Found this on the web. Worth a read on how the whore-mongering prophecy authors make big money!
“The single best-selling nonfiction book of the 1970s was not The Joy of Sex or even The Joy of Cooking; it was Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth.”[] It was declared by the New York Times to be the “no. 1 non-fiction bestseller of the decade.”[] Estimates put sales at more than 15 million copies before the close of the decade. Since then, it has sold nearly 30 million copies worldwide and remains in print today as evidence of Bible prophecy’s staying power even in light of its shop-worn predictions. “As Lindsey says himself, ‘The future is big business.’”[]
Prophecy Writers Spreading Misinformation – Godfather Politics.
But wait, there’s more!
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The Worldwide church of God attempted to annihilate peoples personality, individuality, will, and character. The stranded souls that hitched their wagon to this organization unknowingly supported a power-hungry pharisaic and fastuous authoritative cult leader and his son, Garner Ted Armstrong. For all the alarums and excursions, the fact remains that without knowing it, we nurtured these two ungrateful incubi's. For that I can only ask for forgiveness.
After my WCG experience, I went to college to educate myself so I would have a greater understanding of the world about me and to understand why I ever fell for HWA's scam religion. This lead me to the conclusion that the appropriate action to take, in my judgment, is to provide people with opportunities to learn, develop, and exercise their potential as human beings, by freeing them from men who exploit and abuse them. This website and others are my vehicle to do just that.
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Well, OK, I get it: Forget facts of the Painful Truth, the logic of Armstrong Delusion and whatever I’ve published — it’s all rubbish! Armstrongists are not interested in facts and find logic boring and confusing. What they need is good old fashioned emotional hyperbole!!!!! (Maybe I should have used all caps in some of the words of the preceding sentence!!!!)
So what false prophecy of world shaking hyperbole should we consider writing?
It’s the only way the Armstrongists will take notice of us. Maybe something out of the Book of Revelation about the water of the earth being poisoned. We could develop that into a scenario where people become insane with mental disorders and the governments of the world topple in chaos, only to have a counterfeit seemingly sane leader who rises from the ashes (of entropy) to give the world new visions of hope. But it is a trap — a trap of slavery — slavery to entrap hundreds of millions of people in the United States and British Commonwealth into a false religion, headed by a great false prophet with a Beast Power of government headed by some powerful church or other (it can’t be Catholics, because the Vatican just doesn’t have enough umph these days). We can get people excited; make it seem real and imminent (in the next five to seven years).
It’s worth a try.
Facts, logic, history, emotionally charged stories of abuse, narcissism (and other mental disorders), stalking, fondling, financial ruin, deaths, screwed up children and childhoods, adultery, ministerial malfeasance and proven false prophecies, just don’t cut it.
It will have to be entertaining. It should contain elements of paranoia. There should be intrigue. There should be conspiracies. There should be lurid tales to appeal to prurient interests (like torture). There should be speculation. We will need to play to the innate anger, fear and vengeance of the Armstrongists. It should also make it clear that the only way to be saved from all this is to join up with us, because all the other groups just won’t provide the place of safety and security we have to offer. We’ll also have to invent some sort of sacrifice they will have to make, to appeal to their sense of persecution and martyrdom (in spite of the fact that one must die to be a true martyr).
Any suggestions?
Where is Mark Lax when we really need him?
[For those who have just joined us or are more than a bit dense, this is satiric irony… mostly, so don’t get snarky. Well, OK, you can get snarky, but we will ignore you.]
The truth is, these sorts of people don’t seem to realize how stupid their belief system and behaviors make them look.
And not a single prophecy can ever be rescued. Recycled maybe, but not rescued.
[History doesn’t repeat itself, it just rhymes.]
Meanwhile, you all might catch “Prophets of Doom” on the H2, More 2 History Channel. It will keep you busy sorting out reality from fiction, just like all the years in the WCG. I’m not decided: Water? Oil? Finances? What’s your opinion? (Artificial Intelligence is just stupid.)
Or maybe you can peruse “The Earth Dies Screaming: Radiation Threats From Beyond” Science Fact by Adrian L. Melott in the March 2012 Analog Magazine. Hey, he’s good: He even quotes Jeremiah 9:4! Our own sun may do us in one of these days, sort of like it did 1859, only brighter. Gamma Radiation has hit us before (actually once a day — but not that we’d notice) and seems overdue for a major extinction event any day now. All life on earth wiped in just a few seconds. All it takes is for a couple of neutron stars to merge.
