Regarding the Victory Outreach branch in Santa Rosa, CA, an ex-member had this to say about his experience there:
Date: October 27, 2009 12:40PM
“I
am an ex member of Victory Outreach Santa Rosa. I am going to divulge
information if you will on the things that I and others have experienced
while at Victory Outreach Santa Rosa. About 6 years ago Victory
Outreach Santa Rosa lost key leaders. They lost 3 ministerial couples,
and their worship
leader/head church administrator. The ministerial
couples left because of the misappropriation of funds. When they asked
Pastor Jose questions, his response was that he was he charge and not to
question his decisions with the finances. See in Victory Outreach,
especially VOSR, the Pastor is not accountable to anybody. There is no
church council, church board or a group of elders to keep him
accountable. Pastor Jose claims that his accountability is Rick Alanis
all the way in San Bernardino.
One of the ministers tried to explain
to Jose that he over fleecing the people in the church and that he
needed to let up on the offerings and the pledges. He tried to explain
to Jose that the church would not be able to afford to stay afloat. Jose
never listened. So these families left and everything stayed business
as usual. I was in the men's rehab home during this time and boy was I
busy. After I worked 10-12 hours a day helping build the church, as did
the rest of the men's home I would have to go do a moving job or help
cook dinner.
Then I had to take a 3 minute shower and do house chores.
If I was lucky I would be forced to sign up for General Assistance and
earn welfare money to help support the home also. If I complained I was
"not loyal" or I was "not dedicated to the cause." So the church was
built and everybody was happy, well kind of. See everybody had given so
much money that people in the church had to get food stamps and go on
welfare. Then came the part of supporting the new church. Every week
there would be a new pledge for the church building. People were already
giving a 10% tithe to the church and then pledging 100, 200, 500, 1000
and even 2000 and beyond dollars to have paid with 6 months. Being in
VOSR everybody had dreams to something great for God. Pastor Jose is
really charismatic and is awesome in increasing your faith to be a
preacher, a leader, a pastor, an evangelist or a Pastor's Wife someday.
But if you are in leadership you have to lead by example and give first.
If you are really serious for God and want to see the vision of Sonny
Arguinzoni Sr come to pass you better give. I would hear things all the
time like, "put your money where your mouth is," or my personal
favorite, "you used to spend all your money on your dope but you can't
spend it on God?"
There was times where Pastor Jose
wouldn't let anyone leave the building until they pledged money. Former
Assistant Pastor Richard Contreras even joked about putting a ATM
machine in the foyer. One couple went to Cape Town, SA to help start up
the worship team for the new Pastors James and Anna Brady. Before they
left, the church picked up a huge offering for musical instruments. When
they got there all of the money had already been spent on other things.
When they asked where the money was James Brady said that he decided to
use it on something else. There was a couple that sold everything they
had, and gave up jobs to go start a women’s rehab in Cape Town. When
they came home they had no support from the church. A man was sent to
Santa Rosa to be a missionary in Cape Town. A huge offering was picked
up for him to go. A year and a half later he still hasn't gone. When
asked Pastor Jose said that the Lord hasn't given him the green light
yet. When an ex member called the church office about the $100 that she
she gave for the missionary and if she could get it back, she was told
that they would look in to it. That was 3 months ago. Pastor Jose drives
a beautiful Chrysler 300 with 20 inch chromed out rims. He wear the
best clothes, has the best watch and has all of his and his wife’s needs
taken care of by the church. His wife is on payroll also, but
mysteriously never works a day in the office and is never available to
talk to anybody. His wife even sells knock off purses. When she was
confronted about it by a female member of the church, she was ostracized
by the church, and treated like an amish kid that left the farm.
Between 2004 and 2006 there was a Pastor by the name of Richard
Contreras from the South Asia area that came to VOSR on a sabbatical. He
was having his own problems with women and money that he needed a
break.
The congregation at VOSR was told by Pastor Jose that he was here
to recuperate and get his health in order. So Richard fit in well. He
was very loved and embraced by VOSR. He was a big time Pastor in VO so
he had a lot of influence. Richard started to work for a millionaire by
the name of Giovanni from the VO in Las vegas. This guy was a Real
Estate developer and also made a living on getting people that would
never stand a chance a loan. Pastor Jose loved him so much that he had
him come to VOSR and preach to the congregation. The sermon was
basically about prosperity and how God wants to bless you. Then Richard
started wanting people in the church to own their own home. He pumped it
up to the point that everyone would have a chance to own their own
home. So tons of people bought in to it including Pastor Jose. The big
gimmick was get a home and $10,000 back in cash. Richard pulled strings
and got Pastor Jose, Assistance Pastor Elias Gaitan and a lot others
their chance to buy a home. He even made it possible for the church to
purchase the women’s rehab home. Then it all came crumbling down.
Everyone's home became foreclosed and Richard was nowhere to be found.
He even left left his wife without telling her. Since then business has
been usual for Victory Outreach. Lot's of key leaders have left along
with other congregation members. If you were to go in to a service or
ask somebody you would here them say that the devil got the best of them
or that they were not loyal to the vision. or you would here them say
that VO isn't for everybody.
Two years ago I contacted the
Hayward Victory Outreach and spoke with Pastor Joesy Pineda. Joesy and
her husband Steve (who went home to be with the Lord) sent out Pastor
Jose and Kimberly Guadarrama to Santa Rosa. They were to replace a
fallen Pastor named Victor Carrillo who misused money for personal gain
and had an affair with a women in the church. I let Joesy know by
telephone all that I had seen and heard from other viable sources. She
then put me in contact with Pastor Saul Garcia who is the Founder Sonny
Arguinzoni, Sr's right hand guy. Saul assured me that they would send a
team to investigate the problem and then thanked me for coming to him
first. Two years later Pastor Saul has yet to send a team to
investigate. I hope that this information has been useful to someone.
