The Great Reconciliation Between Jew and Gentile in the New Testament

If there is one subject that the COG's have absolutely failed to teach their congregants properly is the great reconciliation that shocked the Church in the New Testament in the book of Acts.

Of course, it was the Church's beliefs on the differences between Jew vs. Gentile and who compromised "Spiritual Jews" or "Spiritual Israelites" that literally muddied the waters when it came to just how huge of a big deal it was back in the days of the beginning of the Christian Church at and shortly after Pentecost.

In the Worldwide Church of God's alternative facts, the story-line was completely different. Jesus came not for the world, but for a select few called "the Church". The "Gentile" line went off the deep end, ignored the "true" Gospel, which, according to Armstrongism, laid dormant and powerless for centuries - save for an infinitesimally small group of observant Christians who kept the Jewish Law throughout six different eras - up to the "Philadelphia" era which, of course, was started, and ended, with Herbert Armstrong.

What this different chronology does is shocking to the standards of orthodox Christianity, the work of the Spirit, the inclusion of the Gentiles, the lessons of Acts, the epistles of Paul, and actually, the entire framework and network of the New Testament. That framework being the freedom in Christ with the inclusion of the Gentiles into the Church that came with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

We pick up the story at Acts 15: (NIV) (emphasis in bold mine) (my inserted comment in brown)

15 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” ² This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute (AHA! Well, this wasn't expected at all, was it?) and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

Let me interject here what it must have been like at this point. Paul and Barnabas were at "Sharp Dispute". I bet you hands were flying and spit was being spat, and they obviously did not come to a solution or a conclusion - both held their ground. The only thing to do was for them both to be sent up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and the elders to talk about what to do. I can imagine that both were absolutely and completely set in their ways (What else is new?? This was a prospect of huge change, great for Paul, nightmarish for Barnabas!) BUT - they both could not deny the fact that the Gentiles had been converted. And for them, this was a Game-Changer - a Very Big Deal.

³ The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. ⁴ When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

Until a section of believers felt that the Gentiles must now become Jews in practice: 

⁵ Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”⁶ The apostles and elders met to consider this question. ⁷ After much discussion, (something tells me that this was a major understatement!!) Peter (NOT Paul, NOT Barnabas, but Peter!!!) got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. ⁸ God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. ⁹ He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? ¹¹ No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

Shocking words!! Just look at the first four words in the next verse: 

¹² The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. ¹³ When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. ¹⁴ Simon^[a] has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. ¹⁵ The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

¹⁶ “‘After this I will return
    and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
    and I will restore it,
¹⁷ that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
    even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’^[b]—
¹⁸     things known from long ago.^[c]

¹⁹ “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. ²⁰ Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. ²¹ For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

I think it's good to point out here that you can definitely see the difference of opinions that are existing within the different personalities at this point. We have Paul, who is championing Grace and Freedom for the Gentiles. We have Peter, who is adamant that placing the Law of the Gentiles would be too much for them to bear and that salvation is by Grace through Faith.  We have Barnabas, who is championing the Law of Moses and Circumcision for the Gentiles. We also have James, who seems to be thinking that eventually, they'll come around to the law of Moses. Oh no, it's a split decision! It's sometimes difficult to see the human reasoning within scripture, but we have to remember, these were humans - men - just like us - with thought and reason and rationale just like what happens when a group of us get together.  What then was the end result? We read it in verse 22.

The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers

²² Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. ²³ With them they sent the following letter:

The apostles and elders, your brothers,

To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:

Greetings.

²⁴ We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. ²⁵ So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul (THIS IS SIGNIFICANT, since both had very divergent opinions!!) — ²⁶ men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷ Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. ²⁸ It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: ²⁹ You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.

Farewell.

³⁰ So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. ³¹ The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. ³² Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. ³³ After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. ^{[34] [d] 35} But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.

That wasn't the end of the disagreements between Paul and Barnabas - two totally different opinions on Law and Grace and Church Administration, the Law of Moses and the Gentiles. Look what happened in verse 36:

Disagreement Between Paul and Barnabas

³⁶ Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” ³⁷ Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, ³⁸ but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. ³⁹ They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, ⁴⁰ but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹ He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

It doesn't take a lot to see that there were hard feelings between the two who had completely different opinions on the path that they thought the two were supposed to take. Doesn't this all sound familiar? A huge shift had just happened within the Church. The Gentiles were included as believers without the inclusions of circumcision and the observances of the Law of Moses.

