Gwen Shamblin 2: Divorce? What Divorce?

[BeyondtheLookingGlass]

1 hour ago, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

OK anyone with insider knowledge:  What are "Truth Cards?"

The 7/24 FB post is  "Keep truth cards out and on your phone. Let truth and not man-made rules guide you." This statement is of course from God Gwen.

Are these daily affirmations RF members are required to subscribe to?  I can't help thinking of SNL's Deep Thoughts

You're basically correct! Each Weigh Down class has Truth Cards - you can either purchase the physical cards (about business card size) or get them on your phone/iPad through Weigh Down All Access under that class. They might have a bible verse and always something about obedience, giving it to God, and waiting on the growl. 

[BeyondtheLookingGlass]

2 hours ago, sajetime said:

From the beginning, Gwen wanted a church that looked different than the world’s churches — overweight and full of divorce.

She can try and put up fronts and make it appear they are pure. For years she's been saying there is nearly no divorce in the Remnant, but it seems it only is increasing! 

There is also a couple who was recently engaged in February then married the end of April and just announced they are expecting their baby in December - how's that math? I guess they rushed the wedding because she was already over a month pregnant...but it's okay, she won't be shunned because she's part of the Olivas/Day clan.

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

I wondered about that in RF.  How many bouncing 8 lbs, 7-month premature babies are there? It does seem that some of the couples must conceive on the honeymoon as babies pop up 9-10 months after the wedding.

Speaking of children -- are RF-ers ordered urged to have large families? Kids born boom boom boom one after the other?  How on earth do these generally uneducated beyond HS children -- and they are still children marrying at 17-20 -- afford having their own children? Much less buying houses and the general cost of just living, especially since the wives don't work.

One of the couples marrying this year, the young man has his own garden/lawn care business.  One of his clients, possibly his only one, is Gwen:  "....... dream job in grounds management and property maintenance right here in Brentwood, and I am deeply honored that I get to do this for Gwen Shamblin and Ashlawn Estate."

Somehow I have the sneaking suspicion that much of  the work for her is "volunteer"

[sajetime]

1 hour ago, BeyondtheLookingGlass said:

She can try and put up fronts and make it appear they are pure. For years she's been saying there is nearly no divorce in the Remnant, but it seems it only is increasing! 

There is also a couple who was recently engaged in February then married the end of April and just announced they are expecting their baby in December - how's that math? I guess they rushed the wedding because she was already over a month pregnant...but it's okay, she won't be shunned because she's part of the Olivas/Day clan. 

Oh, I think I know who you mean! I always wondered why that couple was not on the Remnant Fellowship Weddings page. Makes sense now why there was that speedy wedding at the Days' home and why the bride looked distinctly heavier in wedding pictures than she had looked a few months earlier.

P.S. Sure enough. The wedding was April 29 and the baby registry says Dec. 5.

[sajetime]

May I just say thank you to everyone who has contributed information, insights — and laughs — to this thread? I spent years on-and-off involved with Weigh Down/Remnant  with so many questions, no one to go to (because you dare not question anything) and nothing but seriously outdated old testimonies to go on (which I now know is because of intimidation) and dated news articles. I am so appreciative for a free exchange of experiences and opinions.

I know there have to be people like me, on the outskirts of the organization, who probably have no idea what has gone on there in the last year because it's been carefully hidden or whitewashed. Overdoses/young deaths. Broken marriages. Gwen's divorce. Gwen's remarriage. Gwen's custody battle. There are people right now being love-bombed in classes and promised the world if they join Gwen's God's one true church — which is certainly no better than the worldly churches Remnant demonizes. I'm glad such people have somewhere to confirm the warning bells going off in their head.

[SilverBeach]

Gwen is a fat-shaming bitch, fuck her and that fake-ass "church" she created to enrich her damn self. UGH! And I actually don't give a fuck about David.

[WorseThan1Thinks]

I was informed those 2 previously posted links to the official divorce documents are no longer available.  And sure enough, it looks like they were removed.

