Armstrongism has always loved to mock the 'Rapture' belief of some Christians. But, when you look at the sheer stupidity that Armstrongism prompts as 'fleeing to Petra/Place of Safety' our beliefs are just as crazy.
Of course our version will have our God gather our members up on tired, worn out airplanes after our governments expel us from our respective countries. We will fly these worn out planes (held aloft by angels) to some God forsaken desert in Jordan where Muslims will greet us with open arms. Then the tired and homeless brethren will file in through the narrow gate into the glories of Petra while the leadership will be housed in the Marriott and Crown Plaza located outside the entrance to Petra.
Those lucky to make it inside will not have food, water, toilet's, blanket's etc. The Muslims will be giving that all to us because we are the True Christians.
A cloud of God will hover over Petra so that NATO bombers and the Anti-Christ's armies cannot kill us all.
We will spend three and half years having sing-a-long's in the amphitheater.
We will get to hear Meredith and Flurry preach to us day in and day out.
Health issues will disappear, cavities will be filled, contacts and eye glasses will not be needed because God is either going to cure us or we will be so glad to be 'saved' from the tribulation that we will not care.
Here's where the Church leaders will stay:
And here is where you will be staying:
So who's crazier?
7 comments:
Too funny.
It always seemed so far-fetched to me, but everyone believed it, and if you didn't, members whispered about you behind your back.
The "Place of Safety" speculations were always disturbing to me personally and most of the members who felt, no matter, it was supposed to be a good thing.
As I said elsewhere, I told Gerald Waterhouse on one of his epic marathon visits where I had 3 churchs and thus three exposers to his speculations, that he caused more problems than he solved for the church with this topic.
Not a good move on my part, but I was tired of it. I told him from now on, any questions he generated, or fears...I'd direct the member to ask him.
I would never have been able to follow the church in any such foolishness. I dont believe I ever gave a sermon on the topic just as I never gave one on British Israelism. I simply did not care about these speculative topics and they didn't matter or could be proven.
It was a dangerous idea and I am so glad no one was ever so stupid as to pull the trigger on it. I believe some of the cultish Jim Jones stuff of that time put the brakes on any such foolishness in reality
The real question is, how close did we come?
Actually not close I'm sure. No one I know would have been that trusting of such an idea played out. Not that there weren't the zealots with pooka for brains.
I knew WCG or at least HWA etc may have been less convinced about 1972 and the 3-5 years outside that Jesus would linger when in 69 they started building the Auditorium, I mean "House for God."
Of course Jesus wanted to find us "so doing" should he not return...uh huh.
There is a lot of ego to be stroked and money to be made in Jesus ALMOST coming. There is NOTHING in his actually showing up.
No wonder all the males sucked up trying to become "ministers". Hell, where would you rather stay? I remember telling some people not to be surprised if we didn't ever "flee to Petra". I thought they were going to stone me. It was like committing the "unpardonable sin"!
I believed in the Place of Safety ... until the year I went to Jordan for the Feast and got a sneak-preview of Petra. It was only then that reality sunk in.
Remember all the ridiculous speculation. One minister said that the reason God called so many carpenters and blue collar workers was to get the Place of Safety ready for the Church when the time came to flee. Oh, and the reason the WCG had amassed such an incredible fine arts collection was to use as barter when the monetary system failed.
It was a brilliant scam.
My husband once commented that religion is sort of like Barney (the kid's TV show). You believe in it, but sooner or later, you outgrow it.
I am an avid fan of sci fi fiction, and there was was a certain wooooo! oooooh!, spine tingly, mysticism about it. Who wouldn't want to be magically poofed to a place where we would be able to see the waring from the cliffs, and yet be spared from the fall out? And it was laid out so logically in the sermons, you just HAD to believe it. But the blush faded from the rose, and undercurrents started to tell us that we'd have a place of safety in our own homes. We'd hear them beating on our doors for food, see them dying in the streets from our windows. Nah, even though I like a good yarn, not even I could swallow that one. One of my favorite books from the 60's was "Alas Babylon" by Pat Frank. It tells of a town in Florida that survives a nuclear attack, and how they manage to survive. I may like science fiction, but I am a realist.
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