COGaWA Swiftly Responds To Accusations Made by "Sarah Luther"

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Division of Consumer Services

Re: Complaint From Sarah A. Luther Against
Church of God, a Worldwide Association, Inc.

Dear (name withheld):

Please be advised that this office represents Church of God, a Worldwide Association, Inc. (“Church”;), a Florida not-for-profit corporation. This communication is offered in response to a January 24 complaint against the Church by an individual who goes by the name “Sarah Luther” (Sarah). By all appearances, Sarah Luther is a phony name, and the Church is presently unable to ascertain her true identity.

The allegations made in the complaint are outrageous, false, and defamatory. Basically, the individual has made up these allegations out of whole cloth, and this appears to be a simple prank designed to harass innocent people. I realize that you do not often get situations that simple. Often times, agencies such as yours will receive consumer complaints that may have a kernel of truth, or some side of the story that is open to interpretation. This is not one of those complaints. This is complete fabrication designed to harass the Church, damage its reputation, and interfere with its finances. Unfortunately, the individual who filed the complaint has also wasted the time of your agency by causing you to take time away from your legitimate complaints and investigations.

For the past few weeks, Sarah has been emailing various congregants and ministers around the country who either are, or plan to be, associated with the Church. We have become all too familiar with her antics. In each instance, the individual uses her fraudulent name and does not disclose her true identity. Each time this is done, a variation of the same sensational allegation is offered to the recipient (essentially, she is alleging that “officials” with the Church stole donations from another church organization). Even today, my office has received several calls and email messages from pastors from around the country concerning this ongoing harassment.

To be sure, please refer to the data she provided under the “Consumer Information” section of the complaint. The address she provides, 104 E. Main St., St. Petersburg, Florida 32040 is a nonexistent address (a simple Google search will verify). Also, the zip code “32040” is not even in the St. Petersburg area. Rather, the zip code is for a small town named Glen St. Mary, Florida, near Jacksonville. Thus, in addition to fraudulent allegations, “Sarah” has given you a fraudulent name, a fraudulent street address, and a fabricated e-mail address which has been constructed for the purpose of propagating defamation and harassing communications. If we identify this individual, the Church will be vigorously pursuing appropriate civil and criminal remedies in a court of competent jurisdiction.

In our investigation, we talked to the pastor of the Tampa Bay congregation of the Church, Mr. David Treybig. Mr. Treybig was also the pastor of the United Church of God congregations in the Tampa Bay area for approximately ten years prior to December, 2010. He does not know an individual by the name of Sarah Luther. We have no donors or congregants by the name.

I will now turn my attention to the substance of the allegations. The stated product or service involved is “assistance to ministers.” The date of the alleged offense is June 1, 2010, and the amount she gives as being in controversy is $150,000.00. You should note that the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, Inc. was not incorporated until December 23, 2010, which is approximately six months after the date of the offense which she gave. Thus, even based on the fraudulent information she has provided, the allegations are impossible. An entity is not capable of stealing money before it even exists. Further, the first organizational and planning meeting for the Church was on December 20, 2010. This entity was not planned or approved prior to that date. Finally, the figure “$150,000.00” appears to be yet another fabrication. In order to explain these figures and other allegations, Sarah’s true identity will have to be ascertained, and she will need to be interviewed. Unfortunately, she appears to have quite an imagination.

Going further to her allegations, Sarah states the following: “Multiple sources indicate that the Church of God—a Worldwide Association (cogwa) may have diverted a portion of donations sent to their previous employer, United Church of God (UCG) while they received a paycheck from UCG. It is believed these funds were used to finance their new organization, cogwa. Monies illegally set aside constitute one definition of embezzlement or theft by deception. (This complaint was completed at the recommendation of the Florida Attorney General).”

As these allegations are defamatory, it is understandable that this individual fails to identify her “multiple sources.” She also fails to identify the “previous employer” of the Church. She does offer a delusional and speculative (yet unsupported) belief that certain funds were used to finance the Church, and she goes on to offer the unsupported legal opinion that her allegations amount to embezzlement or theft by deception, which are allegations of criminal activity. Of course, the complexion of the latter allegations only raises the stakes for our anonymous complainer, as the inference of criminal activity makes the false statements defamatory per se (damages to the plaintiff are presumed in situations of defamation per se. See, e.g., Fun Spot of Florida, Inc. v. Magical Midway of Cent. Florida, Ltd., 242 F. Supp. 2d 1183 (M.D. Fla. 2002); Thompson v. Orange Lake Country Club, Inc., 224 F. Supp. 2d 1368 (M.D. Fla. 2002).

