Psychopaths in the Church of God

How equipped are you to deal with psychopaths in the church and in society around you?  The answer is that most of us were  not  able to see the psychopaths in our midst. Most people blissfully go through the day ignoring the psychopaths that are around us.  They can be neighbors, bosses, politicians and religious leaders.  Many of these people are prominent in society and lead by all visible appearances, normal productive purpose driven lives.

So just what is a psychopath?  Wikipedia has this to say about psychopaths:

Psychopathy (/saɪˈkɒpəθi/^[1][2]) is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, but often manage to pass themselves off as normal people.

How many ministers in Armstrongism do you know that were empathetic?  We have seen a few examples in the last day were COG ministers were NOT empathetic.  How many COG ministers, evangelists and Apostles do you know that were abusive to others?  How many ministers, evangelists, prophets and Apostles do you know that said one thing in public and did the exact opposite in their private lives?  How many were deceptive? Look at the stalkers, the rapists, the child abusers that have been part of the COG through the decades. The list could go on and on!

Wikipedia also has this to say:

According to Hare, the consensus among researchers in this area is that psychopathy stems from a specific neurological disorder which is present from birth,

Look at the life of Herbert Armstrong and the stories he told in his autobiography.  There was something not quit right about the guy and we were too blind to see it.

Look at Spanky and his sick obsession with sex, his extreme vengeance that he used to destroy ministers and members lives during the time he was over Church Administration.  Look at the  LCG members that were murdered in Spanky's church and his complete lack of remorse for what  he said and how it contributed to the mental break down of one of his members.

Look at Six Pack building his "mini-me" college and Auditorium in the middle of Oklahoma.  Look at the lives he has destroyed in his cult.  His extreme form of being non-empathetic has lead to his extreme decree on making members reject family members.  He does not care if grandmothers are forbidden to see grandchildren, or if parents reject their children.

Look at the leadership of UCG and COGWA and the  men who constantly battle each other in their power trips.  Look at the egos of these men.  Look at the total lack of empathy they have towards the brethren.  Their concern was first and foremost maintaining a power structure where they all have their jobs, cars, and the prestige of their ministerial positions.

I would now like to direct you to our own Douglas Becker and information he has about these people in our midst.  Douglas has done some great work on this topic.  This is not something new to him that he has been spurred to do in the last month or so.  This has been something he has been working on and studying for many years now.  Check out his link here on Depraved Indifference. 

Douglas has tied together an extreme belief/doctrine in the Churches of God and how it creates despotic behavior in its leaders.

British Israelism confers upon the leadership of a cult group a pattern of governance which limits culpability for abuse.

 Leaders of British Israelism are usually despots who have no accountability for their actions: While they rule as if they were absolute monarchs of the past glory of the British Empire with no regard for the rights of others, cult leaders of British Israelism establish laws and rules which are imposed on those below them in an hierarchical structure -- laws and rules which do not necessarily apply to the leader themselves. For example, some forms of British Israelism organizations have strict Sabbath keeping as a tenet of their cult culture, but the leader may find it convenient to go out dancing and other pleasures on the Sabbath because they are special in their own minds. The same could be said where the British Israelism has taken faith healing as an absolute unassailable tenet of doctrine and prohibit members using medical doctors for treatment of life threatening diseases, while the "Apostle" or other designation of the leader makes him immune to following his own doctrines based on his opinions because he is the absolute monarch of his British Israelism Empire. He will then go and get the best medical treatment for his own diseases and debilities because he deserves the best and it is God's Will for him to do so, to preserve the Empire at all costs.

As a result, members of British Israelism may die or live terrible lives, while the leaders live a posh existence of luxury.

Watch this great video and see how many characteristics you can pick out in the Churches of God.  You will be shocked at what you see.  The video is about 38 minutes long and is well worth viewing.

Hat's off to Douglas!  Keep up the good work!

The Prophet Who Is Ticked He Is Being Ignored!!!!!

