puddington Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To you young adults still in the Living Word.
> Please be aware that the Living Word is a sinking
> ship. There is no future in this religious group.
> Get out and get free. While you still can.

They will bleed these congregations until each one is dry. The young adults are the only financial future for the LW. Look Around. How many are left? A tenth? MOre? Less? Can they sustain all the expenses through their tithes? No it will be more and more until it becomes unprofitable to keep the church. It's happened to countless churches and families in the LW. Food for thought for the thinking mind. Oh wow I have a thinking mind. How unspiritual.

There is a lot to be said about being a shining light on the hill and all the effort it takes to get there. We have all found our way out of a valley of darkness and can now begin to see clearly a much brighter day.

Each of us has our own individual entry and exit story with regards to the fellowship, but we no longer need to forge ahead alone when can rely on our companions for encouragement and support as everyone actually experiences a real new day.

Congratulations to all (N&D notwithstanding) for having the courage to forsake darkness for the light.

The coming days will be brighter still . . .

For the first time in fifty years I went to see a Psychiatrist yesterday.
After an hour of detailing my childhood on a very high level the shrink says, you are a very complicated fellow and I cannot help you. In his fifty years of counseling the shrink claims to have seen 2 cult members.
What struck me the hardest was first the reaction when I said I was raised in a cult. He laughed and said "your kidding, right?"
Gee, I wish I was kidding, but no.
When I mentioned the two years we spent in the desert the shrink concluded that my parents did not care about my well being whatsoever and had abdicated their parental responsibilities to the cult. That one floored me. Not sure why, but I had never thought of the lack of parental supervision and responsibility that ultimately led to the abuse and F***ed up thinking (regardless of what you call it) that was foisted upon the sheep.
Anyhow, I am in a good place and continue to improve after 30 years of Freedom.
Its a long slow process but well worth the journey.
I look forward to the day that all alias (of this forums users) can be dropped and we can all work together towards true healing and eternal freedom to worship and walk with god, each in our own way.

KBoy’s right. The coming days will be brighter. Yay!!!

TMason, you bring up a good point. Seeing a mental health professional is very helpful. I did this as well. But I think you have to be selective about who you go see. Most psycologists are unfamiliar with cults and don’t know much about helping a cult victim. Ask around. The good ones are out there. You just have to find them. This forum is a tremendous help as well. We’re all kind of counciling each other.

I was speaking with someone about choice yesterday, and I stumbled on what I feel is perhaps the most succinct way I can state the core question that TLWF poses to its members:

"Are you going to be part of what God is doing on the earth? Or are you going to do your own thing?"

Being raised and indoctrinated in a cult, this persuasively phrased choice is almost unassailable, and it is the core question from which their power and control is derived. They are the source of God, and I must submit to their ways, or I risk being cut off from what God is doing in the earth.

Does this ring true for anyone else?

cultfree Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was speaking with someone about choice
> yesterday, and I stumbled on what I feel is
> perhaps the most succinct way I can state the core
> question that TLWF poses to its members:
>
> "Are you going to be part of what God is doing on
> the earth? Or are you going to do your own thing?"
>
> Being raised and indoctrinated in a cult, this
> persuasively phrased choice is almost
> unassailable, and it is the core question from
> which their power and control is derived. They are
> the source of God, and I must submit to their
> ways, or I risk being cut off from what God is
> doing in the earth.
>
> Does this ring true for anyone else?


100 percent.

Cultfree. Yes. Must have heard that about a hundred times. That there, is spiritual abuse.

Revelation 13:18
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six (666).

Note: I listed the names of everyone in this forum who posted on page 666. I'm not really sure what to with this list and am concerned I do the right thing.
Presently, I'm leaning toward giving it to Kevin.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2018 06:11AM by changedagain.

When people seem to take issue with what we label we place on what was done to people and taught to everyone at TLWF, there isn't any further one has to look than the quote you gave Cultfree.

One of the most basic tenets of TLWF is submission. How can anyone quibble over what submission means? It is defined as subjecting your will to the will of the one to whom you are submissive. In TLWF we were required to be in submission to the shepherds who were supposed to be giving us the word of God.

In fact, we were required to be submissive to leadership even when the leader was NOT listed as a pastor or shepherd -- like Rick. What could be more horrifying than to be held accountable for being submissive to someone who routinely violates you in any form.

QUESTION:

It is my understanding that the schools that are part of TLWF, which would include the summer camps I would think, are not following mandatory reporting requirements. And in fact, the teachers etc. may have been taught they are not required to report which would be very odd. Public schools and other private schools of both secular and religious origins, have extensive training on mandatory reporting laws. But not TLWF.

Are there any teachers or administrators on here that can tell me if this is true? And has anyone ever said why our churches and schools don't follow the law on this topic?

Puddington and others, it's really telling how many of the people populating this forum have been or are currently involved in psychotherapy. As it happens, my therapist, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, happens to be a believing and practicing Jew. We'll see how she handles any reactions I have to the coming High Holidays, etc. I think she thinks all Christians are batshit.

If this were truly a voluntary association, I don't believe so many people would suffer this much trauma. And I haven't seen the crap that many of you who were trapped in various work camps in the Los Angeles area have seen. I can't even imagine, because I couldn't have handled it.

The term I began using in my conversations with my family to address "the authorities" who would tell us that we're "wrong," "need to repent," and in my case always, "you are selfish," is SPIRITUAL BULLYING!

I will never be spiritually bullied again. The same part of me that will not be shushed by a man or physically manhandled will NOT be told again that I need to repent or get "with the program,"