New Book: The God Followers by Rand Zacharias

Here's what happens when you try to literally live 

by a human interpretation of the words from the Bible. 

Here is another book that has been written about life in Armstrongism.  The God Followers by Rand Zacharias 

 Imagine trying to grow up and do everything right. You're six years old and you know that Jesus is coming back...soon...and the world the way you know it will all change into a perfect world, an Utopian dream, a world tomorrow.

Rand Zacharias weaves an eerily humorous autobiographical tale of very creatively-enhanced non-fiction (with a little fiction added for a twist).

His story begins graduating from a world-renowned institution of excellence. He's graduated from the cult's unique learning institution--Ambassador College. Zacharias moves back in time and tells the genesis of their capture involving his loving father, who brought the family for the ride after a fiery explosion during the winter of love--1969.

Did Zacharias find the narrow path that leads to God? You'll find out.

Amazon has this blurb:

The God Followers is the autobiographical trauma-dy, tragic comedy, of growing up in a cult after Rand's father is caught in a fiery explosion. This real life account may make you question the inner workings of any organized religion--while taking you through the challenges of living in a manner of a literal interpretation of that ancient text--the Bible.

In paper back form it is here on Amazon where you can also read a small excerpt:  The God Followers

By eBook, Kindle, and other formats it is here:      The God Followers and here eBook

Follow Rand on his blog:  Randillusions

New Book: Genocide Revealed by Aleksandar Veljic

There is a new book that has been published by a former COG member Aleksandar Veljic.  It is about the massacre of Serbs, Jews and gypsies by Hungary during WWII.   Genocide Revealed: New Light on the Massacre of Serbs and Jews under Hungarian Occupation    Amazon has this review from Wade Frannson who is soon to publish his own book about life in Armstrongism - The People of the Sign.

Aleksandar Veljic has spent seven years doing primary research on events that were covered up 70 years ago. The list of accomplices is long and is not limited to Europeans. In the wake of WWII Miklos Horthy was given an unprecedented get-out-of-jail free card, as stated by the Wikipedia article on Horthy "But American trial officials declined to present charges against Horthy, a kindness that may have been the result of the influence in Washington of Horthy's admirer, the former ambassador John Montgomery." In other words, if we recall the geopolitical context - Horthy's strong anti-communist record was enough for the U.S. and others to turn a blind eye to his overt support of racist facists like Hitler, and the genocidal activities he endorsed and supported in regions under his control.

While under arrest, he made appearances at trials in which he helped convict others, but during which he was never required to testify. After his release from the Nuremberg prison, in December 1945, Horthy was supported by John Montgomery, Pope Pius XII and others. He could also count on admirers such as Joseph Stalin to plead for mercy on his behalf.

I would not have been aware of any of this if it weren't for the work of Aleksandar Veljic. In recent months the BBC has picked up on his work, Serbian news media and agencies are getting involved, and respected members of various Holocaust Societies in Israel and elsewhere are highlighting the importance of this book.

One thing is for sure, Veljic's work is important and explosive enough to stir up interest in atrocities that have been buried for too long. It's not just that the victims' blood cries out, it's that Horthy's reputation has been laundered, that his memoirs have been published in several languages, and that statues of Horthy are on display in his honor, and that schoolchildren in Hungary and elsewhere are reading stories about his role as a heroic leader, with no idea that in other ways he was a very evil man.

The facts, for example, that he was the first anti-Semitic European Leader, and that he had close ties to Hitler, who admired him during Hitler's own ascent to power, need to be surfaced, examined, and judged. Not to mention his record of endorsing genocidal atrocities.

This book is destined to cause a re-examination of those facts.

Congratulations to Aleksandar Veljic for his diligence and fortitude, in the face of opposition, with no resources and very, very little official support, on having created a work of original history that is destined to be cited in every subsequent work on this and related subjects, of which we can be sure there will be many.

Wade Fransson
Managing Partner
Something Or Other Publishing, LLC

Is Dave Pack Ready To "Squeal Like A Stuck Pig?"

The small group of apostate church jumpers at Restored Church of God have this little blurb up today about Dave Pack ridiculing Ron Weinland and his idiotic May 27th prophecy:

New Open Letter Addressing Ronald Weinland’s Prophecies

Mr. Pack has written an extensive Open Letter to followers of the Church of God – PKG. It is titled “Ron Weinland—Spectacularly Wrong!”

Over recent years, Ronald Weinland fell into ridiculous teachings on many topics, but especially his framework of prophecy. He has announced a series of failed predictions. He is most noted for predicting that Jesus Christ will return on May 27, 2012.

Opening with a more than cursory overview of the truth of prophecy, including some brief statements from Mr. Armstrong, this article goes on to identify and refute Weinland’s bizarre, totally unscriptural prophetic scenario. Addressing a number of topics in a way you have not seen, it is a tool to help misled followers untangle themselves from a web of error and delusion.

