Where in the World Is Doug Philips (Who Is a Tool)? Part 7

[hoipolloi]

28 minutes ago, Howl said:

can you refresh us on why they left?  I've not followed the Macdonalds. 

The tl;dr is that they skedaddled from TX to IL ahead of bill collectors. There were also questions about the status of "Pastor" James McDonald's ordination & qualification to be a RPCGA pastor. Eventually, he also left the "eldership" or "pastorship" of the IL church under somewhat murky circumstances. It was never clear that he was actually an ordained pastor. Now he's happily peddling oils with Stacy.

The blog Marian linked to was put up by James & Stacy as a rebuttal to various critics, such Cindy Kunzman who compiled this website.

[bea]

Of course, nobody's clear on why they are stuck in Colorado, because Beall blogs about this and that, but never, ever gets real. 
 

But she’s being so TRANSPARENT AND HONEST on social media and really digging into what it means to be 50 and have spent your life as a SAHM “homeschooling” mom and wife to a sexual predator and financial fraud! I mean a VISIONARY!
And what it’s like to have allllll those kids, even if they leave and apparently never come back after they’re adults and a few of the younger ones go visit their dad. Who she’s “growing old with,” despite the fact that he’s literally not present. It’s not that he’s emotionally unavailable or working a lot. He’s physically NOT THERE. How the hell do you grow old with someone who’s leading a completely separate life?

I wouldn’t be so annoyed with her, I think, if she didn’t have this faux-confessional and pretend-intimate social media account in which she’s either coyly hiding their actual life or flat out lying about it.

[Marian the Librarian]

Thank you, @refugee! I didn't know the McDonalds' backstory, so I appreciate all this info. I'd be very curious to know which whacked-out Pacific NW church invited them for an interview...

My gateways to fundieland were the Botkins and Vision Forum, so that's how I was made aware of Stacy's squirm-inducing "Your Sacred Calling" blog, and her regular contributions to Ladies Against Feminism. Her specialty was writing articles extolling the special-snowflake glories of married Christian sex, always preceded by cautionary warnings: "Not to be read by single young ladies!" and "For married women ONLY!!!" (Insert heaving bosoms and heavy breathing here.)

[hoipolloi]

19 minutes ago, Marian the Librarian said:

Her specialty was writing articles extolling the special-snowflake glories of married Christian sex...

AND portraying her marriage to James as a first marriage for both of them.

Once she was called out on the lies a few too many times, she came up with the grace widow bullshit.

@refugee - Ha! We posted simultaneously or, as my mother would say, great minds think alike!

[Howl]

The McDonalds conveniently didn't mention that theirs was a blended family (Stacy and James are both divorced with kids) at critical junctures because many patrocentrists believe that divorce, or at least remarriage, disqualifies one for the pastorate. But no matter, really, because apparently James was never ordained, or at any rate, AFAIK, James has continued to decline to share the name of the church that (supposedly) ordained him.  Oh what a tangled web we weave....

I have work to do this afternoon and need to set this by, but dang, the Cindy Kunsman web site is a serious rabbit hole and she is a dogged, and skilled, internet researcher.  To answer my own question upthread, I did stumble across a note that the McDonalds lived in Katy, TX.  This is, incidentally, the hometown of John Shrader (the world's worst missionary to sub-Saharan Africa and beyond), and John's father still pastors a church in Katy -- I think Independent Fundamentalist Baptist.

I'm coming to think that shilling essential oils in an MLM scheme scam is perfect for these two -- a match made, ahem, in heaven!  

[Antipatriarch]

1 hour ago, refugee said:

Someone did an expose a few years ago:

http://mcdonaldhomeschoolingtoday.blogspot.com/?m=1

It looks like some of the original material is gone, under threat of a lawsuit.

EDIT: Huh. Apparently there are TWO "Pastor James M[a]cDonalds" in Illinois who are skunks! I posted this before I realized this is a different guy from the one being discussed above.

If you want to head down the other rabbit hole, there's more information about "MacDonald" at The Elephant's Debt web site, as well as postings at The Wartburg Watch:

https://theelephantsdebt.com/executive-summary/

http://thewartburgwatch.com/2017/06/19/did-james-macdonald-really-resign-or-did-he-just-grab-his-toys-and-stomp-on-home/

The tale includes MacDonald livin' large in an expensive home and spending money on gambling etc., while his church was begging for dollars in a fundraising campaign. And when he was called on it, he said he was going to live more modestly, sold his house... and hid the purchase of another house just as big under agents and holding companies etc. That's just the financial part; he was also a controlling and abusive leader.

[Flossie]

Sorry, I think my question is better asked in the "Old Blogs We Mourn" thread.  Carry on.

[refugee]

Yeah, @Antipatriarch, I made the same mistake until I realized the “Elephant’s debt” James M. was not married to Stacey. I don’t remember his wife’s name, but that was my clue that I was reading about the wrong person.

(And I can never remember if it’s McD or MacD. Get it wrong a lot of the time, which doesn’t help.)

[MamaJunebug]

Is there a part in the exposé about how they hijacked ownership of a Yahoo group for homeschoolers, and then stole a mailing list to get the magazine into circulation?

Dunno where they were in TX but once here in Illinois they settled in Peoria or Champaign-Urbana, from which location Racy Stacy bemoaned the lack of brown people and good Mexican cooking. 

Which made me laugh & laugh & laugh because she obviously didn’t travel far off her front porch, then. Jerk.

PS: James & Stacy are McDonald. 

The other sketchy Pastor is James MacDonald. 

To keep the spellings straight in my mind, I say that  Stacy & James never earned an “A” in homeschool. 

