Tag: British Israelism

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What’s ahead for 2014: They won’t even bother with excuses any more

 

20142013 should win some sort of weirdness award, particularly because of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong. Prophet Thiel began accepting tithe money. Ronald Weinland finally went to Federal Prison for Income Tax Evasion on or near Groundhog’s Day (we’re thinking it parallels the movie where he keeps reliving the same day in prison over and over again until he gets some prophecy or other right). E. W. King and Apostle Malm made more stupid statements. Apostle Malm also held his very first Feast of Tabernacles (if you could call it that, maybe it should be called “Cult Bible Camp”) in Oregon.

Speaking of Oregon, we had projected the likelihood of more splinters in 2013 and sure enough another nano splinter sprang into existence, this time from a former UCG Deacon of questionable competence and aptitude, one Larry Hardison, who formed the Church of God Northwest Brethren on his Ekklekonx (the spell checker has just committed suicide) WordPress forum so that he could sponsor the Feast of Tabernacles in Bend, Oregon at the Phoenix Inn Suites with a top attendance of 48 with an average of 28. People had to come from all over the world to even make up that many. It’s not clear how many traded off with UCG in Redmond. We’ve heard his sermons in the past and would rather listen to paint dry. No doubt 2014 will be a banner year for them because there just not enough alternatives around with UCG, CoGWA, Pacific Church of God, Living Church of God, Heritage House Ministries-Love for Israel, Christian Biblical Church of God and you do know, the Feast for Church of God in Peace and Truth, Intercontinental Church of God, Continuing Church of God and Guardian Ministries is too far away and the Seventh Day Church of God is both too Biblical and focused on Jesus to be a viable alternative.

As we projected last year, Jesus didn’t return in 2013 and, in fact, the Great Tribulation didn’t begin… again. It was a great shock and surprise that all of the Armstrongist Churches of God did not all combine all into one under David Pack August 31st, 2013 and that three of the leaders of the major ACoGs didn’t die by the day before that. It seems that David Pack of the Restored Church of God there in Wadsworth, Ohio has been again proven to be a false prophet. It’s too bad too, for we had so much hope for a little extra drama, but all we got was paint drying on the new buildings he’s put up in his little Gulag. He does, however, look like an utter fool.

UCG again couldn’t figure out the purpose of their church. Dennis Luker announced that he would not seek a second term as President and we wondered why, since he had done so very well in his first term (that might be a slight exaggeration) — yes, we wondered until he died of prostate cancer before he could retire. Victor Kubic promises that he will carry on Luker’s vision and we sure hope that it has something to do with eliminating alcoholism from the ACoGs and not more stalking. What United has finally figured out is that it is not growing larger as a church… it is growing, but growing smaller. Entropy rocks!

The Pope resigned and the Catholics appointed a new one, apparently with more ‘life’ and competency, neither of which has much to do with the Armstrong Mafia.

We learned from Neville Stevens that demons are employing flying saucers to roam around the earth. We thought Satan had the power of the air, but, frankly, Harry Potter seems more sensible.

G. Sbarcea, based in Berowara Heights, NSW, Australia claims that Sons of Dracula Violated My Mother and Killed Her! Perhaps we’ve said too much already about this.

William Koeneke, an 86 year old deacon from Church of the Eternal God Minister, was convicted of four counts child molestation for indecent assault on young boys more than 20 years ago.

Gerald Flurry with his misnamed Philadelphia Church of God continued to be spectacularly irrelevant this year except as a place holder, save for the advice of his ministry that disabled children be left in shopping malls and further reports of a teen or two being turned out on the street (quite literally) to fend for themselves with the subsequent pain and suffering sucking in more innocents.

Speaking of the PCG, the DSM-V came out this year with a new view of mental disorders. Many of the descriptions fit the leaders of the sects of Armstrongism, particularly the PCG. In a turnabout, Ron Frasier of the PCG came out to mock the DSM-V, whereupon, the critics of the PCG came out to mock Ron Frasier and the PCG. It’s symmetric.

Glenn Beck did a segment on British Israelism. Apparently, he hasn’t seen our proof that it is a fraud.

Roderick Meredith is one more stroke closer to passing beyond the veil of the Living Church of God, at which time it might not be Living much longer. These things, though, are calculated in half-lifes apparently. It could be another decade or more. Or, if luck is with us, 2014 will be the proverbial “it” for him.

