The Cult’s Gaslighting Playbook: Blame Your Nature
Garner Turd Armstrong, the WCG’s golden boy, had a message for members in the 1965 GN Article: “So - You're Suspicious?” Simple, he says it’s because you’re broken. In a piece dripping with manipulation, he told the flock they were born with a “nature” that makes them doubtful, skeptical, and stubborn—a nature they must overcome to stop being suspicious of God. He grilled them on their reactions to Co-worker letters, tithing demands, festival attendance, the Visiting Program, and disciplinary actions. Hesitate to open your wallet for the Building Fund? Dread the Gestapo-style visits we exposed in “Gestapo in God’s Name”? Question why someone got disfellowshipped? Sorry, that’s not Christlike—you’re still “human,” not converted. Welcome to the WCG’s gaslighting playbook: your doubts aren’t valid; they’re a sin, and you’re the problem.
But here’s the kicker—members had every right to be suspicious, and their instincts were dead on. The cult was hiding a cesspool of corruption, from financial scams to personal scandals like GTA’s massive college harem at Ambassador College, where he preyed on young women while preaching purity to the flock. The WCG shamed members for their justified suspicions, turning legitimate concerns into proof of spiritual failure while the Armstrongs’ dirty secrets piled up. For everyone still caught up in these cults: It’s time to see through the con and stop letting them guilt you into silence.
Setting the Trap: A Suspicious World, a Suspicious You
The GTA article paints a grim picture of the world you were born into—one full of “hate, crime, jealousy, intrigue—suspicion.” Teddy says you’re the product of your environment, shaped by experiences that make you disillusioned: your best friend betrayed you, your first love cheated (with a celebrity country singer minister?), politicians lied, even governments deceive. By the time you’re an adult, you’ve accepted the lies—advertising scams, charity drives, all the “sham and mockery” of the world. Then, if you’re “really converted,” you turn that suspicion inward, realizing you’re a “liar, a cheat, a two-faced, selfish, conniving, grasping, vanity-filled collection of sensuality and lust” (Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 8:7). But wait—did you really? Or are you just suspicious of others, especially the WCG’s work? If so, Teddy says, you’re not converted. Boom—gotcha.
This is gaslighting 101. Ted takes a universal human experience—doubt born from a messy world—and weaponizes it against members. It’s not the WCG’s fault you’re suspicious; it’s yours, a flaw in your nature. But members weren’t wrong to doubt. Their suspicions were confirmed time and again, most infamously with GTA’s college harem at Ambassador College. While Garner Ted preached righteousness, he was using his position to target female students, building a notorious reputation for sexual misconduct that eventually led to his 1978 disfellowshipment from the WCG—by his own father, no less. Members who felt uneasy about the leadership’s behavior weren’t unspiritual; they were onto something. Yet GTA had the gall to shame them, ensuring they’d stay quiet while he and the cult kept up the charade.
The Laodicean Threat: Doubt and You’re Damned
GTA doubles down with a terrifying prophecy: the Laodicean Church, the final remnant of God’s people, is coming, and it’s “mighty serious.” He cites Revelation 3:14-15, describing the Laodicean as lukewarm, self-righteous, and complacent—neither hot with zeal nor cold with unbelief. This type, he says, has lost their “first love,” drifting into spiritual lethargy. They don’t pray much, don’t get “fired up,” don’t care about the world’s abominations or their brethren’s pain. Worse, they’re suspicious of the WCG’s motives, wondering where the money goes, doubting if things are “run right.” They’re especially skeptical of “physical things”—buildings, pledge cards, college expansions, property purchases, trips abroad. If you’ve ever questioned the cult’s endless demands, Teddy says you’re Laodicean, and you’re in big trouble.
Here’s where the gaslighting gets vile. Members had real reasons to question those “physical things.” The college expansions Teddy mentions? That’s Ambassador College, where he ran his harem, exploiting young women under the guise of spiritual leadership. The money they wondered about? It funded the Armstrongs’ lavish lifestyle—while members struggled to pay triple tithes. Their suspicions weren’t a spiritual failing; they were a gut check, and they were right. Teddy’s Laodicean label wasn’t a warning—it was a threat to silence legitimate concerns, making members feel guilty for seeing through the cult’s facade. The WCG didn’t want you to dig into their scandals; they wanted you to feel like a failure for noticing them, ensuring you’d keep the cash flowing while they hid their sins.
