You weren't called to be an ambassador for world peace!
Last month, Banned by HWA posted a presentation about the evangelism of Herbert Armstrong entitled Herbert Armstrong Meeting World Leaders. As the title suggests, the presentation focused on the many meetings that Mr. Armstrong had with government leaders around the world. Through the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation, Armstrong gifted various cultural, educational, and archaeological programs around the world and was invited to meet with the leaders of those countries as a tangible demonstration of their appreciation. As part of those meetings, Mr. Armstrong also presented gifts of Steuben Crystal to those leaders. Of course, all of this was funded by the tithe payers and contributors of/to the Worldwide Church of God.
Now, among the various groups which emerged from the downfall of the Worldwide Church, Gerald Flurry and his Philadelphia Church of God have supported and underscored this aspect of Herbert Armstrong's "work" more than any other group. Indeed, they currently offer a booklet entitled Ambassador for World Peace (by Gerald Flurry) which recounts Herbert Armstrong's efforts as an ambassador without portfolio. The booklet opens with this introduction about Mr. Armstrong's travels: "In the 1970s and 1980s, one private citizen was jetting around the world and meeting with hundreds of world leaders. He met presidents, prime ministers, kings, emperors, princes, legislators, ambassadors, generals, officers, mayors, judges, scientists, educators, magnates and executives. He talked with heads of state and heads of government in their offices at their invitations."
A little further into the booklet, Flurry offered this justification for Mr. Armstrong's travels: "Despite the global reach among the English-speaking peoples, Mr. Armstrong was troubled by something. He wanted God’s message to reach Russians, Chinese, Indians, Japanese, Indonesians, Bangladeshis and others. But how could he reach them? In countries like the United States, Canada and Australia, the message could go straight to the people through television, radio or literature. Mr. Armstrong prayed earnestly about it and asked God to help him see how to reach them. God answered that prayer. He showed Mr. Armstrong that in order to be heard by the populations of these countries, he had to reach the national leaders first!" Flurry continued: "Sometime after Mr. Armstrong began praying about it, he received invitations to meet world leaders: one from a European king, then another from Jewish leaders. He couldn’t understand what was really happening or why. Gradually, the invitations began piling up. Yet he was still puzzled about why God was opening those doors. Finally, he made the connection: This was how God planned to get the gospel to those other nations! Mr. Armstrong frequently visited top government officials, including leaders who shaped the thoughts of their populations. These officials were in charge of communication; it was their responsibility to get information to the people."
Now, I don't know about you, but it seems to me that there are some obvious problems with Mr. Armstrong's evangelistic efforts directed at world leaders and Mr. Flurry's justification of those efforts. They are: 1) The commission was to preach the Gospel (Good News) about salvation through Jesus Christ - to go and "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19-20, ESV) In other words, there is NOTHING in these instructions about talking about an ill-defined "strong hand" intervening in world affairs someday! 2) Christ's original apostles preached to crowds of people. According to the New Testament canon, the only time that they appeared before secular world leaders was after they had been arrested and hauled before them by lower level religious and political officials who didn't like what they were saying! 3) Christ's original apostles also usually walked or traveled by boat to conduct their evangelistic campaigns. In other words, they didn't have access to a luxurious personal/private jet and the world's best hotel accommodations! 4) While there are a few instances in the Hebrew Bible where prophets were sent to the kings of Israel and Judah with a message, there is no Scriptural foundation for claiming that preaching to the leader of a nation satisfies God's instruction to carry his message to the people as a whole. On the contrary, according to the Bible, it was the responsibility of his servants to reach as many of the people as possible with the message committed to them!
