One of the biggest tools Elijah Dave has in his arsenal is a huge weapon aimed at his membership through his "all things in common" doctrine that he believes he has restored. Because he claims to have restored it he says:
If I am restoring this doctrine, it is incumbent on you to obey it…
Fear is the biggest intimidation technique that Armstrongism has in its arsenal. It has always been a weapon eagerly and effectively used whenever money was in short supply. Fear of losing ones salvation, being marked from the pulpit and kicked out of the church keeps people in line and wallets open.
From Bob Thiel's blog:
Towards the end of that sermon, he decides to define some terms, like ‘common,’ as he said they have a meaning in RCG that many outside RCG do not know and that they should understand:
Also is the term ‘common.’Now that’s a term we use to describe what you see in the very beginning of the New Testament church within two or three verses of God building His church on Pentecost A.D. 31. In Acts 2, it says they had everything in common. Now God’s people today have not been taught that. It was my job to teach it. It’s absolutely biblical that what we have we sell, whatsoever we have we give it to God’s work. That’s why we were called.You’re not allowed to hold on to your own income. It’s all through the Gospels, all through the Book of Acts, and frankly all through the Bible that God’s people have things in common.This will be the single greatest reason many thousands will not come back to God’s church. But others who see the biblical proof, in verse after verse after verse, of this great doctrine that God has used me to restore. It’s impossible to miss it. They will believe that they have to obey it. They will see that salvation is attached to it just as it was with the rich man in Matthew 19. And they will come ready to carry it out.That’s the term common.You’re not allowed to hold on to your own assets.You have an income. You live a wonderful life. Life goes on normally. But if you were called by God, and you’re to participate in His work, and walk in His ways, you have to you have to turn over your assets to God’s church. That’s the pattern. Acts 2, 3, and 4. It’s what Christ said in the last part of Luke 14…Be planning to do it.You’re going to come to be convinced, if you have the Spirit of God, that I am who I say I am. And Mr. Armstrong is who I say he was, and the Bible says who he was. If I am restoring this doctrine, it is incumbent on you to obey it…And it won’t leave you a pauper. It won’t break your life…And there will be those who obey God and those who don’t.And when you hear the term common, think of what I will explain to you, because God uses my office to teach truth, not what God’s covetous enemies do not want you to do so that they don’t lose your support. That term is very important…People do not want you to look into the Bible to see what is impossible, impossible to misunderstand–that is the New Testament church had all things in common. Mr. Armstrong didn’t see it.