Plain Truth

by mrsjones5 24 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  drew sagan

  The type of Christianity advanced in the Plain Truth magazine these days is typical of many who have left cults that claim to be Christian.
  
  The worldwide church of god is now a reformed Church with a more orthodox theology is most respects. They are no longer a cult. WIth that said the followers of Herbert Armstrong are still active and are working to rebuild the cult around the man. I've even seen ads on this site for the book 'Raising the Ruins' a book that seeks to reunite the lost followers of H.W. Armstrong.
• 

  juni

  Be careful Josie!

  I get the jitters when I hear about these religions...... Perhaps cause I just finished reading "Seductive Poison" by Deborah Layton. She made it out of the Peoples' Temple back in the ' 70s before the mass suicide. It is an excellent read and I remember you like to read books.

  This cult leader, Jim Jones, was at the time head of a US department and was close friends w/other political figures and former first lady Rosalyn Carter. He entrapped people by building a fear in them for the CIA and FBI. The followers truly felt that they were being watched by these groups all the time - ready to be arrested and put in prison. They were paranoid to the point of putting all their trust in Jim Jones. Ms. Layton and another moved monies overseas so J. Jones lived the high life while his followers literally worked themselves close to death. Even children were over worked and were punished inhumanely. They lived far inland in the country of Guyana.

  What was interesting also in the book was this: She pointed out how we can become ensnared not only by religious fronts but also by self help groups. We have to be very careful.

  Best to you,

  Juni
• 

  AllAlongTheWatchtower

  I too would urge caution...I'm a former member of the WCG, and I can attest that in the past, they were much like JWs. I was DFed from WCG in the summer of '83 at the age of 12 or 13-don't actually remember whether my birthday had occurred yet or not, which is also in the summer. My sin was that in May of that same year, I was taken by the state as a ward of the court and placed in foster care due to abuse issues. How audacious of me! I was a bad apple with a bad attitude, and might spoil the whole barrel. I was bad association, and a potential corrupting influence on the other youth.

  Since joining this site (not because of WCG, but because my wife started to study with JWs, and I feared the impact that would have, the moreso because I already had personal experience with high control groups), I learned about the WCG "reformation". I put that in quotes, because there are many watchdog groups on the net I've seen that doubt the WCG's motives and honesty in changing. They raked in millions back in the Armstrong days, and the money they use today is tainted, in my opinion. My parents alone donatedtithed had thousands stolen from them.

  http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/artcls/asurviv.htm <---- This site contains much information about the WCG. Though I disagree with their religious outlook, it does contain valuable information, if a bit biased toward their own beliefs. One thing I found there is an item which I mentioned in another post recently (don't recall the thread it was on) about how the WCG is even considering a name change to further distance themselves from their past. Seems dishonest and sneaky to me.

  http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/artcls/wcgname.htm

  More on their transition:

  http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/resrch/re_artl.htm

  http://www.pfo.org/transfor.htm

  WCG events timeline, 96-04 (with more links going back further) including property sales, splintering sects, etc.

  http://www.thejournal.org/archives/cgtimln4.html

  A website owner's reply(s) to someone who wrote to say that the current leadership of WCG is better:

  http://www.hwarmstrong.com/what-would-jesus-do.htm

  "Your church , the Worldwide Church of God, was built on the foundation blocks made out of the powder of ground up bones of former and present members, mixed with their blood, sweat and tears. Your church is the "whited sepulchre" mentioned by your Jesus, full of dead men's bones. Founded in incest and iniquity. Run, through the years, by corrupt men ruling with an iron fist and using the fear of death to steal money from people who loved God. Existing today because the leaders have no true love for people, no repentance for the horrible past that they must inherit along with the money from the past, and no fear of God...."

  http://www.hwarmstrong.com/still-evil.htm

  If they cover up evil so that people will continue sending them money, I would say that could be as bad as the person that committed the evil to start with. Does money mean so much that they are afraid of the truth? I guess so.
• 

  poppers

  Interesting thread. I remember Herbert Armstrong's TV show from years ago. He struck me as pretty whacked out.
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  mrsjones5

  Calm down guys, I'm not joining their group. I've got a church I'm very happy with and after being raised in the bOrg have no interest in anything cultlike. I have the subscription because of the articles similar to what I point out to the board and I like their stand on Christianity without religion. Even their opinion on legalism is something I agree with.

  Josie
• 

  Sad emo

  Just to reassure everyone - The Plain Truth is kosher - they're members of the Evangelical Alliance here in the UK and have broken their connections with Armstrong. They are classed as apostates by those members who stayed faithful to original WCG teachings who now call themselves 'The Restored Church of God' (they viewed the 'apostacy' as a cleansing of the 'true' church) - they publish a magazine called 'The Real Truth' - also available online if anyone wants to have a laugh take a look:

  http://www.thercg.org/sep/

  http://www.thercg.org/home.html

  http://www.realtruth.org/home.html
• 

  BizzyBee

  The strong language against Herbert Armstrong is no doubt a lingering result of the bad blood between him and his son, Garner Ted. These two hated each other with an all-consuming passion. I believe Garner Ted had been trying to wrest power away from papa for years and papa publicly humiliated him by publishing on-line the facts of Garner Ted's disfellowshipping.
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  smellsgood

  Hey Gopher!
  
  I know about their turnabout, one of the most startling things of any cult ever. I like the WWCOG history, because there was sooooo many similarities to WTBTS. I was reading this one long site about it the other day, and it seems that some do still cling to the old legalism, I was surprised. You know, having to identify HWA as Elijah and whatnot... still, they did drop most of their bunk after HWA and Garner Teddy died....
• 

  Gopher

  Smellsgood,

  I was reading this one long site about it the other day, and it seems that some do still cling to the old legalism

  I think it's quite hard to change a tiger's stripes -- I have a hard time trusting any religion that claims it has reformed. Maybe that's because of my background as a JW with their doctrinal zig-zags and turnarounds. Even if a religious group does reform to an extent, there is always the possibility they could go back to what they were before.
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  M.J.

  I get this as well. I can attest that the articles are actually pretty good for the most part. And they're not geared toward sucking you into some organization either.