Armstrongism has always loved dwelling on the minor points in the church, trying to make those stupid things official church teachings, instead of ever following the one they claim to be following. Jesus would have said no to every single stupid point made below by Philadelphia Church of God ministers. This kind of nonsense isn't limited to PCG, though. Armstrongism is filled with fools like this who lay heavy burdens on their members and nine times out of ten never practice this at home. The elite in the COG have always done what they want while making the lives of members miserable.
From Exit and Support Network:
Unbiblical, Pharisaical Practices in PCG:
May 22, 2025
Referring to the previous letter that characterized the teachings of the PCG as being pharisaical, I concur. I was a member for a significant portion of my adult life and often found myself observing unbiblical, Pharisaical practices that didn’t even raise an eyebrow among members.
For example, one minister encouraged us to not brush our teeth or use mouthwash during fasting so as not to provide any “relief” to our bodies.
Members were increasingly encouraged not to do any cooking or meal prep on the Sabbath, but would be penalized or questioned if they didn’t make the multi-hour drive to and from distant meeting places (some families in our area were driving between two and four hours to services).
If a member was ever marked and disfellowshipped, we were told to pray for them, but in reality most people made their own judgement that departure from the church meant the individual was going into the tribulation and losing their eternal life (talk about love growing cold…).
We were directed to spend such a significant amount of time reading church literature that it superseded what might have been spent studying the Bible itself.
Then there were hypocritical rules that distinguished between the lay members and the elites, often being more permissive for ministers or leading headquarter employees and their children, than everyone else. Think medical treatments and corrective surgeries.
They castrated the decision-making ability of men as head of their family, taking away their divine appointment as head of their households. The church rendered decisions on everything from minutia like spending to where a family should live.
Since this attitude is no different than in Christ’s day, it’s likely 10 times worse today than it was 15 years ago. –Former PCG member
4 comments:
Even it any of these ACOGs were "God's True Church", this is an example of how the leaders present it to the members in a way that makes it totally repugnant.
Think for a minute. What if God had made sexual intercourse extremely painful? What if he had made all food taste like persimmons fruit before it is ripe?
Welcome to Armstrongism, where your spiritual guides are your captors and oppressors, and who modify what a loving God intended for you into perennial pain, even as they constantly harp on the totally avoidable attitudes which they themselves trigger within you!
Luke 18:8 "..However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
I believe the faith refered to here is confidence in God's way. In the ACOGs, the answer is no. Rather the church leadership believes in bully morality. And if things don't work out (surprise, surprise), they just double down with the same bull. So it ends up in members being treated like rightless children, with the ministers taking on the role of a doting daddy.
I once mentioned to my first minister that another minister had baptized me. He had a anxiety attack, stuttering and stumbling over his words, insisting that he was in fact the one who had baptized me. So the minister who baptises you is the one who owns you.
Btw, all psychopaths secretly believe that they own other people's lives.
There's a parallel to this in American history! Slave owners, who were only concerned with obedience, undermined the families of their slaves by whipping the males, selling off family members separately, and generally keeping the slaves ignorant. I'm not trying to equate the suffering of PCG, RCG, or other splinter members with the exponentially worse plight of American slaves, but there is enough similarity in principle to draw a parallel. And, I would imagine that for Black ACOG members, it is like being Black twice. (a saying I once heard BB King use)
Articles like this make me so FURIOUS! I remember that in my last days in WCG I used to chew sugar free gum on fast days. After herbie said makeup was a sin again in 1982, I went home and studied the scriptures he referenced myself and concluded that he was WRONG. After that I IGNORED stupid "doctrines," such as "You can only date someone of the same 'baptismal status' (My god, where is THAT in the Bible?????) When my wife and I bought our first house I knew that during Third Tithe (their SLUSH FUND!!!!) Year we would end up losing our house. I did my own study on that, too, and never sent another penny in "Third Tithe." By 1982 I didn't believe I had to accept everything that came from the pulpit if it didn't make sense, and I didn't. Probably the STUPIDEST and most BLASPHEMOUS thing I ever heard from a pulpit was, in "explaining" the failure of herbie's 1972/1975 prophesies, the speaker said, "I know, the Bible says that no man knows when Jesus is returning. But I think what happened was that mr armstrong FIGURED IT OUT, and God had to CHANGE IT." Even then, in the mid 80s, when I was still fairly loyal, my reaction was WTF???????? I praise God FREQUENTLY for rescuing me from that heresy and never letting my son's mind be poisoned by it.
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