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A former UCG member who jumped ship to the Church of God a Worldwide Association (COGWA) has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of raping two little girls. The judge in the case is quoted as saying:
At his arrest he was accused of the following:Binette, according to the Sandusky Register, told Wagner he groomed the victims "in your own sick ways" and made his bedroom "a torture chamber for those two children."
The judge also told the defendant the sexual abuse was similar to a life sentence for the girls. Binette said he took into that consideration plus a woman's testimony who alleged Wagner abused her decades ago -- and possibly at least five other victims -- when he decided the defendant's sentence. Child Rapist Gets Life Without Parole
Joseph D. Wagner, 62, of Huron, must post a $140,000 bond before being released from the Erie County Jail. The Erie County Sheriff's Office arrested the suspect Friday morning at his Mudbrook Road home without incident.
Deputies learned of the allegations Feb. 11 after one of the girls accused Wagner of raping her several times. Her mother then asked the older sister if anything happened to her and she also reported being victimized by Wagner, Chief Deputy Jared Oliver said.
The girls are 6 and 10 years old.
Oliver said the first suspected rape, which involved the older girl, happened in April 2011 and then "Joe started abusing the younger one," which continued through February. He said it was the younger girl who immediately reported the incidents to her mother. Local man indicted on 10 rape charges
Wagner attended in the Cleveland, Ohio church and was visited regularly by the church elder. He was also in attendance at a NTBMO.
Update:
Various Facebook members are commenting about this guy. It seems he was a professional moocher of the brethren. He never had a steady job and complained of disabilities preventing him from working. It seems lots of members cooked him meals and delivered them to him. Some cleaned his home and others paid for his transportation. Also these two little girls were not his only victims. Others were abused but refused to come forward.
Update:
When we were part of the UCG I remember my mother cooking food to take to his home. He always claimed he was disabled and actually won a lawsuit against a company where he says he was injured. He was another COG member who never worked an honest day in his life. He lived off others and the church.
He also sold software and many people got ripped off by him in the church. The ministry in UCG stood by this guy and laid a guilt trip on all those around him so they would cook, clean and drive him around.
When he went with COGWA the ministers there did the same thing. One even was told the guy liked little girls and refused to do anything about him.
Those little girls were raped because COGWA covered up for the guy.
I keep hearing rumors that there may be a lawsuit in the works that names COGWA as accessory a to the crime. I hope they are found guilty!
Update:
Various Facebook members are commenting about this guy. It seems he was a professional moocher of the brethren. He never had a steady job and complained of disabilities preventing him from working. It seems lots of members cooked him meals and delivered them to him. Some cleaned his home and others paid for his transportation. Also these two little girls were not his only victims. Others were abused but refused to come forward.
Update:
When we were part of the UCG I remember my mother cooking food to take to his home. He always claimed he was disabled and actually won a lawsuit against a company where he says he was injured. He was another COG member who never worked an honest day in his life. He lived off others and the church.
He also sold software and many people got ripped off by him in the church. The ministry in UCG stood by this guy and laid a guilt trip on all those around him so they would cook, clean and drive him around.
When he went with COGWA the ministers there did the same thing. One even was told the guy liked little girls and refused to do anything about him.
Those little girls were raped because COGWA covered up for the guy.
I keep hearing rumors that there may be a lawsuit in the works that names COGWA as accessory a to the crime. I hope they are found guilty!
This guy was just the tip of the iceberg. There were lots of child molesters in the church. The church covered up for so many of them. I hope this leads to more of the scum going to prison.
ReplyDeleteWhat a monster! It is good that he is now being punished for these monstrous crimes.
ReplyDeletePeople here are encouraged to check out nomore.org.
ReplyDeleteNotice the intro to Take Action>Resources:
To end domestic violence and sexual assault, we all need to be part of the solution. Educating yourself and others, helping a friend who is being abused, speaking up about abuse, and acting as an engaged bystander are all examples of things we can do to help.
Those serious about ending domestic violence within the Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia should consider joining the effort.
This must stop.
ReplyDelete"UCG/COGWA Member Sentenced To Life In Prison After Creating 'Torture Chamber' and Raping Two Little Girls"
Life in prison? Just for raping two little girls? What a travesty of justice! Didn't that silly judge realize that this is just how they show "grandfatherly affection" in splinter groups like the UCG?