Attendees of the CoGWA are somewhat disturbed for no particular reason except it might be something Biblical that a full time minister who is divorced and remarried is, well, full time. We guess it’s because he gives good sermons. Perhaps it could be time that CoG members might possibly consider that they may be in a cult — if that’s not too difficult concept for them to grasp. Maybe, too, CoGWA members should consider the Legionnaire’s Disease at the Feast of Tabernacles in Florida this past year as a sign from God that He hates their Feasts. Some people can be pretty dense about these things. It also appears and rumor has it that after the death of Dennis Luker, members of CoGWA are tacitly returning to United. This seems to be yet another case of a patient getting a blood transfusion from one arm to the other and losing most of it in the process.

The demolition of the old remnants of Ambassador College continued apace this year with the campus hardly being recognizable as the one that Jesus was to return to in 1975 for sure at the latest.

Reports of Ysrael Hawkins, founder of the House of Yaweh, exposed on Dr. Phil again this year (at least in reruns), shows that it is a merciless abusive cult, not that will diminish business one whit and neither will it bring down the House.

Dr. David V. Barrett came out with his seminal work, The Fragmentation of a Sect: Schism in the Wordwide Church of God which gave us some good ideas why there are over 700+ (some have estimated as high as 1,200) of subspecies of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong. Our favorite quote was from Richard Rittenbaugh of the Church of the Great God who made the astonishing claim that Herbert Armstrong wasn’t a false prophet because he was a false apostle. Well, that’s not exactly what he said, but that’s the gist of it, which leads us onward to what’s ahead for 2014 after such an appalling major fail of 2013.

David Hulme, with his Church of God, an International Community (COGIC), thought to be the fifth (5th) largest of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia sects, seems to be having trouble with his troupes: Apparently, he has rejected the notion of British Israelism which has annoyed some in his CoGIC (although that probably isn’t the real source of unrest and his arrogant self-centered hubris along with his happy-go-lucky profligate spending with no apparent restraint, controls and oversight might be). This has led to his disfellowshipping (is that even a word, spell check doesn’t seem to think so) members for daring to have differing doctrinal opinions or criticisms of cult leadership. Apparently, Brian Orchard, a longtime and well-liked minister formerly with UCG, was among those who “resigned.” Also, COGIC treasurer Steven Andrews has apparently left the group, taking members with him, intending to start a new splinter group — this is ironic since Steven Andrews was the early on treasurer who supported David Hulme during the days his UCG Presidency came to an end, mostly because of his profligate spending, bankrupting United — and Steven had been a staunch advocate early on in the 1990s. Others that have been booted or left the cult are Peter Nathan, Cliff Veal (UK/Germany), Bob Rodzaj (Phoenix, New Mexico). Revenue is falling, falling, but David Hulme is isolated in his ivory tower, apparently confident that he is God’s chosen one to carry out the Work and will be provided for no matter how senseless, stupid or foolish his spending habits are — going forward with the divine right of kings with no thought to the consequences of unwise stewardship. It will be more difficult than ever in a disintegrating sect without Steven Andrews to manage the already constrained resources, but we’re pretty sure that David Hulme won’t care a whit until he has to face the absolutes of reality when they strike and the well is completely dry in the ACoG drought.

Troy Fitzgerald, a son of a Worldwide Church of God, came out as gay this year and published a book, Cults and Closets: Coming out of Chaos, in 2013. The Secular Safe House website has this to say about his background:

Troy Fitzgerald was raised in a religious cult — the Worldwide Church of God (aka Armstrongism) — as the son of a pastor and is now a secular humanist. He came out as gay later in life after being married to a woman and starting a family, having been in denial of his sexuality due to his religious indoctrination. He and his ex-wife, who was raised in the same cult and is now also a secular humanist, remain close friends and partners in raising their family. He wrote a book about his coming out, Cults and Closets: Coming Out of Chaos, and publishes a blog at CultsandClosets.com.

As a result of publishing his book and getting more connected with the struggles of others with similar backgrounds, he became very passionate about providing a voice, support, and safe refuge for others coming out of religion, cults and as LGBT. His professional background includes business analysis, website and film production, technical/web project management, and small business management. He is the proud father of three sons and lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Troy is just one of many fleeing the oppression of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia, seeking peace from the world of chaos from the lies of Herbert Armstrong. His efforts to help others to provide a refuge for those coming out of religion, cults or as LGBTQ is admirable. His effort may be the first of its kind.

And many of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia sects had their Winter Family Weekend in 2013, amazingly coincidentally coordinated with the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations of the pagan world of the wickedness of the Gentiles, which we are assured are completely different as they are completely godly without any hint of any pagan parallels. The Weekends will include eating, drinking, feasting, games, social gatherings, dances — absolutely, positively, completely different from the secular worldly pursuits, often held within the same facilities famous for their Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. Yep. We’re convinced. No hypocrisy to see here. Move along….

One thing quite disappointing in 2013 was absolutely no more mention of demons entering the world by a Stargate under the ocean. We’re bummed.

