Below is a post from Yahoo justifying the various false prophecies and outright lies that have been uttered by HWA and various evangelists over the decades. Did you know that HWA never uttered a wrong thing in his life? He never made a false prediction and he never taught anything that was wrong! He was only a little off.....
Yes they may of been off in their timing, but what they taught wasn't wrong! Mr Armstrong taught that the original Apostles taught the end would be in their time.
I guess Meredith, Hoeh, Waterhouse, Blackwell, McNair were all a little off too....
Did you know that whatever HWA said here on earth was "bound in heaven?"
Mr Armstrong also taught that if God revealed to them that it was 2,000 years away, would they of held fast to the teachings? No, they would lose that urgency that was needed to ready the Bride! They would of fallen away quicker than it did! God allowed them to think it was in their time, so they would speak and teach with fervent heat to repent and Follow God. Mr Armstrong followed suit. DOESN'T mean they taught false doctrines (any doctrine or truth that is un-biblical).
Mr Armstrong didn't preach any false doctrines or false truth! If he did, he was not God's Apostle! Do you see anywhere that Peter or Paul or any of the other original Apostles teaching "false doctrines" or "false truth"? No! Mr Armstrong didn't teach anything contrary to the Bible. God says His ministers won't! But Satan's Ministers will bring in "damnable heresies", false doctrines, and "false Truth" into the church.
The Devil's cohorts will teach contrary to the Bible! Not God's! Mr Armstrong didn't come and change what the original Apostles taught, nor did he add any. God revealed "more" understanding to what is written in the Bible, under Mr. Armstrong. God says He Restored "ALL THINGS" through Herbert W Armstrong, the end-time Elijah. Not any other man! Any one that changes what God taught (from the Bible) then though Herbert W Armstrong is a False Prophet and an Apostate! So says your Bible! Mr Armstrong taught Government! God's Government.
Read http://d5765951.u102.swhdns.com/dawson/armstrong/BA/WNSE3681.html>.
Men have taken this form of government and perverted it. (Mr Armstrong lived by this government.) What is God's Government with out love? Satan's! He has the same structure as God's, but it is void of Agape Love. God's way is "give". Satan's way is "Get"! God re-established this government under Mr Armstrong. Yes, it took him some time to be fully revealed this knowledge. But when it was revealed, it was established forevermore.
Its amazing how weak and impotent God has been through the centuries that he could not keep his message on track. What kind of a god is the god described above that is more concerned about government than with the lives of human kind? Where is grace and love when hierarchical government is more important?
Once it was established and Mr Armstrong says "this is God's spiritual form of Government", then it is bound. (Mr. Armstrong didn't just think this up!) God revealed to him God's Form of Government, and he restored it back to the Church! Now to say he was wrong in this, is saying God's form of Government is
not right either.
This is where most people are at and what they decide. They have to decide for themselves which tree to take from. The Tree of Life (which is the holy Spirit which helps us understand Spiritual knowledge) or the other tree, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and evil (material knowledge, which is not wrong, but without God's Spirit we would make the wrong choices).The two trees are far more important in Armstrongism than
Most people take the latter tree, and "decide for themselves" what is right or wrong, not looking to what God says and teaches for the answers. Mr Armstrong tried to get the church to see this! It still applies today!
Then this guy boldly says that HWA never set a date in his life. The 1975 debacle was NOT because of HWA but was brought about by idiots under him. It's all THEIR fault that HWA's predictions never came to pass.
Today people don't teach how close we are to the 2nd Coming nor warn the nations of their sins. They say it is 10+ years away. Which is setting dates! Mr Armstrong NEVER set dates! Men under him took what he said about 1975 and said he said it was definite. Mr Armstrong said it was "possible", it "maybe" the date; but he didn't say it was definite. We mustn't set dates. Because he taught (from the Bible) if you set dates and it doesn't come to pass, then God DID NOT send You! So if he set a date, then he wasn't sent from God! But he didn't. I believe he was sent by God.
Any man who changes what God teaches or wrote in the Bible, will suffer the wrath of God! Many are doing so now today.
Revelation 3:11 says to "hold fast", which we should be doing, not deciding for ourselves which was Truth or which is not (but we should prove it). This is taking from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is the same sin that Adam made.
Revelation 3:11 "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown".
Well, see, right off, there's a problem: We aren't that close to the Second Coming since that already occurred nearly 2,000 years ago.
