Olderandwiser left this comment in response to the story of the COGWA member getting life in prison for raping two children:

There were a couple of perverts in the NYC area in the 60′s when I was a teenager. One groped me before I was rescued by my brother. Years later, he married a young widow with a few young kids. Didn’t take long for him to dessimate that family. 38 years later, my mother found a picture of him in a box of photos. I took it and slowly ripped it up. “Why, that was Uncle Dewitt!” Weel, I told her that Uncle Dewitt was a pedophile, and I knew, first hand. When she asked me why I never told her, I said she would never have believed me. The almighty WCG came first, and we kids were non entities. I got off lucky I guess, but I can’t imagine how many others have been ruined because of the rule of silence.

Commenter Don wrote about his experiences with RCG in response to reports of David C. Pack’s discrimination against his own disabled followers, who he tries to pressure into giving the cult more money:

I’ve had the same experience and when questioned about it I was put out of the RCG. Of course, I was planning to leave anyway as it’s clear the RCG is a cult, and of the worst kind!

I remember in a sermon and a Bible study where Mr. Pack said that if “your retired… you have to un-retire yourself, and if your disabled, you have to un-disabled yourself’, or you won’t get salvation. Basically, because if you didn’t give more money to the RCG it was simply because you were just being ‘selfish’, etc.

I hope those in the RCG wake up like several others I know of. Mr. Pack, and his henchmen, are truly evil and the opposite of what a true minister of Christ should be, one who is willing to lay down his life for the sheep.

PCG isn’t only close-mouthed about the location its Sabbath services, but about how many congregations and members they have. Cults suppress information, so learn about their inner working can be very difficult.

Living Armstrongism‘s Redfox712 has done some great research work and dug up some numbers, which show PCG has 147 congregations and 63 ministers worldwide. No word though on how many of those ministers are the same men covering multiple regions, something that happens in most COG cults.

UCG, in preparation for its upcoming public seminar/failure in September has attempted to appropriate the #whywereyouborn hastag.

The problem is, #whywereyouborn is a popular social media diss, as in “why were you even born?” Rather than being used by legions of curious unwashed heathens searching for a deeper meaning in life, it’s an expression of frustration for Millennials and younger.

Alternatively, it’s a reference to Neil Gaiman’s “Coraline” book and film, and that gets its fair share of hits too.

So Twitter users searching through the hashtag are going to notice UCG photos of billboards and be like #wtf. Hijacking hashtags isn’t necessarily an effective social media strategy, as people clicking it are intentionally looking up a specific topic and anything else is akin to spam. If intrusive marketing is part of their strategy, they might as well take out ads on porn sites.

It’s not that UCG isn’t trying really hard to be good at social media. After all, “Why Were You Born” even has a presence on Pinterest, so everyone pinning room decorations can also satiate their existentialist curiosity. For UCG, gaining exposure isn’t their problem. They spend a lot of money on this stuff, so getting noticed shouldn’t be a problem. It’s that people don’t care and UCG’s message is entirely tone-deaf. One can spend as much on marketing as desired, but if the product is inferior, it’s all wasted resources and efforts.

UCG members should question more closely what their tithe money is being spent on.

Seriously UCG, #whywereyouborn

We respect the march of science here. While spiritual beliefs are deeply held, personal choices, facts are far less flexible and scientists are, by definition, the gatekeepers of what constitutes scientific fact. The scientific method  has taken us from dying young, starving, cold and miserable in the wilderness to landing men on the Moon, wiping out entire diseases and developing the Internet. While our scientific understanding is imperfect, judicious and responsible application of the scientific method progresses society further than policies based in ancient theology.

New discoveries are being made all the time, many in direct violation of traditional Armstrongist teachings, along with fundamentalist Christianity in general.

Most recently, sensationalist headlines lit up social media this week when living microbes were discovered in space. Of course, this is old news. We already know extremophiles like tardigrades can survive in the vacuum of space, but this highlighted the phenomenon as being far from an isolated one.

A type of ocean surface-dwelling plankton was supposedly found on the outside of the ISS. While the lifeform is certainly terrestrial in origin, it’s still unclear how it got there. It should be noted NASA has not confirmed the findings of the Russian Cosmonauts, but with Russia/U.S. relations being what they are right now, communication is likely suffering overall.

This reported discovered fuels speculation that life could have traveled to Earth from space — an idea called Panspermia. Regardless of wider implications space-dwelling microbes might have on scientific understanding, its immediate impact on COG members is as follows:

1. If God created everything “as is” in seven days — as the COG has traditionally maintained — and nothing is supposed to live beyond Earth until after the Millennium, why did God create microbes that can survive such harsh, extraplanetary elements? If the Earth is to be burned up and life renewed on other worlds by “the elect” COG members who have achieved godhood, what’s the point of space microbes?

2. If God created life to be super durable like that, so that various lifeforms can take lots of punishment and keep ticking, then why not institute a process by which such adaptions are applied to populations of organisms to insure life’s survival in the face of harsh, ever-changing environments? You know, like evolution via natural selection? It would make more sense, in light of space microbes existing, to create a creation that keeps on creating instead of one stagnant creative dump of a set number of species (or “kinds” as fundies prefer).

3. Again, God specifically created those microbes to survive in space, the point is elusive, especially if Earth was made to be a perfect place for mankind to live from the outset. Such awful conditions shouldn’t exist on a planet specifically tailored to be ideal for life, this super-duper special world harboring God’s only children.

Of course, all of those questions are from the COG’s perspective and each assumes intelligent design (a huge assumption, from a scientific point of view). And as usual, the COG paints itself into these logical corners by clinging to an extremely outdated understanding of science and a literalist interpretation of scripture. Garner Ted Armstrong’s absurd booklets bashing evolutionary are even funnier today than they were back then as understanding of biology and its origins expands by leaps and bounds.

