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| BEEN THERE, DONE
THAT |
The
“Great” Commission of Gwen Shamblin & Remnant Fellowship:
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The Hand of God
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Strange Deliverance
 By the time we hit the fresh
air, and began to walk back to our car, we felt ten times lighter.
God had answered our prayer. He had answered our prayer! We had not
sinned so badly that He was no longer watching out for us! Praise Him!
It suddenly became clear to me what a narrow miss we had just had.
“We almost joined a cult,” I said to Maria. “We almost joined a cult,
and God rescued us from it because we asked Him too.” When Maria
rejoined with a snappy, “At least we know we’re not cult material!”
I knew that eventually, we were going to be okay. We were sick about
our friends. We were disoriented, and had no idea what to do next.
But I knew we would be okay.
By the time we got home, we had
enough clarity to start making phone calls. We called every current
member in Weigh Down and Strongholds, and informed them that we would no
longer be leading the programs, that our friends had cut off their relationships
with us in a bizarre manner, and that they should proceed with the programs
and Gwen Shamblin’s teachings at their own risk. It was amazing how
many of them guessed that something had been wrong for a while, and wanted
to pray for us on the spot. We promised more information as soon
as possible, and began composing a letter that we could send to all current
and past Weigh Down and Strongholds members. We knew that we would
be sending the letter to many young Christians, some of who had ongoing
relationships with our friends. We decided to choose the diplomatic
approach and reveal only the theological reasons and our mistakes for why
we were no longer participating. That letter is currently posted
on the World Wide Web. You can access it at www.goldenrocket.com.
We also decided to make one last
ditch effort to save our friends from future pain. I wrote a letter
to my “silenced” friend, who was the only one of the four that had not
asked us to not contact him. I thought I would point out how foreign
this kind of behavior was to how he normally acted, in the hopes of convincing
him into reconsidering his choice. In an email sent by registered mail
on September 17, I wrote:
| I came to that meeting
yesterday swallowing considerable checks in my spirit that I had labeled
as "pride and arrogance," willing to cease my questioning, willing to submit
myself to Gwen, to David Martin, to (you). I was willing to never teach,
never speak in an assembly again, if necessary, only if I could be offered
forgiveness. I was on my face for two days before God, and was given Psalm
51 "The sacrifices of the Lord are a broken and contrite spirit, a broken
and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." I had never been more
broken. Never been more humble. I felt that the Lord's will for me was
to be humbled in Remnant. But I also prayed that if this was not His will
for me, that if there was no mercy in this place, could He please reveal
it to me? I was sure that given my heart, given my brokenness, I would
be loved and restored, unconditionally forgiven, forgiven my debts just
as Christ forgave yours. …I know that you believe we were being handed
over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme, but instead, you have wounded
the body of Christ. I believe that you did not agree with what happened.
But I can see that you had chosen to silence yourself.17 |
I shared with him my belief about
the group’s fitting the definition of a “cult” group, something I couldn’t
convincingly argue previously until I had seen first hand its capacity
for destructiveness. I tried to convince him at least to talk with
a mutual friend he trusted who had belonged to a Bible-based cult group
for many years, and at least get more information.
| I asked God for confirmation
that this is a cult. I have it now. I have been doing some reading over
the past two months, trying to be understand how cults work. They emphasize
conformity, denigrate and shame independent thinking, have rigid authority
and hierarchy structures, move people by group thinking, use fear as a
motivator, and quickly and permanently expel anyone who persistently questions.
These things are present in Remnant. They are disguised under the name
of "love", and "vertical emphasis." But they are strongly present, and
God has revealed the check that I had ever since we went down to Remnant
in June. . . . We are afraid for you, and will pray daily for your
deliverance too. Run. Run away. Cut off contact with these people, or at
least talk to (our friend). I know that you trust his walk.18 |
I also poured out every previously
unexpressed suspicion about the character and intentions of David Martin
and Gwen Shamblin. It seemed moot to me, but I felt my friend needed
a chance to think for himself.
| Remember when (our pastor)
said there are different kinds of fruit? Well, there are. And while there
is a fruit of repentance and holiness there, there is also another fruit:
stolen authority and arrogance and a spirit of control. God is not in control.
Gwen Shamblin and David Martin are. And they have stolen their authority.
Well intentioned as they may be, they are more concerned with control and
the Remnant agenda than doing the full will of God, which includes forgiveness
and restoration. They themselves spurn correction and sound doctrine, and
despise those with more knowledge than themselves. They quibble and cause
dissension about words, like the Trinity. This is a gospel of pride and
arrogance disguised as humility. And they divided 6 brothers and sisters
in Christ who God had obviously called together. Divisiveness, arrogance,
and false authority: all the manifestations of Satan that they are so concerned
with.19 |
I am fully aware that the above
indictment sounds harsh. It was certainly fueled by indignation and
hurt when I originally composed it (the day after my first, and hopefully
only, “accusation”). But even in retrospect, removed from the immediate
situation, I stand by it. Gwen Shamblin and David Martin bear a heavy
responsibility for the leadership they exercise in the Remnant Fellowship
body. The more control and power leaders have, the more responsibility
they have for setting a flawless example to the flock and demonstrating
the impeccable character of Christ in their leadership. This is the
reason they originally separated from the “counterfeit church,” to get
away from faulty leadership that does not take seriously the importance
of giving the whole heart to God and submitting to His commands.
Their behavior in how they treated me and my wife reveal that they are
either (1) hypocrites who say one thing and do another, or (2) truly blind
to their own inconsistent obedience to the commands of Savior and the example
of His early church. To support this charge, I will address Remnant
Fellowship’s selective attention to the commands of Jesus Christ.
