I'M MAD AS HELL AND IM NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!
I don't have to tell you things are bad in the COGS. Everybody knows things are bad. It's depressing. Everybody's getting old or dying off. Your Tithe dollar buys a nickel's worth of output or value. COGS are going bust, splitting over and over.
Brethren keep a gun in their purse, in case there is another "Milwaukee" . Decrepit Sociopathic Punks are running wild with the scriptures and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know these Cults are unfit to stay in and the doctrines are unfit to consume , and we sit watching our computer while some Cult Meister tells us that he is one of the two witnesses, or a prophet , or the Elijah, as if that's the way its supposed to be.
We know things are bad — worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like the COG everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is: 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. We beg guys who have the "common doctrine", like Pack, to "please let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave me alone."
Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get MAD! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot — I don't want you to write to your minister, because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about your depression and the Germans who are supposedly coming to your street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. [shouting] You've got to say: 'I'm a human being,, dammit! My life has value!'
So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell: I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!
I want you to get up right now. Sit up. Go to your windows. Open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!...You've got to say, I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!
Then we'll figure out what to do about all of this insanity. But first, get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it:
I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!
Courtesy of TONTO
37 comments:
Members should sue Dave Pack for the common doctrine and try to get some of their money back. A class action against his church.
Now that is a good ol' fashioned revival message at its finest. I am just afraid that when I yell out the window tonight I might scare the coyotes which might scare the deer which might scare the drivers of the cars that are about ready to hit the deer.
There are consequences to every action and that may be why the foundational COG service is such a passive submissive affair. Not much can go wrong in such a setting except for the occasional forgetting of the lectern water.
With the broad base eclectic bunch of men leading the COGs stumbling over each with the latest interpretation of self titlehood and or searching far and wide for a just ripe handful of barely, it is all about the salesmanship of the person, or a message to try and rope in an audience receptive to something that in the end, really doesn't matter that much.
Who hasn't been in room of many people and a man or women just take over that room with just their looks or maybe just their personality or with both? Who hasn't taken a walk in your local town and just stopped at a stunningly colorful flower garden in front of someones house? Who hasn't paused to stare at the most spectacular sunset?
The problem with the COGs is there is nothing there anymore for one to pause their life for. It doesn't matter how nice their building and grounds are or how beautiful everyone dresses. It doesn't matter how big or small the COG is. It doesn't matter what each COG leader thinks he is or what role he thinks he fulfills. It doesn't matter who thinks they fulfilled or are fulfilling Matt. 24:14. The whole COG spectrum doesn't work anymore because it can't sell itself. It is not stopping people in their tracks. It can't command a room let alone the whole world. Hardly anyone is pausing or noticing in a good sense.
Last century Christianity in the COGs shares with first century Christianity one commonality - it is in captivity. In a take of HWA's book, it is a church held captive in every possible way. Too many have put in their whole bet that their particular COG has the only "ticket", unfortunately those same many probably haven't heard - the house always wins!
Ok. I've stopped laughing. I never did that in actuality. But, I did walk away and never looked back. I was on my way to becoming a sane secular humanist atheist, and the journey was not an easy one, but nobody has been in a position to exploit me for more than forty years now. Last half of my life, so far, has been the best half.
I for one am going to take great pleasure in helping take down James Malm and Bob Thiel. I already have the names at Youtube to report these guys.
You talk about catharsis! You talk about primal scream! LOL Be calm and do the Snoopy!
--Wes White
I’m thinking there’s soon going to be much more anger towards the plague enthusiasts amongst us (anti-vaxxers) than there is about the false prophets.
BB
common doctrine
Common, commune, communist... Dave could turn into a counter-movement for the Christian Conservative coalitions... Maybe he could attract potential members from Bernie Sanders supporters!
Al Dexter wrote "but nobody has been in a position to exploit me for more than forty years now."
Bullshit. The politicians have exploited you.
Unfortunately, ACOG brethren are trained in masochism. Their motto: "ENDURE TO THE END!" Pretty much the same as the old fraternity pledge cry during a beating, "THANK YOU SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?"
Jesus told His followers, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Armstrong, Flurry, Pack, Weston and the others have a different message, twisting scripture for their own selfish purposes: "You're going to suffer, and you're going to COUNT IT AS JOY!"
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I joined a abusive cult
So did you
9.20 PM
But James Malm is a blogger, not a church. Freedom of speech does apply to him.
