We Found Our Way Out (1964, 1975)

We Found Our Way Out

Edited by James R. Adair and Ted Miller

Baker Book House

Michigan

1964

1975 printing

First hand stories of people escaping from various cults in the United States - includes Armstrongism

The People and Their Stories

You already have an idea what you may find between the covers of this book.  The jacket design and the title, We Found Our Way Out, suggests that the writers – all living, flesh-and-blood people – were once ensnared in a web of dark beliefs and philosophies that failed to provide them peace of heart.  They were sincere-but sincerely wrong, they now confess.  Each believed something different from the other, and each eventually abandoned former beliefs to acknowledge Jesus Christ to be, as Himself said, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”  Independently of each other, they came to recognize the Bible as the supreme authority concerning God and His plan for mankind.  Each person received Jesus Christ as Personal Savior, according to John 1:12 truly became a member of God’s family.

The stories are from the pages of Power for Living, adult Sunday School take-home paper published by Scripture Press Publications, Inc. Wheaton, Illinois, and are used by permission….

Some readers may feel that this book is not in accord with the spirit of religious tolerance of our day.  Perhaps not.  While we respect the right of any individual to believe and worship as he wishes, we maintain our duty and right to challenge doctrines and systems that we believe lead people away from the true God. Each of the ‘isms’ presented in this book in some manner denies the Biblical way of salvation – faith in Christ alone for complete forgiveness of sin and full acceptance into God’s family.  Some of the philosophies represented here are radically contrary to the Bible.

The Bible has much to say about false religions and philosophies, and indicates that they will flourish when the end of man’s era is near: “…in the latter times…seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (I Timothy 4:1); “…the time will come when [people]…shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned into fables” (II Timothy 4:3, 4); “…there shall arise false Christ’s, and false prophets” (Matthew 24:24). The apostle Paul, in Galatians 1, speaks out intolerantly toward any that “would pervert the gospel of Christ.” He says, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” 

These stories touch a few of the false philosophies deceiving men and women in our day. If you belong to one of these groups described, or if you know someone who does, you may profit from the experiences and spiritual insights of these true stories.  Paul’s admonition in II Corinthians 13:5 is applicable to everyone who genuinely desires to know God:

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.”

The book then includes the following stories (chapters).

I Was a Mormon

I Was Brainwashed by the Jehovah’s Witnesses

I Was a Rosicrucian

I Am a Hebrew Christian

I Was a Christian Scientist

I Tried Communism

I Was a Humanist

Modernism Betrayed Me

I was a Seventh-day Adventists

I was a Hippie

We Escaped from Armstrongism

I Was a Theosophist

I Worshiped Satan

I Was an Agnostic Scientist

James R. Adair   Editor, Power of Living

Ted Miller            Managing Editor

               

Chapter 11

We Escaped from Armstrongism

By Wayne Leyendecker

(as told to Roger Campbell)

(pg 91)

Should we worship on Saturday instead of Sunday?  Are Americans really Israelites?  Is it sinful to celebrate Christmas?  Should we change our eating habits?  Are all churches preaching lies except Herbert W. Armstrong’s Radio Church of God?

These were a few of the questions that raced through my mind and demanded answers when I became interested in the dynamic radio preaching of Armstrong.

I first became interested in Herbert W. Armstrong in 1961 when some friends left their church and began to follow his teachings.  I became a regular listener to “The World Tomorrow,” as he titles his broadcast, and I awaited eagerly each issue of The Plain Truth magazine.

Religion had not held much interest for me in the past.  Most of the religious matters of ( pg 92) our family had been left to Ruth, my wife. She had attended church since she was a child and was not taking our three children Rosalyn, Gary, and Michele tot eh River Bend Bible Church, a mission style church which meets in a schoolhouse in the vicinity of our home near Grad Rapids, Michigan.

As the weeks passed and y interest in Armstrongism increased, I began to see that there were serious conflicts between the teaching my family was receiving at the church, and that which was persuasively presented on Armstrong’s broadcast and in his literature.

The church taught the doctrine of the Trinity, while Armstrong insisted this teaching was pagan in origin.  Songs about heaven were a regular part of the worship services at the church, but The Plain Truth publications declared that heaven was not the destination of the saved.  The church gathered for worship on Sunday, but the evidence presented by Herbert Armstrong seemed conclusive that Saturday was the proper day.

