One of the worst legacies of Armstrongism and particularly the Philadelphia Church of God cult mentality is the turmoil it created/creates in the family structure. For a group that claims to be all about family and their potential to be part of the "god" family, they sure can't act like godly family oriented creatures here on earth.
Once a member bought into the system and was fully "converted" they were expected to follow a certain set of rules kept hidden from potential and newer members. Since they were not "converted" and were part of an exclusive highly select few in the entire world, they were expected to keep themselves unspotted by the world around them. This includes avoiding unconverted worldly/pagan family members. God forbid if you spent a Christmas afternoon eating a nice dinner with family members, not of the church. Can there be a greater sin than that?
Gerald Flurry sadly has taken this a step further and actually forbade his members from association with former members and family members outside the cult. Whether it be your spouse, brother/sisters, mother/father, cousins, and friends, you are expected to cut them off.
It is amazing to watch how godless so many of these splinter cults of Armstrongism have degenerated into and yet they think they are God's highly chosen few.
This sad story is from Exit and Support Network
November 28, 2023
My brother and I had a good relationship and spent time together on and off with our families back in the 90’s until he married a woman who grew up in WCG. After then everything changed between us. She basically put up strong boundaries as to when and how I could visit my brother, and we were never allowed to hang out unless she supervised over dinner at their house.
Then he stopped coming to birthday parties, no Christmas either, forget Easter while you’re at it. And he was no longer available on the phone while they had dinner. Forgot completely about reaching him from Friday to Sunday indefinitely, but then they would set a date that worked great for them and would invite me over for dinner.
Dinner always felt like pressure to practice perfect table manners or I would be frowned on. She actually told my mom to keep her elbows off the table. I could go on and on about all of the control tactics that woman played over the years but what’s the point? Now at last she’s got him moving to Oklahoma to join the big compound in Edmond, and my brother is gone for good, thanks to her and PCG.
All I can do is accept all of this and hope and pray for the Lord to open his spiritual eyes.
Thanks for letting me vent. –[name withheld]
31 comments:
My heart goes out to you over your spoiled relationship with your brother. In my opinion, what the Worldwide Church and its descendants have done to families is the most deplorable part of their legacy. Unfortunately, this is NOT peculiar to PCG.
CGI destroyed my relationship with my father, and negatively impacted my relationship with my brother and nephew. The ACOGs are definitely bad news for family and friends who are not a part of the organization. Hmmmmm, come to think of it, that sure sounds like one of the hallmarks of a cult - doesn't it?
As for your sister-in-law, she certainly doesn't sound like any kind of Christian I'd recognize. Being manipulative and disrespecting one's mother-in-law like that sounds downright Machiavellian to me. Moreover, sorry to say it, but it sounds like your brother's testicles are sitting in a jelly jar on her bedside table - either that, or he needs to grow a pair!
All I can do is accept all of this and hope and pray for the Lord to open his spiritual eyes.
Isn't praying to the Lord the cause of all religous trouble in the first place?
I do not believe it is necessary to cave in to the cult members. In cases where people are being offensive by being controlling, believe me, the last song that would come to my mind is "Baby, please don't go!"
You can give culties negative feedback without fulfilling their self-prophecies by persecuting them. Nothing wrong with a well placed smirk, or a well deserved wise crack.
If an inlaw of mine acted like the woman in the ESN excerpt, my relative would be told "Hey, Buddy, I love ya, but if you want me around, you'd better control your 'ol Lady!" And, then I'd put on some Van Halen!
Gerald Flurry's IDENTITY THEFT and the Decline of the PCG Cult
Gerald Flurry started his PCG cult in December 1989 and it got its biggest growth after the Great Apostasy of January 1995 in the Worldwide Church of God when the apostate Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. openly threw out of the church virtually everything that Herbert W. Armstrong had taught. Gerald Flurry used (actually misused) Herbert W. Armstrong's name and photograph to attract HWA's former followers to his own little PCG cult.
In 1999 Gerald Flurry tried to pull off the Identity Theft of the ages by claiming that he, rather than Jesus, was what he called “That Prophet” of Deuteronomy 18:18-19 that everyone had to listen to. Many people were shocked and left the PCG cult over this satanic trick. Others slept right through it.
Shortly after this, when there were still about 7,000 people in the PCG cult, it was announced that more people had already gone through the PCG cult (either left it or got kicked out of it) than were currently attending it. Ever since then the PCG cult has been in continual decline.
Splitting families up is the continued legacy of all the Churches of God.
They're copying the shunning practices of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The JWs dissidents claim that their church would fall apart if not for this policy.
Anon 6:43:00 PM PST
JWs practice of shunning is truely horrific and a damming indictment on them.
