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WCG and HWA By Dale Bargar
I stumbled across this site by accident just a few weeks ago, after my wife heard a recent appearance on a daytime broadcast by J Tkach Jr, appealing that all of the splintered CoG groups “reunite” for the sake of the members. Chills ran down my spine, as I remember how those of us former members “felt” during the years of HWA and WCG. I lived that life. Immediately this message sounded eerily familiar and reminiscent of the late 1970 appeals of HWA for the members to stick together; and in those days, after that came the sell all, give it to the church, to keep the work alive in the end of days, against the attack of Satan through the receivership by California, that we would be fleeing to Petra at any time, and God would judge us on how devoted we were to his work. I must say that seeing all of the evidence displayed herein on the farce of the WCG and the Armstrong regime makes me sick, and angry. Yet it also brings some closure to a haunting chapter of my early life. I grew up in WCG, from about age 5 until I stopped attending around my 22 birthday. Those 17 or so years were the most fearful, scary and unfortunate of my life. Now in my mid-50s, I praise God that I’ve come to understand that my instincts some 33 years ago were correct. I’m thankful that I finally understand the reality of the situation back then, and that I’m not “doomed to the Lake of Fire” just for questioning the validity of WCG and HWA those many years ago. What do I remember about those years of living in WCG? Nothing good, but then that was justified by WCG saying all of God’s servants and children have been persecuted over the centuries for their beliefs. So being persecuted was a sign we were “the chosen few”. Here is what I do remember about my years in WCG: I watched my family struggle paycheck after paycheck, donating upwards of 30% of their gross income to WCG and HWA, believing that the end of times was near. We were taught not to want new clothes (most clothes were gotten from Goodwill or from the churches “used clothing”), toys, and other superficial things, because the end was near. We were told that we would never grow up, graduate high school, get cars, jobs, married, have kids, etc. because the end was near. We should focus our attention to prayer, fasting and supporting the work of God, and God would take care of us soon. We were told that we could not invite friends from school to church; that only those God selected (through his ministers) could attend, because unbelievers would not understand. I recollect church services where deacons physically removed by force the unbelieving spouses of members, who came to see the group of nuts they were involved with, and wanted their “converted” spouses to get out of there. We were told to travel hours on Saturdays to remote church services, to sit and listen quietly for hours to a minister tell the congregation that now was the time to sacrifice more than ever, to spread the Word of God and the Kingdom to come. We lived in tents at Jekyll Island GA for the Feast of Tabernacles, because God commanded that we be there, even though my father lost his job nearly every year due to leaving work, and we barely had money to get there and back. And this was supposed to representative of the coming Kingdom of God? We were told we couldn’t go to the doctor, and if it was God’s will, he would heal illness. In many cases we suffered with illnesses for extended periods. Some members offered some of their herbal remedies to try and help, and were often disfellowshipped for “doubting” in God’s healing power and leading his flock astray. We were forbidden to socialize outside the church, could not have “pagan” friends in school, and were instructed not to participate in any school events with “unbelievers”. Later we were also instructed we could only date or marry baptized members or those that attended church regularly and “believed”. We could not listen to the devil’s music, which was anything that wasn’t on the Lawrence Welk show or played by an philharmonic orchestra. Anyone not baptized (and I never was) was considered an “unbeliever” and would suffer the same fate as the pagan masses out in the world unless we repented, became a true believer, and would follow the church into the end of days. It meant unquestionably following the teachings and mandates of HWA because he was the only true Apostle. I resisted the urge to be baptized once I approached 18, just be to be “accepted” by the church. I just didn’t “believe” in my heart the teachings, yet was feeling guilty that I might be “turning my back on God” and would “suffer” the great tribulation and lake of fire with the rest of the world. I read in the Bible that Jesus preached to the masses, yet only church members were permitted to attend WCG church services. I read in the Bible that God considered all people his children, yet WCG taught that anyone not a member of the church were pagan, evil, and instruments of Satan. I stopped attending church in the late 70s, when more questions were arising