Exposing the underbelly of Armstrongism in all of its wacky glory! Nothing you read here is made up. What you read here is the up to date face of Herbert W Armstrong's legacy. It's the gritty and dirty behind the scenes look at Armstrongism as you have never seen it before!
With all the new crazy self-appointed Chief Overseers, Apostles, Prophets, Pharisees, legalists, and outright liars leading various Churches of God today, it is important to hold these agents of deception accountable.
Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders
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Thursday, November 1, 2012
Halloween As A Child In Armstrongism
How many kids thought this over the decades (and still do!)
Pagan!!! Wooooooooo! Demons!!!! Run away!! Run away!!!!
Was scared shitless by tales of demons and satan possessing kids. We hid in our dark house like we were waiting for the Nazis to take us to concentration camps. For a child, it was one in the same. I just wanted to be normal and like everyone else, just once.
I remember as a child being sent to the rear of the house. All the lights had to turned off at the front of the house and the porch light off. I used to sneak up stairs and peek out the window to watch the kids in their costumes. Satan certainly seemed more powerful that Jesus!
Cindy's story rings true. Lights out, practically hiding upstairs or in the back of the house. Or watching TV in the dark. Utterly stupid.
It was always fun going to school the next day, too, or hanging out in the neighborhood. All my friends had tons of candy and would trade for each others' favorites. I'd pretend I didn't care, or didn't want any.
Can you say, "ostracized?" No good memories, there.
It is sad to see those that left the truth returning to the dog vomit they left behind. So you couldn't do Halloween as a child. Boo Hoo!
Go and revel in that satanic filth now as an adult. You will answer for it later. Then you will wish you had turned off those lights and went to the rear of the house this year!
I'm glad I didn't grow up in that cult. I had lots of fun as a kid on Halloween. More fun than going to an FOT to listen to the same old shit year after year from the ministurds who took our money, our brains and our dreams, so that they could live their dreams and live the good rich life while we suffered in squalor.What drudgery it was! I despised the feast.
Go and revel in that satanic filth now as an adult. You will answer for it later. Then you will wish you had turned off those lights and went to the rear of the house this year!
Wrong. We will never answer for it later. No regrets either. There is nobody to answer to. No Yahweh, no Zeus, no Apollo, no Lucifer (a shame, no doubt) no Krishna, no Amon Ra. Nothing. There's nothing at all wrong with Halloween for that matter. In fact, I enjoy the irony in seeing your god made powerless in the face of all the "evil" on display. Poor Yahweh can't do anything about it. Sadfase!
But you keep right on riding that high horse of yours, thinking that all those things you do without, all the fun you skip, all the tithe dollars you spend, all the holy days blown in boredom, all those wasted saturdays, will amount to anything. It wont. You're wasting your lives, you're ostracizing your children, and you think you're better than everyone else for it. You make me sick.
I used to feel bad for people like you, wasting away in some dusty and shrinking COG. Not so much anymore.
In the early pre-Armstrong years of my youth, we did celebrate Halloween. It was a social occasion, and presented an opportunity for us to share and relate to our peers in a creative sort of way.
During Armstrongism, we attempted to be inaccessible, a thing about which I often wondered whether it might be a little on the deceptive side. It seems that life always presents opportunities for one to be honest, or to hide behind deceptiveness. As Armstrongites, we were carefully instructed as to when to use deceptiveness, allegedly in our pursuit of Christlike behavior (non sequitur alert!)
Reflecting on this decades after the fact, which is really more satanic or demonic? Dressing up in costumes and in some cases contemplating the dark side? Or being deceived and blowing off a lot of life's essentials by believing that Jesus was going to return in 1975, that the Germans were Assyrians, and that we Anglo Saxons were Manasseh and Ephraim? Any damage that Halloween might have done to our lives and spiritual condition pales into insignificance compared to the lying, destructive elements of Armstrongism. Our years in Armstrongism were our own bad Halloween, our personal holocaust, our imprisonment in a temporary hell.
I think WCG started out good, but was quickly overtaken by the "tares", which did much to discredit the Church (as a whole, not just the WCG arm).
A lot of false doctrine (third tithe, government, etc.) polluted the Church's teaching.
