Anyone Know What Happened to Maranatha and Matthew?

[Aurora rising]

Well, I was (and am) always interested in older men. When I was 17, my boyfriend was 35 - of course my whole family freaked out. My husband is 16 years older. BUT I was never encouraged from my familie and nobody talked me into marry an older men and get pregnant immediately. My MIL was married off when she was 14 years old, to a much older man and she stills cries when she talks about it (its more than 60 years!). This is just plain cruel.

My husband has lots of younger friends (all girls) who have a crush on him, start giggling and blushing, don´t like me too much etc. He always treats them wonderful, is listening to their problems - but always with a distance, always with his wedding band quite visible on his hand and finishes lots of sentences with "my wife as well..".

[FundieFarmer]

OMG. Matthew's "testimony" about Maranatha made my skin crawl. He sounds like he's talking about cattle.

"A few nights before our wedding feast, when Maranatha was dressed and ready and waiting for me to come, the doorbell rang and it was her dad who showed up instead. He assured her the wedding feast was not that particular night, and asked her to change her clothes and join him for a special dinner. He took her to a nice restaurant where they had a wonderful evening talking and sharing and laughing and crying together. Then, at one point, he told her, “Sweetheart, all your life you have submitted to me, trusted me, and followed me, and you have done this well. But, when Matthew comes and takes you, all of that transfers over to him, even if that means he leads you in ways that vary from how I would do things.†And when I went to get her, she followed her dad’s final lead right into my headship of her. Wow! Did I walk into a good deal or what?!"

[bea]

Why does God never speak to say "this one is a creepy pedophile, stay far far away."' God only ever speaks to these girls to tell them to may the guy they aren't sure about. :roll:

[ExCatholic]

I recapped her story "chapter" by "chapter" from her blog here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=24869&start=60

Awesome

[Deist woman]

The wedding photos were bizarre!

And there is some fuzziness about the husband's older children.It really seems like he was calling them nephew and niece but they are really his kids.

In addition to the housework, Jessiqua's parents (who seemed to have had a child marriage all their own- except both were children) simply couldn't afford all their children. They were living two hacked together broken down trailers with !!!eleventy!! children.Jessiqua was the oldest and the first to be sacrificed.

Jessiqua's husband's two kids, an 11 year old girl and a boy, don't remember his age, were supposedly "adopted" by the man when they were toddlers. Yeah; I am sure that is what happened. Sure. The story mentions that he had given up on women because of all his failed relationships, before meeting Jessiqua. It avoids any mention of what type of relationships these were (married and divorced? affairs?). But he knows that Jessiqua is "not that kind of woman" (at 17, she is not a woman yet, dude. She isn't even legal yet).

[CrazyMumma]

WOW! Realizing the age difference between M &M and then reading about Jessiqua... wow.. a normal parent would have called the police... but nope... not these parents.. Looking at Jessiqua's wedding photo... it looked like she could be his child... and it's not the height difference.. hubby and I have a ft difference in height... but we both (fortunately/unfortunately) look like teenagers! :D DH is nearly 30 but still passes for a 19-20 yr old.. I'm only a yr younger then him but look like I'm a teenage mum :D but when I look at those (especially Jessiqua and Laren) I get the impression the guys are pedophiles.

[anunquietgirl]

I've been lurking FJ for a while, but never posted. I had recently heard of and been horrified by the details of the MAranatha story. Had been curious to see if anyone knew what came of them, saw no one didn't, and then did some other googling.  Googling, it looks like they own a crossfit in Texas - not quite the outcome I expected, but the names match?

[NachosFlandersStyle]

Texas just made it illegal for minors to marry  (unless they are legally emancipated). Hopefully this means no future child brides in the Chapman family. http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/06/16/texas_the_state_with_the_country_s_second_highest_child_marriage_rate_finally.html

[librarianjojo]

On 5/1/2017 at 0:57 PM, anunquietgirl said:

I've been lurking FJ for a while, but never posted. I had recently heard of and been horrified by the details of the MAranatha story. Had been curious to see if anyone knew what came of them, saw no one didn't, and then did some other googling.  Googling, it looks like they own a crossfit in Texas - not quite the outcome I expected, but the names match?

You are correct. It looks like Lauren is doing health and nutrition coaching based out of her parents' "box." She is also listed as a contributor on a missionary site, Forge America. I have to say she is very lovely. I would love to hear her story from her perspective, almost 10 years after the wedding. 

[Howl]

30 minutes ago, librarianjojo said:

You are correct. It looks like Lauren is doing health and nutrition coaching based out of her parents' "box." She is also listed as a contributor on a missionary site, Forge America. I have to say she is very lovely. I would love to hear her story from her perspective, almost 10 years after the wedding. 

OK, I'm officially, totally, completely verklempt!  If I'd imagined Maranatha and Matthew Chapman doing anything, owning a Crossfit box would not be it.  Ever.  I mean, WTF.  Maranatha is looking pretty damn buff.   Matthew is looking a little schlub-ish. 

They are in deep East Texas (Tyler/Lufkin area).   

[librarianjojo]

I KNOW!  It is a little surreal. I wonder if the people who work out there know the background?

 

On the other hand, CrossFit can sometimes attract folks who are looking for an intense, clique-y workout. I think that's how they have taken off really well - it gives people a place to belong and rules to follow. It takes over your life - you workout, hang out, socialize, etc. So maybe the transition from fundie to CrossFit isn't so strange. 

[Howl]

2 minutes ago, librarianjojo said:

I KNOW!  It is a little surreal. I wonder if the people who work out there know the background?

On the other hand, CrossFit can sometimes attract folks who are looking for an intense, clique-y workout. I think that's how they have taken off really well - it gives people a place to belong and rules to follow. It takes over your life - you workout, hang out, socialize, etc. So maybe the transition from fundie to CrossFit isn't so strange. 

I'm so conditioned to the idea (and reality!) of modest dress for fundy types, that it's shocking to see so much gosh darn defrauding skin. 

[bea]

Crossfit is pretty cult-ish, at least the ones I know, so it's not that big a leap.
I guess.
But. Seriously. CROSSFIT. WTF. [emoji53]

[librarianjojo]

8 hours ago, Howl said:

I'm so conditioned to the idea (and reality!) of modest dress for fundy types, that it's shocking to see so much gosh darn defrauding skin. 

Nike! 

[Tenyari]

Wait, they have a crossfit center now?

 

http://www.premiercrossfit.com/about-us/who-we-are/

[sableduck]

Well, that(and their picture) was unexpected...