Former PCG Member Almost Financially Free After Leaving Church

The Great Church of God Lie

For most people who exit the Church of God one of the biggest blessings is not having to tithe on your income to debased false prophets.  Having 30-40% of your income going into the pockets of these spiritual manipulators is financially draining and has ruined many church members lives.

Here is a Philadelphia Church of God member who is almost debt free after leaving the PCG.

Almost Financially Free After Exiting PCG:

September 22, 2017

Ever since I left PCG I am much better off financially. They would say pay your 1st, 2nd and every 3rd year your 3rd tithe and of course the tithe of the tithe before FOT. I was always struggling for money and the "church" was like, well, if you are struggling you are not obeying the tithing law and need to do more. I was at one point considering bankruptcy until I finally left. Now, I am doing much better financially. I have paid down a substantial amount of debt and actually have money in my bank account, unlike when I had to send my tithe money and barely had 2 cents left in the bank. I am getting financially debt free and if I was still paying all those tithes I would likely still be struggling all the time. I could never afford a to buy a home and always rented in part because the PCG seem to frown upon people buying houses due to the "end of days" and all and money should be put towards God's Work and not physical things. Now, I actually believe in a few short months I will be able to buy a home. --Former PCG member  Letters from those impacted by PCG

See Glynn Washington Live!

Here is your chance to see Glynn Washington live during his Snap Judgement tour.  Glynn is a former  Worldwide Church of God member who shares stories about what life was like growing up in the church.

Tampa newspapers are playing up the angle of his return as a young man compared to the time he was there for the Feast of Tabernacles:

Glynn Washington is the host, creator, and executive producer of the public radio show, Snap Judgement. BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer Glynn Washington’s last visit to Tampa was more than 30 years ago, as a young member of an eccentric religious cult. Then known as the Worldwide Church of God, the Christian group…  Florida Sentinal 

Snap Judgement

"Many NPR hosts come from NPR-ish families. Not Washington. “I grew up in a cult,” he told me. His parents were members of the Worldwide Church of God, a sect founded by Herbert W. Armstrong, an apocalyptic radio evangelist based in Pasadena. Washington got out—a story he tells with an escapee’s pride—and went on to the University of Michigan and its law school. He studied in Japan, then worked for the State Department, then ended up directing a program at the University of California at Berkeley. Some of the best Snap Judgment segments are drawn from his own life, and you get the feeling he could carry several episodes a year by himself.

“Losing My Religion,” a 2012 episode, features five stories. Two are Washington’s own (including the tale of an interracial teen romance that incurred his preacher’s wrath); one is the story of an ex-nun; another recounts a road trip the author Ingrid Ricks took with her dad; and the fifth is a profile of the South African peace activist Robert V. Taylor, who found that his religion conflicted with his homosexuality. Behind the stories are hundreds of separate sound clips, from a suitcase zipper to a police siren to a girl’s nighttime prayers. Not to mention dozens of musical excerpts: De La Soul, Willie Nelson, Aarktica."  NPR's Great Black Hope 

Restored Church of God: Wife Has Most Painful Year Of Her 24 Year Marriage After Husband Joins Dave's Cult

Dave Pack's mental breakdown as he continues to ignore the financial burden he has placed on his follower's with the "all things in common" teaching. Dave has absolutely no concern over what happens to members lives, marriages and relationships.  All that matters is that he gets his money.  His "all things in common" is one of the sickest lies that splinter cult leaders have come up with.  Each one has their own unique lies, from Gerald Flurry to Bob Thiel, but Dave has turned out to be the most despicable when it comes to money.

Dave Pack Says Members Either Pay Common or They Have No Salvation:

September 27, 2017 

I am writing this so that maybe it might help another person and tell how this is the way I have been affected by the Restored Church of God and Pack's doctrine of Common. My husband joined last year. It has been the most painful year in the 24 years we have been married. We were married in WWCG in 1993. I think I remember the words, "What God has joined, let no man put asunder" and two become one in the eyes of God. I don't think I am the only one who has had these words spoken in a wedding. My husband has totally bought into the "common" doctrine if you can call it that and has decided he wants to split everything down the middle, in half. We have argued and fought every week, because if this happens, there will be no reserves left for emergencies or contingencies. I have two parents that I have to see to as well who are in their 80's and I need reserves for them as well as they have spent most of their lives following HWA and didn't think there would be any future. So they are at the bottom of the economic scale now. 