It would be hard to know for sure if RF threatened the website to take them down or it was some other factor, but I know for sure that is something that RF would do.

I did happen to download them previously.  It looks like Free Jinger doesn't allow the ability to attach pdf files so I can't put them here.   Someone should archive these files somewhere easily accessible to the public.  I don't know much about how or where to upload pdf files on the interent. 

It is (as of now) still a top google search result when searching for Gwen Shamblin divorce, but the link is suddenly dead.

 

[sajetime]

46 minutes ago, WorseThan1Thinks said:

 

I was informed those 2 previously posted links to the official divorce documents are no longer available.  And sure enough, it looks like they were removed.

It would be hard to know for sure if RF threatened the website to take them down or it was some other factor, but I know for sure that is something that RF would do.

I did happen to download them previously. 

 

Oh, I saved them too! I had a feeling they’d go poof! 

[Curious]

1 hour ago, WorseThan1Thinks said:

I was informed those 2 previously posted links to the official divorce documents are no longer available.  And sure enough, it looks like they were removed.

It would be hard to know for sure if RF threatened the website to take them down or it was some other factor, but I know for sure that is something that RF would do.

I did happen to download them previously.  It looks like Free Jinger doesn't allow the ability to attach pdf files so I can't put them here.   Someone should archive these files somewhere easily accessible to the public.  I don't know much about how or where to upload pdf files on the interent. 

It is (as of now) still a top google search result when searching for Gwen Shamblin divorce, but the link is suddenly dead.

 

They are public information correct?  If so, just email them to me (fluffybunny at freejinger dot org) and I'll figure out a good way to put them up here for posterity

[luv2laugh]

How does Gwen Shamblin deal with people that gain weight from medical issues?

I’ve been experiencing extremely uncomfortable hormonal symptoms and was put on a birth control in May. My weight has shot up and I’ve gained 7-10lbs right now, so far, without changing my diet and exercise. It’s very noticeable in my face. I know it’s the birth control as I’ve been keeping a food and diet log and I actually should be eating MORE than I am. 

If I was told I couldn’t attend an event because of this, I’d be emotionally shattered.  This weight gain has been completely out of my control and I feel helpless over my own body. To know that people like Gwen would claim it’s my fault, I have sinned, and am no longer welcome sounds so heartless. Feeling helpless and out of control of your own body is one of the most scary experiences in the world.

[sajetime]

9 hours ago, luv2laugh said:

How does Gwen Shamblin deal with people that gain weight from medical issues?

I’ve been experiencing extremely uncomfortable hormonal symptoms and was put on a birth control in May. My weight has shot up and I’ve gained 7-10lbs right now, so far, without changing my diet and exercise. It’s very noticeable in my face. I know it’s the birth control as I’ve been keeping a food and diet log and I actually should be eating MORE than I am. 

If I was told I couldn’t attend an event because of this, I’d be emotionally shattered.  This weight gain has been completely out of my control and I feel helpless over my own body. To know that people like Gwen would claim it’s my fault, I have sinned, and am no longer welcome sounds so heartless. Feeling helpless and out of control of your own body is one of the most scary experiences in the world.

Here’s a excerpt from Gwen Shamblin’s book, The Tablet:

“We must tell ourselves the truth. The world will tell you that you are overweight from eating the wrong foods, that it is genetic, that it is your hormones or a metabolism problem. This is not true. Notice the pattern. All of these lies have one thing in common… they take the responsibility out of your hands and put the blame on the food, your mother, your genes, or anything but yourself. In addition, notice these lies make you feel sorry for yourself because you accept the lie that you are a victim.”

Note: I don’t know specifically how Gwen would deal with case-by-case situations, perhaps exceptions would be made during individual counsel.

But I always got the impression from watching years of classes, Weigh Down rallies, services and You Can Overcome shows that Gwen doesn’t believe in special situations. If I had to guess how she’d diagnose you, she would say that you are projecting — blaming something else for your problem — and that you are eating too much/not listening to the growl/not listening to Gwen God.I never heard her address birth control, but I would imagine she wouldn’t approve of it, as she doesn’t approve of antidepressants and sees little value in vitamins. She’d tell you to turn to God for your hormone issues (but wouldn’t the same God have created doctors and pharmaceuticals?)

