BITE Model vs. MCGI: Why Post-MCGI Society Won’t Stay Forever

For decades, the Members Church of God International (MCGI) loomed large in the religious landscape of the Philippines. With its round-the-clock TV broadcasts, marathon worship services, and charismatic founder Bro. Eliseo Soriano, it marketed itself as the only group teaching "the whole truth" from the Bible.

But behind the carefully staged charity events and media blitz was something darker, something survivors now say fits the textbook definition of a cult.

At the center of this awareness is the BITE Model, a psychological tool developed by Dr. Steven Hassan, and a growing resistance network that calls itself the Post-MCGI Society.

Post-MCGI Society's message is simple but profound. “We’re not starting a new religion. We’re ending a system.”

The BITE Model: Naming the Cage

BITE stands for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control, four pillars that cults use to manipulate members.

Behavior Control in MCGI came in the form of strict schedules, obedience to unspoken rules, and relentless “voluntary” duties that swallowed time and energy. “You live on borrowed time,” one Exiter recalled. “Your life becomes church property.”

Information Control intensified after the death of Bro. Eli in 2021. The once-open format of live Bible Expositions gave way to pre-recorded family-feud style gameshow called Serbisyong Kapatiran. Archived teachings disappeared. Public questioning was discouraged or punished.

Thought Control took shape through sermon rhetoric. Loyalty to Bro. Daniel Razon was framed as loyalty to God. Disagreement meant spiritual decay. “Even in silence, you could be marked disloyal,” said another former member.

Emotional Control was the clincher: fear of hell, shame for leaving, guilt for doubting. “Every exit was painted as betrayal,” one ex-MCGI worker said. “And every question became rebellion.”

This isn’t religious discipline, Exiters say. It’s psychological entrapment.

Post-MCGI: A Movement With No Successor, and No Shelf Life

What makes Post-MCGI Society unusual is that it doesn’t offer a new doctrine or invite people to a new church. Its advocacy is structural, not spiritual.

“Our goal isn’t to ‘fix’ anyone’s beliefs,” explains Rosa Rosal, Post-MCGI's founder and one of the core organizers. “Our only goal is to collapse the coercive system. When MCGI falls apart, so do we.”

This distinguishes Post-MCGI from traditional anti-cult movements that build support communities, podcasts, or theological alternatives. Post-MCGI Society consider themselves a dismantling movement and they’ve even set their expiration date:

“We end when MCGI ends.”

According to internal projections based on public data, that collapse may not be far off. Donations are dropping. Membership is thinning. New baptisms can’t keep pace with exits. And leaked reports suggest growing infighting among MCGI’s administrative tiers.

False Prophets of Liberation?

But as Post-MCGI grows, it’s sounding the alarm against performative activism within its own ranks.

Prominent ex-member influencers like Kua Adel and Broccoli TV, once hailed as whistleblowers, are now being called out for misusing the very model they promote.

Broccoli TV has turned trauma into merchandise--shirts, mugs, and monetized video skits. What began as satire now resembles “trauma tourism.”

Beyond monetizing his YouTube content, Broccoli TV operates several merchandise shops that profit directly from the pain of ex-members, turning religious trauma into a branded aesthetic.

Kua Adel, on the other hand, is accused of gatekeeping exit itself and discrediting anyone who doesn’t denounce every part of Bro. Eli’s legacy. “If you don’t echo his analysis, you’re called a ‘half-exiter’ or brainwashed,” says Geronimo Liwanag, Post-MCGI Society Director. “That’s textbook Thought Control.”

For them, simply exiting MCGI is not enough. Post-MCGI is never enough. You must be remolded and spiritually reprogrammed into a ‘new man,’ often under the guise of healing, while they quietly slip in agnostic leanings and the same cultic gatekeeping they claim to oppose.

In other words, they may be out of MCGI but they’ve brought the tools of control and selfish agenda with them.

A Simpler Kind of Revolution

The strength of Post-MCGI Society lies in its clarity. Exit is enough. No rebranding. No spiritual replacement. Just the removal of a machine that ran on fear and control.

It’s built to be horizontal, decentralized, and temporary. No memberships. Just testimonies, exposés, and organizing power. It doesn’t replace the pulpit. It removes its power.

This clarity is intentional and deeply personal for many.

“We gave years of our lives to something we thought was holy,” one Exiter reflects. “But when we stopped being afraid, we started being free. And we realized—we don’t need a new master. We just need to be left alone.”

With a disturbingly smug tone, KUA ADEL publicly shames and doxxes fellow MCGI Exiters turning on the very people he once claimed to fight for and adding new wounds to those already hurt by religious abuse.

Why Post-MCGI Society Must End

The Post-MCGI Society was never built to last, and that is its greatest strength. It does not seek to replace MCGI with a new faith, movement, or brand. It offers no doctrine, no collections, no hierarchy. Its temporary nature is not a flaw, but a shield. A deliberate rejection of the very systems of control it helped expose.

Post-MCGI Society reclaims “pansirang damo” or destructive weed, once an insult, now a symbol of healing. What broke the cult's concrete control now blooms into freedom. True recovery blossoms from the ruins.

By refusing permanence, Post-MCGI avoids becoming another high-control entity. By remaining secular and non-spiritual, it sidesteps the BITE dynamics that trap followers into obedience, whether from inside a pulpit or behind a podcast mic.

And by rejecting charismatic gatekeepers like Kua Adel and Broccoli TV, it ensures that liberation is not exchanged for a new form of loyalty.

This is not a reformation. It is a dismantling. And when the structure is gone, so is the need for the resistance.

So when MCGI finally collapses? Post-MCGI Society will quietly exit too.