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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I Finally Left The Armstrong Cult

The following blog is by Ron Rubottom, a former Armstrongist and editor of the now defunct website “plaintruth.info”

Putting Armstrongism Away.

I am a former wwcg member from approx. 1985 to the nineties. (not exactly sure as confusion seemed to cloud my mind after the death of HWA. My experience is a bit different from many of you that grew up in the church or spent many years there. I should say that I appreciate the work you are doing. It is painful for me to see the allegations about HWA on your site, but even though today is the first inkling I have ever had of much of this, I can see that it is most likely accurate. I had already figured out on my own that he was deluded on certain subjects and greatly enjoyed the prestige and high life of his office but blamed others in my mind for encouraging his human nature. (Those like Gerald Waterhouse with his wild eyed predictions and numerology nonsense and carrying on about the prophetic significance of everything Armstrong) But, until today I did not think that he had consciously deceived us. A sad day.

I, unlike many of the victims testifying here, was raised SDA. In that cult we were taught that their prophetess, Ā Ellen G White, received direct revelations from God. She wrote 65 books and I grew up in Takoma Park, MD (world headquarters for the adventists) and my father (a second generation SDA) was a florist with his flower shop directly across the street from the Takoma Park SDA church AND directly across the street from the General Conference of Seventh Day Adventists (world headquarters) AND directly across the street from the Review and Herald publishing company. The world headquarters publishing company of the SDA’s.

I grew up in that flower shop. It had a huge Hallmark card section which brought in all the SDA employees and executives on a regular basis. I was well known and knew many of the leaders of the church. I placed the flowers in front of the podium every Sabbath morning. My dad taught Sabbath school. I was baptized several times. I sang solos in front of hundreds. I attended SDA schools and studied the bible and Ellen White daily. I took it all quite seriously. I read most of EG Whites books and believed all they said. My family and I sat front and center in the Takoma Park church every Sabbath.

I was an intellectual child in spite of my devotion to the “truth”. The sermons were usually incredibly boring and all I had to read were the church hymnal and the Bible. After wearing out the hymnal to escape the boredom I began reading the old testament. The kings and such historical parts were pretty boring to me and the psalms didn’t do anything for me and then I discovered Solomon’s writings. I read about how Solomon choose wisdom and understanding over all else, when offered anything he desired, and was thrilled by that. In my childish innocence, I was about twelve, I bowed my head right there and prayed for the same things. Whether or not there is a God or if he answers prayers, this is a powerful thing.

After that I began reading Isaiah and other latter prophets and trying to figure out what in the world they were talking about! In SDA doctrine we never heard anything about a peaceful world, only heaven and lakes of fire. I began questioning ministers in the church and because of my family’s position I was able to question the higher up’s and talk to Ellen White’s heirs and others the average member did not have access to. I was given the usual double speak and told the the unconditional promises of the old testament and the prophecies of a peaceful just world were the “way it would have been if Israel had obeyed God.” They had convinced me that the Bible was God’s word so they laid the groundwork for my rejection of the church. Eventually the “White Lie” came out. (The facts the Ellen White copied much or all of her writings from earlier protestant writers, how easy it was to get away with before the internet!)

I was through, and extremely angry. I was really pissed off for years, but had not lost my faith in the Bible as the word of God so was easy pickings for WWCG. When I first heard HWA in the 80’s I had to drive to the top of a mountain in WV where I was living to get the station clearly. The reason I did was because what he was saying finally made sense of all the things I had read in Isaiah and elsewhere and never could make any sense of. JW’s were too weird so I couldn’t get it from them. HWA made sense of it and I determined to disprove him because of the deception I had experienced with EG White. I read every scripture he quoted and the context on either side of it to disprove what he was teaching and found that he was teaching scripturally sound doctrine. (I was used to total inexplicable fantasies like most protestant religions use).

