The Millionaire Preacher With A Weight Loss Cult | Gwen Shamblin Documentary

[Music] this will be a program unlike anything you have ever done but in it you will find the truth gwen chamblin was hailed as the diet guru for decades she created a thriving business with customers around the world and helped men and women change their lives gwen built massive wealth and even started her own church called remnant fellowship but behind the affluence and luxury with this diet guru preacher and sugar mama many found out nothing was as it seemed this story has more twists and turns than a 90s soap opera it contains real-life stepford wives a multi-millionaire preacher a failed reality show a beauty queen who won't go down without a fight tarzan the sugar baby a whole lot of hair and even an fbi investigation remnant fellowship is now part of a murder investigation [Music] this true story is about success lust greed betrayal and crime this is the rise and fall of gwen chamblin the millionaire preacher with a weight loss cult [Music] so praise god [Music] in 1955 a baby was born in memphis tennessee to two devoutly religious parents her name was gwen henley gwen's father was a surgeon and the family attended christ's christian church an extremely conservative church that didn't allow female members to lead or preach and it's reported that music wasn't allowed in the church either as a child gwen's father would take her to the hospital to do rounds with him and she once asked how he was able to cut people open something she thought was pretty gross gwen's father told her i don't focus on cutting people open i focus on removing the bad and that is what gwen decided she wanted to do remove the bad out of people but in a less gruesome way while obtaining a master's degree in food and nutrition from memphis state university gwen married a man named david chamblin in 1978. they had two children michael and elizabeth and gwen continued her schooling and became a registered dietitian as such gwen worked as a consultant and faculty member at memphis state university for five years gwen told the college students she counseled that she herself was a weight loss success story as she gained weight while attending university but was able to lose it and keep it off successfully in 1986 gwen founded way down a weight loss program that could be compared to what we know today as intuitive eating in the way down program gwen gave diet tips such as quote as you are learning to eat regular foods start with a small saucer or plate or put these smaller half size amounts on a normal plate in way down you must learn to slow down your eating for two reasons number one you will be able to taste each bite instead of inhaling it you can savor the quality instead of quantity and number two you remain in much better control and can detect fullness better when you eat more slowly end quote but gwen's program was more than portion control and intuitive eating the way down program was faith-based as gwen believed in the god of christianity and wanted her clients to break their focus on food and transfer that focus to god welcome to the way down workshops home series called way down at home my name is gwen chamblin and i will be your host for this 12 lesson journey away from the magnetic pool of the refrigerator that actually has a hold on your mind and your heart at the same time it's a journey toward replacing this hold with the one who deserves all our attention our genius creator and father god almighty this will be a program unlike anything you have ever done but in it you will find the truth years of restrictive dieting have only strengthened the chains of slavery to food and have exacerbated rather than solved our problems just like the israelites whose backs were breaking under the strain of their labor we have lived through the hopelessness of losing weight only to gain it back even more this program is for you when god came to rescue his people from slavery he rescued them all god does not call perfect people he calls him perfect people to be devoted to him so that we can see his awesome and mighty right hand rescue us however gwen's program did not take into account people with abnormal hunger signals due to hormonal issues and or insulin resistance or people who didn't worship the christian god or even no god in gwen's eyes that didn't matter because she believed and promoted the idea that people could overcome anything in their lives through her god something that would have consequences later on and when it came to eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia nervosa gwen believed those disorders could be cured through her program the way down program began to pick up steam and by 1992 gwen started hosting way down workshops out of her garage she created a way down workbook for clients to journal and developed bible studies around weight loss gwen started touting the message that god told her people weren't consistently losing weight because they weren't being faithful to him gwen was using shame to motivate people a fear-based tactic used widely across the diet industry and in many faith-based circles as well but you could say gwen knew her niche and she knew it well because by 1997 way down workshops spread to over 30 000 weekly meetings in 70 countries thanks to being able to record herself on vhs gwen's way down curriculum was now being facilitated in workshops no longer in a garage but in churches that same year gwen also launched her first book the way down diet and sold over 1 million copies suddenly gwen was everywhere she made appearances on the today show 2020 larry