Gwen Shamblin Lara 9: Perfecting Hypocrisy

[CTRLZero]

It is the picture of Acts 2 and the early Christians.

I guess Gwen's cult is the sequel, the one where they don't really help the people in need, but they continue the tradition of eating together and monitoring one another's food intake.

[Blue]

3 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Today's Delusional is about lovebombing: how everyone instantly pretends to love you in order to draw you in the cult. 

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An Acts 2 Church

October 11, 2019

by Gwen Shamblin Lara

0 Comment

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47

The building of the True Church and care for this Kingdom on Earth results in a Community that is phenomenal. It is the picture of Acts 2 and the early Christians. The immediate love and connection members feel with other Saints is amazing—they are no longer alone, but instead have instant fellowship and friends for both adults and children, no matter where they live. Every conversation we have and everything we do has a purpose. We are not aimlessly getting together just to hang out or have dinner; the fellowship and the food that we are seeking is to do the Will of the Father.

 

 

I feel like nothing she does is random... is membership dwindling? Do they need more people? It seems like her 100% focus is making sure people who get her devos know what a great community they have out there... how if you come you'll have instant friends... are people not flocking as much as they used to? 

[SuperNova]

6 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

The immediate love and connection members feel with other Saints is amazing—they are no longer alone, but instead have instant fellowship and friends for both adults and children, no matter where they live.

I can get along with virtually anyone for an evening which makes me an excellent guest at cocktail parties. Barring social anxiety I imagine most people can have a good time around nice people. It's more difficult to build meaningful relationships that actually matter. The love bombing probably lasts until you're sucked in and once you're secured you become a face in the crowd looking for acceptance again. 

6 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Every conversation we have and everything we do has a purpose. We are not aimlessly getting together just to hang out or have dinner

Ok, but why? What's wrong with getting together just to aimlessly hang out? RF sounds exhuasting. Some of the best conversations I've had started off as aimless and morphed into deeply meaningful. It's a great way to bond with someone. Does anything happen organically in RF or is it always pre-packaged, Gwen branded, enforced "fun"?

Edited October 11, 2019 by SuperNova

[NarcissismKills]

4 hours ago, Blue said:

I feel like nothing she does is random... is membership dwindling? Do they need more people? It seems like her 100% focus is making sure people who get her devos know what a great community they have out there... how if you come you'll have instant friends... are people not flocking as much as they used to? 

Cash reserves rather than membership levels are the big problem... Joe is burning through the cash pretty quick. Each one of those twirls is costing bony Gwen a pretty penny.

6 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

It is the picture of Acts 2 and the early Christians.

I guess Gwen's cult is the sequel, the one where they don't really help the people in need, but they continue the tradition of eating together and monitoring one another's food intake.

They are the epitome of uncharitableness. Try asking any of them for the merest favor. Not a member? Too freaking bad.

[sixcatatty]

15 hours ago, thoughtful said:

I love you.

 

 

Let it crawl, Reverend, let it crawl.

[ManyGoats]

3 hours ago, SuperNova said:

Ok, but why? What's wrong with getting together just to aimlessly hang out? 

Argh, I can't find it again but I remember either reading or seeing in a RF video all about how they often vacation together. They were laughing about how a whole bunch of them will go to a restaurant and the staff is amazed that they are all together. (Does anybody else know what I'm talking about?)

Anyway, I guess when RF people hang out it's Godly by definition.

Edited October 11, 2019 by ManyGoats

[RFsurvivor]

3 hours ago, SuperNova said:

Ok, but why? What's wrong with getting together just to aimlessly hang out? RF sounds exhuasting. Some of the best conversations I've had started off as aimless and morphed into deeply meaningful. It's a great way to bond with someone. Does anything happen organically in RF or is it always pre-packaged, Gwen branded, enforced "fun"?

It was mentally exhausting. Almost everything is pre packaged Gwen branded fun. They kept you busy enough that organic fun was near impossible

[Marmion]

12 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Today's Delusional is about lovebombing: how everyone instantly pretends to love you in order to draw you in the cult. 

