The more I read on your website the more my suspicions
and my decision
to leave WCG are reaffirmed. I need to tell everyone what is still going
on in WCG. Your Worldwide News excerpts from 1994 about "staying put" in
WCG are exactly, almost word for word, what I was told by my pastor
and
other leadership when I left in 2005! They have supposedly come so far in
the thinking and beliefs, but the fact that they are still preaching this
garbage from 1994 shows that they haven't.
I was told that I was having a "me-first" attitude for leaving the WCG
congregation, otherwise referred to as Crossroads Christian Fellowship. I
was told that I was selfish for leaving and that I wasn't willing to stay
and
strive with the others. The reason I left had nothing to do with being
unwilling to work hard or strive. It had everything to do with their
cult-mentality and the excessively prideful attitude of Jim Valekis the senior pastor.
And, it was far from a selfish choice! The selfish choice would have been
to stay in my comfort zone in the WCG, which I had gone to my entire life; the
"church" where my family and childhood friends still attend. Instead, I made
the very hard choice to leave everyone and follow Jesus only. It was the
opposite of selfish, it was a sacrifice made for Jesus. However, I now
realize that it was the best decision I have ever made!
They still believe that WCG is somehow better than other churches because
of what God has done there. Since they have changed their doctrine, unlike
other cults1 in history, they believe that God has special favor on them.
They are still self-righteous. Nothing has really changed! My husband was
told by the senior pastor that God is doing something different in WCG
than in other churches. And I was told that I owed it to the congregation
to stay because that is the place where God showed me the truth.
I was also told that by leaving, I was sapping some of the strength of the
church (which is
exactly what is said in the 1994 Worldwide News article).
Excuse me, but I am not the one who gives "strength to the church," Jesus
Christ does. I was made to feel like I betrayed everyone. In addition,
they told me not to come back to services unless I realized that I was
wrong.
I was told that God placed me in that congregation and I had no right to
tell God that I want to be placed somewhere else. First of all, God didn't
and wouldn't place me in a cult. I was BORN INTO IT! Secondly, it was at the
call of the Holy Spirit that I decided to leave, God was placing me
elsewhere. I was also told that the only reason to rightly leave was if
they weren't preaching the true gospel of Jesus. So, basically, as long as
they "preach Jesus," they can get away with murder! They expect no one to
question anything that they do as long as they preach Jesus. If you do
question it, you are treated horribly!
I was told that the sole purpose of church is to SERVE. Again, nothing has
changed from the days before change. Not only were all of these things
told to me, they have been preached from the pulpit since I left.
Please keep in mind that these things I've described just happened in 2005
and even more recently to many other people I know who have left. People
need to hear what continues to take place there. I pray that God will open
the eyes of all who are still stuck in this cult!By
Kelly Case (real name used with permission) - Former WCG member/child
survivor
November 30, 2007
Also be sure and read:
Step-Granddad
Was John Amos / Cult-Like Mentalities Still in WCG
(Kelly's first email to ESN)
I Pray God Would
Shake WCG to Their Foundations!
(2003 story to ESN)
Was God Behind the Worldwide Church of
God Changes?
Footnote by ESN:
1
The word "cult" is used in the context of a deceitful, abusive,
mind-manipulating organization. While WCG may not be labeled a "religious
cult" by the media today, we have given reasons in our
OIU newsletters and in our other
articles
why we do not endorse them, but rather expose them.
Articles
For Those Who Were Emotionally and Spiritually Abused
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