UPDATED: Bill Gothard, Institute of Basic Life Principles, The Duggars, Alert Academy, Big Sandy TX, And Armstrongism

 

On June 2, 2023, Amazon released a four-part documentary on the Duggar family, Bill Gothard, Insitute in Basic Life Principles located on the former Ambassador College Campus in Big Sandy, Texas. It is a fascinating expose of how religious fundamentalism rips apart people's lives who are involved in it.

On several Facebook pages dealing with Armstrongism and its damaging effects on the lives of former members, many are discussing how this show eerily parallels many of the things we were taught in Armstrongism, particularly when it comes to obedience, patriarchy, and power structure in the church. 

If you ever watched the Duggars show or even just saw a few clips you quickly saw how subservient the mother was to her husband, how she spoke in a soft voice, and how she dressed in prairie style colting with Puritan collars. The children were always happy with smiling faces and obedient to their parents.

Michelle Duggar dressed like many women in the Worldwide Church of God did, and how some still do in the extreme legalistic groups of Armstrongism today. I remember one Pasadena deacon's wife who always walked behind her husband when they entered the church and stood one step behind him whenever they stood together. She was never exactly beside him or in front of him. Make-up-free and no hair coloring all because of Herbert at one point in the 1980s's forbade makeup for the third or fourth time just to spite his wife he was divorcing. Her dress was always long dresses like what Michelle Dugger wears. This deacon's wife was not the only one like that in the church, there were many others and still are today in the church.

The Gothard empire had several campuses around the country that trained young people and adults in its far-right, fundamentalist, reconstructionist teachings. Many of its extreme teachings centered around sex and the proper place of a woman in the hierarchy. Victims of rape and abuse in this empire were accused of causing the problem because women tend to be harlots that lead men astray. It is always the woman's fault, much like how Armstrongism treated its women at times. Whenever problems of child abuse, rape, and sexual assault came up in Armstrongimsm it was always quickly hushed and the church never talked about it. Most of the time the woman was made out to be the problem for causing it.

A lot of the focus on the show is the arrest and imprisonment of one of the Duggar boys for child pornography and how the Duggar family covered up his abuse. Like the Gothard empire, Armstrongism had a huge problem with sexual predators in the church, from the abuse of children to sexual assaults, stalkings, rapes, and other things the women had to deal with, many times from ordained ministry! All of these things were swept under the rug and hidden from members. Incidentally, that deacon who lorded over his wife was also found out to be sexually abusing Imperial High School boys on trips to Camp River Glenn where he was to be a chaperone. This is the same guy who went on to help start the Global Church of God and Living Church of God where the leadership was all aware of his proclivities.

The Duggars, like all followers of Gothard, homeschool their children with lessons that are so far out there that it borders on absurdity. Sadly, I remember several Pasadena families that used those same lessons to homeschool their kids because Pasadena's schools were too worldly and god forbid, they taught evolution!

Gothard was sued by several women for sexual abuse and they tell of their ordeal in the show. It is also interesting to watch as they kick him out of the Big Sandy Hall of Ad building soon after all of these allegations emerged. The Big Sandy buildings are pictured frequently when it discusses the IBLP and Alert Academy - it's a pseudo-militaristic training ground for teenagers and men in the church with the goal of making them leaders in the world to change society.

It is also interesting to watch the video of the conventions this group had and still does. It looked like a Feast of Tabernacles gathering of Armstrongism with the same slick-talking preachers hoodwinking members with heretical teachings.

Like with Armstrongism, there are thousands who have left the church and they too are not afraid to tell their stories.  The daughter of the Duggars and her husband, relatives, and former members tell chilling and shocking stories about what they believed and how it was to be a member of this fundamentalist cult.

The parallels at times with Armstrongism are eerie. You will not be disappointed in viewing this program.

RCG's Open House - Soon to be THE talk of Wadsworth?

 

Open House Wider

 

The Restored Church of God is determined to make their Open House on June 25 THE talk of Wadsworth.

 

This is an utterly faithless act by David C. Pack and all the hirelings at Headquarters because the Kingdom of God is supposed to arrive on Tammuz 1 at sunset. That is Monday, June 19, to all the regular folks. He made that very clear during “The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 446)” on June 3.

 

Furthering their efforts to get warm bodies on the Campus, RCG paid the Wadsworth Chamber of Commerce to email blast all their members this morning. 

