We have all heard horror stories over the years of marriages being ruined or broken up by the church. Whether it be in Dave Pack's cult or in Gerald Flurry's the abuse has been horrific. They are not the only destroyers of marriages and relationships, as the Worldwide Church of God reigned supreme in that department, particularly when heavy-handed Rod Meredith was over Church Administration.
One would think that when all of the current splinter groups split off to preserve the "one truth" that they would have reinvented themselves and stopped the many cases of abuse they saw prevailing in the WCG. Instead, all any of them did was carry on exactly like they did in the WCG. They were so used to the power they had that they felt unstoppable and in no need to change anything. Living Church of God, despite being part of two different splinter groups, never has cleaned up their act and still is an abusive church.
Check out the latest post on Exit and Support Network from a woman in LCG:
Why I’m Leaving Living Church of God:
July 10, 2021
I’ve been a member of LCG from 2012 but I always had doubts and tried to convince myself that it was the “true church.” Many things preached by LCG never added up. For example, the promise that Jesus would return within the next 5 years.
LCG is a dangerous cult leading to many divorces for members who did marital counseling with the ministers. I ended up with serious anxiety issues and suffered financially when my husband forced me to pay the third tithe. I have never seen a verse in the Bible that says the Levites should be in charge of the third tithe and that the excess 2nd tithe should be given to the church on the Last Great Day. My question was always around why LCG never does any charitable deeds like helping the poor?
I discovered the incest allegations about HWA and I found that very disturbing that someone who was supposed to be a servant of God could even be accused of such a thing.
LCG preaches closet racism about interracial marriages in youth camps as being unequally yoked. I realised they were preaching nonsense and are not Christians who read the Bible.
My husband is still part of the cult even after I showed him allegations about HWA and racist articles written in the Plain Truth. He called me “Satan,” told me to stay away from him and even threatened to divorce me. We were constantly fighting and my husband was trying to force me to remain with LCG which became emotionally abusive. He is determined to teach our kids about the nonsense of LCG child members being princesses when Christ returns.
So many wrong things about LCG are so blatant but my husband refuses to see reason. How do I live in peace with someone like that and I’m worried about the influence on my children. Not sure what to do. I only pray that one day he sees the real truth not LCG fables. I just want to say thank you for your website as it helped me to see the true state of affairs at LCG. –[name withheld]
14 comments:
The "church" or more apt "Church organisation" can only destroy a marriage if the marriage is built upon and can only strive amongst the social/religious/arranged power status of "Church organisation social scene". Divorce happens when one partner has upset that social power status in any manner.
The vast majority of the lowly membership nowadays can live happy marriages and happy careers and happy family lives without the scattered elderly Ministry knowing a dam thing about anything.
A relative’s experience at the LCG summer camp was observing Gerald Weston proudly stopping a black boy from dancing with a white girl while claiming that it was God’s will. Gerald didn’t stop all the copulation that minster’s kids and and kids of ministerial lackeys did that year. At least all the pairs of kids dancing had matching skin colors! That’s the original Christianity Jesus was all about!
And the point is anon 11:22?
Also, remember this, a-theism as we know it today is a very modern invention. Until modern times it was never, it appears, used as we use the term a-theism today. For example:
A. Ency. Brit. 11ed. “The cry of the heathen populace in the Roman empire against the Christians was ‘Away with the ATHEISTS! To the lions with the Christians.”– Atheism Now, that’s a little curious. Christians were the a-theists then. So, the word had a different meaning.
B. “In other words, ‘atheism’ has been used generally by the orthodox to label adherents of one religion, or even of a single sect, for all beliefs which are different or even differently expressed.” –ibid.
All these ACOGs give their members a mental diet of some truth and a big dose of cool aid. My mental health went through the roof when I stopped attending services and reading their literature. They chain members to their group through mental murder, which they've perfected to an art form. For instance they constantly attack thinking, self esteem, self confidence, passing moral judgment, plus beating members down by treating them as rightless children and fools who need to be lorded over for their own good.
Satan doesn't have a monopoly on murder.
