Eric's Life in the Worldwide Church of God and His Journey Out

EXCLUSIVE: UPDATED Former Church of God Member Kills Pastor of Another COG, Then Is Shot and Killed By Police

Edward Acquisto (today)

Another disturbed Church of God member goes on a rampage and kills another man in a cemetery and then is shot and killed by the police.

Edward Acquisto, a member from the Providence, Rhode Island congregations, shot and killed John Cloud a member from the Boston congregation. Whether or not these two men were still in COG congregations to this date is unknown, at least from the source that sent me this information.  He was apparently part of the congregation in 1995 after getting out of prison.

John Cloud, pastor of Called Out of God, lived in Kingston, a suburb of Boston, but for many years hosted God’s three annual festivals in Newport, Rhode Island, owing to the area’s Christian history. He was there on June 13 this year, as the congregation observes Pentecost on a Monday.  Church of God News

This is not Acquisto's first brush with the law:

This is the third violent death tied to Acquisto, who had received a life sentence in the 1979 rape of an ex-girlfriend in her Woonsocket apartment.

In 1978, Acquisto beat to death John Teja, a bartender in Woonsocket. He was sentenced to serve 10 years concurrent to the life sentence in the rape case.

In 1977, Acquisto was charged with attempted murder after Donald H. Shepherd was found unconscious in a pool of blood in Woonsocket. Charges were dismissed for lack of a speedy trial. After 12 years in a coma, Shepherd died of his injuries.

The Rhode Island parole board refused to release Acquisto more than a half dozen times, noting often the seriousness of the crime and parole guidelines for lifers. But in 1995 the board released him to electronic monitoring.

At least twice he had his parole revoked, once for drinking and a second time, in 1998, for shoplifting. He served an additional five years before he was released in May 2003. Acquisto had heart surgery while in prison.

Rhode Island man, 80, kills 81-year-old man in cemetery before he is gunned down by cops following car chase

See another story here: 

(late 1980's)

TIVERTON, R.I. – An 81-year-old Kingston, Mass., man was shot to death in a Rhode Island cemetery Monday night by an 80-year-old man who died an hour later in a shootout with police. 

Police said John Cloud, 81, was shot and killed in the Pocasset Hill Cemetery in Tiverton, R.I., by Edward Acquisto, 80, of Tiverton. Fall River and Tiverton police officers fatally shot Acquisto after he fired at them, police said.

Police said Acquisto and Cloud met at about 6:30 p.m. in the cemetery, where Acquisto had been seen reading a Bible in the past.   81-year-old Kingston man shot to death at R.I. cemetery

New York Daily News

Authorities say 80-year-old Edward Acquisto of Tiverton shot and killed 81-year-old John Cloud of Kingston, Massachusetts, at the Pocasset Hill Cemetery in Tiverton about 6:50 p.m. Monday. 

People who were in the cemetery at the time called 911. 

"They were visiting loved ones' grave sites and heard the commotion, heard the gunshots and called police via 911 calls," said Chief Thomas Blakey of the Tiverton Police Department. 

While a motive for the killing is still unclear, police said it was a prearranged meeting between Acquisto and Cloud. 

Tiverton man shot by police served time for manslaughter, sex assault

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PCG Lays Down the Law on Congregational Hymns

from Twitter

From a PCG source:

In the PCG a new policy has been implemented which has changed the way hymns are sung during Sabbath services.

As many PCG congregations are small and typically don’t have piano players, during Sabbath services hymns were sung accompanied by pre-recorded piano-only versions of the WCG hymnal, either in MP3 or CD format.  Effectively this practice gave small congregations something to sing along to, and although not ideal, it was a fairly effective way for small groups to be able to participate and contribute meaningfully during their Sabbath services.  Whether or not you like the COG hymnal, this arrangement meant local groups could have their own song service.  Song leaders could lead the members and the people singing could hear their own voices.   In other words, each Sabbath there could be some semblance of a song service even in a small group of only a few people.

For some inexplicable reason this situation was recently deemed unsuitable by PCG musical director Ryan Malone, who set about re-recording the entire WCG hymnal using a full-blown choir.  These recording were then sent to all congregations worldwide with strict instructions for them to be used in place of the piano-only versions.

For those who don’t know Ryan Malone is the individual who has singlehandedly taken over, and together with his wife Paula, come to dominate every aspect of music in the PCG.  Whether it’s the spectacular failure of Ryan’s embarrassing church-financed musicals, his tedious and repetitious compositions, or his and his wife’s ubiquitous presence in the musical life of the church, everything and anything musical in the PCG has to be controlled, sanctioned and dominated by him.

The sad irony here is that the man who supposedly is the PCG’s musical director, ostensibly an individual tasked with the development and growth of music in the church has allowed his obsessive control over all things musical get to the point where he has now destroyed the member’s sole opportunity to contribute musically and handed it over to and a handful of pre-recorded PCG HQ elites, featuring of course the stupefying voice of his wife Paula. 

A very poor aspect of these choir recordings is that at the end of each verse the singers sustain the notes far too long which effects the timing into the next verse and makes them even more difficult to sing along to.  However, the worst aspect of all is that although the recordings are of a full male-female choir, each song is mixed in such a way that Paula Malone’s voice literally stands out and dominates over all the others.  If you have heard Paula Malone sing you will know why this is bad.

So now not only do PCG field members have to witness the exclusivity and self-indulgence of headquarters from afar, due to this musical micromanagement they are now no longer able to even participate meaningfully in their own song services.

What this all means is that each weekend a handful of ageing PCG members have to stand hymnals in hand and be drowned out by what sounds like a mutation of the Stepford Wives and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

A sad spectacle indeed…