For quite some time now various people who have suffered abuse in the various Church of God's have wanted to find someone to share their story with. That time has now come!
The producers of Sole Survivor have agreed to produce a documentary on Armstrongism, which includes stories of spiritual, mental and physical abuse. Over the last several decades the COG has been rife with suicides, molestations and other abuses. The stories already shared are shocking and appalling and are just the tip of the iceberg.
There is a Facebook page set up to share stories with the producers.
This is a CLOSED group and you will be required to do the following:
Must Answer all 3 Questions asked when you join to be approved as a member.
This page is for Armstrongism Documentary use only.
For those who are not willing to share their experiences you may be more comfortable in our sister group:
"Victims of HW Armstrong-Breaking the Silence"
We understand that not everyone is comfortable speaking out about the abuse they suffered and that is completely understandable. This group was created to gather victims who are willing to come forward and speak on film about their time in the COGs. If you state that you are not willing to share your story please do not take offense if your request to be added does not get accepted. This goes for leaving the 3 questions you are prompted with at joining empty as well. We need to know that everyone who joins the group is ready to go to battle. Some are not ready and again that is ok. If you change your mind you are more than welcome to participate in this.
Again this group was created for the Armstrong Documentary use only.
THIS IS NOT A "TROLLING" GROUP. We are not here to make "fun" of Herbert W Armstrong or his current followers. The testimonies here are true heartfelt stories being told by ex-members. You'd be surprised what's been kept from you.
For those uncomfortable about sharing in a Facebook group
you can contact the producers directly here:
Mercedes Kane
Mercedes Kane is the founder and president of Daisy May Films. She recently completed her third feature length documentary – the award-winning “Breakfast at Ina’s”, which premiered at the 2015 Chicago International Film Festival and is currently screening at film festivals and educational screenings nationwide. Her previous films include “Today We Saw the Face of God” (2012) and “Hearts of Hope” (2009). Mercedes was associate producer on the feature film “Chicago Heights”, named One of the Best Art Films of 2010 by Roger Ebert. She lives in Chicago with her husband Sanghoon and their two children where she works as a creative director, documentary filmmaker and freelance writer. In her free time, she juggles obsessive podcast listening with game nights, culinary adventures around Chicago and pajama dance parties in her 110-year old kitchen. Her current project is a docu-series based in Kentucky and co-directed with Ky Dickens.
BIO
Award winning filmmaker Ky Dickens is best known for her highly acclaimed documentary work and her endless lists of questions. Did the Archaeopteryx sound like a bird, a chicken or a crocodile?Ky splashed into the film world with her breakout documentary Fish out of Water, winning four juror prizes and securing international distribution by Netflix and First Run Features. Her second feature film, Sole Survivor, was acquired by CNN Films for broadcast and theatrical release. It premiered on the network in January 2014 and became the second highest grossing CNN Film. Sole Survivor was named the "Best Feature Film" at the 2013 BMA Awards.
Ky received a Focus Award for “Achievement in Directing” from Women in Film. Ky has been a documentary juror and panelist for film festivals around the country. She is also member of the Gene Siskel Film Center Community Council.
Ky is currently in post-production on her much-anticipated film, Zero Weeks (2017), about America’s paid leave crisis. For two years, Ky has been documenting families and parents across the country as they juggle the work/life balance, often returning to work within days of having a baby, or tending to breast cancer on their lunch break. Ky premiered the Zero Weeks trailer at the White House Summit on the United State of Women, hosted by Oprah and Michelle Obama.
Ky’s other film in post production, The City That Sold America (2017), is about Chicago’s crucial, yet often-overlooked place in american consumer culture. The film is a sequel to Emmy-award winning Art & Copy.
Ky also directs commercials and web content for a long list of clients including: Tylenol, Sears, Huggies, Sargento, Kohler, Wrangler, Perkins, Long John Silvers and many others.
Ky graduated with Magna Cum Laude honors from Vanderbilt University. She lives in Chicago's North Park neighborhood with her spouse, daughter, two cats, dog and three chickens. She thinks everyone should know that the chicken is the closest living relative to the T-Rex and that Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" contains the meaning of life.
If she won the lottery, she’d still want to be directing and editing. Storytelling, like clean water and Sriracha sauce are everyday necessities.
44 comments:
Leah Remini has had great success and viewership with her expose' series on Scientology, which can arguably be said to be less known than Armstrongism.
Truth is often stranger than fiction, and a well done documentary or series on Armstrongism will be provacative, shocking, and captivating that is for sure.
About damn time!
