HWA and Pyramidology

Pyramidology is the belief that the Pyramids of Egypt was not built by the Egyptians but by biblical figures who encoded prophetic messages within its construction. The creation of the pyramids were attributed to several Biblical personages such as "Noah, Enoch and Job." (Michael Barkun, Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement, p. 12.) Assuming that the Pyramids were created by Biblical personages this lead to the idea that the Pyramids were created to deliver Biblical truth. HWA was influenced by this doctrine. He did not embrace the belief that the Great Pyramid bore a message from God relating to prophecy, but he still believed that it was created by Job.

Pyramidology originated from one John Taylor (1781-1864) who became convinced that the Great Pyramid could not have been made by the Egyptians but must have been made by Israelites. This idea then passed to Charles Piazzi Smith (1819-1900). As a vessel of divine revelation the Great Pyramid was interpreted as giving clues to what will happen in the future. He used the measurements of the Great Pyramid to claim that Christ would return in 1882, then at other points from 1892 to 1911.

Famously Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Jehovah's Witness, another religious movement often cited as an influence on HWA, also used such Pyramidological concepts for his own theories and used them to produce his 1914 date for Armageddon. Some of the writings advancing this theory may be seen here. Ironically the Watchtower Society today denounces Pyramidology as Satanic and yet they still use the date that Pyramidology helped to give them.

Such Pyramidological beliefs was long familiar to teachers of British-Israelism and have been inherited by their Armstrongite and virulently racist Identity descendants. Observe what this article on Identity belief has to say in regards to their beliefs concerning the origin of the Great Pyramid. "Identity teachers of today such as Pastor Arnold Murray maintain that the Great Pyramid was built by the Israelites and is a second revelation of God." (p. 4.)

HWA was long familiar with Pyramidology. Indeed it was while studying Pyramidology that he discovered the doctrine of British-Israelism. The truth may be seen in Ralph Orr's article, under the heading "Armstrong and the Great Pyramid." HWA sent a letter to Lincoln McConnell, a pastor in Florida wishing to learn more about Pyramidology. This pastor then told HWA that he needed to understand British-Israelism. "I must say that if you really want to KNOW your Bible you will have to get the books on "Anglo-Israel".... You will never know the real truth the BOOK is teaching without this key." Reading these words one is reminded how HWA would hail British-Israelism as the "master key" to understanding Biblical prophecy. He even stole that line from Lincoln McConnell.

If there is any believer of HWA's doctrines who believes that Ralph Orr is just making this up as part of an evil conspiracy to discredit HWA, let that person read HWA's personal in the August 1969, Good News, p. 4: "a minister in Florida I had contacted by mail, wrote saying that unless I knew of the identity of of the United States and the British as the Birthright people of Israel -- heading the so-called "Lost Ten Tribes," I was IGNORANT!" HWA then claims he only believed that which he found in the Bible to hide the truth that he just picked and chose whatever doctrine appealed to him. But this statement proves that HWA found the lost identity of Israel from a minister in Florida and not from the Bible. It was not a new revelation from God. He find it while studying Pyramidology.

Pyramidology's influence on HWA may be seen in some of his unpublished writings as Ralph Orr shows. It is of interest to note that many British-Israelites were attracted to this doctrine.

Ever wondered why HWA said Jesus Christ would return in 1936? One part of the answer is to found in the doctrine of Pyramidology. HWA was copying David Davidson, an author on Pyramidology who predicted a time of trouble for the British order from May 29, 1928 to September 16, 1936 (Barkun, p. 86).

HWA also referred to Pyramidology in his June-July, 1934 issue of The Plain Truth as may be seen with these words. "And for Great Pyramid students, a point in this connection will be of interest. The present depression, or tribulation, is there symbolized as occupying the entire low passage continuing from May 29, 1928, when the tribulation struck Europe, until September 1936." These are the same dates David Davidson produced. (Plain Truth, June-July, 1934, p. 5. Also see Ralph Orr's article, heading "Armstrong's Developing Work.")

Armstrongism would also come to accept the belief that a Biblical personage created the Great Pyramid. They settled on Job. HWA gave some small alluring tidbit of this belief in one of his booklets. "There is the implication here that Job had directed the building of some very great ediface—such as the great pyramid of Giza in Egypt." (HWA, Did God Create a Devil?, 1973, p. 6.)

