The Church of God has had a long history of covering up for abusive ministers, leaders and members who have raped, assaulted, stalked and molested adults and children. Many in the church stick their heads in the sand and say "well this happens everywhere in all churches so why should we be worried about." While t his is trues, the those abused int eh Church of God face a double whammy. The church in its outrageous arrogance claims to be the one true apostolic church practicing true Christianity. How can the "true church" ever have abuse in it? That is why it has been covered up for decades. Church leaders have raped and assaulted women. Others have stalked members to the point they drive countless miles so they can peer into bedroom windows. Others have molested children.
This people have been routinely moved to other church areas, left in leadership positions where they abuse again. Then moved elsewhere.
The abused usually never receive compassion or help. Most of the time they've been met with hostility, derision and contempt. How dare they bring negative publicity to the church! What did you do to cause the to happen?
The latest Journal of the Churches of God has an article from a woman who was sexually assaulted by a church leader and the shame she received from the church leadership.
COG leaders turned on me
The leadership in the Church of God turned on me. I was stonewalled and not spoken to. Except that I was spoken to, by the church leadership, to call me a troublemaker.
When I asked an evangelist who had intimate knowledge of the offender’s past, spanning more than 20 years of adultery and child molestation in the Churches of God, why the leader- ship of God’s church had recommended the offender to me in the first place, he cut me off and told me he was going to stop me right there because I was attacking the Church of God.
He reduced me to tears and I did not talk with him after that.
When I was at the Feast and tried to talk with another leading evangelist, he said no repeatedly.
I could not understand why he would not talk to me. He put his finger in my face and told me he would have deacons physically put me out of the hall and he would disfellowship me if I talked about the offender.
The offender stalks
The offender stalked me by calling and leaving recordings on my phone and via the Internet and E- mails, and calling me and letting me know it was he and then hanging up.
I had a crisis in faith because I was being punished by the evangelists and leaders in my church.
I developed extreme PTSD. I did not want to live. I repeatedly begged God to end my life because the shame and pain were so overwhelming.
The offender regularly moves his membership
My marriage, which I was trying to preserve through counseling with the man who turned out to be the sexual offender, ended. The offender went on to become a leader in another Church of God until it finally acknowledged the nature of the offender and put him out.
The offender to this day has a web- site trying to peddle his sermons to unsuspecting women and young girls.
Then she makes a telling comment about how help is better found OUTSIDE the Church of God.
Non-COG hope for survivors
Hope for survivors of pastoral sex- ual abuse can be found at The Hope of Survivors (thehopeofsurvivors.com). This group provides a support system for survivors of sexual abuse by min- isters that is grounded in biblical prin- ciples and not in protecting the abuser or the name of the church the abusing pastor is associated with.
I have found more hope and heal- ing here than in 20 years of ministers and other members stonewalling me and avoiding me like I was the chief whore in an ongoing whorehouse.
Women sexually abused by pastors are usually not wanton women, but women seeking help from their pastor and the pastor taking advantage of their vulnerability through their posi- tion as spiritual leader.
The woman is clearly not in the same position of power as the minister.
22 comments:
I'm so glad this woman found help, and no surprise that it was outside the church. The Church of God has a long history of this kind of thing. Betty Brogaard, if I'm remembering correctly, mentioned that her predecessor as secretary to both the Armstrongs, telling her that she had gone to Loma and Herbert Armstrong about GTA's philandering. She was disfellowshiped, and labeled as demon possessed.
In many, if not all states of the USA, clergy are required by law to report abuse. It is a criminal offense not to. Call the police and send your minister to a life of free room and board in prison. They depend on the sheep being sheep, while being preyed on by the wolves. Record your conversations with the wolves. Darkness dos not like daylight.
What I'd like to know is what good does it do to protect the image or reputation of your church if its corporate representatives heap hot coals on the heads of members who have been hurt by other members? I'd love to spend about five minutes in the ring with these so-called ministers who spit in the face of nurture, compassion, and real spiritual guidance.
