Gwen Shamblin 5: She is a shit writer!

[SJWaterford]

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

God is a mechanic. He can fix my car, computer, or camera.

Well apparently she means the RF approved CS Automotive in Brentwood. 

 

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

God is my interior decorator. He can pick out colors, furniture, and paintings. My whole house is a result of calling upon Him for everything.

 My whole house is a result of the flea market. I don't call upon Him for stupid stuff like decorating, or what I should wear, because I have a brain!

 

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

God is a roofer. He can fix my leaky roof without the help of human hands.

Then she means Exodus Construction. But pretty sure those are actual humans working there and not spirits. I saw some at Home Depot just yesterday, looked like real people to me. 

 

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

God is my best friend. I used to try to give someone else this position, but I’ve learned through experience that there is no friend like Jesus.

Wait, so God and Jesus are the same? 

Repent now from believing that God and Jesus are the same being.- http://www.remnantfellowship.org/About-Our-Church/What-We-Believe/The-Essence-of-God

 

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

God is my husband-defender.  God can help me to the car with a heavy load and protect me. God is a conversationalist when I am alone, and He meets every need, in more ways than a spouse could do.

Then why the need to get married again, or at all? And so would a man say that God is my wife-defender?

 

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

God is my primary songwriter and musician.

So I guess she doesn't needs Joe's expertise in songwriting and music.

 

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

God is the journalist and Bible scholar of all my writings. I just let the Word fall open, and the rest is history.

But yet you eagerly take credit for the words he gives you?

 

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

God is my invisible traffic director. He can part great seas of heavy traffic.

This is just dumb. Common sense, don't go out at rush hour! And you live like a mile from the church, so what traffic?

 

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

God is the great chef. I pray over food; I want each flavor to be savored. Since God made everyone’s taste buds, He knows how to provide everyone’s favorite tastes.

Why praise the taste buds if you won't let anyone eat anything? 

 

Of course all of these were quoted originally from Gwen's devotional. 

 

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

So I take it she sees everything she is drawn to or wants as ordained by God?

 

[artdecades]

So many of those would be great user titles. 

 

I vote for for god is my interior decorator. 

[Pianokeeper]

If God hands her everything she wants on a silver platter, why is she spending time praying about her clothing instead of, say, the elimination of modern slavery or sex trafficking? 

I'm guessing that devotional is supposed to make her seem both humble (for consulting God on everything) and somehow sacred (He is listening to her, therefore she must be special). But it just comes off as selfish and deluded. 

[RFsurvivor]

1 hour ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

So I take it she sees everything she is drawn to or wants as ordained by God?

 

I remember so many times Gwen saying God did *insert silly little thing* as evidence of her relationship with God. She was often talking about how she prayed for XYZ and it happened!

[RFSurvivor_2]

1 hour ago, SJWaterford said:

This is just dumb. Common sense, don't go out at rush hour! And you live like a mile from the church, so what traffic?

Jesus take the wheel? Haha!

On 1/10/2019 at 3:51 PM, SuperNova said:

Everything in life is not at battle stage, Gwen. No matter how you try to change it up, your devotionals scream cult leader and I sincerely hope that I have the opportunity to see your church crumble.

After leaving RF, I have found true peace. This peace would’ve never been obtained if I continued to live a life under Gwen and her RF teachings. Living life as an RF member was a constant mental, emotional and physical battle.

After leaving, I:

1. I have found myself no longer needing to worry over small trivial actions that could potentially land me a 1 way ticket into “eternal damnation”. 

2. I no longer step on the scale weight scale with fear and tremble. I can actually work on myself for my health and my family instead of the approval of others; that is a small side bonus.

3. I no longer have to put up a facade and masquerade as someone who lived a perfect life with perfect people and perfect purpose, when actuality I was almost always walking on eggshells and was on the verge of consistent mental breakdowns. Members like myself at one point, become so accustomed to the mental gymnastics that they believe it’s progress to achieving a higher goal and bettering themselves. In reality, it’s only damaging them as a person, others around them and lifting up a madwoman.