 

 

We warmly invite you to our 2023 Community Open House on

June 25th from 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM

 

Come join us for our Wadsworth Community Open House. We want to help locals understand our mission and far-reaching global impact. Come see the diverse ways we help improve the lives of people of all ages and how we are committed to making a difference around the world, from right here in Wadsworth, OH.

 

We will offer visitors a first-hand look at our outreach and the opportunity to experience the natural beauty of our campus grounds—all of which exemplify our purpose and mission.

 

Guests can gather in our Hall of Administration to learn more about our international reach, youth programs, and video, print, and digital distributions.

 

Invitees are also welcome to enjoy our formal Grand Garden, planted each year in a different design, and our Terrace Lakes area—an arboretum of over 80 varieties of trees, many of them labeled for educational purposes. Additionally, our 100+ acre campus is open for a map-guided driving tour.

 

This is an event you do not want to miss!

 

Guests are welcome to arrive any time after 1:00 pm, with the event concluding at 5:00 pm.

 

(Note: This event is not a membership drive and requires no future obligation or commitment. It is simply a chance to open our campus and show the community what we do.)

 

 

“We will offer visitors a first-hand look at our outreach…” I cannot wait to hear what angle they try to sell with that one. Maybe that is code for offering folks a tour of the Print Shop. Mailing free outdated literature is not exactly setting the world on fire.

 

It would be fun to find out how many drafts this went through and how much blood, sweat, and tears Ed and Dr. Ranney spent to craft such an ambiguous text.

 

“far-reaching global impact” “improve the lives of people” “making a difference”

 

They sure sold me. I registered and got my electronic ticket.

This will probably be a repeat of last year, but it is worth a shot.

 

 

Brad is really taking the bull by the horns. He posted an update in the Wadsworth Facebook groups addressing questions the residents have had. Kinda. I would not be surprised if he wrote this himself. I can envision his smirk as I read the response.

 

It is also worth noting that he is answering some of the questions while dodging them at the same time. He is, after all, the original Enabler in Chief who knows how to fudge numbers.

 

Once you read the text carefully, you can smell Dave’s cologne all over it.

 

 

 

Hello again, Wadsworth neighbours!

 

I have seen quite the reaction since announcing our first Community Open House. Instead of individually addressing all the questions and comments across various groups, I've consolidated some into this post.

 

To begin, we've been amazed by the range of responses. Some are positive, some neutral, and others humorously conspiratorial or driven by misunderstandings/misinformation.

 

The central purpose of this event is to give you the chance to hear from us directly. I'd like you to please bear with the long post as I try to address some of the other most asked questions (apologies if I missed any).

 

Also, thanks to everyone who has registered. There's still space for those who would like to attend!

 

https://2023-rcg-open-house.eventbrite.com

 

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday, June 25, 2023, from 1:00 -5:00 PM.

 

-=-=-

 

Q: "Why is this the first open house after over 20 years?"

A: This takes us a bit into our history. Our Pastor General, David Pack, has been part of the Wadsworth Community since 1990. His now-adult children graduated from Wadsworth High School, and he even delivered a commencement address there one year. Mr. Pack established The Restored Church of God in 1999 after his former organization altered their long-established teachings. We started small on the second floor of 1 Park Centre and expanded our office space as we grew, eventually running out of room in that building. In May 2013, we moved into our new offices at 1000 Ambassador Dr. We were essentially "under construction" until early 2020—then the pandemic hit.

 

Last year, we hosted our first Open House for scores of local vendors we have used in building the campus and the Chamber of Commerce, of which we are long-standing members. After the success of last year’s event, we were excited to invite the wider Wadsworth community.

 

Q: "Why aren't you open 24/7 like many local churches?" "Why do you have a gate?"

A: Our front gate has caused quite a stir in the community. The reality is far less intriguing. The best way to answer both these questions is to point to my description above about our need for "office space."

 

The facilities here at 1000 Ambassador Drive house our World Headquarters. You can think of this as our corporate campus like many organizations have nationwide. Our main building, the largest of the three, is our primary corporate office space (think information technology, website developers, accounts receivable, editorial department, etc.). Our Mail Building across the street from this building houses our print and mailing staff and printing equipment. We produce scores of books, booklets, magazines, etc., that we freely give to the public worldwide. Our Media Center contains a studio and a Media Production team that designs our publications and produces our videos.

