Gwen Shamblin: Skinny for Jesus

[Alisamer]

I'd like to know if Gwen's makeup looks that mismatched in person, or if it is that she's using foundation/powder that "flashes back" when a photo is taken of her. 

And thank you for answering questions, I know mine is silly!

[RFsurvivor]

7 minutes ago, Florita said:

Do they monitor the members' weight? And does Gwen require tithing?

If you are not stick skinny you may be asked to have an accountability partner that you will report everything you eat and your weight daily. If you don’t drop your weight quickly enough, you may be asked to “step out” and worship from home while you “get your heart right because you don’t want to give this wrong impression to a visitor that greed is acceptable at Remnant”. Also depending on the person you may get causal conversations with Gwen where she tells you that you’re going to Hell because of your weight gain. Tithing is highly highly expected. 

5 minutes ago, Mrsquigs said:

Did you interact with Gwen’s children at all? What was that like? Are the rumors about Michael Shamblin true?

At one point I was a part of a rotating group of teens who would volunteer to watch/assist with Gwen’s grandchildren. All for free of course. They both act like they are royalty behind closed doors but put on a great show in public. I feel sorry for the grandkids. I don’t know anything about the Michael rumors. 

5 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

I'd like to know if Gwen's makeup looks that mismatched in person, or if it is that she's using foundation/powder that "flashes back" when a photo is taken of her. 

And thank you for answering questions, I know mine is silly!

Oh my goodness yes. She looks just as scary up close!! And the makeup was awful but so many members try to copy as well.

15 hours ago, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

@Curious I agree the son probably did nothing we would find terrible.  Maybe gave up the kool-aid, or realized he didn't want to be arranged married to begin with and certainly not any more, or came out as a normal non-Remnant Christian, or came out or ???

But what ever it was, it was serious enough to end a marriage after a little over a year. And serious enough to the parents that they're pretending the ex-wife is their daughter.

I find it odd his FB still has his wedding pictures, but he doesn't seem to update it often. I hope he's off living his happiest best non-Remnant life.

The Remnant websites/You Tube channels are twisty turn-y rabbit holes and I nearly lose myself every time I venture in.

I have sources that have said he likely came out as gay and that is why they divorced. I also knew him personally and always suspected. 

[Florita]

9 minutes ago, RFsurvivor said:

If you are not stick skinny you may be asked to have an accountability partner that you will report everything you eat and your weight daily. If you don’t drop your weight quickly enough, you may be asked to “step out” and worship from home while you “get your heart right because you don’t want to give this wrong impression to a visitor that greed is acceptable at Remnant”. Also depending on the person you may get causal conversations with Gwen where she tells you that you’re going to Hell because of your weight gain. Tithing is highly highly expected. 

Wow!!! That's even worse than I expected.

Someone up-thread wondered if marriages were arranged. Does matchmaking go on between parents/families? And are your parents or your husband's parents involved with RF?

[JermajestyDuggar]

Is there a different weight standard for men and women? I just ask because Gwen’s husband was overweight for years and wonder if it’s more accepted for men to have 10 extra pounds.

[RFsurvivor]

17 minutes ago, Florita said:

Wow!!! That's even worse than I expected.

Someone up-thread wondered if marriages were arranged. Does matchmaking go on between parents/families? And are your parents or your husband's parents involved with RF?

Depends on the couple. Many are basically arranged or “highly suggested”. But no matter what, you must date inside the church. If you wanted to date a non-member, they must join the church. I don’t feel comfortable discussing my family or my in laws for the sake of privacy.

18 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Is there a different weight standard for men and women? I just ask because Gwen’s husband was overweight for years and wonder if it’s more accepted for men to have 10 extra pounds.

Kinda. Women are given less time to get weight off. 

[LovelyLuna]

Welome to my favorite place on the internet  @RFsurvivor!  Thank you for all the insider info, I hope your recovery continues to go well.  I have to be in therapy too, you are not alone in that.  

I have a question about the diet and pregnant women, is the diet altered when you are pregnant? Is Breastfeeding encouraged and how long dose a mom have to lose the baby weight?  

[Florita]

How do they monitor what you are doing and who you are seeing outside of church? One website says RF members are not suppose to listen to or read anything outside of what the Shamblins produce. Is that true? Do members spy on each other?

Anything you wish to share about your experience there? When did you realize it is a cult? I'm afraid my questions are all over the map... 

