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
This is outdated information and doesn't apply very well to the ACOGs. By now, more than half of ACOG members were born into their cults or into the parent cult. Second-generation cult members have a very different psychological profile and coping strategies compared to first-generation joiners.
I have reached the realization that virtually ALL human organizations, even those outside of religion, i.e. business, politics, social, etc. exhibit some degree of cult behavior , hierarchy, pressure and control.
The short answer is to be be very careful in joining ANYTHING! Yes, it is a more isolated existence, but many times, there are way worse things than being autonomous.
This was a useful video but it merely touched on the main point of "Why Do People Join Cults?" It instead focused on how cults capture people and then sustain that captivity. Let me proffer my own theory.
This morning I watched on TV the snarling face of an insurrectionist standing in the Capitol Building and talking to a reporter about perceived grievances that have substance only a little more dense than thin air. And I had to ask myself how this poor fellow citizen had arrived at such a pathetic and dismal state.
We are seeing the crucifixion of truth in our society. And a collateral casualty is the Scientific Method. Conspiracy theories and bogus prophecies reign supreme. And their bona fides is rooted in the rejection of simple acts of research and validation. The people in our society who believe in baseless theories, for example, are people who are not academically inclined (look it up on the internet). They are the C and D students, principally though not exclusively, who have no proclivity to do research. They become convinced of the validity of an idea by listening to other compatible people. Research and anything resembling the Scientific Method seems to be unknown to them.
This is why a Q Anon conspiracy theory or another bogus Millerite prophecy is for them at parity with a scientific discipline, say, genetics. They have lost, or never gained, the capabilities to go about the necessary rational processes to discriminate between truth and falsehood. If someone they like tells them that genetics is not real science, it is not in the least difficult for them to believe that. If someone they like tells them that Q anon ideas are true, it is not in the least difficult for them to believe it. The idea that they might actually look into the etiology of these assertions never occurs to them. Many of them have accumulated all kinds of obviously spurious knowledge, are glib experts in it, and this substitutes for what they should have learned in public school. And the rest of us are stunned by this to the point of being speechless. It seemed laughable until it took over our country.
Where I am going with this: the big, powerful elephant in the room that the video does not mention that results in people being snared by cults is the lack of constructive, informed skepticism and a willingness to seek the truth.
The people in our society who believe in baseless theories, for example, are people who are not academically inclined (look it up on the internet). They are the C and D students
No. Many of them are the "A" students, and that's the problem! Much of modern "education", especially in the last 20-30 years, has more to do with indoctrination than with teaching people how to reason critically and independently. One big problem is that people are conditioned into respecting the "academically inclined" which nowadays often means "the people who were most easily indoctrinated." There is right-wing indoctrination, and there is left-wing indoctrination, but it's indoctrination just the same.
Even the notion that there is an absolute and objective truth is now obsolete in many academic circles. As a result, all that remains is power and persuasion. Yes, a few people still hold to Koran-truth or Bible-truth or Marx-truth. But they are part of a shrinking minority, and seem to be easily exploitable by the power-as-truth crowd on the left or on the right.
It’s simple.. People join cults because they feel vulnerable and lonely and (because we are social beings) we want to belong somewhere.
Cults know this. And they prey on it. No matter how smart you are, how well educated or how much money you make. If you feel lonely, lost and hurt, for whatever reason, you are the perfect target for a cult.
People that are lost, hurt and lonely are looking for guidance. Guidance they will be able to give themselves eventually,. But a lot of people can’t or won’t wait for their ‘inner voice’ to surface. Instead they listen to outsiders (Pack, Flurry, Thiel etc) to rescue them from the loneliness..
And all the COG’s know how it works. That is why they groom you, ministers pay a lot of attention to you at first and members are the nice and welcoming at fist.
Once you’re in.. Things take a turn. And not for the good..
People join cults because they feel vulnerable and lonely and (because we are social beings) we want to belong somewhere.
This is what so many ACOG critics fail to understand. Many, perhaps most, members of the ACOGS already know full well that their group teaches a mixture of truth and error, of healthy encouragement and toxic authoritarianism. They know that they have to put on a particular face at church and especially in front of the leadership, but privately they already disbelieve in the total doctrinal package and they already know that their leaders are the slimy political worms who have slithered to the top.