This belief is given a more concrete form by Herman Hoeh. In his article Who Built the Great Pyramid?, published in the May 1964, Plain Truth, Hoeh taught that Job is to be identified with Cheops and thus was the builder of the Great Pyramid. Furthermore it was taught that Job was a son of Issachar. Here Hoeh, speaking for the organization, crucially denies that the measurements of the Great Pyramid contain prophetic significance. This position caused Armstrongism's adoption of Pyramidology to be relatively muted compared to those who believed that the Pyramids contained a prophetic significance.

I have beside me now the works of David Davidson, Adam Rutherford, and others. Each tries to build a chronology for the future by measuring the dimensions of the Great Pyramid with the "pyramid inch." Dr. Meredith and I saw the little stone protrusion in the Pyramid which these people contend is the key to the revelation of the pyramid. But they have no way to know whether this little protrusion should measure the pyramid and determine chronology, or whether it was for some other purpose.

Even if one has accurately measured the pyramid, how are they going to know which point means which year? Davidson starts with a certain point in the Pyramid and calls it the day of the crucifixion -- -Friday, April 7, 30 A.D. Since that date is proved wrong by the Bible [based on HWA's Wednesday Crucifixion doctrine], all his chronology is in error.

Another takes the same point and calls it the date of the crucifixion, Friday, April 3, 33 A.D. Since that date may be proved wrong, too, his chronology errs.

THE OBVIOUS FACT IS THAT NO STANDARD EXISTS WHICH MIGHT REVEAL WHICH STONE OR WHICH SCRATCH ON A PASSAGEWAY MEANS A PARTICULAR YEAR. The pyramid was built for another purpose than to reveal chronology. (p. 46, PDF p. 48.)

He also speculated that it marked the border of the land of Goshen with Egypt and that in the future "it might be again dedicated in the future as a pillar or monument of witness to what the Eternal -- the Amen -- will do in delivering Egypt from the revived Roman Empire." He further expanded on this topic in his Compendium of World History.

Curiously Hoeh mentions David Davidson and Adam Rutherford yet makes no mention of Charles Taze Russell. Was the Radio Church of God trying to hide their readers from researching the history of the Jehovah's Witnesses?

This pyramidological belief again appears in PCG's From the Beginning booklet, on page 42: "Tradition and history indicate that Job built the great pyramid. He was a splendid architect." The unsuspecting reader will be unaware that Gerald Flurry is actually referring to this tradition of Pyramidology rather than actual tradition and history. That booklet has been discussed on this blog earlier.

Thus we can see that HWA was influenced by Pyramidology and although this particular belief would be relatively weakened within Armstrongism by denying any prophetic significance of the Great Pyramid this belief played a crucial role in HWA's development of his eclectic worldview.

HWA and British-Israelism

It is highly obvious that HWA very liberally stole his ideas of Anglo-Saxon-Celtic descent from Israel from the earlier movement of British-Israelism. After I renounced Armstrongism I, quite by chance (or was it just chance?), came upon a book entitled Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of Christian Identity Movement by Michael Barkun.

Now years ago I had read HWA's Wikipedia article and someone had stuck in there that something called "Christian Identity" also believed in British-Israelism. A quick look at the article showed that that was a racist version of the belief. Only because of that brief look was I vaguely aware of "Christian Identity" in any sense and that is the only reason I gave the book notice.

Now this book is about how a generally philo-Semitic movement, British-Israelism, was gradually transformed into a virulently anti-Semitic movement, Identity. It only touches on Armstrongism in the most vague and brief way as Armstrongism did not really play a part in that story.

Although the author did not intend it, I found this book a most revealing expose of HWA's hopeless plagiarism, since in the author's discussion of British-Israelism many beliefs of HWA are clearly present in this movement long before HWA took up religion. HWA clearly stole and adapted these ideas for his own uses.

I encourage the reader to look at this book on Google books here. In the preview one may read pp. 6, 8, 10, 11. Alas pp. 7, 9, 86 and 128-9 are not in the preview.

Here are some ideas which the book discussed that HWA would use for his own religion.

HWA declared himself to be a descendant of King David by his mother, who, we are told was descended from King Edward I who in Armstrongite dogma was a continuation of the royal line of David. The first great preacher of British Israelism was one Richard Brothers (1757-1824), and he also declared himself to be a descendant of David (p.6).

Remember how HWA would breathlessly declare that end time Israel had to be located to the north-west of Canaan? Well John Wilson (1799-1870), another prominent teacher of British Israelism, proclaimed precisely the same thing, that Israel is in the north-west of Canaan. He concluded that lost Israel has to be "in the NORTH-WEST--in our own part of the world. [Britain.]" (p. 7.)

