Imagine being an adult in the Philadelphia Church of God having just bought the latest smartphone and are enjoying the features that make your life more interesting and rewarding. Then the following Sabbath, your Grand Poohbah walks out on stage and plops his fat ass down in his comfy chair, and starts lecturing you about all of the things you are doing wrong as a PCG member. You are used to it though as this is what Sabbath services have been like for several decades. You know you won't hear anything about Christ since you will usually be raked over the coals for some misdeed the Grand Poohbah claims you are doing.
This Sabbath isn't much different until the Grand Poohbah says that loyal followers of God and himself should not be using or even owning smartphones! Well, CRAP! Double CRAP!!
What is a loyal PCG member to do? Keep the phone anyway and use it only when no members are around and leave it in your car when walking into church or getting rid of it and get another phone?
Apparently many PCG members are ditching their smartphones and flocking to buy a phone designed for children. This way they cannot inadvertently open a program and accidentally read all the negative publicity about the PCG! How convenient!
These are some things the Toomi phone restricts for kids, which actually isn't a bad idea, but is foolish for adults that should have the ability to use their god-given mental functions to make their own decisions.
EDMOND—A number of PCG members are switching from smartphones to non-smartphones, including a phone from Troomi. (Phones are available for free to PCG members with the code BILLFREEA12.) Some have found the maps feature to work well, some have found it not to work, and Troomi has said that it is experiencing issues. Below are a few tips that seem to have helped some members fix the issue with Google Maps on the Troomi phone.
What's GRF's next move? "Just as smartphones have caused many to fall away because they couldn't handle them properly, That Profit has determined that too many PCG members are misreading their Bibles on their own and are falling away because they aren't grounded in The Truth as taught by Mr. Herbert Armstrong. From now on, PCG members in good standing are expected to read the Bible only as it is presented, here a little, there a little, in PCG booklets and magazines."
ReplyDeleteWhat is next for PCG--- stop using electricity??
ReplyDeleteBanning members from using smartphones is in keeping with the WWCG tradition of "solving" problems by attacking natural rights and traits of the human mind. These include self esteem, self confidence, reality testing (smeared with accusations of sex before marriage), competition, even thinking itself. Members are expected to believe their ministers words over the evidence of their eyes and ears.
ReplyDeleteDo these ploys work? Well, Esau got his bowl of stew, so if you live your life a quarter of a mile at a time, they do.
All these restrictions are definitely not the narrow gate, and are an example of why Christ prayed to the Father that His followers not be removed from the world.
Do these cult leaders ever give their followers words of encouragement, or do they tear them a new one every Sabbath?!
ReplyDeleteEvery stinkin week!!! In some way shape or form!
DeleteI guess old Gerald is afraid that members can look up his past arrest, his failed prophecies or maybe the Fox 25 story on PCG. Maybe if Gerald wants to be on the up & up, he would provide a public expenditure list of all their financial spending and salaries. I am not holding my breath. Also, I wonder if Gerald or Stephen are going internet free themselves.
ReplyDeleteHmm, if they sign up for the free one, is itz access even more locked than the regular Troomi?
ReplyDeleteFree moral agents…. My a$$
ReplyDeleteThey become so absurdly controlling about things a member "might" do, that it leads people to live dual or duplicitous lifestyles purely for their own survival. The problem is, if you ever leave the church and want to transition to total honesty sometime in the future, it is a real struggle to route out the duplicitousness. I know this for a fact, because I had to live two lives in order to minimize events in which I would have the living crap beat out of me while growing up in the old WCG. Parental units were so anal about every little thing that they were constantly finding new little things to turn into 40 lash offenses. It's OK, because I've spent my entire life trying to rid myself of one of my two faces, and life has improved proportionately and quite remarkably. The difference between myself and PCG members is that I had this stuff inflicted upon me as a child who had no control or recourse. PCG members, as supposedly rational adults, choose and willingly continue to live under unjust oppression, although it makes no sense and causes them misery.
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DeleteMany live under unjust oppression because they are trapped for a variety of reasons.
They are brain washed, it’s not necessarily a choice. It’s sad.
DeleteThe members need to do like Calvin Kappernack and take a knee during the opening prayer!
ReplyDeletePCG cancel culture is starting to rival that of facebook, youtube, twitter, and google. None of these organizations can handle the truth ... oops "disinformation."
ReplyDeleteThe strongest proof against God is that he allows people like Gerald Flurry to go on living.
ReplyDeleteToo much time on their cell phones and not enough time reading GRF's boring booklets! How dare they have any contact with non-cult members. You should see how strict they are with their imperial academy students' and AC students' texting. But now, they truly are treating ALL the members like children, telling them not to make any of their own decisions. So sad for all those still in and don't know any better.
ReplyDeleteToo much time on their cell phones and not enough time reading GRF's boring booklets! How dare they have any contact with non-cult members. You should see how strict they are with their imperial academy students' and AC students' texting. But now, they truly are treating ALL the members like children, telling them not to make any of their own decisions. So sad for all those still in and don't know any better.
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ReplyDeleteThe more anyone listens to a false prophet like Gerald Flurry and his fake ministers, the more ignorant they will become.
Remember the complete ignoramus who had read the PCG's Trumpet magazine for so long that he thought the Great Commission to preach the gospel (meaning GOOD NEWS) of the coming kingdom of God was actually about warning the world about the BAD NEWS of a coming World War III.
After decades of mindlessly listening to a false prophet like Gerald Flurry, people do not realize how totally messed up their minds really are.
So does the church get money back on every sale? Like mainstream churches do by selling Krispy Kreme donuts?
ReplyDeleteIs this all a fundraising gimmick?
If Troomi becomes the Official Phone of PCG, what's next?
Flurryism: it's phone-y.
ReplyDeleteIf Troomi becomes the Official Phone of PCG, what's next?
ReplyDeleteEtch A Sketch, the official tablet computer of PCG?