I pointed out these things to Ruth and the children.  I called Ruth’s attention to the authority with which Armstrong spoke, and we noted together the many Bible verses he presented as proof for his teaching.  And there was an impressive number of unfolding in world events that Armstrong neatly fitted into his prophetic teaching. Ruth was not fully convinced, but we (pg 93) decided to follow the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong.

We began to keep Saturday as our day of rest and worship.  We dropped all pork from our diet. We even considered driving weekly from our home to South Bend, Indiana, a distance of one hundred miles, to attend a gathering of followers of the Radio Church of God.

Our decision to follow this new way of life was made near Christmas season 1961, as we decided there would be no recognition of Christmas, except for gifts to those who would expect them, since, according to Armstrong, all Christmas festivities were rooted in paganism. We sent no greeting cards to friends or relatives. We had no Christmas tree.

We must have been expecting a great blessing from that ‘no Christmas” experience, but instead it seemed so barren and empty.  We truly missed remembering Christ’s birth that year.

Somehow, following the “Armstrong way of life” was not nearly as satisfying as I had anticipated. The conflicts grew rather than subsided. Unanswered questions pressed upon my mind every waking hour.  My work required me to be alert, but my inward struggles demanded attention.  Every part of my life was affected by the awful uncertainty as to my relationship with God.

While I had little instruction in the Bible, I (pg 94) had always held a great respect for the Scriptures.  The thought struck me that God must have the answer to my spiritual struggle, and that His answer must be contained in the Bible. I determined I would seek out the truth in the Bible, and I would not rest until I had found peace with God.

It was about five o’clock in the evening when I opened my Bible to begin my search. I read with an urgency and interest greater than I had ever experienced.  I read carefully and yet swiftly. It was as if I were trying to devour the whole Bible in an evening, and yet to sift from its pages some single truth that would be the key to this crisis in my life.

The hours passed quickly. That night I read for eleven hours, and when I closed my Bible at four o’clock in the morning it was only because my eyes were too weary to continue.  At seven o’clock I was awake and back to the Bible again.  All the next day I continued my study.  It would have been useless for me to attempt to carry on the usual business of the day.

My Bible reading did not end until evening.  When I finally closed the Bible that evening, I still did not have the answer.

A few days alter a business trip took me away from the city. I had pulled myself together enough to carry on my work, but the struggle continued.  On the return trip the battle within (pg 95) became more intense, and I brought my car to a stop beside the road and once again opened the Bible.

Nearly all of my Bible searching had been in the Old Testament.  Much of what I had read had seemed to substantiate Armstrong’s doctrines.  God had indeed given instructions to the Israelites concerning the eating of meats, the keeping of feast days such as Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Sabbath days, all of which Armstrong insists are to be kept today.

That cold winter day as I sat in my car, however, the story of Christ and His love in the Book of Matthew made a new impression upon my heart.  As I finished reading the twenty-eight chapters and resumed my journey home, I felt sure the end of my search was near.

The following Sunday our family attended the River Bend Bible Church.  I listened with interest to everything the pastor had to say that day.  Many of his comments from the Bible called to my mind the picture of Christ’s death that had been portrayed so clearly in my reading of Matthews’s gospel. Before we left the church, I invited the pastor to visit our home.  I thought perhaps his knowledge of the Bible might enable him to help me.

A few years earlier, I might have been careful to avoid a meeting with the minister, but I awaited this visit of Pastor Wright Van Plew (pg 96) with real anticipation. I wondered if he would really have the answers.

When Pastor Van Plew arrived, I found that he had not come to debate on Herbert Armstrong, but rather for my decision to trust Jesus Christ.  Repeatedly he maneuvered the conversation from “questions” to “Christ.”

I was brought to see that my real need was to receive Jesus Christ by faith. That night in my home, I was able to see myself as a lost sinner in need of the living Savior. I saw that my real need was not laws, but faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.  I told Christ of my sin and I trusted Him as my personal Savior.

After the pastor had given me verses of assurance from the Bible, he turned to my wife and asked how things were with her soul.

