Oops! I'm In A Cult

Scott Barker and Charity Navalesi are former members, born and raised in The Living Word Fellowship. They are investigating this organization, founded by John Robert Stevens in 1951, that branded itself as a Christian church for over seventy years but turned out to be just another cult. Stevens demanded full submission of his followers until his death in 1983 and when his successors, Gary & Marilyn Hargrave took over, the beliefs and practices became even more extreme as they levied control over the congregants for the next three decades. In 2018 a former member finally spoke up after Marilyn's death accusing her son of abuse. There are five active lawsuits. The organization is a shadow of what it once was, but some remain believers of John Robert Stevens' teachings and many maintain loyalty to Gary Hargrave. Gary has a new following on social media and an active "ministry" under the umbrella of Hargrave Ministries.Podcast Links: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2YlZeTi... Contact Oops!www.oopsiminacult.comeMail - [email protected] Instagram - / oopsiminacultpodcast More - https://linktr.ee/oopsiminacultIf you or someone you know has a mental illness, is struggling emotionally, or has concerns about their mental health, there are ways to get help. Use these resources to find help for you, a friend, or a family member.⁠⁠⁠https://988lifeline.org/⁠⁠⁠https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-...

After a former member of The Living Word released letters exposing sexual abuse cover up in the Fellowship, local Living Word churches struggled with their identity and future as a community. In Colorado, Sam and Michaela Teres had a front row seat to those internal conversations. Scott Barker and Charity Navalesi are former members, born and raised in The Living Word Fellowship. They are investigating this organization, founded by John Robert Stevens in 1951, that branded itself as a Christian church for over seventy years but turned out to be just another cult. Stevens demanded full submission of his followers until his death in 1983 and when his successors, Gary & Marilyn Hargrave took over, the beliefs and practices became even more extreme as they levied control over the congregants for the next three decades. In 2018 a former member finally spoke up after Marilyn's death accusing her son of abuse. There are five active lawsuits. The organization is a shadow of what it once was, but some remain believers of John Robert Stevens' teachings and many maintain loyalty to Gary Hargrave. Gary has a new following on social media and an active "ministry" under the umbrella of Hargrave Ministries.Podcast Links: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2YlZeTi... Support our Supercasthttps://oopsiminacult.supercast.com/Contact Oops!www.oopsiminacult.comeMail - [email protected] Instagram - / oopsiminacultpodcast More - https://linktr.ee/oopsiminacultIf you or someone you know has a mental illness, is struggling emotionally, or has concerns about their mental health, there are ways to get help. Use these resources to find help for you, a friend, or a family member.⁠⁠⁠https://988lifeline.org/⁠⁠⁠https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-...

The Living Word Fellowship fostered a culture that demanded total submission to those in authority. Members were conditioned to accept inappropriate levels of involvement in their personal lives, to include Shepherds coming between spouses. Sam and Michaela were among the many couples whose marriages were interfered with. The abuse became so severe that Michaela, being told she was a hindrance to her husband's ministry and was "too strong", became a shell of who she once was. Scott Barker and Charity Navalesi are former members, born and raised in The Living Word Fellowship. They are investigating this organization, founded by John Robert Stevens in 1951, that branded itself as a Christian church for over seventy years but turned out to be just another cult. Stevens demanded full submission of his followers until his death in 1983 and when his successors, Gary & Marilyn Hargrave took over, the beliefs and practices became even more extreme as they levied control over the congregants for the next three decades. In 2018 a former member finally spoke up after Marilyn's death accusing her son of abuse. There are five active lawsuits. The organization is a shadow of what it once was, but some remain believers of John Robert Stevens' teachings and many maintain loyalty to Gary Hargrave. Gary has a new following on social media and an active "ministry" under the umbrella of Hargrave Ministries.Podcast Links: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/oops-im-in-a-cult/id1703501829Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2YlZeTiuons5y4J3RZYXSv Support our Supercasthttps://oopsiminacult.supercast.com/Contact Oops!www.oopsiminacult.comeMail - [email protected] Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/oopsiminacultpodcast More - https://linktr.ee/oopsiminacultIf you or someone you know has a mental illness, is struggling emotionally, or has concerns about their mental health, there are ways to get help. Use these resources to find help for you, a friend, or a family member.⁠⁠⁠https://988lifeline.org/⁠⁠⁠https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help

In 2018 The Living Word Fellowship’s seventy-year reign came to end, collapsing after hundreds of current and former members began to expose years of rampant abuse on social media. Within two weeks after these revelations began, Gary Hargrave resigned and the church as we all knew it, fell apart. Facilities that were frequented and maintained by church members for years were soon left abandoned.

