Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Two COG Related Books Make List of Top 100 Books On Escaping From Cults



There is a list up of 100 Must-Read Books about life in cults and oppressive religious sects and two books by former Church of God members have made the list and #1 and #90.

The first book on the list is The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult by Jerad Walker.


Amazon has this to say about the book:
A memoir of growing up with blind, African-American parents in a segregated cult preaching the imminent end of the world

When The World in Flames begins, in 1970, Jerry Walker is six years old. His consciousness revolves around being a member of a church whose beliefs he finds not only confusing but terrifying. Composed of a hodgepodge of requirements and restrictions (including a prohibition against doctors and hospitals), the underpinning tenet of Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God was that its members were divinely chosen and all others would soon perish in rivers of flames.

The substantial membership was ruled by fear, intimidation, and threats. Anyone who dared leave the church would endure hardship for the remainder of this life and eternal suffering in the next. The next life, according to Armstrong, would arrive in 1975, three years after the start of the Great Tribulation. Jerry would be eleven years old.

Jerry’s parents were particularly vulnerable to the promise of relief from the world’s hardships. When they joined the church, in 1960, they were living in a two-room apartment in a dangerous Chicago housing project with the first four of their seven children, and, most significantly, they both were blind, having lost their sight to childhood accidents. They took comfort in the belief that they had been chosen for a special afterlife, even if it meant following a religion with a white supremacist ideology and dutifully sending tithes to Armstrong, whose church boasted more than 100,000 members and more than $80 million in annual revenues at its height.

When the prophecy of the 1972 Great Tribulation does not materialize, Jerry is considerably less disappointed than relieved. When the 1975 end-time prophecy also fails, he finally begins to question his faith and imagine the possibility of choosing a destiny of his own.
The second book is Matches in the Gas Tank: Trial by fire in the Armstrong cult by Carla Powers.


Amazon says:
An empowering story of the survival of the spirit, this heart-wrenching memoir recounts a girl's stifled and abusive childhood in the Radio Church of God-a cult founded by alleged prophet Herbert W. Armstrong in Big Sandy, Texas. Rules imposed by Armstrong were arbitrary and unforgiving, covering everything from food preparation and appearance to arranged marriages and earning income for the church. Overcoming a childhood of warped teachings and deprivation, the wrath of narrow-minded, punitive ministers, and a dangerous, alcoholic father, Carla escaped the control of the church and surpassed the legacy of abuse and shame to become a highly successful corporate lawyer.
Gavin Rumney's old site has this about Carla Powers:
Carla Powers was Daddy's princess back in Arkansas in the late 1950s. Then Daddy got religion. That religion, based in the teachings and deprivation of narrow-minded, punitive ministers, tormented her dangerous alcoholic father and her entire family. Growing up, Carla never knew a woman could do anything more than she was asked—or demanded—to do. She definitely never imagined that other worlds would open up to her and she would rise to become a powerful attorney.Matches in the Gas Tank tells the story of life inside the Radio Church of God and the influence of Herbert W. Armstrong, the Church's founder and prophet. Under his influence, Carla's family moved away from relatives and friends to Big Sandy, Texas, an enclave in which everyone lived by strict and unforgiving rules arbitrarily determined by Armstrong. His vision of how to get to the "Kingdom of God" and avoid a sea of flames consisted of unending lists of rules covering everything from food consumption, to financial responsibilities, to sexual behavior. The only way to rise above the poverty level was to become a minister, and the only way to become a minister was to continually police your neighbors for sin. Ministers were allowed to barge in a home any time of the day or night to inspect everything from the cleanliness of a family's kitchen to the contents of their tax returns. 
This is the story of how Carla escaped the control of the church and found a way to deal with the legacy of abuse and shame left to her by her father. As she embraces her difficult childhood, she comes to understand that while those we love have the power to hurt us, they can't destroy us. We can find strength in unexpected places.

Anyone who has had a less-than-perfect family, has struggled with the faith of her fathers or has gone through recovery from abuse, perfectionism, or any cult of personality will connect with the power of redemption in this moving memoir.

The author heads the litigation department of a major multinational energy company (Shell). Before entering the corporate world, she was a trial lawyer in Houston for more than 20 years and an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center.


23 comments:

nck said...

I think I'll buy the first one for fun.

About black people caught up in a white supremacist cult. That must beat the funny scene in "blazing saddles" when the new sherrif arrives.

My apologies to those who I acknowledge to have suffered real racist attitudes, I know....., it's just that the premisse of the first book makes me shudder with laughter. I should get my hands on the copyrights really and get Eddy Murphy involved......"if loving the lord is wrong.....I dont wanna be right...." shout amen.

Nck

Anonymous said...

I am going to purchase these two books, I believe. Thanks for the heads up.

I already can hear the deniers in my head, shaking their heads like "No! Nonono! That's not how we were! They're exaggerating! Lies! Bah Humbug! Poppycock!"