It should also be noted that the Trinity Foundation, in their article Calculating the Cost of Ministry-Owned Aircraft Flights, had this to say about Gerald Flurry's group: "Philadelphia Church of God owns a Gulfstream GIV-X which is also known as a Gulfstream G-450. On March 19th, 2021, the jet made a round trip flight from Oklahoma City to Birmingham, England with a stop in Bangor, Maine on the return trip. The round trip international flight took 18.5 hours of flying time. According to Aircraft Cost Calculator, the Gulfstream G-450 has an hourly operating cost of approximately $4,363. Estimated travel costs are $80,716." Now, let's be clear, there is NOTHING wrong with carrying the Gospel around the world (or traveling by aircraft), but think about how much cheaper a couple of tickets on a commercial flight would have been! Moreover, if you're traveling to speak to the local Rotary Club, legislature, mayor, or prime minister about world peace, you may want to take another look at whether or not that would actually qualify as fulfilling the Great Commission!
Miller Jones/Lonnie C Hendrix
57 comments:
For a man whose own son described him as a "relative nobody who never served under Mr. Armstrong", GRF seems to think he knows a lot about HWAs thoughts and inclinations in this matter.
Plus, wasnt the "European King" Leopold III, who had abdicated? IIRC he was looking for magazines that might have wanted to use his photos from safaris and thats how this whole business of paying for access to high offices began.
The fact that Herbert and Flurry uphold King Leopold as some kind of virtuous symbol is appalling considering his vile actions in the Congo. Oh, but Herbie got a watch from the King's son, so that covers all of the atrocities that the man committed.
"King Leopold took over about 905,000 square miles of African rain forest with the vast mineral resources for his personal use. What is often today described in international criminal justice discourse, as the “Command and Responsibility” fell squarely on King Leopold. For example, he commanded his generals to :
“Cut off the heads of the men and hang them in the villages, have sexual intercourse with the native women and hang children and women on crosses.”
He ordered the cutting off of heads and hands, flogging them to death, starvation, burning villages and severe punishment for those who did not meet the quota for rubber production.
The sad part though is that despite the overwhelming evidence of such brutality, King Leopold was never held criminally liable for the genocide and ills in Congo." https://atrocitieswatch.org/publications/king-leopold-of-belgium-in-congo/
"According to Congolese lawyer Thomas Kiloshi, history books document how Belgians tortured and killed millions of Congolese under their colonial rule. "And the cruelest thing they did to the Congolese was cut off their hands because they didn't produce enough natural rubber," he told Anadolu Agency.
Belgian King Leopold II established his country as a colonial power in Africa and is known for the widespread atrocities committed under his rule, resulting in over 10 million people in the Congo dying, according to standard historical data.
Congo was under his control from the day he became king of Belgium in 1865 until 1908. He died a year after Congo was no longer directly under his rule.
Natural rubber was in high demand in Europe at the time, so he made sure to get as much as he could from Congo, where there were rubber/latex-producing trees in the jungle. He is said to have focused his economic interests on exports of rubber latex, an abundant product in the region's forests, and to have deployed troops to force the local population to serve his interests."
Belgian colonial atrocities still haunt Congolese https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/belgian-colonial-atrocities-still-haunt-congolese/2499958
Congolese Genocide: The Overlooked History of the Colonized Congo
The Congolese genocide is one of the biggest mass murders in modern history, counting eight to ten million murder victims and millions of others severely injured. https://www.thecollector.com/congolese-genocide-colonized-congo/
"They were kidnapped as children, raised to be the king’s soldiers or underpaid Africans. The men of Force Publique traditionally cut the lower limbs, the hands, the feet, or even the heads of the “disobedient” under the orders of their European officers. The mutilated parts of the victims’ bodies sometimes would be eaten. Flogging the villagers and burning whole villages was also a prevalent terrorist tactic. Many Congolese died from overwork and untreated diseases like smallpox and sleeping sickness.
Sexual violence against women was a daily thing. Congolese women were completely unprotected, especially when they could not pay the state taxes. White men and sentries kidnapped young girls and women, whomever they liked. Rape, sexual torture, and forced sexual slavery were the most silenced crimes of the Congolese genocide. Most of the searches and books about the colonization of Congo inform the modern audience about the mutilation atrocities but not the gendered ones. Modern Congo is the country with one of the biggest numbers of rapes and sexual torture tactics, having their roots in the colonization era. And still, the women’s experiences during this era remain largely silenced."
