CHAPTER ONE
IN THE BEGINNING
I grew up in the Worldwide Church of God, an organization labeled “cult” by most of mainstream Christianity. At the head of it, was Herbert W. Armstrong, a forceful personality, with a unique interpretation of scripture. I grew up believing that we in the Worldwide Church of God were the only true Christians in the world. My mother told me a story of how when I was a toddler in the stroller and
we were passing by a large old church, I pointed and said “Man's way.”
The Worldwide Church of God took a lot of their beliefs from the Old Testament. Being young, I never really understood why some of the ancient laws were kept and some were discarded. I'm sure there was a reason and I'm sure it made sense to the adults. At least, I hope it did. I've never felt bad for being part of a group that taught Biblically unsound doctrines. I was a child and a child will believe in Santa Claus if you tell them with enough conviction. But I do wonder about the adults and why they were so quick to let someone interpret the Bible for them. My husband, who is eight years older than me, said that it wasn't so much the doctrine that attracted him as much as the emphasis on righteous living. And there was an emphasis on righteous living. But unfortunately most people were not living up to the high standards we taught.
I think another draw for a lot of people was the emphasis on prophecy. I grew up believing that someday, before a great tribulation fell upon the world, we believers would be taken to a place of safety where we would be hidden from the wrath that fell on everyone else. Herbert W. Armstrong had a radio show and a television show called The World Tomorrow where he preached out of Daniel and
Revelation and gave his own unique interpretations. I think there were quite a few people who joined the church to escape the great tribulation.
It was believed that the place of safety was Petra, in Jordan. Mr. Armstrong would travel around the world as an “ambassador for peace” and one of the people he met was King Hussein of Jordan. The church had some sort of outreach to handicapped children in Jordan. Since Petra was in Jordan and Mr.
Armstrong was a “friend” of King Hussein, it was taught that we would all fly to Jordan and stay in Petra for the duration of the tribulation. I have some vague recollection that at some point, soldiers of the world would surround Petra and threaten us all, but that heavenly retribution would strike them down. What was more critical to people was what they would bring to survive the years in Petra. One woman said she was going to bring two suitcases of maxi pads.
As a child, I once packed a small briefcase full of my favourite books and then carried it around with me, even if we went across the city on the subway, because it was said that we could be called to flee at any moment. One of my childhood fears was that I would come home from school and find my mother and younger brothers gone and that I would somehow have to make my way to the airport (by taxi, I suppose) or else I would miss the flight to safety. Contacting my dad at work was not an option. He wasn't a member of the Worldwide Church of God and therefore would have to face the tribulation. When it was preached from the pulpit that during that horrible time the guillotine would probably be restored as a form of punishment I resigned myself to my dad's inevitable fate. You see, my dad knew too much. He had lived with a believing wife and would therefore have to stand up for the truth in the future time of persecution and would be punished for his belated realization that everything the church taught was true.
The Great Tribulation would be followed by the Wonderful World Tomorrow. It would be a time of peace and prosperity on the earth with the members of the Worldwide Church of God in positions of leadership. There would be a resurrection of the righteous and great Biblical men like Daniel and Noah would have important jobs. King David would be the king, but under Moses. The twelve apostles would be under David. Below them would be rulers of smaller bodies of land.
Daniel would be in charge of the Gentile nations because he had had all that experience in King Nebuchadnezzar's court. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, would be immediately under Daniel. Noah would be in charge of relocating the races to their designated lands. Joseph would administer the world's food supply. Job would head up a worldwide rebuilding program, something much needed after the devastation of the Great Tribulation. His assistant would be Zerubbabel, a man who had helped to rebuild Jerusalem after the Jewish captivity in Babylon.
The world would be educated in the way's of God. Christ would rule the world from Jerusalem. All animals would be tame and as a child, I heard the question, “Wouldn't you like to have a lion as a pet?” In anticipation of all of this, the Worldwide Church of God had a lion and a lamb with a little child in front as its ubiquitous logo.
When it came to practicing the laws of the Old Testament, we didn't eat pork or any kind of shellfish so pepperoni pizza never passed my lips, nor did lobster or shrimp. We kept all of God's commanded Feast Days. People took the days off work and kids took the days off school to attend church services. Feasts were a social time. The Feast of Tabernacles meant a trip somewhere and a tithe was saved all year to fund it. Church services were held in convention centers and other rented halls or rooms all around the world.
In Toronto, our local Feast of Tabernacles site was Niagara Falls but my parents favored the sites in Florida. Florida had the attraction of Disney World and Busch Gardens and the beach and the plane trip. But it didn't have my friends so I always felt edgy, like I was missing something and that when I got back, my best friend, who had gone to Niagara Falls, would have had a funner time. “Feast flings” were common and many single adults used the time to try to find a mate. (Naturally, we weren't allowed to marry outside the church.) There were lots of officially organized activities as well as countless hotel room parties.
Alcohol was never prohibited by the church so our Feasts were truly festive. I remember one Feast when I was in my early twenties and the first place my best friend and I went to when we got to Niagara Falls was the liquor store. Nothing delicate for us. It was tequila and gin and vermouth and we mixed some pretty mean martinis! I remember one young man commenting on the strength of our cocktails, half-impressed, half-alarmed.
There were also stories of the ministers and their hotel room parties. Lots of drinking, but more along the lines of wine and champagne. They were pretty exclusive, not too much mixing with the regular folks, so they were talked about with a tone of awe. The official teaching was that the ministers had an extra-measure of God's spirit.
There was an even more sordid side to the Feast which it took me til my mid-twenties to become aware of. The worst thing a WCG kid could do was fornicate. I mean, murder under certain circumstances might be understood, but fornication was unforgivable. The Feast, which was supposed to picture God's future millennial kingdom on earth, was often the place most likely for WCG teens and singles to commit the unpardonable sin. Something about new people and hotel rooms and lots of booze and money flowing. It just seemed to happen a lot.
You can read the rest of her book here as a pdf Dreaming in Arabic
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