king live the bbc and the tyra bank show gwen also went on book tour she called rebuilding the wall where she would teach the way down curriculum live sign books and bring people on stage to share their success stories and gain recognition gwen built a net worth of 5 million dollars and reached what some might call the pinnacle of success but in gwen's eyes this was only the beginning in the weight program more women than men absolutely i mean women are primary i mean they some 75 of women will like take you know or the what go to a hospital to start with men don't go so i mean uh likewise that's due to uh hormones uh why why do god's not to the center in the way they look than men yes you're trying to meet a need here i mean you are trying to mean that you're hurting you want out of this and i think that women i think uh pornography would be a stronger thing probably for men or uh there's other things i thought i was going to photography harm you if you watch something well everyone that i've ever talked to and a lot of times i mean they've come to me and told me that this program's helping they tell me it is a black pit they just i mean once they got out i mean they're weeping and if something has a hold of you you realize you're a slave to it and you don't want to be a slave to it you want to be able to control that cigarette you want to be able to control that food and uh but if it brings you enjoyment and you don't harm anyone right you in a movie and it's you in a movie so well i don't i'm not saying that in and of itself i mean god made the woman once again it's not the tobacco it's not the beauty of the art of that it's over indulgence when you know it is going from softcore to hardcore to you're sick and now you're you know messing with children something's wrong and one always follows the other in your opinion i believe that we will always grow in love so if you stay in love with the refrigerator you will look like a refrigerator if you stay in love with the pornography it'll go worse if you fall in love with god it gets better we'll be back with our remaining moments with gwen chamblin tony bennett tomorrow night mobile alabama last call hello hi i'm one of your coordinators with a weight loss of 77 pounds that i've maintained for eight months i'd like you to share the status of the program for children you're going to have seminars for children it will be for children and um well we're going to have to have it separate for for under 12 and then over 12. and um so a lot of you see under 12's dealing with a weight problem oh yes and a lot of that the parents will be going because the parents need to learn that we pass down to our the next generation what we adore and if we adore that food we'll send it down thanks thank you thank you larry gwen chamblin founder of the way down workshop many people particularly women involved in the way down workshops believed gwen had been put on earth to change their lives and gwen wasn't telling them any different people close to gwen would later recall gwen's larry king interview playing on repeat on a giant flat screen in her living room gwen reveled in her newfound fame and started promoting the idea that not only could she help people with weight loss but with any problem or addiction they might have instead of permanent weight loss her message now included self-fulfillment through god around this time in 1999 is when gwen decided to start a church she called it remnant fellowship and for the first few years the church met in a warehouse the word remnant comes from the biblical book of revelation where scripture tells of the end times and the 144 thousand faithful servants that god will redeem but there was trouble in paradise gwen made waves when in one of her weekly online newsletters she denied the holy trinity by claiming her ministries believed that the holy spirit and jesus did not have equal leadership to god now whether one believes in christianity or not this is important in gwen's story because what she was ultimately doing by bypassing the trinity was setting herself up to be called a prophet under god many christians believed this to be blasphemy and phones started ringing off the hook at waydown's headquarters fans were outraged and began sending back their copies of gwen's books and weighed down curriculum evangelical leaders were comparing gwen's beliefs to jehovah's witnesses way down employees were quitting churches were dropping the way down workshops left and right and gwen's christian publisher pulled her books from publication and decided to cancel the release of her upcoming book out of egypt yet gwen remained defiant and when asked how she felt about the backlash she replied quote people don't care about this they don't care about the trinity this is going to pass what the women want is weight loss they care about their bodies being a temple and their lives turned over to the lord that's what my ministry is about end quote gwen went on to call it a witch hunt and said that the churches who dropped her workshops would be ineffective as members would just go down the street to other churches where her workshops continued to be held then without missing a beat gwen became part of another scandal claiming religious discrimination gwen was sued by five way down employees who said they felt pressured to join remnant fellowship in fact the lawsuit first came after one employee was fired by gwen for not attending remnant fellowship as gwen told her employees that attending her church was a condition of their employment in court documents from 2001 an employee named tanya said quote i used