The truth is, these little discoveries are just tiny splinters of the problems established science holds for creationist fundies. We are going to conquer our solar system. We are going to find life beyond Earth, whether on an alien planet or just floating out in the void. At that point, religious fundamentalists across the world have even more explaining to do to their adherents – and frankly the rest of us as they try to pollute the public’s understanding of science.

Exit and Support Network and Living Armstrongism have shared a letter from a former PCG member who left the cult due to its no contact policy. It comes on the heels of Janet C. Privratsky’s tragic death by suicide as related to PCG’s harsh practice of cutting off relationships with non-members. Anyone on the fence over whether or not the COG is a hideous, vile place needn’t look much further than the evils within Flurry’s cult.

Of course, people in Flurry’s cult take a certain amount of responsibility for what happens to them, since every other COG group knows Gerald R. Flurry is dangerous and unless someone had the misfortune of being born into the church, one has to work really hard to become a member. Of course, responsibility falls upon Flurry and his goons for taking advantage of and micromanaging the lives of these brainwashed sheep clamoring for a taste of his special “truth.” That doesn’t erase how horrible and sad the deaths and persecutions of these people are, since it affects more than just individual COG members. Families and entire communities outside the cult’s borders are victimized by medieval and insane cult practices enforced by Flurry’s minions.

I live in El Salvador, Central America. I joined Philadelphia Church of God in 2011. My son was 19 and my daughter was 17. We were fascinated with Bible studies and prophecy, as we had a background of 20 years in another Worldwide Church of God splinter, United Church of God. Basically both of my children were borne there.

The first time we met with Alex Harrison he said to my children that they would be put out of the Philadelphia Church of God if they ever dated someone outside. So they were obedient. Then Harrison wanted my children to cut off all their friends and acquaintances out there. My daughter was shocked as she had very good and decent girlfriends in school. But both followed the instructions to unfriend the ones from UCG from Facebook.

In the beginning of 2013, both my children were thinking to get baptized, but then my daughter and I started to have fights due to one of her “worldly” friends. We never ever had such horrible fights in the past. My son was thinking to join AC (Armstrong College), as he had received a personal invitation from Gerald Flurry, but now I think God intervened to prevent him to go.

After the FOT (Fiesta de los Tabernáculos) in 2013, my son told me he was in love with a school friend and that he knew the rules, so he was stopping PCG attendance.

Then on Nov, 2013, Alex Harrison called me and told me to put my son out of the house. A young, respectful and helpful son of 22. Someone whose sin was just being in love.

I began a spiral of anxiousness and sadness. I could not understand why I should put my son out of my house and stop any contact with him. (Gerald Flurry’s no-contact policy) Being a single mother is not easy and having such a son was an immense blessing. I spent around two weeks without sleeping very well. The first two nights were awful, I only could sleep two hours. Depression could have taken me to my death.

I first tried to look to the “loving brethren” for consolation, but I just got cruel criticism and accusations from them.

One man accused me of having my children as my idols and that by leaving my son at home I was allowing a “bad spirit.” A lady, someone to whom I considered “my best friend” in PCG, accused my son to be “Laodicean” with an insulting tone. I felt so sad. She was very caring and loving while being in UCG. But she became so self-righteous. My son is not baptized and such absurd policy excludes spouses and non-baptized children.

But that was their “loving” response upon me in desperately looking for consolation from them. Bad decision. After this incident, my “best friend” did not even want to say hello and would avoid my eye contact on the “merely holy” Sabbath day. I then wrote her and this man an email saying they owed me an apology and that we should fix our differences, but I got more attacks in response, full of pride and self-righteousness.

They spoke with Alex Harrison. And guess what he did? He just took the side of them. He never wanted to hear my side.

Of course, there were three against me. My “best friend,” this man, and another lady who is full of hypocrisy as she has contact with several people in other “Laodicean” groups, and she’s been living with her “Laodicean” daughter since she joined PCG in 2010 (though they said she recently moved). She is someone who would even label these ministers and this doctrine as “perverted,” but is clever enough to appear as a godly lady.

During my conversation with Alex Harrison, he said to me, “All of the brethren in the San Salvador congregation are happy” as I had stopped the attendance, due to so much friction with my “loving” brethren. His intention was to purposely hurt me, and he accomplished his objective. If he were loving and compassionate–a true Christian–he would have never told me that, even if it was true (but he was lying). I tried not to even think of having resentment at that very moment, it was too much for my mind. I had really loved these ministers.

He even brought to the conversation an off topic: The causes of my divorce. I got divorced due to the alcoholism of my husband and subsequent adultery. Alex Harrison said to me (screaming), “I am pretty sure your husband became alcoholic because of you, you are a troublemaker and you are not converted.” I was shocked by that time; I did not know how to react, I did not know if I had to smile or cry.

When I told my children about that, my son said he would have stopped this minister ipso facto if he were present in that conversation. He said, “Mom, that minister is so abusive! How can he dare to give an opinion on a story he does not know? We are the only ones who know the story very well, even my father has accepted before us that he became alcoholic at the age of 14 and that he hurt you, destroying your marriage.”

But we all knew who gave to him this idea: the hypocritical lady who would all the time criticize me and everything around me (I knew all this due to the other two rascals). She would criticize and have an opinionated view of my divorce, so she “imagined” my husband was not the problem, but me. I wonder if she remembers how her adultery caused her own divorce. My “ex-best friend” (now her best friend) told me such history. I never knew it before.

I cried inconsolably, How can a “pastor” treat a sheep like that? I even visited a physician. I was very depressed for several days.

My last call was to a family that I thought was close to me, one that was not involved in the problem. I asked the father, “Did you tell Alex Harrison that you are happy that I am not attending??” He said he did not. I believed him. But he was so blinded and said, “You probably misunderstood him.” That is when I realized the level of mind control this particular “church” has. They make people think they are unquestionable.

But God was merciful. I called one of my loyal friends, someone who was not attending any group anymore, very respected and knowledgeable in the Bible.

