Author: Douglas Becker

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Bad Neighbor

Herbert Armstrong was certainly a bad neighbor. For the most part, he was a bad neighbor to the Church of God Seventh Day.

To picture this better, let’s compare this to the hit movie, Neighbors, where a young couple with a baby has a fraternity move next door. (The movie is so explicit that even some of the previews are rated ‘R’.) It’s what you might expect: The couple dotes on their new baby while the fraternity throws outrageous parties. The couple tries to “make nice” but the antagonist is not having any part of it. Delta Psi has a rich history of epic party moments. Teddy (played by Zach Efron) wants to have his picture on the fraternity wall of fame by throwing the most outrageous end-of-the-year party ever. What follows is a war between the couple and the fraternity.

Early on, Herbert Armstrong wanted his picture on the wall of fame as an apostle, seeking the most epic end-of-the-world party ever! To do this, he leaves the Church of God Seventh Day and begins his own fraternity replete with quite of lot of boozing and sex. The Church of God Seventh Day wants to live in peace with the Radio Church of God next door, but it’s pretty clear early on that there’s going to be war, even if it is a rather one-sided war with Herbert being the antagonist.

Here are a few quotes from Robert Garringer in the 1970s:

Here, perhaps are the real reasons why HWA left the Church of God as put forth by some of his fellow ministers:

John Kiesz: “The real reason seems to have been because of his uncooperative attitude…. Nobody can work with him.”

Brother Helms: “Herbert wouldn’t study…. Herbert was always the big man and everybody else was the little man.”

Elder Haber: “He [HWA] said that he didn’t have to pay any attention to anybody.”

Elder Straub: “Here was the point. We put him on the radio. It was the church…. But he wasn’t willing to study with the ministers, and what the Church of God was teaching…. There was no way of reasoning with the man…. He had his way, he ordered the people….

In 1935 the ministers offered him a study [of British Israelism], to sit together and study it out; they wanted to know. And he flatly denied and said, ‘There will be no study. I’m going to preach what I think should be preached.’ He’s definitely an independent man that takes nothing from nobody…. He won’t listen to any reasoning. What he says just goes. How can one man be so sure?”

It is obvious, then, from history and from the mouths of several different individuals that HWA did not receive his teachings from God by revelation and that he was both a member and minister of the Church of God-which he called the true church and which he left.

Furthermore, just being uncooperative was not enough: Herbert Armstrong decided that the Church of God Seventh Day was the Sardis Era of the church which had a name that it lived but was dead, while he, in his hubris, had concluded that he headed up the Philadelphian Era of the church known for its brotherly love. Herbert Armstrong made snide allusions to the Church of God Seventh Day as not living up to his expectations. He told of his encounter with the leaders and concluded that they did not “radiate power” — his expectation is that they were not ministers of Jesus but were Corporate Business CEOs, so by his evaluation, they weren’t important enough to be anything at all.

Herbert Armstrong was not the sort to love his neighbor as himself. For one thing, he committed incest with his youngest daughter starting at the beginning of his “ministry” continuing for 10 years until her marriage. Apparently, some of those in the Church of God Seventh Day knew of the incest. The incest has also been confirmed by his niece and grandson. This makes Herbert Armstrong the ‘X’ Rated Apostle — worse than the rating on the Neighbors movie.

If we consider the members of the Worldwide Church of God (represented as the fraternity, Psi Chi Gamma) as Herbert Armstrong’s neighbors, the picture gets even worse. Ambassador College may have looked impressive, but there are reasons that Herbert Armstrong himself called it “Satan’s College”, ironic since he was the high school dropout chancellor of the place. Many of the members did not know about the pot parties and beer busts the students of the 1970s era had, but it was not unlike the fraternities of the Greek System. To that add Garner Ted Armstrong who claimed he bedded 200 coeds in 20 years and you have a picture of campus life. Richard Roper of the Chicago Sun Times has to say about the antagonist of the Neighbors movie:

Zac Efron, shirtless through much of the film and sculpted to the point he looks like an entrant in Mr. Universe, Small But Mighty Division, plays Teddy Sanders, one of those guys who knows exactly how great-looking he is and exactly how to turn on the personality to seduce people, whether it’s for sex or “bromance” or to get out of trouble with authority figures. He’s one of those guys you want to despise, but then you meet him and you find yourself saying to the haters, “He’s actually not so bad.”