my lunch hour to pray and i was told by gwen that she pays people good money to pray and she didn't need my prayers and it wasn't my place to decide what to pray for gwen said some people are sacrificed for the benefit of others and that's what she said when i was fired end quote tanya moved from california to tennessee after being recruited by way down and believing it would be a good opportunity for her family but she would later tell the baptist press she almost immediately began feeling pressured by gwen to join remnant fellowship tanya and her family attended remnant for two months but didn't like the messages they were hearing tanya said quote gwen would tell us that grace isn't the message of god and that she is a prophet she said the antichrist resides within each of us tanya and her family decided remnant fellowship wasn't a church they wanted to attend and it was after they left that tanya was fired from way down and she wasn't the only one another employee named anita worked at way down for three years and was a member of a baptist church anita told the baptist press she was heartbroken when she was terminated and stated that gwen asked her to lie about her dismissal anita said quote i was told that because the direction the company was moving towards my position was being replaced by someone who attended her remnant fellowship church hr thanked me for my hard work but said my services were no longer needed because i was not a member of remnant fellowship i was being replaced in the middle of being fired gwen sent me a letter saying that the human resources people made a mistake and i wasn't supposed to be fired only allowed to resign gwen asked me to sign this letter saying that i resigned and was never fired well i didn't sign it because it was not the truth gwen called me personally and that's just what i told her they told me that i wouldn't get any money if i didn't sign those papers end quote but anita was not going to go without a fight she kept copies of all the letters including her termination notice and sent them to a nashville attorney named gary blackburn in her deposition and while under oath gary asked gwen questions about her way down practices and gwen stated quote when people were in prison camps and ate less food they lost weight all of them end quote gary surprised by this then asked mrs chamblin certainly you aren't making a comparison between the forced starvation of a population and middle class americans eating habits are you honestly doing that gwen paused and then replied quote i have been for 15 years and a lot of people responded end quote the lawsuit was later settled out of court but gwen was on a war path she began preaching to her congregants that christian churches were under attack due to too many christians sinning and not being held accountable she also started using words like pure to describe how the church what she called the true church should be during a saturday sermon gwen even told remnant members quote what one must actually believe or do to be considered a true adherent of god's true religion i've asked all these questions and wondered if there was a church a true church on this earth or not or was it just going to exist in heaven i have good news i have found god's church end quote gwen was of course talking about her church tonight newly obtained video shines new light into a controversial brentwood church that has faced repeated accusations of being a cult come home to true religion that is simple but powerful are you a prophet i don't believe i know what my gift name is so i i will tell you i'm still wrestling with that i've been told that for years eventually gwen would build remnant fellowship on 40 acres of land in brentwood the wealthiest county in tennessee under remnant fellowship's umbrella and tax-exempt status gwen also purchased a 25-acre pre-civil war plantation home called ashlan which was about five minutes from her church ashland has seven bedrooms and is also used as an event venue for remnant fellowship weddings but gwen didn't just build a church gwen built an industry under remnant fellowship's umbrella there's a financial planning company a real estate company a car repair company a wedding and event venue a homeschooling program and a contracting company called exodus industries exodus industries website states it provides the surrounding cities with electrical plumbing hvac roofing architecture concrete and excavation services it's business for jesus according to ex-members gwen decided she allegedly only wanted remnant fellowship members to work in these businesses as she wanted to build a large community that was fully efficient on its own without any outside help on their website remnant fellowship states it helps members with everything from resume preparation networking interviewing follow-up and on-the-job guidance for all types of situations once a person is employed although exodus industries and the other companies are available to the surrounding cities and non-remnant members remnant members are allegedly expected to only use services from within remnant fellowship that would mean not only do these companies under remnant fellowship profit tax-free but any of the money paid to their contractors allegedly goes right back into the organization what gwen was trying to do here is a known isolation and dependency tactic used in cults that makes members dependent on the head of the cult and those inside if a member were to leave not only would they lose their community but most likely their livelihood as well being that their employment comes from inside the cult these