than answers, and I just couldn’t live with the hypocrisy of attending the church, but not believing whole-heartedly in their teachings. I saw good people “in the world” and couldn’t believe that God condemned them to the lake of fire because they didn’t believe in (or even know about) WCG. Yet I was concerned about my spiritual future, and was assured by friends in the church that since I had “never been called” and baptized, I would be given an opportunity to be called and believe in the future, as long as I didn’t turn my back on my belief in God. My uncle once told me that attending church didn’t make a person a Christian; living one’s life as a good person, making good decisions, being compassionate of others, and believing a God existed was more important. Many years later I saw a comment that has stayed in my mind “Sitting in church no more makes a Christian that sitting in a garage makes one a car.” How true. Having now found this site, and all of the openly available “facts” about WCG and HWA, I can now close this chapter of the book, and cleanse my mind of the guilt and fear that has lingered. Many long-time acquaintances and some family have stayed fervent to HWA and WCG, through these years of turmoil, and now various splinter groups of WCG, still believing their respective church is the one true church, preaching the only gospel, and cemented to the belief that somehow HWA was God’s prophet. It is my hope that they at some point open their eyes to the evidence, and while not abandoning their faith in God, realize they have spent too many years under the falsehoods of HWA, the interpretation of the Bible by he and his cohorts, and take religion at face value. Belief in Christ has nothing to do with what church you attend, but everything to do with living your life to a standard of beliefs to which you are committed. Not those told you by a man, but those that you have independently analyzed, and determined are sensible and reflect goodness in your relationship with others. I have never lost my belief in God, and remain vigilant in living a life I believe He would want me to live – why? Because we all know right from wrong in our minds and hearts. To me, that is the Holy Spirit that is in us all. We can abandon it, and ultimately destroy ourselves and others; or embrace it, live in peace with ourselves and others. Through this recent examination of WCG and HWA, I have concluded that the more formalized the “religious” organization or belief, the more likely that it is NOT a church of God, but rather of man. Are Monks that dedicate their lives in the mountains of the Himalaya doomed to eternal hell fire because they do not attend church. I think not. And there’s only one way we each will know if we lived a righteous life (different from a religious life), and that is once we die. At that time, we’ll each have the opportunity of meeting our God in judgment, and either reward, or punishment, for the life that we have lead. Alternatively, if there is no God, then what is left is our memory, the Holy Spirit that originally embraced us, which can either be a light, positive to the world and remembered, or a dark, terrible influence that passed and hopefully forgotten. In closing, I pray “God, bless and forgive all who have lived and suffered under the regime of HWA and WCG and splinter COGs, believing that they were living a right and purposeful life; grant them peace of mind and cleanse their minds and hearts of the guilt, anguish and memories of the oppressed life that they have lived; and grant them a positive, uplifted and meaningful life and state of mind, living as you would
have them live, to one day meet the final reward that you will so willingly and graciously grant to each of us. Amen”. Sept. 2011 Dear Editor - -
My Response by John Smith – my comments in blue. I left WWCoG in 2000, a nice round number – I left because I could no longer accept the behavior of the church/members, I did my rounds of the splinter groups and finally came to my senses to no longer tolerate bad behavior, “justifying” the behavior on the basis of “exclusive truth” – this inconsistency reminds me of the verse “a fountain cannot bring forth both bitter and sweet water” I stumbled across thissite by accident just a few weeks ago, after my wife heard a recent appearance on a daytime broadcast by J Tkach Jr, appealing that all of the splintered CoG groups “reunite” for the sake of the members. Chills ran down my spine, as I remember how those of us former members “felt” during the years of HWA and WCG. I lived that life. Immediately this message sounded eerily familiar and reminiscent of the late 1970 appeals of HWA for the members to stick together; and in those days, after that came the sell all, give it to the church, to keep the work alive in the end of days, against the attack of Satan through the receivership by California, that we would be fleeing to Petra at any time, and God would judge us on how devoted we were to his work. I must say that seeingall of the evidence displayed herein on the farce of the WCG and the Armstrong regime makes me sick, and