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Fear Religion: Herbert Armstrong and the All Powerful Satan

I made a very strong statement in my last submission, where I said that I believed that the Worldwide Church of God was not a Christian Church - because of it's focus on the power of the Enemy. I mentioned a Worldwide News Article which put a lot of focus - not on the saving power of Jesus Christ - but on the extreme influence that Herbert believed Satan was having on the Church. 

The message he was giving the Church on December 8, 1980 was not by any means a Christian message of reassurance of the power of Christ. The message was a message which was completely and totally wrapped in a suffocating dose of fear of the enemy, lest you start to think in any way against him, the Church, the Church's Government, doctrine, or the ministers - lest suddenly you come under the influence of the evil one. Check out these quotes. 

FROM THE WORLDWIDE NEWS, DECEMBER 8, 1980 

"If you allow a bit of self-centeredness, vanity, covetousness, envy or jealousy, spirit of competition or resentment of authority - especially that of the Government of God and His Church - to enter your mind - if you begin to act on such impulse, you have already entered Satan's way." 

The Christian focus would not be stating "you have already entered Satan's way" - that's fear religion. The Christian focus would have talked about prayer, and that the Battle belongs to God through the victory of Christ. It would be focusing and centered on Christ, not on how you are slipping into the depths of the abyss because of your failures and imperfections. Because when you start to focus on what you are doing wrong all the time, you aren't focusing on the positive, but the negative, and your growth is stunted. It's amazing how much of this entire diatribe is resolutely and powerfully negative. 

Then Herbert says: 

"I would never want to put myself in the hands of a psychiatrist or therapist. If one would ask me to totally relax my mind, and let my mind be blank, I would immediately rise up and walk away. If I should obey I might open the door of my mind to a demon." 

More fear religion! It's as if he never believed that Christ is in you, anyway! Where's Christ in you? Where's God? If you let your mind calm down, if you let your thoughts ease - was he saying Christ was never in you in the first place? Is he saying that Satan is more powerful than Christ? That letting your mind be blank in calmness forces out the Holy Spirit or Christ in you? Because that certainly sounds like that's what he's saying, isn't it? Herbert said: 

"Under normal circumstances, NO ONE NEED FEAR A DEMON MAY TAKE POSSESSION, unless you open your mind by letting it be blank, or under control of another, or you lose your mind in an emotional angry rage" 

There's no "unless". If you have Christ in you, you are a new creation. This is biblical. The old is gone, the new has come. You are under control of Christ. He has purchased you. He has adopted you. His fruits are evident in you. The Holy Spirit resides with you. Having a calm and sound mind - peaceful (blank) doesn't case Christ out or allow Satan in. Christ is far more powerful than that! Where's the power of Christ? I am often amazed how many times Herbert relegates Christ to one of the most innefective, wimpiest, non-powerful entities ever to exist in his writings - utterly powerless in so many ways. 

Then Herbert says: 

"Satan is going about seeking whom he may destroy from God's Church and Kingdom. Don't let the one he destroys be YOU!"

Again. Where's the power of Christ? Where's the message of Adoption? Reconciliation? Victory? And is the Battle the Lord's - or ours? Who told us to fight our own battles? The Battle IS the Lord's - and were we taught this? 

Here is one of the most Anti-Gospel things that Herbert Armstrong ever said:

"Don't think, well that applied to them, not to ME! Be sure you do not start, even so little at first, even in Satan's direction. Let no jealousy or contention of any kind against another -whether another member or another YOUR RANK in the Work, even start to KINDLE in your mind! For God is NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS. For if God spared not even the ANGELS that sinned He would no more spare YOU!"

Is Jesus emphasized here? No. Is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit emphasized here? No. Are the fruits of the Spirit listed here? No. The message here is fear of Satan, not living in the presence of Jesus Christ. For the Believer, the Devil has no power - a message absolutely absent from Herbert's anti-Christian message. Where is the Lord at all in this diatribe? Anywhere? No, the message he gives is that there is not an indwelling Holy Spirit working in and with you. The picture that is painted is of an absent Holy Spirit and an open door to an empty house, where there is no Jesus, and no Spirit, and no indwelling Christ in you, where the slightest sinful thought or action sends Jesus cowarding aside, where there is no room for repentance and forgiveness as an adopted Son of God - just FEAR of a devil that will creep in at the slightest wayward thought. What kind of Gospel message is this? Where's the victory over sin and death the Bible talks about? Where's the power of God? Where's the "new creation"? Where's any Christian message in any of this? Herbert said "If God spared not even the ANGELS that sinned he would no more spare YOU!". HELLO! John 3:16 Says that God so loved the World that He (ALREADY) gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life! HELLO, JESUS has already spared us through his death, resurrection and life! Who is he talking to here? Believers, or unbelievers? Christians, or non-Christians? I say again, WHERE is Jesus Christ in ANY OF THIS? 

Let me make this stronger. Was JESUS MENTIONED AT ALL? Not in the Context of the Gospel. Not in the Context of victory in Jesus Christ. Here was Herbert's message in a nutshell: 'Satan is wrathful against the Government of God and if you go against the Government of God you let Satan in." Meaning, the Church - meaning Herbert Armstrong. 

Herbert says in this article if ONE POINT of "truth" is rejected, the Spirit of God "leaves you". Where is this biblical? Where is "I'll never leave you, never forsake you?" In retrospect, we can know that a lot of what Herbert taught was not truth - but lies. A lot of what was taught was unscriptural, presumptuous, and heretical - and when it came to prophecy, outright and blatant lies. This is what you were told not to reject, or "the Spirit" would leave you. What was the truth here? Was it what Herbert told us - or what history reveals the actual, real truth actually was? 

This entire diatribe was written during a time of "attack" on the Worldwide Church of God by the State of California in December of 1980. What this really was was fear religion - trying to keep people on board the Church, his idea of government, his key points on the Sabbath and Holy Days - making people believe any rejection of THESE POINTS - was akin to rejecting Jesus Christ - and opens the door to the devil. He would use language like these two sentences - which are his direct quotes, over and over: 

"Satan is more subtle and diabolically clever than we, many times over." 

"Now Satan will try harder than ever." 

Instead of focusing on the power of Jesus Christ, the love of God, the indwelling of the Spirit, Christ in us, the Holy Spirit as Teacher and Instructor, the adoption of sonship we have in Christ, the New Creation we are in Christ through Jesus, the reconciliation of mankind to the Father, and our personal relationship with the Living Christ - a relationship not built in fear, but in victory - a relationship built in love and atonement with God - we were told that all of that did not matter in the event we doubt or actually think negatively about any of the lies that we were told. The devil was used as a trap to keep people from seeing the truth about Freedom in Christ and Christ in Us in His victory through Him. I sure never saw THESE scriptures mentioned!!!

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart…” Psalm 91: 1-4

"This is what the Lord says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's. 2 Chronicles 20:19

"In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. - Romans 8:37

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." - 1 Corinthians 15:57

“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts.”- Zechariah 4:6

"But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one". - 2 Thessalonians 3:3

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." - John 16:33

“One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you." - Joshua 23:10

submitted by SHT

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