" Oh, but Herbie got a watch from the King's son, so that covers all of the atrocities that the man committed."
Leopold III's father was Albert I, not Leopold II. But yes, Leopold II's actions in the Congo were particularly abhorrent, even against the backdrop of the Scramble for Africa.
You are right RSK, I didn't want to dig through church literature to find the name.
Excellent post.
The preaching of the gospel was a simple affair back in the day of Christ and the apostles, and inexpensive.
Today, private jets, boats, 5 star hotels paid for by the ‘sheep’ seem far removed from the simplicity of the gospel of salvation.
One could say that 3 ‘tithes’ were absolutely vital to meet these expenses.
It is relatively easy to see the disconnect between the scripture and what is often the practice today.
The atrocities carried out in the Congo are still quite unknown in the western world.
I can never imagine any of Armstrongism acknowledging this shocking indictment on western history in Africa.
“” ambassador without portfolio.. “
And without truth of the gospel which he turned into a meaningless warning message while holding out falsely it was the only true gospel
Indeed an ambassador without anything but vanity
“ Estimated travel costs are $80,716”… Flurry is in a hurry to waste believers money on his Armstrong gospel which we know doesn’t accord with what we read in scriptures. . Armstrong’s I agree was also a complete waste of time so far as preaching the gospel is concerned
I regard anything that Flurry writes about HWA to be highly fictionalized. There's always such a blatantly worshipful tone to it.
Yes all good points and Armstrong wasn’t caring in effect so keen was he to ingratiate himself with royalty
How can Herb's preaching about a "strong hand from someplace" be a gospel message? He was embarrassed to talk about Jesus and never discussed Jesus with any of the world leaders he visited. As soon as he left their presence they put the Steuben Crystal on a shelf and went on to meet the next person and forgot about anything Herbie said.
We had discussions at work (at the college) about the types of leaders with whom HWA was meeting. Some of them did indeed have vile, savage pasts, and others lost office or were deposed shortly after meeting with HWA. There were some employees who marveled at these meetings, and felt that they really added to the stature of the "Apostle". I never believed that there was one singular reason why these important people met with him. Some may have done it for the photo ops in our glossy magazine, others because that's what they routinely did for contributors to their charities, some because of Mr. Gotoh's influences, and probably even a few for more sincere reasons.
Great men have a lasting impact, a memorable one, and their influence persists. Even if the HWA prophecy model suddenly began to unfold over in Europe, nobody except splinter members would be saying, "Why Mr. Armstrong foresaw this back in the 1950s!" Most people would either respond with "Who the hell is that.", of "You mean the cyclist who lost his testicles because he took so many steroids?"
Now, if we'd gone to Petra in 1972, and Jesus had returned in 1975, everybody would have been talking about HWA! He was kind of a mysterious, late night AM radio creature, kind of a religious version of Art Bell or George Nouri. But, his time and date stamp expired years ago. He never delivered!
As always you guys don't have a clue....
Congo......CIA.......Dag Hammerskjold........Ambassador without Portfolio sitting next to the Secretary General at the 50th anniversary......of the UN as an instrument of The American Empire's Soft Power.....
nick
HWA was one of the weavers of the soft power of the American Empire.
Just follow the flight logs of the GII etc and you know why the Japanese sons flew to the Gulf States,Kenya, South America on the church jet.
You know Japan the country that payed for Gulf War 1 making the USA a profit for selling F16 to SAudi Arabia that country that awarded HWA the highest distinction for his services "for the return of Okinawa" to Japan....
nck
Speak for yourself 'nick'. The fact that Loma herself obtained a journalist invite to the first U.N. meeting was seriously out of kilter.
The "Ambassador for World Peace", couldn't seem to cut it for "Ambassador for CHURCH PEACE"!
As normal, nck doesn't have a clue
I remember hearing a sermon given in the 90's by Jim Rector, an independent minister or from one of the splinter groups. It was pure speculation and today would be called "conspiracy theory", but I thought he made some interesting points.