I'm thinking that Jocelyn Elders certainly had the solution in hand. Why these people feel like they have to ruin others' lives is beyond me. At least this guy is going to be receiving reverse karma in his cellblock for what he has done. Too bad HWA didn't end up in there with him!
ReplyDeleteBB
Yes I realized those people, (Philadelphia Church of god...>joke<...),didn't care if you were a child molester, child rapist, committed incest, were a LIAR, or anything Christ condemned. Really, their only requirements is for you to have LOTS OF MONEY TO GIVE >HEADQUARTERS<.
ReplyDeleteAnd they secretly hate women.
Is it just me, or did everyone else notice that the child molester appears to have smoked marijuana just prior to having his portrait taken by the police?
ReplyDeleteAs sad as this story is, we must realize it could happen in any church denomination - COG or not.
ReplyDeleteAsk some Catholics about what priests did to them. Ask some Lutherans what they thought, when they learned abortion doctor George Tiller was a deacon in one of their churches.
It's not an excuse - not at all. It's a reminder that sinful behavior can enter and corrupt any church group. And everyone needs to walk close to God.
ReplyDelete"UCG/COGWA Member Sentenced To Life In Prison After Creating 'Torture Chamber' and Raping Two Little Girls"
It could have been slightly worse. Those two little girls in the UCG could have been in the PCG. Then they would have been kicked out for saying anything and the worth-less-than-nothing sicko that filthy Flurry set up as a “minister” would have angrily rebuked them for saying anything about what had happened and for being ungrateful after the old predator had "done so much for them and tried so hard to help them."
There is an epidemic of old sex perverts and predators running wild and totally out of control in the splinter groups. Worst of all, the leadership in the splinter groups (whether PCG or UCG) knowingly supports such behavior. Maybe this started with the example set by that fucking pervert Garner Ted Armstrong in the WCG and his own father's attempts to cover it up for him and to protect and help him rather than his victims.
I abandoned Armstrongism years ago. A “pox on all their houses”. Yet, I find it a paradox that this man chose to go with COGWA and was coddled by their ministry. There are a number of interesting parallels here. This evil man was a predator, a manipulator and destroyed the family’s of these girls. The COGWA ministry are predators who broke up numerous family’s who had worshipped together . They did this to satisfy their need for ego gratification, and manipulation over naive people. This man was a sexual rapist. The ministry of COGWA are emotional and spiritual rapists.
ReplyDeleteI now believe Brian Davis, that regional director in the PCg, that kept harassing me must have had some secret sexual sins. After all, he did make some suggestive comments my first day at services back in 2004. He just kept on me constantly. I wasn't doing anything to have someone treating me as if I was a criminal. But this is how the devil does...accuses you of what he is guilty of. I bet that dip- shit is still there. No, Satan isn't about to cast out Satan!!
ReplyDeleteI doubt this guy was a real member; sounds like he just hung around for a few handouts. Lots of people think churches are suckers and they try to exploit them. Like people used to call the WATS lines and ask for money... they always had a sob story.
ReplyDeleteAnd they secretly hate women.
ReplyDeleteIf it's done in secret, how do you know about it? Could it be that you secretly hate men?
Let's be reasonable so we don't all look like psycho out-of-control Armstrong haters. Where is the evidence of an epidemic or that this guy was just the tip of the iceberg? How does anyone know that?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteAnd they secretly hate women.
If it's done in secret, how do you know about it? Could it be that you secretly hate men?
August 2, 2014 at 9:36 PM
Done in secret?? Is that what I said??
It's an underlying OBVIOUS/subtle theme with them. I've seen and experienced it, have you? Obviously not, because obviously you are a man.