 

[RFsurvivor]

Taking birth control before marriage was taboo. You just didn’t talk about it. 

 

Back to the statements about gaining weight and being shunned/told to step out. I couldn’t be in the bridal party of my supposed best friend because I had gained weight. I am still not sure if she decided on her own to do that to me or if she had submitted a bridal party that included me that got rejected by leadership...Trust me, I wasn’t overweight, I just wasn’t a stick that I had been before, I wore a size 8 dress to her wedding. She was in my bridal party. I also helped so much during her wedding (way more than any of the skinny bridesmaids) because going into that weekend, I knew it was the end of my time in Remnant and as her friend. it was the last time I ever saw any of them. It was the last nail in the coffin. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

22 minutes ago, sajetime said:

Here’s a excerpt from Gwen Shamblin’s book, The Tablet:

“We must tell ourselves the truth. The world will tell you that you are overweight from eating the wrong foods, that it is genetic, that it is your hormones or a metabolism problem. This is not true. Notice the pattern. All of these lies have one thing in common… they take the responsibility out of your hands and put the blame on the food, your mother, your genes, or anything but yourself. In addition, notice these lies make you feel sorry for yourself because you accept the lie that you are a victim.”

Note: I don’t know specifically how Gwen would deal with case by case situations, perhaps exceptions would be made during individual counsel.

But I always got the impression from watching yeas of classes, Weigh Down rallies, services and You Can Overcome shows that Gwen doesn’t believe in special situations. If I had to guess how she’d diagnose you, she would say that you are projecting — blaming something else for your problem — and that you are eating too much/not listening to the growl/not listening to Gwen God.I never heard her address birth control, but I would imagine she wouldn’t approve of it, as she doesn’t approve of antidepressants and sees little value in vitamins. She’d tell you to turn to God for your hormone issues (but wouldn’t the same God have created doctors and pharmaceuticals?)

 

Well there’s lots and lots of science that will tell Gwen she’s wrong. I know she has a degree in diet and nutrition but she received that education a very long time ago. And I guarantee she hasn’t kept up to date on her education since. She most likely just came to these conclusions on her own and decided they were fact. Without a single bit of peer reviewed studies to back her up. 

[sajetime]

1 hour ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Well there’s lots and lots of science that will tell Gwen she’s wrong. I know she has a degree in diet and nutrition but she received that education a very long time ago. And I guarantee she hasn’t kept up to date on her education since. She most likely just came to these conclusions on her own and decided they were fact. Without a single bit of peer reviewed studies to back her up. 

This!

 

I would urge anyone who really wants to learn about obesity — and, drumroll,  it IS a HORMONE PROBLEM! — to read “The Obesity code” by actual doctor and diabetes specialist Dr. Jason Fung. It is filled with science and dispels so much of the old diet thinking. Reading it made me feel I had been lied to my whole life and made me realize it was NOT all my fault.  For example, it made me see why drinking Diet Coke, which Gwen loves, is counterproductive (it has no calories, but it causes the body to release insulin — when that happens you’re body isn’t tapping into your fat stores) It changed my life and has led to a lasting 45-pound weight loss.  .... shame-free!

[JermajestyDuggar]

6 minutes ago, sajetime said:

This!

 

I would urge anyone who really wants to learn about obesity — and, drumroll,  it IS a HORMONE PROBLEM! — to read “The Obesity code” by actual doctor and diabetes specialist Dr. Jason Fung. It is filled with science and dispels so much of the old diet thinking. Reading it made me feel I had been lied to my whole life and made me realize it was NOT all my fault.  For example, it made me see why drinking Diet Coke, which Gwen loves, is counterproductive (it has no calories, but it causes the body to release insulin — when that happens you’re body isn’t tapping into your fat stores) It changed my life and has lead to a lasting 45-pound weight loss.  .... shame-free!