He was asking if there was any connection between the Nixon state department, the CIA, and HWA's handlers, Gotah and Rader? It seems far fetched, and he wasn't implying HWA really knew what was going on, but there were some strange coincidences.
The late 60's and early 70's were volatile times in the middle east and SE Asia. Look up in Wikipedia " Henry Kissinger " and "The CIA" and compare events with the travels of HWA during the same time period. There were several political assassinations and many governments toppled mere days and weeks after an HWA visit. Any connection?
Another interesting point. Since times were hectic, the state department was forbidding movement in those various regions and had restrictions in place, yet HWA and his group had free access to those areas and leaders in question. HWA use to brag that as he was flying out, Kissinger was flying in and visa versa.
In 1973, a globalist group promoting world government and new order was formed, The Trilateral Commission, with the intent on increasing Japan's stature on the world's stage. Was HWA's handlers (Gotoh was Japanese) using messenger boy HWA to advance Japanese initiatives into areas not easily accessible? Remember how Herbert bragged on his connection with the Japanese "Diet", and Japan's leadership, referring to many of them as "sons"? Was he being played, used for some purpose, or something else?
This is strange speculation for sure, but whatever conclusion one can draw, the facts are that HWA did visit and entertain world leaders during volatile times that our government was not allowing indiscriminate travel. Yet, his message of world peace, and a "strong hand from someplace" would be right up the alley of governmental globalist pushing that same agenda.
Either HWA was a dupe of his extraordinary connected handlers pulling the strings, OR he was who he claimed to be, one sent by Almighty God, who was making it possible and opening the doors.
You get to choose!
Don't be so quick to poke fun at nck's 2:54 comment, since Japan looks to be on record as being the largest owner of our U.S. nat'l. schluff-off debt. So since 1991 maybe Japan hopes to make a profit somehow in one way or another.
"Who financed the Gulf War? The bulk of the coalition's military power was from the United States, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and Egypt as the largest lead-up contributors, in that order; Saudi Arabia and the Kuwaiti government-in-exile paid out around US$32 billion of the US$60 billion cost to mobilize the coalition against Iraq.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org › wiki
Gulf War - Wikipedia"
Even though the Saudis & U.K. & Egypt seem to have helped fund the Gulf War at the time, by now the Japanese are listed as supporting much of our debt. So maybe nck meant Japan's thrift often pays for our U.S. extravagant expenditures overall.
https://usafacts.org/articles/which-countries-own-the-most-us-debt/
LCG & even CCOG are filled with rednecky folk who will behind the scenes, generally support the politics behind U.S. wars...especially those done under (the son) Geo. W. Bush's watch. (& likely make comment here at 9:51)
And, HWA did have that suspicious character Osamu Goto, the Japanese liaison who Bobby Fischer says offered naughty playtime opportunities that couldn't breach even Bobby's integrity, before Bobby exited WCG gameplay.
BP8 that is good stuff. Very astute comment filled with much worth considering.
"You get to choose"
I base my choice on the fruits produced by HWA and his church managerial style. So, Dupe!
Had he been working with a cabal of powerful people of the globalist persuasion, he would have been promoting the beast power of his prophecy model. So, again, either he was a Dupe, or he wanted to foment and inflict the misery of the end times on the world and his followers.
Contrast that with the religious right today. They are anti-globalis, and believe that they need to separate themselves from a globalist beast.
Basically, what we have is a religious dilemma influencing international geopolitics, not as extreme as the jihadists, but still potentially disruptive on a large scale.
So, plenty of dupes to go around. If only we could fast forward the tape to more enlightened times!
Despite the fact that there have been several attempts to muddy the water here (a tried-and-true device of all of the ACOGs), it is CLEAR that what Herbert Armstrong was doing with all of those world leaders in NO WAY constituted a fulfillment of the Great Commission which Jesus Christ gave to his disciples - nor did it IN ANY WAY resemble the evangelical efforts of those original apostles.
It's in the autobiography when hwa forgot his passport to England in
1947 and the state department pulled strings to get him to the meeting with the House of Saud
Nck
Wrong......
