Note: The first edition of this article was originally completed in 1990, based on the author's personal experiences with the Worldwide Church of God from 1978 to 1984. While many changes have occurred in this church since that time, it is the author's personal contention that doctrinal changes are completely irrelevant to the core of the Worldwide Church of God's destructiveness, that is, the cruel psychological manipulation of its membership.This treatment of its members is common to many harmful groups, and understanding how people are led into this situation is more generally useful than details of one small, nearly-defunct church group.
1. Getting Out: the AftermathI VIVIDLY REMEMBER the Worldwide Church of God minister coming into my home in 1978 to counsel me for baptism. He stopped at my bookcase to look at the various books and booklets I had picked up, each making its case against the Worldwide Church of God. Not only had I read every WWCOG publication I had been able to get my hands on for the previous three years (including their Bible correspondence course), but everything I could find that spoke against them. Above all, I wanted to know just what I was getting into. "Checked us out pretty good, have you?" the minister said with a warm smile, perusing those books he had not seen before. "I always like to see what they're saying now." He asked me if I had any misgivings based on anything I had read, and I hadn't. The attacks on the Worldwide Church of God focused mainly on their doctrines, which I had come to agree with, or on confusingly-detailed accounts of headquarters politics involving strange names and conflicts I did not understand. Every organization has its political problems, people and organizations being what they are, so I did not see their relevance to my own quest for Truth, as I saw it then, with a capital "T." Six years after my baptism, having just left the Worldwide Church of God, I was shocked to find myself experiencing withdrawal symptoms more intense than I had felt at the breakup of my marriage. For more than a year, I had repeated nightmares; longer still, bouts of free-floating terror, depression, hysteria, continuous guilt, and an overall sense of dislocation of reality. When I left the church, I felt myself stepping into an alien world that appeared to exist on a science-fiction plane: I could not recognize ordinary life as being real. I showed classic symptoms of someone who had been brainwashed, not the least being my lingering loyalty to "The Church," despite how devastated it had left me. I felt I had left reality behind, and had stepped into a surreal dream, as though someone else had taken over my body, and I were merely an onlooker, watching my outer shell move through unusual space, while inside I was paralyzed and confused. (Years later, "Amy," a friend who had also left the church, told me that after she left, she would be speaking to me, and throughout the conversation, I would seem to be at a great distance, my voice far away, although I did not seem to diminish in size--as if an insulating film separated her from me and from everything else outside her.)
 Note: The first edition of this article was originally completed in 1990, based on the author's personal experiences with the Worldwide Church of God from 1978 to 1984. While many changes have occurred in this church since that time, it is the author's personal contention that doctrinal changes are completely irrelevant to the core of the Worldwide Church of God's destructiveness, that is, the cruel psychological manipulation of its membership.This treatment of its members is common to many harmful groups, and understanding how people are led into this situation is more generally useful than details of one small, nearly-defunct church group.
2. How Did I Get Here?2.1. Where Other Literature Failed Obviously, the literature I had read, trying to grasp "the other side" of the Worldwide Church of God, failed to identify the essential problem with this church -- and failed badly. Some things written by Christians of other communions merely attacked the doctrines of the church; this misguided approach actually encouraged me to join the WWCOG, since I did not find it difficult to believe that the mainstream might be in error. Other articles, written by people who had attended WWCOG services for a short time, wrote more about the church service itself, or became overly preoccupied with matters like tithing and food laws. These articles, too, badly missed the mark. It is difficult, and unnecessary, to go into all the subtleties of belief, practice, and psychology of the Worldwide Church of God in this article, particularly since these things have been extremely sensitive to time: this article would have been very different if it had been written about the 1950's rather than the 1980's--and in the 1970's it would not have been written at all. The basic Worldwide Church of God doctrines are Judaic, like the interpretation of the Ten Commandments, including the ban on images of God and the continuing obligation to observe the Sabbath, the annual Holy Days, and the food laws (although the British-Israelite and "man becoming God" doctrines are hardly Jewish.) These precepts alone are enough to alienate Gentiles from their community, family, and native culture, making it difficult to eat with those outside their church, or to keep a job when certain days must be observed. It makes this religion as difficult as it needs to be, especially when you remember all this is added to the generally-accepted Judeo-Christian moral and spiritual standards. It is tragic that the difficulty of keeping Jewish precepts in a non-Jewish world is not counterbalanced, in the Worldwide Church of God, by the freedoms of a Jewish culture: freedom to debate and to question, freedom to pursue scholarly or creative occupations, and freedom to express passionate emotion. Whether or not Judaic religious practices like those of the early Christian Church are a legitimate expression of modern Christian belief is moot. Some Messianic Jews, among others, do find this acceptable--but this is really only half the question. Only the most obvious practices of the Worldwide Church of God are reminiscent of Judaism: in its philosophy, culture, and politics, this church is highly conservative and fundamentalist--though other conservative fundamentalists would find them strange bedfellows. Like other fundamentalist groups, though, they are extremist and often do considerable spiritual damage to those under their authority. I have experienced the shock of recognition, seeing interviews of members of Fundamentalists Anonymous, and hearing their accounts of living within, and the emotional shock of leaving, such a rigid, all-consuming faith. In the same way, while this article is about one abusive church, I hope to say something about how people can be cruelly manipulated through their desire for God; however, it is the details of a faith that first attract a person: the particularities of the Worldwide Church of God cannot be ignored. It is painful to recall the various methods the Worldwide Church of God uses to wean an individual from a relationship with God and addict him to the organization. It is no accident that it has taken me six years to be able to discuss the matter in print, although I have been trying to do so ever since I left the church. In order to write this, I have had to relive the various spiritual wounds I have seen inflicted on others, as well as those I have suffered myself. These wounds do not heal quickly, if they ever completely do. Of necessity, writing this article has plunged me back into that time and those feelings, and makes me even more determined to tell the plain truth about the Worldwide Church of God. 2.2. The Church's Appeal Members are first attracted by the church's World Tomorrow radio or TV programs, or The Plain Truth magazine; they are interested further by the booklets offered by these sources, since these booklets answer basic religious questions that often perplex the average churchgoer with no theological background. At some point, the person may become interested in receiving the free Bible correspondence course, offered through the church's Ambassador College. Someone who has gone this far will, by church estimates, usually go on to church membership. Before this, the interested person has very likely begun sending in money, or perhaps (if he has read the booklet on tithing) he is already tithing to the organization. If so, he will receive a monthly letter containing church updates, frantic warnings on the state of the world (and the