Thank you Larry Bobo and thank you, Changed. I have been called a nephilim a few times (even on this forum). I have decided to look at this as a badge of honor for standing with those who have been hurt by the cowardly leaders of TLWF. Yay to all my fellow nephs! Go team!

Reep wrote:
I have decided to look at this as a badge of honor for standing with those who have been hurt by the cowardly leaders of TLWF.

Yes

Posts by Onion and Paleface:

Posted by: Onion
Date: March 21, 2019 01:39PM

I just learned that employees of the TLWF churches as far back as 2011, were paid $60k per year and carried "company credit cards." If anyone who worked in the accounting or money management areas had the gall/balls to tell someone that a charge for a $200 bottle of wine was likely a luxury item and not a business expense, was quickly shown the door. When both spouses worked for say, ApCo then they each got $60k plus all the perks mismanagement of funds could afford.

The salaries may have increased since 2011.

Financial transparency existed far less than I ever realized. And thru these years, children and young adults spent their summers working their asses off, volunteers had to neglect their own needs, their family and their homes to do work including the cleaning of ministries' private residences. Back when I was getting paid the most I ever got was about $900 a month (not even minimum wage) and it was paid as parsonage because the church (TLW) didn't want to pay taxes or social security. That was a long time ago but it would sure be interesting to see the salaries paid thru the years and then compare those sums with "the little people" who received some sort of pay. The credit card records would be very, very interesting.


Posted by: paleface
Date: February 11, 2014 09:27AM

I've been hearing a number of accounts of people who had successful businesses who were badgered into converting these businesses into "kingdom businesses". Apparently this involved turning the oversight of the business over to Gary Hargrave. In most cases, the profits were diverted to APCO support and the business was mismanaged. The original owner is pushed out and the operation goes into the toilet. It's "kingdom robbery ". Gary might be a good public speaker, but his track record for running a business is not so good. No wonder he needs people like the Grays to bail him out.

No wonder he needs people like the Grays to bail him out.

Although it was obvious that G. Gray was close to Gary, socializing with him and advising him on business matters, I have been told that he was never really a part of TLWF. Interesting. Perhaps his interpretation of being a part of something is different than most people's. :)

Of course, that in itself doesn't constitute being a member of a church. But I have seen him at services through the years, and I think he was on the corporate board of a church during G & M's rein.

In any event, I imagine once you get in that orbit, it's hard to extricate oneself. I didn't face that particular challenge.

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A few posts from 2011. Yes, 2011. How time flies when you're having...
Nevermind

Posted by: changedagain
Date: May 22, 2011 10:18AM

One thing I learned not to do was question the validity of a pastor's word just because he happened to be totally wasted (alcohol) when he delivered it. In fact, I eventually came to the conclusion that God preferred moving through an alcoholic ministry.
Take that, religious spirit!
/s

Posted by: Amos
Date: May 23, 2011 02:01PM

It brings to meaning to "spirit filled" when the "spirit" is Jack Daniels, but you have to wonder when the message from someone who is wasted is more coherent than when they are sober!

Posted by: larry bobo
Date: May 23, 2011 05:06AM
(excerpt)

Now that May 21st has come and gone, and the world continues on in spite of the lack of a rapture, I’m reminded of 1979 that also came and went without the outward manifestation of the kingdom of God prophesied by John. Of course a few special leaders with special revelation were able to see that it really did happen and the rest of us had to take their word for it. Afterall, it was easier to believe than what the Children of Israel must have experienced when God talked to Moses about circumcision - "He wants us to cut our what off? Are you absolutely positive you heard him correctly?" Numerous prophesies of the coming decade were also chronicled in the This Week volumes which came and went with no evidence of them being true. I wonder if they have now been edited out in the pursuit of the “truth”?

Do you remember all the food storage and preparation for the days ahead? I recall an entrepreneurial local “prophet” deciding to fill his milk storage container with cigarettes instead of wheat – apparently from knowledge of prison currency and what would really hold value in times of disaster – especially among LWF pastors. Remember Damon Davis – the herb guy for TLWF - talking to plants to see if they were safe to eat. Several times, deceitful mushrooms lied to him and he ended up in the hospital. You dared not question the validity of his revelation. Those were days of enlightenment!

A far greater number of people followed Harold Camping than ever followed John. Perhaps there will be a slight glimpse in the mirror of what happens when we listen to a man, instead of God. There will be many that make a conscious decision that this really was a word from God and there just was a minor math error somewhere. Others, who gave up life savings – as also happened in TLWF – will disappear into the shadows permanently wounded and unable to trust “god” again.

Posted by: Amos
Date: May 23, 2011 02:39PM
Simpsons' fans may recall that Homer also predicted the end of the world, and also made a minor math error.

