The Painful Truth-Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God
Understanding the psychology of religious seduction and spiritual abuse.
Hard upon the heels of the demise of the Worldwide Church of God as we knew it, the casual observer may be shocked to discover a regiment of splinter groups that have sprung up in its place. Where once there was “one true church of God”, now there are hundreds, all claiming the same charter, all claiming to carry out the same commission. How can this be?
Over the years people have emailed the Painful Truth believing that we don’t understand their particular group. They quote the bible to no end thinking that we are ignorant in our understanding of Armstrongism and/or the bible. We are not.
It seems that the idea of a church raising funds (for the benefit of the elite leadership) under the guise of religion never occurred to them. They should have asked a fundamental question, “Who benefits?”
All churches will eventually die. That’s a given. Most think they must and will survive. A church might be hanging on physically, but is dead spiritually. The following questions give a good indication of your church’s health, if it is growing or dying out.