imminence of Christ's return) and pleas for offerings. He now has official status in the church as a "Co-Worker," and is firmly tied to an organization he has had no first-hand contact with. Unlike mainstream churches' appeal to a sense of community, evangelical churches' appeal to a sense of sin and guilt, or charismatic groups' appeal to a desire for religious experience, the Worldwide Church of God's appeal is to the intellect. This attracts the person who has had logical difficulties with the many accepted Christian doctrines that are more the result of historical forces, syncretism, and church councils than of direct biblical exegesis. The organization encourages a person to look things up in the Bible, research things in the library, and generally demonstrate each doctrine to his own intellectual satisfaction. This would be admirable, if the new member were not being set up for the cruel joke to follow. Once he has been baptized, he will be told not to question anything taught by the church, and that it is a grave sin to disobey anything he is told (even if it appears to fly in the face of a biblical precept). To those who are too concerned with truth to abandon the inquiring method of the early period, it comes as a severe betrayal. Only those who have researched Worldwide Church of God teachings out of a desire to take revenge on their childhood faith make this transition easily, and seem relieved to be able to trust what the ministers say, comfortable that they have finally "arrived," and can cast aside having to verify everything they are told. The next step is one that many students of WWCOG literature are reluctant to take: most people, by church estimates, will have studied the doctrines for a minimum of three years before approaching a minister about attending church services. This is not simply because it takes time to become convinced of the validity of various Worldwide Church of God doctrines, but because, despite what I have said about the church appealing to the intellect, this is not the whole story. The visible approach taken by the organization may be an appeal to reason, but, covertly, it appeals to those who feel alienated from their own culture. In this sense, joining the Worldwide Church of God is much like signing up with the French Foreign Legion: the new recruit may feel the call of adventure, but just as likely he wants to escape an impossible situation--usually involving some very intense personal failure or severe emotional trauma that has left him feeling crushed and helpless. People are most likely to take the next step and commit themselves to this church if they have gone through some personal nightmare, have failed in business, torpedoed their career, ruined their marriage, or alienated their family--in short, if they feel they have lost so much that they have nothing left to lose. This also explains the hold the church has on its members from the very beginning: to leave the church, a member must be willing to face feeling helpless or like a failure again, the very thing he has taken refuge in the church to avoid. This is more than many can bear, since this church is their "last chance." The Worldwide Church of God then appeals to that ancient and deadly sin of Pride, whereby the erstwhile victim or failure can suddenly feel "superior" to those who scorn him, because he knows something they don't know, and has been singled out for greatness. That this is a very bad way to begin a religious pilgrimage is obvious: it is the recipe for Instant Pharisee, and it is easy to see why the new member's family, friends, employers, bankers, and neighbours may find this sudden turnaround a bit hard to stomach. 2.3. The First Church Services The early contact with the Worldwide Church of God culture also takes some adjustment. Since the would-be member has studied in an extremely controlled environment, free from contact with any congregation, it comes as a surprise to find what he experiences week by week in the church has little to do with what he has studied so diligently. In order to attend church services, a person must contact an office listed in The Plain Truth, and ask for counselling. Then, a pair of local ministers will visit his home to screen him before allowing him to attend. The church is not listed in the phone book, and uses only rented buildings, so it is effectively a secret society. The prospective member often will not know if he works with a church member, as members are forbidden to discuss religion unless asked. 2.4. Applied Ugliness After a person speaks with the ministry and is questioned, and, eventually, allowed to attend services, he has to overcome the inevitable disappointment over the lack of anything approaching beauty, mystery, sublimity--even simple dignity--in the building and the service, and the puzzling and disturbing reluctance of the others to discuss religious matters. Once the would-be convert grows used to ignoring the squalid details of the rented hall or school gymnasium, looking past the dusty picture frames and the basketball hoop over the minister's head, ignoring the coloured lines on the gym floor, enduring the tuneless and unappealing hymns (psalms put into bad common measure by the founder's brother), and once his initial shock and numbness wears off, he moves on to the next step: he is baptized, and the minister lays hands on his head in order to impart the Holy Spirit (the "consummation" of the baptism). This is also very often done in unsightly circumstances: my own baptism took place in a horse trough in a member's basement. This is just the beginning of the assaults to come. It appears, at first, a small thing--too small to be worthy of notice or discussion, but the inescapable and persistent press of ugliness has its effect, after all. I have yet to speak with a member, past or present, who does not recall being deeply disturbed by it. I believe this constant barrage of ugliness is the beginning of the process of desensitizing the member to his own reactions and feelings. Get him in the habit of looking away when he sees the basketball hoop over the minister's head; make him learn not to notice the coloured lines on the floor when he reaches for his Bible; make him ignore the incongruity of the silver communion service glinting in the ghoulish fluorescent light on that one night of the year he will partake of the bread and the wine--and make him observe that most solemn occasion in a place filled with slogans for school athletic teams--and in time, ignoring the evidence of his senses will become second nature to him: it is not long before he will begin to feel that gratuitously violating his God-given sense of fitness and beauty is somehow spiritual. Totalitarian states have always intimidated and dehumanized its populations with ugliness -- itself a form of violence, and very effective at demeaning its intended victims. Members of the Worldwide Church of God thus learn to hate their own senses, and become oblivious to their own experience, as they are already oblivious to their own disappointment, and the pain and despair of their families. The ęsthetic impulse underlies more of our moral impulses than we care to admit: most of us shrink from evil first because of its ugliness, not because we are all expert ethicists. It is easier to make people believe something or do something that would normally be against their better judgement when you have first trained them to ignore their own instinctive sense of revulsion. To follow the example of Paul (Acts 17:28), and quote from the wisdom of one of our own poets: Vice is a monster of so frightful mien
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
(An Essay on Man, Alexander Pope) This blunting of the senses would be in character if the Worldwide Church of God taught asceticism, but it doesn't; St. Paul too loudly denounces it as a "doctrine of devils" (I Tim. 4:1-5) for them to dare. At this point, members are no doubt ready to boast of the supreme loveliness of the church's headquarters, with its magnificent architecture and beautiful grounds, and the endless words from the pen of its founder, Herbert Armstrong, on excellence and beauty. All this is far away, and has nothing to do with the faithful tithe-paying member who must worship his whole life amongst ugliness, with perhaps some relief once a year. This is how little the congregation is worth, that its members can be relegated to enormous gymnasiums containing more members than a large university's lecture theatre: this is good enough as the setting in which the "Bride of Christ" is to be brought up and nurtured for her whole religious life.
