Exit and Support Network has the following tidbits up about Micah Turgeon, son of Wayne Turgeon. He had apparently been planning for several months to escape from the cult compound in Edmond, Oklahoma. This departure added to the recent exposure of the UK financial statements for PCG and the crap has been hitting the fan. Flurry has decreed that no more sermons, sermonettes. etc be shared online to anyone.
Here is the beginning:
Micah Turgeon Has Left the PCG:
July 12, 2022
Micah Turgeon, GF’s grandson [and and son of Wayne Turgeon], has left the PCG after months of preparation to “escape.” He was an H.W. Armstrong College student. –G.
Then the bit about Flurry canceling all sermons posted online:
PCG Makes Decision Not to Post Anymore Sermons Online:
July 13, 2022
Well, it looks like GF and his top idiots got sick and tired of reading ESN’s critiques of their sermons and Bible Studies. They recently posted this announcement:
Announcement:Headquarters has finished posting weekly sermons and Bible studies at pcg.church. Pastor General Gerald Flurry made this decision after considerable discussion with regional directors. The service was important during government lockdowns, but regular Sabbath services and Bible studies have now resumed. Mr. Flurry understands that there will be a very small number of exceptions who will still require this service. If you believe that your situation is an exception, please contact your regional director. If your exception is approved, you will be able to continue to access the recordings. (All members continue to have access to announcements.) But for the large majority of members and their families, we look forward to seeing you more at services and Bible studies.
ESN has exposed them to the hilt anyway and their continual sermons are basically only a re-hash of things.
But Micah Turgeon left, so that’s huge!! hahaha
They can wallow in that for a while! –[name withheld]
Typical Narcissistic Rage:
July 13, 2022
I think it was an angry, emotional, impulsive decision to stop the online sermons and I believe it was the exposing of the UK financial reports [July 9 letter] and Micah Turgeon leaving that caused it. Close family like Micah leaving has to be a blow to their ego. Typical narcissistic rage. –Former PCG member
PCG is now on the warpath trying to discover who has been leaking sermons and other information. They are too dense to realize that in 2022 and with the proliferation of smartphones, internet services, and "dissident" sites they have lost all control now. I was told some time back that Flurry can ban smartphones all he wants, but many PCG members have kept them and still use them when they aren't around other church members. Many PCG members have resorted to leaving their phones in their cars when attending church services or other functions. They are losing control of their members just like all the other COG's currently are experiencing.
Another contributor to ESN had this to say when news of Micag Turgeon's escape spreads through the congregations, HQ, and the student body of HWA College:
July 13, 2022
As high on the ladder as Micah Turgeon was, you can bet there are members on the lower tiers that are thinking of bailing, too. Also, once the news of Micah Turgeon’s exit spreads, it might lead to more saying “I’ve had enough.”
As of right now most of Micah's articles are still up on the PCG site. As has happened in the past in the church as soon as someone who writes or preaches for the church ends up leaving, the church immediately scrubs their existence from all church offerings. It will be interesting to see how long he "exists" on PCG's website.
Another contributor made this astute observation about PCG losing control:
July 14, 2022
It is no happenstance that GF removed access to his secretive online sermons after ESN posted and analyzed their UK Financial Report [see July 9 letter above]. First, they shut down the tape libraries where even shut-ins couldn’t receive them; then the CD sermon tapes were ordered to be destroyed, then members weren’t to share their recorded sermons, next no smartphones were to be used, and now this. How many other tyrannical rules they’ve imposed on members is anyone’s guess. If this purported “one true church of God” is really “God’s Church,” then why are they hiding their sermons from outsiders, unlike what any genuine Christian church would do? The answer is because they reveal the sick control going on inside, including their Satanic no-contact ruling that causes untoward suffering. Yet, PCG will scream “Satan is persecuting God’s Church!” at any exposure of their evil deeds. I agree they will be unable to stop all info from getting out no matter how tight they try to control it. –A. R.
Micah joins a long line of COG children of top leaders who have planned their escapes from various COG's. Their mental well depended upon it. COG leaders are so blinded by their abusive techniques that they have no idea of the collateral damage they are causing to their own children and members. The mental anguish builds up for so long and then the dam bursts.
The Churches of God are in such a rapid downward spiral that they have no ability anymore to recover from it. Like many others before us, we should take great pride in contributing to the dissolution of Armstrongism.
