There is nothing that infuriates Church of God leaders more than people having access to the internet. The internet had a direct impact on the spectacular implosion of the Worldwide Church of God into hundreds of hundreds of little worthless splinter groups, starting in the early 1990s and onward. Various members started newsgroups on AOL, mailing lists like Good News Grapevine, and other sites. Church of God members could no longer be kept in the dark and church leadership no longer had control of how information was dispersed.
During the 1960's all kinds of books started being written about the church but they had little impact upon church members. Most never even knew they existed. That all changed with the internet. Information flowed freely and swiftly as more and more people began to own computers.
Today there are numerous websites, blogs, and Facebook groups dealing with COG splits and spiritual abuse. All of those groups exist thanks to the groundbreaking work of the Ambassador Report starting in 1975. Church members were no longer afraid to spill the beans on anything happening in the church.
The next big leap in information technology was cell phones with internet access. As primitive as they were earlier on, they still allowed quick access to information. Then, smartphones hit the scene. Who could have imagined that a little phone held in your hand was more powerful than the WCG/AC computer system at HQ that took up an entire floor of a building!
In spite of all of this, most COG groups embrace this amazing technology and make use of it. Some don't though. Dave Pack has railed on and on about the internet and how demonic it is. Bob Thiel says the technology is tuned in to Satan's wavelength but yet he prostrates himelf at the feet of that technology multiple times a day as he ignores his family.
And then there is Gerald Flurry, who is in a class all by himself.
Gerald Flurry has tried many times to get all the ministry and all members to stop using smartphones. Many have blatantly ignored him and continue owning them. In one of his fits of rage recently, he lashed out again at ministers and members using smartphones. Exit and Support Network has this up:
March 30, 2021
Smartphones were forbidden to be used by those on campus last year (read November 19, 2020 letter: “PCG Ruling Says No Smartphones Allowed“). It was January 24, 2020 when Andrew Locher gave a sermon about “Technology Use” where he said using smart devices will “destroy our teenagers.” That was the time G. Flurry put in place policies that would eliminate Smartphones on campus to “set the example for the brethren,” even though some did not obey that policy at the time.
The February 21, 2020 phone policy update said full time ministers were “expected to switch from their Smartphones to a future phone.” However, if some needed a Smartphone for their business, that was okay. G. Flurry “approved” the use of i-pads if you needed one. Then the April 2020 Pastor General’s Report reiterated again that the cell phone policy for ministers was that ministers should not be using Smartphones unless they were required to use one for their business. There were no exceptions for this policy. Minister’s wives were likewise expected to make the transition away from Smartphones.
Not all members have been following this policy because this subject about Smartphones was brought up again at the recent PCG Ministerial Conference when Stephen Flurry gave a lecture. He talked about what he called “the signs of warning and danger” for the congregation if they used Smartphones. One of the warning signs he said was “too much technology.”
Wayne Turgeon on day two of the conference gave a lecture on “Materialism” [Note by ESN: Why then did Turgeon in a 2021 sermon refer to all the materialism, riches and luxuries at HQs as “perks and fringe benefits” for being the few first fruits on this earth?] and said, “Materialism [not Charles Darwin] is the father of evolution and what we call human nature is really Satan’s nature. [Note by ESN: Human nature is that which makes us distinctly human] … People change a little at a time in the direction of the masses as they are influenced a little at a time.” This sounded to me exactly how PCG members change a little at a time as they are influenced by the leader’s mind control.
I know several members in PCG who all have Smartphones. But if G. Flurry continues his crack down, the day could come when we’ll see them with a flip phone again. It’s ridiculous to what lengths PCG will go to in order to keep members from finding out the truth about PCG. I know GF is also worried about someone recording their sermons with these Smartphones.
Members have been told that if they want to overcome they must hear what God (i. e., PCG government) is saying about this.
Members, however, are still using Smartphones. –[name withheld]
13 comments:
During the 1960's all kinds of books
In the 1960s I asked a local radio station that was dedicated to religious programs if they would consider airing The World Tomorrow. In response they sent me Herbert W Armstrong - "Mr Confusion". A WCG friend and I looked through it found holes in all the booklet's arguments - but times have changed.
On a tour at an organization that produced various religious programs, they offered books for sale, and mentioned Kingdom of the Cults, adding that it was about groups like WCG... Years later, I looked at that book in the local library, and found another one, Praise the Lord and Pass the Contribution, which was written by a Brit passing through the USA, first stop, Pasadena...
Times have changed; I think I got all the books by ex AC and WCG folk now. So accurate in their arguments... things have changed...
It's a bully trait to not trust freedom. People can't comprehend what they don't possess, in this case character. They assume that everyone is morally bankrupt like themselves, and therefore should be treated like children. And for their own good, of course.
In censorship and oppression we trust.
It can be used to the COGs advantage I suppose to prohibit smart phones, but they are not wrong in saying they are bad for many and bad for most teens.