 Note: The first edition of this article was originally completed in 1990, based on the author's personal experiences with the Worldwide Church of God from 1978 to 1984. While many changes have occurred in this church since that time, it is the author's personal contention that doctrinal changes are completely irrelevant to the core of the Worldwide Church of God's destructiveness, that is, the cruel psychological manipulation of its membership.This treatment of its members is common to many harmful groups, and understanding how people are led into this situation is more generally useful than details of one small, nearly-defunct church group.
3. Going Deeper3.1. The Unspoken Teachings It is this, the difference between the doctrines as they are publicly proclaimed on the World Tomorrow radio and television programs and The Plain Truth magazine, and how they are privately put into practice in the church, that is the real problem. While many sermons preach essentially what is to be found in church literature, members learn to screen the words carefully in order to discern the "hidden meanings" contained in the phrases they hear. In this way, the culture of the Worldwide Church of God member, the precepts he follows, the emotions he feels, his relationship to the organization, and ultimately, to God Himself, is brought, by many labyrinthine turnings, to a state he never would have consented to, or even imagined. This discrepancy between what new members innocently expect, and what they eventually find, causes the major stresses among church members--stresses that continue even after leaving the church, until (if ever) their cause is discovered. This is not the usual case of a human organization falling short of its ideals: it is a case of an organization's structure actively working against its own advertised goals, doing everything in their power to ensure no one else within their ranks manages to accomplish them, either. This radical difference between the vision the Worldwide Church of God gives its people and the totalitarian oppression of the church itself is so obvious that no one fails to see it--and no one fails to explain it away. To ministers, the fault lies with the sinful members, who twist good teaching into bad practice. To remedy this, they tirelessly bludgeon the people of the congregation with their personal failure to make the church the Utopian society it was meant to be; whether in church sermons, or in private counselling, the fault is placed squarely upon the individual. Among church members, opinions vary on what is causing "the problem," which is all they ever call it, if they dare to name it or even speak of it, since many church members dutifully report such conversations to a minister, as they are encouraged to do. (This is enough to make the member feel like he is living in a police state, knowing that his words are often reported to ministers, who may follow up with what feels like an interrogation: it is an unequal match, with the member standing to lose what he believes is everything.) Those who identify themselves closely with the organization concur that the real fault lies only with the membership, and they believe this discrepancy is a collective sin directly Satan-inspired to discredit the church. Others, even more cautious about whom they will tell, believe it is the administration's harsh interpretations that put undue burdens on the people. Some loyal, long-time members quietly voice the opinion that the church may already have fallen into the throes of the final, decadent, Laodicaean apostasy before the return of Christ. This last belief, however harsh it seems, traps those who believe it into staying with the organization, trying to "endure to the end" (Matt. 24:13), regardless of how outrageous the practices of the administration become, or how obvious it becomes that this organization has nothing to do with godliness. Before we examine typical examples of this chasm between church culture and tradition versus its public literature, I must make one thing clear. These are not merely random abuses: they show a remarkable pattern, and cannot be accidental. They are also independent of particular bad administrators or bad members of congregations--two red herrings both sides are led astray after: those against the WWCOG dwell unnecessarily on the personal excesses of Garner Ted Armstrong or other ministers; those for the WWCOG dwell on the personalities of various members causing rebellions, and later, splinter groups. This turmoil itself may be instructive, but the particulars obscure the main point: the very structure of the Worldwide Church of God forces the most humane and intelligent ministers to propagate The Problem, and the most faithful and caring members to bring it to full fruit. Of course, bad ministers and bad members do so little to temper the inherent evil in the organization's structure that time and again they take the blame for the larger, more insidious flaw. 3.2. Ministerial Power To understand this, you must understand that it is compulsory for a baptized member to follow advice given by a minister in the course of counselling, as though it were a military command. If he does not, the result is similar to court-martial (without actually having a hearing): he may be suspended (told not to come to church or communicate with church members until he recants his decision and shows appropriate penitence) or disfellowshipped (expelled) from the church. This may not occur for every disobedience, as ministers vary in their strictness or their laxity in this, and many members are too frightened (or too shrewd) to seek counselling, but the fact the ministry has the authority to excommunicate a member at their discretion is enough to put an edge of fear on a member's every contact with a minister. There are no doubt procedures the ministers follow, including perhaps preliminary counselling and suspension, but the threat is enough to strike terror into the ordinary member. He knows that if he goes to the minister for counselling and confides a problem, he may be faced with suspension. He has been taught if he leaves the church (or is expelled) he is guilty of the Unpardonable Sin, and will face annihilation in the Lake of Fire in the last resurrection (the founder's metaphor for conversion was "becoming a spiritual embryo," which would be born at the Resurrection: leaving the church causes a "spiritual abortion," with all the stomach-churning finality that image brings to mind). Knowing the compulsion to follow ministerial "advice," it is easier to see how important administrative interpretation is. If a member of any church is ultimately personally required to "work out [his] own salvation in fear and trembling" (Ph'p. 2:12), he preserves his God-given free moral agency, and his motives and actions involve the growth or decay of his own faith. Once the member's personal responsibility is abrogated by the ministry, he is at the mercy of the differing personalities and views of various ministers, the different moods and winds blowing through the church, and dozens of other concerns more political than spiritual. Ministers are no more than members themselves, with a particular calling: the members of their congregations are not the servants of the ministry, but to their own Master they will stand or fall (Rom. 14:4).