As a former prosecutor, I occasionally had the distinction of interviewing delusional individuals such as this who would fabricate patently ridiculous allegations and then ask me to act upon them. Thus, it is no surprise that the Florida Attorney General sent this individual elsewhere when she took her fish story to them. However, I would be surprised indeed to learn that they asked her to present her pitch to your agency and waste its resources.

You may be interested in noting that the Church was incorporated as a result of a disagreement with another church organization. Following a good faith disagreement with the leadership of the United Church of God, a contingent of pastors from that church organization voluntarily resigned (December 2010) and took steps to form the Church. However, in the process of doing this, the pastors left everything behind and did nothing to disturb the assets of their former organization. As is typical in church schisms and splits, some congregants chose to remain with the established organization, while others decided to associate with (and support) the newly-formed organization. In the case of the Church, congregants and donors who identify with the mission and cause of the Church have seen fit to voluntarily donate to the Church. It is likely that others, who continue to support the mission and leadership of the established organization, have continued in their financial support of that organization. Obviously, the Church does not sanction any unethical financial dealings. The leadership of the Church is unaware of any situations that would be even remotely consistent with the anonymous individual’s false statements. However, be advised that no such behavior would be tolerated or allowed within the Church. Interestingly, the separation between the United Church of God and the Church has been generally peaceful and respectful. While some individuals have been angry and hostile regarding the separation, these occasions have been isolated. For the most part, a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation has prevailed between the two entities. Nearly all of the ministers and congregants in the two entities continue to have friends and family in both church organizations.

In conclusion, it is regrettable that the Church has been put into a position of having to respond to bizarre, ridiculous, and defamatory allegations such as this. It is also disappointing to realize that the resources of the State government have been wasted in furtherance of what appears to be a prank designed to harass individuals who are simply trying to worship and conduct their lives in peace.

Occasional harassment like this is to be expected by organizations such as the Church. Once a defendant is identified, the Church will be pursuing appropriate legal remedies in order to compel this individual to cease and desist from his or her wrongful acts, among other possible remedies. As you stated in your January 27, 2011 letter that accompanies the fraudulent complaint, it is the province of your office to protect businesses, including not-for-profit organizations, from groundless complaints. The Church respectfully asks that you seek any appropriate remedies against the anonymous individual who entered this groundless complaint. If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to contact me for further discussion.

Very Truly Yours,

Jason M. Ranew
Attorney at Law

"...and the rest of the world are Muggles"

Here is an ex-COG member who is reaching more people in his weekly show than all 700 of the various splinter cults of Armstrongism are doing combined!

Felix ran a blurb on his blog a while back about this guy.  He is in the news again.

Here's the story of Glynn Washington.

Glynn has one of the fastest growing shows on National Public Radio.  Over 100 stations air it weekly and another 160 some are using excerpts from it as 'speicals.'  All of his shows are downloadable on iTunes.

Glynn was a product of Armstrongism and it's myriad of myth's, legends and stories of doom and gloom about the end of the world.

Washington believes his early passion for storytelling has something to do with growing up in an apocalyptic cult called The Worldwide Church of God. As a child, he was told that you had to be ready for the return of Jesus and the end of the world. Washington says that his time with the group meant that he heard many good storytellers explaining why doomsday had been postponed again.


“In a lot of ways, it was maybe good for me because it let me see the world a little bit differently, ” said Washington, who left the cult when he was 19. “You grew up thinking that you are Harry Potter, and the rest of the world are muggles. ”

Glynn had better be careful, diehard legalist Armstrongites consider Harry Potter a tool of  Satan.  They will not like his comment at all!  :-)


Read the article here:  Glynn Washington Takes His Oakland Based Radio Show to the Top

UCG Members Still Not Happy With HQ

UCG is currently in the process of holding a private meeting for it's remaining elders and ministers.  They are determining their future as a church and what their focus will be.  UCG members around the country are tired of not getting answers from UCG brass.  Will they be forthright in their answers after the conference?  COG history says ....no.