He immediately called me and warned me to not do such a horrible thing to one of the most amazing young men he had ever met. He was someone who had known my son his whole life since he was a baby. He witnessed how I raised him up and how well disciplined, respectful and a good son he was to me. He was upset and said, “Please do not ever think to do that to your son. He is a honorable young man and a wonderful son to you!”

All was like a wake-up call. I prayed and finally decided to stop attending PCG. It’s been 8 months now, and my family is back to peace. We do not attend any other group, but we keep communication with some of them.

I literally was in tears when I read about the death of Janet De Gennaro. Her parents are in my prayers, please let them know a sister in faith from Latin America area has them in her mind and wishes to give them a hug.

Hilarious conversations we’ve had with Armstrongites in the past entail the silly belief that all spirit beings in the World Tomorrow, after the Earth is burned up following the 1,000-year reign of Christ, will take to the Cosmos and all claim their own planets to create their own life and begin the process anew.

This belief, co-opted and bastardized by Herbert W. Armstrong from Mormon teaching, has been mentioned in sermons for decades, though is rarely written about or listed among fundamental COG teachings. It’s more part of the culture, especially among the older vintage Armstrongites.

Recently, as part of a long email spiel from a COG member angry that this blog exists, this gem was dropped on us:

The LIES of this world, as PERPETRATED by SATAN’S INSTRUMENTS of Darwin, Marx and Freud touch everything around us and blind this world to the truth. YOU help SPREAD THESE LIES and try to turn God’s people away from his church.

After a bunch more capslock cruise control, the author laid this on us:

Scientists constantly claim to have seen things they know don’t exist, including evolution, supernovas, and PERVERTED versions of history that preclude any mention of God or the Bible, the most vital elements to understanding history.

So, apparently, supernovas aren’t real. Why would this be important to a staunch, fundamentalist COG member? Because supernovas blasting solar systems apart ruins the count of planets available to God’s special snowflakes — which will number somewhere around most of the humans to have existed — to play god themselves.

This stupidity, of course, makes no sense. We recently talked to COG members about this, some of which admitted they don’t actually know what will happen after Christ’s 1,000 year reign (or really during it either, as the details have always been deliberately sparse and scripture barely touches on it). Others tried to explain away the planetary availability part by changing “everyone gets their own planet” to “everyone gets their own galaxy.” For instance: “Did YOU know that there are like 100 billion galaxies and about the same number of people who have ever existed???” FYI, neither of those things are true, as the number of estimated galaxies is about 500 billion and while about 100 billion people have ever lived thus far, it’s a number that’s not slowing down anytime soon and 75 percent of everyone so far is alive right now.

Never in any of these conversations has a COG member realized that it shouldn’t matter because God — and by extension an entire race of gods — would logically be able to create whatever they damn well please. So why all this focus on existing cosmic real estate?

Because Armstrongites need an explanation for everything. They view themselves as being so special with such incredible scriptural understanding that it’s inconceivable that something not make sense to them. Among those things are why, if Earth is the only planet God is working with, there are seven other neighboring planets right in our vicinity and countless others stretched across the cosmos. To COG fundamentalists, there absolutely must be a future divine plan for these worlds, which of course, has to involve them.

We would urge Armstrongites to read a book.

Former RCG minister Michael Venish has been an outspoken critic of David C. Pack’s RCG and has provided some valuable insights into the cult’s inner workings and Pack’s pure insanity. It’s always entertaining when Armstrongite leaders are at each other’s throats, as it highlights the fractured nature of a supposedly divinely-blessed body of believers.

Venish’s recent video claims Pack has pressured members to give RCG the money from their savings accounts. The assertion is in line with everything else we know about Pack and RCG. Pack is a prime candidate to be the next COG leader tossed in a federal penitentiary, and we’ll be applauding in the courthouse when it happens.

But what catches our eye at the moment is that Venish isn’t speaking from an independent standpoint. He has his own church, the Vigilant Church of God, and therefore a built-in conflict of interest. And not simply an ideological conflict of interest, but a material one, as it’s extremely likely that he would love to yank members from RCG and other COG groups into his fold. The constant hammering of Pack — which is a legitimate pasttime — seems more like a recruitment and PR strategy than a public service announcement.

VCG has all of Armstrongism’s trappings, including the obscurity, insignificance and desperate need for growth in order to survive. We’ve been told in the past Venish is connected to some of PCG’s disaffected as well. While Venish might not be looking to defraud people in the same way his old boss does, what he’s missing is that Pack, specifically, isn’t the ultimate problem. It’s the Armstrongist model of business, control and belief. Pack isn’t doing anything Herbert W. Armstrong and countless of the “Apostle’s” other lackeys haven’t already been engaged in. RCG, as  Pack accurately claims, is a pure incarnation of Armstrong’s legacy. It just so happens that it’s true face is despicable.

We’ll be keeping an eye on VCG. New COG groups aren’t a new thing, and we haven’t found one we’ve liked yet. Venish might be playing a tune we all like listening to at the moment, but that doesn’t mean he stands with the forces of facts and sanity.

Today the world remembers 9/11, a series of horrible attacks that spiraled the globe into a torrent of conflicts and struggles characterizing the experience of an entire generation.

The COG loves this time of year, because it gets a special news peg to talk about the endtimes even more, with a special focus and knowledge that people are Google searching stuff about death and destruction.

UCG’s Beyond Today: Tomorrow, Yesterday, Maybe Last Week is it 5 o’ clock Yet? has a Buzzfeed-y listicle showcasing Seven Prophetic Signs Before Jesus Returns. It’s the same Armstrongist bilge that’s been regurgitated for years, basically say that today is the only possible time in history that the Apocalypse can consume the world and prepare the way for Christ’s return.

But it’s #6 that caught our eye:

6. It’s the gospel being preached in all the world.

…

This sign is underway, but not quite finished. We will give it half a mark. There is one more sign of Christ’s return to consider.