types of restraints allow members to be more easily influenced and manipulated due to their livelihood being on the line [Music] when it got back to gwen that anyone whether a member of the press or an ex-remnant member said something negative about remnant fellowship gwen would say that it was satan twisting the truth because remnant fellowship was different from all other churches and exceptional but some members were beginning to notice the contradictions between what gwen preached and what gwen did their hair is perfect their bodies are trim they submit to their husbands and their children are well behaved these are the real housewives of remnant fellowship some ex-members of remnant fellowship said they decided to follow gwen because she was always so happy and positive and they wanted that for themselves but looks can be deceiving because underneath this happy facade something was brewing something the fbi would soon take note of according to the hbo documentary the way down gwen told members who didn't lose two pounds per week to begin fasting one ex-member recalls church members sometimes fasting up to 40 days this same church member was also told to quit eating after losing 130 pounds in 18 months just so she could continue losing weight on top of weekly tithing ex-members say gwen demanded that everyone be taking way down workshop classes regularly and continuously but the cost of these workshops and products had to be purchased at the members expense excluding the costs of books and workshops the way down website also offers a subscription of 19.99 a month or 234.99 a year for what they call way down tv in one way down tv video gwen said quote instead of buying extra food this week buy this book and keep it by your side end quote it was heavily implied throughout remnant fellowship that the faster one lost weight the holier they were gwen told members quote you gotta make zion look good you don't make the church look good if you are overweight or if children are not obedient end quote speaking of children in 2003 the fbi raided way down ministries and remnant fellowship revenue fellowship is now part of a murder investigation i won't go into the gruesome details of this case and we'll leave a link below this video in the description box if you're interested in learning more but here's the rundown of what happened joseph and sonya smith were two devout members of remnant fellowship and a couple of way down success stories and both were sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison after their eight-year-old son joseph passed away this is god's word i didn't come up with spankings i'm not going to hide behind the fact that our good lord says do not spare the rod remnant leader ted anger as far as a pat on the bottom as a last resort and it's always in love but two of remnants members joseph and sonia smith now sit in jail charged with killing their eight-year-old son joseph investigators wrote that the child had extensive bruising over his entire body but the parents showed no remorse they felt it was just a part of discipline and were very defensive about their religion does remnant advocate repeated spankings of children over and over and over absolutely not sir absolutely not two or three spankings would not be enough i mean it could be 10 spankings former remnant members terry and david phillips say shamblin not only encouraged spankings but stressed they must be severe that you had to make the spanking count if they're not scared of a spanking you haven't spanked them if you haven't really spanked them yet you don't love them you love yourself they had to feel the pain and that they were that they were being disobedient would it ever be appropriate to spank a two-year-old over and over and over and over and over and over in one night that's not what we teach here phil a year ago our two and a half year old avery we had a real showdown with her but in this conference call with remnant women another remnant leader david martin holds out his own showdown spanking with his daughter as an example and we had a leg spanking over and over and over and over and over and over again in time one evening okay you're listening okay well then you know you need to talk to david martin about that then because that's not and you agree that was the perfect way to handle a child david martin had a real showdown it was a one night showdown and that child never forgot it but are you asking does that go on very often are you kidding no it does not it is so rare okay now pause although gwen tried to brush off david martin as just one of the many leaders in her church she didn't have control over my research into the early days of remnant fellowship led me straight to david martin and his wife as they were the first people who followed gwen and founded remnant fellowship with her and 20 years later david martin can be seen in many videos on remnant fellowship and gwen's youtube channel singing on stage and teaching and there are videos of the couple at parties in gwen's home david and his wife are also featured exclusively on the remnant fellowship website david martin wasn't just another leader in remnant fellowship david martin was one of the highest ranking members on the inside and play chamblet tells her followers not to worry about their children's self-esteem instead worry about what she calls their god esteem in the case of young joseph investigators say that meant his parents repeatedly locked him up in a small room with just his bible does remnant advocate locking children up for lengthy periods of time we don't advocate locking them up for any