4. I no longer feel this false sense oppressed, downtrodden, hostile victimhood that Gwen has woven into her people.

5. I no longer have to worry about the deceptively subtle, yet autocratic and tyrannical approval of a mentally, emotionally and physically unstable “leader”.

6. I am grateful to live a life surrounded by individuals whi accept me for who I am. I legitimately lived a double life for a long time whilst being a member of RF and every single day it ate me up inside, knowing that within an instant, all of my family, friends and then loved once could’ve been taken away from me in an instant.

7. I am grateful for life. I legitimately am happy and have found true happiness and purpose in life. I cannot and will not trade this life of mental/emotional and physical freedom over false promises of safety and security.

8. I am grateful to be able to wake up every morning and not be a mental, emotional and physical slave to an unstable individual and her unstable, maddending toxic beliefs / ideals.

9. I’m grateful for my small, short life on this planet. I don’t need to live this short life “preparing” for a small, insignificant shot at the nonexistent chance of “eternal life”. I’m happy to be one-and-done. All I am working on now is being the best human I can be possible through everything I do. This my FJ friends is the most fun, freeing, exhilarating yet challenging dynamic that I never understood nor had when I was in RF.

10. I’m free, and it feels amazing. 

I hope one day, those who @RFsurvivor and I once called brothers and sisters see the error of their ways, realize what Gwen as done and what she will continue to do. I hope they truly take a good, strong look at who they are, where they are at and question EVERYTHING. 

Freedom always starts with a question and ends with a movement.

[formergothardite]

59 minutes ago, RFsurvivor said:

She was often talking about how she prayed for XYZ and it happened!

This seems to be a big trend with the most shallow and vain sort of fundamentalists. Miss Raquel wanted a horse and God gave her a horse! Of course when she got bored using the horse as a prop for her photos she took full credit for giving it away to someone else. There were these one girls who blogged who once had God give them a dress they wanted. Then there is the king of grifting, John Shrader, who swears he never asks for anything God just provides. I mean, God did provide a plane with no wings, so maybe God has a sense of humor, but still God is there to answer his little whims. He needed an ice maker and his favorite band of chips and God took care of it!  

God has time to plan what Gwen wears each day but can take care of starving children? It makes Gwen's God sound like the absolute positive worst. Why would anyone want to serve that sort of a God.

"I'm sorry child who is starving to death and praying for food. I can't answer your prayers because Gwen has the most AWESOME party planned and I really need to put all my energy into making sure everything is perfect! Priorities!" - God.

[Spanger]

If God is Gwen’s makeup artist/ hair stylist, He should DEFINITELY refer shit that to someone else (as he apparently does when acting as her primary physician.)

I will admit, God is also my traffic director.  I pray often* for clear traffic conditions, green lights, and that slow-driving vehicles in front of me in a no-passing zone will turn onto a side road and get out of my way.    I’m not really religious but traffic is just about the only thing I consult a higher power for, and I do it fairly frequently.

I agree with @artdecades that these are user-title gold, any of the “God is my...” ones have a great ring to them.  Interior Decorator is pretty good one.

*ETA: Just to be clear, I’m not really a praying kinda lady, so I mean “pray” in a tongue-in-cheek way, but mean no offense to anyone who sincerely believes or prays.  If I truly felt my prayers were connecting to a higher power, I would much rather pray for world peace and end hunger over good traffic.

[Briefly]

24 minutes ago, Spanger said:

If God is Gwen’s makeup artist/ hair stylist, He should DEFINITELY refer shit that to someone else (as he apparently does when acting as her primary physician.)

I will admit, God is also my traffic director.  I pray often* for clear traffic conditions, green lights, and that slow-driving vehicles in front of me in a no-passing zone will turn onto a side road and get out of my way.    I’m not really religious but traffic is just about the only thing I consult a higher power for, and I do it fairly frequently.

I agree with @artdecades that these are user-title gold, any of the “God is my...” ones have a great ring to them.  Interior Decorator is pretty good one.