HWA proclaimed that God made two covenants with Abraham, one physical, the other spiritual. The Jews got the spiritual covenant, and Britain got the physical covenant. He also taught that most end time prophecies applied to the US and Britain today. Wilson taught exactly the same thing. "Jews bore only those divine promises God" had given to those from the Southern Kingdom of Judah, "while the bulk of the prophecies were inherited by descendants of the tribes that dwelt in Israel--preeminently the tribe of Ephraim, which peopled the British Isles." (p.7).

Wilson also taught that it was the descendants of the two sons of Joseph who would be most prominent among the lost tribes. "Britain retained a place a spiritual preeminence" bcause of their descent through Joseph and the bestowal of Jacob's birthright blessing upon Joseph's sons. In his view "it was the descendants of [Ephraim and Manasseh] who would lead the way" for the rest of the Israelites. (p. 8.) How similar this sounds to what HWA taught. HWA would also inherit this focus on Joseph.

Remember how it was taught that many other European peoples are descended from other tribes of Israel? Herman Hoeh would claim that many different European peoples were in fact Israelites. A similar belief was also taught by Wilson who viewed other Europeans as also being Israelites with Israelites ""in Italy, and especially in France and Switzerland," as well as in Scandinavia." Furthermore the Germans were viewed as fellow Israelite brethren. (p. 8.)

Adapting this inclusive version of the identities of modern Israelite would lead to some embarrassing inconsistencies with their teachings, as can be shown here in an article quoted by the Ambassador Report: "In the last few years, the [Plain Truth] News Bureau has toyed with the idea that the European Beast might be Otto von Habsburg, a member of the Habsburg dynasty. But this would mean that the "Beast" would be an Israelite, not an Assyrian, because the Habsburgs are Swiss in origin (H. G. Wells, The Outline of History, 1971, p. 661). They originally came from the German-speaking two-thirds of Switzerland that Hoeh has said was not descended from the Assyrians but from the Israelite tribe of Gad." (AR 16, July 1981.)

Edward Hine (1825-1891) arose after Wilson and he rejected Wilson's identification of Germans as Israelites but instead identified Germany as Assyria, and furthermore taught that the biblical struggle between Israel and Assyria would repeat itself in the future. He taught that Assyria was also lost like Israel and "the modern-day Assyrians were none other than the Germans." Furthermore these two nations "were destined to continue the struggle" in the future. (p. 11). HWA adopted this same idea of Germany's ancestry and its future of the great physical adversity of Israel from Hine.

Unlike HWA's fear-inducing spin on this doctrine these British-Israelites seemed to be more optimistic about the outcome of this struggle.

Ever wondered why HWA identified Turkey as Edom? Among British-Israelites Edom was identified with the Turks. M. M. Eshelman, for example, identified the Turks as Edom in a book published in 1887 (p. 128-9). HWA simply copied this earlier idea.

This is information that can be found in just one book that does not even discuss Armstrongism in any extended way. It is very clear that he stole many ideas from British-Israelism and claimed that he and his followers alone had sole access to God's truth. There is no reason to regard HWA or his conclusions as anything special.

WCG and LCG's Fuzzily Presented Image

It is sometimes commented that WCG would often not make it clear in their recruitment materials that they were actually a separate church organization. This, presumably, would allow some people to be more receptive to their message if their were unaware of the presence of a separate church organization behind this message. I recently came across something that reminded me of this.

According to LCG's June 11, 2009 Weekly Update LCG sent out a DVD of last year's Feast of Tabernacles film along with Meredith's Semi-annual letter to all Tomorrow's World subscribers. For the curious you can see this Feast Presentation on YouTube. Part 1 may be seen here.

This move was accompanied with a few words by the Presiding Evangelist Roderick Meredith. His words are mainly devoted to expressing hope that the DVD may produce good results. Most of his words are in this vein.

Nevertheless there was one statement that to me poked out like a sore thumb. "Of course, it could have a negative effect on a few who only want to think about “their church” and did not fully realize that our Work is backed directly by a church."

Now he then immediately speculate that most people will be aware of that LCG is a distinct organization. "However, most of our longtime readers have seen our references to the Sabbath, the Holy Days, keeping God’s Commandments, etc. So, they should not be shocked."

A part of me thinks, Why are there some people unaware that LCG is a separate organization? Why does LCG seem to allow some people to imagine or simply not realize that Tomorrow's World is run by a separate organization?

