Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens
Posted by:
changedagain
()
Date: January 19, 2020 02:57AM
From September of 2018:
Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens
Posted by: I_woke_up ()
Date: September 07, 2018 06:08PM
I grew up and still reside in the small town of Kalona, Iowa (where Shiloh is). I came in to the Fellowship as a young child (my parents and one sibling are still involved). Until I left the organization a couple years ago, it was all I knew. At what point did I realize I was in a cult? I started questioning things when I started seeing a therapist for a health issue. Whenever I discussed comments I was receiving from “church” my therapist (who was Christian) would say “tell me again, what kind of church is this?” “I’m a Christian, and I don’t believe that.” I feel naive saying this now, but I was like “Really? You mean, my pain isn’t caused because I don’t pray hard enough?” (yes, I was told that!)
In addition to therapy, I was prescribed meditation as a means to deal with my chronic pain. During one of my meditations, I had a profound spiritual experience. Well, my naive self thought who better to talk to about a spiritual experience than ones pastors? I couldn’t have been more wrong. I don’t know what I was expecting… validation, maybe? Instead, I got what I will call a “deer in headlights” reaction. I really don’t remember all of what was said but I do remember how they made me feel! Like shit!!! I don’t think they had any idea what I was talking about.. I regretfully assumed, as “pastors” they would probably have had similar experiences and could relate. NOPE! I left feeling like, something must be wrong with me. To be perfectly honest, I was so brainwashed with this “elemental spirit” shit that I thought maybe I was crazy and “tapped” into something weird.. My husband (who didn’t grow up in TLWF) was my saving grace. He said, “are you kidding? I’ve never seen you happier!” He encouraged me to keep doing whatever I was doing because I was happy! Believe it or not, this had never occurred to me. Follow happiness? What? Really? I can do that?
The more I “followed my heart” (sounds cheesy but true) the more I was like, “I never believed most of this stuff anyway!” Why am I still going? Pain can be a funny thing. It’s a sure fire way to get rid of the “SHIT” in your life. Now.. I’m grateful for it.
Oh, I forgot to add.. During all this.. when planning a dinner out with the lead pastors of Shiloh, my husband was going to send the pastor’s wife a meeting request and she told him, “I don’t want your shit on my calendar.”
Sincerely,
I_woke_up