*ETA: Just to be clear, I’m not really a praying kinda lady, so I mean “pray” in a tongue-in-cheek way, but mean no offense to anyone who sincerely believes or prays.  If I truly felt my prayers were connecting to a higher power, I would much rather pray for world peace and end hunger over good traffic.

I do pray and I am not offended!  

Even if I didn't pray, I would when in traffic.  People in Tulsa make a sport out of running red lights.  It's dangerous just to drive down a short street!

I have a question for the RF refugees.  It may have been answered already but I don't remember.  What will happen after Gwen?  After she and her hair have passed away, is there an heir for her mighty empire?

[RFfree]

10 minutes ago, Briefly said:

I do pray and I am not offended!  

Even if I didn't pray, I would when in traffic.  People in Tulsa make a sport out of running red lights.  It's dangerous just to drive down a short street!

I have a question for the RF refugees.  It may have been answered already but I don't remember.  What will happen after Gwen?  After she and her hair have passed away, is there an heir for her mighty empire?

I was actually thinking about this the past couple days. I would say Elizabeth has always been the heir apparent, and her oldest daughter has been groomed to lead the remnant her entire life....her name escapes me at the moment, but it starts with a G!!! ?

[RFsurvivor]

34 minutes ago, RFfree said:

I was actually thinking about this the past couple days. I would say Elizabeth has always been the heir apparent, and her oldest daughter has been groomed to lead the remnant her entire life....her name escapes me at the moment, but it starts with a G!!! ?

This would be my best guess as well. Granted who knows if it will last once Gwen is no longer around?

[Seahorse Wrangler]

12 hours ago, RFfree said:

I was actually thinking about this the past couple days. I would say Elizabeth has always been the heir apparent, and her oldest daughter has been groomed to lead the remnant her entire life....her name escapes me at the moment, but it starts with a G!!! ?

Shouldn't that be the Hair Apparent?

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

2 minutes ago, Seahorse Wrangler said:

Shouldn't that be the Hair Apparent?

The Heir to the Hair?

[formergothardite]

Gwen isn't even pretending today's devotional is about God. Drink diet soda is the message today! She also gives out the medical advice that if you give your kids juice they will stop eating and become anemic, something I'm not sure there is evidence for. 

Quote

We suggest that you drink only non-caloric drinks, such as water, diet sodas, and artificially sweetened tea while you are learning how to sense the body’s needs. If you drink sugared tea or sodas, milk, fruit juice, or sports drinks throughout the day, the glucose or the sugar from them will keep your blood sugars up, the result being somewhat like an IV bag in the hospital. If the blood sugar levels stay elevated, then the stomach will not growl or feel hungry. Continually popping mints or hard candy, chewing sugared gum, and putting cream in your coffee will have the same effect on your blood sugar.
Drinking sugared and naturally-sweetened drinks such as juice is the number one reason that children are reluctant to eat solid foods. This, more often than not, results in the child becoming anemic. Therefore, limit sweet drinks and start using non-caloric drinks or water.

 

[RFsurvivor]

11 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

Gwen isn't even pretending today's devotional is about God. Drink diet soda is the message today! She also gives out the medical advice that if you give your kids juice they will stop eating and become anemic, something I'm not sure there is evidence for. 

 

That’s funny considering that she directed me at one point to only have a little bit of orange juice and gummy vitimans to aid in me dropping my unholy weight ?

[formergothardite]

Going back to "God fixed my roof without human hands." Do you think the RF folks who actually do work on her house for her even paused reading that to think "wait a second! We fixed her roof and we are humans!" or are they so brainwashed they all just mindlessly accept her version of the truth?

[Rowan]

56 minutes ago, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

The Heir to the Hair?

Enemies of the Hair, Beware! 

[SecularMusic]

18 hours ago, artdecades said:

So many of those would be great user titles. 

 

I vote for for god is my interior decorator. 

Yes. Given the interiors of a lot of fundie homes I would say that God sells his line of home decor at Hobby Lobby and through the Magnolia collection at Target.

