Where Are We Going? A Spiritwatch Podcast: Recent Episodes
Rev. Rafael Damian Martinez
Our ministry will provide discernment through Biblical perspective of the challenges of spiritual deception to life in the last days of our increasingly dysfunctional world as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ draws near. We'll offer interviews, teaching and prayer for various needs. Subscribe and listen in through our Facebook page and at spiritwatch.org.
โ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐๐น๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป, ๐ถ๐ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐ป๐, ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐๐น ๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ถ๐, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฑ! " ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ญ๐ด:๐ฎ
The 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 help@spiritwatch.org.
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, itโs 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 NKJV
We 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 itโs original early 1970โs 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 itโs young, even calling herself and her childhood peers the โprototypesโ 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 itโs original early 1970โs 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 itโs young, even calling herself and her childhood peers the โprototypesโ 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. Jehovahโs 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, weโre 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 Jehovahโs 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 (auยทthorยทiยทtarยทiยทan) 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.
This is podcast episode details the tragic story of how Crystal, the Xenos cult survivor, sought healing and a renewal of her faith with her husband in a painful search for recovery at a new church in Delaware, Ohio. It seemed to be a haven of hope, but their time there would end in after a most disturbing of discoveries. The surreality they found there in what they thought was supposed to be a sanctuary quickly revealed it to be a slippery slope of grotesque insensitivity and arrogance easily as horrific as any Xenos cult setting. This is a profoundly unsettling episode. Be ready for it.
This 2 part podcast is a sobering postscript to our Creepers series. Crystal's journey with her husband into and out of the Xenos / Dwell cult is a tragic travelogue that details how the wiles of this movement's members and disciplers so cunningly target those who seek a relevant faith and fellowship with others around it. to transform them into worker drones that replicate religion - not foster faith. The cult unsparingly intervenes to dominate, manipulate and destroy relationships - even marriages - that don't fit their Xenosian mold. It is this horrific brush with their social engineering on this point that initiated her journey out of the cult .. that sadly went very south.
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 canโt 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. Itโs one thing to hear about abusive cultismโs 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.
Joe Nelson, the founder of one of the first online communities for former members of the Xenos/Dwell cult, stops by today in our podcast with a brief yet insightful reminiscence about why the stories of the religiously abused there are not confessions of spiritually deficient people who can't hack the Xenos claim of standing for Christian truth .. but are real expressions of a church that's become a snakepit of secrecy that inflicts trauma done in the name of God.
A time of prayer for the ministries we've offered over the year and for all who we have met, confronted and shared with. This is a time of prayer and we will be praying and praising God.
The Weigh Down Diet is at the heart of the foundational dogma pushed by the Weigh Down Workshop, created by the now late Gwen Shamblin Lara. If you are seeking to jump start your life and health by engaging in this "faith based" diet program, we'd encourage you to listen in and find out why the Weigj Down Diet is a dangerous, imbalanced and unsound discipline meant to enslave all who join it. Featuring the audio of a video streamed conversation with Rachel Trease, former Weigh Down participant and former member of the Remnant Fellowship cult group that serves as the support system for all who join the diet.
Our brief and unplanned hiatus ends with this new episode, the longest we've ever produced out of an interview with former Xenos/Dwell member Megan McGowan. This is a powerful, disturbing yet ultimately liberating sharing she provides as she details her search for God and meaning , even as she struggled with great personal pain and clinical depression during her four years of intense activity within the cult. Thinking her hours of devotion there would help her find refuge and acceptance, her tragic dive into Xenos' Orwellian social circles provides enormous insight into the destructive authoritarianism casually yet firmly wielded by it. WARNING: Explicit testimony and descriptions of sexual assault can be triggering to abuse survivors
The audio of our second Vimeo stream project with perspectives on the culture and legacy of the Xenos/Dwell cultic movement. With Shawna Jones and Justin Stapleton, who had contributed in two previous podcasts .. and a teachable moment contributed by Rev. Martinez' granddaughter quite unexpectedly.
The first of an ongoing set of conversations with those who have been a part of the Xenosverse, which we describe as the culture, legacy, past and present of the Xenos / Dwell.cult movement in Columbus, Ohio.
We're joined by Jeremiah once again, who recently was on our podcast and who has emerged as one of several people who have organized the creation of a place of healing community among the hundreds of wounded people whose lives were devastated by the Gladstone cult. He discusses some of the exit strategies now in place to help those seeking to leave. Jeremiah also shares with us about the site's creation and recent developments as well as the destructive dynamics within the cult as led by Zac Kijinsky that abused so many.