Oh to laugh. Half a mark??? Really? That they even give it half is absurd. The idea that Armstrongism has even made half an impact on the world is insane. They shouldn’t even be holding the pencil much less scribbling on their to do list. Seeing that UCG admittedly only spends about 30 percent of its income on media projects, they can’t even describe themselves as doing everything they could be to spread their unpopular, ineffective message.

And they’re doing such a crappy job of getting their message out when they do try. Last night was UCG’s “Why Were You Born” seminar, which was primed for failure since the very beginning. After weeks of spendy billboards and social media fumbles, UCG was happy to report a “Great crowd” and “hundreds watching online.” Check out all the empty seats near the stage, in what we can only assume is the most crowded propaganda shot they could manage:

Great crowd here in #Cincinnati for the #whywereyouborn seminar and hundreds watching online. pic.twitter.com/IlHxiDenFU

— Why Were You Born? (@whywereyouborn7) September 11, 2014

Half a mark? Seriously? It’s difficult not to snicker at their stumbling attempts to remain become relevant. But it does make sense if they’re deluded enough to think billboards and Sunday morning slots on WGN are an effective advertising strategy in the 21st Century, they probably do think they’re doing a great job. If this is the extent of what’s still the largest and wealthiest COG group is managing, how pathetic is the rest of the COG?

UCG’s disastrous, incompetent propaganda and promotional failures continue. What’s sadder is their smiling through the pain, trying to scrape some outward sense of victory to keep the sheep encouraged and confident that their leaders somehow know what they’re doing when it comes to running and growing a church. These are aging men who have proven inadequate at swimming in the modern media’s vast ocean, even when spending a considerable amount on marketing.

The true problem, of course, is the Armstrongist message rather than just ineffective marketing strategies. As the numbers show, considerable effort was put into promoting and preparing for the “Why Where You Born” seminar over the course of weeks, which produced less-than-paltry results.

Banned! and UCG have the attendance and cost numbers for the “Why Were You Born” fiasco:

Attendance at the event was over 200, including some local United Church of God members and Ambassador Bible College students. (Due to space limitations, the majority of local church members were not able to attend.) In addition, almost 400 webcast connections watched the event live online—representing more than a 1,000 people.

Particularly encouraging, was that the seminar drew 74 new guests, most having reserved tickets ahead of time, with a few showing up at the door for the event. Everybody who attended received a free seminar-themed notebook with pen and a copy of the United Church of God booklet Why Were You Born? (which was previously titled What Is Your Destiny?).

To break it down, UCG managed to produce:

8 red “Why Were Your Born?” billboards costing $2,500 each ($20,000 total) scattered across Cincinnati
1 million Pandora Radio ad impressions
2 weeks of Time Warner Cable ads aired 746 times on Fox News, History, USA, Hallmark, National Geographic and TV Land
85,000 Google Ads impressions
1,010 ad click-throughs
Failed use of the #whywereyouborn hashtag on Twitter and Facebook
5,400 letters from Victor Kubik sent to Cincinnati households on The Good News mailing list
28,530 emails sent to Cincinnati residents
430 emails sent to The Good News subscribers

resulting in:

“dozens” of online ticket “purchases”
1 hour of seminar time in a hotel
106 Twitter followers
126 UCG members in attendance
400 webcast connections to the seminar
74 new people* in attendance, which amounts to 0.032663871110130215% of Cincinnati’s 226,550 population

*more accurately, non-UCG people, which doesn’t necessarily preclude members from other groups

“Half a mark” on preaching the “gospel” UCG? Really? Best erase that mark and start from scratch. This was a pathetic failure. What’s worse, there will be no consequences or accountability for wasting the member tithe money spent on this embarrassment. Instead, UCG will simply rake in more money and burn more of it on the next hair-brained growth scheme.

We’ve been compiling some stories from RCG members, which have slowly trickled into our mailbox following the call to hear from current and former members last month. These are still being tabulated and we’re seeking permission from others to possibly share their stories. We’re still keeping our ultimate plan for these writeups under wraps for now, but we hope to have a breakthrough soon.

Pack’s tacit prediction of a September 27, 2016 doomsday, if he chooses to run with it, will certainly make things worse RCG members trapped in his thrall.

Meanwhile, both Bob Thiel and Banned! have reported David C. Pack and his RCG cult have started threatening members who don’t send enough money by taking away their spiritual salvation. In particular, they have pressured a disabled member into getting a job so more tithes and donations can be funneled into the cult’s coffers:

07/15/14 a.m. Spoke with a man who was recently part of RCG late yesterday.

He brought up his view that David Pack and RCG are highly focused on money. So much so, he stated that a disabled person had been told by an RCG representative that he had to get a job so he could have more tithes/offerings to give to RCG. He said this person was told that if he did not, although he would still be allowed to attend RCG services, that he would not be granted salvation.

The individual I spoke with was horrified by this, and then quoted Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” He realized that RCG added a non-biblical requirement for salvation. He also mentioned other problems associated with David Pack and RCG.

While I knew that David Pack has long been obsessed with money, what I was told yesterday was even worse than I had heard before.

Years ago, in late 2007, David Pack basically told people to get into debt and cash out any retirement savings they had to give to him so he could build an impressive headquarters. David Pack indicated that this would be signal for all in the various COGs to come to him. 

David Pack later (in the Spring and Summer of 2013) stated that would happen by August 30, 2013. Of course, that date was proven to have been in error. But the obsession with money has not let up within RCG. 

Pack is a sociopath who knows no shame. Reading through the things he has done and has continues to do turns the stomach. It also drives us to make Pack a particular focus for the near future. His cult cannot be allowed to grow or succeed in any way and those duped into following him must be freed.

Within the next month we hope to be able to present a starker, even worse picture of what happens within RCG’s enclosed cult community, one with a megaphone bigger than this little blog. In the meantime, we’ve restructured our links and content pages in hopes of pushing COG-specific pages to the forefront, including one focused on RCG we’ll be fleshing out. Stay tuned.