I think I said this already on the thread but I used to have a Diet Pop addiction and thankfully kicked it years ago. Now if I’m at a cook out and have a Diet Coke, I realize it not only makes my heartburn worse, but also makes me feel hungry. So I very rarely ever drink pop anymore. It’s just water or coffee for me. 

[luv2laugh]

3 hours ago, RFsurvivor said:

Back to the statements about gaining weight and being shunned/told to step out. I couldn’t be in the bridal party of my supposed best friend because I had gained weight. I am still not sure if she decided on her own to do that to me or if she had submitted a bridal party that included me that got rejected by leadership...Trust me, I wasn’t overweight, I just wasn’t a stick that I had been before, I wore a size 8 dress to her wedding. She was in my bridal party. I also helped so much during her wedding (way more than any of the skinny bridesmaids) because going into that weekend, I knew it was the end of my time in Remnant and as her friend. it was the last time I ever saw any of them. It was the last nail in the coffin. 

How devastatingly painful. There are no words. 

[Pathologic Antagonist]

On 8/21/2018 at 12:47 PM, sajetime said:

Very glad you stopped by and hope you will as much as possible! Would *love* to know your thoughts on recent Remnant developments, including but not limited to Gwen's divorce, marriage and now custody battle!

I have been meaning to stop in, but as I have said, life takes me other directions.

Most of my online posting has been on our Spiritwatch Facebook page discussing the ongoing social trends that seem to indicate how civilization is becoming an eroded and defiling place more and more. Yes, it is a beautiful world as well .. but only by getting a grip on the darkness of human nature that mundanely coopts our existence can we dare to really say what might be beauty and what might be ugly. The observations I make there highlight this in respect to Gwenworld.

First of all, the "prophetess" Gwen Shamblin is not directly involved in any kind of "custody battle." Let's keep that clear.  Her new paramour Joe Lara definitely is. She is undoubtedly empowering his legal efforts in the contention he has with his ex-girlfriend over their child. That Gwen would love to have another doll for her Ashlawn playhouse and trophy for her "Zion" to form into another brainwashed disciple is no secret either as has FJ posts here have clearly shown.

Where that court battle goes is in the hands of the Tennessee family courts, which as we know can be a wild place to navigate.  I have found that tyranny trembles when truth is your defense and that is why my own opposition to her efforts to shut us down have never wavered. She is a coiffured church bully and self-aggrandizing cult leader who can only exist - as all other cult leaders have found - at the expense of hapless church members who she mesmerizes into her orbit by cultic mind control and group dynamics. I have not and will not ever believe or preach anything differently. My right to say this has been legally certified by the Tennessee civil courts twice and Gwen's got the legal bills as her report card and wake up call.  I think Joe's ex-significant other will find the family courts ready to do their job and do what is best for the child.  

As I have also said in other places, it's been no secret that the longstanding marital issues Gwen and her now ex-husband David have led to the phantom belief that she enjoyed an actual marriage during her years of creating and pushing her WDW/RF brands (the religion is a business, make no mistake).  Real marriages work through problems and that apparently was not the case with them. There's three ways to resolve conflict in relationships and that's to either manage, ignore or resolve them.  This union was a trainwreck of confusion in all of these it seems due to claimed "irreconcilable differences" .. which means one or both of them checked out at various points from one another to get a grip on things.  The "irreconcilable differences" that are unspecified in their divorce lingered for over a decade with no resolution .. so a whole conversation on just what that involved could ensue here for which I have no time for. It was their life and I'd guess that becoming a cult leader thinking you are perfect because you have zero body fat as well as having divinely ordered judgment and direction over your life didn't help things.

It was, however,  also no secret that he had nothing to do with RF and had a minimal involvement with the culture around it, choosing to life a life apart from her religious megalomania and coming together with her on some kind of social level at other times.  It would seem that he found her to be a headstrong person demanding and getting her way in much of their union. I could be wrong, of course, but I want to think that at the beginning of her bolt into cultism, he had the ample means to reign her in and assert a moral authority over her personally as the Remnant vision came alive in the late 1990's. He supposedly knows what the Bible says about headship in a marriage and in the conservative circles of the Church of Christ they came from,  he had ample traction to do so. It was a hold that he simply let slip away - or may never have actually had. 

