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
During my own personal Armstrong holocaust, we never met in so much as one Masonic Hall. Hotel ballrooms, yes. Playhouses, yes. YMCA halls, yes. Military memorial halls, yes. But, in that era, you could not claim that WCG was to any great extent subsidizing the Masons. Does anybody know, statistically, what percentage of the churches actually met in the Masonic Halls?
I too have never had the pleasure of witnessing the interior of a Masonic hall or other "secret society" meeting hall . However, if they're so secretive (evil), why do they rent their halls out? Don't they have stuff to be afraid of? (lol)
I've met in hotel ballrooms, senior centers, Jewish temples, beer halls, boys clubs, adventist churches, evangelical churches, concert halls, and of course, gymnasiums. We were always told that we didn't need a church (building) because we already were a church.
What a waste of nearly 2,000 perfectly good Saturdays...
Garner Ted Armstrong’s second “Listen America…Before It’s too late” campaign was held at Mosque Auditorium in Richmond, Virginia. The Mosque was constructed in 1926 to be used by the Shriners as the ACCA Temple Shrine. Shriners International describes itself as a fraternity based on the Masonic principles of brotherly love, relief, and truth. I remember the auditorium as a nice venue for the GTA personal appearance campaign. No consideration was given at the time as to the association history of the venue as it was probably the largest venue WCG could find in Richmond to accommodate a large audience and the GTA show. Richmond, Virginia was a logical place for the GTA campaign because The World Tomorrow radio broadcast blanketed the area. It was aired nightly on 50,000 watt WRVA, Richmond as well as daily on a local Richmond station. Additionally, The World Tomorrow broadcast could be heard in the Richmond area originating from 50,000 watt powerhouses WWVA, Wheeling West Virginia and WCKY Cincinnati (That’s WCKY, not WKRP).
I don’t know of any statistics, BB, but during my 8 years attending WCG (1968 – 1976), other than the Mosque which is a closest I came to a Masonic Temple, I did receive a grand tour of many local schools and fire halls for Sabbath Services. Nothing like being in a school auditorium in 90 degree summer heat/humidity on metal chairs and no working air conditioning – true Philadelphians!. Sometime in the early 1970s, the Baltimore, Md. WCG began meeting for Sabbath Services in Westview Cinema which had very blush comfortable seats – and air conditioning.
Nothing says "cult" like not having local congregational owned facilities in which to meet.
If you think about it, what sort of deal is that.
And in the Seattle area, not only was renting the Masonic halls THE meeting place, when the carpets got frayed, Dennis Luker paid the Masons to help get new carpet.
The only times that I can remember us attending a Mason's lodge was during the annual holy days when two church areas came together for services. Tabernacles and the Last Great Day, were of course different. All headed south for those.
During those years, well before the internet, no one spoke of Masons so I surmise we did not know much about them. Once the age of the internet began, things changed. Now most know about their secret rituals and beliefs.
The internet also opened our eyes regarding the Armstrong movement. Information concerning HWA, GTA, and headquarters, shocked most of us who gained access to that information. This lead many to give up on organizations altogether and just make our relationship with Yahweh more personal and free from human interference.
Some, as you know, went to the spinoffs rather than face the truth that men that came between you and the Almighty, is idolatry. These have been brainwashed to believe that they need men/ministers/teachers to direct them in all things.
To those who happen to read this from the spinoffs, I say to them, do you intend to be a full time student all your life? Does not there become a time when you graduate and no longer require a teacher, since you should also be a teacher by this time? The only teacher we need is Yahshua/Christ. All of us should be teaching others as we are able, to those that may ask why we do the things that we do.
We should all be standing upon our own feet, exercising the spirit and mind that Yahweh has given us. If you were doing this, you would know that those that demand and accept tithes today, are stealing as they have not been given the right to take what was only authorized for the Levities. Ministers are not Levities. In addition, there was only one tithe, but used for three different purposes. The tithe of the tithe that HWA insisted upon, was for the Levities to give from their tithes to the High Priest. It was never out of the pockets of the people, even during the days of Yahshua/Christ.
Now I know that many of you read this site and disagree with it at times (I do as well), but gold nuggets of truth can be found here, once you start exercising your gift of discernment. Some here are no longer believers in Elohim/God, but the others only want to share with you what dirt under the carpet you should be aware of, so that once you accept it, it does not encourage you to give up on Yahweh altogether.
I among with many others, have found that Zech.11:15-17 speaks of a man that Yahweh would raise up that would do many evil things to the flock, but the flock in the process will come directly under His hand (13:7). Some translations say 'against the little ones' but this is incorrect.
Those that continue with these organizations of men, will not come under His Almighty hand for their protection and benefit, for they are relying on men instead of Him. Its time for you all to make a choice. Stop fearing these people who milk you for everything that you have, and blame you for everything that goes wrong, instead of manning up and accepting the truth.
One of the Kentucky churches, I think it was Lexington, met in a horse auction house years ago. Dirt stage and everything. Went to a service there once and couldn't stay awake. Plush seats (horse owners have $$$), air conditioning, boring sermon...a perfect storm for a nice nap. In Akron they met in a former ballroom, so they always had big dances there. The weird thing about it was that the ballroom was upstairs in an office building, in a rundown part of downtown. This was all 40, 50 years ago. Visiting other churches was an adventure, you never knew what kind of building to expect. All of those places could have had their own buildings two or three times over with all the rent that went down the drain.
9 comments:
I thought that a BEER HALL was acceptable for church though! (at least by comparison to the Masonic Lodge!) ;-)
During my own personal Armstrong holocaust, we never met in so much as one Masonic Hall. Hotel ballrooms, yes. Playhouses, yes. YMCA halls, yes. Military memorial halls, yes. But, in that era, you could not claim that WCG was to any great extent subsidizing the Masons. Does anybody know, statistically, what percentage of the churches actually met in the Masonic Halls?