Ding ding ding! It’s time for COG Apocalypse Smackdown!

In one corner we have David C. Pack of RCG and his tacit prediction of a 09.17.2016 doomsday. He seems to be going for broke. Does this mean the upcoming “Batman v. Superman” movie is one of the signs of the end time?

In the other corner we have Ron Weinland of COG-PKG, who is back at it with a Pentecost 2019 doomsday prediction (06.09.2019). Not content to lose as many prophetic predictions as the Buffalo Bills have Superbowls, Weinland is making the best use of his prison sentence he possibly can be getting his remaining followers energized for his release and a long-awaited destruction of modern society.

Who will be right? Which is our ultimate harbinger of doom? All we can do is watch the clocks.

Both predictions are absurd. Both have been added to the Doomsday Clock.

Banned! reports a PCG member, Janet C. Privratsky, died by suicide in response to cutting off contact from her non-cult family members. Eric Anderson was apparently her PCG minister and will have the nerve to conduct her memorial service. The no contact policy has destroyed families and now has claimed a life.

Reportedly nobody from PCG bothered showing up to the funeral. PCG also has the audacity to lie about her death, telling members it was due to heart failure.

Absolutely disgusting and enraging.

People who submit themselves to these dangerous, reckless and insane cults put themselves at serious risk of isolation, depression and other emotional and mental difficulties. Dying by suicide is a special danger in environments where mental health issues are ignored or attributed to “demons” and other lies. PCG is not alone in its criminal negligence as a community in this regard, but it does have a tendency to put extra pressure on members to cut themselves off from anything even resembling a healthy social and family support structure.

Suicide in PCG Due to No Contact Ruling:

(Notice: Certain details have been changed in this letter due to further clarification.)

July 28, 2014
Janet C. Privratsky, age 30, a member of PCG, committed suicide on July 20 because she had to cut off her parents and only brother due to the no contact rule. She became depressed and then killed herself. Her husband’s name is David. Someone I know (ex-PCG) attended the funeral and said it was heart rending to see the parents’ grief. Not one person from PCG was in attendance. PCG is truly a sick organization. –[name withheld]

Members Being Told Death of Janet Privratsky Was Due to Heart Failure:
July 29, 2014

Just read on your site this morning about Janet’s death being a suicide. Those in the PCG are being told it was “heart failure.” People have been so saddened and shocked!

Believe me, I know how this will be kept on the “down low!” They will not want this out there, for many reasons. One of them being, PCG is in the process of purchasing property in the UK, raising up another college. This would not go over well at all. I am shocked–not once did this enter my mind.
It sickens me. Here it is in a nutshell: You obey the PCG rules because those laws, rules, judgments, anything that comes down from the “government” (which, believe me, members strongly and devoutly believe comes from God); if you go along with all this, you will get along just fine in the PCG, and love it there. But if you disobey and voice any disapproval, and do not agree, and do not give in, you cannot stay in the PCG; cannot be among the people.

Janet’s parents and brother, for whatever reasons, were suspended from PCG. I do not know when. David and Janet would, of course, be told they could no longer see her mom and dad and her brother, since the ones who leave are considered to be “Laodiceans.”

In their hearts, to whatever degree, David and Janet felt God (down through His “government”) was telling them to do this. David, most likely still does, no matter how much he hurts. He’ll just suck it up and draw closer to all his PCG family, with all their “love and support.”

Everyone in PCG just hopes and prays no one in their family leaves. They don’t want to go down the same path as Janet or want that for anyone in their family.

I can tell you right now, many in PCG do not agree with that ruling! But if you choose to leave and your family’s in, you just cut yourself off from your own family! They’ll turn it around and say, “We did not cut you off, you cut us off when you left us!” They believe firmly, Satan now has you.

If you have any more details or proof about this, let us know. I do know for sure that it was a PCG minister that officiated at the funeral.
Thank you. –Anonymous

From the Norwalk Reflector:

Child rapist gets life without parole

A Milan Township man was sentenced to life without parole Monday for raping two girls several times when they slept over at his Mudbrook Road home.

An Erie County jury convicted Joseph D. Wagner, 63, of 10 counts of rape for sexually assaulting two girls who were younger than 10. The Erie County Sheriff’s Office investigated the incidents which happened between 2011 and 2013 when Wagner lured the victims to his bedroom.

Wagner maintained he didn’t abuse anyone when he made a statement to Erie County Common Pleas Judge Roger Binette.

“I did not abuse anyone, nor have I ever considered the heinous things I’ve been accused of,” said the defendant, who was found guilty June 11.

Binette, according to the Sandusky Register, told Wagner he groomed the victims “in your own sick ways” and made his bedroom “a torture chamber for those two children.”

The judge also told the defendant the sexual abuse was similar to a life sentence for the girls. Binette said he took into that consideration plus a woman’s testimony who alleged Wagner abused her decades ago — and possibly at least five other victims — when he decided the defendant’s sentence.

Banned! tags him as a UCG/COGWA member in the Cleveland congregation frequently visited by the local elder. Sounds about right.

Rage does not describe the feelings this kind of horror conjures. So many dreadful things happen beneath the noses of the ministry, sometimes with their knowledge, all the while anyone, anywhere one might call brethren in the cult could be a monster.

How many will actually attend UCG’s upcoming Why Were You Born seminar? It’s got a whopping 40-something Twitter followers currently, not great for spending all that money on billboards. Maybe roundabouts 100 or so will attend? Mostly church members? Perhaps exclusively church members? Maybe a handful from the unwashed public will honestly look to Gary Petty to learn about why they were born (spoilers: biological processes), but it’s going to be a pathetically small amount. If this is the best opening salvo Operation Broken Rung can muster, UCG is in trouble.

