Where Are We Going? A Spiritwatch Podcast

From the heart, our final episode of a memorable season about where we all are going.

“𝗕𝗮𝗯𝘆𝗹𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻, 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝗱𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗹 𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗰𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗶𝗿𝗱! " 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟭𝟴:𝟮The legacy of Remnant Fellowship, as Michael S. Black has been sharing, is that it has become a demonic haunt of unclean birds as vividly depicted by he and Steve Lomas for his FallenChurch.com site in this graphic. It is a congregation of vicious pecking orders. false teaching, and abusive socialization all under the gleeful control of Elizabeth Kauffman, his sister and heir apparent to their late mother. In this concluding episode to our Spiritwatch conversations, Michael shares with us how he exited the cultic movement, his personal and ongoing transition out of a lifetime of cultism and a razor sharp retrospective on the future of Remnant 2.0 as he puts it. This is an illuminating episode of over 2 hours length. If you are a victim of the deceptions of Remnant, confidential and compassionate sharing and counsel are available. EMAIL us at [email protected].

Our ongoing conversation with Michael S. Black now proceeds into sharing about the darkest days yet in his life and those of the cultic Remnant Fellowship church created by Gwen Shamblin Lara, Aware of an upcoming HBO Max documentary on their sect and pursuing a new political passion leading them to more gullible souls, Gwen, Joe and their retinue instead met their Maker beneath six feet of water in Percy Priest Lake after a 300 plus mph entrance on May 29 2021. An event no one expected, the crash of their jet sent shock waves throughout the Remnant culture which Michael tried to ride for the good of all, only to realize what a futile juggling act it had become.

During 2018 and beyond, the years that changed everything in the Remnant Fellowship cult, Michael did his best to weather the firestorms of transformation which Gwen Shamblin Lara had been stoking for years. Her marital missteps became her cues for stoking a Remnant congregational conflagration as she socially reengineered the Remnant culture to an unimaginable degree. Our conversation is a gripping look into their nose-down descent into an authoritarian anarchy.

Michael's painful narrative continues as life in the Remnant Fellowship cult continued to pile a lot on his plate. Then in 2017, everything changed: when Gwen Met Joe. Her carnal deviance into her libidinous self-delusion and how it escalated the already heightened megalomania and religious abuse of the movement is unsparingly recounted here.

We continue our discussion with Michael S. Black as he continues a painful reverie of how his time in Remnant Fellowship became completely orchestrated by his mother Gwen Shamblin Lara. He recounts how Gwen's connection with reality began to be lost as she became what she preached against, and how the encroaching socialization within the cult further poisoned the lives of his sister Elizabeth and father David.

Michael S Black's conversations with Reverend Rafael Martinez continue about how life in the hothouse of the Remnant Fellowship inner circle of cultic leadership became a gilded cage he fought in vain to escape. A 90 minute episode, it traces one of the darkest fields of brokenness Michael was compelled to cross.

Michael S. Black continues his unflinching retrospective look back at his time as a leader of the Remnant Fellowship cult founded by his late mother, Gwen Shamblin Lara. As the movement's social boundaries hardened by self-deceptive excess and inner immorality, Michael's struggles to know the difference between right and wrong intensified.

Our conversation with Michael S. Black continues, as he shared how, from a place of privilege respected by thousands as a leader of the Remnant Fellowship cult, the cracks in the walls of the New Jerusalem became impossible to ignore. His disillusionment with the hypocrisy, abuse and exploitation of those within his movement became a cognitive dissonance he could not ignore any longer.

