Gwen Shamblin: Skinny for Jesus

[onemama]

On 2.12.2017 at 4:08 PM, usmcmom said:

A hundred layer donut is  twenty layers of carbs, topped with twenty layers of sugar, followed by twenty layers of sin, and finished with FORTY layers of  an orgasmic sugar

Oh, wow! I guess those are verboten at the RW. 

[Anonymousguest]

3 hours ago, Peas n carrots said:

Ok so after putting on some weight over the past 3 years I've recently started watching what I eat again. I'm a long time Weight Watcher veteran, but this time I'm doing a high protein program paired with a weightlifting program. So far about 5 lbs down. Another 30 to go.

So I find it fascinating the Weigh Down push of "the growl" - this seems to go against most healthy eating advice I've ever seen. Usually when you get to a growl point, it's hard to control the urge to overeat. At least for me it is!

Most programs do advise to wait until you are legit hungry and listen to your body's cues. But the growl - seems like that could promote binge eating.

I remember having this very discussion with someone about the book/method. Even back in the 90s the mainstream advice for dieting was to eat several small meals a day and not to skip meals because it leads to over eating and bingeing. I think that Gwen is tight on that some people have lost touch with their body's signals, and there is some benefit to"waiting for the growl" while you are learning what it feels like to be hungry. But I don't think it's the best long term advice because most of us can't live with being chronically hungry. Maybe it would work short term, but I think probably after 6-12wks you'll eventually give in to it. 

[Cartmann99]

I just can't get over Gwen's hair.  I'm a native Texan, and she makes those pictures of me from the 80s look downright subdued!

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

Looking closely at the Wedding Albums for the church cult I noticed that in nearly every wedding, Elizabeth Shamblin Hannah's daughters are junior bridesmaids/flower girls and the son is ring bearer/page. 

Interesting (also odd and sort of creepy).  i wonder if that's requirement for every bride. Also it seems that cult encourages short engagements (3-5) months, young couples (17 - 23), and that every aspect of the wedding is done by volunteers:

As one bride put it  (bolding mine)

Quote

 

Even though our entire engagement is only a five-month period of time, throughout the entire wedding planning process I have not once been stressed or worried… which is only God and a reflection of how He has led Gwen Shamblin to establish an incredible team of volunteer ministries to put on the most beautiful weddings ever!

Remnant is amazing; every need is prayed over and thought of! There is a ministry for everything from food to decorations, rehearsals, music, coordinators, hair and make-up, and even fireworks! It is amazing how well we are taken care of! It has been extremely humbling to see the entire body come together for us to make this day so special for us and glorifying to God.

 

Obviously the volunteers are donating time and talents.  I wonder if they are also donating their money to pay for everything they are "volunteering"? 

[Maxwell]

On 11/30/2017 at 1:47 PM, onemama said:

It's all about Gwen, who is "the real item".  This video says so much!  Where's her dad? Did he leave them?  Who is her best friend, God or Gwen?   

More Gwen worship:

And I had to laugh so hard at the comment she made about her BIL starting at minute 2. Her husband..... I wonder what he was thinking as he stood there nodding... 

Again, where was their dad?

 

My guess is Elizabeth will be the prophetess, with Michael's support. He's already controlling everyone with his music. 

Anyone else notice all the references to other's by full names?  In the first video, Michael says, "Let me introduce you to some amazing people starting with my sister, Elizabeth Shamblin Hanna"  Elizabeth then states, "I am Elizabeth Shamblin Hanna, and I am honored to be the daughter of Gwen Shamblin, and the little sister to my big brother Michael Shamblin."

 

Second video, Micheal introduces his wife, not as "My wife Erin" but as "Erin Shamblin".  Erin, after stating that she is treated like a daughter and how the family has embraced her goes on to say:

"The love that Gwen Shamblin has shown to me..."

"... Elizabeth Hanna still texts me every single day..."

"My husband is dear to me... because Gwen Shamblin walked us through everything..."

"... and Brandon Hanna, I can not say enough about...I never met a man as upright and reliable as Brandon Hanna..."

It comes off as pure marketing and with absolutely no intimacy.

 

Third video is better, Brandon actually calls her Gwen and refers to the others on stage by their 1st names.

[onemama]

7 hours ago, Maxwell said:

Anyone else notice all the references to other's by full names? 

I hadn't noticed before...

7 hours ago, Maxwell said:

It comes off as pure marketing and with absolutely no intimacy.

It does. 

I got to thinking, considering how this Fellowship of the Growl preaches the need to wait for the hunger pangs to become audible, they sure do eat together a lot. How do they do it?   There also seems to be a lot of food wastage because they love their food, they like to eat out, but they aren't allowed to finish their serving. I don't see how they'd want to eat the same leftovers twice or more times.

It's all very odd. 