period of time absolutely not i have a tape of a telephone call between you and sonja smith uh this is smith in atlanta i got to speak with ted anger that's you that's me i did exactly what ted told me to do take everything out of his room we got everything out of there and locked him in there from that friday until monday and only left him in the room with his bible that tape has been made or tampered or whatever i'd totally deny that is absolutely untrue never been said by anyone and that's a miracle you've got a child that's going from just bizarre down to in control so i'll praise god and you had a chance to tell her that was not correct that was my own error instead you said praise the lord no that was not there we are spoiling these kids we are you know ruining their lives by even letting them think about themselves at all so thank you sanji for sharing that gwen called it gotcha journalism and claimed remnant fellowship's teaching had nothing to do with the passing of the eight-year-old smith boy and neither gwen nor any of the church leaders were charged with a crime but instead of speaking out against the smith's behavior not only did remnant fellowship pay the smith's legal fees but also created a website defending the smiths claiming that the fbi police and investigative journalists misled the public and the court 18 years later the website the smiths are innocent.com is still running and it attempts to explain what happened while also blaming what gwen called false accusations on ex-remnant church members claiming those ex-members were spreading rumors about remnant fellowship however a coroner and a judge refuted what the smiths and gwen said happened while telling the horrific story of that fatal day the website makes sure to mention that joseph smith lost 80 pounds and sonia smith lost 150 pounds through the way down workshop the site also contains a tab that leads directly to gwen's website where one can purchase her curriculum as gwen's congregation and profits grew throughout the years so did her hair and ass sets assets and gwen built a fortune that included over 18 properties outside of remnant fellowship that she put in a trust other than her weight gwen loved to live large and in charge she regularly hosted parties with alcohol and elaborate decor and got her hair and makeup done for free by church members as they believed it was a service unto god remnant fellowship hosted festivals several times a year and members would bring large gift baskets filled with food as donations for the church gwen called their 2019 festival the god is so good festival but it was at this specific festival she told church members not to bring gift baskets anymore only money gwen taught that if one was obedient god would shower you with blessings and abundance gwen took the bible literally and believed in blessings for obedience curses for disobedience when anything bad happened to remnant fellowship or someone in it members had been indoctrinated by gwen to believe it was because of their sins and god's judgment gwen's church used something called family checkups to investigate their church members so-called wrongdoings according to ex-members of remnant there is an alleged hierarchy inside the church and depending on where you belong your life could be made easier or more difficult but the doors that led you closer to gwen and all the luxury she had to offer could be shut on a member at any time for any reason you see within remnant fellowship gwen appointed leaders who were all men these male leaders had different groups in the congregation they were responsible for meaning church members were supposed to report anything and everything about their lives and problems to their church leaders and these leaders reported directly to gwen one day church members were alerted with horrific news gwen's youngest grandchild had suddenly passed away from an illness and they were asked to pray but that next sunday ex-church members reported everything feeling eerie because neither gwen nor the church leaders spoke of the death instead members were told it would no longer be mentioned and everyone was expected to act well normal as strange as that may sound delusion and denial under the guise of happiness is common in cults and many ex-members of remnant fellowship recall that all members had to be happy look and act perfect at all times this is also what's known as toxic positivity one ex-member in the hbo documentary the way down reported that after that sunday when no one spoke on the loss of gwen's grandchild she and her husband were called into the church for a family checkup where the leaders implied that gwen's family was not being judged by god so it had to be someone from the church and they were quote bringing in the strugglers to assess how they're doing because god's bringing judgment on this church and we want to know where it's coming from yes gwen was blaming the passing of a family member on her congregants life in remnant fellowship was all about submitting to authority if a church member needed counseling they allegedly were not allowed to seek help from a therapist for fear of retribution they were instead supposed to call their given church leader and receive counseling from him even though these leaders weren't licensed therapists or psychologists this also applied to a church member's marriage as spouses allegedly were only supposed to seek marriage counseling from their given church leader former remnant recruit adam brooks notes that in remnant's own videos and i've laid down anger and depression and pornography depression and antidepressants