It should come as no surprise that another person has died in the Philadelphia Church of God due to its draconian and vile doctrines. Once again, another person died because they refused medical treatment, or in this case, the husband refused it. Members live in this constant state of fear that they dare not cross the doctrinal line of the PCG for fear of losing one's salvation, while Gerald Flurry and other PCG elite regularly seek medical attention.
Exit and Support Network has this letter up:
My Ex-Wife Died in PCG Died Due to Medical Neglect:
January 30, 2022
Reviewing these pages has helped me understand and strengthen my thoughts about the PCG and my ex-wife’s passing.
My wife joined the PCG in the early 1990s. I continued attending a traditional Christian denomination while she attended the PCG. I kept getting vibes that her “church” was a cult from the members I met and because of the control it had on her thoughts and actions. We eventually ended up divorcing [several] years later due to the strain it was causing on our children and marriage. She married a member of the PCG and ended up moving multiple times to different states and loosing contact with her children.
Her husband called us in the middle of the night [date removed] that she was dying, was incoherent, and couldn’t talk. Word quickly spread and my son called the town’s police to do a wellness check. They arrived and insisted the husband allow them to call an ambulance and he argued. One was finally called but the husband refused any medical treatment at the hospital because that was her wish. He produced a hand written note stating she didn’t want medical intervention and later he admitted signing the paper. We learned later she possibly wasn’t allowed transportation (by her choice or others) to medical help for a few weeks leading up to her death. PCG members would come over and sit with her to pray and use healing cloths. This was murder by neglect. We also suspected the husband may have had a hand in her demise. The police never did an autopsy or investigation. Later [date removed], he remarried a PCG member and had a child.
The PCG stole my wife, contributed to her death, and emotionally scarred me and my children.
Your pages have given me knowledge that my experience was unfortunately shared by others. –[name withheld]
Does anyone know how many of the splinter groups teach no medical intervention or treatment? Is it only a few?
ReplyDeleteNo parent has the right to exhibit "faith" for a helpless child who is suffering. If an adult wants to suffer through until God doesn't heal them, that's up to them. In the same way, a mate has no right to exhibit "faith" for a partner who is suffering. Nor should anyone feel obligated to go along with what their church thinks they should do in any situation.
ReplyDeleteWhen you head tells you one thing, and your stomach tells you another, your head is lying to you.
When I was attending WCG back in the 1970s & '80s I made sure my family got medical help when needed. I can remember one asshole in the church tried to "correct" me from scripture claiming I "lacked faith", oddly enough that person got very sick and eventually went to a doctor only to find out that he was ate up with cancer.
ReplyDeleteThe Armstrong Churches of God have caused so much suffering, pain and death through the years. I think about all of the damage they have inflicted on friendships, marriages and familial relationships, and it makes me nauseous. And then there is the mountain of irony inherent in Herbie's claim to be "turning the hearts of the fathers to their children" and vice versa (the poignancy of what happened within my own family underscores this irony). The twisting of faith to eschew the advancements of modern medicine, and the resulting physical illness and death is bad enough. However, when we think about the deaths of so many relationships, it is clear that these folks have much to repent of or answer for someday...I'm thinking about that line from Elton John's "Empty Garden again: "It's funny how one insect can damage so much grain."
ReplyDeleteI remember this situation! Thought it was totally f’d up even then! I think a lot of people did but because of the cult brainwashing, you push out logic and critical thinking. So sad for her sons, and obviously her ex husband was affected by it too. Glad he spoke out!
ReplyDeleteUCG, PCG, and all the other splinter groups are either deceived or just out for the money and I think it's a mixture of both.
ReplyDeleteSo everything in the book of Luke should be erased. The man was, of all things, a physician; thereby disqualified to state any Biblical truth. He lacked faith, felt that his patients would benefit from his medical advice and procedures. He didn't know what the Armstrongists know. Luke, a false teacher of doctrine, etc. HWA, Flurry, Pack, etc. are the Real Guys; especially Armstrong, who had medical people and medicines working on him. He had great faith in modern medicine, for himself, of course. Not for we lesser "workers."
ReplyDeleteUCG, PCG, and all the other splinter groups are either deceived or just out for the money and I think it's a mixture of both.
ReplyDeleteMany of the members aren't deceived. They know it's a crock, yet they are supposed to be the money-givers. They don't want to give money to a fraud, but they have invested enough of their lives that they feel they can't just get up and walk away from Armstrongism without hurting their social lives, or the social lives of their children. So, they gravitate toward churches that only police your tithing if you are (or are going to be) ordained.
I can tell you from experience the minister monitor the members tithing account and if they can figure out that you aren’t tithing or not doing it correctly, they deal with you. They can’t afford to have you not tithe.
