Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens
Posted by:
Cloudwatcher
()
Date: November 02, 2018 09:30AM
Blowout Wrote:
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> I doubt he's following this thread... but maybe
> it'll get back around to him or bare minimum some
> of the Palmer Lake congregants will read:
>
> Jason,
>
> I know this whole week has likely been devastating
> to you. Please don’t take my statements as too
> cold or unaware of the full consequences of what
> has finally come out into the open. Some of us
> went through this devastation decades ago, and
> while to you these new developments in your
> organization probably feel like salt on an open
> wound, to myself and many others, the salt has
> long since rinsed away and the wound become only
> another scar.
> While your statement does seem well thought out
> and heartfelt, don't you believe that your current
> position of leadership (continuing now since
> childhood) precludes you from continuing to lead
> these people in the future? Can you honestly
> expect anyone to believe that, now, just because
> you're sorry, you don't still hold a position of
> power that is a direct lineage from JRS’s original
> culture that you so adequately describe as
> “poisoned from the beginning”? Your parent’s
> direct connection with JRS, with that poison, is
> what put you in your current leadership position.
> It’s why your family was spared from the
> separation, the alienation, the shunning, and
> abuse. It’s why you’ve been able to enjoy your
> family while so many others have had theirs ripped
> apart.
> You can't say that just because you're getting the
> professional help that people don't see you as
> their leader, that people won’t continue to put
> you on a pedestal. You can't help that, and you
> can’t fix it. It's ingrained in their psyches and,
> as you said yourself, it’s been poisoned. Your
> charisma, like your father’s and like JRS’s before
> him will have these broken people, again, hanging
> on your word, again, following your lead, again,
> following the words that have failed them so many
> times before. Any position of leadership you will
> ever hold with these same people will be tainted
> by the idolatry that has been so prevalent in this
> cult. If you truly do believe the things you wrote
> in your statement, you will step down. You will
> not continue with that crown on your head that has
> been passed down by JRS, you will make your way on
> your own without the power to control. To do that
> you’ll have to admit that you’ve been corrupted by
> this power, you’ll have to admit that your power
> and position are falsely appointed and leave these
> people to heal with the professional help and make
> your own way.
> I would never want the congregants to force you
> out or to ostracize you… I would never want them
> to do what your parents or G&M or so many of the
> other leaders who tore families and people apart
> for their own power have done. The only honorable
> thing to do in your position, Jason, is to take
> your family and go where no one knows you. Build
> a new life, learn what it’s like to find a job
> when no one knows your name, learn what it’s like
> to make new friends after you’ve had your
> foundation ripped from under you. EARN your own
> trust and respect without having it given to you
> by false gods and idolatry. Learn what it has been
> like for so many families. Only you'd still have
> it better without this organization coercing your
> family not to speak to one another.
> If you could do that, you could earn my respect
> and my forgiveness. Until you can, J&A will just
> be another G&M, and the Baker family just a new
> set of Walkoes. You have to, as you say, “root it
> out”…
> You, my (once) friend, are the root.
Very well said--eloquent and insightful and true. I hope Jason and his wife heed your words. It could mean a wonderful life ahead for them. Take the freedom--get out and see the world and people as they really are.