@ 6:45 AM,
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Sugar is sweet
Armstrongism ruins lives.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I joined and abusive cult
And I got the hell out of it
Jim-AZ
My parents are getting on in years now. They joined the church when they were young: my dad was in his twenties when he signed up, and my mom was only a teenager. Now they're both in their seventies!
All of their friends are churchmembers. Every week there's someone else my mom tells me about that either suddenly has Alzheimers, cancer, or has died. Their generation is dying off very quickly now. Thing is, church growth only continued for another 20 years or so after they signed up, because that's only as long as Herbert Armstrong was alive to round up the suckers.
So, I give it 20 more years before even the bigger churches, UCG, COGWA, and LCG, are reduced by the inevitable culling of natural attrition to small groups who can only afford to have "house churches." All the smaller ones will be gone, at best reduced to geographically isolated individuals with no one of like mind left alive to "fellowship" with.
They can say whatever they want about "the gates of hell," but the fact is, they're prevailing right now, and they will continue to prevail until there's nothing left of Armstrongism. The end is in sight. 20 more years, and it will become little more than a historical movement.
The moment Malm started calling himself a work and accepting tithes and offerings he became a legitimate target.
“I’m mad as hell and I am not going to take it any more.” I am glad Joe Tkach was appointed PG after HWA died. Had it not been for JWT I probably would have stayed in WCG. In the early 90’s I was mad as hell. Everything in the church was changing. Joe,Sr was saying one thing but doing the opposite. In reality it was not Joe,Sr making the changes, it was primarily Mike Feazell along with a few others who were feeding Joe,Sr the doctrinal changes. Joe,jr got on board but I don’t think Joey was smart enough nor educated in theology to make the changes. I was a believer in what HWA taught. Here were these upstarts making major changes to everything I believed in. So in 1994 I quit going to church. I was going to follow Mr. Armstrong. So I asked which group should i follow. I started to exams my beliefs. I was shocked. My beliefs were based on what HWA said, not the Bible. For example, the tithe was based on the fruits from the land, it went to the Levites, it was placed in then storehouse. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd tithe are not mentioned in the Bible. Holy days were kept in Jerusalem, people built temporary dwellings, etc. to be continued..
Jim
What slowly dawned on me was, I had been had. What was hard to swallow was Mike Feazell and friends were right about HWA,s teachings. The prophecies of HWA never came to pass. Only a WCG member could be considered worthy to be in the kingdom. WCG was the true church under HWA, nope. While Mike Feazell understood the doctrines of HWA were wrong, I didn’t agree with how the changes were made. Telling us nothing was changing, then doing the opposite made me mad as hell. Grace Communion run by Joey was not where I wanted to be. I find it very interesting that Joey managed to squander all the money made from the sale of WCG property. Millions just evaporated. To be cont.
Jim
Jim cont
So after I left WCG, I realized I didn’t want any part of organized religion. I don’t feel like my time in WCG was wasted. Yes I am sorry I swallowed the HWA bait. But I am not sorry for trying to help people. I never felt I was better than any member. I spent time working with alcoholics. I encouraged people with an addiction to alcohol to join AA. I went at 4:00 am one morning, sat with an alcoholic, he was hallucinating, etc. finally after about 2 hours, took him to my car, and drove him to the detox ward of a local hospital. Then checked him in to a rehab facility. Years later he called to thank me for helping him turn his life around. He wound up as a professor at a local university. About 3 years ago I found this blog. I consider several of you on here my internet friends. I don’t know if I knew Gary from WCG days. I figured out who Byker Bob is. He was a couple years behind me. He was our rebel AC student, now a success business man. I respect his posts and think we could talk bikes over a cold one. Had a chopped hog. Dennis I met a few times but never got to know him. I respect his research. He has inspired me to do my own research. I am not an atheist but I don’t believe in the god of HWA. I have learned that the early New Testament church didn’t have a Bible. The Old Testament was a Jewish book. Early Christian gentile converts didn’t have access to the Jewish Bible, and the New Testament was not written till years after the account of the first converts. I retired a couple of years ago. After I left WCG, I got a regular job, and yes I got my hands dirty. I got into construction. Bought a dump truck, a skid steer and a couple chainsaws. I helped develop land and prepared lots for home construction. My wife was a successful real estate salesperson. Together we had a new home built and paid cash for it. My wife asks me why I bother reading and sometimes commenting here. My answer, I will never forget the life changing events I experienced in WCG, in my early years, I was treated like crap. My wife had to wash the ministers dishes, scrub their floors. She got down on her hands and knees, and scrubbed their floors when she was pregnant. As a trainee, I was not allowed to go home until I was dismissed from doing chores for my master, the minister.
