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Gwen Shamblin Lara 9: Perfecting Hypocrisy


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On 9/14/2019 at 9:33 AM, CTRLZero said:

This topic must be the reminder on every cell phone or device or on every sheet of paper.

There's an app for that?  :angelic-halofell:

Hey all! When I was in a class we were encouraged to put pop-up reminders on our phone to remind us to wait for the growl, be Spirit led, pray, etc. I never did this (just didn't resonate with me) but many people would talk about their reminders as if they were really helpful. We also had a Spirit/flesh calendar and I couldn't really get into that one either. The app at the time was called All Access.

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After a brief detour we are back to losing weight, and Gwen confirms that she's God (her business is "God's WeighDown") 

Spoiler

 

You CAN Do It!

September 17, 2019

by Gwen Shamblin Lara

0 Comment

Why is this time going to be different? Because God has prepared your heart. These last attempts are not for naught. God has used the successes and failures to program much information into your mind and soul that will give you victory this time. Thru repetition of God’s WeighDown, you will finally win with Christ. However, beware…with repetition of diets, you get deeper into love of food and dependency on yourself instead of God. You are going the opposite direction—for dependency on and love of God above food is your ultimate purpose. God’s purpose behind your inadequacies was for you to reach out to Him—not the refrigerator, or lust, or money, or man-made gimmicks, or yourself. I am sorry, and I know you have been in pain. God has wept with you and over you. But hold on…for there is good news! And here is the good news: remember that you have been able to focus on God and Christ and off the food and lose weight before. You have tasted 100 percent focus before. We are going to return to how you performed and how you felt in the first two weeks of WeighDown when you initially started, and this time you will stay in it for life—it is something we call “the Zone.” This is no small piece of the puzzle—if you did this before, you can do this again! You have everything you need for life and Godliness with total dependence on God thru Christ. (II Peter 1:3) You have the heart, for you have returned—again…there is nothing wrong with you—you are on the very path God has intended. Praise God, He has done a mighty work for you!

 

 

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Oh my goodness... God's WeighDown?!?! Gwen Shamblin Lara is tempting fate with this shockingly brazen claim of divinity.  I hope that Satan won't be late in coming to take his protégé to Hades. The Franklin-Brentwood, Tennessee cult of anorexia that's called the Remnant Fellowship enables the continued grotesqueness of this evil woman. All of the members are by definition complicit in the spread of this pernicious community of mind control. Sad to say that many people in today's society are not adequately equipped with the tools they need to resist cults. Even a truly stupid group like the Remnant Fellowship can scoop up vulnerable people by using basic cult tactics.

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you get deeper into love of food and dependency on yourself instead of God.

How is listening to the growl and always thinking about food keeping ones focus on God? I think it keeps the person's focus on a new god, food. 

Quote

for dependency on and love of God above food is your ultimate purpose. 

I think most of us can love God (or a person or a pet) above food without listening for the growl or thinking about food all day long. I know my love for God, my family, my friends and my community are all above food. Until I am hungry, and then I want food. Once I am satisfied I don't think of food much. But I am dependent on food above God. Why, because if I don't eat, I will die. But my dependence on food is different than my relationship with God, family and friends. Gwen doesn't get this at all. I must have food to live and to be of use to society, my friends, family, etc. 

Quote

Thru repetition of God’s WeighDown, you will finally win with Christ.

This I think is the most dangerous part of this post. "You will finally win with Christ". Gwen makes it sound like this is a sporting event and if you are good enough then Christ puts it on your score card and lets you in. But this is the thing with the phrase, Gwen doesn't say what you finally win. I take it mean we finally win his love but that isn't even close to being Biblical. But Gwen could have meant something else like salvation. Again, we don't "win" salvation, especially not by dieting or by waiting for a growl. None of this is Biblical and NONE of this is healthy for mind, body or spirit!

Gwen Shamblin Lara of Remnant Fellowship and WeightDown is very dangerous to every person that listens to her. 

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5 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

But hold on…for there is good news!

I felt like I was reading a script from a bad infomercial this morning..."BUT WAIT!  THERE'S MORE!..."

1 hour ago, NarcissismKills said:

Sad to say that many people in today's society are not adequately equipped with the tools they need to resist cults.