are equated with sin hi i'm terry phillips one of those testimonies came from terry phillips who had been told by doctors that she had a chemical imbalance and needed medication her husband david when i dealt with the leaders they're all saying listen she doesn't need to be on these we don't sit there and tell someone this is what you have to do here remnant founder gwen chamblin tells us she does not tell her followers to give up their medication but here in this internet webcast and how would you like to find out that all of us were on prozac then why in the world are you even beginning to think that's okay for you it's not the drug that's the problem it's the heart of man it's when we over medicate ourselves it seems like i talk too fast because i'm so excited about god so terry phillips says she was fine at first because of the lingering effects of the medication and her spiritual high then she began spinning out of control and realized she needed her medicine and i was sneaking behind their backs taking it because i was desperate for my life anyone that wants to stand up again and say get off prozac ted anger get on up here soon remnant leaders found out two of the men leaders actually said you get that medicine from her and you flush it you flush it down the toilet did remnant leadership ever encourage her husband to take her medicine away from her yes but chamblin and remnant leader ted inger say they were only responding to the phillips cries for help that was the that was the advice given sure only the advice given knowing what they wanted i pray for strength and dealing with phillip says her journal shows her turmoil but remnant leaders were not sympathetic about her depression there is nothing to be concerned about what's the worst thing that happened you die so what you go to heaven and look at the results phil person after person coming off person after person being set free today the phillips say their christian doctor finally convinced them her problem was medical not spiritual he kind of informed me that you know there are true chemical imbalances you know this is uh and it's not a sin you know like remnant says it is these remnant leaders were allegedly in daily communication with church members through text messages email and phone calls and they even controlled whether church members could have a social media account or not if allowed to have a social media presence the leaders restricted what members could post and who they could follow many female ex-members of remnant recall never being allowed to go against their husband's wishes at any time they were allegedly supposed to ask their husband about something once and never again no matter his decision if remnant women weren't submissive to their husbands in any way husbands would complain to the leaders and the women were allegedly forced to be counseled at the church many of these female ex-members also recall being told by their church leaders to stay in their marriages after their husbands cheated on them sometimes even having multiple affairs their church leaders would quote scripture on forgiveness and ask the women to welcome them back with open arms that's because gwen was against divorce no matter the circumstance although gwen preached the importance of a conservative heterosexual family unit where the wife is submissive unto her husband gwen's husband david didn't come around often david chamblin has a masters in divinity and in the beginning days of remnant fellowship gwen stated david not herself was head of remnant fellowship some speculate maybe he was hidden due to not fitting in with gwen's image other ex-members speculate that david didn't like gwen mixing money with religion yet gwen still stood firm on her beliefs and continued to preach about a strong family unit and that divorce was wrong under any circumstance that is until one day when joe lara came to church joe lara was a man who wore many hats in his younger days he worked in hollywood and appeared in many low-budget films with his lead starring role in the movie tarzan in manhattan in 1989 but joe's biggest role would come as husband number two to gwen chamblin but more on that in a minute when joe was a young boy his mother married a wealthy ceo of wells fargo bank the family lived in newport beach california where his stepdad owned race cars and a private plane as joe got older he was known to date women who could provide him the lifestyle he was accustomed to in his 20s joe dated a 50-year-old actress named dory forsman who bought him a harley davidson and let him live in her house when he didn't have any acting gigs joe spent his days at dory's writing his harley and attending acting classes it's unknown what happened to cause that relationship to end but one night joe was swiftly kicked out of dory's house and she lit that harley davidson on fire joe was known to live with all the women he dated until he finally bought a double-wide trailer in the desert where he was free to enjoy his hobbies of falconry and flying as joe had his pilot's license after having a baby and moving with his then girlfriend to nashville joe pursued a country music career but his girlfriend grew tired of his antics and the fact that joe wouldn't get a real job as she had already purchased them a house and was paying all their bills so she ended the relationship but because they had a child together she had to remain in nashville as joe refused to leave citing his future as a country music star something that would never come to fruition while in between country music gigs joe worked as a handyman and it was through a networking