 

We do have a congregation that meets weekly in our main building. This would be the closest thing to us being a traditional church in the local community. We also have more traditional-looking congregations in over 70 countries worldwide, with local ministers supporting them. Our corporate facilities in Wadsworth are the main support hub to facilitate, maintain, and produce materials for our members worldwide and the public.

 

Q: "Why are you requiring registration?" "Why are there tickets?"

A: The registration helps us anticipate attendance and communicate updates. None of the information is used for any other purposes. We adhere to a strict non-solicitation policy, following the biblical principle of "freely received, freely give."

 

Q: "What has your church done for the community?"

A: Once again, this is our global headquarters; however, this open house is our attempt to engage more with the local community. Our primary efforts over the last two-plus decades have been on our national and international work and presence. That said, local members live and work here, and our young people have attended Wadsworth's excellent public schools for the last two decades.

 

Further, we strive to improve the properties and homes we have purchased to reflect the quality we see in God. Through our efforts, property values have significantly increased, and many have remarked on how much they appreciate driving by or seeing the beautiful space when visiting neighbouring stores and residences. The transformation of the valley behind the houses along 261 was much hard work, but this hidden gem needs to be seen to be believed.

 

(While it is public record, it may help to know that we also pay property taxes on all our residential homes and most of our corporate campus.)

 

Q: "What about your teaching on…."

A: Although the Bible prohibits Christians from debating or answering accusations, our theological positions on numerous subjects (supported by Bible verses) are publicly available on our website (https://rcg.org/).

 

Q: "Will you be serving Kool-Aid?"

A: We'll have bottled water as it is a healthier alternative to Kool-Aid. 

 

Q: "Can I do photoshoots here?"

A: We've accommodated about a half dozen photoshoot requests and will continue to do so when possible.

 

Q: "Is the press welcome to film this open house?"

A: This event is primarily for the local community, not the press. However, media outlets are welcome to contact us through our usual channels. (It may be worth noting that we have not had any local press reach out to us in the last year.)

 

Q: "Where are you located?"

A: We're at 1000 Ambassador Drive in Wadsworth, just past Giant Eagle. And once again, don't forget to register at: https://2023-rcg-open-house.eventbrite.com

 

Thank you again, and I look forward to seeing you on June 25, 2023!

 

 

“There's still space for those who would like to attend!”

 

There is TONS of space left. Why else would they pay for an email blast?

 

“We were essentially ‘under construction’ until early 2020—then the pandemic hit.”

 

That is not true. There has been some form of construction on the Campus, but nothing that kept an Open House from being done. Nobody will tour the Agriculture Center or the cabins by Mirror Lake. The main part of the Campus that will be toured has been completed long before 2020.

 

“we hosted our first Open House for scores of local vendors…and the Chamber of Commerce”

 

Scores? That is a Dave-word. And that is pretty vague. According to David C. Pack, "a good hundred" came out of the 1300 who were invited. It is hard to imagine anyone being excited by that kind of turnout.

 

“Our Media Center contains a studio”

 

A studio that has not been used since 2017. The video department only produces Sabbath Services. The last time public video content was created in the Media Center was in October 2022. Even David C. Pack’s messages are not edited. Someone hits Record. Someone hits Stop. Then, they post it to Member Services as is.

 

“Our primary efforts over the last two-plus decades

have been on our national and international work and presence.”

 

Brad really means, "We have a website, and it just sits there." There is no Work going on with The Restored Church of God. The work and presence is pampering David C. Pack’s ego while they all pretend the man is not mentally deteriorating as his failed prophetic teachings pile sky high. His doctrines bounce back and forth faster than a Ping-Pong match. And Brad knows all of this.

 

 

If Dawn Blue and I are not able to attend (she also got her ticket), then we will be across the street on June 25 to count how many show up for the Open House. Plus, we plan on doing live on-site updates posted to social media.

 

For those interested in joining us, please write exrcgwebsite@gmail.com.

Marc Cebrian

See: Open House Wider

The Hornet Promise: Classical Armstrongism and its Confusing Native American Policy

 

Quanah Parker, Comanche War Chief

The Hornet Promise

Classical Armstrongism and its Confusing Native American Policy

By Huckleberry

Back a few decades ago, my wife and I were eating in a restaurant with a WCG couple in a large city in the American Southwest.  He was a long-standing deacon and prominent in the congregation.  We were just beginning to eat when he went off on a tirade about Hispanics and Native Americans living in the State.  The summation was that those people did not belong in the United States and this land was not theirs.  It was Israel’s land and they should have been driven out.  His wife, fork in hand, said in an emphatic voice, “God said to wipe them out!”  My heart sank for three reasons.  First, I am of Native American descent.   Second, the couple knew I was of Native American descent.  Three, I had heard this view expressed many times before but it always surprised me.  You don’t often hear someone blatantly advocate genocide when you were expecting to enjoy a little “Christian” fellowship in a leisurely setting.  The deacon later became an avid Trump follower.  And this little tawdry piece of WCG history furnishes the backdrop to this essay. 