In some accounts of how WCG members came to be recruited it is mentioned that some of them were unaware that the World Tomorrow was run by a "church" organization. D. W.'s testimony is just one example of this. In this case they were told they needed to be baptized by immersion yet they were just told to get their booklet. Another example is the testimony of Pam Dewey who was not informed by the WCG minister that there was a church organization behind the World Tomorrow until they were baptized.

There is also a difference in that before WCG publications were portrayed as being produced by Ambassador College, but when I got caught up in LCG they could not do that trick as Living University was not established yet and even now they have tried to portray themselves as coming from "Living University."

Now most of my awareness of the existence of the organization was because of Bob Theil's website. If it was not for that my conceptions of what this Living Church of God is would have been extremely fuzzy and uncertain. I would not have known that LCG is a dictatorship had I only read LCG official materials, for example. I would not have known many of the controversies within Armstrongism unless I had read Bob Theil. In many ways I was only aware of the organizational nature of LCG and its history only because of Bob Theil. Had I listened to them I would not have known their history until I read their "church history" booklet (that was not online when I was first lured into Armstrongism). And that booklet only gives very thin details concerning LCG's recent history.

Furthermore in this topic I must state that when I was first lured into Armstrongism back in 2000 LCG would begin each program of Tomorrow's World with the announcer saying, "The following is a presentation of the Living Church of God." Now though the announcer says at the beginning this, "The following is a presentation of Tomorrow's World." And so this tradition of not openly stating what this organization is seems to be continued.

However they do have the LCG announcement at the end of the telecast. But if TV audiences are anything like movie goers who often get up the instant ending credits begin, some might ignore what is going on in the ending credits or switch to another channel and miss that announcement.

My ISA Comment

Recently I made a comment on AggieAtheist's I Survived Armstrongism concerning the doctrine of the Trinity and the spurious Johannine Comma. She decided not to publish it and she has every right to do so. So I decided to publish my comments, with some adaptation, as a blog here but I deliberately decided not to mention this earlier controversy in order to keep the focus on HWA and his deceptive polemics.

Then she came back with this: "Redfox712, when you posted the comment I redacted here, to your own blog, I notice you left out the bit about how I’M “deceived by Satan”, just because I don’t believe in YOUR version of the trinity.

"Nice."

I'm not sure what to make of this assertion. I confess as being somewhat surprised at this response. Maybe some readers will better understand.

My comment was to say how HWA used the Johannine Comma in a deceptive way. In Mystery of the Ages he made it appear as though the Johannine Comma was the only proof text in the Bible Trinitarians used to prove the Trinity. Such is not the case as I tried to show. Although I myself believe in the Trinity now, partly because the Armstrongites never bothered to explain away Matthew 28: 19-20 to me, my focus in the comment was to expose the deceptive methods used by HWA using the Johannine Comma to discredit the Trinity in a deceptive way.

This is the comment I made that has caused this controversy. Let the reader judge what I said for better or worse.

It is a well known fact that the Johannine Comma does not belong in the Bible, hence most modern translations now omit it.

From Wikipedia: "The words "apparently crept into the Latin text of the New Testament during the Middle Ages... [possibly] as one of those medieval glosses but were then written into the text itself by a careless copyist. Erasmus omitted them from his first edition; but when a storm of protest arose because the omission seemed to threaten the doctrine of the Trinity (although that doctrine had in fact been formulated long before the textual variant), he put them back in the third and later editions, whence they also came into the textus receptus, “the received text.”[(Jaroslav Pelikan, Whose Bible Is It? A Short History of the Scriptures, Penguin Books Ltd, 2005, p. 156)] Modern Bible translations such as the NIV, NASB, ESV, NRSV and others tend to either omit the Comma entirely, or relegate it to the footnotes." This in and of itself does not destroy the doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy because this error was introduced in a Latin translation.

Personally I learned of this from HWA, the lying false prophet himself. He used this very account of the Johannine Comma to discredit the Trinity in Mystery of the Ages, near the end of Chapter 1. There HWA falsely states that "There is only 1 small passage in the Authorized Version of the Bible that is generally used by Trinity adherents to support the Trinity doctrine." Referring to the spurious Johannine Comma. This assertion of his is not true at all. It is a lie. If one should read Walter Martin's Kingdom of the Cults you will see that that assertion is not true. Other scriptures can and have been used to support the Trinity. Here are just a few examples:

When I was a slave of Armstrongism they never really explained to me how is it that if the Holy Spirit really is just an impersonal force how is it that Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19, NKJV). How could He say this unless the Holy Spirit is equal to the Father and the Son. They used other scriptures to impose their own heretical understanding but they never explained to me this scripture based on their doctrine. The Armstrongites never explained this to me.