What woman becomes a member of a church if she knows in advance that there's a good chance she will be raped by another member? It's bad enough for people to be defrauded of their 401K.
BB
As the author said, this is a topic that is shunned and avoided. As well as denied.
Some days ago there was a post that listed the names of several COGleaders, and dealt with a similar topic, disruption of families and marriages. One on the list retorted with the out-of-context "Accuser of the brethren" line.
The only minister that I recall publicly alluding to ministerial sexual abuse and how to deal with it was Ron Dart, on a BTW program (or a podcast sermon, not sure). Although Ron put it as an anonymous, almost hypothetical incident, it sounded like his story was based on the real-life adventures of his old friend GTA.
This behavior is typical of a cult. Just how long is it going to take Armstrongists to recognize that their religion is the home of sects of a cult and leave? God has nothing to do with any of them, and when you recognize that, the solution in II Timothy 3 is simple.
This issue of The Journal is the typical train wreck, this time with the added bonus (or should we say 'bogus') of Living University advertising the two trees and other such nonsense.
The Journal really hasn't exposed much of anything. The perpetrator(s) go unnamed as does the specific group. At minister at minimum should be charged with assault and in Texas and Minnesota the act itself is a crime.
Armstrongism is a cult religion. Expect this sort of thing and don't expect that God is a part of any of it, in spite of the name on the door.
“Church of God Leaders Turned On Me After Sexual Assault”
Her results might have varied slightly depending on which group she went with. Here are some examples of the sort of responses she might have encountered in the various groups after yet another unrepentant, unconverted, unbelieving, sex pervert has been up to no good yet again:
If she went with the apostate Joseph Tkach, Jr.'s Graceless Community of Iniquity: [acting scholarly] “The laws of God are done away with, so the brother you are accusing has technically not done anything wrong to you. Where there is no law, there is no sin.” He could add, “Why do you think we wanted to get rid of God's laws so badly?”
If she went with Teddy the Dink's Incontinent Church: [acting matter-of-factly] “What did you expect!!!???” And, “If you don't swing, then don't ring at the playboy preacher's mansion.”
If she went with Gerald Flurry's Philanderer's Church of Fraud: [acting indignant] “We (the lying, slandering, old, sex maniacs, sex perverts, and predators) have done so much for you and tried so hard to help you!” [suddenly acting happy] “Now we are going to have to make an example out of you and kick you out of the cult.” Also, “Don't come back until you learn how to go along with horny, old predators.”
If she went with Roderick Meredith's barely Living Crutch: [acting arrogant (no, make that actually being arrogant)] “We are all-knowing and can tell that your alleged assailant has repented of anything that he might have done, but that you have not repented of your part in it and that you have not forgiven him for his faults (real or imagined).” Also, “We'll get all the members to sign a card for the alleged pervert to show him that he has some friends in the church.”
If she went with the Council of Evil's disUnited Church of Godlessness: [acting shocked] “You are not showing any love to anyone! You and your entire extended family will have to be put out of the church.” And, “You just don't appreciate all the, ahem, 'grandfatherly affection.'”
And I'd say we can expect it to get worse during the next four years as sexual assault goes fullblown mainstream.
Obviously, this is also a problem in mainstream churches.
A rule of thumb is, "The crappier the church's leaders and hierarchical are, the less chance an abused 'sheep' has to be treated fairly."
If an abused member complains, they often run into a brick wall. Coupled with the Bible's verses about conflict resolution being used against the member, the member-victim has scant chance for achieving any real justice. In addition, the church will often re-victimize the member: The member may be ostracized, told the problem resides in the member's own heart, and that the member's 'problem' was actually self-inflicted, and any attempt to 'resolve conflict' is actually because of the member's sins and Satan the Devil's influence on the member's heart.