Misidentification of Native Americans as Canaanites

For those who are still trying to hawk Herman Hoeh’s ideas, their nemesis is the science of genetics.  I will not go into detail but, in general, genetics demonstrates that Herman Hoeh was dramatically wrong about the identity of races of people and their migrations.  Hoeh asserted that Native Americans are descendants of Canaan and this was a nice fit with British-Israelism.   Native Americans became the inhabitants of the land that “Israel” was to inherit, North America, and their role in “Israel’s” national destiny was described in the book of Deuteronomy (Deut. 7:1-5). 

But scientists now know that Native Americans are a combination of early Eurasians (who looked like Europeans) and East Asians.  And these two groups of people mixed before that invaded North America from Beringia.   They also know that there is genetic continuity between the Canaanites and the later Phoenicians and finally the modern-day Lebanese.  Hoeh had Native Americans and many other peoples profoundly misidentified.   For more on this, see:

https://armstrongismlibrary.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-patriarch-canaan-classical.html

A Patchwork Dogma 

 It is difficult to say what the Armstrongist dogma on the Native Americans actually is.  Publications issued from the Armstrongist press are at odds with what is believed in the Pulpit and in the Pews.  And WCG leadership seems to have made no effort to reconcile the Press, the Pulpit and the Pews.  Perhaps, no effort was made to achieve consistency because it just was not an important topic.  Or maybe the Press had a public profile to be careful about and the Pulpit and Pews did not so they followed separate courses. 

The Armstrongist Press published a very empathetic article about Native Americans in the February 1973 issue of the Plain Truth Magazine.  It offered Armstrongist solutions to social problems but it was positively inclined to Native Americans.  The July-August 1973 issue of the Plain Truth Magazine condemned genocide as a great evil and cited the decimation of the Native Americans in support of this view.   Garner Ted Armstrong, in a personal letter to me, stated that he had never heard his Dad say anything negative about Native Americans.  Herbert W. Armstrong was of Quaker background and it is worth mentioning that the Quaker colonists always had a special interest in helping Native Americans and fared well with Native American tribes while other early American colonists, such as the Scots-Irish, did not.  Later, President Grant turned over the operation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Quakers in certain territories.  Finally, at a Friday evening Bible Study back in the Seventies in the Field House at Big Sandy, Ronald Dart received a question from the audience.  Someone asked if Native Americans should have been exterminated.  Dart promptly answered, no, that if God had wanted that he would have sent a prophet to the President in Washington, D.C. and would have informed the President of that. 

By contrast, in the ministry and laity of the WCG, one found a different disposition towards Native Americans.  I have many anecdotes like the one that begins this essay.  I will add one more.  I was at a Bible Study in the WCG congregation in a large Midwestern city.  A Pastor and a Local Church Elder were giving the study on stage in a large auditorium.  The LCE went through an explanation of how God wanted the Canaanites to be destroyed so the Israelites would not follow after their gods.  This he then applied to Native Americans and further explained that they should have been exterminated by European settlers of North America so that people would not adopt Native American religions.  He made some reference to totem poles.  This struck me as being very unusual because European settlers brought their religious package with them and there is no history of Europeans adopting Native American religions.  Native American religions typically died a swift death after the European contact. But the really odd aspect of this is that the Pastor did not correct the LCE regarding this outlandish view.  So, the audience received a message of necessary genocide with tacit acceptance from the Armstrongist Pulpit. 

Overall, the idea of exterminating Native Americans was never published, that I can find, by the WCG Headquarters Press.  But it was fairly widely believed in the Pulpit and the Pews.  It is difficult to believe that Headquarters did not know about this unless there was rigorous control of information flowing from the local areas back to headquarters. 