Mr. Insightful and I were talking about this very idea this morning.  So many people are not taught how to CRITICALLY THINK.  They only follow.  Initially, Gwen Shamblin Lara of the Remnant Fellowship Church in Brentwood, TN went into churches as a wolf in sheep's clothing.  She told the pastors that she was just a Christian weight loss program.  Behind the pastors' backs, her videos preached that if their pastor was fat, he had hidden sin.  If their was divorce in the church, the church was sinning.  She taught her shrinking ladies that she was the way to the light and the church they were in was slowly damning them to hell.  I've found that often, people will hate in others the flaws they see in themselves.  They saw their preacher might have been chubby.  They hated being overweight themselves and they had "learned" to overcome the weight problem so therefore they were enlightened and hopped ship.  They never looked at what was happening as a critical thinker.  They never saw Gwen Shamblin Lara for what she truly was...a manipulative advertiser and cult leader.  Hats off to her, she's good at what she does.  It's just that what she does is harmful...to everyone she comes in contact with.

 

13 minutes ago, quiversR4hunting said:

if you are good enough then Christ puts it on your score card and lets you in

I agree, quiversR4hunting.  It really looks like Gwen Shamblen Lara took some notes off of "The Good Place" TV show.  It's not biblical, its a comedy show! 

 

Edited by Insightful
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Being complaining, grouchy and irritable means that you are not focused on God and are not depending on Him.

Uh, Gwen... being complaining, grouchy and irritable can mean something else, you know. Those are things most people experience when they are HUNGRY.

Gwen has created a cult full of hungry minions afraid to eat, and then is annoyed when she finds herself surrounded by grumpy people. 

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2 hours ago, Alisamer said:

Uh, Gwen... being complaining, grouchy and irritable can mean something else, you know. Those are things most people experience when they are HUNGRY.

Gwen has created a cult full of hungry minions afraid to eat, and then is annoyed when she finds herself surrounded by grumpy people. 

That's a critically important insight .  In a bitter irony , Shamblin -Lara's  behavior control  , in terms of regulating food intake , seems to be negatively impacting emotional control .  

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11 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

After a brief detour we are back to losing weight, and Gwen confirms that she's God (her business is "God's WeighDown") 

  Hide contents

 

You CAN Do It!

September 17, 2019

by Gwen Shamblin Lara

0 Comment

Why is this time going to be different? Because God has prepared your heart. These last attempts are not for naught. God has used the successes and failures to program much information into your mind and soul that will give you victory this time. Thru repetition of God’s WeighDown, you will finally win with Christ. However, beware…with repetition of diets, you get deeper into love of food and dependency on yourself instead of God. You are going the opposite direction—for dependency on and love of God above food is your ultimate purpose. God’s purpose behind your inadequacies was for you to reach out to Him—not the refrigerator, or lust, or money, or man-made gimmicks, or yourself. I am sorry, and I know you have been in pain. God has wept with you and over you. But hold on…for there is good news! And here is the good news: remember that you have been able to focus on God and Christ and off the food and lose weight before. You have tasted 100 percent focus before. We are going to return to how you performed and how you felt in the first two weeks of WeighDown when you initially started, and this time you will stay in it for life—it is something we call “the Zone.” This is no small piece of the puzzle—if you did this before, you can do this again! You have everything you need for life and Godliness with total dependence on God thru Christ. (II Peter 1:3) You have the heart, for you have returned—again…there is nothing wrong with you—you are on the very path God has intended. Praise God, He has done a mighty work for you!

 

 

