Changed wrote: You will need to pay for room and board, but then you get to work for free. It's a win-win! (just started listening) ******** Yes. And that was just the beginning. It becomes tragic as you get into it.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Well, another Oops! I'm In A Cult podcast is up on Spotify. Thank you to Scott Barker and Charity Navalesi for doing these excellent deep dives into the effects that The Living Word Fellowship cult had on member's lives. This one is about another younger person, 3rd gen Titus Walker. It's called "Bad Boy Boot Camp". I highly recommend listening.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I highly recommend this new podcast by Scott Barker and Charity Navalesi on Spotify. In it, they take an in-depth look at Shalom's letter, which were publicly posted on October 25th 2018. Extremely helpful and insightful. Hey, the 5th anniversary is just around the corner!
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Changed wrote: IF YOU ARE GOING TO VOLUNTARILY WORK ON AN OUTSIDE PROJECT FOR VIP CHURCH MINISTRIES, MAKE SURE YOU BRING YOUR OWN SUNSCREEN, DRINKING WATER, PORTA-POTTY, FIRST AID KIT AND PERHAPS A PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT!! IF YOU NEED ANYTHING ELSE, FOLLOW DIVINE ORDER AND TALK ONLY TO THE HANDLER, IF YOU CAN LOCATE HIM. DON'T BOTHER THE OCCUPANTS OF THE HOUSE!! THEY NEED THEIR SLEEP!!! #Fa
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Changed wrote: Not quite the inspirational Labor Day story I hoped to share today. That said, it did end on a positive note, with the author 'Aleutian' having a 'light-bulb moment" that presumably led him to leave the fellowship. It's all good. Posted by: Aleutian Date: January 09, 2019 09:12PM I recently recalled a time I was volunteering working on ¨G and M´s¨
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

FCSLC wrote: Reepicheep: You Tube video: Charity speaking at 1:03:00 to 1:03:35. All the dropouts of the collapsed church are “Dead Weight,” and can be cut out so the true remnant can go forward. Not surprising to me. Thanks. Thank you very much, FCSLC. I was trying to explain this to some other people, but couldn't find the exact quote. It's not surprising to me either. This
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

FCSLC wrote: I watched the You Tube video and had a trifle reaction to the “dead weight” accusation. For me, it’s clear that certain deceivers are not changing their MO. Not surprised ---- “dead weight” is another charged, cringeworthy and ridiculous sentiment belonging to the ongoing list of hustle terms headed by the all-time scam phrase, “divinely appointed.” Absolutely! Question: I must
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Changed wrote: For the record, I don't think it is anyone's business how clean someone else's pipe is. Even for TLWF, that inquiry is going too far. #FocusOnYourOwnPipe I couldn't agree more, Changed. Also, for the record, John Robert Stevens never in his life was anything even remotely resembling a "zero with the rim rubbed out". Neither was Marilyn Clelan
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Episode 2 of Oops! I'm in a cult. Eleni Davis and son, Sam, open up about their years in the cult. Excellent insights. I'm not sure why I'm still somewhat surprised at revelations.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Changed, Thank you very much for reposting these very timely and timeless reflections from TLWF survivors. And hey, y'all can put your stuff on my calendar anytime! <3
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