[DomWackTroll]

They've been posting up a storm on the Vision Forum Facebook page, but I don't even know who "they" are. But I know that whoever it is... is up to something. 

[Anonymousguest]

2 hours ago, DomWackTroll said:

They've been posting up a storm on the Vision Forum Facebook page, but I don't even know who "they" are. But I know that whoever it is... is up to something. 

Why can't I see the comments? The NFL story shows 4 comments but I can't see them. Same for some of the others. But a couple I can read the comments.

[marmalade]

I see five reactions but no comments on the NFL post. No comments (just reactions) on the Liberty post as well. However, I can see 12 comments on the govt. shut down post. I don't think I'm missing anything. 

I do wonder at this flurry of posts all of a sudden. Is Dougie bored, or has Be-all taken over the page? 

eta: I have no clue as to the relationship the Tool has maintained with his children since he took off for the Continent. 

[Anonymousguest]

Weird, I still see 4 comments. But not when I click on it. And now I can't figure out the spoiler thing, lol. 

Spoiler

 

[marmalade]

How strange. I see no comments and only 1 share. 

[hoipolloi]

49 minutes ago, Anonymousguest said:

Why can't I see the comments? The NFL story shows 4 comments but I can't see them.

SOMEONE is using his magic delete key, or perhaps it's "her" delete key.

At one time, both Doug & Be-all seemed to have admin access to that page though who really knows...

 

[CyborgKin]

"The Internet is a large place with many dark corners to spread hatred and falsehood. This is not one of them."

Yes it is

Speaking of Grace Widows, I just realised the hilarity that the titular widow in the film The Widow's Might (written by, directed by, and featuring FJ's great friend John Robert Moore and starring Colin Gunn as a postman who pretends to be on his lunchbreak to abuse his position to hand out DVDs) is named The Widow Grace!

[Howl]

But back to Beall.  On her blog, she has a little blub on the home page that does not include "wife to a visionary." However, in the About section, it's in the first sentence. 

Spoiler

Hi, I am Beall, child of God, mother of eight, wife to Doug. For nearly twenty-five years we have shared our life through good times and hard times as we home educated our tribe, watching our babes turn into adults. 

Our life together began caring for horses and cows in the morning and going to classes together in law school at night. For fifteen years we ran our family catalog company, held conferences, started a film school, made movies,  launched a few organizations, republished old books, spoke with lots and lots of people, and worked with orphans and adopted children, like myself.  We succeeded greatly and failed catastrophically. One moment we were surrounded by many, and another almost completely alone. Some people spoke painful truths into our lives. Others tried to profit by spreading epic falsehood. We had friends, lost friends, were built up, were broken into pieces, and driven to our knees, only to find a new direction for life.  

And we are not quitting. 

For some years now I have been listening, watching, thinking, praying. As I get ready to turn fifty, I have decided to share some of my experiences and feelings in this blog. Thanks for visiting!

She was wearing a ring on her ring finger in December. 

[refugee]

“family catalog company”

Sounds so benign.

I’d love to see that rewritten to reflect reality.

”For fifteen years we ran a major brainwashing scam, promoting family dysfunction and abuse and living a lavish lifestyle on the beaucoup bucks the suckers threw at us for our overpriced products and brainwashing resources...”

[bea]

And we are not quitting. 

“And I am not quitting pretending that my husband is still around rather than gallivanting through Europe while his kids and I live in a series of crappy rentals.”

Fixed that for you, Beall.

[Hane]

She reminds me of Mrs. Micawber In “David Copperfield,” who constantly exclaimed re her ne’er-do-well husband, “I shall never abandon Mr. Micawber!” as if she had a choice—it was either stay with him, or starve in the streets. I suspect that any financial support Beall gets from the Tool will dry up the second she files for divorce, as he will start getting extremely cagey about any finances he has.

[lilith]

6 hours ago, Hane said:

She reminds me of Mrs. Micawber In “David Copperfield,” who constantly exclaimed re her ne’er-do-well husband, “I shall never abandon Mr. Micawber!” as if she had a choice—it was either stay with him, or starve in the streets. I suspect that any financial support Beall gets from the Tool will dry up the second she files for divorce, as he will start getting extremely cagey about any finances he has.

Alternatively, he may be allowing her the illusion that the marriage is still intact until Virginia turns 18 so that she will keep struggling along on whatever he gives her instead of filing for decent child and spousal support.

I am baffled by their financial situation as it is, but Beall is going to be utterly fucked if Dougie withdraws all financial support after the kids are grown. Poverty in divorced women over 50 is a huge issue even for women who have some work experience and professional qualifications. Beall has nothing to fall back on - it doesn’t seem that they even own  family home now, and Doug is still living the high life but doesn’t seem to be bringing in any significant income. Beall may end up relying on support from her kids, but it doesn’t seem that any of them are in great financial positions (or on the path to them) either.

[DomWackTroll]

Beall reveals that one of her daughters has a business. 

 

[nickelodeon]

2005: instead of preparing our daughters for a life of WAGE SLAVERY to god-hating feminists, we need to keep them at home to prepare them for their godly purpose!!

2018: i work for my daughter

[Marian the Librarian]

Part of me can't help wondering if Beall is messing with us. Sleeping in a van? Bathing in fast food restaurants and truck stops? *These* are the fruits of Dominionism, Vision Forum, and her #growingoldwithyou marriage to DPIAT??

Or maybe she's just going round the bend...

[Antipatriarch]

7 minutes ago, Marian the Librarian said:

Sleeping in a van? Bathing in fast food restaurants and truck stops?

What kind of "business" does her daughter have... and what's the connection between that and "sleeping comfortably behind the steering wheel for two hours" and bathing on the road?      I don't get it.