Also if the Holy Spirit really is just an impersonal force like the wind how can "it" speak? "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul" (Acts 13:2, NKJV). If the Armstrongite should say that this is the Father or the Son speaking through the Holy Spirit then such a one is saying the Bible is incorrect and is actually correcting the Bible rather than letting the Bible teach him or her. That assertion contradicts this scripture.

If the Holy Spirit is just an impersonal force how can someone lie to "it." "why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3, NKJV)". Can one lie to the wind? Then how can one lie to the Holy Spirit unless the Holy Spirit is a personal being?

Whatever happens in this little dispute we must always remember that the really important issue here is was HWA a man of God? If he was why did he resort to such deceptive polemics?

PCG and Hurricane Katrina

While I was reading PCG's The Philadelphia Trumpet's issue on Hurricane Katrina I found myself being quite put off by how one of their articles chose to cover this story, namely Joel Hilliker's article Urban Anarchy.

I must warn that some may find this disturbing but I wish to highlight the sort of things that PCG are spreading to their Philadelphia Trumpet subscribers.

The USA had just gone through one of the greatest catastrophes in its history and here PCG chooses to make people even more frightened about what will happen later.

The fulfillment of this terrifying prophecy began on Sept. 11, 2001....It will end when a mind-numbing 100 million American souls have been snuffed out by violence in the cities. Plus 20 million Britons. Plus 11 million Canadians. Plus 7 million Australians....

The New Orleans violence is just a type of what will happen to major cities across the nation. It is a stark prophecy of our future!...

Try to envision it.

Multiply the compounding effects of one disaster in one major metropolis by two, four, six or ten....

The evils of human nature begin to emerge in force. Riots and looting break out in a handful of cities.

And then, within this edgy atmosphere, a crude nuclear bomb is set off in New York or Chicago....Eighteen thousand people are instantly vaporized. Power is out; the sanitation system has been disabled; there is no water; electronic communication from the area dies; information is blacked out; interstates clog with city-dwellers desperate to escape and suffering the first symptoms of radiation sickness....

Pillaging and rioting increase. Buildings burn in the night....

In the midst of the chaos, reports emerge of a spreading sickness. Unsanitary conditions in the city have facilitated an aggressive outbreak of cholera and a particularly deadly influenza virus. People begin dying in dozens, then hundreds....The plague spreads, and with it the crime.

This is only one of a thousand possible scenarios we may soon witness....

There is only one solution to this nightmare: Our people must repent and turn to God. If we fail to do that, the suffering is just beginning.

My word! What a dreary and depressing response to that great catastrophe. Instead of getting people to focus on God, instead of giving people hope PCG scares people. Instead of saying the people are fearful enough they choose to make people even more fearful and scared.

And for what? To follow the discredited prophetic scenarios of a prophet who gave us over 200 false prophecies? Only some of these may be seen here. PCG claims to follow a prophet who predicted Mussolini would be the Antichrist, then Hitler, even after World War II was won he declared that Hitler was still alive, then he proclaimed the coming of a European Empire that would plunge the world into the Great Tribulation starting in 1972 before Christ comes back in 1975.

Clearly HWA is not a reliable source of truth and this fear literature cannot be fulfilled. We have no need to fear the fear inducing preachings of those who follow such a false prophet. HWA made over 200 failed predictions, why should we expect PCG to be right this time?

Raising the Ruins' Last Chapter

When I read Raising the Ruins they had serialized all but the last few chapters. Now the serialization is finally complete.

The last Chapter, Chapter 25: Raising the Ruins, is an account of the establishment and growth of Herbert W. Armstrong College. Is there anything here that needs comment?

From Chapter 25, Part 2:

my father waited as long as possible before deciding on whether to start the college in the fall of 2001 or to wait until 2002. I wrote to my dad in January of 2001, “In reading from Mr. Armstrong’s experiences, you do immediately think about starting things smaller—the mustard seed beginning, just like the Trumpet and The Key of David started. Do you suppose starting the college this fall, with a smaller class and fewer courses offered, would be better than waiting until 2002? It seems like by fall of 2002 that the land would be much better developed, more buildings would be in place and we’d be able to accept more students—all of that would kind of go against the ‘mustard seed’ beginning.”

