CHANGEDAGAIN: Actually, the calls made by my wife to our ‘closest’ friends were in a similar vein. Each said they ‘understood’ and stated their wish to continue our friendship. Unfortunately, the dynamics at play are so complicated and ingrained, that the intended result never comes to pass. Whether consciously or unconsciously, the mindset of ‘those that are not with us are against us’
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

JAN: And in the end, all will culminate with LOVE & FORGIVENESS. A.D. Go out and have some FUN.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

LARRYB: With reference to your discrepancies between the talk and the walk, my wife was fooled into believing the two were one and the same. I had left TLW a number of years before, but because my wife was still associated with it, our ‘friends’ who remained would concede to fellowship with us on her behalf, and with the hopes that my exposure to them would cause me to come to my senses and
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

PBXGUY: The final sentence of your last post says it all; ‘Eventually, the path probably points inward.’ The ‘great disservice’ to all who did a stint in TLW was an emphasis that pointed in the opposite direction. As was discussed in earlier threads, the ‘still small voice’ was so discounted, that it basically became obsolete. Relationships that should have mentored the cultivation of ‘he
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FCSLC: Ahhhhhh--you got it. The TRUE message of the GOSPEL of LOVE is the LOVE. It was so revolutionary to a Jewish way of thinking steeped in guilt (Old Testament) that it was barely comprehensible by anyone, including the Twelve. Much of Christianity is warmed-over Judaism, some of what Jesus taught (and things he didn’t teach), and spiced up with a lot of Paul’s ideas. It is not an ac
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LAMPSHMAMP: What are you really saying? (Just kidding.) There seems to be that annoying adage with regards to trying the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. I think we know how well that works. Just to tie this theme into my previous post about a former colleague who sampled not one, but four different flavors of Christian movements over four different decade
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PAUL T. You made mention of the ‘cycle of movements’ and how they fail to survive beyond their own second generation. I had the occasion a few years ago to have dinner with a close friend from the 70’s, who had been in a ministry position in the LA area. and who I had not seen in 30+ years. He informed me that he had exited the fellowship after the ‘my way or the highway’ meetings that h
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A.D. All of us in the ‘2nd Generation’ (mostly 20-somethings who came into TLW in the 70’s, as opposed to the ‘1st Generation’ who had followed JRS from the beginning), lived our formative years in the turbulent 60’s (Vietnam War, race-riots, political assassinations, anti-religious/pro-spiritual revivals, et al), so it is no surprise we were faced with the daunting challenge of finding our be
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LAMP: Thank you for your kind endorsement. Just to be clear, no apology or justification will excuse the legacy of harm that TLW is responsible for. Any encouragement on my behalf would be FORGIVENESS, not for their sake, but for ours. We are the ones in control of our own state of mind, and hopefully the cathartic process underway in this forum will lead everyone to the point where we can
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A.D. The irony is that if the fervor of the Latter Rain movement existed today with TLW it would almost be an ‘upgrade’. A quick inventory of the last few years of messages are so threadbare of any inspiration they have fallen mostly on deaf ears. Same old, same old, reheated and re-served. There was a movement a few years ago when the Brazil fellowship made an effort to reach out to othe
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Pouring over the volume of posts that preceded my recent involvement, I wanted to suggest that no one beat themselves up over their decision to become involved with TLW. This merely compounds any insult and injury that may have occurred. Each of us, for our own reasons, saw that decision to be of more value in the moment than any other. Any ongoing decision to remain as long as we did, was a
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The following are typical sentiments from ‘little-people’ regarding the passing of TLW leadership. I share them here to illustrate the degree of misperception that exists for those who reside in the cheap seats, and have forever been insulated and isolated from the ‘reality’ that hid behind closed doors. “Know that we are All Celebrating You Marilyn, and your great Life. We Honor the Treasure
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AD: All important points. As discussed earlier, one of the great disservices done within TLW was turning the focus away from cultivating an environment that was conducive to hearing the ‘still, small voice’, and redirecting it to a person, be it an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher, Elijah, Elisha, Paul, Timothy, designated relationship, et al. We should have been led to the pl
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Changedagain (CA): Following the $$$ trail was a response to your enquiry.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

It is an unfortunate reality that GOD has received copious amounts of bad press from all belief systems since the beginning of time. HEAVEN is in no way responsible for this occurrence. On the one hand, there was one who addressed this dilemma by making bold statements to the contrary. “This world, not (our) KINGDOM”, first removed responsibility for this world and all events within it from
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If one follows the overall trends taking place in the world, there is every reason to be encouraged. In general, things are moving towards OPENNESS and INCLUSION, and away from separation and divisiveness. There will always be examples of the later, but more and more they are being exposed and marginalized. We will not see the end of it in our lifetimes, but more LIGHT is exposing areas of dar
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Following the $$$ would probably answer your question.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