Fear as a Weapon: The Tribulation Stick
The article’s real gut punch comes with the Great Tribulation. Teddy warns that the Laodicean attitude—your suspicion—will leave you unprotected when disaster strikes. He cites Ezekiel 5:1-4, where God tells Ezekiel to take a few hairs (symbolizing the remnant of God’s people) and bind them in his skirts for protection, then cast some into the fire—the Tribulation. Revelation 12:17 backs this up: Satan will make war on the “remnant” who aren’t protected, those who’ve fallen into the Laodicean state. GTA’s blunt: if you’re suspicious, you’re part of the 50% of WCG members who’ll face “horrible tortures and ultimate death” in the Tribulation to realize your “lethargic spiritual condition.” He drags in the foolish virgins (Matthew 25), who didn’t “watch” and pray (Luke 21:36), missing their chance to escape.
This isn’t a warning—it’s a terror tactic, and it’s especially cruel given what members already suspected. They weren’t wrong to worry about the cult’s integrity—Teddy’s college harem was just one scandal among many, from financial mismanagement to failed prophecies like the 1972 Tribulation that never came. Yet instead of addressing these betrayals, Garner Turd weaponized fear to shut down dissent: doubt the cult, and you’ll suffer God’s wrath. It’s the same fear we exposed in “Fear Religion?” —the WCG preached against fear while wielding it like a club. Garner Turd’s gaslighting here is next-level: your justified suspicions aren’t just a sin; they’re a death sentence, and only blind faith in the cult can save you, even as their corruption festers.
The Watchman Con: Loyalty or Else
Teddy pivots to the WCG’s role as a “watchman,” citing Ezekiel 33 and Matthew 24:1-4 to claim the cult is Christ’s body, tasked with sounding the alarm about world conditions and impending disaster. He quotes his father: you’ll grow in grace “just to the degree your heart is in the work of God.” That “work” means supporting the WCG’s programs—buildings, magazines, broadcasts, colleges, baptizing tours. If you’re a true “Philadelphian,” you’ll be “enthusiastically responsive,” rejoicing at every new project, every ordination, every radio station. If you’re suspicious—wondering about money, doubting the need for another building—you’re a “foolish virgin,” not watching, not praying, and doomed to the Tribulation.
Here’s the gaslighting climax: your suspicion isn’t just unspiritual—it’s disloyalty to Christ Himself. GTA frames the WCG’s work as a “prophesied event,” led by Christ, so questioning it is questioning God. But members’ suspicions were confirmed by the very programs Ted defends. Ambassador College, which he calls a “need” of God’s work, was his personal hunting ground, where he abused his power over “foolish virgin” female students—a scandal that blew up in 1978 when he was disfellowshipped for his behavior. The money for buildings and broadcasts? It funded the Armstrongs’ luxuries while members went broke. Garner Turd Armstrong gaslights members into thinking their doubts—about tithing, buildings, or the Visiting Program—aren’t valid concerns but a betrayal of Christ. The WCG didn’t want you to uncover their scandals; they wanted you to feel like a traitor for suspecting them, ensuring you’d keep funding their empire while they hid their sins.
Splinterdom, Your Suspicions Were Right—Now Break Free
The WCG’s gaslighting in “So - You're Suspicious?” is a masterclass in control: your natural doubts are a sin, a sign you’re Laodicean, and a one-way ticket to the Tribulation—unless you blindly support the cult’s every demand. But members had every right to be suspicious, and their fears were confirmed by the Armstrongs’ corruption—like GTA’s college harem at Ambassador College, where he exploited young women while preaching holiness, a scandal that led to his 1978 ousting. Turd wasn’t helping members grow in faith; he was shaming them into silence, turning justified suspicions into proof of spiritual failure while the cult’s dirty secrets piled up. Stop letting the cult shame you. Your doubts weren’t a sin—they were your survival instinct, and they were right. Ditch the gaslighting, and walk away from the con for good.
Suspicious Lies © 2025 by AiCOG is licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0
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16 comments:
Gerner Ted Armstrong was as abusive and hypocritical as his deceptive and lying father.
From somewhere he developed the gift to ad lib a half hour radio or tv show , or sermons, sounding persuasive and knowledgeable - like his father but better. I don't know where this gift came from, the beast of Revelation is a skilled orator and influencer, It can come from sources of man or sources of evil.
The two of them were lying conmen who cared only for themselves and the trail of their destructive influence lives on sadly in these various offshoots who take pride in perpetuating the religious con..
