Who Really Destroyed Michele Colon’s Marriage?

Recently, there’s been a series of pretty shocking and disturbing events. Last month, a well-known celebrity gossip magazine published an online story about the Church of God. And featured Michele Colon’s story. And just a few days ago, the same reporter also published a story in a town paper about the Church of God in Ridgewood being “engulfed in controversy.”

In his People.com article, the reporter, Chris Harris, does a pretty good job of portraying Michele Colon as a victim of the Church of God who was recruited by the “doomsday cult,” which later “destroyed her marriage.”

The reporter interviews Michele and a handful of other unnamed ex-members of the Church of God. The reporter defines his story by how much Michele Colon has suffered because of her broken marriage and blames the Church for carrying out a number of practices that make the Church of God, according to her, a cult.

But there is one thing missing from his article – the testimony from Michele’s ex-husband’s and his side of the story. It’s obvious that the article is meant to only give a one-sided story. Did the reporter try to contact Michele’s ex-husband? Did he try to get his version of the sequence of events? Does Michele’s ex-husband also feel like the church destroyed their marriage?

Well… I came across a very interesting series of articles in another blog I follow showing his side of the story.

First, Michele blames the Church for having “recruitment practices” where they go out to get targeted people as if she herself was the victim of this “crude recruitment.” It turns out that the Church never “recruited” Michele. She overheard her co-workers talking about attending the Church of God and she decided to invite herself. She attended the Church for Bible studies and then decided she wanted to be baptized.

After she invited herself, she also invited her boyfriend (now ex-husband). Once at the Church, he also liked the Church and enjoyed the Bible studies, so he decided to also be baptized. They both attended church irregularly – maybe attending one service on the Sabbath. Yet, Michele claims that the Church keeps you hostage against your will until the wee hours of the night.

Secondly, at some point their relationship became rocky. So what did they do? They went to seek counseling from the Church pastor. I mean… isn’t this what Christians usually do? They seek guidance from their Pastor or spiritual guide?

Anyway… despite the lies that have been spread about the Church of God destroying marriages, the Pastor actually advised for them to stay together and follow Christ, if that’s what they wanted to do. So they then decided to work things out. He later proposed to her and they started planning their wedding. They also bought a house and, from what I read, the Church members helped plan their wedding and fix up their new home.

After they got married, Michele became obsessed with finding a reason to leave the Church. From what her ex-husband says, she even gave him an ultimatum to choose between her or the Church. And while he was determined to leave her, the Church Pastor encouraged him to work things out with her and get through their difficulties.

Clearly, this article only has a one-sided story giving the public the wrong impression of the Church of God.

If you’ve come across any of these articles or any of Michele Colon’s claims about the Church of God, I advise you to check out the facts for yourself. And if you’ve never visited the Church of God, visit the Church and learn what we’re all about.

I think I can speak for the rest of the congregation not only in my area but across the globe  – we’re just people trying to follow God and the Bible and trying to live our lives as Christians. If like Michele, you’re not interested in that, then walk away, please and thank you.