The website is gladstoneexposed.com and is a great resource for those considering exiting the group other than each Thursday night after Bible study when no one is looking. It's time to break the tangled web of lies!
Earlier this year, a billboard went up on the corner of High/Kelso in Columbus, Ohio that has sent a signal to the cult hidden in plain sight there called the Dwell Community Church, "formerly" the Xenos Christian Fellowship. The nonprofit LLC Leaving Dwell created this and supports its ongoing messaging to the cult's membership that there is a life outside of it.
Leaving Dwell CEO Keri Pucovich stops by to share her story and that of their organization .. and respond to the absurd charges by Dwell/Xenos made about them. Their site is leavingdwell.com and for those looking for a way out from the hothouse of Xenos, this is a great place to help them leave Dwell.
With the unsurprisingly misguided move of Xenos' founder and cult leader Dennis McCallum's to post his shrill screed in response to our article on Xenos which our ministry posted months ago, we see the ongoing signs which are clearer and clearer. Xenos/Dwell has no inclination of doing anything but spinning the controversies it's abominable years of abuse have spawned for it and demonizing all those who question them. Oliver Long, a former Xenos leader joins us for a conversation on this digging in that the cult is doing to defend itself. It's a wide open convo with a lot of great observation which he shares.
An update on our ministry focus and a discussion on how aberrations like cultism can somehow still flourish all around us despite how advanced we like to think we are, when the truth is we learn nothing from our past.
Like any other cult worth it's toxin, the supremely hypocritical practice of recruitment called "love bombing" is ardently practiced by the Gladstone cult in Cincinnati. Our podcast with Rebecca, a one time Gladstone prospect, brings today the remembrances of their uniquely wicked and cruelly deceptive approach to the practice that would make even a Jehovah's Witness pioneer or a Xenos house leader cringe. One of the most haunting podcasts we've done so far .. with all being quite disturbing. WARNING: Trigger Alert for former cult members.
Cultism and cheese donโt actually have much to do with each other and blue cheese isnโt evil. However an old proverb about the Blue Cheese Cult will be used to bring clarity to an often misunderstood dimension in the challenge cults present to society and the church. We will be examining how cultism harms victims through religious abuse, the Bibleโs perspective of Godโs passionate concern about those impacted by it and a focus on the terrible costs borne by the recruits, members, families and friends of cultic movements. The Christian Scripture has a lot to say about this and will be our light into this very dark world.
Our podcast today features the testimony of Samantha, a survivor of the Gladstone movement located in Ohio which is essentially a communal cult that has successfully enjoyed a parasitical career drawing people, resources and good will from far too many unsuspecting churches and ministries for almost twenty years. Samantha came forward to offer her own insights after 3 years of involvement with the movement.
WARNING potentially triggering for abuse victims. Be advised.
Xenos/Dwellโs skunk work leadership cadre, who thought they could deflect and roll away from trouble, is clearly under a scrutiny theyโve never had before from so many quarters. For all of the parents and loved ones who have fought long, lonely battles with Xenos/Dwell over itโs deceptive recruitment of their children and for those still in and who quietly amen this corner, this next podcast weโll be sharing should be of great interest to you.
With former Xenos leader Vicky Coss as our guest, we review the utterly deaf, blinded and mute facility of Xenos leadership that doesn't want to recognize or see what they are being confronted with - an irrefutable mountain of truth about what their church has really become.
Weโre so glad to feature a very special visitor on our podcast today, Naomi Wright who is the founder and director of Be Emboldened Ministries, a Christian organization based in Denver, Colorado which is devoted to helping those impacted by cults with their very refreshingly unique approach of public education, post-cult survivor assistance, counseling and mentoring from that spiritual perspective. If youโre struggling with recovery from cultism, have a loved one involved in a cult or just have some general questions about the whole religiously abusive phenom .. listen on!
Justin's story never set out to become a testimony to the abuses of Xenos. He just wanted to become a part of a movement to make the world, himself and others better. Excommunicated well over 10 years ago, however, his sharing reveals just how mechanically perfected and mundanely predictable the manipulation and abuse of this cultic movement truly has become.
