Articles for the Benefit of Members and Ex-Members of the WCG

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49
Do You Still Follow Pope Herbert the Pervert?

In the heyday of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG), before his death in 1986, Herbert W Armstrong (HWA) was the 'pope' to his followers. Loyal WCG members respected him so highly that he was admired, feared, and even worshipped! He had taken the place of God in the minds of most WCG members.

The principle revealed in 2 Thessalonians about the coming man of sin - who will most probably be the false prophet of Revelation 16:13 and 19:20, the final pope in Rome - applies to the WCG's idolatrous allegiance to HWA. Paul wrote:

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work... (2 Thes 2:7) Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God. showing himself that he is God (2:3,4, NKJV).

The WCG, from about the forties until the late eighties, regarded itself as the temple of God. Worldwide members regarded themselves as an elite group, part of God's only true Church. There was no other bona fide church organisation on earth which could claim the title of "Church of God", except the Worldwide Church of God, according to the teaching of HWA. This philosophy was promulgated within the church by subtle references to WCG spiritual superiority and uniqueness - for example as "God's Church".

Armstrong didn't have to refer to himself as God's only living apostle. The belief of most members of the church supported this false claim. It accompanied the assumption that the WCG was the only vehicle through which God worked to preach the gospel to the world, and was His chosen receptacle for the Holy Spirit. No other church possessed this privilege.

HWA was effectively God's right hand man on earth. In fact, he was more than a mere prophet or apostle. Since he was regarded as the only one used by God, his pronouncements and decrees were effectively divine. His decisions were unchallengeable and his doctrine unquestionable. Those who did dare question or challenge him did so with extreme trepidation and care, expressing the utmost respect for him and reverence of his position.

This whole approach was blasphemous. Of course, blind Worldwiders couldn't see it like that. Many still don't, even now. They took it as accepted. It was the norm.

Paul's words of warning that no man deceive you are continually valid throughout the New Testament, regardless of the situation God's people find themselves in. The WCG was, and is, no exception. It never was exempt from deception. Yet, droves of gullible WCG members believed that it was.

Since it was "God's Church", God would not allow "His people" to be deluded by false teachers and by the devil. There was no way "God's Church" could end up travelling the road to apostasy - so they thought!

Time has now told a different story, and the evidence is there for the discerning to perceive.

The trouble was, this reasoning was fraught with error. First it was based on a false premise - that the WCG was God's one and only church on earth. Secondly, it was laced with pride, and pride always precedes a dramatic fall.

WCG members had fallen prey to false ministers - false teachers who preached various lies. Because the lies were believable, people believed them. The devil is the most cunning deceiver, so these poor folks didn't suspect they were being conned. The truth is, however, they were. I was one, so I know whereof I now speak.

Not everything Herbert Armstrong taught was error, of course. The devil's most potent concoction is a mixture of truth and error. The more truth he allows you to have, yet keeping you away from a personal relationship with the Giver of that truth, the more he has succeeded in his mission. He did a damn 'good' job in the Worldwide Church of God!!

Now the leadership of the church is following the next clever tack of the devil by promoting a teaching that deludes people further. He causes them to think they are now coming into that relationship with Christ they missed out on under the Armstrong era. They are busy dismantling all that Armstrong stood for with its wrong legalistic emphasis, and replacing it with a laudable-sounding "new covenant theology". The truth is not as laudable as it would seem. More of that is contained in other articles, particularly Tkach's Big Heresy. It is not my purpose to discuss that here.

Armstrong was a type of the man of sin, just as Joseph Tkach is now. Remember what Paul said:

...the man of sin... the son of perdition, who opposes [the Spirit of God] and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God. showing himself that he is God. (2 Thess. 2:3,4.)

A man doesn't have to call himself God to get that blasphemous notion implanted in your mind. He only needs to say certain things in a subtle way to get you convinced he is mighty special, and he has achieved Satan's purpose. Armstrong's writings were replete with examples of this psychological conditioning. Take this for an example:

May 21, 1978

Soon you will hear NEW PROGRAMS from me, on both radio and television. Just as Moses, the man of God, had not abated in his strength of mind and spirit, in leading the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage into the Promised Land, after 80 years of age, so the SAME GOD has sustained my mind, energy and power for the completion of His Work in this world.

In the above, Herbert W Armstrong, refers to the church he led and its associated work as "God's great Work". He reminds his readers that this is a work to the whole world, therefore obviating any need for God to use anyone else. He compares himself to Moses, the lawgiver and mediator to Israel in the Old Testament!

