For it was, in the days of the Great Worldwide Church, that those who were of the called and the chosen shall be deemed to be separate, and shall establish unto themselves therein thy chosen designation.
For lo! They come forth, to and fro, from all directions, from the north, and the south, even from the east, and as far from the west, to the furthest reaches of the habitations.
Look! For thy growth has established itself. And those who are not called, who have not been set apart, who have not understood the truth from the mouth of the anointed one, shall, without wisdom, without understanding, and without forbearance, shall attempt to join you, and your household, and your sons, and your daughters, in your times of joy and festivity. They shall attempt to enter among you, and shall see what you see, and shall hear what you hear, and be what you have become. This shall not be!
For what shall happen if this is allowed? They may hear the message, and the speech thereof, they may listen to the strange teachings – and they may breed confusion, and division, and ill advice – and shall frustrate the teachers of the anointed one. It shall spread as a cancer – deep, and long, and thorough. They may introduce doubt, and intelligent reasoning, and shred the faith of the sheep as a sharp sword. This cannot be permitted!
These must not be allowed into the presence of the called and the chosen! They must be guarded and secured from our presence! Therefore, those of the called and the chosen shall be MARKED with the Great Seal of the Great Worldwide Church. Every member shall affix this MARK to their method of transportation to and from the Chosen Place where the Name Has been Placed. Those who have not been MARKED shall not be admitted to the Chosen Place where the Name Has been Placed.
Yes, you shalt turn them away! They may be attracted by the throngs of people – dressed in their best, children of great behavior – yes, turn them away! They are of trespass, those who hear the words without understanding! For they shall hear the words of the anointed one and spread them to the north, and the south, and the east, and the west, and shall twist, shall distort, shall mock, and jest at the words of the anointed one! Yes, they shall not participate in the blessings of the called and the chosen! They are not the superior, the called, the chosen, the elect!
For those who do not have the MARK of the Great Worldwide Church are not called. They are cut off, separated, unconverted, and worldly! They are drunkards! They are foul mouthed. They are selfish, they are greedy, they are lovers of money. They may not be allowed within thy walls!
The purity of thy Church must be maintained! The sanctuary of the called and the chosen must be graced with unity and all doubt shall be purged! The storehouses, then, shall give of thy bounty unto the Great Worldwide Church – thirty fold! There shall be none whose mind shall waiver from thy calling!
MARK those, who are of the Great Worldwide Church, with thou colors of Green, and of Orange, and of Red, and park those marked into the presence of the anointed one, to partake of the words from the mouths of the anointed, so there may be unity, so that the storehouses may be full, and the mammon may be great! For THIS, the MARK of the Great Worldwide Church, shall identify them as the People of the anointed one whose jowels shall shake and tremble, and whose fist shall clench, and whose voice shall raise in a spell of authority, to maintain the authority of the chosen one among those who fill the storehouses!
Yes! MARK them!
submitted by SHT
The memories that stay with me regarding "The MARK of the Cult" are how we viewed those who were marked and those who were not.
ReplyDeleteIf your bumper bore the "mark", you were deemed safe to help if you saw it. If they were broken down on the side of the road, you felt you could pull right over and help them. (Green). If you saw one which was orange, use caution - don't wave! They're important. (I say this in jest). If you see a red one - bless their hearts, it's probably their 40th or 50th "Why are You Here" sermon - let them pass. :)
We had a tradition to wave with wild abandon those who were "marked", and to ignore those who were not "marked". After all, we were rushing to the holy and anointed site to get away from the unmarked world around us - for seven days, they didn't exist a lot more than when we looked down on them beyond those seven days as uncalled and unclean and 'Satan's'. It only fueled even more our separatist way of life - we were one family, distinctly separate, strange and peculiar. They didn't have the right to fellowship with us. Our feast-keeping made us better, and we loved the thought of that.
PST
ReplyDeleteSHT said...
ReplyDeleteThe memories that stay with me regarding "The MARK of the Cult" are how we viewed those who were marked and those who were not.
The memories that stay with me to this day are having to park and exit 10,000 of those green marked cars for 12 services in some of the most foul weather you could imagine.
Those stickers were a focal point for the members to look out after our own because that was what we were taught and believed. So year after year we drove past the vehicle with a flat tire without helping because it happened because of their sin but we gladly stopped for the green sticker vehicle because it was a Satan induced trial upon the person. I have no idea why it took me so long to understand love thy neighbor meant to love your neighbor!
I definitely road the "young and dumb" wave for far too long. Opening night for the Feast this year I will be listening to HWA talk about the "two trees" and somewhere in that message will be something about the give way of life - give love to thy neighbor.
I will never forget the time we went to the fot and while we were gone, new neighbors moved in next door. After the exhausting 8 days, we were so glad to be home. While walking from the garage to the house on the sidewalk along our fence dividing our yard from the neighbor's yard, our neighbor, whom we have not yet met and who was lounging in their yard, beligerently asked us, "Who the f*** are you?" I stopped, looked at her and said, "Uuumm, we live here?" Her response was so funny! "OH! I'm so sorry, I thought you were an intruder! Hi! My name is..." and that's how we met our new neighbors.
ReplyDeleteThere were some interesting marketing techniques to advance the Armstrong brand. "Let's make 'em commit by doing more mandatory things, we'll throw in a different reward, and we'll make the whole package an exclusive you can't get anwhere else but from us. Oh, and one of the mandatory activities will be supporting us financially in our mission. We'll tie the reward to that bigtime!"
ReplyDeleteYou know you've been marked if they won't baptize you because you work a minimum wage job.
ReplyDeletePrior to the "green stickers" there were the FT orange stickers. Those stickers almost seemed obscene to many of the non member locals at crowded small feast sites, like the Poconos, Ozarks or Lake Tahoe.
ReplyDeleteNot too hard to imagine non member locals who were stuck in church service generated traffic jams to have uttered (as a play against the movie ET) ..." F- T GO HOME! "
Also interestingly enough, Ministers actually had their own stickers, with a different color, and also received preferred, closer parking as well.
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ReplyDeleteIf I recall correctly, the "Orange Sticker" was a diamond shape, with the left arm of the "T" intertwined between the space between the two arms of the "F".
Which explains why it would look obscene to a non-FOT'er.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Festival Deacons had their own arm-bands, too. Rank and structure were extremely important in Armstrong's Government. The Church's pattern from the Military was quite eerie. HWA even used "Boot Camp", if I recall, a time or two. SEP campers were made to line up ten-hut, military style. Even though this wasn't "Dogma", the intent and perception could not be without notice.
ReplyDeleteI happened to be up in Gatlinburg during LCGs FOT one year, unaware of the timing, and noticed a bunch of similar stickers before I realized what I had stumbled into.
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