Fast forward 20 years and now, she decided the charades was enough and pulled the plug on the gnarly, shrivelled growth the union became.  It was the 1200 pound cape buffalo in the room no one talked about in RF even as Gwen extolled with forked tongue her Remnant marital puritanism. She had heaps of advise about marriage and family even as her own kids wilted under her control and David quietly disappeared into his own world.  Joe Lara just happened to be in the right place at the right time for her new bolt into a new marriage.  Why now?  Beats me. 

Of course, there's a lot to say also about Gwen's towering hypocrisy in the hastily rewritten stance on divorce and remarriage Remnant has. I will offer a couple of thoughts.  

Googling will show her past positions pretty clearly - divorce was NEVER considered an option in RF. The entire corpus of Gwen's teaching hammered that home relentlessly.  What RF now hears is that that divorce is just a legalistic detail God anoints special ones to "Rise Above." The hidden curricula of the cult's social engineering goes on.

The "hidden curricula" is a term coined by Lawrence Richards about what people learn about things of faith from what goes on around them, by example, and not necessarily from doctrine, although that is a major influence.  This concept is established in human nature and it is exploited by cults like RF as a profoundly formative method to indoctrinate and enslave its disciples. And the free usage of double standards within that hidden curricula are the warp and woof of any controlling community enchanted by it's authoritarian leaders and dogma. RF has a whole host of social aberrations it sanctifies as "mere Christianity" and it RF's "hidden curricula" is what has led so many to accept the bizarro world of Gwen and her Remnant royalty as normative.

An analogous term is the concept of "insider doctrine" known to cult researchers. Insider doctrine is what a hidden curricula really consists of.  It is the public positions and image of a cult which is sharply contrasted when compare to the private and existentially reality of what the cult really stands for and how it characterizes existence outside it. RF has long been told how Satanic the world is and how "pure" it is by Gwen even as she enriches herself by it.

So for her to flip so easily on divorce and remarriage after years of "enduring" the "hardship" she had in the trainwreck her union became is quite understandable.  Of course, the rest of the rank and file have to get lawyers and ignore all of the conviction of conscience and the Spirit of God when others' marital bonds get inconvenient. She's  above any suggestion that she might need to avoid sudden new relationships so quickly after a divorce after decades of marriage. Gwen's not like us, remember. She is Gwen Henley Lara (or is it Gwen Lara)?  She hears from God directly more perfectly than any other human in the woild. Her marriage was ordained by God and she's suffered so-ooo much for Zion, so it just needed to rush right ahead barely a few months after the marriage's corpse was legally certified as dead and null. It's for the "saints" to have to now bleed and fight the real battles in divorce and family courts.

Remnant's leashes muzzling people are now going to be tried in this way over the years and I pray that people wake up and smell the pizza.  After seeing people savaged for years by its shepherds, families shattered and marriages destroyed, and the whole tragic Smith family horror, hopefully  this will make someone's heart and mind tip and start looking for an exit. It is my prayer that people will finally be freed from the blinding RF has placed on them and we are always ready to talk. We have had a few begin already.

But that's all I need to say for now. My wife and I are going to spend some time together and hopefully see my kids at some point ..  and we intend to enjoy our marriage and our pastorate. 
 

[Howl]

18 minutes ago, Pathologic Antagonist said:

I pray that people wake up and smell the pizza.

Amen sister, AMEN!  If RF goes to another thread, I hope this is the thread title! 

[FrozenSmile]

I have just spent the better part of my afternoon in the rabbit hole that is these threads. I have a former classmate that is in this “church” & have always thought it gave off major cult vibes. From what i’ve gathered, she’s been with them for maybe 20 years & appears to be pretty high-up in the “circles”. Every post she makes is happy, with lots of !!!!! & ❤️. I thought it was all super strange, so these threads have been very eye-opening. 