He infuses enthusiasm by his claim that things are really moving ahead. It sounds good; and that positive approach causes people to trust him. If things are going really well, then God must be behind what he is doing... So went the psychology.

Armstrong was a clever manipulator. He started out as a successful advertising man, who (he claims) pioneered opinion polls. He knew how to grab people's attention, and more importantly to him, he knew also how to gain people's confidence and trust. Once he had that, he could infuse his ideas into their minds.

The result of his more than 50 years effort was to be seen in the globe-girdling work of the Worldwide Church of God, its many overseas offices, its church of 100,000-plus-members, three Ambassador College campuses, a magnificent 'House of God' in Pasadena HQ, a thriving AICF (Ambassador International Cultural Foundation) concert series, a Plain Truth magazine circulation of over 7 million, the second-largest circulation of any magazine in the world, the production of multiple millions of church publications in several languages, a regular radio broadcast with significant worldwide coverage, later a TV outreach of The World Tomorrow programme, and influence among the rich and famous which took him to meet with kings, presidents and world leaders in many nations. All this, together with HWA's persuasive and authoritative style to church members as God's chief representative on earth, convinced members they HAD joined God's true Church.

Armstrong continued:

On July 4th there will be a big "4th of July Celebration" in Jerusalem, hosted jointly by the Mayor of Jerusalem, Mr. Teddy Kollek, and myself. The city of Philadelphia had an exact duplicate made of the Liberty Bell -- crack and all -- and gave it to the city of Jerusalem. In the spring of 1976 -- Passover time -- the mayor came to me privately, and asked my help in building an important downtown park in Jerusalem, to be named the "LIBERTY BELL PARK." Through the AICF, I was able to agree to supply the children's playground area, at the very opening of the park. The park is now completed, and Mayor Kollek has asked me to be present on July 4th for the opening and dedication of the Liberty Bell Park.

In early August, I am again to go to Japan -- and perhaps other points in the Far Fast. Other campaigns in world capitals are now being planned -- as before my heart failure and illness. December 1st the Israeli government is planning a celebration in my honor--on the 10th anniversary of the beginning of our participation in the great archaeological excavation, starting southward from the Temple Mount. This date will mark the beginning of the second decade of this major project -- now starting further south, in the area of the ancient City of David, to uncover 2,500 years of accumulated debris (Some 50 feet high) over the ancient palace and THRONE of King David. The AICF is following through on this -- preparing the very SITE of the THRONE on which Christ will sit at His coming. This is just one of the ways in which we are preparing the way for His coning and establishment of the KINGDOM OF GOD, ushering in WORLD PEACE.

All this sounded too good to be true! It wasn't true! It was a mixture of truth and lies, like the first deception foisted upon the first humans in the Garden in Eden.

If you want to know what was untrue in these words of HWA above, refer to the articles:
The Painful Truth about the WCG.
The Deceitfulness of Herbert W Armstrong.

Satan appealed to Adam and Eve's pride by convincing them they could be like God in knowing good and evil. It was a very subtle trap. So is WCG philosophy. It leads to pride and presumption. But since it DOES appeal to human nature, the success of organisations built on such foundations is considerable. However, this success is only measured in material or physical terms, not spiritual. It is not true success in the spiritual sphere, but it looks like success to unspiritual eyes that cannot see beyond the facade.

And HWA certainly erected a wonderful facade!

Herbert W Armstrong was an achiever. He built his personal empire with the name tag "Radio Church of God", which later became "Worldwide Church of God". No one would dispute the formidable achievements of this hard-working man. But industry is not spirituality. It can deflect the vision. And just because a humanly founded organisation bears the name "Church of God" in its title does not make it the Church of God. Unspiritual eyes were blind to this deception.

They were also blinded to the man's craft and perversion. It was hidden from the eyes of most Worldwiders that HWA had had an incestuous sexual relationship with his daughter Dorothy for some years. When this truth became exposed through the pages of David Robinson's book Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web, and later in the pages of Ambassador Report, many brain-washed WCG members simply could not believe that such claims could be true. They had been so duped by Pope Armstrong's lavish claims of spiritual self importance, that they dismissed such words as the evil rhetoric of disenchanted former members, without accurate foundation.

The fact remains that Herbert Armstrong WAS a pervert, who lived a perverted lifestyle, perverted the minds of his followers, and perverted the truth of God's Word by the unspiritual emphasis in his teaching.

When a man directs his followers in such a way that they look to him instead of to God, when he usurps Jesus' position as Mediator in their minds, he has fulfilled the same blasphemous role as the man of sin Paul described! He is a deceiver!

Malcolm B Heap, July 1998