 

[RFsurvivor]

6 minutes ago, LovelyLuna said:

Welome to my favorite place on the internet  @RFsurvivor!  Thank you for all the insider info, I hope your recovery continues to go well.  I have to be in therapy too, you are not alone in that.  

I have a question about the diet and pregnant women, is the diet altered when you are pregnant? Is Breastfeeding encouraged and how long dose a mom have to lose the baby weight?  

Diet would not be changed for pregnant women. 

1 minute ago, Florita said:

How do they monitor what you are doing and who you are seeing outside of church? One website says RF members are not suppose to listen to or read anything outside of what the Shamblins produce. Is that true? Do members spy on each other?

Anything you wish to share about your experience there? When did you realize it is a cult? I'm afraid my questions are all over the map... 

 

If you see someone doing something against the doctrine, it is expected that you will report it to a leader. You are taught to not research the church online because it is all lies. You read only Gwen’s books and the Bible. You only listen to Michael’s music. You only hang out with RF people. 

 

It it was a slow realization that I was in a cult but a few particular situations cemented it for me that I would prefer not to discuss. Overall it was being treated poorly and abusively by people who were supposedly my best friends. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

Were children kept on diets too? 

[RFsurvivor]

2 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Were children kept on diets too? 

http://store.weighdown.com/Kids-C148.aspx

more or less yes. There used to be a youth class that was basically Weigh Down for kids

[Florita]

I creeped on Hannah Langsdon Collins' fb this afternoon. I suspect Hannah is on the RF payroll. She's got 2,100+ friends and no privacy settings. And @SJWaterford and @RFsurvivor I can see why people want to join Weigh Down and RF.  Hannah's fb is all smiles and love and weddings and babies. It is easy reading her posts to be convinced that doing life Gwen's way leads to a magical perfect life full of friends that love you and becoming one of the beautiful people. She really does sell it well and I suspect encountering love-bombing by RF members IRL is very hard to resist.

Hannah didn't quite scrub away all of her first wedding.

[RFsurvivor]

26 minutes ago, Florita said:

I creeped on Hannah Langsdon Collins' fb this afternoon. I suspect Hannah is on the RF payroll. She's got 2,100+ friends and no privacy settings. And @SJWaterford and @RFsurvivor I can see why people want to join Weigh Down and RF.  Hannah's fb is all smiles and love and weddings and babies. It is easy reading her posts to be convinced that doing life Gwen's way leads to a magical perfect life full of friends that love you and becoming one of the beautiful people. She really does sell it well and I suspect encountering love-bombing by RF members IRL is very hard to resist.

Hannah didn't quite scrub away all of her first wedding.

Yup. In person it all makes sense and is an amazing way of life, until you take a logical step back.

[SJWaterford]

Even though we live here and have for many years, I saw Gwen today for the first time. Yes the makeup is hideous. The hair was sky high and the hooker heels too. She and Joe rode up in a new tesla with temp tags. Along with all of her leaders. I was very surprised to see that some of the other ladies were trying to replicate the hair thing too. 

[sajetime]

It’s sad. Hannah was matched with someone who was pressured to suppress his true sexuality. Then she must rush into a second wedding to try and erase the stain of the first. At age 25, a woman at RF who isn’t married with kids is an old maid.

[SJWaterford]

The thing I just don't understand is why my daughter believes everything they say even if I can give details and facts that can be verified via court records or public access. She says I'm the reason we don't have a relationship which is not true at all because she hasn't even tried to have a relationship with any of her siblings or her dad(I'm the loudmouth instigator here). What they seem to do is say take it or leave it and you are expected to just forgive and forget just to keep them in your life no matter how horribly they've treated you. She was encouraged to push her boyfriend on us by other members to get us used to the idea and I straight up told her that would never happen and that he was never allowed on my property. She tried over and over for a while but finally got the message. 

 

[luv2laugh]

2 hours ago, RFsurvivor said:

Diet would not be changed for pregnant women. 

If you see someone doing something against the doctrine, it is expected that you will report it to a leader. You are taught to not research the church online because it is all lies. You read only Gwen’s books and the Bible. You only listen to Michael’s music. You only hang out with RF people. 

 

It it was a slow realization that I was in a cult but a few particular situations cemented it for me that I would prefer not to discuss. Overall it was being treated poorly and abusively by people who were supposedly my best friends. 

