I was a band student from a public school and they tried to take away from me too. That was their undoing. It was my only escape from what I was living in and I loved band.

Yes

Posted by: slandjt ()
Date: March 31, 2017 03:46PM

With regard to the comments about the secret FB group, it's called Alumni of the Barn, a reference back to the early 70s when the San Diego church was called Coniah Chapel and met in an old metal barn. I also happen to know that John Miller joined this group, albeit with words of caution from the FB group monitor that no one was to ask him about his comings and goings within the cult and certainly not about about the circumstances of his departure. It's a bit offensive to me that former members of the Apostolic Company feel they need protection. Protection from what? We needed protection from John Miller (and others) when they callously directed our lives to suit them, destroyed families and marriages, and then had the nerve to say they were speaking from God. Anyway, apparently a reunion was held a year or so ago. Word has it that the reunion was just like old times. The "elders" gathered together to confirm the Word God was speaking, and the women and children (and other little people) prepared food and waited for the service to begin.

Posted by: lily rose ()
Date: August 02, 2015 05:04PM

Spiritual abuse was occurring at Coniah Chapel in the 70's to many of the little people but nothing was being done about it at the time. The Coniah church leader would boast that many of John's sons came out of Coniah (go figure.)

Of the 12,000+ posts in the CULT EDUCATION FORUM that deal primarily with JRS/G&M, there are only 66 posts that even mention the CONIAH years, which generated more than its fair share of outrageous sexual assaults and cover ups to rank #2 in the fellowship.

These enablers were later sent out to start other TLW churches, some of them taking their mode of operation with them.

The CONIAH years deserve the scrutiny they have been able to skirt all these decades. The myriad of violations against the sheep need to be brought into the LIGHT.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2023 07:21PM by kBOY.

"Read my t-shirt. It says VIP. Now let me into this section!"

posted by: reveal
Date: October 14, 2018 12:19PM

FROMSOUTHCHICAGO, I'm glad you asked about Marilyn's funeral because it's something I have thought of posting about on here for some time. I was there and it was very, very odd. One, we had to pay to attend. No kidding. We were told we had to register if we wanted to attend the funeral, and pay $40 per person to "cover costs". I found this extremely bizarre and supremely tacky. Who charges people to attend a funeral?? Especially considering the Hargraves have a ton of money.

Two, besides Marilyn's immediate family (Rick, Marti, Gary, and granddaughter Kaylin) the leaders/shepherds from all of the churches were a part of the processional and recessional in the church, and then at the graveside they had all of the chairs surrounding the immediate area cordoned off. Only VIP were allowed to sit in the chairs, and they had someone placed at the entrance of this sectioned off area to allow or disallow people to sit in the seats.
Even though there were a ton of empty seats, the rest of us minions were given standing room only OUTSIDE of the roped off area. In typical TLWF fashion it was very exclusive. It felt very uncomfortable.

Three, Rick did a "Twenty-One Gun Salute" for Marilyn with fire crackers (you know the ones that just make a loud BOOM), simulating what they do for members of the Military who pass on. I was deeply offended by it, because in my opinion that is reserved only for those who have served in the Armed Forces. It seemed highly inappropriate to me and came off very awkward.

Four, at the reception everyone was completely shitfaced. I have not seen so many people wasted at a church function before. I mean, in LA it's kind of par for the course to see people drunk at functions, but this was just over the top. It was all just very, very strange in every regard.

You asked about Marti. She was kicked out of the church for being gay. Apparently it's okay for Rick to have four extra-marital affairs and exhibit grossly inappropriate behavior towards women and STILL be in leadership, but it's not okay to be gay. A huge double standard.

C O N I A H l e g a c y


Most of the entries on the FURTHER DISCUSSIONS page and the CULT FORUM have primarily focused on JRS/G&M, and have not cast a spotlight on one the most destructive churches in the fellowship, which happened to supply many of the ministries that eventually started additional churches in TLW. A culture of sexual assaults and their subsequent coverups were facilitated by the very ministries that held sway over the people between 1971-74, and these were carefully crafted to conceal these incidents from the rank and file.