The more I tried to prove him wrong, the more I proved him scripturally correct. I was hooked, line and sinker. I dragged my family along and joined the church. Gave them a lot of money just like the rest of you. I am now divorced and I can’t say it is the fault of the church but I am not sure. Our life was significantly altered and it is possible that the church life prevented us from developing a healthy relationship. I generally blame myself but don’t we all, and not necessarily correctly. I guess I am rambling on but it is such a relief to find a group of folks that have some similar experiences.

For years I have wanted to get in touch with former members that were with us through all that but could not find them as I had moved away and left the church. Couldn’t help but wonder what their thoughts and experiences were since the dissolution of the church, the Joseph T debacle and all. Didn’t even know about all this HWA stuff but it makes sense now in retrospect. I have read most every page on your site today and I have noticed that there are multiple “moderators” and some seem to be atheistic or at least agnostic, while others seem to be somewhat still open to scripture being possibly authentic.

I admire the attitude of all here and cannot begin to understand what some of you experienced in the old days before standards were somewhat relaxed as they were in my time in the church. I do have a clue though. Because of all that I have been through I have been compelled to write out my thoughts and beliefs and to publish them online in the delusional imagination that I understood all as I prayed for at 12. I had a site called the plain truth.info for a few years. This exercise taught me a lot and writing out your thoughts and beliefs is a great way to examine your beliefs as I found myself constantly having to correct myself.

To me the conclusions that I derived from this several year exercise has been helpful and comforting. I don’t know if it would be of any interest or profit to anyone but it has been to me and so I include it here just in case.

I could not let go of the belief that the Scripture was inspired, (a teaching I received in the SDA church that led me to leave it) only that I had been fooled again. In the WWCG I had finally been able to understand all the things that drove me crazy in the SDA in the “inspired” word. I realized that HWA was somewhat deceived and that the WWCG was not the “TRUE CHURCH.” I did not, of course know the rest of the story. After Joe Tkach I left in disgust. It’s funny, the teachings of the SDA’s caused me to disbelieve them, AND the teachings of HWA caused me to disbelieve him too.

In my analysis on my plain truth site I first reasoned that belief systems were choices that serve us or not and that none of them are provable. Creationist, atheist, or whatever is you choose, you can’t prove it’s true. It’s just your choice and as an automatic side effect of your choice you MUST discredit/disprove (to your satisfaction) opposing views. I chose the belief that was hammered into me, that scripture was inspired BUT, I had actually been thinking for myself for some time and came to a different view than I have seen expressed anywhere else.

1. “Scripture” means the Hebrew “old testament”. That was what Christ said could not be broken.

2. The “new testament” was canonized by the Catholic church but has been accepted as “the word of God” by virtually all groups, even those (such as the WWCG) that see the Catholic church as the Great Whore. It seems that it never crosses anyone’s mind to question the validity of this document and every word, especially Paul’s, is given reverence as God’s utterances. This is plainly naive.

At best, if we can trust that the works are genuine, the four “gospels” are not “scripture” they are eyewitness accounts and hearsay of the life and acts of Christ as recalled by his companions/disciples. Then we have Acts, purportedly written by Mark which is just a documentary of events. After that until Revelation, we have the “epistles” which are personal letters from the apostles to churches with their advice, admonitions, and sometimes personal opinions and specific instructions or advice to individuals and groups. I can’t imagine that when they wrote these letters to their congregations that they envisioned this “Christianity” that has evolved placing their correspondence on the same level as the prophets of old, and calling it “the word of God”

Then finally comes “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” purported to be dictated to and written down by the beloved apostle John. If we can believe that this is genuine it would be the only part of the “new testament” that qualified as “scripture” as it would be the only part that was received in the manner that we are told the prophets of old did. i.e. a direct dictation session from God, which is the premise that we are asked to accept from the old testament scriptures. Ok, sorry going tangent.

