Exposing the underbelly of Armstrongism in all of its wacky glory! Nothing you read here is made up. What you read here is the up to date face of Herbert W Armstrong's legacy. It's the gritty and dirty behind the scenes look at Armstrongism as you have never seen it before!
With all the new crazy self-appointed Chief Overseers, Apostles, Prophets, Pharisees, legalists, and outright liars leading various Churches of God today, it is important to hold these agents of deception accountable.
Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders
Fleeing in the Night: Roberta’s Harrowing Childhood Inside the WCG and Her Journey to Healing
Roberta was born into a nightmare—and raised in the Worldwide Church of God, a religious group with deep cultic control. In this raw, unfiltered interview, she recounts her earliest memories of violence and terror inside both her home and the WCG environment. From surviving extreme family abuse and escaping into the woods with her mother and siblings, to experiencing racism as a young mother and eventually finding healing through contemplation and therapy—Roberta’s journey is a powerful testament to survival, rebellion, and renewal.
This is a story for anyone who has faced religious trauma, spiritual abuse, racism in faith communities, or family systems rooted in control and silence. Through the pain, there’s a message of hope, healing, and transformation.
Watch as Roberta shares what it meant to reclaim her voice after decades of silence.
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Disclaimer:
This episode may contain irreverent, personal, and critical discussion of religion, culture, and systems of control. Some material may be sensitive or challenging. Humor and bluntness are part of emotional procession and social critique. Opinions shared are personal and not attacks on individuals.
We support curiosity, compassion, and the right to question systems that control our lives.
My first regret would be having to leave a beautiful little Studebaker wagon like that behind!
Howesomever, my fear was always that once we didn't have the wonderful Constitution and Bill of Rights restricting the church, the ministers with their "small man complexes" would follow the Old Testament laws of Israel, and would be reinstituting an ancient practice called "stoning". Basically, a COG member did still have choices. You got to choose whether the Germans tortured you throughout the tribulation here in the USA. or the ministers tortured you over in Petra. But, it was FUBAR either way.
BTW, back in the day, (pre '75), the ministers had not gotten into elaborate descriptions of the fleeing process. No tall tales of the egrets turning into 747s, people putting together "Petra Packs", and no worries every night that this might be the night. I never heard about German meat hooks until someone blogged about it here. Pain compliance had not yet needed to be increased because the original descriptions had not yet become so hackneyed that they required embellishment to remain effective in controlling the brethren.. We just figured God would take care of it all for us somehow. Then, of course, in 1972-75, we discovered that God has nothing to do with the Armstrong prophecy mold!!! Only problem was that some people weren't too sharp in picking up on God's gentle hints, and began parroting the ol' "possibly within the next 3-5 years" routine. Uh, for the last 50 years! A pity, that!
The apostate sisters? It's the WCG ministers who are the real apostates. In my personal dealings with the ministers, they quoted HWA more often than the bible or Christ. They should call themselves Herbians rather than Christians.
I listened to some of the video, not all. Religion brings out the best and worst of humanity. I got off lightly after my nearly 26 years or so in wwcog. But far too many did not. Including in my own congregation. Glad these voices are being heard. You cannot continue to look at Armstrongism with rose tinted glasses. Yet I met many fine people within this organisation, as many of you did also. And many of those friendships formed last to this day, and among those who have left Armstrongism totally. B*st*rds are found in all organisations, religious and otherwise. Thank goodness for the redemption, salvation we have in Christ. Humanity is undeserving.
"what a bunch of bull! the church never said anything like this."
What's bull is your denial! The church absolutely did say that. My mother even had some small bags packed for a year or so until the 1971/75 lie failed so spectacularly. We even had an idiot minister stand up on stage at a Holy Day service and write on a chalkboard the timeline we had left till we were to flee. My mother copied that shit down and kept it in the kitchen cupboard and marked the weeks off as they went by. Just like everything else in Armstrongite prophecy, it was a lie.
I remember thninking the same thing that what if my mother were to flee while I was at school. I would be left behind with my father because he never truly bought into the crap of the church. He only attended at that time to keep peace.
Hey BB, a guy down the road from me as a youngster brought in from the States a 63 Studebaker Avanti. Beautiful and in classic white . Remember it well. Saw it often, plus we had a few year 1955 model Studebakers running around. Lucky beggars. Could always flee to Petra in one I suppose. I remember Raymond McNair bringing his Cadillac to New Zealand when he was regional director. Them were the days. That Caddie was awesome through.