That pretty much sums up Garner Ted Armstrong: “He’s actually not so bad”. But he was. And not to put too fine a point on it, the same could be said of Herbert Armstrong — that he could be charming when he wanted to be but ruthless when he wanted to be, leaving people to say, “He’s actually not so bad”. But he was.

Now it may be that bad behavior of bad neighbors represented by reprehensible neighbors may be excused after they get through sowing their wild oats, but not so for Herbert Armstrong — his bad behavior persisted up until he died at 93 years old (in his 94th year). Richard Roper had this to say of the movie:

When Mac and Kelly are home, trying to catch sleep or cuddling in bed or spontaneously having sex (“This is happening!” cries Mac) only to be distracted by their newborn, “Neighbors” seems authentic. A couple of scenes between Teddy and Pete, where Pete tells Teddy it’s time to wake up and grow up and think about life beyond the frat house, also ring true.

Herbert Armstrong never did wake up, grow up and think about life beyond his frat house — the frat house was his life. He wasn’t above being vengeful to claim the glory of being right and proving other people who opposed him wrong. It was an ego thing.

Now new chapters of Psi Chi Gamma have popped up with their head frat guys wanting to have their picture on the wall of fame. Certainly, Ronald Weinland has left his mark partying on with his wife with her lingerie from Victoria’s Secret, paid for by the tithes of the PKG, having been convicted of five felonies for Income Tax Evasion. Then there’s bad neighbor, David Pack. He’s a real handful. It’s hard to imagine anyone but those on his payroll ever saying, “He’s actually not so bad!”. Gerald Flurry has his very own DUI online proving that he can party hardy, particularly on a Feast Day. The list goes on and on, but certainly Yisrael Hawkins over his little cult fraternity of the House of Yaweh takes honorable mention for having been featured on several episodes of Dr. Phil — a really bad neighbor, who has had boys 11 years old at labor with no pay for long hours a day (not to mention the polygamy, in some cases with minors). It’s just disgusting.

You’d think these people would grow up some day and abandon the sex, booze, noise, pranks and hubris of fraternity life. It should be inevitable. After all, the Scripture they claim their members should obey (and the hazing of initiation of the pledges is often excruciating) includes that part that false prophets shall be put to death. Each of them has a death sentence, yet they continue to party on other people’s money. They don’t seem to realize they are on probation. Don’t they fear God? Are they atheists?

In any event, they are bad neighbors. The fraternity has moved in next door. Don’t expect much peace. Don’t call the cops — they won’t help.

The best you can do is quietly leave and move away, because — unlike the frats in the movie — they are never going to grow up.

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What’s ahead for 2014: They won’t even bother with excuses any more

 

20142013 should win some sort of weirdness award, particularly because of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong. Prophet Thiel began accepting tithe money. Ronald Weinland finally went to Federal Prison for Income Tax Evasion on or near Groundhog’s Day (we’re thinking it parallels the movie where he keeps reliving the same day in prison over and over again until he gets some prophecy or other right). E. W. King and Apostle Malm made more stupid statements. Apostle Malm also held his very first Feast of Tabernacles (if you could call it that, maybe it should be called “Cult Bible Camp”) in Oregon.