Olderandwiser left this comment in response to the story of the COGWA member getting life in prison for raping two children:

There were a couple of perverts in the NYC area in the 60′s when I was a teenager. One groped me before I was rescued by my brother. Years later, he married a young widow with a few young kids. Didn’t take long for him to dessimate that family. 38 years later, my mother found a picture of him in a box of photos. I took it and slowly ripped it up. “Why, that was Uncle Dewitt!” Weel, I told her that Uncle Dewitt was a pedophile, and I knew, first hand. When she asked me why I never told her, I said she would never have believed me. The almighty WCG came first, and we kids were non entities. I got off lucky I guess, but I can’t imagine how many others have been ruined because of the rule of silence.

RCG has long taken advantage of everything that tracking cookies, Google AdSense and other marketing and analytics tools offer to trace visitors and attract new ones to the cult’s website. It makes sense. When control and surveillance is targeted at the cult’s members to extreme degrees, those tendrils are going follow even the most casual browsers.

A lot of us have seen that visits to RCG’s website — and sometimes PCG’s website — have resulted in COG-related ads showing up on other websites. John Thornton, one of our readers, has tried to drill down into exactly how pervasive and intrusive RCG’s ads and visitor tracking are and has gone to great lengths to understand it. Afterall, who wants to see pictures of Herbert W. Armstrong teamed with RCG’s literature popping up unbidden on their favorite websites?

In a nutshell, RCG is blowing a lot of money to follow people around online with their annoying propaganda, primarily using Google’s DoubleClick. The solution is easy: delete your cookies. Beware that if you visit RCG’s website again, the cookie will get loaded again.

Some of John’s background:

I read some of Dave’s stuff years ago when I left WCG to join Global in 1994, especially the ‘144,000 reasons’ for following ‘the truth’ i.e. him (can’t recall the exact titles, but I’m sure you get the drift).  It was kinda ‘recommended reading’ at the time as we all awaited the next WCG bigwig to ‘come over’ to Global when there were enough tithes to ‘keep them’ – Salyer, Apartian, Adair etc. (I hope I’m not being unkind).  Indeed I phoned him in the States one evening and I think must have spoken with his late wife before he took the call.  He was fine and we chatted for a while.  That was before I left Global (just before it imploded) and later noted his views on vital Christian doctrines like hair length!  Indeed one wonders if Messrs Waldo and Mumford would have fallen foul of that ‘scriptural truth, in the cultures of those days J.

Having said that I got on well with Rees and Fanny Ellis (and her late mum/dad – Jean & Mme Carion), and (the late) Bob Devine.  All decent, kind, caring people – I just don’t agree with them now.  Indeed I was on record on the old Compuserve ‘WCG blogs’ for apologising having encouraged anyone to join Global (and I ‘got in’ a few to my shame).  Unfortunately some of that fell on deaf ears, even when I did so in person.  My wife of 47 years is a casualty of the WCG/GCG experience.  16 years down the line, she wants nothing to do with religion of any kind, but I live and pray in hope.

As an aside I visited the local Anglican church on Sunday (following an open invitation at a local gala), and when asked, briefly explained my background to a few, very nice people.  I’ve often likened the xCGs to a distillation process — WCG was 70 per cent proof whisky, but the offshoots (like LCG and Pack) to high-octane moonshine J  I think the local ‘bishop’ (that’s what they call their ‘ministers’) was wryly amused

Begin emails:

It may be of some help to your readers to know what David’s Pack’s RCG is up to when you just visit their website for a ‘peek’.

In a nutshell I had made a few visits to Pack’s site over the past couple of years, checking the odd view (such as his castigation of LCG’s small change toward ‘the rapture’ concept).  I became increasingly annoyed by the well-known HWA mugshot surrounded by the RCG advert popping up all over the place (see below).  On one occasion I was visiting a religious-oriented website which had no connection with xCG, and actually began to think that they were in some way endorsing him, or he them.   I also encountered it on financial/investment sites when I was researching this or that (can’t think why though!).

So the following is an email trail between the RCG PCD and myself.  My first ‘email’ to Dave/RCG was ‘forced’ through their webform (and where I had to give out more info that wanted to, just to register the complaint).  As such, it is not reproducible.  That complaint produced the ‘standard’, but somewhat woolly response (below).  However, and partly highlighted by their response, I decided to investigate further.  I found RCG/Pack are lying through their back teeth.  Every visitor to that site is then sent a ‘tracker cookie’ infecting their PC (nothing to do with Mr Pack of course).  It then follows you around the Net like a bad smell, and when you visit a particular site voila, up pops the previous incarnation of ‘Elijah’.  Now it is one thing for Pack et al  trying to portray themselves as the ‘real’ HWA successor, then shut up and sit down, it is quite another for RCG to then track you all over the Net, NSA-style.

He is using targeted Google Ads via the DoubleClick adware tracker (some would call it malware).  I’m sure I’ve seen it on Google Finance, but have just visited WND again tonight.  Guess what?  Here is the image and embedded link:

http://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=CPYkXDhbMU-auD4uM8wPN0YHYBYKZtfwDsuHlxWva9N30twEQASCegvYhUPDZjtf6_____wFgu_7Jg9wKoAGm6avbA8gBAuACAKgDAcgDnQSqBIoBT9CWJXCfWDNTVycWoAI-_lwwy2CqDPf3XVdbCP-bNz1d5-nUi7tnxz1PimqW4uKWCUFqsH3iF7rxCIFkEiYvJic6yyAIzbkj7tMUJjCaGYs_fb7jnRkEMGGOuE_7fRsrjk-gxNsIsIwiVRTSrgIiEO_eOLbxqIJbdPLg2QKZu7gtO7NXi-m37beA4AQBiAYBoAYCgAfCltQk&num=1&cid=5Gj6k6pA8kWMlaDf_xRxRRAn&sig=AOD64_2V7ZajoWvYKOdthG7cM5SlZC5ZWA&client=ca-pub-4586956504318665&adurl=http://rcg.org/sep/home.html%3Fs_kwcid%3DTC%7C1028308%7C%7Cwww.wnd.com%7CC%7C%7C29511385730&nm=3&nx=67&ny=38&mb=2

Note:  ‘Google Ad Services’ highlighted above, but what is not generally realised is that DoubleClick strikes a ‘gotcha’ when you follow the above link.  This is tantamount to a TV ad ‘freely given’, followed by a knock on the door — and in the UK there are laws against that.  I’m not sure if sites like WND have any reciprocal financial arrangement, but I’ve written to ask them that question.