Again the USA made a huge profit by the sales of arms after Gulf War 1.
Yes Japan did not know how to deal with the outside world after ww2.
So the conservative power elite was shipped around d in the g2.
World Court judges were flown into Japan..... From India..... The only dissenting judges at the war trials were..... India...
South Africa got an atomic bomb by Israel, guess who flew straight from Jo burg to Tel Aviv.
It's in the newspapers. Stanley Rader funded Marcos land reform program as part of the via effort to keep Marcos in power. They lost.
Nck
What to you is a "1984 behind the work photo Opp tour with the Kiwanis in the poorest country of the world"....... Is to me America's soft power at work in the largest CIA "listening station" between Communist China and India...... Total Geopolitics..... As was AC connected Japanese sponsoring of Je tas major agricultural school.... As was all the world tomorrow payments, to international pirate radio stations for Cia opps to win the "hearts and minds" of the Western youth scene toward American music and rock and roll instead of communism....
Nck
Well, if you have all this info BP8, then why not provide it?
124
What info are you talking about? I'm just relating another man's speculative information from 30 years ago. I don't know how true it is, only that the time line of all the common events is both interesting and suggestive.
1203
I didn't say it was Herbert himself working with the globalist but possibly his handlers, who made all the arrangements. I know very little about Gotoh other than what GTA and Stan Rader said about him. It was obvious Rader had connections in high places for in the 1979 lawsuit he had many high ranking politicians, including the Kennedy's, come to his rescue. I could see him (Rader) bowing down to whatever the elite told him to do.
Lonnie
I think most of us agree with you. A "strong hand from somewhere" is not the Gospel!
Perhaps Lonnie. But it did fulfill what HWA TOLD his supporters what the Great Commission was...... which was surprisingly congruent with the set up of the American Empire built upon a Strong Core (strong economic hand from someplace what most European kids learned in High School) and a soft shill of UN soft power stabilizing the rest of the structure
Nck
So, nck, would HWA have been all into Q-Anon? Or would he have blasted it from the pulpit because it competed with his own conspiracy theories?
Herbie met "hundreds" of leaders?? That's over 200, about the number of countries on earth. More like ambassador of weird pieces.
April 3. I doubt HWA would have gone "Flurry". Remember, HWA had a Quaker background, I believe he was fiercely "not to be of this world and it's politics" and more so wired to "improve this world in a practical manner" as the college grounds and the millions spent on "aicf good works" attest too.... I also believe HWA did not know that his actions allignned with the State Department.... He just walked through " miraculously opened doors"..... Nck
AC published an anti-freemason booklet once.... So yes, Nothing that competes with "that what was revealed to the Apostle" would be allowed...... QAnon seems to be anti-globalist.... and HWA was the Wilson Ian globalist that helped build globalist as it pertained to American /Israel power. Remember USA was just a mediocre "agricultural"nation when HWA was born just 19 years after the cattle raids and Indians were driven of their last remaining lands..... He wanted a globalist school in Switzerland, but California is the next best thing to heaven..... Nck
4:06 wrote: Lonnie
I think most of us agree with you. A "strong hand from somewhere" is not the Gospel!
Wednesday, April 3, 2024 at 4:06:00 PM PDT
I’m not surprised that I haven’t seen anyone post on why HWA used this expression about a “strong hand…”. Just another example of how this site often makes a mountain out of a molehill. That is, making assumptions on what a subject means due to lack of knowledge of the situation.
HWA used that expression, along with Hoeh, GTA, and others for a simple reason. During that time one of the big time news magazines of the day used that expression in one of its major stories. I believe it was Newsweek, or Weekly News and World Report.
HWA etc. picked up on it as a softer opening statement. It suited the idea of how to reach the unconverted mind without turning it off by hitting it with a name or title the mind would automatically reject at first hearing. Such as God, or Jesus.
On top of that the term was picked up and used in many circles that were not religious. So, it was not, I repeat, not exclusive to HWA etal.
Also, other religious leaders at the time used the term too.
I imagine that figure includes lots of lower ranking officials.
