changedagain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

Note: I had never heard the term 'The Purples' while I was in the Walk/TLWF. Probably because I wasn't supposed to know anything about what it referred to.

Me too, Changed. I probably never heard of them because I would NOT have done anything for Marilyn. Only a sicko cult leader would require this of people. Killer spirits...evil.

Reepicheep Wrote:

> Me too, Changed. I probably never heard of them
> because I would NOT have done anything for
> Marilyn. Only a sicko cult leader would require
> this of people. Killer spirits...evil.

I still recall the guilt trips she laid on the fellowship after John died, placing the responsibility for his death upon the fellowship (lack of love, lack of faith, lack of praying enough etc.). Meanwhile, many of us have been made aware by various posters in this forum, privy to behind the scenes 'action,' what a hypocritical life she led. Sicko is right.

Some posts by 'Imapurple':

Posted by: Imapurple
Date: May 27, 2019 08:20PM
So All of this is very interesting. So much history, so much hurt. I’m new to this but have been reading it for years. I was VERY involved in the back side of all this with JRS , G&M , Rick and everything that was going on at Blix, CLW, TLW and Shiloh. I just want to say I have so much love for so many and know a great deal of healing is still needed for so many including myself. I wasn’t going to post anything because I didn’t see it to be necessary or maybe it was just fear. At least this is a start.

Posted by: Imapurple
Date: October 06, 2019 08:48PM
Rick was about Rick and only about Rick. The most manipulative conniving person I’ve ever known. Just like his Mom and sister. He is also a complete pussy as a man. That’s not me being bitter or mad, it’s just the truth.

Posted by: Imapurple ()
Date: October 09, 2019 07:15PM
i remember being over at G & M’ s once and they were talking casual about how in the future, unless you you had at least three or four million in the bank you’d be in real trouble. Your life would be really horrible and you wouldn’t be able to make it. I remember leaving the house that night feeling so defeated and down knowing I would never have that kind of money and wouldn’t be able to cover my family. Now I look back and think what a horrible thing to say around someone like me who they knew wouldn’t be able to do that. It also showed me their drive for money and how to get it no matter what.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens
Posted by: Imapurple ()
Date: October 31, 2019 07:52PM
Seeing Donna in the middle yard with the baby while G&M were beginning their relationship ( while JRS was in bed dying) was heartbreaking. I remember one time while in Shiloh G&M putting Donna down and thinking something was really really wrong with all this. Also them showing me a check for 30k that someone had just given them. I was just thinking wow! I’m here at my own expense ( in Shiloh ) wondering if I can pay my rent and you’re showing me this . Looking back I find so many things that were so so wrong and it keeps coming up every day.

Posted by: Imapurple
Date: November 01, 2019 05:47PM
I remember being at Kling ( Johns house ) in late 1982. His illness was really beginning to show and he knew it. Around January or early February he was really becoming sick and was soon in bed. We begin taking care of him from that point. It was a very long six months or so until June forth when he passed. It was a Saturday morning early. They came and took him away for a little bit then brought him back in his casket to the house and put him in the living room. Soon people from all over were coming through to say goodbye. It wasn’t an open casket. It was a very weird time for everyone. I remember late at night after everyone was gone or asleep I would be on the couch sleeping and it was just me and JRS dead in his casket. Really strange when you think of the frame of mind we were all in now. And the old clock in that house going Bong Bong Bong on the hour didn’t help. Anyway, I don’t know why I’m saying all this except a few people seemed interested in some of the back stories... I’d rather be reading it than telling it...

Posted by: Imapurple ()
Date: November 02, 2019 07:06PM
Even if that’s true and I don’t think it is. What would that have anything to do with decades of abuse and overwhelming control over countless people and their families? Truth is , I was molested when I was seven but I didn’t go on spree of abuse and manipulation for 35 years. Nobody had it as good as Rick did from a very early age. He was given the keys to the kingdom just out of high school and off It went. A license to kill if you will. And in his little world of the Walk, nobody could defeat him because he had the backing from the top. He knows all the words to say to get those around him to sympathize. He turned into a very dangerous person over the years. So I don’t give a shit if some pervert like Wayne Barton of some other idiot from back in the day touched his little wee wee its no excuse! None!