ReplyDeleteHe didn't say it was definite?
ReplyDeleteTo the contrary!
WELL LET'S SEE WHAT HERBERT REALLY SAID.
“All this is now only a few years off.“WHEN” “we are stricken with the greatest national tragedy event to befall a nation-people dying in nearly every home-your loved ones-” “perhaps your children, “ “or your parents,” “and scores of your close friends” “perhaps even YOURSELF dying in this calamity,” “and the nation’s economic prosperity suddenly tail-spinning into its lowest ebb of depression, then the Nazi-Fascist colossus will strike its hydrogen-bomb blows-and another third of our populations will be killed-our major cities and industrial centers destroyed. “
“THINK OF IT! Unbelievable? Preposterous? No, IT’S Real–very soon,–of this very present generation-of all people you know now-ONLY ONE THIRD of them will be left alive!Yes, millions of lukewarm inactive professing Christians will suffer MARTYRDOM-and that before the anticipated push-button leisure-year of 1975 dawns upon us. “
“Your immediate future is of your own choosing. You can take this lightly, let it slip from mind, allow yourself once again to be absorbed in the mechanics of today’s complex society that you put this out of mind. If you do, you have now read YOUR FATE–and I say to you on authority of God Almighty that it is absolutely SURE! “
Didn't set dates, aye?
Read the propaganda again and tell me that.
obvious where it comes from when there are caps and bold and bold caps. How does this writing style survive?
ReplyDeleteOh dear, I really pray for these people who remain willfully blind to the reality that was Herbert W. Armstrong. It's pathetic they cling to him like a dead man's grip no matter what proof you present to them showing beyond a reasonable doubt their image of the man is seriously flawed and doesn't add up. To make it worse, they'll readily excuse his many faults, yet censor your honest voice and falsely accuse you of spreading lies.
ReplyDeleteYou needn't look too hard to find he wasn't an apostle of Christ or prophet of God. John the Baptist was the prophesied fulfilment of the "Elijah to come." Not Herbert W. Armstrong! So said Christ Jesus in Matthew 11:13-14!
His own words even testify against him and bear witness that he was a false prophet. In the "Proof of a True Prophet" sermon (January 1, 1979) Armstrong stated: "...The test of whether a man is a true minister of Jesus Christ, especially if he ever uses prophecy, is this watch and see whether it comes to pass and if it comes to pass you shall know...you can know that that man has been called..."
Yet, about a decade previously in the February 1967 Plain Truth what had he predicted would happen in the name of God? He had asserted: "The 'DAY OF THE ETERNAL' a time foretold in more than thirty prophecies--is going to strike between 5 and 10 years from now! You will know, then, how REAL it is. You will wish, then, you had heeded. I am not writing foolishly, but very soberly, ON AUTHORITY of the living CHRIST!" (p. 47).
And when the events he outlined in numerous issues of The Plain Truth and especially his booklet, 1975 in Prophecy didn't begin to occur in 1972 as his followers were led to believe Armstrong was forced to admit: "...I have definitely NOT been called to be a PROPHET...Emphatically I am NOT a prophet, in the sense of one to whom God speaks specially and directly, revealing personally a future event to happen or new truth, or new and special instruction direct from God--separate from, and apart from what is contained in the Bible. And I never have claimed to be...We do not set dates!...Emphatically, if we...appear to set a date, I FEEL I DO NOT NEED TO APOLOGIZE!" (Tomorrow's World, "Personal," February 1972, pp 1, 30, 31).
How can these people look at such proof and dismiss it!? Truly, their cognitive dissonance is palpable!
"And he [Jesus] said to them, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power." Why would he tell his disciples that if he didn't believe it? If he was God's only begotten son, why wouldn't Jesus know it wouldn't happen until over 2000 years later (as so many believe now), and if he did know that, why did he want his disciples to believe it would happen in their own lifetimes? Doesn't make any sense to me.
ReplyDeleteMeighen
"false truth" is an oxymoron.
ReplyDeleteWhoever wrote this defense of HA is a moron.
Romans 14:17
ReplyDelete"For God's kingdom does not consist of food and drink, but of righteousness, peace, and joy produced by the Holy Spirit"
The Holy Spirit came on Pentecost with power - and that is when they saw the Kingdom of God come with power, right then - that's when they experienced the Kingdom of God for the first time. What people miss is they were looking for a physical kingdom (like Armstrong did) when it's all spiritual.