Apostle Pack says:

 Some time before (referring to Harold Camping), a lesser known “prophet,” Ronald Weinland (of the Church of God – PKG), had spun his own theory about how Christ would return on May 27, 2012. He began pushing in earnest his end-time scenario—through extensive ad campaigns much like Harold Camping—five and a half years earlier in late 2006, in belief that the Great Tribulation would begin on December 14, 2008. (Also paralleling Harold Camping, Ron Weinland has had to recompute events and dates because of failed prophecies.)

Dave does not recognize the fact that Herbert W Armstrong had hundreds of failed prophecies. Gerald Waterhouse had hundreds of them, Dean Blackwell had his share, John Rittenbaugh has his embarrassing failures.  The list could go on and on.

The most magnanimous Apostle to ever walk the face of the earth has this to say:

True ministers of God strive to never attack other human beings. They are for the truth rather than against people—and there is a big difference. Therefore, I have determined to actively resist and teach against any false doctrines that are deceiving people among the splinters. However, this subject presents a unique problem with this policy.

Dave then goes on to say this:

When a leader teaches a false concept or doctrine, it rarely has anything to do with himself. Generally, the heresy can be clearly singled out and countered without having to necessarily address the man who teaches it. 

This is going to come back and  bite Dave in the ass big time!   RCG is all about DAVE!  It's all about HIMSELF!  Hersey in the Restored Church of God is centered squarely in Dave Pack's shoulders!

Dave goes on to say this about prophets, which of course does not apply to him:

The Bible says prophets fall into one of two categories—true or false. All prophets—past, present or future—are one or the other. They cannot be both, and they cannot be in-between. Within the category of false prophets are two types: Those who claim to be a prophet, but falsely foretell events, not being inspired by the true God—and those who do not necessarily claim to be a prophet, but who teach falsely about prophecy—and for that matter any other aspect of God’s Word. The latter would include false teachers and false ministers. Like false prophets, false teachers assert they are vested with God’s authority. Rather than falsely prophesying future events, they teach false doctrines supposedly from the Bible. Therefore, Jesus’ warnings about false prophets also apply to false teachers, who work in the same way.

Ronald Weinland is a complete fraud, and one who is breathtakingly ignorant of even the most rudimentary elements of prophecy—of events that should be impossible to misunderstand. He is utterly wrong—and in his case spectacularly so, and on virtually every point! The Bible does not validate any of his prophetic ideas. You are about to see this.

We can rightly says:

 Dave Pack is a complete fraud, and one who is breathtakingly ignorant of even the most rudimentary elements of prophecy—of events that should be impossible to misunderstand. He is utterly wrong—and in his case spectacularly so, and on virtually every point! The Bible does not validate any of his prophetic ideas. You are about to see this.

Dave says:

Tragically, most who read Bible prophecy remain in near total ignorance of its size and scope. They are completely unable to recognize the speed, sequence and timing of its prophecies. And this is on top of not truly comprehending what any of them means! So many just cannot untangle the maze of what happens when, as well as where and to whom—and WHY!

 Then says this  about his prophecies.  He knows EXACTLY how they will all come about:

The interested reader will want to view my 2-part World to Come broadcast series titled “26 Prophetic Events in Exact Sequence Before Christ’s Return!” It reveals in detail all that lies ahead.)

Dave then goes into a look screed about the specific things that will happen in a specific order.  Just typical Armstrongite prophecy silliness.

 Dave does write some good things in his letter that are spot on about Weinland.

...seeing through Ron Weinland should be a snap. Incredibly, he has managed to get almost nothing right—NOTHING! It has been said that even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut. Not Weinland! He seems unable to get anything right, even accidentally. Again, if Elijah mocked the ancient prophets of Baal, I can mock a modern one.

Pack has this to say about lying false prophets.

A final word of caution: When their silliness is exposed for what it is, false prophets usually squeal like stuck hogs in protest. With his “credibility” now at stake, I realize this article might cause Ron Weinland to smear my credibility. He virtually has to. But at best his words will only carry “weight” until May 28 when his prophecy fails. The even barely discerning person will realize Weinland cannot use God’s Word in any intelligible fashion to do this.

I can see that very soon we will see Dave squealing like a stuck pig because of his lies.

Beware all you splinter cult leaders, Dave has his sight set on you next!  God's most powerful Apostle over the largest web based minister on earth today is coming after you!

I will address more splinter leaders in the future—and in detail. This includes certain other deceivers within these groups.

Dave's letter is long and boring, filled with typical Armstrongite theological stances with a Dave spin added to them.  Read it at your leisure because it is all fantasy:  Ron Weinland—Spectacularly Wrong!

