Divinization: the act, process, or an instance of investing with a divine character or of making into an object of worship…
Analogy: a comparison made to show such a similarity… followers of Herbert Armstrong who hold him up as a man of God.
Some of man’s greatest achievements have been motivated by a driving need for love and acceptance. What happens when that need for recognition, becomes a desire to be revered, and then worshiped…like a god?
Synopsis:
THE SANDKINGS
Dr. Simon Kress’ (Beau Bridges) research for the government on Martian life is aborted because one of his specimens escaped his lab and almost made it to the surface. However, Kress doesn’t agree with the abandonment of the project and decides to continue his experiments in his barn. He steals some sand containing Martian eggs from his lab and creates a makeshift incubator to hatch more of the Martian lifeforms.
The sandkings evolve into two distinct groups, a white group and a red group, and settle on opposite sides of their glass enclosure. Kress comes to believe that he is a god to his sandkings when the white group builds a sand structure that resemble his face.
We all know the story. While all of the salivating wannabes were coffin-drooling around the time of Herbie’s foreseeable departure, the new job of “Pastor General” went to JWT. So, all the indignant wannabes took their marbles, left “God’s only true church,” and started their own cults. Please note: They had all condemned Garner Ted Armstrong for doing this exact thing a few years earlier. Naturally, most of these bozos claimed to have the “anointing” now moved to them exclusively. There could be no room for any competition here. “God” had supposedly chosen a “new-improved” anointed one… More HERE.
Over the past few decades, society has produced stories, reports, drama to explore what it means to be human and to explore the various questions of morals and ethics. There are any number of significant works, from Star Trek, Star Wars, Avengers to White Collar, Major Crimes, Sons of Anarchy, Arrow, NCIS, Law and Order, Criminal Minds, Person of Interest and so many more. These plumb the depths of ‘the human soul’ and ask very difficult questions, pose moral dilemmas, question our position in society. Do you commit evil acts to save a few, such as committing murder so your captive family will not be tortured and be put to death? Will you sacrifice a major segment of society such as Star Fleet in order to save your little girl from a rare disease, as in Star Trek: Into Darkness? Will you enslave a people in order to give them security, as is the idea of Hydra in ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.D.’? Do you promote murder and mayhem so society can be bettered as in Person of Interest? These are matters which the Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia are unable and incompetent to even address, so they don’t: They just set a formula by which to live that is about second grade level so they can promise that if you follow their rules, you will be prosperous and blessed beyond your wildest imagination without having to delve into mature topics involving morals and ethics. It’s like a recipe: Follow it to the letter and you will make something good — but the truth is it’s all half-baked and in the end all you end up with is rubbish.
And so it is with ‘The Sandkings’. I read the original in Analog magazine. The presentation in the Outer Limits is somewhat different, but it did the job.
You have to ask yourself, what went wrong?
I submit to you that the core of the problem is the complete lack of respect. The ‘scientist’ lacked respect in the first place by not following protocol: He defied the rules of engagement by committing a terrible act (which in the end threatened the whole world). As if that wasn’t bad enough, he had not one shred of respect for the creatures who were not only sentient but had telepathy. He thought he was doing a service by saving them. Then he decided, for no apparently good reason, to experiment with them by taking resources away from them, so they would separate into distinct camps which warred with one another in order to get enough food to survive. Eventually, they figured out he was no benefactor and turned on him.
He did not respect them.
And so it was with Herbert Armstrong: He had a complete disregard for people he thought were ‘beneath’ him. We were all inferior ‘dumb sheep’. He gave us absolutely no respect because he thought that he had the truth and only he could dole it out to us. We saw him as a benefactor at first. Now we’ve caught on to him and realized that he was no benefactor. He was a narcissist who only cared about himself. He did not care about us because we were inferior creatures to be manipulated. And if he had no respect for us, he certainly didn’t have any respect at all for the people of ‘the world’ (except for those who were wealthy and / or prominent world leaders who he thought he was like and that were sort of at his level). He believed he was irreplaceable because he was so important.
So then he died.
And along came Roderick Meredith, who was also of the ilk of those who had absolutely, positively no respect for anyone but himself. This is reflected very well in ‘The Manpower Papers’ where he is caught discussing others as if they were laboratory rats being tested in a maze. He further proved his lack of respect by bankrupting Global. In all of this, he claims that he NEVER committed a MAJOR sin since he was baptized. Everyone else is honest enough to know they could never make that claim. He can’t either, seeing as how he’s earned himself the Death Penalty by being a false prophet.
And we find this in all the CoHAM.
John Trechek in the Ambassador Report noted that United was like those who made [secret] deals in smoke filled back rooms. They have no real respect either. I’ve had ministers in the UCG lie to my face and expected me to believe them even though we both knew it was a lie. Ethics? Morals? Absolutely not. It’s all about the end justifies the means, and when they get into trouble, then anything goes so they can fix the problem at the same time they are busily covering it up.
You’d think that the Armstrongists would learn something from the popular media. Maybe they should go back and watch every episode of Babylon 5 and the Babylon 5 movies. Or maybe they should watch the series finale of Sons of Anarchy. Or consider how Sharon Raydor has dealt with her position in the Los Angeles Police Department with difficult situations, while adopting a gay young man abandoned by his mother as her son and integrating him with his step sister and step brother.
But no. They will learn nothing. They are still fighting the good fight to JUST SURVIVE (with the least reason to do so, seeing that we have thoroughly proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Herbert Armstrong was completely wrong and their religion is cult that’s a real bust). They don’t listen. They won’t repent.
None of them have one shred of respect for forces beyond their ken.
Fortunately, their tiny irrelevant world is severely limited so their impact upon society is limited. They can be dangerous and like the Sandkings, they need to be contained.
It is the lack of respect that is the core of the problem, and, unfortunately, that’s not going to change until they’re all wiped out.
None of these groups have respect for the membership. I can recall countless times when someone died or was disfellowshipped. The ministers would then go on to threaten your salvation. They were like Nazi guards who oppressed the inmates of the camps in order to keep them in line.
Many of us have written much to try to show the inmates of the asylum that there is another thought process that needs to be examined. But few have anything to do with wanting to think outside the box. No, they are more comfortable staying in the grips of men who could give a shit about them. It is indeed all about money. This is the state of slavery that every inmate faces when imprisoned. Except these people support their warden and guards. They pay to be slaves of the asylum as they worship Herbert Armstrong and his corrupt and incestuous legacy.