Michael S. Black, son of the infamously late Gwen Shamblin Lara, continues our discussions about his past involvement in the Remnant Fellowship,

He was the Psalmist of Zion, a gifted young man whose musical and vocal abilities were wholeheartedly devoted to the leadership of worship at the Remnant Fellowship Church as it launched in 1999.As the son of the late Gwen Shamblin Lara, he was appointed by his now sadly infamous mother as a leader of the movement whose spiritual direction included the creation of music that advanced the Remnant worldview most creatively and was adored and followed reverently by hundreds of thousands in Lara's Weigh Down seminars and crusades.But the story didn't end there. His disillusion, his dysfunction and ultimately his departure from it is a testimony that "Zion", as the church culture with Remnant characterizes itself, needs to hear and is a cautionary tale as to how the love of absolute power, as well as the love of money, absolutely corrupts as the root of all evil.We are privileged to host this first of several interviews with Michael S. Black, formerly known as MIchael Shamblin. In this episode, he reflects on his family's ordeal as Gwen's lifelong obsession with flaunting authority became a megalomania that birthed her Remnant vision.

While Xenos/Dwell, as any cult, may have good points and even laudable points, they are more than negated by it's disconnection from the plain reality that it is underpinned with an authoritarian and abusive culture. Our brief summary about this movement's ongoing spin cycle in regard to its questionable history and present state of corrupted affairs includes a review of Xenos/Dwell leadership evasion and an examination of the movement's ecclesiastical machinery it uses to attract and retrain new prospects in the same way any other cult works.

This is our podcast edition of a previously streamed Spiritwatch livestream episode series called "Through The Xenosverse". It is the sixth livestream that was done and four previous ex-Xenos/Dwell members provided thought provoking consideration of a unique line of query: what positive and even beneficial influences did the Xenos/Dwell culture provide for them and others? And how did such constructive community ultimately contribute to even deeper deception?

We are restarting our podcast and are grateful you've returned: tell others! For this first episode of our fourth season, our focus today on our podcast is upon the Pure Life Ministries parachurch bandwagon - a residential program where addicts to pornography supposedly receive intimate personal spiritual direction to be freed from it. This coerced formation is a travesty of compassionate spiritual direction and is an abusive and damaging organization that empowers the hand of the Gladstone/Madison cult in Cincinnati by serving as a recruitment front for it. We're thankful for the testimony of Chris Johnson, a former participant of PLM who has become one of many survivors who is breaking a silence about it's aberrant and wicked activity guised in the robes of "toughlove". WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT MAY CAUSE TRIGGERING FOR SURVIVORS OF RELIGIOUS AND SEXUAL ABUSE.

Stephen Ketter's desire for truth in his life led him to the Xenos/Dwell movement back in the days when it was still calling itself the "Fish House." He joined it as an old warehouse on Sinclair Road in Columbus, Ohio was pressed into service the "non traditional" church's growth. Like so many, it all provided a place of profound spiritual impact until he began to understand what the nature was of the kinetic force behind its' power. And it was that love of Biblical truth that helped him see that oh so critical difference. We're glad to have him unpack that for us here.

The Remnant Fellowship (RF) cult of Franklin, Tennessee was likened to being the exclusive "Kingdom of Love" by its deceased founder, Gwen Shamblin Lara. And she and her coterie of leaders there were the most charming, the most engaging of recruiters for what they also called "Zion", beckoning people searching for God, community and meaning. Our guest, Ge'Cobi Pittman and her family found this draw irresistible as people of faith seeking refuge and being persuaded Lara's Remnant vision as the place to find it. We are grateful to have her share an enlightening and deeply personal reverie about her journey into what would become a travail of authoritarian community where love, when it was found, was in quite short supply. LIke our previous podcasts and streams with other ex-RF members, the journey is painful to listen to yet a testimony to a young woman's determination to seek the truth, no matter where it led her.

Sadly, it’s when the light shines brightest that the bugs fly in. Right alongside the genuine revitalizing of the 196o's Jesus movement came the deception of false teachers who organized massive movements all of their own design aimed at drawing away and exploiting hapless "Jesus people" to their sectarian cause. The Way International movement founded by Victor Paul Wierwille was one such group and it attracted hundreds of thousands of people in the 1970's into its fold which was definitively cultic to its core. Among them was a lively young Texan girl named Cyndee who was seeking answers to her questions about life and eternity. Wierwille convinced her to pursue them along his primrose path and this podcast is the story of where it would lead her .. and how she finally found the real Home she sought.

