You said it, Reepicheep, unbelievable. "Such occurrence without a strong and immediate response could produce a systemic problem within our church culture" Anyone reading this should do a full stop in the first paragraph. By first focusing on "what could produce a systemic problem within their church culture," these leaders are already downplaying the fundamental problem
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Completely agree, Larry. What we are seeing is a leadership change. That's not enough; what TLW really needs is a culture change. I want to point out that my description of the Joe Knott case is incorrect. His wife, Wanda Kay, was not being critical of John Robert Stevens. Instead, Knott's lawyer claimed he was deeply disturbed and driven to insanity by a "slow, clever process
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Greetings everyone, I'm sharing some documents I've accumulated recently. 1) Here is Woodrow Nichol's book on TLW. In it, Nichols documents many travesties which serve as warning signs for some of the terrible things we've unfortunately all become aware of recently. Nichols raises many warning signs about JRS' authoritarian personality, as well as his insistence on
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

For any new visitors to this forum, one thought I'd like to dispel is that this type of abuse being uncovered is unique to R Holbrook, or that it has not been prevalent in TLW from the very beginning. If anything, R Holbrook had a textbook example of sexual exploitation in his stepfather, JRS. There are numerous alleged accounts on this forum of JRS pervasively abusing the trust and devotion
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Howmidoing, Some of what you said about the questionnaire reminded me of a particular mannerism of Gary’s. He is always calling things “new.” You said Gary "is wanting to change things there" and that there "has been a revelation." I've come to find that nearly everything Gary does is described as a "revelation" or a “new thing.” It could be a big thing o
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

It is clear that Nickleanddimed is a troll account and is currently a member of TLW. Beginning in the early 2000s, a few members of TLW prided themselves on "covertly" infiltrating the Factnet forums, spreading distrust, and defaming posters with character assassination. Gary Hargrave instructed most of the TLW movement to stay off the forums, but he allegedly also sanctioned a handful
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Wow. It's incredibly telling of Shiloh's ulterior motives that they want homeschooling space at their facility only to turn around and treat those kids as hired help. It's likely that they justify the homeschooling space by saying the surrounding school districts are a bad influence on their kids. That said, they have no problem interrupting actual education for the "greater
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I think we can all agree that the church of Scientology is a totally reliable source to tell us how brainwashing is fake. If you'll excuse me, I must go salute LRH now. Excelsior!
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Maybe you could do a parody of "the Goonies" but instead call it "the Garies." It could be a picture of all the Goonies with Gary's face superimposed over each of them, since we all need to be more like Gary if we want eternal life. "The Garies: Garies Never Die!" Or "The Garies: Do the Trust Shuffle!"
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I very much agree with the cash cow analogy. I think that Gary cycles into periods of intense submission to keep people insecure and dependent on his uplifting, yet insidiously destructive message. Listening to my old tapes again, it feels like he manufactures things for his followers to feel insecure, guilty, or humiliated about. Look no further than his latest message to the YASP. "You
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

NickleandDimed, FCSLC wasn't breaking any of the rules, they were being honest about a response they had to TLWF. After all, I believe a wise poster on this forum once said, "I have the same right. Under the rules here. To express myself. As do you. Without you cutting me down. Please don't judge my posts according to. Your point of view." Edit* GoingRogue, Than
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

That is a little bit troubling. Telling people they should fear for their lives? Now might be a good time to avoid drinking from any special cups, especially if they're the cups Gary spoke about earlier this year. I agree, FCSLC, it took me awhile to unpack the things I was conditioned to think of as 'spiritual warfare' or 'battle.' Sometimes after SOP I was so hyped
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Welcome, Cultfree. That's a great idea, I agree that many people would benefit from an abridged version of what we have here in the forum, especially if it was well documented. I would only give one word of caution. I'm no lawyer, but creating a web page dedicated to TLWF could open you up to legal action, and if these forums are to be believed, that's something Gary has exp
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

GoingRogue, was that an exchange from camp that you just quoted? Sidenote: The sender I quoted has said the boy in their story may not have been from DC. I find it fascinating that this pattern is occurring this year as well. Looking at my old tape collection, it could very well be a pattern. I wonder what the explanation would be for why God keeps 'imparting' the same words to
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

