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Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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The thing that I a discovering is that much of the time, I am speaking conservatively, but MUCH, TOO MUCH of the time the guy preaching is twisting the scriptures, very craftily, with a hypnotic, booming voice, like JRS, twisting the scriptures to suit their own agenda. I have discovered that it is not the bible that is at fault, it is the fault of the motivational speaker/preacher that is at fault.

Again I will turn your attention to some of the "words" that Bro Stevens gave, if you listen to them again, there is one of those "words" in a Living Word website where Stevens explains quite skillfully why "the Living Word" meaning John Robert Stevens word is actually GOD's exact words. If you listen to it now, considering what happened, you will see how he probably even deceived himself. This guy could really talk.

That's the way it is all over Christendom. I have heard several big money preachers on TBN say that Luke was Jesus's personal physician. And they get away with it.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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AD:

The problem far exceeds any persuasive televangelist.

The simple doctrine of ‘spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth’ has seen the subjugation of entire indigenous peoples on almost every continent, under the misguided pretext that the manner (and consequences) of dissemination mattered not as long as the ‘gospel’ was delivered.

The world is still suffering the results of all that ‘good news’.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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Whether we explore God from a scientific standpoint, observing the fine tuning of the universe or the complexity of DNA, or dig through as many historical documents as possible trying to find the perfect spiritual teaching, it is still only a starting point of recognition that there is a Creator that we know very little about. I would suggest most are unwilling to even start the journey to get to know Him and would rather debate the reasons for not doing so. The wounds suffered in TLWF topped my list until I realized they didn’t come from Him, but from those who said they were Him. I would suggest that God didn’t tweak our DNA so that we could have free choice – “Do you love Me for who I am or for what I can do for you?”. You find out what is in you when you face adversity and have to either continue to move forward or come up with excuses for not doing so. Fortunately, God can empower us to do what we could never do in our own strength and we will begin to recognize there is something at work in us beyond our human abilities. That’s the walk of faith – totally dependent on Him for all the practical stuff in this life and carefully following His daily leading and then watching as He amazing provides what He has determined we really need. That’s also the sonship TLWF promised but never delivered. You find He’s way better than anything you imagined at the beginning of your journey.

Any believer worth their salt that I have run into has suffered. Yet they will say as Paul, “We also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Paul also said, ”We share in His sufferings that we may also share in His glory” and “our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” On the surface it seems like a quick formula for a life of abuse and misery and the casual seeker will take a pass. To those who hang in there and begin to bear fruit, there is life in the Spirit right now – not just a carrot payable in the afterlife offered by someone using you for personal gain. That’s religion – not a relationship with a good Father. When He disciplines us, it is for our good and there is actually peaceable fruit as a result - not counseling to recover from abuse.

I’m probably taking a step off most people’s belief radar, but the journey ends up being longer than necessary if it is not mentioned. You eventually begin to learn in the school of hard knocks that Jesus is the only way to the Father. Obeying His commands is what produces life and nothing else. His commands are the opposite of normal human understanding. I know that produces explosive reactions, but it also is the narrow path to life. Jesus was simply passing on what the Father had spoken to him and we simply pass on Jesus’ words – and many have died for doing so. There is a reason he said to “teach them to obey everything I have commanded you” in the Great Commission. There is a Pearl of Great Price hidden there. It's also the point of the most controversy.

You can have a PhD in theology and know all the right stuff, but at the end of the day you will have to put it into practice or none of it means anything and will not work. I think the greatest gift we can give each other is to encourage one another to read Jesus’ words and put them into practice. His word never returns to Him void – it always works and will produce faith. There is a spiritual life that begins to happen beyond anything that can be conveyed in a book. The Bible hasn’t continued its influence because it’s great teaching (which it is), but because its God breathed to those who will obey. People through the centuries have found that He the reward – not just the idea of some mansion in heaven. They have even been willing to lay down their lives, not because they are extra religious, but because they have experienced and are in love with their Creator.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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Interesting perspective, larry bobo. Thanks for sharing.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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I have questions: does anyone have any information on the current condition of leadership since Matilyn's death? Has Gary hooked up with anyone? Did Marilyn leave any command of who Gary must marry? Has Rick taken on a new title? Have any churches left or been shut down? I have no connections with anyone except this forum. I'm just very curious. Or is this movement folding with a whimper? Is it now just mainstream? Any power plays. Maybe lurkers who are still members would be willing to clarify this. The first generation must be nearly gone, and the second generation is starting to die. My understanding is third generation rarely maintains the vision of the first generation, and these must be in their 40s, pushing 50. Any info?

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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For those interested in seeing all the information TLW attempted to delete from Wikipedia, here is the link to the motherlode:

[en.wikipedia.org]

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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kBOY Wrote:
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> For those interested in seeing all the information
> TLW attempted to delete from Wikipedia, here is
> the link to the motherlode:
>
> [en.wikipedia.org]
> _Fellowship


Wow, you know, the history of LWF sort of reminds me of Armstrong's World Wide Church of God. I think most of you will remember the old guy that was on TV all the time, he founded a church system that, after he died, split up in dozens of different versions of his philosophy. It turned into dozens of smaller organizations. I guess in a way LWF did that, only they didn't much go anywhere, probably because LWF was more into idolizing the leader than they were, even though they pretty much considered Armstrong as not capable of error. When he died they publicly repented for the errors and just started over.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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AD:

For more than a decade, there has been a concerted effort by TLW to exercise damage control, orchestrate spin, rewrite history, and sanitize the past. I know this because I was a part of early efforts to root out every negative comment that could be discovered on the internet, and pass the information forward.