Overbearing ministers were very much part of the problem and I think did the most to turn people away.
Comments like the one from the "anonymous" above are one result of those errors. There appears to be little love there. That comment does not represent the view of those in The Church.
"That comment does not represent the view of those in The Church."
I believe you mean well, Anon, but, from my experience, that comment most certainly does represent the view of those in "The Church." (Thank you for the unnecessary capitalization; it's just one church, not "the" one.)
One of the hallmarks of Armstrong followers -- and the first step in realizing what you're all about is in admitting you follow Herbert Armstrong, whether you think it's "as he followed Christ" or not -- is the ultimate notion that there is a greater purity to what you're doing than to anything else on the face of the earth. Honestly, that's what it comes down to. We're right, everybody else is wrong.
Teachings against societal or even "other church" practices or traditions were based as much in being separate from everybody else as in actually being correct about things. The divisions that kind of thinking created did more harm than good.
To put it another way, my family's extended family members -- all Christian, all wonderful, loving people, all good and responsible citizens and wonderful examples to others -- thought we were nuts. They thought we'd been brainwashed into a fringe cult. And they were saddened by it.
They weren't mad. They weren't disgusted. They weren't against us. They didn't persecute us. They didn't "oppose God and Christ." They weren't tools of the devil. In fact, they reached out to us, and we rejected them.
I learned years later, through open and honest conversations with them, that they were puzzled, and sad, when they saw what Herbert Armstrong's church had done to our lives, and how it had separated us from them. They were happy to reestablish relationships with those of us who reached out post-COG.
The dog vomit comment above is reflective of the lockstep mentality ultimately required of those who have chosen to follow HWA and his requirements (which, of course, changed on a whim at any given time). Smugly assuring others of a day coming when they'll get what's coming to them is an attitude that results from arrogantly, and unjustifiably, placing one's self above others. It comes from the "we're right" mentality that HWA encouraged, and it is baseless.
"Smugly assuring others of a day coming when they'll get what's coming to them is an attitude that results from arrogantly, and unjustifiably, placing one's self above others. It comes from the "we're right" mentality that HWA encouraged, and it is baseless."
We are in complete agreement. That shows the difference between a follower of Jesus and a follower of HWA.
When I write "The Church" I am referring to the Church that Jesus founded. I'm sure that some in WCG belonged to The Church and I'm sure that a great many (maybe most) did not.
The idea that people would believe that WCG was the entire Church boggles my mind. I guess their teaching on government perpetuated that myth.
Sometimes I wonder how many that are resurrected when Jesus returns will have ever heard of HWA or WCG. I get the feeling that the number will be very small.
HWA played on base emotions of many, for sure. The need to feel special is very strong in some people. I think that is partly what leads to the heartless post like that "anonymous" post. That type of attitude breaks my heart.
Anonymous said... "I think WCG started out good, but was quickly overtaken by the "tares", which did much to discredit the Church (as a whole, not just the WCG arm)."
MY COMMENT: Nope! It started out BAD from the get-go. Herbie was after a following, got kicked out of the cult he was in, and saw dollar signs and POWER for HIMSELF.
"A lot of false doctrine (third tithe, government, etc.) polluted the Church's teaching."
MY COMMENT: "First" tithe(not even OC), "second" tithe(not even OC), "Church", Old Covenant Saturday worship, Old Covenant "holyday" keeping, BI, three resurrections, "prophecies", ad nauseum. Everything that Herbie taught us through his plagiarized material and his hirelings was false.
"When I write "The Church" I am referring to the Church that Jesus founded. I'm sure that some in WCG belonged to The Church and I'm sure that a great many (maybe most) did not."
MY COMMENT: Nope! No one belonged to THAT "church". Never have, and never will.
"The idea that people would believe that WCG was the entire Church boggles my mind."
MY COMMENT: The idea that ANYONE would believe that WCG was in any part of THAT "church" boggles my mind.
In my opinion, I believe EVERYONE who is dead will be ressurected when Jesus returns. All the horse manure about the "elite" Christians will be ressurected first to teach all the people who never knew Christ is so old WCG. No one is better or "first", and I am sick of hearing that elietist crap. That was another ploy to make us feel speshellll. :P
Pagan!!! Wooooooooo! Demons!!!! Run away!! Run away!!!!