It is with this perspective that one must read the Pauline Epistles, as Paul went from church to church writing the congregations trying to explain to those who sided with Barnabas' opinion about Law about why the Law existed, what it was for, what it did, and the new way of faith in Christ and Christ in you in such books as Galatians. It is with this background that one can understand why Paul wrote exactly what he wrote, and went into such lengths and details about such issues - because he was dealing with people who could not accept the decisions of the Jerusalem Council, and that the Gentiles were not subject to the same yoke that they spent their whole lives observing. This did not change the fact that the decision was done and the Gentile Church WAS the Church - even though they did things and observed things differently. 

And here is where Herbert Armstrong could not reconcile that the Gentile Church was as much a part of the Church as the Jewish Christians were, 1900 and some years later. Instead, Herbert Armstrong condemned the Gentile Church as a wayward, backwards, pagan people who did not operate on faith but had become absorbed in apostasy. His mindframe was that the Gentile Church must act as the Jewish Church acted in the first Century - as the earliest Christians had to act. His mindframe was that the Gentile Church had to be subject to the Law of Moses. In short, Herbert Armstrong defied the authority and judgement of the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 and made the unilateral decision that the Gentile Church WAS bound to observe the Law of Moses and even circumcision. Herbert Armstrong was in rebellion to Paul, to Peter, and to the entire Jerusalem Council. Herbert Armstrong sided with Barnabas, and put a yoke on Gentile Christians that was too hard of a yoke to bear and distracted them from grace and faith in Christ. THIS is the reality of what happened, and this is the reality of where Herbert stood in relation to the authority of which the Council's decision was made.

In fact, Herbert Armstrong was rebellious to anybody who made a decision that was different than he thought. It didn't matter if it was Peter, or Paul, or Herb's own ministers, or Herb's church before he started his own. Herb had no respect for the Church, for the Decisions of the Council, for the Gentiles, and the list goes on and on. The reality is that what was in Herb's mind was a methodology to use religion - specifically taking the position of Barnabas - to attempt to revive the inclusions that had been outlawed by the council upon the Gentiles for his own personal benefit and gain. Such actions were mutinous, disrespectful, and against the very Spirit who inspired the decisions of the council in the first place.

Just because the Gentiles did things differently did not eliminate, and does not eliminate their faith and their belief in Jesus Christ and does not eliminate their prospects for salvation nor their inclusion into the Church of God. This is the hardest pill for the Churches of God to swallow - and it all stems from the great reconciliation and acceptance of the Gentiles by God in the Spirit at the day of Pentecost.

Will the Church of God recognize the decisions of the Church of God made at the Jerusalem Council? Will the Church of God accept the decisions of Peter, Paul, and all the Apostles? Will the Church of God stop trying to imposing yokes and burdens on the Gentiles that are too hard and cumbersome for them? Will Thiel and Malm and others take the decisions of the Jerusalem council and humble themselves and obey their spiritual authorities and stop imposing Jewish Law on Gentile Christians and creating more hardship than they can bear distracting them from CHRIST? 

Herbert Armstrong: A Classic Case of Narcisistic Personality Disorder

Herbert W. Armstrong was a Narcissist.

This has been discussed on many COG-related blogs and websites over the past twenty years. This site shall be no exception.

The Churches of God have enabled and fueled Narcissists for the entirety of their70+ years of existence, claiming and deceiving the grandiose delusions that they and they alone were the only ones God was calling and working with out of the billions of people on the Earth today. Not many were as thoroughly narcissistic, though, as the businessman, Herbert Armstrong - who displayed, without any doubt and with thorough verification and confirmation - every aspect of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

From Wikipedia: 

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder with a long-term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, excessive need for admiration, and a lack of empathy.^[2][3] Those affected often spend a lot of time thinking about achieving power or success, or on their appearance.^[3] They often take advantage of the people around them.^[3] The behavior typically begins by early adulthood, and occurs across a variety of social situations.^[3]

The DSM-5 indicates that persons with NPD usually display some or all of the following symptoms, typically without the commensurate qualities or accomplishments:^[6][9]

HWA Walking Through A Massive Parade Front and Center

 

1. Grandiosity with expectations of superior treatment from other people
2. Fixated on fantasies of power, success, intelligence, attractiveness, etc.
3. Self-perception of being unique, superior, and associated with high-status people and institutions
4. Needing continual admiration from others
5. Sense of entitlement to special treatment and to obedience from others

