The documented personal stories continue to be published year after year by those that have escaped from the clutches of Armstrongism. In spite of these books many still sit in COG's believing nothing is wrong with their belief system.
Peter Black lives near Brisbane Australia and was introduced by his
parents to life in a powerful, destructive and fundamentalist religious
cult at the early age of 3. Most of his childhood, teenage and adult
years were shaped by the twisted and fear-filled belief system of the
Worldwide Church of God, until he walked out of the group when 34 years
old. As just a small child himself, Peter heard many times the horrible
and sickening sound of children being bashed week after week during
church because of the cult’s insistence on this for even small
misdemeanors. Also the author lost a number of friends who went on to
suicide due to lives totally wrecked by Herbert W Armstrong’s so-called
Christian Church. As if this wasn’t enough, the author has been
vision impaired all his life. He says the Worldwide Church of God was a
lonely place to grow up because he was rejected by most of his peers who
just couldn’t deal with someone who has a disability. Peter says people
with disabilities were seen as having a “blemish” within the cruel
sect. Despite all of that, Peter pulled his own life back from the
brink and then went on to work with a number of other cult survivors in a
similar position with their own lives. As well, the author gave a
presentation entitled “the cult which almost changed the world” at a
meeting of the “cult information and family support” (CIFS) support
group in Brisbane during 2011. The writer believes that the recovery
needs of religious cult survivors are poorly understood, even by many
professional counselors and he says “who better to write a book on the
subject than another cult survivor”. From Fear to Freedom concludes
with a resource list of support organizations, some of which are of a
general nature and others dedicated to assisting survivors from many
different cultic groups. The book itself will help anyone who has left a
damaging cult to put a wrecked life back together, just like Peter did.
Buy it here in Kindle or paperback:
From Fear to Freedom