I agree cell phone use is bad in general. There are many reasons, but ipads are no different, a computer is no different, any kind of technology is no different.
It's human nature to take something good and somehow spin it into something bad. We do it with food, money, knowledge, technology, etc.
What this church should really spend its effort on instead of telling people what to do with their technology is teach the proper use of it, its unreasonable to expect anyone to function in the modern 21st century without smartphones. We are unfortunately tied to it in so many ways, from our ability to communicate, mobile pay, educate ourselves, etc.
Plus we are in the middle of a pandemic, technology is the only thing keeping some of us working, and able to communicate with our families.
The church is always telling people "no". How about the church tells people "yes" but gives its people helpful guidelines on how to avoid the pitfalls of technology. Technology itself is not inherently evil. Everyone knows that technology comes with giant asterisks. common sense invisible disclaimers. If parents cannot keep an eye on their kids, that's the parent's fault. They should do better.
But the church must realize it is in the modern era, and therefore should do everything in its powers to adapt to the new. It cant be stuck. Stubborn. Rigid. Adapt to the 21st century. And listen if they believe the bible is a living book, use the living book to apply understanding to the modern usage of technology but don't prohibit what is so integrated into society now.
The church can spin this and use technology to their greatest advantage, more videos, mobile apps, text reminders for special events, church membership profiles with the ability to read all the material in ebook form and audio, it can be a resource center for teaching brethren how to navigate the modern world and still be able to apply doctrine and biblical principles.
I think the church is so off-putting. All we have are old wrinkled, self-righteous, and self-serving men trying to dictate what we can and cannot do. We need diversity in leaders. From age to race and all walks of life informing the Church how to apply scripture to today. Every man can then work out his own salvation with fear and trembling.
The Church is the mother who is supposed to feed us but instead is such a harboring and oppressive parent that drains the life from their kids. A nightmarish helicopter parent.
JIm, you are right that teenagers should be kept away from them, but for the old coot to tell grown-up men who are his ministers and probably need to travel long distances between their churches and members where a smartphone would be preferable is beyond his scope of enforcement. The same applies to church members. Just whip out that Ipad or other device and go to town. It's all about control and it pisses him off that he can't control them 100%
I'm currently listening to a podcast series titled: Real Dictators by Nosier
Some interesting parallels I'm learning throughout the rise and falls of the worst dictators the world has ever seen are:
- Extreme paranoia
- Suppression of tech, knowledge, & press
- Accumulation of total power and control
- Spinning events and playing the victim
- Targeting the youth and radicalizing them
- Complete and total disregard for human life
- Understanding that some in your inner circle will be collateral damage
- Isolation and out of touch with innovation
- Brilliant but to their own detriment
- Do not take medical advice
- God-complex, feel the need to prove themselves or feel like underdogs
- Suffered traumatic experiences early in life that led them to exhibit extreme character traits later on in life
GRF is just afraid the young uns are gonna find out theyre really not a "true church" but just a cult. also, that Flurry really is just a false prophet. sites like Banned & ESN outs him, and so he's afraid.
It's funny, as a former member of the PCG (and youth attendee of the WCG) they would constantly espouse the concept that, "It's not the thing that's bad; it's the wrong use of the thing."
They would hold up examples like sex:
-OK in marriage; not OK outside
Alcohol: OK in moderation
TV: OK if we're filtering what we allow into our minds.
As many here have pointed out, the internet has brought tremendous capabilities, knowledge and opportunities to people. It's also filled with filth and perversion that's not appropriate for children -- it doesn't take a bitter, ex-COG member to realize that.
As someone once said:
All of these organizations encourage large-scale, philosophical questions about life and belief systems before you join, and absolutely shut it down afterwards.
We were never allowed to even remotely question doctrine that we had a difficult time understanding, or that didn't square with logic, or that somehow was contradicted by previous writings.
The internet is exposing a lot of that, and I'm sure that's a big part of this.
- Extreme paranoia
- Suppression of tech, knowledge, & press
- Accumulation of total power and control
- Spinning events and playing the victim
- Targeting the youth and radicalizing them
- Complete and total disregard for human life
- Understanding that some in your inner circle will be collateral damage
Sounds exactly like the current administration in Washington.
I remember in ancient times the ministry forbidding the membership from subscribing to The Journal newspaper.
Flurry cannot tolerate any dissent. He is drunk with power or,maybe just plain drunk. The guy has no remorse over the harm he has caused. He is a FALSE PROPHET!!! But his sermons heal insomnia.
Gerald Flurry wanted former WCG people to read his literature and listen to him and join his PCG cult. Then Gerald wanted to forbid them to read or listen to anything else.
PCG cult members would be better off ignoring the PCG sermon recordings that are so bad that they have to be destroyed after being played, and start using their smartphones to search and read the Banned Blog to learn about what is really going on with the PCG.
Is there anything you can see on a smart phone that you can't find on a normal PC or desktop computer (or laptop for that matter)? Seems a little specific. Or do they not want brethren talking with each other unless they are at services?
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