One of the favorite tricks of cults is to keep its members in a constant state of fear. Armstrongism has been really good at that over the decades. Wars, famines, droughts, parents eating children, invading German armies, concentration camps with meat-hooks and ovens, children getting their heads bashed in or eaten by ravenous hungry dogs, etc., etc. Keep them scared shitless and they will send in as much money as possible to finish the work.
In the months and years to come, brethren, I want us all to realize more fully that the time of terrible persecution is growing closer and closer. We will really need to help and encourage one another. We will really need to deeply appreciate one another in the midst of a dark and perverse world. For this world hates the way of God, and you will begin to realize this more and more as this Work grows in power and the world turns on us because we preach the Truth. Personal
Knowing that intense persecution is soon to befall them seems to have no bearing on dumping tens of thousands of dollars remodeling executive offices at LCG HQ in Charlotte. Shouldn't that money go towards a final push and final warning instead of the elite of LCG?
It has been a little noisy this week as we do some remodeling in the Executive Office area to make room for growth. It certainly has been exciting and inspiring to see the doors that God is opening with television and the Internet. . .
Generally, the beliefs of the COGs are no more ridiculous than those of many other religions, or even some widely held views on politics and history. The problem is that the COGs are more destructive.
ReplyDeleteThis brings to mind the favorite satire story of a bald headed Armstrongist minister:
ReplyDeleteThe minister is outside and some teenagers shout: "Go on Baldy!".
Whereupon a bear comes out of the woods and mauls the minister.
If only such justice were served against the CoHAM false prophets....
That was a fanciful made-up story, but there is a true story of a minister being chased by a moose at the Feast of Tabernacles on the grounds of the convention center.
God's creatures know these things.
Following the death of Kurt Cobain, his Mom made a comment to the effect that she had worried that her son would become a member of the dreadful "27 Club". What she meant by this was that, notably, the flame of a number of precocious rock and movie stars from the past had burned brightly, and that they had done their life's work and were gone by the premature age of 27.
ReplyDeleteI grew up believing that the end would come in 1975, at which time, I would be (you guessed it) 27! The problem was not just that Armstrongism scared us with the news events of the day. Some evangelical Christians are focussed on these things as well. Normally, a Christian group would deal with this and mentally survive because of their faith that God, through His unconditional love, would do what was ultimately best for them, somehow bringing them and their loved ones through the extreme events, either rapturing them, or protecting them from the worst of it. That was their focus.
But, that was not HWA's style. The WCG taught that members might not necessarily be worthy of God's protection. Every day was an exercise in qualifying for God's love and protection. I've posted before that as students at SEP and Ambassador College, we were shown the film footage which was taken during and immediately following the holocaust. In other words, counter to the promotional message about the only way to escape, as given in The World Tomorrow, the PT, and booklets, you could not count on your membership in WCG and your faith in God to get you through the tribulation. Once you became a member, youmfound that that had been so much false advertising. The new reality was that your safety, and that of your wife and children, was based on daily taking every word of the ministers as if it had come directly from Jesus Christ, you were spiritually "on fire" for the "work" being done, and were obedient in every miniscule matter. And, had the "right" attitude.
That is an apt description of what membership meant leading up to 1972-75, before they started backpedaling. They laid down an impossible gauntlet, and I admit, I was failing. I read the news, stayed paranoid and depressed, and drank a lot more than I should have.
This is what happens to people when a church goes way past the boundaries of normality and inserts itself and the meaning of its presence into a Christian's relationship with God. We recognize these practices today as having been a cultic artificial construct, and, that they had made totally false connections! Nothing they ever forecast has actually come to pass. But, as if we needed it, here is written evidence that they are still doing it, apparently never having realized in the face of all of the empirical evidence, how it affects peoples' attitudes towards and relationship with the One whose work they claim to be doing.
These are not churches. They are self-aggrandizing fear mongers and manipulators who will grasp at any screwball theory or faint wind of familiarity in the news to scare and trap people into a set of extreme and bogus Pavlovian reactions. It has been very gratifying, over the past months, to watch and listen to the people emerging from RCG, PCG, and PKG. We know it is painful for them in some cases, but ultimately, we know they will be on the road to recovery, and will be far better off, as will their children. Let's hope this is an emerging trend in all of these cults, the toppling of the Armstrong version of the Berlin Wall! Frankly, they already suffer much more at the hands of their churches than they ever would at the hands of random persecutors!
BB
Intense Persecution or PROSECUTION?
ReplyDeleteIts a big difference!
Luv,
Joe Moeller
Cody, WY
I have quit getting phone calls since I posted I was getting phone calls after posting. Once, the caller didn't realize they left me a clue by having a passing ambulance or police car in the background. This was left on my answering machine. I have gotten numerous calls on my answering machine with just hang-ups. When I did answer twice, they said nothing. The sirens coming from an emergency vehicle in the background sounded like the ones from another country. I know Jerusalem and other foreign places have the kind of sirens I heard.
ReplyDeleteReally it's the members that have always gotten the intense persecution from the ministers and others at the top. The PCG slandered and accused David Ben-Ariel of "plotting to blow up the Al-Aksa mosque." The PCG told my family I owed them money and that I ordered an exorcism on my son and no telling what else. They twist and distort the truth. THEY are the ones that persecute their own members! If they get persecution, it's because they deserve it.
Hope they're enjoying reading about themselves cause I'm enjoying exposing them!
David ben Ariel would not have blown up the Al Aksa mosque. His activities were mostly devoted to writing and phoning German surnamed politicians to exhort them to begin to fulfill their allegedly prophetic roles. He was kind of a pacifist Zionist.
ReplyDeleteSo far as persecution goes, the Charlottans probably would be sent into crisis mode by a few well-placed eggs or rotten tomatoes either at their headquarters or F/T locations. No way could they deal with the types of persecutions described by our old buddy Eusebius!
BB
>> In other words, counter to the promotional message about the only way to escape, as given in The World Tomorrow, the PT, and booklets, you could not count on your membership in WCG and your faith in God to get you through the tribulation. <<
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact I can well recall Meredith saying in a Tomorrow's World telecast that even some of those in the place of safety will fall away from the faith. He used a verse from Ezekiel for this purpose. He was very vague, but he said the goal is not to reach the place of safety but to reach Christ's return. So I had the impression that even some of those in the place of safety would somehow fall away from the truth and lose their protection and get caught by the European Beast Power.