On today's podcast, we're sharing Dr. James Bjornstad's talk entitled "A Look At the Misuse of Scripture In Aberrant Christianity" He offers keen insight on how abusive religion found in cultic churches stems from their twisted misinterpretation of Biblical principles. If you want to understand how cults twist the Scripture and distort its truth to support their lie, Dr. Bjornstad pulls no punches. Get ready for a timeless talk needing to be remembered today, even as this world's order prepares to end in a flurry of lies and deceit.

Every testimonial we've shared on our podcast is hauntingly compelling listening and A.J.'s sharing from the heart, lively and cautionary, is certainly no exception. She shares freely about her journey into and out of the Xenos/Dwell cult and her story is so incredibly familiar. It's how a young woman of faith, finding herself drawn to an exciting community she thought embodied her hopes and dreams of a deeper spirituality, would have to resort fighting for her ideals against a system that militated against them "in the name of Jesus"

Suzanne, while a member of the Xenos/Dwell movement, visits with us to provide a perspective on a profoundly warped side of its existence they deny exists. The most excruciating abuse a cult member can experience is when those whom they trust there are so caught up in it's disciplinary spirit that they associate grace and mercy with whatever its leaders decide to dish out to those they think should be "disciplined." She found the infinite mercy of God in Christ, the heart of the Christian Gospel, laid aside for the indulgence of a lurid voyeurism from people playing God. In one of the most disturbing testimonials to the abuses of cultism I've ever heard, somehow, Suzanne's indomitable will to move beyond it shines through. WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT MAY CAUSE TRIGGERING FOR SURVIVORS OF RELIGIOUS AND SEXUAL ABUSE.

Alex Craig was among the first of many who we met who'd survived a traumatic life that she had completely given to Xenos/Dwell with all of the hope for purpose, fellowship and destiny it supposedly offers. Her voice to her passing through X/D's cultic crucible which she found there which almost destroyed her is a poignantly all too familiar one. We're glad we reconnected and finally have been able to present this cautionary and personal word Alex shares. WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT MAY CAUSE TRIGGERING FOR SURVIVORS OF RELIGIOUS AND SEXUAL ABUSE.

A Spiritwatch Conversation. The Gladstone/Madison community, an abusive church movement based in Cincinnati, Ohio is being rocked by changes challenging the power of its secretive leader Zac Kijinski and a shrinking pool of sycophantic elders. Their increasing instability and deceptive example have led many members and other elders to leave their religiously cultic ghetto there. It's important to really understand why. Some survivors, all of whom have shared their stories in part on our "Where Are We Going" podcast came back to help us understand.WARNING: Explicit content and language about religious abuse could cause triggering to cult survivors. Viewer discretion advised.

A few emails this week about our work in exposing deceptive spirituality are in mind as we share upon the privilege to shed the light of truth upon the dark of deception that Spiritwatch MInistries strives to provide. We do what we do for a reason -- and speaking truth loud and clear is behind that commitment.

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Matthew 7:13 NKJVWe are still going somewhere. We briefly revisit that chief concern about our dangerous times and give an update and what we will be soon doing in our ongoing discerning of them.

Megan James was quite literally born into the Xenos movement, when it was morphing from it’s original early 1970’s Fish House Fellowship days into the form of an actual church complete with polity, budgets and a primal need to start replicating its vision through private church educational institution. Her parents were caught up into the social and intellectual draw of the group, and she was one of the very first specimens that were dissected in the religious machinery cobbled together by Xenos to educate it’s young, even calling herself and her childhood peers the “prototypes” of their work. This ominously mechanistic verbiage, sadly, would be all too accurate as we shall see. This is the second of 2 90 minute parts. WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT MAY CAUSE TRIGGERING FOR SURVIVORS OF RELIGIOUS AND SEXUAL ABUSE.

