Reep wrote:
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.

True

As an aside, I had a dream last night about Mahesh and Scooty McDougall(sp).The only thing I can recall is there was no humor, and no one received a healing. Sadly, I'm not looking forward to going to sleep tonight, worried that this might become a series.
#MaheshAndScooty
/s



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2023 12:23AM by changedagain.

(approximately 10 minutes left on the SAT--seem to be doing pretty well)

Excuse me. We need you to help us move some furniture.

Now?

Yes

How long will it take?

No more than ten minutes.

O.K.--I'll get to it.

Boy, isn't this true--a daily quote from my inspirational wall calendar. This one has held up especially well through the years:

"Shiloh is the center of the universe."
-John Robert Stevens
Kingdom Apostle

#SoundDoctrine

What is the one thing Gary said about you that was meant as an insult, but you considered a compliment?

That I did not have a Kingdom sense of humor.

Do you have any idea what that means..to have a Kingdom sense of humor?

No. I just know I don't want it.

Listen, you lazy piece of --

What? Calm down. It's not a big deal. I'm comfortable with the lower level. It's been good to me!

A post by 'Reachingforward' from January 2019:

Posted by: Reachingforward
Date: January 11, 2019 12:20PM

I have been reading this forum for several years and am finally making my first post. I was in TLWF for 22 years. It's been 20 years since I left and I still have a difficult time explaining this experience to anyone. Like so many on this forum, my family and I gave everything to TLWF. We attended services 3 times/ week, mustered out for Saturday work days, assisted APCO on numerous "kingdom" projects, made dozens and dozens of trips to Shiloh and gave of our finances. We had no time left for anything and were working the equivalent of two full time jobs. I still struggle with why I believed God was in this and that the leaders had integrity. It makes me question my own intelligence and sanity.

I struggle with why I stayed so long. Why did I waste that part of my life and sacrifice family and personal relationships to remain in TLWF. I was never comfortable with the rock star treatment enjoyed by JRS, Gary and Marilyn and the control and authority the church exerted over it's members. Eventually we did get burned out and left. We were also fed up with being used by APCO.

What freedom after leaving! It felt like a weight was lifted off our shoulders. We moved into a different city and started a new life. And eventually I stopped worrying about the lightening bolt that was going to hit us. However we had trouble finding a new church since nothing seemed to fit our expectations. The problem was us.

I was an atheist as a teenager and was looking for meaning in my life. I thought I found it in TLWF. I was one of the elite who was bringing in the kingdom. Now I needed to be deprogrammed. After we left, I had to start over and reevaluate what I thought about God, Christianity and organized religion. I reexamined everything from the ground up starting with arguments for the existence of God. I studied apologetics and started reading my bible. Jesus Christ is now the center of my life - not JRS, Gary or Marilyn.

Thanks for the posts made in this forum and the insight you all have provided. Hearing about what went on behind the curtain was especially helpful. It confirms what I suspected for a long time. I'm sure your postings haven't always been easy but I'm grateful for your honesty, candor and wit. I'm especially grateful for the courage of those like Shalom who have stepped forward and have shown a bright light in a dark place. God bless you all.

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Thank you to all who have contributed to this discussion through the years--

including, but not limited to:

UnapologeticallyJohn832, Reepicheep, puddington, kBOY, that little red flag,

reveal, sierradawn, larrybobo, GSchaeff, Onion, Filthy Apron, PowerTrip,

Saw enough, FCSLC, 4generation, TheSarge, Lilith, Jez the Belle, paleface,

GoingRogue, Imapurple, Invisible, typer, Cloudwatcher, Richard M.,

fromsouthchicago, ApostleDog, The Jewel, TheycalledmeJonah, dbc, NancyB,

Tmason, kbyrne, Northerngate, Blowout, cultfree, Road to Damascus, Twoteetwo,

fool me twice, Chachakitty, Jan w lane, CARe, lone.wolf, FactoverFiction,

JesusJesusJesus, pressingonbyHisgrace, Some One, jhorning, Poliscigrad,

NavyVet79, Walked, dirtybrushes, 40yearsin2016, Prettyboy, FireWalker,

light777, I_woke_up, corboy, Liamthomasusa, Ohman?, Lifeontheotherside, Amos,

South Gate, Ditch_Digging_Yasper, Mined, denisewallerlaughlin, heshealing,

Reachingforward, Aleutian...

No-shows: LampFromIkea, Sh*tOnYourCalendar,ThisWillBeFun



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2023 04:06AM by changedagain.

Excellent new YouTube video from Scott Barker and Charity Navalesi. Lots of historical evidence. I'm still watching and I'm blown away.

[youtu.be]

Thanks, Reep.

That was quite an eye-opening episode. The violence against JRS's wife Martha at the time described in her divorce filing was horrible, and the death prayers which if there had been talk about his violence against her would have been explained away as "battle" and accepted by the congregation at the time. The lifting basically word for word of the text "Cut Gems" and selling it as his own literally a cornerstone of what the Walk was built on was a stunning discovery. We have been hearing for years about his plagiarism and the "borrowing" from other movements but here it is in black and white. JRS never had a "revelation" of anything in his life. He was a charlatan, a thief of works, and a thief of lives. Human life is so very short it is tragic how many gave decades of their lives, how many children's entire childhoods wasted and young adult lives to this scheming con man and the people that picked up and continued the con after his death. If this doesn't peel those remaining in thrall away then there is no hope for them. They will stay until they die in the lie.