Minister title? Yours for the taking. Local elder throne? Reserved. And if your genealogy app pings "Premium British Israelite Edition"? Jackpot, baby. The rest of you plebs? Barely footnotes in God's guest list. Second-string scrubs at best, or—my personal favorite—fodder for the preacher's lazy roast sessions, because nothing screams "Christian charity" like publicly dunking on someone's "inferior" heritage from the safety of a pulpit.
Now, when the mother church finally kamikaze'd into a flaming dumpster fire of embezzlement, abuse cover-ups, doctrinal flip-flops, and enough legal bills to bankrupt a small deity—you'd assume the splinter-group saviors would emerge from the rubble, dust off their halos, and mutter, "Gee, perhaps we shouldn't perpetuate Herbert's beauty pageant-slash-caste system that's been alienating the faithful since forever." Oh, how quaintly optimistic. No, no, no—these gems were apparently timeless treasures. Herbert didn't just tolerate them; he probably high-fived the angels over them. Flawless. Inspired. Straight from the Mount Sinai remix album.
And that's how we wind up, with all the inevitability of a bad sequel, at the crowning glory that is the Philadelphia Church of God—still peddling the same elitist drivel like it's fresh manna. Gatekeeping grace by jawline symmetry, your weight, auditing your ancestry like it's a tax return, and feigning shock when the "lesser" folks don't stick around for the privilege of being sidelined. Still convinced their rigged hierarchy is "God's perfect plan," even as it crumbles under the weight of its own absurdity. The bar isn't just low; they've jackhammered through the earth's crust and are mining sarcasm in the mantle.
Truly a testament to spiritual stagnation. The more it reeks of the past, the more these luminaries insist it's progress. Keep polishing that tarnished legacy, champs. It's not a cult of personality—oh wait, yes it is. Bless your deluded little souls, every last one.
The following letter was up on Exit and Support Network, and it should come as no surprise to see Cal Culpepper and Wayne Turgeon's names being used as the abusers.:
Told They Weren’t HQ Material and Didn’t Fit the Image of the PCG:
January 27, 2026
During the F.O.T. in Tucson I met a lady from Washington state. She told me she wanted to move near HQ in Edmond OK. Her job was willing to let her transfer and when she talked to her local minister about the move, he said it would be alright with him if she could get permission for the move from the HQ minister who was Wayne Turgeon.
When she asked Turgeon for permission for the move, he told her that she “did not meet the image the church was trying to project.” She was a very heavy lady and she thought it was because of her weight. What else could it have been?
Then the other day I was talking to a former member that had been put out of the PCG some years ago. She had attended the Cinci-Dayton congregation and also wanted to move to Edmond. She was a school teacher and thought she might be considered as a teacher for the PCG’s school. The minister she had to talk to Cal Culpepper.
Culpepper told her that she “was not headquarters material” and he would not approve the move. This was told to her over the phone while she was driving and she had it on speaker where 2 other members heard it.
Seems like PCG is all about projecting an image. To who? The local community? The audience at Armstrong Auditorium events? –Former member of PCG
27 comments:
I know BOTH ladies mentioned in the letter. They told me the same thing. The first lady broke down crying when Turgen told her that. You should post the Exit Support letter about the "Field Mice".
Well so much for equality inclusion and diversity lol. I am ‘Premium’ Ashkenazi Jew here. Decidedly European looking. Non Jewish name thanks to foster father, speak some Hebrew and can read and write it ok, at least with the nikud or vowels showing. Lived in Israel for a number of years, with family there, so I could be considered a ‘First Class’ member and a prime candidate for an Edmond move. My goodness I’d rather live on the moon than dwell anywhere close to this toxic group. And I don’t doubt if these two ladies were extremely wealthy and very generous tithe givers, they would be welcomed with open arms lol.
Definitely a “Cult” of personality at HQ. In every sector of PCG life. Some racially ambiguous people require DNA for dancing, for dating and marriage to prove their whiteness percentage. There are exceptions if you are a HQ suck up. They look down on overweight people, the afflicted, handicapped and others racially not white- and in dating situations, many overweight women and the above mentioned stand on the sidelines in this “Cult”-ure and especially their photo opps. Things must be perceived as pure and perfect to the world. That monster Cal Culpepper and village idiot Wayne Turgeon absolutely have their nerve. Their wives look dowdy, homely and dated with their tumbleweed hairdos. I sincerely wish these sleeping members would wake up to the Hollyweird hypocrisy and USBIP whitewash that reeks from that swamp. More power to whoever wrote this. They hit the nail on the head.
There are YouTube videos on the Nazis having had stylish uniforms. Peoples appearance can has a hypnotic effect on others. So I'm not surprised by the headquarters policy on appearances. Today's 'body positivity' policy being pushed by the media is at odds with nature.
Btw, there's many complaints about the new chubby characters on the recent Star Trek Academy series.
Those ladies should take that rejection as a blessing in disguise from God saving them from who knows what hell on earth.
Who knows what really is meant by a man informing a woman 'not HQ material'. Historically all kinds of sexual sin, abuse, extreme control, toxicity ect has gone on in various religious HQ, in many different denominations, especially towards women.
Too many members are naive. Many have 'disneyfied' Church. Idolized church headquarters.
Jesus told his followers to be "as wise as serpents and harmless as doves."