I will also deal with Remnant Fellowships “cult-like” behavior, and demonstrate
how it differs from the church revealed in the New Testament.
Did He Say That, Too?
In my email to Gwen Shamblin
(also copied to the other leaders of the Remnant Fellowship Nashville church),
I apologized for my behavior to her, and asked for her forgiveness.
In other excerpts from that email not quoted in this testimony, I told
her I was in distress because I felt the need to repair our relationship.
After apologizing, I then took the opportunity to ask the questions that
she had encouraged me to ask in a one-on-one basis, because I wanted to
settle our differences quickly. It was another, more carefully worded
question about her character, the character of the leadership of Remnant
Fellowship, and her vision for the future.
Following this email, I never
heard from Gwen again. She has made no effort to contact me, although
I repeatedly tried to contact her. She is clearly not interested
in reconciling our relationship. I am sure she and the Remnant Fellowship
leadership justify this “cold shoulder” approach with passages like Titus
3:9-11, where Paul encourages Titus to warn a divisive person once, and
then to have nothing to do with them. Perhaps Gwen thought that the
warning I received in our phone conversation should have been my chance
to learn to stop questioning. But why then would she ask me to communicate
my questions to her on a one-to-one basis?
I believe that Gwen Shamblin
and the Remnant Fellowship leadership (in both Nashville and New York)
are guilty of selective attention to the commands of our Savior.
His teachings concerning forgiveness and reconciliation are clear.
Luke 17: 3-4 indicates that if a brother repents, one is to forgive him,
even if he comes back seven times in one day! And Matthew 18 demonstrates
in commands and a parable that forgiveness and reconciliation is simply
not optional in the Kingdom of Heaven. Here Jesus instructs us to
forgive our brother “seven times seventy.”
I know that these passages are
not unknown to the Remnant Fellowship leadership. They have certainly
read them. However, their disregard of them betrays that there is
another agenda working in their midst. They are blind to them, because
in my questions about their intentions, character, and purposes, I actually
had the hope that if they were listening, they might be able to take a
step back and evaluate whether the way they had set up their authority
structure was truly from Him. I was hoping we could dialogue about
that issue. My intent was not to be divisive, my intent was to find
a way to communicate honestly about what I saw happening. Clearly,
I violated an unspoken but universally accepted rule of the group, which
was that continued and sustained questioning is “anti-authority.”
I was never asked about my motives or intentions. They were assumed,
and I was cut off from their fellowship. Even if I was wrong in
my assessment and had actually put my foot in my mouth in front of the
holiest people on earth, surely they would be wise enough to divine my
heart, address my concerns, and encourage me to “grow up?” But the
actual events demonstrate that this was not their choice!
A Question of Character
Ostensibly, it was the pride
and arrogance in my email that “broke the camel’s back” in regards to Remnant
Fellowship leadership’s patience with me. According to Gwen, it bothers
her greatly when her character is questioned, and in this case, it became
a reason to cut off contact with a brother in Christ, and contribute to
division between other brothers and sisters in Christ. I’m sure that
in her mind and in the mind of her followers, the problem is mine (again,
Titus 3: 9-11). After all, I am the prideful one who dared questioned
God’s spiritual authority.
It’s telling to me that Gwen
is so squeamish about answering “character questions” because of her position
as a “global authority” in Remnant Fellowship. An example of a global
authority in the Bible who didn’t seem to share her distaste for them was
the apostle Paul. Paul seemed to enjoy a measure of “global authority”
to some degree over many of the churches he planted. He could only
spend a certain amount of time with each congregation, and then moved on
to other areas. In his absence, confused and/or malicious teachers
occasionally slipped in and tried to get the church to question Paul’s
teachings and his character. Second Corinthians and Galatians are
perfect and extended examples of this phenomenon.
It’s interesting to note Paul’s
reaction on these occasions. First of all, he passionately defends
his gospel and his character, reminding his flock of his love and care
for them, and the gentle manner in which he treated them when he was present.
In short, Paul was not afraid to be open, honest, and vulnerable with his
brothers and sisters. He was not quick to discipline; rather, he
seemed to exercise that option only reluctantly. Instead, he won
them over by his love for them and his character. As a rule, Paul
seemed to accommodate as much as he could in order to retain each one that
God had given him! And he did not upbraid his flocks for having doubts.
Instead, he answered their doubts willingly.
Of course, in Paul’s case, his
teachings were founded on a firm and solid gospel. Furthermore, he
had a genuine calling from God to preach and teach with authority.
Finally, although he was not a perfect man, he was not afraid to be open
and answer questions about his character. And most importantly, he
was quick to reconcile relationships and restore fallen brothers!
Unfortunately, Gwen Shamblin’s
example in this regard does not seem to match this dedication to unity
and openness. Her behavior demonstrates a quick and ready reliance
on church discipline and excommunication to avoid such questions.
I believe that this is because she is teaching a twisted gospel that will
not stand up to intense questioning. Furthermore, she is exercising
her calling on the pretext of a false authority; she did not like the manner
in which the modern church was being run, and so she stole the reins and
ran away with a few confused but loyal sheep. Finally, Gwen betrays
that she does not share Paul’s emphasis on reconciliation and restoration.
Rather, her actions demonstrate that she is concerned with maintaining
her continued enjoyment of an unquestioned interpretive and pastoral authority.
In short, she is more concerned with control than she is with building
up each member of the flock towards an independent faith in God. |
ENDNOTES
17
Email correspondence sent to my friend by registered mail on September
17, 2001. Email on file. [BACK]
18
Ibid. [BACK]
19
Ibid. [BACK] |
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