  Reveal hidden contents

— Main Menu —HOME ABOUT BOOKS- Receive Excerpts - See Full Collection TV- Remnant Fellowship TV - Weigh Down TV MEDIA DEVOTIONAL CONTACT 

An Acts 2 Church

October 11, 2019

by Gwen Shamblin Lara

0 Comment

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47

The building of the True Church and care for this Kingdom on Earth results in a Community that is phenomenal. It is the picture of Acts 2 and the early Christians. The immediate love and connection members feel with other Saints is amazing—they are no longer alone, but instead have instant fellowship and friends for both adults and children, no matter where they live. Every conversation we have and everything we do has a purpose. We are not aimlessly getting together just to hang out or have dinner; the fellowship and the food that we are seeking is to do the Will of the Father.

 

Not sure why she posted a biblical quote about heathens that eat.

I find it to be rather ironic that an extravagant , affluent , dominant figure such as Gwen Shamblin Lara would cite as an example of Christian fellowship a passage detailing a kind of communism .  https://www.learnreligions.com/biblical-communism-250944    Or is it merely the property of the membership that's pooled in common ?    This sort of situation can potentially lead to abuses .  https://www.abuseandrelationships.org/Content/NonIPV/communal_abuse.html  

[AmazonGrace]

Today's Delusional in condensed form: Gwen's cult makes you healthy, wealthy and happy

Spoiler

 

[Tatar-tot]

You know it is funny.  I have watched Gwen, her videos, her toy boy Joe, her dismissed husband, her anorexic daughter, and her chubby son trying to figure out how she ended up here.  It seems at some point she was an ambitious young women who combined prayer life with nutrition. Somewhere along the way she took a left turn into wacky world.  

Gwen has created this weird bubble she operates in that can easily be summed up in the phrase:  The World According  to Gwen.  

Gwen interprets the Bible. Gwen tells everyone what to eat, how to dress, and what they believe.  Most important, Gwen is able to recruit people to following to her based upon society’s prejudice against fat people and being overweight.  (Fat shaming, hating, discrimination is now the socially acceptable form of discrimination.)

Gwen is happy in her little bubble she has created.  She has a gorgeous home.  Joe does as instructed and gets rewarded with toys.  She has a following who acts and looks as she tells them.  

The entire environment she operates in reminds me of a religious weight loss Disney gone bad. 

So I keep wondering: when is reality going to rear it’s ugly head?  Will the anorexic daughter collapse?  Will there be another scandal like the couple who killed their kid?  How long will it be until Joe is unfaithful?  

The entire situation is so ludicrous I cannot believe it continues.

 

 

 

 

[SilverBeach]

24 minutes ago, Tatar-tot said:

Will the anorexic daughter collapse?  

If she does, she will just disappear like David Miscaviges' wife Shelley, and no one wil be allowed to question where she is or why she isn't around anymore. Cult life. 

[SuperNova]

5 hours ago, Tatar-tot said:

 Joe does as instructed and gets rewarded with toys.  She has a following who acts and looks as she tells them.

He's getting better at it. In the last video posted here, he looked much more comfortable with the jesus speak. He is an actor after all and it's obvious he knows how to pull Gwen's strings. It's funny that a professional bullshitter like Gwen is so snowed by Joe's flimsy attempts at flirting. Then again, if you look like the crypt keeper you're probably happy that anyone is willing to flirt with you.

[ManyGoats]

2 hours ago, SuperNova said:

He's getting better at it. In the last video posted here, he looked much more comfortable with the jesus speak.

Plus I notice he's reading all the Bible verses so those fill in his turn to talk pretty nicely.

[AmazonGrace]

One year Gwen gave up normal size sentences for Lent and she never got them back.
 

Spoiler

 

A Future of Hope and Love

October 13, 2019

by Gwen Shamblin Lara

0 Comment

This planting of pure love has just begun. God is taking a piece of Himself—His Spirit—and building a Super Community consisting of charity as we have tasted, but know that what the future holds will be far beyond our imaginings and more formidable than any nation known to man because *it* is the most prevailing substance to found an institution on, the most powerful substance on Earth.

God is alluring and gathering the beautiful, positive, warm, endearing and delightful emotions that feel best, and severing them from the worst, hateful emotions in the world. It is the Church, the Ecclesia, the Called Out, a Fellowship to commune with one another on Earth…answering the prayer of Christ—His Kingdom is coming, His Will is being done on Earth as it is in Heaven. It is a Heavenly City on Earth located in the hearts of mankind, that is not just in one location but also connected around the world.

