Gang,

Something has been bothering me lately and even more so after a conversation last night with my father-in-law.

I don't know if any of you have heard of "The Weigh-Down Workshop" or not.

Gwen Shamblin (I think that's how it's spelled) started this class a few years back and many churches used the program. She used to be a member of a Church of Christ. Gwen began making some outrageous claims. In one of her books, she made some strange claims about the Holy Spirit to the point that her book publisher--a Baptist publisher who had sold tons of her books, wouldn't publish it. She would not take that part out and took it to a secular publisher.

She formed a group (a cult) that calls themselves "The Remnant." In this church, she calls herself THE "prophetess" and tells the members what they can and can't do and what members of their families they must disfellowship. The cult teaches that if you are not at your ideal weight within a few months of joining, then you must be disfellowshipped because you haven't given yourself to God. Some of the members are so dependant on Gwen (who takes all of the tithes from all the groups in the country and is extremely wealthy because of her book and tape sells and her husband's stock market investments and trading) that she buys them houses and cars and uses those items to black-male them.

Recently, a plant of this church in Atlanta had some terrible things happen. The Remnant teaches harsh discipline to children. One of the "rites of passage" for parents and children is a form of discipline used on babies. They call it something like "The Discovering Authority Punishment." The idea is that when your child is over a year old or so and starts crying, you spank/beat him until he stops crying. As many of you know, a small baby doesn't understand this and actually would be crying out of pain AFTER the spanking started. A couple in Atlanta killed their first-born child in this way. The second one didn't make it to a year-old and died of pneumonia because the cult teaches that people don't need medicine if they are totally surrendered to God. This led to the FBI getting involved in Atlanta and some people went to jail.

One thing I can't tolerate is children being hurt. I have a very soft heart for babies, thus my extreme objection to abortion. Anyway, these children are being beaten--and parents involved in the cult have to submit their child to any other parent in the cult to be able to "spank" him or her in whatever level of severity they see fit.

The cult meets just across the street from where Family Dynamics is located. I want to go over there and show those adults what a real beating is (I have 3 black belts and taught Tae Kwon Doe). The law may be getting involved up here because a few people have come forward.

Please pray that this woman's control over these people is stopped. That the cult is broken up and, most importantly, that the children are safe and protected. That they don't have to hurt or feel they are unloved or in danger or be afraid.

Please pray.  

You can read up on them at http://www.mazeministry.com/othersects/weighdown/weighdown.htm

http://www.rickross.com/reference/weighdown/weighdown5.html

http://www.hoyweb.com/faq/WDW.htm

http://www.carm.org/features/weighdown.htm

http://www.geocities.com/Bob_Hunter/weighdown.html

http://www.chasefreedom.com/weighdown3.html

Lee

There are things I liked-- and didn't like- about Gwen's methods- since I took part in a Weighdown Workshop years ago.

But goodness... I really need to see some of that stuff to believe it.  Felt like urban legend.

If it is all true-- God help Gwen  cause He's the only one who can.

btw, Phil Wilson's been posting about this for some time.  His posts are really all I know about this (although I have seen the books).  It doesn't seem to be big in this area.