[RFsurvivor]

On 8/30/2018 at 12:36 PM, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

I wondered about that in RF.  How many bouncing 8 lbs, 7-month premature babies are there? It does seem that some of the couples must conceive on the honeymoon as babies pop up 9-10 months after the wedding.

Speaking of children -- are RF-ers ordered urged to have large families? Kids born boom boom boom one after the other?  How on earth do these generally uneducated beyond HS children -- and they are still children marrying at 17-20 -- afford having their own children? Much less buying houses and the general cost of just living, especially since the wives don't work.

One of the couples marrying this year, the young man has his own garden/lawn care business.  One of his clients, possibly his only one, is Gwen:  "....... dream job in grounds management and property maintenance right here in Brentwood, and I am deeply honored that I get to do this for Gwen Shamblin and Ashlawn Estate."

Somehow I have the sneaking suspicion that much of  the work for her is "volunteer"

Having kids is highly praised. Gwen loves to say look at the children, the fruit of remnant, as way to show how Remnant is "different." Granted many of the RF kids were terrors and ill-behaved. 

 

As for being married young, it was a strange transition. Early on in RF, it seemed like marriage was something that the couple at a minimum had good jobs, probably degrees, and could take of themselves; however, at some point, this changed. The couples got younger and younger and dated for shorter and shorter periods of time. At the time that @RFSurvivor_2 and I got married, we had one of the longest record on dating duration at just over 3 years before getting engaged..

 

Your suspicion about the "volunteer" work for Gwen, is very likely correct...

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

2 minutes ago, RFsurvivor said:

Granted many of the RF kids were terrors and ill-behaved.

Really bad or just normal non-RF behavior?  Do you have stories -- without naming names of course

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 hour ago, RFsurvivor said:

Having kids is highly praised. Gwen loves to say look at the children, the fruit of remnant, as way to show how Remnant is "different." Granted many of the RF kids were terrors and ill-behaved. 

 

As for being married young, it was a strange transition. Early on in RF, it seemed like marriage was something that the couple at a minimum had good jobs, probably degrees, and could take of themselves; however, at some point, this changed. The couples got younger and younger and dated for shorter and shorter periods of time. At the time that @RFSurvivor_2 and I got married, we had one of the longest record on dating duration at just over 3 years before getting engaged..

 

Your suspicion about the "volunteer" work for Gwen, is very likely correct...

You would know better than I, but it seems weddings are what Gwen uses to draw people in besides the weight loss program of course. They are so heavily displayed on social media and on their website. So the couples would have to get younger and younger and the engagements shorter and shorter in order for her to keep throwing these big lavish weddings she can brag about. There seems to be a constant stream of weddings. I wonder if they will ever get desperate enough to start marrying some girls off at 17.

[MargaretElliott]

Where do I start. I fell into this rabbit hole last week, when I was feeling shitty about my weight. I'm about ten pounds over my preferred weight, so I started watching what I ate. I started getting a bit obsessive- logging everything religiously into my fitness app, getting overwhelmed with anxiety over what I ate. So tonight, I've finally finished all the Gwen Shamblin threads. And I did the only logical thing. I made myself a mug brownie with chocolate chips and a scoop of ice cream on top. Because fuck you, Gwen Shamblin.

[Blessings of the Corn]

2 hours ago, FrozenSmile said:

I have just spent the better part of my afternoon in the rabbit hole that is these threads. I have a former classmate that is in this “church” & have always thought it gave off major cult vibes. From what i’ve gathered, she’s been with them for maybe 20 years & appears to be pretty high-up in the “circles”. Every post she makes is happy, with lots of !!!!! & ❤️. I thought it was all super strange, so these threads have been very eye-opening. 

Same! A former college classmate appears to be entrenched in this cult and I'm so surprised. 

[BeyondtheLookingGlass]

Just confirmed again that Gwen is letting the church believe David divorced her when she in fact filed for divorce. We seriously need to make these documents public again! I can't believe no one has mentioned the boob job. She has clearly displayed a flat chest in the past and then Wow! Praise God! ? She suddenly has some form and a chest...hmmmmm