The Painful Truth-Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God – Page 476 – Understanding the psychology of religious seduction and spiritual abuse.

April 24, 2011May 6, 2018

British Israel Propaganda And Deceit. Part II

Forward: In Part One I wrote about spiritual communism and the useful idiots that support the idea of a one world government. This theocratic “New World Order” is represented by the “Churches of God” and are to be ruled by a king that descends from the heavens above.

Part Two

Armstrong-ism. A Parasitic Leech.

Mark Armstrong, the grandson of Herbert Armstrong, wrote an article entitled “The Misappropriation of Herbert W. Armstrong’s Name.” In this article he laments the constant misuse of his grandfathers name for the benefit of not so few in the ministry. Mark writes “News came to me this week that is sickening. That is, that one of those claiming to have inherited “the authority of Herbert W. Armstrong” has told his congregation that they should liquidate any holdings and send in their money.”

“How many abuses will be committed in the name of my deceased Grandfather? And how long will some poor abused people remain in a state of deception, or worse, mind control?”

Mark tells it like it is. I have lost count as to how many of the “Churches of God” have proclaimed the authority of Herbert W. Armstrong as if he handed them personally the keys to his “thiefdom.”

(Mark, have your eyes been closed and ears plugged as to the abuses of these self proclaimed apostles and prophets?) These parasites have been using your Granddad’s legacy and family name to impoverish people, and undermining their financial security for decades! They are just following the successful corporate model that Herbert Armstrong implemented.

A Marxist is a Parasitic Leech.

“While the communist is busy beating his people to death and they are dying of hunger…”

“It was communists who a century ago came up with the idea of Income Tax… it was intended to fleece the rich of their wealth and to level everyone to the ground.” Likewise, the “Churches of God” have been successful in using the resources of the “people” in order to build and support their theocratic New World Order. The tax was a tithe, or two, and in some years, three. The squeezing (extorting) money from the membership kept committed and submissive sheeple in line. Like in a communist society, rebelling meant sure death. Now the Armstrong churches might not shoot you in the head, but they claim the authority of God almighty to have you thrown into the lake of fire! It is this alone that kept you and I in line and submissive to their authority. The end game was about money and power. As one article in particular pointed out on the Painful Truth, the organization existed for itself alone. There was no love, mercy or compassion, only contempt!

Earth-bound.

Within the closed totalitarian society of Armstrong-ism lies the seeds of its own destruction. Unable to grow exponentially and unchecked, the information age has decreased the survivability factor a thousand fold. Potential members who never heard of Herbert Armstrong will find umpteen web-sites and articles that offer information on the man and the organization he administrated. Few web-sites are supportive of his efforts and rightfully so.

The unscathed mind will articulate the deception with a click of the mouse! With incredible ease one can decipher this insane notion that America and Britain are the decedents of some lost tribes of ancient Israel. The belief that modern Israel is the result of a promise made to Abraham, and that prophecy cannot be understood without this knowledge, is the Achilles heel that will bring down the movement. It is just unbelievable how many hoops one has to jump through to come to the conclusion that America and the Brits are heir to the promise made to Abraham. The necessary twisting of the scriptures alone is enough to drive the discerning mind far from the grasping hands of the COG gurus!

The “Churches of God” just stunt their growth with all their nutty ideas. They undercut their ability to grow and prosper, to change and move forward. They bash communism, and at the same time express their love for free market capitalism. If they were capitalist they would allow the free expression of the membership in choosing the next generation of leaders. But that is not how they work. Free expression is the enemy of the totalitarian gurus. It is the deathblow to the organization and the power of the upper-class who rule over the regime. If there is to be change it must come from free-thinking individuals who are committed to the free expression of ideas within the confines of their church. The problem is, just how do you open minds in a heavy handed religious regime without being sacrificed on the alter of dissent?

Inside North Korea. Cultism and the guru.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxLBywKrTf4

March 22, 2011May 6, 2018

British Israel Propaganda And Deceit

“The goal of “Communism” is identical to that of British Israel and they emanate from the same source and serve the same masters. Capitalism finances Communism and Russian Communism is state capitalism. Communism promises a perfect society and British Israel promises a paradise on earth. Are they the same?”

“The Union Jack”
-Published ca. 1970

Today a friend sent me a link to an article entitled “British Israel Propaganda And Deceit.” In this article we read the following:

“Americans who believe that Christ’s kingdom is of this world are ushering in world government. They have a sickness called Communism of the heart or spiritual Communism. Spiritual Communism is a political religion. It is a religion dedicated to a world government kingdom in which national states vanish under the central authority of the political theocracy.”