3.3. The Organization Chart This is the crux. The evil in the Worldwide Church of God is in incorporating God into the church's organizational chart, making each level of the organization intermediary between the individual and God. This soft and rotten foundation of the Worldwide Church of God denies the immediate connection every member has with his own God, making him instead an anonymous part of a soulless herd. Obedience then becomes the prime virtue. Thus, the member's first responsibility is to the organization, which will assure his salvation. This ties in with their most sensational belief, that of becoming God. What the doctrine teaches the member to expect, though, is to "become God" in the sense of being absorbed into the hierarchy of a universe-ruling God-bureaucracy--which makes being eaten alive by the church while he is still mortal appear not only right, but what he should desire. To do less would be to reject the very essence of his salvation, the reason for his existence. Sermons often include the hypothetical example of an individual who has gone against his own sense of right and wrong, and trusted in what the church taught, regardless of his own judgement, as an example of "faith" worth imitating, even though the object of faith here is the church organization, not God: this is sheer idolatry. It is as if Paul advised the Philippians to "blindly follow the steps of your teachers and predecessors to find salvation," instead of telling them the awesome and terrible truth that each one of us, alone, will be held accountable before our God. We will not be able so easily to evade that responsibility by claiming to have merely "followed orders": what did not work at Nuremberg is unlikely to wash in the Judgement. It is this structural evil that causes the remarkable instability of the Worldwide Church of God: by its own estimate, it has a fifty percent turnover rate, and it has given rise to many splinter groups, large and small, in the half century it has existed. The way that different administrators and members adjust to having too much or too little personal power, respectively, leads to the upheavals, unrest, break-away factions, internecine warfare, and shifts in official doctrine. This appears inevitable. I believe the only way for the organization to avoid the most scandalous and open results of this fatal flaw is to become more and more oppressive and ruthless, along the lines of the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons, and rule its people with greater and greater severity. This would continue to cause people to leave, but may forestall the more high-profile upheavals. Strong measures are needed to counterbalance the forces that make this church tend to tear itself apart. Of course, reinstating a respect for individual free moral agency would revolutionize this organization, but the last time this was tried, in the 70's, it led to the ousting of the founder's own son, a shakeup in high places, culminating in the invasion of the church by the Attorney General of California, throwing it into a temporary receivership, until subsequent legislation made doing this to a church illegal. After this, there was a severe backlash of strict discipline on the membership. Free moral agency may be a nice idea, but I doubt there is any desire to try the experiment again. 3.4. The Life of the Mind In every way, the Worldwide Church of God, through its practice and (verbal, not written) teachings, undermines its members' religious experience and capacity for moral choices. I have already mentioned the way its initial respect for reason and verification gives way to an insistence on unthinking obedience: this leads to a contempt for the life of the mind in general. This surprisingly anti-intellectual bent extends to any education other than job training (which is not "education" in the true sense). While, in their writings, the Worldwide Church of God claims to value education, in the church itself, schools and teachers are spoken of as "pagan" and "Satan-inspired"; not surprisingly, this causes some children to lose respect both for learning and for school authorities. Children are discouraged from going to any institution but the church's Ambassador Colleges, or perhaps a technical institution. Going to a regular University or College is definitely frowned upon, as learning for its own sake, to expand the mind or increase the understanding is considered frivolous and dangerous: beyond the necessities of earning a living, only what the church can teach is to be desired. Girls, in particular, are discouraged from any education that might give them ambitions beyond the domestic. 3.5. The Other Sex The church's contempt for women puts the organization squarely in the camp of the most extreme fundamentalists, and is also an example of how it denies in practice what it professes in writing. Many Christian women understand what the WWCOG's literature says regarding male-female relationships, that in a family with only two adults, one method of resolving disputes is to designate a titular head, which the Bible names as the husband. Considering the biblical advice regarding husbands and wives "submitting [them]selves one to another in the fear of God" (Eph. 5:21), as well as the information that all mankind was created in the image of God, male and female (Gen. 1:27), and that in Christ there is no male or female (Gal. 3:28), most Christian women understand that, whatever respect, cooperation, and help they may owe their husband, he is not to be a sort of god to them. In the WWCOG, women are definitely seen as inferior beings whose function and purpose for existence is to serve men, despite what its publications say. While males attending services are coaxed into joining the men's speech club, and pressed to make a commitment to the church and be baptized, female attendees are not pressed at all. Who needs another woman? The difference is obvious; the message is clear. In mixed groups, conversation is exclusively by the males: women keep silent, and listen to the men talk to each other. If a woman happens to speak, she is often rudely ignored, and conversation continues on as though she had never opened her mouth. Should her remarks be insightful enough, some male will repeat her words, to the general praise of the group. If any men do acknowledge her, and include her in the conversation, she will draw the resentful stares of the other women present. This is not a culture where it is possible to have healthy marriages with equal partners, so the marital problems one sees everywhere come as no surprise. Regardless of the church's magazine articles, which so cruelly raise false hopes in a woman, women are seen as essentially domestic creatures. The German expression, Kinder, Kuchen, Kirche (children, cooking, church), nicely sums up the scope of a woman's life in this church. In one sermon on "The Human Potential," the minister, referring to a woman's need for creative expression, found the perfect example in wallpapering! Even birds feather their nests, so this example is hardly even exclusively in the human domain, let alone stretching the upper limits of what the human spirit can strive for. That a woman could be a novelist, artist, or scientist was beyond this speaker's comprehension. Women's inferior status holds true in practice in this church as well. Young women going to Ambassador College in former years were able to major in Theology; later, the only major allowed them was Home Economics. Thus, no spiritual potential could be imagined that could alter the Destiny of women, seen as wholly determined by Biology. Even young single women are encouraged to view themselves this way. The most bizarre example I know of was a young woman, single, working to help support her family at home, being discouraged from pursuing her aptitude for art. Downcast, she told me one day that she could not go out sketching with me that weekend, as we had planned--or ever--because the minister had advised her it was better for her to put "such thoughts" out of her head until