BB
I too have never had the pleasure of witnessing the interior of a Masonic hall or other "secret society" meeting hall . However, if they're so secretive (evil), why do they rent their halls out? Don't they have stuff to be afraid of? (lol)
I've met in hotel ballrooms, senior centers, Jewish temples, beer halls, boys clubs, adventist churches, evangelical churches, concert halls, and of course, gymnasiums. We were always told that we didn't need a church (building) because we already were a church.
What a waste of nearly 2,000 perfectly good Saturdays...
Garner Ted Armstrong’s second “Listen America…Before It’s too late” campaign was held at Mosque Auditorium in Richmond, Virginia. The Mosque was constructed in 1926 to be used by the Shriners as the ACCA Temple Shrine. Shriners International describes itself as a fraternity based on the Masonic principles of brotherly love, relief, and truth. I remember the auditorium as a nice venue for the GTA personal appearance campaign. No consideration was given at the time as to the association history of the venue as it was probably the largest venue WCG could find in Richmond to accommodate a large audience and the GTA show. Richmond, Virginia was a logical place for the GTA campaign because The World Tomorrow radio broadcast blanketed the area. It was aired nightly on 50,000 watt WRVA, Richmond as well as daily on a local Richmond station. Additionally, The World Tomorrow broadcast could be heard in the Richmond area originating from 50,000 watt powerhouses WWVA, Wheeling West Virginia and WCKY Cincinnati (That’s WCKY, not WKRP).
I don’t know of any statistics, BB, but during my 8 years attending WCG (1968 – 1976), other than the Mosque which is a closest I came to a Masonic Temple, I did receive a grand tour of many local schools and fire halls for Sabbath Services. Nothing like being in a school auditorium in 90 degree summer heat/humidity on metal chairs and no working air conditioning – true Philadelphians!. Sometime in the early 1970s, the Baltimore, Md. WCG began meeting for Sabbath Services in Westview Cinema which had very blush comfortable seats – and air conditioning.
Richard
Ah, yes!
I was traveling for my job, and had a weekend in the Baltimore area, and attended a service at that movie theater.
We had to be sure to get out of there in time for the people who were coming for the matinee. How stupid is that?
'Course, I think of 16 years of WCG experiences and feel armpit deep in stupid.
Nothing says "cult" like not having local congregational owned facilities in which to meet.
If you think about it, what sort of deal is that.
And in the Seattle area, not only was renting the Masonic halls THE meeting place, when the carpets got frayed, Dennis Luker paid the Masons to help get new carpet.
Think about that for awhile.
The only times that I can remember us attending a Mason's lodge was during the annual holy days when two church areas came together for services. Tabernacles and the Last Great Day, were of course different. All headed south for those.
During those years, well before the internet, no one spoke of Masons so I surmise we did not know much about them. Once the age of the internet began, things changed. Now most know about their secret rituals and beliefs.
The internet also opened our eyes regarding the Armstrong movement. Information concerning HWA, GTA, and headquarters, shocked most of us who gained access to that information. This lead many to give up on organizations altogether and just make our relationship with Yahweh more personal and free from human interference.
Some, as you know, went to the spinoffs rather than face the truth that men that came between you and the Almighty, is idolatry. These have been brainwashed to believe that they need men/ministers/teachers to direct them in all things.
To those who happen to read this from the spinoffs, I say to them, do you intend to be a full time student all your life? Does not there become a time when you graduate and no longer require a teacher, since you should also be a teacher by this time? The only teacher we need is Yahshua/Christ. All of us should be teaching others as we are able, to those that may ask why we do the things that we do.
We should all be standing upon our own feet, exercising the spirit and mind that Yahweh has given us. If you were doing this, you would know that those that demand and accept tithes today, are stealing as they have not been given the right to take what was only authorized for the Levities. Ministers are not Levities. In addition, there was only one tithe, but used for three different purposes. The tithe of the tithe that HWA insisted upon, was for the Levities to give from their tithes to the High Priest. It was never out of the pockets of the people, even during the days of Yahshua/Christ.
Now I know that many of you read this site and disagree with it at times (I do as well), but gold nuggets of truth can be found here, once you start exercising your gift of discernment. Some here are no longer believers in Elohim/God, but the others only want to share with you what dirt under the carpet you should be aware of, so that once you accept it, it does not encourage you to give up on Yahweh altogether.
I among with many others, have found that Zech.11:15-17 speaks of a man that Yahweh would raise up that would do many evil things to the flock, but the flock in the process will come directly under His hand (13:7). Some translations say 'against the little ones' but this is incorrect.
Those that continue with these organizations of men, will not come under His Almighty hand for their protection and benefit, for they are relying on men instead of Him. Its time for you all to make a choice. Stop fearing these people who milk you for everything that you have, and blame you for everything that goes wrong, instead of manning up and accepting the truth.
I hope and pray that you make the right choice.
One of the Kentucky churches, I think it was Lexington, met in a horse auction house years ago. Dirt stage and everything. Went to a service there once and couldn't stay awake. Plush seats (horse owners have $$$), air conditioning, boring sermon...a perfect storm for a nice nap. In Akron they met in a former ballroom, so they always had big dances there. The weird thing about it was that the ballroom was upstairs in an office building, in a rundown part of downtown. This was all 40, 50 years ago. Visiting other churches was an adventure, you never knew what kind of building to expect. All of those places could have had their own buildings two or three times over with all the rent that went down the drain.
For years our congregation met in a roller-skating rink owned by a member. The joke was that we where the holy rollers.
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