The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin

My friends and I would babysit at Remnant,

oftentimes groups of 15 or 20 kids.

At first it was exciting. You know, it was kind of fun.

It was just my friends and I hanging out

for a whole weekend with one another

with some kids, babysitting.

We were making $10 an hour

in 2003, which was great money.

Overall, it was just kind of a fun, nice experience.

It was Easter weekend in April, 2003,

and members nationwide had gathered

to celebrate the holiday and there were

more than 20 kids there for the weekend.

I saw Josef in the corner very upset, crying.

As the parents were headed in to the worship service,

I stopped his dad and said, "Sir, is there a game

or a toy or anything that could help your son calm down?"

And that's when he just looked at me and said,

"Just hit him hard."

And I said, "Sir,

I don't feel comfortable hitting your son."

And he said, "No, really,

hit him hard."

Again I said no, um,

and he took his son into the next room,

and we could hear him hitting his son hard.

Josef was wailing.

They came back, and Josef was still visibly upset.

Obviously.

And all the parents went into the worship service

as if that was normal.

That was the last time I ever babysat for him at Fellowship.

God has taken 86 pounds off of me.

I have lost 53 pounds.

I have lost 50 pounds just following my wife.

She has lost 178.

I had sleep apnea. I had high blood pressure.

I had acid reflux.

I'm not on any medications anymore.

I don't have to use a machine to breathe at night.

I'm just free.

I've always looked for God's guidance,

and so apparently He was able to use me.

Even at a young age, I adored Him.

And so, He used me,

and what I do in this program

is teach people how to stop

bowing down to the refrigerator

and how to bow back down to Him.

We just thank you for this teaching

that has given us freedom

and kept our weight off all this time, God.

Do you think it's appropriate

for you to use the Holocaust...

- I believe that-- - ...to promote

- your weight loss plan? - I can give--I can give you--

Okay. That--that's enough. I think--let's just--

- Let's go. Let's go. - Okay.

What does the state of the church

have to do with weight loss?

The answer is everything.

I've known for some time that resistance

to doing the will of God was increasing in the church,

but we're headed for trouble,

and someone has got to warn the people.

We are living in a world

where parents are desperate for answers

on how to handle

the increasingly immoral children of today

and they're distraught

as they watch the average child

just walk away from their church

after their senior year of high school.

Two-thirds walk away.

People ask us what we teach

to have such godly children.

Keep in mind, these children are not

in a Sunday school program.

These children hear the same words

as the adults do, week after week,

after week, year after year.

And they learn the passion

from watching the passionate people

in this church worship.

The Remnant culture is completely devoted

to controlling its exposure to the external world,

which is why they created a whole series of networks

involving child care and homeschooling initiatives

as a means of, of course, keeping the children

within the milieu of the group.

Because of the Remnant Fellowship culture,

you could leave your children with other adults easily.

Children can be watched over by anyone older than they.

The authority line doctrine

empowers children as young as nine

to discipline children who are as young as five,

simply because they are older,

without any input from parents at all.

Gwen's always talking to the media about

how this church is different, and look at the weight loss,

all the thin people, and look at the obedient children.

That's a sign that God's with us.

When the parents stand,

the children stand.

When the--when the parents sit, they sit.

They are looking to the parents for the lead.

I had two little ones that were "not behaving" well.

They're not sitting still all the time

in 3-hour services.

So I'm not training them correctly,

and the way to train them

is to spank them...

until they cry, or I'm not spanking them hard enough.

I can still remember one of the services,

David Martin talking about

having to spank his children 30 times

to get them to obey.

Jennifer and I have been blessed

with this advice from Gwen

and can't tell you what a difference it's made.

A year ago, our 2 1/2-year-old Avery,

we had a real showdown with her.

Her will was just-- was ruling,

and enough was enough.

And we had a--a-- a leg spanking

over and over and over and over and over and over again

and that has been a different child.

I remember at one point,

a family did take my kids in for two weeks.

When I picked up my kids, they'd been spanked,

by the mother.

And when I picked them up,

they were like Stepford children.

It was like I didn't recognize them.

They didn't hug me.

They stood there and they said,

"Can we get your suitcase

and take 'em upstairs for you?" and take 'em upstairs for you?"

And we got home, and then they said,

"Is there anything we can do for you, Mom?"

And I'm like, "These are not my children."

And they're like 4 1/2 years apart

and they fight.

And I was like, "These are not my children."

And it took about a day

before they got back to normal.

But that was two weeks, and they were changed,

in two weeks.

I can't imagine what they would do

if they had been with them long-term.

I went to Gwen another time,

telling her, you know, "I just can't spank 'em."

"I can't spank 'em this hard

and it's not making any difference."

There's someone in the church

that's told me "Use a glue stick."

And you use it like a switch.

It was one of them long ones, you know.

Not the short ones.

So she took the glue stick and she tested it on her arm,

she tested it on her leg.

You know. I think she tested it on her hand.

"Wow, that does--I can see how that would sting."

And uh, she was like, "Yeah,

maybe that's what you need to use."

So I walked out of there thinking

"Okay, I've got her approval to use a glue stick,"

and I used it once, and I'm like, "Nope.

"Never again.

I am not doing this to my kids."

And I threw it away.

For some, there were glue sticks.

For some, it was a belt.

For some, it was the hand.

For some, it was a spatula.

For our child, it was a wooden spoon.

From his daycare provider, also a member,

because our child was wiggling,

during a diaper change.

The way you show God

that you are answering to Him

is through obeying your mother and your father

on the first time.

If you obey the second and the third time,

or you are slow to obey,

you are being your own God,

and nobody playing around like that

can ever go to Heaven,

so you will only live

for a few years on Earth

and then you will have a horrible afterlife.

If you do not obey Mommy and Daddy the first time,

you will be taken out, and you will be

very, very sorry.

Let's see. Uh. Joseph, you want to go next?

Hello, I'm Joseph Smith from Atlanta, Georgia.

Through this message, I've lost 65 pounds.

Have to tighten my belt up just a little

every now and then.

Joseph and Sonya Smith,