You really should write a book about this someday. I haven't heard of a cult this messed up. I am surprised no one has gone to the media exposing them. 

[SJWaterford]

2 minutes ago, sajetime said:

It’s sad. Hannah was matched with someone who was pressured to suppress his true sexuality. Then she must rush into a second wedding to try and erase the stain of the first. At age 25, a woman at RF who isn’t married with kids is an old maid.

It seems Hannah is the one that filed tho so I wonder if she had the option of staying in the marriage or if she was pressured to file for divorce. 

Well I will tell you that I saw Gwen at the courthouse today and a news camera did show up and they ran for their lives and didn't want to proceed. 

 

[sajetime]

I’d be interested to know, RF Survivor, how does everyone have so much money? How does everyone have $1 million houses and drive new Teslas etc? Is it all from the church/classes? I know the Days (they’re another interesting RF bunch) are involved in an MLM and have recruited a bunch of members from th church. 

 

What were the terms of Gwen’s divorce?

[luv2laugh]

8 minutes ago, SJWaterford said:

Even though we live here and have for many years, I saw Gwen today for the first time. Yes the makeup is hideous. The hair was sky high and the hooker heels too. She and Joe rode up in a new tesla with temp tags. Along with all of her leaders. I was very surprised to see that some of the other ladies were trying to replicate the hair thing too. 

I'm POSITIVE she has that Tesla from the church tithes she gets. I can't believe how showy she is about wealth.

1 minute ago, sajetime said:

I’d be interested to know, RF Survivor, how does everyone have so much money? How does everyone have $1 million houses and drive new Teslas etc? I

I am also super curious about this point too...

[RFsurvivor]

2 minutes ago, luv2laugh said:

You really should write a book about this someday. I haven't heard of a cult this messed up. I am surprised no one has gone to the media exposing them. 

I actually am working on writing up my experiences. It will probably be a while but I either want to write it up or do something similar to a TED talk. It’s a slow painful process though. And at the same time peaceful to reflect and tell I made the right choice. It is helpful to have questions asked because even though it has been a while since I was a member, there are things that I don’t realize are weird or different. So the questions posted here have given me good external insight. 

[sajetime]

6 minutes ago, SJWaterford said:

The thing I just don't understand is why my daughter believes everything they say even if I can give details and facts that can be verified via court records or public access. She says I'm the reason we don't have a relationship which is not true at all because she hasn't even tried to have a relationship with any of her siblings or her dad(I'm the loudmouth instigator here). What they seem to do is say take it or leave it and you are expected to just forgive and forget just to keep them in your life no matter how horribly they've treated you. She was encouraged to push her boyfriend on us by other members to get us used to the idea and I straight up told her that would never happen and that he was never allowed on my property. She tried over and over for a while but finally got the message. 

 

I can only imagine how heartbreaking that is. So many families have been torn apart by this church — Gwen’s own included. 

[RFsurvivor]

2 minutes ago, sajetime said:

I’d be interested to know, RF Survivor, how does everyone have so much money? How does everyone have $1 million houses and drive new Teslas etc? Is it all from the church/classes? I know the Days (they’re another interesting RF bunch) are involved in an MLM and have recruited a bunch of members from th church. 

 

What were the terms of Gwen’s divorce?

That’s one of the biggest lies. It LOOKS like everyone has money but only the ones at the top (leadership like Gwen, the days, etc) have the real money. Everyone else has just been taught and trained to put on a damn good show. 

[luv2laugh]

Just now, RFsurvivor said:

That’s one of the biggest lies. It LOOKS like everyone has money but only the ones at the top (leadership like Gwen, the days, etc) have the real money. Everyone else has just been taught and trained to put on a damn good show. 

How in the world do they get the $1 mil homes and cars? Is Gwen giving them money?

[RFsurvivor]

5 minutes ago, sajetime said:

I’d be interested to know, RF Survivor, how does everyone have so much money? How does everyone have $1 million houses and drive new Teslas etc? Is it all from the church/classes? I know the Days (they’re another interesting RF bunch) are involved in an MLM and have recruited a bunch of members from th church. 

 

What were the terms of Gwen’s divorce?

I’m sure the terms of Gwen’s divorce could be found in public records but I’m sure it’s ridiculous. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 minute ago, luv2laugh said:

How in the world do they get the $1 mil homes and cars? Is Gwen giving them money?

They could be in debt up to their eyeballs.