There were constant Pastor General Report mailings to ministers absolutely filled with ministers heaping on the praises and lavish endorsements of HWA, each fueling and enabling the narcissistic behavior of HWA on every level, causing him to believe his grandiose fantasies as reality. HWA had the self-perception of being not only unique, but the only "apostle" on the face of the Earth at that period of time. He considered himself fully superior to all other ministers and members of the Church, and to all humanity who was not being "called by God" at the time. And, Herbert constantly, from age 16 onward, enjoyed and was motivated to spend time and be like high-status "important" people as well as institutions. His expectations of superior treatment ranged from constant complaining about the size of his office to the "quality" he constantly expected and demanded from others and for himself. He also felt needy for special treatment - and he absolutely and unquestionably demanded obedience from all people under his "authority" as Pastor General of the Worldwide Church of God. 

Another proof of NPD was exploitation.

1. Exploitative of others to achieve personal gain
2. Unwilling to empathize with the feelings, wishes, and needs of other people.

 

  Exploit means to derive full use and benefit from a source. 

An example of Herbert's exploitation of his members of his church was to drain out and squeeze every ounce of income he could from them - without care or without concern about their personal struggles, instead shifting the responsibility to God to take care of them because they were obedient to HWA - or as he called it "The Government of God".

He would demand First Tithe, Second Tithe, Third Tithe, Regular Holy Day offerings, Building Fund Offerings, Local Church Activity Fundraisers, Additional Contributions and Donations as required from the members - and plead, beg, threaten and gravel for increased Co-Worker contributions pleading every possible crisis and emergency that could possibly exist to increase his funds large enough to complete his Master Plan. This fulfilled the very definition of exploitation.

• Intensely envious of others, and the belief that others are equally envious of them

Herbert would continually watched other evangelists/"competition" and compared himself to them (Oral Roberts, Billy Graham), often criticizing their methodologies of their crusades and large-scale evangelistic events. He fit both categories of the above statement perfectly - envious of them, and believing they were envious of his accomplishments. His boasting over ratings - beating Oral Roberts - was extreme, as can be noted in sermons he would give in the 1950s. 

• Pompous and arrogant demeanor

Herbert often referred to himself as The Apostle, The Head under Jesus Christ, and many other titles and descriptions.He would also refer to himself in the third person - or sign his name to third person attributions written by others.

People with NPD tend to exaggerate their skills, accomplishments, and their level of intimacy with people they consider high-status.

From the very early years, he would often brag of his associations with the famous and the fortunate - such as Hubbard, oil executives - using his job in the Trade Journal meeting with Chief Executive Officers to boost and boast his accomplishments with millionaires and successful people - taking notes of how they did what they did as he went on.

When their own ego is wounded by a real or perceived criticism, their anger can be disproportionate to the situation.

To the extent that people are pathologically narcissistic, they can be controlling, blaming, self-absorbed, intolerant of others' views, unaware of others' needs and the effects of their behavior on others, and insist that others see them as they wish to be seen.

Since the fragile ego of individuals with NPD is hypersensitive to perceived criticism or defeat, they are prone to feelings of shame, humiliation, and worthlessness over minor or even imagined incidents.

They usually mask these feelings from others with feigned humility or by isolating themselves socially, or they may react with outbursts of rage, defiance, or by seeking revenge.

According to Leonard Groopman and Arnold Cooper, the following have been identified by various researchers as possible factors that promote the development of NPD:^[20]

• An oversensitive temperament (personality traits) at birth.

• Excessive admiration that is never balanced with realistic feedback.

• Excessive praise for good behaviors or excessive criticism for bad behaviors in childhood.

• Overindulgence and overvaluation by parents, other family members, or peers.

• Being praised for perceived exceptional looks or abilities by adults.

• Severe emotional abuse in childhood.

• Unpredictable or unreliable caregiving from parents.

• Learning manipulative behaviors from parents or peers.

• Valued by parents as a means to regulate their own self-esteem.

Herbert Armstrong fits the category of what has been defined as an "Unprincipled Narcissist."

Unprincipled narcissist Including antisocial features.

Deficient conscience; unscrupulous, amoral, disloyal, fraudulent, deceptive, arrogant, exploitive; a con artist and charlatan; dominating, contemptuous, vindictive.