Ruth says now that at that moment she was angry and offended.  After all, she had been brought up in church and had been trained in the teachings of the Bible since she was a child. She had taken the children to Sunday school and church services.  Why should anyone question her salvation, even if she had yielded to some of her husband’s wishes to follow the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong?

Before the next Sunday arrived, however, Ruth also had realized her personal need of Christ. She is thankful now for that question which shocked her into the realization that (pg 97) even religious training does not guarantee salvation.  She rejoices now in faith in her living Savior.

Since Christ has come into our lives, our daily experience is truly much richer. There are ways in which we still need to grow in Christ, but with His help we are determined to do that. We want to do so yielded to Christ that He will be able to use us in our local church to carry the message of salvation to others of our community.

We are grateful to God that He guided us out of the errors of Armstrongism into the truth of Christ and His salvation. It was such a relief to find that all the demands of God’s law were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and our heart’s demands for peace and assurance are also fulfilled in Him.

Another Religious Book Burner: This Time Any Bible That is NOT King James Version

Why are Baptist so incredibly weird?  Armstrongism almost appears sane next to some of these numbnut's.  This moron sounds just as incredibly stupid as Fred Phelps, another so called Baptist.  It's because of idiots like this that people are so disgusted with Christians!

Not only are they burning any Bible other than the KJV, they are burning the books of countless Christian writers.  Reading his press release on this silliness he comes across as not the brightest light bulb in Baptistdom.

The official church information is after the post below.

Another Book Burner Lusts for Attention

Post by Candace Chellew-Hodge

When Terry Jones, the cartoon-mustached pastor in Florida, threatened to burn a Qur'an on September 11, I read many complaints about how nobody ever paid that much attention or showed that much outrage when people burned Bibles. Well, here’s their chance to get their rage pants on.

    The Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, N.C. will celebrate Halloween by burning Bibles that aren't the King James Version, as well as music and books and anything else Pastor Marc Grizzard says is a satanic influence.

The church is burning other Bible translations that are not based on the “Textus Receptus,” and are, therefore, according to Grizzard, not the true word of God. Yes, the burning will include the Qur’an, along with books by “heretics” like Brian McLaren, Shane Claiborne, and Bishop John Shelby Spong. Those are the heretics you might expect Grizzard and his kind to burn.

Also on his list, however, the materials of other “heretics” like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Bob Jones, Charles Stanley, Joel Osteen, Joyce Myers, T.D. Jakes, and even the newly beleaguered Eddie Long. Even Mother Teresa makes his list of heretics. Apparently, feeding the poor and clothing the naked makes one a “heretic” in Grizzard’s book (don't tell Jesus!). Fred Phelps didn’t make the list, so that should be a hint of just who Grizzard’s fellow believers might look like.

On their website (NB: mute your computer unless your idea of a good time is Amazing Grace on an infinite loop), they encourage other churches to hold similar book burnings, or book “tearings” if local laws prohibit open fires. If all else fails, you can send your blasphemous material to Grizzard who will do the deed for you at their annual event.

The church apparently burned books and other materials last year on Halloween. Grizzard does not give a specific date for this year’s burning—and just to differentiate himself from Jones (whom he denounced as a “coward” for backing down from his plans to burn the Qur’an), Grizzard makes it clear that the public is not invited:

    We are inviting others to come but only by special invitation by me and me alone. I must know you personally, or your pastor, or if you wrote me last year in agreement with what we are doing. I may ask for your church’s name, phone number, and Web site to verify your stand.

What I see as the sin at the heart of Grizzard and Jones’ actions—as well as at the heart of anyone who seeks to violently control the free will or belief of others—is lust. These men lust for control; and in their lust they objectify others, people they call “heretics” or “sinners.”

Lust, in and of itself, is not a bad thing—not something sinful. As Matthew Fox writes, “Without lust, none of us would be here.” It was the lust of our parents that created us, the lust of the animals that provide us with their companionship, their meat, and their wonder.

It’s the lust of flowers and grains and insects that make this earth flourish. It is when “lust becomes a vehicle for objectifying,” Fox writes, “it is no longer an intimate expression or a generative one, it is a power that needs checking, a stallion that needs bridling, a force that needs tempering.”

Grizzard, Jones, and others like them are the products of lust gone wrong—and that turns them into sadists who need to control others. As psychologist Erich Fromm has observed, “The sadistic character is afraid of everything that is not certain and predictable, that offers surprises which would force him to spontaneous and original reactions.