This appears to be a Ky Dickens production. Here is her Wikipedia...
Ky Dickens is a filmmaker and writer, best known for her 2009 LGBT documentary Fish out of Water.[1]
Early life and education[edit]
DIckens was born and raised in Hinsdale, Illinois. From an early age she always had a camera or camcorder around her neck and would edit footage together by using two VCR's, one to play the tapes and the other to record the edited version.[2] She decided to devote her life to documentary film making at the age of 16 after a good friend died in car crash and she compiled past footage taken of him.[3] In 2000 she graduated magna cum laude with majors in Human and Organizational Development and Sociology from Vanderbilt University.[4]
Career[edit]
Dickens' first feature film, Fish Out of Water, explores the seven Bible passages that are most used to condemn homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Dickens talked with ministers on both sides of the debate surrounding homosexuality and the Bible for the film.[2] Fish out of Water is distributed nationally by First Run Features, and has been translated into Spanish, Russian, Haitian Creole and Italian. It was acquired by First Run Features in 2009, before it premiered at Outfest. For her 2013 documentary film Sole Survivor, Dickens contacted 10 of the world's 14 sole survivors of large plane crashes and featured four in the movie.[5] The documentary follows George Lamson, one of fourteen sole survivors in a commuter plane crash. Her current project Zero Weeks is about maternity leave, and how the United States is the only developed country in the world that doesn't guarantee paid leave for women.[6][7] She was a keynote speaker at the Houston Texas Annual Conference for Methodist Ministers in 2010.[8] Dickens directed TV commercials at Chicago-based MK Film Group, whose client lists include Revlon and Neutrogena, Wendy’s, and Sears.[9] As of 2015, she is a commercial director at Conspiracy.[10]
Awards and recognition[edit]
Sole Survivor premiered at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival in 2013, and its New York premier was at DOC NYC in 2013. It was Indiewire’s project of the month in September 2012 and received the Best of the Midwest Award for “Best Feature Film” in November 2013. It was acquired by CNN Films for broadcast and theatrical worldwide distribution in August 2013, and premiered on the network in January 2014. In October 2013, Dickens received the Focus Award for “Achievement in Directing” from Women in Film.[9]
Achievement in directing Focus Award[9]
Jury prize - Best Documentary, Show Me Justice International Film Festival[11]
Best Feature Film of 2013, Best of the Midwest Awards
Jury Prize - Best Documentary, Reeling International Film Festival[12]
Audience Award, Louisville LGBT Film Festival[13]
Best of Fest Selection, DOC UTAH 2013
Audience Award Runner Up, Tall Grass Film Festival[14]
Huffington Post - "Top 15 Films to Look Forward to in 2013"[15]
Filmmaker Magazine - "Top 10 Picks for the DOC NYC Film Festival"[16]
PBS POV - "Ten Films to Look Forward to in 2012"[17]
Indiewire - Project of the Month[18]
After Ellen Visibility Prize, Best Festival Release with a lesbian Character (runner-up)[13]
Audience Award, Louisville LGBT Film Festival[13]
Named to New City's "Film 50" List - The 50 artists shaping the film culture in Chicago
Leah Remini has had great success and viewership with her expose' series on Scientology, which can arguably be said to be less known than Armstrongism.
Name one major movie or television actor known to be affiliated with Armstrongism.
I didn't think so.
Scientology is far more known to the average American than is Armstrongism. Even at its peak, lots of people had heard of The Plain Truth but were only barely aware of Armstrongism. Now that the Plain Truth has imploded, and Scientology gets magazine covers (pro and con) quite regularly, Armstrongism is more obscure than ever.
I hate to say it, Connie, but the background information you just provided gives ACOG members all the fuel in the world to dismiss both Ky Dickens and the future documentary. Remember, ACOG people are the ones who repudiate purveyors of various schools of thought and their facts and ideas simply because they don’t like their haircuts.
BB
3:45 It is not a matter of whether Armstrongism was known or not known. What matters is that it is a religious institution proclaiming itself as God's only true church and yet is filled with horrible mistreatment of members whether it be spiritually, mentally or physically. The various churches and members continue to deny and invalidate those who have suffered abuse. Anyone who can sit there and say Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry and others are real Christians are just one more reason why this story needs to be told. How many more need to die because of the lies of COG ministers?
BB wrote: "ACOG people are the ones who repudiate purveyors of various schools of thought and their facts and ideas simply because they don’t like their haircuts."
So true. Sadly some will discount these two producers because they are women. We know that is a fact too.