There was even a major introduction at one of the feasts shortly thereafter of the PR firm that was hired to repackage TLW as legitimate. This resulted in the loss of many comments on multiple pages that portrayed TLW in a negative light. Fortunately, not all accounts were able to be modified or deleted.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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"Lurker" is an insulting term. Uncalled for.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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TheSarge:

TLW has been in a slow, steady decline since the passing of JRS. After the initial shock of the event and a few years of steadying the vessel, it seemed to find its own momentum in a second incarnation.

For those of us who were involved a number of decades past that milestone, there were no similar traumatic events, just a slow steady decline in membership, fads that would come and go, a more tightly scripted ‘our way or the highway’ type of crowd control, and a more acceptable ‘normalization’ than we witnessed during the 70’s.

The ‘triumvirate’ that really ruled the roost were G&M and Rick. With mom out of the picture as a go-between, there is no telling whether TLW will continue to die a slow death or result in a serious crash-n-burn. I have noticed a tightening up of information dissemination, as two recent weddings of some significance had no mention or pictures posted on popular social media.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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KBoy says, "two recent weddings of some significance had no mention or pictures posted on popular social media"

Speaking of weddings, I attended one last weekend, the marriage of Matt Larson and Shannon Skinner from the San Diego church.

Shelly Skinner, if you're out there, or if someone could pass it on to her, your daughter simply lights up the room. She was radiant. The couple clearly is in love, and I am certain they have no recollection of anything that was said during the ceremony. They were too entranced with one another for anything else to register.

I recognized maybe four people there. My goodness, but it's been a long time since I was around anything "Walk" related. I was also surprised at the omission of the usual fare of prophecy, singing in the spirit, and so on that usually is included in Walk weddings. It was pretty vanilla. It was also the most unprofessional wedding I have experienced in all the weddings at TLW, and that's saying something if you are familiar with TLW marriages. The preacher was clearly unrehearsed, and had no real idea of what he was doing. Kept referring to notes, and checking with his wife to see if he was on track. Not an insult, just an observance. Maybe it was his first wedding.

I was a little disappointed not to see Gary Hargrave. I figured since the Larsons have so much "juice" in TLW, that he would have come.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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LampShmamp Wrote:
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> "Lurker" is an insulting term. Uncalled for.


It wasn't meant to be demeaning. My understanding of the word "lurker" is one who views but does not comment.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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pbxguy Wrote:
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> KBoy says, "two recent weddings of some
> significance ...
>
> ... I was also surprised at
> the omission of the usual fare of prophecy,
> singing in the spirit, and so on that usually is
> included in Walk weddings. It was pretty vanilla.
>

Reminds me of my wedding at Coniah in summer of 1977. I invited a lot of my buddies from outside the walk and I remember one of them asking me a couple days later "can you explain to me just exactly WHAT WAS THAT?" he said that he was going to record it and give ma a copy as a gift but he didn't have any C3000 cassettes with him. In my case it went on for about 2.5+ hours and must have been pretty bizarre for the uninitiated (which many were).

There sure were a boat load of weddings during that time -- I wonder how many are still together? Mine is but then it really wasn't "assembled" according to official TLW processes (i.e. no JRS checkout, etc.), we had been together for 3 years before I wandered back into TLW and the relationship was well established. Cronquist just said one evening why aren't you guys married? He looked at me and said "what are you waiting for -- a word from God? Well here it is, set a date". My wife and I still laugh about that... one of the only things we laugh about out of the whole adventure.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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Thanks, kBoy. I left in the winter of 2003. I was wondering what the dynamics were like since Marilyn died. The lockdown is interesting on those weddings. They may be keeping "spies" out.


kBOY Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> TheSarge:
>
> .... The ‘triumvirate’ that really ruled the roost
> were G&M and Rick. With mom out of the picture as
> a go-between, there is no telling whether TLW will
> continue to die a slow death or result in a
> serious crash-n-burn. I have noticed a tightening
> up of information dissemination, as two recent
> weddings of some significance had no mention or
> pictures posted on popular social media.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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I too do not consider "lurker" a derogatory term. Just a silent reader of forums.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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TheSarge, thank you for correcting me. I see now that lurker is a defined term, as you say. All this time I thought it was being used in a negative sense towards current walkers who may be on the forum, and I winced every time. Thank you for responding to my post, glad to clear that up.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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Sarge - I hear the current party line at TLWF is that "nothing has changed" regarding Gary's leadership. I suspect Gary is winning any power plays that may be going down. I don't think Rick is interested in taking the helm of the pirate ship. He'll just enjoy the booty the pirates collect.

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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I didn't know the term "lurker" was a derogatory term either. I recall watching one of Charles Manson's parole hearings and Charlie was asked "Mr. Manson, what would you do if you were to win your parole this time?" Charlie said "I would move to some city somewhere and just LURK in the bushes of the city park."

Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens

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Thanks, Paleface. I was just curious. You're spot on about Rick.

paleface Wrote:
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> Sarge - I hear the current party line at TLWF is
> that "nothing has changed" regarding Gary's
> leadership. I suspect Gary is winning any power
> plays that may be going down. I don't think Rick
> is interested in taking the helm of the pirate
> ship. He'll just enjoy the booty the pirates
> collect.
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