#naivete

Does anyone else remember in the early 1970's when the school of prophets manuals were being printed and people were selected to be able to participate in reading them under the supervision of your head pastor? (i.e.: Howard Klein in Campbell?) When a new one would come out, I think we had to sign for it, make sure we came to class so we stayed in good standing, and not share the book with people not enrolled in class. Anyway, if I remember right, we were given instructions by JRS of a lot of books NOT to read because they were full of "deception". Does anyone else remember him saying not to read the "Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis? Anyway, my wife and I just dusted them off and are enjoying them very much this week.

We took all our "living word" literature and tapes to the dumpster about November 2018 after the shit hit the fan in Palmer Lake because we didn't want anyone at "Goodwill" to receive the toxicity of that deception. Anyway, a few other "Christian" authors on our shelf have been removed because we are seeing their huge accumulations of wealth from their publications, and are seeing some holes in what they are preaching. But JRS and G&M fleeced us far worse because of the hipocracy they walked in while we were catching chickens in Iowa, building pallets at the sawmill, or working 60-70 hours a week in some "kingdom" business or having to use a "port-a-potties" on our break from cleaning their backroom. Did Gary every go chicken catching? He missed so much fun. Every once in a while I reached my hand in the cage to get one for the truck to ship them off for TV dinners (16 chickens per cage) and it would be dead. That always made me shudder, their poor cancerous body being cold and limp. I'm sure Gary knows what I'm talking about (Ha, Ha).

My wife remembers printing SOP (School of Prophet) manuals at the Living Word Building but wasn't allowed to collate them because only certain people could read them. She thinks only pastors were allowed to collate them as they were being put together (she asks not to be quoted on that, because her memory is vague on that time period).

Sorry for my earlier "typo". The word "backroom" should have read "bathroom". My "typer" reputation is going downhill. I wonder if Gary ever has cleaned his own bathroom.

I appreciate your informative posts, typer. You've obviously witnessed a lot during your long tenure in this travesty.

Thank you changedagain. I think I lived with you for about one week in July 1976 across the street from Church of the Living Word if you are who I think you are. I was on the top bunk in a little (tiny) house and you were on the bottom bunk or visa versa. Don't remember how many people were living in that communal house. They moved me to Moombeam House from there I think before I got married. My wife lived at a communal house called the Cohasset House until we got married with a married couple (Jim/Sue Reling) and 5 other single girls involved in the printing. We all got moved around a lot in those days; experiencing a variety of communal home situations. I bet if we could have gotten on TV; it would have gotten high ratings for unusual living situations; a reality show before reality shows existed.

My wife and I lived communally at one of JRS's houses in Northridge after we got married until we were evicted by the JRS/Martha divorce in 1980. Lot's of people lived there, two married couples and about 5 single people. I liked everyone there, except we were newleyweds and our wedding gifts (i.e.: pots and pans) were pretty much destroyed by some of the people that didn't know how to cook.

Sorry. Another mistake, above posting to changedagain should be July 1977, not July 1976.

Oh, Typer - Good to hear your stories. Great chicken joke.

I remember the exclusivity JRS placed on those School of Prophets booklets. He also liked to make certain "closed services" available to attend by permission only. I think South Gate had a closed Tuesday night service, and the Valley had Wednesday. When I finally got permission to attend those "closed" services, it was very exciting. JRS commented in a service I attended that the best way to get a huge turnout was to say people could not attend without special approval. He said people were driven to attend anything that was "special" or "closed."

The closed services ebbed away pretty early in the '70s because of church growth. I guess it worked.

typer Wrote:
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> Thank you changedagain. I think I lived with you
> for about one week in July 1976 across the street
> from Church of the Living Word if you are who I
> think you are.

That was someone else, typer. I never lived close to CLW. So there were certain aspects of the 'reality' show that I missed :)

Changed again: Sorry. I think it was KBoy. He revealed his real name in an earlier post I saw from little red flag and I forgot his sight name here was KBoy. I won't say his real name here in case I'm wrong in saying his real name.