I wonder if any of these VIPs ever experienced boot camp. It seems to me that this is not the behavior of those who have a "broken spirit." I could be wrong.
#BrokenGolfCart

Posted by: GSchaeff ()
Date: May 28, 2018 07:59AM

The frosted mugs, yes! Or if you made the pilgrimage to Shiloh for SOP it was the golf carts you were allowed to drive. I don't know where they got those, but I can remember a few that got busted up in the woods during the amphitheater party. Only VIPs were invited there too. There was never enough beer, wings, and fireworks for all of the locals.

Q. What did you get from your communal living experience?

A. Two ulcers

that little red flag wrote:
I think I've mentioned this before, but my DR actually told me I needed to start drinking more. (Disclaimer: I actually do like a number of drinks but my stomach does not, per two ulcers acquired in my early 20's - probably brought on by the communal home I lived in!)

Q. You see some guy, obviously drunk, recklessly driving a golf cart. He is now heading dangerously close to you. What, if anything, do you say to him?

A. Hello King David!

Q. You run a stop sign and get pulled over by police officer. What, if anything,
do you say before being asked for your driver's license and registration?

A. Sorry officer, I wasn't listening to the Holy Spirit. It won't happen again.
Trust me.

A little over four years ago:

Posted by: fool me twice
Date: June 28, 2019 05:32AM

Changedagain posted:
Date: June 28, 2019 12:20AM
Walk history would have been radically different if John the Kingdom Apostle had simply owned up to being unfaithful to his wife and mistress--and admitted his being transported from Dec. 1972 to Dec 1979 to witness the coming Kingdom was a fabrication. Maybe the entire organization would have imploded, and I would have finished my college education (more than half-way through before dropping out).
Of course, there is always the possibility--God being unpredictable and all--He did choose to transport John on a day he was spending quality time with his girlfriend. The vision was true. I guess you could look at it that way, assuming you are devoid of a "religious spirit" and are desperate for the facts to line up with what you want to believe.

We were always told the cabin JRS went too, every week, was in Holy Jim Canyon. Who knew that Marilyn went there too? Maybe it actually was in Unholy John Canyon. Honestly I did not know that JRS had a spiritual wife back then, other than Martha I mean. Also more than one G/f on the side. After all we had no way to Google what he told us were his revelations. Are you saying that if we only had a few more red flags then all of us would have been spared another 40 to 50 years of this? That is a 'revelation' I could live with trust me!

Martha: How was your time in Holy Jim Canyon?

John: I was transported seven years into the future, and I saw the Kingdom.

Martha: Did Marilyn, or one of your other girlfriends see it too?

John: GET BEHIND ME, SATAN!

A little over six years ago:

Posted by: 40yearsin2016
Date: April 04, 2017 06:55PM
(excerpt)

After all this time I've never encountered one shepherd who acknowledged their complicity in the cult - most have lived out their lives in denial. This is quite something considering the number of players involved.

In speaking with a few of them through the years, any acknowledgement of the failure of the Walk in their minds fell under some variation of it all being God's will or alternatively God's punishment - curiously it was most often the sheep who got punished.

It took me years and years to understand (some days I still waver), it wasn't God's will. The failure of the Walk was the responsibility of men - principally the leaders, the "apostolic company" and oh yes, the responsibility of John Robert Stevens.

Posted by: changedagain
Date: April 07, 2017 07:18AM

FCSLC Wrote:
The “mind” you’re describing seems for the
most part nearly identical to the one I’ve been
fighting against and trying to destroy for the
past thirty-plus years.

When you were labeled "an enemy of the church" by John M., presumably representing G & M, and conditioned like most of us to perceive it as coming from God...even if internally it made no sense...that conditioning is difficult to shake. It definitely contributes to the aspects of PTSD that many of us have faced. Of course, the truth is that you were an enemy of a corrupt, self-serving church and actually should find solace that you resisted its actions/teachings. The ones who should experience mental torment are those who callously went along with the program, and used their position to make other lives needlessly miserable. But I suspect they do not have natures that reflect on those type of things. Hope you continue to find peace FCSLC.

Posted by: puddington
Date: April 07, 2017 10:31AM

"An enemy of the church". Now that's an honor !!! : )

I was labeled a "vessel of Satan". Same thing I guess. We gotta dump that toxic stuff from inside us. And get truly free.


