It is a big thing: His actions doomed thousands of people to a miserable dysfunctional life. He created generations of despot ministers who lord it over their congregations. He created a hideous corporate monolith which looked good on the surface but ruined the lives it touched.
Considered a normal part of American and European culture in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, post-mortem photography was the practice of photographing the recently deceased. Because of the high childhood and infant mortality rate of the time, this was a significant way to memorializing lost family members. In some cases, this was the only photograph that depicted the entire family together.
When you view these photos, often you will see the eyes wide open with the pupils painted on over the eyelids giving the appearance that the child is still full of life.
It has been asked: What if Hitler would have died at birth or was never conceived? How many millions would have lived a normal life without the violence and death that the tyrant bought upon this earth? Let us apply this idea to HWA. If the old man never lived to see adulthood, there would never have been those who suffered violence at the hands of a religious tyrant. There never would have been those minions, who like Hitlers henchmen, inflicted perverse suffering upon the people. But religion as in politics, allows opportunity for the narcissistic and psychopathic who walk upon this earth.
Props were used to position the deceased.
After learning about the Worldwide Church of God in the seventy’s [from my husband] and becoming a baptized member in seventy-four, my life have been one of HELL. Please forgive me if I take you through parts of my life and background….this is the only way you can understand the destruction and severe emotional pain Worldwide Church of God caused, in my life and in the life of my family and relatives.
My goal in life was to become a doctor…but during that time I met a man who I thought was someone of class. We went on a couple of dates in Trinidad W I….then I left for the USA to fulfill my dreams of becoming a doctor. Plans did not formulate as I wanted, so I was back in Trinidad., with the intentions to return in the USA to achieve my dreams.
After returning to Trinidad, I married the same guy I left behind. Before that, he proved to be charming, loving and concern about our relationship as a couple. It wasn’t that long within the marriage that he got hook on the World Tomorrow program and Plain Truth magazines. This is where our life together as a couple, or as husband and wife got screwed. The man I married was not the same. He became HWA clone…[and as you know, once this happens, all plans or dreams were out the window and becoming a doctor was just an idea].
I personally did not like the idea of a church or anyone else dictating to me what I should do with my life….but because of my marriage, I went along with my husband.
This is where the true meaning of hell on earth started.
*Imagine I was timed in the shower by my husband. *Our anniversary or any other days, were not important. *My family and parents were nothing….and as you know the list goes on and on. All the church rules and dos and don’ts, I did question often and always ‘ended-up’ in a minister’s office. There, he had the opportunity to show-off his authority as the chosen one from God.
My life with my husband began to drift apart. He was in charge and in control of everything. Seeing my parents or sisters was a major issue in our marriage. Everything I had, [property or money] became my husbands’. All my friends I had to give-up. My life at this time was only Worldwide Church of God and my husband.
Nazis in the pulpit
WCG child abuse
When I left home at 18, I had no functional brain about life, about nothing. I am about 20 to 25 years behind where I should be in life. It took a long time for me to figure out that there was something wrong, and I finally found out what has caused all of my years of ‘the painful truth,’ a child shall be seen and not heard. That is the same as locking a child up in a closet and then when they turn 18, turn them out into the world. You tell me how that person could get along. It is the only way to describe it.
Then today, people don’t understand that your inept abilities come from your religious childhood. And the stories we were told to make us mind. About when it was time to go to the place of safety (1975) God would call our name, and if we didn’t hear him we would be left behind. Then the Germans would come, and you know what Germans do to little girls. And when they are done with you they will tie one of your legs to a jeep and your other leg to another jeep and go off in different directions.
I am stuck in an abusive relationship because I am afraid to be alone. People tell me to get over it. I can’t. Since I was a little kid I was afraid to be left alone. If my Mom was late, I was afraid that God called her name and not mine and I would get left behind. I lived with that constant fear, it was a part of me, it is apart of me.
I ended up, at the age of 21, marrying a man that was 45 years old. I finally out grew him, but he raised me. How do you get away from a man with 25 years more experience than you who raised you, and the underlying fear of being out in the world alone because what some church had engraved in your mind? Now my daughter is paying the price.
So now Herbert, wherever you are, you are going into the second, and the third generations. It’s the painful truth I live every day.
Racist and in church
Racism in my church. We had ONE black family. At church dances we were instructed to not dance with them.. We had an Asian woman and her white husband join…During the Sermon they were called to stand and were given as an example not to follow. ( They had married before entering “the church”) My mother was called a “Spiritual widow” because my father didnĀ“t attend church. We were treated as second class citizens because of this. My best friend at 16 was forced to marry our earlier YES teacher because she became pregnant by his abuse… He was in his late thirties. He came from a prominent family and everyone excepted it. Even though she had maintained sexual relations with him since she was 13. He would later on sexually abuse their 2 year old daughter and she would be asked to leave the church and him allowed to stay. Another friend who also tithed her non-church going husbands money… She wanted to leave him because he abused drugs, she was told by the pastor that she would be discommunicated for leaving her husband. My sister was kicked out for wearing gold earrings that resembled calves( they were koalas!). My brothers left to assume crime ridden lives. I leftĀ and had a family of 4 kids by the time I was 21. My mother and younger sister left to join the Spin off church that was voted on in our area. The still attend. My sister and mother are followers… They just did away with ALL their beliefs and joined a Sunday worship, xmas celebrating, ham eating church. I was so excited to tell my father this years later. (She never told him of the changes). Needless to say, there was no Ham brought into that house after that day by my dad! My Dad years ago stopped drinking, I have told him about all the secrets and abuse and he hugged me and said ” I would of protected you if IĀ“d only known” I donĀ“t know if thatĀ“s true or not… IĀ“ve forgiven my mother. She only did what she knew growing up. She was brainwashed, weak, ill. I rejected ALL faiths for years. It was very hard to learn to love a “new” God! A forgiving, loving God.
The World Wide Church of God did NOT worship God. We worshiped HWA and his teachings. We cannot forget this. HWA had many symptoms of Schizophrenia, from finding secret messages in jumbled up scripture to thinking he was God or GodĀ“s Prophet. Most people who “run” cults may start out in the beginning thinking theyĀ“re in it for the money or even to do good, but most actually end up thinking they are God to their followers, and they are! We gave HWA and his Elders the power and we have the power to take it away.
So why does the Painful Truth still speak out about the legacy of Herbert Armstrong and of the corruption of his deceased empire?
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak outā Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak outā Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak outā Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for meāand there was no one left to speak for me- -Martin Niemƶller
It is these very words that should cause recourse in your mind to do what good you can while on this earth. We are the victims by the way of our past association with Armstrongism. It is we who speak out in order to assist those who are currently being abused and to protect the public from these unscrupulous cult leaders and those who within who wreck havoc on the very fabric of our families. Quit being a victim and join those who reach out and expose these cults for what they really are. It is not your salvation, but you destruction if you remain. If you don’t agree, go back and read this article again. If these stories don’t resound with your conscious then your either brain dead or a psychopath.
“Armstrong was a man utterly without honor, without principles, without a shred of genuine decency or patriotism. He was the ultimate exterminator of religious life for thousands, and the grand compelling creator of a vast army of atheists.” Ā