UCG: Money. Money, Money - It's A Poor Church World

Melvin Rhodes, UCG Chairman has a letter on Realtime United detailing the latest UCG Council of Elders meeting.  This apparently is the most cohesive and unified Council of Elders in Church of God history.  Especially now since they have kicked out all there rebellious troublemakers and whiners that made UCG COE a very unhappy place to be.

For the first time in recent memory we managed to cover all the items on our agenda. This is testimony to the incredible spirit of unity and cooperation that exists on the Council of Elders at this time. This does not mean there was no discussion before decisions were made. There are 12 men on the Council and they have 12 different opinions, but we all share the same goals. Our purpose is constant—to preach the gospel and to prepare a people.

The letter quickly moves into the proverbial favorite topic of Armstrongism - money.

We were thankful to note that God has continued to help us through a calendar year of financial challenges. In serving our many congregations around the world we had to step out on faith, asking God to provide. And He always did and continues to do so.

With an 18% drop in income after the vast majority of UCG ministers defected to a new and improved COG and thousands of members jumping ship with them, they now are not able to do the things they want to.

Then they get to the real meat of why they want new members.  It's not about redemption with the grace of God, but it is about money.  The more people that they can con into joining the organization the more money they will have.  They admit they do not have the resources now to do what they think they should be doing.

Our new budget for the coming fiscal year includes a “faith line” like last year. When it is presented, you will see that 30.5 percent of our income is now devoted to preaching the gospel. In spite of suffering a loss in income just over a year ago, we have been able to do more—going through doors as God has opened them. We do not want to let up on these efforts. While our current income will not supply all our needs, we are asking God to call new people into the Church to help finance further efforts.

I guess UCG has taken a lot of heat when it was shown that Living Church of God devotes way more money to spreading the "gospel" than they do. LCG uses over 40% of their money towards what they proclaim is a gospel message, while previously UCG was doing a little over 25%.  The obvious factor here is that UCG is still spending most of it's money on minsters salaries and perks.  A large percentage of UCG  elders jumped ship from WCG in order to maintain their income and now UCG has to keep financing that amount above proclaiming a "gospel" message.

We preach the gospel through our varied media efforts including our website with over 300,000 unique visitors per month; our flagship magazine The Good News; Vertical Thought for our young people; the Bible Study Course for in-depth biblical teaching; and our dozens of booklets and other literature. All our beliefs are clearly answered in our literature, which is freely available to everybody who wants it anywhere in the world.

All of this costs money. With more money, we can do more. Please pray that God will add more people to His Church—people who can help contribute to our efforts.

There you have it, blatantly in print-more people equals more money.

UCG brass want s all of you deadbeat members to know that you need to start sending more money in.  They cannot do the things they want to without you sacrificing more money.  It's all YOUR fault!  UCG seems to be reading from Dave Pack's 'con the brethren' financial model.

In order to devote more to our increased media efforts, our home office expansion proposal is “on hold” until our finances enable us to expand without borrowing. 

If you start sending in more money then we too, can become the most important "Christian" web site on the net.  That's going to be a pretty hard task since Dave Pack claims HIS ministry is the largest and most influential web site on earth today.

It is hoped that we will soon be able to expand the video studio—without which we are limited in what we can accomplish in keeping up with advanced technology like Internet television and an even more professional program. We would like to expand our production of short topical videos for our website that deal with the latest news and items of interest. Our goal is to make the United Church of God, an International Association, website the first Christian website people will turn to for biblical answers and a deeper explanation of what’s going on around the world. We have a long way to go, but are confident that this is the direction in which God is leading us.

Christians are NOT going to turn to UCG for Biblical answers.  That is a proven fact through out the past seven decades of Armstrongism. Ultimately it has accomplished nothing other than creating over 600 splinter groups of which all are impotent wanna-be's.

Then they take a little slam against there boat jumpers who defected to COGWA.  These men apparently had a lot of ethic's issues.  Oh wait, since when has this NOT been a problem with Church of God ministers????? Almost every splinter group was planned, organized and incorporated while in the employ of a previous church.  UCG's present group of elders are no more ethical than the elders in COGWA.

Here's a challenge for the UCG Council of Elders.  If you are really men of faith, then take an immediate 30% pay curt.  Cut off all ministerial allowances and perks.  Steer that money into your pet projects and set an example for the rest of the church.  Prove to your members that you really are ethical men with Christian standards.

Dave Pack: If You Knew My Plans This Room Would Rock and Gyrate!

Liquidate your assets now and send it to Dave Pack,
before the Germans arrive and take it all!

Every once in a while Prophet Thiel has moments of clarity and can see through a lot of the COG crappola.  He has posted on his blog some comments about Dave Pack and a sermon Dave gave on November 3, 2007 where he instructs members to send in all the money they can to support his work.

Thiel claims to have listened to the entire sermon and wrote down several key points when Dave was demanding money from his small group of members.  He commands people to send in half of their net worth. He also encourages women to take their rightful portion (1/2) and send that in.  But gives a stern warning to men who have unconverted wives, that they are not to let their wives have a voice in the matter.