Speaking of Oregon, we had projected the likelihood of more splinters in 2013 and sure enough another nano splinter sprang into existence, this time from a former UCG Deacon of questionable competence and aptitude, one Larry Hardison, who formed the Church of God Northwest Brethren on his Ekklekonx (the spell checker has just committed suicide) WordPress forum so that he could sponsor the Feast of Tabernacles in Bend, Oregon at the Phoenix Inn Suites with a top attendance of 48 with an average of 28. People had to come from all over the world to even make up that many. It’s not clear how many traded off with UCG in Redmond. We’ve heard his sermons in the past and would rather listen to paint dry. No doubt 2014 will be a banner year for them because there just not enough alternatives around with UCG, CoGWA, Pacific Church of God, Living Church of God, Heritage House Ministries-Love for Israel, Christian Biblical Church of God and you do know, the Feast for Church of God in Peace and Truth, Intercontinental Church of God, Continuing Church of God and Guardian Ministries is too far away and the Seventh Day Church of God is both too Biblical and focused on Jesus to be a viable alternative.

As we projected last year, Jesus didn’t return in 2013 and, in fact, the Great Tribulation didn’t begin… again. It was a great shock and surprise that all of the Armstrongist Churches of God did not all combine all into one under David Pack August 31st, 2013 and that three of the leaders of the major ACoGs didn’t die by the day before that. It seems that David Pack of the Restored Church of God there in Wadsworth, Ohio has been again proven to be a false prophet. It’s too bad too, for we had so much hope for a little extra drama, but all we got was paint drying on the new buildings he’s put up in his little Gulag. He does, however, look like an utter fool.

UCG again couldn’t figure out the purpose of their church. Dennis Luker announced that he would not seek a second term as President and we wondered why, since he had done so very well in his first term (that might be a slight exaggeration) — yes, we wondered until he died of prostate cancer before he could retire. Victor Kubic promises that he will carry on Luker’s vision and we sure hope that it has something to do with eliminating alcoholism from the ACoGs and not more stalking. What United has finally figured out is that it is not growing larger as a church… it is growing, but growing smaller. Entropy rocks!

The Pope resigned and the Catholics appointed a new one, apparently with more ‘life’ and competency, neither of which has much to do with the Armstrong Mafia.

We learned from Neville Stevens that demons are employing flying saucers to roam around the earth. We thought Satan had the power of the air, but, frankly, Harry Potter seems more sensible.

G. Sbarcea, based in Berowara Heights, NSW, Australia claims that Sons of Dracula Violated My Mother and Killed Her! Perhaps we’ve said too much already about this.

William Koeneke, an 86 year old deacon from Church of the Eternal God Minister, was convicted of four counts child molestation for indecent assault on young boys more than 20 years ago.

Gerald Flurry with his misnamed Philadelphia Church of God continued to be spectacularly irrelevant this year except as a place holder, save for the advice of his ministry that disabled children be left in shopping malls and further reports of a teen or two being turned out on the street (quite literally) to fend for themselves with the subsequent pain and suffering sucking in more innocents.

Speaking of the PCG, the DSM-V came out this year with a new view of mental disorders. Many of the descriptions fit the leaders of the sects of Armstrongism, particularly the PCG. In a turnabout, Ron Frasier of the PCG came out to mock the DSM-V, whereupon, the critics of the PCG came out to mock Ron Frasier and the PCG. It’s symmetric.

Glenn Beck did a segment on British Israelism. Apparently, he hasn’t seen our proof that it is a fraud.

Roderick Meredith is one more stroke closer to passing beyond the veil of the Living Church of God, at which time it might not be Living much longer. These things, though, are calculated in half-lifes apparently. It could be another decade or more. Or, if luck is with us, 2014 will be the proverbial “it” for him.

Attendees of the CoGWA are somewhat disturbed for no particular reason except it might be something Biblical that a full time minister who is divorced and remarried is, well, full time. We guess it’s because he gives good sermons. Perhaps it could be time that CoG members might possibly consider that they may be in a cult — if that’s not too difficult concept for them to grasp. Maybe, too, CoGWA members should consider the Legionnaire’s Disease at the Feast of Tabernacles in Florida this past year as a sign from God that He hates their Feasts. Some people can be pretty dense about these things. It also appears and rumor has it that after the death of Dennis Luker, members of CoGWA are tacitly returning to United. This seems to be yet another case of a patient getting a blood transfusion from one arm to the other and losing most of it in the process.