I highly recommend the definitive study, “When Prophecy Fails” by Leon Festinger, Henry W. Riecken and Stanly Schachter. It is a study which was a project of the Laboratory for Research in Social Relations of the University of Minnesota.
Few things could be more damning to false prophecy….
When Prophecy Fails. A 1956 classic book in social psychology by Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley Schachter about a UFO religion that believes the end of the world is at hand.
“Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance can account for the psychological consequences of disconfirmed expectations. One of the first published cases of dissonance was reported in the book, When Prophecy Fails (Festinger et al. 1956). Festinger and his associates read an interesting item in their local newspaper headlined “Prophecy from planet Clarion call to city: flee that flood.” A housewife from Chicago (changed to “Michigan” in the book), given the name “Marian Keech” (real name: Dorothy Martin (1900–1992), later known as Sister Thedra[1]), had mysteriously been given messages in her house in the form of “automatic writing” from alien beings on the planet Clarion. These messages revealed that the world would end in a great flood before dawn on December 21, 1954. Mrs. Keech had previously been involved with L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics movement, and her cult incorporated ideas from what was to become Scientology.[2] The group of believers, headed by Keech, had taken strong behavioral steps to indicate their degree of commitment to the belief. They had left jobs, college, and spouses, and had given away money and possessions to prepare for their departure on the flying saucer, which was to rescue the group of true believers.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Prophecy_Fails
Looks like a must read for the Armstrong crowd. I am hoping that one of the peons can make a religion out of this book as I am attempting to do with the book “War and Peace.”
As I plan for my glossy magazine and booklets for my new cult, my narrative ability will be “god-like” as I swiftly and seamlessly portray my point of view. The use of visual detail will often be cinematic in scope, using the literary equivalents of panning, wide shots and close-ups, to give dramatic interest and promote fear as to the seven plagues and the battle of armageddon.
And no booklet or glossy magazine would be complete without these graphic drawings of plague infested sinners bemoaning the wrath of God, children hanging from Nazi’s meat hooks, and my personnel favorite, the complete destruction of the earth! Yes, the forests ablaze, the water turning to blood and all those cute little fishes washing up on the shore dead! Did I mention bulldozers moving piles of bodies into trenches?
That’s the spirit!
Based on the Millerite movement failure, may I suggest that the name of the glossy magazine be “The Midnight Whimper!”?
1956… 1956… let me see now… besides “When Prophecy Fails” being published for the first time… hmmm… Oh, yeah!
“1975 in Prophecy”.
“When Prophecy Fails” came first on January 1. Do you suppose?
What is so amazing is that in the book, it shows the same thing over and over: That even after the prophecy is proved false, supporters not only stay with the group, but they go forth in greater furvor.
This does not portend good for those waiting for Ronald Weinland to fail, who hope his followers will leave. A few might, but for the most part, they will stay.
You all remember what happened in 1975, right?
James, in this endeavor, remember the importance of automatic writing.
I hope you have the natural calling for it, for I seem to be lacking the skill to transcribe the secret messages I am getting from aliens.
I think you may be better at it.
Thanks.
Douglas Becker writes:
“James, in this endeavor, remember the importance of automatic writing.”
My duty constrains me to the disagreeable and almost painful task of giving you a significant amount of information that you may be unwilling to accept. If the truth be told, my cat dictates what I write by transporting his thoughts to my pen. With this now in the open, I hope you can see that this must be of god!
I hope what the cat dictates will spread enlightenment to the masses, nurture democracy, reestablish the bonds of community, bring us closer to God, and generally work to the betterment of Man and society.
If the cat gets it wrong, I hope you will except my forth coming plausible excuse as a satisfactory substitute for performance.
Not to worry.
Mikey has taught me well.
I should mention that when I said “aliens” I meant Canadians — because I can read Mexicans just fine.
As for UFOs, I can build a very good scenario that ties UFOs with the bible. I sent some of the ideas to James. I was working on a novel about it, but can’t seem to get fired up right now.