These things happened. Maybe not in YOUR specific congregation, or in YOUR life, but yes, these things happened. We all have our stories, and we all have our experiences. If your life was a bed of roses in the world of Armstrongism, then you were sitting in a life raft among a sea of drowning people. Your experience does not negate the experience of others. This was real. And for many, you did not have to wait for a Lake of Fire to be in a hellish environment.

Were we a supremacist organization? Herbert said no - that the racism did not extend to superiority or to discrimination. However, he was on record for saying that the other countries (that he would not go to) were different - full of people with brains not much higher than dumb animals, and that preaching to them would be like preaching to cows and chickens. If that's not saying that the people of the US were superior - than I really do not know what is.

1975 WAS a date. Herbert Armstrong said in a co-worker letter that the end might happen between January 1 and January 7, 1972 - but was quick to put in the same paragraph that "HE DOES NOT SET DATES". This was classic Armstrong double talk. "It could happen! But I'm not saying it could happen! On these dates! But don't hold me to it! But if it does, watch out! BUT IM NOT SETTING DATES!"

Ministers WERE allowed to barge into homes. They checked your medicine cabinets. They forbid medicine. They condemned you even for an unclean house. They caused untold harm to your mind and body.

Instead of denying, which I'm sure some will want to do, just buy the book and read it. These two books are going to go into my personal library. Thank you NO2HWA for the recommendations.

-SHT

nck said...

Whoa man. I can't stop laughing......Did you hear the one about the two blind black people getting involved and becoming upstanding members of a white supremacist cult ........believing they joined the local baptist chapter for more than a decade...??

Nck

Anonymous said...

Very interesting that the first book happened in the South Chicago "Colored Congregation" that we featured clips on recently here at Banned.

Here's a glimpse on an inside story about life in that environment first-hand, I believe.

Now, 45 years later, it's #1 on the top 100 books on escaping from cults. I'm so glad that one of these people has come forward to relate their story, and that it's being read and exposed by many people who are escaping from the cult experience.

Anonymous said...

Rule by 'fear, intimidation, and threats.' Spot on.
Carla Powers comment that those we love can hurt us but not destroy us, isn't quite right. People have the power to permanently mentally damage others. She should read the book 'Toxic parents.'
Many people have failed to reach anywhere close to their full potential because of family/church abuse.

Anonymous said...

What's wrong with so-called "White Supremacism"? It just means you rule in your own country. If you don't rule, the enemies will.

"This obsession with diversity has cursed us with a population that lacks a single unifying characteristic. A landmass occupied by people of different races, religions, cultures, political mindsets, and languages, is not a country, it is a battlefield."

- Christopher Cantwell.

The Atheist Republican said...

Who the hell reads books in 2018??? You people need to stop living in pre-internet world and get with the programme. Ever heard of e-books?!?!

Anonymous said...

That has to be the dumbest comment ever said here. Can you really be that stupid?

Unknown said...

Are these books available on vinyl LP 33 1/3rd speed record albums? If not, WHY NOT??? :-)

Anonymous said...

Leave it to NCK to mock other church members first-hand experiences in Armstrongs cult. After all, no one had a more perfect experience in the church than NCK did. Everyone else are liars. Everything we experienced never happened because he said it did not happen.

Anonymous said...

Isn't this typical.

When there's undeniable proof of supremacy, it turns into "Well, what's wrong with it anyway". If you can't disprove it, just say, oh, it's ok then. No big deal.

What's wrong with it? Seriously? What's wrong with it. How about how the victims of supremacy groups are made to feel? How about the demoralizing, inhumane, worthless way that the victims are made to feel? How about the prideful, ego-ridden, abusive, self-centered, power-driven attitudes of the abusers? How about the long-term emotional and mental scars that do untold harm on an individual solely based on their race, and not on who they are as a person? What about the words of Jesus - neither slave nor greek, male nor female, etc = that ALL are one in Christ? I could go on and on. Everything's wrong with it. To even suggest that supremacy is OK? Boggles the mind.

I really have to wonder about those who actually think it's ok to be racially intolerant and in high regard of supremacy. The only solace I have with this comment is the hope it's just a troll trying to start something. Even if it is, these comments still need to be said.

As far as the book thing goes, to our book-hater; if you choose not to read books, more power to you, I respect that. However, for those that choose to read books - it might be incumbent upon you to respect other people's choices in the matter. When there's a power outage, someone's going to be able to read something. The other's going to be sitting around. Power is conditional. Books are not. And if there's a problem with the power, I've got bookcases (which are not crooked) full of books of all types and flavors, large and small, from humor to theology to how to speak Klingon, among other numbers in the Dewey Decimal System. I won't be bored - because my nose is going to be in a book.

-SHT



Anonymous said...

1:06 PM, What the f**k kind of comment is that? You are a class A idiot.

RSK said...

At least one is on Kindle.

Anonymous said...

1.06 PM
According to studies, ebooks are read more casually than physical books. So your mocking is uncalled for.

Gordon Feil said...

I took a quick look at the list. Lots of books there about Mormonism and Scientology. I didn't notice any about anybody's experience in the Adventist Church. Maybe I didn't look closely enough but I did not see references to the Watchtower either.

Anonymous said...