[WorseThan1Thinks]

Trigger Warning:  Accusation of sexual abuse against a minor and other domestic issues throughout.  I tried to put the vast majority of that content hidden withinin the spoiler sections and put summaries outside the spoilers.

 

Here is what was on my mind when I previously said Gwen's new husband Joe Lara was not a good person.  

This man made very serious, troubling accusations of sexual abuse of their child against the little girl's mom.  It also appears that Joe got his mother in on these accusations too.  There were vulgar details, but I cut any of those details out in the screenshots. 

For this particular example, since it's such a sensitive subject, I've tried to try to give the bare minimum to just show the accusation was made by Joe, all the proper authorities took these allegations seriously and did their investigations, and that the accusations made by Joe were unfounded.  

The DCS (Department of Children's Services) conclusion was "There is no evidence of sexual abuse.  The incident is closed as unfounded".

Making false accusations of sexual abuse of your minor child against the other parent is a big deal.    

 

(Since this site doesn't allow attachments, the best I can do is supply various screenshots.  This is all public info, so anyone can do down to the Brentwood Police Department or the Williamson County Courthouse and get these documents.)

Spoiler

 

 

Looks like Joe then was trying to get his daughter's mom arrested for anything.  There are multiple police reports.  It's actually hard to go through all of them there are so many and I don't think I even have all of them.

Here is one Joe filed soon after the sexual abuse allegations for intimidation.

Joe filed the police report, but the allegations are from Joe's mom against Natasha.  To me the allegations look rather minor to file a police report, and from reading it, it looks like Joe wasn't even there to witness this but Joe filed the report anyway.  But what is interesting is Joe's mom's description of the events compared to the actual video that Natasha had recorded.  

So at a glance, it appears some demonizing of the girl's mom going on within the incident report Joe filed.  I say demonizing because she appears the exact opposite of what was described when the video evidence came into play.

There's also an interesting read in the report about Natashsa alleging Joe grew marijuana illegally.  

Anyway, Joe's complaint concluded with the cop writing in the report "As the result of the interview with Ms. Pavlovich and my review of the video, the initial report of Intimidation was deemed to be Unfounded"

Spoiler

 

Here is an incident against Joe.  Looks like a combination of Joe harassing Natasha with a bunch of false accusations and her being in fear "he will kill her".

Spoiler

 

Here is an incident of Joe allegedly assaulting Natasha and the Temporary Order of Protection against Joe that followed.  

These are eye opening allegations against Joe by his daughter's mom:

"I am asking for custody because I'm afraid for our safety"

"He has made more than a dozen false allegation/police/reports that were all unfounded, dismissed, or case closed."

"One lieutenant from Brentwood Police said that Mr. Lara had visited or called him almost every day for a month trying to put me in jail and make a criminal out of me."

"I need a protective order because I fear for my daughter and my safety, our lives, and I'm afraid he will follow through with his threats and I'm afraid his anger will reach a point where he will kill all of us, including himself."

Spoiler

 

What a mess.  The paperwork goes on and on, but you get the idea.  I'm in over my head to go any further down this rabbit hole.  There is so much stuff, I can't do it justice.  I've made up my opinion that Joe is not a good person.  That actually means he fits right in with Gwen.  Two peas in a pod that deserve each other.

 

It's easy to forget there is an innocent little girl in the middle of this.  You think Gwen is crazy and a cult leader?  Think about the implications of having Gwen as her step-mother.  At least Gwen's own kids were essentially young adults before Gwen went off the rails.  I can't imagine the negative consequences of being raised as an impressionable little girl under Gwen's roof.  

[formergothardite]

1 hour ago, WorseThan1Thinks said:

At least Gwen's own kids were essentially young adults before Gwen went off the rails.  I can't imagine the negative consequences of being raised as an impressionable little girl under Gwen's roof.  

Sadly Gwen has spoken about her terrible treatment of Elizabeth when she was a preschooler and wanted food. She only got to eat when Gwen decided she was hungry and she could only eat as much as Gwen decided she needed. If Elizabeth complained about being hungry and wanting more food Gwen painted that as rebellion. 