Although the Painful Truth does not necessarily endorse the conspiratorial views of the above article, there are a few points I would like to make.

British Israelism.

In mind control, cults teach that you are powerless, and can never achieve enlightened without their group and that torment and destruction awaits you if you leave the group. The power of sin is not death, it is control over your mind. Why do people need a minister to come between them and God? The answer is that the ministry exploits a basic human need. A need for understanding about life after death. A need of purpose. A need for a thousand philosophical answers. Needless to say, tens of thousands have left the Armstrong religion after figuring the scam out.

British Israelism is used as a form of mind control along with other cult doctrines and rituals for the expressed purpose of having the group stand out from mainstream groups. The purpose of this chosen method is to coax the true believer into believing that the cult and the members are special. Words spoken from the pulpit enforce this view onto the true believer. “You are Gods chosen people.” “We are the true church.” “We have the correct doctrines revealed by God.”

Is British Israelism a biblical re-educational process that is leading people away from their national identity and merging them into a world government through religion? The Armstrong sects teach that a Kingdom of God is coming soon, but is it? Or are they just “useful idiots” that are propelling their followers to support unknowingly a one world government?

The term “useful idiot” comes from the cold war era in which the Russian KGB used teachers, preachers, social workers, students, environmentalists and others to unwittingly support a malign cause through their ‘naive’ attempts to be a force for good, furthering the cause of expansive Soviet communism. When the goal is reached, the useful idiots are executed. This is the understanding of control through subversion. If you can get someone to believe a certain way, half the battle is over.

To understand why British Israelism is expounded endlessly, you must first understand those who put forth the heresy.

Part One

The Armstrong Religion.

The Armstrong religion is nothing less than Phariseeism, in that it observes a strict and hypocritical interpretation of the “letter of the law.” The aspect of true piety, the spiritual experience, is subverted through useless doctrines such as British Israelism.

The promised Golden Age in which there is no war or poverty, human misery is alleviated under this Christian world government. Herbert Armstrong at his pseudo bible college, preached that all nations will be destroyed at the time of the “Great Tribulation” so all things can be made new and that perfect peace can begin. That day has yet to arrive after the endless setting of dates.

His followers deny biblical grace by centering their attention and hope on a future religious political system which promises a material, glorified earthly paradise. A paradise which will never materialize anymore than it did when the Pharisees thought Christ was to be a political king ruling the world from Jerusalem.

The promotion of a material earthly kingdom is taught not just by the Armstrong cults but also by some mainstream religions. Without this kingdom we are told, there shall never be peace on earth. But Christ is quoted as saying that his kingdom is not of this world. So I ask you, just what do you mean by the Kingdom of God? Is it the new world order?

The Armstrong religion builds a society within a society. They don’t vote or participate in mainstream society and often quote the bible passage “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”
2 Corinthians 6:17. You see, they claim not to be of this world but are up to their necks in it. All of life is in vain because they are sure that Christ is coming back to set up His world government and to “rule with a rod of iron.”

However, the true believers participation in basic Christian tenets are lacking. We have yet to see the corporate Armstrong churches set up charities that feed the poor, cloth the needy or contribute to the general welfare of society. Once upon a time, people lived their religion. It was a way of life. Families spent their time in service to others regardless of religion or race. They served the more unfortunate ones in society. They contributed a useful purpose that edified the country, promoted good values both at work and at home. They set the example for their children as to what good works are. In the churches of God, few go out of their way to make a difference, the whole movement lacks the motivation and willingness to contribute something positive.

If you need proof dear true believer, go look at any of the Armstrong church websites. Do any of them have a link to assist those in Japan who have been slammed by earthquakes, then a tsunami and now a near reactor meltdown? If the churches of God are not contributing to society, just what is the purpose of their existence? What is their real motivation for preaching Christ crucified? It makes you wondering about who is really behind that religious info-commercial you may have seen Sunday morning and why they want me to send for that glossy magazine.

The horrifying fruits of Armstrong-ism can be seen in this video.
Former Armstrong student and AC attendee, Lyn Benedetto.

Lilies of the Fall

New note added 2/26/11

In the event someone I know from my early years, maybe an AC friend, happens to go back to read my posts here, I wanted to say a cheerful “Hello” and encourage you to make contact, if my entries here are not too upsetting. I’m also on facebook, so go there if you prefer.

Now the original post:

Does this fit under “legalism?”

This being my final post as guest editor for February, I thought I’d have a little more fun with words and meanings before concluding with a few sincere personal thoughts.