Previous stories on Wayne Turgeon, Micah's father:
19 comments:
So glad he got out of this obnoxious organisation.
I feel sorry for those poor b*gg*rs still caught up in this toxic group and want out.
The tragedy is, there are most likely many, who are perfectly happy to reside in the PCoG and believe strongly that they are the ‘Philadelphia’ church. Such is the human condition.
We are quite capable of creating hell on earth under the guise of a political movement or one that is religious.
Thank you for this post and keep exposing these groups. May many take heed.
The PCG is a personality cult. I am a cog member but not of this group. Flee from pcg get out. Don’t look back don’t drink the koolaid. It’s a dangerous damnable cult
Fanatics fail to grasp a very profound concept, namely that any strength, when practiced to extreme, becomes a weakness.
They also fail to realize that whatever thing you fight the hardest to keep or preserve enslaves you.
There is one very cool thing that PCG practices. When you leave, your family is not allowed to have any contact with you. That means they are not allowed to attempt to influence you or to bug you any more. So, the young Turgeons will enjoy an abundance of very therapeutic peace and quiet, while their parents will be punished by not being able to see their grandchildren. So, you see, being a member of the PCG is its own punishment! It's not difficult at all to walk away from fanatics and to purge them from your life. The real hell of the doctrines descends upon those who helplessly remain as members. It's all so useless, too, because PCG is not even God's Church.
Actual PCG membership is shrinking alarmingly, must be below 1000 now?
Sorry to burst your "I'M IN THE TRUE CHURCH" bubble, but every one of you are a dangerous damnable cult, no matter how "good" you look or sound. Yes, COGWA...even you, although you sit out there so smug and righteous acting like you are "doing god's work". I know your history. I KNOW where you came from.
I believe that some cults, such as the JW do not have author names attached to articles. This might prevent a sense of pride on the part of some writers, but it also allows the organization to keep the articles posted once a writer leaves. When GTA left the WCG, think of all the literature that had to be pulled from the shelves.
There is a model of denominationalism in this that does not make sense. It is the idea that a denomination can corner the truth. Then it no longer has to answer to critics. The denomination's absolute understanding of the truth is beyond criticism. Critics may then be characterized not as critics but as dissenters or dissidents or some other pejorative designation. Like the larger national society in which we exist, one side has to be absolutely right and the other side has to be absolutely wrong based, of course, on personal perspective.
But this also means that the organization that sees itself as holding the incontrovertible truth must go into redoubt when criticized. It must always counter punch like the flailing very stable genius. And the spirit of constructive debate is lost. But we all see through a glass darkly and that should admit of a spirit of midrash. I favor Gregory of Nyssa's doctrine of Epektasis - we will all continue to grow in the knowledge of God throughout eternity. This means that denominations should expect to make judicous responses to critics and to continue to grow in understanding. Moreover, Armstrongism is not alone in seeing debate as a threat.
I fault HWA, in part, for this attitude. From my place in the bleachers, HWA always seemed to believe that anything he decided was above review. But he was not alone in this viewpoint. It is a source of pride for some to claim that they belong to a church that has absolute command of the truth. This compensates for a lot of low self-esteem.
Armstrongists, even some of their leading ministers, should make measured responses to the theological criticism that happens on this blog rather than declaring this an off-limits workshop of the Dark Side. That is a defensive posture that conserves both truth and error and effectively counters growth.
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When GTA was ousted from WCG, the college library literally took a razor and cut out every picture , article or mentions of him from archived PT or GN magazine articles, as well as just totally removed any booklets or such. A "DeStalinization" effort to the max.
We all know what PTSD is , but for Flurry's group , we need a new acronym, how about PT-PCG !
Well thank God for this great news. Another one out and safe from imminent harm at the hands of his wicked, evil and greedy parents/grandfather. Now, I fear the hard part begins for this young man. Processing everything he has witnessed and endured...maybe even had to commit himself at dear old dad's insistence. I bet he knows where ALL the skeletons are hiding and could easily topple king/grandpa's empire.
I pray evil burger king Gerald never sleeps again for the paranoia this has clearly induced in the "ministry". Couldn't have happened to a more deserving creature than Flurry. Hope the feds are keeping a closer eye than usual just in case.
The defection rate is really taking an upward turn recently. Keep it up Banned! Some day the experiment in torture known as Armstrongism will finally be over. God speed that day!