I remember an incident back in my former hometown where an elderly president of a small bank retired after many years of service and was leaving on a well deserved vacation. As his custom had been for years, he stopped at the bank on his way out of town to pick up a few supplies from the kitchen (coffee cups, napkins, etc.). He was met at the door and told by the new brass that he no longer had that privilege and was asked to leave. He responded by transferring all his money out of the bank, roughly 10 million dollars.
Wouldn't be great if these ladies could send that kind of message to PCG?
"You're not PCG HQ material" is one of the nicest compliments a Christian could receive.
Pathetic. Brainwash people to believe that your cult is "God's True Church", and then tell them they're not good enough. I hope the PCG ministers' necks are being properly measured for their mill stones!
I can't get over them asking a minister if it's ok to move.....
I faced something like that years ago when I lived in Oklahoma and a job opened in Georgia. I took the job, and the WCG pastor (not Gerald Flurry) seemed disappointed that I didn't counsel with him about it first.
We remained on speaking terms, though - even though I didn't see him much after that.
Right? I was reading the post thinking "you have to get a ministurd to APPROVE your relocation??"
"Judge not according to appearance..." - John 7:24
I’m the field mouse who was told, “ you’re not HDQ material.
I won’t bore you with my qualifications but I mention them to show I knew my job and loved it.
At the time of the incident, I had a Montessori school where I was both teacher and administrator. Education majors came to intern in my classroom. I had 33 students with a trained teacher and an aide with over 20 years experience.
I love my students. We had fun.
God rescued me from that Group a couple years later. Suspended by phone at 10 pm.
Almost didn’t make it. I had been new to the congregation. I thought God had abandoned me. I knew I couldn’t live with God. But I’m here now. Rescued the second time. What a loving, merciful God we serve.
Satan's Favorite
Gerald R. Flurry's Philadelphia Church of Fraud was the most deceitful, nasty, and cruel WCG splinter group out there.
The diabolical plan was to use Herbert W. Armstrong's name and photograph and last book called Mystery of the Ages to attract HWA's followers and their wallets and then to brutalize them.
While always pretending to be HWA's true (though self-appointed) successor who was holding fast to everything that HWA had taught, Gerald Flurry actually edited, changed, warped, mangled, and totally perverted HWA's writings and teachings.
Satan and his favorite false prophet Gerald Flurry want to do evil to people in the name of HWA and in the name of God. They want people to think that God hates them if they get put out of the PCG by the fake “ministers” in it, who get their thrills pretending that they have the power to send people to the lake of fire and eternal death just for the fun of it.
There are many very good reasons why the PCG has been in continual decline for the past 25 years.
You said you were put out over the phone. Cultpecker didn't have the nerve to do it to your face. He is a coward. Did you ever spend time talking to him in person? Did he roll his eyes back into his head and look at you with just the whites of his eyes? He did that to me, TWICE, and at least one other member I talked to. Very upsetting. I had never seen that before. I told Mr. Marvin Campbell about it, he said, "it was a sign of demon possession". TRUE STORY!
While I was moving towards my decision to leave the WCG as we entered the time of the Great Disappointment of 1972-75, I realized that as members, we had voluntarily accepted an entire additional (unnecessary) layer of authority over our lives. Twenty years later, as I began to learn about the then emerging splinters, I wondered what could possibly draw people to the splinter leaders who were well-known to be abusive, toxic authoritarians. Submitting to them involves a whole different subset of psychology. The good news is that many people eventually outgrow it. They're finally ready for the next stage, even the ministers realize this and can't deal, so they push them away.
BB
We bought a new car some years ago. I got the side eye from a minister when he saw it. I later learned that it was expected that the members council with a minister before making large purchases. Even if I had known that I wouldn't have done it. We handle our own finances.
I had a friend who would do that involuntarily when he was thinking... his eyes would roll back and his eyelids would flutter. I guess you could classify it as a tic.
I heard some stories like that from the old WCG. Never quite understood that nonsense.
Ha ha 4:59 It can be even worse that that!! I had a baby and upon bringing my newborn to church a Deaconess approached me with the haughty remark: 'We are soooo shocked you had a baby, was IT planned or was IT a mistake?!'
She also repeated the question several times until she got an answer.
I kid not. I had not discussed life plans with THEM.
Some people feel secure depending on others for life decisions. They are comfortable in a group that tells them what to wear, think, where to go to school, who to marry, etc. They let others take responsibility for their decisions are willing to give up their independence in the process. Think of the Amish, or the military or even corporations who have unspoken rules regarding behavior, dress, etc. If you worked for IBM you wore white shirts, wing tip shoes, short hair, etc. I visited a Mormon church one Sunday and noticed all the men wore black suits and white shirts and the atmosphere was very much like the WCG 1970's. As in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, "We must all think alike."
The two ladies who were rejected for employment with PCG should be grateful they were spared that. PCG HQ is not a godly place, so it seems, especially if they are telling people where they can or cannot live, regardless of who they work for.
459, good point. The one I remember was an old farmer from a neighboring congregation who (like the ladies) thought he wanted to move to headquarters. So he sold his farm and bought a house on Minister's row, Waverly Drive. On his first Sabbath in church he was told he couldn't do that! Such arrogance.
...was Ms. Bareiro originally "H.Q. material", before she wasn't?
Mormons? How's 'bout when WCG had an "unspoken rule" for the men to carry a briefcase (empty or full), & to wear the puffed, squared shoulder pads tailored into the standard-ized sportcoat/blazer/suits?
They don’t want “field mice” living amongst the Elite, when they are in fact the biggest RATS scurrying around on that compound.
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