More sick news concerning the Philadelphia Church of God and is abominable treatment of members.
Exit and Support has this up about a Philippines family:
February 6, 2017
This is just another sad story among the many on your page. Here is one tragedy.
For a background, the couple are Mr. and Mrs. Melchizedek Tupas. They were last seen at the Feast of Tabernacles in 2013.
The couple received the wrath of the former Regional Director of the PCG, John Macdonald due to a trivial incident that happened during the Feast. During one of the services, Mel Tupas forgot to turn-off his mobile phone and, unexpectedly, it sounded an alarm which caught the attention of John Macdonald. That made the man who is well known for his temper and harshness to give the couple the equivalent of capital punishment immediately. They were suspended and not allowed to attend services anymore after that Feast. As called for by the PCG's unreasonable and much abused NO CONTACT POLICY, all the children of the couple who are in the PCG were automatically prevented from having any contact with their parents. They were to be treated like they don't exist anymore or like they are dead already. Consequently, the Tupas couple were abandoned, neglected and forsaken by their children to prove their loyalty and faithfulness to their ministers.
The Tupas family are not really from Angeles city. They are from Rizal, Palawan, Philippines and they used to have a good life there. All their children were born and raised as well as educated in Palawan. Then things took a wild turn when John Macdonald started to pursue a dream of turning Angeles City into a little Edmond, Oklahoma.We still do not know the fate of this couple as they have not been able to contact any friends and family.
I wish to remain anonymous. Maybe someone reading your site could help us. --Anonymous
16 comments:
No due process, no right of appeal, no plan or program to be returned to PCG's good graces. Zero tolerance, one strike and you are supposedly enroute to the Lake of Fire, and don't exist. Lucky thing that most ACOG people are not into retaliation!
As I've said before, they make God into Satan. Might as well stand up and scream nataS! nataS! during John MacDonald's (isn't that Irish?) sermon because that's who he's acting like. Is he having a contest with Dennis Leap and Cal Culpepper?
BB
What kind of family would obey such stupid directives from a man who has shit for brains and especially over such a trivial matter. Does the family not stand up for itself and defend each other against this? Is it not part family to blame for allowing parents to be treated in such a lousy way by a man who has the theological training of a chimp and the heart of a snake? Who cares if one is in the good graces of this graceless excuse for a church. Man up family and be loyal FIRST to the parents that love and need you. To hell with PCG. It's not a real body of anything except self serving and untrained jerks
Not even Dr. Phil could help the Phillistines running the Philadelphia COG in the Phillipines.
With a new church era came that false prophet with his new commission to break up families in the name of God.
Dennis, I've seen a LOT of this sort of thing.
People who are abused in Armstrongism haven't figured out they are in a cult and they go forth to try to adapt to the crazy dysfunctional environment they are in.
It usually takes EXTREME circumstances for them to ever wake up and see that they are in a cult.
Here's hoping the whole family finally realize that they've been in a cult and leave.
There's no sense adapting to psychopaths.
What awful news. Those parents deserve better. It is wrong that such things happens. How shameful this no contact policy is. What a terrible thing.
I know Mickey. This stuff just punches my buttons a bit deeper than others. I think I am subconsciously getting on my own back for being so naive and gullible.
"...and untrained jerks"
Sorry, my bad. I mean "and untrained fools" You're not supposed to call anyone "thou fool" upon pain of Hell fire, but since my place of final training is evidently the Lake of Fire already, it's ok for me. :)
Den's Wager: "If there is a hell it pays to raise it, and if there is no hell, then all you've lost is raising it and getting others to think and not waste their time in fear, guilt and shame, saving 10, 20 or 30% and more in the process."
The problem with Pascal's Wager is that if God exists and you worship in the wrong way that's offensive to Him (Her? It?), then you are worse off than not worshipping Him (Her? It?) at all.
And it's a waste of time.
If there's one thing we've learned from our friend, Gavin Rumney, it's that the Bible is absolutely NOT the Word of God at all: It has no provenance at all, most of the books are forged, the New Testament and Covenant were created by the 'Apostle' Paul, who was something of a fraud and even the Jews think of the Old Testament as myth without any reality to it. They're just stories and rather disjointed ones at that. If this were expensive artwork by grandmasters, no one would buy it because of the lack of credible provenance. At this point, there's no real reason to believe that the Bible is more 'holy' than, say, The Book of Mormon, the Koran, or heck, even Dianetics. Add to that the extrabiblical and you have British Israelism worst science fiction ever (thankfully no one ever Googles that because it's not finished yet to find out what's at the top of the list).
No one can tell us who or what God is.
It gets worse.
The latest cosmological theory is that the Universe has existed forever. It is eternal. I believe it because of the research behind it (although it still need peer review). If that is the case (and I think it is), the Universe was never created, so there can be NO creator god. At best, God would be a product of the Universe, someone or something -- or perhaps a race of beings -- who have achieved advanced technology currently beyond our imagination: Sort of like the First Ones in Babylon 5. If He (She? It? They?) existed, perhaps He (She? It? They?) have nudged a few things into place for the benefit of humanity.
