I lived in Edmond OK at the PCG HQ and had to go through a messy divorce due to the fact that I quit the PCG. My ex husband was a deacon in that cult. He divorced me when I refused to be a slave in his house. He insisted that I was not even allowed to read my Bible to my children or pray with them because I quit the "church." He made me share a bedroom with our three children and I was not to have any kind of thoughts of my own if they were contrary to what he thought. 
 

My family had left PCG a few years before me and I was suspended a couple of times because I would not cut them off. I would feel awful and grovel at Wayne Turgeon's feet and then he would allow me to come back. Then things still weren't right and I would question things. So my husband would take me to the ministry because I had a "government problem" and wouldn't just follow his words. And I would take the abuse, go home and fast and pray and cry out to God to forgive me for being such a rotten human that was so stupid that I couldn't prove the new revelation and it was all my fault.
 

Every counseling that we ever received was always my fault due to the fact that I had a "government problem" and would not submit. The fact that I could not prove Gerald Flurry to be "that prophet" was because I "had resentment toward my husband and was refusing to understand what he was explaining" to me. Wayne Turgeon [who is Flurry's son-in-law] told me that I was "uneducated and lacked logic." Mrs. Turgeon was in on the counseling and said she can't understand it either but Wayne always explains it to her. (Yeah. Hello?) Mrs. Flurry told me she didn't understand a lot of the new revelation, but went in faith that it was true and God would show her when she was ready for it.
 

The Flurrys were really close friends for awhile, but I can't follow them. Mrs. Flurry tried so hard to get me to reconsider my decision to leave. I loved her to pieces but she was just wrong. She told my kids that my parents have demons and I am worshiping Satan and they just need to set the example for me and maybe I will repent and come back. I wanted to have her testify in court to the fact that she said these things to my children and then she had the stroke and couldn't speak.1 I guess it wasn't meant to be.
 

Our divorce was final last year and I finally moved home to New York. During the custody battle, my ex-husband-- the Deacon/man of god--did nothing but lie and twist and manipulate the facts. He tried to get me psychiatric evaluation two separate times, called the cops on me and tried to make it look like I was unfit, and DHS investigated me because of the calls he made (they dropped all charges after they got the facts).
 

I can't believe I was married to a person with such low character for so long thinking that I was at fault. Yup, he is perfect PCG character, he'll probably be ordained higher for his works.2
 

I was born and raised in the WCG and then went on to the PCG and even very briefly was in the RCG [Restored Church of God]. I'm done with that mess. I still believe in God, but I don't think I can ever follow another man that claims he is "God's chosen." My family was torn into many different directions and we have tried to not be bitter and to figure this all out.
 

It is really hard to wake up one day and realize that your whole life has been a lie and a waste. I feel that I lost my childhood due to the same reasons every one else has written. I missed all the school activities, sitting in the hall way during the parties, getting the "you are weird" stares from all the other kids. I feel like I don't know which end is up. I still have guilt attacks for turning from "the truth," and the fear of the tribulation and what will happen to my children if I don't obey. My children have suffered terribly through all of this. I feel that I had to do what I did. I just wish it didn't hurt the kids so bad.
 

I am happier than I've been really my whole life. I feel free. It hits now and then, but I am super happy even having gone through all this.

By Ilana [details changed to protect the writer]
July 21, 2005

Read ESN article: Do Philadelphia Church of God Husbands Abuse Their Wives?