Silenced

UCG: No Doctrinal Oversight on Blogs

Silence — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:48:59 +0000

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

Silence — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:47:10 +0000

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.

… More

OWW Update: PCG and COG-PKG

Silence — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:22:28 +0000

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”

Silence — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:02:38 +0000

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”

Silence — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:06:40 +0000

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…

Silence — Sun, 13 May 2012 05:27:53 +0000

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

Profiling False Prophets

Silence — Sat, 12 May 2012 21:18:23 +0000

There are a few COG-related entries in this series (Weinland and Armstrong). With Weinland’s prophecy at about the two-week warning is he about to become a triple or quadruple false prophet?

To some, it may seem shocking with all of the false and failed prophecies abounding throughout COG history that members don’t stop and reflect on the inaccuracies espoused by men they believe to be blessed with the Holy Spirit and a direct connection with God.

Then again, that sort of thing happens every day with COG ministers. Despite their “extra dose” of the Holy Spirit supposedly imbued upon them … More

The Media’s Blind Eye

Silence — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:03:01 +0000

Browsing through the archive of newspaper and magazine articles about the COG over the years, one may notice a trend. Journalists and their publications know something is up with these cults. During the course of their reporting, they run across all manner of oddities, accusations and tidbits from WCG’s sordid, controversy-fueled past. Some of that information can be read between the lines, while other details of corruption and controversy are plainly spelled out.

Yet, the media as a whole doesn’t follow-up on those details. Is it because additional information is too difficult to get? Is it because they view information … More

Christian Cults with Dr. Walter Martin

Silence — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:52:58 +0000

Dr. Walter Martin, author of Kingdom of the Cults, goes down a list of what he considers several Christian cults. He gets to WCG around 5:45 and wrote about it in his book as well.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.… More

COG News Roundup #13

Silence — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:51:20 +0000

The big COG cults have been quieter in the last few weeks, though the independent Armstrongite preachers wailing in the digital wilderness have filled the silence. The big story from the past week is still UCG’s recent sermons from Eddington and Holladay that have been somewhat overblown and are thus making waves across the COG and anti-COG blogosphere.

Malm’s UCG Conniption Continues

The Apostle James Malm continues his doomsaying about all of the evils found in two UCG sermons from this past Sabbath. He’s essentially equating these touchy-feely messages to a doctrinal apocalypse within UCG similar to the theological revolution … More

Simple Brainwashing

Silence — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:48:52 +0000

Click here to view the video on YouTube.… More

UCG: Twisting the Trunk of the Tree

Silence — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:36:06 +0000

The Shining Light Blog and Banned by HWA! both present the Apostle James Malm’s conniption about two sermons given at UCG’s Home Office this past Sabbath by Bill Eddington and Roy Holladay. To Malm and other fundamentalist COG zealots, these messages were reminiscent of those given by Joseph Tkach as he built up to the sweeping doctrinal changes that shattered WCG’s megacult to bits.

But for those who remember the infamous Christmas Eve Sermon and other Tkach messages, what Eddington and Holladay said on Saturday pales in comparison, and these messages seem to be fairly benign. As usual, Malm is … More

House of Yahweh on Dr. Phil

Silence — Sun, 06 May 2012 17:15:17 +0000

The House of Yahweh was featured on Dr. Phil in 2009. Here are some clips.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

… More

OWW Update: WCG’s Media Legacy

Silence — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:02:19 +0000

Edits have moved forward on many COG-related Wikipedia entries, this time focusing on the broadcast and publications of WCG.

The Plain Truth article has been tweaked for neutrality issues and a complete lack of citations, many of which we’ve now added. RCG had put links to David C. Pack’s literature at the bottom, and they have now been removed.

The 1975 in Prophecy! entry has also been cited with page numbers and seriously cleaned up.

In hilarious news, the COG’s memory and legacy is being further erased as Julian Assange’s new version of The World Tomorrow has completely supplanted WCG’s … More

Nuclear Weapons: The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Silence — Fri, 04 May 2012 14:53:08 +0000

We all knew 2012 would be the year of the end-time prophecy fad. With all of the talk of bunker-building preppers, Mayan prophecies, intergalactic alignments, timewaves and other events culminating with the destruction and rebirth of all things, we like to periodically point out many of those great rationalists in the COG are fully aboard the bandwagon.

Ron Weinland has doomsday set for this coming May 25, shortly before his personal legal apocalypse. James Malm seems to have chosen November 30 as the beginning of the Tribulation, something he has given 70% odds in the past. RCG’s David C. … More