Herbert Armstrong introduced us to Enshitification.
Just think of the Worldwide Church of God, The Worldwide Church of God, The Plain Truth, The Good News, Tomorrow’s World, The Feasts, all as Subscription Services.
The ‘services’ sucked worse than you think, and here’s why…
Yes, the tithes were a subscription service and the price kept escalating the further you got into it, the more the price went up! Didn’t pay enough to make Herbert Armstrong a profit? There were offerings. Not enough? There were special offerings. You could always will what should have gone to your family by willing your assets to Herbert Armstrong after your funeral. And no matter how much you gave, you never really got a discount on those darned services!
Yes, and you got benefits! In the form of a vacation… at an exotic place (no doubt), a benefit of being a member. You got special discounts for the lodging! Oh, wait! You paid for the whole thing yourself using second tithe. Oh well. At least you could booze your way through the Feast and not worry about the headaches you had the rest of the year. But add up all the accumulated costs! It added up to a lot!
Don’t you remember the Feast of Tabernacles the year Joe Tkach, Sr. took over? Mid Feast, the fun night show with the Young Ambassadors? That night you drove all the way to the Tabernacle [rented facility] and expected a couple hours of an Ambassador College production. And what did you get? Enshitification. 30 minutes. That was it. We heard the grumbling.
Ah yes, Herbert Armstrong was indeed ahead of his time.