I enjoy life with my wife, I enjoy sitting on my patio, sipping iced tea and watching people play golf. We are on the 7th hole of a golf course. I enjoy reading what Gary might post, what Dennis might wright, or reading Byker Bobs post. Al D. Glad you are doing ok up in Cottonwood. Dennis thanks for sharing so many life’s experiences. I was especially touched by how you reached out to Karen before she died. Please call anytime just to chew the fat. Life is what you make it.
Jim-AZ
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Malm, Flurry, Thiel, Pack & Weinland...
SCREW YOU!
When HWA reacted to being criticized or misrepresented, he sometimes claimed the report was 100% wrong. GTA sometimes said the best liar is "a centillionth of a gnat's whisker from the truth". HWA was never 100% wrong and never that close to the truth, but deliberately misleading.
"He was our rebel AC student"
Never was converted. Has no right to complain. Part of the problem not the solution.
Jim, I'm curious as to who you are. Did we know each other? My phone number is: 928-202-9020.
Email: phylandal@centurylink.net.
Ya know, we’ve got to look for the positive in everything. I’ve always said there are two powers. There is the power of positive thinking, yet so many get stuck in another power ~ the power of SUPPOSITORY thinking. If I could get a message to all the people who are enmired in Armstrongism it would be to devote your energies to whatever provides the most positive feedback in your life! That may not necessarily be the contrived “one size fits all” things your leaders impose upon you.
Probably the best thing Armstrongism ever did for me was to deprive me of the things that I wanted to do most in life. It made me rise up and fight to accomplish those things more than I ever would had they just been givens in my life, as they were for most of my peers growing up. Another key concept was moderation in all things. I often mock and trash him for his absurd preoccupations, but Rod Meredith told us in Bible class that one month of every year, he would make an alcohol-free month. That to me made incredible sense on so many levels. It teaches self-control and a healthy respect for something which is known to run away with some people and ruin their lives.
The biggest downside from WCG is the DSM-IV Axis 2 disorders directly caused by Armstrongism (Armstrongpogenic?) that most of us have had to fight all of our post-Armstrong lives, particularly those of us who spent some years being raised under the child-rearing booklet. Even there, recognizing it, and working hard against that adversity has been instrumental in our success. There is a wide variety of available therapy today which can help address that. I personally found hypnotherapy to be very beneficial, mostly to assist in dealing on an adult level with authority figures, learning to negotiate with them, something that was all but forbidden in interacting with the ministers.
Every once in a while, we get a reminder about the preciousness of life. Luke Perry, awesome actor and quintessential nice guy dead of a stroke at age 52. Many of us who were baby boomers and grew up in Armstrongism never thought we’d make 30. Yet, here we are, somehow, with an accumulation of experience we thought we’d never get to have, and stories to share.
Anger is good as a first emotion. However, If you hold on to it, at some point it becomes destructive. It’s also not the emotion that gets things done. The attitude that you’re not going to take it any more causes change, and that’s what carries you through life.
BB
Still on the Kool -Aid, 8:40?
;-)
BB
Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
Animated cartoon Bob Thiel is a quack,
and throws his hands around on his videos like one too!
Richard
BB
Where you baptised while in HWAs church?
BB wrote:
Rod Meredith told us in Bible class that one month of every year, he would make an alcohol-free month.
At least when I knew him in LCG, he had stopped doing that. I don't think I ever saw him drunk like his kids, but judging by his going out for Sabbath evening meals and his hosting people at his home, I don't think I ever saw him refrain from alcohol at a meal, nor did I ever see him cut back his socializing for a month. Rod was a big enough liar that I wonder whether he was even abstaining when he told you he was, but by his LCG years I am certain that he wasn't taking an annual month away from alcohol.
Be nice if there was an 'Alternative Envoy' showing photos of those people who we knew back then (at AC and faculty). Each photo could have a short description showing persons name and a sentence or 2 detailing what they believed now and what their life had been like. Of course an up-to-date photo, and a large obituary section I guess.
Not sure if I know BB or not, I think he might have been a few years later than me at AC. I am a bit curious about Jim. I went to Bricket Wood, so didn't know a lot of the Americans. I think I was in David Hulmes class (was that his name?) Thankfully I left the whole outfit in 1973.....but just got curious about what happened to everyone a few years back.
