The Unknown Webcast Will Feature Former WCG Member Discussing Armstrongism

Former member of the Worldwide Church of God, Mark Tabladillo,who is now a Director of Ratio Christi apologetics ministry, will be discussing Herbert W. Armstrong, Armstrongism, and why he left the church on The Unknown Webcast on August 24th.

United Church of God: "A malignant and elitist sense of superiority pervades this congregation"

 

Exit and Support Network has a letter up from a man who left the United Church of God. The comments in his letter about how UCG acts are common statements made by many who leave UCG. UCG tries to portray itself as the "more enlightened" Church of God but it is anything but that.

I'm Leaving United Church of God 

 

I’ve been a Sabbatarian pretty much all my life with a non-Armstrong church. My dad (a former WWCG member) began attending UCG a few years ago and as an adult I accompanied him for a couple years. I thought it was just my imagination, like I was being “stubborn and rebellious” to their instruction, but a few things have jumped out at me since Day 1: 

 

Upon meeting UCG for the first time, some of them asked me if I was baptized by immersion. The answer happens to be “Yes,” but it seemed they were assessing my spiritual maturity and deciding whether I was deemed worthy in their eyes. 

 

One time a deacon told a black man with long hair he couldn’t attend church unless he cut it. That bothered me a lot. 

 

An 83 year-old man tried to convince me that “slavery was not as bad as how the history books portray it.” Classy, huh? 

 

Overall, there were just weird things I tried to overlook, like a woman who introduced her adopted daughter to me as her “adopted daughter.” 

 

A lot of these people are very tone deaf and lack situational awareness, as if they have been stuck in a time warp for 50 years (as you wrote). Let’s not forget 

 

I was speaking to a Protestant co-worker recently and he just came right out and said that UCG sounds very much like a Mormon church in doctrine.1 

A malignant and elitist sense of superiority pervades this congregation, even though I’ve seen a lot of them looking out the window and daydreaming during a sermon. The only consolation most of them have is the “fellowship” after services. 

 

The main reason why I’m cutting ties with UCG is because they seem to believe Grace is a dirty word. It’s strange we have never sung “Amazing Grace” in church. I don’t even believe it’s in the hymnal. Secondly, UCG is absolutely obsessed with the Millennium and prophecy. It’s almost as if they’re relying on their scriptural scholarship to justify their salvation.

Love and Radio: The World Tomorrow Featuring Glynn Washington

For those that have Apple Podcasts, you can tune in to the following program Love and Radio: The World Tomorrow:

Glynn Washington and I go way back—I used to be a producer on his public radio show Snap Judgment—and I’ve heard him talk loads about his time growing up as a black child in a white supremacist cult called the Worldwide Church of God. But that didn’t prepare me for the whole story.

Glynn's Luminary Original Podcast, Spooked features supernatural stories, told firsthand by people who can barely believe it happened themselves. It is available at https://www.luminary.link/spooked

 

Unbridled Joy

 

That feeling you get when you finally step away from Armstrongism

Adult Non-Sabbath School: If the Time Comes for YOU to Walk Away from Your Church...For your own sake-Do it.

Actually leaving your Church of Choice Church of God is difficult no matter what you actually feel inside. And, in reality, only you know exactly how you feel though even admitting that to yourself can take a long time.  

When it comes to church and belief, we stay far longer than than when first we suspected or admitted, "This no longer serves me." We are programed to stay put. There are consequences real and imagined to  stepping out on one's own. The Church has scriptural ammunition to shoot at you with.  Leaving the group feels unnatural and in the past, to do so would threaten one's very survival in the real world alone.  To even use the "Me" word, feels awkward, selfish and against all programing of "We" and "Us" the church provided you with over the years. 

It was never "I am not divided. All one person ME".   It is always "WE" and we sing those hymns, in part, to keep the program running and tuned weekly. 

(Note: Church of God hymns weren't exactly designed to make us feel good about ourselves or confident that it was ok to do so.  Even growing up Dutch Reformed were programed to "Trust and Obey. For there's NO OTHER WAY, to be happy in Jesus, but to Trust and Obey"  Disturbing to say the least. )

Church was never designed to accommodate unbelief of its views.  It is not designed to even recognize views of itself that might be less than true.  It's certainly not designed for you to  point them out. It is not designed for you to think about your own authenticity and feelings. It is not designed for the critical thinker nor the one given to introspection as to what seems right and what does not. Your church is designed to make you feel guilty and badly for hearing what you hear, seeing what you see and feeling how you feel about it all. 