Our friend(s) over at Silenced.co once and for all (again) completely, totally, absolutely destroyed the foundations of British Israelism, proving once again that Herbert Armstrong’s failed key to prophecy, making him a dead false prophet, are based on a foundation of sand. You may read the many proofs and witnesses:

A Foundation of Sand: Part I — correlation does not imply causation

A Foundation of Sand: Part II — Ancient Israel’s future wrongly mapped to today

A Foundation of Sand: Part III — The Lost Ten Tribes Were Never Lost

A Foundation of Sand: Part IV — Israelites did not become Western European Barbarians

A Foundation of Sand: Part V — Linguistics

A Foundation of Sand: Part VI — Chronology

A Foundation of Sand: Part VII — An Issue of Questionable Scholarship

A Foundation of Sand: Part VIII — Genetic Evidence: BI’s Kryptonite

A Foundation of Sand: Part IX — The Crumbling Castle (the key to prophecy to the Bible and prophecy was neither)

Now we know why Ambassador College was located at Big Sandy: A sly reference to the entropy to follow based on the foundation of British Israelism.

We were pretty much on spot with our projections for 2013 last year, which leads us to a fairly high confidence that even though there continue to be surprises in the world of stupidity, we can have a fair amount of certainty about the future of 2014 — mostly the things that won’t happen.

We’re pretty sure that as a trend, Jesus will continue not to return and the Great Tribulation will not begin yet again. We can’t be absolutely sure, but if some group or other has a Place of Safety, it won’t really be and anyone foolish enough to wend their way into the wilderness may find themselves in dire straights as in “Jonestown” or if not Jonestown, certainly Looney Tunes.

The developing trends of 2013 may well find their way and amplify along the way for 2014.

1) Continued addiction of the membership (not to mention the leadership) on British Israelism: They have to have it — it’s a drug of choice, to assure that the doom and devastation will fulfill their lusts of idolatry and hubris to validate their “rightness” in their belief that they will be winners if only they follow the right cult leader into a wonderful world where they finally have some power!

2) The Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia will continue to do and say really stupid things!

3) The Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia will issue lame excuses when the stupid things they predict again do not come to pass!

4) The Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia will absolutely take no responsibility for the consequences of their actions!

5) The Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia will cover up their silly mistakes and continue to pretend they did not say or do the stupid things they really did!

6) The Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia will make no apologies for the stupid things they say and do!

7) The devastation, gloom and doom of the entropy causing apathy will continue its single arrow of time, marching the cult sects into inevitable irrelevance.

8) The high energy promises of Herbert Armstrong in the 1970s for prosperity and wealth in our time (and not just to wait for the future) would be available to all the loyal members as blessings from God will be continue to be ignored by the Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia, because they are too far gone to believe and try to sell such nonsense — thus dooming them to the useless dust bin of irrelevance to a society moving onward without them.

9) The Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia will continue to lose the youth, their future, because, let’s face it, British Israelism with its self-sacrifice for the good of the Empire is just not that much fun and the next generation doesn’t see any future in it for them.

10) Diehard cult members will cling to Armstrongism doggedly no matter what — it doesn’t matter if their leader is a proven an insane lying false prophet psychopath convicted felon in prison, darn it all, sticking with him proves our loyalty to God and by Jiminy we’re going to inherit the Kingdom come hell or high water even if liars and whoremongers won’t inherit the Kingdom of God: We’re crazy nuts and we’re absolutely sure of the delusions we believe.

These are the trends that have been developing in 2013 and it sure looks as if they are going to continue into 2014. We’re also pretty sure that what’s ahead is even more crazy outrageousness that none of the cult Mafia leadership is going to acknowledge and they won’t even bother with excuses any more, just like David Pack with his predictions for August 31st, 2013 — it came, it passed, it failed and he doesn’t even bother with excuses. As the ACoGs progress through 2014, that’s what we see ahead.

Other trends are developing as well, particularly for those of opposing this outrageous nonsense. It’s utter rubbish. We’re not going to stop exposing it at every turn. The ACoGs will continue to try to ignore us, but the forces of nature (entropy), God and whatever openings we can find will continue to erode this oppressive stupid wrong cult throughout the next year and beyond.

For 2014, the opening gambit is BritishIsraelism.com: We love the British, just not British Israelism.

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Sourcecode

In this article which is 11 years expired, notice what happens to the links when all their prophecies turn to shit….

Herbert Armstrong can be seen as bad source code of particularly malicious aggressive religious malware, difficult to detect and even more difficult to remove.