Thiel writes:

(I tried to type verbatim and the following is fairly close) from what purports to be a 11/03/07 sermon by David C. Pack to his followers in the Restored Church of God titled Clarion Call -- The Time is NOW!:

"First Timothy 6 verse 17...'Charge them that are rich in this world'...If you were born in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, then you're rich"

"If you hold those riches, I'm telling you, you trust in them"

"Go get a big chunk out of your home. And put your money where your mouth is and send it here. And I'm not talking about one, two, three thousand either. How about ten, twenty, thirty, fifty, or one hundred thousand dollars? Go do it"  This is the Pack Prosperity Gospel....the more money you give to your Apostle the more you will be blessed.  Not ion this lifetime though.  You will most likely end up in bankruptcy court when you find yourself unable to pay your mortgage instead of sitting in a cold damp gave in the middle or Jordan.

"Wives, you can be independent in this. You have 1/2 the worth of whatever you have in your house. I'm officially telling you this...Wives, legally you have the 1/2 the funds. What are you going to do about it?...Husbands...'well, my wife is not in the church'...tell her...'you don't have a voice woman' " The Plain Truth on how to have a Happy Marriage......."  That's when she should slap her husband across the face and tell him to try it and see what happens!

"Go get those assets and get them here"

"Don't sit on vast resources that we can use now"

 "We do not have the funds...plans...bookstores...We need to redesign our website...We need many hundreds of thousands of dollars to arrive at God's headquarters soon...the timing is now"

"This is different...ask Him for the faith to liquidate certain assets and give it to the work"  Brethren, lets liquidate those stocks, 401K's, 403B's,mutual funds and all other investments.  You no longer need it, so give it all to me!

"I'll say it again, we are talking about liquidating existing assets...it all belongs to God and the brethren" Actually what Pack is saying is that it all belongs to HIM and the brethren will never see a dime of it.

"We have a lot of plans so big going on in this office it would cause just this room to to rock and gyrate if you knew what was going on. We just need a lot of money and we need it post haste...I would give more if I had it"

"Herbert Armstrong wrote an article...'Prepare to greatly reduce your standard of living'...What he wrote by far, is more for us now than it was then...its all going to be taken away from us anyway brethren" You brethren need to reduce your income, but now.  As your Apostle I deserve the best!  I need a new mini-me Auditorium and a new multi-million dollar HQ complex in order to make myself look legitimate.  Everyone knows I am nothing more than an idiot right now, but once my buildings are built I will FINALLY be important!

"Let us know how much you plan to send and when you plan to send it...You must be willing to communicate...If you do need to counsel, please do that...If you are not ready to distribute what you have...you don't believe the flow of prophecy"

"This is announcing the last blast, the clarion call as it were, to finish the work...Whether it is 4,5,7, 9 years to go, God knows...This is liquidating assets...I have the authority to tell you to do it...I have the moral and spiritual, and ecclesiastical authority to tell you to do what I have also done" Dave says the work is coming to an end yet in 2011 he is demanding millions to finance a new cult HQ and a pretend college.  Notice how he declares he has the AUTHORITY and POWER to tell people what to do!  How can people sit in his cult and put up with this bullshit?

 "Get it now when it requires faith...when you are dead you don't need it...if you named us in your wills, it can take us months or years to get it" How dare you imbeciles put us in your will when you know you will not be dying for years and maybe decades from now!  How selfish can you get!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"The wives in the faith will say give everything you can...We don't have the luxury of waiting years...today, leaving everything in your will simply doesn't work"

"Now you just have a second mortgage...and frankly we flee before most of it ever becomes due"  That's right!  Mortgage your home a second and third time, don't worry, you will not be here to pay it off.  Stupid, stupid people!

"...some may think that they want to tap their 401k--maybe you want to let us know that...why would you want to tell us? We are starting to prepare a budget now, the needs are now...it would be nice to know now"

"Think big...Pull big triggers"  If I were Davey I would be really careful about making such a statement!  We have already seen this put into action in Living Church of God.  Once RCG members wake up to the fact on how Davey has defrauded them, I can picture serious repercussions in the future.

"We live in the most materialistic age in the history of the world. People trust in physical things. They trust in bank accounts...If you have excess and don't need it, those verses mean you...That's the Laodicean attitude...Put your money where your mouth is...Empty your assets" Yes, give us all your money so we can build one of the most materialistic mini-me headquarters in the middle of Ohio. It is important that we have a physical building to make us look impressive to the world.  Go bankrupt to help us!

11/13/11 a.m. RCG announced the following: World Headquarters Complex

Can there be a more deviant cult leader in Armstrong than Dave Pack right now?  Even Flurry pales in comparison! 