Megan James was quite literally born into the Xenos movement, when it was morphing from it’s original early 1970’s Fish House Fellowship days into the form of an actual church complete with polity, budgets and a primal need to start replicating its vision through private church educational institution. Her parents were caught up into the social and intellectual draw of the group, and she was one of the very first specimens that were dissected in the religious machinery cobbled together by Xenos to educate it’s young, even calling herself and her childhood peers the “prototypes” of their work. This ominously mechanistic verbiage, sadly, would be all too accurate as we shall see. This is the first of 2 90 minute parts. WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT MAY CAUSE TRIGGERING FOR SURVIVORS OF RELIGIOUS AND SEXUAL ABUSE.

The recent emergence of Michael Shamblin from the shadowy exile he took after quitting his involvement with the Remnant Fellowship cult circles which his late mother Gwen Shamblin Lara created has focused attention on the movement once again. Clearly identifying Remnant as a cult, Michael's confirming epiphany is rocking it to its core, even as it struggles to regain stability and even viability in the face of a seriously uncertain future. On our Spiritwatch stream, we are glad to host Richard and Terasee Morris with Doug and Sherry Vasey, four former members of the Remnant as they are sharing their views on the state of the Remnant movement and its legacy.

Kim Curry just wanted to belong, to love and be loved among a community of supposedly true believers after a turbulent childhood and her coming out as gay with a longing to find a refuge. That didn't keep the place she thought was a haven from becoming a literal hell on earth like no other - the cultic movement called Xenos/Dwell. It fancies itself to be a cutting edge "non traditional" "church" but listen closely as she unpacks the burden she was saddled with by the movement's culture of top-down elitism and group shaming and ask yourself if there's really anything "loving", much less "Christian" about it. . WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT MAY CAUSE TRIGGERING FOR SURVIVORS OF RELIGIOUS ABUSE.

Cultic movements are among the masses of religious people who reject Christmas and of them all, none are more vocal about it than the Watchtower Society. Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout the year and especially in December, have for decades preach a hard line rejection of the Yuletime season and the specious reasoning they cling to demands to be closely regarded.Thanks to our Spiritwatch archives, we’re bringing to you a 1996 home BIble study talk delivered by Dr. Robert Bowman, a Christian apologist who at the time was serving as a researcher with the Atlanta Christian Apologetics Project based there in the Peach State. Most all of the objections to Christmas observance set forth by sincere Christians believing it should be shunned are preserved in the reasoning of Jehovah’s Witness disputes about it. We trust it will be a thought provoking bit of discussion on how to answer these objections using sound Biblical review and critical thinking.

The conversations about all things Xenos/Dwell continues. We are joined today by two former members of the Xenos/Dwell movement with decidedly different perspectives on their time there. Joe Nelson and Randy Bliss, who had known each other while active participants provide a unique set of perspectives upon the movement that are most enlightening.

On this Spiritwatch Ministries recorded livestream, four former members of cultic movements offer their perspectives on how they were recruited, what the lures of cult appeals are and how to discern and respond to them Warning: Explicit Discussions of religious abuses in this video may be triggering to cult survivors

An errant pastor in Delaware, Ohio made an unspecified legal threat against Spiritwatch Ministries for our discussion on his stubborn willingness to allow a Xenos cult member to mingle and even teach in his church even when warned of this member's agenda of subverting souls there. This is our response.If he chooses, our next response will be in court. Our First Amendment rights will not be trampled by "preachers" more concerned about the fear of men than the fear of God.

The human race indeed going somewhere .. and woe to the traveler who doesn't pay attention to the journey of change we're all on. Pastor Rafael brings a sharp perspective upon the direction of the times, in contrast with the never changing standard of Scripture.