I can't believe anyone is denying what the R/WCG actually said in the 1960s and 1970's. Here is the introduction to an unpublished essay I wrote about my R/WCG experiences:
Bombs dropping on America in January, 1972!
So proclaimed the prophecies of the “Apostle of God”, Worldwide Church of God head Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA). I still have vivid memories of the dark and cold January nights of 1972. I would hide in my bed under my covers trembling in fear of the beginning of the great tribulation as prophesied by God’s Apostle and the church’s ministry. Occasionally, I would get out from under my covers and look out my Laurel, Maryland bedroom window to see if I could see the Germans that were ready to strike in my neighborhood as God’s punishment on America. Years of sermons, co-worker letters and congregational chat had prepared the way for the final climax with the German attack. There was even a gruesome Armstrong booklet entitled “1975 in Prophecy”. According to Armstrong theology, the great tribulation was to begin in January, 1972. God’s Philadelphian people were to be taken to a place of safety in the Middle East land called “Petra” while the remaining Laodiceans were to go through the horrible great tribulation with the rest of the world, and Christ would return to earth in 1975 commencing the wonderful world tomorrow.
The 1972 prophecy revolved around Armstrong’s commencement of “The Work of God” in January, 1934 and a belief in “19 year time cycles”. Armstrong theology taught that God’s Philadelphia Church era began in 1934, and that exactly 19 years later, the significant event of the Church’s radio broadcast going on the air internationally in Europe occurred in 1953. The second 19 year time cycle would complete the work in January, 1972 and the great tribulation was to begin lead by Germany attacking the United States.
People strove to be Philadelphian to be counted worthy to escape the great tribulation. This meant having zeal for “the Work”. The amount of zeal displayed for “the Work” often translated into the amount of financial support sent to Armstrong. When January, 1972 arrived, I guess I assumed that I was not worthy to escape all these things since I was still in Laurel, Maryland and not in the Petra place of safety.
Apparently, God (or somebody) forgot to tell the Germans about their unique rendezvous with destiny slated for 1972 as the prophecy didn’t quite turn out as Armstrong and the Church had preached!
Oh man! I could go on and on about Studebakers! The Avanti was Studebaker's version of a Corvette! Fiberglass body, only the fittings of the doors, trunk lid, and hood were so much more precise than typical of the Corvette. The engine block had a high nickel content to the iron, making it much stronger and more durable than typical of other American cars. They also made a high performance version of the Hawk in '56, '57, and '58. It was called the Golden Hawk. A friend of mine had one back in the late '60s. Very fast car. There's lots of articles on the 'net. Gone but not forgotten!
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!
and the great tribulation was to begin lead by Germany attacking the United States. Richard: what a farce this beast/Germany prophecy was - the USA is the most terrifying military power the world has ever seen. One submarine alone could destroy all major cities in Europe. Armstrong wasn't deterred as he said God would weaken America prior to this dastardly attack by Germany. Amazing he had the stupidity to state all these prophecies he must have really believed only he knew.\?
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
As people became informed through their own bible study and reflected on the errors of the apostle it dawned on many that his 'gospel', prophetic of things to come and 'not about Christ' , was not the Gospel at all.
Exactly, Bill. HWA stated that somewhere along the line the true gospel had been lost, and man had made it all about Jesus Christ. We should all have said, "Well, duh!" and referred him to some of the scriptures EVERYONE knows, like John 3:16 and John 14:6. Man had not changed the gospel and made it about Jesus, the Son of Man (Jesus) had preached that from the very beginning.
The gospel was also the good news about the coming kingdom of God, but Sunday-keeping Christians know and do include that. Anyone who listens to Christian radio will eventually hear messages about Abraham's Bosom, and salvation in the Kingdom being made available to mankind for the first time as a result of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
Somebody, a student or minister, even tactfully told Strauss that "We believe that God has a special purpose for you!" when he was visiting the AC Pasadena campus, and asked him to "remember us" when the time came.
