In the depths of religious history, there are organizations that stand as beacons of hope and enlightenment, and then there are those that shroud themselves in darkness,
leaving behind a trail of twisted beliefs and unspeakable atrocities.
The Worldwide Church of God, a seemingly harmless name for an entity with a dark past,
belongs to the latter category.
Founded by a charismatic and enigmatic figure, Herbert W. Armstrong,
the Worldwide Church of God (or WCG) emerged from the shadows in the mid-20th century.
Armstrong, a man with a tendency for prophecy and an uncanny ability to blend fact with fiction,
set the stage for what would become one of the most controversial religious movements of its time.
34 comments:
I remember having to go the Feast in the 70's & 80's and watching the lame shows put on by the Young Ambassadors and being sickened by how lousy it was. It was a total waste of every one's tithes & donations.
" Anonymous said...
I remember having to go the Feast in the 70's & 80's and watching the lame shows put on by the Young Ambassadors and being sickened by how lousy it was. It was a total waste of every one's tithes & donations."
You are absolutely right! A large percentage of those elite Ambassador students in the YA's thought their shit never stank. It was reinforced over and over with the student body that they were the elite of the college. Highly chosen. Many of them went on to be ordained and then left when the various splinter groups formed. They were jerks then and still are today.
"In the depths of religious history, there are organizations that stand as beacons of hope and enlightenment ... "
Really? Name them. And prove it. Inquiring spirits need to know.
I liked the YAs. Waddya expect? Supertramp? The Mormon Tabernackle Choir? Bethoven?
No new bombshells in this presentation. I think the biggest takeaway is that if you want to make an effective expose, for the love of Pete, don't pick a vegetarian on 'ludes as your narrator. I'd rather suffer through 15 minutes of Chinese water torture!
What is the point of bashing the YAs? To attack inconsequential matters? Who says they soaked up tithe money? What is the evidence of that?
Old news. Desperate times ? NO2HWA giving age range away.
C'mon now, ONE of the WCG prophecies that DID come true, was BREXIT.
The Y.A. were simply G-rated family entertainment on par with Lawrence Welk or Ray Conniff singers. Even Brady Bunch & Partridge Family sang like that, no problemo.
“ Old news. Desperate times ? NO2HWA giving age range away.”
Well that was intelligent! NOT!!! Do you ever engage your brain before you run off at the mouth? No2 didn’t make the film. More and more people are waking up to the fact Armstrongism is dangerous. Look at what’s it’s done to you!
A narrator with a clear, pleasant, eastern-European voice who speaks perfect English & grammar need not be accused of being on drugs (& vegetarian is fine too either way IF he happens to be so). Look at what the labs are doing to meat these days, by the way.
It's not necessary for him to speak like a camo-wearing, gun-totin', pickup-truck driving cowboy in order to get his point across clearly. He spoke very well.
Anonymous at 1:50 AM said...“C'mon now, ONE of the WCG prophecies that DID come true, was BREXIT.”
A number of years ago I met a young English chap who was working at a bank over here. Out of curiosity I asked him if he thought that Britain would ever leave or get kicked out of the European Union. He said that he did not think so.
Sometime after that conversation the BREXIT vote came along and Britain voted to leave the European Union. Interesting. I suppose one has to understand prophecy to foresee such things.
I never saw the Young Ambassadors. But, from what I saw on this Eastern European video, they resembled a couple trends popularized by others during that era. There was a place somewhere in Orange County called "Tibbies" where very squeaky clean young people were the servers, and then put on the after dinner entertainment. Extremely conservative business people, usually family orientated and happy with the Reagan Revolution, made this place very popular. My boss at the time was one of those people and gave tickets to one of his sons, who gave the tickets to me and my girlfriend. We went, and it was certainly different. I remember remarking to my girlfriend that they reminded me of a college I had once attended, and after dinner, I believe we may have gone further down PCH to a hot blues club that we normally frequented.
In my collection of the first four years of Saturday Night Live is a skit which was done when Ray Charles was the musical guest. The ensemble of Not Ready for Prime Time Players, playing the part of "The Young Causasians" were fawning over Ray, and did a somewhat neutered choral rendition of his "What I Say", cleaning up the grammar along the way. And, then of course Ray did it the right way. It was a satirical play on what Pat Boone did with the Little Richard classics.
At some point in time, Black people taught us what real, happening entertainment was. John Bircher types somehow never accept such education, and always want us to return to the trends of the 1940s. This is the same mindset that makes Irish dancing so popular with Flurry and the PCG.
At least for the next ten months, it's still a free country. And, there's entertainment for both liberals and conservatives. Me? I always said I never was a hippie. I just really dug their music!
Anonymous at 8:36 PM said...“I remember having to go the Feast in the 70's & 80's and watching the lame shows put on by the Young Ambassadors and being sickened by how lousy it was. It was a total waste of every one's tithes & donations.”