Armstrongism has always been engaged in Grand Theater. The purpose of the stagecraft is to convince any listeners that could be attracted that the Tribulation was about to happen. This panicky fear, if induced, could be used to leverage fund raising, the control of people’s minds, a few egos here and there and the idea that the WCG was really involved in end-time Biblical events. A lot of fantasy was generated and ardently believed in the Pre-Collapse Period of WCG history.
I don’t know if there is a term for the act of reading Biblical prophecy and hopefully but mistakenly thinking that it is talking about you and your time in history. There should be. It happens often enough. And example is what I heard from the pulpit in Big Sandy back in the Seventies. HWA was visiting various nations and someone noticed that after he visited a nation, the national government would soon fall. (This certainly goes against the idea that the national government that HWA connected with would serve as a communications conduit for the gospel.) The pulpit did not know what to make of it but it was certainly powerful and exciting. Zechariah 4:7 was seen as the prophecy that supported this conclusion. Equate “mountain” to government. I see this in retrospect as a theatrical attempt to actualize the words of the Bible as a direct fulfillment in current events referring to the leader of the WCG. So, HWA, apparently, was Zerubbabel. Or so it was thought. Everybody could say “Wow!” with glassy eyes. I don’t know what happened to this idea. I doubt that many people will even remember it – forgotten like HWA’s other ambassador without portfolio activities.
Scout
Note: I doubt that a PhD student at some theological seminary will write a dissertation on the history of Armstrongism, but if ever one did, they should use the following terminology for the progression of Armstrongist history:
Formative Period
Florescent Period
Pre-Collapse Period
Collapse
Post-Collapse Period
What I found interesting is that there was quite a contrast between HWA's "Ambassador without Portfolio" messages and GTA's "America Listen", which was direct, unabashed evangelism. These were separated by several years, but I assume many knew that they were from the same organization.
The mysterious Mr. Gotoh. Showed up out of nowhere, catapulted to near the top, and then just slipped away into the ether. What became of him , and what is (ala Paul Harvey) , THE REST OF THE STORY??
https://hwarmstrong.com/ambassadorreport/2016/06/26/the-incredible-story-of-mr-mission-impossible-ambassador-colleges-illustrious-professor-gotoh/
At our High School Reunion, the first thing the bankers and investment guys started quoting was our Communist Economics Teacher when he taught us about Adam Smith's Hidden Hand of capitalism. Lots of laughing and great fun...
But I stood shuddering because I thought they were making fun of my former belief system. Nick
There was some sort of reception for incoming students in Fall of '96. Being a red-blooded American boy, obviously one of my primary objectives was checking out what we used to call "chicks" (female coeds). I really didn't care about being presented to Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong. Frankly, at the F/T in 1959, He and his Secret Service-like entourage had come into the restroom in the big steel tabernacle while I was washing my hands, and he warned me not to splash, which I had had no intention to do. I assured him that I would not, and then got corrected by my parents later for not calling him "Sir."
But, I digress.
While I was speaking with Mr. David Jon Hill's niece, who was a classmate, she introduced me to Mr. Gotoh. His skills with the English language were at that time still developing, I had never spoken with anyone from Japan at that young age, and he was difficult to understand. Plus, in the early decades following World War II, we had what would now be referred to as politically incorrect works of historic fiction, one of which was the Red Randall series about a US Air Force pilot in WWII. He and his fellow pilots continuously referred to "those dirty Jap rats." Mr. Gotoh was benign enough, and he ended up being in my Ambassador Club. We wondered how much he understood, because in one speech, he admonished us to pray for the Christian missionaries overseas. Of course, we who grew up in the church had been under the impression that these missionaries were "Christians falsely-so-called, because they had the bad habits of keeping Sunday, eating unclean meats, and celebrating pagan holidays, such as Christmas, Easter, and the usual selection of man's imitation holy days.