‘The JWs dissidents’ have more than the appalling practice of shunning to complain about. This cult’s abuse is terrifying and puts most of Armstrongism to shame. Let alone their ‘bastardisation’ of the scriptures.
A cult in the truest sense.
But pcog are giving them a run for their money.
I think the term dissident is too light a word to describe those poor souls who have left and often fled the JWs.
They are I believe, truely concerned about the very real danger this organisation poses to the community as a whole.
Let alone whose sad individuals within.
JWs could be discribed as a North Korean version of ‘Christianity’. Tragic.
Sites like ‘Banned’ are good tools to educate and warn people about ‘toxic’ religion.
"CGI destroyed my relationship with my father, and negatively impacted my relationship with my brother and nephew."
From what I've read here at Banned you went astray and like to blame the Church for the trouble you've caused.
It's really not that unusual for a Rabbi to be an atheist, and not even have to hide it because Talmudic Judaism is really about the Jewish people not about God. Sometimes I wonder if people like Flurry and Pack are actually atheists too. Of course, they have to hide it.
A well placed smirk ? Non Christian behavior.
It's power and control. All about power and control.
Shunning only has any effect if the receiver of the shunning actually cares about the shunees. In COG history it is highly likely to be a blessing in disguise to be shunned.
Miller Jones/Lonnie C Hendrix, Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at 2:12:00 PM PST, said:
"...My heart goes out to you over your spoiled relationship with your brother. In my opinion, what the Worldwide Church and its descendants have done to families is the most deplorable part of their legacy. Unfortunately, this is NOT peculiar to PCG.
CGI destroyed my relationship with my father, and negatively impacted my relationship with my brother and nephew. The ACOGs are definitely bad news for family and friends who are not a part of the organization. Hmmmmm, come to think of it, that sure sounds like one of the hallmarks of a cult - doesn't it?..."
******
Why is it that: "...what the Worldwide Church and its descendants have done to families is the most deplorable part of their legacy?"
Is this a case of shock and awe?
FWIIW, a partial transcript of a sermon, dated 10 August 1996, regarding Satan's Life and Death expressed the following as the descendents (especially hirelings who enjoyed power and control of others) of the former WCG continued to be spewed out around the earth:
******
"...Lately, from the Worldwide Church of God which is, of course, the newly-formed Laodicean Era of the Church! That’s okay; they’re God’s Church. They’re blind. We understand that. We don’t hate them. We love them. At least, they’re God’s Church.
All of those little scattered churches out there are not God’s Church! They’re “wannabees,” but they’re not! People have followed a whole bunch of men who crept in unawares, little hirelings, who took them somewhere else. That will all become very apparent, very soon, and people will be shocked!..."
******
Well, that was 1996; this is 2023! Perhaps this all became apparent to a few people within a short time "very soon" back then, but how shocked were those people? This is 2023 and it appears that people are still being shocked to some extent. Should any of this still continue to shock any of us? Is there anything "new under the sun" here?
"For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." Jude 1:4
Which hireling of the former WCG hasn't turned grace of God into something else? Which hireling of the former WCG hasn't denied Jesus' God, and Jesus Christ, by thinking something more (e.g. earning salvation by works of self) than the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was/is necessary for one to be in the Kingdom of God?
And was Philadelphia's Flurry really only another appalling legacy of Armstrongism, or just another hireling among those of God's Church over a 2,000 year time span: just another certain man among many (e.g. Pack, Weinland, Franks, Shabi, Winnail, Weston, FWN, Kubik, Hulme, Rogers…) who crept in unawares?
Time, more time, will tell...
John
7:31 said:
“Sites like ‘Banned’ are good tools to educate and warn people about ‘toxic’ religion.
Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at 7:31:00 PM”
That would be true if this site took on more than cogs in general and Pack, Thiel, Flurry, etc. in specifics. But, it closes its eyes to the rest of churchdom. There are even bigger problems there, but who cares.
"She actually told my mom to keep her elbows off the table."
MY RESPONSE:
I wonder how they would have responded to the Rough- Tough- Rowdy crew of the Apostles? Jesus took flack too for "sitting and eating with the sinners".
4:02 said
"when there were 7,000 people in PCG"
Now down to ~1000 ...hard to believe
Must be tough on these remnant hardliners, shelling out $40,000 every time he takes off in his personal business jet?!
6:48 said
“ That would be true if this site took on more than cogs in general and Pack, Thiel, Flurry, etc. in specifics. But, it closes its eyes to the rest of churchdom. There are even bigger problems there, but who cares.”
You are like a broken record. How many times have people pointed out to you that this is a blog about Armstrongism, I.e. the Worldwide Church of God and its harlot daughters? Sometimes some SDA and JW stuff get thrown in because we all share a common root in Millerism. This isn’t about other churches and what ever problems you think they have or do have.
