Thanks kBOY. I wanted everyone who had been uninformed because, as usual, everything was a secret, to know the straight scoop.

Two things to add to what I wrote about the time of JRS' death: (1) That thing where Marilyn & whoever could turn you into a potato, it usually lasted a while and then if they needed something from you they went back to praising you and treating you like you had always been Marilyn's best friend. (2) The law suits Marilyn was hiding from - JRS' divorce was still pending as to property and income only but there was also (I think) still the lawsuit about Iowa property I think involving JRS' Stevens/Bickhart family. I never understood the fear of being deposed. I guess I was too naive to realize how dirty the secret history was.

My next chapter..... I can fill in the details of the steps after JRS' death and the transition to Gary. Stay tuned.

It is amazing how many secrets of which we were unaware.This really helps me understand things that seemed weird. Anything you can tell us Onion will help peal away layers of the lies and hurts. Yes the truth does set us free.

ONION:


First of all, 'potato-mashing' sounds like a serious case of PTSD, especially when inflicted over an extended period of time.

Second of all, I never remember being told from the pulpit what exactly all these lawsuits were about. All most of us knew was that Martha was the nephilim, so any facts in the matter regarding her legal rights could have no bearing, as we would tolerate only one outcome, for the Kingdom was at stake.

The Kool-Aid we were drinking in those days was pretty s t r o n g . . .

* * *

P l e a s e continue to fill in some of these nebulous parts of our history, most of which we are only now finding out was far from pure driven snow. Most of us spent our time warming the cheap seats (while doing heavy lifting) far from where all these concoctions were brewing.

You lend a perspective that few have ever had.

Thank you all for filling us in on the details about these things that happened. I recall it was forbidden to even ask about them.

Several things that happened at the Living Word building I’ve often wondered about were always kept secret.

1. There was an armed break-in at night. A gang of men came in with guns and robbed everyone that was there. It was pretty traumatic.

2. At one point, several core families left the fellowship overnight. They were LW workers at the building. Richard, Denise, Jim, Tina and others. The reason they left has always been a heavily guarded secret.

reveal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FROMSOUTHCHICAGO, I'm glad you asked about
> Marilyn's funeral because it's something I have
> thought of posting about on here for some time. I
> was there and it was very, very odd. One, we had
> to pay to attend. No kidding. We were told we had
> to register if we wanted to attend the funeral,
> and pay $40 per person to "cover costs". I found
> this extremely bizarre and supremely tacky. Who
> charges people to attend a funeral?? Especially
> considering the Hargraves have a ton of money.
>
> Two, besides Marilyn's immediate family (Rick,
> Marti, Gary, and granddaughter Kaylin) the
> leaders/shepherds from all of the churches were a
> part of the processional and recessional in the
> church, and then at the graveside they had all of
> the chairs surrounding the immediate area cordoned
> off. Only VIP were allowed to sit in the chairs,
> and they had someone placed at the entrance of
> this sectioned off area to allow or disallow
> people to sit in the seats. Even though there were
> a ton of empty seats, the rest of us minions were
> given standing room only OUTSIDE of the roped off
> area. In typical TLWF fashion it was very
> exclusive. It felt very uncomfortable.
>
> Three, Rick did a "Twenty-One Gun Salute" for
> Marilyn with fire crackers (you know the ones that
> just make a loud BOOM), simulating what they do
> for members of the Military who pass on. I was
> deeply offended by it, because in my opinion that
> is reserved only for those who have served in the
> Armed Forces. It seemed highly inappropriate to me
> and came off very awkward.
>
> Four, at the reception everyone was completely
> shitfaced. I have not seen so many people wasted
> at a church function before. I mean, in LA it's
> kind of par for the course to see people drunk at
> functions, but this was just over the top. It was
> all just very, very strange in every regard.
>
> You asked about Marti. She was kicked out of the
> church for being gay. Apparently it's okay for
> Rick to have four extra-marital affairs and
> exhibit grossly inappropriate behavior towards
> women and STILL be in leadership, but it's not
> okay to be gay. A huge double standard.
>
That caused me to think of the times at the Anaheim church where they would have a big lunch afterwords and they always let the “ministries” cut to the front of the line. Of course, JRS was able to dredge up some Bible verse (probably out of context) to support that.

TheJewel Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> That caused me to think of the times at the Anahei
> m church where they would have a big lunch afterwo
> rds and they always let the “ministries” cut to th
> e front of the line. Of course, JRS was able to dr
> edge up some Bible verse (probably out of context)
> to support that.

That's not surprising.
Could you imagine how repulsed Gary and Marilyn would be if they actually had to wash the feet of members of the congregation (disciples)? What if one of them had a toe fungus, or worse?!

TheJewel Wrote:

> Of course, JRS was able to dredge up some Bible verse (probably
> out of context) to support that.

I found the scripture:
"Before Abraham was, I am. Now let me eat first."
Matthew 23:11-12

Lawsuits: There was one brought by (if my memory is correct) Dad Stevens regarding the ownership of the church property in Iowa, City. It would be VERY interesting to see that file if anyone in Iowa wants to see if they can pull it from the archives. It seems that some of the declarations or allegations by Dad Stevens included a challenge to the hierarchical and/or patriarchal history of the churches.

I didn't work on the Iowa case except to pull information if asked and to overhear some of the complaints and concerns voiced by JRS and Marilyn and maybe others.

JRS' Divorce: There were a lot of allegations and information in this lawsuit that may be part of the public record. I, like everyone else, thought everything being done by Martha's camp was horrible but then I never questioned what was done by JRS' camp. I'll refer to Martha's camp as MKS.

There was an allegation that JRS had millions if not billions of dollars hidden away. A lot of claims pertained to Brazil and looking back I have no idea what was true and what was not, concerning Brazil. MKS was alleging personal ownership of church property and that was their weak point. Whether JRS intended to be the owner, ownership of nonprofit organizations and the property and money given to a nonprofit is verboten in the law. One area that was a big fight concerned the Wim VanDjik paintings that I had always been told were given to the church - but maybe they were given to JRS, I don't know. But for the divorce, it was proved (by my tracing their acquisition) that they were church property and NOT community property.

JRS & MKS owned rental properties: Burbank-Tujunga House, North Hollywood-Blix House, Woodland Hills (can't remember the street). And they owned their own home on Kling in North Hollywood. In the divorce, MKS got Burbank and Woodland Hills. I don't remember what the claim was concerning cash, gold, etc. but MKS was going after the coins in the safe that were taken out of the offerings before depositing them. JRS had the pennies, nickels and dimes removed from all offering pouches and that money was kept in the safe at TLW and elsewhere because in JRS' prediction for the future when the world was ending the only money that would be good would be metals - copper, nickel, silver. I have no idea how much money was gathered in this way but it was done for YEARS so it may have been a lot.

Stay tuned - I will continue the story later on.

ONION:

It is understandable why the sheer weirdness of some of these practices had to be kept from the rank and file, who possibly, in a rare moment of clarity, may have taken stock at any disclosure and decided to take their tithe of pennies, nickels and dimes to some other joint down the street.

ONION:

P l e a s e regale us ASAP with the whole JRS>>MS>>GH/MH transition details, as they seem to have been given a TOP SECRET classification, with access given only to those who have something to hide.

With all the b a g i l l i o n tapes recording every anointed fart ever released, why was there NEVER an 'official' recording of this most important transition detail, since the fellowship was expected to hang their hats on an 'official' transferring of the torch, and not on some late night coup.