The podcast is also in video form on YouTube. Great stuff!
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Changedagain wrote: turns out that this quote is not from the Sermon on the Mount. Boy, did I get duped: "Blessed are those who have no sympathy, for they shall rise up the chain of command." That just about sums up the Walk mentality. And here I always thought that it should have been: "Blessed are those who give a damn, for they shall not be damned." Meanwhil
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Changedagain, you have a great talent for reposting and weaving salient points together. I appreciate very much that you do this here. Posted by: typer Date: November 07, 2019 08:51AM It is so weird. I still get afraid and flinch when I think of certain things. I'm actually a little scared right now to share this, for fear John S**er will come to my house and kill me. Please don'
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Posted by: FCSLC () Date: July 04, 2023 09:38AM The exhilarating sense of individual independence and agency was never taught to the congregants of TLWF. Unlike natural people who “love and appreciate” their universal right to do as they please, TLWF congregants were basically denied and even warned against that life-giving teaching. Happy Independence Day to all. ************** Good
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Changed, I still have to laugh when I think of the My Fair Lady songs he had some of us perform at the pre-4th of July squawk nights in Shiloh. "Just you wait, male nature. Just you wait". And the "No Popes" t-shirts we painted and were planning for South Gate people to wear at Shiloh. Something was definitely afoot. That was the first School of Prophets summer camp...1990. I
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Changed wrote: "I know in a few instances that they used this new doctrinal twist to target a few key men in the fellowship that were perhaps a threat to them. Dan S., pastor of SG at the time, may have been one of them." Definitely Dan S. He must have royally pissed Marilyn off. Why else would they oust him from the law office and try to send him to pastor the church in Phoenix?
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Changed, I've thought about that male nature baloney quite a bit. Since women had been targeted for years and years, I think that maybe it was done to upset the apple cart and throw everyone off balance. I clearly remember John Robert Stevens talking very negatively about the "woman spirit", the spirit of Eve, the Jezebel spirit, you name it. I knew that women were crap since my ea
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Changedagain wrote: "What is something you said to another person that was spoken in love, yet was not received that way, due to their insecurity?" "Keep your spirit in your sneakers." Actually, Marilyn said that, and I thought that it was pretty uncalled for. Right up there with, "I'm pretty anti woman."
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Changedagain wrote: Fortunately, part of me remained intact, which enabled me later to write on this forum, along with nephs, Jezebels, bitter blowouts, subnouncers, f8cking musicians and at least a few who are led only by the 'beach spirit.' These are my people too, Changed. I think that at some point, a little part of me deep inside knew what cowardly, evil people the leaders
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Meanwhile, by many accounts, Marilyn was already lying in another's bed. I think she would refer to this as the "pure atmosphere." ;) No doubt, Changedagain. One repetitive theme that I noticed throughout my 41 years in The Walk/The Living Word Fellowship was the shifting of those who were on the inside or outside of leadership positions. The biggest predictor of who was tr
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

One memory that keeps coming back to me is of being in a worship service in CLW, North Hills, colloquially known as "The Valley" church. This was the term meant to disinguish this location from the other two Southern California churches founded by John Robert Stevens, Grace Chapel South Gate and Church of His Holy Presence Anaheim. It was one of those Sunday night services after a long
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Posted by: puddington Date: November 27, 2019 08:25AM Reep, I’m thinking about John on his deathbed. I imagine, in a moment of clarity, he looked around the room and saw only his groupies. People he had created by feeding them fairy tales. And other people that wanted his power. It must have dawned on him that these people didn’t REALLY love him. They just wanted something from him. Or they w
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Great information, Changedagain and Larry Bobo. I've just recently noticed renewed efforts by The Living Word to whitewash the online presence of info about JRS. Therefore, I recommend that when posting about his abuse and cult leader status, we write out his name. John Robert Stevens was a cult leader along with the worst of the worst.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Changedagain wrote: "The kicker came sometime after the painting project was completed, and I had yet to be paid (along with another worker, also a church member). At the end of a weeknight service Gary, from the pulpit, thanked my employer for "donating" his painting services to John. WTF? I talked to the employer after the service and he claimed no arrangement had been made to
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Sometimes I wonder if the info about cults should be taught in school. There are just too many evil people in this world. I'm just now coming to grips with what a horrible, disgusting person JRS was. Some days it still gets to me. Fifteen years after leaving. In the seventies, I was married to his nephew. I had an arranged marriage in 1971 and an arranged divorce in 1978. I was groomed and t
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Reveal wrote in part: "4.Command submission of every decision in people's lives to include dating, marriage, having children, where to live, what job to take, to go to University or not, etc. and if people decide not to submit these things, to at a minimum withdraw affection and ostracize them from their church family, or disparage their character, make a pariah out of them, gossip a
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Hi Onion, Nice to hear from you. Yes, so much water under the bridge. So many layers of damage. May we all find some closure and peace.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Hmmm...along the same lines... What could TLWF do better? Gary should definitely bring more sermons with the theme "It's a new day". You can never get enough of that BS. (GAG) Signed, Susie Submissive (also GAG)
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Changed wrote: Question: Name something you have received by serving Christ in the Flesh Answer: PTSD Ding! Ding! Ding! You win. I think that we all got a hefty dose of that! Once I was filling out one of those 360° evaluations. Lol. At the very end it asked what TLWF could do better. I wrote about not understanding the Christmas truck. Why did we have to do that, it didn'tmake
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Posted by: Richard M. Date: February 21, 2019 But one thing I was sure about was the insidious scheme of creating what was known as the woman group of "intercessors," some five or six?, ostensibly protecting Stevens from "demons." For me, a joke of monumental proportion. While it might be embarrassing to some from revelations of the past, and with the truth confronted in t
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families