The demolition of the old remnants of Ambassador College continued apace this year with the campus hardly being recognizable as the one that Jesus was to return to in 1975 for sure at the latest.

Reports of Ysrael Hawkins, founder of the House of Yaweh, exposed on Dr. Phil again this year (at least in reruns), shows that it is a merciless abusive cult, not that will diminish business one whit and neither will it bring down the House.

Dr. David V. Barrett came out with his seminal work, The Fragmentation of a Sect: Schism in the Wordwide Church of God which gave us some good ideas why there are over 700+ (some have estimated as high as 1,200) of subspecies of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong. Our favorite quote was from Richard Rittenbaugh of the Church of the Great God who made the astonishing claim that Herbert Armstrong wasn’t a false prophet because he was a false apostle. Well, that’s not exactly what he said, but that’s the gist of it, which leads us onward to what’s ahead for 2014 after such an appalling major fail of 2013.

David Hulme, with his Church of God, an International Community (COGIC), thought to be the fifth (5th) largest of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia sects, seems to be having trouble with his troupes: Apparently, he has rejected the notion of British Israelism which has annoyed some in his CoGIC (although that probably isn’t the real source of unrest and his arrogant self-centered hubris along with his happy-go-lucky profligate spending with no apparent restraint, controls and oversight might be). This has led to his disfellowshipping (is that even a word, spell check doesn’t seem to think so) members for daring to have differing doctrinal opinions or criticisms of cult leadership. Apparently, Brian Orchard, a longtime and well-liked minister formerly with UCG, was among those who “resigned.” Also, COGIC treasurer Steven Andrews has apparently left the group, taking members with him, intending to start a new splinter group — this is ironic since Steven Andrews was the early on treasurer who supported David Hulme during the days his UCG Presidency came to an end, mostly because of his profligate spending, bankrupting United — and Steven had been a staunch advocate early on in the 1990s. Others that have been booted or left the cult are Peter Nathan, Cliff Veal (UK/Germany), Bob Rodzaj (Phoenix, New Mexico). Revenue is falling, falling, but David Hulme is isolated in his ivory tower, apparently confident that he is God’s chosen one to carry out the Work and will be provided for no matter how senseless, stupid or foolish his spending habits are — going forward with the divine right of kings with no thought to the consequences of unwise stewardship. It will be more difficult than ever in a disintegrating sect without Steven Andrews to manage the already constrained resources, but we’re pretty sure that David Hulme won’t care a whit until he has to face the absolutes of reality when they strike and the well is completely dry in the ACoG drought.

Troy Fitzgerald, a son of a Worldwide Church of God, came out as gay this year and published a book, Cults and Closets: Coming out of Chaos, in 2013. The Secular Safe House website has this to say about his background:

Troy Fitzgerald was raised in a religious cult — the Worldwide Church of God (aka Armstrongism) — as the son of a pastor and is now a secular humanist. He came out as gay later in life after being married to a woman and starting a family, having been in denial of his sexuality due to his religious indoctrination. He and his ex-wife, who was raised in the same cult and is now also a secular humanist, remain close friends and partners in raising their family. He wrote a book about his coming out, Cults and Closets: Coming Out of Chaos, and publishes a blog at CultsandClosets.com.

As a result of publishing his book and getting more connected with the struggles of others with similar backgrounds, he became very passionate about providing a voice, support, and safe refuge for others coming out of religion, cults and as LGBT. His professional background includes business analysis, website and film production, technical/web project management, and small business management. He is the proud father of three sons and lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Troy is just one of many fleeing the oppression of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia, seeking peace from the world of chaos from the lies of Herbert Armstrong. His efforts to help others to provide a refuge for those coming out of religion, cults or as LGBTQ is admirable. His effort may be the first of its kind.