angry. Yet it also brings some closure to a haunting chapter of my early life. Speakingof sick and angry, I have received rather blasé responses from WW-members when bringing up the suffering that members went through – sometime back I downloaded the ambassador reports and communicated this to a member, one who insisted that “they” were really different from the world etc etc, however, when presented with the ambassador reports his response was “it’s all just an exaggeration” – imagine! Thereis a general trend, even in society, to repress any “negative” emotion, and any “bad” emotion displayed is seen as a person with a bad attitude, trying to rock the boat, etc Irecently had a discussion with, in this case an x-member, I was discussing some bad trends that have been occurring in society in recent years, and also some bad experiences that I had in recent times, relating to general lack of empathy, lack of communication, refusal to follow up on promises etc – this x-member proceeded to accuse me of not having faith etc! This was very reminiscent of the old WW, ie let’s not acknowledge anything bad – so, based on this reasoning, acknowledgement of bad things happening in the world makes one a bad person, and also lacking in faith! Itwas just like replaying the tapes of WW-experience, while this member acknowledges that WW made mistakes, and he ultimately left, he still practices “arm chair” reasoning, ie we fix things or live our lives by “reasoning” things right, which in reality, is just denial Iremember doing a course by Anthony Robbins, where he says “this is not a course about positive thinking – I don’t believe in going into my garden and saying there’s no weeds, there’s no weeds, there’s no weeds!” Unfortunately,many mistakes are made by people refusing to acknowledge bad stuff, this is not being polite, it is being dumb, especially when situations go on for decades! I grew up in WCG, fromabout age 5 until I stopped attending around my 22 birthday. Those 17 or so years were the most fearful, scary and unfortunate of my life. Now in my mid-50s, I praise God that I’ve come to understand that my instincts some 33 years ago were correct. I’m thankful that I finally understand the reality of the situation back then, and that I’m not “doomed to the Lake of Fire” just for questioning the validity of WCG and HWA those many years ago. What do I remember about those years of living in WCG? Nothing good, but then that was justified by WCG saying all of God’s servants and children have been persecuted over the centuries for their beliefs. So being persecuted was a sign we were “the chosen few”. “Fearful, scary and unfortunate” – even at my fairly advanced age now I cannot agree more – some have had 5, 10, 20 or even 40 years in the WWCoG, hardly possible to just “forget it and move on” INSTINCTS-let me say that instincts are there for a reason, we ignore at our own peril – someone once said “many people are looking for the voice of God, however, there is no voice, except the voice inside us, instinct, that property that needs to develop in response to pleasure versus pain” – How true, if you are feeling crap, then you are probably immersed in crap, no use justifying and saying “I feel bad but that’s just my carnal nature” indeed not, it’s common sense <<Sobeing persecuted was a sign we were “the chosen few”>>This is ironical because persecution (abuse) came from within, we only realized this later Here is what I do remember about my years in WCG: I watched my family struggle paycheck after paycheck, donating upwards of 30% of their gross income to WCG and HWA, believing that the end of times was near. Much has been written about tithing on this site, the big mistake that most churches make is promoting tithing – a system that was to support the Levites only – and there was only ONE tithe; portions of the one tithe were used for other purposes, eg to give food to the poor (this was NOT a third tithe anyway) We were taught not to want new clothes (most clothes were gotten from Goodwill or from the churches “used clothing”), toys, and other superficial things, because the end was near. We were told that we would never grow up, graduate high school, get cars, jobs, married, have kids, etc. because the end was near. We should focus our attention to prayer, fasting and supporting the work of God, and God would take care of us soon. Christ said that you would know them by their FRUITS, in modern language, by the net results – look at the results; lives stolen and wrecked, people’s youth wasted, families destroyed, no abundance etc – I still know people today that probably will never marry, never own their own home, are sick and in wheel chairs etc - - after all these bitter fruits, there are still those who insist they have the truth We were told that we could not invite friends from school to church; that only those God selected (through his ministers) could attend, because unbelievers would not understand. I recollect church services where deacons physically removed by force the unbelieving spouses of members, who came to see the group of nuts they