In this episode we investigate what became of the many local churches and facilities within the fellowship, what transpired in the days following its collapse and the question we have all been asking for the last several years: Where is all of that money now?

Scott Barker and Charity Navalesi are former members, born and raised in The Living Word Fellowship. They are investigating this organization, founded by John Robert Stevens in 1951, that branded itself as a Christian church for over seventy years but turned out to be just another cult. Stevens demanded full submission of his followers until his death in 1983 and when his successors, Gary & Marilyn Hargrave took over, the beliefs and practices became even more extreme as they levied control over the congregants for the next three decades. 

In 2018 a former member finally spoke up after Marilyn's death accusing her son of abuse. There are five active lawsuits. The organization is a shadow of what it once was, but some remain believers of John Robert Stevens' teachings and many maintain loyalty to Gary Hargrave. Gary has a new following on social media and an active "ministry" under the umbrella of Hargrave Ministries.

Podcast Links: 

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/oops-im-in-a-cult/id1703501829

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2YlZeTiuons5y4J3RZYXSv 

Support our Supercast

https://oopsiminacult.supercast.com/

Contact Oops!

www.oopsiminacult.com

eMail - [email protected] 

Instagram -  https://www.instagram.com/oopsiminacultpodcast 

More - https://linktr.ee/oopsiminacult

If you or someone you know has a mental illness, is struggling emotionally, or has concerns about their mental health, there are ways to get help. Use these resources to find help for you, a friend, or a family member.

⁠⁠⁠https://988lifeline.org/⁠⁠⁠

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help

Caleb LaPlante was raised into The Living Word Fellowship, primarily in the small Grants Pass, Oregon congregation. After having left the church in his college years but staying involved on a social basis because of family ties, Caleb re-entered the world of TLWF in the wake of Shalom’s letters and was active in uncovering abuses, including leadership knowingly protecting pedophiles within the local Grants Pass church. Caleb also discusses his faith and how he discovered a relationship with Jesus for the first time in his twenties after realizing the beliefs he grew up with in the cult were not in line with traditional Christian beliefs.

Scott Barker and Charity Navalesi are former members, born and raised in The Living Word Fellowship. They are investigating this organization, founded by John Robert Stevens in 1951, that branded itself as a Christian church for over seventy years but turned out to be just another cult. Stevens demanded full submission of his followers until his death in 1983 and when his successors, Gary & Marilyn Hargrave took over, the beliefs and practices became even more extreme as they levied control over the congregants for the next three decades. 

In 2018 a former member finally spoke up after Marilyn's death accusing her son of abuse. There are five active lawsuits. The organization is a shadow of what it once was, but some remain believers of John Robert Stevens' teachings and many maintain loyalty to Gary Hargrave. Gary has a new following on social media and an active "ministry" under the umbrella of Hargrave Ministries.

Podcast Links: 

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/oops-im-in-a-cult/id1703501829

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2YlZeTiuons5y4J3RZYXSv 

Support our Supercast

https://oopsiminacult.supercast.com/

Contact Oops!

www.oopsiminacult.com

eMail - [email protected] 

Instagram -  https://www.instagram.com/oopsiminacultpodcast 

More - https://linktr.ee/oopsiminacult

If you or someone you know has a mental illness, is struggling emotionally, or has concerns about their mental health, there are ways to get help. Use these resources to find help for you, a friend, or a family member.

⁠⁠⁠https://988lifeline.org/⁠⁠⁠

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help

Kristy Pfeifer’s family was part of the inner circle of The Living Word Fellowship and were members of an exclusive group created by Marilyn Hargrave known as The Purples. As a child growing up within this secret society, Kristy regularly saw behind the facade of John Robert Stevens’ and Marilyn and Gary Hargrave’s public personas. Kristy was a plaintiff in the recent lawsuits against the Living Word Fellowship and speaks publicly in this episode about her experience for the first time. In her deposition, Kristy says that she was sexually abused from the ages of 8-14 by two prominent leaders of the church, Marilyn’s son, Rick Holbrook and his friend, Scott McDonald. When members of her family informed Gary and Marilyn of the abuse it went ignored and both men maintained their positions in the church until 2018 when Shalom published her letters. Kristy, having been out of the church for nearly thirty years, was immediately moved to take action and help bring accountability and justice.