her future children were grown! Of course, at that point, the church would find plenty to keep her too busy to fulfil her early promise: the irony is that this is from an organization that makes so much noise in public about "The Incredible Human Potential" (with a book, and formerly a magazine, with those words in the title); but, sadly, this potential is daily truncated, not strived for, in their own congregations.1 In this, the Worldwide Church of God is not, unfortunately, unique: as a matter of fact, I found its women markedly less willing to be beaten down than those from denominations more acceptable to society: obviously, a totally spineless woman would not have the nerve to stand up to family and friends and join such an unusual organization in the first place. Perhaps their own spiritual connection with God, and their commitment to Truth, as they understand it, is so important to these women, who have had to fight for their faith, frightens the organization into browbeating them more than it would if these women had been brought up, from girlhood, and remained, in a religion unquestioned by their society. It often makes the WWCOG's insults against women more overt than those in some other churches, mainstream or evangelical, who may have a female population already "softened up" by the weight of a lifetime of passivity. This neither exonerates other churches, nor excuses the Worldwide Church of God: in either case, Christian women are too often cheated of their birthright. 3.6. Artists and Their Ilk Like its dubious commitment to female members fulfilling their potential, the Worldwide Church of God is uneasy when any member, male or female, strives for any form of beauty or creativity that does not tie itself to some practical use. If the pursuits showing the highest expression of the human potential must be justified by bare utility, then creativity is devalued amongst the congregation. Seen in this light, even the beauty of the organization's headquarters and colleges fit: they are not beautiful in order to "glorify God," but in order to have the church be openly seen to be glorifying God; like the hypocrite praying on the street corner, they already have their reward (Matt. 6:5). How much the WWCOG really values glorifying God with beauty is shown by what they do when no one (but God) is looking--that is, in their own churches. Admittedly, as an artist and writer myself, I have been in closer contact with other creative and intellectual members in the congregation than the average member, and this question obviously loomed larger for us than for the majority. However, since beauty and ugliness do have profound effects on the human spirit, and the limitations set on the creativity of the talented minority also make themselves felt on everyone with any ability or ambition, it is a question of interest for the rest of the congregation. There is something disreputable about any member of the Worldwide Church of God being an artist, writer, actor, or scholar--unless that skill is used only to promote the organization. Bulletin board and Bible Study graphics, acting in a skit for a church gathering, playing an instrument or singing at church services, writing articles or doing illustrations for the church's publications--these are all acceptable. There are restrictions even here, of course, as women are not allowed to "teach" in the church (although they may be schoolteachers in the secular world), so they are not allowed to write articles dealing with anything but domestic issues (so should not be quoting scripture), and are forbidden to lead church choirs. The attitude towards the arts is that they are a sometimes-necessary evil, despite what is said in the magazines. Ideally, in the future Kingdom of God, there would be no artists or poets -- at least, they want none in the congregation. (And why would they, when they believe all the great works of music and art and culture will be annihilated when Christ returns to rule the Earth?) Because ministerial opinions, once expressed, have the force of commands, the most ignorant, uneducated individuals with no understanding or background in the arts can and do make pronouncements on what is good, or even what is allowed. In this way, every minister, when he is counselling a member, is considered to have the same infallibility as the pope when he speaks ex cathedra; this parallel, though understood, is not, of course, ever spelled out for the scrutiny of the congregation. Assuming a minister's expertise in an area such as the arts makes for strange decisions. Playing a musical instrument is respectable; composing music is really not, with one exception: when one is composing in a Country-and-Western mode. Often what is acceptable is whatever is about 25 years out of date musically or 100 years out of date visually. Fiction is disreputable; non-fiction is scarcely less so: poetry, beyond sentimental-religious doggerel, is unthinkable. The visual arts must be representational, and what a particular minister would find "uplifting." So far, the Worldwide Church of God is infected with nothing more than the anti-ęsthetic sickness prevalent throughout Protestantism-a hangover from memories of iconoclasm. But ministers of the WWCOG expect their prejudices to have the force of law. I was once told by a minister to get rid of a beautifully-coloured abstract pastel painting on my wall, because it was "confusion," and somehow an evil thing; a modern mask of a woman's face, decorated with stylish and colourful designs also had to go, because it was "demonic." Like God, humans create; unlike God, they do not do it out of nothing, but by rearranging the elements of the earth and of human tongues to create new things. When God created the Heavens and the Earth, he pronounced them "very good." Good, in and of themselves, and for their own sakes. He did not pronounce them "very functional," which is the Worldwide Church of God's sole standard. If God were Utilitarian, like this organization, there would be no variety, no beauty, and humans would be naturally incapable of invention, discovery, and the creation of beauty. This church does its best to render them so incapable. Of course, this is ironic, as the greatest example of "intrinsic value," or something to be appreciated simply because it exists, is God Himself -- again, by its underlying philosophy, this church ruins the natural appreciation of goodness that often leads people to God in the first place. I cannot put out of my mind the irony of the man who first seriously began to seek God after experiencing a sense of enlightenment and desire to go beyond the mundane when listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony, now being forced to listen to Country-and-Western music and pretend it holds some spiritual meaning for him, and watch as those who understand him best are, one by one, driven out of the church. The time may come for him (if it has not already) when some minister will forbid Mahler to him as an unhealthy influence, if that minister does not find the music sufficiently saccharine and "uplifting." It is extremely difficult being an artist or an intellectual in the Worldwide Church of God, unless you are directly hooked into the machinery of the organization, and are, in effect, part of the propaganda fide. This mirrors the subservience of the arts in totalitarian states. The excuse given is the second commandment, which only forbids images of God, not art itself. If there is any idea that this prejudice comes from the "Jewish" aspect of its doctrines, a look at the Jewish community's rich celebration of all the arts, and-as an example of religious art -- Marc Chagall's Jerusalem Windows should lay this idea to rest. Of course, the WWCOG's literature is full of praise of beauty and excellence: it is only in sermons and counselling, as well as decisions on various issues, that show the underlying belief. This is the most extreme case I have seen of the organization's published views on a subject being twisted into its opposite when taught to the congregation.
