With all the drama and trauma leaders like Gerald Flurry, Dave Pack and even minor Church of God one man shows bring to the table for their members, one has to ask "why do they stay?"
You'd think after Dave Pack's periodic yet consistent prophetic debacles, self absorbed sermons, crazy title taking and eating up "all things common" (Except for him I imagine) to build a Legoland Replica Headquarters, people would just wake up and move on.
Gerald Flurry and PCG have seemingly inflicted about as much damage to families, relationships and more false prophecy about the unknowable future as one should normally be able to stand without simply concluding this place is toxic to myself and everyone else that touches it.
Even in the more stable, and I use the word loosely, splinters like UCG and LCG (doomed to fizzle as they are) you'd think the average member would die of boredom and being subjected over and over to the same sermons with predictable and appropriate proof texting, which has not changed or learned anything new ever since HWA uttered the meaning of it all.
You'd think one would tired of turning BACK into the Old Testament for inspiration and how to be rather than AHEAD into the NEW would grow old. Making doctrinal mountains out of molehills and majoring in the minors might also wear thin by now.
I know the case can be made for no matter what, it is still the true church or the fact that the church from day one has had all the same types of problems with people and the politics of men. For sins and crazy behaviors we can always appeal to King David and the no matter what of him being "a man after God's own heart." Makes you wonder what's in God's heart. That one scripture alone kept men in high places telling everyone how it all was and will be going even as they lived out their actual lives, shortcomings, human tendencies no matter who you are and shenanigans. And it always will I imagine.
"You don't want to end up in the Lake of Fire do you?" also seems to still work on the psyche of many who simply know of no place else to go or way to think about their own spiritual needs and beliefs. How many of the COG members go along to get along? How many stay because that's where all their friends are? "What will my family think if I share my real thoughts on all this?" also is a powerful place holder, not to mention, "Where would I go?"
The average minister and member does not see and would not recognize the politics and competition between the divergent teachings of the Jerusalem Apostles and Paul. That would be a bridge too far. And so there will always be endless bickering and proof texting all over the New Testament to show they all spoke the same right thing and not to worry of it.
But why do they stay in the face of years of abuse and failed ego centric and self absorbed leadership, especially when it comes to men like a Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry or Ron Weinland? There certainly is no lack of information that could help someone struggling with the mistaken leadership and teachings of the splinter or sliver they attend to make a decision to move on.
The answer is simple...Or complex depending...
"As my friend was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not. My friend saw a trainer nearby and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.
“Well,” he said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size of rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.” My friend was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.
How many of us are being held back by old, outdated beliefs that no longer serve us? How many of us have avoided trying something new because of a limiting belief? Worse, how many of us are being held back by someone else’s limiting beliefs?"
Evidently lots of people are held back by the beliefs of their ministers which override their own suspicions and unasked questions which often when asked are given very unsatisfactory answers in the face of available evidence to the contrary.
"Pssst...I'm tellin' ya. I don't think we're tied up near as tight as we have been led to believe"
I asked myself , in hindsight, why did I stay so long? It's complex. I thought no matter what that it was the true church with the true teachings. I was fearful of consequences both imaginary and very real. Contrary to opinion, I did not stay "for the paycheck". It wasn't that great. I could have done much better when young on the roads not taken. Part of me felt that HWA would die as all do no matter what Waterhouse said and the church would grow up and progress. I felt that I and my peers would be the next and more practical generation of ministry. The STP changes were right along that line in the 70's and it floored me HWA canned it. The 70's were simply chaotic in WCG as one might recall, but then so were the 80s and 90s. I picked a lousy time to ever hear of the Wildworld Church of God and believe I was supposed to be in ministry.
So I get it that we can all come up for reasons to stay in a toxic setting whether it be a church or in a workplace. I just quit a rather toxic workplace and am staring overt in a more peaceful one myself. It did not serve me and I learned my lesson in staying too long from my past experiences.
I have learned that "if your head tells you one thing and your stomach tells you something else, your head is lying to you" is pretty darn accurate. I imagine a lot of COG folk will know that feeling as they sit week after week hearing their leader muck up over an over and poison the well of genuine spirituality and joy in the only actual life one has.
Dennis, the answer for many today is far simpler.
ReplyDeleteThey know their leaders are abusive jerks.
They know all the stuff you are saying and writing.
However, they believe that their dysfunctional church, though it has problems and is not the "One True Church", gives them one of many legitimate ways to practice Christianity. And they don't want to lose their families and friends. So they find it easier to become two-faced, acting one way in public around the ministry and other members, and another way around their close friends.
Good post Dennis
ReplyDeleteSince this is the day that the Japanese bomb Pearl harbor do we have any article or letters from Herb saying this is the end for the good old USA.
ReplyDeleteMany members are too weak to be independent Christians. So they tolerate being eaten alive by their ministers.
ReplyDeleteI guess it all depends what or which "body part" the rope is tied to!
ReplyDeleteSome body parts need a lot less rope than others!
Hello Mason.
ReplyDeleteNo. We have 1934 writings of hwa warning about a Japanese attack on the west coast. Which in fact happened when a Japanese torpedo was fired at about Santa monica.