If one follows the overall trends taking place in the world, there is every reason to be encouraged. In general, things are moving towards OPENNESS and INCLUSION, and away from separation and divisiveness. There will always be examples of the later, but more and more they are being exposed and marginalized. We will not see the end of it in our lifetimes, but more LIGHT is exposing areas of dar
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

JAN W. LANE There are as many reasons for one’s involvement in this discussion as there are participants. Each brings to the table a unique experience. In the end, Forgiveness will be the gateway to the Freedom we seek, and hopefully, this is the road all find themselves on. I, personally, hold no ill-will towards anyone inside or outside of the fellowship. My exit was not the result o
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SOUTHERN-BOY: Hopefully, no one here would question your experiences within TLW or your evaluations thereof, but it is important to point out that the years of your involvement and your proximity to the issues limits the scope of your perspective severely. Many of those posting experiences have been witness to abuses that span decades, and cover a completely different regime that came into
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

AD: Very succinct and well-stated. Whatever symbiosis existed between G&M, and then played out for all the brethren, has now been changed forever. The ‘Big Three’ that formally represented the head of TLW has now been reduced to two, and their ‘relationship’ is in question, now that mom has been removed from the picture. One can only keep a charade going for so long, and since LOVE ha
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AD: There has been quite a bit of discussion amongst our group of ex-pats regarding the variety of abuses within TLW, and interestingly enough, many of them can be traced back to doctrinal justifications. -- Feeling chosen and separating yourself apart -- Maintaining cultural purity -- Designating relationships -- Spiritual hierarchy -- Financial support of said hierarchy -- Unquesti
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AD: Two things are pretty clear: 1) JRS did not bring down ‘the devil behind every fire hydrant’, and, 2) Marilyn could only open up the gates of her own ‘hell’. Regarding the ‘numbers’ game, I do not recall any great exodus over the John & Marilyn nuptials, but I will say that the ‘spiritual heyday’ for us was the 2+ years surrounding the Unfolding/Unwrapping time that came in Hawaii
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

AD: I had the great ‘fortune’ of missing the JRS-transition meetings that took place, but I did hear things from others I was in contact with at the time. The JRS-days did not see the ‘oneness=agreement’ dynamic with such a rigid outlook, especially in light of so many outlying churches being pastored by those who had started the church themselves, but the G&M era solidified that thin
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LILY ROSE: In response to your request for a ‘guestimate’ of the fellowship population, it must be remembered that those numbers reflect the three specific categories I mentioned in a previous post: 1) diehard hierarchy, 2) faithful little-people, and, 3) fence-sitters. With that in mind, probably the best-case scenario would be during any of the feasts. The worst-case scenario would be a
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

FCSLC: To quote you elegantly: “The true freedom of the gospel does not lend itself well to the enrichment of the few at the expense of the many.” Back in the JRS era, when the ‘Paul/Timothy’ program took hold in the mid-70’s, it was intended to be a ‘mentoring’ relationship, whereby the ‘more mature’ one would mentor the ‘less mature’ one, hopefully into ‘maturity’. To JRS’ credit, when m
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The majority of the Little People operate under the trust/fear factor, and will never ‘run any numbers’, as if they would ever have any access anyway. They also operate (apart from any first-hand evidence to the contrary), under the delusion that the integrity at the top of the food-chain (apart from one who shall go un-named) is without question. This is further reinforced by the proximity iss
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Being led astray is the inevitable pitfall of looking to ‘GOD in the flesh’, and to the denial of GOD within. This has been the most egregious aspect of TLW and any other movement where the focus was on a man. The ‘KINGDOM of GOD is WITHIN’ was given the backseat to an organizational hierarchy that was artificially constructed to enable the few, and enslave the many (purposefully or not). A
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

After having chosen to adopt a mindset which we have since eschewed, everyone, to some degree, has felt the FREEDOM of release from such constraining limitations. Living in a culture known for exclusion, it’s been a breath of fresh air to REALIZE that the KINGDOM IS RELATIONSHIPS wherever we find them, and they are to found everywhere. The greatest days for all, both in and out of the fellows
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With a 35 year investment in TLW (1975-2010), most of which was spent in various pivotal venues, many secondary regimes were observed rising and falling during the two major epochs (JRS/G&M) of the fellowship. Many have come, and most are gone. During the heyday of the church--the days leading up to JRS’ passing--the movement seemed to still have some vibrancy, irrespective of its missteps.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families