It is my critical, unofficial, unscientific, and wholly unprofessional statement and belief, based on many years of personal experience within Armstrongism, observation, analysis, co-worker letters, articles in all sorts of Media, including Pastor General Reports, The Plain Truth, The Good News, Videos, Attributions, reports from those who knew him, the Autobiographies, that Herbert Armstrong was in all ways a Pathological Unprincipled Narcissist, suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, to the harm and detriment, financial, spiritual, emotional, and mental, of his victims both in his Worldwide Church of God and around the world via media, including radio and television. 
It is also my opinion that many of those who have developed their own organizational splinters using Armstrong's methodologies also display narcissistic tendencies, exacerbated by Armstrong's narcissistic personality disorder, business, and dogma.    Finally, it is my opinion that those who are a part of the organizations of Armstrongism are prone to develop Narcissistic Personality Disorder, based on the teachings and doctrines of the groups that promote the agendas of Armstrongism.     





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Prophecitus Armstrongitus

There's a syndrome out there in COG-Land.

Syndrome: "a characteristic combination of opinions, emotions, or behavior."

It's a syndrome that is marked by delusions, illusions of grandeur, false statements, inability to acknowledge error, erroneous suppositions, and repetition. This syndrome has been ongoing for over 60 years.

That syndrome - though, of course, not officially recognized - is what I will call....

 Prophecitus Armstrongitus. 

Prophecitus Armstrongitus is a tendency to speak forth prophecies (the attempt at foretelling the future) using the Bible, doctrines of Armstrongism, or both, to further and advance their belief system in an attempt to cause others to believe their dogmas as well. 

Though most have Prophecitus Armstrongitus in it's more benign stage (they won't actively spread Prophecitus Armstrongitus, but will defend the prophecies if provoked)- a few have what I will call Malignant Acute Prophecitus Armstrongitus. (MAPA). Those who have MAPA will stop at nothing to proclaim their delusions as truth to the impair and detriment of those who believe what is being said - REGARDLESS of how badly such prophecies have failed.

Malignant Acute Prophecitus Armstrongitus is in my opinion mentally dangerous. Those who succomb to one who has MAPA will first become excited and act on the delusions with belief and expectation. However, the prophecies by those with MAPA always fail. Once these prophecies fail, then the one who succombed to the syndrome will experience depression, anxiety, despair, dissonance, anger, frustration, resentment, discouragement, and may also succomb to long-lasting effects of doubt, distrust, and spiritual harm that may lead to agnostic or atheistic tendencies.

Those who have MAPA will not be able to admit their failures. They will either blame a lack of understanding and set a new timeframe in the not to distant future, or state it has been fulfilled in an ethereal or intangible way, which was different than first prophesied. Often, they will then issue a whole new set of prophecies in addition to the first one.

Those with MAPA are extremely cunning and deceptive, and usually appear to be intelligent. Their speech is smooth, as butter. Often, their response to criticism of any form is rash anger. Some go to the other extreme and avoid any response at all.

A few seem to have displayed strange physical symptoms as an awkward lean, wild gestures, and an apparent astigmatism when it comes to constructing bookcases. OK, I just had to throw that in there. 

How then, can one avoid the snare of MAPA?

First, vaccinate yourself with the Word of God. The Bible is clear that false prophets speak presumptuously. Many claim they are speaking for God when they are not. They are deluded and are speaking out of their own minds. When their prophecies fail to happen - which they always will - pay them no attention whatsoever, and ignore any power they profess to have. They have none. The only "power" they have is to get you to believe. Once they are proven false, you know that they are speaking only of the delusional effects of MAPA.

Second, use discernment. Is what they are saying in line with the Gospel of Jesus Christ? If it isn't, pay them no attention.

Third - use history as a defense. Armstrongism has a long and detailed - and firmly established record of failed prophecies over 60 years. If one with MAPA is fully converted with the doctrines of Armstrongism, the chances of any of their prophecies to EVER happen is .000001%.

Fourth - know what is and is not a prophecy. If one with MAPA attempts to say they are uttering a prophecy, but uses words as a disclaimer to give them an out (likely, seemingly, possibly, maybe, could, perhaps), these are NOT prophecies at all. They are simply suggesting a possible outcome, no matter how they brand it. A real prophecy has a definitive date, time, and fulfillment without room for error. Not one REAL prophecy uttered by one with MAPA syndrome has EVER happened. Even the suggested outcomes rarely ever happen, if at all.