Anon 3:45 PM wrote:
It is not a matter of whether Armstrongism was known or not known. What matters is that it is a religious institution proclaiming itself as God's only true church and yet is filled with horrible mistreatment of members whether it be spiritually, mentally or physically.
Let's maintain some perspective. Plenty of children in the ACOGs have been molested. However, the number of molested Roman Catholic kids is greater than the entire membership of any ACOG.
Armstrongism has been a vehicle for awful things, but it is just one more sordid footnote in the annals of religion.
We are not talking about Roman Catholics or any other church group on this blog or on Facebook. We are talking about Armstrongism and the abuse it dished out in the name of the True Church. Yes, other church groups have sordid backgrounds and people report it all the time. We are discussing Armstrongism. and its abysmal treatment of members.
We need to get Armstrongism featured on SouthPark - look what it dis for scientology and the Mormons.
Actually, there have been a couple of know celebrities involved with Armstrongism...
Of course there is the infamous chess champion Bobby Fischer, (and acknowledged head case too!)
There was also Daniel Truhitte of Sound of Music fame.
However, HWAs Ambassador auditorium and AICF were very well known publicly. Additionally, back in their radio hey day,
GTA was on daily on some 300 radio stations, and this back in the era before Rush Limbaugh or Dennis Prager. There were many listeners, and the WCG (as I understand it) was the largest purchaser of religious broadcasting in the world.
So although Armstrongism is not known much today, at its height, it did make somewhat of a splash at least in the USA.
At its height, it had a larger visibility than Billy Graham did. He even admitted that. The concert series was internationally known for the high calibre of artists we had. The campus was featured for many years aver January 1 for the Rose Parade as preparade shows and programs were done there. We were not some fly by night group that no one heard of. At one point in time, even radios stations sought us out for our programs because they knew it brought listeners in.
How much does anyone want to bet that Bob Thiel has already read this and is writing the producers a letter letting them know that he is the ultimate authority on Armstrongism?
I'm waiting for the documentary on the corruption and sins of WCG ex-members. It ought to be a long one!
Armstrongism has been a vehicle for awful things, but it is just one more sordid footnote in the annals of religion.
There are more corrupt secular people than religious people.
Remember, ACOG people are the ones who repudiate purveyors of various schools of thought and their facts and ideas simply because they don’t like their haircuts.
I mock Ra and his haircut because he looks like a slob. I actually like his ideas. And I'm not ACOG. Stop calling me ACOG you defamer.
"Ky Dickens is a filmmaker and writer, best known for her 2009 LGBT documentary Fish out of Water.[1]"
The easy way to get accolades today is to promote something destructive. If you are promoting the right trash you don't need much talent either. It's politics.
I hate to say it...
No you don't.
7:15
>>There are more corrupt secular people than religious people. <<
And once again we need to remind you that we are NOT talking about secular people. There are enough documentaries documenting secular issues. We are talking about God's chosen ministers and church dishing out crap on people while claiming to Gods only true representatives on earth. Quit trying to diminish the abuse of others. Far too many want to whitewash the garbage the church did to peoples lives.
"We need to know that everyone who joins the group is ready to go to battle."
hmmm, so it's not so much a documentary as it is a hit piece....but then we shouldn't be surprised.
so we have people that haven't been called, writing and producing a "documentary" about people who weren't called, trying to join an organization and the upset they suffered when it didn't work out, and their attacks against said organization.
should be a hit.
Ah, I see our deep thinker is back (7:24).
The reason I hated to say it is that many Armstrongites don’t always have a firm grasp of the obvious. So, in effect, by critiquing Connie’s post, I was assisting in drawing to the Armstrongites’ attention to some things that might otherwise have gone over their heads.
Oh well. It’s axiomatic that they’re going to believe whatever “God’s” ministers tell them anyway.
BB
For every "abuse" victim story we hear coming out of WCG, there are 5 other people who enjoyed their time in WCG or a current COG. Like with most institutions, there is the good and the bad. And this potential documentary isn't going to change anyone's mind about it whatsover.
Quit trying to diminish the abuse of others.
Quit reading into things.
6:32 is beyond help. He's the kind the documentary will get its "facts" from. But he won't have the guts to go on camera.
people who weren't called, trying to join an organization and the upset they suffered when it didn't work out
God traumatized them by expecting some growth out of them. Now they have a new god that requires no fruits.
Byker:
You are correct . However, anything NOT produced by an ACOG person with an in house approved church product would be labeled as "satanic" simply because it came from "someone in the world".
