UCG: No Doctrinal Oversight on Blogs

May 182012

UCG’s fluffy new website has tried to embrace Web 2.0, to the best ability a cult can, by allowing people to blog and comment. While commentary has traditionally been heavily censored, especially criticism, UCG seems to be trying something different from its own traditions and that of the larger COG. We’re somewhat surprised, though it definitely fits into an ongoing trend within the world’s largest Armstrongite splinter.

Check out this rambling nonsense about the spiritual lessons of the planet Venus from UCG minister Don Hooser. After reading through the mind-bending convolution and unintentional irony of tying Jesus Christ to a … More

How Cults Think

May 172012

Diane Benscoter delivered a 2009 TEDTalk about her time with the Moonies, how she was deprogrammed, became a deprogrammer and what being in a cult did to her brain.

Speak the Truth

… More

OWW Update: PCG and COG-PKG

May 162012

The Wiki Wars wage on and now we’re starting in on the cult articles themselves. This may get heated when we tear into RCG and UCG’s pages. For now, we’re beginning with the smaller COG groups.

We’ve discarded the idea of creating a separate entry for Ron Weinland and instead created sections in the COG-PKG article, dedicating one to him. It’s hard to justify his significance beyond his cult. We were also certain to link his history to UCG, since that’s often overlooked and they like to pretend he wasn’t associated with them.

We’ve also tweaked the PCG entry… More

The Myth of “Free Literature”

May 152012

In light of more recent delusional bragging from RCG about all of the “free literature” downloads from its astronomically popular international phenomenon of a website, we’ll take this opportunity to review the myth of the COG’s “free literature” scam.

Since the days of WCG, when Herbert W. Armstrong abused and manipulated the word “FREE” as any decent advertising professional would, the COG has tried to set itself apart from mainstream Christianity by offering all of its literature, magazines and booklets without charge to the general public.

But depicting COG literature as being without cost is a sick distortion of the … More

Pack: “Avenge us of our adversaries”

May 142012

David C. Pack, shovel in hand, broke ground on a road last week to kick off the construction of his new cult headquarters project, which still hasn’t received any bank funding. Things aren’t all rosy for RCG though. Pack recently started compiling his enemies list and rattled off some names in a recent “gang-buster” sermon where he revealed the inhabitants of Satan’s private country club, who, in his twisted brain, are all out to get him personally. Thirteen years after RCG’s founding, Pack sees the Gates of Hell opening against him, a new round of persecution he’s using to … More

Imagine a world…

May 132012

COG members and doomsday fundamentalists in general spend a lot of time looking forward to an imaginary utopian dictatorship in “The World Tomorrow” instead of focusing on living life today. They’re giving their time, money and focus to organizations exploiting their hopes for a future that cannot be while tossing away so many opportunities in the only life they know for certain they have.

It also creates a built-in apathy toward trying to better our current world since they view its thermonuclear demise as an impending certainty, rendering simple things like societal progress and widespread charity futile exercises not worth … More

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