CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio -- Grace Cathedral, the church run by Pentecostal evangelist Ernest Angley, is being accused of operating like a cult, where women were pressured to get abortions and men were persuaded to have vasectomies, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.

Beacon Journal reporter Bob Dyer interviewed 21 former members of Angley's church, many of whom have left Akron, about their experiences. He is publishing their revelations in a multi-part series this week.

The 93-year-old Angley, a native of North Carolina, settled in Akron in 1954 and in 1994 bought the round, 5,400-seat Cathedral of Tomorrow, formerly operated by televangelist Rex Humbard, in Cuyahoga Falls. Angley has churches in Springfield Township and Cuyahoga Falls, broadcasts sermons on WBNX television and flies a Boeing 747 on missionary trips around the world. His Cuyahoga Falls church includes the Cathedral Buffet.

Accusations against Angley went public after a sermon July 13, which was recorded and given to Dyer.

"I've helped so many of the boys down through the years," Angley said in the recording. "They had their misgivings. Sure, I'd have them uncover themselves, but I did not handle them at all."

One former congregation member Dyer interviewed compared Angley to Jim Jones, the missionary preacher infamous for orchestrating a mass Flavor Aid suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978.

Other members told the reporter that Angley and his church controlled everything from what members were allowed to read to the most private aspects of their lives. They talked of three- to five-hour church services, several times a week.

Becky Rodman, who left the church last year, said that no one at the church had kids because Angley "makes all the men get fixed".

Munroe Falls resident Mini Camp told Dyer that church leadership persuaded her to get an abortion 16 weeks into her pregnancy.

Angley told Dyer that he doesn't recommend abortions, only suggests vasectomies. The goal of limiting the church's offspring was to prevent bringing children into a tumultuous world, Angley said.

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