were involved with, and wanted their “converted” spouses to get out of there. Well, it is tough to go through life with no friends, by the time I left WWCoG, I had almost no friends, in fact, NO ONE from the WWCoG bothered to keep in contact with me We were told to travel hours on Saturdays to remote church services, to sit and listen quietly for hours to a minister tell the congregation that now was the time to sacrifice more than ever, to spread the Word of God and the Kingdom to come. We lived in tents at Jekyll Island GA for the Feast of Tabernacles, because God commanded that we be there, even though my father lost his job nearly every year due to leaving work, and we barely had money to get there and back. And this was supposed to representative of the coming Kingdom of God? Further examination of Tabernacles rules/laws reveal that Tabernacles was meant to be kept at Jerusalem – also the feast of “Booths” was typically also kept by making temporary dwelling in your back garden – hence no second tithe needed We were told we couldn’t go to the doctor, and if it was God’s will, he would heal illness. In many cases we suffered with illnesses for extended periods. Some members offered some of their herbal remedies to try and help, and were often disfellowshipped for “doubting” in God’s healing power and leading his flock astray. Jesus said that only the sick needed the doctor, also Luke was a physician – Christ was comparing Himself to a doctor, the credentials couldn’t have been very good 2000 years ago, but Jesus used the analogy anyway It makes my blood boil to see members suffering today; at critical moments, doctor/medical intervention was denied, leaving some to die, and some to spend the rest of their lives in wheels chairs, some get worse as they get older, and lose limbs every few years – pretty neat, huh? When I’ve raised these things they said I was “an accuser of the brethren” – imagine that, if I feel for a sick member, then there’s something wrong with ME!? - - Having the so called “truth” about HEALING did nothing to circumvent the above scenarios – WWCoG had the “knowledge” of the Passover – we kept Passover and said “by his stripes we are healed” etc – let’s be honest, I never saw a HEALING in the so-called true church – the knowledge of the Passover did not circumvent the tragedies of bedridden and wheelchair bound members/x-members to this day – so much for the Holy Spirit being passed on by “God’s true ministers” We were forbidden to socialize outside the church, could not have “pagan” friends in school, and were instructed not to participate in any school events with “unbelievers”. Later we were also instructed we could only date or marry baptized members or those that attended church regularly and “believed”. Well, at least one good thing happened to me, I did not marry anyone from WWCoG – looking at some of the relationships today, I can only shake my head anyway, I had witnessed appalling treatment of wives and children in the WWCoG; wives were often criticized in public, in front of church members – I kind of wondered how the “truth” justified this, somehow Christ sacrificing Himself for the church ie the His wife was missed There’s a lot more I could say, but let me end this with
“What
fools these mortals be” John Smith. June 2012
Dear Dale and maybe John Smith, I was forced to go to the WCG for years by my Parents. I was about 6 years old when my parents joined the WCG. My life changed radically, within hours/days from a very happy family to a family of fear that the world would come to end very soon. My parents gave up their lives for the beliefs of HWA and his Deity.Your story sounds so familiar and just as tragic. So I ask you, why do you give praise to a deity that doesn't exist for leaving the WCG? To thank a deity for using your own reason and logic to disassociate yourself form the WCG is to discredit yourself from making your own decisions. What your saying is that a deity manipulated you into leaving the WCG and not you yourself. You therefore feel you are still being influenced by a deity and that you have no control of your own life. You are therefore a person who doesn't have his own identity, can't make decisions for yourself and that your life hangs in the balance of a manipulating deity? To decide to go your own path is a decision you made and nobody influenced you to do this but yourself. Take credit for this and you will finally be free of your religious crutch. You've just show that you can make decisions about how you wish to live your life and that you wish to take the consequences for those decisions. Ask yourself, who planted the idea that there are deities in your head? Again you stories are just like mine. Take credit for your decision to go your own way without the influence of deities. You saw through the manipulation and you chose you're own path. Take credit for yourself! I took credit for standing up against this path and I will continue to fight the evil that stand behind the false illusion of a paradise that doesn't exist. Ray Gardens
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