Underlying the hidden curricula enthusiastically and invisibly programmed throughout the entirety of the Xenos/Dwell cult's existence is it's foundational principle of shaming used to coerce, dominate and manipulate lives. The testimony of former Xenos member Aislynn Long is a textbook case documenting how, from Dennis McCallum's warped presumption on downward to the intimacy of a friend's interactions that the level of disgraceful maligning of those in this cult who are found "wanting" is an article of faith you won't find on their website .. but in the very fabric of the social life this cult. Her willingness to share how the "Ministry" of Xenos/Dwell almost destroyed her. We deeply appreciate her courage to find her voice here. WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT MAY CAUSE TRIGGERING. This is one of the most difficult interviews we've had to do because of how sensitive this subject is and we are warning you now: it involves graphic description of sexual abuse and violence committed by injustice. IF you are a cult survivor, this may cause triggering.

The definition according to Oxford Dictionaries of the word authoritarian (au·thor·i·tar·i·an) involves: favoring or enforcing strict obedience to authority, especially that of the government, at the expense of personal freedom. For Annie, Xenos exhibited a high level of authoritarianism when she was involved from 1977 through 1985, having seen the cult's early Fish House days and has long realized that it's authoritarianism hasn't diminished one bit but gotten so much worse. Her penetrating observations of Xenos' presumption through the 1970's at its' inception that it alone can reveal divine truth to the world are not to be missed .. as she writes: "according to what I have learned about its practices since that time, Xenos continues in the same manner, perpetrating the same errors in judgment in overseeing its operations to this day."

Home is where one can be who they are and find refuge from a world devoted to misunderstanding them. So many hoped, like Amber, to find such a place in life after leaving her fundamentalist church background and meeting the love of her life whose own church seemed to be just that kind of sanctuary. She found out too quickly how it was instead the worst kind of prison .. without bars. The fiance of Colin, one of our past podcast participants shares her five year exile in the Xenos/Dwell cult and provides her own personal perspective on being an inmate there.

The truly diabolical manner in which the Xenos/Dwell cult of Columbus, Ohio creates a toxic religious system, compels its followers to shoulder it's crushing burdens of mind and soul and then lets them smother under it's mass isn't out of the inspiration of God but the deceptive power of exploitation. This episode brings ex-Xenos survivors and a professional therapist to explore how trauma is inflicted by the toxic culture of this group and offers a dialogue of hope for healing. WARNING: Explicit discussions of religious abuse may trigger cult survivors.

We're back after our needful shut down due to ministry projects. We'll give a quick update and offer another testimony of a survivor of the tender "mercies" of the abusive Gladstone Community/Madison Place Community Church, Mollie Murphy, whose journey in, through and out of the shadowlands of that cultic environment is shared with us here.

There are many reasons why the Xenos/Dwell movement should be considered a cultic movement but none so pathetic as how cruelly it abuses those who struggle with personal problems stemming from mental illness. This episode brings ex-Xenos survivors together to discuss how the cult brutalizes and traumatizes those with mental health who come to their toxic environments hoping for grace and acceptance. WARNING: Explicit discussions of religious abuse may trigger cult survivors.

There can be no more levelling an experience than to be placed into situations of sheer terror by those who you trust with your spiritual destiny. And this is the grim and daily reality for thousands of men and women in the Xenos/Dwell cult. Listen to Milla's recounting of her years within this toxic movement and how she, as someone struggling with her own mental health challenges and a piteous desire to do what she was told was the right thing only led her deeper into a slough that almost swallowed her completely. We are thankful for the grace that enabled her to leave and seek wholeness apart from the skullduggery of Xenos/Dwell's gossipy taskmasters who jack people up in the name of Jesus.

With former members Jeremiah and Christy, Reverend Martinez engages them in a discussion that provides an alternative perspective upon the deeply toxic spirituality of the Gladstone Community, a cultic movement now calling itself the Madison Place Community Church in suburban Cincinnati, Ohio. We discuss how the movement has been impacted by the new scrutiny that the internet and our podcasts are putting on it.rss.com/podcasts/spiritwatch/WARNING: Explicit discussion on the religious abuses of this group may be triggering to cult survivors.