Even Jesus said: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. Romans 1:27
No, I don't hate all men, but since you asked, this is what kind of men I hate:
#1. LIARS
#2. FORNICATORS/ADULTERERS
#3. EFFEMINATE
#4. LAZY
#5. UNMOTIVATED
#6. UNKEMPT
#7. AUTHORITARIAN (HITLERIAN)
#8. PSYCHOPATHS
#9. DOMINEERING/DEMEANING
#10.DEAD BEAT DADS/FATHERS
#11.LUSTFUL
#12.VINDICTIVE
#13.MURDERERS
#14.RAPISTS
#15.CHILD MOLESTERS
#16.ANIMAL ABUSERS/MURDERERS
#17.FALSE PROPHETS
#18.MEN THAT FOLLOW FALSE PROPHETS
#19.MEN THAT CAN'T STAND YOU CAN DO SOMETHING BETTER THAN THEM, SUCH AS BUILD A FASTER PINE CAR DERBY RACE CAR, (SUCH AS BRIAN DAVIS OF THE PCG)...lol
#20.MEN THAT TWIST WHAT YOU JUST SAID
...and on and on...
In other words...NON JESUS TYPES!
No one should be surprised.
ReplyDeleteThe Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia are filled with these sorts of people.
"Snake in Suits" by Dr. Robert Hare and Dr. Paul Babiak along with "Without Conscience" by Dr. Robert Hare demonstrate that unstable organizations with flexible, ever changing mores attract psychopaths: They prosper in dysfunctional organizations. It's easy to remain invisible as a predator among the wolves.
Note that Herbert Armstrong committed incest with his daughter for 10 years and was also an alcoholic. Such people are bottom feeding scum and build Mafia type organizations.
Personally, I get mighty tired of these immoral predatory groups. The WCG local elder in Seattle was "watched" by the leading women of the church (who had complained to Pasadena) because he was a pedophile seeking boys. My son was in his Y.O.U. class. I was not happy when I found out.
The couple in United were stalked by another member for 7 years. The Council of Elders did nothing. Robert Dick, the Chairman and the director of the board of ethics told me that it was not his problem.
WCG minister raped 16 teen girls and 8 of their mothers. John Cafourek told me personally that when he told Headquarters, their only response was, "But he gives such great sermons". Rex Sexton confirmed with me that the man indeed did these things. His reaction was to buy a whole box of "Without Conscience" books and distribute them to his elders and deacons.
In the WCG, my daughter came home from services with us one Sabbath and told us her best friend (12 years old) was being raped by her father in an incest relationship.
Then there's the minister who was rejected by United because he committed adultery on his wife as she was dying of cancer.
Not to mentions Gerald Flurry's DUI he got on a Feast Day.
GTA? 200 A.C. coeds in 10 years. Not to mention that incident on international TV.
My wife was hit on in the CoGWA recently.
It is tempting to consider the story of Sodom and Gommorah myth, because by this time, you would have expected that angels would have been sent into the Armstrongist churches to check them out. You know, the sin of Sodom wasn't homosexuality == it was doing exactly what the CoHAM is doing today. Check it out in Ezekiel. False prophets galore, ministers living on blood money and false prophets who are to be put to death under the Law of Moses (beware of shives in prison, Weinland -- you might be approached by an avenging angel!). Actually, they have nothing to fear because they've learned that they can get away with anything and God won't do a thing... now, anyway.
So -- no one should be surprised: We're talking about a pack of wolves and I'm not so very sure that there are many sheep left.
Just why do you think I've been pushing nomore.org so hard.
Go watch the No More marathons of Law & Order SVU if you want to see a dramatization on what's going on in Armstrongism.
Don't bother to say it happens just anywhere: This is the supposed very Work of God we're talking about with 700+ Apostles / Prophets of Jesus Christ.
Yeah. Right.
Laugh and do nothing: It's infotainment.
Black Ops Mikey: the WCG minister that raped 16 girls and 8 of their mothers -- that wouldn't happen to have been Philip Shields, would it?
ReplyDeleteHe was a known child molester and womanizer who was frequently rotated around by WCG leadership. During the mid-1980s he molested several in the congregation where I lived at the time (Nashville, TN). The head pastor - Fred Kellers - was aware of his behavior but didn't do anything to stop it. My understanding is that Kellers is still a UCG pastor, and Shields is still a minister somewhere.
Disgusting.
In a way, it's difficult to fathom that some of the main splinters have fallen so far. But, this is what happens when you don't have fairly enforced, well defined policy to deal with some very real societal problems which exist in today's world. Add the constant example of consistently wrong "lying" prophecy, and really what would a logically thinking individual expect?
