Author: James

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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Genesis and the Jewish Connection

People are more and more waking up to the fact that there is a “Jewish Connection” between our present economic system and the Jews. I have long maintained that the ‘Mystery Babylon” could only be the Jews, but a former schoolmate of mine, who grew up to be a lawyer and an Episcopalian minister (which makes him doubly disgusting to me), pointed out the beginnings of Jewish economic philosophy in Genesis 46 and 47.

You are already aware of the story of Joseph, rising to the power of Pharaoh’s finance minister, but a more detailed description of his plans and policies are given away in Genesis. When Joseph invited the tribes of his father and brethren into Egypt, he had this story planned out for the Pharaoh:

Genesis 46: 32: “And the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all they have.”

Then Joseph advised his family: “

…when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say ‘ What is your occupation?’ That ye shall say, Thy servants’ trade hath been about cattle, from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers; that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians”.

 

What ensued from that is a sharp contrast of economic philosophies. Israel took their herds to Goshen, and Pharaoh let them grow and trade freely, as well as making them “rulers” over his own herds and flocks(Gen. 47:6).

  It was then that the famine had taken hold in Egypt, and Joseph had been fortunate enough to store grain for the Pharaoh. There was no bread in the land, so the Egyptians were forced to buy grain from Joseph, who happily took all their money. As the famine extended, the Egyptians came again to Joseph, and asked him for a solution to the problem, as they had no more money. Joseph worked out another deal (Gen. 47:16), and asked for their cattle.

Of course Israel was officially in charge of the Pharaoh’s cattle, so they had free reign in the land to trade and build further fortunes. Then the Egyptians ran out of cattle, and the famine persisted. The next step was socialism, verse 19, suggested by the people:

“Buy us and our land for bread, and we will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live…”.

All the land then became the Pharaoh’s. The next step was simply to gather the people into cities. They were effectively caged so the armies of the Pharaoh could keep an eye on them.

But Joseph was very shrewd, as he left the land of the priests untouched. They had effectively the same freedom as Israel, and their leadership with such freedom would no doubt support the Pharaoh and justify his position as a god before the people. So, the Egyptians said, “In God We Trust”. Joseph had separated church and state, but had given exemptions so the church would be inclined to support the state. Very shrewd.(Gen 47:22).

 All that remained was for Joseph to give the people seed to plant, so they could grow wealth for Pharaoh, and Joseph laid a tax on them, Genesis 47:24:

 ” And it shall come to pass in the increase that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own for seed…”

 Sound familiar in principle?  “And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part, except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.”

 Verse 27: “And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possession therein, and grew and multiplied exceedingly.”

 The plan was simple enough: first, get control of the money. If the control of money is taken from the people, they are forced to begin trading possessions. Once possessions are taken away, the people are easily managed  to become obedient citizens. If the religions are free, and if they are given their freedom by being servant to the king or the government, they will tend to support the benevolence of the government, with lines like “this divinely ordered capitalist system”.

 The interesting twist is found in Genesis 50:20, as Joseph was about to die:

 ”But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive”.

 But notice that Israel had free enterprise and wealth, while the Egyptians had traded their freedom and possessions away for security, even serving a priesthood that owed its  ‘freedom” to Pharaoh.

What we see in our own government today was laid out in principle thousands of years ago. Of course, we also see that free enterprise doesn’t serve the needs of empire and war. Israel became equal slaves to the Egyptians, forced to labor for the Pharaoh, because the Pharaoh had seen, in Exodus 1:9, ” The people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we”.

The problem, as Pharaoh correctly saw, was that a free people tend to act in their own self interest, and if Pharaoh should wage a war with other countries, Israel might well choose to serve his enemies out of self interest. The motivation of government to grant “security” is well shown by that example. Since Israel was not willing to become “equal” with Egyptian citizens, they became subject to forced labor, with their possessions taken by decree. What Israel saw as slavery, other Egyptians would see as justice, “equality”.

 The lesson, from Genesis to Revelation, is not lost on the Jews. Their history has been one of adaptation and control by trade and commerce, from Babylon to the present day. As historian Max DiMont points out in “The Indestructible Jews”, they have developed the beginnings of our present banking system, developed a process of common law by which nations would be ruled, and were selected as the finance ministers for gentile kings due to their ability to charge interest on non-Jews. As Joseph did in Genesis, once they gained control of the money, all else follows. This lesson is not lost on Christians either. They took the banking system from the Jews and began “saving souls” for God, king, and country, using the same formula.