No, I am not talking about Prophet Thiel, Armstrongism's greatest prophetic visionary. I am not even talking about a drunken prophet in Oklahoma or Weinerdude Weinland.  I am referring to God's most important messenger to the remnant COG in this quickening end times.  I am referring to Apostle Malm.

He whines:

I have worked night and day for over four years to warn of the impending events that will set the stage for the advent of the abomination and the tribulation. At the same time I have warned of the apostasy and trends in the COGs and presented much doctrine and much new truth solidly based on the scriptures. I have been most zealous for the Sabbath and ALL the commandments of my Father and your Father. Yet during that time I have been called everything from a false prophet to a liar and a  fool.

Brethren I live in poverty and have not done this for reward, but out of love for my God and my brethren.
It is long past time to wake up and prepare ourselves;  for the Bridegroom cometh!  Yes, the correction of the lax and lukewarm is at our very door.  Very soon now you will see these things beginning; the Bridegroom is knocking, and saying “open to me, turn to me my people”!

A UCG Funeral Story

The following  was too important to leave isolated in the comments section. 

From the comments section of the Did WCG Ministers Refuse Funerals for Stillborn Children?

 

My Mother's Funeral

As sad as this story is, I have an equally mind-boggling account of COG cruelty and absurdity.

After 20 years out of WCG, my wife and I joined a small UCG congregation in a foreign country in 2009 where we had been doing church-raising.

From my former WCG responsibilities and the fact that I had been a Wesleyan pastor and missionary in the interim, I rose quickly to song-leading and sermonettes within the first year. The regional pastor's favor shown to me didn't please the local elder.

When my 82-year-old alzheimers mother, who we had taken care of for six years, died in 2010, I informed the local elder that one of the local deacons who had visited my mother and I would perform the funeral ceremonies as per my mother's long-time wishes. This was perfectly in keeping with the UCG Ministerial manual.

With this the local elder saw his chance to remove the 'thorn' from his flesh. In the midst of our handling the grief, he concocted a desperate story about my disrespecting his authority to the regional pastor.

Even though half of the church saw and heard us discussing my plans at the side of my mother's casket at the funeral home, he told the pastor that I had ignored him and I don't know what else.

Two days later, I heard there was a problem and I called the pastor to find out what. He had talked to the elder and was ticked saying that I had usurped the UCG government and that he the pastor should be handling the funeral.

When I had calmly explained the situation to him, he said that neither the deacon, nor the other leaders, nor the brethren would be able to participate in the funeral of my mother.

The pastor told me, directly in front of where my mother was laying, that now that I had no choice I should let him do the service. I controlled myself and told him that what he was doing was extremely disrespectful and that he had better leave the room as soon as possible.

When I stood he saw my face and left quickly and somewhat shaken. But as he was exiting the door, he told me he would not be able to attend the funeral service since he had 'business' back in his province the next day.

The brethren said that he came to services and told the leaders not to participate in the funeral, but decided to allow the people to attend if they wished.

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There is much more and much worse which transpired over the next few days, weeks and months, as my family performed the services and buried my mother, unsupported by the shell-shocked brethren, and 'under a cloud' of doubled grief, and then as I appealed my way up the wicked chain of UCG command.

I would love to tell you the names, locales, and details of this unprecedented debacle, but my principles will not permit retribution on such sad and depraved COG hirelings.

Fortunately, I was already emotionally prepared, because of the long-time nature of dealing with an alzheimers parent, and because of the intensely spiritual parting with my dear mother after such a close shared experience.

But when I look back at what they did, it is like a surreal dream without parallel. I actually feel worse for them than I did for myself.

The pastor by the way lost his regional position and all those wonderful tithes when he jumped the UCG ship for COGWA and wound up with just part of his home congregation, most of whom he already has to support financially. I think he may have lost his UCG retirement program also.

As my mother of happy memory often reminded me, ‘What goes around, comes around.’ 

