Puddington wrote:

"My shepherd said I was a vessel of Satan. Does that count? Can I join the neph club?"

Oh, yes! You are definitely in the club, puddington! Welcome! I bet they never imagined that they were creating an elite club that people would try to qualify to join! Lol! ; D

Hey, maybe we need t-shirts or something!

I now realize that Puddington prefers to maintain a low profile in public, so I scrapped the idea of sending him a black & red 'Former Vessel of Satan' t-shirt. I doubt he would ever wear it to a function, even though I'm confident it would be a good conversation starter. Oh well--it's the thought that counts.

#ThinkingOfYou
#SatanicVessel

Posted this morning:

"A man just collapsed at the ATL airport. Unresponsive. Not breathing. Turning blue. All in an instant, strangers raced to his aid—some administering CPR, others grabbing the defibrillators nearby—as several of us stood praying. After a scary minute or so, he kicked a leg and started breathing,

It would be another 5 minutes before paramedics arrived on the scene. Were it not for the immediate action taken by those strangers—people who knew nothing about this man, people who would soon scatter to their own destinations, people this man will never get the opportunity to thank—he would be dead right now, headed to the morgue instead of home to his family.

A vivid reminder of our shared humanity. One I won’t soon forget."

-Tim Alberta
Staff writer at The Atlantic

I have been waiting for the better part of six decades to hear the true story behind the "split of 1967". This episode is amazing!

[youtu.be]

Here is the most recent Oops! I'm In A Cult video podcast. Does anybody else remember John Robert Stevens saying many times that "the Lord told him to stay away from Latter Rain teachings"? Back in those days, I had never heard of Latter Rain. Prepare to be amazed at how familiar they will sound. More plagiarism and lies?


[youtu.be]

Thanks Reep.

Life decisions based on a lie:

Posted by: changedagain
Date: February 16, 2021 05:30AM

Reep wrote:
I, too, believed all of those things for many years, even after leaving the cult. And finally, I had to begin dealing with my own cognitive dissonance.

Yes, the vision of the Kingdom John supposedly had back in '72, is a big one. Many life decisions were heavily influenced by that "vision." Of course, there was never an acknowledgement by a TLWF authority to the congregation that the story was bogus--at least not that I am aware of.

Posted by: Saw enough
Date: November 17, 2016 01:16PM

Gary has persisted in promoting the vision JRS allegedly had in 1972 seeing 7 years into the Kingdom, even though one of the Blix girls at that time told Gary and Marilyn that she had been with John Stevens that entire day. This was common knowledge among the Living Word Building gossips. It was bad enough that John felt the need to cover for his day-long disappearance with a fantastic story about his vision and being caught up in the spirit so that he lost all track of time. But for Gary and Marilyn to continue to peddle the vision as a selling point for how they are the fulfillment of that prophetic community seems cynical and horrific.

So sad, Changed. So many people dropped out of college because the "Kingdom was coming". One strange thing...John Robert Stevens never (as far as I know) ever encouraged young people who were members of his family to drop out. Was this because he obviously knew that his "vision" never actually happened? Or maybe because he might need to help support them if they could not earn a decent living?

References to the Catholic church, and the different stance JRS had vs. G & M:

Posted by: ben there
Date: February 19, 2007 11:48AM

I think it was when I started hearing entire groups (like the catholic church, government officials, businesses, etc) 'judged' as being satan in the earth, the whore of babylon, the Nephilim, or whoever the bad guy of the night was...and all sorts of death and destruction 'prophesied' to their detriment, it seemed a bit hitleresque, very violent and had little to do with concepts of God and Love that i had found to be real so far in my young life at the time."

Posted by: paleface
Date: November 08, 2013 02:48PM

If you have ever read the book "Babylon, Mystery Religion" you will notice that it is nearly identical to the First Principles lesson on Babylon. I am now of the opinion that John lifted that whole teaching from that book or other similar sources for that particular chapter. G & M have been trying to sanitize the FP for years to make it suitable for a wider audience.

Posted by: TheSarge
Date: February 28, 2016 12:44PM

I've missed the antecedent to this Catholic phase of The Walk v.3. Has that chapter on Catholicism been removed from The First Principles or edited? After all the other segues over the last couple of decades, what is the fascination? Yeah, yeah, same Father, One Universal Church, yada yada. But why now? I am truly flummoxed.

Posted by: puddington
Date: April 18, 2017 02:51PM

If you have an old copy of the First Principles, there is a lesson about Babylon in there. I recall that it read exactly like the book "Babylon Mystery Religion", which claimed that Babylon was the Roman Catholic church.

However, sometime in the 90's the LW reissued a new edition of the First Principles, and most of this lesson had been sanitized to soften the anti-RC teaching. I never saw this new edition, so I can't comment on how much got removed. I discarded my LW literature years ago.

Posted by: changedagain
Date: July 02, 2020 04:24PM

Silas wrote:
As time passed connecting with several priests, seminary students, and other evangelical pastors; soon it was time for Hargrave to speak. Throughout his ten-minute message about oneness in the Body of Christ and the special placing of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in affecting all of Christianity, the crowd continually cried out cheers of approval to what Hargrave was saying.

Note: I've never experienced "cheers of approval" from anything I said in church, except once when I prophesied the service would be over soon.

Posted by: Reepicheep
Date: June 05, 2021 12:46PM

Silas wrote:
Hargrave and Esteves were interviewed for
Catholic radio and television, reaching out to
over ten million believers in all of Brazil and
the world, before being escorted to hold a private
audience with Cardinal Dom Orani.

I believe that JRS is rolling in his grave. After all, he talked about the Catholic church being mystery Babylon. Not that I necessarily agree. It's all baloney if you ask me. Just sayin'.

Posted by: Reepicheep
Date: December 05, 2023 01:38PM

Great synopsis, Changed. It seemingly happened almost overnight. The Catholic church was Mystery Babylon. And then, shortly after Pope John Paul had passed, Gary was suddenly interested in who the new pope would be. So crazy!

Latest episode:
Oops! I'm Snapping Out of It | Interview with Charlie Hajek and Mike White

[youtu.be]