Fortunately my internet banking doesn’t have such popups, but you do start to wonder just what data is being captured/exchanged and by whom.

The rest is below.  I don’t apologise for my ‘direct’ language to Mr Pack.  If I met him in person I would tell him the same thing – he can bellow, mark, DF or stick pins to heart’s content.  Or he can simply change and stop this behaviour.  I try not to be ‘accusatory to the brethren’ but when I read some of the other abuses, you have to wonder about the status of some ‘brethren’.  There is only one Truth and Shepherd that matters to me.

BTW, this site might be helpful for concerned readers:  https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/8091?hl=en.

This YouTube video is also worth a view:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHR1pRciJGk  It deals more with the RCG ads that pop up all over the ship when you google: ‘church of god’, ‘religion’, ‘prophecy’, ‘healing toothache’, ‘feast bunions’ or whatever.  So I am not alone here.

FWIW and use whatever material you like.

Regards

John Thornton

Email exchange between John and RCG:

Dear Dave,

Thank you for your response, but, with respect, please don’t try extracting the proverbial.

This is not Google doing something that you cannot control (see my highlighting of your response below, and following).  You wrote:  “we believe there is an Internet web browser “cookie” enabled that is used by Google for advertising purposes”.  ‘We believe’, as in ‘oh, somebody else must have done it while we weren’t looking’?  As if you are truly gob-smacked and didn’t know!  Come on, what do you take me for?

You know very well that it is display advertising paid for by you through the Google Analytics/DoubleClick ad tracker tools.  The following are a few lines of JavasScript that appear on every one of your web pages that I visited (about 6) and viewed the source.

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/conversion.js“>

addthis_config==”undefined”&&(addthis_config={}),addthis_config.data_ga_property=uaID,addthis_config.data_ga_social=!0,_gaq=_gaq||[],pluginUrl=”//www.google-analytics.com/plugins/ga/inpage_linkid.js”,

(“https:”==document.location.protocol?”https://”:”http://”)+”stats.g.doubleclick.net/dc.js”,gaScript=document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)

While tracking visitors for ‘feedback’ purposes can help control advertising spend/response, DoubleClick is very invasive.  It is targeting adware designed to analyse/track visitors, and keep advertising to them — which is why I see the unwanted, pirated HWA mugshot popping up on sites I visit, from the papacy to personal pensions.  In fact I have to run anti-virus/adware programs periodically to get rid of DoubleClick and it keeps coming back.   In your case it is because the JS on your site deliberately links to it!  Think about that in evolutionary terms – it didn’t just get into your websites’ source code by itself.  Thus you are infecting my PC every time I visit your site (which will not be too often after this experience).

Information on DoubleClick is available and clearly explained at https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2472739?hl=en-GB and http://www.ehow.com/how_4882019_remove-doubleclick-adware.html and elsewhere.

I spent many years in IT and I’ve been in business long enough to know when someone is pulling the wool.  Moreover since I wondered whether this was straight out of AC Pasadena or maybe just some good old money-spinning ‘televangelism’, I decided to check who else might be up to the sort of thing the NSA are getting worldwide pelters for.  Therefore I had a quick look through the following sites:

• WCG/GCI
• LCG
• UCG
• PCG
• CBCG
• COG-PKG/Weinland
• CCOG
• COGWA
• Koinonia House
• John Hagee
• Jimmy Swaggart
• Benny Hinn
• Morris Cerullo
• TBN
• WND
• BeforeItsNews
• Jehovah’s Witnesses
• Church of England

While some use Google Analytics, none had Google Ads or DoubleClick coded into their site.  In other words they publish their message and leave you in peace when you exit.  Even with the questionable track record of some of the above, nevertheless they are behaving responsibly in respecting people’s privacy.

I did however find two sites which also use the Google Ads/DoubleClick targeting trackers:  http://vatican.com/ aka Vatican City. and the Mormon Church site.   In fairness the Vatican City site is an event booking one.  It is a place rather than a church, so they are selling tourism, which is fair enough.  The ‘religious’ RC sites like Pope Francis’ don’t use DoubleClick ad tracker.  The Mormon site also hosts (or links to) a great deal of genealogy data, so there will be good reason for assisting re-visitors doing research.  However, while I have visited that site many times over the years, I have never had the kind of ‘in your face’ pop-ups that you employ.

Like I said before, please stop behaving like a pariah and targeting the likes of ex-WCG members – and for the usual reasons, not necessarily soteriological.  And please don’t sign such a deceitful disclaimer ‘In Christ’s service’ – when you know the score.  It does nothing for your street-cred, and I would seriously question whether  Jesus Christ would have His servants behave like this.

You also wrote:  “Please let us know if there is anything else that we may do to assist you.”.  I think you have my answer.

Regards

John Thornton

 

From: Personal Correspondence Department [mailto:pcd@rcg.org]
Sent: 18 July 2014 14:39
To: globetrotter@firenet.ws
Subject: Response from The Restored Church of God

Dear Mr. Thornton,

We are sorry to hear you are experiencing problems with our online advertising. Based on the description you submitted, we believe there is an Internet web browser “cookie” enabled that is used by Google for advertising purposes.