A sampling of complaints about the non-information flow follows:

After sunset last sabbath, Aaron Dean headed up a Q&A session after services in our hall @ Big Sandy, TX. We were not very many in number, but some in attendance were there just for the session, not the services, so more arrived for the Q&A than actually attended the worship service. And with few exceptions, most of us there had been to COGWA's services earlier that day, but wanted very much to hear from both sides, so we attended both. I hold Mr. Dean in the highest regard, which made it all the more difficult to listen to how the questions were circumvented time and again. He did say vehemently that admin's stance on the sabbath has not changed, but little else was responded to directly. It was quite frustrating for members to ask questions and get lengthy responses on unrelated topics. The questions went on for hours, so people trickled out throughout the meeting feeling no better educated about what was happening than when we arrived. He kept reassuring us that he just wanted to never discuss this subject again (or in the first place) and that we as members should never have been privy to any of it anyhow. I truly do not know if he was just reluctant to answer questions himself or if he was told to talk a lot but not SAY anything. The meeting left so very much to be desired, unfortunately. Aaron Dean seemed to be genuinely heartbroken about all that's transpired and my heart goes out to him as it does for the brethren in our congregation, but hedging the questions was decidedly poor form.At a time when we desperately need leaders to fulfill living transparently, so to speak, we apparently have none capable or willing to do this. And yes, I did say this at the meeting with Aaron Dean. We were quite disillusioned about the lack of information we were getting, which makes it difficult to sift through this mess we are all in now. And for what it's worth, I believe neither camp is blameless and scrupulously sinless in their words and actions. I have chosen (and admitted freely at the meeting) that I refuse to choose a side as God's people, MY people, are in both organizations as of this moment. My allegiance is not to a certain minister or a certain organization, but to a God and His called out ones--you know, the ones who are currently picking up the tab yet again for divisions wrought by others. I didn't cause this, you didn't cause this, but still here we all are.
One thing I do hear everyone saying no matter where they are attending is that they all want to 'move forward' now. I pray that we can, even if not collectively anymore. But one thing I know to be true is that we will keep having these same issues as long as we keep doing the same things. My earnest prayer is for peace as the dust settles, and to have discerning eyes as we watch the fruits of new and existing administrations unfold.

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we had a Q&A in Tampa last Sabbath also. We don't yet know who our new minister will be, as the entire paid ministry in Florida left UCG. The circuits will probably need to be reconfigured; however, a minister most likely will need to reside in the state--somewhere. The Home Office simply doesn't have the logistical answers to some of the areas yet, and that may also be the case with Big Sandy (I don't know.) Several in our sister church in St. Pete are indeed attending both services for awhile without repercussions from UCG. It's a good question, though, and one that would be answered and acted upon according to, as you indicated, personal conviction. Many are confused and blindsided by this whole thing and need time to sort it out. They refuse to take sides until doing so. I just spoke with a member this past week who is doing exactly that.

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Not being there I can't of course characterize how things went down. But I have been to q&a's held by Mr. Rhodes and I can tell you that we are never going to hear fully, publicly, the side of the council or of United Church of God.

Why? Because they have taken the stance that it is more important to absorb the abuse then it is to publicly criticize the individuals who have left. They want to leave the door open when and if those who have left decide to come back. They would rather be thought of as being in the wrong than to become a lighting rod for controversy.

Criminal Complaint Filed in Florida Accusing COGaWA UPDATED 2/1/11

Update:  2/1/2011

The attorney for COGaWA has established that the complainant, Sarah Luther is a fake name.  

Here is one of his comments:

As a former prosecutor, I occasionally had the distinction of interviewing delusional individuals such as this who would fabricate patently ridiculous allegations and then ask me to act upon them. Thus, it is no surprise that the Florida Attorney General sent this individual elsewhere when she took her fish story to them. However, I would be surprised indeed to learn that they asked her to present her pitch to your agency and waste its resources.

If someone in UCG egged this person on to do this, the crap is going to hit the fan once more for United!
Read his entire letter here:  COGaWA Swiftly Responds To Accusations

Malm writes on his blog today:

A criminal complaint against four people associated with the recent split of the UCG has been filed by concerned private persons with the:  Division of Consumer Services Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.  The complaint has since been assigned to a case manager, Ms. Ben Brown, and assigned Case # 1101-03172.  The complaint alleges embezzlement or theft by deception in possible diverting of money sent to UCG HQ over the past 18 months.

Only 10% of COG Members Have Higher Education?

Interesting comment today about education in the COG's.

2: A sect is a schism in the conventional religious body. A cult is a completely new faith. Religions offer three things, status and self esteem to members (intangible – appealing to the upper classes), health/wealth (tangible – appealing to lower classes), and spiritual (life after death – appealing to everyone). Upper classes are more able to master new cultures (as what happens with a cult) and are more able to acknowledge deficiencies in current religious orginizations. Sects are usually formed promoting more tangable things, which appeal to lower classes. There is a positive correlation between education and cult activities (such as eastern religions in the US), and a negative correlation between education and sect movements (faith healing, born again). In the US the major denominations have high levels of college education, but Protestent sects are not well educated (10% for Worldwide Church of God) while cult groups are the most educated of any category. Christianity, being a cult movement in the first century, would have the greatest appeal to the higher classes of the roman empire.  The Rise of Christianity