Fleecing the Flock from the Top Down
God's Government. Those who have spent any time with the WCG and its offshoots have heard a lot about it. Herbert Armstrong thought he had it then changed his mind and implemented something more resembling the Vatican than what we see in the New Testament. That Prophet and others are adamant that they are God's governors on Earth and that they will be slotted into the Heavenly Hierarchy as soon as the Last Trumpet sounds. But what have we learned about hierarchies? What have we learned about governance from the WCG and its offspring?
The WCG today hardly resembles the organization it once was. Organizational structure was one of the most significant things that Joe Jr. and his band of merry men kept in place. That structure is what keeps you and I from demanding our money back in a class action lawsuit. It is allowing Joey and a select few individuals to be the sole benefactors of 50 or more years of giving. Individuals lived in poverty and sacrifice responding to Armstrong's endless pleas for more money. Even those on the payroll are not safe. Everyone that can be let go will go to cut costs and increase owner equity. The owner: Joe Jr.
Articles and whole books have been written on Herbert Armstrong's spending habits. Web sites have documented pianos, gold, crystal and private jets. Warning: if your Apostle has his own jet and you are eating SPAM then something's wrong. I don't intend to document Armstrong's follies with the checkbook again here. Suffice to say that things just didn't go off the track with Joe Jr.
If you are living in a Western style democracy then it should be obvious that the government exists to serve the needs of the governed. In the past it was often the reverse. The government existed to serve the needs of a king or other regent. Flurry has stated that this is the type of government that God will implement in the Millennium. Several leaders seem to get giddy when shouting that God will rule with a rod of iron. Just after he spanks the nations. They see themselves as one of those that will be breaking the rest of us as potsherds.
The justification for this is always, "God is perfect. We will be perfect when we become gods. Therefore it would be silly not to demand total obedience." On the surface this appeals to some people. The assumptions are that there is a perfect, loving and caring God Family that will show us the way, and that if we don't "get it", they will kill us. Some say we will have 100 years to "get it".
How comfortable are you with your COG leader wielding omnipotent power over your life? Have you allowed this to be done already on a human level? Do you think that having unlimited power gives perfect character and the ability to teach and lead? Power=Power. That's all.
What has your organization done for you lately? Your community? The homeless? The hungry?
God's Government is not responsible for them? Pity. Just send your tithes to HQ and wait for the next financial statement.
Keep the Heat On
Mr. Asbestos
The WCG today hardly resembles the organization it once was. Organizational structure was one of the most significant things that Joe Jr. and his band of merry men kept in place. That structure is what keeps you and I from demanding our money back in a class action lawsuit. It is allowing Joey and a select few individuals to be the sole benefactors of 50 or more years of giving. Individuals lived in poverty and sacrifice responding to Armstrong's endless pleas for more money. Even those on the payroll are not safe. Everyone that can be let go will go to cut costs and increase owner equity. The owner: Joe Jr.
Articles and whole books have been written on Herbert Armstrong's spending habits. Web sites have documented pianos, gold, crystal and private jets. Warning: if your Apostle has his own jet and you are eating SPAM then something's wrong. I don't intend to document Armstrong's follies with the checkbook again here. Suffice to say that things just didn't go off the track with Joe Jr.
If you are living in a Western style democracy then it should be obvious that the government exists to serve the needs of the governed. In the past it was often the reverse. The government existed to serve the needs of a king or other regent. Flurry has stated that this is the type of government that God will implement in the Millennium. Several leaders seem to get giddy when shouting that God will rule with a rod of iron. Just after he spanks the nations. They see themselves as one of those that will be breaking the rest of us as potsherds.
The justification for this is always, "God is perfect. We will be perfect when we become gods. Therefore it would be silly not to demand total obedience." On the surface this appeals to some people. The assumptions are that there is a perfect, loving and caring God Family that will show us the way, and that if we don't "get it", they will kill us. Some say we will have 100 years to "get it".
How comfortable are you with your COG leader wielding omnipotent power over your life? Have you allowed this to be done already on a human level? Do you think that having unlimited power gives perfect character and the ability to teach and lead? Power=Power. That's all.
What has your organization done for you lately? Your community? The homeless? The hungry?
God's Government is not responsible for them? Pity. Just send your tithes to HQ and wait for the next financial statement.
Keep the Heat On
Mr. Asbestos
posted by Fred at 9:01 PM
3 Comments:
While scripture does give authority from the top down to Christ's ministers, it just doesn't give any authority to the self-professed and self grandized so called "Churches of God".
Those church leaders of the so called churches of God are like those who impersonate policemen and public officials, just because they call themselves one, doesn't by any imagination mean they ARE ONE. They are not. They are just dried up left overs and splinters from a cult group started from the false prophet and false apostle Herbert W. Armstrong.
HWA is a great example of how someone may call himself an apostle but he wasn't any such thing. He called himself all kinds of things to make him something, HE WAS NOT. He was just a total wacko on some huge ego trip. And now, there are the few who have proved themselves equally wacko and egotistical.
Humans have developed according to "top down" control structures on many levels. Only very few examples exist of different patterns of social organization e.g. network type. It does not surprise me to see that scripture follows the same pattern of hierarchical control. The key question we must be free to ask is whether scripture is infallible or not. If it is then government structures are free to develop and self-correct. If not...
How can one access this site. I got it via AW.
wmstorey@hotmail.com
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