I was never a member of RF, but I DID consider joining. I wanted to share some of MY experiences with the classes as they definitely are an evangelistic tool of RF AND I fell prey to a lot of the glitz and glamour of it all. In Revolution Class (one of the newer ones) Gwen Shamblin Lara states that "Many people often leave the way, the truth, and the life of Weigh Down..." If you are familiar with the Bible, then you know that Jesus claimed to be the way, the truth, and the life. I found that statement to be her way of saying that Weigh Down is THE truth. Another thing that she said in this class was that the growl is God's voice. She said that we were picking up our cross all the way to a growl with God. I participated pretty much all of the classes except for Weigh Down Advanced (started but couldn't get into it), which I knew was designed to teach me that my church was WRONG. She takes a very sinister overtone in this course and you can tell that she is visiting other groups trying to "convict" them of "sin" in their churches. While in the classes, I was told that I should only refer to Weigh Down materials. As a member of the WhatsApp group (designed for accountability) if anything was posted that didn't adhere to Gwen's teachings, you would be warned and it would be removed. I was also encouraged to listen to Gwen's teachings daily, and I did exactly that. When I was riding in my car, I was listening. At home, I binge-watched You Can Overcome shows. I got rid of ANY OTHER books that talked about weight loss so that I would not "mix messages". I was encouraged to "stay in the middle of the pack", which meant to stay closely aligned with the teachings of WD and fellowship with others who believed that message. Membership in the group (and many classes) ultimately led to my being EXTREMELY focused on food and my weight. There was a LOT of talk within the group about WAITING until you could HEAR the growl and Gwen held a show teaching us how to eat off of really small plates and she even suggested using a smaller fork. I believe the plates were called demitasse saucers. Many people would report that they were feeling discouraged due to not losing.  We were told not to share those things in the group, but to talk to our accountability partners about it so that others would not be discouraged. There were times that I was on the scale daily and if I ever "overeate", I would be afraid that I would gain weight the next day. I was encouraged to fast, and was able to complete a 24 hour fast. after fasting, I was encouraged to get a SMALL amount of food. There were times when I ordered a kid's meal and then tried to eat as little of that as possible. I lost a significant amount of weight for my size, but I felt like I "still had more to go". After asking how I would "know" when I had lost enough. I was told by my accountability partner to "look in the mirror" and see if I still had more to go. I was already pretty small, yet I kept trying to get my portions down "small enough" to keep losing. I ended up being lightheaded and dizzy, and that's what ULTIMATELY led me to end my stint with WD. I felt like I could "look past" the theology because I was doing the "right" thing by losing weight. It was a VERY slippery slope and I ended up needing some therapy to help me to get past all of that. I can attest to being vulnerable to WD, because I had pretty much ALWAYS felt like I was "too big", even while being a healthy weight. WD is touted as being a PERMANENT solution to weight loss, but once I started eating normally, the weight DID come back (with cousins). So yeah...

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1 hour ago, freefromthin said:

Gwen Shamblin Lara states that "Many people often leave the way, the truth, and the life of Weigh Down..." If you are familiar with the Bible, then you know that Jesus claimed to be the way, the truth, and the life. I found that statement to be her way of saying that Weigh Down is THE truth. Another thing that she said in this class was that the growl is God's voice. She said that we were picking up our cross all the way to a growl with God.

This is absolute heresy. How dare she! This nut has injected herself into salvation theology. I truly hope her brainwashed followers see the truth one day, that Gwen SHAMBLIN Lara is the leader of a dangerous anorexia cult.  

Edited by SilverBeach
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2 minutes ago, SilverBeach said:

This is absolute heresy. How dare she! This nut has injected hereself into salvation theology. I truly hope her brainwashed followers see the truth one day, that Gwen SHAMBLIN Lara is the leader of a dangerous anorexia cult.  

It's difficult to put into words the devotion that people in RF have to Gwen Shamblin Lara. It seems like something pretty traumatic has to happen in order for people to see anything wrong with her teachings. Members of RF often quote from her writings or retweet her tweets. I personally know of people whose entire FB feeds are something quoted from her writings or the NIV84  which was the only translation that she approved at the time I took the classes. When I decided to stop the classes, I unfriended almost every RF member because it was too triggering to have access to their pages. the people I did keep as friends I unfollowed. I got a Marco Polo from one of the group leaders, because I didn't warn anyone that I was leaving. She looked genuinely concerned for me...as if she was going to cry. I didn't respond because I just couldn't. As someone who was deeply mentally affected by my involvement in this "ministry", I must say that you guys are spot on. FYI...she recycles her old writings into "daily devotionals" which  used to get in emails. A LOT of what is quoted here I know verbatim because I have read ALMOST every book that she has written. I didn't get "The Love Book", because you had to have it electronically and it was HUGE. A LOT of families read that at night. I think the actual title is "History of the Love of God". There was also a "History of the One True God" book, which I DID get. With the exception of the "history" books, most are recycled versions of the original "Weigh Down Diet" book. especially "The Tablet".