For this reason, he is afraid of life. Life frightens him precisely because it is by its very nature unpredictable and uncertain. It is structured but it is not orderly.”

These men want order, and they will do whatever they can to quash the uncertainty of life. The King James is the only true Bible, Grizzard asserts, and in his assertion he makes his life certain—he’s right and others are wrong.

But, perhaps we can have more sympathy for Grizzard and those who believe as he does when we see them for what they are—people who are afraid of the messiness of life—people who cannot control their lust.

These are people who need to be shown that there can be a healthy lust for life that affirms not just their lives, but the lives of the very different, yet Holy, people all around them.

Instead of condemning people like Grizzard and Jones, perhaps we need to look deeper at our own reactions to their actions. If we react by wanting to stop them, or denounce them,  or to control them, then we are just as much a slave to our own lust for control as they are.

May we all, then, seek to find the Amazing Grace this church has named itself after.

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2010 Annual Book Burning

The annual Book Burning for 201 will be upon us very soon. This year is going to be much bigger and better. We already have collected more perversions of God’s Holy Word than we had last year, as well as many books by heretics and movies.

Many churches and individual Christians last year contacted us in support of what we were doing. Many comments about how they could help or participate in 2010. So we believe that God is using us to help encourage other believers to do what God’s Word says in Acts 19 about burning satanic books. We are not starting a movement, association, denomination, brotherhood, or anything else for that matter. We are not in charge of anything or over anything except our local church. We are just a “voice crying in the wilderness” trying to encourage others to “earnestly contend for the faith.”

We are burning Satan's bibles like the NIV, RSV, NLT, HCSB, CEV, NCV, NIRV, TNIV, NKJV, TLB, NASB, ESV, NEV, NRSV, ASV, NWT (Jehovah Witness Bible), Amplified Bible, God's Word Translation, 21st Century King James, Young's Literal Translation, Reina-Valera 1960, Darby, Good News for Modern Man, The Evidence Bible, Book of Mormons, The Message Bible, The Green Bible, Quran (Koran), Bible in Rhyme, Boomer Bible, and ect. As well as Greek New Testaments by Westcott & Hort, Metzger, Scrivener, Berry, Ginsburg, and Green. Also Herbrew-English Dictionaries by Brown, Driver, and Briggs. Also Greek-English Lexicons by Moulton, Thayer, 

Danker, and Liddell. 

These are perversions of God's Word the King James Bible.

We will also be burning Satan's music such as country , rap , rock , pop, heavy metal, western, soft and easy, southern gospel , contemporary Christian , jazz, soul, oldies but goldies, etc.

We will also be burning Satan's popular books written by heretics like Westcott & Hort , Bruce Metzger, Billy Graham , Rick Warren , Bill Hybels , James White, Kay Arthur, Charles Stanley, Pat Roberson, RC Sproul, Mary Baker Edddy, Josh McDowell, Sean McDowell, Britt Merrick, Max Lucado, Randy Alcorn, John Ortberg, Michael W. Smith, John David Clark Sr., Eckhart Tolle, Joni Eareckson Tada, Sarah Young, Stormie Omartian, Joseph Maxwell, John McArthur, James Dobson , Charles Swindoll , John Piper , Chuck Colson , Tony Evans, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swagart , Mark Driskol, Franklin Graham , Bill Bright, Tim Lahaye, Paula White , T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn , Joyce Myers , Brian McLaren , James White, Dave Ramsey, Alister McGrath, Ron Hill, Denver Moore, Mary Beth Chapman, Steven Curtis Cahpman, E Stanley Jones, Robert Schuller, Mother Teresa , The Pope , Rob Bell, Erwin McManus , Donald Miller, Shane Claiborne, Brennan Manning, William Young, Will Graham , and many more.

 

We are not burning Bibles written in other languages that are based on the original TR. We are not burning the Tyndale, Geneva or other translations that are based on the original TR or the KJB.

 

With that said we are asking for others to get involved this year in the 2010 Annual Book Burning. You or your church can do this in one or more ways. 