If any of you gaslighting false prophets are tuned in to Banned this morning, eat your hearts out. YOU didn't get to take YOUR Harley out on a beautiful Springtime Sunday AM ride this morning!!!
BB
I have recounted Garner Ted, when I was new to WCG, yelled out in the midst of a sermon, "If you don't like it here you can leave!" Two days later, in Freshman Bible, I was escorted out of class by the Dean and taken to GTA's office where, hands behind his head and feet on his desk. "Why do you hate me? Do you understand that I was talking to you?" Well, no I didn't and I did not hate him.
There was no reason for that outburst, but I later became "suspicious" that all that drama was actually because I had dated the same girl he was, and she may have told me a bit too much. Actually, she had but, naive that I was, dismissed her amazement and implications that "he took me out to lunch" etc. (She worked for him)
Paranoid much seems to be the case as time proved out. Once he was then relieved that I, evidently, did not know as much as he feared, he told my hair was too long and it blocked my intellect which was seated in the forehead. I almost asked what the skull might also do to intellect, but I was already on shaky ground.
Forevermore, when we passed by each other along the way, it was very evident he did not like me and never would. Had he been around when I was sent into the ministry, I am sure he would have blocked it. In hindsight, that would have been a great favor for which, in time, I would have been extremely grateful. Alas... he was not around by then.
Ted, like Dave Pack currently, had the ability to telegraph his own fears by projecting them onto others and telegraphing, as Dave does, what he is actually going to do by telling you he'd never do that. I guess it's a human thing done to preserve our delusions about ourselves as special, when we are not.
One cannot this shit make up... :)
Hey BB, here in New Zealand lots of religious programming is in the mornings most days. Including some of the splinters programs. But like you I would rather be out in the open riding a Harley with my headphones on (under my helmet ha ha) listening to the Young Ambassadors, sorry I mean anything but lol. And smelling the fresh air and daisies and the freedom that comes from just walking away from the Armstrong movement. Enjoy ya day.
@ 12:41 ~ Hey! Enjoy yours as well, Bro! You guys had one of the coolest bikers ever in Burt Munro. I loved the movie "World's Fastest Indian".
Keep the rubber on the road!
BB
The New Testament is open about disagreements between ministers - and even details why one attendee was kicked out for a while, in I Corinthians 5.
Yet we're now told that if we ask questions about a big decision (e.g. the non-renewal of UCG President Rick Shabi), it's neither helpful nor productive for members to know why.
In 2025, that's probably considered sound business practices. (Shabi apparently remains on the payroll as a minister.) But it doesn't promote transparency.
NZ is a great place I hired a car and saw the south Island and then on another time a bit of the southern middle part of the north island. I must think of visiting again it was so good.
Thanks for these interesting insights into the man's character. Such would have been apparent a long time ago to those who had eyes to see.
But we didn't want to see as we were too busy seeking to meet the demands placed upon us, and planning for the end soon to come.
There was no reason to be surprised then with what was to eventually happen to the system that was constructed by these men. The father and son were a law unto themselves using God's name in vain.
I'II never forget GTA's book on child rearing. It amounted to unleashing psychotic violence onto children for the slightest reason. He even advocated spanking babies for crying. This is him instructing parents how to manufacture Borg children. And grooming them to be abused by his power crazed ministers. Control is everything in these cults. HWA confessed this before his death with his often spoken "government is everything." The writers of the 1981 movie Conan the Barbarian didn't pull out of thin air the scene where the cult leader (the voice of Darth Vader, RIP) asked a young woman to jump to her death, which she dutifully complied. This was a few years after the Jonestown mass suicide.
Dhiel isn't even real. Aren't you supposed to be living in a ultra eco-friendly codependent community in the mountains?
Going fishing to see what responses you gather ?
Pretty much all religious organizations are cults at one level or another.
HWA confessed what?
Don't forget the cults of Islam and atheism, which have slaughtered hundreds of millions of people over the centuries.
A ,minister I knew, a nice guy, told me a long time ago that Armstrong's then personal pilot said he'd crash the plane into the ground if so commanded by the apostle. Whether it be true of course I can't say but this minister - Don was his first name - was adamant.
i
6.12, HWA confessed that he regarded government as the ultimate value,
which was the informal church culture. This is typically implied rather than explicitly stated since it cannot withstand scrutiny. 'Government is everything' is like the Pharisees claiming that Sabbath keeping is everything, which Christ rejected. So did American's founders by writing that the purpose of government is to secure citizens rights. Government was made for man rather than man being made for government.
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