ReplyDeleteHWA/WCG "invented" micro-supervision. For the most part, in the congregations where I attended up to 1975, if you even french kissed someone you to whom you were not married, the ministers found out, and the offenders were counselled, and disfellowshipped. The overt message was that this particular type of "sin" would be dealt with both swiftly, and harshly. Like the IRS, the church often used prominent examples to scare others into compliance.
Something changed along with the huge set of problems that came into play at the time the GTA scandal broke. We began to discover that much behavior which differed from the overt, ie church doctrine, and in many cases the Bible itself, had been allowed to take place, going unpunished, and figuratively swept under the rug. We wondered, in a prevailing environment of microsupervision, how the adultery, homosexuality, embezzlement, drug usage, and alcoholism had seemingly gone undetected, even amongst the ministry.
Even so, two types of behavior, whether the predominant climate happened to be liberal, or conservative, would always get a person disfellowshipped. One was failure to tithe. Another was rebellion against or open questioning of church doctrine. I suspect those two general rules may still be in place, but in the case of doctrinal questioning, these days it is no problem, as it simply results in yet another new splinter.
Armstrongism has never really defined, or observed client confidentiality. No problem with blabbing embarrassing personal details far and wide, trashing peoples' reputations over often trivial matters. However, unlike classic WCG, it appears that splinter leaders have no interest in teaching, enforcing, or assisting in members observing and keeping secular law. In practice, whatever seems to be required to protect the reputation of the church is what is done. (Picture a young Reese Witherspoon making the W-"whatever" sign with fingers).
When individuals are threatened or actually disfellowshipped for reporting harmful behavior amongst brethren to the police because the church will do nothing about these things, this is dysfunctional behavior which causes contempt, delusion, and the warping of conscience and character. It also sends a message to aberrant or criminal types that rather than insisting on a certain level of behavior, the church will provide these losers (once again, picture Reese making the L-"loser" sign) with masquerade and safe haven. Let's face it, there are types of people whose nature is to look for marks, people who are "easy". They see the first three letters of the word "brother" and treat them as if they were an acronym for "bend right over".
When you have a movement acccustomed to overlooking bad, wrong, or immoral behavior because Mr. So and So is a quasi-Biblical figure, a prophet, or apostle, then you no longer have well defined standards as an example. It is no surprise when docile people are then victimized, and whatever is necessary to protect the church is what is implimented, regardless of any sense of justice for the victims.
BB
When the leader's children are adulterers and fornicators and drug abusers, yet are given church paychecks larger than what most loyal rule-following members earn in the real world, why would anybody seriously expect to find a model of Christian moral living in the group?
ReplyDeleteAt best you have victim-members who feel trapped in the group, alienated from their own consciences, feeling that they have no place else to go. At worst you have abuser-members who realize that they can get ahead and get in on their piece of the con if they play the game the way the leader and his family require. In the middle are the members who are seriously trying to be Christian, and if they don't leave on their own they will probably be disfellowshipped before too long.
When we were part of the UCG I remember my mother cooking food to take to his home. He always claimed he was disabled and actually won a lawsuit against a company where he says he was injured. He was another COG member who never worked an honest day in his life. He lived off others and the church.
ReplyDeleteHe also sold software and many people got ripped off by him in the church. The ministry in UCG stood by this guy and laid a guilt trip on all those around him so they would cook, clean and drive him around.
When he went with COGWA the ministers there did the same thing. One even was told the guy liked little girls and refused to do anything about him.
Those little girls were raped because COGWA covered up for the guy.
I keep hearing rumors that there may be a lawsuit in the works that names COGWA as accessory a to the crime. I hope they are found guilty!
ReplyDeleteNO2HWA said...
“I keep hearing rumors that there may be a lawsuit in the works that names COGWA as accessory a to the crime.“
Satanic cults like the PCG and godless cults like the UCG really are accessories to sins and crimes.
Perverts and predators are always welcomed in for unsuspecting members to associate with. Members are expected to go along with every pervert and predator to “show love” to them. If anyone knows what is going on and even so much as politely declines to go out with, or over to the home of, some pervert and predator, the pervert and predator can not only slander them to other members but can actually complain quickly and directly to the local leaders and get the person kicked out!!!
