Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders

Friday, November 12, 2010

Domestic Violence in Armstrongism



In March of 2009 Dakota O'Leary posted the story of her life in Armstrongism on the God Discussion blog.

An open letter to those who have experienced abuse at the hands of religion

She goes into great detail on how her so called 'christian' father beat her mother continually.  Despite repeated complaints to the COG ministry, they did nothing.  The ministry blamed her mother for not being submissive!  What degenerate filth these ministers were/still are!  This is just one case in thousands who have lived and currently live their lives in terror with abusive spouses.

Armstrongism created an atmosphere of self righteousness that fostered this abuse.  When one of it's demanding doctrines is that women are to SUBMIT to their husbands in all things what more could we expect?

This kind of abuse still goes on in LCG, PCG, UCG, and many of the other splinter cults.  I have seen some of the men who abused their wives and know what happened.  They now are part of various splinter cults and certainly have NOT changed their ways.  One man who is part of Spanky's cult in Charlotte NC, was so mentally abusive to his wife that she cowered in his presence.  She called him Sir.  She dressed in long dresses, no make up, her hair was always in a state of disarray.  Nothing ever pleased this vile little man. He had to have been the most unhappy person I had ever met! Of course in his eyes he was Armstrongism's most perfect follower.

Here is a small excerpt from her letter.  You can access the entire letter above in the link.


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My mother was severely beaten for the entire time we belonged to Worldwide.   My father claimed he was beating her in order to "get her under submission" to him because the church taught that men were head of the households under Jesus Christ.     My dad would try to explain to me while he was beating her that he was "saving" her soul for God by "beating Satan out of her."       He was always careful to not touch her face.   He left bruises where they could be covered up.   And lest you think my dad was somehow justified for beating her, he would also call her a whore.   He called her a bitch.   He called her every filthy name under the sun while he beat her.   He held her and me hostage while on a religious retreat in South Dakota. He held us hostage in our hotel room for 12 hours, with no food or water, threatening us with further violence if we tried to leave.   To this day Mom and I have no idea why he held us hostage.   When my dad beat my mom, he used his hands, he used object, and he even beat her with the Bible, beat her with a book that is supposed to be holy. he beat her so hard he broke the binding on one of his Bibles.   He abused her psychologically, when he wasn't beating her, and the mental headgames that went on was like walking through a minefield.     You never knew what would set my dad off.   Ever.   Yet my dad's public face was quite another matter. In public, he was kind, and courteous, and helped out many church members. In public, he complimented my mother, and was really, just a completely different person from the madman we knew at home.   No one would ever have believed in our church that my dad was a wife beater.   No one did for a long time.
My mother tried to get help. She appealed to the pastor.   The pastor made more trips to our house than he made to the grocery store. And the result was not ever in my mother's favor.   The pastor told my dad that my dad was in the right.   He told my dad in front of my mother that my dad, as head of the household under Jesus Christ had the right, even the duty to "do whatever it took" to get my mother to submit.     Over and over for 15 years my mother heard that tired litany, not just from one pastor, but from three and four pastors.     Our pastor even made a public example of my mother in church telling the congregation that she had a problem submitting, and then, after services, locked my mother in a room with himself and the associate pastor there as a witness, and screamed at my mother for an hour.   My dad never got screamed at.   He got invited to the pastor's house and they watched football games together.   They were best buddies.   While my dad was off palling around with the pastor, my mother was figuring out just how to submit.   And she tried.   She stopped talking about anything controversial.   She stopped offering opinions.   She stopped drawing, because drawing annoyed my dad, because pursing anything she was personally interested in took time away from him.   She stopped being a person and became what she would nervously jokingly term "a puppet."   She cooked, cleaned, worked two jobs, and handed over her paychecks to my dad, never getting any of the money for herself.   If she refused to hand over her paychecks, Dad would beat her, and did beat her, with the breadboard.     He spent the money on tools, and toys for himself and gave large offerings at church, while we went without food (which is why she tried not to hand over all the money to my dad).   When my dad was around she did exactly what he told her to do and said exactly what she thought he wanted to hear.   The difficulty was in my house, saying "pass the salt" could start World War 3.     The violence escalated to the point where there came a day that my dad nearly killed her.   He picked her up and threw her under the kitchen table and he threw her so hard she slid across the kitchen and hit her head on the kitchen sink cupboard doors hard enough to render her unconscious.       I lived in fear for years, and suffer from anxiety today, which I take medication for.     I lived in my room, with books, because I couldn't bear to see that evil played out, and because I felt so powerless to stop it.   We'd go to church and be all happy and normal and the abuse was effectively–hidden.   But not really.   Worldwide broke up in 1996, and people I used to go to church with came forward and confessed they knew "something bad" was going on, but didn't know what to do about it. I also heard stories of horrors going on that nothing was ever done about–spousal rape being near the top of the list.     Again, nothing was done, because in most Christian churches "rape" doesn't exist if you're married.