Best that the backdrop on the producers be stated up front. Otherwise, it surely will be used as an "expose' shocking revelation" from the various leaders when their toes get stepped on.
You are correct about all of this being "axiomatic".
They seem a little late to the party.
She is only looking for people that want to share any accounts of abuse.
Will she also attempt to find anyone from the other side of the story?
8.12 AM
So 'only' one in six members were abused. While it's true that minister book lickers and church crazies were left alone, the number was far greater than one in six. It was standard operating procedure for ministers to use counseling members as a opportunity to shift personal boundaries and rob members of their God given rights. As our former minister Dennis Diehl posted not long ago, the worst thing members can do is go to a minister with a problem.
Missing from the post is the degrees of abuse that everyone is subjected to. Such as terror religion, financial extortion and programing members to be passive rather than assertive.
People enjoying their time in WWCG or a current COG is laughable. That is unless one is a masochist and enjoys being treated like a child.
a year or two from now these gmail account holding documentarians and their "production" will likely have proven as insignificant and forgotten as the cogs they feature...
c f ben yochanan
8.35 AM
God chastises His children. This does not involve mentally tearing people down. It's only ministers who traumatize members by verbally tearing them down with their bully morality of 'the end justifies the means.' You have a doctorate in white washing. What does this say about your character, or lack thereof?
QuesterUK
It us ugly to see Pastors leading a double life: it is a wound in the church.
The sick Shepherds, who have lost authority and continue leading this double life. There are many ways to carry on a double life: but it's double.
Pope Francis Jan 2018
yeah, this is going nowhere. It will just be this blog on FB ... perhaps with some audio / video. Who cares?
Statement: Drinking and driving is wrong and destroyed many lives.
Reply: They are many more corrupt people than those who drink and drive.
Statement : stealing is bad it robs people of what is theirs.
Reply: They are far worst things people do in the world than stealing.
With that reasoning we can keep the comparisons going and always find a worst crime or wrong doing than the next, does it minimize the infraction committed before.
That might be true it still doesn't mean the organisation wasn't corrupt or guilty of hurting many people. I am sure they are those who enjoyed being apart of Nazi Germany under Hitler's rule, many even died believing Hitler was right. Does it mean that people didn't suffer. People may not have the same stories but that doesn't mean the thousands of people damaged by the Cog experience should be discounted. It also doesn't mean everything about the COGS is bad. The trouble with toxic religions is it's ability to be hypnotic, I saw a religious leader who the members considered a man of God was fiercely defended by his members in the few weeks before he was charged with rape. Hard to convince a militant Muslim he is wrong in his ideology even if it evolves him strapping bombs to his body in order to kill both himself and fellow human beings.
Actually have a friend in Jekyll Island right now for a bellydance convention. I joked that Jekyll Island is probably as close to the COGs' notion of "sacred ground" as one could get.
I don’t know how to say this, other than to point out that legitimate investigation goes beyond simple apologetics. Obviously, current members of the ACOGs are going to say only positive things “to the world’s documentarians” about Armstrongism. One often discovers inconvenient truths from those who have nothing left to lose.
BB
Of course, the "intellectuals" here will belittle the ex-COGers who actually suffered in their years in the WCG and it's spit-offs. Maybe not so much the adults who joined of their own free will, but the children who were born and raised in the church and underwent some unimaginable experiences. You old timers who still spout about letting it go, or how it wasn't so bad, suck it up, move on. Yep, the church did its job by making you all into callous and unemotional automatons. It won't change the past, no. But what are you afraid of, to find out what you parents signed us up for was hell? I think they should have at it, no one will make you view the end result, but I bet you will!
Part of my youth was spent living in a predominantly Jewish community. It was really cool because I didn’t have to explain all the holy days and the sabbath. In fact, my social life and self image immediately went on a dramatic upswing when we moved there.
One thing you never heard, though. Holocaust survivors never told the younger ones that the Holocaust wasn’t all that bad. I don’t mean to minimize the Holocaust, but kids growing up in Armstrongism suffered some pretty brutal experiences, not everyone made it, and PTSD was not uncommon. It was our version of a holocaust. Now, what I can say is that as bad as it was, I know some people who never heard of Armstrongism that went through much worse. And, that knowledge has become part of the survivors’ creed for myself and others.
BB
Huh?!
Armstrongism has been a vehicle for awful things, but it is just one more sordid footnote in the annals of religion.
Now let's pretend that nobody is condemning religion in general.
That church AND AWA was HORRIBLE! I have lived my entire life suffering from what this place did to me! But I also refuse to Allow that place to keep me down!
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