 

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

Adding about the marriages/ weddings

The cult church doesn't seem to do the fundie courtship model with chaperons, because the engaged couples talk about dating. One couple mentioned 2.5 years before getting engaged. Although another mentioned 9 months and that his dad was sending him links to engagement rings after he had been dating the girl for 3 months.

However... these kids (because they are) aren't dating as we define it.  Their dates seems to be almost exclusively church services, church events, volunteer activities, church festivals  (the numerous OT Jewish ones incorporated into the cult). There are a couple of mentions of picnics or gatherings at other cult members' houses

Nearly all of them mention their initial date was hours and hours of discussing how great God is, how much the cult has blessed their lives and how much the "truth" Gwen has taught has made their previously awful sinful lives (and the sinful awful lives of their families) So. Much. Better. And. Wonderful. And. Peaceful. And. Blessed. And. Thin.

Some of these kids have been with the cult since they were 3 or so.  How sinful and awful can a 3-year old's life be?

 

[nausicaa]

Quote

Remnant is amazing; every need is prayed over and thought of! There is a ministry for everything from food to decorations, rehearsals, music, coordinators, hair and make-up, and even fireworks! It is amazing how well we are taken care of! It has been extremely humbling to see the entire body come together for us to make this day so special for us and glorifying to God.

Ah yes, the hair and make-up ministry. I believe that was mentioned in Thessalonians?

I do wonder how many young women are drawn to this church because they know they'll get a huge fairy tale wedding nearly gratis out of it?

[MsSaylor]

Are there any testimonies out there of folks who have left Gwens Skinny for Jesus empire? One hallmark of a cult is the difficulty in leaving, being shamed/losing family/disconnect from social supports. Just wondering if there is any evidence of this.  

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

Yep there are lots out there, although they seem to be pre-2010 for some reason

[Briefly]

On 12/3/2017 at 6:02 PM, Cartmann99 said:

I just can't get over Gwen's hair.  I'm a native Texan, and she makes those pictures of me from the 80s look downright subdued!

I'm a native Texan, too.  I have the stereotypical big hair, and those pictures are way over to top.  Even for Texans!

[bertnee]

A fireworks ministry? A FIREWORKS MINISTRY?!?

[danvillebelle]

2 hours ago, bertnee said:

A fireworks ministry? A FIREWORKS MINISTRY?!?

Maybe it's from the same passage as the directions for the Holy Hand Grenade in Monty Python's The Holy Grail. 

[Howl]

On 12/4/2017 at 10:56 AM, MsSaylor said:

Are there any testimonies out there of folks who have left Gwens Skinny for Jesus empire? One hallmark of a cult is the difficulty in leaving, being shamed/losing family/disconnect from social supports. Just wondering if there is any evidence of this.  

When I was reading @Red Hair, Black Dress's post on dating in the cult, I immediately realized that it would be very unlikely for a marriage to survive if one spouse left the cult. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

On 12/4/2017 at 11:29 AM, nausicaa said:

Ah yes, the hair and make-up ministry. I believe that was mentioned in Thessalonians?

I do wonder how many young women are drawn to this church because they know they'll get a huge fairy tale wedding nearly gratis out of it?

AND they will get wedding diet help! I don't know too many engaged women that didn't try to lose a few pounds before the wedding. I tried it I didn't lose any...

[acheronbeach]

On 12/4/2017 at 5:32 PM, Briefly said:

I'm a native Texan, too.  I have the stereotypical big hair, and those pictures are way over to top.  Even for Texans!

I wonder if she's wearing a wig or wiglet, because there's a lot of poof on the top and I can't see any pics where she pulls back the hair at the sides of her head (where you often can see tabs or the edge of the lace).  Chronic malnutrition can result in hair loss.  

Then again, it could just be a Bumpit, a weave, or an absolute shit-ton of hairspray with bad styling.  

[MayMay1123]

On 12/9/2017 at 1:02 PM, acheronbeach said:

I wonder if she's wearing a wig or wiglet, because there's a lot of poof on the top and I can't see any pics where she pulls back the hair at the sides of her head (where you often can see tabs or the edge of the lace).  Chronic malnutrition can result in hair loss.  

Then again, it could just be a Bumpit, a weave, or an absolute shit-ton of hairspray with bad styling.  

i vote for "all of the above"

[Cartmann99]

50 minutes ago, MayMay1123 said:

i vote for "all of the above"

Jesus smiles when you shove a big Bible under your wig.

[usmcmom]

Game of Thrones spoiler: 

Spoiler

The red lady turns into this old hag at night.

That's how I imagine things when Gwen gets ready for bed. 

[JesusPony]

*whispers* Are there any black peoples?? I just fell into this rabbit hole (thanks again, FJ!) and a quick scan of the wedding pages and instagrams tells me no. A couple of possible Italians, maybe.