My father was leaning toward the smaller start in 2001. But even with a small beginning, it had to be done right. He wondered if our headquarters staff would have enough time to develop the highest-quality courses in theology and the liberal arts, and if the time commitment to do so could be justified for such a small freshman class.

Here they are trying to imitate HWA, who in his Autobiography kept saying that God always begins a Work in a small way like a mustard seed. Observe how the PCG leadership seek for every opportunity to imitate HWA to maintain their legitimacy.

However, as far as I know, HWA did not follow his own rule when he allowed Quest magazine to begin. "In the "rehearsal" issue, HUMAN POTENTIAL [later renamed Quest] announced itself as "The Most Important New Publication For The Last Quarter of The 20th Century"-quite a mouthful from a religious organization that had always prided itself in mustard seed beginnings. (AICF, AR2.)"

Also observe how HWA, Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry are all linked together here. They are all being linked together so that Gerald Flurry seems to his legitimacy from HWA and Stephen Flurry has legitimacy from Gerald Flurry.

Few people would have considered Imperial a legitimate college in 2001. [Then why--as of 2008 according to the Fox25 Report--does it still lack accreditation after seven years?] But it has since enjoyed abundant growth—and at a much faster rate than Ambassador experienced in its early years.

I find this comment somewhat curious. Are we supposed to view this college and work as being more prosperous, fruitful, and therefore more blessed by God, than even that of Mr. Armstrong's (unaccredited) College. Is this denigrating HWA? HWA often stated that when Jesus said "You shall know them by their fruits" He meant church membership growth. However what was actually being discussed was the spirituality of people's lives not membership growth.

As our chief financial officer, Andrew Locher, explained, “Part of each student’s education comes through the work-study program, which places them in responsible positions in nearly all departments of church operations. The church in turn benefits from quality labor at a very reasonable cost. Altogether, the students combine to equal 25 full-time employees—at a fraction of the cost! The students are rewarded by earning their way through college and graduating without financial obligation to the church. This is truly a win-win situation conceived by Mr. Armstrong for Ambassador College.” Yet another program we had raised from the ruins.

Andrew Locher delivered the infamous Facebook (so called) sermon which among other places was also discussed here and here in this blog. Is it really such a win-win for the students gaining a degree from an unaccredited college?

But by the end of 2005, after winning all that literature, [Emphasis added.]

Winning here is used as a euphemism for "buying", "purchasing" from the Man of Sin who is Joseph W. Tkach, Jr. (and not Joseph W. Tkach Sr. as That Prophet Gerald Flurry previously said before he passed away in 1995). That specific PCG belief is not stated in this book.

Perhaps the biggest step forward in 2005, as far as literature is concerned, came in January when we started updating and revising Mr. Armstrong’s Bible correspondence course.

However a lot of people are neglecting to finish that Correspondence Course. "So far, 2408 members have signed up for the course. Of those, 150 have completed it. On the other hand, nearly 800 have not yet completed the first test. Another 300 have not past the second test. That means about half of the members enrolled are at lesson 8 or less. While some no doubt signed up recently, some have signed up but failed to continue with the course." (Pastor General's Report, December 27, 2008, p. 4, as seen in May 7 letter.)

I can relate to that experience. I got enrolled with LCG's so-called Bible Study Course. (Both this and PCG's Correspondence courses are actually self indoctrination materials.) They are arranged in series of four lessons each. At the last lesson of each of these four part sections of the course there would be a test of forty questions. The answers had to be filled into a tab. None of the later lessons would be delivered until the test answers was returned. And I must say it was very easy for me to neglect sending those cards in. It's easy to receive regular mail, but once one is required to send something in it is quite possible to simply forget about it and never do it. So I know with first hand experience how much of a problem it can be.

Trivia: The Correspondence Course was revised by Fred Dattolo who was formerly in GCG/LCG till 2001 and is now a minister of PCG.

In January 2006, exactly 20 years after Mr. Armstrong’s death, all that was left from the PCG operations at the old Waterwood complex moved into the new Hall of Administration.

Here's that January 16 superstition poking its ugly head again. But notice how he didn't actually use January 16 but nevertheless they are so desperate to make all look trim and proper he carelessly ignores this discrepancy. It must be emphasized that this concept has huge problems.

Commenting on the building’s breathtaking beauty, my father told members, “Shouldn’t the most wonderful message people could ever hear … come out of a building like that—something that is worthy of God?” As with every other structure on campus, the building itself is a message—a testament to our work of raising Mr. Armstrong’s ruins. God has raised the ruins so we might give a powerful warning to this dying world.