In 2013, the irresistible idealism and youthful energy of the Gladstone Community drew two older Christian believers named Ernie and June Stickler to fellowship with them. Both parties embraced one another readily in what seemed to be a "peaceable kingdom" where all was in a holy harmony. Four and a half years, the Sticklers exited after bearing witness to community discord that the group's sanctimonious posturing cloaked; a virtual and destructive cultism they could no longer justify. The Sticklers' gripping first person account of life within the community is featured in our podcast.
At the center of the Xenos / Dwell heresy is the cunningly calculated consolidation of social influence and authoritarian power by itโs founder Dennis McCallum. His example is a hidden curricula that dominates the soul and the mindset of the Xenos/ Dwell culture and subcultures. Our guest today on the podcast is Vicky Hodgdon Coss, a former Xenos leader whose life was wholly given over to what she and others thought was a noble vision of Christian mission as cast by Dennis. Please stay tuned in as we discuss what she eventually would discover about who the ultimate authority figure really is within this controversial group.
The "little community" of the Gladstone cult in Mariemont, Ohio at one time had a purity, sincerity and charity all it's own as it sought to live out Christian community. But as the testimony of Biblical counselor Jody Liske who worked closely with them for several years will assert , a far more grim reality has materialized among them as Gladstone eldership plays God in the lives of those there it controls and does all thinking for.
When Jade, a recovering addict and young Christian seeking to move beyond a dead end in her life found her young mom's church group coming to an end, she thought the "One Anothering" of a local Xenos house church would help her continue to seek God and join a loving community. She learned all too quickly how all that glitters is not gold at a painful cost. Jade's testimony of her time in Xenos, particularly the cult's permissive culture that defends and embraces free alcohol usage as a perk of Christian community, is one of the most brutally honest testimonies to Xenos / Dwell's moral degeneracy you will hear.
Our interview with Eric Kraus, the fourth survivor of the cultic Gladstone movement shares courageously about what itโs really like to live as a resident of what Gladstone believes is the most perfect example of Christian life on earth, a place so perfect that no one feels thereโs anywhere else to go even if the sweet fellowship there sours .. as it has for so very many.
Another survivor of Xenos, Erin Kreiter's formational years were spent being filled with the "church's" indoctrination that was both unbiblical, manipulative and starkly hypocritical. Her reveries of life raised as a Xenos "baby" being taught to spread the "Gospel" to those who really deserve it are painfully informative.
This is our third podcast on the outrageously well-concealed extremism of the so-called Ohio "fellowship" that presently calls itself the Madison Community Church, after trying to outrun it's twisted history while it bore the names of Gladstone and the Community, among others. Christy, a survivor of this cult shares the dark backstory they will not be sharing with you in their new coffee house down the street. *WARNING and TRIGGER ALERT*: Graphic details of religious and sexual abuse, as well as sexual violence and injury are contained.
The public outcry to the tone-deaf leaders of the Xenos / Dwell movement continues to fall on their stopped ears and hardening hearts. But the testimony of Eric Smith, a former Xenos leader and church planter about their abortive attempt to replicate itself in Cincinnati is proof that despite a ruthless cult's organizational pressure, men and women of conscience still push back from within.
Another former member of the toxic Gladstone Community movement visits with us on his own years of life under the control of the group. Jeremiah found what he thought were going to be his "forever family" become something entirely quite more distant and hostile when he committed the sin of thinking for himself.
Another former member of the toxic Gladstone Community movement visits with us on his own years of life under the control of the group. Jeremiah found what he thought were going to be his "forever family" become something entirely quite more distant and hostile when he committed the sin of thinking for himself.
One of the chief claims of the Xenos / Dwell ministry is it's endlessly emphasized claim that genuine Christian counsel is offered through a plethora of services it offers to members and all comers. Former Xenos leader Oliver Long brings this beautiful fantasy down to earth with some homely facts: if you struggle with personal emotional and psychological challenges, you will be found out and that secret place of pain will be turned outward for strangers you think you can trust to judge you by. WARNING: Trigger Alert for frank discussion of depression, suicidal ideation and an account of such an attempt. Please reach out if you need help!
This is the first of several planned podcasts on the controversial movement known as the Community, the Gladstone Community, Gladstone Community Church and - since a critical 2016 article about them was released - the Madison Place Community Church. The old adage about being hidden in plain sight gets new life here as we start to bring our original research, aided by many former members, to expose how Gladstone's harmless image turns to something far darker behind its many doors of communal life.