On Monday of this week I went to see a lawyer and inquired about what splitting things down the middle would mean for me. I was told that in the eyes of the law, one can't do that and have it binding. In the eyes of the law, a marriage is a single unit and can't be split unless either there is a legal separation or divorce. Marriage includes all assets and debts. We live in a community property state. I went home and told my husband what I was told. I gave him the choice, either we separate legally or divorce. He chose separation. Yesterday was our 24th anniversary. 

How can a "man of God" think it's ok to split a union that God has sanctioned and put together and still think he has the fruits of the Spirit? I liken it to trying to remove half an orange without disturbing the peel, it can't be done. I certainly would not want to be in his shoes or in the shoes of those that enforce these policies. What will their answer be when they have to account for the lives they have ruined? Does my husband have a choice in this? They tell the members, No, they either pay common or they have no salvation. Where is that found in the Bible, I can't find it. 

Thanks for listening. --[name removed]

Comment: It is always best to have separate checking and savings accounts in these situations.  See: Exit and Support Letters

Living Church of God and Jewish High Holidays

Some in the Living Church of God are all excited over a story about the Jewish High Holy days and how some Christians have appropriated their days for their own unique use.

Forward.com had the following mention of LCG: Christians Celebrate The High Holidays, Too — But Are They Welcome At Synagogue?

Yom Kippur, the holiday during which Jews atone for sins through prayer and repentance, is popular in some Christian circles, where it meshes with their belief that Jesus Christ died for the sins of man. Some are so moved by idea that during the High Holidays they venture beyond their communities into Jewish spaces. Jews have a range of reactions. Some view Christian guests as unwelcome interlopers, while others sound downright happy to have them.

Most Christian observances of the High Holidays are clearly grounded in a separate theology and typically take place in their own distinct, Christian world. 

Members of the Living Church of God, an American denomination of some 10,000 members, headquartered in North Carolina, will gather in churches across the country, for example. Like White, they will fast, reflecting on “the awesome sacrifice of the Lamb of God.”

The source that sent me this from LCG had to chuckle about the story asking whether Christians were welcome at the synagogue.  He said LCG would not be welcome because LCG thinks it is better than the Jews and knows more about the holy days than they do.

Today in the COG's it is more about not eating and drinking than anything else. With Jesus out of the picture 99% of the time, it is hard for members to even know what to think about the day and what it symbolizes in Jewish history.

Hearing the Voice of God in Their Heads

I always found this tale disturbing even as a child in Sunday School where it was drilled into us as an amazing test of faith. There was no one as great as Abraham for "taking his son, his only son" and of course it ended up being a type of God offering Jesus, which was the point.

But  I always wondered what Isaac's relationship with his father was after this and whether he ever trusted going anywhere again with dad. 

 I always wondered in the same way, what Lot's daughter's, not to mention his wife's  relationship with him, was after he offered them to the crowd to be raped instead of his Angelic guests.  Neither Mrs. Lot or Mrs. Abraham seem to have cared what the men did with the children nor questioned their sanity.  Lot was listed as a great hero of faith in Hebrews 11 and Mrs. Lot got turned to salt so I suppose that settles it.  

(IT NEVER HAPPENED)  

The Old Testament often seemed to me full of prophets, priests and kings who had no real human emotions. They acted and thought like automatons it seems to me.  The voices said do and they did. They were much more inclined to obey the voices in their heads than think for themselves. And when they were wrong, they weren't really wrong.  It was always the people who were wrong. Those who observed and noted absurdities and  thought for themselves were and are the bad guys to be dismembered and discarded.  

And so it is today. Peter called them "scoffers" for noticing that Jesus did not come back as he said and as Paul had made so clear to the church would be the case soon.   But back in the day they were not scoffers at all.  They were noticers and they were right. 

And while remnant members spend hours every week listening to the voices in the heads of others, the likes of Dave Pack and Gerald Flurry, they would not be wrong to notice that nothing these men, and others, contrive to be so, is actually true.  It is simply more De Ja Moo which is the same BS repeated over and over.  

Perhaps this is a better explanation of Yahweh's Great Test and it certainly would have made me feel better as a child in Sunday School.

The Psychopath Test Gone Awry