1. Plan at your church or home to have a book burning this year. 

2. If you are not willing to have a book burning then have a book tearing as we did last year due to state laws.

3. If you are not willing to do either a book burning or a book tearing, then begin to collect perversions, books by heretics, music, movies, magazines, idols (Buddha, Allah, Rosary Beads, crosses with Jesus on it, etc.), posters, etc. and send them to our church address (6865 Cruso Rd; Canton, NC 28716). 

4. Pray! This is the most important step you can do is to pray for God’s Word to be glorified and grow.

I would like to make a few comments about the request above.

First of all, we are not encouraging any church or individual to break their state laws and act stupid and be put in jail. If your state fire marshal says that it is against the law to have an open air burning or burning paper is against the law then abide by that law. Don’t do it. Just have a book tearing as we did last year. It actually gets the people more involved to have a book tearing. 

Secondly, I would video tape the service and the entire event to show that you didn’t break any laws and to encourage others to do the same.

Thirdly, don’t buy this stuff new. It just helps sales if you do. Last year we didn’t buy anything new. In fact, most of it was given to us free. If we did buy anything it was never over a dollar each, but most a quarter or fifty cents. We get these items at yard sales, consignment shops, second hand stores, flea markets, books stores, libraries, etc. Lots of places have a free area and that is what we keep an eye on all the time. One has to be committed to checking these areas each week. We always leave the KJB and good materials for people to choose from. Some people wrote last year making fun of us for buying all of this stuff new, and telling us how dumb we were. These “scholars” and Bible correctors are to smart to have common sense. 

Last of all, we would ask that whatever way you decide to get involved to please let us know. Simply by telling us who you are and which of the four ways you are going to participate. If you don’t want your name mention, the date of your event, then please let us know when you write. We would like to list all that are involved for the very fact the media, Bible perverts, the world and others think that we are the only people that believe that the KJB is the only Bible for the English speaking people. We would like to show the world that we are not the only church that stands for God’s Word. Even in our own county we didn’t have one person (outside our church members) or church to stand for God’s Word. The reason for this is because they just tote a KJB and use it, but they don’t believe it or willing to stand for it for the world to see. Paul tells us not to be ashamed of the Gospel. Neither should we be ashamed of the KJB that contains within its pages the Blessed Gospel. Are the preachers in this area ashamed that they carry a KJB? If one is not going to stand for the Bible what good does it do to carry one? The Bible tells us in these last days that there will be a turning from God’s Word which is Truth. The Bible calls these people Apostates that turn from the Truth, that deny His Word, and deny His name.

Next I would like to make a few comments concerning our 2010 Book Burning this year.

First of all, we are planning one sometime this year, but we are not sharing the date with no one this year. We are not doing this to get publicity as others have said but to obey God’s Word in Acts 19. We are inviting others to come but only by special invitation by me and me alone. I must know you personally, or your pastor, or if you wrote me last year in agreement with what we are doing. I may ask for your church’s name, phone number, and web site to verify your stand. We are doing no advertising in any way before the event. You may ask are you ashamed of what we are doing. NO! That should be obvious from last year when the whole world heard about it. The fact is, we rent a building, and we don’t own our own land, so we have to respect our other tenants in the building as well as the landlord. When we do have our own land and building one day, we will do things different, but that’s in the future.

Secondly, Yes! This year we will burn everything. Yes, you heard me right. We will BURN everything. We will tear up and destroy everything at our church as we did last year, but carry it at a later date to another state that allows open air burning. We are donating it to another church that is going to burn it with us. Both the tearing and the burning will be video taped to prove everything. Are we going to share the details before we do this? NO!

Last of all, we will abide by all state laws as we did last year.

We look forward to having a great time in the Lord this coming year. You can contact me through my email at agbckjv@aol.com.

Bumming with the Furies

Peter Leschak is an award winning prolific writer who writes books that capture your attention. One of his books is titled: Bumming With the Furies: Out on the Trial of Experience. Its a collection of stories of his life experiences. Some of it includes his journey into the cult of Armstrongism and into its so called college in Big Sandy. Following are some of his comments.

