Exit and Support has a new letter up from former Philadelphia Church of God members. This family had the sense to wake up and leave the cult.
Of all the various splinter groups of Armstrongism this one has the potential to be deadly to its members.
After reading Malachi's Message, we thought PCG was truly the church to attend. I'll have to say as rotten as Worldwide Church of God was it was nothing compared to the oppression and evil we felt in the Philadelphia Church of God.
Slowly and systematically Gerald Flurry started pulling in the reigns, cutting all family off, even people who gave us no trouble about the PCG at all. Pretty soon we were told we couldn't eat out, we had to eat there at services (every week). We were expected to bring dishes of food while they had people in there watching your actions and words. If they thought someone was a bit more relaxed and would open up and say things, they wanted to know how devoted you were to him (not God but Gerald Flurry).
We were assigned seats and could only sit where they wanted us to--next to people who tended to draw you out and question you about your loyalty. Flurry insisted people there were to be "family" to each other. It never worked for me as I really felt uncomfortable with everyone there. They all seemed like zombies to me--"yes men" that were devoted to Flurry. Their eyes were glassy, they stared ahead a lot, their conversations were nothing but buzzwords. No one was interested in anything you did or said outside of PCG. So you were encouraged to talk only about "the church."
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One time we were all told we better be at services. A woman I knew who was in the last stages of cancer was told her she "better get to church or else!" Another woman I knew was in the hospital with cancer and the ministers insisted (against the doctor's advice) that she come to services that day. (She later died but the ministers didn't even care, attributing it to some "hidden sin" in her life.) When we all arrived that day, they had blocked the windows with black plastic and it was so dark in there you could hardly see. There were guards (bully-like men) by the doors. Some were at the entrance, some were where you go into the room for the services, and some standing at the bathroom door, intimidating people who entered, saying who could go in and how long they could stay. They said they were handing the information to Flurry.
After the woman who had cancer got home, she got up enough strength to phone the ministers and ask them to come to her home. She really told them off about a lot of things on her mind, including about others in there. When they started in on her she yelled at them to get out of her house and not to dare threaten her again!! Apparently, they then phoned Flurry and the next day they called her and said, "By the authority of Mr. Flurry you are disfellowshipped!" She later told me that she never felt so much peace in her life or felt so free of that evil place.
Read the entire letter here.
8 comments:
"Ex-Philadelphia Church of God Members Say Church Is Evil and Oppressive"
So, they think that the PCG is merely "evil and oppressive" do they? That is certainly putting it mildly. People who long tried to be polite and respectful often find it difficult to accurately describe the true nature of the PCG. Soft, gentle words like "evil and oppressive" do not convey just how TOTALLY SATANIC the PCG really is.
Still, thanks for telling me what I already know.
"Another woman I knew was in the hospital with cancer and the ministers insisted (against the doctor's advice) that she come to services that day. (She later died but the ministers didn't even care, attributing it to some "hidden sin" in her life.)"
Gerald Flurry wants his followers to leave everything to his PCG cult in their wills, and then he can hardly wait for them to die.
This is the role of PCG members: leave it all to the PCG in your will, and then go die already.
Some of the leaders of ACOGs who were once highly respected have gone out on extreme limbs with prophecy, and their own authority. Behavior way beyond the norm even for Armstrongism has caused a huge credibility gap to face their members. They see that something has gone terribly wrong with what they had honestly believed to be God's church, and this poses a dilemma. The first question which naturally occurs to them is, "If this is not God's church, then where is God's church today?"
People are placed in a position either of sifting through Armstrongism's version of the 700 Club (the 700 ACOG splinters), going independent a la Ron Dart's loosely affiliated CEM, waiting for one of their own leaders to start yet another splinter, finding a non-Armstrong church, or leaving religion entirely.
Personally, I don't believe God's church can be found amongst the ACOGs, but for those who look amongst the splinters for a new church, I recommend at least spending some time at the Exit and Support Network reading what is said of each group. It is like a Consumers' Reports for the splinter groups, and this Flurry entry provides a marvelous example.
Major companies have discovered the value of what they term the "exit interview". The idea behind this is that once an employee has decided to terminate, he will share his unguarded, brutally honest opinion with an interviewer, providing very valuable information which could lead to the improvement of company policies and procedures. Of course, in an ACOG, this is not seen as being constructive criticism, it is painted as rebellion! Satan! However, the folks at ESN do fortunately see it as constructive, and do publish it for all to review as they make their new decisions. In the world of the ACOGs, what you don't know can hurt you!
BB
It is hard to believe that anyone (except for those employed by PCG) stay with Flurry. Flurry has been proven to be a liar and false prophet for many years.
Sounds like Flurry's PCG is missing out on a real growth area, where they will prosper and thrive, and where they will be totally understood...
NORTH KOREA!
Joe Moeller
Cody, WY
Now I can believe in vampires -- financial vampires. The PCG is apparently nothing but a financial vampire.
The PCG Feast site in Edmond last year was not like this description at all.
No seats were assigned at Armstrong Auditorium. And that hall was locked up on the first Holy Day for 90 minutes during lunch hour, so people presumably had to go out to eat somewhere. (No mention was made about eating elsewhere on campus.)
So, they think that the PCG is merely "evil and oppressive" do they? That is certainly putting it mildly. People who long tried to be polite and respectful often find it difficult to accurately describe the true nature of the PCG. Soft, gentle words like "evil and oppressive" do not convey just how TOTALLY SATANIC the PCG really is.
Still, thanks for telling me what I already know.
February 15, 2014 at 12:27 AM
...Yes this is why I don't try to be polite and respectful. They were never polite and respectful to me and my son. They really are TOTALLY SATANIC! Who else but the devil hates women...(because he is queer), hates your children and wants to destroy them, hates old people and wants them to die to GET what they have, is jealous, competitive, accusational, deranged, delusional, obsessed with sex, narcissistic, authoritarian, thinks it's others at fault, not them and everyone is picking on him (but it's really himself doing it to others), THINKS HE IS GOING TO RULE THE UNIVERSE WITH THIS DEMENTED TYPE OF MIND...sound like someone you know?
Been there, experienced it!
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