It is only going to be a matter of time till Davey and his lap poodles, Schurter, McElroy and Beher start slobbering their defense of the apostle.  PERSECUTION!

Dave Pack: My Name is Derived From the "Passover"

Pack certainly has no problem opening his big mouth and making an ass of himself.  Did you know that he claims that his name is a derivative of the word Pascha?  As if this is supposed to give him some divine mandate for being an apostle.  Since the Passover has at is base the concept of forgiveness, redemption and wholeness, there certainly cannot be found in Davey Pack any forgiveness and he certainly does not have the power to provide redemption or the tools for wholeness. 

Here is a letter from one of his former members calling him on the carpet for it.

One last and, what should be a, totally shocking example of Mr. Pack’s mind can be found in his latest book “How often should The Lord’s Supper be taken?”  At the bottom of the first paragraph on page 9 the following statement can be found, As a side note, while researching my genealogy, I learned that our family name is derived from this very word pascha.  This statement is made as a concluding remark for the section explaining the translation of the Hebrew word for Passover.  He not only makes the point about his name but it looks as though this is the fact he wants the reader to take with him or her!!  How can a man of God actually and publicly state that his name in effect is PASSOVER?  It should be made known here that Mr. Pack was advised at some length not to include this statement for obvious reasons.  He has insisted on leaving this remark in the book and I might add that this is the weaker version of that statement.  It originally read …I learned that my name is derived from this very word pascha.  Is there anyone in God’s Church who, if they had found this to be true, would actually include this in a book that they had authored?  I guess we have at least one!

Brethren, these are only the things that I am aware of.  I ask you what else is out there and more importantly how many times does this have to happen before we all wake up and realize that this man is not who he pretends to be?  I do not know how else to say it.  I know that all you have to go on is my word, along with a steady stream of other individuals, who have over the years tried to tell you the same thing again and again and again.

The time will come when we will all have to stand before God One at a time. Does it not make sense that He would test us now, One at a time, perhaps to see if we can stand One at a time, finding out if we can be trusted in his Kingdom that is surely closer than we think?

Jim Leighty

Van Robison on "The Religious Seduction of the Innocent"

The Religious Seduction of the Innocent

Humans have been religiously seduced for thousands of years.  In our day and age, many have been religiously seduced by the Worldwide Church of God and its religious splinter groups, who all seek disciples that they can indoctrinate.    It is not really about "truth", but rather it is about lordship over those who are gullible enough to financially support these self-appointed men and church groups, who espouse that they are the "true" church of God on earth.  I marvel at the television preachers who must spend a fortune on television exposure to mouth their particular spiel and quite often that if you want "prosperity", then sow a seed and send a donation of such and such an amount of money and be "blessed."  Pure nonsense!  But of course the old ladies and old men on social security, along with the gullible and naive send money.  Somebody must be sending money, otherwise why are they still on the air?  Mike Murdock is one among many such deceivers and if you watch him, if you can "think" you know that he is a complete fraud.  Many of these clowns are wealthy, live in million dollar homes, fly around the world in private jets and live in luxury at the expense of the utter gullibility of those who send cash.

Putting forth an air of "sincerity" deceives many.  Trinity broadcasting and others use music to whip people into a frenzy.  Virtually every time there is a promotion to collect funds from the television viewers, music, dancing, and emotional hype is the tool to psychologically whip people into a state of "giving money."  We see this over and over and over on religious television programming.  We also see clown shows such as sending for your vial of "Holy" water so that you can be "healed."    The simple minded apparently must be supporting these people, otherwise they would all dry up and disappear from public view.

None of us have the answer as to how to rescue those who are captive to the ridiculous splinter groups of the Worldwide Church of God, anymore than people have the answers as to how to see people set free from the
Mormon Church, the Jehovah Witnesses or a multitude of other groups that have taken many captive.  It is not that the people who have been swallowed up into these groups are bad people, they are actually innocent
human beings who have been hoodwinked and they just don't know it.  Cults are prisons of the mind.  It is a sad situation and when our own loved ones are caught in any of these man-made religious webs, we suffer
mentally for them.  Many will live their entire life caught in the religious web and exit life on earth never having known that they were prisoners to religious deception.  Some will struggle free and others will not.

I can well remember years ago when one of the Ambassador College students left the college and the church and those of us who were still captive, thought this individual had gone off the "deep end."  Perhaps he was
really ahead of his time and cut a path for others to follow into religious freedom.  Some time later, many others actually did follow and took an exit.  FEAR is the common reason that enslaves multitudes of human beings to religious groups.  The FEAR of the loss of salvation is a tool used by religious frauds who use the name of Jesus Christ or God.  If you really believe that God is LOVE, then why would you "fear" Him?  People need to be taught to question, to think, to prove, to even doubt so that they will pursue knowledge and understanding outside of the box they have been living in.