This is perhaps not so surprising with the worth-less-than-nothing sickos that filthy Flurry set up as fake PCG “ministers” in his satanic PCG cult when no real WCG ministers went with him. The surprising and disappointing thing is that even old UCG ministers from the WCG behave similarly. And again, I am talking about old UCG ministers from the WCG, not the absolutely abominable newer crop of fake UCG “ministers” that badgered the old UCG ministers into “credentialing” them as UCG "ministers" so they can bring in more perverts and predators with them.
The splinter group “ministers” truly are the servants of Satan and of perverts and predators. Members are not only left alone to fend for themselves when perverts and predators come around, but find out that the local leaders are all on the side of the perverts and predators and are actively helping them to do evil.
Anon: that actually was not from me. A reader sent that to me and in the process of posting it with my iPad that comment got lost.
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult for me to understand the mentality of "officials", whether they be Catholics or Churchofgoddians, who are either warned about such a person, or know that someone like this has hurt innocent people in their congregations, yet do nothing. Who amongst us would not take action if such an individual had hurt a member of our own family?
ReplyDeleteOne of the critiques frequently leveled at the ACOGs is that the officials give deference or special latitude to the big donors, while meting out harsh discipline to those of lesser means, especially those who publicly embarrass the church. But, this one doesn't compute, even according to their normal double standards. Here is a guy who has lived from the generosity of the church and brethren, a man whose sins involve helpless victims, and they coddle him? Why? Even by their own perverse rules, this makes no sense at all.
BB
There were a couple of pedo's in the NYC area when I was a teenager. I know, because I was groped by one. Everybody just loved this "Uncle Dewitt" and as my mom was a widow, she welcomed a so called "christian" man. She let him take my siblings and I home after services one week so she could go to choir practice. Dutifully, I was told to cook him dinner, I was 12, and later on he lured me to the playroom where he felt me up. Luckily, my brother came to my aid and I escaped. Many years later he married a young widow with 3 small kids, and it didn't take long for him to ruin those kids. Never spoken aloud, but gossipped alot, he was tossed out on his ass, but not before devistating that family. Some 18 years later, my mother found a picture of him in an old box of photos. When she showed it to me, I had a rush of horror. I took the photo and tore it up. When she asked me about it. I told her why. She then asked me why I never spoke of it before then? Incredulous, I said it was THE CHURCH!!! She would never have believed me, ever. We were non entities, chattel. So I hope he goes straight to hell, and all the others.
ReplyDeleteHey hag:
ReplyDeleteWho is twisting things? You or me?
Please try to control you emotions and respond rationally.
Are there more perverts in the COG than in other churches or in Atheist organizations?
ReplyDeleteI do not ask that to exonerate the COG (though some hag will likely assert otherwise) but I just want to know.
If they are divinely inspired (which I doubt), why does God allow any of it?
If they are just another human organization, are they any worse than the rest? In THAT case, are we holding them up to a higher standard? Should we?
People hate me because I an not politically correct.
Hey there pink fox:
ReplyDeleteShould we "punish" him or bing back the death penalty?
Anon 8:30 said, "Are there more perverts in the COG than in other churches or in Atheist organizations?"
ReplyDeleteThat's a great question, and I'm sure that's something we'd all like to know. From my experience growing up in the WCG and UCG there were almost certainly pedophiles in my congregation. Of course there were rumours since the victims were unwilling to go public. It was said that our local pastor had a thing for boys in Y.O.U., and something of the sort happened between an older man and one of my sister's teenage friends in the church.
I've given this a lot of thought over the years and the conclusion I come to is that the COG's have always attracted folks who had difficulty fitting into society. Some of those folks had serious mental health issues, so I would expect crimes like this to be more prevalent.
Secondly, the COGs always had a culture which emphasized a "let's not rock the boat" attitude. Coming forward was always frowned upon, probably because often it implied that the minister didn't know what he was doing. You see, if the minister was doing his job the brethren would be in harmony. Of course this is backwards. The pastor should have been the servant of people, being open and accessible. That's not to let the perpetrators off the hook, however. But the authoritarian culture of the COGs exacerbated the problems by keeping the crimes in the dark.