Imagine the chill that must have gone up and down the collective spines of all HWA's followers, having "the Beast" on campus. When I was an AC student, the board game "Risk" was very popular in the mens dorms. Some of the kids actually dressed in costume. One guy wore his bathrobe and a cap and called himself "My Holiness the Pope" Not to be out done, another put on a fake moustache, combed his hair backwards, spoke some German and called himself "der Fuhrer". It was hilarious! Imagine my surprise when learning of the phenomena surrounding "Rocky Horror Picture Show" several years later!
/ @apostatesisters
Support the Sisters’ work on Patreon:
patreon.com/ApostateSisters
📢 Follow Us on Social Media:
Instagram: 
/ apostatesisters
Tiktok: 
/ apostatesisters
Facebook: 
/ apostatesisters
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/apostatesist...
Disclaimer:
This episode may contain irreverent, personal, and critical discussion of religion, culture, and systems of control. Some material may be sensitive or challenging. Humor and bluntness are part of emotional procession and social critique. Opinions shared are personal and not attacks on individuals.
We support curiosity, compassion, and the right to question systems that control our lives.
17 comments:
what a bunch of bull! the church never said anything like this.
Never said anything like what?
You will not get the call unless you suck up to the minister.
My first regret would be having to leave a beautiful little Studebaker wagon like that behind!
Howesomever, my fear was always that once we didn't have the wonderful Constitution and Bill of Rights restricting the church, the ministers with their "small man complexes" would follow the Old Testament laws of Israel, and would be reinstituting an ancient practice called "stoning". Basically, a COG member did still have choices. You got to choose whether the Germans tortured you throughout the tribulation here in the USA. or the ministers tortured you over in Petra. But, it was FUBAR either way.
BTW, back in the day, (pre '75), the ministers had not gotten into elaborate descriptions of the fleeing process. No tall tales of the egrets turning into 747s, people putting together "Petra Packs", and no worries every night that this might be the night. I never heard about German meat hooks until someone blogged about it here. Pain compliance had not yet needed to be increased because the original descriptions had not yet become so hackneyed that they required embellishment to remain effective in controlling the brethren.. We just figured God would take care of it all for us somehow. Then, of course, in 1972-75, we discovered that God has nothing to do with the Armstrong prophecy mold!!! Only problem was that some people weren't too sharp in picking up on God's gentle hints, and began parroting the ol' "possibly within the next 3-5 years" routine. Uh, for the last 50 years! A pity, that!
BB
The apostate sisters? It's the WCG ministers who are the real apostates. In my personal dealings with the ministers, they quoted HWA more often than the bible or Christ. They should call themselves Herbians rather than Christians.
HAHA! Yer right. Idiocy. 🤪
I listened to some of the video, not all. Religion brings out the best and worst of humanity. I got off lightly after my nearly 26 years or so in wwcog. But far too many did not. Including in my own congregation. Glad these voices are being heard. You cannot continue to look at Armstrongism with rose tinted glasses. Yet I met many fine people within this organisation, as many of you did also. And many of those friendships formed last to this day, and among those who have left Armstrongism totally. B*st*rds are found in all organisations, religious and otherwise. Thank goodness for the redemption, salvation we have in Christ. Humanity is undeserving.
"what a bunch of bull! the church never said anything like this."
What's bull is your denial! The church absolutely did say that. My mother even had some small bags packed for a year or so until the 1971/75 lie failed so spectacularly. We even had an idiot minister stand up on stage at a Holy Day service and write on a chalkboard the timeline we had left till we were to flee. My mother copied that shit down and kept it in the kitchen cupboard and marked the weeks off as they went by. Just like everything else in Armstrongite prophecy, it was a lie.
I remember thninking the same thing that what if my mother were to flee while I was at school. I would be left behind with my father because he never truly bought into the crap of the church. He only attended at that time to keep peace.
Hey BB, a guy down the road from me as a youngster brought in from the States a 63 Studebaker Avanti. Beautiful and in classic white . Remember it well. Saw it often, plus we had a few year 1955 model Studebakers running around. Lucky beggars. Could always flee to Petra in one I suppose. I remember Raymond McNair bringing his Cadillac to New Zealand when he was regional director. Them were the days. That Caddie was awesome through.
I can't believe anyone is denying what the R/WCG actually said in the 1960s and 1970's. Here is the introduction to an unpublished essay I wrote about my R/WCG experiences:
Bombs dropping on America in January, 1972!