Re:Posted by: Imapurple
Date: November 09, 2019 07:43PM
It’s interesting looking back at a place like Shiloh where so much time was spent or even the Blix house or Johns house and remember all the things that went on. I completely understand the mixed feelings. So much of our lives were spent in these places. I have a deep sadness over so many things. Mostly from being let down from all the Hope’s and dreams. People who have passed or gone away. It’s like going back to a childhood home after all your friends are gone and remembering the times you had. So much crap happened in those places but it’s mixed with some good things too. I’m glad everything is coming down. It’s a new day and time for healing from all the hurt and pain.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens
Posted by: Imapurple ()
Date: November 26, 2019 07:23PM
I was standing outside with JRS one late night at Shiloh and he was looking at the water tower and he said , one day lightning is going to hit that thing and this whole damn place is going to burn down. Well, maybe it’s wasn’t lightning but it’s sure burning down. I truly believe that he was regretful of his openness to Marylyn and all the craziness that followed. I believe he knew it was wrong and knew God was never in all that. I’m not making excuses for him. I just think he knew he had been buying into his own BS and the BS that was always around him. On his bed as he was sick and dying he cried out asking Martha for forgiveness. He knew.......

Re:Posted by: Imapurple ()
Date: February 01, 2020 09:04PM
The ongoing hindsight in all of this is so eye opening and painful in so many ways. It brings so many different emotions, some satisfying in seeing things come to an end and some sad over the pain of it all. I was close to so much of it as so many people have been. Being a kid growing up with John and with him when he died and everything that followed that to all that is happening now is an overwhelming amount of crazy thoughts and feelings. I like to think I’m free from it all but I realize I’m not. All of my friends and just about everyone in my life were or still are part of this. I say this because my heart goes out to those feeling the same. I’m working away at it. When you’re part of something so huge from such a young age and with it mixed with a great deal of good and bad it’s extremely difficult to sort it out. The evil I’ve seen with Rick, his mother and Gary goes without saying. Not to mention others like Scott, Steve and others. I just hope I can get past the hurt and pray others will be able to do the same.

Posted by: Imapurple
Date: March 13, 2020 09:11PM
G&M started their affair during the time JRS was in his bedroom dying. Everything was twisted from the very beginning of their relationship. Plans were being made on how to deal with johns family and ministries who were looking into what the next steps were going to be for the churches. Complete control and pulling in the money was the first order of business no matter what the cost. That went on for the next 30 plus years. Covering Rick and everything he did was all part of it. Many wonderful and loving people were used thinking they were giving themselves to something that was right.. including me...so much was so wrong

changedagain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sunnyford wrote:
> Don't get me started on Bruce Larson. Those
> they could get things out of, they wined and dined
> but little did the wives know they were
> nothing.
>
> Did Bruce own a number of homes in the
> neighborhood of the 'Church of His Kingdom,' that
> were rented out to members of the church? If so,
> being the pastor and the landlord of a
> church member would give him an awful amount of
> leverage over a person's life.

Hmmm. I don't think he and Gilee owned any houses that they rented out when I was part of the San Diego church. 1990 to well now I'm having a hard remembering when I left... maybe 2002ish. I'm thinking through all the people I knew and I think they owned their houses. They at least lived in them a long time. I know that Gilee, Bruce Larson's wife, was/is a real estate agent and that is why we didn't see her much during that time on the weekends because she was working hard at her business. My memory can be hazy but I think I remember that correctly. You brought up memories though...I asked and begged Bruce to let me move out of house I was living in... don't really want to post why...basically told to get over myself. I fell into a deep depression...good times...

Well, if we didn't know things were f*d up then, we sure do now.

So much for the Purple People Eaters--one-eyed, one-horned, flying and all . . .
[www.youtube.com]

Imapurple, thank you for sharing your experiences. I wish you continued healing and a normal life from here on. <3

Sunnyford wrote:
You brought up memories though...I asked and begged Bruce to let me move out of house I was living in... don't really want to post why...basically told to get over myself. I fell into a deep depression...good times...

wow

A post by GSchaef from October 2018 (stop deifying JRS):

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens
Posted by: GSchaeff
Date: October 28, 2018 11:32AM

For any new visitors to this forum, one thought I'd like to dispel is that this type of abuse being uncovered is unique to R Holbrook, or that it has not been prevalent in TLW from the very beginning. If anything, R Holbrook had a textbook example of sexual exploitation in his stepfather, JRS. There are numerous alleged accounts on this forum of JRS pervasively abusing the trust and devotion his congregants placed in him by influencing young women to have sexual affairs with him.

John's extremely selfish and abusive behavior likely dates back as far as 1967, when romantic letters exchanged between him and a deacon's wife corroborated claims that they were intimately involved. This is widely believed to have contributed to "the split of 1967" as documented in Woodrow Nichol's book on TLW. It's presumed that those letters have been destroyed, as TLWF has been known to do (Example: [thelivingwordfellowshipthewholetruth.org])

There is also considerable evidence that John began an affair with Marilyn Cleland in the 1960s. This would have been approximately 10 years before he finally divorced Martha Stevens, with whom he had two daughters.

