Spiders and Snakes

Narcissism and the Rise of Split/Splinter and Sliver Apostles

Until I was about 45, I never knew what a narcissist was , or at least had only vague ideas of what the mental state of one given to such actually meant.  In hind sight , and in my own WCG experience, I was surrounded by them and it should be obvious now after all these years of the rising Apostles, Prophets and Wanna Be's , the Worldwide Church of God, was infested with them waiting for the right time to rise to their perceptions of ministry and power.  I do recall a few times listening to the sermons or ideas of or having to react to members rage at what their local minister was doing to the local church or to them personally, and wondering whatever happened to "Let him who is greatest among you be your servant."?   I understand Ron Dart also noticed that and said as far as he was concerned that was the only scripture about Church Government that mattered. Yet it certainly has escaped the split/splinter and sliver types beyond comprehension.

We have all here on Banned heard the term and seen it defined but let's remind ourselves:

A 2012 book on power-hungry narcissists suggests that narcissists typically display most, and sometimes all, of the following traits:^[7]

• An obvious self-focus in interpersonal exchanges
• Problems in sustaining satisfying relationships
• A lack of psychological awareness (see insight in psychology and psychiatry, egosyntonic)
• Difficulty with empathy
• Problems distinguishing the self from others (see narcissism and boundaries)
• Hypersensitivity to any insults or imagined insults (see criticism and narcissists, narcissistic rage and narcissistic injury)
• Vulnerability to shame rather than guilt
• Haughty body language
• Flattery towards people who admire and affirm them (narcissistic supply)
• Detesting those who do not admire them (narcissistic abuse)
• Using other people without considering the cost of doing so
• Pretending to be more important than they actually are
• Bragging (subtly but persistently) and exaggerating their achievements
• Claiming to be an "expert" at many thing
• Inability to view the world from the perspective of other people
• Denial of remorse and gratitude

It is not just a male Apostle issue

Why those who still follow those who have risen to the top of the ash heap of the WCG , with all of their obvious inflated views of themselves , to the point of seeing themselves spoken of in the scriptures , remain blind to this psychological state of mind in their leaders is beyond me.  It seems the mind grows numb when the more outlandish and ridiculous the claims of the leader are repeated weekly from their bully pulpits.

They ARE wrong, wrong, wrong in their bold pronouncements , over and over and over again, and still the sheep are stuck in the pen hanging on every word.  It goes against the natural reaction of humans to quickly release or brush off a spider or a snake. Why not in these cases?  Is the message so strong and so threatening as to what will happen to YOU if you don't believe ME, the member goes brain dead and cannot think critically about what they are being told?  Are they afraid they will "not make it into the Kingdom"? or get fried like the errant Jews and non-RCG types?

How many times can one be bullied into selling homes, sending in retirement monies or giving property and resources to these wolves in wolves clothing?  Why do they quickly believe it when a man says, "And yes Brethren, I am an Apostle" as if just declaring it makes it so.  Not to mention getting "double portioned" under dubious circumstances.  And the many many more blatantly stupid and false statements these offshoot Apostles make that we are all very familiar with here at Banned.

If you are a lurking follower of Mr. David C Every Title in the Bible is ME, Gerald Just Leave Your Families Behind and Follow ME, Ron I Will Get It Right Someday, Bob We and ME at the Continuing Church of God , Rod I'm Not Kidding Fellows and Girls or any other human being who feels compelled to tell you how all of life, history and the Bible points to them, take a good read of the common and well known traits of the narcissists among us and those given to religious delusions about themselves and think it over long and hard.  Your own future mental health and that of your family and children are definitely at stake. 

Ian Boyne, The Journal, Ambassador Watch and This Blog

The Journal: Issue 188

The latest issue of The Journal is out and there is an article by Lonnie Hendricks (an occasional contributor here) concerning Ian Boyne venturing into the lions den of this blog and Ambassador Watch.

The post that Ian contributed to was this one: LCG Preaches The Godly Love Is The Most Important Quality the evolved into a discussion of the policy of the COG when it comes to disfellowshipping members, Ian had this to say:

The response of Anonymous 12:23 is a perfect example of my thesis that the elephant in the room is the Bible---at least if one is applying a conservative hermeneutic to it. The Bible clearly gives the ministry the right to excommunicate for doctrinal reasons.Does Anonymous disagree with that? Even liberal scholars would admit that ,while saying one might choose to ignore those passages in favor of a higher principle To say that Winnail was unloving simply he applied a tool which we all knew upon becoming members was a part of the church's toolbox is, respectfully, nonsense. All organizations have rules of association and dissociation.I don't know the particular case It might well have been an abusive disfellowshipment But to suggest the act itself is contrary to Doug Winnail's pronouncement of love is a non-sequitur.

I personally as a minister choose not to disfellowship for doctrinal disagreement I consider most of the doctrinal disagreements my congregants have to be inconsequential and even those which might be significant I don't disfellowship for because I have the pulpit to counter them I don't doubt my ability to do so. In my congregation I have a group of fellows who routinely on the sabbath discuss all kinds of doctrinal ideas and freely disagree with what is taught from the pulpit They pose no threat and they are going nowhere for they can find no better alternative and fully see the bankruptcy of orthodox Christianity. This another Jesus, another Gospel that Anonymous refers to seems to be coming from that foolish, reactionary view that any emphasis on Christ is Protestantism through the back door. The same obscurantist nonsense that caused Charles Bryce to leave Living. Some of the fanatics will leave Living to go elsewhere because of the small reforms taking place there which Chief Pharisee Malm deplores.But the ministry has the right to withdraw the hand of fellowship Look at the harsh, strident words Paul had for those teaching a different doctrine. While Armstrongism continues to accept the Bible as its rule book, you can continue to expect disfellowshipment In my view it ,is used far too frequently and carelessly and often is a mask for the theological incompetence of ministers Here in Jamaica I offer a platform for those who disagree and I use the pulpit to proclaim the tenets of Armstrongism so that the membership is firmly grounded in Biblical truth Yes, in my view Armstrongism represents Biblical truth I hold that provisionally and tentatively ,fully aware that I could well be proven wrong. I keep reading widely so if I am wrong,I will, hopefully, find out and then renounce Armstrongism. If there is any book anyone wants to recommend or any scholarly material which might prove useful in opening my eyes ,please recommend it And yes I have already read all the scandal-revealing books like Tangled Web, as well as those by Marion McNair, John Tuit, William Hinson --every single one written by every ex-member And ,yes ,every issue of Ambassador Report .Give me some intellectual arguments now.

But, please ,let's not talk foolishness about disfellowshipment automatically and necessarily indicating a lack of love Ian Boyne

March 28, 2016 at 3:20 PM 

Because I want people to freely comment, I rarely contribute to the conversations. I feel the people should have the ability to express what they need to say, though I will delete an occasional post from obviously nasty people.  What this has allowed is scores of LCG members and other COG members to find a place here that they can comment and express their frustration at the current state of affairs of their respective churches.

Ian and I did however have several email exchanges which were rather pleasant. I think he was surprised that I was not an atheist with a chip on my shoulder.  I also told him that if we ever sat down to talk about things that we would probably have more in common than he imagined.
It is quit obvious though that he and I both do not agree on some things.

I find his take on "reimagining Armstrongism" interesting, though I see no way imaginable that it could survive in the long run.  There are too many bodies scattered along the road over the last 80 some years to make preserving Armstrongism as a viable belief system.