In reading others’ stories, I wanted tell mine and what was the final nail in the coffin to my leaving PCG.
(Note: all names have been changed.)
We were a very small congregation, below ten, and we were meeting at a member’s home. Anyway, Mary, the wife of the host member, Bill, supposedly had allergies and could not stand any smells. At first, Mary asked that we no longer use scented laundry detergent. Then it was scented fabric sheets, scented soaps, etc. So we all said okay.
Then Mary started picking on me. She said my deodorant was too strong smelling. Then my shampoo had too much of a scent. Even my purse apparently had this leathery smell that she could not stand.
I complained to the minister at the time and Bill and Mary were told to tone it down, or services would be moved. However, they did not know where to move to since we were few in number and they did not want to pay for a hotel room. Our contact person (Jim) had a tiny apartment that he offered. So away we went to his place. However, Mary did not come since she said any smell would make her sick. (Funny thing is, she went to the feast every year and, even though she sat in the back, some scents of colognes and perfumes were so strong that I could never understand how she did not fall sick right then and there.)
Anyway, once we moved to Jim’s place, Bill started saying to the rest of us that he and Mary noticed how dirty Jim’s bathroom was, and how his refrigerator was full of expired food, etc. Then Bill and Mary started hinting that Jim was in the beginnings of dementia as he would sometimes forget things when reading announcements. Next, Bill and Mary approached the minister and told him all of this.
By this time, I was sick of the whole nonsense. So when the minister called me and asked about everything, I said, “Sure Jim forgets some things, but he is over 70. And yes, his place is not the cleanest, but again he is over 70 and living alone.” Then the minister had us all go over there and clean Jim’s apartment from top to bottom. It really was the craziest thing and out of this world.
I left a few short months after this once the minister had announced he was making this couple–actually Bill–the contact person. Then it came to me that Bill and Mary were gaslighting this older member, Jim, so they could get his position.
The reason I was thinking about all of this was because Jim died two months ago in my hometown. I did not know he was living here in a nursing home. Jim was very anti-medicine when I knew him, yet he would have had to be vaccinated at least twice in order to go into the nursing home here. And he was buried in the United Church of God so Jim obviously was no longer with PCG. It just made me think how Bill and Mary gaslighted this elderly member (Jim) which probably led to his leaving the PCG and that town.
By Charlotte
March 25, 2022
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