A woman who was a member of Gerald Flurry's personalty cult, the Philadelphia Church of God, relates what she had her family experience in her 22 year membership in the PCG.
She writes what everyone who has been part of Armstrongism has experienced.
When you first come in, it looks so good--lots of friends, laws to
live by that seem to promise happiness. All is well--until they think
you didn't do something they said to do. Then you're constantly watched
as they can't take the chance of you thinking for yourself and breaking
rank. Just the smallest thing is suspicious. Then comes the threats. You
can't be part of this if you don't follow suit. They begin to instill
fear. After that you're hooked. But you keep going on and on because all
your friends are there, all your money goes there, and your children
are in there.
They have cut you off from the world ever so gradually and
replaced everything and everybody with them only. The constant fear of
being put out and not "making it into God's Kingdom" keeps you from
leaving. You will do anything. Your hope of a lifeline to someone on
the outside, to get out, is gone. You have alienated everyone in your
family that could help you to get out. You're constantly talking about
prophecies and that "we alone" are called and going to the "place of
safety" and that no one understands but us in the "true church." It
really turns others off. Giving the Reigns of Our Life Over to Someone Else
Fear is the only way the leaders of all the Armstrongite splinter groups stay in power. By threatening a member with the lake of fire and eternal damnation for going against them, it scares people enough to keep them submissive and weak.
Cultwatch says this about fear:
Cult leadership is feared. To disagree
with leadership is the same as disagreeing with God. The cult leaders
will claim to have direct authority from God to control almost all
aspects of your life. If the cult is not a religious group then
questioning the leaders or program will still be seen as a sign of
rebellion and stupidity.
Guilt will be
used to control you. Maybe the reason you’re not making money is because
you’re not “with the programme”. Maybe the reason you’re not able to
convert new recruits is because “your heart is prideful and full of
sin”. It could never be that the programme isn’t working, or those new
recruits have valid reasons for not joining. It’s always your fault, you
are always wrong, and so you must try harder! You will also be made to
feel very guilty for disobeying any of the cult’s written or unwritten
rules.
Psychology Today writes:
.....pathologically narcissistic. They all have or had an over-abundant
belief that they were special, that they and they alone had the answers
to problems, and that they had to be revered. They demanded perfect
loyalty from followers, they overvalued themselves and devalued those
around them, they were intolerant of criticism, and above all they did
not like being questioned or challenged. And yet, in spite of these less
than charming traits, they had no trouble attracting those who were
willing to overlook these features.
"Pathologically narcissistic" is a great description of the leadership of almost all the Church of God's. One needs to look no further than David C Pack and Gerald Flurry to see these traits blatantly obvious.
On a Facebook page recently, a person wrote that they witnessed a scene with David C Pack that left them appalled. It seems a group of young men and women were standing around waiting for Dave to arrive. When he did, the guys rushed to see who got to open Dave's car door first as they shoved the women aside.
Demanding extreme loyalty is the only way these men stay in power.