1 I heard more about her sad fate later, long after I had left the church: see the mention in section 5.6. |
 Note: The first edition of this article was originally completed in 1990, based on the author's personal experiences with the Worldwide Church of God from 1978 to 1984. While many changes have occurred in this church since that time, it is the author's personal contention that doctrinal changes are completely irrelevant to the core of the Worldwide Church of God's destructiveness, that is, the cruel psychological manipulation of its membership.This treatment of its members is common to many harmful groups, and understanding how people are led into this situation is more generally useful than details of one small, nearly-defunct church group.
4. The Evidence of Poison4.1. Killing Bible Study Closely allied with its hatred and suspicion of creative activity is its severe censorship. Creation and communication are vital components of freedom and individuality, but these are states the organization wishes to discourage. Members are forbidden to discuss religious subjects, which is seen as "preaching" or "holding a private Bible Study," a serious usurpation of the ministry's role. Thus, the pleasure of sharing things with your peers, comparing experiences or texts, or discussing new discoveries are all put under the cloud of "heresy," a word of warning heard repeatedly on members' lips. This fear cuts the member off from one of the ways that Bible study can be kept interesting--the sharing of new insights on accepted ideas. Inch by inch, the Worldwide Church of God begins to kill the member's individuality and his genuine religious experience. Bible study goes from being a joy to a burden, by making it a duty whose insights cannot be shared--indeed, by putting a fear of heresy into a member's mind, the organization makes him afraid of making any new discoveries: after all, heresies can exist also in your own mind. This is less honest than my own mother's upbringing: as a Catholic, in those days, she was forbidden to look at or own a Bible, because of the danger of reading and misinterpreting something best left to the priest. Opening her first Bible, as a grown woman, was an act of great moment for her. The Worldwide Church of God, however, extols personal Bible study, then begins to create a dread of it in the members' minds. This puts the member into a double-bind, or dilemma: he's damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't. All of the WWCOG teachings which have hidden opposites set people up in this no-win situation. This is useful to the organization, because, as in this case, once the member begins avoiding Bible study, he develops a guilt he can be manipulated by. 4.2. Killing Prayer Prayer is another area slowly eroded by the atmosphere of the church. Since the overriding emphasis is on reaching God through the medium of the church, private prayer begins to feel somehow disloyal to the church, and God begins to seem farther and farther away, and less and less real. Many times, the honest member will want to talk to God about what is happening to him, what the church is doing to him. He feels too paralyzed with guilt to do so. If the agonies of his heart are off-limits in prayer, because God is on the organization's side (isn't He on the Organization Chart?) what Advocate can a member have--or what hope? Is it any wonder that the fruits of the spirit of the Worldwide Church of God are fear, dread, and despair, rather than the fruits of the spirit of God, which are love, joy, and peace? St. John tells us that "perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment" (I John 4:18); he also says that those who hate their brothers and claim to love God are liars (v.20), which ought to give this organization serious pause. 4.3. Killing the Sabbath The member has now been robbed of the joy of Bible study, and the comfort of prayer: he is consumed with guilt because he is not praying or studying like he used to, he doesn't understand why, and fear of the Lake of Fire begins to insinuate itself into his daily thoughts. On top of this, in order to keep the spirit of the Sabbath, the member must not only refrain from unnecessary work, but devote himself to those two things he has learned to dread. He now has the third sin of Sabbath-breaking on his conscience, and with each mark against him he becomes ever more vulnerable to the molding of the organization: after all, aren't they telling him repeatedly to do those things he is neglecting? It must be his own sin. Of course, it is easy to lose interest in something once the first flush has worn off, but this is where the organization's history clarifies the situation. If all this were merely the flagging of interest after the first conversion experience, why did this vicious cycle of guilt followed by inability to pray or study, uncommon enough before 1979, become epidemic in that year when, due to the Receivership on the church, the organization was starting the first of several purges to come? At that time I saw fear, doubt, and despair replace the earlier interest and joy. Certainly so many hundreds of people did not lose the first flush of conversion in one year! Most members did not connect the two. They were afraid of being purged, and tried their best to get right with the organization, in the belief that this was the way to a place in God's own heart. Meanwhile, their spiritual life began to wither rapidly, the more they believed and identified with the terror tactics of the organization. 4.4. Killing Your Spirit The Worldwide Church of God is a fear religion. It may not always have been so, or it may be only during the 1970's that this edge was softened, but for every fearmongering tactic their publications decry in other religions, they have a match, or go one better. Other churches' Hell is the WWCOG's Lake of Fire: the difference is that the Lake of Fire is for Satan, his angels, and--fallen-away WWCOG members. Because they emphasize performance so strongly, they incite fear in anyone who cannot measure up to their rigorous standards. I do not mean the usual, difficult enough, Judeo-Christian standards of morality, or love towards God, but the measure of hours in prayer, frequency of fasting, dollars given to the church, hours of free labour given in the service of the organization: the Worldwide Church of God operates not only on Fear, but on Works. One of the works--which include tithing, distributing church literature, and devoting time to the church--is fasting. Fasting used to be recommended once a month: at the time I left, the standard was supposed to be once a week, with encouragement to do this more often, or for longer periods than a day, bolstered by case stories of long, heroic fasts. The insidious thing about fasting in the Worldwide Church of God is that it involves going not only without solid food, but without water. Thus, what is in many religions a good method of clearing the mind and sharpening the perception is perverted by this single alteration into a useless experience of wretchedness. It is not only difficult to pray when you have gone without water so long, it is difficult to think, read, or even sit up long enough to attempt either. Rather than sharpened mental acuity which