Welcome slandjt and thanks for posting! It’s interesting to me the common threads that all of us have shared that are categorically denied by TLWF. For example, being told to lie to your parents – the end justifies the means if your shepherds tell you to do it. Instead of the scriptures having the final say, they are ignored if it serves the purposes of the leader. Divorce has been another issue that has been twisted along these lines. God certainly can heal lives that have gone through divorce, but it is not the preferred path to the Kingdom as evidenced in lives of the leadership. Also, the breakup of families when families are outside TLWF, or leave the group. The real tragedy has been the kids. Gary’s refusal to relate to his own daughter from a previous marriage would be a red flag for most people – all the while encouraging members to call him and Marilyn, Dad and Mom. How can you be parents to someone else when you can’t even be a parent to your own kid? It really is a distorted view of family. JRS had the same problem with his daughters. What would it take for one of us to want to prophesy the death of our kids? That’s pretty sick – and John was the founder of the group! By the way, his prophesy never worked - it was all fantasy, not God.
The whole Christmas thing was new every year – depending on which local church you attended and who the current shepherds were. God was constantly changing his mind. One year it was no big deal, and the next you were banned from elders meetings if you had a tree at home. Then there was Rick, who was a complete law unto himself – the truth was always floating and could never really be known. Only those that worked in the Living Word building were free to do whatever they wanted – including trading wives. (Is Rick on number 4 now? The fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.) At least they were getting John’s word out – perhaps more than they realized speaking of a living word – not just a printed word.
We all remember the many services – 17 per week for me at one time including morning and evening intercession. We were allowed to go to college, but the way it was expressed to me was college or the Kingdom – not both. Now they have Shiloh University. I supposed it’s a way to get a college education without finding out there is life beyond TLWF walls and losing control of members. We all faced the fear of reprisal from “God” by leaving – thinking He was going to destroy us. I guess we should have noticed what happened to Martha after all those many months of “Death to the Nephilim!” She was untouched and John died. If you can get to the point where you are not freaked out at the mention of God, He is so much more wonderful than anything we ever knew in TLWF. It really is spiritual abuse and a difficult thing to work through. “Call no man leader, teacher, father – you have one and it’s the Christ” is a scary place to start, but so worth the effort.
The whole Christmas thing was new every year – depending on which local church you attended and who the current shepherds were. God was constantly changing his mind. One year it was no big deal, and the next you were banned from elders meetings if you had a tree at home. Then there was Rick, who was a complete law unto himself – the truth was always floating and could never really be known. Only those that worked in the Living Word building were free to do whatever they wanted – including trading wives. (Is Rick on number 4 now? The fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.) At least they were getting John’s word out – perhaps more than they realized speaking of a living word – not just a printed word.
We all remember the many services – 17 per week for me at one time including morning and evening intercession. We were allowed to go to college, but the way it was expressed to me was college or the Kingdom – not both. Now they have Shiloh University. I supposed it’s a way to get a college education without finding out there is life beyond TLWF walls and losing control of members. We all faced the fear of reprisal from “God” by leaving – thinking He was going to destroy us. I guess we should have noticed what happened to Martha after all those many months of “Death to the Nephilim!” She was untouched and John died. If you can get to the point where you are not freaked out at the mention of God, He is so much more wonderful than anything we ever knew in TLWF. It really is spiritual abuse and a difficult thing to work through. “Call no man leader, teacher, father – you have one and it’s the Christ” is a scary place to start, but so worth the effort.