to have seen the Lord Jesus Christ in the person of Marilyn Hargrave." - Anthony.pettit 19:12, 12 November 2009 (UTC)