3.I/we learned in wwcg the Biblically correct teaching that Christ hid the truth from the masses. (“why do you speak to them in parables”….”because to you it is given to know the secrets of the KOG but to them it is not given…) so we knew that according to what we believed that evangelism was not Christ’s agenda. There is no need to convince or convert anyone as God’s “church” is just a group chosen to serve mankind in the age to come. So, no pressure I reason. It makes no difference what anyone believes and there is no reason for a church that recruits members and solicits money from them for what?

My conclusions include that all of Christianity is false BS and that God if he exists has no religion and that religion is the curse of the earth and that one possible explanation for our existence is the plan outlined in the Scriptures. It would be the obvious conclusion that I choose that belief because I was taught it as a child. I have rejected much of what I was taught as a child. I think that the reason I hold to this choice of beliefs is because it makes sense that God is creating a family and that the only way he could do it was by allowing, or actually causing, us to experience the consequences of living in a selfish, non-loving world and seeing the horror of living outside of God’s law of love.

I know it’s sophomoric but as Christ pointed out the whole law can be summed up in two commands, love God and love your brother. We don’t need any commandments if we love. Thanks Beatles. When money and power come into the picture is when all people, who are basically good, run a-muck. The love of money and power has consumed so many. (money is power) HWA loved his power and prestige it seems. You always hear (when people visit some third world country where the population is dirt poor) “the people were so sweet and kind and beautiful! I never in my life met such kind, good people. Yes, because they have no access to the “root of all evil” (oh no, I just quoted PAUL!

Thanks for your work and patience.

Ron Rubottom

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“Apostolic Incest”

Ā better known as

“Incestuous Rapeā€
________

ā€œIt is universally reported that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even among the nations, so that one should have his father’s wife.ā€
1 Corinthians 5:1
Darby Bible Translation.
Click to Zoom!

Ā 

Well how about a father having his wife’s daughter?

From Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, (1831).
Ezekiel 22:10 ~ “In thee have they discovered – They are guilty of the most abominable incest and unnatural lust.”
Quote ~ “On thee have they humbled – In their unholy and unnatural connexions, they have not abstained from those set apart because of their infirmities. The catalogue of crimes that follow is too plain to require comment.”

In Chapter 20 of David Robinson’s book, ā€œHerbert Armstrong’s Tangled Webā€ the author spells out the reality of this crime, calling it not only a unnatural act but a crime punishable by death!

ā€œHow serious is the sin of incest, such as when a father uses his
authority to force himself on his own daughter, his own flesh? All
generations of the human family have viewed this conduct as an
unnatural act. The apostle Paul referred to a somewhat similar
relationship in the Corinthian church: ” … such fornication as is
not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have
his father’s wife” (I Cor. 5:1). Incest was disgusting beyond
measure to Paul, who was led to record his revulsion for posterity
in the inspired Bible.”

“Many American states legislated the death penalty in such cases
in the earlier years of this country. I knew personally of such a
case in Texas back in the 1950s. That father was executed in
Huntsville for such an act. He was convicted in Live Oak County,
Texas. He had seduced his thirteen-year-old daughter and had
continued the affair with her until relatives discovered the crime.
It was his own people who demanded the death penalty and the
State of Texas accommodated them. I don’t know for sure, but I
suspect the laws of Oregon and California were not all that
different during the thirties and forties.”

The $60,000 question is, do Armstrong supporters really care about his incestuous conduct? From what I have heard first hand from these folks, they seem not to be bothered with it. One of the first line of their defense is in the story of Lot or King David.

The bible doesn’t spare its hero’s faults from its readers. You get to see what their strengths and faults were. How about Herbert Armstrong’s faults? The sheep who follow the teachings of this man speak of him as if he was the son of God. But do they really want to see the other side of the coin? The seedy side?

And if they ever admit to themselves that all the evidence points towards a guilty verdict regarding his incestuous relationship with his daughter, what difference does it make to them personally?

The David Defense.

