The Church of the Living Word is commonly called “The Walk.” The group’s headquarters is in Washington, Iowa, which they claim is the most important spot on the earth. The founder of the Church of the Living Word is John Robert Stevens.

Stevens was raised in a Christian home but left the Christian faith because of unjustified beliefs. He left after he had a vision in 1954. He claims that it was similar to Paul’s vision on the road to Damascus. The difference in Steven’s vision and Paul’s encounter, however, is that Paul experienced salvation through Jesus Christ which totally changed his life. Steven’s life was changed but in error. After receiving this vision Stevens started this movement which now claims a relatively small number of churches.

Stevens taught that the Bible was outdated and needed contemporary updates by other spoken prophecies. Stevens considered himself the person that God chose to speak through. Through these updates, Stevens was considered the final apostolic authority. Stevens claimed that Scripture was confusing unless people followed his interpretations.

The Church of the Living Word uses common Christian phrases, which they redesign. This should be no surprise considering Steven’s background in the Christian faith. An Ordinary Christian could mistakenly understand these phrases, because they are similar to the Christian faith. The group claims that it has authority over all churches and denominations as well.

The major boom of the Church of the Living Word was in the 1970s. There were around one hundred churches established as a part of the movement. Members of the group had very little contact with the outside world. Often their lives were threatened if they tried to leave.

The Church of the Living Word’s major error was that they claimed a Christian can become a part of God. These claims border on deification for humans. They distorted both the doctrine of God and the doctrine of Christ. The Church of the Living Word taught that Jesus was a multi-membered body and everything that Christ was, humans are as well.

There have been many efforts in spreading the message of the movement. Despite all of these efforts the movement has remained small. A huge setback for the movement occurred following Stevens’ death. It was especially damaging to the Church of the Living Word when there was not a bodily resurrection by Stevens as was anticipated. The group has remained small mostly because of this.

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