The Hornet Promise:  Armstrongism Misses the Mark

The Pulpit and the Pews were also burdened by a misinterpretation of scripture on this topic.  The ministry and the laity, in my experience, always seem to resort to the argument that the early European settlers of North America did not exterminate the Native Americans as God intended and this was a part of their national sin for which God would punish them.  This was a nicely parallel to the Old Testament scenario of the settling of the Promised Land by ancient Israel.  And this view clearly emphasizes the need for a violent genocide.  And it seems to justify how Native Americans were actually treated by the early European settlers.  The idea being that the Native Americans got treated badly but they really should have been totally exterminated so they got off easy.  I heard a similar explanation to this in Spokesman Club.  But this approach does not agree with the Biblical scenario. 

God did not originally intend for the Israelites to fight against the Canaanites.  And he did not intend for the Canaanites to be exterminated.  This is pointed out in the Jewish Study Bible in the gloss for Deut. 7:2. The gloss refers the reader to Exodus 23.  Exodus 23: 27-29 (ESV) states the Hornet Promise:

“I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.  And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.” 

But something happened between the time of the Hornet Promise and the entry into Palestine:

“Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The LORD your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’  Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the LORD your God (Deut 1: 29-32, ESV”

The outcome is that the Israelites are in the Book of Joshua full participants in the conquest.  God instructs all the men of the Trans-Jordan tribes to cross to assist.  When they descend on Jericho, the Priests and the people form the invading host.   The Hornet Promise was that Israel would just be observing.  Now, after their unfaithfulness, they must shed blood.  The violence is a punishment not a tool of righteousness. 

The focus of the Armstrongist Pulpit and Pews is on the fact that the Israelites did not wipe out the Canaanites and thereby sinned.  The focus should be on the fact that the Israelites did not trust in God so that they would not have to fight at all.  The call for genocide from some quarters should have been a call, instead, for trust so that genocide could be avoided.  The Armstrongist who espoused these ideas did not go back far enough in the chain of cause and effect.  They stopped short of God’s original intent.  And this cloaked the real issue of trust in God and made it look like the destruction of the Native Americans was a justified and maybe even a patriotic action in American History (the connection to patriotism was also something I heard is Spokesman Club).

Overall, it is difficult to say what the actual Armstrongist dogma on Native Americans actually was.  If we had a time machine we could go back and conduct some interviews so we could establish what people actually had in their hearts beyond what writing has come down to us.  I would characterize the dogma as being inconsistent. 

The Scope of the Advocacy of Genocide

I have heard many WCG members speak favorably about the extermination of Native Americans.  I have no idea what percentage of Armstrongists held this view.  I heard it often enough to believe it was common.  Moreover, this essay draws upon views circulating during the period of Classical Armstrongism.  I have no idea what the various small denominations derived from the old WCG currently believe on this topic.  In the Classical Armstrongism period, I never actually understood if proponents of genocide actually knew what they were saying.  To be sure, they did not see a role for the WCG in such a campaign.  They saw it as something that European settlers should have done.  The WCG understood that the ministration of death had been vacated.  But if someone believes in their heart that the ethics of the Old Testament requires and approves genocide and this is a guideline even yet for the modern people of “Israel”, is that not in some way horrifically corrupting?  Does it not evoke hatred when Jesus said if you hate someone you have murdered them and this is not to be for Christians?  I used to comfort myself by thinking that people in the WCG who blithely advocated genocide just did not understand what they were saying.  But, in the last analysis, I do not know how far in the direction of “holy” violence some of these people would go.  When Armstrongists delve into politics, it is surprising how extremist some will become.

Summary Argument

Native Americans are not genetically Canaanites.  The people of Lebanon have genetic continuity with the ancient Canaanites and they are also, incidentally, very closely related to the Jews.  God promised an evacuation of the Promised Land that would involve using hornets to chase the Canaanites out.  But because Israel lacked trust in God, Israelites eventually were required to have a role in the blood-letting and the killing of men, women and children.  Likely, the Canaanites were a contributive cause by stubbornly hanging onto the land.  They actually had many overseas colonies and could have relocated over time.  God did not want them to leave suddenly anyway.  The decrees given by God to Israel governing the expulsion of the Canaanites should not be applied to Native Americans, Australian Aborigines, Maoris, South African Blacks or Laplanders (none of these people are Canaanites) in order to concoct a gratifying fit with British-Israelism.  Moreover, anyone who is a Christian should focus on the problem of lack of trust on the part of the Israelites as the object lesson of the conquest of Canaan, rather than some latter-day, unloving, un-Christian and callous invocation of genocide.