Imagine my surprise when several years later, Mr. Gotoh was HWA's key to opening up all of Asia, and apparently also enjoyed spending beaucoup of the old man's money (aka "God's" tithes and offerings). And then, not too long after, we stopped hearing about him. HWA was more interested in things like baptizing Stan Rader in a hotel bathroom, and ordaining him as an evangelist shortly thereafter, basically an honorary title. No such honors were accorded to HWA's other key men, Sam Gotoh and Dr. Bob Kuhn.
One of our WCG-member paradigms was the desire to be "used" by "the work". Having watched how so many fellow members ended up being "pumped and dumped", I surely am grateful, having been blessed with the insights of seeing through all of that early in life!
I follow a handful of QAnon fans for the entertainment. They seem to fall for every possible false prophecy from every lackluster source you can imagine. And then conveniently forget about them when they don't happen. Accuracy and accountability aren't very high priorities for them.
Now, you might draw a parallel to Armstrongism from me describing that behavior, and I suppose there's a degree of merit in that, but the QAnon tendency to do that seems to be amplified exponentially. I mean, literally, 365 days of predicting 365 different things that never come to pass.
Typo, first sentence of my 12:01 post. Should read "Fall of '66".
Why RSK! Those folks you just described are all potential members of the RCG! You couldn't possibly come up with a better personality profile or skill set! Be careful, now because Dave Pack is probably going to pose as "Anonymous" and ask you for the websites and blogs.
No..
It was over 160 World Leaders........ and thousands of lower ranking Ambassadors, Diplomats and business leaders....
Nck
Ha! True. Though I dont think Pack varies in subject as much as these guys do. One of my favorites was when one posted a photo that was supposed to be of the FBI building in DC boarded up because "secret trials are happening in there right now". I was in DC at the moment, walked down to the building and snapped a photo sans the fictional boards. They said I photoshopped it lol.
Yeah, they were doing the same thing with FEMA facilities twenty years ago. Those were going to be our future domestic concentration camps when the new world order took over. You should have seen the discussions and photos on one of the sites hosted by one of the sacred names groups that a lot of Armstrongites had joined rather than going with one of the more traditional splinters!
I just read the story about Gotoh. Seems like one conman conned the other.
A couple years ago, I was training the staff of a small company on some new equipment they had purchased.
During a break, one of the trainees remained with me to ask some additional questions.
Suddenly, and unpredictably, she asked me what I thought of President Trump. We were in a known liberal city, and I generally have my political guard down when working with the folks there. So, I gave her my honest opinion.
"He's Hi!ler!" I responded, "and we ought to be doing everything we can to make sure that he never returns to office again!"
I wouldn't have done this deliberately, I had simply misjudged. But, boy oh boy, she responded with every cliched conspiracy theory that was floating around at that time as if it were gospel!
I thought I had lost them as a customer, but recent visits have convinced me that that too was a misjudgment.
I sure hope nobody is keeping the enemies list that some say they are!
Heh, I remember that rumor during the Clinton years too.
remember what Michael Corleone's father Vito told him in Godfather : "keep your friends close, & your enemies closer"
Pop quiz...which resurrection will Osamu Gotoh be in?
For those interested in seeing the Worldwide Church of God publication on this aspect of Mr. Armstrong's work:
https://www.herbert-armstrong.org/Ambassador%20College/AMBASSADOR%20FOUNDATION.pdf
That booklet was a slick con job. Propaganda for the lower masses who were trained to never question what they read. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent with HWA traipsing all over the world and had nothing to show for it other than a few pieces of Steuben Crystal. He is unknown in all the countries he went to. His message was worthless. Crap theology about a strong hand from someplace and the embarrassment of discussing Christ out loud and what He accomplished. Let him blabber on about the law or the two trees and the guy could not shut up!
Exhibit A - Daniel 8:14, 23-25?
I grew up in Worldwide and even as a child around age 9 or 10 it struck me how something was off in the HWA cult of personality. I remember whenever you want to a service in which HWA was present your were EXPECTED to stand and give standing prolonged ovations for several minutes much like they did for Stalin in the 1930's. He then proceeded to blather on for 2 hours about the 2 trees and bragging about his own accomplishments. Seemed like a real narcissist.
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