Jean Alice joined The Living Word Fellowship when she was eleven years-old, homeless and alone. She was passed around to family after family within the cult, constantly being told she was unwanted because she wasn’t good enough. Though she was eventually adopted by a loving family, the abusive messaging that pervaded the cult kept her self-esteem at rock bottom. She found herself in an abusive marriage that ended in her being forced to leave everything she knew behind to protect herself and her child. While the cult threatened and shunned her for speaking the truth, they kept her abuser husband protected and in good standing within the church.

Born and raised in The Living Word Fellowship, Rebekah's independent and critically thinking nature made success within the cult impossible. Even years after leaving the high control group, she is still discovering how deeply the toxicity of the fellowship's teachings affected her, especially in relationships. Rebekah's story provides incredible insight into how to break generational trauma.

In our third edition of Letters from Listeners, Charity & Scott read feedback from former members of The Living Word Fellowship and William Branham's cult, The Message. Featuring stories from an eye witness of Gary & Marilyn's 1984 Marriage Tour set to the soundtrack of Eye of the Tiger (this is not a joke) and fun patriarchal messages from un-woke male listenership.

In 1992 Gary and Marilyn Hargrave, leaders of the Living Word Fellowship, held a special meeting about the secrets and mysteries of sex in the Los Angeles church sanctuary.

In this nearly four-hour long video, Gary and Marilyn spoke explicitly about sexual promiscuity, masturbation, homosexuality, Gary's flowing hormones, young children’s “intrigue” with sex, Gary’s and Marilyn’s investigations into the mysteries of intercourse, and directives on premarital fornication. 

This video was sent to the other churches in the fellowship. Meetings were held in these locations like Shiloh in Kalona, Iowa, and the video was played for high school age and up.

For the first time we will bring to light this previously restricted video tape originally titled Gary and Marilyn Talk to the Singles, or as we like to call it, Gary and Marilyn make a sex tape. 

In 2023 Gary Hargrave, Head Pastor of Hargrave Ministries, was deposed in the Living Word Lawsuits for his responsibility as the leader of the Living Word Cult. In the deposition Gary is grilled by the Plaintiff's counsel about his teachings to the young people of the church. He is asked why he said, “You look at your five year old and tell me that they’re not intrigued with sex”. This begs the question, was this meeting priming the youth to be groomed and preyed upon by church leaders and members?

This tape was recorded less than 10 years after the Founder of the Living Word John Robert Stevens died. Stevens was purported to have slept with numerous congregants and even divorced his wife so he could marry Marilyn Holbrook (now Hargrave). 

The whole tape is a lesson in grooming from Gary and Marilyn Hargrave who say “Marilyn and I have a lot of sex” and “we use sex for a purpose”. 

In attendance are all the “singles” in the church including children as young as 13. 

Bonus: A not fun drinking game to try- Drink a shot every time Gary says “By virtue of” and see how bad your hangover is the next day.

Scott Barker and Charity Navalesi are former members, born and raised in The Living Word Fellowship. They are investigating this organization, founded by John Robert Stevens in 1951, that branded itself as a Christian church for over seventy years but turned out to be just another cult. Stevens demanded full submission of his followers until his death in 1983 and when his successors, Gary & Marilyn Hargrave took over, the beliefs and practices became even more extreme as they levied control over the congregants for the next three decades. 

In 2018 a former member finally spoke up after Marilyn's death accusing her son of abuse. There are five active lawsuits. The organization is a shadow of what it once was, but some remain believers of John Robert Stevens' teachings and many maintain loyalty to Gary Hargrave. Gary has a new following on social media and an active "ministry" under the umbrella of Hargrave Ministries.

If you or someone you know has a mental illness, is struggling emotionally, or has concerns about their mental health, there are ways to get help. Use these resources to find help for you, a friend, or a family member.

⁠⁠⁠https://988lifeline.org/⁠⁠⁠

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help

Podcast Links: 

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/oops-im-in-a-cult/id1703501829

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2YlZeTiuons5y4J3RZYXSv 

Support our Supercast

https://oopsiminacult.supercast.com/

Contact Oops!

www.oopsiminacult.com

eMail - [email protected] 

Instagram -  https://www.instagram.com/oopsiminacultpodcast 

More - https://linktr.ee/oopsiminacult