 On the False Prophet Ronald Weinland blog, an anonymous contributor commented:

I am ashamed for becoming caught up in this. I am very naive and trusting, and was really hoping for a better more just world, and excited to have a sound framework to live by. But that leaves people open for being taken advantage of. I have learned now to be yourself and trust your instincts no matter what anyone says, I just hope it is not too late to rebuild a life.

 Those of us who have been infected with the Armstrongism malware understand and empathize with this perspective. We can heartily recommend Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships by Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias from Bay Tree Publishing as a recovery and guard against cult malware. It has the best in-depth coverage of the religious cult malware of any resource and can serve to inoculate unwary users from the nasty effects of religious malpractice hackers, such as Roderick Meredith, Dennis Luker, Jim Franks and others dedicated to spreading debilitating religious viruses and worms to the public.

The original source code for this religious malware stems from Herbert Armstrong, who used snippets of script from various religious hackers of previous decades and centuries. He was no Biblical coding expert, but he was able to cut and paste from various illicit sources like some novice teenager unqualified to produce viable products but plagiarized source in order to create havoc and chaos. Although, at first, he set upon his discoveries in the Portland Public Library, his repertoire, as we will see later, was built upon a foundation of another whose influence can be seen in his works and was expanded by the pseudo-intellectual, Dr. Herman Hoeh.

Some may wonder how the Source Code is built. It’s not that difficult to understand, even for the naive novice unfamiliar with the processes to create illegitimate applications destructive to their users. The basic process is to build on snippets that are created out of the imagination. Once someone creates the snippet, another comes along and quotes the first “creator”. Then the first creator quotes the second source, forming a double-bond of self-referential substantiation with no substance at all. This is scalable to a much larger community of sources.

John D. Keyser at Mysteries of the Bible website, in the article The Coronation Stone — Jeremiah in Ireland, debunks the whole idea of Jeremiah being in Ireland, ably assisted by Dr. Greg Doudna’s Showdown at Big Sandy: Youthful Creativity Confronts Bureaucratic Inertia At An Unconventional Bible College in East Texas. John Keyser debunks the myth that Jeremiah was in Ireland, establishing that the premise that he  (in the company of his scribe Baruch) took King Zedekiah’s daughter to Ireland where she founded a line of Davidic kings that has continued on down to this day. It never happened. Herbert Armstrong wrote in The United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy wrote:

Then, in 569 B.C. (date of Jeremiah’s transplanting), an elderly, white-haired patriarch, sometimes referred to as a “saint,” came to Ireland. With him was the princess daughter of an eastern king and a companion called “Simon Brach,” spelled in different histories as Breck, Berech, Brach, or Berach. The princess had a Hebrew name Tephi — a pet name — her full name being TEA-TEPHI.

Modern literature of those who recognize our national identity has confused this Tea-Tephi, a daughter of Zedekiah, with an earlier Tea, a daughter of Ith, who lived in the days of David.

This royal party included the son of the king of Ireland who had been in Jerusalem at the time of the siege. There he had become acquainted with Tea-Tephi. He married her shortly after 585 — when the city fell. Their young son, now about 12 years of age, accompanied them to Ireland. Besides the royal family, Jeremiah brought with them some remarkable things, including a harp, AN ARK, and a wonderful STONE CALLED “LIA-FAIL,” or “STONE OF DESTINY.”

….many kings in the history of Ireland, Scotland, and England have been coronated over this stone — including the present queen. The stone rests today in Westminster Abbey in London, and the coronation chair is built over and around it. A sign beside it labels it “Jacob’s pillar-stone” (Gen. 28:18).

The royal husband of the Hebrew princess Tea was given the TITLE HERREMON upon ascending the throne of his father. This Herremon has usually been confused with a much earlier Gede the Herremon in David’s day — who married his uncle Ith’s daughter Tea. The son of this later king Herremon and Hebrew princess continued on the throne of Ireland and THIS SAME DYNASTY CONTINUED UNBROKEN through all the kings of Ireland; was OVERTURNED and transplanted again in Scotland; again OVERTURNED and moved to London, England, where this same dynasty continues today in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II….

In view of the linking together of biblical history, prophecy, and Irish history, can anyone deny that this Hebrew princess was the daughter of King Zedekiah of Judah and therefore heir to the throne of David? 

Well, yes we can!

It’s all nonsense.

Here’s the answer from John D. Keyser:

No References! In preparation for the writing of this article, and several others on the royal house of Britain, I searched out and read literally DOZENS of books written by British-Israelites in order to more accurately understand the BASIS for the Jeremiah/Tea-Tephi legend so eloquently penned by Herbert Armstrong. I also consulted primary and secondary sources on the Irish and Scottish annals.