Pining For A New Moon

A small minority of COG members have moved into new noon observance of the last several decades.  To me this is just further delving further into legalistic rules and regulations that ultimately have no meaning whatsoever to a Christian's walk. Plus, the 'new moons' worship is tied directly into pagan worship that was centered around new moons well before the Israelites left Egypt.  Like the spring and fall harvest festivals, the new moons were already a part of the ancient cultures.  Each just 'rebranded' the observances according to their cultural traditions. With all of them, and with Malm, the focus is as usual upon something physical.  Armstrongism has attached great significance to the physical while ignoring or devaluing the mystical and spiritual essences of belief.

Even Armstrongism's biggest apologist site Bible Study.org says Christians are not supposed to be observing New Moons.  Of course Apostle Malm would call these people agents of Satan for saying so.

Apostle Malm went to great lenghts yesterday in determining IF the New Moon was actually seen.  If these witnesses had not been able to see it then Malm was not going to observe it.

I accept that any sighting between the International Date Line and Jerusalem would mean that the moon would be visible at Jerusalem.

I will also say [this was not applicable this month]  that the New Moon can be seen in the morning before sun rise on those occasions where the moon sets before the sun in the evening.  If the New Moon IS seen in the early morning before sun rise,; the New Moon day would begin at sunset the coming evening because we cannot begin a day in its middle.

Please remember that one does not have to be in the faith to observe the moon as this requires no biblical understanding, just good eye sight.

Pakistan:

Seen: Sultan Alam (MCW member) from Karachi reported: Today (Tuesday 30th August 2011), our  observers sighted the moon and central official moon sighting committee of Pakistan also received many positive reports hence it has been announced officially that Wednesday 31st August 2011 is 1st Shawwal (Eid-ul-fitr) 1432 in Pakistan. Nearly whole Pakistan was cloudy or hazy.

• Kuwait:

  Seen: Hussain Khushaish (MCW member) from Kuwait reported: In Kuwait at Kabad desert on Tuesday August 30, 2011 the crescent was seen by 11 people with us which means that it was very difficult to be seen by naked eyes

• Bangladesh:

  Seen: Engr. Azizul Huq (MCW member) from Dhaka reported: The crescent moon was seen in many places of Bangladesh

• Lebanon:

  Seen: Dr. Hadi Jaafar (MCW member) reported: This evening I was able to see the moon of the month of Shawwal here in Tyr, Lebanon. I started scanning the partly cloudy western horizon with my 7*50 pair of binoculars at about 7:15 PM. I was able to see the moon very briefly at about 7:25 local time. I was barely able to see it with the “naked eye” ( I wear eye glasses) for a couple of seconds before it disappeared behind the clouds. The lighted portion was extremely thin, with crescent horns pointing between 1 and 5 o’clock. The moon was located at about 258 degrees magnetic azimuth ( as the compass of the binoculars pointed) and it was low at the horizon.

  
  
  

Did WCG Ministers Refuse Funerals For Stillborn Children?

Erin Fogarty Owen via Associated Press

 In this photo provided by the Owen family, Rob Owen holds his stillborn daughter Clare Elizabeth Owen, March 7, 2008, at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Md. This photo was taken by the mother, Erin Fogarty Owen, from her hospital bed. 

On the Shining Light blog today there was a comment in regards to "the spirit in man" whether it was received at conception or at birth.

One man wrote in and said this:

I know this for sure from personal experience. Our baby was stillborn in 1982. The WCG minister declined to take any sort of funeral, as he was adamant that our child would never be resurrected. This is no doubt why this is a subject very close to my heart.

Was this a WCG policy?  I have never heard of this happening before.  It would not surprise me if it did though.  I also could almost guarantee you that that minister is now part of LCG or PCG!

We did have one minister in Pasadena (Imperial Gym) who told a young woman who had gotten pregnant that her "bastard child would never make  it into the Kingdom of God."  The young girl was devastated.  He did not care and laughed about it with others.  He also was the same guy who told his congregation that they were to turn in fellow church members if you knew they were reading "dissident" literature.

When I hear stories such as this it makes my blood boil!  What kind of deviate men are these guys?  They have no right being ministers.  How many more lives will be destroyed by these degenerates before the membership says "enough is enough!"