It was the charismatic preaching of Garner Ted Armstrong on radio and tv. I became convinced, as a young and easily led religion-seeking teen, that this was the right group and that none of the others would come close to being “right”.
LOL I had heard he was at one time a financial contributor to the church but was never a member. I’m sure he lived a long, long way from where I am in western Canada.
I was 17 and had never attended a church before. It took many months to work up the courage to go somewhere like this by myself. The same is actually true of the Mass. It was two years after I had decided I wanted to go to one before I actually did.
There have been many changes and the original group would be unidentifiable to old Mr. Armstrong today. The magazine was called The Plain Truth, a name he took from a publication of Benjamin Franklin. The program was titled The World Tomorrow. A number of spin off groups, seeking to maintain the hard line approach to faith the old WCG had all use similar names in their publications and media.
No, my family was quietly dismayed at my involvement with the WCG. My mom came to a couple of services one winter out of curiosity but that was the extent of it.
All questions are appropriate, my friend.
Yup, that was one of the main catch phrases used by Armstrong in his latter years. It was actually a good foundation for preaching. Unfortunately it always led to less edifying rants.
Yes, there were annual conventions all over the world. This was the observance of the fall holy days found in the Old Testament, most notably the Feast of Tabernacles. We were expected to observe two tithes of our income. The first tenth went to the church, the second was to pay our way for the annual fall conference. Regular offerings were also expected, and we were told in no uncertain terms that these had to be above and beyond the first tithe. God would know, after all, if we were cheating him.
Basically love them, love them, and love them some more no matter what. It was not until I had come to realize on my own that I had been involved with a supremely arrogant and manipulative church that I saw them for what they were. During my time there, especially in the early years, all attacks on the church or it’s leaders were deemed to be attacks on God and my hackles were raised, the defenses armed. There is no way to convince anyone of anything against their will, especially with regard to religion. If they are going to come around to a more reasonable view it has to come from within. God loves them the same and is well capable of seeing that events transpire to help open a closed mind. But it can never be forced. Just show them compassion and affection at every opportunity.
LOL Oddly, Armstrong’s successor, Joseph Tkach Sr., was a former army man whose greatest hero was George S Patton. We heard Patton in his sermons many times and he became, and still is, one of my favorite figures of history. In fact, just yesterday I sent a friendly and complimentary letter to Father Larry Richards, calling him the George Patton of the Pulpit.
I am not asking sarcastically but genuinely want to know if you see Catholicism as having any of these qualifications in any way?
Yep, The Plain Truth and The World Tomorrow are the ones I remember. His son, Garner Ted Armstrong, had a weekday program on at the same time.lilypadrees:
There have been many changes and the original group would be unidentifiable to old Mr. Armstrong today. The magazine was called The Plain Truth, a name he took from a publication of Benjamin Franklin. The program was titled The World Tomorrow. A number of spin off groups, seeking to maintain the hard line approach to faith the old WCG had all use similar names in their publications and media.
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