Unlike Herbert W. Armstrong, David never set himself up as a spiritual leader who had the authority from God to control every aspect of peoples’ lives. David knew that he was not allowed to build the temple because he had blood on his hands. Consider that David’s sins were the spur of the moment type, whereas Herbert W. Armstrong’s incest lasted for 10 years. There is no record of his repentance. No apology, no admission to guilt, no remorse for not only this above mentioned crime, but for ANY mistake he ever made.

Qualifications For Office.

1 Tim 3:2-12
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

If we use the bible as the authority and word of God, Herbert W. Armstrong had no authority to preach, baptize, or ordain. Neither do the guys who preach today. None of them has any authority to be a minister! Herbert W. Armstrong was the churches foundation. That foundation has crumbled under the strain of this biblical test.

Let me remind the reader what the prophets of old would say about Herbert:

Jer 5:31 “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way.

Mat 23:27Ā  “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”

Herbert Armstrong was indeed human. He proved by his actions that he had no right to stand in-between any person and God. The same can be said about those who cover up his sins so that they can continue to fleece the sheep.

Defending the Indefensible.

COGwriter Bob Thiel runs to Armstrong’s defense writing:

“What is overwhelming is that there is no proof, yet the accusers, who have no real direct information, continue perpetuating this charade.”

Not true. Since the 1990’s the Painful Truth has had newspaper clippings online that mention Herbert Armstrong and incest in the same sentence. During the course of his divorce HWA’s lawyers tried to eliminate evidence of a “sexual nature” but Ramona’s attorneys said it was crucial since HWA was accusing her of a breach of love and fidelity.

So if there is no evidence of incest as Bob Thiel states, why during the divorce proceedings was it mentioned that the Armstrong’s reached an “understanding” about HWA’s “prior incestuous conduct with his daughter for many years?”

The truth is, that in a criminal court of law Herbert W. Armstrong would have been found GUILTY of these incest allegations. The answer as to why they didn’t pursue charges against Herbert for incest or Ramona for theft is answered in the article itself. “That a trial would be stressful to Mr. Armstrong and might be very injurious to his health.”

Without even mentioning the Lochner tapes, or Robinson’s book “Herbert Armstrong’s Tangled Web” the newspaper article stands as dire testimonial evidence that there was indeed incest going on at one time in the Armstrong family. So when we read:

“I investigated four allegations related to this specific accusation and concluded that unless certain alleged audiotapes (the ā€œLochner tapesā€, where Herbert W. Armstrong allegedly confesses to this) actually surfaced, the accusations are not provable and aspects of the accusations are indeed disprovable.”
Bob Thiel

know that Bob Thiel didn’t look that hard at the evidence. As the newspaper shows, the incest was part of the legal proceedings in the Armstrong’s divorce. It is part of a LEGAL document.

If we lived in a world of true justice, HWA would have stood trial for this crime regardless of his health. The verdict would have been GUILTY!

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America’s Not the Greatest Country Any Longer?

I found this video on the Internet after a friend sent it to me. The idea of America being a great nation because of Gods blessings is what the Armstrongist teach. Its a damnable lie.

If this nation is looking damn rough around the edges it is because we have adopted policies that prove to be detrimental to the health of America and the futures of its people.

The continued adoption of failed policies from other failed/failing states outside the USA (Europe) is based on the concept of creating a more just and equitable society. What these policy really do is tear down the fabric of our society, create division and promoting class warfare.Ā  Its the “us” vs “them” mentality.

As in any cult, this is a valuable tool to create a class of supporters in which you can depend on for continual support.Ā  The sycophants of Armstrongism base their arguments that God is doing all this damage due to our “sins”, sabbath breaking, gay marriage, and other points of dribble.

What really is going on in this nation is a form of tribalism. Divide and conquer the hearts of men, force them into a mold. Create classes of people that makes them feel special. And then vote for the master. Sound familiar? Politicians and Priests. Same sorry sacks of shit presiding in different piles.

Enjoy!

Why America isn’t the greatest country in the world anymore.

Index of Economic Freedom.