NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Michael Shamblin was blunt.
"Phil, 20 years ago, early on in Remnant, you were the devil. You were Satan incarnate to the Remnant. Of course, Gwen was telling us all of that."
Gwen was Gwen Shamblin, the controversial Christian diet guru who created her own church, the Remnant Fellowship, in affluent Brentwood, Tennessee — a church that some now consider to be a cult.
Watch an excerpt from Phil's exclusive interview in player above
Michael was her son.
In 2001, he had been there as I vigorously questioned Gwen Shamblin, who got her start with the highly popular faith-based diet program, the Weigh Down Workshop. At this point, it was starting to morph into her own religion.
Three years later, I returned with lots of tough questions about the child abuse death of an 8-year-old Remnant child whose mom and dad were taking their cues on parenting from the church. I also examined some of Remnant's controversial views, including suggestions that Gwen was viewed as a prophet sent by God.
Watch Clips: The Gwen Shamblin Interviews
"We were seeing the interviews and seeing everything happen to her," Michael Shamblin told me. "You were like Enemy No. 1 there for a while.
"And I can't believe how far I've come now to say, wanting to speak to you."
Realizing that I was not the devil, Michael admitted, took years — and lots of soul searching about his mother's teachings.
"I've come so far — full circle — that I now appreciate what you were doing because getting to the truth can be very uncomfortable. And it takes somebody like you. You were asking the right questions," he added.
Now, he's ready to speak his truth about what he witnessed with his mother and within the Remnant Fellowship where he was once considered one of the leaders.
These days, he believes "it's a cult."
At the end of a lengthy interview at his home, we posed for a photo — a photo that neither of us had ever imagined might happen.
Michael, who carries an artist's vibe about him, was serious.
"Do you want to smile?" one of my colleagues asked.
"I don't know that I've smiled a lot in the last few years," Michael answered.
There's a reason why.
The stories on Michael Shamblin simply aren't one piece.
If you missed a portion of the story, you can still catch up.
PART ONE
Michael Shamblin was blunt.
"Phil, 20 years ago, early on in Remnant, you were the devil. You were Satan incarnate to the Remnant. Of course, Gwen was telling us all of that."
Gwen was Gwen Shamblin, the controversial Christian diet guru who created her own church, the Remnant Fellowship, in affluent Brentwood, Tennessee — a church that some now consider to be a cult.
To read more of part one, you can click this link.
PART TWO
Gwen Shamblin was a controversial Christian diet guru and the leader of what some call a cult right in the middle of Brentwood.
But Shamblin was also a mom and now, for the first time anywhere, her son is speaking out about what he witnessed at her side through almost all of that controversy.
Michael Shamblin, now 43, saw it all — and he said he also regrets it all.
To read more of Part Two, you can click this link.
PART THREE
How does one process the feelings of betrayal by a religious leader — especially when that religious leader is also family?
That's something that Michael Shamblin — son of the late Gwen Shamblin, the controversial religious figure from Brentwood — is still trying to figure out.
"People wonder, how do people buy into cults or how do they buy into these churches or charismatic leaders? It was my mother, and I went along with everything," Shamblin said in an exclusive interview with NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
Read more on this portion at this link.
PART FOUR
A threat delivered with a sniper's bullet.
That's just one of the startling claims from the son of controversial Brentwood religious figure Gwen Shamblin in an exclusive interview with NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
Michael Shamblin said the threat was delivered by Shamblin's new husband, former "Tarzan" actor Joe Lara, sometime after their 2018 marriage. Lara, who was proficient with a sniper's rifle, reportedly took Michael out behind the plantation-style home that Shamblin owned in the affluent Brentwood community.
PART FIVE
"I'm going to say this, and the people of Remnant are not going to like this."
That was how Michael Shamblin began his thought. The son of Remnant Fellowship founder Gwen Shamblin, Michael is the highest-level defector to ever leave and blow the whistle on the controversial Brentwood church.
Michael Shamblin, who was once listed among Remnant's leaders, now calls it "a cult."
"If the Remnant members sitting in that building realized how much information that these people have on them, there would be no one left in those seats," he told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
Read more on this portion at this link.