While many of my generation were training in combat in the paddies, jungles, and hills of Southeastern Asia, I was training for the Battle of Armageddon, for spiritual combat with Satan and his minions. Some of our teachers believed we would engage in actual fighting-an ethereal, supernatural war against evil spirits. I always pictured it in terms of science-fiction fantasies with flaming swords, thunderbolts, and Gods own lasers. Years later, upon seeing Star Wars, I was struck with a vivid sense of deja vu. Actually, it sounded like a hell of a good time a phantasmagoric, cosmic shootout with what we were anticipating was Jihad, a holy war in which we would slay the infidel and the rule the world as princes and priests of the Almighty God (Rev. 3:21, 5:10). Years later, I had no trouble understanding the Ayatollah Komeinis Revolutionary Guards. Fundamentalists, no matter what the particular religion, are more alike than different.

As in any army, our paramount lesson was respect for authority unquestioning obedience to superiors. God was our commander-in-chief, but he had divinely appointed the Armstrongs as His all-powerful lieutenants, and they in turn had designated other men as theirs. The church hierarchy was formal and rigid, with actual ranks within the ministry and a clear pecking order for the rest.

I entered WCG and AC flush with hope and idealism. We were preparing the way for the return of Jesus Christ to end all pain and suffering in the world. It was heady wine, sometimes the source of an actual physical rush. I was ready to obey and conform, and I did. This was good for me, and I was good for the world. Doubt crept in slowly, nearly always squelched by the overwhelming presence of too many people doing, saying, and thinking the same things. Toeing the line was supposed to make us happy, and when people know they are supposed to be happy that unhappiness is the result of sins against God then they act happy, even if they are not. Who was I to doubt the word of God (and the Armstrongs) as exemplified by the all-smiling faces of four hundred fellow students and seekers after righteousness? Could smiles be pernicious? Who was I to criticize the lieutenants and representatives of the Creator?

But early in 1972,a minister named Howard Clark was transferred to Texas from the headquarters campus in Pasadena, California. He was something of a legend in the WCG. While serving with the Maine Corps in Korea, he was severely wounded and subsequently paralyzed. He received one hundred percent disability from the Veterans Administration and was confined to a wheelchair. But then God called him into the Work, as we liked to say, and after being anointed with oil and prayed over by a WCG minister, he was healed he was able to walk. He attended AC and rose through the ranks, demonstrating a remarkable talent for preaching and public speaking.

He was loud and irreverent, articulate and keenly intelligent. One had to wonder why he was allowed to stay; he did little obeisance to sacred cows.

The presence of such a renegade was a revelation, but Clark offered us more than his own puzzling existence. That summer when life on campus slowed and many students and faculty were gone, he initiated what he called waffle shops. These were informal evening gatherings advertised by word of mouth, There might be poetry readings (of all things!), a film, Bible study, and of course listening to Clark as he waffled extemporaneously expounding on just about everything. To cadets in the army of God, regimented in body and spirit, this could be shocking.

During one waffle shop, Clark quipped: If Jesus Christ was a student at AC today, wed kick him out. We had strayed too far from the original precepts to be tolerated by the original teacher. It was that heretical thought, and a thinly veiled reference to some WCG ministers as con artists that spurred the gestapo into action. A senior who had attended the gathering, a leading upper-classman, went to the Dean of Students (Ron) Kelly the next day and reported what distressing things he had heard. The waffle shops were officially banned.

Unlike most of the faculty, Clark lived off campus, away from the bosom of the institution. Students began filtering out there, alone or in small groups, to sit in his office and listen. Rumors of a heretical underground, a free thought movement, began to circulate. People felt threatened. But Clark was not attempting to undermine AC. His main point was that we were all individuals before God and that we must truly cultivate independent minds. But that was not necessarily good for the cohesiveness of the army.

In the meantime, we were buying books-under the counter. Clark recommended The Faith of a Heretic by Walter Kaufman, and one of the students who worked at the college commissary ordered a few copies and kept them discreetly out of sight, far from the Louis Lamour westerns. If someone specially requested a copy, he would slip it into a bag and quietly had it over. The eyes of the true believers were everywhere; this was not an acceptable book for Gods students.

On page twenty-two, Kaufman had written: The aim of a liberal arts education is not to turn out ideal dinner guests who can talk with assurance about practically everything, but people who will not be taken in by men who speak about all things with an air of finality. The goal is not to train future authorities, but men who are not cowed by those who claim to be authorities".
These were not words that Chapman would have us memorize, especially since one of the conceits of AC was that it was providing us with a liberal arts education. My friend Gerry, who was on the staff of the college newspaper, once neglected to perform some small task that the faculty advisor expected him to have done.