And many of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia sects had their Winter Family Weekend in 2013, amazingly coincidentally coordinated with the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations of the pagan world of the wickedness of the Gentiles, which we are assured are completely different as they are completely godly without any hint of any pagan parallels. The Weekends will include eating, drinking, feasting, games, social gatherings, dances — absolutely, positively, completely different from the secular worldly pursuits, often held within the same facilities famous for their Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. Yep. We’re convinced. No hypocrisy to see here. Move along….

One thing quite disappointing in 2013 was absolutely no more mention of demons entering the world by a Stargate under the ocean. We’re bummed.

Our friend(s) over at Silenced.co once and for all (again) completely, totally, absolutely destroyed the foundations of British Israelism, proving once again that Herbert Armstrong’s failed key to prophecy, making him a dead false prophet, are based on a foundation of sand. You may read the many proofs and witnesses:

A Foundation of Sand: Part I — correlation does not imply causation

A Foundation of Sand: Part II — Ancient Israel’s future wrongly mapped to today

A Foundation of Sand: Part III — The Lost Ten Tribes Were Never Lost

A Foundation of Sand: Part IV — Israelites did not become Western European Barbarians

A Foundation of Sand: Part V — Linguistics

A Foundation of Sand: Part VI — Chronology

A Foundation of Sand: Part VII — An Issue of Questionable Scholarship

A Foundation of Sand: Part VIII — Genetic Evidence: BI’s Kryptonite

A Foundation of Sand: Part IX — The Crumbling Castle (the key to prophecy to the Bible and prophecy was neither)

Now we know why Ambassador College was located at Big Sandy: A sly reference to the entropy to follow based on the foundation of British Israelism.

We were pretty much on spot with our projections for 2013 last year, which leads us to a fairly high confidence that even though there continue to be surprises in the world of stupidity, we can have a fair amount of certainty about the future of 2014 — mostly the things that won’t happen.

We’re pretty sure that as a trend, Jesus will continue not to return and the Great Tribulation will not begin yet again. We can’t be absolutely sure, but if some group or other has a Place of Safety, it won’t really be and anyone foolish enough to wend their way into the wilderness may find themselves in dire straights as in “Jonestown” or if not Jonestown, certainly Looney Tunes.

The developing trends of 2013 may well find their way and amplify along the way for 2014.

1) Continued addiction of the membership (not to mention the leadership) on British Israelism: They have to have it — it’s a drug of choice, to assure that the doom and devastation will fulfill their lusts of idolatry and hubris to validate their “rightness” in their belief that they will be winners if only they follow the right cult leader into a wonderful world where they finally have some power!

2) The Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia will continue to do and say really stupid things!

3) The Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia will issue lame excuses when the stupid things they predict again do not come to pass!

4) The Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia will absolutely take no responsibility for the consequences of their actions!

5) The Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia will cover up their silly mistakes and continue to pretend they did not say or do the stupid things they really did!

6) The Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia will make no apologies for the stupid things they say and do!

7) The devastation, gloom and doom of the entropy causing apathy will continue its single arrow of time, marching the cult sects into inevitable irrelevance.

8) The high energy promises of Herbert Armstrong in the 1970s for prosperity and wealth in our time (and not just to wait for the future) would be available to all the loyal members as blessings from God will be continue to be ignored by the Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia, because they are too far gone to believe and try to sell such nonsense — thus dooming them to the useless dust bin of irrelevance to a society moving onward without them.

9) The Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia will continue to lose the youth, their future, because, let’s face it, British Israelism with its self-sacrifice for the good of the Empire is just not that much fun and the next generation doesn’t see any future in it for them.