We learn to ignore the craziness we might hear from a pastor or the self appointed and remember, Ignore-ance is not just what we don't know, it's what we won't know.  

"If your head tells you one thing and your stomach something else, your head is most likely lying to you."  

The price for recognizing and finally admitting to yourself outwardly what you have known inwardly for a time is very high.  It is not, might be high.  It IS high and  few there be that actually go there. 

To many, if not most, going along to get along is the safer and less costly path. I know of those in the COG's who find this the best they are willing to do. I did it myself for a time. You'd not be alone in that either. 

Going along to get along might have it's short term value as you think through how you REALLY feel about the drama, burden, beliefs and politic of your church and its leadership. But it is only of short term value. If it becomes "just how I am" and be untrue to what you really feel, it will gnaw until you go numb to it all. 

It will feel like your feet are stuck in the mud and you can't really move, but, most of you can, as long as staying put is ok with you. That will feel good enough.  That will be "OK",  and you can hold the fear of change and self awareness at bay, maybe for just a little longer or maybe for the rest of your life.  And if you do decide to actually move and get your feet out of the mud, as you see and feel it, you may have to step out of your expensive shoes and leave them behind in the mud. 

 You have invested so much. To walk away from what no longer inspires or serves you seems the ultimate defeat. We feel dis-illusioned like that's a bad thing. Who wants illusions? Well some do of course because it's easier and safer. But this is about you not them.  What will everyone think of me?  Will I retain my friends?   Can I handle being alone in it all?

That's a decision only those stuck, and they know they are stuck, can make.  Knowing when to hold them and when to fold them becomes the issue and one only the player can make. 

A bit of encouragement here on the process of letting go, the price of doing so and learning not to care,  when struggling with walking away from that which no longer serves you and you finally know it. 

 

And when our children tell their story...They'll tell the story of tonight...Raise a glass to freedom!

This video was posted on a FB page from a family who left a COG and how profound that decision was upon their children and the incredible future they now have before them. Their children will now have a story to tell about what it means to be free.

Raise a glass to freedom! What a glorious story the children of those who have left bondage will tell!

We may not yet have reached our glory

But I will gladly join the fight

And when our children tell their story

They'll tell the story of tonight

They'll tell the story of tonight

Tonight

Have you ever felt like nobody was there?

Have you ever felt forgotten in the middle of nowhere?

Have you ever felt like you could disappear?

Like you could fall, and no one would hear?

Well, let that lonely feeling wash away

All we see is light

'Cause maybe there's a reason to believe you'll be okay

For forever

'Cause when you don't feel strong enough to stand

You can reach, reach out your hand

And oh

Raise a glass to freedom

Something they can never take away

Oh

No matter what they tell you

Someone will come running

To take you home

Raise a glass to all of us

Tomorrow there'll…

Leaving The Fold

This will interest some here:

Leaving the Fold, by Dr. Marlene Winell Ph.D.

May 10, 2011 By Mriana 2 Comments

Dr. Marlene Winell is a psychologist and author of Leaving the Fold: A guide for former fundamentalists and other leaving their religion.  This book is an excellent resource for those leaving or wanting to leave religion, especially if they have had traumatic experiences and are trying to recover from them.

She divides the book into three parts.  In the first part, she not only shares her story, but also gives some brief glimpses of others who have left and are struggling with the trauma of religious indoctrination.  She also explains the five phases of recovery and provides various checklists concerning the impact of religion, benefits, manipulations, and family background in the first half of her book.

In the second half of her book, she deals with the healing process and provides exercises in which to help people heal from their experiences.  The inner child is discussed, as well as exercises in which to get in touch with one’s inner child.  She also deals with the inner adult and building a new relationship with the two concepts.  These two concepts are basically the emotional and rational or thinking side of the individual.  The emotional side of a person is one area that religion seems to suppress and sometimes the more rational side of the person can be stunted also. The exercises help to develop a balance between the two in which to have a positive relationship within the self.  In a sense, the inner adult takes the parent role and “parents the inner child”.

However, there can be some problems with old mental tapes, which she calls the Idea Monster, and it needs to be overcome in the process of recovery.  In the chapter concerning “the Idea Monster”, she provides various exercises to at least tame such thoughts stemming from one’s traumatic experiences.  Most of these exercises deal with creating new and more positive messages to replace the old ones.  They also deal with emotional recovery after leaving harmful religious teachings and ideology.  The religious sect one left or is leaving does not have to be Evangelical Fundamentalist for the book to be helpful.  This book can be useful for one leaving almost any sect.

The rest of the article is here: Leaving the Fold