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 TLW 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?

Marilyn Hargrave, the leader of The Living Word Fellowship was famously “anti-woman”. She perpetuated a system of misogyny within the Fellowship for decades. In this episode, we start by examining Marilyn’s infamous “Girls Turn it Off” message, a principle teaching used to demean and control women in the church. We compare her teachings to the misogyny inherent in Christianity that dates back millennia. How did the Catholic church’s teachings lead to the extermination of women through the Inquisition? Were New Testament manuscripts by Mary Magdalene and others purposely excluded from the Bible to eliminate women’s voices? Why are modern day christian denominations suppressing women’s involvement in leadership of the Southern Baptist Church?

In this two-part episode Scott and Charity read excerpts from the official deposition of Gary Hargrave, former leader of The Living Word Fellowship and current head of Hargrave Ministries. This deposition was done in connection with lawsuits that were filed against Gary and the church by several former members alleging they were sexually abused within the church when they were minors. Follow along as we read you some of the highlights of the deposition, where Gary is finally held responsible and forced to answer questions about his role, his knowledge of events, and the toxic culture he fostered for nearly forty years. See how after years of relishing his role as co-leader supreme, he now denies that he had any real authority at all. 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".

In this two-part episode Scott and Charity read excerpts from the official deposition of Gary Hargrave, former leader of The Living Word Fellowship and current head of Hargrave Ministries. This deposition was done in connection with lawsuits that were filed against Gary and the church by several former members alleging they were sexually abused within the church when they were minors. Follow along as we read you some of the highlights of the deposition, where Gary is finally held responsible and forced to answer questions about his role, his knowledge of events, and the toxic culture he fostered for nearly forty years. See how after years of relishing his role as co-leader supreme, he now denies that he had any real authority at all. 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".

In 1992 Gary and Marilyn Hargrave, leaders of the Living Word Fellowship, held a special meeting about the secrets and mysteries of sex at Church of the Living Word in North Hills, Californi 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? 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. 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).

In the wake of the Living Word Fellowship's collapse in 2018, five lawsuits were filed by six plaintiffs against Gary Hargrave and several Living Word entities, including Hargrave Ministries. In this episode we go over court documents related to the recent settlement of the Los Angeles cases and reveal the details surrounding the sexual abuse complaints of two specific plaintiffs, and the judge's ruling on the matter. These two cases reveal common threads among all six plaintiffs involved in the lawsuits against the Living Word Fellowship and paint a clear picture of how Gary and Marilyn Hargrave and members of the Church of the Living Word and it's private school, Centers of Learning, actively protected sexual predators like Rick Holbrook and did nothing to protect children. Please be advised that this episode involves discussion of the sexual abuse of minors.

In this bonus episode I speak with author and webmaster of William Branham: Historical Research, John Collins. John was raised in the Message cult and has since worked to expose the teachings of William Branham who founded and led the cult until his death in 1965. In addition he researches other cult leaders who were influenced by Branham's Latter Rain teachings of the mid 20th century. Listen as we discuss how the founder of the Living Word, John Robert Stevens is connected to Branham and other cult leaders like Jim Jones.

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.

On this episode we will be speaking with the Internationally known cult expert and deprogrammer Rick Alan Ross who is the founder and Executive Director of The Cult Education Institute. Rick has personally assisted thousands of families in an effort to help the victims of destructive cults, groups and movements. Ross has been an expert witness in court proceedings across the US including the US federal Court and has been featured in numerous publications including Time Magazine, People, The New Your Times and appeared on national TV on shows like Dateline, 20/20 and Oprah. Ross' analysis has been sought on virtually every major cult story for decades.

LuAnn Banoczi joined the Living Word Fellowship in 1967 and married into John Robert Stevens’ family at his direction and subsequently divorced, also at his direction. She was witness to his misogyny and inappropriate behavior towards women, and in this interview she talks about his fascination with the occult, witches and opening doors in his underpants! LuAnn also expresses great regret for not recognizing the abuse that was happening all around her, including her own, and uses this as motivation to help those affected heal.

Lauren Beckman was born and raised in The LIving Word Fellowship, her early life spent in San Diego where she was separated from her mother as a teenager and sent to be a live-in servant for her shepherd where she was physically, emotionally and mentally abused. In early adulthood, she moved to the Church of The Living Word in Los Angeles, where the abuse only escalated. Not only was Lauren regularly abused by Rick Holbrook, but she shares with us a traumatic sexual assault perpetrated by a member of the Fellowship, which was covered up by church leadership, including Marilyn and Gary Hargrave. Through all of the abuses she endured, Lauren was instructed not to tell her mother, report abuses to authorities, or seek professional help. She tells us about the lasting effects these experiences have on her and how she continues to work toward healing.

Before John Robert Stevens was the venerated cult leader we know him as today, he was a defrocked preacher cultivating a small following in his two Los Angeles churches. In this episode, We will examine scandalous audio that documents Stevens’ greatest test to his authority and apostleship to date. On this historic Sunday evening, JRS is publicly challenged over allegations of infidelity by an ex-witch who he claimed to have saved through the power of Jesus Christ. What you will hear is a public witch trial, a battle of loyalty, and the ultimate Oops I'm In a Cult moment where his followers are forced to decide where they stand.

Before becoming the cult leader that we know today, John Robert Stevens was a disgraced Pentecostal pastor who had been stripped of his ordination by the Foursquare Church. Kicked out of two major denominations, having been accused of adultery and financial impropriety, he began to form his own church, which came to be known as The Living Word Fellowship, AKA: The Walk. In this episode we examine Stevens’ origins and how he may have been inspired by the Pentecostal movement whose prominent figures included Aimee Semple McPherson and Charles Fox Parham. Pentecostalism birthed the Latter Rain Movement, which inspired cult leaders like Jim Jones, William Branham, and Stevens himself. Through it all we see how he was not unique in believing he was called as an Apostle and reveal the pattern that was used by so many like Stevens to enthrone themselves as cult leaders.