Oops! I'm In A Cult

S3E8 Oops It's The End and Property updates

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…

S3E7 Bonus Colorado Collapse - Interview with Sam and Michaela

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…

S3E6 Interview with Sam and Michaela

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…

S3E5 The Living Word Cult Collapse: Where is the Money, Now?

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…

S3E4 Rediscovering Christianity Post-Cult: Interview with Caleb LaPlante

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…

S3E3 The Living Word Fellowship’s Secret Society: Interview With Kristy Pfeifer

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…

S3E2 Finding Your Tribe and Embracing Self-Love: Interview with Jean Alice

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…

S3E1 Breaking Generational Trauma | Interview with Rebekah Stassinopoulos

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…

S2E13 Yikes and Yuck | Letters from Listeners III

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…

The Living Word Young Adult School of Sex

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…

S2E12 Held Liable | The Lawsuits Against the Living Word

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…

S2E11 Courted by a Cult | Interview with Arlivia Fisher

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…

S2E10 The Deposition of a Cult Leader: Gary Hargrave on the Record (Part 2)

S2E9 The Deposition of a Cult Leader: Gary Hargrave on the Record (Part I)

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…

S2E8 The Framework of Thought Reform | Interview with Cult Expert Rick Ross

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…

S2E7 Oops! I'm Snapping Out of It | Interview with Charlie Hajek and Mike White

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…

S2E6 Cult Leaders William Branham and John Robert Stevens | Interview with John Collins

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…

S2E5 The Witch Trials of 1967

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…

S2E4 Apostolic Abuse | Interview with LuAnn Banoczi

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…

S2E3 John Robert Stevens | How A Cult Leader is Born

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…