Again here is that disquieting materialism that PCG all too often focuses on acquires through the three tithes of their members.

As I look out my window across campus from my second-floor office in the Hall of Administration, I sit here in absolute awe of WHAT GOD HAS DONE. To think that all of this started 16 years ago with a Worldwide Church of God minister who was fired and excommunicated, offered no severance pay or pension and then laughed to scorn within the circle of Tkachism for simply believing and teaching what he had always been taught. That’s what God had to work with at the start of raising these ruins—that, AND FAITH.

Notice how there is no mention about the reason why they are able to fund such things: PCG members are required to pay three tithes. Those are never mentioned in this book.

In this chapter variations on the phrase Raising the Ruins are used numerous times.

Then God raised it right back up. He began with a small, faith-filled ministry intent on delivering the exact same message Mr. Armstrong did.

"the exact same message Mr. Armstrong" delivered? Would this include changing words in three of his books? Would this include changing HWA's belief that New Testament Prophets have no administrative or executive function to allow Gerald Flurry to proclaim himself to be That Prophet against HWA's teachings? Would this include declaring that Gerald Flurry is Elisha even though Elijah (HWA) specifically said that there would be no end time Elisha? Would this include identifying Iran as the King of the South when old WCG suggested it would be the primarily the Arabs as LCG apologist Bob Theil shows? What about the other additions, the "new revelations," that Gerald Flurry has added?

In many ways, to paraphrase the conclusion in Mystery of the Ages, it feels like the story is just beginning.

This is an imitation of the ending of Mystery of the Ages which ends with these words, "With God's great master plan of seven thousand years finally completed--the mystery of the ages finally revealed, and with the re-creating of the vast universe and eternity lying ahead, we come finally to THE BEGINNING." That book is excessively praised by PCG and even imitated as is done here. A large part of Chapter 16 is devoted to praising this book, which is actually highly misleading. All this praise of Mystery of the Ages is a part of PCG's identity and it also serves to gloss over the fact that PCG has changed Mystery of the Ages for its own benefit.

Alas PCG with this ending has promised to continue their false work of spreading false doctrines and false fear inducing prophecies in the name of the failed prophet of 1975. God is not with PCG. May the Lord free those caught in its grasp.

An Example of Cultic Redefinition of Terms

As is stated here Bible-based Cults have a tendency for redefining the meanings of theological terms into another meaning. It is very disorientating.

The unsuspecting will think the cult follower is speaking of the same thing as it is defined in mainstream Christianity. But the cult follower in fact has a different understanding of those terms which may well go over the heads of the unsuspecting.

I recently came across a perfect example of this. What I find remarkable about this statement is how ordinary and orthodox this statement may seem to a Protestant or a Catholic yet to a member of this cult these words are expressing very different ideas.

"The miracle that God performed was that of transferring the life of his firstborn Son from his position in heaven to an egg cell within Mary's womb. She thus became pregnant through the operation of God's holy spirit.--Luke 1:26-35."

Now to a regular Christian this seems perfectly orthodox. This phrase "transferring the life of his firstborn Son" seems not to contract the Trinitarian understanding of that event; " operation of God's holy spirit" seems to be perfectly fine and proper from a Trinitarian point of view.

However this quote comes from the Jehovah's Witnesses, specifically from Awake!, December 2008, p. 8.

The Jehovah's Witnesses understand these things very differently. When they speak of God, generally they refer only to God the Father. Only God the Father is viewed as possessing divinity.

When they speak here of the "firstborn Son" they are not referring to either Jesus' conception or his resurrection, as some unknowing reader might assume, but instead it expresses their belief that Jesus was the very first and greatest creation of God the Father who was then used by God to create all else. Their Jesus is not worshiped though the Jehovah's Witnesses did worship (their non-trinitarian) Jesus in times past. Their present position contradicts both the Trinitarian and Armstrongite position that Jesus Christ is a divine and eternal being who has always existed and always will exist from eternity to eternity who is worthy of worship.

The Trinitarian reader may be somewhat suspicious that "holy spirit" is not capitalized, but still this could easily be missed or ignored if one is unaware of their distinctiveness. This reflects their belief that the Holy Spirit is merely a force through which God performs his actions and is not a personal being, which seems similar to the Armstrongite position.

Such subtle redefinitions can cause people to believe that such groups are similar to mainstream Christianity when such is simply not the case and may be a barrier to understanding each other's views.