Nck
Even a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then. They more than just torpedoes they fire bomb the northwest (trying to start massive forest fires), weather balloon bomb which killed civilians, and took over some Alaskian islands
DeleteI heard herb say the Germans (during WWII was going to conquer USA I just wonder if he thought Japan would then be great army from the east
DeleteI've been wondering for decades what kept members tied to the WCG following 1975! Knowing and keeping the doctrines was supposedly the reason behind our being granted the true understanding of end times prophecy. By the end of '75, it was perfectly obvious that we "knew" less than Jean Dixon and the psychics. The Armstrong prophecy mold is the proverbial "elephant's rope" that keeps many of the members tethered to their ACOG splinter. "Our group is the only true one through whom God is working today! If you leave God's true remnant, brethren, you won't know when to flee to the place of safety!"
ReplyDeleteThis, or some slight varation, is still commonly used by all of the different Armstrongish groups, in spite of continued failure over a period of nearly 45 years! 1 Einstein 1:7 clearly states that insanity is repeating the same failure over and over expecting each time for the result to be different.
BB
The answer is so varied and circumstantial that anything definitive would miss the point on why do I/we/they stay.
ReplyDeleteWhat is definitive is the understanding of how and why and for what reason a person is to stay in the first place and how the objective got changed in a really big way.
Herbert Armstrong believed and taught that the only reason a person was called was to do the "work". Did HWA come to this conclusion based upon what the bible said?
Peter seems to have come to a completely different conclusion when he said the sureness of a person's calling was tied to exhibiting faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity and all of these are tied to knowing who the Lord Jesus Christ actually is.
Peter then goes on in the rest of II Pet. and tells everyone exactly what is really going on and for those that want to admit it, what is really going on right now in this very age.
Peter let everyone know loud and clear what they are tethering themselves to. False prophets (fill the applicable name in). False teachers (again fill the the name in). Where do we find greedy men with feigned words making merchandise of the brethren? What about the men who can't cease from sin while beguiling unstable souls? We don't have to look far to find men speaking great swelling words of vanity to allure. And I think everyone of them promises liberty for the brethren if they will only follow them.
Unfortunately the method is to not think for yourself and to focus on another objective. If a person can reverse just these two things, they will find that the tether that binds was nothing more than the web of a spider.
I think the main reason some stay in armstrongism is fear of condemnation. That is the main reason I stayed in the WCG for 13 years. When I realized that I wouldn't be condemned if I left and the realization that I was in a mind control cult I felt free to leave. I left and never looked back. I have never attended any GCI/WCG of splinter group church service since I left. Its like quitting smoking cold turkey and not having a smoke for 25 years. Fear is a very strong tool that religious leaders use to enslave people. When you realize that God is not going to condemn you if you leave an organized religion started by men and that your personal relationship to God is everything compared to church membership then you will have nothing to keep you from braking free from the enslavement of religion.
ReplyDeleteWHAT ABOUT THE TRUTH wrote: "Herbert Armstrong believed and taught that the only reason a person was called was to do the "work".
ReplyDeleteThere is a large paradox embedded in Armstrongism that I find puzzling. HWA taught a heretical form of Theosis. He taught that we would all become "god as god is god." (Ron Dart took this strange and possibly blasphemous idea even further, stating that perhaps one day, resurrected Christians would be sent out in pairs to rule over a planet and its inhabitants and one member of the pair might have to become human (again, I guess) and die for the sins of the inhabitants like Christ did.)
But on the other hand, HWA seemed to often disparage the lay membership, as if they were unworthy servants because not enough money was flowing into Pasadena. At one point, he was so angered that I heard him say that very likely only the ministry would receive salvation (since the ministry is a use of funds rather than a source of funds, I am not sure how he reached this conclusion). Theosis was nowhere in the picture. It was introduced or maybe re-introduced by Joseph Tkach who taught that church members were much more than just thralls for "the Work".
The Armstrongist ministry seemed to readily go along with HWA's angle on this - I think because they were trained in the AC Caste System that lay members were on nearly the bottom rung of the ladder and were discardable.
There is a tension between these two viewpoints and I wonder if the truth is that HWA felt like salvation was only for High Caste church members - like the ministry? And lay members could take a deep dive into Gehenna for all he cared. And good riddance.
" At one point, he was so angered that I heard him say that very likely only the ministry would receive salvation..."
ReplyDeletehmm, they are the group I'm most concerned about...
Or the other group I would be concerned about is family not standing up for others family members (or lifetime friends) when they are being abused by the "church".
DeleteOf course members were only called to do the work. Forget about the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness thingy. Members were called to pick cotton on Herbs plantation, while the Massa ministers whipped the Sambo members for not working hard enough. Meanwhile Herb wined and dined in his Big Man mansion, using silver and gold dinner ware.
ReplyDeletePS, the Big Man says government is everything.
HWA clearly and repeatedly taught that the "commission" to preach the gospel to the world was given to HIM personally and NOT to the church collectively or to individual church members. He said members were called at that time ONLY to support HWA and his work. That assertion used to tick off several members and especially some ministers. If Weston believed HWA then I don't understand how he thinks he or the LCG has a commission to preach the gospel today.
ReplyDeleteARMSTRONGIAM EGRESSOPHOBUA: The fear that your family will treat you as badly for exiting the cult as you treated others for doing the same.
ReplyDelete