"JERALD Walker knew he was different from his mates - because they told him it was weird that he was not allowed to celebrate his birthday or Christmas.
But what his friends and neighbours didn't know is that he was part of a white supremacist doomsday cult.
And what's even stranger is Jerald is black.
His blind parents had been convinced that TV evangelist Herbert W. Armstrong was the new Messiah and that he was going to save them.
They were not alone.
At its height in the 1970s the Worldwide Church of God had over 100,000 members and was pulling in over £60 million in donations from followers.
Armstrong convinced his followers that going to a hospital was a sin, that they shouldn’t listen to pop music and that black people should serve white ones.
According to his teachings, even heaven would be racially segregated.
But when judgement day came the chosen ones, no matter their race, would be taken to a “safe place” where they would be protected from drought, burning skies and pestilence."
"Jerald, 60, went back to college and is now a professor and author, whose latest book is titled Magically Black And Other Essays.
But the terrible damage the church, which has now changed its name and beliefs, did to thousands of members remains.
Jerald, who also wrote The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult, blames the cult for the death of his older brother Tim.
Speaking to The Sun, he reveals: “People are still really struggling with the aftermath of being part of this cult as I am myself.
“It was hard to write about. I hated reliving that past.
“You find you are that eight-year-old again crying at midnight because you are terrified of the thunder storm that you think may in fact be the skies burning and Christ returning.”"
END OF DAYS: I was a black child in white supremacy cult & dubbed a witch…I spiralled into drugs when £60m doomsday scam was exposed
Galatians 3:28-29, is a wonderful scripture when applied. Whatever ones race or background, you have the opportunity to love another within the same organization. Unfortunately, that organization didn't know how to apply it. An organization that starts out with segregation can't possibly understand.
ReplyDelete"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."
The Sun's article, assuming Jerald Walker and his book are its sources, has numerous errors.
ReplyDeleteAccording to his teachings, even heaven would be racially segregated.
C'mon now. HWA never said believers were going to heaven.
Jesus Christ was to return on New Year’s Day 1972...
Don't think 1975 in Prophecy put it that way.
But it's good to see Mr. Walker recovered from his addictions and wrong influences.
"People are still really struggling with the aftermath of being part of this cult as I am myself."
DeleteAs he said, people never fully recover. It's a life sentence. Hollywood movies "they lived happily ever after“ is rarely the case.
It's the Sun. They were probably trying to gloss it into an easier-to-understand format for their readership.
DeleteI can't recall Armstrong claiming to be the Messiah. But he did claim to be number 1 on earth under God and all the commentary on his abusive money grabbing ways is true. Wonder what Golda Meir is thinking - what door will this ugly bit of crystal prop open. Wonder where it is now and it sickens one seeing the vain, greedy fake apostle in all these photos
ReplyDeleteI wondered for many years what HWA's actual position was. From 1976 to 1991 I was part of this cult. I believed and still do, the many basic doctrines taught by HWA that I could prove by the Bible. When I left in 1991, I decided to go over every doctrine as could be proven by the Bible. I left out what was taught in prophecy, or at least, what the cult taught as far as what a prophecy actually meant.
ReplyDeleteI found HWA's real destiny in Zech. 11 which states:
Zec 11:15 And YAHWEH said to me, Again take to yourself the tools of a foolish shepherd.
Zec 11:16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land; he shall not visit those who are cut off, nor will he seek the young, nor will he heal that which is broken, nor will he sustain that which stands. But he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear off their hoofs.
Zec 11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! The sword shall be against his arm and against his right eye. His arm shall be completely withered, and his right eye shall be totally darkened.
I no longer view HWA as a true prophet of Yahweh. HWA fulfilled the prophecy as laid out in Zech.11. How Yahweh judges him I totally leave in His hands. So don't despair, Yahweh (His real Name) and Yahshua (His Son's real Name), will decide if and where he will fit into the Kingdom of the Most High, so walk and don't give up.
That’s the correct attitude, thank you!
DeleteThere's no way Herb will be in the kingdom. All this don't judge or be hesitant to judge is bull. People make judgements everyday, yet discerning whether a person has qualified for the kingdom is viewed as taboo. The body of evidence is that was a Christian failure. That they photoshopped his original holy day booklet with the red cover is just one example of this.
DeleteHerb maybe after more than a 1000 years will adjust more than just his glasses.
ReplyDeleteHerbie and WCG missed the mark on this one big time. While He and his minions were able to go back thousands of years and look at that world and go, we will keep the sabbath, holy days, clean meats, third tithe. Let’s go all the way back to when “We” came out of Egypt. But when it came to the race thing, Herbie didn’t realize that world didn’t see race like the way it is now. He wouldn’t have understood why and how Moses could marry an Ethiopian woman who most likely was living in Egypt at the time he was. Herbie certainly wouldn’t have understood how and why Joseph would end up marrying Asenath. It goes against Armstrongism.
ReplyDelete