Herbert W. Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God
When Jesus said: “I will build my church he obviously had no concept of the far reaching (and even psychotic) implications those words would have in the future world of business, corruption, greed, and domination of human lives.
“EVERY national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apostles and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet; as if the way to God was not open to every man alike.
“…we have extended all parts of our bodies and senses by technology. We are haunted by the need for an outer consensus of technology and experience that would raise our communal lives to the level of a worldwide consensus”.
–Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media.
The Worldwide Church of God used radio and TV through out its existence as a recruitment tool, much as many cults and legitimate organizations do today.
Those who read The Plain Truth or listened to the broadcast were never subjected to the level of degradation reserved for church members. That would come later when the final phase of the recruitment process would result in their baptism.
While most of the world thinks that “religion” is the way to go, many readers of this site have now taken a more realistic approach. Throughout our tenure in Worldwide Church of God, we’ve seen the upper criminal element to be very much alive in this and the offspring cults. What they did, and are still doing, would be considered criminal by most impartial courts of law. Yet, the legal system – despite the separation of church and state – chooses to look the other way when it comes to crimes of religion, which (in the Western world), we would call “Christian Crime.”
When people’s confidence in their beliefs is shaken, they become stronger advocates for those beliefs. The book When Prophecy Fails, an American cult leader, Dorothy Martin, convinced her followers that flying saucers would rescue them from an apocalyptic flood. Many believed her, giving up their livelihoods, possessions and loved ones in anticipation of their alien saviors. When the prophecy failed and nothing came to pass, the group decided that their dedication had spared the Earth from the apocalypse. Far from shattering their faith, the absent UFOs had turned them into zealous evangelists.
Once upon a time, many years ago, there lived a guy named Hank. He was a regular fellow, and at about thirty or so years of age, he lived in the poorer part of a small town in the mid West. Each day, Hank would sweep out the local grocery story, and when he’d finished his stocking chores, he’d shoot the breeze with his buddies in the local bar or at someone’s home, and they all drank lots of beer. Hank had a good flair for telling stories and weaving some homespun philosophy into them, and people listened to him, usually agreed, and they always looked to him as a local friend. We can all live in peace, he had said, and the folks all agreed. He never had a girl friend.
When Jesus said: “I will build my church . . . ” He obviously had no concept of the far reaching (and even psychotic) implications those words would have in the future world of business, corruption, greed, and domination of human lives. His was a simple ministry. Nothing complex. The word “church” (ekklesia in Greek) only referred to his disciples, or those He called out to service. No one listening at the time could even imagine the corporate and business behemoths that His saying eventually spawned. He did, however, give enough warnings to the people of His day to prepare them that the “tares” would invade their lives . . . all in the name of GOD.