Dance Hall Daze Without Confusion

The hardwood floor was pitted with heel marks from countless gingham-skirted Dolly Parton-like women who scuffled across the floor to the drone of a pre-recorded caller with truck-driving men sporting handlebar mustaches. At least that’s how I imagined them as I sat there staring in a daze, listening to the sermon. I never actually saw anyone dance on the floor. For me, this mundane edifice with lime green walls is where God spoke to his elect, a few hundred people who gathered for two hours (or more) every Saturday in perfectly arranged brown folding chairs with “Worldwide Church of God” rubber-stamped on the chair back and the underside of an incredibly hard steel seat. I was in a dance hall daze.

 

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The Middle of the Movie

Blast from the past…

     Many of those now living in the Worldwide Church of God or its splinter cults may never have heard Herbert Armstrong speak, even on the radio.  He died almost 17 years ago, and many new converts were attracted to his organization after his death.  For such people, it may be of little value to point out that Armstrong was a megalomaniac, a pervert, a liar, a thief, or that he committed both rape and incest – they never knew him, so this information has no meaning.

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The Leona McNair Affair

The relationship was now a traumatic one, but Leona still had no intention of deserting her family. Nor was she lingering on for (what Allan Browne would later claim in court) a “free ride.” She started attending college again in 1974 to reestablish her nursing credentials. And when those were obtained in 1975 she found work at a local hospital. But then, a few weeks later in June, Raymond McNair did something no WCG evangelist had ever done. He filed for divorce.

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