About the second comment warning that it is all still going to happen. So what, maybe it will happen, doesn't mean HWA was right, almost every fundamentalist church believes all that stuff, and throughout history so many have believed it would be in their lifetimes.
ReplyDeleteIf we are the "lucky" ones who really get to live through it then it is just the chance of being born at that particular time. And what is all this about millions of lukewarm inactive Christians suffering MARTYRDOM? Surely if you are a martyr you are not lukewarm. If I am faced with being a martyr I will stay lukewarm for sure. Or maybe I will be martyred for being a lost 10 triber, but I will be sure to say "I was never a member of that church".
I think it is an instinct for human beings to think the world will be destroyed and especially when they themselves are getting old and see their own personal end, how can the world go on?
So what are we supposed to do? Start sending money to one of COG imposter ministers?
The second comment was not a warning that it is "all still going to happen".
ReplyDeleteThe second comment was simply quotations from "1975 in prophecy", the book written by Herbert Armstrong. The quotes mean it did not happen as he had predicted. He said it on God's authority and he was wrong.
I'd be surprised at all that circular reasoning and cherry-picking, but... well, its not exactly... unheard of?
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading this, it was hard to believe this was not written sarcastically. Herbert was a little off alright. A little off his rocker.
ReplyDeleteThe pivotal statement in all of this is: "I believe he was sent by God." Everything else flows from that.
"God allowed them to think it was in their time, so they would speak and teach with fervent heat to repent and Follow God."
So, you're saying god lied to the original apostles to keep them more motivated?
"God says He Restored "ALL THINGS" through Herbert W Armstrong, the end-time Elijah."
ReAllY??? Where did god say this?
"Any man who changes what God teaches or wrote in the Bible, will suffer the wrath of God! Many are doing so now today."
ReAllY??? Like who? Ron Weinland? No, he changed what the IRS teaches, and he is suffering the wrath of the federal government.
Good job with showing what Herbert really said Anon!
Charles Manson and Herbert Armstrong were both cult leaders.
ReplyDelete(Charlie + Herbie 2 gether 4 ever!)
However, Manson caused WAY LESS destruction than Armstrong.
So, if there's a Kingdom based on who did what, and everyone is there, Manson will be above Armstrong.
In the Kingdom, Charlie will be the boss of Herbie.
I grow weary of God and Jesus sending third parties to speak for them. It is confusing, contradictory, subject to misunderstanding, grandstanding and humans thinking of themselves more highly than they ought to think.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, and this is just a suggestion, the Deity could update the practice and cut out the middle men for one to one with humanity and I don't mean all pissed off, judgmental and acting like a crazy god/man because things aren't as they could be with some loving encouragment from on high.
Just a thought...
Perhaps it would be (only) slightly inaccurate to say they have NEVER been right, but let's just say, their credibility is shot and we simply cannot trust them.
ReplyDeleteGo ahead, you dimwit on Yahoo: Prove the future!
I dare you.
"Perhaps, and this is just a suggestion, the Deity could update the practice and cut out the middle men for one to one with humanity..."
ReplyDeleteWell, if he did that, it would be instant proof of his existence and therefore faith would die and without faith in him there is no real salvation. God wants Believers, not Acceptors. It would be too easy if he showed himself. It's not according to the Big Plan. He has to hide himself so carefully that it looks like he doesn't even exist. Got it?
Paul Ray
This is blatant, gushing false-apostle worship at its worst. Naive, spiritually immature, delusional. It's what happens when you deify someone whose teachings you happen to buy into at the time.
ReplyDeleteIt's false focus, since Christians should focus on Jesus Christ, not some lunatic that aspires to become the "Elvis" of Jesus.
I feel sorry for the individual who wrote the Yahoo HWA apology, but how many of us once believed something close to what he or she posted? Some of us had the advantage of a good reality check in 1972-75, but (incredibly) so many entered WCG after that debacle.
As long as a person is alive, there is still hope for them!
BB
Paul Ray, isn't that pretty much a direct quote out of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
ReplyDelete@Lurker:
ReplyDeleteIt is? My wife bought me the book but I have never read it. I tried watching the BBC production as a child, but couldn't stay interested. Well, great minds think alike.
Paul Ray
It's so amazing that some of these people claim that HWA never set dates!
ReplyDelete