 Karl Marx laid out the formula quite well. When money becomes the “universal equivalent”, the general purchasing power, all things can be had for money. But people do not sell for money, wrote Marx, until the possessor had “alienated’ himself from the property. This meant, wrote Marx, that the “so-called inalienable rights, and the fixed property relationships corresponding to them, break down before money”. He was, after all, a Jew. He was also quite correct in that regard. What Marx wrote, Joseph had long ago put in practice.

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Death Sentence

by John B

 Dear John B.:
This email may be 6 or more years too late, but here it is. I am approximately your age and have experienced the “fullness” of the WCG and all its aftermath. Your interesting article “Death Sentence”, ends with the concern about the “children”. My daughters grew up, they have nothing to do with any WCG offshoot, and they are doing well in their lives. But I have always been a believer in God, and still am, despited all the “Worldwide” phenomenon. I
did not believe half the crap that was pushed in WCG, including “Petra”. All this stuff to a realist is just donkey kong. Going to Jordan in 1972, on Boeing 7ss, where are 150,000 people (men, women, and children) going to live???

My belief is in God, not in Armstrong or any of his offshoots. Thus, I went thru a period of self examination, but I continued my life. The world today is nothing like the world that Armstrong or any of his followers  believed was possible. The question is, where is this world going?

David Froloff

 The Article “Death Sentence”

In 1965, when I was 16 years old, I was told I only had seven years to live. 

It isn’t what you think — there was no doctor, no diagnosis (we didn’t even go to doctors then), nor was I sick in the traditional sense.  Rather, I was told, loudly and repeatedly, that the Great Tribulation would begin on January 7, 1972.  It was explained to me, loudly and repeatedly, that anyone who wasn’t “ready” when the Great Tribulation started, would have to endure the most horrible suffering anyone has ever experienced this side of hellfire. 

At the tender age of 16, I knew I wasn’t “ready”.  I also knew that I would never be ready.  Not because I was rebellious, because I wasn’t.  It was just that the standard, as laid down by the ministry, was so impossibly high that I knew I was incapable of attaining it. 

I had seven years to live, if I was lucky.  Because I knew, without a doubt, that I would die in the Great Tribulation.  I even entertained the idea of exposing myself to German machine guns so I could go quickly, without lingering in a concentration camp. 

I had these thoughts in 1965, and for many years afterward.  I was worried about Germans! 

It may be difficult for some to believe, but there are people alive today, some of them reading this website, who still believe that Herbert Armstrong and his legion of ministers caused no one any harm.  It was our own fault, they tell us, because we chose to follow him. 

Well, I didn’t choose to follow him.  I was raised to believe that he was the only man on earth who understood the “truth”, and I believed it because the adults around me believed it.  They were a lot smarter than I, having the wisdom of many more years than I, so who was I to question their judgment?  If they said Mr. Armstrong was right, then it must be true. 

So I believed everything Mr. Armstrong said, and by extension, (almost) everything his ministers said.  And they said the Tribulation would begin in 1972.  It would be over in 1975, when Jesus would come back.

 

Imagine

Can you imagine what life was like for a teenager who only had seven years to live?  Seven years did seem like a long time, but that was very little comfort.  I knew that I would never get married, never have kids, never own a home, never have a career.  I would never experience sex (and that’s big when you’re 16). 

In short, I had no future.  As my classmates made plans for college and careers, I pitied them, because they also would never achieve any of their goals.  The only difference was that they didn’t know it and were happy in their ignorance.  But I did know it, and happiness eluded me. 

There was no point in going to college, unless I could get into Ambassador.  Why study for a career that you wouldn’t have time to work at?  Maybe, if I could get into Ambassador, I might be able to improve my chances of survival. 

But in 1966 my application to Ambassador College was rejected.  And the Selective Service was breathing down my neck.  If I went to Vietnam, I might not even make it to 1972. 

I should have gone to Vietnam.  I’ve wished many times that I had, because I avoided the military for all the wrong reasons.  I did it because Mr. Armstrong said I had to.  I sat down with my draft board (the single most terrifying experience of my life) and convinced them that I was truly a conscientious objector.  They reclassified me, and I was ordered to work in a civilian capacity for two years.  Lo and behold, I ended up at Ambassador College anyway, not as a student, but as an employee. 

Living in Pasadena was a reprieve for a time, but the anxiety did not abate.  I was in the lion’s den, and pressure about 1972 was intensified.  We heard about it every week, and now it was only four years away.  By 1969, Joe Tkach, a low-level low-life local elder, went so far as to suggest (on numerous occasions) that the tribulation might actually begin in 1969! 