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6 minutes ago, freefromthin said:

"History of the One True God"

first, thank you for sharing your tough road with RF. 

About the book above, what was this about? Did she use sources to how she came to this history? Just by the titles, these 2 history books seem very odd to me.

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1 hour ago, freefromthin said:

While in the classes, I was told that I should only refer to Weigh Down materials. As a member of the WhatsApp group (designed for accountability) if anything was posted that didn't adhere to Gwen's teachings, you would be warned and it would be removed. I was also encouraged to listen to Gwen's teachings daily, and I did exactly that. When I was riding in my car, I was listening. At home, I binge-watched You Can Overcome shows. I got rid of ANY OTHER books that talked about weight loss so that I would not "mix messages". I was encouraged to "stay in the middle of the pack", which meant to stay closely aligned with the teachings of WD and fellowship with others who believed that message

Needless to tell you this falls under information control   , especially these parts .  

Quote

2. Minimize or discourage access to non-cult sources of information, including: 
   a. Internet, TV, radio, books, articles, newspapers, magazines, other media 
   b.Critical information 
   c. Former members 
   d. Keep members busy so they don’t have time to think and investigate 
   e. Control through cell phone with texting, calls, internet tracking   5. Extensive use of cult-generated information and propaganda, including: 
   a. Newsletters, magazines, journals, audiotapes, videotapes, YouTube, movies and other media  

 

Edited by Marmion
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12 minutes ago, freefromthin said:

 FYI...she recycles her old writings into "daily devotionals" which  used to get in emails. A LOT of what is quoted here I know verbatim because I have read ALMOST every book that she has written.

Gwen usually puts a "read more in Book Titled Pompously" at the end of her devotionals and I am assuming she's naming the source. I haven't usually posted those because I don't want to encourage people to buy her books :)

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3 hours ago, freefromthin said:

Gwen Shamblin Lara states that "Many people often leave the way, the truth, and the life of Weigh Down..."

Is this in the book? Or a video? And follow-up, if I may. Could I get a copy of that page?

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2 hours ago, Blue said:

Is this in the book? Or a video? And follow-up, if I may. Could I get a copy of that page?

It's a video. It was in the Revolution class, so I can't access it. I was very surprised, but I listened to those videos several times. I wish I could remember which lesson it was, because the classes are broken up into weekly courses, but sadly, I cannot.

3 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Gwen usually puts a "read more in Book Titled Pompously" at the end of her devotionals and I am assuming she's naming the source. I haven't usually posted those because I don't want to encourage people to buy her books :)

That's a great point! I definitely don't want to encourage people to read them in any way. Back when I was in the classes, I told everyone who would listen that WD "worked". Several people that I introduced to her books told me that they stopped reading them because of the condemnation that they felt. Gwen would often say that there was no legalism in WD, but most people struggled with feeling "guilty" because they couldn't stick with the program.

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4 hours ago, quiversR4hunting said:

first, thank you for sharing your tough road with RF. 

About the book above, what was this about? Did she use sources to how she came to this history? Just by the titles, these 2 history books seem very odd to me.

You're welcome. I lurked for MONTHS before I finally decided to create a profile. I've been following the threads and they really helped me when I was transitioning out of WD. As for the "history", she tells the story of God and the fall of Satan. She likens God to a CEO and Satan as an employee who wanted to usurp God and sit on His throne. She talks about being plugged into the "mainframe computer" and things like that. It was a very difficult read, and from what I could tell she didn't actually cite scripture. If someone knows differently, feel free to correct me, but it seemed like more of a novel than an actual theological reference. I still have two of her books on Kindle because I can't figure out how to delete them. The first time she revised her ORIGINAL book, it received a lot of praise. In it she talks about getting into a church with TRUE shepherds and people who want to follow God. The books end with information about RF and seem to encourage people to join or at a minimum check it out. Many of the books also have a weight loss graph that you can plot out. This was helpful for reporting our weight loss to the class coordinators. 

4 hours ago, Marmion said:

Needless to tell you this falls under information control   , especially these parts .  

 

YES! We were encouraged to listen to ONLY WD materials. When you listen to a radio station with her teachings, then read the books then do her Bible studies, then listen to various teachings (all on the All Access app that I think they got rid of) you WILL HEAR wait for the growl, focus on hunger and fullness, do not binge, etc so it DOES affect the way that you THINK about food among other things. She also taught about marriage, getting under authority, not having any expectations, etc. 