group that joe was introduced to remnant fellowship and gwen chamblin gwen saw joe and joe wondered how much cash was hiding under all that hair and suddenly gwen's sermons on divorce changed and she quickly filed for divorce from david chamblin her husband of 40 years in their divorce david and gwen split 18 different pieces of property totaling more than 20 million dollars worth of real estate gwen also paid david over three million dollars cash look america is in trouble here we've got just as much divorce inside the churches out the church has morphed into the world but chamberlain's new views on divorce and remarriage posted to the church's website around the same time she decided to divorce her own husband insisted that god himself divorced israel his bride for turning away from the faith so there should be no judgment towards saints meaning remnant members as they strive to help build a pure church could gwen have seen joe as a willing and devout husband she could strategically and publicly have by her side at all times someone to show off to others like in their engagement video shown here please note i have not added any words or visual effects to this video only different music for copyright reasons [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] but some people were suspicious of gwen's new man former friends of joe say that he was never religious and that to hear him speak on stage or see him with gwen was bizarre almost as if joe was in acting class again [Music] so [Music] less than 60 days after her divorce and what just may be the fanciest wedding tennessee has ever seen gwen chamblin became gwen chamblin lara gwen's wedding had 1500 people in attendance and featured a procession of as i counted around 34 flower girls and 15 bridesmaids gwen was covered in glitter glowing arches covered the length of the stage and joe told his bride quote if the dark forces should ever manifest against us i vow to never stand behind you because i'll be in front of you end quote regardless of how remnant church members felt about their union they fell right in line during church services congregants would clap their hands and chant gwen and joe while the smiling couple looked on from the stage during a sermon after her divorce gwen was once quoted saying there are obviously cases of divorce that god allows as much as he hates it end quote but gwen wanted more than just the attention of her church and weight loss community gwen wanted the world to know who she was and so she and joe created a show it's rumored that gwen wanted a reality tv show about their life and pitched the idea to several major networks but the hollywood wasn't interested in the glamorous christian pastor from tennessee so gwen hired a crew and created the life with gwen and joe youtube channel where a camera and sound crew followed the couple around remnant fellowship ashland mansion and filmed joe's music videos yes remnant fellowship has a recording studio where joe was free to record as many songs as he wanted in true prosperity gospel fashion gwen and joe created videos with titles such as seeking god on vacations how to have parties all about god and how to be humble and expect nothing where they preach about humbleness while strolling across the manicured lawn of their mansion many say that after joe came into the picture gwen's sermons became shorter while her vacations got longer but there was trouble in paradise joe lara was in a custody battle with his ex-partner natasha over their daughter and it was not going well get some help please get some help you're sick sick girl that's joe laura get some help get some help recorded by his ex-girlfriend natasha pavlovich one of several contentious videos introduced in their battle over child support for their daughter when she was younger natasha immigrated from yugoslavia to the united states natasha worked hard as an actress appearing in many roles alongside well-known celebrities and was even crowned miss california and competed for the miss universe title sasha welcome to star search come up here and tell me how to say good evening in serbo croatian now i understand your family still lives on a farm in yugoslavia yes i come from a very large family and we have a variety of animals on my farm we raise chickens sheep cows and pigs and we also grow wheat and corn and manufacture our own honey natasha was joe and gwen's trouble in paradise during their breakup a few years prior joe told the police natasha had assaulted their daughter and as their daughter watched natasha was taken away in handcuffs fortunately the police saw right through joe's dirty antics they deemed natasha innocent and cleared her of any charges now the gloves were off and a fierce custody battle was raging and the handyman now had the wealthy preachers powerful attorneys to fight natasha after spending two hundred thousand dollars of her own money on attorneys to represent her but feeling like she was getting nowhere natasha decided to represent herself in court natasha claimed that when her daughter was with gwen and joe she was not allowed to have any friends outside of remnant fellowship nor was she allowed to participate in any extracurricular activities outside of remnant knowing this wouldn't be looked at favorably in court gwen and joe's attorney asked the judge to ban natasha from presenting evidence against remnant fellowship citing religious freedom the fight was on gwen and joe wanted the child for themselves but the former beauty queen from yugoslavia wasn't having it [Music] however the ugly court battle and the life with gwen and joe show would