Why not question the validity of the Bible?  Is it wrong to question?  Is it wrong to prove all things?  Is it wrong to stop trusting pied pipers in the pulpits and seek understanding for yourself?  Is it wrong to think for yourself? Is it somehow against God to ask questions that most people never ask?  Must what you think and believe come from some "pastor" or "elder" who does your thinking?  Must you believe that INK on PAPER is actually God "inspired?"  Why think that?  Have you been told so many times that what you believe is "true" that that is the real reason you believe what you do?  What if there are actually alternatives to how you think?  Should they be considered or even entertained?  Why not?

The world is drowning in innocent human beings who have been religiously seduced.


Van Robison

"If God Wants You To Be A Doormat, Then Accept It!"

There is a fascinating group on Facebook called Worldwide Church of God I Can't Wait For Sundown and Other WWCG Musings that is filled with people who have escaped Armstrongism.  It is funny, irreverent and filled with some appalling stories.  There was one the other day that struck me as truly appalling.  Appalling that any minister would ever tell a woman such a thing.  It's no wonder people have no respect for the ministry of the Churches of God anymore.  It is from a thread on what caused people to leave the church.

After divorcing my abusive husband I went to the minister (Abner Washington) to become "unbound" so that I could start dating again. He refused to do that and told me that "if God wanted me to be a doormat, then I should accept it." That was the beginning of the end for me.

Sadly, this is not an isolated case in Armstrongism.  It still is happening LCG, UCG, PCG and many of the other splinter groups. Women seem to be mere chattel, to be used and abused, while putting on a happy face all the time.

There have been many women who have had to leave abusive husbands because of the violence, yet COG ministers would tell them to stay because their reward in the Kingdom was far better than the pain. Some of these women ended up being beaten so bad that they were unrecognizable.  Others have been killed.

One of the "churches" in Pasadena was the Imperial Gym. It was run for many years by a man who would have made a great Gestapo agent.  He was a mean, nasty, vindictive man who ruled his congregation with a rod of iron.  No matter how much people complained, WCG kept him there. The ministurd/pasturd told a young woman, who was unmarried and had gotten pregnant, that "...her bastard baby would never be in the Kingdom of God because of her fornication."

The men who plotted and schemed behind the scenes to form new COG's had a golden opportunity to set things right and truly be shepherds that took care of their flocks.  Instead, they continue to support child molesters, rapists, abusers, and others in their ranks instead of caring for the hurt members.  There is a pox on the heads of UCG, COGWA, PCG, LCG and others that continue to allow this.

How The Churches of God Brainwash Members Minds

"Many have been deeply scarred through these diabolical practices 

and misapplications of men.  The brainwashers that occupy these pulpits

 are smart and clever, and they understand human nature.  

They know how to deceive and they know how to destroy.  

There are no words too strong to demonstrate this horrible deception 

used by this self-serving, hierarchical team of spiritual monsters"

There are some great articles on the Wicked Shepherds web site about abuse and control by ministers in churches.  Here is an excerpt from an article that talks about that control.

Brainwashing 101

Brainwashing:  1) any method of controlled systematic indoctrination, especially one based on repetition or confusion; 2) inducing a person to modify their beliefs, attitudes, or behavior by conditioning through various forms of pressure; 3) the ability to apply procedures or methods so as to effect a radical change in the ideas and beliefs of a person.

Because brainwashing is such an invasive form of influence, it requires the complete isolation and dependency of the subject, which is why you mostly hear of brainwashing occurring either in a religious system of some kind or at prison camps.

The agent (the brainwasher) must have complete control over the target. (the brainwashee)  Sound familiar?  Everything pertaining to the targets life depends on the will of the agent. (your spiritual overseer)  Every step the agent takes will result in advancing his own self-centered agenda. 

In the brainwashing process, the agent will systematically break down the target's identity to the point that it doesn't work anymore.

These brainwashers will hone in on a person’s weaknesses by first making their target comfortable, then get personal and confidential information to exploit the person later.  Many “church leaders” for example will project themselves with false humility; posing as spiritual men.  They take the place of the person’s physical father and successfully use this emotional leverage for the deep seated need for approval in order to motivate and control them.

The goal is to make the adult followers as much like their own children as possible.  When people accept this, then they accept human authority in their lives to the point where they are hopelessly dependant on the authority, as children are with their parents.  One technique the “church leader” will used to obtain this type of parental control is to keep them off balance to foster dependency, making it hard for them to make their own decisions.

When this kind of cunning craftiness is plotted to deceive the followers into functioning like children, they become much more manageable, being easily influenced by false doctrines and other tricks of deception.

From here on in, the targets (a.k.a: “church members”) willingly give up their minds and their souls at the institutional church doors; allowing themselves to be induced with the godless spiritual narcotic of "duly authorized rule" slowly and deliberately being administered by their "church overseers and pastors."   Having now been deprived and numbed to any sense of right or wrong, they mindlessly, and without any shame or twinge of conscience, follow and obey everything they are told to do within those institutional walls.