can lead to insight, you experience mental confusion and even delirium. This sort of fasting is also physically dangerous, particularly for longer periods. The experience itself is such a torture that it acts as a kind of self-induced aversion therapy--not only to fasting itself, but to the activities associated with it, Bible study and prayer. Again, this gives grounds for the member to feel an even guiltier failure. This is without even considering the potential brainwashing value this deprivation would have on the average member. Into this spiritual vacuum enters the obsessive pursuit of activity for its own sake--preferably church-oriented. If you can keep busy enough, you can escape your wounded conscience, and maybe--you just dare to hope--show through action the faith you have become unable to show in any other way. 4.5. Killing Natural Affection The first victim sacrificed on the altar of The Work (as the church calls itself) is the member's individuality: his family will soon follow. The member has rejected his own rationality as a danger that might lead him into heresy; he has learned to ignore his own feelings through the constant onslaught against his senses; he has become cut off from his spiritual brothers by mutual fear and suspicion; he has stifled any appreciation of beauty by a growing philosophy of Utilitarianism; he has subjected himself to a military standard of obedience, out of fear; he has lost his joy in God through indoctrination that has inflamed his sense of guilt--is it any wonder, then, that to survive, he becomes as cold as ice? St. Paul told Timothy that one of the horrors of the future would be people "without natural affection" (2 Tim. 3:3), and the Worldwide Church of God has a program for creating them. While all these assaults on the member's emotional, intellectual, and spiritual life are going on, he is also being tried in his career, his finances, and his relationships. The wonder is not that so many people become what they do, but that some do not succumb, and manage to keep themselves human, and draw closer to God. In the WWCOG, no good deed goes unpunished, so these people have their own special trials. Although the Worldwide Church of God believes that each child is born without original sin, and is eventually compromised through error and evil influences, the organization acts as though it believes in the idea of Utter Depravity, the idea that, through Original Sin, all man's natural impulses and senses are evil and lead him astray. This is not a theory of temptation, but the idea that even the instinct for good is itself wrong and evil. That conscience may be inadequate and in need of nurture, discipline, and education is one thing; that your own best judgement is wholly unreliable is quite another, and is certainly not the apostolic view: "does not nature itself teach..." (Rom. 2:4; 1 Cor. 11:14) the apostle Paul says, appealing to the innate sense of fitness in every human being. Denying this faculty altogether is another way the church cuts a person off from himself, so his mind is easier to control. We have seen that the Worldwide Church of God operates as if Utilitarianism, Collectivism, Anti-Rationalism, Censorship, Fearmongering, Asceticism, and the doctrine of Utter Depravity were the ultimate expressions of the human potential. After all this, it takes only the external assault on the member's life outside the church to finish the job. The major hook in the apple of the Worldwide Church of God is its global control over every area of a member's life: friendships, family, career, and spare time--which effectively isolates him from meaningful contact with the outside world. This makes him severely vulnerable to being "disfellowshipped," or excommunicated: in the light of recurrent shufflings of church policy and periodic purges, this is a very real threat. A member is not to have any friends outside the church, is to limit contact with nonmember relatives outside his nuclear family, or, if he is single, is to date no one but baptized WWCOG members, and, of course, he must marry in the church. Any disfellowshipped person is not to be spoken to, and the congregation is itself constantly reminded of the danger of leaving the church. Ex-members who have fallen on hard times (which for members is called "going through a trial") are used as examples of how God curses those who have rejected Him; ex-members who experience good fortune ("God's blessings" for members) have the sinister advantage of being "blessed by Satan" for going over to his side. That a church would routinely speak of God's curses and Satan's blessings speaks for itself. This is spiritual terrorism, as well as social blackmail: stay in the church where you have family and friends and hope of salvation, or leave, and lose all that is dear to you, and earn your place in the Lake of Fire at the resurrection. It is interesting to note that the amount of space and time devoted to examining this "worst-case scenario" of leaving the church increases dramatically with every tightening of church rule or policy. What was once an almost unheard-of topic, tantamount to doubting God's ability to keep you safe from danger, suddenly became the hottest topic for sermons and articles. When the congregation finds itself almost obsessed by trying not to leave the church, something is wrong. 4.6. Killing Your Career Artists and writers were not the only ones who found their vocations under suspicion or attack: many jobs or careers were either forbidden or became next-to-impossible for a church member to maintain. Butchers had to quit, as they were forbidden to handle pork; cosmeticians and beauticians also had to quit, as makeup, hair dyes and perms became suddenly forbidden one day, and were no longer a legitimate means of livelihood. Of course, there was no place for the military, the police, or armed guards in the church, as its stance was strictly pacifist. Nor could a church member belong to any political group or hold any elected office (members were not even supposed to vote). To my knowledge, the organization was silent on whether or not it was acceptable for a member to be a doctor or other kind of health care worker, considering the church's doctrine on faith healing, but much publicity was given to renowned heart surgeon Christiaan Bernard's connection to the church. Most teachers in the organization were really ex-teachers, since, after a two-month vacation, most school boards were loath to allow another eight days off early in the fall for religious observance. Those who had not lost their jobs over this were often underemployed as substitute teachers to avoid the inevitable confrontation. Labourers, retail sales people, and shift-workers, like nurses, often lost their jobs because they could not work on the Sabbath (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset), while office workers and others often lost their jobs over the fall holy days. That this involves unacceptable religious discrimination in the workplace is obvious; that people would put their livelihood on the line for a religious principle is admirable; but that the Worldwide Church of God did not then rally round its heroic unemployed is despicable. People in the congregation were often unemployed or underemployed, even in good economic times: those who could manage, somehow, to make it through their first year on a job, and schedule their annual vacation for fall, could often make it from there. For many others, a job would last only until the next holy days, which quickly gave them an undesirable job history. While lip service was paid to those losing jobs for their faith, the general practice of the church was to denounce from the pulpit those who were unemployed or on welfare as useless parasites and a shame to their church. This lack of moral support drove many people deeper into the depression common to those out of work, making it even harder for them to face a hostile, alien outside world, and try to find jobs again. 