@8:53: Oh yes!!! Being asked to leave AC after two years was quite a wakeup call. I became more serious about prayer, fasting, and Bible Study. I was rehired by the college and became a very dedicated worker at AC Press, working there until it closed.
Hope that helps you in psychoanalyzing me and critiquing my posts!
BB
Hey Jim, I think I figured out who you you are as well, but I've got one more question. Ever hear of a Royal Enfield Indian motorcycle?
BB
Baker Bob
Yep your right I did have the Royal Enfield Indian. You memory is good. Back in the early 60,s I loved drag racing.
Jim
Byker Bob
This auto correct doesn’t always help. How many people would know what a Royal Enfield Indian was. You amaze me.
Jim
Jim, I always had an eidetic memory for the things I was passionate about. Lawrence of Arabia's Brough Superiors (he died on his eighth one), Che Guevara's Norton, long forgotten brands such as the Vincent Black Shadows, Black Lightnings, and Rapides, the Ariel Square Fours and Red Hunters (I actually got to ride a Red Hunter) and Matchless were some of the bikes that captivated my interest. During the '80s, I was into the British bikes, buying basketcase Triumphs and building usually one per year. I actually bought a Triumph Trident pretty much one part at a time in '89 and put it together in the livingroom because I had a girlfriend who was very jealous of my time and didn't want me out in the garage for hours on end. You can imagine what my mom thought when they visited us, and I had the freshly blasted and painted frame tucked away in back of the couch! When the reproduction parts for the Triumphs started being made in Taiwan (this was before Triumph's revival), I picked up a not too badly wrecked Harley Shovelhead, stripped it down to the frame, rebuilt it, and then sold my main rider, the Bonneville I had built in '81.
I used to say that the only good and true thing HWA ever taught us was that we should drink plenty of water. But, there was one more. He warned us in "The Seven Laws of Success" about being a square peg in a round hole. And, I was one at his college! I'm just thankful that it worked out so that I was eventually able to pursue my main gift in life, which was always technical, related to machinery. That has taken me to places which I could never have begun to imagine.
BB
BB, that was an interesting follow up to the mention of the Royal Enfield.
After reading “Royal Enfield”, I thought of the Vincent Black Shadows, the Ariel Square Fours, Norton Commandos, BSA Lightnings, could have included the Rockets, Triumph Tridents, Trophies and Bonnevilles. I had a 650 Bonneville for around 5 years in the 1970s.
The Bonnies were awesome, Yes and No, weren't they? My main rider in the '80s was a '75. It was a 750 with .060 over pop-up pistons, and a hotter cam. It sounded great through the blown out steel pack mufflers on it. I'd rewrap the baffles with industrial steel wool pads, and it'd be gone within 6 months! An occasional trip to the airport for higher octane Aviation gas to spike the pump gas kept it running wonderfully. I really knew how to sync the twin Amal carbs, so it was just awesome idling at a light. Triumphs have the pistons both going up and coming down in sync, only firing alternately, so that it's like driving a jack hammer. The front wheel bobs up and down slightly in sympathetic vibration with the pistons, which is another part of the mystique of the bike. If that bike could have told stories! Many many miles, many weekends, all over Southern California, in the mountains, up and down Pacific Coast Highway, out in Palm Springs, through Angeles Crest Highway up to the Antelope Valley, up to Bishop, over to Yucaipa. Pure freedom as a lifestyle. Everyone came up and wanted to talk at places like gas stations, liquor stores, and fast food parking lots. And, then we repeated the same cycle in a different state on the Shovelhead in the '90s and new millennium. I doubt that most of the church people would understand.
BB
The British bikes were great even with the oil leaks.
Even Hunter S. Thompson, when he was hanging out with Sonny Barger and the crew in Oakland in the mid-sixties rode a BSA.
The end of the seventies, for me, was basically the end of the glory days of the motor-cycle riding era; it went downhill with the move towards organized crime - the spirit was gone.
Except for doing the Laughlin run, I never really got into the social aspects of it. It was always just me, the bike, the ol’ lady, and the open road. Maybe a trusted friend or two, riding theirs.
To be honest, I enjoyed working on the bikes as much as I ever did riding them. It rubbed off on my youngest son. He builds bikes too. About a year ago, I picked up a Triumph roller for him, stripped it, and sent him the parts he needed for a hard tail chopper he is building.
By the way, check out Jay Leno’s garage. He’s got a couple of Broughs, a Vincent, and a Norton, as well as several other Brit bikes. He explains the bikes, then takes them for a spin. Pretty awesome.
BB
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