10) Diehard cult members will cling to Armstrongism doggedly no matter what — it doesn’t matter if their leader is a proven an insane lying false prophet psychopath convicted felon in prison, darn it all, sticking with him proves our loyalty to God and by Jiminy we’re going to inherit the Kingdom come hell or high water even if liars and whoremongers won’t inherit the Kingdom of God: We’re crazy nuts and we’re absolutely sure of the delusions we believe.

These are the trends that have been developing in 2013 and it sure looks as if they are going to continue into 2014. We’re also pretty sure that what’s ahead is even more crazy outrageousness that none of the cult Mafia leadership is going to acknowledge and they won’t even bother with excuses any more, just like David Pack with his predictions for August 31st, 2013 — it came, it passed, it failed and he doesn’t even bother with excuses. As the ACoGs progress through 2014, that’s what we see ahead.

Other trends are developing as well, particularly for those of opposing this outrageous nonsense. It’s utter rubbish. We’re not going to stop exposing it at every turn. The ACoGs will continue to try to ignore us, but the forces of nature (entropy), God and whatever openings we can find will continue to erode this oppressive stupid wrong cult throughout the next year and beyond.

For 2014, the opening gambit is BritishIsraelism.com: We love the British, just not British Israelism.

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Hubris

Herbert Armstrong certainly had hubris, but we don’t have to recede into the past to find it: It’s right here in 2013 amongst the founders and leaders of the various sects of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong, including, but not restricted to, Davey Pack (Restored Church of God), Roderick Meredith (Living Church of God), Gerald Flurry (Philadelphia Church of God), John and Richard Rittenbaugh (Church of the Great God), Ronald Weinland (Church of God-Preaching the Kingdom of God), Robert Thiel (Continuing Church of God) and so many others, such as E. W. King and David Malm.

This is a response prompted by a comment by Bob Dixon in a previous blog entry, Monster’s Inc.:

We need a follow up story by P.T. editors to remind us of the mechanics of these monsters, as is applied to the faithful, to bring them to such condition that normal safety, reason, and logic are ignored.

In my view, it’s the fear of death, that is the root cause of all WCOG faithful. Fear of mortality. Fear is the root.

Mr. Dixon has a good thought there, and perhaps there is fear associated with the initial entry into the cult, but it is more than fear that keeps them in over time, because it is very difficult to sustain constant continuous fear over time: It’s a good initial motivator, but breaks down over time as people get used to the fear — it becomes more of a discomfort.

The thing that really does it is extreme pride and arrogance — as in “we have the truth and God will protect us and make us Kings and Priests to lord it over others in the Kingdom with power, more power than we could ever hope to have in this life time”. This arrogance is self-sustaining: Just like teenagers, there is a belief that you will live forever! Nothing can ultimately hurt you! You are going to be a winner! In spite of all the copious evidence to the contrary, you think you will come out on top: All you have to do is pay tithes, attend the Feasts and keep all those silly laws and rules your cultmeister gives you — you know, like dumping your disabled child at a shopping mall. It’s all going to work out, no matter what you do or say. That is hubris:

Hubris, also hybris, from ancient Greek, means extreme pride or arrogance. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one’s own competence or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power.

Here we are: Half of 2013 is over with already and we are heading into the hot summer of meltdown, with these cult leaders standing up and declaring how they are the greatest and how they are going to defeat all the other contenders as if they were pro wrestlers at WWE Raw. Each one struts his stuff. Davey Pack loudly declares that he’s going to be the last man standing in the churches of God, come August 30, 2013. All the rest are making similar, if not as specific claims.

This narcissism inspires confidence in the followers, just sure, in their own hubris, that they have picked the right winner. They just know that their leader is the one and only leader, bar none.