Posted by: puddington
Date: May 24, 2011 07:52AM

News flash: Harold Camping just admitted to a math error. The real date is Oct 21.
Why is all of this so familiar to me? : ) At least he isn't blaming his congregation for not having enough faith to make it happen. That's what G&M typically do.

Posted by: jhorning
Date: May 26, 2011 10:21PM

What gets me the most about tlwf is their premeditated misuse of the past and the way they mislead the public concerning the present. For example. When you read their history as posted on their website, the never mention Gary's divorce from Donna (in fact they don't say he was married prior to marrying Marilyn). I've noticed how they will leave off information about many of the pastors also. According to them, Matt Walkoe went from high school to pastoring the living word church in Sepulveda. There is no mention of his time in san diego under R.D.
The centers of learning school is open to the public, but the internal teaching of the church says students have to be one with Marilyn. Would you, as a parent not affiliated with the church, register your child with that as a requirement?
I've reached out recently to current members that I have known for years, but they won't talk about the walk or what is going on. They will not respond to me if I question what they are doing. I asked one of them why he is still in the church. He has not gotten back to me. It's been over a week now. He was one of the guys that divorced his wife and remarried someone else. It's the blind leading the blind.

From January, 2016:

Posted by: TheJewel
Date: January 09, 2016 03:51AM

I wanted to make a comment in answer to someone’s post (too lazy to go back and hunt down who) regarding whether JRS was a member of the John Birch Society. While I cannot say one way or the other whether JRS himself carried a membership card, I am pretty sure that many of the key players in the walk at that time were followers of the major conspiracy theorists of the day and subscribed to a lot of their ideas. This was particularly true of RD Cronquist. I know he was following Dr. Peter D. Beeter (how do you get a name like that?) who was dredging up some of the most amazing stuff. You can do a Google search on this guy if you like. I remember one night in late ’77 RD called a restricted elders meeting to play one of Beeters tapes (#26 dated 9/30/77, I believe) regarding a particle beam weapon that the Russians had built on the moon and how they were holding the US hostage, blah, blah, blah.

I remember a lot of this sort of thing at the time; it dovetailed nicely with the Nephilim thing and the Rockefeller – Illuminati conspiracy theorems that were also popular at the time. JRS wove some of this stuff into some of his preaching but never seemed quite as into it as RD was. At the same time I doubt that any of these guys were dues paying members of the JB society, they wouldn’t need to be the info was pretty freely available and I suspect that some of the congregants were.

Someone else asked about storing food, ammo guns etc. Some were doing all of that (preparing for the tribulation, the zombie apocalypse or whatever) but I don’t think anything but the food part was being strongly pushed from the pulpit. The trouble with the food part is that while they encouraged people to buy it (from the church store – I forgot what the name for that “kingdom business” was), they didn’t really educate people in how to prepare it for storage. I popped the lid on some of that stuff about 5 years after leaving the walk and it had gone pretty bad. Had the apocalypse come, I think some people would have been awfully disappointed (not to mention hungry).

As we head toward the holidays...posts by Reep and kbyrne from December of 2017:

Posted by: Reepicheep
Date: December 13, 2017 11:24AM

This time of year is especially hard for me because of time missed with loved ones during the holidays. Many of those I miss the most have passed away, and that time will never be recovered. I’m sure that I’m not the only one posting here who has this sadness. It was bad enough when we “didn’t celebrate Christmas” because we could still spend time with our families. It wasn’t the same, because Christmas wasn’t meaningful to us in the same way that it was meaningful to them, but it was alright. Then suddenly, we were strongly encouraged to participate in the Magical Christmas Caroling Truck. How do you explain to your folks that we, who don’t celebrate Christmas, cannot be present at holiday gatherings because we are doing a Christmas caroling extravaganza through the city streets?
It’s been a wild ride, but I’m so glad to be on a healing path. Just wishing that it had been sooner.


Posted by: kbyrne
Date: December 15, 2017 01:25PM

I too missed many a Christmas. Even after leaving TLW, I felt isolated from it. I spent five years of Christmases and Thanksgivings in Shiloh. The only one time that we were told to go home, if we possibly could, was after the Jim Jones horror. It was meant to show our families that we were not in a cult and we were free to go. It strikes me now as a terribly cult-ish thing to do!!

I left long before the Christmas Caroling. Sadly, I wonder how many people that are still in the Walk even know why they are there.

Looking forward to Christmas this year with family!


Posted by: Reepicheep
Date: December 16, 2017 05:26PM

Kbyrne, nothing like the Jim Jones' mass suicide to perk up the holidays. Tell the kids go home to see their parents for a change so you don't get as much "persecution"!

I was in the Walk for over forty years. I never felt that it was up to me to decide whether I should celebrate Christmas or not. Well, unless I wanted do that knowing that I was offending God...or admitting that I lacked understanding and revelation.

Merry Christmas to all...