I pity all the children and families torn apart and damaged by Gwen and Joe. If Joe married Gwen there is no way he was going to end up being a nice person. I will not be shocked if he eventually turns on Gwen and it appears he has no problem playing very dirty. I doubt Gwen can control him. 

[Briefly]

6 hours ago, formergothardite said:

Sadly Gwen has spoken about her terrible treatment of Elizabeth when she was a preschooler and wanted food. She only got to eat when Gwen decided she was hungry and she could only eat as much as Gwen decided she needed. If Elizabeth complained about being hungry and wanting more food Gwen painted that as rebellion. 

I pity all the children and families torn apart and damaged by Gwen and Joe. If Joe married Gwen there is no way he was going to end up being a nice person. I will not be shocked if he eventually turns on Gwen and it appears he has no problem playing very dirty. I doubt Gwen can control him. 

It does sound like Gwen may be playing with fire, by marrying him and by even being involved with him at all.  It would not be the first time that someone with evil intentions married a powerful or famous person, who was clueless about their intentions.  Not that I think Gwen is blameless, she's not at all blameless.  I'm just trying to explain my thoughts.  It seems like it's more common that the man takes advantage of the woman in the situation I'm describing but sometimes it's the woman who fools the man. I could see Gwen easily thinking she could control him, he may have played up to her and acted like he was so mistreated by the daughter's mother, convinced Gwen that the girl's mother lied and he was too much of a gentleman to defend himself, etc. Then later on, he shows his true colors and who knows what would happen.

Again, I think she's pretty bad and not innocent in any way.  I see her as being a bad person and a bad parent.  But he doesn't seem to be anything to admire, either.

[Ozlsn]

On 1/11/2019 at 12:09 AM, formergothardite said:

“I feel a distance between me and God because I have been told this is a chronic disease or genetic and I see no cure,” 

I find this bit really worrying. People with chronic or genetic conditions should really be consulting actual practising and up to date dieticians, not cult leaders.

[formergothardite]

Gwen slightly warns against starving yourself in today's devotional, but this does little to counteract all her "hunger is the most amazing feeling. Spend all day waiting to feel The Growl." talk. I am still amused that while she has gone back to shitty weight loss advice she is still avoiding using The Growl and writing about how you should seek it all day long, which she was doing almost every day when we first started discussing the devotionals. 

Quote

The Genius Biochemist designed the body in such a brilliant way! We must pay attention like never before to all the internal cues and especially the hunger mechanism, since ignoring this is related to all major diseases and death. Ignoring hunger and fullness is the single most related factor to premature or early death. It is so harmful to ignore it one way or the other—either too little or too much—that it affects your life span. God has made our bodies to work perfectly and give us maximum life span if we listen, pay attention, heed, and concentrate. We should be like all the animals who go to bed each night at the hour the Creator gives them, who wake up each day with the lead of God, and who look to the Creator for each meal. You cannot help but observe how happy and cheerful and peaceful all of creation is! By following this lead closely and not allowing yourself to feel pressured to eat from any other source, you will have more energy and more time than you have ever had while you are waiting for the body to call for food.

 

 

[Jellybean]

On 1/11/2019 at 6:36 PM, formergothardite said:

Today's devotional goes off into a whole other level of insanity. [snip] The weight of the hair and the lack of food has killed Gwen's brain cells. 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I am not thirsty or hungry anymore because . . .

God is my husband-defender.  God can help me to the car with a heavy load and protect me. God is a conversationalist when I am alone, and He meets every need, in more ways than a spouse could do.

 

 

 Love that Gwen thinks of God as the perfect conversationalist. That sounds to me as though she’s quite happy to be the only one talking. 

[formergothardite]

The entire "God does absolutely everything for me." line of thinking is that way when someone criticizes her she can just say that they are actually criticizing God. She is absolving herself from ever being held accountable for anything because she will claim she isn't the one making these choices, God is. Disagreeing with her is the same as disagreeing with God. She has made herself God and no one can tell her she might be wrong or have a different view point.