WCG had always scared everyone with their prophecies about encroaching sexual perversion. Who knew that this would become a self-fulfilling prophecy within their own groups?
ReplyDeleteListen, if you wore a suit and tie, and faithfully tithed, they'd let anyone in. It was all about the $$$$.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very old line of comments. Phillip Shields is alive and well and still trying to get accepted into some church of God. The ministry in God's church have been very effective in distancing themselves from the fallout of his sick sexual misconduct. Their solution has been to stonewall the victims and distance themselves when the results of protected sexual misconduct is not only allowed, but the victims are systematically abused though slander and ministers refusing to report the sexual misconduct to the police.
ReplyDeletePhilip has a web site that can be located by posting his name into a search engine. He has not stopped wanting to be a minister. He will do the same thing again to another child/woman if given the chance. And the ministers in God's church will call foul and run for the woods.
So much for protecting the vulnerable children and women in the church of God. Their exit ticket is that they made mistakes but they have repented. No effort to restore to the victims what they lost through their extremely bungled efforts is ever mentioned. A search on the internet reveals their comfy lifestyle, which must by no means be threatened. It does not matter how many lives of woman and children were absolutely destroyed, and the friendships and family ties that were severed all because they taught the members about the evil ways of the victims. Victims being someone such as myself, who was merely trying to find a place where the truth was taught and my children could continue in the truth.
If it happened to me, it has happened to others. But this must all be hushed up and the victims must be minimized at all costs, all for the precious name of what ever brand of church of God is being promoted by any given 'minister of God' at the moment.
I have never seen so many cowards in my whole life filled with so much energy to destroy a real child of God.
If it had not happened to me, I would have been hard pressed to believe it.
I focus now on trauma recovery, so that I know how to help others find their way back to the real Master and Savior who is out in front of His people, and not throwing the women and children to the wolves
These cowards do not even want to begin to acknowledge the damage done by this Philip Shields who stalks his victims systematically years after the fact.
He could have been prosecuted for sexual misconduct, but the glorious evangelists and ministers at that time stonewalled me and did not come forward, or told other stories to the authorities which minimized what happened
Survivor and Overcomer of the most wicked and evil efforts to silence victim of pastoral sexual misconduct.
Phillip Shields' website asks for your tithes and donations, so that he can continue in the capacity of a minister. Why would anyone ask for tithes unless they thought they were a minister of God?
ReplyDeleteFrom his web page, Light on a Rock, "Contact Light on the Rock Outreach Foundation:
"5622 Belle Terre Drive
Leesburg, Florida 34748-7887 USA
352-805-4457
pws2010@gmail.com
We deeply appreciate your gifts, tithes and offerings."
His website address is http://lightontherock.org/contact-us.html
From The Journal, this ad, which was extremely accurate in reporting the number of victims Mr. Shields actually did his thing with, still appears on the Internet.
From The Journal, which is still available on the Internet, here is a highly accurate ad asking for help to put him away concerning victims:
"Announcements
Help needed with investigation: An investigation is being conducted by some former members of the Worldwide Church of God concerning possible crimes committed by Mr. Phillip Shields when he was in the ministry of that church. Allegations against Mr. Shields include numerous instances of sexual assault against married women and teenage girls and molestation of girls as young as nine years old. To date twenty-four probable victims have been identified. Six of them have furnished written statements for the preliminary report, which also includes statements by five other former ministers of the WCG concerning Mr. Shields' alleged predatory activities. The report has been furnished to church and legal authorities where appropriate. Mr. Shields currently lives in Vancouver, WA, where he is the host for the Church of the Great God, which meets in Portland, OR. Between 1977 and 1994 he was assigned to churches in Edmonton; Cornwall, NY; Plattsburgh, NY; New Brunswick, Canada; and Nashville, TN. The investigation is ongoing. Anyone who has information that would be helpful in this matter can contact us at PS Investigation, PO Box 3334, Grapevine, TX 76099."
The sad part is, when the ministry of the Church of God had the chance to turn him in, they did not. The effort to silence this sick evil which went on so long in our midst was aimed at silencing the victims.