go no further because one sunday in may of 2021 the music stopped what news 4 investigates has uncovered tonight raises questions about the qualifications of the pilot at the helm of a deadly plane crash that pilot joe lara his wife and five other members of remnant church died when the plane crashed into percy priest lake on may 29th we've obtained documents audio and video about lara introduced in court before the crash our chief investigative reporter jeremy finley obtained all this and jeremy why was this all introduced in court well marius it was part of a contentious child support case in which the mother of laura's young daughter tried to prevent him from flying their daughter before the crash a battle that revealed questions about whether laura was qualified to be piloting a plane the day of the deadly crash yes gwen and joe as they believed were sent home to meet their maker what's the worst thing that happened you die so what so what so what gwen and joe along with five other members of remnant fellowship including david martin and his wife boarded a small cessna plane ready to fly from tennessee to attend a trump rally in florida joe was the pilot but he never ended up getting them out of tennessee as the plane crashed into a lake joe lara first received his pilot license at 16 years old but when one has a pilot's license they must also have a medical certificate and it must be renewed every two years joe's medical certificate was expired and less than a month after the plane crash the federal aviation administration suspended the man who was the designated pilot examiner who approved joe to fly with his expired medical certificate out of the seven people on board there was not a single survivor in an ironic twist of fate it was reported that the plane went down because it was overweight in capacity [Music] so where does this place remnant fellowship well after saying on national television that half of her will was going to god and the church gwen didn't leave a single cent of her estate to remnant fellowship only her two children michael and elizabeth chamblin was her ministry about god or was it about gwen our investigation first raised questions about gwen chamblin 20 years ago now we've discovered the estate she left behind potentially worth millions of dollars is certain to add to those questions this money half of it goes to the government the other half goes to keep it going so that someone else can be be helped it was a legacy stemming from her days as founder of the way down workshop a false claims about her own wealth half and half leaves nothing for gwen chamberlain that's not completely true is it yes it's completely true i hate to say this to some degree because she's deceased but she she struck me as a 100 percent phony as a grifter a hookster veteran nashville lawyer gary blackburn sued chamblin 20 years ago the money is going to going to go to the david and i getting her to admit under oath that she was indeed profiting from her ministry yet listen to what her daughter elizabeth told followers just four years ago i she practically handed michael and i's inheritance away but let me tell you but newschannel 5 investigates obtained shamblin's will a will that leaves everything to her to children like gary blackburn we noticed one glaring omission how much money was left to remnant fellowship uh i've looked at the will a couple of times and i haven't seen any i haven't seen any i haven't seen any gwen had been grooming elizabeth shown here to take over remnant she practically handed michael and i's inheritance away but but what elizabeth said on that stage was a lie instead of giving any of her many luxury real estates or multi-million dollar fortune to remnant fellowship gwen gave the church the publishing rights to the way down workshop weighed down books and merch and nothing more remnant fellowship released the statement they were grateful to receive as much and at the time of this recording elizabeth chamblin is leading remnant fellowship at the time of her passing gwen was three weeks into filming a nine-week video series on greed where she urged congregants to give up all their money it was never intended to be accumulated but rather used as one small tool to build up the kingdom of god but most of the world has abandoned true religion and are now converts to building up their own pocketbooks yet god is a god of justice and he will not be mocked gwen told people she was a prophet she led many to believe that being thin sometimes through dangerous methods made a person holier and more righteous in god's eyes gwen left an aftermath of people hurt and betrayed by her teachings and it was made even worse for women and children gwen made promises she didn't keep constantly kept up appearances by hiding what she considered bad and was able to stay in the spotlight and live a life of luxury by preying on the vulnerabilities of those who believe in christ and in the end it all came crashing down this has been a cautionary tale on false prophets and wolves in sheep's clothing [Music] [Applause] if you like documentaries about cults scams and cautionary tales be sure to like subscribe and hit that bell icon so you don't miss my next video my name is josie thank you for watching and i hope to see you in the next episode [Music] you

Channel: NOT THE GOOD GIRL

Views: 3,984,286

Keywords: gwen shamblin, joe lara, natasha pavlovich, hbo max the way down, documentary, elizabeth shamblin hannah, weigh down workshop, remnant fellowship

Id: h5ayw21ZE6g

Length: 55min 53sec (3353 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 18 2022