Timothy Williams is one of those "certain men" who have "crept in unawares" into the lives of many churchgoing people to draw them into his own clique of sincere yet sincerely deceived people. In short, Williams is a "creeper" and a feral cult leader. The sharing of Karla, a former member of "TW's" audaciously self-titled Sound Doctrine Church of Enumclaw, Washington, will give us a gripping account of how destructive "Sound Doctrine's" deception was and yet how much greater the grace of God went to rescue those devastated by it.

Thanks to Don Francisco's 1991 release "Vision Of The Valley", hear his powerful musical rendition of God's judgment upon false shepherds who abuse His sheep and kill, who with harshness and severity try to bend them to their will. The time is not just coming but is at hand.

Our final part of our "Creepers" series features the discernment of Ernie and June Stickler. This older Christian couple found out after a few years of involvement with a sweet looking band of zealous young Christians in Cincinnati called the Gladstone Community that they were not the misunderstood church they came off as being but a truly malevolent cult that, if it could be worse, were being empowered and supported by clueless Christian churches they parasitically feeding off of.This narration of a 2018 letter of exhortation they sent to the cult before cutting ties with them is one of the finest examples of Christian discernment we've seen of a cult in the circles we've been in .. it's too bad that the senior pastors and ministry leaders that have subsidized them for years have been clueless about these false brethren who have fearlessly dined at their tables for years.A complete copy of this letter can be downloaded from the link on our blog: https://spiritwatchunchained.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-gladstone-report-by-ernie-and-june.html.

The second of our podcasts on the stealthy ways cults slip into churches to steal, kill and destroy just as Jesus said they would in John 10:10. The reflection of Christina, a member of our home church, who became an unwitting eyewitness to this is both alarming and instructional.

A lively discussion about all things Xenos/Dwell that ran almost two hours, we invite all with any stake or part of the legacy that this controversial movement to listen in. This is the audio of our streaming video by the same title.We have several guests on the recorded stream who have contributed to our "Where Are We Going" podcasts and as heartbreaking as the reality they discuss can be, they've been able to demonstrate a remarkable grace and strength to carry on and even thrive*** WARNING: Explicit language and descriptions of religious abuse can be triggering to abuse survivors ***

The blatant advance of cult recruiters that literally marches in and draws away disciples out of churches to pursue their own pipe dreams can’t be overstated at all. How cults achieve this stealing of sheep from churches globally will be the subject of our next three podcasts, in which we will examine 3 case studies. It’s one thing to hear about abusive cultism’s traumatizing of victims, but quite another to learn about how they got to be a thing in the church to begin with.

When it comes to revealing how cults destroy people, sometimes the plain truth just comes across as too over the top to be believed. To hear how degrading, dehumanizing and devastating living in a hothouse like the Xenos/Dwell movement actually is sounds like a lurid and sensational hit piece by a tabloid. The story of Candy we bring today certainly has no such deficit. This is her story - our podcasts as shared by others in the past year powerfully and grimly support these horrific details of an endurance of psychological, spiritual and social violations that routinely are being experienced by other X/D victims as well.

To be raised under the shadow of a totalistic spiritual movement is a formative influence so very few escape and yet our podcast guest Colin - a lifelong member of the Xenos/Dwell cult - was able to somehow do so. In what will be another of our longest podcasts, Colin's brutally frank discussion exposes how utterly unbiblical, even corrupt, this supposedly BIblically founded church really is. WARNING: Explicit language

To experience religious abuse that stunts and damages the soul, not to mention the mind and body is one of the guarantees of membership in the Xenos/Dwell cult movement. We are thankful for Roni, a former member who stepped forward to offer her own perspective on this excruciating reality she experienced just wanting to be a part of a movement supposedly preaching the "gospel". Manipulation recurs with almost clockwork precision throughout the organizations' many centers of activity where it preaches its' so called "good news" and Roni's unblinking testimony reveals this all too well.