Guess who is never mentioned in this book. Herbert Armstrong. Roderick C. Meredith. Gerald Flurry. And everyone else associated with Armstrongism. The COGs are never mentioned in this book. Not even once.
This is because HWA completely failed to tell the world that he was God's man. And his little imitators have been completely helpless in getting attention from the rest of the world.
Constantly the ministers of the COGs tell themselves and their followers that they have a connection with God that no one else in the world has. They say nothing is more important then being in the true church. Here are just a few examples from PCG. (Links are to previous posts.)
When Lamentations was published in Judah, they had reached the point of no return. Israel has just about reached that point now. It will soon be too late to repent, if it’s not already. The ONLY HOPE for Israel is our message. May God help them to heed before it’s too late. (Gerald Flurry, Lamentations and the End-Time Laodiceans, 1993, p. 12.)
Our Father is the Head of that wonderful, majestic God family. Our number-one passion must be to declare Him and His family! (Gerald Flurry, The Key of David, 2002, 2005, 2010, 2011, Chapter 6, p. 65.)
We can’t get bogged down in this present world. We must cling to the vision of God’s future world! ... God wants us to set our affection on those things that are above—not on the things of this world. God wants us to be passionately into the Work of His PCG. God wants your mind—you individually—to make His Work your greatest delight. Then your future will be magnificent!
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4).
This is the reward that we never, ever want to forget! (Gerald Flurry, Colossians: First Century Parallels, Chapter 3, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2010, 2013, p. 28.)But despite the many sacrifices PCG members make after reading words like these they can't even get themselves mentioned in a book like this.
Those of us who have already been through "the experience" most certainly realize this. The Armstrongs wussed out when the rubber actually met the road. GTA had moved the World Tomorrow away from a Bible based program, and was basically doing commentary on subjects like evolution, and current events with a very subliminal message hinting at the end times. HWA was telling minor world leaders at his bought and paid for photo ops about a "strong hand from somewhere" and his message about the two trees.
ReplyDeleteThey deflected our concerns about the relative lack of notice "the world" was paying to the church by forecasting that some event or events would catapult us into the public consciousness. One could almost visualize that happening in the 1960-70 decades, despite the deliberately muted messages. There had been other fearsome groups during that same era, such as the Black Panthers, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the Weather Underground who have also all fragmented and dissipated to the point of powerlessness and irrelevance.
I don't believe that the average ACOG splinter member fully grasps the significance of the breakup of the "Armstrong System". An organism which ceases to grow is actually an organism which is dying. The splinters have not taken off like the "Baby Bells" did following the breakup of Bell Telephone. This is more like what would have happened if telecommunications had largely contracted and disappeared following that breakup.
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"An organism which ceases to grow is actually an organism which is dying."
ReplyDeleteI never quite looked at it that way. My word! No wonder so many people listen to you. Thank you for sharing that insight here.
Thanks for the compliment, but all I ever notice is that it seems as if I'm constantly flying against head winds. Not to worry, though. I don't believe in gurus.
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