The Kingdom of Matthias

This is a re-posting of a previous blog. I wanted to add an image to it to make it better.



One book that those interested in Armstrongism may find intriguing is the history book The Kingdom of Matthias (1995) by Paul E. Johnson and Sean Wilentz. It is the tale of another false prophet, Robert Matthews, who started up a little community of brainwashed followers in the 1830s, and who claimed to be a reincarnation of the Apostle Matthias. I read it a few months ago and I found it a superbly written history book, very easy to read. It reads like a novel and you can really visualize it all.

Now without spoiling the story the reason why I wish to highlight it here is that this particular prophet, like HWA, adopted various Judaic practices, such as Sabbath observance, observing Old Testament meat laws. Those details do not impact upon the story in any major way. He also shared some other disturbing similarities with HWA's WCG. But I will not go into them here lest I spoil the story.

I am not suggesting that there is any connection between the two men but it is curious that they should have such similarities. This book is not about Armstrongism at all. It just so happens that this false prophet shared some doctrinal similarities with HWA.