Another Lie from HWA

AggieAtheist has posted a blog about Bart Ehrman discussing the Johannine Comma. Although I do not regard this particular fact as challenging the authenticity of the Bible since this error was introduced through a Latin translation rather than in the original Greek and it has long been recognized as such hence why it is omitted in most modern translations, I wish to thank her for bringing this topic up because otherwise I would not have broached this particular topic and expose yet another lie which HWA told.

Wikipedia provides the following information about it: "The words "apparently crept into the Latin text of the New Testament during the Middle Ages... [possibly] as one of those medieval glosses but were then written into the text itself by a careless copyist. Erasmus omitted them from his first edition; but when a storm of protest arose because the omission seemed to threaten the doctrine of the Trinity (although that doctrine had in fact been formulated long before the textual variant), he put them back in the third and later editions, whence they also came into the textus receptus, “the received text.”[(Jaroslav Pelikan, Whose Bible Is It? A Short History of the Scriptures, Penguin Books Ltd, 2005, p. 156)] Modern Bible translations such as the NIV, NASB, ESV, NRSV and others tend to either omit the Comma entirely, or relegate it to the footnotes." This in and of itself does not destroy the doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy because this error was introduced in a Latin translation.

Now I must say that I was unaware of this until I learned of this from HWA, the lying false prophet himself. He used this very account of the Johannine Comma to discredit the Trinity in his masterpiece of deception, Mystery of the Ages, near the end of Chapter 1. There HWA falsely states that "There is only 1 small passage in the Authorized Version of the Bible that is generally used by Trinity adherents to support the Trinity doctrine." Referring to the spurious Johannine Comma.

This assertion of his is not true at all. It is a lie. If one should read Walter Martin's Kingdom of the Cults you will see that that assertion is not true. Other scriptures can and have been used to support the Trinity. Here are just a few examples:

When I was a slave of Armstrongism they never really explained to me how is it that if the Holy Spirit really is just an impersonal force how is it that Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19, NKJV). How could He say this unless the Holy Spirit is equal to the Father and the Son. They used other scriptures to impose their own heretical understanding but they never explained to me this scripture based on their doctrine. The Armstrongites never explained this to me.

Also if the Holy Spirit really is just an impersonal force like the wind how can "it" speak? "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul" (Acts 13:2, NKJV). If the Armstrongite should say that this is the Father or the Son speaking through the Holy Spirit then such a one is saying the Bible is incorrect and is actually correcting the Bible rather than letting the Bible teach him or her. That assertion contradicts this scripture.

If the Holy Spirit is just an impersonal force how can someone lie to "it." "why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3, NKJV)". Can one lie to the wind? Then how can one lie to the Holy Spirit unless the Holy Spirit is a personal being?

You can read that deceptive HWA quote under the heading "False Scripture Added" near the end of Chapter 1 of Mystery of the Ages.

So once again HWA has been caught in a vicious and inexcusable self serving lie.

"HWA was an Evil Man"

From Jared Olar discussing a news report by National Public Radio on Herbert W. Armstrong shortly after his death from Two Deaths Observed:

"A large part of their report consisted of an interview with evangelical anti-cult expert Walter R. Martin, who summed up Armstrong’s life and work with the words, “Herbert W. Armstrong [dramatic pause] was an evil man.” It was a very unbalanced report—but in NPR’s defence, what else could they do when the WCG’s leaders declined all requests from the media for their side of the story? Armstrong had taught us to view The World, and the media, with cynicism and deep distrust."

When one considers how HWA made everyone scared that Christ would return in 1975 in vain, spread around the totally discredited doctrine of British-Israelism then claimed he got from the Bible when he most assuredly did not, how he claimed he did not pick up teachings from other groups such as the Jehovah's Witnesses when in fact he was clearly heavily influenced by them, how he spread many lies in his book Mystery of the Ages, and how HWA was guilty of committing gross sexual immorality it is hard to come to any other conclusion than what Dr. Walter Martin has said.

Why 1975 Failed

Here's an intriguing observation from the Ambassador Report which explains why the 1972/1975 prophecy failed:

"At a WCG board meeting in December 1971, Dr. Ernest L. Martin explained to those assembled why that church's 19-year-time-cycle prophecy was erroneous and would fail. For the most part, the group listened attentively. The 19-year-time-cycle idea was based on astronomical data, so he quoted Jeremiah 10:2: "...be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them." Herbert Armstrong became furious and angrily denounced him. On that and other occasions HWA has pooh poohed Dr. Martin's studies by saying Martin is simply "not a scholar."" (AR13 September 1980, "Dr. Martin Not a Scholar.")