So proclaimed the prophecies of the “Apostle of God”, Worldwide Church of God head Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA). I still have vivid memories of the dark and cold January nights of 1972. I would hide in my bed under my covers trembling in fear of the beginning of the great tribulation as prophesied by God’s Apostle and the church’s ministry. Occasionally, I would get out from under my covers and look out my Laurel, Maryland bedroom window to see if I could see the Germans that were ready to strike in my neighborhood as God’s punishment on America. Years of sermons, co-worker letters and congregational chat had prepared the way for the final climax with the German attack. There was even a gruesome Armstrong booklet entitled “1975 in Prophecy”. According to Armstrong theology, the great tribulation was to begin in January, 1972. God’s Philadelphian people were to be taken to a place of safety in the Middle East land called “Petra” while the remaining Laodiceans were to go through the horrible great tribulation with the rest of the world, and Christ would return to earth in 1975 commencing the wonderful world tomorrow.
The 1972 prophecy revolved around Armstrong’s commencement of “The Work of God” in January, 1934 and a belief in “19 year time cycles”. Armstrong theology taught that God’s Philadelphia Church era began in 1934, and that exactly 19 years later, the significant event of the Church’s radio broadcast going on the air internationally in Europe occurred in 1953. The second 19 year time cycle would complete the work in January, 1972 and the great tribulation was to begin lead by Germany attacking the United States.
People strove to be Philadelphian to be counted worthy to escape the great tribulation. This meant having zeal for “the Work”. The amount of zeal displayed for “the Work” often translated into the amount of financial support sent to Armstrong. When January, 1972 arrived, I guess I assumed that I was not worthy to escape all these things since I was still in Laurel, Maryland and not in the Petra place of safety.
Apparently, God (or somebody) forgot to tell the Germans about their unique rendezvous with destiny slated for 1972 as the prophecy didn’t quite turn out as Armstrong and the Church had preached!
End of Introduction
Richard
Oh man! I could go on and on about Studebakers! The Avanti was Studebaker's version of a Corvette! Fiberglass body, only the fittings of the doors, trunk lid, and hood were so much more precise than typical of the Corvette. The engine block had a high nickel content to the iron, making it much stronger and more durable than typical of other American cars. They also made a high performance version of the Hawk in '56, '57, and '58. It was called the Golden Hawk. A friend of mine had one back in the late '60s. Very fast car. There's lots of articles on the 'net. Gone but not forgotten!
BB
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
and the great tribulation was to begin lead by Germany attacking the United States.
Richard: what a farce this beast/Germany prophecy was - the USA is the most terrifying military power the world has ever seen. One submarine alone could destroy all major cities in Europe.
Armstrong wasn't deterred as he said God would weaken America prior to this dastardly attack by Germany. Amazing he had the stupidity to state all these prophecies he must have really believed only he knew.\?
Remember the rumours about Franz Joseph Strauss whom Herbert alluded as being the beast and that God had a special job for him.
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
As people became informed through their own bible study and reflected on the errors of the apostle it dawned on many that his 'gospel', prophetic of things to come and 'not about Christ' , was not the Gospel at all.
Exactly, Bill. HWA stated that somewhere along the line the true gospel had been lost, and man had made it all about Jesus Christ. We should all have said, "Well, duh!" and referred him to some of the scriptures EVERYONE knows, like John 3:16 and John 14:6. Man had not changed the gospel and made it about Jesus, the Son of Man (Jesus) had preached that from the very beginning.
The gospel was also the good news about the coming kingdom of God, but Sunday-keeping Christians know and do include that. Anyone who listens to Christian radio will eventually hear messages about Abraham's Bosom, and salvation in the Kingdom being made available to mankind for the first time as a result of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
Somebody, a student or minister, even tactfully told Strauss that "We believe that God has a special purpose for you!" when he was visiting the AC Pasadena campus, and asked him to "remember us" when the time came.
Imagine the chill that must have gone up and down the collective spines of all HWA's followers, having "the Beast" on campus. When I was an AC student, the board game "Risk" was very popular in the mens dorms. Some of the kids actually dressed in costume. One guy wore his bathrobe and a cap and called himself "My Holiness the Pope" Not to be out done, another put on a fake moustache, combed his hair backwards, spoke some German and called himself "der Fuhrer". It was hilarious! Imagine my surprise when learning of the phenomena surrounding "Rocky Horror Picture Show" several years later!
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