I do remember hearing about the Weigh Down around the last time I attended church around the late 90s, but I didn't know that had become THIS. Whet the FECK, y'all? This shit is next-level, and I have been on FJ for years. The daughter, the Hair...the hidden husband?! You know, Steve Maxwell would probably be into this if it wasn't led by a woman.

Starting my binge watch of the Remnant YouTube videos tonight. Will report back if I spot one person of color. 

[usmcmom]

11 minutes ago, JesusPony said:

*whispers* Are there any black peoples?? I just fell into this rabbit hole (thanks again, FJ!) and a quick scan of the wedding pages and instagrams tells me no. A couple of possible Italians, maybe.

I do remember hearing about the Weigh Down around the last time I attended church around the late 90s, but I didn't know that had become THIS. Whet the FECK, y'all? This shit is next-level, and I have been on FJ for years. The daughter, the Hair...the hidden husband?! You know, Steve Maxwell would probably be into this if it wasn't led by a woman.

Starting my binge watch of the Remnant YouTube videos tonight. Will report back if I spot one person of color. 

I had not thought about Steve Maxwell but I think you are right. I can't help but think of Lori Alexander every time I read this thread. She is probably right on board with the dysfunctional weight loss and food being equated with sin; but then....WOMAN LEADER!! She must be so torn. I'd bet my last donut that Lori wants to promote Gwen on her blog because of the food thing. In fact, she is probably thinking of her own "Unrighteous Eating" angle as we type; thinking of a new direction for her blog. 

[JesusPony]

OK, there are multiple children of color in the homeschool co-op (of course) choir:

I feel for Elizabeth. She looks frail and exhausted. Isn't there some type of osteoporosis you can get after numerous childbirths? I believe Michelle Duggar is suffering from it?

Can you imagine being raised by someone with such extreme food and weight control issues and having to be the poster child for that? In the video where Elizabeth discusses losing weight after each birth, Gwen refers to her newborn grandchild as a "porker". Uh...

[neurogirl]

Without trying to reveal too much, one of my parents was/is a leader in obesity research, especially in regards to children. I, normal weight, always piloted the studies to make sure kids understood/could follow the instructions. Said parent was very image conscious and we had to maintain appearances of a healthy lifestyle at work functions/restaurants/etc. It was absolutely better than being the poster child of a cult, and certainly there were numerous factors at play, but when I went to therapy in college for an eating disorder my therapist laughed and said "there was no way you weren't ending up with food issues." So yeah I am fascinated by Revenant but can't go down the rabbit hole too much because even a minimal amount of that pressure and lifestyle clearly got to me, and it wasn't until I was entirely moved out of my childhood home that I was able to recover. I suspect the Shamblin family and other true believers in the cult will have eating issues for generations. 

[luv2laugh]

The missing "fat" husband is REALLY creepy and reminds me of Scientology's missing Shelly Miscavige. 

What JesusPony just said: The daughter, the hair, the missing husband, the black ball gowns...  This could honestly be a movie.  Straight out of a Tim Burton movie.

You really can't make this stuff up.



"Soon she realized that Shamblin was running more than a weight loss program. Hartman said, " Everyone dressed alike, they were super happy and your couldn’t hold a normal conversation with anyone because they only wanted to talk about how great Gwen was. I called my mom and said, 'This is a cult."

Teri Phillips and her husband took advice from Shamblin about virtually everything in their lives. How to do business, sell their house,  decorate, it seems nothing was immune to Shamblin's often stern judgements. Phillips even asked Shamblin if she should put her mother in assisted living. "She said I should because my mother was not godly," Phillips said.

Phillips took antidepressants, but Remnant taught that doing so is a sin. Phillips stopped taking her prescribed medication for months. But when her subsequent depression returned and overwhelmed her she took her medication secretly. When church leaders discovered this purported sin Phillips said that she "felt like a guilty child" and flushed her pills down the toilet.

Phillips became increasingly concerned about Remnant policy regarding the discipline of children. Phillips claimed that Remnant leaders urged her to "spank her 4-year-old girl’s bare bottom for nearly an hour" because she disturbed a church meeting and a church leader severely paddled her 10-year-old son.

 Debi Pearl influence?!???

https://www.culteducation.com/group/1224-weigh-down/21804-praying-to-be-thin.html

Wow....

[JesusPony]

2017 Remnant Youth Christmas Concert:

I fast forwarded through most of it: mediocre musicianship and sometimes terrifying Bible verse reciting. Gwen and her hair appear about 54 minutes in to explain that the Remnant youth are so much more well-behaved and skinny than worldly children, who will grow up to be obese and drug-addicted unmarried parents. She reads many quotes and statistics. Merry Christmas, I guess.

For the leader of a church, Gwen is a terrible speaker. Very rambly, airy voice, and poor elocution.