ReplyDeleteWas scared shitless by tales of demons and satan possessing kids. We hid in our dark house like we were waiting for the Nazis to take us to concentration camps. For a child, it was one in the same. I just wanted to be normal and like everyone else, just once.
I remember as a child being sent to the rear of the house. All the lights had to turned off at the front of the house and the porch light off. I used to sneak up stairs and peek out the window to watch the kids in their costumes. Satan certainly seemed more powerful that Jesus!
ReplyDeleteCindy's story rings true. Lights out, practically hiding upstairs or in the back of the house. Or watching TV in the dark. Utterly stupid.
ReplyDeleteIt was always fun going to school the next day, too, or hanging out in the neighborhood. All my friends had tons of candy and would trade for each others' favorites. I'd pretend I didn't care, or didn't want any.
Can you say, "ostracized?" No good memories, there.
Dad ordered the lights turned off, and he figured if we(mom and dad and me and my sibs)all crouched behind the couch we'd be safe.
ReplyDeleteLooking back on it, I realize that as a result of cult involvement, there were too many "lights turned off" in pop's brain.
Norm
It is sad to see those that left the truth returning to the dog vomit they left behind. So you couldn't do Halloween as a child. Boo Hoo!
ReplyDeleteGo and revel in that satanic filth now as an adult. You will answer for it later. Then you will wish you had turned off those lights and went to the rear of the house this year!
I'm glad I didn't grow up in that cult. I had lots of fun as a kid on Halloween. More fun than going to an FOT to listen to the same old shit year after year from the ministurds who took our money, our brains and our dreams, so that they could live their dreams and live the good rich life while we suffered in squalor.What drudgery it was! I despised the feast.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous wrote:
ReplyDeleteGo and revel in that satanic filth now as an adult. You will answer for it later. Then you will wish you had turned off those lights and went to the rear of the house this year!
Wrong. We will never answer for it later. No regrets either. There is nobody to answer to. No Yahweh, no Zeus, no Apollo, no Lucifer (a shame, no doubt) no Krishna, no Amon Ra. Nothing. There's nothing at all wrong with Halloween for that matter. In fact, I enjoy the irony in seeing your god made powerless in the face of all the "evil" on display. Poor Yahweh can't do anything about it. Sadfase!
But you keep right on riding that high horse of yours, thinking that all those things you do without, all the fun you skip, all the tithe dollars you spend, all the holy days blown in boredom, all those wasted saturdays, will amount to anything. It wont. You're wasting your lives, you're ostracizing your children, and you think you're better than everyone else for it. You make me sick.
I used to feel bad for people like you, wasting away in some dusty and shrinking COG. Not so much anymore.
In the early pre-Armstrong years of my youth, we did celebrate Halloween. It was a social occasion, and presented an opportunity for us to share and relate to our peers in a creative sort of way.
ReplyDeleteDuring Armstrongism, we attempted to be inaccessible, a thing about which I often wondered whether it might be a little on the deceptive side. It seems that life always presents opportunities for one to be honest, or to hide behind deceptiveness. As Armstrongites, we were carefully instructed as to when to use deceptiveness, allegedly in our pursuit of Christlike behavior (non sequitur alert!)
Reflecting on this decades after the fact, which is really more satanic or demonic? Dressing up in costumes and in some cases contemplating the dark side? Or being deceived and blowing off a lot of life's essentials by believing that Jesus was going to return in 1975, that the Germans were Assyrians, and that we Anglo Saxons were Manasseh and Ephraim?
Any damage that Halloween might have done to our lives and spiritual condition pales into insignificance compared to the lying, destructive elements of Armstrongism. Our years in Armstrongism were our own bad Halloween, our personal holocaust, our imprisonment in a temporary hell.
BB
I think WCG started out good, but was quickly overtaken by the "tares", which did much to discredit the Church (as a whole, not just the WCG arm).
ReplyDeleteA lot of false doctrine (third tithe, government, etc.) polluted the Church's teaching.
Overbearing ministers were very much part of the problem and I think did the most to turn people away.