Victory Outreach Santa Rosa as well as Victory Outreach Intl are nothing
more than ex gang member, drug addicts who have a very warped sense of
power and of what Jesus Christ and the Ministry of the Body of Christ is
all about. They are a cult. There agenda is nothing more than to train
passionate, loyal converts who will give of time and money to fulfill
the greedy desires of its leadership. I love the friends that I once
called family at VO and I pray that they get out soon.”
The
writer of this complaint later recanted on his statement (a year and a
half later), though it seems there may have been a coercing
influence behind it judging by his reasoning. Read and judge for
yourself.
Source:
https://forum.culteducation.com/read.php?8,77975
ANALYSIS OF THE ALLEGATIONS ACCORDING TO THE B.I.T.E. MODEL
Our analysis of the allegations received utilizing cult expert Steven Hassan's B.I.T.E. model. The B.I.T.E. model is comprised of four different categories of control:
I. Behavior Control
II. Information Control
III. Thought Control
IV. Emotional Control
This model of analysis is based upon the work of Robert J. Lifton, Margaret Singer and other well respected psychologists and cult experts, and is used by many professionals in the field to distinguish between destructive and benign cultic groups. According to this analysis model, the documented allegations against Victory Outreach church raise numerous red flags in all four control categories, thereby defining this organization as a destructive highcontrol/ high-demand cult.
The breakdown is as follows:
Behavior Control
✔Discourage individualism, encourage group-think
✔Instill dependency and obedience
✔Impose rigid rules and regulations
✔Financial exploitation, manipulation or dependence
✔Restrict leisure, entertainment, and vacation time
✔Major time spent with group indoctrination and rituals and/or self-indoctrination including the Internet
Information Control
✔Deception:
a. Deliberately withhold information
b. Distort information to make it more acceptable
c. Systematically lie to the cult member
✔Minimize or discourage access to non-cult sources of information, including:
a. Internet, TV, radio, books, articles, newspapers, magazines, other media
b. Critical information
c. Former members
d. Keep members busy so they don’t have time to think and investigate
✔Compartmentalize information into Outsider vs. Insider doctrines:
a. Ensure that information is not freely accessible
b. Control information at different levels and missions within group
c. Allow only leadership to decide who needs to know what and when
Thought Control
✔Require members to internalize the group’s doctrine as truth:
a. Adopting the group's ‘map of reality’ as reality
b. Instill black and white thinking
✔Forbid critical questions about leader, doctrine, or policy
✔Encourage only ‘good and proper’ thoughts
✔Rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking, constructive criticism
Emotional Control
✔Manipulate and narrow the range of feelings – some emotions and/or needs are deemed as evil, wrong or selfish
✔Make the person feel that problems are always their own fault, never the leader’s or the group’s fault
✔Promote feelings of guilt or unworthiness
✔Phobia indoctrination: inculcating irrational fears about leaving the group or questioning the leader’s authority
CONCLUSION
According to the complaints we received and those found online, we believe Victory Outreach seems to be functioning as a destructive cult that is manipulating and exploiting its members. A significant amount of ex-members describe Victory Outreach in very negative terms, which in our opinion is a testament to what is actually going on within the organization. To summarize the complaints, Victory Outreach has been described as a “spiritual pyramid scheme” with founder Sonny Arguinzoni and his leadership benefiting at the expense of the free labor of the lower members. Ex-members have reported that they were forced to work long hours without pay and that they were deprived of basic needs like food, sleep, recreation time and were forced to live in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions. There are complaints about brainwashing techniques in order to keep residents in submission to the leadership.
In response to the complaints that we received and our investigation, we contacted and mobilized the efforts of numerous relevant government agencies that we felt needed to be alerted, as follows:
Attorney General Xavier Becerra, California Department of Justice, Sacramento, CA
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Supreme Court of California, San Francisco, CA
The Honorable Raima Ballinger, Superior Court Judge, Sonoma County, CA
The Honorable Anthony Wheeldin, Superior Court Commissioner, Sonoma County, CA
Jill R. Ravitch, District Attorney, Sonoma County, CA
California Labor Commissioners Office, Santa Rosa, CA
Health Services Department of Sonoma County, Santa Rosa, CA
To date the Attorney General, the Sonoma County court system and the California Department of Labor have all failed to respond to our complaints. The Health Services Department said that they could not help in the matter. The District Attorney’s office, however, is currently in the process of investigating these claims and we will update our expose with any and all information related to the investigative efforts of these agencies, and hope that they will perform a thorough investigation of this church.
A final quote from ex-pastor Peter Belaustegui of the Victory Outreach International organization:
“Victory Outreach may have the outward appearance of success and recognition for its work with drug addicts and gang members—but I believe that many people are being fooled, deceived and destroyed by this ministry. It may be a great shock to many people to find out about the real inner workings of this ministry. I’m sure many people will simply choose not to believe it. if things are ever brought into the light. But the sad truth is that many denominations, organizations, and movements may seem genuine and have all the appearance of success outwardly (as the Pharisees did), but on the inside they are filled with greed and corruption.”
If you have any additional information about Victory Outreach that you would like to share, either positive or negative, please contact us.
https://www.familiesagainstcultteachings.org/cult-help/contact.html
Sincerely,
The FACT Team