Posted by: changedagain
Date: April 07, 2017 05:48PM

I never got a label. I was hoping some authority would refer to me as 'Anak's best friend'--but alas, it was not to be. :)

puddington Wrote:
"An enemy of the church". Now that's an honor !!!
: )
I was labeled a "vessel of Satan".

Posted by: FCSLC
Date: April 07, 2017 05:50PM

Thanks to all. Peace and clarity to everyone who posts on this forum!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2023 09:05PM by changedagain.

From Feb. of 2018:

Posted by: girls_turn_it_off
Date: February 20, 2018 04:59AM

Hi - new poster here!

I have known about this forum for years, but never looked it up until the other day. Once I started reading I couldn't stop - even after my husband told me to (talk about not submitting my spirit!). I binge read the entire thing, all 500+ pages...

There is too much to say, and I wish I had logged on earlier so I could comment on threads in real time. I hope to keep up with the convo from now on and post again.

I was raised in the Walk and it was my entire life until about 8-9 years ago when I moved out of an all-girls communal home and never really looked back. I am a millennial (or part of the Joshua Generation in Walktalk-ese), but my parents joined the LW in the 70's in Indianapolis and moved to San Diego in '87. It seems like most of the posters here are my parents' age and many of you might know/remember them. They are still part of the LW but starting to wake up. Just recently my dad apologized to me for enlisting our entire family into something we didn't choose. He's on the right track!

Reading this forum has been really helpful for me to contextualize where I "come from." As someone who didn't choose to be part of the Walk, but was born into it, I've been burdened with the constant question "WHY ME?!" This forum has helped explain how my parents were reeled in and what kept them committed for so may years. Because my parents are not close with their families, TLW has filled the void of extended family - members of the Walk feel like my grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins (I think G+M had some words about "Spiritual DNA"?). Digging through this forum has been as exciting and heartbreaking as reading about your extended family on ancestry.com or getting results from 23 and Me. Definitely some "oh, that's why I'm that way" moments...

I wanted to thank some of the long-time dedicated posters like lily rose, kboy, and changed again. Your posts have been enlightening and hilarious. I doubt many of the other forums on the RR website are as witty as this one.

If there are any original Josh Gen kids, YASPers or students who graduated from a kingdom "school" on here, I'd love to talk. Please post or feel free to PM me.

Also, if there is anyone reading this who is still a member of TLW, I want you to know that there is a big amazing world outside of the Walk. There is happiness and freedom to be found.

Much love xx

Posted by: changedagain
Date: February 19, 2018 07:34PM

Welcome girls-turn-it-off (GTIO)
Thanks for posting. Feel free to join in the conversation.

Posted by: puddington
Date: February 19, 2018 09:06PM

GTIO. Welcome to the RR forum. I love your screen name. And wow, I remember that slut-shameing message that Marilyn brought to the YASPers. So messed up

A brief exchange with Reep:

Posted by: changedagain
Date: January 10, 2020 03:49PM

Reepicheep Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is it just me, or were all the women who were
> "Marilyn" to their Kingdom Facility/locsl church
> inherently antisocial, malicious, spiteful,
> overbearing women?

Good question, Reep. I think if they weren't that way when she "chose" them, they soon absorbed those qualities. I often reflect on people I knew in TLWF both before and after they came into G & M's orbit. Invariably, in order to please them, they would need to adopt a much tougher stance toward those "beneath" them in the authority chain. Any innate kindness and approachability seemed to vanish. Which reminds me...I witnessed something like this exchange back in the late 70's:
Sheep: It's a nice day today, isn't it?
Ministry: It was a nice day in Sodom and Gomorrah before God destroyed it.

Changed wrote:

Q. You see some guy, obviously drunk, recklessly driving a golf cart. He is now heading dangerously close to you. What, if anything, do you say to him?

A. Hello King David!

****************

Oh, yes. And if you were foolish enough to live in the Church of the Living Word, North Hills neighborhood, it was a very common sight. True story: Did you know that when we first moved there, "the king" (AKA Rick Holbrook) floated the idea of networking the backyards of church members so that he and his buddies didn't have to drive on the street? To this day, I feel an instantaneous "bad spirit" coming on just thinking about this. Also, I still get queasy at the sight of a golf cart.

For any readers who are not familiar with the term "bad spirit", it took me years to catch on to the actual meaning...which is that you are grouchy over the bad behavior of a church authority figure. That type of attitude is simply not allowed in a cult such as The Living Word Fellowship/The Walk.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/2023 10:50PM by Reepicheep.