Happy Holy-Ween!

Spare Not The Rod: Beat Them Into Submission?

Samuel Martin has written two books recently.  One is on spanking and the other is on The Mark of Cain.  Samuel is the son of Ernest Martin.  Earnest Martin has to be one of Armstrongism's more intelligent men who when he left the fold made a name for himself in the the archeology and Biblical community. His books and writings have been widely read and quoted.

Samuel was also a child of the Worldwide Church of God and was impacted by spanking.  He was around when Garner Ted came out with his Child Rearing book.  For some church kids their  lives  soon became a living hell.

When Carn Catherwood, fresh out of Ambassador College, was appointed to Cincinnati as pastor, he came in spouting Ted's and HWA's decrees as dogma.  Catherwood had no kids of his own at that time, yet told older members how they should be disciplining their children.

He soon had the Spokesmen Clubs making one inch thick paddles about 16 inches long.  He had them drill holes though the paddles to cut down wind resistance.  He instructed parents from the pulpit that when their children misbehaved they were to be taken immediately to the restroom and spanked.  20 swats was the required number to give.  He also expected to hear the child cry, even if it was during his sermon.  You would see children hugging their parents as they were being taken out for swats yelling, "Please Daddy NO! Please don't spank me!"

Samuel has a web site up and a blog where he has information on why spanking was NOT used by early Christians and was also not a thing that was done by Jews.


Samuel writes:

Fact: The Bible does not teach that spanking a child will save him from Hell.

Fact: The Bible does not teach that spanking a child should bring tears.

Fact: In Bible times, the texts concerning spanking children found in Proverbs were not applied to young children under the age of about 10 years!

Fact: Many respected Christian theologians including St. Augustine, Dr. Karl Barth and Rev. Dwight Moody rejected spanking children.

Fact: Many Biblically conservative Jewish Rabbis, who have the Old Testament as their Holy Scripture, reject spanking children today.

Fact: The main Christian advocates for spanking children now are not usually trained Christian theologians teaching in universities, but most often are conservative fundamentalist Christian pastors, Christian politicians, Christian psychologists, lay church members and Christian school leaders.

Fact: Well meaning Christian advocates of spanking children have developed doctrines surrounding what they believe the Bible teaches about spanking children which are not found in the Bible at all.

Fact: Well meaning Children's Rights activists, who are not trained Bible scholars, have entered this debate attacking the Bible with disastrous results.

His to web sites are:  Christians and the Spanking Controversy
 and Blog:  Samuel Martin Blog 

Armstrongism's Magical God At Work Today In Pasadena

I just love Armstrongism's magical God that performs such dramatic miracles while children are starving to death around the world.  Our god was such a merciful god!

Craig W (from South of the Equator)

Today I visited Barnes 'n Noble Bookshop in Old Pasadena; Archive Bookstore
in Pasadena (that Dr Hoeh used to frequent); Fuller Seminary bookstore and
cafe in Pasadena; and finally the Huntington Library & Botanical Gardens.

What was so odd was that I was going to leave the Archive Bookstore and said
a quick prayer that if there was any book in it that might assist with my
researches, it would be nice to find it. Lo! I then lent over to pick a book
out of a bookcase it was 'The Prophecies of Daniel' by Louis Talbot. Talbot
is the man Hoeh used to listen to in the 1940s on the radio and Talbot is
referred to in my article on Hoeh! Coincidence or answered prayer?

Woo  Spooky!

Japanese Tsunami Trash Will Bring America To It's Knees

Why is  Armstrongism such an embarrassment? Why is logic never embraced? Why is reason missing?

http://lewrockwell.com/spl3/tsunami-debris-head-to-hawaii.html

It appears to me that God is going to bring America to its knees--Are we praying that God will grant us repentance?? This all could be turned aside if we prayed with alll our hearts--I mean the whole punishment. But also God could send this trash to that Pacific vortex of trash the same as he has turned hurricanes aside from feast sites.  

Let the trash go pollute some pagan gentile country, just as hurricanes can be diverted to kill others while COG members bask in bliss

The fact that Lew Rockwell is brought into the equation also speaks volumes on Armstrongism!

Another interesting observation is the tag line that the woman who posted the above uses:

Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.~~Albert Schweitzer

I think she needs to practice what she preaches!  Maybe the trash is headed towards America because we have the resources to clean it up, which some poorer country might not be able to do. When we take on the burdens of others, it lightens their load, just a thought...

The Narcissistic Leader: Not as Good as He (Or You) May Think

We have all seen first hand the narcissistic leadership that has dominated the COG's over the last 70 some years.  Today it is  blatantly brought to the forefront by COG leaders such as Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Rod Meredith, Ron Weinland and others.  These men run their respective cults like tyrants, spitting and shouting to get their points across all the while claiming to be the most sinless, humble,  loyal servants of god on earth.

Studies have shown that people look upon narcissistic leaders as "good leaders" in the leadership department while disagreeing with their methods.

Here is an interesting article discussing a test that was done and three individuals and their groups to see how people perceived them as leaders.  Narcissistic leaders who withheld information tended to be lifted higher as leaders while those leaders who shared information, had empathy, listened and valued the opinions of the lone wolf,  had more dramatic results but were considered poor leaders.

What is discussed below is a good indicator on how we looked at leadership in the COG.  Strong dynamic leaders always withheld information from the lower masses, they were forceful in their management skills, walked all over people and tended to treat most people like pond scum, yet were looked upon as  effective leaders.

We tended to look down upon those men who were empathetic, had deep concern for others, allowed questions, and who tended to get down and get their hands dirty right along side the rest of the membership.  While we might have liked those qualities, we actually looked upon these men as ineffective as strong leaders.  Rod Meredith certainly would not have liked them!

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  The Narcissistic Leader: Not as Good as He (Or You) May Think

  
  

  Maria Konnikova in Artful Choice

  In most circumstances, narcissism doesn’t go over well. We tend not to like individuals who exhibit arrogance or too much dominance or hostility—all traits associated with the narcissist. But there’s one big exception to the rule: leadership. For some reason, when we rate narcissists on leadership ... Read More