MAPA feeds on the false doctrinal systems which malignantly spread in the 20th century by Herbert Armstrong. Herbert Armstrong's skill and cunning deceptions were propagated by recognition and implementation of advertising psychological methods on target audiences. Many have attempted to replicate his success. None have even come close.

Recovery is a process from one who has been victimized by MAPA. Prayer, support, time, and therapy will slowly begin to heal one from the symptoms of MAPA. The sooner, the better. Each case is different.

*****Of COURSE, a disclaimer: MAPA is NOT an official syndrome, nor recognized as a syndrome by any real syndrome authority. Yet - The effects of false prophecies by those in Armstrongism ARE real. Don't pay any attention to those who speak presumptuously. They will always be wrong - and will always try to take your hard earned money on the pretense of the authority of tithing laws of the Old Testament. Don't learn the hard way how many wolves are out there in sheep's clothing. ********

The Alternative Thinking of the Children of the Cults

The effects of alternative thinking on the lives of young people has been one of the most extensive influences on my life as part of an end-time doomsday cult. One instance that came to mind this morning finally linked to the intensive research into my past to figure out exactly where I came from, fully what I was a part of, as steps of healing in my ongoing journey of de-programming and cult recovery.

There was a season in my young life as a second and third grader that, for whatever reason, I had to convince my classmates that I had supernatural abilities that I did not have. For many of the classmates, it simply did not work. But for one, it did work. It validated my "powers" and my "abilities".

One might consider this perfectly normal for the imagination of a small child in his first years of primary school. Imagine the kid pretending to be Superman, jumping off a small rock and "flying" all the way across the back yard. Or the small child on his tricycle, imagining he's zooming in and out of asteroids on a "star trek" through the neighborhood's church parking lot. Those are the imaginations at work - healthy and part of a brain's natural development.

In my environment, I was taught "not" to engage in "pretend" - or unrealistic imaginations on paper, like coloring the sky purple or the grass red. "pretending" was wrong - as wrong as reading fiction, or listening to different varieties of music. Adherance to realism was paramount. Pretending was to engage in a lie. And lying, after all, was a sin. My family took Armstrongism literally, and seriously.

Enter in the belief system that I had as a child, directly from all of my information sources. I was told I was in training to be God. I was told I would get my own planet. I was told this would happen in just a few years (I didn't quite grasp the fact that my parents were the ones to be converted into a spirtual superpower, and I had to remain on Earth because I was not baptized - this happened a little bit later.) Of course, I was also fully indoctrinated with the whole mother-load of Armstrongism dogma, including the Bible Story imagery from Basil Wolverton. Those who were a part of the cult, or take the time to study into it, can get a good grasp of what that contained.

The difference between the young child pretending on the street - and what my episode in elementary school was - is a matter of belief.

The young child playing superman understood the difference between "pretending" to be Superman, and the thought of actually becoming Superman. It was play, and pretend-time. Once the young child was done "pretending", the mind switched to the next event - peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a glass of milk before running out the door for a full afternoon of more playtime (in the summertime, of course).

The young me believed what he was told. He was going to be God. He was going to have powers and his own planet. He was excited that in a few years, he was going to be one of the pioneers of the Wonderful World Tomorrow. And in the next year or two, our going home from the Feast would be the last physical Feast we would ever experience. For me, this was not pretend. This was real life. It was going to happen. Herbert W. Armstrong said so. And what he said was reality.

I thought of myself as superior to the other children - a higher standard. I thought of myself as different and set apart. I had to set the example. I had to be as perfect as I could possibly be, because I did not want to make my parents, or God, mad at me.

I had spent decades wondering exactly why I acted in the way I did back in the second and the third grade. I attributed everything to an overactive imagination - a normal part of growing up. However, when you have an intentionally stifled imagination and a grounding from pretending - and then actual imagination turned into an alternative "reality" - then you've got a very messed up and abnormal psyche and way of developing as a child. Add on to that weekly meetings of fiction turned into an alternative reality - and again - you're just feeding the brain delusions.

This is one reason how the Church is responsible for the psychological harm and abuse of the children of the Church - from Herbert Armstrong to the ministry to the regular people to their children - weaving a wave of deception from the top down with pure goals of self-centered greed. The methods that Armstrongism used to infiltrate it's members with alternative facts - blatant misuse of mind conditioning and cult psychology to achieve an agenda - were criminal.