Sometimes it’s good to get the outside view from someone who doesn’t know diddly-squat about the Armstrongists — here’s a comment from one of the jurors from the Income Tax Evasion trial of Ronald Weinland:

Martin, Yes, he sure did with arrogance. It might not be verbatum but that is exactly what was expressed and or implied by Ron in his own words and actions, etc; and others in their words, whichever words he and they used in particular. Especially, in regards to being asked about how the “church money” gets distributed and spent. Obviously, the jury understood how God and “God’s money” worked. So did the judge, prosecutor, and the IRS. Fortunately, Ron forgot about Ceasar and is now paying up. Hasn’t Ron preached about the Ceasar thing? Those same principles do not apply to King Ron the God though. Do they?

Johnny H. & Steve D. both stated they just give God “God’s money” and they did not worry about how it was spent. “It’s in God’s hands.” Along with other followers on the witness stand.

Audra’s explanation on “God’s money” was “ummmm,,, huh,,, ummm, whatever my mommy or daddy tell me to do with the money.” “Whatever they tell me to pay out of whichever account.” May not be exact words, but I think the picture is clear.

Ron and others, basically stated that God told him how to spend the “church money and the jewelry and high ticket items were for bargaining in “end times”. Who in the hell needs to bargain when it is GAME OVER? What are you going to bargain for? There should be no worries or needs. Remember, it’s GAME OVER! Coincidence that Ron and Laura wind up with all the money and goodies? I think not.

All the other numb nut “church” witnesses also repeatedly stated the King Ron chain of command. #1. God followed closely with “whatever Ron says goes, because God tells Ron so.” I could see Ronnie Boy’s head swelling with a smirk in a prideful manner as they stated this. He is one ugly bald headed bastard and I would pay money just to slap the smirk off of face. If he was green he would look like an upity and cocky UFO riding alien. Wonder if BMW produces UFO’s yet?

This was established by the prosecution to show everyone how high and mighty and in charge Ron truly is in “RON’S CHURCH.” To make it very simple, Ron and/or Laura are in charge of EVERYTHING INCLUDING THE “CHURCH MONEY” AND HOW IT IS or WAS SPENT. They decide who stays and goes within THEIR CHURCH. They decide who gets the “church scholarship money.” They decide where “God” tells them to vacation and what to buy while jet setting. They decide which personal expenses God has OK’d for them to pay. They decide who the elders and what-not are. They decided God told them to install alarm systems and buy Victoria Secret panties. So yes, the chain of command is God then Ron. God was unable to show up to testify. I am not exactly sure if Laura does not out rank Ron in the Kingdom though. She was declared one of the two witnesses. Just another coincidence? Probably.

It was very clear that Ron and God made all of the decisions together, especially when it was related to money. Remember, Martin, God reveals all to Ronnie Boy. Guess Ron figured the two witness deal, and end time prophet junk so why not lay it out there. I think Ron and his legal defense team thought this might help him to show how devoted and crazy he really is. The thought crossed my mind wondering if Ron truly believes his own bullshit and he really was that crazy. Nah, he is just a lying, money grubbing con-artist that knows exactly what he is doing while disguising it with God told me so religion, but still trying to lie his way out of it all. Shear acts of desperation from a thief con who got caught.

No one else in the court room could believe the crazy sh!t we were hearing either. Unimaginable. Bottom line, we didn’t believe it as the results show. Ron’s will…… Opps! I mean God’s Will was completely simple regarding the God in Ron’s head yet utterly unbelievable and bank account shuffling complex at the same time. Ron thinks he is God. The Money God anyway. Buzz…… eerrrnt….eerrrnt! WRONG ANSWER! NOW GO TO JAIL!

It should be noted here that the PKG members continue to follow Ronald Weinland, even though he has been proved to be a false prophet beyond a reasonable doubt and is now in Federal Prison as a felon for Income Tax Evasion. Many have been puzzled why more PKG members simply don’t leave, but it appears that they are quite comfortable with the arrangement of his being their “pastor” even though he is locked up for committing a crime. They are just sure when Jesus returns on Pentecost, they will be big winners. It’s hubris.