Btw, in Steven Flurrys Trumpet article 'Science, falsely so called.' he accuses thinking of "worshipping the mind" (a favorite Jehovah's Witness ploy going back decades) and the scientific method of "worshipping science." See a pattern here? He hopes readers won't notice all the thinking and scientific method used in the writing of the article.
The mind is peoples tool of survival, and needs to be highly honored rather than attacked.
Anon 1:58 wrote:
"The "church" or more apt "Church organisation" can only destroy a marriage if the marriage is built upon and can only strive amongst the social/religious/arranged power status of "Church organisation social scene". Divorce happens when one partner has upset that social power status in any manner."
MY COMMENT:
Very true words wrote here. It applies to all manner of human endeavor. Whether in, Churches, religion, politics, money, business, celebrity , fame, or even the local PTA or civic group. It is important that the marriage not be in orbit around ANY of those social structures, as ALL OF THEM will fail you in time.
If your marriage revolves around your social status in any human organization or peer group, your marriage will likely fail at some point in time, or be a very unhappy one, even if you stay married.
Anyone who has come to see the Cogs for what they are and has a spouse still involved is simply in for a tough time.
It does not pay to argue with your spouse as it almost never works and is tough on the kids. I think simply stating things such as "I cannot support an organization that idolizes (or relies on the teachings) of HWA given his very serious moral failings, even with his daughter." Try to leave it at that, who can argue with that. The only thing your spouse can argue is about the evidence rather than against your spiritual state. Yes, some will use the David defense with Bathsheba, but this is very different as David was not bringing in new truth and David was very repentant. Maybe having to look into the evidence will open the spouses eyes too. Focus on how Armstrong's failings disqualify him as someone you can in good conscience support in any way. Don't try to tell your spouse they must believe it.
There are many issues like this, and as best you can, focus on how these issues affect you, how they remove your trust in the organization. But, don't try to force your conclusions on your spouse. Trust being broken by hwa's failings, by false prophesies of hwa and other cog leaders, by the ministry and HQ living much better than most congregants, by selectively choosing the law they observe, by British Israelism, by racial teachings about the world tomorrow in mystery of the ages, etc.
It isn't easy and there aren't guarantees, but arguing only sets you up to COG accusations.
Besides, most of us believed and accepted much of the false teaching of Armstrongism, so patience with a spouse is necessary ...and right. We were just as stubborn and just as accusatory of others before seeing the light regarding Armstrongism as a COG spouse is today. Must always keep that in mind.
Tonto,
I think most marriages in the COGs do heavily revolve around the church organization and structure. What you conclude is correct, but the reality is if you are in a COG and you begin to see the falsity in the COGs and your spouse does not, you are in for a world of pain in most instances.
I’m very thankful my wife and I saw the utter immorality and godlessness of a fair amount of leaders in that organization. Covering up for pedophiles is evil. Lying is evil. On and on the list goes.
Problems will only occur E if the spouse still in the COGs is either a part of or connected to the ministry or power structure. That's when problems occur.
1st generation members suffered more from the WCG marriage culture/mindset as having no life experience of what the reality of living day to day within WCG culture would be like.
2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th generations in the Church obviously have more first hand knowledge. Although they carry more dynasty expectations.
It's interesting how both the YECs and Gapists frame their arguments. YECs don't need to be concerned with evolution, as 6000 years is not enough time; they just need to prove the Earth is only 6000 years old. Gapists don't need to be concerned with the age of the Earth, but they need ways to discredit evolution, and then use a re-creation to explain 6 days.
Personally, I like the argument of Israeli physicist Gerald Schroeder, who ties the Big Bang, relativity, and the days of creation together. Bob may have noticed Dr Schroeder, as he appeared with Ben Stein in Expelled, the movie he highlights on some of his evolution articles.
Can you provide a link to the original letter? I cannot find it at all on the Exit and Support website.
10:54 that certainly exacerbates it, but it seems most that attend the big three of UCG, cogwa, and lcg are all somehow associated with the ministry or Ambassador college, so they are heavily invested due to those things. Cogwa is basically defined by this.
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