Even if it means destroying your own family "for the higher good," the higher good of course being in conformance to the wishes of your spiritual overseer and his local church.

This is what happens when we follow the ways and the teachings of men.  How many times in the Scriptures have we been warned over, and over, and over again concerning man's ways and traditions; taking heed to what we hear; testing and proving the spirits, etc.  But unfortunately, it is very rare today to see a "Berean". 

Remember that religious brainwashing can be extraordinarily powerful and dangerous to anyone, but especially to those who do not have the ability to withstand the religious pressure.  With this kind of pressure and these kinds of fear tactics, is it any wonder that some Christians don’t think for themselves?

The best thing to do regarding your professing Christian relatives and friends is to realize that, while they are well-meaning in their beliefs, they have been brainwashed.  Brainwashed people cannot see the Truth that is right before their eyes and they will deny facts that do not agree with their beliefs.  Brainwashing causes a disconnect in the mind of the Christian believer between demonstrable reality and religious fantasy.  Reality is filtered out in favor of the religious dogma/fantasy.

Read the rest of the article here:  Brainwashing

Dave Pack Says Doctrine Can Only Come Through Him

William Beher is on the defense today against UCG and COGWA.  He is in a snit because they have doctrinal committees that sit down and discuss doctrine.  William wants you to know that doctrine can ONLY come down through the proper chain of command (from Jesus through Dave) and NOT through doctrinal committees.

Is Dave afraid that some of his heretical doctrines are starting to cause issues and he wants to stamp out any rebellion?  Have some of the new converts had their eyes opened and realized that they made a mistake in joining his cult because of his heretical doctrines? By speaking out such as he has, he has once again throttled members  from questioning his decisions and man made doctrines.

Who is responsible for teaching the Church doctrine and for ensuring it speaks right doctrine—TRUTH? Groups and organizations such as United Church of God and Church of God, a Worldwide Association, would have you believe “doctrinal committees” and/or a “council of elders” or individual ministers of varying ranks leading their own groups may bring truth to the Church, including overturning what an apostle taught. Also, whose duty is it—apostles, committees or lower ranking ministers—to ensure all of God’s people “speak the same thing”? Mr. Armstrong brought plain teaching on this subject, and it is what scores of thousands in the Worldwide Church of God all once professed to believe.

No “doctrinal committee” or “other group of ministers or lay members” (or any single minister below apostle) may bring truth into the Church. Why then do organizations permit groups of men to decide what their organizations believe and teach—and throw out doctrines taught by Christ’s 20^th-century apostle? Who gave these men such authority? 

 William ends with:

Mr. Armstrong speaks with no ambiguity! Don’t believe false ministers. Do your own thinking. Examine the rotten fruits of organizations that teach contrary to the Bible pattern, and compare this to the fruits of God’s Church, which faithfully holds to ALL of the truth—what Christ’s 20^th-century apostle taught.

We have examined the rotten fruit of the "restored" Church of God and is rotten to the core.  Smelly and vile.  It makes great pig slop.

Wit and Wisdom From The Messianic Armstrongite Kabbalists

Oh the joys of the Internet!  No longer can Armstrongites sit back and claim they are the most unified, biblical oriented true church on the face of he earth.  There are so many factions and beliefs in Armstrongism now that there will never be unification.

While some branches of Armstrongism have unrepentant sinners going to the Lake of Fire, the Messianic Armstrongite Kabbalists have EVERYONE being send to  hell for a twelve month purification process. But if you were a good little boy or girl on earth then your stay in hell might be a little shorter.  The better person you are the less time you will have the flames of hell licking at your feet. Then, if you are still and rebellious sinner, you will get sent to the Lake of Fire.

The Messianic Kabbalist Pastor General writes

The Zohar reveals that the maximum duration of stay in Hell of an unclean soul is 12 months. For the souls that are less impure than others, they may stay in Hell just for hours, days, weeks, and a few months, depending on how impure they are, and depending on how easy the impurities are removed from them. 

People may think that it is just a short period of time, but the pain that will be experienced here in Hell, for every second or minute is indescribable! It is hope that by this length of time, or less, the person would have totally and humbly accepted God's purification process. If this is the case, God will now allow that purified soul to enter His Kingdom and be given eternal life.

In spite of all of this you should be encouraged!  Your evil angel that's been assigned to you will perish too and will no longer be able to influence anyone.

FOR EVERY SINNER, THERE IS A CORRESPONDING EVIL ANGEL. BOTH WILL BE CONSUMED BY FIRE!

The Zohar revealed that one who commits one sin acquires one prosecutor. A fire descends from up high and burns the body parts, the fat and the portions of the bullocks, the sheep, the he-goats and the she-goats, which is a secret of Yud Hei Vav Hei that descends like a lion of fire to burn them. Their members are burned and the Demons or the Evil Angels in charge of the sinning members are also burned.