One of HWA's favorite things was raping his daughter.
One of GTA's favorite things was being a sexual predator- picking out and preying on those in the church his daddy founded.
GTA learned that his position of power enabled him to grab those women by the pussy- and then shag them rotten.
So, it's not surprising that the leaders of WCG's splinters now have sexual predators and rapists in their midst.
It's really simple: The one committing assault goes to jail, the leaders committing conspiracy and as accessories after the fact are convicted and go to prison and the sect gets audited by the IRS and is... disbanded.
See.
That's not so hard.
One additional aspect, 7:45, and I believe that this is very key, is that in mainstream churchdom, you are allowed to "test the spirit" of a church. If you get a bad vibe, or after several weeks of attendance you realize that something is critically wrong, you elliminate that church and continue your search to the next one. That is completely off the table with Armstrongism, and the ACOGs, because they teach that they are the one and only "true" place where you can "qualify" for the place of safety and the Kingdom. False prophecy? Sorry, you leave, and it's TLoF for you! Got raped by somebody's entitled pet? Get over it, and learn to suck up the additional spiritual and verbal rape meted out by "God's" ministers.
How can you choose right, or choose life when your church has trapped you, and doesn't allow you to make the choices that God intends?
From such depart! Run!
BB
I find it interesting in reading the article in the journal about the sexual assault to see that a person who was guilty of abusing boys in pasadena has written a letter on the comments section (on another topic).
What issue of the Journal did D. D. post his comments
The Armstrongist groups pretend to be following Scripture and obeying the commandments, but they simply don't. Pedophile ministers, minister stalkers and all sorts of aberrant behavior (starting with their founder / leader's incest) prove that they are completely unfit for the ministry according to Biblical standards.
It's time to end the pretense.
The perpetrators should go to prison to face rape there as fitting what they did to church members and when they are released, have to register as sex offenders. They can be then subjected to a lifetime of rocks through their shattered windows, occasional attempts on fire bombing their car, epithets painted on the exteriors of their residents and occasional protests outside their door.
Those of us who have experienced similar types of behavior would like to see a modicum of justice meted out. It's not enough to get a restraining order against a church member who's been stalking you for 7 years in United, nor is it particularly appropriate to have someone stalking your wife and getting a strange phone call from the man to talk to your wife -- as I have.
This needs to stop.
And if I find it is happening in this area again, I'm going to contact the local minister and make it plain that he and the UCG had better get their act together or certain attempts to bring this to the attention of the public will ensue.
Be warned.
Floyd
His comments are in this latest issue. He still brag about being an LCG member.
Floyd and 5:09PM, that's not "the" DD. It's a common enough name. The one you are thinking about is still on Meredith's payroll in Charlotte, being paid well to keep quiet about what he knows.
I wouldn't hold much hope for justice. I was pestered by a ucg ministers wife on the phone for 4 years. It only stopped when I went to Cogwa.I never even gave her my phone number. It is an abuse of power and wouldn't surprise me if its widest ale across all churches.
Hmmph, our usual "how dare you speak against God (aka the COGs, which seem to be one and the same with their god to these folks)" crowd isn't showing up for this one. Guilty parties?
Although, it is December, which means they're so worked up about NIMRODS TESTICLES that something so minor like sexual assault by a ranked figure in the group isn't really on the radar.
Nimrod's testicles! They always go for the gross out when they are striving to provide aversion therapy for the items on their little list of things of which they don't approve (Jackson Browne?) and then pretend to be outraged when someone uses old English words for sexual activities, or bodily functions. Too funny!
BB
I say now to those commenters, if you disavow knowledge of NIMROD'S TESTICLES, one wonders if you are in fact TRULY CONVERTED.
Anon 509
Can you put a link to the comments you referred to in your post? I tried to look for them but couldn't find them.
I'm assuming you are referring to Mereidth-pet Don Davis but I still wanted to read the comments.
Thanks!
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