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49 minutes ago, freefromthin said:

I still have two of her books on Kindle because I can't figure out how to delete them.

My family has a few Kindles at our house, and as far as I can tell, we can archive books we don't want on the device, but they're still available on our account. Deleting doesn't seem to be an option. (By sharing a family account, we can buy 1 copy, but read it on multiple devices.) 

Thank you for sharing your experiences with Weigh Down. I'm glad you're out. :my_smile: I think it's great that you have gotten help through counseling. (I think that most people would benefit from counseling from time to time, and some of us more often.)

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As far as I can tell you can't delete books straight from the Kindle app but it's possible to delete them if you go to the Amazon home page on the computer. Click where it says, Hello Yourname, Account and Lists, -> Your Content and Devices,, and you get to a searchable list in which you can select items and delete.

If you delete it's gone from the account and you have to buy it again if you wish to return to it but Amazon still remembers the date you bought it last.

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More about not worrying about food while constantly focused on whether you're thin enough. (No, you're not, and never going to be. Gwen has no concept that a person might not need to lose any more weight after they've reached their ideal weight.) 

Spoiler

 

No Worries about Weight or Food Ever Again

September 18, 2019

by Gwen Shamblin Lara

0 Comment

All that has happened to you on your journey is not for naught. God has been right there with you this entire time. You are not a failure. God is with you, and we are ready now for the next phase. The white flag of surrender to the will of God is now in your heart. In the Lord, and by walking in the Spirit—staying focused on God and His hunger and fullness—is how you were able to get that weight off before. Again, can I just remind you of what staying inside the Zone, God’s boundaries of hunger and fullness, feels like? To be free of dieting forever and only wait for hunger? You have no thought of food, and you do not worry about the scales or weight. It is the most joyous feeling on the planet because you are liberated from the food controlling you, and you feel connected to God and to Christ with a panic-free hope that you can do this all your life. No panic to get the weight off at a certain speed for an event, a wedding, or a Church Festival because you are losing weight and on your way.

 

 

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1 hour ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

  Hide contents

 No panic to get the weight off at a certain speed for an event, a wedding, or a Church Festival because you are losing weight and on your way.

 

 

....Panic induced by fear of being told you can’t attend by leadership because of your weight...

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4 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

No Worries about Weight or Food Ever Again

September 18, 2019

by Gwen Shamblin Lara

0 Comment

All that has happened to you on your journey is not for naught. God has been right there with you this entire time. You are not a failure. God is with you, and we are ready now for the next phase. The white flag of surrender to the will of God is now in your heart. In the Lord, and by walking in the Spirit—staying focused on God and His hunger and fullness—is how you were able to get that weight off before. Again, can I just remind you of what staying inside the Zone, God’s boundaries of hunger and fullness, feels like? To be free of dieting forever and only wait for hunger? You have no thought of food, and you do not worry about the scales or weight. It is the most joyous feeling on the planet because you are liberated from the food controlling you, and you feel connected to God and to Christ with a panic-free hope that you can do this all your life. No panic to get the weight off at a certain speed for an event, a wedding, or a Church Festival because you are losing weight and on your way.

 

Is she having trouble getting her followers to sign up for classes? It feels like a very random and sudden change in devotional topic to a 100% focus on weigh down.

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39 minutes ago, Blue said:

Is she having trouble getting her followers to sign up for classes? It feels like a very random and sudden change in devotional topic to a 100% focus on weigh down.

I remember conversation on FJ a month or two ago that all of Gwen Shamblin Lara's prices for her anorexia diet skyrocketed.  It appeared everyone was praising their dear leader and said it was worth the additional cash.  Perhaps their budgets did not match their outward enthusiasm. 

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4 minutes ago, Insightful said:

I remember conversation on FJ a month or two ago that all of Gwen Shamblin Lara's prices for her anorexia diet skyrocketed.  It appeared everyone was praising their dear leader and said it was worth the additional cash.  Perhaps their budgets did not match their outward enthusiasm. 

I remember that as well. They tried to play it off like it was a much better deal, but it no longer included classes. I could see people not having it in the budget... especially because the subscription thing could have been used for a full household... I'm not sure classes could be.

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