Here are a few books from Amazon that deal with domestic violence in the Church.  Despite the fact that the various splinter cults of Armstrongism deny there is abuse in their churches, it IS going on.  They are liars, plain and simple.






Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Iraqi Christians Wounded in al-Qaeda Church Massacre Evacuated

French Government Evacuates Iraqi Christians Wounded in al-Qaeda Church Massacre for Medical Treatment…

France deserves a lot of credit, they’re stepping up and helping Iraqi Christians under siege by Islamists while we do nothing for fear of upsetting Muslims…
(AFP)- Thirty-four Iraqi Christians and a Muslim guard wounded in a deadly Al-Qaeda attack on a Baghdad church just over a week ago flew into France late Monday for admission to hospitals for treatment.
Bearing bullet and grenade wounds from the October 31 attack, they arrived at Orly airport outside Paris on a plane dispatched to Iraq earlier Monday to collect them, an AFP reporter said.
The group, travelling with 19 companions, was welcomed at the airport by French Immigration Minister Eric Besson who said at the weekend it fitted France’s “tradition of asylum” to take them in.
They were immediately loaded into ambulances and sent to several hospitals around Paris.
They were wounded when Al-Qaeda gunmen stormed a Syriac Catholic cathedral during Sunday mass, prompting an assault by Iraqi and US security forces.
France plans a second evacuation flight in the coming weeks to bring out a further 93 Christians.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Why The COG Does Not Extend A Helping Hand



Armstrongism has always had a perverted sense of 'helping the world' when it comes to natural and man made disasters.

Many Armstrongites (Meredith, Flurry, Pack) go into almost orgasmic fits when they talk about the destruction of the United States and the rest of the world. Their eyes start to glaze over, their voice rises and their hands grasp the side of the pulpit  till their knuckles turn white. 

They want to see people die, they want to see destruction and mayhem.  They want to see famine, torture and death.   

When they see these things it legitimizes themselves and their little cults as bearers of truth. 

One can only imagine the abject horror these ministurds would have if an entire nation 'repented' and turned from it's destructive ways.  It would not fit their paradigm at all!  There would be weeping and gnashing of teeth, month long fasts, sermons blaming the brethren, etc., etc., etc..

The world got to see how truly disgusting the basic tenants of Armstrongism really was when the LCG killings happened. The community reached out with helping hands and Bob Thiel, Meredith, and other ministers spit back in their faces with contempt.

Following are a few comments gleaned off of  a Yahoo group of LCG and XCG members talking about helping others.



The church always realized that these things are coming about as a result of America's sins and their refusal to acknowledge that they are Israel.
The church never got involved in "outreach" . One reason is that pumping money to help sin never works. The US sent billions in aid to foreign nations without one shred of help coming from it since if people continue to sin you are throwing your time and money away.


Our "outreach" is telling them who and what they are: Israel and that they had better wake up before Katrina (which pales in comparison to the flooding in the mid west frankly) looks like a Sunday school picnic.

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The church was never one to give as a group to health charities as we do not place our faith in science to heal. Our charity of giving is in time of prayer for those who are in need of health. We ask for far more than just their physical health.


We did not give money to India, for example, as a church because as Mr Armstrong said as long as they worship idols all the money in the world will not help them.

Individual church members have always helped to take care of those in need when they found or knew about them. They just do so quietly without fanfare.



Giving to the brethren is always of top priority.

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We do have a church to give to and Gods money is never to be doled out to just anyone.
The church is , was and always will be the baptized members who have the holy spirit.