Herbert Armstrong did start all this, of course. In his manic state, he would go out and spend $68,000 on tableware from Harrod’s and then send out a coworker letter proclaiming that THE VERY WORK OF GOD IS GOING DOWN AND THE WORK NEEDS YOUR MONEY!!!!! No money would have been needed if he hadn’t spent it on worthless baubles — well, not worthless worthless, but you know what we mean. He typically took $50,000 in cash with him on his forays. His family wanted to go sailing while they were on the Riviera, so he rented a yacht for them. Then there was the $5 million divorce which helped Herb on his spending spree of $2 billion to $4 billion during his lifetime — and now, nothing is left of all he spent. By 1979, some of the WCG members had had enough and John Tuit initiated a lawsuit which led to the receivership. The idea was to bring accountability to the Worldwide Church of God, but in the end, Herbert Armstrong lied, circled the wagons and won.

That’s the thing: Herbert Armstrong carried on outrageous behavior and won. In his hubris, those who followed him saw that he was a winner — a sort of “underdog” — and saw him as their leader and champion. Thus it was that they inherited hubris and those who followed on in his footsteps — whether it was the Tkaches or the Cult of Herbert Armstrong spitoffs, they all carried on the hubris — starting with the leaders, flowing down to the members who became all too comfortable in their extreme pride and arrogance. It’s no wonder they all throw rocks at each other and declare the others as “Laodocean”, rich and increased in goods, while the accusers of the “brethren” are so confident in their hubris that they and they alone are “Philadelphian” — when they are actually nothing at all and not even Christian in their Olde Testament Christianity.

Into this mix came Ronald Weinland, who, in his hubris, decided he could follow the outrageous example of Herbert Armstrong to spend millions of dollars that weren’t really his (or more accurately, did not declare that were his on his income tax returns). He bought a BMW for his son in the United States and shipped it to Germany where his son was on a “scholarship” from the PKG (the only one ever issued). He bought another BMW in Germany and had it shipped to the United States. He also bought another BMW for his daughter and paid for her apartment — all on church money, undeclared as income tax. His wife bought from Victoria’s Secret. Ronald and Laura went on cruises at a time they were pushing for “the end of the work” and demanding that their followers make sacrifices to send more money. They lived it up in Las Vegas, five star restaurants and accommodations. Meanwhile, Weinland had written a book, “The Final Witness” declaring false prophecies which would certainly have caused normal people to leave in droves. It may have been hubris for Ronald Weinland and his family to spend $3.5 million of church money on themselves, but it is hubris for the members to continue the Weinlands even after Ronald Weinland was proved to be a false prophet, no fewer than three times (oops! missed the date again… well, maybe next year), and after he was convicted of felony for evading Income Taxes. The jurors at his trial were outraged by his hubris.

There isn’t much that will ignite the fire of indignation better than being defiant with arrogance in the face of civil authorities. Those of us who sat in the court room for the hearing to provide relief from a stalker in United were appalled at the behavior of the two deacons, deaconess and elder from the UCG as they treated the judge with contempt as though he was a nothing underling they could push around as if he were a lowly church member: The judge would have none of it, threatened them with clearing the court room and they almost ended up with a charge of contempt of court. They had no fear.

The leaders of the CoHA have no fear, but if they really believed Scripture, they would be terrified! They would fear for their lives! They would know for a certainty that they were headed for the Lake of Fire! Nonetheless, they act as if they are Special and as if there is no God. This applies to the members as well as the leaders: They think they can get away with their extreme arrogance and pride. They are filled with hubris.

Occam’s Razor prompts us to lean to the most simple explanation: In this case, it is not fear, it is hubris.

As long as the members of this cult association possess hubris, they will never leave, for they feel they can safely ignore Scripture when it says: “From Such Turn Away!”

The problem is that these extremely arrogant members are filled with pride and will continue to stay, no matter what, in their hubris.

It’s not In God We Trust, it’s In Hubris We Trust.