The overriding folklore of Armstrongism was very wealthy in terms of theories or stereotypes which could be applied to nearly anything which was trending either within the church, or in "the world". Some people did not learn from the failure of 1972-75. They backpedalled and repurposed. In Pasadena, when men began growing beards, moustaches, and long, "rebellious" sideburns and when men and women finally began wearing contemporary clothing styles, the more conservative members of the church believed that the Laodicean era of the church was emerging. Per their revised view, the Germans may not have come on time, but, Laodicea had indeed arrived! This is also when, due to the failure of 1975, members began giving in to their intellectual curiosity and undertaking their own in-depth studies of the Bible (as opposed to proving all things by simply reading and agreeing with church literature!) leading them to doubt, disagree with, and challenge what HWA had laid down as restored truths. Many of the ministers, having similarly suppressed their own questions for years, agreed with these new "dissidents", and began challenging HWA at ministerial conferences. This was quite a sizable group of respected and credible ministers, and it was a phenomenon previously unheard of in HWA's church! It had to be dealt with, and could not be swept under the rug as if it had been the effort of one "misguided" individual who had lost the way.
A mass exodus ensued, one which would never have happened if HWA's prophetic timeline had been inspired by God, and thus proven to be accurate! I was one of the members who was part of that exodus, as were many of my WCG friends! We have to remember that HWA had preached many times in the years leading up to 1972 that obedience to God (as defined by the "truths" he had discovered and taught, which "had not been taught for over 1900 years") were the reason why he alone had the gift to understand the end times prophecies of the Bible. Apparently, the people who remained in the WCG in 1975 had found a work around for this direct association between obedience to correct doctrine and correct understanding of endtimes prophecy. I could not accept HWA's insipid rationalization that "you people in the church were not ready!" Assuming for the moment that the (R)/WCG ever had anything to do with God or Jesus, that dishwater explanation does not fly when compared to the parable of the ten virgins of Matt. 25:1-13, in which the wedding went on!!! It's just that the foolish virgins who were unprepared were left out! This had always been the way of describing the fates of the Laodiceans/Philadelphians, as if there even were such a thing as "church eras" and as if WCG were Philadelphian!
For many, the nightmares gradually decreased and ceased as our lives progressed past HWA's false dates (which he actually had the gall to deny having set, even as "1975 in Prophecy" was pulled from publication (Russian style)). We went on, rededicating our lives to family and career, salvaging them from an artificial and bogus negative stimulus. Some turned to other Christian sources, others to disbelief. We've watched, in an effort to determine whether "the church not being resdy" could in any way have been a valid explanation for the failure of the original Armstrong prophecy mold. Over the past 50 years, apparently not a single one of the Armstrong related churches has ever been "ready", and none have had similar power to HWA's COG to get out an audible warning to the world. Hi! I'd like to introduce myself as one of the kids from the 1950s and '60s. We and our parents are supposedly the generations of the Olivet Prophecy who were warned. So many of us have had good lives, have died, and no Germans have ever arrived. Still, I'd like to thank Mr. Armstrong for my zest for life and accomplishment, which I would not have had, if his "half a gospel" had actually been the truth!
BB
12 comments:
The use of the Laodicean label was one of the biggest tools of control the church ever had. Laodiceans had lost their chance to go to Petra and would suffer tremendously during the tribulation—so much so that redemption might not even be possible. The moment they were disfellowshipped, that label was slapped on them, causing friends and family to turn their backs.
Then the 1971–1975 fiasco happened. Ambassador Reports started printing, and the church lost all credibility when HWA and GTA had their fight. The shackles of control were shattered, and the church could no longer control its members.
Once the internet happened, they lost complete control. The idealized COG message was proven to be a lie, and the church was left in shambles. It has never recovered and never will.
The old COG myth that when people leave the church, their lives fall apart because God has rejected them was a complete lie. Those who have left have thrived and done well precisely because they broke free from the sins of the church
Little groups keep popping up, trying to restore the glory days of the church, and they cannot do it. UCG and COGWA haven’t. PCG, PKG, RCG, and CCOG cannot and never will. They are doomed to complete failure, and that alone proves God’s greatness!
Yet they claim 2030 is not the new 1975.
The church under HWA practiced menticide. Members were only permitted to grow along certain narrow corridors.
"Menticide is a term for a system of psychological and judicial intervention used to destroy a person's or group's mind, often for propaganda purposes or to force conformity.The concept was coined by psychiatrist Joost Meerloo and describes the systematic destruction of an individual's mental freedom, either through extreme individual pressure or large-scale social indoctrination, as seen in examples from the Nazi regime and other totalitarian systems."
Menticide: I recall the Mormons had an expression that said, "Once the decision has been made, the thinking has been done." In other words, members needn't question anything once the leaders have spoken. The Roman Catholic Church has a similar idea. "roma locuta, causa finita" which means, "Rome has spoken, the case is closed."
We are witnessing this Mormon or Catholic concept being adapted as a political practice today. It is a despotic control thing. The human spirit does not flourish under such systems, whether they be religious or secular. I like that old bumper sticker from decades ago which read "Question Authority".
The ministry lied on God. Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.
So if even the angels don't know (who are in heaven), how in the world do us tiny puny ants know. But they still ain't giving it up. They say, "Christ is coming on trumpets." But they dare not say the year anymore, unless you are Pack etc.
