Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens
Date: August 25, 2018 06:28AM
People always had problems with Rick, but they knew they couldn't speak up about it, because he was Marilyn's son, and no one was going to dare criticize Marilyn's little boy.
Rick and Lorena were always an issue. I'd be willing to bet that everyone who was ever around them had a sort of icky feeling about them. Their relationship just didn't feel right; especially considering Rick's track record of infidelity, stealing his friend's wives, and other morally corrupt actions. Everyone felt icky about Rick and Lorena (even going way back to when she was in high school), and there is reason for that: because it was icky. It was a fucked up situation that we were all expected to simply ignore. His wife knew it, his parents knew it, and the entire congregation knew it. They tried to ship her off to Shiloh to deal with it, but soon enough she was back, wiggling her way in to a place of power that she always wanted. Talk about girls turn it off. All of this was protected by Gary, Marilyn, and the rest of the church leadership.
Finally, when people couldn't take it anymore, someone blew the whistle on it, and Gary and Marilyn couldn't ignore it any more. They had to address it. Of course they never actually said what had happened, they just barely acknowledged it, and we were all expected to move on. Not too long after, we discovered that Rick was back in charge, and we had to accept it. No acknowledgement of wrong doing, no repentance for subjecting us all to their lie for so long; things just went back to the way they always were.
I share this anecdote only because I feel like it has never been fully articulated publicly. It's a disgusting display of corruption, and I want it to be out there for people to understand.
Does anyone else have anything to add to this?