Satan sent his false prophets like Gerald Flurry and David Pack AGAINST the Worldwide Church of God people to lie, steal, destroy, and kill. Satan did not send his false prophets to be nice or to do good. Satan is anti-family and totally opposed to turning the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Satan is all about cutting off all contact between parents and their children and trying to leave everyone destitute. Notice the similarity to what Flurry and Pack are actually doing.
"Buhwuhabow...". No. The child molester next door shouldnt be excused just because there are child molesters everywhere.
I dont know that WCG actually succeeded in preserving families themselves, but I dont disagree with your general disgust for what these guys are doing.
9:13 said:
"Anonymous said...
"Buhwuhabow...". No. The child molester next door shouldnt be excused just because there are child molesters everywhere."
HAHA! No one here is talking about child molesters except you. Nice try in deflecting.
But, since you brought it up, why have you never spoken up about the child molesters in the Churches of God and how the church has constantly covered it up? Only when church members decided to ignore the church and file charges did any of the pedophile ministers and members ever get prosecuted.
I agree, 8:04. How could we even comment on what goes on in other churches? Our experience is with Armstrongism.
The dude who asked about us maybe being willing to trash other churches apparently feels that if we were to bring down the other churches to the Armstrong level, then his splinter would not look so bad. But, it doesn't quite work that way.
"The dude who asked about us maybe being willing to trash other churches apparently feels that if we were to bring down the other churches to the Armstrong level, then his splinter would not look so bad. But, it doesn't quite work that way."
That "dude" has some anger issues and most of his comments don't get through. He can't end any comment without some nasty off the wall accusation about the person who wrote the comment he thinks we value his opinion on.
The delete button is so much fun!
I don't have that much faith in what NO2 writes. I don't believe he explains things accurately. He does not make clear that PCG is talking about families that were in the church and left, not families who never were attending. And how absolute is that instruction? The family example given DID invite him over at a convenient time. Don't trust NO2.
Thinking more about this, Gary, as a former member of HWA's church and a student at his college, the only bad things I heard about the other churches (real ones, not cults!) came from those whom we were trained to call "God's ministers".
It was shocking to hear evangelists and pastor ranked ministers thoroughly trash mainstream Christians, their time-honored customs, and their deep and beautiful hymns! So to post bad things as "that Dude" wishes, most of us would probably be just repeating what we heard in the past from the people who told us that only they, were God's ministers.
If this guy really wants to hear bad things about the other churches, why insist that we here lower ourselves, when all he's got to do is to go to ACOG sabbath services and his wish will be fulfilled!
Trashing Christians is yet another Armstrong shibboleth that it's vital to recognize. If we don't know we have these shibboleths, how would we even begin to purify ourselves of them?
Anon 309
Trust the guy with the private jet and Irish folk dancing grandchildren. Good to know if Gerry needs his boots polished he’ll have you there to lick them clean.
The criticisms on this site of the wcg and splinter groups and the criticism of the leaders of these splinter groups and their chief (HWA) is necessary. Yes, even the criticism of the individual leaders is necessary. Armstrong and many of these splinter leaders are considered by their members as God's direct instrument and conduit to their true Church.
The belief of cog members is that if Armstrong or their splinter leader says something it is Truth. Reason alone often cannot dissuade someone from a belief in the claimed divine revelation of those they believe to be modern day apostles. So, evidence often must be given to make the member question the apostleship or credibility of the leader himself. And, yes, sometimes that can at first appear small or mean spirited. But, for many members, without this blow to the credibility of these so-called apostles or spiritual leaders, almost nothing is too outrageous for them to accept. We see that daily with David Pack.
And PCG keeps pushing the narrative that Trump will return to office for one more term. An old testament historic event is claimed to be a prophecy to this effect. This is very much like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. The only explanation in my view is that Gerald wants to give his grandkids a few more years to grow up before the tribulation.
It's also his mini-me HWA-1975 prophesy. He's gotta copy The Boss.
Well, I hope our Millerite paradigm is correct. You know, the one that states that any time a leader of a Millerite cult predicts a specific event, based on their understanding of prophecy, we're safe and protected from that event, because it's guaranteed to fail!
An angry, vindictive, authoritarian POTUS would be very apocalyptic, and not at all what Gerald envisions. What Gerald really needs for his grandkids is someone who unites and stabilizes. If such a person is waiting in the wings, they have yet to make their presence known. Why we reverted back to Baby Boomers after transitioning to President Obama's generation has been a continuing mystery to me.
And if Trump doesnt manage to win the next election, they can just keep resetting the prediction for another four years away! :)
There is no difference between the JW’s shunning policy and the PCG’s
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