Good luck, though, on individual intervention. Such a being or being would be interested in the broad sweep of humanity, its evolution and existence. A personal God might be possible, but you have to ask the question, just why is it that when these Armstrongists want something, they have to have the whole congregation pray and even fast for an answer? If their leader is a direct representative of God, why can't he go ask and expect an answer he seeks each time and every time dependably consistently he makes a request? Why does only the Gestalt work? ("I will be their God and they will be My people," so much for individuality.)
Even if God exists, there is absolutely, positively NO guarantee at all that there's eternal life in it for any of us. If that is the case, then life is beyond precious because each individual is irreplaceable and unique and those who are basically innocent should be helped every possible way they can be while we and they are alive. None of this 'it will all be solved in the afterlife stuff'. If there is no afterlife, what Armstrongists are doing is unconscionable.
I don't know that being a psychopath or sociopath is totally a choice. It is in the sense that such a person can learn on an intellectual level what constitutes psychopathic or sociopathic behavior, and determine to avoid the worst of it. But the full range of emotions or empathy will never really be there, it is just that one can learn to emulate them. It becomes a constructive exercise in acting, a beneficial pattern of theatrics.
The problem in the ACOGs is that sociopathic and psychopathic behavior are in some ways encouraged as being the ideal. The ways people "in the world" are looked to be looked upon and treated, the turning off of natural feelings for unconverted relatives, conditional love for one's children, and cruel, uncaring treatment directed by the ministers towards their congregation members are typical examples of how Armstrongism warps its members. How can one root out this disorder when it is actually taught and encouraged by one's church? Of course the members would not be conscious of it because it is part of qualifying for whatever they believe they are qualifying for.
BB
The book of Psalms makes mention of the traps of the wicked. This is an example of what can happen when people fall into a mental trap. They are taught that theirs alone is the one true church. So if suspended, the tribulation and lake of fire awaits them. People who believe this end up the rightless slaves of their group.
I'II read that it's not uncommon for members in the JW to commit suicide after being thrown out of their 'true church.'
Again, the true church are those who obey God rather than warm a seat at a certain physical church. No minister of the 'true church' can take this away from a person.
Back there in the mid-70s, I finally began to see the light and realized that those tyrants had no authority over me. I told Dr. Zimmermann, my former boss and pastor that I was still a member of the body of Christ and neither he nor anyone else had any authority over me. Since then, I've seen through the whole mess and do not consider myself part of anything like that. Growing up and getting one's courage back is wonderful. I now face the future with no fears of anyone or anything supernatural or those who appointed themselves representatives of that nebulous nothing.
Allen C. Dexter
Let me corroborate Allen C. Dexter's outlook on eternity: "I now face the future with no fears of anyone or anything supernatural or those who appointed themselves representatives of that nebulous nothing."
I once attended the funeral held for an Assembly of God minister, the father of one of my colleagues. The man was much beloved. Ministers from all over the district came to speak. People he had preached to and counseled rejoiced in the courage he had imparted to them. He himself had approached death with dignity and without fear. Over and over, speakers emphasized that the only thing that allowed him to look death in the eye with such tranquil hope was his deep and abiding faith in salvation through Jesus Christ. They all assured us that everyone who lacks such faith lives in terror of that final quietus.
Last summer I gave the eulogy at the memorial service of a close friend who had absolutely no faith in any deity and expected no resurrection, no afterlife whatever. To him, death meant release from the debilitating side effects of chemotherapy and the even worse suffering brought on by the multiple myeloma it was intended to treat. He went through treatments for three years, partly so that oncologists could discover what might help future victims. Finally he decided he had done enough for humankind; it was time to take care of himself. What he needed was release from the constant see-saw between two kinds of misery. He made arrangements for hospice care and then discontinued chemo. The atheist embraced his death and subsequent oblivion with just as much equanimity as the minister approached his death and hoped-for resurrection.
I get the feeling that Allen will approach his own demise with similar equanimity. I hope I can do the same.
1.59 PM
I question your conclusion. One person dies with the hope of a resurrection, another doesn't. Despite your talk of equanimity, there must be differences there.
I question your conclusion. One person dies with the hope of a resurrection, another doesn't. Despite your talk of equanimity, there must be differences there
Yes.
One is delusional and the other isn't.
You know the beautiful thing about the observation by Black Ops Mikey: "One is delusional and the other isn't"?
It brings us all together because everyone can agree with it. The only thing left to argue about is which belief is the delusion.
SAD... I was about to rekindle my relationship to this congregation.
Thanks for the awakening.
Their system is like JW's...
Once you are cut-off from the Congregation, the family will cut the communication...
Why do these cults continue to preach the Word of God whenst they could not practice "Love" to fellow brothers and sisters.
Our God is not a harsh God, He is merciful and loves us, thus, He continue waking us up every day, breathing the fresh air for FREE!
Above all, He gave His only begotten Son to save us.
My question is... How do all of you celebrate Sabbath? How do you worship God and Christ? Do you have a group here in the Philippines?
Thanks,
Le Mionne
09210891031
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