Silly COGer Quote of the Day: Fixing Broken Dykes on the Sabbath is 'Act of Mercy'

The Flickering Candle says it is ok to help fix broken dykes on the Sabbath, but not to make someone fix you food to feed yourself:.  What if the broken dyke wanted some food after you fixed her? Bummer!

Yesterday I mentioned that working on the Sabbath was occasionally allowable, but that regular such work was not.  I seem to have been a little unclear on this: I had meant that work involving acts of mercy was acceptable.  I was thinking of the dykes breaking and of helping people to escape ect.  I had NOT meant that working late from time to time to please the boss was an “ox in the ditch”.  Longtime readers will know that I am most zealous for the Sabbath. Only ACTS OF MERCY ARE PERMITTED. It is NOT appropiate to work late from time to time at any regular job and it is NOT acceptable to God to pay others to do any work on Sabbath.  That would include paying others persons or businesses to cook or work for  us in restaurants or any other business establishment.

Um, someone had better talk to this self appointed savior of Armstrongism and let him know that his choice of words is hilarious.  Any check of the online dictionary will find you this as to what a dyke is:














http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dyke




















Church Leader to Iraqi Christians: It’s Finally Time to Leave

This will not be of much interest to those entrenched in Armstrongism, since there are no other Christians outside the "One and Only True Church.". But those that have taken the time to educate themselves know things differently.

Church Leader to Iraqi Christians: It’s Finally Time to Leave

Angry mourners gather for a mass funeral in Baghdad after 58 Christians were massacred by Muslims last week.

UPDATE/FURTHER INFO: For those of our readers who will be in the UK, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, will preside and preach at a remembrance service for the victims of the Baghdad massacre, to be held at Westminster Cathedral on Friday, November 27. Catholic or not, do try to attend to protest and to show your support.
After the horror of last weeks massacre of 58 Iraqi Christians at a Baghdad church by a RoP mob, the exiled Archbishop tells his flock it’s finally time to up sticks and begin an exodus:
A senior Iraqi Christian is to call on believers to quit the country, after gunmen targeted a church in Baghdad.
Archbishop Athanasios Dawood, who is based in the UK, will make his appeal during a service at the Syrian Orthodox Church in London.
The archbishop has previously criticised the lack of protection for Iraqi Christians.
At least 52 people died as security forces stormed a Catholic church in Baghdad to free dozens of hostages.
A number of gunmen entered Our Lady of Salvation in the city’s Karada district during Mass on Sunday 31 October, sparking an hours-long stand-off.
The militants made contact with the authorities by mobile phone, demanding the release of al-Qaeda prisoners and also of a number of Muslim women they insisted were being held prisoner by the Coptic Church in Egypt.
After negotiations failed, Iraqi security forces stormed the building, before the gunmen reportedly threw grenades and detonated their suicide vests.
On Sunday, Archbishop Dawood is expected to advise all Christians to leave Iraq now that al-Qaeda has warned of more attacks there.
The archbishop is also calling on the UK government to grant Christian Iraqis asylum.
Christians – as ethnic Assyrians – have lived in Iraq since the 1st Century, but following the fall of Saddam Hussein, they have become isolated and the Baghdad government has proved unwilling or unable to protect them.
There has been a string of bomb attacks on churches leading many to flee to neighbouring countries.
Church leaders have in the past advised the faithful to stay in Iraq and strengthen their communities.
But such is the insecurity, there are signs this policy may be about to change.
“Fight those who believe not in God nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by God and His Apostle, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued” Qur’an 9:29
Anyone who knows about Islam or reads publications such as ours will be all too aware of the plight of Christians living in Muslim lands. Sanctioned by Allah, non-Muslims in every Muslim-majority country in the world face life as second-class citizens; with restrictions and challenges ranging from low-level harassment to outright (and often violent) persecution by both the state and their Muslim neighbours.
Humiliation kidnap, rape, violence, legal persecution and other forms of hatred are rife and regular. Post-Saddam Iraq is one of the worst examples possible. Christians here are a target for any violent Islamist thug that feels the need for a little blood-letting. Or a lot, as was the case last week.
This is no place for Christians.
We fully support the Archbishop’s Dawood’s call for all Christians to quit Iraq – and for them to be afforded asylum in Britain and the West. Without the bloody sword of Islam over their heads, they are sure to integrate well and lead peaceful, productive lives.
[Source: BBC News]