Over at our sister site “CULTS” we had a respondent to the article
“Who Was Herbert W. Armstrong.” Allnea is replying to the following comment made by George:
George Panattoni
ÂHi: My Ex-wife and I were in the WWCG for ten years from 1964-1974, I was âbaptizedâ by âole Joe Tkach. I have ben affected all through my life by the experience. Iâm now 74 and have tried to work with members as the church was falling apart in the â90âs. It was a great education and my present wife who was a Nun and I do not attend any church! Finding more and more people leaving their churches in droves. We need to go back to âWhere one or two are gathered in my name, I will be with youâ! Hope to hear from some former members, especially from the Chicago Land area!
Alinea McMeans
 – ReplyHi. I grew up in the WWCOG from 1970- 1992, the age of 4-16 yrs old. I remember watching Herbert W. On the TV & im 44yrs old now. I attended a the church in Cape Girardeau, MO. My adopted mother was extremely abusive to my little brother & i who she & my adopted father adopted in 1981. Her biological son raped & sodomized me from age 5-10yrs old & i believe i had psychiatric breakdown at 10yrs old as she was fixing to leave us with Her son again (he terrorized me everytime she left him to babysit us!) She left eventually when i was 14 & i wasso happy! At age 16 my dad gave me the decision if i wanted to continue going to church or not! I chose not to! I really didnât know i had grown up in a cult til more recent years! I remember being teased in school for not celebrating holidays & not eating âuncleanâ meats & for celebrating the holy days of the Bible! At the time, i remember being taught that we were the 1, true church & badically outsiders (non believers) would attack us for our Christian beliefs! I chose not to go anymore at age 16 bcuz i felt scared! It was always a fire & brimstone teaching so to speak! I felt damned to Hell no matter what & it just didnât feel right! My Dad stayed in the chur h & i always remembered him saying the church was going through changes bcuz they had came to believe thst they had been following some false teachings & i never really questiined that. It wasvery disheartening to read thst i actually had been raised in a cult after doing some readings & watching a mans testimony about the cult on an episode of Haunted on Netflix! I knew my childhood was not what it shouldâve been but now looking back , i can see where the cult had so many brainwashed! & to find out that Herbert W was a pedophile himself is just mind-blowing to me! I canât believe that it has taken this many years to find out the horrible truths behind the lies of this so-called prophet of God! I no longer go to Church either but i do believe in a loving, merciful God!
