HWA declared himself to be a false prophet
I realize that there are many twists and turns to the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) story, but it is sobering to me that so many COG members in the offshoots (e.g., UCG, LCG, COGWA) know so little about the actual history of the WCG.
Perhaps a stellar example of this is the appalling ignorance of Herbert Armstrong’s (HWA) often histrionic behavior and failed prophetic utterances. Some claim that all HWA did was speculate about the future, but that is not true according to HWA himself. HWA in his radio broadcast apparently linked his prophetic interpretations and utterances to the standard in Deuteronomy 18.
Deuteronomy 18:18-22 New International Version
20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”
21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.
The most readily accessible example of this reckless behavior can be found in David Barrett’s excellent study of the collapse of WCG: “The Fragmentation of a Sect”. Barrett cites the late Richard Nickels a well-known researcher and COG historian. Nickels concluded that HWA labeled himself a false prophet based on this direct quote from an early World Tomorrow radio broadcast:
“A terrible famine is coming on the United States, that is going to ruin us as a nation inside of less than twenty years. Alright, I stuck my neck out there. You just wait twenty years and see whether I told you the truth. God says, if a man tells you what’s going to happen, wait and see. If it doesn’t happen, he was not speaking the word of God, he’s speaking out of his own mind. If it happens, you’ll know God sent him.”
HWA clearly spoke out his own grandiose self-delusions and not for God resulting in incredible harm to those who trusted him. There are still many ignorant people even now in the COG, and it is time to share the above documentation with them – graciously -- especially the young members of UCG, LCG and COGWA.
Aristophanes