There have been further revelations of other predators and victims since the original discoveries, which illustrate what a travesty this whole situation was. Even though these incidents occurred decades ago, the consequences of these actions are still felt by the victims. The coverups were as damaging as the assaults.

Worst still, many of these ministries, because of their position in the church hierarchy, were granted behind the scenes glimpses of who both JRS and G&M really were when no one else was looking--something not available to those who dwelt in the cheap seats.

Cognitive dissonance was in full swing as many failed to blow the whistle on the corruption they saw and said nothing, in an effort to retain their lofty positions, all while the sheep continued to be abused, picked off or kicked out.

Those who believed this history was no longer in their rearview mirror may well take note it has finally caught up.

[www.msn.com]

kBOY Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Posted by: slandjt ()
> Date: March 31, 2017 03:46PM
>
> With regard to the comments about the secret FB
> group, it's called Alumni of the Barn, a reference
> back to the early 70s when the San Diego church
> was called Coniah Chapel and met in an old metal
> barn. I also happen to know that John Miller
> joined this group, albeit with words of caution
> from the FB group monitor that no one was to ask
> him about his comings and goings within the cult
> and certainly not about about the circumstances of
> his departure. It's a bit offensive to me that
> former members of the Apostolic Company feel they
> need protection. Protection from what? We needed
> protection from John Miller (and others) when they
> callously directed our lives to suit them,
> destroyed families and marriages, and then had the
> nerve to say they were speaking from God. Anyway,
> apparently a reunion was held a year or so ago.
> Word has it that the reunion was just like old
> times. The "elders" gathered together to confirm
> the Word God was speaking, and the women and
> children (and other little people) prepared food
> and waited for the service to begin.

Before “The Barn” RD had the Coniah Chappell church in a converted garage behind his home in Chula Vista. I came into the group there and was part of the influx of “young people” RD used to talk about. The clip above brings back a lot of memories - not necessarily good memories, but memories just the same.

JesusJesusJesus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey! It's been awhile. I keep trying to put the
> Living Word behind me, but it keeps popping back
> up. :-) Today a relative of mine made an offhand
> remark at her job that she had been part of a
> cult. That other person replied, "Oh, the one in
> Kalona? I just saw a video documentary about that
> on Youtube."
>
> Apparently someone who lived across the street
> from the church in Palmer Lake broke in and took a
> bunch of tapes and this week's. She has played and
> read some of them on her Tik Tok channel, which
> then caught the attention of a YouTuber who made a
> 30 minute documentary. Here's the link in case you
> haven't seen it. My apologies if you all have
> already discussed this and I just missed it. :-)
>
> [youtu.be]

With regard to the YT video, thanks for posting. I’ll just say wow, what a couple of “Drama Queens”. This is the sort of ““journalism”” Tucker Carlson would do on Fox News. Too hyperbolic - they need to do better.

There is much better stuff out there like Sarah Steel’s podcast and the Woodrow Nichols article.

The link list from Sarah’s pod is quite extensive: [www.ltaspod.com]

I am all for exposing cults and TLW is certainly a good example of a cult but someone thinking they understand TLW (the good or the bad) by posting the titles of a few This Weeks is a bit like thing you understand politics by reading headlines on Twitter.

Yes. The YT videos are pretty amateurish. Someone I know said “It’s like reading a book report from someone who didn’t read the book”. LOL

puddington Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes. The YT videos are pretty amateurish.
> Someone I know said “It’s like reading a book
> report from someone who didn’t read the book”.
> LOL


LOL. I was going to say it was like someone doing a high school term paper trying to make sure they got a “C” but not willing to put in the effort for much more.

Seeing the “classified” tape marked “Pastors Only”, brought back memories of when I became “set aside” as a Deacon at Coniah and I could finally go to the tape library and check out the “classified” material.

I grabbed a few “restricted” tapes and upon listening, wondered why they were marked restricted. LOL.

I am reminded of later in life when I had a government clearance, being told in a yearly briefing that the briefer felt that a lot of stuff was classified because they wanted to make sure people read it. They probably thought restricted tapes sold better - don’t want to miss the good stuff, you know :-).