I've read the second one, Matches in the Gas Tank, and I've met the author. She is a class act who through sheer strength of will managed to chart a very successful career path and now lives a life we could all envy.

That being said, there are way more of us who never lived up to our potential because we had Armstrong's toxic beliefs foisted upon us as powerless children.

Yet however destructive Armstrongism was to a child's psyche, growing up under toxic parents made everything so much worse. I've known many kids who grew up under Armstrongism but had decent parents and went on to lead mostly normal lives after they escaped from the cult. But there are plenty of others, like me, who were doubly cursed by growing up in a cult AND under the guardianship of seriously dysfunctional parents whose toxic beliefs and behaviors were enabled by Armstrongism.

I have an IQ measured somewhere around 140 yet I've never been able to stay in a job for more than a couple of years at a time. I just can't handle the abuse...so much was inflicted on me in the first 18 years of my life, enough to last a thousand years. I've never married, I've never even been able to attract a decent woman. I am past the age of having children, so that ship has sailed too. I've spent most of the past 30 years plodding through life, mostly off anyone's radar, in spite of spending thousands of dollars and investing thousands of hours trying to "fix" myself. Nothing has worked, and now I am slowly coming to the realization I will leave this life the exact same way I entered it: alone and unwanted.

I hope there is a hell because if so Armstrong will be in it as will the two animals who called themselves my "parents" yet were nothing more than monsters.

Just another person hiding behind a screen said...

Dear Anon 8:23

I am so sorry for the pain that you have endured and still endure. No child should have to live through abuse at the hands of those who should have loved them the most. But countless do. I am sorry that you are among them.
Please don’t resign yourself to being alone. Keep on fighting for the life that you want. Seek qualified help and support groups. There are so many lonely, hurting people who could use a compassionate friend like you. Even if you never marry and have a family, you can still be a blessing to those who need one. You can be their light.
I don’t know what your personal beliefs are, but I truly believe that there is a God who loves you. I pray that you feel His love and comfort in your life this week.
May God bless you.

nck said...

Ow man 4:28. You could have warned me. The blind meeting kkk has been done by Richard Prior in "Bustin Loose 1981."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bustin%27_Loose_(film)

Look at the 1:28 mark in the video.
WARNING: Richard Prior is a well known POTTY MOUTH so don't watch if you are not into that stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x8CtlS1Msw


I do prefer the "Welcome the sheriff" scene in Blazing Saddles.
I would have liked "the sheriff to be "the new pastor".

WARNING for "2018 easily offended political correct persons" the scene contains offensive material. But think of it as "welcome the new pastor".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZT7xLjxuhs

nck

Anonymous said...

Well said! ;-)

Gordon Feil said...

Anon 823, Just Another has given you wise advice. I know very little about you, but i would like to know more. If you respond to this, then perhaps we can arrange to talk.

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:23PM said, "I've spent most the last 30 years plodding through life, mostly off anyone's radar, in spite of spending thousands of dollars and investing thousands of hours trying to "fix" myself. Nothing has worked..."

Toxic parents armed with an arsenal of further dis-spiriting weapons of a toxic church. Parents and a church that did not and do not encourage and edify. Parents and church that tear down instead of build up. Parents and a church that rule by fear and intimidation. Rules, all the rules and nothing but the rules. But only the ones they say are rules, while they throw justice, mercy, faith and love out the window. Pthhhhh.

Everything was created GOOD! The church, and all too often parents, seem to think that a child must be defective/is filled with sin and MUST be taught the (scuse me while I try not to gag) eh-um "right way" to live. When the teachers don't know the right way and tyrannize the children, undoing the damage that has been foisted on mind, body, and spirit often takes as much time and effort as a full-time job for the rest of one's life. I do think that undoing the damage IS a worthwhile occupation.

There are many of us that have not had love, right guidance, humane treatment, or encouragement seems like --ever. We have been sorely mistreated, misused, and abused. We, sadly, have cowed and bowed to "serve and obey" those over us and been left feeling that our lives have been thrown on the scrap heap in the process. The toxic ones and their ways threw us there. But you know what? THIS little kid, of almost 6 decades, don't stay there.:) I keep scramblin' back out, much to their chagrin. To them, it's probably like those horror movies where the blob, or thing, or whatever they wanted controlled and destroyed kept coming ALIVVVVVVVE. Tee hee hee, chuckle, snortle. I don't know why I get so much pleasure at their irritation. They get miffed at the fact I refuse to go down and STAY down.

I can't be what I wanted to be, but I CAN be what they didn't want me to be.

No more--- worthless-slave-dog-drone-doormat-trash-pig-child. I'm an adult human being with heart and soul and worth!

Strength to move forward my friend. You have many survivors walking with you.



RSK said...

A battlefield, eh? So you'd like to assault, even kill everyone who isn't of your "race, religion, culture, political mindset, or language"?

I think you answered your own question, despite your attempts to sugarcoat it.

Anonymous said...

I’ve read Carla Powers book a few times. It was very helpful to me I’d recommend it to anyone exploring their time in the church