The overriding folklore of Armstrongism was very wealthy in terms of theories or stereotypes which could be applied to nearly anything which was trending either within the church, or in "the world". Some people did not learn from the failure of 1972-75. They backpedalled and repurposed. In Pasadena, when men began growing beards, moustaches, and long, "rebellious" sideburns and when men and women finally began wearing contemporary clothing styles, the more conservative members of the church believed that the Laodicean era of the church was emerging. Per their revised view, the Germans may not have come on time, but, Laodicea had indeed arrived! This is also when, due to the failure of 1975, members began giving in to their intellectual curiosity and undertaking their own in-depth studies of the Bible (as opposed to proving all things by simply reading and agreeing with church literature!) leading them to doubt, disagree with, and challenge what HWA had laid down as restored truths. Many of the ministers, having similarly suppressed their own questions for years, agreed with these new "dissidents", and began challenging HWA at ministerial conferences. This was quite a sizable group of respected and credible ministers, and it was a phenomenon previously unheard of in HWA's church! It had to be dealt with, and could not be swept under the rug as if it had been the effort of one "misguided" individual who had lost the way.
A mass exodus ensued, one which would never have happened if HWA's prophetic timeline had been inspired by God, and thus proven to be accurate! I was one of the members who was part of that exodus, as were many of my WCG friends! We have to remember that HWA had preached many times in the years leading up to 1972 that obedience to God (as defined by the "truths" he had discovered and taught, which "had not been taught for over 1900 years") were the reason why he alone had the gift to understand the end times prophecies of the Bible. Apparently, the people who remained in the WCG in 1975 had found a work around for this direct association between obedience to correct doctrine and correct understanding of endtimes prophecy. I could not accept HWA's insipid rationalization that "you people in the church were not ready!" Assuming for the moment that the (R)/WCG ever had anything to do with God or Jesus, that dishwater explanation does not fly when compared to the parable of the ten virgins of Matt. 25:1-13, in which the wedding went on!!! It's just that the foolish virgins who were unprepared were left out! This had always been the way of describing the fates of the Laodiceans/Philadelphians, as if there even were such a thing as "church eras" and as if WCG were Philadelphian!
For many, the nightmares gradually decreased and ceased as our lives progressed past HWA's false dates (which he actually had the gall to deny having set, even as "1975 in Prophecy" was pulled from publication (Russian style)). We went on, rededicating our lives to family and career, salvaging them from an artificial and bogus negative stimulus. Some turned to other Christian sources, others to disbelief. We've watched, in an effort to determine whether "the church not being resdy" could in any way have been a valid explanation for the failure of the original Armstrong prophecy mold. Over the past 50 years, apparently not a single one of the Armstrong related churches has ever been "ready", and none have had similar power to HWA's COG to get out an audible warning to the world. Hi! I'd like to introduce myself as one of the kids from the 1950s and '60s. We and our parents are supposedly the generations of the Olivet Prophecy who were warned. So many of us have had good lives, have died, and no Germans have ever arrived. Still, I'd like to thank Mr. Armstrong for my zest for life and accomplishment, which I would not have had, if his "half a gospel" had actually been the truth!
BB
