Short Book Review
By Ed Sr.
The New Believers
by David V. Barrett(“This book is for those who ask questions, rather than for those who already have all the answers.”)
Chapter 17 – Case Study ‑ Schism in a Sect – The Worldwide Church of God and its Offshoots
Let me start out by stating that David Barrett has never been a member of the Worldwide Church of God or any of its daughter churches. He is a scholar who has spent a lot of time researching and giving a non-involved rendition of the history of the Worldwide Church of God. Read the soap opera story of the history of the Worldwide Church of God and its many daughter churches. Anyone who thinks that a “god” had anything to do with this business, after reading this chapter, has got to have their head so far up their ptooty that they can’t see the crap because of all the poop. These “ministers” are revealed for the con-men / atheists that they really are. I call them atheists not to denigrate true atheists, who are generally very nice people in my experience. These ministerial/conmen/parasites are among the lowest class of criminals. They use people’s desire to follow some god and their absolute, terrifying fear of death in order to make money and have power, when they, themselves, know that there is no god that is going to hold them accountable. They have no fear of a god so they can do and say whatever they want. If they truly believed in a god they would be too afraid to do all their lying, scheming and conniving, all for their own profit and the absolute detriment of their followers. These men, more than any others, know that religion is a business.
Some Quotes from the book:
Regarding GTA:
“In personal terms, Garner Ted Armstrong’s career as an evangelist has been a sorry downhill path: from effective head and heir-apparent of a thriving, truly worldwide Church with, at its height, 100,000 baptized members, to head of a Church with at most 5,000 members to head of a Church starting again with only a few hundred, with his moral lapses always on the record. It is perhaps a tribute to his undoubted skills as a preacher and his personal charisma that he still has a band of loyal flowers.”
Will the Offshoots ever unify?:
“Put simply, a lot of former Worldwide ministers and members do not trust, or even like, each other. There is a lot of old pain just below the surface. Former colleagues, former friends, even members of the same families, are now split between different offshoots; some of them may never be reconciled.”
A Paraphrased Summary of the Progression of Changes in the Worldwide Church of God:
1. “Changes? What changes?”
2. “We haven’t changed any doctrines; we’re simply clarifying the language in which we describe them.
3. “Mr. Armstrong, on his deathbed, asked Mr. Tkach to look into precisely this area/ to correct the errors in this book. We’re doing exactly what he wanted us to do.”
4. “Although well intentioned, Mr. Armstrong sometimes got a little carried away in his enthusiasm.
5. “Mr. Armstrong was wrong.”
United Church of God:
“… In 1989 and 1992, when members of their congregations had come to them with questions, worries and fears about the new doctrines, wondering whether to follow Flurry or Meredith out of Worldwide Church of God, these ministers had persuaded them to stay under the authority of Worldwide Church of God, and followed the Worldwide Church of God hierarchy line in condemning those who did leave. Then, when the changes became too great to accept, they themselves left and founded United; those members who also joined United found themselves under authority of the very leaders who had very recently been criticizing them for daring to question Worldwide Church of God.”
“…… United’s name was soon to become somewhat ironic.”
Besides having a whole chapter devoted to the Worldwide Church of God, the book has an incredible amount of information on other Sects, Cults and Alternative Religions. Its hard to believe that anyone could read this material and end up thinking that their own particular brand of religion is the "true" one and all the rest are false. But, I'm sure that most that read it are able to pull it off since it would be too hard to accept that they may be wrong. They will just not think about it.
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