That's why you won't get anywhere with most ACOG members by "proving" the problems with their groups. They already know, and have decided to tolerate the problems because of something they gain from group membership. For a very few the "something" may be their sincere belief that if they put up with the crap they will get to be God someday. For most, it's a much more down to earth social something, the desire to share something special with a tight group of friends. And for a few, probably more than we would like to admit, it's because they hope someday to be one of the worms slithering to the top, where they can have the easy life they see their leaders having. It's not about doctrine or conduct. It's about living the life they want to live.
I understand what you are saying: critical thinking and learning ability are not always connected. But I do believe that there is an identifiable pattern. An empirical example are the people in D. Trump's base. You will find analyses of this demographic on the internet. And this data correlates belief in baseless conspiracy theories with low educational levels. There may be similar results for the audience of Fox News. Seems like I have seen it.
My guess is that, by generalization of the principles, this correlation would also be found among the people who believe the prophecies of contemporary apocalyptic Millerite prophets. I have no data on this. Anecdotally, when I first began attending the WCG in a large city in the Midwest, among about four hundred people in the congregation, very few had college degrees. Most seemed to be blue collar workers. A college education that did not come from Ambassador College was regarded with suspicion.
I don't mean to be arrogant about education. People who are not academically inclined are talented in other ways. The usual apologia. But we need to wake up and smell the coffee. These people form a significant segment of our society. They are an exorable influence in a democracy. They don't view anecdote with a critical eye. They don't try to validate anything. They are often attracted to prophets and demagogues and the secret, untested knowledge that they can acquire from these sources that may elevate them in society.
Why do people join cults? They don't. Rather they join groups that turn out to be cults. The true nature of the organization is always hidden from the new members. The book of Psalms often mentions traps/snares. Cults are one such trap.
Western society as a whole is becoming cult like with the MSM being its leaders/minions. COVID-19 has been used to greatly accelerate the process. Society and the ACOG cults are becoming suspiciously similar.
My observation is that short term a person can benefit from joining a group, but long term most people lose.
Joining the WCG as a young person, back in the early 70s, I tried to find inside info and disclosure but couldn't find any. If I had known of the inner workings and scandals of the Armstrongs I never would have been a part of it. The COG 7th Day was a way better fit and I would have found home there.
10 comments:
This is outdated information and doesn't apply very well to the ACOGs. By now, more than half of ACOG members were born into their cults or into the parent cult. Second-generation cult members have a very different psychological profile and coping strategies compared to first-generation joiners.
I have reached the realization that virtually ALL human organizations, even those outside of religion, i.e. business, politics, social, etc. exhibit some degree of cult behavior , hierarchy, pressure and control.
The short answer is to be be very careful in joining ANYTHING! Yes, it is a more isolated existence, but many times, there are way worse things than being autonomous.
This was a useful video but it merely touched on the main point of "Why Do People Join Cults?" It instead focused on how cults capture people and then sustain that captivity. Let me proffer my own theory.
This morning I watched on TV the snarling face of an insurrectionist standing in the Capitol Building and talking to a reporter about perceived grievances that have substance only a little more dense than thin air. And I had to ask myself how this poor fellow citizen had arrived at such a pathetic and dismal state.
We are seeing the crucifixion of truth in our society. And a collateral casualty is the Scientific Method. Conspiracy theories and bogus prophecies reign supreme. And their bona fides is rooted in the rejection of simple acts of research and validation. The people in our society who believe in baseless theories, for example, are people who are not academically inclined (look it up on the internet). They are the C and D students, principally though not exclusively, who have no proclivity to do research. They become convinced of the validity of an idea by listening to other compatible people. Research and anything resembling the Scientific Method seems to be unknown to them.
This is why a Q Anon conspiracy theory or another bogus Millerite prophecy is for them at parity with a scientific discipline, say, genetics. They have lost, or never gained, the capabilities to go about the necessary rational processes to discriminate between truth and falsehood. If someone they like tells them that genetics is not real science, it is not in the least difficult for them to believe that. If someone they like tells them that Q anon ideas are true, it is not in the least difficult for them to believe it. The idea that they might actually look into the etiology of these assertions never occurs to them. Many of them have accumulated all kinds of obviously spurious knowledge, are glib experts in it, and this substitutes for what they should have learned in public school. And the rest of us are stunned by this to the point of being speechless. It seemed laughable until it took over our country.
Where I am going with this: the big, powerful elephant in the room that the video does not mention that results in people being snared by cults is the lack of constructive, informed skepticism and a willingness to seek the truth.