The Young Ambassadors appeared to be nice, but some of the satanic noise that passed for “music” out in the world in those days sickened the more refined individuals by how lousy and loud it was. It was a totally foolish waste of people's discretionary income to buy such record albums, 8-track tapes, cassette tapes, and compact discs with all that crazy moaning and wailing and shrieking on them. Those perverted “musicians” should have been arrested for abusing their musical instruments.
Didn't mention one bit one of the most outrageous doctrines, which was to NOT GO TO DOCTORS. Many people died from very curable ailments that could have been helped by simple surgeries.
No mention either of the terrible D & R doctrine which wrecked many marriages and families.
You need to spend time every day, on your knees humbly, teachably, with your awesome Creator, God the Father in heaven, in a private place where nobody else (except of course God) can see you, in prayer and Bible-study. Read His Instruction Book for all mankind to live by, called the Holy Bible, every day, to let God talk to you, to teach you how to live the right way. And then if you do that, you become God's friend. Then He will help you, love and comfort you, and give you good advise and everything you need, everything in life that's important for you to have and do. But you need to trust Him with your whole heart, and obey Him, do what the Bible teaches you to do. That's my advise and instructions to you. I do the same.
Well, 2:05, I wanted the narrator to be emotive and expressive like GTA! I've had some Eastern European friends who certainly do not speak in monotones. Of course, they are rock n rollers and enjoy concerts featuring the Grateful Dead and John Mayall's Blues Breakers. Come to think of it, John Belushi was Albanian!
Boring groups have boring heroes. WCG, culturally speaking, was such a buzz kill. Except for the salt pork and molasses it was kind of like Nutbush!
Given Britains history of being "heretic island" versus the continent, I wasnt remotely surprised myself. But I'm not a Brit.
Many did pick Britain to leave the EU with brexit.
And not just within wwcog.
For Armstrongism this is of course their pointer to and validation in the appalling myth of BI.
But they didn’t expect or predict the fall of the USSR,Iran Iraq war, Afghanistan, Gaza conflict, Libya conflict, Ukraine war, Sudan, Gulf war one and two, Sweden and Finland in NATO, covid or of the Armstrong movement utter collapse etc etc etc…….one could go on, the examples are numerous of failed predictions and of being totally blindsided by events.
On the YA front, I did enjoy them and their ‘style’ of ‘music’. Love that old style stuff and of course some good old rock…..
And this is supposed to be an all American blog...
Living a double life and attacking those who've worked out who you really are.
Won't end well. Desperate times for this blog.
12:02. I see you are back crying like a little 3rd grade girl. Man up!
“ And this is supposed to be an all American blog...”
No we’re not!
Anon 12:01:00 PM PST
‘All American blog’ nah we is not.
I’m from NZ, way down south in the sunny Pacific Ocean. Yeah I know, we are supposed to be Ephraim. Well actually no.
That bubble has been burst completely.
The Armstrong movement is as divided down here as everywhere else, and aging rapidly.
I would say it is virtually unknown down under. Divided and hostile to each other and to those outside the movement.
This blog is well known among my acquaintances from the old ‘mother church’.
And personally I am delighted it exists and I am able to comment here as such, as an outsider insider foreigner, lol.
Who's crying ? I'm never been afraid of you and never shall. Evil people.
What's my name, fool? You haven't worked out shit.
The grumpies are out in full force. Conspiracy theories galore. So fun!
Oh, and not American here.
This is one of those topics that brings the grumpy HWA/WCG/AC loyalists out. Complaining about their heritage. The other one is our positive comments about the people they still refer to as "the Negroes".
Herb stated several times "surrending to God," including "surrendering to God and obeying Him." This is the common evil ploy of implying a falsehood plus using repetition to brainwash the listener into accepting a certain "truth." The true Herb definition of "surrendering to God" means being mentally passive and allowing his minions to lord it over members faith. At the absolute minimum, the ploy robs the listener of the confidence and certainty that he or she has the right to intellectual independence. No WCG minister has the right to control a members mind.
C'mon, 12:02, quit running away like a little bitch and tell everyone my name, what splinter you think I attend and all the other stuff you've "worked out".
You dont know shit.
Is Bob T. himself the author of 7:05? He once shared a story of details in that account happening to him regarding someone's opinion of Brexit.
The people who enjoy music style of "The Young Caucasians" still pay taxes, to help keep your roads paved, they still work at your local Walmart stocking your shelves, they still serve in your local health care facility providing help to the public on your entire street full of different music preferences. They rush to put out fires on your street or any street.
Tonto's points here are prime examples of HWA-style excess ego & corruption. I remember many of WCG's good points, but the times WCG "faithful" let their loved ones die of CURABLE ailments is a burning stain on WCG legacy. The D&R hypocrisy is actually sickening but true, too. Thanks Tonto, it is worth remembering such loony shame from HWA-ishness.
Pat Boone actually did a "Young Caucasians" style heavy metal album during the 1990s. What's also cool about Pat is that he rode his Harley in the annual "Love Ride" during the '90s. I doubt that any of the "Young Ambassadors" did that, but you never know. Some people suppressed their natural coolness while participating in Armstrongism, and it surfaced later as they left the cult. But there were also many who were tragically and terminally uncool!
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