First Case: The "Restored" Church of God - David C Pack

The first case study is interesting in the sense that they themselves claim to be different from all the other COGs - source: http://www.thercg.org/sep/articles/sep_htrcgd.html.

When you check out their "Splinter Explanation Packet" page [source: http://www.thercg.org/sep/home.html] it quickly becomes clear that the ONLY answer to critics they want to give is the claim that since Jesus promised followers would be persecuted, then the very fact that people speak out against the RCG would somehow be an approval of the RCG.


This would be like claiming that if your husband was a shitty driver, and someone pointed that out, then it would be "persecution" - even though the facts showed you had numerous cars towed away to the scrapyard... :-)

In the middle of the page you will see numerous videos, and the last one should probably be viewed first. "Should Accusers Be Answered - Do You Believe Obvious Lies?" is the obvious excuse, once again, for continuing the authoritarian government while claiming this should somehow be "the government of God". Saddam Hussein also claimed he was a man of God - even though that was an arab version of that same type of government.

Much abuse has been going on in the COGs through the years, but what really hurts them - also in the other Armstrongism groups - is that ministers can no longer hide the facts as they could when they simply disfellowshipped people, and then "faithful" members would stay away from these people. Freedom has come from the internet because now people can check up on these matters on the internet themselves.

Of course, people such as David Pack, Roderick Meredith, Gerald Flurry and many other "leading ministers" will speak out against this - and have done so - but this was only to "protect the flock" as they will claim. Would anyone ever suspect them of being self-serving? Probably not within the COGs, but people who have exited know better, because one must be very isolationist to believe these explanations from so-called ministers.

Armstrongism is cultic and isolationist, and these mini case studies should serve to enlighten you on the various groups, and offers a good opportunity for people who exited each group to offer comments on the particular group being reviewed.

Feel free to comment.