I thought (so and so) was going to do it, Gerry told the man. That's your problem, replied the journalism instructor/ordained minister, you don't think! He then told Gerry that he wanted him to be robot, and, to demonstrate; he walked stiffly and jerkily around the room. It was a sincere performance, devoid of irony.

Leschak also tells a story about Ben Chapman (as so-called evangelist in WCG). Chapman married Richard Armstrong's wife sometime after Richard was died because of  Herbert's refusal to allow proper medical care. Chapman was not a well liked person in Pasadena. He rode around on the coattails of GTA. He was an arrogant ass, cruel, mean spirited and spiritually violent. Leschak has this to say about the idiot:

But my mind soon took a decisive turn, and it began in a classroom. Bill stood up to ask a question in Theological Research, the third-year Bible class. He was genuinely puzzled, and politely (I thought) disputed the conclusion we were supposed to have reached as the result of completing a homework assignment concerning the canonization
of the Bible. The instructor, a minister named (Benjamin) Chapman, immediately bristled. I could actually see him stiffen, tensing up as if for a physical battle. If he had been a dog, his hackles wouldve risen. An argument ensued, with Chapman not addressing Bills question, but rather accusing him of arrogance and insubordination. Bill stated repeatedly that he wasnt challenging Chapmans authority (though the question by its very nature of course had) nor showing disrespect, but the irate professor ridiculed him, demanding to know if he even believed in the Bible. A few students told me later that they had grown increasingly bewildered, amazed at what they considered to be a serious overreaction by Chapman. They said that if Bill had walked out, theyd have followed. (Thered been many complaints about the class among students.)

But finally Bill decided to just shut up and sit down. He was shocked, genuinely perplexed by what vehemence and contempt of Chapmans reaction to what Bill considered a legitimate question. This public attack by a superior, an ordained minister of God, was so distressing that Bill felt the whole thing mustve been his fault. That evening he went to Chapmans home and apologized. This humbling, magnanimous effort received a cold, Well, you should apologize response. There was no sense of warmth or conciliation, and absolutely no admission of at least partial wrong. Bill left angry and humiliated, violated once again. He believed that at Gods college there should be some recourse, so he made an official appointment with Chapman through his secretary, and asked if I could tag along. We discussed the mission at length and decided our purpose would be to respectfully inform Chapman that the majority of his students were dissatisfied with the way his course was run, and to propose some changes we felt would be beneficial. We believed the attitude of the class, especially after Bills excoriation, was ugly and that Chapman should be aware of it.

Unfortunately we were not granted an audience for three long weeks.

On a Friday evening in December, we finally entered Chapmans office, nervous and intimidated. . We spent two hours discussing these matters, and all was serene and friendly, at least on the surface. We shook hands as we left, and Bill and I were satisfied that all had gone well. We congratulated each other, convinced we had accomplished some good. Silly boys.

Next morning at Sabbath services, Chapman delivered the sermon. The standard length of a sermon in the WCG was one to two hours (though I sat through some as long as three, and heard about a few legendary five-hour marathons). Chapman all but personally attacked Bill and me for nearly an hour and half. I was stunned. Bill had opted for the afternoon services and thus missed another public thrashing, In a vicious assault upon those who question and doubt, Chapman referred to several points we had discussed only several hours before in the apparently benign atmosphere of his office. I expected to hear our names spewed out at any moment, held up as pariahs or perhaps insidious dupes of Satan. He set up straw men and violently knocked them down, quoting excessively from an outside theological work, which was obviously sloppy and in error as far as his audience was concerned. He used the book as an intelligent scapegoat, a means to ridicule contemporary scholarship in general (and hence thinking in general). He lambasted and belittled those who critically examined what he billed as the Truth. He laid it right out, asserting clearly, without equivocation: ITS NOT YOUR PLACE TO QUESTION WHAT YOUR TEACHERS TELL YOU! So there it was-the true face of AC and the WCG. The hierarchy was not after truth, but power. They had all truth; there was no need to seek more and there was especially no need to take any gruff from mere students-lowly sheep of the flock.