DeleteIt's a tragic story. People are not being taught "how to think," and instead have been taught "what to think." Even in our public educational system being taught how to think isn't the norm. The churches, no matter what organization, a COG or a mainstream church,are just as guilty. Basically we have been taught that those who stand on the platform are the intellectuals and we give heed to them, or they have perhaps more of the Holy Spirit and are the "Church" and we are lay members and peons. Just look at the current affairs in the USA! It's obvious people are not thinking. Listen to the media and they will tell you what to think. :( As tragic as the story is at the beginning, the blame ultimately falls on ourselves. We have the responsibility to use our God given minds and ask God for wisdom. Very sad.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to pay attention to my physician because he is the one with a medical degree, not a shithead in a church that doesn't know his ass from his elbow!
ReplyDeleteI can tell you from experience the minister monitor the members tithing account and if they can figure out that you aren’t tithing or not doing it correctly, they deal with you. They can’t afford to have you not tithe.
ReplyDeleteThat's not true if you are a lay member in UCG with no leadership ambitions. UCG wants to keep butts in seats, and lots of UCG members who want the social experience of church without the financial pinch are happy to warm seats at UCG services, with no minister chasing them away.
I was referring to PCG. The bums that just fill the seats are the low income and they don’t care, they are just a warm body for the head count but if you are in the PCG and have a job…. Your tithe account is strictly monitored. And you’ll be hauled aside at the slightest Anomaly.
Delete4.29 PM
DeleteI find it hard to believe that the UCG or any other splinter is casual or indifferent as to whether a member tithes or not. These splinters are all cut from the same cloth, and view their members as assets to be exploited.
As far as I'm concerned, any opinion to the contrary is deceiption by hiding information about so called exceptions. Which is why in courts of law they demand "the WHOLE truth and nothing but the truth, ie, no hiding of relevant information.
This is something that HWA actually corrected while he had the conch. Flurry and earlier conservative splinters held to the original uncorrected doctrine, which is why this remains an ongoing tragedy, and continues to hurt well-intentioned members.
ReplyDeleteFirst thing to ask, when a "leader" tells you he sticks to the original teachings of HWA, is "Yeah??? Which era, or version?" If you go back far enough, you'll encounter teachings against clothing made from mixed materials. That was considered to be just as important as avoiding unclean meats.
Matthew 9:12 "..it's not the healthy who need a doctor but not the sick."
ReplyDeleteWhy did Christ say that if doctoring is immoral??
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of false prophets is to lie, steal, destroy, and kill.
Gerald “That (False) Prophet” Flurry is just doing his job.
I remember when I was in my pre teens hearing GTA talk about how some members children had died needlessly because of easily treatable conditions like appendicitis or pneumonia and how he argued with HWA and some of the hard liners for years about the need for change. I guarantee Gerald Flurry has some ED medicine like Viagra or levitra stashed away but would deny your child's need for life saving treatment.
ReplyDeleteLil steevies daughter V, had her tonsils taken out, cause she was having ear problems, but it was kept hush hush…..:that would have never been able to fly with anyone else, it would have been a hard sell on having the faith the rely on god cause if you can’t rely on god to heal then you so t have the faith to flee to the place of safety.
DeleteIf the bible speaks the truth then I would expect the bible to speak against all doctors before the 1950's.
ReplyDeleteI mean common "bloodletting", stupid herbs without working elements, purgation, sawing off of limbs, please..... yes but the aztecs performed "brainsurgery"........ Noooo. They drilled holes in heads if one of them had received a blow on the head with an axe to relieve pressure, that's not brainsurgery.
Nck
That tithe monitoring is sick, sick. The sick do need a doctor, i.e. a judge, who after determining that tithing is no longer mandated because there is no longer a Levitical Priesthood and there was no tithing LAW before Moses, rules that churches who teach tithing as a requirement now should begin paying taxes on their extorted income (OK, I know, I'm just dreaming; it'll never happen in this, Satan's, world).
ReplyDeleteOh please the lay membership know full well EVERYONE is monitored for tithes. Leadership ambitions or not. Poor or not.
ReplyDeleteThe so called "lay membership" which term of description is a totally non scriptural description but widely used by the ministry. They pull back their tithes for a variety of reasons.
Jan.31, 2:15PM PST
ReplyDeleteThe PCG would agree with your logic 100%! Pay attention to THEM. They are the experts with the degrees, not you!!!
How the hell would PCG agree with my logic?!
Delete7:08, I think you have no clue WTF you are talking about.
DeleteAnon.215/224
ReplyDelete"I'm going to pay attention to my physician because he is the one with the medical degree".
This logic sounds good on the surface but it's the SAME logic all power structures (including churches) use to maintain control over the pions.
"WE have the degree, WE have the expertise, WE have the calling"!!!
Heard that before? I thought so!