I remember Dennis talking about getting involved with a support group for ex-ministers. I wonder how that all worked out?
Was young Micah an ordained minister, or just an employee and favored member of the royal family? It seems we are nearing the point at which there are enough ex-splinter ministers (or employees, or royal children, or whatever) to form their own support group to encourage others to follow the road to freedom.
The Armstrong Dichotomy:
As the membership shrinks, the Executive $alaries increase!
Tonto wrote, "When GTA was ousted from WCG, the college library literally took a razor and cut out every picture..."
Do you have first hand knowledge of this or is this something you heard?
Good point, Saturday 9:02 AM. For lack of an official support group, that is what I thought all of us here were offering one another.
The minute one signs on with Armstrongism, permanent damage sets in. If one remains in the cult, the damage continues, accumulates, and increases. We have likened this to spiritual rape, because that is the closest we can come to describing what happens to ACOG members. Any affected (infected?) person has a choice. He/She can leave the org and stop the damage from progressing as their suspicions awaken them, or they can remain and allow themselves to continue to be damaged. Damage is inevitable, but it can only be treated if one leaves the source of the damage.
Personally, in my recovery I read widely, and obtained therapy. Even so, it requires a lifetime to identify and repair the damages, and there remains abundant scar tissue which sometimes prevents one from experiencing healthy normal functionality as an empathetic human being.
There are times when you can realize the damage, but it is simply beyond your personal ability to repair it. This is why it is sometimes so difficult to forgive any perpetrators of the scam, even though some as individuals may have been the more benign ones who really didn't inflict the damage. Our minds think that they should have known better, although we fail to note that we ourselves did not.
If anyone is inclined to wonder why God hates false prophets, or any false teacher for that matter, and reserves special punishment for their actions, the permanent damage we all suffered serves as very eloquent testimony as to His wisdom in that. It is not a small thing that they are doing. This is why it is sooooo important that all of us stop supporting teachers of the false, defective, and toxic product known as Armstrongism.
To 4:06, if by "cult" you mean a figure (themselves) or an object (their will, heresy or the corporate logo), the term applies.
So you know where COGWA came from, eh? They're the ones who arbitrarily justified a schism with UCG instead of realizing that it was Christ who instigated the split. For the scripture says, "I (Christ) stir (kineo) the candlestick if you refuse to repent". (Rev 2:5)
So stop acting like marsupials and disfellowshipping brethren who chastise you for it. Instead, humble yourselves and don't repeat UCG's sins.
So he "escaped" from PCG.
But do we know where he's going now?
Is he landing anywhere in the COG spectrum?
P.S. He's still shown online in the Celtic Throne cast as I write this.
They aren’t going to scrub his existence, I don’t know where this came from or why it’s even pertinent. Look up Denis leap, Carl Hilliker, Kieren underwood etc. they all still pull up articles on the pcog page.
Also he wasn’t baptised so I have absolutely no doubt his parents will remain in contact with him. Also I believe he is far to intelligent to join another Wcg offshoot. I really hope he writes an article on his exit, this will help SO many others. Good job Micha!
Has someone informed Micah about how much hush money Stan Rader got and how much they tried to give to GTA to keep him quiet?? Micha!!!! Secure your financial future!$$$$$
Though he won't express it openly, I am sure that Wayne Turgeon is rooting for his son to succeed outside the Compound.
Turgeon has to know that he is running a fraud, a scam, and that the time will come when he can no longer have such an easy life as a cult leader. If Micah becomes financially stable this will ensure the Turgeons' comfortable retirement, as I don't believe Micah would shun his father the way PCG members are taught to have "no contact" with apostates.
My information suggests that Fred Dattolo's son Michael may not be so forgiving of his father, but many other higher-ups in Edmond must also have mixed emotions when a child breaks free, as this gives them a safe place where they'll be able to land after PCG falls apart.
So what if he left the PCG? He still benefitted from the tithes given from members, and may still be benefitting from. The only way he can cleanse himself of being part of that scam is to divulge all of what he knows about them, every detail of scum dirt that he knows. Otherwise, he's no better than a parasite attached to a whale. If Gerry and his minions don't go down dirty and crumbling and miserable, as a sort of payback to all suffering they caused, Micah's leaving is just booger you flick off your finger.
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