Listen to Episode 1 of Heaven's Gate here.
When you listen to the above video you will hear Washington relate how if Herbert Armstrong had gone so far as to tell members to "drink the kool-aid" that 40% would have not done it, but possibly 60% of the church could have taken their lives if Armstrong had told them to.
I used to believe this would never have happened if Armstrong would have gone so far as to demand this, but the longer Armstrongism exists with the absolutely batshit crazy leaders like Pack, Flurry and Thiel, and some others, the blind devotion to the leadership of the church certainly makes this a present reality.
If you listen to another intro to the series here, you will hear Applegate tell his followers that he is the leader chosen at this time to direct them. The things he says sound exactly like what Dave Pack is saying.
The Heaven's Gate faithful were normal people. Seekers from all over the country. I will tell you about a Kingdom level beyond this level. If you want to go there you have to follow me, because I am the guy who has got the key at the moment.
Watch the video below that a reader here just referred me to. It compares Herbert Armstrong to Dave Pack. While its purpose is to discredit Dave Pack, and it rightly does so, it still whitewashes Herbert Armstrong's equally deluded statements. Regardless of that, when you see Dave pack's comments pulled out and isolated, they make Dave sound exactly like Applegate.
I watched the introduction, and plan to enjoy the first episode later when there is more time.
ReplyDeleteI believe Glynn is right about the 60%. I found out that I was not part of this 60% as a student at Ambassador College. GTA suggested in a forum that the guys might want to get crewcuts during a time when they did not yet have to be overly concerned with how they looked and presented themselves. By dinner time, a number of the guys had buzz cut their hair back in the dorms right after the student body forum. Upon seeing this, others borrowed barber equipment and administered crewcuts to one another that evening. I didn't participate, and never felt guilty. And that wasn't the end if it. People made casual remarks about the ones intended by GTA in his remarks ignoring them. The funny thing is that it didn't even emerge into a lasting trend. Most allowed their hair to grow back out prior to next haircut.
Years later, when the Synanon Center was one of my clients, their founder, Chuck Dederich, had mandated crewcuts for all Synanon staff and residents. You can only imagine the sense of deja vu! Interestingly, I never had any problems relating to the people at Synanon. I felt as if I already knew them, and was familiar with their mindset upon first meeting them. The same thing happened in my meetings at the Church of Scientology, and at the Self-Realization Fellowship.
Michael Medved and David Wallechinski wrote an expose during the 1980s, entitled "What Ever Happened to the Class of 1965?". One of the stories contained in that book was that of their classmate, Jamie Kelso, who had become an avid participant in three separate cults following graduation from Palisades High School. By the time of their class reunion, he had normalized his life, and related to the authors that he had been searching for answers at a time when he was not philosophically well-rooted, and was therefore susceptible to the secret information that these cults purported to offer.
People who have once been part of cults, and somehow managed to break free, have a deeper understanding of the personality types, and frame of mind and are in a unique position to be able to break it down so that all others can understand. I'm really looking forward to the rest of Glynn's presentation.
BB
He reminds me of a friend that got disfellowshiped from UCG back in 2001, he always complains about it AFTER 16 years later. lol
ReplyDeleteByker Bob apparently doesn't know that Jamie Kelso went on to become one of the USA's best-known white supremacist hate-mongers.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia article on Jamie Kelso
SPLC on Jamie Kelso
Maybe in Trump's America we can say that Kelso "normalized his life" but some would suggest that his involvement in Stormfront and the American Freedom Party are indicators of a remaining desire to be more special than the people around him. In a similar way, we don't often see ex-WCG people becoming happy members of mainstream America. They usually find some other part of the fringe where they feel more comfortable.
You are right. I did not know that. The only person from that book of whom I've been continually aware is Michael Medved because I occasionally listen to his radio program and consider him to be a voice of reason and moderation.
DeleteThere has been no reason for me to know about any of the white supremacists or their leaders since I am not one of them. Back when I was in high school, one of my classmates was a George Lincoln Rockwell fan, and even then, I recognized the hatred that Rockwell preached as being something inherently bad, and detrimental to the continued growth of mankind. In fact, we had fought a war to end such hatred.
Suddenly learning this morning who and what Jamie Kelso went on to become deeply saddens me. All of us know people who are fundamentally flawed to the extent that they need a cult or cultic thinking as life's "Linus blanket" to even maintain partial functionality. Having positive examples of other people who have escaped cults has always been a source of hope and encouragement for me. But, once again, I've been forced to realize that some have their gearshift lever permanently stuck in "cult" and have lost the forward speeds, reverse, and even neutral. They are ever condemned to being a hazard and potential wreck, because they have lost the ability to get out of even their own way.
BB
Here's hopeing I can get unstuck from cult myself. Depending on whether the OK state budget gets fixed may deturmin if I get to seek the mental help I need to find where the slector lever is (medicade in Oklahoma will cut off all mental care Nov. 1 if nothing is fixed).
ReplyDeleteThe SPLC? Seriously? They are a pack of libelous liars. They have been totally exposed. Grow up.
ReplyDelete