And no one contradicted him. 

It didn’t come in 1969, of course, but it was only three years away.  I had three years to live. 

 

Can You Say “Brainwashed”?

Needless to say, 1972 came and went.  Nothing happened.  There was no Tribulation, no German invasion, no Nazi nukes.  The church did not flee.  I should have been relieved.  Any sane person would have been relieved.  But I wasn’t relieved, I was even more frightened.  The Great Tribulation was overdue!  It must be close.  It had to be close.  It could start at any minute.  

It didn’t happen.  Years passed.  I was out of the church for awhile, I did get married, I did get a career (thanks to trade school — I never did get that college education), and I had kids.  Fear for the fate of my children drove me back into the cult, where I wasted 15 more years, still waiting for the Great Tribulation, still sacrificing on the Altar of Armstrong, sending in any “spare” money (none of which we could really spare — I’m still deep in debt because of that). 

In 1981 Armstrong told us why the Great Tribulation hadn’t started yet.  He had made no mistakes, but it was our fault!  “CHRIST HAS DELAYED HIS COMING BECAUSE YOU PEOPLE AREN’T READY!” he squealed. 

And I believed it. 

Five years later (and fifty years too late) Armstrong died.  The church stopped talking about the Great Tribulation.  They just continued to collect the money.  In 1992, thanks to the overt and undeniable corruption of Joe Tkach, I finally woke up.  And got the hell out. 

I was 44 years old. 

 

Seven Years to Live

As I approach age 60, it is entirely possible that I now really do have only seven years to live, more or less.  My parents barely made it into their seventies, so that wouldn’t be an unreasonable expectation.  My death sentence from 1965 has had one hell of a reprieve; but my entire life was on hold up until 1992, waiting for something that was “sure” to happen, but never did.  What might I have accomplished if I hadn’t been sentenced to life on Death Row? 

What’s done is done.  The last 16 years have been wonderful.  My kids have turned into fine adults, they all have college degrees (thanks to student loans — I was unable to help them), and promising careers.  I woke up just in time to spare them a life sentence.   

But the point of this article is not about them, nor about me.  The point is about those poor children who are just now growing up in the toxic atmosphere of Armstrong cults, those poor kids whose parents have “proved” that Armstrong theology is “true”.  It doesn’t matter which minor dictator they live under, nor which “church of god” they belong to; what matters is that those kids also believe they only have seven years to live (or maybe four, depending on which date their particular fuehrer has chosen as the “end”).   

What despair runs through their minds on any given day?  What sleepless dread chills their bones every time they look at the TV news?  What kind of future do they face?  Will some of them rebel and make their way in the world anyway, feeling guilty and ashamed for the rest of their lives for turning their backs on the “truth”? 

Or will they sit there, waiting, fearing, dreading, wasting their only chance at a decent life? 

It’s those kids I worry about.  Who is going to save them?

Source

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Bethsaida Two-Step

In an episode of the Simpsons, Comic Book Guy questions Lucy Lawless about inconsistencies in episodes of Xena. Her repeated answer is “wizard”. When we question why we weren’t healed, why our faithful tithing didn’t solve our financial worries, why … The standard answer we get is that it’s our fault.

In Mark 8:22-26, Jesus was in Bethsaida and heals a blind man. But it was a two-step process – initially, vision was restored, but it was indistinct; then, it was fully restored. The man was told to go straight home.

An RCG Q&A deals with the “two-step” healing:

Christ could have healed the man by the simple touch of His hand, or even with His words. But He probably realized that the man’s faith was weak.
We find that even after Christ had been resurrected, His disciples’ faith was weak…
Christ healed the blind man in a “step-by-step” manner, rather than all at once, in order to increase the man’s faith, before totally healing him.

This is the type of response we’d expect, the old not enough faith boilerplate. Of course, the verses in question don’t say that.

Many years ago, I heard a talk by Dr Dorothy (Charles V. Dorothy, once a popular WCG minister, AC professor and researcher, several times was relieved of duty, and has a real PhD). The details are now fuzzy, but essentially the two-step healing process was what would be expected for the disease he believed had caused the blindness”.  This reminds me of adding a peripheral to a computer – get the hardware working, get the right driver; a two-step process. Regardless of one’s opinion about healing, I think it appears more acceptable than “not enough faith.

Either the RCG writer was unaware of this answer, or, dismissed it as being from a “liberal” minister (an independent thinker).