Comments like the one from the "anonymous" above are one result of those errors. There appears to be little love there. That comment does not represent the view of those in The Church.
"That comment does not represent the view of those in The Church."
ReplyDeleteI believe you mean well, Anon, but, from my experience, that comment most certainly does represent the view of those in "The Church." (Thank you for the unnecessary capitalization; it's just one church, not "the" one.)
One of the hallmarks of Armstrong followers -- and the first step in realizing what you're all about is in admitting you follow Herbert Armstrong, whether you think it's "as he followed Christ" or not -- is the ultimate notion that there is a greater purity to what you're doing than to anything else on the face of the earth. Honestly, that's what it comes down to. We're right, everybody else is wrong.
Teachings against societal or even "other church" practices or traditions were based as much in being separate from everybody else as in actually being correct about things. The divisions that kind of thinking created did more harm than good.
To put it another way, my family's extended family members -- all Christian, all wonderful, loving people, all good and responsible citizens and wonderful examples to others -- thought we were nuts. They thought we'd been brainwashed into a fringe cult. And they were saddened by it.
They weren't mad. They weren't disgusted. They weren't against us. They didn't persecute us. They didn't "oppose God and Christ." They weren't tools of the devil. In fact, they reached out to us, and we rejected them.
I learned years later, through open and honest conversations with them, that they were puzzled, and sad, when they saw what Herbert Armstrong's church had done to our lives, and how it had separated us from them. They were happy to reestablish relationships with those of us who reached out post-COG.
The dog vomit comment above is reflective of the lockstep mentality ultimately required of those who have chosen to follow HWA and his requirements (which, of course, changed on a whim at any given time). Smugly assuring others of a day coming when they'll get what's coming to them is an attitude that results from arrogantly, and unjustifiably, placing one's self above others. It comes from the "we're right" mentality that HWA encouraged, and it is baseless.
"Smugly assuring others of a day coming when they'll get what's coming to them is an attitude that results from arrogantly, and unjustifiably, placing one's self above others. It comes from the "we're right" mentality that HWA encouraged, and it is baseless."
ReplyDeleteWe are in complete agreement. That shows the difference between a follower of Jesus and a follower of HWA.
When I write "The Church" I am referring to the Church that Jesus founded. I'm sure that some in WCG belonged to The Church and I'm sure that a great many (maybe most) did not.
The idea that people would believe that WCG was the entire Church boggles my mind. I guess their teaching on government perpetuated that myth.
Sometimes I wonder how many that are resurrected when Jesus returns will have ever heard of HWA or WCG. I get the feeling that the number will be very small.
HWA played on base emotions of many, for sure. The need to feel special is very strong in some people. I think that is partly what leads to the heartless post like that "anonymous" post. That type of attitude breaks my heart.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete"I think WCG started out good, but was quickly overtaken by the "tares", which did much to discredit the Church (as a whole, not just the WCG arm)."
MY COMMENT: Nope! It started out BAD from the get-go. Herbie was after a following, got kicked out of the cult he was in, and saw dollar signs and POWER for HIMSELF.
"A lot of false doctrine (third tithe, government, etc.) polluted the Church's teaching."
MY COMMENT: "First" tithe(not even OC), "second" tithe(not even OC), "Church", Old Covenant Saturday worship, Old Covenant "holyday" keeping, BI, three resurrections, "prophecies", ad nauseum. Everything that Herbie taught us through his plagiarized material and his hirelings was false.
"When I write "The Church" I am referring to the Church that Jesus founded. I'm sure that some in WCG belonged to The Church and I'm sure that a great many (maybe most) did not."
MY COMMENT: Nope! No one belonged to THAT "church". Never have, and never will.
"The idea that people would believe that WCG was the entire Church boggles my mind."
MY COMMENT: The idea that ANYONE would believe that WCG was in any part of THAT "church" boggles my mind.
In my opinion, I believe EVERYONE who is dead will be ressurected when Jesus returns. All the horse manure about the "elite" Christians will be ressurected first to teach all the people who never knew Christ is so old WCG. No one is better or "first", and I am sick of hearing that elietist crap. That was another ploy to make us feel speshellll. :P
ReplyDelete