 

The *it* I marked  with asterisks refers to what?

And what's with Gwen's obsession with feeling good? Grief doesn't feel so good but I wouldn't like to be a person who cannot grieve.

[NarcissismKills]

How addle-pated Gwen Shamblin Lara's mendacious prattle sounds! She certainly has tasted the charity of others, but never has she been charitable to anyone who hasn't sold their soul to her first. And enough with the blankity-blank "ecclesia" gibberish. This greek word originally referred to the democratic assembly of ancient Athens where all the citizens had equal voting power on important decisions, and the early Christians knew that very well. However, the way the Remnant Fellowship cult works, with its lines of authority (read control and subservience), is as far removed from equality as it is possible to be.

[CTRLZero]

Just wanted to mention that in another thread, @Marmion found Gwen's books in a section called "spiritual dieting."  I am hoping to find out what other authors were included in that section, so hope @Marmion reports back.

I wonder if financial books are categorized under "spiritual billionaires."  ?

[ManyGoats]

2 hours ago, NarcissismKills said:

How addle-pated Gwen Shamblin Lara's mendacious prattle sounds! 

Indeed! 

Quote

God is alluring and gathering the beautiful, positive, warm, endearing and delightful emotions.......

Um, Gwen..... "alluring" is an adjective, not a verb. I don't think you can gather emotions but you definitely can't allure them.
 

[Blue]

3 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

The *it* I marked  with asterisks refers to what?

And what's with Gwen's obsession with feeling good? Grief doesn't feel so good but I wouldn't like to be a person who cannot grieve.

It's because she preaches an experiential faith... she uses how you feel to confirm her message. It's what makes it SO HARD and SO FRUSTRATING to talk with someone in RF. No matter what Biblical proof you find... no matter how many times you explain the B.I.T.E. model to them... no matter how much you prove Gwen's hypocrisy... it always comes back to how it feels. Everyone we know hears what we say and then finishes with "Well, it can't be wrong, because I've never FELT this close to God before..." "Well, even if she's still learning the Bible (because they can't even fathom that she could be intentionally manipulating them), I finally FEEL surrounded by people who love God, and I FEEL like I'm finally making God happy..."

And, of course, because they define "the fruit" as material blessings, she can easily create those. You need a good job? Someone from RF will give you one. You want a nice house? You can live with an RF family for a few years to save up everything you make. None of those are the ACTUAL fruits of the Holy Spirit, but when she tells them  that God is giving it all to them because they're pleasing him, they believe it. It all translates to "If it FEELS good, then it MUST be Godly." 100% not Biblical... but it caters to the human mind and body.

[AmazonGrace]

54 minutes ago, ManyGoats said:

Indeed! 

Um, Gwen..... "alluring" is an adjective, not a verb. I don't think you can gather emotions but you definitely can't allure them.
 

She makes God sound like a philatelist, only instead of interesting stamps he collects pretty emotions and glues them in his notebook.

[Marmion]

9 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

Just wanted to mention that in another thread, @Marmion found Gwen's books in a section called "spiritual dieting."  I am hoping to find out what other authors were included in that section, so hope @Marmion reports back.

I wonder if financial books are categorized under "spiritual billionaires."  ?

Yes , if you'd like , I will certainly take note of the other authors in the section , when I am there again , which will probably be sometime next month , which is usually when I accompany my mother , and sister , when we all visit our grandfather in the nursing home  .   Yeah , the reason it took me such a long time to locate the books by Gwen Shamblin was that I started looking in the religion and mysticism section , which contained not only the run of the mill Christian figures , among other faiths , but also such cults as EST , among others .  So yeah , I hadn't expected to find her books in the food section , of all places .  Like , books on financial planning , written from the perspective of Christians wasn't in the business section .  But anyway , that was just how the county library , which contributes the surplus works , and operates that part of the store , categorized the books they sell there .   