I know that those in Armstrongism will turn right around and say that that's what "the World" always does, with teaching about Santa and the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy. These things that we were taught were not fairy tale stories that you grew out of. These thngs that we were taught were not metaphors such as puppets and Sesame Street that teach a lesson and are understood as people grew older and could understand the concepts as an adult. These were beliefs that stuck with you and were reinforced week after week, and year after year. No child grows up to believe Santa is real, or that the Easter Bunny will hop around when you are 30. Those in Armstrongism built a whole religion on one man's fairy tale of becoming Gods and rulers in a universal real estate development program and ruling the whole agri-centric world based on a wholly racist and wholly physical interpretation of the plan of God - where people to this day still believe it, and mess up their children's lives to this day in the process.

Not only do I talk about this for my personal healing - but to show others how whacked and how deep of a con-job the whole mess was, and what it did to the psyche, the imagination, the centers of logic and reasoning, and the faith and belief of God himself. It is incumbent on those who were and have been a part of the entire scam to realize the depth of the deepness of the cancer of Armstrongism, that metastasized itself to delusional psychosis in the worldviews of so many.

"Why Did Miracles happen in Such a Worldly Environment? Did That Spiritually Endorse that Church?"

I often come across many stories about miracles that happened back in the Church of God.

I know of a few personal recollections when I was in the Worldwide Church of God of people who do remember incidents that happened with people in the church. And I believe them.

There was the person who, she reports, "had an angel that looked like her dead ex-husband who opened the Apartment outer gate for her" when she could not get in.

There was the lady who was able to get to the Feast in a car that was missing a vital component that should have rendered the car un-driveable.

I knew these people enough to know they would not make up such stories. Most of the people in the Church in the laity were decent, hard-working, common folks - who were doing what they thought in their heart was the right thing to do.

When I hear of miracles for people that happened in the Church, I absolutely believe it. Because I believe that God looks at a person's heart, and mind - and not the physical organization that they are a part of.

The upper executive management of the Armstrong Business would use such miracles as evidence that their organization had the backing of God. Armstrong would do the same kind of analysis - putting organization ahead of individual. I believe God has a different approach.

In every instance of Jesus' interaction with people when He walked the Earth, he dealt with them individually. The thief on the Cross. The woman caught in an adulterous relationship. Mary Magdalene. He is involved in a personal relationship - not as a corporate chief executive.

When I needed clothes when I was a child - they came. When I prayed to be able to go to SEP - that prayer was answered. I ended up going to SEP three times - once as a camper, twice as a worker. It wasn't that God was behind the organization. God is behind us individually, and personally. God looks at our hearts - not at our involvement with a business that was masquerading as a church.

Every one of us has the freedom of choice in what we do. Every one of us has our belief in what we think is right to the best of our abilities. Yet one still may ask "Why"? "Why would God HELP me go to a 'feast' that was based on lies and the faulty imagination of a salesman? Wouldn't he rather want me to stay home?'

I think the answer has everything to do with what is best for us personally. Maybe a person needed to have a lift in life emotionally. Life living in the Church was hard. You paid your taxes, then the church took twenty to thirty percent of your income. You had trouble raising your family. Perhaps you had a "non-converted" spouse. Financial troubles were rampant, because your income just wasn't there. You couldn't have "worldly" friends deeply, and you had to give up the "fun" activities on Saturdays. Not to mention health issues. What I am saying is: Individually speaking - maybe the benefits of being there were better for the soul then if one wasn't there. Maybe there was a need for a 'boost' of positive faith - in Jesus, not the corporation. We can't always understand the reasons why things happen. But if there's one thing I have learned, is that Jesus does everything based on his love for His Children and what is best for them in the long-term (eternally), then what they are involved with in the short term (a cult).

Jesus said that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. He's been with His people throughout all their life experiences. Though many of us were born into the Church, others made the decision to join the Church, regardless of the fact of what the Church really was - it does not negate the fact that Jesus said He will never leave us, nor forsake us. That uncompromising fact - the love of Jesus that knows no boundaries - is all the explanation a person needs as to the miracles that happen - not only in the lives of members of the Worldwide Church of God - but the miracles that have happened with all peoples of all beliefs and of all classes and abilities.

God is a God who is concerned with every one of His children, and He wants them all to reach the highest goal that they can possibly reach. He'll do everything possible in His will and in his immeasurable love - including miracles - no matter where they are in life. That's the kind of God we serve. He's with us in the storms, as well as in the sunshine - personally, for whatever is personally for our ultimate good in the grand scheme of what we do not know or understand - yet.