You will need to clear your web browser “cookies.” This can be done multiple ways, depending on which browser you are using (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox etc.). You can usually find this option under “Settings” and “Browsing History” or “Clear/Delete Browsing History.” For step-by-step directions for your particular browser please visit http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=32050 for more information.

Once you have successfully cleared your web browser “cookies,” Google will stop displaying our advertisements to you.  Please note that once you visit any of our websites (rcg.org, realtruth.org or worldtocome.org), Google will once again begin displaying the ads until you repeat the process above.

We are sorry for any inconvenience you have experienced. Please let us know if there is anything else that we may do to assist you.

In Christ’s service,

Personal Correspondence Department

Personal Correspondence Department
The Restored Church of God

1000 Ambassador Drive

Wadsworth, OH 44281
pcd@rcg.org

Ding ding ding! It’s time for COG Apocalypse Smackdown!

In one corner we have David C. Pack of RCG and his tacit prediction of a 09.17.2016 doomsday. He seems to be going for broke. Does this mean the upcoming “Batman v. Superman” movie is one of the signs of the end time?

In the other corner we have Ron Weinland of COG-PKG, who is back at it with a Pentecost 2019 doomsday prediction (06.09.2019). Not content to lose as many prophetic predictions as the Buffalo Bills have Superbowls, Weinland is making the best use of his prison sentence he possibly can be getting his remaining followers energized for his release and a long-awaited destruction of modern society.

Who will be right? Which is our ultimate harbinger of doom? All we can do is watch the clocks.

Both predictions are absurd. Both have been added to the Doomsday Clock.

Banned! reports a PCG member, Janet C. Privratsky, died by suicide in response to cutting off contact from her non-cult family members. Eric Anderson was apparently her PCG minister and will have the nerve to conduct her memorial service. The no contact policy has destroyed families and now has claimed a life.

Reportedly nobody from PCG bothered showing up to the funeral. PCG also has the audacity to lie about her death, telling members it was due to heart failure.

Absolutely disgusting and enraging.

People who submit themselves to these dangerous, reckless and insane cults put themselves at serious risk of isolation, depression and other emotional and mental difficulties. Dying by suicide is a special danger in environments where mental health issues are ignored or attributed to “demons” and other lies. PCG is not alone in its criminal negligence as a community in this regard, but it does have a tendency to put extra pressure on members to cut themselves off from anything even resembling a healthy social and family support structure.

Suicide in PCG Due to No Contact Ruling:

(Notice: Certain details have been changed in this letter due to further clarification.)

July 28, 2014
Janet C. Privratsky, age 30, a member of PCG, committed suicide on July 20 because she had to cut off her parents and only brother due to the no contact rule. She became depressed and then killed herself. Her husband’s name is David. Someone I know (ex-PCG) attended the funeral and said it was heart rending to see the parents’ grief. Not one person from PCG was in attendance. PCG is truly a sick organization. –[name withheld]

Members Being Told Death of Janet Privratsky Was Due to Heart Failure:
July 29, 2014

Just read on your site this morning about Janet’s death being a suicide. Those in the PCG are being told it was “heart failure.” People have been so saddened and shocked!

Believe me, I know how this will be kept on the “down low!” They will not want this out there, for many reasons. One of them being, PCG is in the process of purchasing property in the UK, raising up another college. This would not go over well at all. I am shocked–not once did this enter my mind.
It sickens me. Here it is in a nutshell: You obey the PCG rules because those laws, rules, judgments, anything that comes down from the “government” (which, believe me, members strongly and devoutly believe comes from God); if you go along with all this, you will get along just fine in the PCG, and love it there. But if you disobey and voice any disapproval, and do not agree, and do not give in, you cannot stay in the PCG; cannot be among the people.

Janet’s parents and brother, for whatever reasons, were suspended from PCG. I do not know when. David and Janet would, of course, be told they could no longer see her mom and dad and her brother, since the ones who leave are considered to be “Laodiceans.”

In their hearts, to whatever degree, David and Janet felt God (down through His “government”) was telling them to do this. David, most likely still does, no matter how much he hurts. He’ll just suck it up and draw closer to all his PCG family, with all their “love and support.”

Everyone in PCG just hopes and prays no one in their family leaves. They don’t want to go down the same path as Janet or want that for anyone in their family.

I can tell you right now, many in PCG do not agree with that ruling! But if you choose to leave and your family’s in, you just cut yourself off from your own family! They’ll turn it around and say, “We did not cut you off, you cut us off when you left us!” They believe firmly, Satan now has you.

If you have any more details or proof about this, let us know. I do know for sure that it was a PCG minister that officiated at the funeral.
Thank you. –Anonymous

From the Norwalk Reflector:

Child rapist gets life without parole

A Milan Township man was sentenced to life without parole Monday for raping two girls several times when they slept over at his Mudbrook Road home.

An Erie County jury convicted Joseph D. Wagner, 63, of 10 counts of rape for sexually assaulting two girls who were younger than 10. The Erie County Sheriff’s Office investigated the incidents which happened between 2011 and 2013 when Wagner lured the victims to his bedroom.

Wagner maintained he didn’t abuse anyone when he made a statement to Erie County Common Pleas Judge Roger Binette.

“I did not abuse anyone, nor have I ever considered the heinous things I’ve been accused of,” said the defendant, who was found guilty June 11.

Binette, according to the Sandusky Register, told Wagner he groomed the victims “in your own sick ways” and made his bedroom “a torture chamber for those two children.”

The judge also told the defendant the sexual abuse was similar to a life sentence for the girls. Binette said he took into that consideration plus a woman’s testimony who alleged Wagner abused her decades ago — and possibly at least five other victims — when he decided the defendant’s sentence.

Banned! tags him as a UCG/COGWA member in the Cleveland congregation frequently visited by the local elder. Sounds about right.

Rage does not describe the feelings this kind of horror conjures. So many dreadful things happen beneath the noses of the ministry, sometimes with their knowledge, all the while anyone, anywhere one might call brethren in the cult could be a monster.