Byker Bob,
Excellent post! It matches my recollections of the events following the 1972 -1975 failed prophecies. Also, excellent points regarding both types of WCG Splinters – the Splinters that encompassed “the mass exodus” you referred to that occurred following the failed prophecies while HWA was alive (splintering which was unheard of in R/WCG prior to 1972-1975) and those Splinters that occurred after HWA died.
One recollection I will add was the very strange silence from both Mr. Armstrong and the WCG field ministry following the uneventful passing of the first week of January, 1972. Mr. Armstrong finally broke his silence on January 31, 1972. Here is what I wrote in my unpublished essay:
When the end of the second 19 year time cycle came to pass and the German attack on America didn’t happen as prophesied, what was Armstrong’s prophetic explanation of January, 1972? Armstrong provides the answer in his January 31, 1972 co-worker letter. Instead of German bombs dropping on America – instead of death, carnage, destruction, mayhem, the fall of America, and the beginning of the great tribulation – Armstrong explains the real prophetic significance of January, 1972 was advertising in Readers Digest!
What? Advertising in Reader’s Digest? A rather anti-climactic event after years of teaching a violent 1972 end time great tribulation message! Was this some kind of joke?
Armstrong writes: “On January 7th, the MOST POWERFUL DOOR in the history of this Work – of 38 years! – suddenly opened. Reader’s Digest opened their advertising pages to us IN THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES circulation….but, never before was the tremendous U.S. edition open to us”.
End of Excerpt
Richard
Hey Richard! Yes, your excellent recollections were what actually inspired me to do some remembering of my own. Our comments make good companion pieces. Fifty years is a long time, and I'm sure that some of the people from the splinters who read and contribute here regularly were not around to experience that part of WCG history first hand. Their parents, or even grandparents might have told them some things about 1972-75, but you and I and several others give them the unadulterated truth without the "spin" which has become part of the folklore of the splinters.
By the way, do you know if those first splinters, initiated by some of the prominent WCG ministers of that era such as Ken Westby, Dr. Ernest Martin, and Al Carozzo are still ongoing? While "The Journal" still existed, Dexter kept us advised of such things. At that time, those men, and their early splinters were considered to be part of a liberal backlash, people who became tired of waiting for HWA to make some sorely needed revisions and corrections once it became obvious that fleeing in 1975 was not going to "solve" such problems for them. The GTACOGS, which came into existence at the same time, were originally also part of the liberal backlash, and still exist today.
The splinters which came into being in the mid '90s were, for the most part, conservative backlash to the Tkach corrections. Even in religious settings, liberals and conservatives seem to always be at philosophical odds with one another. In classic, "golden age" Armstrongism, middle of the road was always seen as being luke warm Laodiceanism. Liberal was considered outright apostasy.
David Robinson was very prophetic when he used the descriptives "tangled web" in the title of his expose on HWA! That web has become even more complex and tangled with time!
BB
I can see why Tim Kitchen walked away from Sam's nuttiness. I would be ashamed to be associated with him, too. It is still shocking that he is able to get a few followers to go to Israel with him every year, where apparently they expect to be the first on hand to be sent to Petra, or for Sam to be one of the two witnesses.
How do we even know he's gotten people to go with him??? Some people have imaginary friends! Like the guy in that play who had a Pookah. Harvery?
Hi Byker Bob,
I hope all is well with you!
My recollection of the very first Splinter(s) were a loosely association of former WCG who broke away in 1974. My recollection of the published reports at the time were that 35 ministers and 3,000 some members walked out of the WCG to form this association. They were initially known as Associated Churches of God. These included ministers Ken Westby, Dr. Ernest Martin, and Al Carozzo. Other minister that I remember off hand who left with them were Carl Fowler, Paul Zapf and Tom Williams.
Ken Westby died in 2016. He had a website that featured articles written by Dr. Charles Dorothy and Brian Knowles. Additionally, Westby conducted a weekly Sabbath teleconference call billed as “The Virtual Church”. We were actually Facebook friends and he describes himself on Facebook as “Founder: Association for Christian Development/Associated Churches, Inc.” I sense that his splinter died with him.
Ernest Martin died in 2002. However, his website is still active and up to date with newsletters posted in 2025. His website can be found by Googling: Associates for Scriptural Knowledge.
Al Carrozzo died in 2019. His Linkedin profile states he is an “independent religious institutions professional”. I believe he was loosely associated with Guardian Ministries (David Antion). The Guardian Ministries, founded in 1998, still features sermons by David Antion as recent as November, 2025.
Like yourself, I bucketize the Armstrong Churches of God (ACOG) into 2 buckets – for me, it is those Splinters that occurred while HWA was alive, and those Splinters that occurred after HWA’s death. In the bucket of Splinters that occurred while HWA was alive were Associated Churches of God, Church of God, The Eternal (Raymond Cole), and GTACOG’s (your bucket) Church of God, International and InterContinental Church of God.
I enjoyed this little walk down memory lane. Useless information that only has meaning to a few of us who witnessed the “tangled web” of HWA and the WCG - which we were once told was the most important work on earth ushering in the Wonderful World Tomorrow in 1975.
All the best,
Richard
Thanks for the split history lesson Richard. thank goodness it didn't end in 1975. Movies like Jaws, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Dog Day Afternoon came out that year.
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