I guess God was too stupid to give each person a good angel.  So much for the loving God......

Next our glorious leader in Armstrongism discusses our reentry into the Garden of Eden.  Alas, the chances of you making are slim because of climate change.  Say what?

Man's re-entry to the Garden of Eden was enabled by the death sacrifice of Christ, and Christ's resurrection from the dead enables man to eat from the Tree of Life. For an in-depth explanation about  how can one be qualified to re-enter Paradise, please go to: DO YOU KNOW THE BIBLE PARDES? It is the 4 Levels of Bible Knowledge and Understanding! Reaching the 4th Level, which is the Messianic Kabbalah Wisdom, Qualifies You to Enter Paradise (the Garden of Eden)!

But before man can enter back to the Garden, he must be purified to that status of Adam before the sin. Climate Change is one of the major purification processes in this human life that every human being must be exposed to and tried (Rev 3:10). MESSIANIC KABBALAH WISDOM is the other option, which is relatively easy and less painful.

If you are not being purified in hell I guess the sun's going to fry your sorry butt.

Then he moves on to Elijah.  From the qualification he lists below it immediately dismisses most Armstrongite ministers and evangelists from ever being Elijah.  Most of them are not sexually pure and are filled with greed and lust.  It's tough being an Elijah in Armstrongism!  Even Elijah Reimann feels this.

WHO IS ELIJAH, REALLY? ELIJAH IS THE REINCARNATION OF PHINEHAS!

According to the Zohar, Elijah is the reincarnation of Phinehas, also known as Pinchas. During the time of Moses, while Israel succumbed to the sexual and idolatrous temptation of the Midianites, it was Phinehas' zealousness that protected and preserved the Covenant. And because of this zealousness, GOD gave him the Covenant of Peace, with the agreement of Moses (Numbers 25:12).

UCG West Virginia: Sexual Abuse and Embezzlement

Here is another story about sexual abuse  in the Church of God and how the ministry of UCG tried to cover it up.  Check out Silenced for this story about a UCG elder that was sexually abusing women in his congregation.  The members knew about, complained and UCG honcho's covered it up (some of these guys now are parked on their self-righteous asses in COGWA.)

I had heard about this congregation several years ago when it happened.

 An excerpt: 

Several years ago there was an entire UCG congregation in West Virginia which seceded from the mothership after a local elder molested a young lady in the congregation. The local elder had a history of doing this sort of thing. He had repeatedly been admonished by church leaders to stop, but as is so often the case, he didn’t because he knew they would never discipline him. Keep in mind, this was back around 2004 – 2005 when all the leaders of COGWA were still running United. Doug Horchak, Jim Franks, Richard Pinelli, Clyde Kilough, etc., were all aware of what had taken place with this elder and how he had molested a young girl. 

There are three reasons why I’ve waited until now to shine some
light on this very troublesome situation. First, the church asked all
family members to not discuss the case until a decision was reached
or else they would drop the appeal. Second, I really believed that
the leaders of our church would take at least some just action to
resolve the issue of an elder and sexual harassment. Third, after
reading Mr. Pinelli’s misleading response I felt it necessary to
share some relevant facts in this matter.

It is a fact that an elder in WV has sexually harassed my sister-in-
law. The “hugs” were accurately described in posts by
Lindap, the elder would sneak up from behind, lock his arms directly under the
breasts and then squeeze very tightly and lift for an extended period
of time. There was indeed touching that could be categorized, at the
very least as grossly inappropriate, and more accurately as
molestation. I can absolutely guarantee you that such hugs would be
grounds for severe discipline or reprimands were they to take place
at one of our UCG Youth Camps. This situation involves an ordained
official in UCG, are the standards less? This act of touching
inappropriate body parts is in and of itself defined as sexual
harassment in UCG’s own Sexual Misconduct Guidelines (Section N
reads: “No lewd touching or other inappropriate contact of a
sexual nature is permitted with minors”).

There will still be some who will defend this elder’s actions as
Mr. Pinelli did by describing them as “signs of grandfatherly
affection” or by arguing that the elder meant nothing perverse by them. I
already believe the prior paragraph alone, would require for UCG
leaders to take some kind of action. But to those who are still
skeptical let me provide the following evidence that has led me to
believe his actions reflected his intent.

Read the entire story here: More sexual shenanigans recently in the COG

West Virginia seems to  present UCG with a lot of issues.  A few years ago there was a UCG member in WV who embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the bank she worked in.  She would show up at UCG services and hand out envelopes of cash to people who were in need and who needed help to attend the Feast.  She took a lot of the money and built the local congregation their own church building.  When she was arrested and then jailed the government repossessed the UCG church building and took it away from them.  The last I heard UCG made no attempt to repay any of the stolen money.