To my surprise, I found that the British-Israelite books all REPEAT the same Tea-Tephi story (with slight variations), each aggressively claiming that the story is found in the ancient annals. In my research I have NOT FOUND a single British-Israelite book that actually gives a REFERENCE to WHERE in the Irish and Scottish annals the supporting material may be found! Armstrong’s booklet does not — nor does Joseph Allen’s earlier book on the subject.

As also discovered by Greg Doudna (former Ambassador College student, now with the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University), “they all seem to draw from previous British-Israel writings. They speak so confidently it sounds like there must be something in the annals to which they refer. The NAMES mentioned in the Tea-Tephi legend appear in the annals, true enough, but I have discovered they are TOTALLY DIFFERENT PERSONS IN THE ANNALS than the British-Israel legend makes them out to be. The annals simply don’t say what the British-Israel literature, or the Worldwide Church of God, SAY they say. It is a LEGEND that someone somewhere within British-Israel circles began, stated it as fact, and it has been repeated as fact within British-Israel circles ever since, down to the present day in which the Worldwide Church of God repeats it to millions. It may make an interesting story, but IT IS COMPLETELY FABRICATED.” (“Afterword on British-Israelism”, p. 121).

 The bottom line here is that one “expert” historian quotes another and that one quotes the first and a third one quotes the previous two and so on and so forth. It’s like an urban legend where you can never find the original source. Scratch that — it’s not like an urban legend — it is an urban legend. This is a #1 law for religious malware: If you don’t have the source, just make something up, then find someone else to quote you and then quote that as a legitimate source to make the whole thing legitimate. No dishonesty has been harmed in the making of the myth.

British Israelism is another example of this phenomenon. As nearly all Armstrongists know by this time, originally — and though there may have been a few others who threw around the idea previously — Richard Brothers was the primary source of British Israelism. Oh sure, there were predecessors as is told by The True and Noble Origins of the Anglo-Israel Message, but Richard Brothers was a focal point, with his first publication, released in 1794, The Revealed Knowledge of the Prophecies & Times. The prologue had this to say:

First wrote under the direction of the LORD GOD & published by His Sacred Command, it being the first sign of Warning for the Benefit of all Nations; Containing with other great and remarkable things not revealed to any other Person on Earth, the Restoration of the Hebrews to Jerusalem by the year 1798 under their revealed Prince and Prophet. London, Printed in the year of Christ, 1794.

He only had 4 years to wait before his prophecy failed. The rest of us have had to wait a lot longer.

It should be noted that Richard Brothers, in connection with his odd ideas of British Israelism, was committed to an insane asylum as being a danger to himself and others. Thus it is that British Israelism was popularized by a kook madman.

It took John Harden Allen with his Judah’s Scepter and Joseph’s Birthright published in 1902 to truly give Herbert Armstrong the fodder he needed as he preached the True Gospel as The End Time Apostle and Great False Prophet, the source code basis for the Key to Prophecy. Low and behold, major portions of it were plagiarized for The United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy, all of which has the curious propensity to prompt us to recall the riddle posed by Professor Maximillian Arturo, played by John Rhys-Davies, in the science fiction television show, Sliders:

Why doesn’t the sun set on the British Empire?

Because God can’t trust the British in the dark!

British Israelism was the source code to set the stage for the angst ridden prophecies of hyperbole, aptly described in the November-December 2012 Church of God Seventh Day Bible Advocate article, It’s Doomsday Again!

Written into the folk memory of all peoples is the concept of an “end”. It may be a subconscious memory of the worldwide destruction of the great Flood. But disasters do happen and failed predictions of such an end abound.

The article notes:

Such fearsome factors can be found in Scripture and are highlighted by most who write about prophecy, often with a barely suppressed sense of glee!

As it turns out, fear of gloom and doom are big business:

Many prophecy buffs are excited by the thought of the end.

If you are still wondering about the source code which produced Herbert Armstrong, one might consider “Questions and Answers” in the latest Bible Advocate:

Andrew N. Dugger became editor of the Bible Advocate magazine in 1914 and a popular president of the General Conference (1921-27; 29-30). He injected futurism into the Church’s prophetic interpretation, and championed futurist doctrine amid the controversy that led to the 1933 division between Stanberry and Salem.

In Summary, Elder Dugger believed 1) the two-horned beast would be a revival Roman Church, enforcing its mark of Sunday keeping on Sabbath observers; 2) the Church of God’s main task was to give the third angel’s message, warning believers against the mark of the beast; 3) the seven plagues were literal and future judgments upon those who received the mark; 4) the giving of the third angel’s message and the outpouring of the plagues would lead to Christ’s return; and 5) Christ’s descent from heaven to receive His kingdom would occur in the midst of Armageddon.