Edited October 13, 2019 by Marmion

[Briefly]

11 minutes ago, Marmion said:

Yes , if you'd like , I will certainly take note of the other authors in the section , when I am there again , which will probably be sometime next month , which is usually when I accompany my mother , and sister , when we all visit our grandfather in the nursing home  .   Yeah , the reason it took me such a long time to locate the books by Gwen Shamblin was that I started looking in the religion and mysticism section , which contained not only the run of the mill Christian figures , among other faiths , but also such cults as EST , among others .  So yeah , I hadn't expected to find her books in the food section , of all places .  Like , books on financial planning , written from the perspective of Christians wasn't in the business section .  But anyway , that was just how the county library , which contributes the surplus works , and operates that part of the store , categorized the books they sell there .   

I'm glad that EST is recognized as a cult, so many people still think it's not.  But I have the experience of very nearly losing a family member to that group.  They are much more dangerous than most people think.

[Marmion]

7 minutes ago, Briefly said:

I'm glad that EST is recognized as a cult, so many people still think it's not.  But I have the experience of very nearly losing a family member to that group.  They are much more dangerous than most people think.

The thing is though , books by groups that  I recognized as being cult related , not the library , did not get their own separate section .  They were just mixed among the other books in the category of religion / mysticism .  Like they also had books by everyone from Deepak Chopra to more general new age , and evangelical , and / or Christian materials .  

[CTRLZero]

I'll have to spend some more quality time at the library doing some spiritual dieting research.  During my last visit, I did locate her Weigh Down books on the shelves (she looked a regular thin weight and healthy on the cover).  It was amazing how many diet books were there, so my thought was that she had tons of competition and maybe that's why she needed some special way to market her weight loss ideas.   Not everyone would come up with starting a cult, but it sure worked! 

[AmazonGrace]

Today's Delusional equates antidepressants prescribed by a doctor to treat a mental condition to harmful addictions. 

Spoiler

I don't have any snark that is fit to print.

[throwaway9988]

19 hours ago, Blue said:

It's because she preaches an experiential faith... she uses how you feel to confirm her message. It's what makes it SO HARD and SO FRUSTRATING to talk with someone in RF. No matter what Biblical proof you find... no matter how many times you explain the B.I.T.E. model to them... no matter how much you prove Gwen's hypocrisy... it always comes back to how it feels. Everyone we know hears what we say and then finishes with "Well, it can't be wrong, because I've never FELT this close to God before..." "Well, even if she's still learning the Bible (because they can't even fathom that she could be intentionally manipulating them), I finally FEEL surrounded by people who love God, and I FEEL like I'm finally making God happy..."

And, of course, because they define "the fruit" as material blessings, she can easily create those. You need a good job? Someone from RF will give you one. You want a nice house? You can live with an RF family for a few years to save up everything you make. None of those are the ACTUAL fruits of the Holy Spirit, but when she tells them  that God is giving it all to them because they're pleasing him, they believe it. It all translates to "If it FEELS good, then it MUST be Godly." 100% not Biblical... but it caters to the human mind and body.

Absolutely. The Remnant Fellowship cult leaders claim that their faith is experimental. It is not. It is experiential. They do not allow experiments, objectivity, or philosophy of logic. Instead, they want you to try out an 8-12 week class during which every time you behave according to Gwen’s standards, you convince yourself that God is happy with you, whereas every time you fall short, you convince yourself that God is disappointed in you. Did you feel like you had a lot of religious experiences during the class? According to Gwen, you just did an “experiment” that proves that Remnant Fellowship is the true church.
 

“A bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” So long as the Remnant fellowship cult members keep convincing themselves that Gwen’s teachings are bearing any good fruit, then Gwen apparently must be a good tree, and every other criticism can be swept under the rug, out of sight and out of mind. Never mind the hypocrisy, the control, the widespread scientific and historical inaccuracies—as long as the RF members feel like they are having more numerous or more meaningful religious experiences than they had at other churches, they will never start thinking logically. They’ve been brainwashed not to.
 

Gwen repeatedly teaches them to interpret coincidences and random events in their daily lives as signs from God, which results in the RF members feeling like they are having numerous religious experiences each and every day...even though in reality they are just living normal lives while constantly lying to themselves that the pigeon that crossed their path was sent by God as a sign that He is happy with them and is taking care of them. These delusional thoughts are hilarious to outsiders, but the RF members are addicted to the feeling they get from lying to themselves that they are having a relationship with God that they never had in any other church. 

Edited October 14, 2019 by throwaway9988