Dennis Muses: Where is the Akron Beacon Journal?

"Acts 2:38"

Apostle David C Pack Version

³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you if employed and have money to give to the Church, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins as long as you are working and understand you have no rights but to die. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit with my permission

Dear Dennis,

I want to let you know that you have a great blog and your writings are very much appreciated, you have a great sense of humor...

(Note:  I am a guest writer on Banned HWA and not the Blog Owner)

I am ___years old, was in RCG for ____ years, __________, although I had been reading their site and already "warming up" to their teachings since _________. Interestingly enough, my disillusionment came not because of my experience with the Church, but from my own experience with the so-called "God" of the Bible. 

 

I spent 5 years of my life adhering to the strict teachings of Armstrongism in a most sincere and disciplined manner, and my life only met misfortune. Not a good thing came out of it. "God" definitely did not fulfill his end of the "deal", so to speak. It was a painful and soul-destroying experience.

I do not think the history of the Bible is real....

But not to say I am not disgusted by the stuff with RCG, for example, to this day I am not baptized because I could not get a job to help support the "Work".

 Dave Pack has a policy to not let anyone that does not have an income of his own be baptized. It was not intentional on my part, I had extreme difficulty in this area for a variety of reasons and I intended on starting tithing when I fixed my situation, yet I was treated as if I was a slacker. I do not think they read the story of Simon Magus and how he was shunned for trying to buy his way into the Church. Or they just ignore it. Oh well.

Their obsession with controlling people is also notable. I even remember Dave Pack saying in a sermon that we did not have any personal rights, the only right that we had was the right to die. Whatever.

I am so disgusted with my experience I can say am not even a Christian by any definition of the word, not even a traditional one. If Armstrongism does not work, why believe the same doctrines 1-2 billion people believe if the world is in such a shitty state? It obviously is not the true way, if such a way exists.

I came about your blog a couple of days ago because I was curious to find out what other people think of RCG and Dave Pack, since I had not done it even once while I was in RCG, because everybody outside RCG is possessed by Satan so listening to their point of view was bad.

Coming from someone who read his humongous autobiography (part 1 and 2!), I have to say I was a bit shocked about the stories I read about him and his conduct while surfing around in the web. I really had him in a high standard in my mind. I do not assume them all to be absolutely true, but gosh darn it, some of it has to be.

Anyway, I do miss a friend I made in RCG, I love him as if he was my own brother, "in Christ" or not.  It is very disturbing for me to realize he is probably going to throw his life away in this cult, I almost cry sometimes. I had other acquaintaces, most of them very fine people, but he was my only real friend in there.

It breaks my heart to know that sincere and well-meaning lives are going to be swallowed up and destroyed by RCG, and Armstrongism in general. My heart goes out to you also, you sound like me in your writings, except I was fortunately able to get out much sooner. You are doing a tremendous service to not only Armstrongists or ex-Armstrongists, but to humanity in general, with your blog.

Flipping Unbelievable!

E. W. King Follower Says: "God is truly talking through his last day 'ass'"

Sorry for all of the King posts lately but these people are absolutely bonkers!  One of his acolytes actually calls him a talking ass!

This is exactly why I have this byline at the top of my blog:

Nothing you read here is made up! Every crazy, weird and wacky quote is straight from the pens of Armstrongite leaders or members who think they possess some insight into God and the Bible. 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

 
The acolyte writes:

I think that it is soooo amazing that the heretics and people attacking Mr. King’s tachings have nothing better to do. It seems that they do not have a real job and probably get governement aid. They sit around and spend all their time writing bad things about Christians in the Worldwide Church of God. They must be misirable people. One person called Eric [God's 7th messnger] an “ass”. This is funny, in the Old Testament God spoke through the mouth of an ass. Also, this same person said of Eric in one of his recent attack articles: “God’s mightiest man on earth.” So what this means is, God is truly talking through his last day “ass” through “God’s mightiest man on earth” to the poor lost COGSR hater. Wow! What a revelation!

Jim Turner Author of "Grace in the Dark Places" Dies

In August of 2011 I had excerpts posted of the new book out by Jim Turner, a former WCG minister that detailed his journey out of Armstrongism.  Grace in the Dark Places: Conquering the Cultic Mindset

Today I learned on Facebook that Turner had committed suicide in July of 2013. I then found out that The Painful Truth has listed this as a suicide on it's "Suicide Statistics for the Worldwide Church of God" page.

I don't know the reasons behind the suicide, but many are saying that the demons of Armstrongism were still in force.  For so many, the struggle to break free from the mental abuse the church laid upon everyone is a hard thing to break free from.  The church had made people feel they were never good enough to receive God's love or grace.  Just listen to and look at the sermons of HWA and the church leaders of the splinter groups today!


I posted  the following quote on the original page about the book:

As I began to investigate the chain of circumstances that led to the twists and turns in my life, I came to realize that others would benefit from my experience through recognition of similar traits and influences that brought them to a similar place in life. I was deceived. (pg. xix) I was conscripted into a clever collusion, to which I eventually consigned my body and soul. The torturous and serpentine journey into spiritual confusion that describes my life is complex and indistinct, even perplexing at times.

There came a time when my subjugation expired and I willingly reenlisted, accepting the consequences of my actions. I elected to ascend through the ranks, disregarding the abuse and compromise that attended such advancement. There were vague crossroads, times when circumstances dictated my decisions as well as times when, clearly, I acted according to the fortuitous winds of personal advantage. There were moments of uncertainty when I opted to follow the crowd rather than taking the moral high road that my conscience futilely prescribed. Guilt played a huge role in my actions, a contentious double-edged guilt that often implied that I must follow the dictates of the man whom I had come to believe was the true servant of God while at the same time suggesting that I must buck the crowd and openly acknowledge the abuses.

No one will find, in my exact footsteps, the exact path of his own life. I believe we will find that notwithstanding the deviations in our course, we crossed the Rubicon together and arrived at the same destination. We became members of a cult. We sacrificed our vision through acceptance of that of a charismatic figure to whom we pledged undying loyalty. Inherent to that sacrifice came a willingness to separate ourselves from others, including family and friends, who failed to see the privileged status to which we had subscribed. We became spiritual elitists. Parasitically, we attached ourselves to the one and only true servant of God in hopes of obtaining exclusive positions in the divine appointment.

You can read Jim Turners memorial page and see photo's of his life in the college and church here:

James Turner Obituary Memorial Page