This was a PM I was given permission to share: I was attending YASP around 2004 when a young boy from DC remarked that Gary would always starts summer camp with a word on repentance. "It's just a formula," the boy said, " starts with a one or two words (sermons) on repentance so that we all feel guilty, and then he brings one on salvation, so that we feel in sorry. Next h
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Unfortunately, it seems the webarchive.org link did not capture all of the forums at factnet.org. It looks like it only went as far as capturing the main topic page but none of the actual 'threads.' I could have sworn I was able to access it all yesterday, I remember seeing ChangedAgain's avatar on one of the pages, but today I cannot access any of the threads. I'll keep tr
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Wow, and Paul went on to play for Billy Graham for many years. So you're telling me that "doctor" John Robert Stevens got to write a prayer on a record his brother in law was producing in 1960 for "Word Records," a production company for Billy Graham, that become worth $75M in the 80s. JRS went on to name his church "the Living WORD" in the late 60s, and ad
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Today is a good day. I have located the Factnet.org forum in its entirety: If you can't find it via the link, you need to start an account at archive.org. Type in the URL "factnet.org" there, and select a time before 2015. It takes a long time to load but it's there in all its glory-- including all the bickering and name-calling from current TLW members. I also
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I agree, GoingRogue. For what it's worth I don't blame anyone for not keeping records. "We were conditioned to trust implicitly," that's a really good way of putting it. I wanted to describe how it was unbelievable at first that TLWF could be so radically different than I believed it to be as a member. After being out, and especially after reading the accounts of so m
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I think one of the more frustrating aspects of trying sift through what's been whitewashed about TLWF is that so much was deemed "not worth rocking the boat" to the point that it only exists in memories now. I think this allows people to believe that these things never happened, or were isolated cases, and certainly not related to JRS. It makes it easier to write off cases of infid
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Good point about Catholics and other churches too. Especially where coverups of abuse are involved. And that's a good example of a whole congregation that can pass a chapel and think of how nice it was there while one will pass by and remember what happened in the backroom with perhaps the same priest. Two sides, and they both should be heard. I meant the part about being glad you can still
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

That's great to hear about you and your wife, Southgate. I'm glad you both found continued happiness, thats no small feat. Other couples weren't so fortunate. I know of several personally whose lives were permanently altered by the whimsy of JRS proclaiming in the middle of a worship marathon, "You need to get married, you would make great babies!" Likewise, I will n
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

TKNC and GoingRogue, I can relate to that. My relationship with God is inextricably linked with a relationship to a person and to TLW. When I read the Bible, certain phrases jump out at me differently than they do to people outside the walk still to this day. For instance, when I read about the armor of God, it's through a veil of spiritual transference and needing to protect my aura so that
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

It's come to my attention that a would-be posters on here may be avoiding it for fear that their IP address could be traced on this site. I posted the advice Rick Ross gave a few weeks ago, where he referenced the case precedent with Landmark Education Vs. The Rick Ross Cult Education Institute. Ross and his lawyers successfully protected the anonymity of their posters against a group former
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

The frosted mugs, yes! Or if you made the pilgrimage to Shiloh for SOP it was the golf carts you were allowed to drive. I don't know where they got those, but I can remember a few that got busted up in the woods during the amphitheater party. Only VIPs were invited there too. There was never enough beer, wings, and fireworks for all of the locals.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

That's funny, Changedagain. We always called that a snipe hunt, which is a practical joke where someone invites you to start a church somewhere. You break your back to find a location, get people to attend, finish your Master's in Divinity, and then watch as G&M handpick the son of somebody more connected than you to pastor it. Afterward, everyone gets a good laugh and you get to r
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

KJ, Greetings I'm reaching out wondering if you still check this account. If so, I'd like to chat as one "burn out" to another. Best Wishes, GS
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Well said, FLSC, Larry, and Puddington. Happy Mother's Day. Puddington, that's a really good point. In the context of the TED talk I think the author of that statement would agree with you, and maybe someone more poetic than myself could phrase it more appropriately. There's so much to untangle upon leaving "the covering." Yes, it is a little disingenuous to say it&
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Good reminder of the rules, will comply, appreciate it. It's good to remember why we are all here. A couple people were wondering about their anonymity. A friend forwarded Rrmoderator's response to a question of whether they were safe from retribution via the leadership at TLWF. Rrmoderator stated the forum is protected as a place of free expression online, and referenced a recent
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Beg your pardon, Nickleanddimed? I've only been skimming your posts after we got off topic; I didn't want to interrupt what seemed like nice little tête-à-têtes. Was there something else you've found in the past 5 years that I must apologize for?
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families