Elder Dugger’s argument for the imminent fulfillment of his end-time prophecies in the 1920s, 30s and 40s led the Church to become disinterested in his failed version of them. For more than a generation, the Church struggled to recapture its true mission to preach salvation in Christ and His grace alone, rather than serve as a prognosticator of events.

The Church’s return to its heritage of preaching Christ and His advent without enigmatic add-ons was reflected in its doctrinal revisions of 1994 and 2006, which dropped the futurist predictions and suppositions that prevailed for much of the past century.

— Elder Robert Coulter

It is difficult to imagine that the fiery preachments of Andrew N. Dugger did not impress the impressionable Herbert Armstrong as he began on his quest for ministerial truth. The extremism of futurist ideas of Andrew Dugger impressed on Armstrong’s impressionable young mind was enough to provide the source code upon which to build the religious malware foundation of the heretical extreme cult religion. Apparently, the Church of God Seventh Day eventually outgrew it, while Armstrongists remained trapped in the eternal childishness of seeking the thrills of thinking they have special knowledge of what comes next. This foolishness has spun off over 700 versions of the original malware, just waiting to infect the uninoculated unsuspecting innocent.

Protect yourself: Prevent damage by avoiding downloading any more malware from the Internet pages of the UCG, LCG, CoGWA and the whole host of religious malware servers.

And for heaven’s sake, don’t allow them to charge for the service.

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Brilliant

Mr. Know-It-All

Brilliant, smart, clever, shrewd, cunning, witty, sophisticated, precise, complex, accurate — you can be all of those things and more. You may be highly educated with an M.B.A. from Harvard, a PhD in Nuclear Physics from M.I.T., an Aeronautical Engineer from Princeton and / or a whole host of other credentials. You might be an experienced and highly regarded linguist, archeologist, astronomer, Corporate Director / Vice President, historian, nutritionist, Medical Doctor, Lawyer, C.P.A, Network Engineer, automotive designer or working in a whole host of other careers.

Last week, I interviewed with Boeing at the Aeronautical Engineering Division where jets are engineered to fly. It’s complex and engineers are treated well — they are respected professionals and their time is highly valued. I’ve known any number of people in the WCG and United who have worked at Boeing and even IBM. One engineer I knew designed the Boeing 737 autopilot. He went to retire, but Boeing kept calling him back to work on it up to the age of 75 years old. I’ve met a man in the church who actually writes assembly language code for started tasks on the IBM Mainframe z/OS environment. He designed and wrote an interface to an artificial package which was bought by IBM. The IMS team shipped him over the code to use as a pattern. He quickly noted that the IMS started tasks had a fatal error and showed them how to fix it, before he went on with his own work.

There have been any number of brilliant people in the Armstrongist churches of God.

It doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t mean a thing.

God only reveals his truth to His Apostles and Evangelist leaders in the cult of Armstrongism.

Nothing you say has any credibility.

No matter what facts, data, truth, witnesses you may bring to the table, if you disagree with the Cultmeister over you, you are rebellious, know nothing and have no status or standing to say anything.

It does not matter if you can absolutely prove beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt six ways from Sunday that British Israelism is a steaming pile of horse manure.

It does not matter if you can absolutely prove that church history is fabricated and there is no such thing as eras.

It does not matter if you can absolutely prove there is no such thing as second tithe.

Your job is to be lied to and provide the money: Only The Leader matters and you are wrong and nothing, no matter what.

You must learn the very first law of cults from the Orange Papers: The Guru is always right!

If you violate this #1 law, Frances Horibe, author of “Creating the Innovation Culture: Leveraging Visionaries, Dissenters and Other Useful Troublemakers in Your Organization”, tells you what comes next (note that the illustrations are for the Corporate environment):

Stage 1: Arguing

At Stage 1, it is assumed the dissenter just doesn’t know any better and is amenable to “rational” discussion. Some of the arguments you’ll her:

“It’ll never work.“

“The boss will never go for it.“

“It’s not what we do around here.“

“Things are okay as they are.“

Stage 2: Listening But Not Hearing

If the dissenter persists in his wrong-headed view, things stay polite but subtle messages are sent.

“Yes, we’ve heard from you on that. Anybody else got some different ideas?“

“Thanks for your contribution.“

“Maybe you should put that in writing so we all have a good idea of what you mean.“

Stage 3: Laughing It Off

Before they hit this stage, most team players are astute enough to realize they need to tone down their advocacy. But those who don’t get it begin to get teased about their persistence.

