During my 35+ years in the fellowship I never had a substantive exchange with either JRS or G&M, while they certainly extracted a lot of substance from me in the form of free labor and plenty of $$$s.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

C H A N G E D When I arrived at Shiloh in June of '78, it was quite an electric atmosphere--kind of like a mini-Woodstock live-in with 400+ 'like-minded?' individuals from all over the country. My entire time I bunked in a room with five other guys, mostly sawmill crew, along with a few randoms.  The schedule was insane (referenced in earlier posts), but being young (stupid?)
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

C H A N G E D Previous post was #11,000 on page 1,100. (Stat geeks.)
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

TH231955 You bring a sobering assessment of being one who was looking from the outside in with a larger perspective than most of us had. My Shiloh stint was 1978-79 at the Sawmill with over 400+ living in the house.  Most of us were 20-somethings, full of piss & vinegar, thinking we were God's gift, only to find out we were a package of full of deception and disappointment. Plea
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Thanks to Caleb for refusing to let go of this bone, sometimes to his own detriment. WELCOME th231955. You are one more important voice suppling another puzzle-piece to this very ugly portrait.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

The silver-lining in all this continual bad press for TLW, especially in light of the Covid19-effect on large gatherings, will both allow the legal process more time to play out, and definitely cramp the style of GH who was hoping to once again assemble adoring crowds to witness his new 'world-wide misery'.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

So many bad relationship examples set from the top, all initiated by JRS from the start. There were indirect inferences to his possible philandering in earlier associations before he even established South Gate. (Woodrow Nichols piece) Lost in this whole discussion is all that Martha Stevens was subjected to for decades before Gary & Donna became an issue. Not only did she have to tolera
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

T Y P E R Everything being pointed out illustrates just how bankrupt the 'weird' had become over the decades, and had transitioned into grooming the next generation to accept perversity as the 'normal' extension of being non-religious. It's hard to imagine Jesus saying to parents of his day, "Let the little children come to me so I can share with them my sexual
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

It took 14.5 years (from Altar Kent in Feb. 2004) to get to page #666, and just two more years since the posts mentioned above to add over 430+ more pages. These posts were also just 6 weeks prior to 'Shalom-ashima' in Oct. 2018. Considering the tsunami of responses that ensued after the fall, and the relative small size of the fellowship in comparison with mega-churches of today, r
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

C H A N G E D (aka RECORDkeeper) Previous post was #10,960 on page #1,096. (Only of interest to the RECORDkeeper.)
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

It is really hard to swallow (pardon the pun) all the stuff we swallowed over the years that was deemed appropriate and acceptable in a relationship that was supposed to be 'spiritual'. The degradation, debauchery and inexcusable abuse, all done in the name of being 'spiritual', shows just how boiled all us frogs really were.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

C H A N G E D Perhaps you should submit (sorry) your 'potatoes & whiskey' diet to the CDC for consideration. We need to keep our options open. On the other hand, the heartache and dysfunction you mention during the G&M era that afflicted so many is only one side of the coin. I keep flashing back on all the yelling and screaming at HEAVEN that occurred during the '
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

C H A N G E D "Too bad we didn't get to see G & M making out while the apostle to the Kingdom lay dying in another room. That glimpse of disgusting reality might have served as a 'wake up' call." This is how controlled the narrative was at both the end of the JRS era, and the continuation post-JRS, with many who were close to the situation, too brainwashed at th
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

T Y P E R Your amigo is a SUPER HERO in my book. All these seemingly small gestures are the 'widow's mite' of today, and they are going on everywhere mostly unnoticed, except by those who view the world through the lens of LOVE. Position-thinking infects every area of life like a 'virus'. The only way to combat it is to not adopt it yourself. Hierarchy is special
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

P U R P L E "Many wonderful and loving people were used thinking they were giving themselves to something that was right.. including me...so much was so wrong." (My comment from 3/11): "The saddest part of this disappointing tale is how many up close and personal 'others' were slowly corrupted in the process . . ." Not only does this apply to you, but to ev
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

More bad news for CULTianity:
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

W O W I lasted about 5 seconds into the Copeland 'Show' before almost wretching. (Even GOD was a big queasy.) QUESTION: If you have not yet contracted the CoronaVirus, does Copeland's begging act like a vaccine against it? (Asking for someone else.) P.S. My only memory (of the few that remain) was that McDougal was a 'potato-head', which caused our family to
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

It is not like these events were the first of their kind. Stories go back into the '50s that chronicle very questionable practices, both financial and relational. By the time JRS passed, the die was already cast, so why not keep the con rolling? The saddest part of this disappointing tale is how many up close and personal 'others' were slowly corrupted in the process, where, h
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

C H A N G E D If RH couldn't even find a place in his 'heart' for Scott, it is pretty safe to say he probably didn't like anybody, which means he had no compunction to use and abuse at will. With G&M having the goods on RH, and he in reverse, explains why there were no checks and balances in place, enabling both parties to run roughshod over anyone who threatened the
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

C H A N G E D Or, how about four (or more) wives?
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Because guilt is so uncomfortable, it is usually projected. Back in the JRS-era, his guilt was spun as 'demonic assault', which required us expending ridiculous amounts of time and energy yelling and screaming at GOD (who had nothing to do with it), when JRS should have been dealing with his own sh*t. Fast-forward to the G&M-era, where we now have a good idea how much b.s. was
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

There are still those JRS-hardliners who will continue to point out the magic of the message, completely discounting the veracity of these piccadillos, and never admit they have been played. Add to that, a message that was simply smoke & mirrors, which gladly took their $$$, and continued a charade which spanned well over half a century. The only prophesy that did come to pass was that
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

C H A N G E D The psychological damage done to an entire generation of young women is staggering, and this perpetrated by a women who violated all the rules in her own playbook and slept her way to the top of the food chain. Projection makes perception.  After seeing what she had done herself, she wanted to guarantee her position by undermining any competition that might utilize the same te
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

P U D D In an effort to avoid any appearance of religiosity, TLW descended into the black hole of debauchery.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

E N O U G H ". . . if you've blurred the line between the Lord and Gary & Marilyn to the point where they're identical in your mind, when they assault you what's to prevent you from believing that God Himself has cut you off?" That blurred line was lost long ago. (Anti-CHRIST, anyone?)
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

C H A N G E D CHACHA's indictment of TLW culture has been a hard pill for all to swallow, and still too big for some. Not one to quote scripture, but it says somewhere that the consequences of one's indiscretions follow either in this life or in one to follow. (Reincarnation, anyone?) There is no denying what type of fruit the Hargrave tree produces. Who knows--maybe one day
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Speaking of the 'word for the world', that was just one of the many pipe-dreams we conjured up in the isolation bubble we lived in during the '70s. When you soberly look at the 'piss & vinegar' we were drinking at the height of our hysteria, and compare it now with the 'real world', one sees the danger of a certain paradigm being promoted that isolates it
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

C H A N G E D "I don't think this is what John meant about the "word" being released to the nations." If it bleeds, then it leads, and bad news travels fast--especially in the age of the internet.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

TRIVIA: The last post was #10,900 on page 1,090. (Way to rack up the numbers.)
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

C H A N G E D "1,554,565 page views to date" That is a pretty amazing statistic given that TLW in its heyday never even came close to the size of some of todays mega-church congregations. I guess that number can account for the degree of abuse which has now made TLW so infamous. Nothing like being in competition for the race to the bottom.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families