One of the first survivors of the Xenos / Dwell cultism in Columbus, Ohio who we personally were able to meet and share with was a young woman by the name of Claire. Like the story of the very first individual who originally emailed us about their traumatic time in Xenos, Claire's unconscionable violation at the hands of a Xenos member while a teenage girl and how she was ostracized for it is yet another reminder that any church that acts like a cult usually is one. The "counsel" and "pastoral care" of the cult's leader Dennis McCallum which he provided to her afterwards is one of the most shameful derelictions of spiritual duty I've ever heard. WARNING: Explicit discussion of sexual violence may be triggering to victims of sexual abuse.
Although all of the membership of the controversial "church" movement called Xenos / Dwell are charged to become leaders charged with the task of relentlessly growing it, only a few become the kinds of mid-range leader that Oliver Long did. He embraced the Xenos vision only to find that it's black light blinded him to the reality all around him about how much of it's advance was an orchestration of human organization, not divine inspiration. Like the others who have testified here, he paid a price for following the pied pipers of deception Xenos / Dwell are led by. He adds his voice of expose to our podcast in this edition.
With the recent Daily Beast website article concerning the dark side of Xenos/Dwell, the legitimate questioning of their doings is increasingly being dismissed as the thrashing of postmodern spiritual rebels by X/D leaders. With their most recent response to the Daily Beast now on record, our guest Amy Grover stepped forward as an ex-Xenos member who could no longer stay silent. Her observations on Dwell leader James Rochford's dismissive and shrill denials will be shared here today.
Spiritwatch Ministries welcomes to our virtual studio the insight of former Xenos leader Steve Cardoza, who was a leader in the Xenos college and adult groups for 18 years until he left about 4 years ago. He brings a well informed perspective on the functioning of the cult that is unique in its probing and compelling observation and a heartfelt personal message to the Xenos culture at large. WARNING - TRIGGER ALERT: the systemic abuses of Xenos are frankly detailed. Listener discretion is advised.
Our 17th episode continues our ongoing outlet for survivors of the Xenos / Dwell cult of Columbus, Ohio by welcoming Katie Reinaker to the podcast. Katie is the founder of the new critical website https://www.dwellchurchcolumbusisacult.com that provides an incredibly probing analysis of Xenos / Dwell's aberrant practices. Her journey in and out of the group is only part of our discussion here, however. We examine the systemic toxicity of the "church's" practice here and how Xenos leadership has been able to so cruelly treat members and get completely away with it. The observations are disturbing and yet connected with a far more disturbing reality.
This week's episode brings Nina Lombardo, a former Xenos Christian Fellowship member, to our virtual Spiritwatch Ministries studios. Xenos' cunningly cloaked agenda of cultic micromanagement of its' members' lives is a sad reality that Nina's account brings light upon - how her young peers there were empowered to play God over her life and that of others.
Another survivor of the Remnant Fellowship cult we interviewed was Rachel, who also appears in the "Way Down" documentary about Gwen Shamblin Lara's cultic church in Tennessee. She shared more about her time there, her long running struggle with it's shaming control of her life and her ultimate break from it. Rachel's testimony is also shared at spiritwatch.org/RFtest9.htm and she fills in the gaps in this podcast as well as how she's been able to move on beyond the shadowlands of cultism in her life.
Steve and Betsy Miozzi were among the first to join the Remnant Fellowship and among the first to finally leave. Their story of life within the movement was also among the first to sound the alarm about it's increasingly controlling and manipulative ways through a syndicated article in the Associated Press in 2004. They join the podcast to remember those dark days.
As Steve relates: " .. (Remnant leader Tedd Anger) was praying for me to "blow out a knee" so that God could get my attention. What other church leaders would tell someone that?" You can read their testimony on our Spiritwatch website at https://www.spiritwatch.org/RFtest5.htm.
The third episode of ongoing testimonies from former members of the Xenos / Dwell movement in Columbus, Ohio is provided by Christa. Her sharing of her experience in Xenos is yet another litany of painfully bought perspective on the heretical and abusive pressures she suffered. She shares the good of that time, along with the bad and the plainly shagnasty ugly.
She's a former Xenos student leader that now volunteers in a group for women who have been victims of abuse in faith communities. Trauma informed, she's currently working towards being a credentialed victims advocate. She sadly acquired this unique perspective in a manner no woman should have to endure and she helps explain how Xenos is to thank for this ..