“This is a real hobbyhorse, isn’t it? When are you going to get off and give somebody else a chance to ride?“

“If you’re so smart, how come you ain’t rich?“

“Can I give you a quarter to phone somebody who cares?“

You note that nowhere are people talking about the real issues — like how inconvenient, threatening, or difficult it will be to implement the dissenter’s idea. Often, it’s because the idea is inconvenient, threatening, or difficult that this whole process gets invoked to begin with. It is at this point that the focus moves from the dissenter’s ideas to the dissenter himself [the ad hominem argument]. It stops being about whether the idea makes sense and starts being about the dissenter’s personality flaws.

Stage 4: Ignoring

If ridicule doesn’t work, the powers-that-be start to get a little ticked. Although they’d never say it, they’re beginning to feel that if the dissenter had any sensitivity or even manners, he’d stop bothering them. They bring into play one of the most powerful weapons–silence. When the dissenter speaks, no one replies; the conversation continues as if he had never spoken. If he persists, he gets:

“We’ve been over that ground before. I was looking for new ideas.“

“I don’t think we’ll get to your item today. Maybe next time.“

While in the previous stage people kept their expressions carefully neutral, now nonverbal cues are more evident. Rolling eyeballs and sighs are prominent.

Stage 5: Making Invisible

Still some people don’t get it. They persist despite the increasingly unfriendly environment. The heat is turned up. Not only will the boss refuse to engage in further discussion but also funny things start to happen. Somehow, the dissenter’s name gets left off distribution lists. Invitations to important meetings aren’t forthcoming. Decisions are taken without his input. It’s as if he has disappeared.

Stage 6: Forbidding

Some dissenters won’t take their invisibility lying down. Then the big guns come out. If the dissenter continues to push his unpopular views, someone will finally drag him into a room and say:

“You are to focus on assigned projects, not just on the ones you want to do.“

“Stop wasting other people’s time by pushing your pet project.“

“I forbid you to work on that idea.“

Sanctions may or may not be threatened. If the dissenter has taken the issue this far, he may see his fight as a matter of principle. Backing down would be a comment on him, on his integrity. But equally, the boss has had it, and the idea the dissenter has will be implemented only over several dead bodies.

Stage 7: Getting Rid of the Dissenter

If the situation gets to this stage, war has been declared and both sides are focused not on what’s good for the company but on winning. And, just given the way of the world, the power is on the side of the higher-ups. If the dissenter ignores the previous injunctions, any number of things can happen.

“I don’t think your skills are up to this position. There’s a job for paper-pusher in Division M.“

“You need to report through Bob now. He’ll vet any of your ideas.“

“Somebody has to be laid off. I regret it has to be you.“

“We don’t have a place for you in this organization.“

For those of us who have read The Ambassador Reports, this is all too familiar — since it was standard practice in the WCG in Pasadena and Big Sandy Texas and is the methodology of the GCI. Of course, it goes on within the rest of the Armstrongists, all the way from Arguing to Disfellowshipment. This doesn’t always work out, as United might be able to tell you, having lost at least 40 congregations in ten years (we’ve lost count, sorry) to the split with the Church of God, Worldwide Association. With Weinland and his PKG group, he seems to alternate between laughing it off and ignoring the dissidents — the only problem is, he’s about to be sentenced, so whatever he does probably has very impact on the dissenters except to make them more determined to expose him for the fraud he is.

All the people in the Living Church of God under Roderick Meredith need to perform the following experiment: Gather your facts and go to him to prove once and for all that British Israelism is nonsense, church history is a fraud and that he is a false prophet. You might even be a Pastor ranked minister or a Regional Pastor. You know, he’s the legacy from Herbert Armstrong who said, “Prove us wrong and we will change”. Of course, you need to keep firmly in mind that Roderick Meredith has proclaimed that he has not committed a major sin since his baptism, so be certain to document in writing the major sins he has committed to show them to him. Then stand back and see how quickly he runs through the seven stages.

One of the more, shall we say, colorful, of the gurus which sprang forth from the high school dropout with just an eighth grade education, turned Chancellor of a College, Herbert Armstrong is Yisrayl Hawkins. It’s interesting to see his former wife’s book, The House of Yahweh: My Side of the Story by Kay Hawkins is treated at Amazon.com. A comment by James A. Schmelig says: “Now that you’re read the obviously biased hand wringing of a woman scorned, maybe you would like to read the most authoritative investigative report about The House of Yahweh ever published. It is titled “The House of Yahweh EXPOSED! – Saints or Sinister?” by James Arthur. When we look up The House of Yahweh EXPOSED! – Saints or Sinister?, we spend so many pages looking at how corrupt the United States government is and how the truth has been covered up, until we find that James Arthur is actually for Yisrayl Hawkins. We also learn that The House of Yahweh started in the Garden of Eden. The author also tells us a bit about himself: A former (?) alcoholic (no such thing), drug abuser, liar, thief, sexual degenerate, despot, convicted felon and ex-convict who spent 10 years in prison by the time he was 28 years old. (Page 215) He tried the shallow superficial dogma of Christianity, but (darn it all!) Yisrayl Hawkins brought him the light and reformed him! Of course, Yisrayl “Buffalo Bill” Hawkins is a proven false prophet, not unlike Ronald Weinland. He did, however, write his own version of Scripture, The Book of Yahwey. Many reviewers question the source of the translation and not a few reject the book as being heretical. One reviewer noted how many references were changed in favor of polygamy.