4.7. Killing Your Finances Another challenge to the member comes with tithing. Tithing plays a very large role in the average member's life, affecting not only his finances, but his entire way of looking at himself and judging his spiritual growth. The Worldwide Church of God teaches that tithes are monies owed to God, and they also maintain that tithing teaches prudent budgeting and self-discipline; second tithe is supposed to enable even the poor to experience the challenge of wealth; third tithe is to enable the member to help someone in greater need than himself, which sounds very idealistic and appealing. While the Worldwide Church of God's controversial and much-denounced teachings on tithing can be defended as having biblical roots, it is the way they use these teachings that is most important. The potential convert is not at first aware of the way tithing will be used as a tool against him, to diminish his self-confidence by creating anxiety, desperation, and a sense of inadequacy through a manufactured poverty and an impossible, never-satisfied financial demand. This alone is often enough to systematically wear down his defenses and make him more easily manipulated by the organization. That tithing is a biblical principle is not in dispute. Most churches believe in this practice, which extends to other groups, such as feminists, who often tithe to their movement to show their support. However, in this, as in so many areas, the Worldwide Church of God takes an essentially moral act and, making it a matter of anxiety, dread, and compulsion, effectively ensures that it does not lead to further spiritual growth and individual responsibility, but to increasing passivity and dependence. A member of the Worldwide Church of God pays the church ten percent of his "increase," which is either profit or salary (first tithe), saves a second ten percent (second tithe) to spend at the annual fall holy day observance (ten percent of this, or 1% of the annual income, is given to the church at that time, and is called "tithe-of-the-tithe"), and the third and sixth year in every seven, he gives ten percent to the church to benefit poor members (third tithe). These tithes are mentioned in the Bible, but a great deal of interpretation is required in order to translate them from principles for a theocratic nation of farmers to wage-earners in a secular society; the Worldwide Church of God claims to have settled all these questions for the believer. It is not clear how the biblical form of tithing can be made applicable to the wage-earner: what is "increase," for example? Earlier teachings of the Worldwide Church of God were less dogmatic on this, allowing the poor to tithe on the "increase" they actually saw, that is, their take-home pay, while the wealthier were encouraged to tithe on their gross pay, as many were proud to be able to do. There were also acknowledged to be "borderline cases" of poverty, on the brink of requiring third tithe assistance themselves, where tithing was not recommended, as it would cause the family to become a burden on the church. When this was later changed so one had to tithe on gross pay, and the concept of "borderline poor" vanished, the burden on these people became far greater than was just. It is a subtle blasphemy, making God a kind of ruthless extortionist, mercilessly squeezing out the poor man's last penny (or taking bread out of the mouths of the fatherless children whose working mothers are not only not being helped, but are being taxed by the church). There are sacrifices more valuable to God than dollars and cents (Ps. 51:17), and to make everything a matter of money leaves the poor in a precarious position. The second tithe makes for a year of stringent self-denial, ending in an intense spending binge: in eight days, ten percent of one's gross income must be spent on consumables like food, drink, and accommodation (nothing may be bought and taken home, like clothes, books, or gifts, and the remainder is forfeit to the church). This often creates a case of "the bends," financially, where money is tossed to and fro on every indulgence. After this, normal prudent budgeting is difficult, and irresponsible spending often continues for weeks or months afterwards, leading to financial problems, especially for the poor. This is a problem that is simply ignored or denied. 4.8. Killing the Good Samaritan In addition, the Worldwide Church of God judges so few of the poor truly deserving of its financial help that it becomes hard for someone actually paying third tithe to do so with any conviction, sense of charity, or generosity. Sermons and church magazine articles compound this by not dwelling on the social justice aspect of third tithe, but instead focus on the many financial blessings God will bestow on those paying it. While the Bible's description of the third tithe is that it should generously supply "the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow," so that they "shall eat and be satisfied" (Deut. 14:29), this principle, too, is negated by its actual administration in the Worldwide Church of God. The ministry boasts that the system of church welfare is far and away superior to that of the state, but, particularly where single-parent families are concerned, this is patently false. A female member, after being told she is breaking God's law by leaving her children to go out to work, will be told to do just that if she has no husband. Sermon after sermon will tell her what harm she is doing to her children, while she will be offered no help to do what she is told is the only right thing. If she insists on staying with her children, she will be told to apply for state welfare. The church will then give her only the dollar amount the secular welfare authorities will allow her to keep (which was $75 a month at one time). Thus, far from assuring that the fatherless can "eat and be satisfied," the church ties itself to the same harsh and inadequate state welfare system which has caused the need for food banks to ensure that those being "cared for" by the state do not go hungry. It is scarcely an encouragement for a church member to go without that third ten percent of this income, when he knows the needy will only be barely helped by it, and not enough to "be satisfied," which is the Bible's generous standard. The church also frowns on giving money to any charity outside the church, so third tithe is the only opportunity members have of giving to the poor.
TO BE CONTINUED |
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