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
Yes, BB, that point is educationally and intellectually beyond the ken of those at the level to have been hoodwinkable by HWA, but it's absolutely true. HWA was nothing more than a modern-day gnostic.
HWA appealed to other's desires to be initiates into special, hidden (esoteric) knowledge. He preached against Protestantism's many flaws, and was right about some of it too. The inspeak was that he "cried aloud and spared not." They wanted him to be apostolic, because their specialness depended upon HWA's specialness. This was definitely one of WCG's big selling points.
But just because Protestantism has one or two achille's heels doesn't mean that HWA had any more "truth" or could manage to cobble together a theology that was any more workable. That's the motivated flaw in the reasoning of HWA's converts. So Armstrongism is just a modern gnostic sect, which blindly preaches against ancient gnostic sects.
But then, if you ask me, all religions are basically one sort of gnosticism or another. They are an appeal to the idea that one or more men have access to esoteric knowledge, which they will dispense to you—for a price—regardless of you want to do the accounting...
Agreed, Ush. The problem is that people seek oneness with a group or teacher and collection of precepts rather than going for the direct connection and just letting things develop and flow. I believe the Who treated this all quite articulately in the opera "Tommy".
There is also a glut of persuasive gurus floating around out there, some of whom teach conformity, while others attempt to teach conformity to a set of standards of nonconformity. Both end up doing the same thing to the mind. They are flip sides of the same coin. Upon exit from Armstrongism, I never could understand how an individual would hear another teacher, go "Wow, that's really profound!" and then buy into that teacher totally and completely. Some of my colleagues at AC Press did that with L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology after the press facility was sold and we began printing and mailing the Scientology materials.
These days, to me, profound is running across the late Gary Moore's version of "Dust My Broom" on youtube.
Something is unfolding that I don't understand. The people this is happening with are good, well intentioned people, no mistake about that. However, they were taken for a ride by someone we here all recognize as being a false prophet, or false teacher. Now, a significant number of their group is attempting to make repairs to their lives and thinking by going back and studying the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong. This would be the equivalent of those of us from "Class of 1975" going back and attempting to make corrections by studying Dugger and Dodd, or people from "Class of 1932" studying William Miller.
One thing, though. It pretty much illustrates why there is such a long half-life to Armstrongism. People float around within the splinters trying to get back to HWA, and people form splinters professing to offer pure HWA.
7 comments:
I AM SPARTACUS! ...
NO, I AM SPARTACUS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8h_v_our_Q
Joe Moeller
Cody, WY
We've proved them wrong.
They have no worth whatsoever.
They should apologize and slink away in embarrassment.
They criticized the Gnostics, yet preached salvation from "the Germans" only through their own collection of allegedly special knowledge.
One of the bad fruits enumerated in scripture became perhaps their strongest selling point, blinding them from true spirituality.
BB
Ego is the false self so it's appropriate that false ministers of false churches speak thru the false self
Yes, BB, that point is educationally and intellectually beyond the ken of those at the level to have been hoodwinkable by HWA, but it's absolutely true. HWA was nothing more than a modern-day gnostic.
HWA appealed to other's desires to be initiates into special, hidden (esoteric) knowledge. He preached against Protestantism's many flaws, and was right about some of it too. The inspeak was that he "cried aloud and spared not." They wanted him to be apostolic, because their specialness depended upon HWA's specialness. This was definitely one of WCG's big selling points.
But just because Protestantism has one or two achille's heels doesn't mean that HWA had any more "truth" or could manage to cobble together a theology that was any more workable. That's the motivated flaw in the reasoning of HWA's converts. So Armstrongism is just a modern gnostic sect, which blindly preaches against ancient gnostic sects.
But then, if you ask me, all religions are basically one sort of gnosticism or another. They are an appeal to the idea that one or more men have access to esoteric knowledge, which they will dispense to you—for a price—regardless of you want to do the accounting...
Agreed, Ush. The problem is that people seek oneness with a group or teacher and collection of precepts rather than going for the direct connection and just letting things develop and flow. I believe the Who treated this all quite articulately in the opera "Tommy".
There is also a glut of persuasive gurus floating around out there, some of whom teach conformity, while others attempt to teach conformity to a set of standards of nonconformity. Both end up doing the same thing to the mind. They are flip sides of the same coin. Upon exit from Armstrongism, I never could understand how an individual would hear another teacher, go "Wow, that's really profound!" and then buy into that teacher totally and completely. Some of my colleagues at AC Press did that with L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology after the press facility was sold and we began printing and mailing the Scientology materials.
These days, to me, profound is running across the late Gary Moore's version of "Dust My Broom" on youtube.
BB
Something is unfolding that I don't understand. The people this is happening with are good, well intentioned people, no mistake about that. However, they were taken for a ride by someone we here all recognize as being a false prophet, or false teacher. Now, a significant number of their group is attempting to make repairs to their lives and thinking by going back and studying the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong. This would be the equivalent of those of us from "Class of 1975" going back and attempting to make corrections by studying Dugger and Dodd, or people from "Class of 1932" studying William Miller.
One thing, though. It pretty much illustrates why there is such a long half-life to Armstrongism. People float around within the splinters trying to get back to HWA, and people form splinters professing to offer pure HWA.
BB
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