No, I’m sure the above heading doesn’t strictly relate to the term legalism as typically used, but I thought I’d toss it out there. The reason the odd header came to mind goes back to 1963 and my introduction to the way the RCG treated words. It was a cavalier approach to the words others had written and a kind of abuse of copyright. This is probably why I see it as bordering on the legal field.

When I began attending church services, I suddenly had to learn to sing The Battle Hymn of the Republic with a change in lyrics. This was merely the first time I noticed the fix-the-words phenomenon within the true church (I speak as a fool), but it instructs me more today in retrospect. Almost as jarring to a person who loved singing and had spent some early childhood time learning lots of songs while going to Baptist and Nazarene church services, was the change applied to Onward Christian Soldiers. In the CoG, we had to sing “With the word of Jesus …” in place of the originally written “…cross of Jesus” because it was HWA’s very pointed instruction that the term “cross” in the King James Bible was a mistranslation of the word for “stake;” therefore, we couldn’t sing about a cross… going on before, as the song phrase concludes.

[Re-reading this now I wonder if memory serves me correctly on where I ran into the Battle Hymn “fix.” It could have been while singing this song with the Ambassador Chorale a year after I began to attend services. Someone with access to the gray paperback hymnal from RCG days could correct me on this.]

So Herb had a thing about semantics. This was something I shared – still do today – and my interest in semantics was well established prior to my interest in the CoG.

In the Battle Hymn (a revolting oxymoron as a title, but legally the choice of its Civil War period composer), it was the [lack of] the word lilies that caught my attention. More than that, the words born and borne. They were completely and absurdly misused and blown out of proportion by either HWA himself or his brother Dwight or other devoted follower, perhaps Dr. Bogdancik at the Big Sandy Campus.

When I found myself singing the well-known old song and stumbling over lilies as others sang the printed replacement word of autumn, I didn’t know what to think. Someone later explained that Jesus wasn’t born in spring, when there would be lilies about, therefore the word was simply changed to autumn to fit with when He was actually born. Even as a minimally educated teen, I found this incredible. Yet if it was the way this wonderful church wanted it, so be it! Yuk! Sickening now to even reveal my blind acceptance of all that crap back then.

Just think of this! If the leaders of the church were going to take liberties with composers’ written words, which was unethical and probably illegal, at least it should never have been done without clear and meaningful reason. This very subject of changed lyric lines was a huge part in my excitement over the new hymnal that came out in the early 1970s.

To the blog participant who goes by PurpleHymnal, my sincere apologies. I realize now that you might have been one of those toddlers on the floor during some of my own rousing sessions of song-leading, then were probably forced to stay on the drafty floor next to that purple monster placed at your mother’s feet during the sermons. No surprise you have a far different perspective! The same shout-out goes to all others who began your developmental years on the drafty floors of WCG meeting halls. Hopefully you developed much more than colds and hatred for the hymnal!

My reason for liking the new hymnal was that most of the lyrics of the many new songs were fairly direct quotes of biblical passages (which I thoroughly approved of at the time) and no longer so many strange aberrations of old protestant songs. Of course, many of the old songs remained, just fixed and reprinted (illegally) in the new book. But back to words. Borne being mistaken for born? How utterly foolish! The context didn’t even make any sense with that slant.

Even back in high school choir (prior to my conversion) when we had performed this song in four-part harmony, I was aware that the word borne meant carried. I probably wasn’t aware that the idea was related to the “Lord” being carried on the back of a donkey and brought to the place where he “died to make men holy.” But when we singers in the choir reached that moment of beginning the last verse, we were coached in the need to retard the tempo and slip into a reverent pianissimo to begin the phrase, “In the beauty of the lilies…” and I somehow understood it had to do with the biblical reference to the traditional time (in spring) when the crucifixion had taken place.

Imagine my surprise to find that someone had decided the line needed fixing because it was important to avoid any connection between spring and the likely time when Jesus was born. Amazing misapplication and lack of logic!

Many such examples of correcting texts or lyrics could be cited, and most of them are now quite as laughable. That’s right, Mr. Becker, I choose to laugh about it all now. Because I can! We can and probably should laugh at much of our past foolishness if we want to find any sanity. Were we all, in the WCG, guilty of many misguided actions and ideas? You bet. Did we all follow too willingly without enough intellectual curiosity? Oh, yes! Was I personally guilty for being so caught up in what I perceived to be right when I was in my late teens, that I should apologize to all who even knew my name back then? Okay, again, I am very sorry. Not only to PurpleHymnal but to thousands of others who might have seen in me a solid connection to truth which later crumbled and ceased to exist. Our connection is what crumbled; it did so because I finally discovered that the truth I wanted so much apparently had never proven to exist.