As we mentioned in our last podcast, we will be featuring interviews with former members of the heretical Xenos / Dwell church movement. Others will be forthcoming. This week, we feature the testimony of Shawna, an eyewitness to the outrages of a church culture supposedly based on "love."
The Columbus, Ohio based megachurch Xenos Christian Fellowship, having changed it's name to the Dwell Community Church states on its website that it is โconnecting biblical truth to modern life in real community.โ Sadly, weโve discovered this lofty assertion to be little more than marketing verbiage that seeks to deflect from public view what the cold reality actually is. After our personal investigation over the past few months, weโve come to a far more sobering conclusion that Xenos / Dwell is actually โperverting biblical truth in modern church communities in real life.โ Listen in and see how we arrive at that conclusion.
In his sharing today, Chris Elkins helps us recognize what that X factor is which cultists are so able to engage within us all and we trust youโll get some sobering reflection here that we believe will help you understand how cults truly are indeed the result of a problem, an uncomfortably intimate issue within us all.
Our first special guest and interview on the podcast is of Mina Munoz, a survivor of the Remnant Fellowship whose testimony we will be shortly publishing. Her frank, no-holds barred sharing of her time within the cult that finally ended in 2010 will open eyes and we hope hearts as well. She has a special message for her Remnant family she left behind.
WARNING: Explicit adult language she shares her experiences with is present. For other cult survivors, her testimony may be triggering.
As a great final summary of our warnings about cultic mind control, one of Spiritwatch Ministries' associates Mike Spencer will provide for us his own teaching on it's broad and deceptive power. You won't want to miss this.
The conclusion from our last episode providing long needed light upon how cults control people so terribly and completely through the power of cultic mind control where no thought is safe and the unforgiveable sin is thinking independently. .
Cultism is more than doctrine. See how cultism's deceptive power doesn't rely on twisted teaching alone, but their ability to change the behavior of their masses by the change of their thoughts through cultic mind control.
The Bible is abundantly clear how cult leaders attract and ensnare disciples for their own followings and our podcast explores this and some illustrations of how deception works in this context.
We live in a day in which the deceptive is so readily accepted as the reliable and in todayโs podcast we want to explore how readily deception uses the spiritual as a back door into the hearts and minds of millions worldwide.
The cultic movement calling itself the Remnant Fellowship as founded by the now late Gwen Shamblin Lara is currently in it's own spiral downward into chaos. The current state of the cult will be our focus in this edition of our podcast. We apologize for the delay in our scheduling for this.
We take heed that no man deceive you, A look back at the history of this ministry, so you may know who we are, what we stand for and just where WE are going.
It's not a bad time now to be a Jeremiah crying aloud about the truth of our darkening world when it's deepening slumber has become a coma. A final look into the warnings of Jesus Christ found in Matthew 24 will be our brief focus. Thanks for surfing back in!
In 1979, disco was dying even as the Sony Walkman had just been released. The rise of radical Islam was about to start in Iran during the U.S. Hostage Crisis. But as dated as all of that is, the timeless truths of Scripture Dr. Walter Martin will memorably share here begin with his equally eternal reflection of the kinds of students there are in the world. Recorded live in 1979 at Lee College. This is almost an hour long.
Doesn't life seem like it's getting really hardened? Where is the hatred of people of faith taking us and why are people getting so cold? This means more than you may ever have suspected about our future. Don't be caught unawares!
A lot has been going on with us this past month. We wanted to share what's been going on and the status of our ongoing and continuing study of Matthew 24 about last days deception and discernment.
As we continue to study the warnings of Jesus Christ in Matthew 24 about the end of the world, he provides more globally recognizable signs we're just not paying attention to. And wait, there's more ..
Jesus Christ warns that deception is the clearest sign of His coming and of the end of the world. This time, called the "last days" in Scripture will be filled with deceptive people of every sort seeking your attention and who will snare millions around us using our own fallen humanity as a lure. Have your Bibles ready to study!
The tragedy in America's Capital last week was foretold in Scripture. It's just another sign of the times, what Jesus taught about when asked about how we can recognize the end of the world. We can no longer candycoat the warnings. The end is soon.
Spiritwatch Ministries is a discernment outreach and our first podcast episode is what weโve called โepisode zeroโ, our inaugural production which we will use to explain what itโs about and indeed, just โwhere are we going.โ