******* Click on my icon to view my Disclaimer
NEO wrote:
The people in our society who believe in baseless theories, for example, are people who are not academically inclined (look it up on the internet). They are the C and D students
No. Many of them are the "A" students, and that's the problem! Much of modern "education", especially in the last 20-30 years, has more to do with indoctrination than with teaching people how to reason critically and independently. One big problem is that people are conditioned into respecting the "academically inclined" which nowadays often means "the people who were most easily indoctrinated." There is right-wing indoctrination, and there is left-wing indoctrination, but it's indoctrination just the same.
Even the notion that there is an absolute and objective truth is now obsolete in many academic circles. As a result, all that remains is power and persuasion. Yes, a few people still hold to Koran-truth or Bible-truth or Marx-truth. But they are part of a shrinking minority, and seem to be easily exploitable by the power-as-truth crowd on the left or on the right.
10:06
With your stupid bold statements it would embolden your authority on the topic if you would enlighten us on your abcd status.
Nck
It’s simple.. People join cults because they feel vulnerable and lonely and (because we are social beings) we want to belong somewhere.
Cults know this. And they prey on it. No matter how smart you are, how well educated or how much money you make. If you feel lonely, lost and hurt, for whatever reason, you are the perfect target for a cult.
People that are lost, hurt and lonely are looking for guidance. Guidance they will be able to give themselves eventually,. But a lot of people can’t or won’t wait for their ‘inner voice’ to surface. Instead they listen to outsiders (Pack, Flurry, Thiel etc) to rescue them from the loneliness..
And all the COG’s know how it works. That is why they groom you, ministers pay a lot of attention to you at first and members are the nice and welcoming at fist.
Once you’re in.. Things take a turn. And not for the good..
People join cults because they feel vulnerable and lonely and (because we are social beings) we want to belong somewhere.
This is what so many ACOG critics fail to understand. Many, perhaps most, members of the ACOGS already know full well that their group teaches a mixture of truth and error, of healthy encouragement and toxic authoritarianism. They know that they have to put on a particular face at church and especially in front of the leadership, but privately they already disbelieve in the total doctrinal package and they already know that their leaders are the slimy political worms who have slithered to the top.
That's why you won't get anywhere with most ACOG members by "proving" the problems with their groups. They already know, and have decided to tolerate the problems because of something they gain from group membership. For a very few the "something" may be their sincere belief that if they put up with the crap they will get to be God someday. For most, it's a much more down to earth social something, the desire to share something special with a tight group of friends. And for a few, probably more than we would like to admit, it's because they hope someday to be one of the worms slithering to the top, where they can have the easy life they see their leaders having. It's not about doctrine or conduct. It's about living the life they want to live.
Anonymous (10:06)
I understand what you are saying: critical thinking and learning ability are not always connected. But I do believe that there is an identifiable pattern. An empirical example are the people in D. Trump's base. You will find analyses of this demographic on the internet. And this data correlates belief in baseless conspiracy theories with low educational levels. There may be similar results for the audience of Fox News. Seems like I have seen it.
My guess is that, by generalization of the principles, this correlation would also be found among the people who believe the prophecies of contemporary apocalyptic Millerite prophets. I have no data on this. Anecdotally, when I first began attending the WCG in a large city in the Midwest, among about four hundred people in the congregation, very few had college degrees. Most seemed to be blue collar workers. A college education that did not come from Ambassador College was regarded with suspicion.
I don't mean to be arrogant about education. People who are not academically inclined are talented in other ways. The usual apologia. But we need to wake up and smell the coffee. These people form a significant segment of our society. They are an exorable influence in a democracy. They don't view anecdote with a critical eye. They don't try to validate anything. They are often attracted to prophets and demagogues and the secret, untested knowledge that they can acquire from these sources that may elevate them in society.
******* Click on my icon to view my Disclaimer
Why do people join cults? They don't. Rather they join groups that turn out to be cults. The true nature of the organization is always hidden from the new members. The book of Psalms often mentions traps/snares. Cults are one such trap.
Western society as a whole is becoming cult like with the MSM being its leaders/minions. COVID-19 has been used to greatly accelerate the process. Society and the ACOG cults are becoming suspiciously similar.
My observation is that short term a person can benefit from joining a group, but long term most people lose.
ANON: 4:10
Joining the WCG as a young person, back in the early 70s, I tried to find inside info and disclosure but couldn't find any. If I had known of the inner workings and scandals of the Armstrongs I never would have been a part of it. The COG 7th Day was a way better fit and I would have found home there.
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