Around 1975, John allegedly fathered a child with another Blix girl. There are numerous instances on this forum of posters individually corroborating this claim.

There are at least three other women JRS is believed to have had affairs with in the 1960s and 70s. There are dozens of accounts of him silencing individuals who would speak up about leaders who preyed on congregants.

These accounts are likely a surprise to many, but in the wake of recently discovering how easily this type of behavior from R Holbrook was covered up by numerous leaders for over two decades, it begs the question as to how accurate these other accounts were. Certainly they deserve a better answer than, "Don't ask those questions," or "You should repent for not having a revelation of John."

We know for certain that John Robert Stevens arranged numerous marriages between his congregants, consolidated millions of dollars worth of church assets solely under his name, dined almost exclusively at fancy restaurants with multiple credit cards from Kingdom Businesses, was involved in a silver mine ponzi scheme, and, above all, JRS preached a toxic message of total submission and unquestioning loyalty to abusive deacons whom he placed over the lives of others. He demanded this of his congregants as they abandoned their jobs, joined communal homes, moved across the country, worked 80-hour weeks performing unskilled manual labor, and donated almost all of their earnings to the church. It's time that we stop deifying JRS and apply a little more scrutiny to what his true motivations often were: vanity and greed at the expense of those who trusted him.

The previous post came only days after Shalom's disclosure.

(Kind of a bad week for The Walk/TLW.)

changedagain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A post by GSchaef from October 2018 (stop deifying
> JRS):
>
> Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John
> Robert Stevens
> Posted by: GSchaeff
> Date: October 28, 2018 11:32AM
>
> For any new visitors to this forum, one thought
> I'd like to dispel is that this type of abuse
> being uncovered is unique to R Holbrook, or that
> it has not been prevalent in TLW from the very
> beginning. If anything, R Holbrook had a textbook
> example of sexual exploitation in his stepfather,
> JRS. There are numerous alleged accounts on this
> forum of JRS pervasively abusing the trust and
> devotion his congregants placed in him by
> influencing young women to have sexual affairs
> with him.
>
> John's extremely selfish and abusive behavior
> likely dates back as far as 1967, when romantic
> letters exchanged between him and a deacon's wife
> corroborated claims that they were intimately
> involved. This is widely believed to have
> contributed to "the split of 1967" as documented
> in Woodrow Nichol's book on TLW. It's presumed
> that those letters have been destroyed, as TLWF
> has been known to do (Example:
> [thelivingwordfellowshipthewholetruth.org])
>
> There is also considerable evidence that John
> began an affair with Marilyn Cleland in the 1960s.
> This would have been approximately 10 years before
> he finally divorced Martha Stevens, with whom he
> had two daughters.
>
> Around 1975, John allegedly fathered a child with
> another Blix girl. There are numerous instances on
> this forum of posters individually corroborating
> this claim.
>
> There are at least three other women JRS is
> believed to have had affairs with in the 1960s and
> 70s. There are dozens of accounts of him silencing
> individuals who would speak up about leaders who
> preyed on congregants.
>
> These accounts are likely a surprise to many, but
> in the wake of recently discovering how easily
> this type of behavior from R Holbrook was covered
> up by numerous leaders for over two decades, it
> begs the question as to how accurate these other
> accounts were. Certainly they deserve a better
> answer than, "Don't ask those questions," or "You
> should repent for not having a revelation of
> John."
>
> We know for certain that John Robert Stevens
> arranged numerous marriages between his
> congregants, consolidated millions of dollars
> worth of church assets solely under his name,
> dined almost exclusively at fancy restaurants with
> multiple credit cards from Kingdom Businesses, was
> involved in a silver mine ponzi scheme, and, above
> all, JRS preached a toxic message of total
> submission and unquestioning loyalty to abusive
> deacons whom he placed over the lives of others.
> He demanded this of his congregants as they
> abandoned their jobs, joined communal homes, moved
> across the country, worked 80-hour weeks
> performing unskilled manual labor, and donated
> almost all of their earnings to the church. It's
> time that we stop deifying JRS and apply a little
> more scrutiny to what his true motivations often
> were: vanity and greed at the expense of those who
> trusted him.

Good post from GSchaeff. Thanks for sharing, Changedagain. I can personally vouch for the truth of the post, although it's easier to put the pieces together now. I was close to JRS and his original family. As a teenager new to The Walk, he made me feel uncomfortable many times. Who understood grooming when they were a teenager? Not me.