Oops! I'm In A Cult

Scott Barker and Charity Navalesi are former members, born and raised in The Living Word Fellowship. They are investigating this organization, founded by John Robert Stevens in 1951, that branded itself as a Christian church for over seventy years but turned out to be just another cult. Stevens demanded full submission of his followers until his death in 1983 and when his successors, Gary & Ma...

After a former member of The Living Word released letters exposing sexual abuse cover up in the Fellowship, local Living Word churches struggled with their identity and future as a community. In Colorado, Sam and Michaela Teres had a front row seat to those internal conversations. Scott Barker and Charity Navalesi are former members, born and raised in The Living Word Fellowship. They are investig...

The Living Word Fellowship fostered a culture that demanded total submission to those in authority. Members were conditioned to accept inappropriate levels of involvement in their personal lives, to include Shepherds coming between spouses. Sam and Michaela were among the many couples whose marriages were interfered with. The abuse became so severe that Michaela, being told she was a hindrance to...

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. I...

Caleb LaPlante was raised into The Living Word Fellowship, primarily in the small Grants Pass, Oregon congregation. After having left the church in his college years but staying involved on a social basis because of family ties, Caleb re-entered the world of TLWF in the wake of Shalom’s letters and was active in uncovering abuses, including leadership knowingly protecting pedophiles within the loc...

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 W...

Jean Alice joined The Living Word Fellowship when she was eleven years-old, homeless and alone. She was passed around to family after family within the cult, constantly being told she was unwanted because she wasn’t good enough. Though she was eventually adopted by a loving family, the abusive messaging that pervaded the cult kept her self-esteem at rock bottom. She found herself in an abusive mar...

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

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

In 1992 Gary and Marilyn Hargrave, leaders of the Living Word Fellowship, held a special meeting about the secrets and mysteries of sex in the Los Angeles church sanctuary. In this nearly four-hour long video, Gary and Marilyn spoke explicitly about sexual promiscuity, masturbation, homosexuality, Gary's flowing hormones, young children’s “intrigue” with sex, Gary’s and Marilyn’s investigation...

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. In this episode we go over court documents related to the recent settlement of these cases and reveal the details surrounding the complaints of two specific plaintiffs, and the judge's ruling on the matter. These two cases reveal c...

Arlivia Fisher became a member of the Living Word Fellowship after meeting a member on a dating site. She was quickly indoctrinated into the cult and it took over her entire life. She lost longtime clients and was distanced from her family and friends as she was drawn deeper into the inner circle, even becoming Gary & Marilyn’s personal hair stylist. She shares her experience of becoming lost...

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...

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 fe...

Oops I'm In a Cult and Snapping Out of it Cross over Episode! Both podcast are hosted by Former members of The Living Word Cult. Charlie and Mike discuss their processes in telling the story of cults and the Living Word, plus we discuss personal growth from the brainwashing and how the dynamics of their family that are still loyal to the cult play into their daily lives. Listen to Charlie and...

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...

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 e...

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...

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...

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 mill...

In this especially personal episode, Scott and Charity show how The Living Word church leaders coerced Scott’s mom, Laurie Barker, into using unproven alternative medicine to treat her stage 3 ovarian cancer. The emails that Scott uncovered display how effectively The Living Word brainwashed their members into thinking that they were soldiers fighting for “resurrection life” and how they should la...

We have compiled so many amazing stories from former members of The Living Word Fellowship on the Oops! I'm In a Cult podcast and on this YouTube channel. From the early conversations to the 14 episodes of the podcast we have truly discovered some wild and terrible stories about Gary Hargrave, Marilyn Hargrave, John Robert Stevens, and other leaders of The Living Word. Thank you so much to eve...

In our final episode of the season we dive into a treasure trove of archived materials from the 1970s that expose the secrets of The Living Word Fellowship’s bizarre doomsday preparations. These guidelines were delivered on leaflets that we recently received from a former follower of John Robert Stevens’ cult. We share more revealing letters from listeners, including another former tape editor wit...

Johanna Wozniak was born and raised in the Los Angeles chapter of The Living Word Fellowship and attended the church school from pre-school until her senior year. She spent most nights of her childhood in the church’s recording studio which was run by accused serial abuser and leader Rick Holbrook. She talks about how her troubled home life caused her to seek out family in the form of the church d...