The issue here is how people are silenced and certainly the comment, “Now that you’re read the obviously biased hand wringing of a woman scorned…” is designed to question the credibility of someone who actually lived with the cult leader.

Armstrongism is based on silencing visionaries, dissenters and troublemakers, because Armstrongism itself is based on lies, deceptions, weirdness (the favorite of which is the guy who claims demons are coming to earth through a stargate at the bottom of the ocean), insanity (Richard Brothers who invented British Israelism was in an insane asylum because he was a danger to others) cast by narcissists, sociopaths, psychopaths and nutjobs. Yet, they expect us to swallow their Flavorade with a straight face.

In the book, Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work, authors Dr. Paul Babiak and Dr. Robert Hare answer the question, “What is the difference between a sociopath and psychopath” beginning on Page 19:

Psychopaths are without conscience and incapable of empathy, guilt, or loyalty to anyone but themselves.

Sociopaths may have a well-developed conscience and a normal capacity for empathy, guilt, and loyalty, but their sense of right and wrong is based on the norms and expectations of their subculture or group.

In other words, sociopaths have what is known as a “conditional conscience” based on the beliefs of those with whom they associate. The best example of this is the Mafia, where the behavior toward members of the group is far different — and the expectations are far different — than from the rest of the world: You can lie, steal, cheat, murder in order to advance the cause of your group, but not to those in the hierarchy within the group. As a Mafia Don, people were loyal to Herbert Armstrong and it was fine for both he and the members of the WCG to lie, steal, cheat and practice deception as long as the goal was to advance the WCG. The ministry was indoctrinated with “the end justifies the means” ethic (which is no ethic at all), so by implication, most of the Worldwide Church of God and the Armstrongist churches of God is basically populated by sociopaths, with the exception of the narcissists, psychopaths and nutjobs which occupy various levels within the hierarchy. Nothing matters except to protect the viability of the organization (which has no socially redeeming qualities within itself). All dissenters will be dealt with in the manner revealed by Frances Horibe. If you don’t believe that, just try dissenting and see what happens.

Those who leave Armstrongism need to be very much aware that their conscience has become warped and twisted in ways to adapt to the nature of the thinking of Herbert Armstrong. You’ve been adapted to accept injustices which would not be acceptable to the normal ordinary member of the rest of society because you have become a sociopath with antisocial behavior: You are looking for the end of the world, the destruction of society and, in most cases, have come to believe that people in terrible circumstances out in the world must attend to the dead burying their dead. You’ve been conditioned to do absolutely nothing but stand by, watching the horrors of others in your life, waiting for Jesus Christ to return to fix everything. You’ve accepted the idea that even if you could do something about it, you won’t because you feel that it’s just not your job. As Robert Dick in the United Church of God, an International Association said, “This is not the time of justice”. And folks, he also means it as far as the church is concerned. You have a conscience that was not bothered by false prophets spouting false prophecies and you have been satisfied to just sit back and prove exactly nothing. You take your cult leader’s word for it. You march on as a loyal soldier in your cult and never question your General, whether it is the Pastor General, Coordinator General or General kook leader, no matter how corrupt and wrong he is — up to and including becoming a convicted felon. If you know of a crime committed by a minister or you Leader, your job is to cover it up, ignore it and act as if it is normal.

It will take a very long time to construct a valid conscience, if it is even possible.

So you can be brilliant, smart, clever, shrewd, cunning, witty, sophisticated, precise, complex, accurate, but not within the confines of the craziness of the Armstrongist cult. They will find ways to make you submissive, for example, they will tangibly lower your IQ by making you feel stupid. Research has shown that the IQ of people can be lowered by as much as 40 points by convincing people they are stupid — and the Armstrongists certainly do a good job of that. They have these secret wonderful “truths” (lies) to which the world is not privy — which means that you are a novice when you take up with them to enter into their ranks: Nothing you say, do or are means anything, because the leadership has all the truth and your vision, perspectives and knowledge is irrelevant. You can’t know the truth. It is only revealed to the incompetent false prophet End Time Apostle. Only when you realize this and become nothing more that a stupid drone can you become someone.

Brilliance.

It means nothing unless you have the power.