Insert: A just-added comment from admin has suggested I sign an apology page. Maybe this is the same thing Becker’s note was suggesting by placing a link for me. Never checked out the link; don’t do blanket apologies for anything! Part of being a complete independent is not adding my name to lists. There are also degrees of guilt; my offense was like a misdemeanor in the scheme of things. A duped kid, groomed to be a minister, preached at others for eight years and then said “forget it.” I readily and openly apologize for anything I actually do or have done that may ever hurt anyone. This has been evident throughout my writing in this blog, though it appears some have missed the apologies because they weren’t couched in heavy language of loathing, hating myself and those who abused me. I do not wallow in hatred and I do not do sack cloth and ashes! If my involvement in this “dumping ground,” as admin has named it, is to be of any benefit, I can see no route more hopeful than to reveal myself as a survivor who can speak from a new, happy place. Pushing someone up from quicksand is quite difficult; far better to lift from a footing on solid ground.

If we could learn to laugh at ourselves and our past delusions, we would all likely be happier. Yet those of us who are managing to do this come under criticism of some who cannot or will not laugh. In your own words, Mr. Becker, in a comment following my previous post: First, there is nothing true about Armstrongism. It is stupid. Everything based on British Israelism is stupid. No one here seems to care about which Armstrongist group survives over another. They should all fail. They are wrong. Some of us here are actively working to hasten the fall of Armstrongism. [You have my total agreement and appreciation! – markman]
Now if it were only for the fact that Armstrongism is wrong, then a great approach is to just walk away. But that’s not all there is. What there is, is a great deal of abuse going on, as a legacy of what Herbert Armstrong started.
Abuse is the real reason Armstrongism should die permanently.

My sincere effort has been (from the beginning contribution to this blog) to be of help to anyone who might find something positive in my words. That includes the encouragement for anyone capable of taking that step (as a fish with new-found legs) to completely reject the black fishbowl and all its environs. It is your own admission that “a great approach is to just walk away.” This approach could become a reality for you and many others. I have tried to give everyone the handle on my life of freedom by pointing out that though Armstrongism is quite unquestionably wrong and damaging, it’s merely a tiny part of the massive blight on a humanity that looks to phantoms.

An apparent need still exists to punish HWA, GTA, RCM, the WCG, UCG, and/or others from the alphabet of madness, because there is still “abuse going on.” Ending all abuse at the hands of crackpots and their legacies would be truly wonderful. I hope there are people (other than myself) actively working to end the abuses begun by Ellen G. White, Oral Roberts, Billy Sunday, Pat Robertson, Joseph Smith, Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Jerry Falwell, Pope Benedict, all the former popes, Saul of Tarsus, Jimmy Swaggert, Mary Baker Eddy, Mohammed, John Calvin, Ron Hubbard, Martin Luther, etc., etc., ad nauseum. From my perspective, now free of the tyranny of belief, they are all part of the one insanity.

[There are actually many people trying to help others to better understand life and humanity. Bob Kuhn, former Armstrong follower, as many of you know has an impressive website called closertotruth. Three other websites I appreciate are longhighsurvival, ageofreason, and thebrights. And many sites relating to Humanism are quite interesting.]

Later in your own comment to me, Mr. Becker, you seem to want me to be a personal extension of Armstrong so you might have someone still living who can be blamed and cursed in some way – perhaps wanting to see me also “die permanently.” Alas, I shall eventually satisfy that desire and be dead permanently. As will we all. Living for today, however, is something I intend to continue with pleasure and not wallowing in guilt. You think I should be apologizing more, which I thought I did in proper measure.

To sum up, let me use a simple analogy. Religion, to me, is a disease, of which Armstrongism is a minor strain. As with physical maladies, some people contract virulent strains and die; others fight off major illness and live long, happy lives. Some are exposed to AIDS or other horrible strains and suffer no ill effect; others get germs through simple blood transfusions (are totally innocent) and die painful deaths.
I fought off the ill effects of Armstrongism and the experience inoculated me against other belief germs. My life is peaceful and strong because of the fight and the recovery. Some of you have not been so fortunate. I have deep compassion for you, but I did not infect you. That was just the luck of the draw, as it was with me. No point in blaming my late mother who was a carrier. I possessed free will; I made my own decisions. In the last few weeks here I have tried to share my story of recovery with any who want to hear it. No single remedy works for all, but you’re welcome to mine if you can use it.

Hasta lumbago,
markman