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Pissed at the Pastor: Phil Aguilar's Former Followers are Fuming!

Orange County Weekly/December 3, 2010

By Nick Schou

Last week's cover story on Phil Aguilar, the pastor of Anaheim's Set Free Church, didn't go unnoticed by former members of what used to be one of the biggest mega-churches in Orange County. As the article explained--although in not as much detail as some might have preferred--Aguilar has a controversial history as a church leader. Accusations of cultishness, mind-control, verbal abuse and physical intimidation led to splits within the congregation and ultimately a mass exodus.

There are already 15 comments on the story and except for one reader who just wanted to say the story was interesting and he liked the cover photo, the closest thing to positive feedback so far seems to involve folks who want you to know that they have a really fantastic selection of Nike Air Jordans that can be shipped to your door. Who knew?

Well, here' s a typical viewpoint:

"Typical OC Weekly; make spitheads look like good guys, and make good guys look like spitheads. Keep peddling your liberal rag....."

It's unclear who are the "good guys" this commenter is talking about. Maybe the Hell's Angels?

Several readers offered to provide damning details about Aguilar's tenure at Set Free, as well as put us in touch with other church defectors, but so far, nobody has followed up on that offer. Meanwhile, here's a taste of the general reaction so far:

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